WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 79

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Masked Auction (1)

- It has now been over two hours since Person123 entered. The number in the Nightmare Communication Window has reportedly not dropped, and it appears Person123 is still in the middle of the clear...

At Kim Seo-hyeon's house.

Kim Seo-a was watching the live news on TV, tightly holding her mother's hand.

Her father was at work, so he was not home. Unlike before, Person123 had challenged it early in the day rather than in the evening.

Ever since the Tower appeared, humanity had gone through this every year, but no one could ever get used to this heart-crushing tension.

Because once again, today was the day that would decide whether the world ended or not.

"Please..."

Person123's clear was taking even longer than it had on Floor 4.

Kim Seo-a muttered through trembling lips. She was so desperate her chest felt painfully tight.

"It's okay, it'll be okay."

She stroked her daughter's back, but Choi Su-jin could not hide her own rigid expression either.

Then, while that restless waiting dragged on.

The news screen suddenly grew hectic, and the anchor shouted in an excited voice.

-...We just received news that Nightmare Floor 6 has been cleared! Person123 has succeeded!

At that moment, cheers from apartment complexes burst through the balcony windows and poured in from all around.

"Ah...!"

Kim Seo-a cried out too.

Maybe because all that tension snapped at once, she broke into tears and hugged her mother. The two shared that overwhelming relief together.

- Yes, Person123 has safely succeeded in clearing Nightmare again this year.

With this, Nightmare difficulty has been cleared through Floor 6, and the Time Limit has been extended by another year. In particular, his decision to save all humanity once again instead of selecting Ark is nothing short of noble...

Choi Su-jin went out to buy groceries so she could prepare a full feast for dinner.

Kim Seo-a, still too worked up to calm down, kept flipping through the news channels.

Person123 had saved humanity again.

Back on Floor 4, he had chosen a penalty for the sake of a minority. This time too, instead of taking the Tower's proposal, he chose the path that saved everyone.

It was incredible. It was noble, too.

How could one person be that amazing?

Kim Seo-a thanked him from the bottom of her heart for protecting the world again this year.

Beep, beep, beep-

The sound of the door lock.

Kim Seo-hyeon opened the front door and walked in.

He looked at Kim Seo-a's face and asked,

"...Did you cry?"

"What? I didn't cry."

"Your eyes are red. You cried."

"I said I didn't!"

Kim Seo-hyeon glanced at the news screen and went into his room.

Kim Seo-a glared at him, then sharply turned her head away.

Did that guy seriously not care whether the world ended or not? Why was he so calm?

And he should stay home once in a while. What was he even doing outside until now...?

"...?"

She tilted her head.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Every time Person123 was clearing, of all times...?

For Floors 3 and 4, Kim Seo-hyeon had gone on trips.

What about Floor 2?

She could not remember, so she searched when Nightmare Floor 2 had been cleared. It was late at night, when everyone would have been asleep.

"Floor 1..."

Now that she thought about it, Floor 1 too?

A few hours before the world had nearly ended.

When the whole family had been in the living room, Kim Seo-hyeon had gone out saying he needed some fresh air.

Then Nightmare Floor 1 got cleared. She remembered that one clearly because it was unforgettable.

And Person123 was Korean... and supposedly a young man... huh?

Her thoughts reached that point, and Kim Seo-a snorted.

"Yeah, right."

Her brother was Person123? Him?

Like he had just come back after clearing Floor 6 too?

Even to herself, the idea sounded absurd.

In the first place, Kim Seo-hyeon was active as an Easy-difficulty Climber and even sold magic stones. There was no way he could be a Nightmare Climber.

Taking it as a weird coincidence, Kim Seo-a went back to changing TV channels.

* * *

After finishing Floor 6.

I went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep early.

[Remaining time: 12 hours 56 minutes 51 seconds]

"Hwaaaam..."

I woke up in the early dawn before sunrise and checked the time.

There were 12 hours left before something called the Masked Auction began.

I checked the Communication Window.

People were all talking about the auction there too.

Whatever it was, if it was one of the Tower's rules, it could not be anything good.

After looking around the Communication Window for a bit, I closed it.

Normally, after clearing the Tower, I took a full day to rest.

But this time I had to see what happened when the timer ran out, so I could not relax.

Jumping straight into a Hidden clear felt too rushed.

I started thinking about how to organize the guide post, and whether other people could clear Floor 6.

"Except for the boss, it probably won't be too hard."

As long as they knew the order for destroying the cores, the Ogres would not increase from three.

Even if one lane was left open while the other two got cleared, their push speed would still be faster.

Even if they lost some ground at first turret, there were two second turrets, so three Ogres would still take forever to push through.

The real issue was the boss.

I one-shot it with Destruction Beam, but other people would probably struggle.

How strong exactly was the boss, and what abilities did it use? I would re-enter later and check.

Diul came to mind, so I called it out.

"You okay, Diul?"

Diul came out of the bracelet and hovered around my head.

It looked fully recovered now and in decent condition.

"We worked hard on Floor 6 too, right? By the way, your form keeps changing. Are you evolving?"

I tried talking to Diul.

But I only felt a bit of indifferent emotion. No real response came back.

In the Reward Room it kept calling me an idiot the whole time.

"Wanna go for a night walk on Floor 2?"

It still did not answer, but I felt a faint sense that it liked the idea.

I smirked and entered Floor 2.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 2.]

