WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 43
──────
First Proposal (1)
"Seo-hyeon, since you're up anyway, bring back one assorted plate of sushi too."
"Yes."
I hummed to myself while filling my plate.
A weekend buffet packed with people.
I was out eating with my family for the first time in a while.
"Seo-a, eat something besides crab. We came all the way to a buffet and you're only eating one thing."
"Why? I'm eating only the most expensive stuff."
My little sister had been stubbornly stacking king crab legs and eating nothing else.
"Is it really that good? Honestly, I can't even tell the difference from crab sticks."
"That's because your taste is cheap, oppa."
"Eat up, our one little sister with premium taste buds."
I was already full, so I just picked at dessert.
My father wiped his mouth and asked,
"By the way, Seo-hyeon, how's work these days?"
"...Work? Same as always. I just keep repeating Floor 1."
"Right, always be careful. Come to think of it, starting this year, wasn't there some kind of health insurance premium benefit for... Climbers? Are you checking up on that?"
"Yes, I'm checking everything."
My sister cut in.
"Oppa, buy me a phone for my birthday this year. It's about time I replaced mine."
"Be quiet and eat more crab."
They used to seem more worried about me entering the Tower, but not so much these days.
Well, my parents were just unusually protective. Repeating Easy Floor 1 wasn't really something to worry about anyway.
Going in and out of the Tower, then living a normal life in reality.
My life was always the same.
Hanging out with friends, going on trips, coming out like this for meals with family. That was how I lived.
In the end, wasn't the whole point of climbing the Tower to live happily?
That happiness wasn't guaranteed every year, so I had to enjoy it while I could.
Having to risk my life every year just to survive, and not only my life but all of humanity's.
What I once couldn't even imagine had now become everyday life.
As my mind drifted lazily, the thought felt so absurd that I let out a dry laugh.
"Why are you laughing out of nowhere? Eat something weird?"
"Watching you eat reminded me of a cow chewing cud."
Ignoring my sister's glare, I sipped my drink.
At that point, there were six months left until I had to clear Floor 4.
* * *
From the Fallen incident onward, all kinds of things had happened...
Then early autumn came, and September was still hot.
Even when I felt like I was making the most of every day, time still flew by in a blink.
Before I knew it, only around two months were left on the Nightmare timer.
I would challenge it when 20 days remained, so the entry point was effectively two months minus 20 days away.
[Nightmare(21)]
The number of Nightmare challengers kept rising and dropping one by one, and now it had passed twenty.
The countries involved had grown more diverse too.
Still, the two countries pushing Nightmare the hardest were, as always, the U.S. and China.
This time too, both had cleared Floor 3 and were right on my heels.
- There are reportedly discussions inside the Nobel Committee about selecting Person123 as a candidate for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
I even heard news like that.
Wow. Me, a Nobel Peace Prize.
It was so absurd it was funny, but I also thought I deserved it.
Saying otherwise wouldn't even be humility.
But if they didn't know who I was, how were they planning to give it to me?
So I figured it would just stay talk...
- This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been decided to go to... our great hero who saved humanity. Person123.
The committee recognizes that this decision departs from established convention.
The winner's real name, nationality, and specific identity details have not been verified at all.
Even so, everyone knows he has prevented the destruction of the world multiple times. No one can deny those achievements, and there is no room for controversy. For that reason, we have made this decision.
The committee believes his unprecedented sacrifice and devotion, unmatched across all of human history, justify this exceptional decision.
As seen when the special recommendation resolution at the recent UN General Assembly was adopted unanimously, the recommender for this award is the whole world.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize medal and prize money will be held under special management by the Nobel Foundation until the recipient appears in person, and at the ceremony in Oslo City Hall in Norway, watched by people across the world, the UN Secretary-General will accept on his behalf...
They really did award it to me.
Wow, I got a Nobel Peace Prize. I couldn't brag about it to anyone...
So I just accepted it and moved on.
[Chicken Sandwich: Well, you can't say their motives are purely noble.
They're anxious that Mr. Kim might change his mind at any time.
This is probably their way of tying just a bit more "hero of humanity" responsibility onto you.]
