Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Tower of Wisdom (2)
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'Please...!'
Hurriedly shifted my gaze to the descending ceiling.
Pulled the phone stuffed in my pocket and quickly opened the Wiki.
"Wiki, do you really want to see me lose my mind...?"
I squinted my eyes tightly at the walkthrough that felt like déjà vu from somewhere.
Is this what they call playing hard to get? I love the Wiki, but it doesn't seem to feel the same way.
Tak!
'No more stray thoughts.'
The corners first. Gotta fill the corners right away.
I didn't know how much time I had. There wasn't a separate timer.
No need for long explanations—the moment that ceiling hits the floor, it's game over.
Tok... Took.
'Lucky it's so light.'
A casual swing of my hand sends it flying far away after just brushing it.
It was disgustingly huge, but light enough to lift with one finger.
Thud, tak—
Threw the puzzle pieces toward the ends of the walls.
Watching them hit the faint walls and fall, I realized the room was about five meters long.
'Just how many of these are there?'
They were all pure white, making them hard to tell apart.
Not flat like regular puzzles, but still tough to distinguish in reality.
Kwang!!
"Fuck...!"
The ceiling wasn't descending fast. You had to squint and stare to even notice.
But the pressure was immense, beyond imagination.
The room's structure messed with my sense of direction, making my heart race.
'...Better not move around. Just throw them.'
Take it slow. Panicking would only hurt me.
With that in mind, I sifted through the gaps between puzzles, found corner pieces, and tossed them to the corners.
Thump—
"Okay...!"
After chucking all the corner pieces into the corners, I looked up.
The ceiling still looked far away. No clue how much it had descended, though.
The Wiki remained silent as ever. Instead of getting annoyed, I moved straight to the corner where I'd thrown the pieces.
"...!"
The moment I tried fitting them together one by one, thinking corners first—
"This is driving me insane."
Let out a hollow laugh at the fact that I couldn't tell front from back.
'Fit them one by one? ...No, that'd take too long.'
Fitted a vertex piece into the corner, but the next ones were the problem.
Each piece was too damn big. No way to estimate time with simple trial and error.
'Thirty-six corner pieces.'
Even as I pondered, my body kept moving.
From stacking ten each and the rest, I figured out the total pieces.
A 10x10 white puzzle, one hundred pieces.
A lot, but not too many.
I'd solved a puzzle or two in my life, and a hundred seemed doable quick.
Problem was not knowing the time limit.
Kugugung...!
'Sort by type first...!'
The sound from above spurred me back into action.
No time to fuss over orientations one by one.
Until the Wiki gave the walkthrough, I had to do everything I could.
Thump—!
"This is so fucking annoying!!"
Kicked a puzzle in frustration as they kept getting in the way.
Sometimes mistook floor for puzzle and flailed. Nearly tripped stepping where nothing was.
As time passed, distorted distances and approaching ceiling piled on the pressure.
In this mind-numbing all-white space, head throbbed at having to solve a puzzle.
Slap—!!
"Focus, Han Seol—!!"
Slapped both cheeks hard, then scanned the pieces around me.
Excluding corners, five types total.
Normally more varied by direction, but no patterns or images made it hard to split further.
'Think, think...'
Squinted at the puzzles piled waist-high.
There had to be a way—not just brute force, right?
Something to figure out, a hint worthy of the name.
Otherwise, it'd be the Tower of Trials, not Tower of Wisdom.
"...Wait."
After gnawing my lip and inspecting for a while, noticed the straight stacks weren't uniform.
Straight up, but sides were jagged.
Specifically, protruding parts and indents didn't match at all.
Of course puzzles have unique shapes, but—
'Shapes are weirder than I thought.'
More unique than standard puzzles.
Not easy to pair every one, but obvious at a glance which two fit.
Felt like matching indents might be simpler than expected.
"...! Then the corners too...!!"
Rushed back to the corner and checked.
Same here. Protrusions and indents irregular.
If you're wise—good observation or spatial sense—you'd spot matches instantly.
'This one... and this?'
Narrowed candidates for the vertex, flipped and rotated three, tried fitting.
Click.
"Yes...!"
Fist clenched at the perfect fit.
Just connect sideways like this.
Find similar shapes. Few with matching indents, so targeted tries—
Kugugugung...!!
"..."
Froze at the sound.
Would that work?
Enough time?
Looked up along the corner wall, but hard to gauge descent.
Still, stepped forward, squinted for matches—
Ding—!
Wiki alert rang as darkness swallowed my vision.
"...!!"
Strength drained from my body, consciousness blurring.
Thud.
Swipe...
"What... just... happened..."
Regained senses late, clutched throbbing head.
Wiki alert led to blackout.
No idea how long I was out. Eyes burned hot, couldn't open them.
"Urgh—!!!"
No time regardless, gritted teeth and slowly opened eyes—
"Huh...?"
Gaped dumbly at the changed space.
Gulp.
Walls gone.
Trapped in space, endless darkness filled view.
No walls, ceiling, floor.
Not locked in a black room like before—felt tossed into infinite void.
"What the... hell..."
Like glitching into a game dev zone.
World turned dark like a bug.
Swipe.
Reached where wall was—nothing.
Stepped forward—no ground sensation.
Blink.
"!!"
Opened eyes back in original spot.
The all-white space, Tower of Wisdom 20th floor.
Looked up blankly—the text still floated.
Kugugung—!!
Ceiling's approach echoed unpleasantly.
"..."
Pulled out phone entranced—Wiki walkthrough on screen.
Swipe.
Turned head—room filled with puzzle blueprint hologram.
Semitransparent blue, floating on floor like "match shapes and place."
Perfect.
Squinted eyes at Wiki showing the answer like always.
"Cleared... unscathed...?"
Throbbing headache faded fast.
Clenched and unclenched fist—hot eyes cooling.
No clue what happened, if that phenomenon was part of the 20th floor.
Step.
"No idea what's going on, but..."
Clearing here mattered now, so gripped fist and stepped forward.
"Wiki...?"
Blinked blankly at the scene.
Weird. Shouldn't be like this.
"..."
Fitted all puzzles per Wiki blueprint.
Packed tight, no gaps—perfectly correct.
White pieces tricky even with guide, but not impossible.
Solved enjoyably, mood lifting at how easy.
But—
"Wiki, what the hell is this...?"
Why one piece left on my hand?
Last piece with four indents trembled.
Tok.
Dropped limply to floor.
Like chocolate illusion multiplying, but no ant-sized gap between wall and puzzle.
Wiki unchanged.
Perfectly filled floor—no blaming Wiki.
Then what? What's wrong?
'...Just a red herring?'
No.
Door would've appeared.
Conditions met.
Perfectly, no gaps.
Shake shake shake.
Stood center of white room, legs trembling endlessly.
What's wrong? What's missing?
Scanned room nonstop for gaps.
Test last piece everywhere—nothing changed.
Kugugung—!!
After wasting minutes more, looked up at sound—
"...No way?"
Spotted X-shaped gap where pieces first poured from ceiling.
Was it that size from start?
Glanced down—piece matched gap perfectly.
'So wait till ceiling's right above...'
Then fit it in when close enough?
If not, get crushed?
"This is insane."
Mind breaking.