WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 164: Breakthrough

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When I exited after Treasure Hunt ended, I was relieved to find my family safe and sound as they welcomed me back.

None of them had been caught up in the Tower's Curse, as I had feared.

- The Stage 7 Fallen that had gone on a rampage in Calispel City has been killed by the United States' representative Nightmare Climber.

- The U.S. Department of Defense announced that most Fallen that appeared in and around Whitefish had been eliminated, and they were currently searching for any remaining Fallen in cooperation with Climbers.

- The U.S. government expressed its deep regret for the victims and bereaved families of this Fallen disaster...

Unfortunately, the Fallen had appeared in the United States.

The one small mercy was that it had happened in a sparsely populated area.

If the Tower's Curse had descended in the middle of a major city with hundreds of thousands or millions of people, it was terrifying just to imagine.

‘...Not that I should call any of this fortunate.’

According to the news, most of the Fallen had been dealt with by now.

Still, it was estimated that at least tens of thousands had died in this incident.

That included those who had turned into Fallen and those killed by them.

A Stage 7 Fallen had even appeared this time.

If Taylor hadn't dealt with it, far more people might've died.

The Communication Window was filled with nothing but talk about Treasure Hunt.

Naturally, people had no choice but to realize that the Fallen Incident was connected to Treasure Hunt.

There were also scattered comments about Ye Tianwei.

People were saying that some unknown man besides Person123 had forcibly made everyone exit, and wondering whether he'd taken the treasure for himself.

[Person123: This is what happened during Treasure Hunt.]

I explained everything that had happened during Treasure Hunt in the Communication Window.

The condition to unseal the treasure, someone unsealing it, how I'd found and killed that person, and even the bomb capable of blowing up the island.

To prevent any misunderstandings, I also explained that the man who'd made people exit through another portal was a Climber who'd helped me.

After organizing the post and uploading it, I ended it by expressing my condolences for the dead.

[Cola: Person123's official post is up!]

[Dizzy: Fuck, so this happened because of another troll who wouldn't listen?]

[TriangularPyramid: This is seriously ridiculous. All I can do is sigh lol.]

[Pickle: So who was that Climber who helped Person123?]

[Chaos: No idea. But they just blew someone's head off. Total psycho.]

[DoReMiFaSol: That person helped me escape... You should've listened and quietly left.]

[Angel: What country was the bastard who unsealed the treasure from? Tell us that too.]

[David: Obviously some Black Star Society bastard.]

[Cobra: Typical Security Force, immediately jumping to conclusions.]

[Circus: But if Person123 hadn't been there, everyone who stayed behind to hunt treasure would've died.]

[MachineWarrior: That's not even the problem. If all the treasures had exploded, the world would've been completely screwed. Just one caused this much damage.]

[Duramble: Person123 has saved humanity once again. Praise the great one.]

Anyway, this Treasure Hunt incident had left tens of thousands of casualties.

It was the worst disaster caused by the Tower's rules since the Fallen Incident on Floor 3.

If only I'd found and dealt with the bastard who unsealed the treasure a little sooner...

That was all I could think about.

“Kim Seo-a.”

Then there was my sister.

I looked at her as she sat there anxiously.

Of all things to hide, how could she hide the fact that she'd become a Climber?

I was about to snap at her, but I sighed and stopped myself.

Well... it would've been ridiculous for me to lecture her when I'd hidden the fact that I was a Nightmare Climber from my family all this time.

I could also roughly understand why she'd hidden it.

“From now on, don't ever hide anything if something happens. Telling me everything is how you can help me. Got it?”

“...Got it.”

Mom and Dad, who were sitting beside her, also sighed.

Both my sister and I had suddenly vanished, so they must've been terrified.

It seemed Seo-a hadn't told them she'd nearly been killed by a monster.

There was no point in telling them, so I didn't bring it up either.

Mom spoke first.

“Seo-a, you didn't hide it because you were planning to climb the Tower without telling us, right?”

“N-No, it wasn't like that.”

I felt a small pang of guilt.

Dad spoke too.

“You must never think about entering the Tower. Understand? Promise us right here and now.”

Part of me had wanted my family to become Climbers. They would become immune to the Tower's Curse.

My parents probably felt some relief that my sister had become a Climber as well.

Of course, they were also worried that she might get caught up in the Tower's rules and be put in danger, like during Treasure Hunt.

This was even the first time that Climbers on Floor 1, who were hardly any different from ordinary people, had been dragged into something like this.

...And I had another concern.

Out of millions of Climbers, my sister got caught by a rule right after becoming one?

The damn Tower wasn't targeting my family, was it?

Then again, if the Tower could rig participant selection, there'd be no reason for it to make me join Treasure Hunt.

Without me, the bomb would've exploded, countless Climbers would've died, and the world would've become complete chaos.

Or had it been trying to kill me with the bomb?

But the Tower surely knew I'd obtained Armor of Karma.

Even if the bomb had gone off while I knew nothing, I would've prepared with Sixth Sense. It should've known it couldn't kill me that way.

...I didn't know.

There was no point trying to understand the incomprehensible Tower.

