Chapter 39: The Fallen (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: The Fallen (2)
Shin Su-jin and Kang Ju-hyuk stared in shock at the messages flickering before their eyes.
The Fallen? What in the world...?
Suddenly, thick black smoke began to billow from the man’s corpse.
“Get back!”
Kang Ju-hyuk, who had been standing closest to the body, scrambled away.
Crack, snap—
The man’s skin paled to a deathly grey, and a single horn erupted from his forehead. The transformation was instantaneous.
Groaaaarrr—
The man rose, letting out a long, distorted groan. The whites of his eyes had vanished, leaving behind two pits of absolute darkness. Save for his four limbs, nothing about him remained human.
“A-A monster...!”
“Kyaaaaah!”
The onlookers screamed and scattered in a panic.
The man twitched his head like an insect, scanning his surroundings before lunging toward the crowd.
Thud!
Shin Su-jin lunged forward and caught the man’s arm. His strength was immense, far surpassing that of any ordinary human. She gritted her teeth, twisted his arm, and slammed him into the pavement, pinning him down.
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
“Kyaaaaaah...!”
The man only shrieked, thrashing violently beneath her. Communication was impossible; there was no soul left in those eyes.
Frowning, Shin Su-jin kept him pinned and shouted, “Get the Climber restraints over here, now!”
“Yes, ma’am! But will they even work on that thing...?”
“He’s weaker than a Level 10. It’ll hold.”
She tried to process the situation. The system message had been explicit: the deceased would be resurrected as the Fallen. If that was true, had all forty thousand people just become monsters like this?
As Kang Ju-hyuk made an urgent call, a transmission crackled over the radio.
— Terrorist attack reported inside the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu. Multiple casualties suspected. Requesting urgent support from all nearby Climbing Surveillance Department personnel...
The faces of the two officers hardened. A terrorist attack—there was no way it wasn't connected to this. Something had gone horribly wrong there as well.
The Seoul Arts Center was right in their backyard.
Shin Su-jin bit her lip in a moment of agonizing indecision before slamming her fist down.
Crunch!
The man’s skull shattered. Having died a second time, the creature finally went still.
“Clean up the situation here,” she ordered. “I’m heading to the Arts Center.”
“Yes, ma’am! Please, be careful!”
Without waiting for a car, Shin Su-jin sprinted toward the Seoul Arts Center, her speed a blur. When she arrived, she found police officers with their weapons drawn, aiming at the entrance.
“Don’t come any closer! It’s dangerous!”
“I am Manager Shin Su-jin from the Climbing Agency’s Surveillance Department. What’s the situation?”
The moment she flashed her ID, the police stepped aside. Just then, a person stumbled out of the entrance, drenched in blood. Their face was a mask of pure terror.
“A m-monster... there’s a monster inside...”
“Officer Park! Get them to safety, now!”
The police were visibly shaken. A senior officer stepped forward to brief Shin Su-jin.
“The truth is... we don’t fully understand what’s happening. A monster appeared during a performance, and dozens of people are still trapped inside. We were ordered to hold the perimeter and wait for backup, but...”
Shin Su-jin nodded curtly. “I’ll go in. Move your men further back from the entrance.”
“What? It’s too dangerous! You should wait for the tactical team...!”
Ignoring the officer, Shin Su-jin stepped through the doors.
* * *
The location for mana stone trades changed every time. Honestly, I wondered if such extreme secrecy was necessary, but in this world, there was no harm in being over-cautious.
“Thank you.”
Today’s meeting was near an exit of Seoul National University of Education Station. As usual, the foreign contact handed over a bag full of mana stones, took the bag of highest-grade stones from me, and vanished into the crowd.
I slung the bag over my shoulder. I’d sell these at the exchange, take a quick stroll through the city, and then head home.
Ah... come to think of it, is it time?
I checked the Nightmare deadline.
[Nightmare]
Participants: 230,902
Deadline: 1 year, 57 seconds
Floor Reached: 4th Floor
“One minute left.”
