From Hell Back to Hell
All my companions, with whom I'd spent the past twenty years, lay collapsed around me, vomiting blood.
"…We did it?"
Congratulations on completing the quest.
The Tower will grant Player Han Do-yoon's wish.
I stared at the familiar message floating before my eyes, lost in thought. I hadn't done it for the reward. I'd just wanted to. The goals happened to align, that was all.
"What the… why?"
Those were the last words from my final fallen companion, the Sword God Isana.
"Return home is right around the corner… What the hell, why!"
One day, I'd been kidnapped to this place called the Tower World and climbed the tower to get back to Earth. All because they said scaling the tower would let you return to Earth.
Earth. Yeah, I wanted to go back. I missed that tuna kimchi stew. The bulgogi Whopper and cheap Americano iced coffee haunted my dreams.
But there was something more urgent than going home.
"Revenge."
"…Revenge?"
"You lot turned me into this."
Han Do-yoon gazed at his reflection in the blood-smeared dagger. Tentacles sprouted from his pupils, coiling around his head. Blood trickled endlessly from his ears, gills flapped on his neck. His arms had become wooden roots, and a hose connected to machinery was embedded in his abdomen.
In a word, he was no longer human.
For twenty years, Han Do-yoon had been used as a lab rat by fellow tower climbers. Revenge? He didn't need any reason beyond that.
"You're… mistaken!"
"Mistaken?"
In the pool of blood on the ground, he saw another version of himself—not a monster, but his original appearance.
Huh? Which one was real?
"Snap out of it."
Wait, why did I do that?
A sudden question arose as he looked at the fallen Isana. His head throbbed, his mind grew chaotic. There were no memories of the process—only the result.
Revenge? What revenge?
When did I poison the potions?
Was I really a lab rat for twenty years?
What was the last thing I ate?
He rummaged in his pocket and shoved the first thing he grabbed into his mouth. Only then did his mind clear.
The alert in front of him dissolved like sugar in water.
"What the hell have I…."
Rationality Collapse State
Rationality Collapse State
Rationality Collapse State
There was no Han Do-yoon turned into a monster after twenty years as a lab rat. Only a man whose mind had shattered from the side effects of the Elixir—the drug promising immortality and invincible flesh—remained.
"This… can't be real."
Regaining his senses, Han Do-yoon checked on his fallen companions. Some lay rigid like dolls with joints twisted backward. Others bled from every orifice. Some had melted down to rolling bones.
The Sword God Isana had become a single sword, only her face remaining.
…
"Gaaahhhh! Nooooooo!"
Casual words he'd brushed off resurfaced.
—Do-yoon, I get you can Predatory Emotion by eating stuff, but can you really handle chowing down on unidentified herbs like that?
—Your eyes are glazing over, dude? Hey? You sure you're not stoned?
—We drink your potions 'cause they're reliable… but what you eat doesn't look safe at all.
"Euughhh! Sob!"
Screams that couldn't quite form burst out. His nails dug into his scalp, rage at himself turning his body feverish red.
Please state your desired return point.
Return.
The Tower World kidnaps people unilaterally, and once they achieve some results, it sends them back to their original world 'temporarily.' When the time comes, it drags them back, grants temporary return for more achievements, and so on. That's why tower residents climb endlessly, hoping for permanent return.
Han Do-yoon had done the same. Kidnapped one day, he climbed for Earth. After hardship, he earned temporary return as a reward, went home to paradise, and the tower felt like hell. So he gathered companions and climbed for permanent return.
Only to perish on the 99th floor.
Please state your desired return point.
Return?
Snapped from despair by the repeating Tower alert, Han Do-yoon refocused.
Return to Earth. But not permanent. Just a temporary reward because the Tower was 'impressed' by his idiocy.
Go and come back, then resume hellish tower life. Alone now.
Despair loomed, a hellish future ahead, but he couldn't waste the chance. One reason: Tower residents were tamed by the lure of return, like drug addicts unable to grasp their state.
