Chapter 105: 7th Floor Hidden Route (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105: 7th Floor Hidden Route (4)
“How…?”
I was truly astonished.
The Sage was clearly aware of the entire situation.
Until now, every character in a Hidden Route had been no different from an NPC in a game, completely unaware of the Tower…
But he even knew my identity.
Thoroughly bewildered, I stopped time.
Was this just another one of the Tower’s tricks?
Or if not…
– It seems he is the same as I am.
The Demon King spoke.
‘…The same? What do you mean?’
– Exactly what I said. I had my doubts, but this human… he is outside the Tower’s influence.
What?
‘Wait a moment.’
I tried to organize my thoughts.
So, if he was outside the Tower’s influence, that meant…
‘Are you saying the Sage is a real person, too?’
But wasn’t this a Hidden Floor inside the Tower?
No, I’d vaguely suspected something like this for a while, but…
The Demon King confirmed it.
– You had a faint idea yourself, didn’t you? That all the floors of the Tower were once real, existing worlds.
And what followed was even more shocking.
– They are worlds that were destroyed by the Tower.
…Worlds destroyed by the Tower?
I mulled over the Demon King’s words, then released the flow of time.
The Sage had asked if I was curious about the Tower’s identity.
I would hear it from him directly.
“…What is going on?”
If what the Demon King said was true, then this wasn’t one of the Tower’s ploys, but a situation that had escaped its control.
“How do you know about me?”
The Sage shrugged.
“I am the Sage.”
“What?”
“It means there is nothing I do not know. You need not be surprised that I know who you are.”
“…Please, explain properly. Are you a Climber, too? Then this world is…”
The Sage spoke.
“It is my world, devoured by the Tower.”
“…!”
“I, too, was a Nightmare Climber like you. And I failed. This is the fate of all failed worlds.”
So the Sage was a being just like the Demon King.
But more importantly, the fate of failed worlds?
“…What exactly is the Tower?”
There were so many things I wanted to ask.
I started by repeating the question he hadn’t answered just a moment ago.
The Sage glanced at the ceiling before continuing.
“There is no time. You must now choose. Your reward for the 7th Floor.”
“What? No, wait…”
“As I said, all truth is contained within this Book of Omniscience. Including everything about the Tower.”
The Sage held the book out to me.
“If you wish to know the Tower’s identity, choose this book as your reward.”
It seemed he had no intention of answering me directly.
Still confused, I looked down at the book in his hands.
I asked again.
“When you say ‘choose’… does that mean there’s another reward besides this?”
The Sage smiled.
“For the other reward, I intend to use this Book of Omniscience and my remaining power as materials to grant you the one thing you need most.”
…The one thing I need most?
“What is that?”
“Well, now. I suppose your destiny would know.”
He was speaking in riddles, just like a sage.
“Could you please explain properly…?”
It was then.
Crack!
A sudden chill ran down my spine, and I whipped my head around.
Cracks were spreading through the space around us.
[%@◇■Error*#◇●@#^$...]
A glitchy message appeared before my eyes.
This sensation was not unfamiliar.
‘…It’s the Tower.’
It was the exact same feeling I’d had when the Tower tried to eliminate the Demon King inside my body.
It was trying to do something again.
The Sage continued, unconcerned.
“Did I not say there was no time? Hurry and choose.”
I stopped time at once.
The chilling sensation of the Tower’s presence vanished.
I couldn’t make sense of any of this…
Too many things were happening at once.
In any case, just as the Sage said, it seemed I had no time to delay.
I had to pick a reward the instant I released time.
The Sage had presented two options.
One was the Book of Omniscience, which supposedly held all the truths of the world.
The other… was an unknown reward, described as “the one thing I need most.”
Which one should I choose?
Just then, the Demon King spoke.
– Choose the Book of Omniscience.
‘…Why?’
– If what this human says is true, it is a book containing all the truths of the world. Must I spell out its value for you to understand?
I knew.
If the Sage was telling the truth, the book before me was an incredible treasure.
Above all else, it held information about the Tower.
I would finally be able to learn about the Tower, which had been a complete unknown until now.
What was its identity? What was its purpose?
…Could it possibly even contain information about the Nightmare floors I had yet to climb?
The trials for each Nightmare floor had to be different for every world.
It seemed impossible, but hadn’t he said it was a book that contained all the truths of the world?
I’d ask him directly.
I released time and hurriedly asked the Sage.
“Does the Book of Omniscience contain all the information about the Nightmare floors I have to climb?”
The Sage nodded.
“It most likely does. The Book of Omniscience is, after all, the Record of the Universe.”
CRACK!
The space fractured with a much larger crack.
I stopped time again.
The Sage hadn’t given me a definite answer.
But if it truly contained information on the Nightmare floors…
This book was nothing short of an invincible cheat.
To know everything was to be able to prepare and counter everything in advance.
What was the main reason clearing Nightmare Difficulty was so hard?
The lack of information.
If that lack of information was gone, my future Nightmare climbs would be no different from climbing on Easy Difficulty.
And that was without even considering the information about the Tower itself.
It was clear that it would be an enormous help to me in some way.
After all, didn’t he say I could know everything in the world?
Honestly, I could barely even imagine it.