Once the deadline hit the one-year mark, the First-Generation Climbers who hadn't entered the Tower would begin to die. Not that watching would change anything, but I stood still, eyes fixed on the timer until it hit zero.
[Nightmare]
Participants: 230,983
Deadline: 1 year, 1 second
Floor Reached: 4th Floor
The moment the clock struck:
[The 3-year limit has been exceeded.]
[A total of 43,457 Climbers who failed to enter the Tower will now perish.]
The messages flooded in. Over forty thousand people... dead in an instant. On a global scale, it might seem like a statistic, but seeing that five-digit number was chilling.
“The Tower really is a piece of work,” I muttered, a bitter taste in my mouth. What did it even gain from this slaughter?
I was still cursing the heavens when more messages appeared.
[Climbers who died due to the Tower’s Curse will be resurrected as ‘The Fallen’.]
[90% probability of a Stage 1 Fallen appearing.]
[9% probability of a Stage 2 Fallen appearing.]
[0.9% probability of a Stage 3 Fallen appearing.]
[0.09% probability of a Stage 4 Fallen appearing.]
[0.01% probability of a Stage 5 Fallen appearing.]
“...What?”
I didn't need a manual to know this was bad. I immediately opened the communication window.
[Ecstasy: Hey, what is this? Did everyone see the messages?]
[Ghost Blade: It says they’re being resurrected as the Fallen?]
[Gabriel: Holy shit, the dead people turned into monsters.]
[Kingdom: Monsters? What are you talking about?]
[Bell Sound: The Climbers who just died turned into horned monsters! Fuck, I have to run, I can’t answer questions!]
The chat was pure chaos. Scanning the posts, I pieced it together: the dead Climbers hadn't just died—they had been turned into weapons.
The peaceful street around me felt surreal compared to the carnage being described online. I decided to head home, but as I waited for the subway, my phone began to vibrate like a live wire.
— [Emergency Disaster Alert] Strange creatures have appeared nationwide. Citizens are advised to stay indoors and evacuate to the nearest safe zone.
— [Eunpyeong-gu] Monster sighted near Yeonsinnae Station. Absolute no-entry zone...
— [Yongin-si] Monster sighted inside Everland. Immediate evacuation ordered...
— [Busan-si] Monster sighted on Busan Bridge...
The alerts were relentless. Then, one caught my eye.
— [Seocho-gu] Monster sighted inside the Seoul Arts Center. Absolute no-entry zone...
The Arts Center was right nearby.
Should I go?
The hesitation lasted only a second. I walked out of the station and hailed a taxi.
“Seoul Arts Center. Fast as you can.”
It was too close to ignore, and my conscience wouldn't let me walk away. Besides, I needed to see these "Fallen" for myself.
I arrived quickly. Police cars and ambulances crowded the entrance, sirens wailing in a discordant symphony. The situation was far from over. The police were aiming their rifles at the doors, their hands shaking.
I stepped into an alley and called for Diul.
‘Diul.’
Under the shroud of Stealth, I walked past the police line and entered the building. My expression hardened immediately. The thick, cloying scent of blood hung heavy in the air.
* * *
Shin Su-jin moved down the hallway, every nerve on edge. The interior was deathly silent, save for the metallic tang of blood that stung her nostrils.
Sob, sob, sob...
Then, she heard it—the faint, rhythmic sound of weeping.
She entered the Opera House and froze. Under the flickering emergency lights, the theater was a charnel house. Blood painted the seats, and corpses were strewn across the aisles.
Groaaaarrr—
She spotted a monster staggering through the audience. It looked like the man from earlier, but with one terrifying difference: three horns sprouted from its forehead.
Sob... sob, sob, sob...
The crying echoed again. Shin Su-jin looked toward the stage. There, amidst the bodies of the orchestra, another monster sat huddled with its head buried in its knees, weeping.
That one had five horns.
A primal chill ran down her spine. Shin Su-jin readied herself for a fight, but neither monster reacted to her presence. She watched them for a moment before deciding to prioritize the survivors. Muffling her footsteps, she moved toward the faint presences she sensed in the audience.