Only after Seo-a promised our parents several times that she'd never enter the Tower did the conversation finally come to an end.

She said she'd been assigned Hard difficulty...

After some time passed, I went back to her room.

“...Why are you here again?”

“You really won't enter in secret, right?”

“I said I won't. Why are you overreacting too, Oppa?”

I looked at her seriously.

“It's genuinely dangerous. You absolutely can't enter, no matter what. Got it? Don't make Mom and Dad worry about you too, on top of me.”

I had no intention of allowing my sister to climb the Tower either.

The first floor of Hard difficulty had two goblins armed with swords.

It wasn't comparable to Nightmare difficulty, but even on Hard, many people died.

This wasn't a comic book. No matter how thoroughly someone trained and prepared, fighting two sword-wielding opponents alone was a potentially fatal disadvantage given the limits of an ordinary human body.

This was all the more true for my sister, since she was a woman.

Climbers who couldn't open their Status Window were unable to use items, so I couldn't give her any of mine either.

Of course, I could train her swordsmanship in the Mindscape and prepare her to clear Floor 1 as perfectly as possible...

But that would only train her technique, not her real body.

Either way, I didn't like it.

I didn't want her to face even the slightest danger or uncertainty, especially not when it came to my family.

Seo-a stared at me for a moment, then frowned and muttered,

“...If you know all that, you should listen too.”

“What?”

“During the Qualification Trial, during Joint Battle... You always throw your life away to save people, Oppa. Even when we tell you to take care of your own life first, you never listen...! You have no idea how badly you scare us whenever we watch you do that!”

Like she was pouring out all the frustration she'd been holding in, Seo-a shouted.

Her eyes reddened as she breathed heavily, then she suddenly looked startled.

“S-Sorry. No, that's not it. I know how hard things are for you...”

Seo-a wiped at her eyes and turned away.

With a heavy heart, I quietly comforted my sniffling sister.

“I'm sorry.”

My family must've felt the same way whenever they watched me climb the Tower, just as I felt about my sister...

I returned to my room.

Even if Seo-a didn't climb the Tower, it was true that she could still face danger as a Climber because of the rules.

There was a chance something like this could happen again. To prepare for that, should I raise her level after all?

...First, I needed to see the next rule.

“Whew.”

I lay down on my bed.

I sorted through my tangled thoughts.

The deaths of so many people and my sister becoming a Climber weren't the only reasons I felt so unsettled.

‘The Tower's influence is growing stronger.’

On Floor 3, Fallen up to Stage 5 had appeared.

This time, even a Stage 7 Fallen appeared.

Every difficulty had now been cleared up to Floor 12, so the Fallen's stages were probably rising to match.

It would only get worse as we climbed higher.

The Tower would present increasingly unreasonable rules that caused enormous damage to the world.

I'd seen all the kinds of rules that had emerged in Seri's world.

We'd gotten lucky with Treasure Hunt. If something had gone just a little wrong... Whew.

‘It's overwhelming.’

Though it had always been that way.

Still, it felt like the answer was growing more and more unclear.

Could I really save the world just by climbing the Tower?

...Did the floor count even mean anything in the first place?

A thought suddenly came to me.

Regardless of my lifespan, if things continued like this, wouldn't I just remain a pawn in the Tower's hands?

“What do you think, Demon King?”

The Demon King replied.

- What use is there in needlessly complicating matters? There is nothing else you can do besides climb the Tower.

“...You're right.”

That was true.

Still, the thought had suddenly risen in the back of my mind.

‘Something...’

I needed something more fundamental.

Something that would let me escape the unreasonable framework the Tower had created.

Maybe that was what I truly needed more than gaining levels, better skills, and better items.

...Though I had no idea what it was.

* * *

While I waited for Radiant Incarnation's cooldown to reset, I prepared to clear Floor 13.

I did what I always did: trained.

I sparred with the Demon King in the Mindscape until I was sick of it, then entered Floor 2 and took Diul on night walks.

“Are you done being mad, Diul?”

Diul, who had been following close behind me, snorted.

Diul had kept sulking over what happened on Floor 10, but they seemed to be feeling better now.

‘Come to think of it...’

As I walked around the forest on Floor 2, something suddenly came to mind.

I took an item out of Subspace.

[Item: Dapriya Family Ring]

This ring bears the crest of the Dapriya Family. It is proof that you have earned the gratitude of the Dapriya Family.

It was the item I'd received after clearing the hidden area on Floor 2.

I'd had a hard time running away while dragging along that demon girl who never listened.

Looking back, it wasn't even a particularly difficult clear. Still, it had been memorable.

What was that person's name again? Carlos something?

If I fought that black knight bastard now, I could separate their head from their body in one second.

‘But what is this thing actually for?’

Was it really a completely useless item?

There was no reason to throw it away, so I'd kept carrying it around.

Time passed, and Radiant Incarnation's cooldown finally reset.

I finished preparing to enter Floor 13.

As always, my parents saw me off with worried expressions, while my sister smiled and gave me spirited encouragement.

“I'll be back.”

I stared into empty air.

[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty Floor 13?]

All right, let's go.

It was time for another challenge.

Footnotes:

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