Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Explorer I: Shin Noah
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29
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Explorer I
Shin Noah
1
A Void erupted in the heart of Seoul, turning the entire Gangnam district into a wasteland.
I've already mentioned this story several times in my tales, so it should be familiar to all of you by now.
The incident known as the 'Gangnam Void Incident,' 'Gangnam White Night,' or 'Seoul's Summer.' Old Man Show's wife was also swept up in the 'Summer' and passed away.
That said, even in the Gangnam area completely stained by the Void, a few buildings remained completely intact.
Assuming 'intact' refers to the building's exterior looking pristine from the outside, that is.
And here's where things get tricky.
Q. If a building stays perfectly intact just like before in land swallowed by the Void, oh dear, what a shock. What principle could possibly allow that?
A. It's a Void too.
That's right. An eye for an eye, poison for poison.
Just like using heat to fight heat, it endures by overpowering the Void with an even stronger Void.
In other words? If you spot a still 'intact' building in Gangnam, it means that building executed a perfect 'it's fine, I bounced it off' right in the epicenter of the Void that wiped out half of Seoul's population in one shot.
The ultimate high-difficulty dungeons.
The toughest, scariest, most monstrous Voids on the entire Korean Peninsula are pretty much all concentrated in Seoul's Gangnam.
The human real estate market has tanked hard, but among anomalies, Gangnam still reigns as the hottest spot.
One particularly infamous dungeon among them operates out of a hotel in the building also called 'Sauron's Tower.'
That's right. We talked about inns last episode, so today, let's chat about a hotel.
2
The building nicknamed 'Sauron's Tower'—as you all know—is that skyscraper boasting the highest number of floors in Seoul.
It started as a half-joking moniker, but after the Void hit Gangnam and all the residents, office workers, hotel staff, and everyone else inside vanished, now it's straight-up called 'Sauron's Tower.'
Immediately after the Void erupted, people pinned huge hopes on Sauron's Tower.
"That building's still standing!"
"There might be tons of survivors inside, right?"
It was already the tallest structure on the peninsula. In today's world where Seoul's average building height has regressed fifty years, it stood out even more.
"Oh yeah, I think I heard that tower was designed to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake..."
"No way the inside's intact too?"
"They say there's a gate to another world near the top of that building."
"Let's go in! Check it out!"
So first off, folks from north of the Han River rushed into Sauron's Tower.
And vanished right after entering.
Sure, in the chaos right after the apocalypse kicked off, nobody batted an eye at a few missing people. Even tacking on two extra zeros to the missing count wouldn't have changed a thing.
But as a month dragged by, then two, weird rumors started swirling about Sauron's Tower.
'A place where if you open the door and take even one step inside, you never come back out.'
"We'll assemble an investigation team."
By this point, the Republic of Korea Army—which was barely hanging on—launched the operation.
The Ten Tribes were treating soldiers like gourmet snacks and on a full-on purge, so any unit that survived this long had to be elite.
The soldiers decided to borrow wisdom from the ancients. Very ancient, mind you.
"We'll link up in a daisy chain and breach the tower. Every soldier, tie a rope around your waist."
"Sir? Ropes?"
"Yeah. Link all the soldiers in one line with these ropes. Operation name: 'Ariadne.'"
The commander issued orders with the exact same mindset Theseus had when he hit Crete and faced humanity's greatest labyrinth.
"The lead element enters first. If nothing's wrong, they back out to the hotel exterior. If the lead loses contact, cut the rope with your knife and the rest evacuate. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. Prep the ropes."
Cautious and solid plan.
Problem was, Sauron's Tower wasn't some run-of-the-mill dungeon—it was a demon king's castle that survived 'Seoul's Summer.'
"No response from the ones who went in!"
"Pull the line!"
"Th-the line won't budge, sir. Ngh, it won't move! Heavy as a boulder!"
"No choice. Abort Ariadne. Cut the rope!"
"Yes, sir. Wait—the rope, uh, why? Wh-what?"
"What the hell, rookie! Cut the damn line!"
"Ah, it won't cut! The rope won't cut!"
"What bullshit... Wh-what? It's dragging us!"
"Aaah! Save me! Somebody save me!"
"No! Hold fast! If it pulls you in, you're dead...!"
Incredibly, the rope had somehow upgraded to titanium-grade at some point. Not even a military knife could nick it.
Sauron's Tower's glass doors flew wide, sucking the soldiers in like slurping up noodles in one go.
A flawless mukbang.
"Ah, aaaah...!"
Even the last soldier desperately clinging to the doorframe got whooshed into the darkness. Screams echoed for about two seconds before fading away.
With a creak, the glass doors settled meekly once more. From the tower's perspective, it probably wanted to let out a satisfied burp.
Investigation team: total annihilation.
Once word spread, the queue of foolhardy civilians charging at Sauron's Tower dried right up.
Yes. Civilians, anyway.
Me? The Undertaker lives with my sense of self parked far, far from ordinary sensibilities.
Die going into the tower? Pfft, just regress.
And I went shopping for a sacrificial lamb to tag along to the hotel. Going solo's no fun.
"A-ryeon. Hotel staycation this summer?"
"H-ho, hotel staycation?"
Sim A-ryeon perked up her ears. Total natural-born loner, but with a socialite obsession popping like acne on her heart. Adorable.
"Sounds great, but... S-surely not just you and me, Guild Leader?"
The acne spoke up.
"E-even so, th-that's kinda..."
