WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 108

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Coup (1)

North Korea.

The truth was, a shift in power had already occurred there once before.

It had happened around the time Nightmare Floor 1 was cleared, and in the chaos of a world staring down its own extinction, nobody had paid it any particular attention.

Of course, Person123 stopped the extinction, and the South Korean government later launched a belated investigation into the full details.

The Tower was an incomprehensible calamity in and of itself, but a change at the top of North Korea's leadership was still an unprecedented upheaval that shook the entire Korean Peninsula.

At the time, Li Hyeok-chul had been a Hard difficulty Floor 4 climber.

He had seized on the confusion gripping North Korea's ruling class as the end of the world loomed and launched a coup, successfully taking power.

Nothing much changed after that.

Li Hyeok-chul was no different from the chairman he replaced, and he steadily consolidated his power and position around the newly risen climber faction. The head had changed, but nothing else had, and relations between the two Koreas continued just as they always had.

Now, though, another transfer of power was underway inside North Korea.

Li Hyeok-chul was dead.

A revolution had risen under the banner of rooting out corruption in the ruling class and delivering freedom to the North Korean people.

Climbers rallying behind Park Gwang-jin, a Hard difficulty Floor 14 climber, had cut down the existing leadership without hesitation, Li Hyeok-chul included.

And here was one hunting dog being discarded after the hunt.

"You treacherous bastards..."

Kang Tae-sung glared at the man in front of him, blood vessels burst red in his eyes.

Climbers surrounded him on all sides.

They had been his comrades, people who had fought alongside him for the revolution, to bring down Li Hyeok-chul's dictatorship.

And the man who had masterminded all of it, Park Gwang-jin, clicked his tongue.

"Give it up quietly, Tae-sung. There's nothing you can do."

Kang Tae-sung was at level 52, the same as Park Gwang-jin, and he had been one of the central forces that made the revolution succeed.

He had genuinely believed in Park Gwang-jin's ideals when he fought.

That the corruption would be rooted out, the people's livelihoods set right, that Park Gwang-jin could change everything rotten about the country.

But Park Gwang-jin had never cared about any of that from the start.

There had only ever been his hunger for power.

Boom!

In the heart of Pyongyang, an armed clash broke out to deal with the reactionary element, Kang Tae-sung.

Kang Tae-sung fled, barely escaping with serious injuries.

The moment his combat status cleared, he entered Floor 5.

Zone 0 on Floor 5.

"Huh? Over there..."

"What's wrong with that guy?"

Climbers nearby murmured as Kang Tae-sung walked out of the portal drenched in blood.

He had been heading toward the Peacekeeping Corps building when he lurched sideways to dodge.

North Korean climbers had attacked him.

A second fight broke out and chaos was about to spread when—

Bang!

The North Korean climbers scrambled back from Kang Tae-sung in a hurry.

A man dropped from midair and planted himself in front of Kang Tae-sung.

It was Alex, captain of the Peacekeeping Corps.

Other Peacekeeping Corps members and climbers from the Black Star Society were already converging from all sides.

"Bold of you. Where do you think you are?"

Zone 0 was a no-combat zone agreed upon by everyone.

Fighting here was forbidden under any circumstances.

And attempting to kill someone was an absolute taboo, far beyond any mere quarrel.

Faced with Alex's predatory stare, the North Korean climbers went rigid.

"We are climbers of the Republic. This is an internal affair of our nation. The Peacekeeping Corps has no grounds to interfere."

"...The Republic? North Korea?"

Alex glanced briefly at Kang Tae-sung.

He looked ready to collapse at any moment, so Peacekeeping Corps members stepped in to support him.

"Hey. Are you all right?"

South Korea's Shin Su-jin was there too.

A coup had just broken out in North Korea not long ago, and now this. She couldn't help wondering what was going on.

Kang Tae-sung forced the words out through ragged breaths.

"I... South Joseon..."

"Excuse me? What did you say?"

"South Joseon... I am requesting... naturalization..."

