The Eternity Room
Wooseok sucked in a breath. Spread out before his eyes was a sight he could never forget, no matter how hard he tried — a boundless expanse of white, and there in front of him, a red digital clock.
A Hell difficulty stage — one that didn't even deign to reveal its clear condition. Bonghyuk's divination had been right on the mark. The hundred-million-year room was real.
Ba-dump. Without warning, Wooseok's heart began hammering like a wild animal against his ribs, and regret came flooding in.
A mistake. I never should have come in here. No way in hell something like a fortune-telling actually comes true. I'm fucked. Completely fucked.
Every species of ominous imagining began gnawing away at his mind.
I have to get out.
I have to escape.
But how? There was no way out.
A low groan escaped him. His mind felt ready to come apart at the seams. But this was Jeong Wooseok — SSS-rank Awakener, a man who had clawed his way through countless life-or-death crises — and he pulled himself back together.
Stay calm, Jeong Wooseok. Calm down. What was it that guy said again?
Just hold out for exactly one hundred days.
And in that instant — remarkably — the fear thinned and drained away, leaving calm in its wake.
Right. One hundred days. I only have to last one hundred days.
If the divination was wrong, he was finished anyway. And if he was finished either way, there was no loss in believing it for a hundred days. With his mind made up, Wooseok dropped to the floor, tipped his bag over, and sent manga tumbling out in an avalanche.
Far more books poured out than the bag's capacity could possibly hold. An extraspace backpack — a Tower artifact farmed on Hell difficulty.
The sum total of his luggage. No water. No food. Nothing but manga.
Though honestly, an SSS-rank had little need of food. Inside the Tower, he could go about a year without a meal.
And so, in the dead center of that barren white expanse, with nothing around him but mountains of comics, Wooseok plopped down where he stood.
One Piece.
Might as well start here.
By Wooseok's side, the finished volumes had been stacked in neat, orderly towers. He had just closed the final volume of One Piece.
Hm. Not bad at all.
He'd written it off as childish at first, but as the crew swelled one member at a time and their stories piled up, he'd found himself strangely hooked. There had even been a scene that stung his eyes with tears.
When do you think a person is truly forgotten?
What a line. And he was right, too. He didn't want to be forgotten.
Then again — past a hundred volumes and the story still wasn't over? What kind of superhuman patience did the readers who followed this in real time have?
When sleep came, he slept. When his body grew stiff, he trained. When boredom struck, he read.
He'd finished Naruto as well. They called it one of the Big Three of weekly manga — honestly not bad, even if the later stretches felt like they were wandering off into the mountains.
But there was no one around to see, so—
Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip.
He was miming ninja hand seals with both hands when the sheer embarrassment caught up with him, and he quit on the spot.
The boredom was starting to bite.
He read Death Note.
A premise where a single pen could kill a person. Two brilliant minds deceiving and out-thinking each other in a duel of pure intellect.
And then a thought ambushed him.
What if that shaman bastard had engineered every step of this just to dupe SSS-rank Jeong Wooseok? To take this Jeong Wooseok and swallow him whole?
He summoned Bonghyuk's face to mind. The dopey expression. The blank, vacant eyes.
Hm.
He didn't look smart enough to pull that off. Even so, doubt kept spiking out of nowhere — what if the divination was fake? A thin thread of anxiety. Goddammit. To think he had trusted the word of that con man.
He should have brought Chocobar ice cream bars. He regretted it.
Eating was never just about silencing a hungry stomach.
Taste. Sensation. Something that made you feel alive. That was what he needed.
None of it existed in this white room. No smell, no flavor. Only white — silent, and endless.
This time he finished Attack on Titan.
Humanity caged behind walls, and the giants beyond them. The way it planted mysteries and then actually paid them off was chilling.
He finished Hunter × Hunter. He wanted to escape this very instant, march outside, and seize Togashi by the collar.
He understood, now, the urge to scream, Get back to work, Togashi!
He finished One-Punch Man.
A protagonist so overwhelmingly strong that strength itself had left him jaded.
Someone like him. Omnipotent. Lonely from being too strong.
Except he wasn't bald — which made him the superior man. Heh.
Come to think of it, that hero's bare little apartment reminded him of somewhere. Bonghyuk's place. Out of nowhere, he remembered the ramen he'd eaten in that pitch-black studio. How long had it been since his last bowl? It had been delicious.
His childhood rose up to meet him. A small, cramped room. His mother and his little sister. The three of them huddled around a single pot, cooking ramen and eating it together.
And now...
"Tch."
Ten days left? For who knew how long now, a strange fluttering in his chest refused to die down. The manga had run out. There was nothing left to do.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Steady, Jeong Wooseok. Steady.
Tomorrow. At last, tomorrow.
Survive today, and he could walk free. He couldn't sleep so much as a wink.
