Uncle
A week had passed since that incident.
Yet Bartier and the demons were nowhere to be seen, and peaceful days continued on.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen the old man since then either.
The elder who had saved my life. But his strength had nothing to do with the word "old man."
Thanks to him, I was still standing here today.
Over the past week I had climbed as far as the 9th floor. But when it came to the path leading into the 10th-floor boss room, I simply could not bring myself to step through.
The moment I get close, my resolve just crumbles.
Today was the last day. Today I would check the boss-room door and decide whether to go in or not. If I still could not enter, I would leave the Tower.
I walked on, and at last the safe zone leading to the 10th floor came into view.
Finally here.
Before, the mere sight of that safe zone had sent me turning back to the village any number of times. Today I could not allow myself that luxury.
I stepped inside.
The safe zone was nothing like the one on the 4th floor. Instead of walls, the space was formed by trees that had grown strangely vast and wide. Sunlight still poured from the ceiling, filtering down between the leaves.
And inside the safe zone another path branched off. Just like on the 4th floor, this had to be the road to the boss room. That path, too, was shaped by living trees.
I swallowed hard and started down it.
The way was longer than I expected. After walking for maybe ten minutes I finally emerged from the long tunnel—and could not help but marvel at the landscape that opened before me.
Weeds and grass carpeted the ground. Set into a colossal cliff face was a single door.
But the size of that door was nothing like the one I had seen on the 5th floor. I had to tip my head all the way back just to see the top. The grotesque patterns carved into it made it clear this was on an entirely different level from the previous boss room.
Can this thing even be opened?
A massive door that looked as if it were cast from iron. Ordinary strength would never push it. The color was different as well—the 5th-floor door had been blue; this one was red.
A gigantic gate set into a cliff whose bottom could not be seen. I was overwhelmed.
I walked slowly toward it and reached out, intending to touch the silver patterns etched across the red surface.
In that instant a memory from the past surged up.
On the 5th floor, the moment my hand met the door a strange voice had echoed inside my skull, and my body had moved on its own to shove it open.
Remembering that, I flinched and stopped my hand.
Judging by size and color alone, this was clearly far more dangerous than the 5th floor.
I hesitated.
Did I really need to risk my life climbing the Tower? Even now I could live well enough. Not in luxury, but I could marry and lead an ordinary life.
I sank down right there on the spot.
To push, or not to push. I wrestled with the question for a long time.
It was a matter of life and death…
Thirty minutes. An hour. Two hours later, I finished deliberating.
Let's go back…
No matter how I turned it over, I could find no reason to challenge a Tower this dangerous. Life was precious.
I stood. I burned the image of that enormous door into my eyes one last time.
My fist clenched, but I had no courage.
I bit my lower lip lightly.
"Any challenge beyond this is greed for someone of my abilities."
Making excuses to myself, I turned my steps back toward the village on the 6th floor.
By the time I returned to the village it was already a dark evening. The streets were thick with drunkards. I headed for the restaurant.
Ding—
"Welcome. Please take a seat."
The expression on my face as I sat down looked like I had been chewing on something foul.
"What can I get for you?"
"Lamb leg and a beer, please."
I was disappointed in the version of myself that had turned away so helplessly in front of the boss room. This feeling of giving up even though I could still go further—it was different from the day I had been forced to abandon track and field.
I turned my head and looked around. People were laughing and drinking, completely unaware of what was going on inside me.
"Haa…"
I let out a long sigh.
Then a voice called from behind.
"Hey! Giseok!"
I turned. Standing there were a gray-furred wolf beastman and the old man—the same pair I had drunk with before.
"Oh? Long time no see!"
"You drinking alone? Come over here, let's drink together."
The beastman waved me over. The old man, spotting me, did the same.
I moved to their table.
"Haha, thank you."
"Giseok, why does your face look so awful? Constipated?"
The old man, who had been mid-swig, set his glass down and laughed.
"Heh. Got dumped by a girl, huh?"
"Ah—no!"
The proprietress appeared behind me with the beer.
"Here's your beer."
I downed it in one long pull and said,
"It's not that…"
"Then why the long face?"
The beastman and the old man both leaned forward over the table.
"Actually… I went to the 9th floor today."
"What? The 9th floor?"
"Yes… and I saw the 10th-floor boss room."
"So? Did you go in?"
I shook my head.
They both leaned back in their chairs as if they understood perfectly, and took deep drinks of beer.
"That's normal."
"Huh?"
"I said that's normal. Most people can't open that door…"
The old man wiped foam from his mustache.
"The first time you see that door, you think of the 5th floor all over again."
"Were you an adventurer too, Mister?"
"Yeah. Me and that wolf over there are both adventurers."
The beastman was already a little drunk and hiccuping. The old man sighed at the sight and went on.
"You see, when I was young, my dream was to become a hero."
He looked me straight in the eyes and began to tell his story.
Twenty-five years ago, a small village on the border of the Tebe Kingdom.
It was a tiny place where there was nothing to do but farm.