Then Kang Tae-sung lost consciousness.

They confirmed he was still breathing and moved him immediately to administer first aid.

When the Peacekeeping Corps moved to take Kang Tae-sung away, the North Korean climbers protested furiously.

"Who gave you the right to take him! That man is a traitor to our Republic! Hand him over to us at once!"

Shin Su-jin narrowed her eyes and exchanged a look with Alex.

Alex folded his arms.

"Whatever's going on, this isn't your country. This is Floor 5. In a shared zone, you follow the shared zone's rules."

"...This is interference in our internal affairs!"

"Interference or not, the Peacekeeping Corps has an obligation to protect climbers on Floor 5."

The North Korean climbers looked toward the Black Star Society side as if appealing for help.

A Black Star Society officer who had been watching stepped forward to mediate.

"Stand down for now. You are the ones crossing a line here."

The ban on combat in Zone 0 was an iron rule that both the Peacekeeping Corps and the Black Star Society had upheld without exception.

North Korea was affiliated with the Black Star Society, but muddying the waters like this could not be tolerated.

In the end, the North Korean climbers had no choice but to bite down hard and pull back.

The commotion instantly became a major talking point.

* * *

- The abnormal signs reported from Pyongyang, North Korea, since this morning have now been officially confirmed as a coup carried out by North Korea's climber faction. In response, our government...

Not long after articles flooded in about strange winds blowing inside North Korea, news came out officially announcing that a coup had taken place and the existing leadership had been swept away.

South Korea was on high alert.

The government announced that the military was now at maximum readiness and making every effort to stabilize the situation, urging the public to stay calm and go about their daily lives.

This wasn't actually the first time.

A coup had broken out in North Korea back when I cleared Nightmare Floor 1 too.

A climbers' coup in North Korea. Not particularly surprising. The new man who seized power, Li Hyeok-chul, had turned out to be just the same kind of dictator anyway.

This was probably just another new climber throwing their weight around to grab power after pushing Li Hyeok-chul out. Same story, different face.

Some time passed.

News broke that the North Korean military had officially announced the death of State Affairs Commission Chairman Li Hyeok-chul.

The figure who had seized power was a Hard difficulty Floor 14 climber named Park Gwang-jin.

As all sorts of updates kept trickling in, one more piece of news caught my eye.

- ...Breaking news. An incident has occurred on Tower Floor 5 involving North Korea. Reports indicate that a North Korean level 52 climber has requested naturalization to South Korea. The Peacekeeping Corps is currently protecting the climber, and a standoff with the North Korean side is said to be ongoing...

What was this about?

[Paris: hey the atmosphere on Floor 5 right now is insane lmao this is something]

[Hearth: looks like they got chased from outside and ran to Floor 5. saw it myself, the guy was absolutely covered in blood]

[Hwangcong: what exactly is going on?]

[Twocliboard: looks like the corps captain and the Black Star Society are talking about something]

[Hwangcong: any Peacekeeping Corps people here? somebody fill us in]

[Rasuss: Black Star Society is siding with North Korea and saying hand him over now, Alex is telling them to go screw themselves. looks like war between the Corps and the Black Star Society is about to break out]

[Oaktong: for real?]

[Eagle: yeah right lol]

[Person321: the vibe is definitely off though. they really are in a standoff]

[Pepper: it's been peaceful for a while, Zone 0 getting this unsettled is a rare sight]

The Communication Window was in an uproar too.

Something was happening on Floor 5 over this North Korean climber.

* * *

When Kang Tae-sung was first found he had been in serious condition, but after a few days he had more or less recovered on his own.

Higher levels meant greater physical regeneration, but it seemed he also had recovery-type skills on top of that.

Inside the Peacekeeping Corps building, South Korean and American climbers, Shin Su-jin among them, had gathered together.

"...That is how it happened."

In an atmosphere resembling an interrogation room, they heard the full account from Kang Tae-sung.

