Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Reason for Living (1)
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Before I could even process what was happening, I was transported between floors.
For a moment, I wondered if I was being sent to another strange place.
Tense and on edge, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of an ordinary gymnasium.
It was exactly what it looked like.
It was the kind of gym you could find in any school, with a wooden floor, a simple stage, basketball hoops on either side, and a second-floor balcony.
I had no idea why it was a gym, of all places.
Maybe it was because of the unexpectedness of it all, but looking at the gym strangely brought back old memories.
As I was looking around, lost in nostalgia, I turned toward the source of the presence I'd felt.
[You again?]
“Aargh! What the hell!”
[You've been through this once. Why are you so surprised?]
“Wouldn't you be surprised if someone suddenly started talking to you out of thin air?”
It was Yoo Ji-han.
He looked decidedly more ragged than when we'd first met.
His school uniform, which had looked brand new, was now in tatters, and his hair was not just unwashed but matted with blood.
He looked like he could pass for a refugee.
Does he even realize what a state he's in?
Yoo Ji-han looked around.
“What is this place?”
[Can't you tell? It's a gym.]
“Shit, who said I didn't know it was a gym?”
I shook my head at his irritation and perched on the edge of the gym's stage.
I'd used a potion to recover and had no injuries, but I was still pretty exhausted myself.
It seemed my voice could reach Yoo Ji-han no matter where I was.
[Why don't you sit down?]
“Relax? I can't even see your face. What am I, here to meet the in-laws?”
[You're not even twenty and you're already talking about meeting the in-laws. Have you ever even been to one? If you don't want to sit, then stand.]
Yoo Ji-han stood in the middle of the gym, still talking while facing a completely random direction.
I just can't get used to this.
While looking around the gym, turning this way and that, Yoo Ji-han suddenly waved his hands through the empty air.
What's he doing? Stretching?
As I watched from a distance, tilting my head in confusion, Yoo Ji-han spoke.
“Are you in front of me again today?”
[Nope.]
“Where are you?”
[By the stage. You can't see me anyway.]
I wasn't sure what the point of him knowing my location was, but in response to my answer, Yoo Ji-han turned toward the stage and sat down.
There was still some distance between us, but it didn't hinder our conversation.
Yoo Ji-han sat on the floor, a dagger in his hand.
He kept the dagger drawn, still warily scanning his surroundings.
[There are no monsters.]
“How can you be so sure?”
There was a sharp edge to his voice.
Wariness. Anxiety. Unease.
I could easily read his state of mind without even getting close.
[Believe me or don't.]
Monsters wouldn't appear.
The reason was simple.
This wasn't the proper second floor. There was no point in arguing with him over a simple fact.
The first floor had been a sudden rush, but here on the second, I had some breathing room. I needed to get a handle on the situation.
[What happened on the first floor?]
“It ended a while ago.”
Judging by his condition, it seemed a fair amount of time had passed since he'd cleared the first floor.
[What the hell happened in the meantime?]
“A lot.”
His expression darkened. Judging by his curt reply, he didn't seem keen on talking about it.
[Let's continue the conversation we couldn't finish last time.]
I was curious to hear from Yoo Ji-han about what had been happening in this tower.
I had a feeling that if I understood what was happening inside the Tower of Trials, I might get a better picture of the struggle for the Ruler's authority taking place outside.
“How can I trust you?”
Yoo Ji-han raised his head toward the stage.
Even though it was a coincidence, for a split second, it felt like our eyes met.
‘First the monster thing... and now this.’
He wasn't this wary when I first met him. This was a deep-seated distrust of others.
I was sure of it now. Something had happened in the lobby. I checked his Contribution Points.
[Yoo Ji-han]
Contribution Points: 722
Likely from clearing the first floor, his Contribution Points had piled up quite a bit since we'd last met.
I opened the gift menu.
[Gift]
- Giftable Target: Yoo Ji-han
- Giftable Items: Small Health Potion (12), Small Mana Potion (33), Painkiller (6), Shower Bomb (2)
[Consuming 2 Contribution Points to gift a Shower Bomb to ‘Yoo Ji-han’.]
[2 Contribution Points have been acquired.]
He must have gotten a notification as well, because he casually opened his item window.
[First, go take a shower.]
In Yoo Ji-han's hand was a blue, softball-sized sphere.
“How do I use it?”
[Crush it.]
Before I even finished speaking, Yoo Ji-han crushed the Shower Bomb in his hand.
Water and foam erupted from the sphere, covering his body.
About ten seconds later, a relatively clean Yoo Ji-han emerged.
[Much better than looking so haggard. I wish there was a mirror to show you.]
Yoo Ji-han ran a hand through his hair, which was now perfectly dry, as if he'd used a hairdryer. He must have been feeling pretty gross himself.
After all, you know your own body best.
Yoo Ji-han looked around the gym again and then sheathed his dagger.