– What is there to think about? Choose the book.
The Demon King was also on the side of choosing the Book of Omniscience.
So, choosing the book over some unknown reward was probably the right choice.
Logically, that would be the case, but…
After a long moment of deliberation, I released time and gave my answer.
“Please give me the one thing I need most.”
For the first time, the Sage showed a hint of surprise.
“Why did you not choose the Book of Omniscience?”
It seemed my choice was unexpected, even to him.
But the reason for my conclusion was simple.
“You said it yourself. That you, the Sage, also failed.”
If one could truly climb the Tower to the very end and protect their world with the Book of Omniscience…
Then why did the Sage, who had been a Nightmare Climber, fail?
Even if I obtained the Book of Omniscience, I would only be in the same position as the Sage.
If someone far greater than me couldn’t succeed, what chance did I have?
If that was the case, wasn’t it better to take a gamble on the other reward?
I didn’t know if this was the right choice…
But in any case, my heart wasn’t drawn to the Book of Omniscience.
The Sage smiled.
“Will you not regret this?”
“…I have no idea. But didn’t you say we’re out of time?”
I looked around nervously.
The space was fractured like a spiderweb, looking as if it would collapse at any moment.
The glitchy message continued to flicker before my eyes…
Flash!
At that moment, the Book of Omniscience began to glow.
A pure white light compressed, gathering into a single point…
And then the book vanished.
In the Sage’s hand was a small gem, the size of a fingernail.
“Take it.”
I accepted the gem the Sage handed me.
And then.
“…!”
The gem flared with light once more and melted into my palm.
What, what was that?
There was no pain.
Startled, I stared at my palm.
The gem was gone, and in its place, an unknown symbol was glowing.
That symbol, too, soon lost its light and disappeared.
“…What did you do?”
“It is the reward you chose.”
When I asked the Sage, that was his only reply, offering no further explanation.
This was the thing I needed most?
Rumble-rumble-rumble—
The shaking of the space grew more violent.
The message before my eyes slowly began to sharpen.
Realizing this was the end, I asked frantically.
“Why did you fail, Sage? How many Nightmare floors did you climb?!”
The Sage smiled and said,
“I wish you luck, Kim Seo-hyun.”
[Error Found.]
[Error Correction.]
[You will be ejected from the Tower.]
With the message, my vision shifted.
* * *
Rumble-rumble-rumble…
Inside the collapsing library, the Sage strolled leisurely between the bookshelves.
This place was a shell of a world.
The Sage recalled his own world, which had met its doom an eternity ago.
A world devoured by the Tower is transformed into an eternal stage like this.
Its people become clowns, played for fools, never realizing their own predicament.
The fact that the stage for the 7th Floor had become the Sage himself was likely because he had left a deep impression on the Tower.
“I suppose I’ll go back to being a clown now.”
The Sage chuckled dryly.
When the Tower had swallowed his world, he had managed to preserve a sliver of his ego.
He had spent an eternity here, hidden from the Tower’s notice.
Countless Nightmare Climbers from countless worlds had passed through.
Playing the part of a clown, the Sage had searched, looking for someone worth betting on.
Many had succeeded in his trial.
There were those who could be called geniuses of the century, and monsters from more advanced civilizations.
Dazzling talent, overwhelming power.
But those alone were not enough.
With only those things, one would eventually be broken by the Tower.
During a time when only meaningless moments repeated themselves, the Sage finally met the moment he had long awaited.
A human with ordinary talent and a power that wasn’t particularly outstanding: Kim Seo-hyun.
But the Sage saw something special in him.
It wasn’t because a powerful being was intertwined with his soul.
Though he had ultimately been defeated by the Tower, the Sage was a man who had succeeded in glimpsing its true nature.
Yet even with the Sage’s eyes, there was a part of Kim Seo-hyun he could not see through.
Since he couldn’t see it, he didn’t know what it was.
But it was more than enough to place his hopes on.
If a being capable of defeating the Tower truly existed, it would have to be something that surpassed even his, the Sage’s, understanding.
And so, the Sage passed on everything he had left.
The price was that the Tower had taken notice, and now, his remaining ego would be completely erased.
This was the end of everything.
Looking up at the ceiling of the collapsing library, the Sage let out a hollow laugh.
“When it came to the thirst for knowledge, I never thought I’d lose to anyone, but for you… I have to hand it to you.”
Is there any other being as avaricious as you?
KRA-KOOOOM—!
Soon, the space completely disintegrated.
The ruined library began to reconstruct itself, as if winding a spring.
* * *
My vision shifted.
The presence of the Tower that had been pressing down on my soul vanished as if washed away.
“Hoo…”
So many things had happened in a rush; my head was spinning.
I let out a sigh and looked around.
I was back in the motel room.
“…?”
What?
Why was I sent straight outside instead of to the Reward Room?
What happened to the Hidden clear?
Just then, a message appeared.
[Due to an error, the Nightmare Difficulty 7th Floor Hidden Clear has been invalidated.]
[Due to an error, the Hidden Route for Nightmare Difficulty will be closed.]
[You cannot proceed with the Hidden Route until all errors have been corrected.]
“…Huh?”
What in the world?
I stared at the message, dumbfounded.