The First Tower (3)
Traveling with Uncle Dusik, I was able to learn a great deal more about the towers and the current state of Korea's settlements.
"You said you've only been back about a month, right, Charlotte? Then do you know a man named Yu Jiseong?"
Yu Jiseong? It wasn't a name I'd come across when I'd looked into things before. Somehow it felt familiar, and yet nothing more would surface.
"It does sound familiar, but I don't think he's whoever you're thinking of."
"That's fair enough. For now, you can say most of Korea's settlements exist thanks to him."
"He must be quite something, then?"
"Oh, absolutely. Technically the Blue House Settlement—the one the government built—is the center of them all, but the man actually running it is Yu Jiseong."
"What exactly did he do to climb that high?"
"He's the first person in Korea to conquer a tower."
Uncle Dusik said it matter-of-factly, hacking through branches with the machete he'd drawn from his belt.
The weight of the word first was nothing light. Especially when the peaceful everyday world had collapsed—staking your life to accomplish something in that kind of chaos carried even more gravity.
"The first to clear a tower… Yeah, that would definitely put someone in that position."
"Right? Thanks to him, people learned how to conquer towers—and that clearing one comes with rewards."
"Rewards from the towers?"
"When you clear a tower, the people who conquered it receive rewards. Usually gear—weapons, armor, that sort of thing. And on very rare occasions, something called an Artifact drops—items with special effects attached."
Clear a tower, get a reward. If that was a cliché, it was a cliché.
"But that's not all of it, is it?"
"Sharp one, aren't you! Right—beyond that, sometimes every person in the world, or at least everyone in the country, receives a reward as well. The devices we call Watches were one of those rewards, and so was the internet-like system."
"I see. That makes sense."
Just as the goddess Partruna had said—other gods lending their aid. Tools and systems that granted convenience to everyone whenever a tower was cleared.
"So because this Yu Jiseong cleared a tower, people at least got the means to contact each other and the tools they needed to survive?"
"Exactly. And from what I hear, this time he's planning to join forces with several settlements to take on the tower on Namsan."
"The tower on Namsan? Why? Is there a particular reason it has to be that one?"
"It's the oldest tower in Seoul right now. And it's necessary for the Seoul Restoration plan they're about to push forward."
"The Seoul Restoration plan?"
"Yeah. Right now, only the settlements connected to the Blue House can travel between each other with any real ease. Moving through anywhere else is a nightmare because of outlaws and the towers. So the idea is to stabilize the central districts first, then gradually expand outward. That's why they're going after the most dangerous one—the tower on Namsan."
"Are you sure it's all right to tell me something this important?"
Honestly, wasn't it? The Seoul Restoration plan I'd just heard about was clearly the kind of information only the people at the top of the settlements were supposed to know. Handing it to an outsider like me made no sense.
"It was going to be announced soon anyway. And Uncle here's got pretty good instincts. Something tells me that if it's you, Charlotte, you're bound to do something big. Haha!"
After that, we talked about the settlements, and I told him about the month I'd spent since coming back. Before long, a structure piercing the clouds and rising high into the sky came into view ahead of us.
"So that's a tower!"
A strange excitement welled up in my chest, and I broke into a run.
"H-hey! Charlotte! It's dangerous to just charge out like that!"
Of course, Uncle Dusik came sprinting after me just as fast.
Standing before the tower, the only thought that came to me was: It's enormous.
No, truly enormous—I had to tip my head all the way back and still stare for a long while before I could even begin to make out the top. It looked like it easily topped sixty stories.
How long would it take to climb all of that? Wait—do you even climb it? Maybe there are skip zones or something?
"Hah… hah… Y-you've got some serious legs on you…!"
Panting hard, Uncle Dusik caught up to me.
"Is this the place where you set up that safety camp you mentioned?"
He looked around for a moment.
"No… seems like it's on the opposite side."
"Hmm. Do you have to climb the entire tower?"
"Well… I'm not really sure about that."
"What? Didn't you come here to clear it? I figured you'd know plenty about towers if you came prepared for that…"
He scratched his head.
"Oh, I came intending to clear it, sure. What I mean is something a little different. Towers can look tall from the outside, but once you're inside, the number of floors varies. Sometimes they even go underground. And if you look at that clock face up there—it's pointing right at one o'clock, which means it hasn't been around long. So the monsters coming out of it should only be about Lower Grade."
"Is that so? But there's no guarantee of that, is there?"
I tilted my head and asked. He considered it.
"Well, you could think of it that way. But ever since that Yu Jiseong fellow cleared his first tower, dozens of towers have been conquered, and this much has held true every time—the difficulty of the monsters scales with wherever the clock hand is pointing. Same goes for the ones roaming the wasteland around it."
In that moment, a question I couldn't quite place rose in my mind.
Uncle had said it clearly: the difficulty changed depending on where the tower's clock hand pointed. I didn't know the exact scale, but with it sitting at one o'clock right now, only Lower Grade monsters should appear. So then—why had a Giant Orc, said to be strong even among Medium Grade, shown up at the safety camp where Uncle and his teammates had been?
"Hold on. That doesn't add up. You said this tower appeared recently, so only Lower Grade should come out. The surrounding area should be the same—so why did a Medium Grade Giant Orc appear?"
"Beats me. Maybe the building collapsing kicked up enough of a racket to draw it in?"
"But then Lower Grade monsters should have been the ones to move. What actually moved was Medium Grade."
At my question, Uncle stroked the beard on his chin, his expression turning serious.