“Ugh, uuuuh...”
Beneath the seats near the entrance, a man and a woman were curled into balls, hiding. Shin Su-jin leaned down and whispered.
“I’m here to rescue you. It’s okay.”
The man, his face a mess of tears and snot, shook his head frantically. “T-T-They all died... everyone who tried to run... that monster...”
Shin Su-jin glanced at the monsters and kept her voice low. “It’s alright. We have to move now while they’re still.”
She couldn't leave them. She guided the pair toward the exit, moving like a shadow. The monsters remained oblivious, allowing them to reach the lobby.
“Follow this path to the exit. The police are right outside.”
“Yes, yes... uuuugh...”
The survivors, still paralyzed by fear, stumbled out. Shin Su-jin turned back. There were more people hiding in there. One by one, she began to evacuate them.
The process was going smoothly until—
“Gah...!”
Someone tripped on the stairs, falling with a heavy thud. Shin Su-jin lunged to help them up, her eyes snapping back to the theater.
The three-horned monster had turned its head.
Kyaaaah!
“...Run!” Shin Su-jin screamed.
With a piercing shriek, the monster leaped. Shin Su-jin crossed her arms to block, but the impact was like being hit by a truck. She was blown back, slamming into the wall. The remaining survivors didn't wait; they bolted for the exit.
She scrambled to her feet, her arms throbbing with a dull, broken heat. Before she could catch her breath, the monster lunged again.
Boom!
Its strength and speed were monstrous—at least equivalent to a Level 30 Climber. Shin Su-jin activated Strong Qi. Narrowly dodging a clawed swipe, she found an opening and drove a powered strike directly into its chest.
Bang!
The monster’s chest cavity exploded. It was a lethal blow.
Yet, the creature counterattacked instantly, as if the hole in its chest was a mere scratch. Caught off guard, Shin Su-jin took a brutal fist to the ribs and was sent flying across the rows of seats.
“Cough...!”
She spat out a mouthful of blood. The pain was blinding; her ribs were definitely shattered. As the monster coiled its legs to finish her—
“...!”
A shadow lunged from the periphery, snatching the monster out of mid-air. It was a massive, pitch-black beast.
A Black Tiger.
The new arrival pinned the three-horned monster and began to tear into it. Shin Su-jin watched, dazed.
Crunch! Snap! Ptu!
The tiger chewed through the Fallen’s neck and tossed the head aside like trash. The three-horned monster, now a mangled heap of flesh, finally stopped moving.
Shin Su-jin forced herself up despite the agony. But the Black Tiger didn't attack her. It simply sat down on the blood-stained carpet, watching her with glowing eyes.
It’s... not attacking?
Confused, she scanned the room. The survivors were gone, but the theater wasn't empty.
Sob, sob, sob...
The sorrowful weeping continued. Shin Su-jin looked toward the stage. The three-horned monster was dead, but the five-horned one remained, huddled and crying as if the world were ending.
The goosebumps on her skin wouldn't subside. She just knew—that thing was on an entirely different level than the one the tiger had just killed.
What could she do? The civilians were safe, but she couldn't leave a Stage 5 monster in the heart of the city.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the theater.
“I’ll take care of it. Please leave.”
Shin Su-jin spun around, but the theater was empty. Then, the familiarity of the voice hit her.
“Saram123...?”
She looked at the Black Tiger sitting calmly. It all clicked. She realized who the tiger belonged to—and why it hadn't attacked her. Once again, he was there.
Is it... a summoning skill?
How could a player control a monster of that caliber? Shin Su-jin was reeling, but she knew she had to trust him. She was in no condition to fight a Stage 5 Fallen.
The Fallen, Stages 1 through 5. The horns. She realized the number of horns corresponded to their stage. If so, that weeping creature was a Stage 5—the pinnacle of the curse.
“...Please be careful,” she whispered to the empty air before turning and limping out of the theater.