His mind sharpened to an unbearable clarity and sensitivity — he felt as if he could hear a bug crawling across the floor. But there wasn't a single bug in this room. The only sound in all that white silence was his own heartbeat.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
It was deafening.
Nothing happened.
Nothing at all.
A hollow laugh spilled out of him.
"Ha... Hahaha."
The shaman had been wrong, and he was going to rot in this room for a hundred million years.
Wooseok laughed emptily — and then screamed with every fiber of his being.
"Fuck... FUUUUUUCK! DO BONGHYUK, YOU SON OF A BITCH!! AAAAARGH!!!"
He wanted to kill him.
He collapsed where he stood, the strength draining from his legs.
I'm fucked.
I wonder if he's holding up in there? Bonghyuk stole a glance toward the Hell gate's entrance.
It had been two days since Wooseok went in — but there was no telling how many days had passed on the other side. It wouldn't be strange for him to walk out this very moment, and it wouldn't be strange if it took far, far longer.
When he comes out, I'll boil him up some ramen.
Around then, a post went up on AwakenersNet.
A hyung I know works at the Awakener Management Bureau, and internally they're treating his retirement as a done deal. Four failures on Hell 7F already, and apparently he's broken down with zero will to go back in. Word is he just goes to the bookstore, buys manga, and reads it. He's been MIA for quite a while now.
Fellow SSS-rank Lee Chaerin cleared floor 6, and the Bureau concentrates its management on those two. The way I see it, the divination was bull, and he never went to floor 7 either. Every other divination gets livestreamed — isn't it a bit weird that only Wooseok's was kept hidden?
Anyway, that's my two cents.
The Awakener Management Bureau.
"You still haven't located Wooseok?"
"No, sir."
"He didn't actually enter the Tower, did he?"
That morning, Director Oh had gone around to Wooseok's hotel — the room had been empty. He'd wondered if the kid had at least gone home. He hadn't.
He had simply evaporated.
There was exactly one circumstance in which an SSS-rank's whereabouts could not be traced: when he had entered the Tower.
Director Oh immediately ordered Section Chief Jeong to establish Jeong Wooseok's whereabouts,
and that afternoon, Section Chief Jeong Heeju sent him a single link.
"Director. I believe you need to see this."
The view count had already sailed past half a million. Oh Jeonghun clicked the link, watched for a long, long while — and doubted his own eyes.
On screen, Jeong Wooseok was bickering with some bizarre shaman. Then he was marching a high school girl into the Tower by the scruff of her neck. Then he was pulling someone out of the Tower alive. It was nothing but one incomprehensible thing after another.
He wondered if the footage had been faked.
"Is this real? Is it an AI video?"
Section Chief Jeong Heeju nodded.
"It's real."
"...Then who the hell is that guy?"
Chief Jeong smoothly held out a report.
"I passed over it at first — looked like nothing. But when I saw Jeong Wooseok tangled up in it, I knew I'd slipped."
Inside lay everything on record concerning Do Bonghyuk.
Name: Do Bonghyuk
Awakening Date: 20xx.xx.xx (approx. two weeks ago)
Rank: F
Class: Shaman (mudang)
Oh Jeonghun's eyes narrowed as he read.
"A shaman? There's an Awakener class called Shaman?"
"The first ever registered."
"What kind of class is that... So this bastard is out in the Tower lobby telling fortunes right now?"
"Yes, sir. Quite a few visitors have already been through. Have a look at the back pages."
Everything from the silver weapons case to the recent rescue of Shin Hoyeon — a dossier compiled from AwakenersNet summary threads. Oh Jeonghun read on and on.
"This... is all of it true?"
"Yes."
Oh Jeonghun stared at her, aghast.
"How is any of this possible?"
Chief Jeong Heeju nodded once more.
"It is, sir. We ran a formal cross-examination, and by all accounts it all checked out. The Tower Butchers' charges were substantiated as well. Shin Hoyeon really had been trapped inside the Tower — and he came out alive."
"So. Jeong Wooseok had his fortune told by this bastard?"
"Yes. He reportedly provoked him with, 'Don't you want to clear Hell's 7th floor?' He hasn't shown his face since."
Jeong Wooseok was the Republic of Korea's single greatest asset. In the final hour — fifth attempt or no — he was a resource that would be committed no matter what. He could not be squandered for nothing. Climbers poured meticulous preparation into Hell's 7th floor and it still wasn't enough — and this man had walked in on a fortune-teller's say-so?
"Ha. Back the kid into a corner and he starts doing things he's never done... Seeing in advance what comes out of the Tower. Utter nonsense."
"Section Chief Jeong. Your read."
"Sir?"
"Does it feel real to you?"
Chief Jeong Heeju considered for a moment, then answered.
"It couldn't, sir. I believe it's impossible. A coincidence — nothing more. But if, by some miracle, it were real—"
"If it were real?"
Chief Jeong raised her head and looked him dead in the eye.