"Hmm. That is strange, I'll give you that. I've cleared about three towers myself, and neither the people I ran them with nor anyone I've met traveling between settlements ever mentioned anything like this…"
"Which means this is pretty bad news. Either the tower's rules have changed, or…"
"Or?"
"Or someone deliberately lured it here—or used some other method."
At that, Uncle's eyes went wide.
"Who on earth would do something like that? What would they even gain…?!"
If I knew that, would I be standing here asking?
Of all times—from the very first moment I'd stepped out into this world after coming back, I already felt like I'd been swept into the middle of some enormous incident.
"Who knows. Maybe it was those… what were they called? The Obelisk? That insane cult that worships the towers?"
"Those bastards? Yeah… if it were them, they'd do whatever it took to protect a tower. Damn those sons of bitches!!!"
I flinched at the sudden shout, my shoulders jumping.
Getting that angry out of nowhere… something must have happened between them before.
I cleared my throat, trying to ease the mood a little.
"Ahem. Well. It's just a possibility."
"Sorry about that. We had a bit of a run-in a while back."
"It's fine. More importantly—if this isn't where the camp was, we should probably just head straight for the settlement."
"Yeah. Let's do that."
Leaving the tower I'd seen for the first time behind us, I followed Uncle as he took the lead, setting off in the direction of the settlement.
Long brown hair twisted up into a high side ponytail. A black leather jacket and skinny jeans, with leather armor reinforced by iron plating strapped over various parts of her body. A girl who looked like she'd only just become an adult.
Kang Ara planted both hands on her knees, gasping for breath, and called out to her teammates.
"Hah… hah… Is everyone all right?"
Following Uncle Dusik's instructions, they'd had no choice but to split their numbers—she and Uncle Chunsik, the vice-captain, dividing into two groups and each taking one of the two orcs before separating.
It had been her first time facing a monster like that, and her body still wouldn't stop trembling. But she was the daughter of the man who led these people, and the strongest Awakened Hunter here besides. So she did her best to hide the shaking as she looked over her exhausted teammates.
"No problems here."
"I think we'll be fine if we rest a bit."
Watching them drink from the canteens at their belts or take off their caps to fan themselves, she first raised a wall of earth so the orc wouldn't notice them—set to collapse after a set amount of time—then took temporary shelter in the ruined building where they'd agreed to meet Uncle Chunsik.
"You made it! You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
She looked at Uncle Chunsik, who was fretting over her.
"I'm fine. You know I'm stronger than I look, right?"
"That's a relief, then."
"Right? Still… I'm worried whether Uncle Dusik managed to get away all right…"
"That brother of mine? He's a master of staying alive. You don't need to worry too much."
"I hope so."
If she had moved faster, Uncle Dusik wouldn't have had to draw so many orcs after him—or so Ara thought. But she shook her head, telling herself he must have escaped just fine.
"Let's head back to the settlement for now. We're almost there anyway, and if it's Dusik, he'll find his own way back."
"Sounds good. It won't take long to reach the settlement, so let's catch our breath a little longer, then move fast."
Hoping they wouldn't run into any orcs—or outlaws—on the way back, all Ara could do was keep watch through the window.
But life, as they say, rarely goes the way you want it to.
Ara had prayed they wouldn't be ambushed on the way to the settlement—and that very thought seemed to plant the flag. They ran straight into a band of outlaws. And not just any outlaws—the group she hated most of all.
"Whew~ Leaving a pretty little lady like this surrounded by a bunch of greasy old men? What's the story here?"
"No kidding. Heh heh. Anyway, let's finish these guys off quick and take the girl with us, yeah?"
On their shoulders was the mark of the Falcon Gang—the shape of a falcon.
The instant Ara saw that symbol, heat rushed to her head. But she couldn't move recklessly. She ground her teeth and watched for an opening.
"Hey~ What's with the death glare, missy? Don't you worry—you'll be having a real good time soon enough. Heh heh…"
Spouting some washed-up line, the one who seemed to be their leader looked her up and down, then down and up again. Her teammates' anger flared right along with hers.
"You… you bastards…!"
The moment one of them shouted, a sharp bang rang out—and the man who'd cried out collapsed.
"Ghk…"
"Hey, Kim…!"
In the hand of the outlaw who looked like the leader, a pistol still trailed smoke as he looked down at the fallen man.
"Hey, hey, don't get so mad~ I just got a little carried away and pulled the trigger! Bwahahaha!"
Ara couldn't take it anymore. She was about to send her mana into the ground and strike the outlaws when—
A fierce wind howled past with a whoooosh, and with it came a strange, biting chill.
"Are you all right?"
A clear, steady voice—and at the same time, a dull crack. The outlaws were pinned by something unseen and lost consciousness on the spot. Ice statues shaped like lions began dragging the fallen outlaws into a single pile.
"Wha—?!"
Startled by the sudden appearance of someone so powerful, Ara tensed—but then she saw a smiling young man, and beside him a woman approaching while resting a hand on one of the ice lions.
"Ah! No need to be so wary. We took a commission from Elder Kang Hancheol, the leader of the Mokdong Settlement. Yeonseo, can you pull the commission letter out of the bag?"
The young man held out his hand toward the woman still touching the lion statue.
"Yeah. Here."
In a flat tone, the woman handed him the letter, then went back to gathering the collapsed outlaws with the statues.
"Here you go!"
The gently smiling young man had a rather handsome face.
Ara and Chunsik checked the commission letter quickly and let out a breath of relief.
"Yes, we've confirmed it. Kang Hyeonseok, Seo Yeonseo—thank you for the help."
And so Ara and her teammates set off toward the settlement together with the man and woman who had appeared so suddenly, the fallen outlaws loaded onto the ice statues as they walked.