[Person123: I see.]
[Chicken Sandwich: Are you disappointed?]
[Person123: No. It's only natural for them to be anxious.]
I climbed the Tower for myself too, in the end.
If I didn't, my family and I would die.
I wasn't carrying some grand cause, so I didn't care what people thought.
.
.
.
[Nightmare]
Population: 284,386
Time Limit: 25 days 23 hours 35 minutes 17 seconds
Reached Floor: Floor 4
Could I clear Floor 4?
Would I survive again this time?
The closer the deadline came, the more stray thoughts crept in, and by now I was used to it.
I steadied myself and focused on training.
Training mostly meant raising skill proficiency, though.
Fwoooosh!
A red point appeared in midair just above the ground, and a spherical zone formed around it.
Undead that entered the zone burst into flames and collapsed.
[Skill: Searing Zone (Rare+)]
Creates a searing zone with a 5-meter radius within 10 meters. Targets entering the area continuously take burn damage. Casting requires 50 seconds of mental concentration.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 30 per second
Cooldown: 1 minute
A newly acquired Rare+ Magic-Type skill.
It was an area field skill that dealt continuous damage inside its range.
The power was solid, and the range was pretty wide too.
For reference, I didn't get this from Billon.
I got it after enhancing Flame Strike from +2 all the way to +5.
I hadn't known this, but when one skill reached +5 enhancement, the final enhancement didn't strengthen that skill's effect. Instead, it randomly granted one higher-tier skill in a similar category.
One enhancement stone was from my Floor 3 reward, and thankfully Billon got me two more. I dumped all three into Flame Strike, and that's how I got Searing Zone.
I never expected a hidden piece like this.
One question remained, though: why hadn't this been revealed until now?
Sure, enhancement stones were rarer than skill stones, but had no one ever pushed even a Common skill to +5?
Maybe. Or maybe someone knew and kept the information to themselves.
[Person123: If you enhance a skill to +5, you randomly learn one similar skill of one higher grade.]
So I posted it in the Communication Window. No need to thank me.
Anyway, not splitting enhancements and focusing only on Flame Strike had been the right choice.
Now Flame Strike had become five fireballs, and since +5 was the max enhancement, I couldn't enhance it any further.
More importantly, this skill called Searing Zone.
At last, my first sustained magic skill.
As long as my Willpower didn't run out, I could keep it active forever.
In other words, I could maintain it infinitely.
Considering Floor 4's theme, you could say I rolled a pretty good one.
[Skill: Skin Hardening (Rare)]
Hardens your skin to increase defense.
Classification: Physical-Type
Willpower Cost: 5 per second
Cooldown: 10 seconds
[Skill: Lesser Burn Resistance (Common+)]
Grants minor resistance to burns.
Classification: Physical-Type (Passive)
Willpower Cost: None
Cooldown: None
[Skill: Ice Bullet (Common)]
Fires cold energy to freeze the point of impact. Casting requires 10 seconds of mental concentration.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 50
Cooldown: 10 seconds
[Item: Ring of Lupadupa]
A ring containing the will of the amateur shaman Lupadupa. Increases Willpower recovery speed by 10%.
Of course, there were things Billon had given me in the meantime too.
First was Skin Hardening, something I'd wanted for a while.
This was also a sustained skill with per-second Willpower consumption, so for me it was highly efficient.
I was a bit disappointed it came at this timing, since defense probably wouldn't matter much on Floor 4.
Lesser Burn Resistance, a Common+ passive, and Ice Bullet, a Common-grade skill, those weren't anything special.
Lastly, I got one item too, gear that boosted Willpower recovery speed.
Not very necessary for me, of course, but better than nothing.
At least it would refill Willpower faster when I stopped time.
A total of three skills, two enhancement stones, and one item.
Billon had really gathered a lot over the past year.
