WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 41

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Normalization (1)

"So you're saying even Manager Shin has no idea what happened."

"That's correct."

After hearing the report from Shin Su-jin, who had recovered and returned to duty, the head of the Climbing Department furrowed his brow.

"But was it really a Stage 5 Fallen? You're sure you didn't see it wrong?"

"Now that I think about it, that's possible. The situation was so chaotic."

"...Either way, there was another monster, and it vanished without a trace."

After the Fallen outbreak, one of the biggest disasters in South Korea in terms of damage was the Seoul Arts Center incident.

When investigators examined the scene afterward, they found only one Stage 3 Fallen corpse and one conspicuously massive hole in the theater ceiling.

When the Stage 3 Fallen went on a rampage, the theater's optical cable backbone was severed, so there was no surviving internal CCTV footage from the point people started dying.

So the only way to reconstruct what happened was Shin Su-jin's testimony, since she had directly engaged a Fallen.

Given the circumstances, she had no choice but to report that she had witnessed a Stage 5 Fallen, so now all she could do was dodge and say she didn't know what happened to the vanished Stage 5.

The Fallen were an unprecedented disaster that appeared out of nowhere, so saying she didn't know wasn't particularly suspicious.

And right now, the Climbing Department had bigger priorities than follow-up investigation.

"There is a chance that Fallen is still hiding somewhere, so I'll have the police search nearby areas more thoroughly. Are you fully recovered now, Manager Shin?"

"Yes. I'll head back to the field immediately."

"Good to hear. Keep up the good work."

After leaving the director's office, Shin Su-jin immediately prepared to move out.

The Fallen extermination was still ongoing.

* * *

After dead Climbers turned into Fallen.

As expected, a national state of emergency was declared, and the military moved in immediately.

- These Fallen vary in aggressiveness from individual to individual, but they are fundamentally hostile to humans.

- Their behavior patterns also appear to differ by individual, and some display unusual actions. But what is clear is that all of them have lost the reason they had as humans and are no longer human...

- The Fallen's weak point has been identified as the head. Their trait of not dying unless the brain is destroyed is similar to the undead on Floor 3...

From Stage 1 to Stage 5, and according to the Tower's stated probabilities, Stages 1 and 2 together made up an overwhelming 99%.

Hundreds of Stage 1 and Stage 2 Fallen across the country were killed by the military or by Climbers.

They were weak enough that even gun-armed soldiers could kill them, so extermination progressed quickly.

But from Stage 3 onward, gunfire alone seemed insufficient.

0.9% out of 40,000 came to around 400 worldwide.

Excluding the Fallen I killed at the Seoul Arts Center, a total of two Stage 3 Fallen appeared in Korea.

One was found in Ulsan and one in Gyeongju, and there was no news of any others after that. I heard the Air Force took care of them.

Korea had been relatively lucky.

No Stage 4 or Stage 5 Fallen appeared at all. Of course, excluding the one I killed.

In that sense, it was at least fortunate that a Stage 3 and a Stage 5 appeared together at the Seoul Arts Center that day, and that I happened to be close enough to handle both at once.

Though with that many people dead, I wasn't sure "fortunate" was the right word...

For a while, the whole world was in chaos.

Countries around the world threw everything they had into dealing with the Fallen disaster that had arrived with no warning and no preparation.

For reference, I saw reports that one Stage 5 Fallen appeared in China and one in Canada.

Both countries reportedly succeeded in eliminating theirs quickly.

In China, Wang Kai, the top Hard-difficulty record holder, handled it with the military. In Canada, they killed theirs through a joint military operation with U.S. forces.

Anyway, an enormous number of people died.

For a while, the news was nothing but this: Fallen eliminated, then more deaths, then some country in Africa entering national paralysis...

Korea also stabilized relatively quickly, but even then, total casualties were said to be in the tens of thousands.

As time passed, the Fallen crisis gradually came to a close.

Then, once things settled a little, another problem surfaced.

- We need much stricter management and supervision of non-entering Climbers!

We must make sure a horrifying disaster like this never happens again...

The issue was how to handle Floor 1 non-entering Climbers.

In the public mind, they were now no different from time bombs that would turn into monsters again in one year.

Nightmare Climbers were an especially serious issue.

With pressure mounting, the government rolled out several proposals.

Larger compensation packages for non-entering Climbers, stronger support for climbing attempts, and a push to legalize euthanasia for Climbers who chose not to enter the Tower...

That was the general outline.

Either way, before their deadline ran out, they now had only two options: enter the Tower or die in advance.

For that, no one could be allowed to hide being a Climber. Everyone had to report to the state.

Other countries were in much the same situation.

States had no choice but to become stricter, and both hardline and conciliatory policies toward Climbers started appearing.

Conflict was naturally unavoidable in that process.

"What a mess."

Watching footage of a protest overseas on the news, I muttered.

If the Tower's goal was to wreck the world one way or another,

then it was accomplishing that goal perfectly.

* * *

After the Fallen crisis, every nation faced one unavoidable task.

Thoroughly identifying all non-entering Climbers.

Until now, many countries had not required Climber registration.