"Yap! Yap!"
"Oh, not bad!"
I had one best friend, and that friend shared the exact same dream—to become a hero.
Every day we sparred with wooden swords we had carved ourselves.
Training like that for our dream, three years later we decided, for a certain reason, to become adventurers.
That reason was the Tower.
When we were fifteen, a Tower suddenly rose from the earth. It climbed until it reached the sky. No—it pierced the sky.
The world, of course, went into an uproar. Rumors spread among the people of Tebe that disaster had come because they did not worship the gods.
"Why did that Tower suddenly appear?"
"Dunno. Maybe it really is a disaster?"
My friend and I joked and laughed lightly. Living near the border, we never gave it much thought.
But had we been too carefree?
Because of that Tower, our village became endangered.
"I hear the Empire bastards are preparing for war."
"Then what about us?"
"We have to evacuate—hurry."
The Tower was a place that spawned monsters in vast numbers. Lots of monsters meant lots of magic stones. So the Empire set its sights on it.
The Cardin Empire, which had already conquered three kingdoms. But it was not only the Empire that coveted the Tower. Every surrounding power was after it as well.
The Tebe Kingdom was small, yet it possessed a long history. One reason it had endured so long was its location—right in the center of the continent. If anyone tried to strike Tebe, the other great powers would not simply stand by and watch.
Thanks to that geography, Tebe had maintained its nation for ages. But even that now looked precarious. That was how immense the Tower's value was…
The king of Tebe, however, was Amenkar IV—a wise ruler ranked among the greatest in the kingdom's history.
He found a solution: do not monopolize the Tower as a nation, but share it. The king declared the Tower open to the entire world and welcomed adventurers from every country.
And he devised another clever scheme—selecting the strong from among those adventurers and granting them titles. Even foreigners, if they achieved results, would receive peerage and be naturalized into Tebe. That was Amenkar IV's true aim.
The legendary hero of myth was not among the titles on offer, yet it was more than enough to capture the hearts of young men like us.
"I'm going into the Tower."
"Then I'll climb it too!"
And so we entered the Tower together. Perhaps because we had trained since childhood, we reached the 4th floor with ease.
Then the day arrived. We each decided to challenge the 5th floor alone. To reach the 6th, you had to clear the 5th by yourself.
"So this is where we part ways?"
"Yeah. Let's definitely meet on the 6th floor."
With that promise between them, they each pushed open a blue door.
"What happened after that?"
The old man lightly wiped the tears welling in his eyes with his sleeve.
"We never met."
"…"
"Stupid bastard. Couldn't even clear that one thing… His skill was clearly equal to mine."
"I don't know what to say…"
My chopsticks, which had been reaching for the side dish, froze in midair.
"It's fine… Anyway, I survived. Just like you, I climbed all the way to the 9th floor. I wanted to carry his dream as well and keep running."
"Then… did you try to open that massive door?"
The old man was silent for a long while before he spoke again.
"I couldn't open it. Same as you."
Suddenly he pulled off his glove.
"Mister, your hand…"
My mouth fell open.
A wooden hand with a large magic stone embedded in it—continuing not just through the hand but up the entire arm.
"Mister…"
"After that day the nerves gradually necrotized, and it ended up like this."
He moved the hand and shoulder freely as he spoke.
"It moves naturally enough, you know? It's a magic prosthetic. But when the moment came, I just couldn't open the door."
He pulled the glove back on, drained his beer in one go, and said,
"You're normal. And this guy couldn't open it either."
"Hic!"
The wolf beastman was too far gone to do anything but hiccup.
"Have a drink and forget about it!"
And so that night I drank myself senseless with the two of them.
"Ugh… my head!"
I only woke when daylight was already streaming in, and pain slammed into my skull. The hangover was brutal.
I washed my face roughly and went downstairs.
"You're up? You said today was the last day, right?"
"Yes… I'm leaving the Tower."
"That's a shame… You looked like you drank a lot last night. Go sit over there and have a bowl before you go."
Holding my head, I took a seat at the table. The proprietress set a steaming bowl of soup in front of me.
I scooped up the broth and put it in my mouth. The heat slid down my throat, traveled through my esophagus, and warmly filled my stomach.
"Ma'am, that fixed me right up. Thank you."
"Glad to hear it. Young man, if you ever come back up, stay at our inn again~"
"Of course!"
I gave her a thumbs-up. She snorted and laughed.
I finished the meal and stepped out of the inn.
A village I had lived in for nearly two weeks. Honestly, a faint bitterness still lingered. But even that feeling would pass soon enough.
I took a white stone from my inventory and closed my fingers around it. A blue wing shape was engraved on its surface.
Forget it and go back.
I raised the hand holding the stone toward the sky and shouted.
"Warp!"
For a moment I felt as if I were being sucked into something. When the sensation faded, I was standing on the 1st floor of the Tower.
I'm back.
In the end, I had come down. Yeah—just live long and thin, right?
I decided to think optimistically and started walking toward the Tower's exit.
But it was not as easy as I thought.