A Life in the Past Tense

What met him first was the Corridor—the same space where he had received the reward for the last hidden quest.

The sight, though, was not what it had been. The bleak, eerie air had brightened a good deal, and more than that—

"Whoa!"

"So this is the Tower...?"

"Good Lord. Is that Mr. Shin? We can run into him like this?"

Other Awakened were there, and quite a few of the faces were familiar to Shin Haneul. They belonged to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Northern Command. The man who looked to be their commander stepped forward and greeted him.

It was Second Lieutenant Collins.

"A pleasure, Mr. Shin. So the rumor was true—you volunteered for the advance party."

"...It was a personal choice."

"There was a great deal I hoped to say if we ever met, but we're in the middle of an operation. My apologies. We'll be going on ahead."

His eyes went to the far end of the Corridor, to the entrance of the black tower rising high there.

"One moment."

"...?"

"I'll go first. I'll be back out shortly, so could you hold the entry for just a moment?"

"......"

It was neither a demand nor a threat. It was a last mercy, offered so these men would not become sacrifices. Watching someone he knew set out to do something dangerous right before his eyes, and doing nothing but look on, sat poorly with him.

"We can't do that. We entered under orders."

"Couldn't searching this Corridor be considered carrying out those orders?"

"...I'm sorry, but that judgment is mine to make."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"......"

"Mr. Shin. By any chance, were you granted a class as well?"

Second Lieutenant Collins's eyes were a little different from what they had been outside. Probably—no, certainly.

"After the notice of the Tower's formation went up, as that countdown dwindled, the Awakened split in two. Those who were granted a class, and those who were not."

"......"

"Which do you suppose we are?"

The speed at which a class formed varied from person to person. These men were on the quicker side. And that was all of it. What mattered about a class was its rank, not how fast it appeared.

"Step aside, Mr. Shin. We are not what we used to be."

They didn't know that. But Shin Haneul had already lost any will to extend them further courtesy. Their tongues were polite. Their eyes were not.

No. Even their tongues were steadily shedding their manners.

"No answer, I see. You failed to awaken, didn't you? Then you're hardly our equal."

"Or is it that you want to go first and snatch some special privilege for yourself?"

At first the U.S. military had taken the advance party for sacrificial lambs. Then, at some point as the hour of entry drew near, they learned that something strange had happened to several of the Awakened.

Classes. Each Awakened had been granted an individuality of their own. It was beyond any comparison with before, when the only way to fight had been to wield mana.

The U.S. high command convened at once and, in the little time left before the Tower formed, reorganized the reconnaissance unit—no, the entry force. Second Lieutenant Collins was among them.

I am strong. I've gotten stronger.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

A status window had come into being along with his class. When he tried the skills listed there for himself, the man he used to be—fighting through mana alone—felt like a child. There was even something called a level. Presumably he could raise it once he entered the Tower. If so, he had a feeling his life could change completely from here on.

"—could you hold the entry for just a moment?"

Words like that could never reach his ears. Not even when the one who spoke them was America's hero, Shin Haneul—a man he himself had worshipped until not long ago.

You're nothing now.

The sight of him ranging alone through mutant dungeons had been the very hero Collins had dreamed of as a boy. Just watching had set his heart trembling. And he had envied him. He had wanted to become that.

But now?

A large-scale mutant dungeon? With a paladin's skills, I think I could manage it too. And if I can't, I only have to raise my level.

"No answer, I see. You failed to awaken, didn't you? Then you're hardly our equal."

Even spoken to like this, the man couldn't so much as answer. Someone Collins had believed stood in a realm he could never reach—and yet he looked so small.

"Step aside."

He ignored Shin Haneul entirely and strode forward.

"Obviously. I'm going in! I said I'm going in!"

Just as when he had entered the Corridor, the world around him changed in an instant. And there, a quest was given.

"Ha! All I have to do is find a path?"

Before he knew it, not one of the troops who had entered with him was anywhere in sight. Apparently this Tower was something you climbed alone.

"Works out better, actually. We were short on time to drill our coordination anyway."

But his expectations were off the mark. Better because he was alone? All he had to do was find a path? It was an arrogance too absurd to be funny.

Floor 1 of the Tower was dense undergrowth. As he pressed slowly forward, a strange silhouette appeared ahead—several green shapes, things that didn't even reach his knee, huddled together and tearing into something to eat.

"Kigigik?"

One of them lifted its head. Its eyes met Collins's.

"Kigik!"

"Kigigigik!"

The cries were uncanny. Not quite bird, not quite beast—something like an instrument tuned all wrong.

...Goblins?

He had seen them in comics. He had seen them in games. Pointed ears. Yellow eyes. Even the crude, bone-like things clutched in their hands. Typical enough to put in a textbook. The corner of Collins's mouth lifted, just slightly.