Even lost in grief, despair, and screams, the craving for return burned fierce. His foggy mind sharpened.
His brain raced, pondering the return point.
When to go back?
Repeated returns brought more perks. Early ones were just to Earth, but now you could choose eras.
The day as a kid at the sushi buffet with family? High school math trip? Right after discharge, cashing military savings?
Countless pondered choices. But now, conscience and guilt birthed another.
"…Return point: twenty years ago, when I first arrived in the Tower World."
An unexpected choice; the Tower hesitated. The message appeared after awkward silence.
Temporary return permitted.
With those words, darkness swallowed his vision, the ground vanished, and he plummeted somewhere.
@
Return wasn't new for Han Do-yoon. Ten experiences taught him to cherish every second from arrival.
How much time left?
Temporary returns were just that—temporary. Paradise (Earth) time expires, then forced back to hell (Tower). Rewinding doesn't change the future. Allowed time varied: 30 minutes for some, a week for others.
Han Do-yoon's remaining time is…
315,532,795 seconds
9 years, 11 months, 30 days
What…?
Ten years? First time for this.
Back twenty years, now ten more to live? Not to Earth? Because it's regression?
No answers. The Tower World bends to the transcendent Tower's will. All questions end with 'the Tower's will.'
Ten years given.
Han Do-yoon pinched his nose bridge with thumb and forefinger—his thinking habit.
What to do.
Atone to companions.
Whether past actions alter the future, who knows. But atoning over the next ten years might ease his mind upon return.
…Starting from the very beginning clears the head.
Tower residents gain skills climbing. Han Do-yoon's first: Predatory Emotion. Sense things by eating them. Thus, he became an alchemist, devouring Tower World's bounties to craft potions.
But sensing ≠ digesting. He ate indigestibles often—shouldn't have.
By 99th floor, his stomach was monstrous, but side effects piled: lost taste, drug addictions, monthly insanity.
Inevitable that 'it' happened.
What happened first?
Twenty years said, but trials felt like fifty-plus—some warped time mentally. Wasted years in empty mountains didn't mature him much.
Still, first day stuck like childhood memories.
Rained next day, caught a cold.
Tower World structure: endless central tower, lush surrounding forest. No nations, under 100k population. Kidnapped from Earth and worlds beyond, humans and races mingle.
Most prominent: the tower. Sentients flock there. Han Do-yoon headed for the unknown spire.
Passed the sole city, learned survival.
No other path. To meet companions again, tower-bound. Met them there; climbing solves shelter/food anyway.
First, shelter from rain today.
Darkening sky. Hurry or repeat cold tomorrow.
Second chance, no repeats. Not an idiot.
Tower experience aided wilderness. Learned from crafty companion.
Thick trunk roofed with broad leaves—quick shelter.
Next: warmth. No heat, no tomorrow condition.
—Drip drip. Gathered dry twigs, sparked fire as rain poured.
No calluses, bare hands—tough.
Now hungry.
Progress from first day: panicked, lost, tripped roots tearing pants, knee bled, soaked rain led to near-death cold.
Now leisure to feel hunger.
One day fasting won't kill.
Drinking clean rainwater to fill belly—
—Rustle.
A woman emerged from bushes. Torn white crop top, jeans, scratches everywhere.
Future Sword God, Isana.
Rain-soaked, black underwear visible. Long hair disheveled, clinging neck seductively.
Weird.
Han Do-yoon never saw her or companions as women.
Yet now… one conclusion.
I must've gone impotent from drugs?
He straightened his naturally roaming gaze.
Sensing lecherous stare? Isana hesitated approaching.
"Sorry. Hard not to stare in that getup. Any guy couldn't help it."
No reply. Regretted not friendlier.
"Come rest. You'll catch cold."
Still nothing. Checked eyes—realized.
She's already lost it.
Earthling from normal life can't stay sane in unknown Tower World.
—Thud.