He didn't say he believed me about there being no monsters.
It was a wise choice.
But I could see the tension leaving his body, as if a weight had been lifted.
“I don't know where to start...”
With those words, Yoo Ji-han carefully began to speak.
He was an ordinary high school student from Daejeon, South Korea.
“It was just like any other day.”
It wasn't just Yoo Ji-han.
There were over a thousand people in the lobby, all of them transported there suddenly, just like him.
First, there were a thousand. Then, new people started arriving—anywhere from five to ten a week.
Yoo Ji-han was a relative latecomer. The early arrivals had already established their own set of rules.
The first thing he saw upon arriving in the lobby, clueless, was the mutilated corpse of someone his age.
“They told me to choose. Follow their rules, or enter the tower.”
He said he was lucky enough to steal a dagger and escape into the tower.
It wasn't hard to piece together the rest: he'd barely managed to kill a single goblin before I found him, wounded.
[How much time has passed since then?]
“About four days, I'm not sure, but around that. You lose track of the days in the lobby.”
Four days.
After I left the tower, went through the Association's investigation, and had drinks with Choi Soo-hyun, at least a week should have passed on my end.
It seemed Yoo Ji-han and I were on different timelines.
‘So time doesn't matter?’
That was something I needed to confirm.
[Have you cleared the second floor?]
At my question, Yoo Ji-han shook his head.
He'd entered to challenge the second floor, only to be transported to this gym where he met me.
I, on the other hand, had already cleared the second floor.
‘I'll need to confirm this further, but...’
It was still too early to be sure.
[So? What happened after you cleared the first floor?]
As soon as I asked, Yoo Ji-han started talking again.
When Yoo Ji-han returned to the lobby, people were surprised.
Apparently, no one had ever survived the first floor with nothing but a single dagger, or even bare-handed, like he had.
‘Well, that makes sense.’
Being a latecomer meant, conversely, that the first arrivals were survivors who already understood the tower's rules.
They were the kind of people prepared to kill monsters—and other humans.
And they knew better than anyone that the newcomers didn't have that kind of resolve.
Even so.
They never expected him to actually wipe out the goblin horde on the first floor and survive.
To have survived meant he had an unusually strong will to live. It meant he was no ordinary person.
And so, after he cleared the first floor, some people came looking for him.
The same bastards who had thrown him and the others into the first floor to begin with.
“They told me to join their guild, the Central Guild? The nerve of those sons of bitches.”
His gaze shot toward the stage where I was sitting.
If he had accepted their offer, there's no way he would have entered the second floor with a worn-out dagger and looking like a beggar. He had refused.
[Accepting the offer might have been the better choice.]
Coming from the first arrivals, it probably wasn't a bad offer. But at my words, Yoo Ji-han's face twisted into a frown of pure disgust.
“Are you crazy? What's the point of surviving under the protection of murderers like them? That place is... Never mind.”
He clenched his fists, clearly furious.
Seeing him like this, I could guess what those 'first arrivals' were like.
‘Right. He shouldn't stoop to their level.’
Honestly, I wanted to praise him for that.
The problem was what came next.
He refused their offer and, just as before, fled to the second floor.
I could guess why they didn't stop him from running to the second floor.
‘The second floor isn't something you can clear alone.’
Especially not for Yoo Ji-han in his current state.
[If you enter the second floor now, you'll die.]
“What? What am I supposed to do, then?! Are you messing with me?”
[You can leave.]
He hadn't officially entered the second floor yet, so it should be fine.
“You're telling me to go back to the lobby?”
[Yes.]
Yoo Ji-han crossed his arms and scowled. It looked like he needed a bit more explanation.
[If you do as I say, you can clear it. Not right away, mind you.]
“What if I just go in?”
[You'll die for sure. You won't even last thirty minutes, let alone an hour.]
The goblins on the second floor were the same kind as the army I'd faced at the very entrance to the Tower of Trials.
I knew better than anyone how the Hunters, who'd been thoroughly trained by their guilds, had died.
A shadow fell over his face. I didn't press him for an answer.
If some disembodied voice suddenly told me that, I'd have a lot to think about, too.
His hesitation and conflict were completely understandable.
“If I do as you say, can I clear it?”
[That depends on you. Still, it's better than a zero percent chance, right?]
“Fine. What do I have to do?”
[First, a warning. It's going to be tough. Forget what happened on the first floor; that was just a warm-up. You still in?]
“You said I'd die if I went in now. So I have to turn back.”
Yoo Ji-han's gaze changed.
It would be a lie to say there was no anxiety or fear in his eyes.
But his eyes showed he already understood.
That this place was no paradise, and the path ahead was a thorny one, stained with blood.
In a way, he seemed to be in a much better state than I was when I first landed on the continent of Arbelicia.
[By the way, do you know how to use a sword?]