The U.S. was a representative case. Because of concerns over individual rights, there was no resident registration card system, and even obtaining an ID wasn't mandatory.

By the same logic, reporting yourself as a Climber wasn't mandatory either.

When the Day of Ruin was approaching during Floor 1, the U.S. briefly made it mandatory.

But after Nightmare Floor 1 was cleared, public backlash was so strong that it was quickly rolled back.

Now even those countries needed to take action somehow.

Otherwise, the same kind of Fallen rampage disaster would happen again.

Of course, even if reporting became mandatory, people could still hide, so the key was practical measures like compensation, not pure coercion.

Still, that was separate from whether laws should be enacted.

Governments had always wanted to tighten the leash on Climbers, even a little.

The Climber power bloc was growing at a frightening pace year by year, and that was a major threat to them. They had all the justification they needed.

"We need to keep Climbers in check while we can."

"Exactly. If we miss this chance, controlling them later will be much harder."

The spark came from the U.S.

The U.S. government tried to use this opportunity to lock in multiple bills, including mandatory Climber reporting.

And since citizens who had lived through the crisis strongly supported the government this time, they had major momentum from public opinion as well.

"These lunatics. What is this Social Safety Contribution Act? Doesn't this mean they could even mobilize Climbers for wartime service if things go south?"

"We can't let this continue. They're trying to put a leash on us while they can."

But Climbers didn't agree.

"This is a violation of civil liberties! Guarantee the human rights of Climbers!"

The International Climber Association.

A private international organization headquartered in the U.S., with branches in many countries.

Its chairman was a Climber on Normal Floor 17, and the organization's stated purpose was to protect and expand Climbers' rights.

Bluntly put, it was a coalition focused on expanding Climber interests.

They fiercely opposed all bills restricting Climber freedom, including mandatory reporting.

If they gave the government even an inch, this could become the starting point for their rights to be chipped away bit by bit.

And it wasn't just the U.S. Other countries saw the same thing.

"How can you say you won't accept mandatory reporting? Your selfishness is pushing the world toward disaster!"

"And what exactly will you do once you have all Climbers' identities? If we don't kill ourselves, are you planning to hunt us down and kill us yourselves?!"

The government and the association clashed.

That naturally spread into discord and conflict between Climbers and ordinary civilians too.

The situation only kept escalating.

* * *

Lately, the world really was a complete mess.

You could tell just by looking at the Communication Window.

[Skull: People are unbelievable. What right do they have to curse us out?]

[Raksa: Who do they think is keeping this world from ending right now lol]

[Apple Juice: Shouldn't we finally unite properly for once?]

The conflict between Climbers and ordinary people.

I knew why the mood had turned this way.

The news talked every day about governments in each country fighting with the association.

I thought it would be resolved quickly, but it only seemed to get worse.

- The only reason this world still exists is because we Climbers are risking our lives climbing the Tower! Nightmare Climber Person123 saves humanity every year! So how does it make sense to persecute Climbers like this!

- Person123 climbs the Tower out of noble self-sacrifice for all humanity. How can you put him on the same level as people like you, who still only cling to your own interests and don't care at all about citizens' safety even after this disaster? You should learn from Person123.

I even saw people from both the government and the association dragging my name into it.

Lately I had also been getting a lot of whispers through the Communication Window.

People asking if I was on the Climbers' side, telling me to step in and support Climbers.

What side? There was no such thing.

It wasn't my place to decide one side was absolutely right.

It was true the government needed to take action, and it was also true that Climbers' rights shouldn't be excessively violated.

Things were already difficult, and everyone just kept fighting, so it was suffocating.

[Chicken Sandwich: The government is stirring up public opinion to suppress Climbers while it can, and the association is stirring up Climbers so it doesn't lose the initiative to the government. Neither side intends to back down, so for now...]

From what Billon told me, there was still no sign this would be resolved.

The government had public opinion behind it, but the association also had numbers.

In the end, Climbers were the ones extending the time limit by climbing the Tower, and Climbers were also the ones supplying magic stones to the world.

The association president had even threatened that Climbers would stop entering the Tower.

I had never cared about political issues before.

Still, at this rate, I couldn't help wondering whether something huge would explode if this got pushed to the extreme.

Whispers kept coming every day too. This was seriously getting on my nerves...

Isn't it enough that I'm extending the Nightmare deadline? Why do I have to deal with this too?

I opened the Communication Window.

[Person123: I am not on anyone's side, so please stop mentioning me. My role is to climb Nightmare difficulty, and I will focus only on that. I hope the association and governments can reach an amicable agreement as soon as possible.]

I paused while writing.

It was obvious, boring, and pretentious.

Would anyone even listen just because I said this?

...If I was going to step in, I needed to do it properly.

I deleted the post and wrote again.

[Person123: I am on neither the Climbers' side nor the government's side. I hope both sides will each compromise a little and reach an agreement.]

[Person123: If no agreement is reached in the near future, I will not challenge Floor 4.]

I wasn't climbing the Tower just to watch this crap.

If you all keep this up, I won't do it either.

Then fine. We can all die together.

* * *

The world was turned upside down by Person123's post.

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