Click, and click
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, I visited the Player Management Bureau building, where Section Chief Choi greeted me with a sour expression.
"I really don't know what to say..."
"Spare me the pleasantries, just guide me to the button."
Section Chief Choi let out a dry cough repeatedly in front of me, his demeanor having changed in just a day.
The sudden refusal of contract renewal by the Bureau, the breakup with the girlfriend I had thought about marrying...
No matter how carefree a guy I was, it was a situation where I couldn't possibly look happy.
With a blank face, I followed Section Chief Choi into the Bureau building.
Passing the information desk, we got into the elevator. As he pressed the button for the 7th basement floor, Section Chief Choi spoke to me again.
"Seo-jin-ssi, I'm only bypassing all the procedures and sending you straight to the button room because it's you. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to get approval from the higher-ups? You know that players in other countries pay $10 million just to press this button once, right?"
Sseuk
Feeling my chilling gaze, Section Chief Choi hurriedly held out both hands and made excuses.
"No, no! I'm obviously not saying I want money! Can't a guy brag a little? I respect your decision. I think all players who try to get stronger for the sake of their country are great people."
Respect, my ass.
I was someone who knew the ins and outs of the players who came to press the button.
They were all people who came to grab onto the last straw at the end of their lives.
They had awakened and become players, but they lacked the talent to clear the high floors.
Back when the Tower of Trials had just appeared and the price of magic stones was sky-high, there was a time when just being awakened meant sitting on a pile of money.
But now, the price had long since plummeted due to the laws of supply and demand.
Unless you were lucky enough to acquire materials for specially crafted items or artifacts imbued with supernatural powers, it had become a world where even players found it difficult to avoid financial hardship.
Well,
I couldn't deny that it was a rational thing from the state's perspective.
The Tower of Trials collapses if the top floor isn't updated within 6 months, so it was only natural that wealth and honor were concentrated on the few players capable of clearing high floors, rather than the thousands of players who only ran the low floors over and over again.
In soccer terms, it was like a couple of star players receiving more money than the combined salaries of all the players in an unpopular league.
"But... well, you'll get an explanation and sign the consent form before going in, but... Seo-jin-ssi, you know what kind of danger that button holds, right? You know... you must know, right..."
Ah.
It seemed Section Chief Choi was worried about the situation where I might die on the spot as soon as I pressed the button.
That was true.
The button, which grants an increase in ability in exchange for 50 years of lifespan, often created a horrific result where the user would die on the spot if they had less than 50 years of life remaining.
Does a human who knows their exact remaining lifespan even exist in this world?
Young players who pressed the button, hoping, "I'm still young, so I must have at least 60 to 70 years left."
Among them, fifteen had already died the moment they pressed the button without even gaining any abilities.
When the first one or two players suffered that accident, it wasn't even on the news, but as the number exceeded ten, it started to spread among the players like word of mouth.
Therefore,
The number of players coming to press the button had decreased significantly now.
Occasionally, in countries that possessed a Tower of Trials with less than a month left until collapse, only a few players with strong patriotism, wanting to save their country, would come to press the button with government support. That was the trend these days.
The most recent player to press the button was Zhaoning from China.
He was a figure who held a fairly high rank among Chinese players.
To clear the 62nd floor of the Tower of Trials in the Mohe region, a place even the Chinese government had given up on, he visited the Bureau two years ago to press the 50-Year Button with financial support from the Chinese government.
He was 32 at the time and was already a player with sufficient talent, but he returned to China full of confidence, claiming he had experienced a tremendous rise in skill after pressing the 50-Year Button.
And in just two months, he succeeded in clearing from the 57th to the 62nd floor, instantly becoming a hero of China and saving the Mohe region from the risk of the tower collapsing.
Currently, the tower in the Mohe region is on the 64th floor, and there is a little over 5 months left until the collapse point...
But Zhaoning, who was supposed to clear the 65th floor, is no longer in this world.
"Zhaoning... that friend still went out in style. Maybe it's right to see it as fate. If you think of it as 2 years given by heaven to save the country-"
It was bullshit.
A person who could have lived 52 more years died in 2 years; what kind of fate is that?
It might be a good thing for the people left behind and the world, but if you die, everything is over.
Ah, well, for someone like Zhaoning, who was truly filled with the resolve to sacrifice his own body for the country and his people, it might have been a glorious thing.
