Chapter 10
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Master of the Tower (2)
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Why would it show me a scene like that?
While I was over here about to die, he was out drinking with his colleagues. It was absurd.
I took my hand off the (View) button and thought.
Dimension R-1354.
If that Choi Soo-hyun was the one I knew, then the dimension in question was likely the one Kang Han-gyeol was in.
‘There are gods who use aliases.’
And there are Hunters who serve those gods.
When they kill monsters or clear dungeons, they gain Contribution Points, like experience points.
By offering those Contribution Points to the god they serve, they could use that god's power.
This was what I'd heard during my Hunter training.
“The god who secures the most Contribution Points by the day of the final battle becomes the ruler of the dimension.”
This part, however, wasn't in the training.
Now I understood why that world was overrun with so many gods of unknown identity.
I didn't know how it happened, but it seemed the system had granted me the right to challenge for the title of 'ruler of the dimension' as well.
“Haha.”
I laughed sorrowfully, pushing back my blood-caked bangs.
To have come this far, after all that, was quite a twist. Still, if I played my cards right, I might be able to take down the gods who put me in this mess.
It said I was qualified, after all.
It's not like I'm participating illegally, right?
There was no more hesitation.
“Participate.”
[Registration complete.]
[You are now recognized as a new challenger.]
[Please register your alias. An alias can only be registered once, cannot be changed, and holds no inherent power.]
“Soter.”
[You have been registered as ‘Soter’.]
That was all for the immediate notifications. I opened my status window.
[Kang Han-gyeol (Soter)]
- Master of the dimension, ‘Tower of Trials’.
Position: Deputy (5%)
Strength: C (1%)
Stamina: C (2%)
Mana: D (10%)
Healing Power: D (21%)
Contribution Points: 480
Skills
Talents [Guardian's Aegis] [Soter's Blessing]
Having an affiliation now, the status window was definitely different from before.
Just as I was about to close it, I noticed another status window to the side.
I swiped my hand sideways, and the second window appeared.
[Community (Soter)]
Position: Administrator
Boards
- General Board (0)
It seemed to be a communication space for Hunters of the same affiliation.
As an administrator, I could change just about everything, from board names to rank assignments and rank-specific board settings.
Of course, mine had no posts, since it hadn't even been an hour since I created it.
‘The communities for the major gods must be massive.’
That was basically a source of inside information.
As a latecomer, I was at a clear disadvantage.
[Soter]
Divine Name: ＊＊＊＊＊
Level: 1
Attribute: Darkness
Ranking: 15487th
Dimension: Tower of Trials
Accumulated Contribution Points: 0
Followers: 0
Traits [Guardian's Aegis] [Soter's Blessing]
The moment I opened this status window, I quickly covered the Divine Name.
‘It's so embarrassing!’
Even if I was the only one who could see it, there were still things I didn't want to look at.
A divine name speaks to the god's nature.
And while nothing else fit me as well as that one, it was just wrong.
To me, that divine name was a dark part of my past.
[Dimension Management]
Name: Tower of Trials
Description: A long-neglected dimension. The master seems to have returned. Utterly shameless.
Dimension Conquest Rate: 0%
No Dimensional Information
“Isn't that description a bit harsh?”
You're hurting my poor feelings!
After swiping through all the status windows, I could finally see my surroundings.
* * *
I buried the four of them in a small flowerbed near the tower's entrance.
Even with my abilities, I couldn't bring back the dead.
“This feels… strange.”
We'd spent barely a day together, and I couldn't say the four who died had been entirely friendly to me.
I wasn't soft enough to feel pity for an enemy, but I also wasn't so heartless as to feel nothing when someone who was, for a time, on my side died.
Pushing aside the bitter feeling, I placed my hand on the massive door.
[The ‘Tower of Trials’ has recognized its master.]
[Upon clearing, you will become the master of this floor.]
[Entering the 1st Floor.]
[Goblin Village]
Floor: 1st
Objective: Annihilate the goblin village.
Reward: 1st Floor Administrator Authority
It was slightly different from the dungeon information, but the structure was roughly the same.
I dismissed the status window and looked around.
A familiar landscape of grasslands and forest greeted me. The only difference was that this time I was alone, not with a group.
A goblin appeared from the edge of the forest.
“Looks pretty much like the ones I saw in the dungeon.”