He had been one of the climbers in the faction that had recently risen to power in North Korea, and after everything was done he had been betrayed and hunted down, barely managing to enter Floor 5 in time.

"It was a revolution to tear apart and rebuild a rotten homeland."

"But Park Gwang-jin, that bastard, never had any such cause from the beginning."

Kang Tae-sung shook with barely suppressed rage.

Shin Su-jin, seated across from him, nodded.

"I see. So Kang Tae-sung-ssi, what you want is..."

"Naturalization to South Joseon—or rather, to the Republic of Korea."

"Hm."

Shin Su-jin studied him with a serious expression.

"I know I'm asking for something unreasonable. But is there no way?"

When you exited the Tower, you returned to the exact spot you had entered from.

And the North Korean side knew precisely where Kang Tae-sung had entered.

They had gotten the location of the building from Kang Tae-sung himself, and after working with U.S. intelligence to observe it via satellite, they confirmed that North Korean military equipment inside Pyongyang was converging on that location.

They were ready to open fire the moment Kang Tae-sung emerged.

Even as a level 52 climber, his chances of surviving that were nearly zero.

But Kang Tae-sung was currently requesting South Korean protection, and...

"...I'm sorry. There's nothing I can give you a definite answer on just yet."

That was all Shin Su-jin could say.

She had been constantly moving back and forth between inside and outside the Tower.

She had to keep relaying the situation to the government and, in turn, relay the government's position back here.

"We're still in ongoing talks with the North Korean side."

"Has that bastard Park Gwang-jin personally come to Floor 5?"

"No. Someone else came as a representative."

"Ha. Coward."

The South Korean government's position could only be described as deeply awkward.

Under the constitution, North Koreans were also citizens of the Republic of Korea. The government couldn't simply ignore Kang Tae-sung.

And naturally there was no reason to be unhappy about a level 52 climber wanting to come over, but...

The problem was Kang Tae-sung's physical location in the real world.

What could anyone actually do about someone sitting in the middle of Pyongyang?

The only option was a peaceful handover from North Korea, and that was never going to happen.

"Our position will never change. Hand Kang Tae-sung over immediately."

Obviously not.

The Peacekeeping Corps, the Black Star Society, and North Korean climbers were all in the same room. Shin Su-jin spoke on behalf of the South Korean government, handling the North Korean side in place of Peacekeeping Corps captain Alex.

"As I have said, this is clearly interference in our internal affairs."

"This is Floor 5. We are simply fulfilling our role as the Peacekeeping Corps."

"Drop the shared zone wordplay. In reality, Kang Tae-sung is on our Republic's territory. Do you not realize that your Peacekeeping Corps shielding Kang Tae-sung is nothing but a pointless waste of time?"

The Black Star Society maintained a half-detached stance, but formally they were putting on the appearance of siding with North Korea. North Korea was a member state of the Black Star Society after all, and the Black Star Society and the Peacekeeping Corps were in opposition.

In any case, North Korea's position was firm, and multiple rounds of negotiation went nowhere.

Three days passed since Kang Tae-sung entered Floor 5, and still no real progress had been made.

"Phew... This is going to drive me insane."

The Director of the Climber Affairs Office pressed a hand to his forehead after receiving Shin Su-jin's report.

On the sofa in the director's office sat several government figures, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The government still hadn't decided how to handle the Kang Tae-sung matter. Nothing this absurd had ever come up before.

Giving up entirely was a burden, and so was dragging out negotiations with unreasonable demands. Neither option sat well.

And could Kang Tae-sung really spend the rest of his life living on Floor 5?

The Peacekeeping Corps wasn't fully taking South Korea's side either. Honestly, this was another country's business.

As time went on, Kang Tae-sung's presence would obviously become a cumbersome burden for the Peacekeeping Corps too, and it wouldn't be strange at all if they eventually washed their hands of it.

The government wracked its brain over how to resolve the problem.

Then, that very evening.

A post went up in the Communication Window.

[Person123: I would ask that Kang Tae-sung-ssi's safety be transferred to South Korea.]

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