I Told You Not to Come In

I told you not to come in....

I even gave those fools being used by the Constellations a crystal-clear warning.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the gallery get completely wrecked while the mods and users had a full-on collective meltdown.

About time I headed down to the basement.

"Leaving already?"

"Yeah. I'll come again next time, Mom."

"You should. Come often. Here, take this with you too."

"What's this?"

"Side dishes to eat, and clothes for my daughter?"

"Why is there so much?"

A paper bag stuffed full of my favorite banchan and a girl's clothes. Just how many outfits had she bought, anyway? Underwear was in there too?

"No reason. Just thought of it and bought them. Go put some on. Take off that weird jumpsuit already."

"Mom, this is my work uniform."

"Is that so?"

She really was looking out for me a lot. Last time when I went shopping for underwear with Hyeji, she said she felt bad she hadn't been able to help me pick anything out.

"Thanks, Mom."

"Don't mention it. My s— daughter! Daughter, right. I keep getting mixed up."

"...Hey, Mom."

"Hm?"

"Me suddenly becoming your daughter. Is that weird for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you?"

"What is?"

"I mean, it's a strange situation. Not exactly easy to just accept."

"Cheonwoo. Whether you're my daughter or my son, what does it matter? You're my child."

"Mom...!"

A sudden rush of emotion.

Hot tears spilled out!

So this was a parent's love.

"I'll just think of it as my son becoming independent and me raising a young daughter instead. Hehehe. Watching Hyeji, I sometimes thought it might be nice to have a daughter like her."

"Really?"

"Mm. So don't worry about Mom. Go safely. Don't get hurt. Got it?"

"Yeah...! I'll live hard!"

I threw my arms around her.

Thank you, Mother.

I'll live with everything I've got!

Once I went back in, who knew when I'd be able to come out again.

Promising a next time, I entered Basement Floor 1.

Thud!

"Ow. My butt."

Still dark as ever down here.

And the vibe was awful. It really did feel like a basement.

The -2 Floor office and -3 Floor library were at least somewhat better.

I hated Floor -1 every time I came—gloomy and eerie.

Better already.

Yeah, with the filter on, this place even felt kind of lively in its own way?

"Popo? Kuku? I'm back! Where is everyone!"

Did these people even come find me on their own when I called? Floor -1 was ridiculously huge. What if they couldn't find me?

Shasha-shasha-shot.

"Hm...?"

A sensation like bugs crawling. I turned toward the subtle presence behind me, but—

Nothing was there....

"AAAAAH! There IS something!!!"

What the hell is that! Why is it stuck to the ceiling!!!

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Hehe. Cheonwoo. Hi?"

"Y-you, who are you."

"It's me. Me. The Floor -1 Guardian."

"Ah...! That Entity from before!"

The exact same face as mine.

The exact same build.

The exact same voice.

The clothes were the same outfit from our first encounter. An overall look that was basically a straight-up plagiarism of me!

So the Floor -1 Guardian was a doppelganger!

It had perfectly copied my exterior appearance. Creepily identical to me.

"Oh my, you two already met! Welcome back, Miss."

"You've arrived, Boss! We've been waiting!"

Popo and Kuku—who was still standing at full attention—had arrived as well.

Why was Kuku calling me "Boss," though. Had we really settled into an employer-employee relationship?

Well, whatever. My escort Entities were all gathered in one place.

"Come on, greet properly like I taught you."

"Uh... M-Manager? Nice to meet you?"

"It's 'Nice to meet you,' with the proper ending. Hm? Still not listening?"

"S-sorry.. Nice to meet you!!!"

"What on earth..."

The sight of an eight-foot-tall ghost educating a doppelganger. That doppelganger kid had definitely been reading Popo's mood just now. Its hands were trembling slightly! That was pure terror....

"Hey, Kuku."

"Yes! At your command, Boss!"

"What happened yesterday? Why is that one so scared?"

"Ah, about that. Popo 'educated' the Floor -1 Guardian!"

"Educated..???"