"Then the Republic of Korea has just met its savior."
Director Oh clicked his tongue.
"None of that crap. Savior, my ass."
No such being could exist. A hollow hope, and the man beneath it a plain fraud. The kind of trash who fattened themselves on other people's despair.
"Section Chief Jeong."
"Yes."
"Contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau. One of our SSS-ranks vanished on that man's word alone. Open a direct investigation."
"Understood, sir."
The Tower lobby. Bonghyuk was seeing clients as usual. It was around the time Wooseok's third day of silence had begun to gnaw at him.
Crack!
The space before his eyes split wide open, and figures in black came pouring out to encircle him. In the blink of an eye, black-uniformed Enforcement Officers had the Bongshindang booth ringed tight. The customers in line for talismans and the Awakeners watching the readings began to stir.
Through their parted ranks walked a middle-aged man at an unhurried pace. Director Oh Jeonghun. He looked down at Bonghyuk.
"Do Bonghyuk?"
"That's me? If you'd like a reading, the line starts—"
"Still spouting that fortune-telling garbage. Take him!"
Two officers abruptly clamped down on Bonghyuk's arms.
"Do Bonghyuk. You are under arrest on suspicion of unauthorized activity within the Tower lobby and involvement in the disappearance of an SSS-rank Awakener."
"Huh?"
What was any of this supposed to mean? The crowd murmured and shifted. The livestream chats went into full meltdown.
Doyeon, camera still clutched in her hands, stamped her feet in helpless panic, while Jian planted herself in front of Bonghyuk with a cry of "Whoa, whoa, hold on a second!"
Bonghyuk blinked, arms pinned. He was being hauled off without the faintest idea why — and yet his face stayed oddly, serenely blank.
"Is telling fortunes a crime now?"
"What you're guilty of, you can find out once we've questioned you. Take him away."
And right then—
Into Bonghyuk's head—
[An Awakener who received a divination has completed the Tower conquest.]
[A portion of experience acquired. +153,200 XP]
[A portion of the Tower clearance reward, Tower Coins, acquired. +50.0 TC]
[Level increased. Shaman Lv.2 → Shaman Lv.3]
[Level increased. Shaman Lv.3 → Shaman Lv.4]
[Level increased. Shaman Lv.4 → Shaman Lv.5]
[Level increased. Shaman Lv.5 → Shaman Lv.6]
[Level increased. Shaman Lv.6 → Shaman Lv.7]
[A new skill has been unlocked.]
[Skill: Gut Ritual Lv.1]
[You may now hold a gut — a ritual to summon a god and submit requests.]
An astronomical dump of experience and Tower Coins. And—
A gut?
"Gwoot."
And at that very instant, inside the mind of every Awakener gathered in the Tower lobby, a single message appeared. A system notification.
Ding—
[The Republic of Korea has completed the conquest of 'Hell' Floor 7.]
[A 3-month grace period before the Break has been granted.]
[Clearer: Jeong Wooseok]
"Whuh—?"
The entire lobby froze solid. Bonghyuk's gaze slid away toward somewhere across the hall. A smile had hooked the corner of his mouth.
"Welcome back."
Every head in the room snapped in that direction at once.
And there stood Jeong Wooseok.
"Wh-what? Wooseok?"
Director Oh stared at him in astonishment. Wooseok spared not a glance for anyone else — he strode straight for Do Bonghyuk, glare locked on him and him alone, planted himself squarely in front of the man, and seized him by the collar.
"You—! You bastard! You should've told me straight that it could take 101 days, not 100! Do you have any idea how much I despaired for that whole extra day?! Huh?!"
"Huh? If I say hold out 100 days, then obviously you come out on day 101, urk—?"
"You try feeling what I felt, you bastard!"
He shook him hard by the collar. Inside the Tower, who was going to stop an SSS-rank? But before long, Wooseok released his grip with a flick, and smiled — with something like relief in it.
"Thanks. Because of you, I cleared Hell's 7th floor."
"Oh, it was nothing. Ahem."
Bonghyuk grinned right back at him.
Director Oh watched the whole exchange with his mouth hanging open, and finally managed to stammer:
"W-Wooseok, what on earth is...?"
Wooseok turned toward the Director.
"What do you mean? Didn't you see the message? Hell's 7th floor just got cleared."
"Then... this man really did read your fortune, and...?"
Only then did Wooseok catch up to the scene in front of him.
They've got it in their heads that Bonghyuk's a con man.
Wooseok spoke to the Director in a tone that hovered between warning and ultimatum:
"Hyung. You shouldn't be dragging him off in cuffs — you should be escorting him with honors. The Hell 7th floor divination. It matched perfectly. Every last detail."
At those words, Section Chief Jeong Heeju clapped a hand over her mouth and murmured, half to herself without meaning to:
"Don't tell me... an actual... savior...?"
© KAY™#13lul