WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 115

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Nightmare Floor 8 (3)

The world was in an uproar over the Tower making yet another proposal to Person123.

Everyone and their neighbor had an opinion on whether to accept it or not.

[Blank: They'll probably take it, right? The penalty is just one item getting banned]
[Kiryu: It's not like Floor 6 where they asked you to give up the attempt entirely, and a ten-kilometer Ark radius... honestly sounds worth going for...]
[Green Pea: This whole thing is super suspicious to me; why is the Tower suddenly making such a sweet offer?]
[WarriorRunsTheEarth: That's a fair point]
[Rage: Still, thinking back to Floor 4, I feel like Person123 would take it]

News programs brought out panels to debate the question on air.

"A ten-kilometer radius would cover roughly half of Seoul. Even if destruction comes someday, a significant portion of humanity would be able to survive."
"Isn't the Tower's intent a little too obvious? There has to be some angle it's playing."
"The real question is what kind of decision Person123 will make..."

Opinion was split evenly between accepting and refusing.

The penalty was weaker than anything before, so plenty of people naturally thought, "isn't this worth a shot?"

But in the end, the choice belonged to Person123.

People waited for the decision, and then...

[The Tower's proposal has been nullified.]

Person123 turned down the proposal and entered.

[Weed: Ah... they didn't take it after all]
[Plastic: It was obviously bait from the start, good thing they said no]
[Yoyoyo: Gotta cut out every variable~ not taking it is the right call]
[KwingKolefree: Anyone mad they didn't take it can shut their mouths if they don't want to die]
[Lighter: Alright everyone, time to pray]

Some people were disappointed.

Either way, humanity started praying for a successful Floor 8 clear.

Across the world, as every year before, enormous crowds poured into streets and plazas.

Gwanghwamun Street in Seoul, South Korea.

Around this time of year especially, people from all over the world flooded to this spot in particular.

Person123 was Korean, so people came to their country to pray for a successful clear.

"...Yes! Gwanghwamun Street is once again packed shoulder to shoulder with enormous crowds. Everyone here is praying for Person123's success."

A few minutes had passed since Person123 entered Floor 8. A reporter moved through the crowd, interviewing people on the street.

"I believe they'll absolutely succeed. It's Person123, after all."
"If the Floor 8 clear goes through, drinks are on me for all my friends tonight. Ha ha."
"That person has already shed the skin of a human being and ascended to godhood. Even speaking the word failure is an act of blasphemy."

Groups of university students, young couples out with their children, Person123 Church believers...

Many faces shone with hope, all of them fully convinced a successful clear was coming.

Of course they were. Person123 had always come through.

Always clearing each Nightmare floor like it was nothing, always posting the walkthrough like it was nothing.

And with everything Person123 had done during the sub-tower crisis and in Floor 5's shared zone, people had long since understood that their abilities were in a completely different class from any other climber. That understanding only made the faith stronger.

So people waited, necks craned, for any word of a successful clear.

Time passed.

Two hours went by since Person123 had entered, and still no word.

"...They haven't cleared it yet?"
"The Nightmare Communication Window count hasn't changed, so it's fine. It'll happen soon."

Quietly, little by little, anxiety and unease began to spread.

Still, people held on and kept waiting.

Floors before this had taken a few hours to clear, after all.

But three hours passed. Four hours passed.

Still no news of success.

People's expressions grew tighter with each passing hour.

The reporters out covering the story lost focus. So did the police directing traffic.

A clear had never taken this long before.

The Nightmare Communication Window count was still unchanged, people said, but no one could hide their anxiety anymore.

Something had gone wrong. Everyone was starting to feel it.

"Please..."

More and more people shut their eyes tight, hands clenched, deep in prayer.

Just like back on Floor 4, when everyone had been at their most desperate.

As if doing that would make Person123 pull through again and prove them all right.

But even as the long predawn hours wore on and dawn finally broke...

Floor 8 had not been cleared.

* * *

Sprinting across an endless desert.

Firing the warp device in back-to-back bursts.

[943,856 / 134,217,728 km]

Then I stopped.

I stared at the number on the compass for a long, blank moment.

"Haah..."

Damn it.

Damn it all.

A full day had gone by since I entered Floor 8.

I knew there was no answer, but I had been running myself ragged moving anyway.

There was still no answer.

One hundred and thirty-four million kilometers.

Far more than a hundred round trips between the Earth and the Moon.

An astronomical distance, absurd on its face.

Technically, I could do it.

Using the warp device every ten minutes at maximum charge was nothing short of mental torture, but if I gritted my teeth, it could be done.

If that was what it took to reach the oasis, I would do it however many times it took.

Food and water were manageable, too.

Drinking water I could conjure through ice magic, and I had food stored in Subspace.

It wouldn't be enough in the long run, but if it ran out, I could always gnaw on a cactus or a Sandworm or something.

I can't die unless my head gets destroyed, anyway.

It would be a grueling journey, but it was doable.

The problem was that even going that far, I was nowhere near having enough time.

Not even close.

There was simply no way for me to cover over a hundred million kilometers within the twenty days left on the Nightmare time limit.

"...Damn it!"

I lashed out with a Destruction Beam at a Sandworm that burst up through the sand nearby.

It was cut clean in two and collapsed.