I quietly drew the two daggers from my waist.
* * *
[You have cleared the 1st Floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[As a reward, you have acquired 1st Floor Administrator Authority.]
Since it was similar to the dungeon named ‘Goblin Village,’ clearing it wasn't a problem in itself.
“What a mess.”
Even if the difficulty was low, trying to do alone what was meant for four people was naturally tough.
‘Honestly, that was a close call.’
Now that the battle was over, I was a wreck.
After sheathing my daggers, my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the ground.
[1st Floor]
- Administrator Authority acquired.
- Administrator: Kang Han-gyeol
- Other settings available.
The other settings included things like difficulty adjustment and various other options.
“Too much trouble. I'll just leave it.”
It really felt like I had become a game administrator.
I downed a small health potion and prepared to leave the first floor.
Just then.
“Someone's here?”
Sensing an unfamiliar presence, I scanned my surroundings.
After becoming the administrator of the first floor, I had cleared away all the goblin corpses.
‘I should be the only one on this floor.’
Even so, the presence wasn't nearby.
‘The outskirts of the forest.’
I opened the map, but nothing showed up.
“A ghost? I’m not really a fan of ghosts.”
I wasn't joking. Ghosts genuinely creeped me out.
I closed the map and headed toward the presence.
When I reached an empty clearing, I saw a stranger.
‘He looks young.’
The young man was leaning against a tree, trembling as he stared at a goblin corpse.
Covered in dirt and wounds, it was clear he'd been in a fierce struggle just to kill that one goblin.
That look of terror was the face of someone who had taken a life for the first time.
As I got closer, I realized he was wearing a school uniform.
It was a style I'd never seen before, but it somehow looked like a common uniform from Korea.
Plus, he looked Korean.
‘But I got rid of all the goblins.’
I have no idea what's going on.
Tears and snot streamed down the young man's face as he muttered a string of curses.
“...Bastards, those sons of bitches. Are they even human? Ugh!”
Seeing the corpse, he turned and vomited again.
Watching him, I was reminded of when I first transmigrated.
After killing a single goblin in the Demon Forest, I spent over a week vomiting and crying.
Looking back, it was a miracle I survived, having no survival skills and being an easy target for monsters.
He was so terrified, so deep in panic, that he didn't even notice my approach.
I spoke to him.
[Hey. Are you okay?]
“Aah, aaaaaah!! What the hell was that?! Aaaah!!”
The moment I spoke, he screamed.
Leaning his back against the tree, he frantically scanned his surroundings, then ran toward the goblin's corpse.
He desperately pulled the dagger embedded in its chest.
Splattered with blood, he fell on his butt again before scrambling back to the tree with the dagger.
“Wh-who are you? Where are you! Where?! Show yourself!”
Slumped against the tree, he yelled, swinging the dagger wildly.
That's not where I am.
Has he lost his mind?
I walked halfway around the tree and approached him from the front.
He's wearing a school uniform anyway. I can probably speak informally.
[I'm right in front of you.]
My answer made his face turn pale. He opened his mouth, his voice trembling.
“D-don't lie to me!! Where are you!”
[I'm telling you, I'm right here.]
“Stop messing with me!”
He tried to stab in my direction.
Not wanting to be stabbed, I twisted my body slightly to dodge the attack and reached out to grab his wrist.
In that moment, my hand passed right through his.
[What?]
“My hand… s-something just… What are you!”
Hearing me mutter, he was startled and dropped the dagger.
He scrambled to pick it up, but his hands were shaking so badly that he kept dropping it.
Seeing him end up cutting his hand, I shook my head.
‘It seems he can't see me.’
At first, I thought this kid was a memory embedded in the tower.
The tower was currently malfunctioning.
A dimensional malfunction wasn't as simple as a machine breaking down.
Distortions in time or space were also part of the malfunction.
If that was the case, it wasn't entirely impossible for me, in the present, to meet someone from the tower's past.
‘What on earth happened here?’
The kid in front of me was, by all appearances, an ordinary Korean high school student.
I couldn't help but wonder why someone like him was trapped in a tower like this.
As I remained silent, he looked around and spoke.
“Who the hell are you? Wh-where are you?”
Watching him speak while staring off into space, I was certain.
This kid, right now, couldn't see me.