Opponents made for a tutorial.

Of the skills he possessed, he readied the most powerful blow. The goblins, already on their guard, sensed it, and rushed him all at once.

Shwook—!

Collins ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠believed that fantastic attack would cleave the goblins cleanly in two.

But.

"Kieeeek—!"

It was nowhere near enough to stop the pack. The skill that had so exalted him had amounted to only that much. Realizing the truth, Collins spun at once and ran.

"Huff—huff!!"

His breath tore at him. He seemed to have fled in a complete panic. And yet...

Huh? That tree... I think I saw it before.

He was circling the same ground.

"Kigigik!"

A sound came from behind. Collins did not turn his head. He did not want to.

"Kigik! Kigigigik!"

"Kigigigi—"

Those green monsters. They hadn't lost him. They weren't failing to catch up. They were toying with him. And that, too, was now at an end.

"Kigik—."

"Kigigik."

Bored of the game, they cut off his retreat. He triggered his skills and tried to resist, but...

"—Ghk."

"Urgh!"

"Krgh..."

He had only become an amusing toy.

"It's a tutorial, isn't it?! A tutorial—!"

Under a hellish torment, Collins howled. And then it struck him.

Far too late, he understood the words floating in the quest window. The Tower had never expected him to fight the goblins and win. It had meant for him to flee for his life, out of the grip of those devilish things.

"Ah—fuck..."

He realized that exactly one of his predictions today had been right.

Now my life is going to change completely.

His life did change. From the present tense, to the past.

As Collins had said, Shin Haneul still had no class. That was separate from whether he had awakened, because the moment a class was granted also differed from person to person. No scholar of his previous life had ever found the cause of that difference, and so he did not know how to hasten it.

But.

Don't need one right now.

It was still the tutorial—the very beginning of it. On this first floor in particular, there was no need to fight the monsters. More precisely, the floor had been designed on the premise that you would not fight.

No point fighting now. It'd only dock my score.

Undergrowth filled his view the moment he entered the Tower, along with that distinctive clammy wind and smell. It had been a very long time.

Not glad to see a bit of it.

Unlike Collins, Shin Haneul did not run from the start. No—he had no thought of moving anywhere else at all.

...No need.

He had memories. Memories of his previous life. The message told him to find the magic circle, but wandering until the end of days would only hasten his death. The circle that led upward was here.

He dropped his gaze to the ground. Stone. Large, flat stones laid without a single gap. In his last life, most people had simply walked past them, thrashing through the undergrowth for ages in search of the circle. And yet not one person had cleared Floor 1 within three hours, even though, to the Awakened, the space was not enormously wide.

The reason, revealed later, was simple. The magic circle lay hidden beneath the floor at the starting point, and it only rose after three hours had passed. So if you pried the stones up before then? Faster. You could climb at a speed no one else could match. Discovering that, in itself, was a hidden quest.

Of course, once one person finds it and uses it, the generation rule changes. You can no longer force it early by hand.

That was the irritating thing about hidden quests. The thing itself was hard enough to discover, and once one person used it, that was the end. No one else could enjoy the benefit.

With a grating scrape, Shin Haneul reached down and set his hand on the stone beneath his feet, feeling along the seam with his fingers. He had no tools. Of course he didn't.

Doesn't matter.

Even without a class, an Awakened was an Awakened. Wrap mana around his hand, and that strength was beyond any comparison with an ordinary person. He drove his fingers into the gap and hauled. With a dull thud, the first stone shoved aside.

"Kigigik——"

A cry rose from somewhere in the brush. Goblins had sharp ears. The distance was considerable, but before long they would find him all the same.

But I'm faster.

The second stone. The third. He lifted them without pause. Some of the stones held mana, and the joints of his fingers began to split. Blood welled up. He paid it no mind.

A heavy groan of stone. A thud. How many had he pried away? Only now did a faint light leak from below.

Done.

At the same time the goblins' cries grew a little louder, and Shin Haneul's hands moved faster. As he shoved a few more stones aside, the light grew steadily clearer—intricate circular lines interlocking with one another, yet bound to a fixed rule. A magic circle.

His palms were a mess of blood. Two fingernails were broken. Haneul looked down at them with indifference, then stepped onto the circle. Light rose from beneath his feet. It was warm. He thought he heard the pattern locking into place, a very low, quiet vibration climbing up through the soles of his feet.

"Kieeeek——!"

He had entered the goblins' field of view. Naturally, they had entered his. But now it was time to part. The light under his feet grew so bright he had to shut his eyes. It was the instant before a goblin could reach him.

Shin Haneul's feet left the ground.

"Kigi——"

The sound cut off.