"Hehe. This child simply didn't know anything. I lightly taught a few everyday manners, Miss."

"L-lightly..."

That was absolutely not light. It even looked like it had wet itself a little. Exactly what kind of education had that been? Had it been discipline involving beatings and violence?

"For the record, I didn't hit or anything, you know? Right? Kkingkkingi."

"Ugh.. R-right! It was a fun... game."

A game!? Kkingkkingi?

What the hell had she done to an Entity that looked exactly like me...!

I felt my brain starting to go wrong. The Mental Filter was rattling.

"L-let's organize the situation for now..."

"This friend is Kkingkkingi, Boss!"

"Kkingkkingi. So Floor -1 Guardian Kkingkkingi is solidly on our side now too?"

"Hehe.. That's right, Miss. I trained it well, you know?"

Looking at them lined up like this, it was pure overpowered territory. Popo alone could clear up to Floor 40. Kuku was on equal footing with that Popo. And Kkingkkingi, whatever its level, wouldn't lag far behind those two.

Is this even clearable?

With regular climbers, I don't see a way through?

No. Why should I care about those humans over there. No need to worry about them.

I'm the one being invaded.

Right. How is this the Manager's fault!

It's the Constellations' fault for greedily eyeing the basement! The ones who lured Seekers down here were the problem to begin with.

My heart felt at ease.

Even if the invaders die, it's not on me.

"Great! All three of you, protect the basement well!"

"Hehehe. Leave it to us, Miss."

"Then I'll head downstairs!"

"Okay~ See you later."

"Take care, Boss!"

"Cheonwoo.. Bye..!"

"Greet properly."

"M-Manager, bye-bye..!"

I'll leave ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the rest to you!

I'm going back to the Breakroom.

I could just wait for the results with a completely empty mind and peace of heart. While waiting, I might as well munch on some snacks and watch what Hyeji was up to.

From Floor 1 to Floor 10 you had to pick one of the four difficulties and climb alone, so Hyeji was probably lonely climbing the Tower by herself right about now.

Watching a friend work while unemployed myself. I simply couldn't resist that.

Tower of Trials, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Floor 18 Swamp Zone.

In front of the Murder Lizard nest.

Fifteen people gathered there.

Climbers basically formed parties through Babel Gallery. Once they party up that way, they can enter the same room and same floor together. That was party clearing, available from Floor 11 onward.

And every one of the fifteen climbers gathered here was a Seeker who had come on a Constellation's orders. Their goal: invade the basement and assassinate the Basement Manager. Only carefully selected powerhouses had been assembled for the mission—each and every one a name that stood proud among the global top 100 rankers.

"Everyone ready, right."

"Obviously. Let's go in already."

"My heart's racing already. Hehehehe."

An unknown zone that had never been permitted to anyone except the Basement Manager. The Seekers felt pure exhilaration at being able to advance into it.

"No tension at all."

"Any reason to be tense? The Manager's Korean, right? Getting nervous over some weak-nation climber. Not like it's the first time some punk got a lucky break, strutted around, and then died. Just because the guy has some weird ability, we gotta flinch?"

Simply being Korean was enough for them to look down on their target. In the Tower, Korean already meant weakling. Contempt for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weak activated automatically. Even without knowing much about their opponent, the habits of the strong still clung to their bodies.

"He's right. My Constellation said the Manager hunt would be easy."

"You can tell just from how he terrorized the gallery telling people not to come down to the basement. He's probably shaking knowing we're coming. Definitely scared."

"A scared dog always barks the loudest."

They weren't wrong. The Manager themself was weak.

"Come to think of it, there were rumors the Manager's a woman?"

"For real. Hehe. Can we play with her a bit before killing her?"

"My Constellation said we just have to kill. That's all."

"Nice. Looking forward to it even more."

More than fear of entering the unknown, the thrill of being able to toy with their target was greater. To Tower rankers, an unknown space was simply a place to pioneer, and a hidden room was a mass of opportunities that held clues to growing stronger. Accustomed to the Tower's trials, they no longer felt fear easily—something close to a safety blindness.