I was organizing these thoughts, letting Section Chief Choi's nonsense go in one ear and out the other, when the elevator arrived at the 7th basement floor.
"It's slow."
My muttered words, spoken unconsciously.
"It came down after going through dozens of security processes at every floor. This is an elevator with the Bureau's incredible technology that you wouldn't understand even if I told you. The 50-Year Button is a treasure that holds the fate of the nation—huff!"
Section Chief Choi, who had been trying to look down on me and show off, stopped talking with a cough.
Of course, he was sucking up to me.
How could the 50-Year Button have appeared in this world?
If it weren't for the Stone of Time that I had accidentally obtained, the 50-Year Button could never have existed in this world.
Therefore,
The more he talked about the greatness of the 50-Year Button in front of me, the more he was just revealing how cheaply the Bureau had bought the Stone of Time from me.
"Ahem... so, um... Oh, Director Kim!"
Section Chief Choi, looking for something to say, ran out as soon as the elevator door opened.
Director Kim.
The highest authority of the Player Management Bureau, in name and reality, was somehow loitering in front of the 50-Year Button room.
"Director Kim! What brings you here!"
Section Chief Choi was fussing around in front of Director Kim like a wagging puppy, while Director Kim looked at me, who was walking slowly behind him, and spoke.
"Player Seo-jin-ssi, hello. We met once before, right?"
He and I, who had exchanged brief greetings when I came to sell the Stone of Time.
"Yes, hello."
At my dry greeting, Director Kim approached and patted my shoulder.
"I visited to cheer you on because I thought it was a very meaningful moment. On behalf of the Bureau, no, the country, I thank you for Player Seo-jin-ssi's decision."
The story about loving the country that Section Chief Choi was spouting poured out of Director Kim's mouth exactly the same way.
I didn't want to drag this out any longer, so I brushed off their conversation, signed the consent form without even reading it, and entered the room.
The room with the 50-Year Button was simpler than I thought.
At a glance, it looked like an ordinary auditorium, and I could see a small button shining on a table located in the center of the podium.
The Bureau staff, Section Chief Choi, and even Director Kim had been acting friendly and talking to me until I signed the consent form, but they guided me to enter the room alone.
As I walked alone toward the table with the button in the large auditorium, the thought that I was truly lonely crossed my mind.
However,
I had already made up my mind long ago.
Thump
Thump
Click.
As if it were an insignificant moment of daily life.
Just like that, I pressed the button in front of me without a moment's hesitation.
[The player's lifespan is reduced by 50 years.]
[All player stats +50]
"Simple, huh?"
I had imagined some dramatic scene where a massive light would bloom and then be absorbed into my body.
But, just like in the bathroom 5 years ago when I awakened while taking a dump,
The message appeared before my eyes just as simply.
"Pfft."
I found this situation unnecessarily funny.
Of course, +50 to all stats was an absurdly huge price.
Among my stats, Agility was the only one that exceeded 20, so it meant all my stats had risen to the 60s and 70s.
I don't know for sure, but I could probably clear one floor a day up to the 45th floor.
But...
The real thing started now.
Even after seeing the message, I didn't even open my status window.
I wasn't particularly relieved by the fact that I hadn't died instantly, even though all my stats had risen and my lifespan had decreased by 50 years.
I didn't come to press this button today to become stronger.
Becoming a decent player from a lousy one meant nothing to me now.
I was the one who had been abandoned by Hyo-jeong, whom I had considered family, and was once again alone in the world.
It meant I didn't have much attachment to life.
I soon brought my hand to the button again.
Yes, the goal was to press this button twice from the beginning.
There might be people in the world who live to be 100, but there wouldn't be anyone who lives to be 130.
Am I the only one who realized that this button is the ultimate euthanasia button allowed only to players?
Surely, among the 15 previous deaths, there must have been at least two or three people who made the same choice as me.
My thoughts had already ended long ago.
I calmly pressed the button again.
Click.
"...Huh?"
A cluster of light.
The massive, blinding cluster of light I had expected when I first pressed the button appeared, and then it began to be absorbed into my body.
"Wha... what is this? Why... why am I not dead?"
And a moment later,
[The player's lifespan is reduced by 50 years.]
[All player stats x50]
This time, a message appeared before my eyes that I couldn't help but open my status window to check.