"Tut tut. Not that kind of trip, so relax. Just thinking of crashing a few days at the peninsula's top hotel. Join if you're in; otherwise, I'll ask someone else."
"Uh..."
Sim A-ryeon blinked her eyes.
She got hooked on my casual, cool vibe—like, 'for real?' This girl's been consistently easy prey from round one straight through.
"Th-then... Okay, I-I'll go!"
Two days later.
Sim A-ryeon was at the hotel entrance, backpack on, screaming her head off.
"Hotel! You said a hotel! Guild Leader! It's Sauron's Tower――this place!"
"What're you on about? There's a hotel here too."
"There was! It was! It's trashed! This, that, everything's trashed! 'Gangnam' happened!"
"Tch, quit yapping and follow me. You're sketching landscapes and maps once we're in."
"Kyaaah! Should've clocked it from 'hotel staycation'! Somebody help! No way, thousands died here, even if it's the Guild Leader I don't wanna don't wanna――"
The Undertaker's thrilling Void expedition: commence.
3
The moment we pushed open Sauron's Tower's glass doors, an astonishing scene greeted us.
"Huh? Lights...?"
Pitch black from outside, but inside? Blazing bright.
And that wasn't all.
Two elevators per side at the entrance—four total—standing pristine. Chandelier dangling from the ceiling: not a speck of dust.
It was as if――
"Time hasn't... pa-passed at all. How can this be..."
"Hm."
I nodded.
Tested an elevator button for kicks. Whoosh. Doors slid open smooth as silk.
"Eek. I-it's working...?"
"Impressive. Not frozen time; the building actually functions. And A-ryeon, catch that?"
"Y-yes? What?"
"Look out the door."
Eyes glued to the chandelier and elevators, Sim A-ryeon finally turned around. Cue her trademark "Heek!" yelp as she latched onto my arm like a clingy caterpillar.
"Wh-what's that? Who's that guy?"
Out the door. Meaning, just beyond the glass we'd passed through moments ago, stood a man in a neat suit, polite as can be.
"Hotel staff, probably. Greets guests by holding the door."
"B-but there was nobody there before..."
"A-ryeon, burn this in: In the Void, ditch your preconceptions when trusting your senses. The glass door we saw outside and the 'outside' from in here? Totally different spaces. Easier to think of it as a painting in a frame."
"Ah..."
"Problem: we've stepped into the frame. Try opening that door—it won't budge. Go on, test it."
"..."
Sim A-ryeon tiptoed over and tugged at the door. Nada. The staffer inches away on the other side of the glass didn't spare her a glance.
"It's real..."
"That's why 'gate' doesn't cut it—'Void' fits better. Anything door-shaped? Useless for entering or exiting now. Escape means following protocol or slaying the boss."
"Boss..."
"Not all Voids have one, of course. Makes clearing trickier. Anyway, let's see how faithfully this Void plays hotel."
I led Sim A-ryeon into the elevator.
Clinging to its old glory as one of Korea's finest hotels, even the elevator screamed luxury.
The building topped out at 123 floors, but since we'd gone in the front door route, the panel only had four buttons.
[81F - Western Restaurant, Korean Restaurant, Bar]
[79F - Lobby, Guest Lounge]
[76F - Grand Ballroom, Small Ballroom]
[01F - Entrance]
Sim A-ryeon kept fidgeting her shoulders, a mix of awe and nerves.
"What if we hit a button and the elevator shoots up then plummets halfway...?"
"That'd be a win."
"Eh? W-we'd die!"
"Yeah, possible death. But the run ends quick. A massive Void like this settling for elevator pranks on humans? Low-tier stuff."
It'd just register as a 'Hotel Elevator' Void or anomaly. Done.
Zero danger, dead simple fix: don't take the elevator. End of story.
Unless you're some freak who gets off on elevator shakes, you can ignore it entirely next loop.
"What kinda talk is that, Guild Leader... We'd die!"
"Real scary Voids don't kill you. They make you wanna live here forever."
"Huh?"
Ding. I punched [79F].
We'd entered via the hotel front door. Solid bet we're guests here to stay.
Guests hit the lobby first for check-in.
Flinch!
Elevator lurched into motion; Sim A-ryeon's shoulders bunched up. I patted her back.
"How long you survive a Void boils down to reading its 'personality.'"
"..."
"Saw the hotel staffer outside the door? Don't miss details like that. Nothing's irrelevant in a Void. A staffer posted there? Means the Void 'believes' it's a hotel."
"Believes it's a hotel..."
"Yep. When in Rome, right? Unless you're rampaging Day One, play by the Void's rules. Those soldiers back then? Bad luck."
"Huh? Why?"
"What guest storms a luxury hotel decked in full battle rattle, guns blazing? Probably pegged as terrorists and wiped out on sight."
"..."
Deep down, I half-hoped the elevator would plummet. Aura shroud would've shielded us both—decent survival odds.
But this world? Dead serious about punking humans. Especially me. Full candy-syrup prank assortment.
Smoothly—
Less than a minute later, we hit 79F.
Doors parted with elegant grace, and that's when I knew: this Void was 100% one of our world's finest.
"W-wow. Guild Leader! Look! Th-this place is pure luxury...!"
A flawlessly polished marble lobby gleamed in welcome. Way at the far end, check-in counter staff stood pristine, beaming smiles our way.
"Hm."
This one's a doozy.
Even Though I'm an Infinite Regressor, I Spill Tales