Ku-ung.

If I had just shaved off a little more time...

Just six more minutes. That was all I had needed.

...Regretting it now was pointless.

"...Demon King-nim, is there really no way?"

The Demon King didn't answer.

I had asked dozens of times already, and kept asking anyway.

Even borrowing the Demon King's power and flying at top speed, there was no way it would match the efficiency of the warp device.

There were limits. Fatigue built up, recovery took time.

I let out a long breath and stared into the distance.

The oasis was still sitting right where it always had been, unmoving.

I dropped onto the sand.

All the hardships I had pushed through up to now, and yet.

This situation, with no answer in sight, was enough to break something in me. Despair. Helplessness.

What do I do?

How am I supposed to...

I lay there and stared blankly up at the blazing sun.

* * *

[Nightmare]
Participants: 476,805
Time Remaining: 19 days 5 minutes 16 seconds
Highest Floor Reached: Floor 8

A full day had passed since Person123 entered Floor 8.

Floor 8 had still not been cleared.

The unprecedented situation threw the world into confusion.

"...The Nightmare Communication Window count has shown no change as of now. Person123 appears to still be in the process of clearing Floor 8..."

[Pepper: Please... please just show the clear notification, please...]
[Katana: Keep hope. Person123 is still going.]
[Pipe: Can a clear really take this long? Maybe we need to start preparing ourselves...]

Fear and anxiety gripped the entire world.

Going a full day without a clear was plainly, unmistakably far outside the realm of normal.

The Kim Seo-hyeon household.

Kim Seo-hyeon's family sat in the living room with stiff faces, watching the news.

"The number you have dialed cannot be reached. Please leave a message after the tone..."

His mother, Choi Su-jin, set her phone down and let out a slow, burning breath.

"Hah... Seo-hyeon, what on earth are you doing..."

An already chaotic time.

On top of everything else, Kim Seo-hyeon had gone off on a solo trip and had been unreachable since the previous evening.

It was impossible not to fear that something serious had happened.

"...He'll be fine. He might have just lost his phone, right?"

His father, Kim Seong-ho, said it in the careful tone of someone trying to reassure the room as much as himself.

But knowing Seo-hyeon's personality, if something like that had happened, he would have found some way to get in touch before the family started worrying...

Seo-a sat on the couch with her face buried against her knees.

Floor 8 wasn't clearing, Kim Seo-hyeon was nowhere to be found and not answering, and the combined anxiety and stress was becoming unbearable.

"We should call the police and report..."

Buzz.

All three of their phones went off at the same moment.

- Please check the bottom drawer of the desk in my room. There's a letter underneath the books. This is a scheduled text.

It was from Kim Seo-hyeon.

"What is he..."

The three of them stared at each other, startled.

Kim Seong-ho immediately called Kim Seo-hyeon back, but there was no answer.

With no other choice, they went to his room.

They opened the bottom drawer as the text said and moved the books aside. A single letter lay beneath them.

A nameless dread settled over Kim Seong-ho as he unfolded the letter with trembling hands.

The family read it together.

- To my beloved Mother, Father, and my little sister Seo-a.

This letter is one I wrote before entering Nightmare difficulty Floor 8.

You must be very shocked. I don't even know where to begin.

I'm Person123.

The part about being an Easy difficulty climber was a lie. The truth is, from the very beginning, I was chosen for Nightmare difficulty. From the very day the Tower appeared in the world.

I'm sorry for hiding it all this time. I didn't want to make you worry.

If I can at least explain what happened now...

The first time I entered the Tower, it was with the feeling of clutching at any straw I could find.

Back then, remember? No one had cleared Floor 1 and the world was on the verge of ending. I thought that if I was going to die either way, I might as well try, so I entered Floor 1. And I made it.

After that I kept climbing. Nightmare difficulty, one floor at a time.

No one else was able to clear them, so it fell to me. Even I never imagined I'd be able to do something like this, but it seems I had a talent even I didn't know about. Ha ha.

If you're reading this now, it probably means I failed to clear Floor 8.

I'm sorry. For leaving behind nothing but a single letter like this.

Still, I hope you'll understand at least this one thing.

I have no regrets.

In the beginning I entered because I had no other choice, but every floor I climbed after that was something I chose. It wasn't out of a sense of responsibility or obligation. Wanting to protect my family, and the world — that was entirely my own will.

So please don't grieve too much. Don't hurt too deeply. Be proud of me instead. Your son, Kim Seo-hyeon, was a hero who saved the world more than once.

Seo-a, you get it too, right? Your oppa turned out to be this incredible person. A little late, but maybe now's a good time to start looking up to me, yeah? Lol.

...Usually these letters end with something like "stay healthy," but unfortunately that doesn't quite fit right now.

I don't know what the world will look like after I've failed, but it'll be chaotic, I'm sure.

I'll be praying from here for another miracle to happen. But if the world does end, let's all see each other again then, as a family.

I'm sorry I can't be there with you at the end.

I love you all.

- Kim Seo-hyeon

"..."

Kim Seong-ho's eyes trembled with shock as he finished reading.

Choi Su-jin covered her mouth, her eyes red and wet. Seo-a stared blankly at the letter.

For a long time, none of the three could shake free of the shock. Not a single word came out.

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