"I'm opening the basement's back door now. We have to get in before it closes."

"Okay."

"Got it. Open it already."

Soon the back door to the basement that the Constellations had punched open swung wide. The fifteen Seekers checked their weapons and stepped into the opened basement...

"This is the basement?"

"Nothing special, honestly."

"They called it the reverse side of the Tower. This is it? I thought it'd be some hellish place."

The invaders flicked on the lights attached to their shoulders and scanned the surroundings. A long corridor with nothing in it. Dark and gloomy, but no particular threat could be felt. Different from expectations. This place was merely silent and bleak. Nowhere was there an element that would make them feel fear.

"Compared to the Floor 50 ruins, this is nothing."

"Right? Compared to undead swarms crawling out..."

Clunk.

"Hm?"

"Sound of a door opening."

"Everyone shut up."

Party leader Noah Johnson warned the group. The Seekers all fell silent at once and strained their ears to pinpoint the source of the sound.

Snip. Snip.

The sound of metal scraping metal. It was exactly like the sound of scissors cutting. An eerie noise that had no business being heard in a place like this. The basement invaders prepared for combat, and into the tension-thick corridor someone revealed themselves.

SPLRRT—!!!!

The mouth of the Seeker at the very front was ripped open. A massacre that unfolded in an instant. Not a single person reacted. Not a single person could respond.

"E-enemy!"

A type of foe never seen before. Entities did not appear on the Tower's aboveground floors. Entities were hostile lifeforms generated only in the basement. The unknown always arrived as terror.

"U-uaah. Uaaaaaah!!!"

A tall woman who had somehow approached from behind seized the terrified Seeker and lifted him into the air. The climber whose head was being gripped screamed, soaking his pants with urine. He used skills. Swung weapons. Threw every means and method he had at her—

"M-monster...."

—yet couldn't inflict a single wound. The moment four comrades died futilely in the blink of an eye, the remaining eleven Seekers all thought the same thing at once.

We have to run.

"D-don't scatter!"

Noah Johnson shouted at the group, but they were already past the point of listening. Rankers who roamed the Floor 50s being torn apart and crushed with no resistance. It would have been stranger not to be terrified. Their opponents were monsters.

In the end they each bolted in different directions—down different corridors, through different doors. The maxim that scattering means death and sticking together means survival did not apply here.

Stick together and you just died horribly together. If you wanted to live, you ran. To escape Floor -1, you had to run and keep running.

"Hah.. hah. Hah. Fuck.. what. What the hell is this.."

Noah Johnson fled, dizzy from the sight of a comrade being butchered right in front of him. Dodging the tall woman who crumpled people like balls with absurd strength.

Dodging the madwoman in the red mask who laughed as she tore mouths open. He ran and ran in pure terror, begging his patron Constellation, Frozen Heart, again and again for help—but no answer came.

Despair. Frustration. Extreme fear. Before his paralyzed reason, countless holes appeared. Holes leading downward. Pitch-black darkness inside the holes. If he just jumped down here, maybe he could escape those monsters?

"U-uaah...!"

Of course he wasn't even given the chance to reach Floor -2. The holes were packed with Entities. Their identities: hole worms. The hole worms the Manager had been feeding snacks and petting whenever free time allowed blocked the invader.

In the end Noah Johnson, sniffling, opened the door to some unidentified room and threw himself inside. It was the only place left he could run to. Without even realizing he was being herded, he stepped through.

"Haa.. haa..."

The basement. A place humans must never covet. He posted what he had seen here to the gallery.

Noah Johnson left a rambling post, sniffling. Replies flooded the post in an instant, and various attempts to help were made—but Noah Johnson could not see the comments the climbers left.

Kehehehe...

The moment he uploaded the post, a voice came from the ceiling of the room. Noah Johnson looked up at the ceiling, his entire body trembling.

SPLRRT—!

The Floor -1 Guardian, which had already perfectly mimicked Noah Johnson's appearance, leapt down toward the original.