Floor 10, the Rest Area (1)

As my vision brightened, a field awash in deep green spread out before my eyes.

I'd worried that hundreds of thousands of climbers would be crammed into this place in utter chaos, but the field was completely deserted.

It was dusk, and the setting sun burned blue. On the opposite side of the sky, a red moon was rising. A wind swept through the surreal landscape.

Riding that wind, the wild grasses bowed their heads to the ground in the distance.

Then the flattened grass came rolling toward us like falling dominoes, drawing closer and closer.

The wind brushed through my hair. My forehead felt cool and refreshed.

"Whoa!"

"Heh heh, now that's a sight."

Seo Harin and the old man both let out gasps of awe.

Well, calling this scenery merely "a sight" felt like selling it short.

There had to be a slightly, just slightly more impressive way to describe it.

Hmm.

I racked my brain, but my meager vocabulary could produce nothing beyond "beautiful." What a shame.

It was a stunning landscape, either way.

When I turned my head, Ha Heejeong was wearing a soft, warm smile — the kind of smile steeped in nostalgia.

Right, she must have seen this view in her past life too.

Following Ha Heejeong's gaze, I spotted a handful of small buildings rising from the left side of the field.

They weren't modern in style, nor medieval.

Alien architecture, I supposed?

Just as the sky's day and night were two different colors, the buildings felt equally otherworldly.

"Oh wow, Dad called it, didn't he? He said there'd be a place to rest!"

"Heh heh. That's right, I did. Things like this are always easy to predict. Knew it'd be some kind of rest stop."

"Exactly! And here I was getting all worked up for nothing."

"Usually places like this hand out rewards based on your ranking too... doesn't look like there's any of that, though. What a shame — if there were, our party would've swept the whole lot."

The old man swallowed hard, clearly disappointed.

It did seem plausible. Why else would a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leaderboard even exist?

It would've been nice if such rewards really did exist... but nothing to be done about it. What could I do if the Tower refused to provide?

"Huh?"

Suddenly, climbers began to appear on the field.

It was a strange spectacle — people materializing out of thin air where nothing had stood a moment before.

The newly summoned climbers looked around, just as we had done moments ago, and soon burst into cries of wonder.

Their numbers... maybe around a thousand?

It was a sizable crowd, but considering how many had entered the Tower, it didn't seem all that many.

Which meant not everyone had died.

Floor 10 Rest Area, Sector 1 — that's what the message said, right?

The rest areas were apparently divided up by sector.

A little late to recover their composure, the climbers began making their way toward the buildings in the distance.

"I'm guessing those buildings are the rest area, so shall we head out too?"

"Yes! Let's go!"

With Seo Harin's bright answer, we set off toward the rest area.

All around us, I could feel the eyes of climbers heading the same way.

Their wary gazes brimmed with an unconcealable joy.

The rest area was divided into four sections: lodging, dining hall, armory, and general store.

Lodging and dining, we were told, were provided free of charge.

The armory and general store are apparently similar to the shop in the Waiting Room.

Because of that, most people used them less for buying things than for repairing equipment and selling off loot.

That said, I'd heard that occasionally rare items that never appeared in the shop would show up in the armory.

The problem was that those cost more than anything in the shop, though.

The beings running the rest area were all aliens.

Species from all sorts of different planets.

Aliens that looked just like the familiar ones from TV, aliens whose skin resembled stone, aliens shaped like thin sheets of fabric.

They were pretty fascinating to look at.

The armory and general store wouldn't open until tomorrow, so we had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠booked our rooms at the inn and were now on our way to the dining hall.

The wide open field, the cool breeze, the endless crowd of people.

It was the first peaceful place we'd found since entering the Tower.

Laughter rippled through the climbers passing by without pause. Now and then I spotted someone with damp, glistening eyes.

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every one of them was smiling, so they were surely tears of joy.