Platforms hanging in the air above lava.

At level 80, I did not even need those platforms anymore.

Boom!

I used Leap and jumped straight to the large ground in one go.

I went outside the Tower area and ran through the night forest path.

So walking around like this consistently really had worked.

Now the third ability had unlocked too.

It grumbled every time, but back on Floor 3 too, Diul had helped me succeed more than once, so it was hard not to feel reassured.

After a decent walk on Floor 2, I came out and entered Floor 3 again.

"Wanna use that ability again, Diul?"

I decided to figure out Diul's new ability clearly.

Maybe the walk put it in a better mood, because Diul used it without much complaint.

Saaaaa.

Black mist spread all around.

The area was narrower than when it spread it on Floor 6.

The undead swarming toward me stepped into the dark zone.

Just like the Ogres, they lost their balance, collapsed, and flailed around.

So it really was not just that they could not see ahead.

It had no effect on me, so I still could not understand their condition exactly.

"Can you make it affect me too, Diul?"

The instant I said that.

...My vision suddenly went black.

I could not just see nothing, I could not hear anything either. Even the corpse stench that had stabbed my nose disappeared.

My body sensations vanished too, so I could not feel whether I was moving or doing anything at all.

It was complete darkness.

That unfamiliar feeling of all senses being cut off threw me badly off balance for a moment.

Soon, my five senses returned to normal.

When they did, I was flailing on the ground just like the other undead.

'Puhut.'

Diul looked at me and laughed mockingly, like it was playing around.

I found it absurd too, so I let out a small laugh and stood up.

Yeah... so this was that kind of ability?

No wonder it looked so draining.

Didn't this basically turn the target into a complete idiot?

The dark zone faded away, and the undead recovered too.

I named the skill.

"Since it's like fog, let's call it Pitch-Black Mist. What do you think, Diul?"

Diul looked like it was saying, do whatever you want, and showed zero interest.

Then Pitch-Black Mist it was.

I had gained a seriously good ability.

* * *

Time passed, and it became daytime.

[Remaining time: 1 minute 29 seconds]

Not much left now.

I was waiting while pacing around my room with my arms crossed.

It said 100 people would be randomly invited...

Obviously I did not want to get picked.

The number of Climbers who had cleared up to Floor 6 was small, but it still had to be at least several thousand.

Probability-wise, it was under 10 percent.

"No way I get picked."

[Remaining time: 1 second]

Pop.

The scene in front of my eyes changed.

...Ah.

Did I just raise my own flag?

I got picked.

"Uh?"

"Oh..."

Masked people were everywhere around me.

My field of view was narrow. I touched my face.

I had a mask on too.

The others looked just as confused, glancing around and looking at each other.

They had to be people who got picked like me.

Everyone also had a number tag pinned to their chest, and when I looked down, mine was number 15.

I looked around. It was like a dark theater.

There were seats, and a stage at the front.

[1,000,000 people]

And in one corner of my vision, there was that number.

One million? What did that mean?

Step. Step.

The sound of dress shoes echoed.

The crowd's murmuring stopped, and all eyes turned toward the stage.

What was that...

A figure in a suit wearing a mask.

Its visible hands did not look human, and it spoke into a microphone.

"Congratulations, everyone, on being invited to the Masked Auction. Please take a comfortable seat."

A dry, businesslike voice.

Everyone was baffled, but they still picked seats and sat down.

No one knew what would happen if we disobeyed, so I sat in the back too.

Pop!

The stage lights turned on.

The being on stage spoke again.

"I am the host in charge of this auction. During the auction, there are two rules you must follow.

First, do not attack the host. Second, do not damage or attempt to steal the auction items. If you follow these two rules and enjoy the auction, you will return to the place you were originally in."

Hmm...

What was this, really?

Every Tower rule so far had been about wrecking the world and trying to kill people.

But now it was doing something like this out of nowhere... I could not tell what it wanted.

"Then we will begin the auction immediately. Here is the first lot."

An item suddenly appeared on a stand in the center of the stage.

It was a skill stone, glowing green.

[Skill: Formation Collapse (Rare+)]

Leap high, then drop downward to unleash a powerful shockwave. The higher the drop, the stronger the power.

Classification: Physical-Type

Willpower Cost: 100

Cooldown: 1 minute

I had not touched it, but the skill description appeared before my eyes.

Everyone else seemed surprised too, probably because they could see it as well.

It was a Rare+ skill, after all.

"The number you see in your vision is the currency you may use for bidding. I would like to inform you that all participants have each been given the same amount: one million people."

At the host's words, I looked again at the number in the corner of my vision.

[1,000,000 people]

So this was money for the auction.

...But why was the unit like that?

Not points or anything, why did it use the people-counting unit?

"What does one million people mean...?"

Someone else had the same question and raised a hand.

The host calmly gave a shocking answer.

"It is the lives of non-Climbers. For each unit you spend, that many non-Climbers will die at random."

"...E-excuse me?"

"This is a special reward for all of you who cleared up to Floor 6. Also, as those who die as auction currency do not die by the Tower's Curse, they will not become Fallen.

You may use all one million, or use none at all. The choice is entirely yours, so please enjoy the auction without burden."

...What kind of insane nonsense was this?

The host continued.

"The starting bid for the first lot is 1,000 people. Anyone who wishes to bid, please raise your hand and call out your price."

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