[Difficulty: Nightmare]
[Floor: Floor 4]
[Level: 45]
[Willpower: 1,250]
[Skills: Destruction Beam (Epic+), Teleport (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Searing Zone (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+5), Blade Whirlwind (Rare), Exaltation (Rare), Skin Hardening (Rare), Fairy Light Bolt (Common+) (+1), Lesser Toxic Resistance (Common+), Lesser Burn Resistance (Common+), Leap (Common) (+1), Swing (Common), Thrust (Common), Ice Bullet (Common)]
"Diul, you'll unlock your powers for me again when I'm in danger this time too, right? Right?"
I looked up at Diul and asked.
As always, Diul reacted with indifference.
I still hadn't unlocked Diul's third ability.
Even though I'd taken him on a night walk almost every single day for a whole year. I felt a little salty about that.
Still, from constant use, his stealth duration had grown to around 15 minutes.
I trusted he would unlock a new ability again when I was in danger.
After repeating Floor 3 and clearing even the undead boss, I summoned Pli.
"Alright, sparring time."
I moved frantically against charging Pli.
Along with skill practice, I also kept training without skills against the max-strength Floor 3 boss and against Pli. Physical instincts mattered too.
After training, I left the Tower.
I stepped out of my room for water and saw my family watching TV in the living room.
- A large crowd is expected on Seoul's Gwanghwamun Boulevard on October 23. In New York's Times Square and Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican as well, people are expected to gather in the streets to pray for Person123's successful clear...
My sister watched the news and said,
"Should we all go out too?"
My mother stopped her.
"No. Too dangerous with that many people. Let's just pray at home."
True, no one knew what kind of chaos might break out.
Especially if I failed after all those people gathered.
My sister turned to me as I drank water and said,
"Oppa, why are you going on another trip? Just stay home."
"My choice."
"Go there and pray properly too, seriously."
If it was prayer for me, I did that every day.
Please let me survive that wicked Tower.
Two days before the 20-day mark, I would travel again this time.
I'd refresh one last time, steel myself, and challenge Floor 4.
- The government will begin procedures regarding non-entering Climbers on November 10...
Another news segment came on.
It was about non-entering Climbers.
I had challenged Floor 1 with around three hours left on the Time Limit.
So this time, the date those people died wasn't exactly on one-year intervals, it was with three extra hours left before that. Not a big difference, but still.
The government paid huge compensation to unregistered Climbers.
That compensation was also payment in exchange for agreeing either to enter the Tower themselves, or to undergo euthanasia and then be cremated without leaving even a body behind.
No one knew whether people who died in advance might also turn into Fallen.
And even after going that far, nobody knew where monsters might still pop up.
It couldn't be helped.
Then again, what was the point of thinking about that now?
I had to worry about my own clear.
"I'm heading out."
A few days passed, and on the day I left for my trip, I hid the will I wrote every year in my room like an annual ritual, slung on my backpack, and left home.
* * *
October 22.
Another year had already passed, and now only one day remained until the fated day Person123 would challenge Floor 4.
Around this time, people started struggling to focus on work.
By tomorrow, it would be decided whether the world would collapse again or not.
"...Huh?"
"Huh?"
People walking the streets suddenly stopped and looked up at empty space.
Confused, they stared at the message in front of them.
A message that appeared not only before Climbers, but before everyone in the world.
* * *
I had gone to Jeju Island for a trip, spent the day having fun, and came back to the hotel.
Population: 283,160
Time Limit: 21 days 1 minute 25 seconds
Reached Floor: Floor 4
Now only one day remained.
Tomorrow I planned to climb to the summit of Hallasan during the day. That would be the last thing.
Then I'd return to the hotel and start getting ready to enter.
I was enjoying a relaxed break with a beer when,
[The Tower proposes to 'Person123'.]
I froze with the beer still at my mouth.
Slowly, I set the can down and stared at the message floating in front of me.
"...What?"
What was this?
[If 'Person123' selects one of the following penalties and enters Floor 4, the rule 'Climbers who do not enter the Tower within 3 years will die' will be nullified.]
[1. Physical abilities reduced by 50%]
[2. Skill cooldowns increased by 2x]
[3. Use of three random skills prohibited]
[4. Use of one highest-grade skill prohibited]
[5. Item use prohibited]
[The penalty remains only during the first clear attempt of Floor 4.]
['Person123', if you accept the proposal, select a penalty and enter.]
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