As we walked toward the dining hall, the climbers' gazes slowly began to converge on us.

Word must have gotten around at some point.

Suddenly, Ha Heejeong spoke in a low voice.

"Just keep walking. Blank face. Don't turn your head — eyes forward only."

Right, she's telling me to work the concept, huh?

Well, nothing wrong with that.

A first impression is enormously important.

How people saw me now would go a long way toward shaping my relationships with the climbers I'd meet from here on out.

I did my utmost to follow Ha Heejeong's instructions.

Cold expression. Cold eyes.

But I couldn't just stay like that forever. At the sight of the murmuring climbers, I quickly sharpened my hearing.

With my superhuman senses, I could make out their conversations clearly.

"That's Kwon Suhyeok, right? Younger than I expected. Doesn't look all that strong, either."

"Really? I think he's got serious presence, though. Can't you see the double-bladed axe?"

"The aura's undeniable, I'll give you that. But honestly, the big guy behind him looks scarier. What is he, some kind of muscle-bound tiger? Look at the size of him."

"Heh, fair point."

The closer we got to the dining hall, the more furtive glances rained down on our party.

Most of them landed on me.

I felt like a celebrity. I finally understood what people meant when they said their face stung from staring.

"Holy crap, that party has top-rankers from Floors 3 through 6, doesn't it?"

"Everyone from 1st to 6th except the guy in 3rd — that's straight-up cheating. Isn't this game supposed to be pure luck-of-the-draw matching? How'd they end up like that?"

"No, see, Kwon Suhyeok and Ha Heejeong were 1st and 2nd from the very start, so they're the ones who pulled everyone up."

"Oh, right. Wait, doesn't that make it even MORE of a rigged game? Party with Kwon Suhyeok and you're automatically a ranker? How strong can one person even be?"

It was the kind of talk I'd seen on the community boards before.

And honestly, they weren't wrong.

My party members were all genuinely talented people.

But without me and Ha Heejeong, they never would have grown this far.

Still, hearing it about my own party members didn't sit well with me.

Those people were better than the idiots yakking away over there.

Should I say something?

Ha Heejeong quietly took my hand and pulled me along.

"Not over here. We're going left."

Was I that lost in thought?

I nodded, a little embarrassed.

Even during the meal, the climbers never stopped watching us and whispering among themselves.

A few braver ones came over, acting chummy or schmoozing.

"Wow, you're Kwon Suhyeok, right? Rank 1 on the leaderboard!"

"All your party members are leaderboard toppers. Haha, did you bribe the Tower or something?"

"Looks like you've got an open slot in your party — I'm ranked 13th, mage class."

Requests to join the party if a spot ever opened up, well-wishes hoping to see us again on future floors.

I kept up my image management in moderation, smiling politely, exchanging introductions and small talk.

Not sure I'll actually remember all these people, but...

It would count for more than knowing nothing at all.

By the time we finished eating, the climbers had stopped approaching.

Everyone who wanted to get friendly with me had apparently already come and gone.

With the strangers gone, our party started drinking.

The old man had pushed hard for it, but that wasn't the only reason — every party member except Seo Harin was on board.

As we chatted among ourselves, we happened to discover that the old man and I had lived in the same neighborhood.

"Huh? Seriously? You lived around Dangjeong Station too?"

"That's what I'm telling you! Well, I'll be. So Suhyeok's a boy from my own neighborhood. What are the odds, heh heh. Running into my own neighbor up here..."

The old man, Seo Harin, and I — we were the kind of people who might have brushed past each other on some street corner back home.

Strangely enough, the moment we learned this, the old man and Seo Harin seemed to grow just a little closer.

Was this what they called the ties of hometown?

"Anyway, the food and drinks here are really good."

"They really are. It's wild that aliens can even cook Earth food — and honestly, it beats half the stuff I had back home."

I nodded along in agreement with Cole.

I was taking a sip of beer when Ha Heejeong suddenly spoke up.

"The other sectors might not be doing so well."

"Sorry? What do you mean..."

"This place is packed with top-rankers. Sector 1, remember? The other rest areas might not get any of this. Maybe they have to pay with achievement points, or maybe they only get water and gruel."

"Ah... that seems hard to believe, but I suppose it's possible."

Cole nodded at Ha Heejeong's words.

She'd phrased it as speculation, but coming from Ha Heejeong, it might as well have been fact.

Sector 1 held only the top 1,000 climbers on the leaderboard.

I'd assumed each sector just gathered a thousand people at a time because of the sheer volume... but no.

So even the treatment differs by rank.

It struck me as a little cruel. The lower-ranked climbers already had it hard enough climbing the Tower.

If the community found out about this later, the sense of deprivation would be crushing.

"Hey, is this seat taken? Mind if I join you?"

A voice from behind me snapped me out of my thoughts.

When I turned around, there stood Aleksei Braham, whom we'd met back on Floor 8 in the Thief's Room — clutching a bottle of vodka.

Her face was flushed bright red; she'd clearly had a fair amount already.

Having said her piece, she paid no heed to any answer, dragged a chair over, and squeezed herself into the seat beside me.

"I didn't say you could sit..."

Seo Harin, sitting on my other side, scooted over a bit and grumbled under her breath, but Aleksei just grinned like it was water off her back.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Aw, come on, everybody wins. Well, well — look at that! Ranks 1 through 6, all gathered at one table!"

"Kkiik! Goblin too! Goblin here too!"

"Oh right — Dobby, was it? Hello there! Nice to meet you!"

"Kkiik! Nice to meet you too! Human!"

She showed no aversion to goblins at all, bending down to shake Dobby's hand.

We'd only glimpsed each other briefly on Floor 8, but watching her get along so easily with Dobby, I figured she couldn't be a bad person.

Hm?

I felt a stare from somewhere and turned my head to find Ha Heejeog glaring daggers at me.

What now? Did she and Aleksei not get along in the past?

Or is Aleksei actually a bad person?

Hmm, she didn't seem like it, though...

It was a different look from the one she'd given the traitor back on Floor 6.

Probably just a case of them not getting along back in the day?

Even so — come on. I hadn't invited her; Aleksei had come over on her own...

Why are you taking it out on me?

When I tilted my head at her in a what's the matter? gesture, Ha Heejeong whipped her gaze away.

Goodness, what a brat. If something's bothering you, just tell me beforehand.

"Oh, by the way — a friend in our party came up with the idea of collecting the wills of fallen climbers. What do you all think?"

"Wills?"

"Yeah. His name's Jimmy Hendrake. The idea is that if anyone makes it out of the Tower alive, they deliver the dead climbers' last words to their families."

"Isn't that an awful lot of people for one thing like that?"

A million climbers had first been summoned here. Even if half of them were dead by now, that left five hundred thousand.

How were you supposed to deliver half a million wills?

"The community boards still work, don't they? And the wills are kept as short as possible. The deliverers will be the climbers who make it out anyway."

"And how do you expect anyone to remember all of them?"

"Someone compiles them and carries them separately. Apparently there's a shop selling auto-writing notebooks. Hendrake said he'd take on the job himself. He'll update it every floor and post it to the community. And if Jimmy dies, someone else will pick it up. It's a kind of project, you could say."

"That's a pretty good idea, actually. This Hendrake fellow sounds like a genuinely good person."

"He is. And a brilliant mage, on top of that."

Aleksei nodded approvingly, a smile spreading across her face.

You could practically read the pride of doing something good right there in her expression.

I agreed wholeheartedly that it was a worthy idea.

If Earth still stood, it could bring real comfort to those families.

The climbers who had already died were beyond saving, but...

"So anyway, want to grab a drink with me sometime?"

"A drink? We're drinking right now."

"No, I mean. The two of us."