WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Chapter 21
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The second-floor wasteland.
A sandstorm greeted us the moment we arrived.
Whoooosh!
“Ah, tsk...”
“Everyone, put on your masks.”
Not the Gas Masks we had used in the Toxic Zone on the third floor, but much more comfortable masks.
KF94 masks, for the record.
The pandemic a few years ago had raised the standard of mask quality across the board.
“My eyes are uncomfortable too... Should we try the night vision goggles? I think they’ll work as long as we don’t turn them on.”
They were attached to our helmets, but I had never properly used them in the tower.
I had Complete Senses, after all.
“If you don’t turn them on, you won’t be able to see anything.”
“Oh, really?”
Thankfully, the sandstorm soon died down.
We had landed on a ruined road, quite far from the Direct Exit.
“We can pass the checkpoint, head to the motel complex, then make our way to the exit.”
The military checkpoint was one of the second floor’s main farming spots...
Still, there probably wouldn’t be any major trouble.
We began walking briskly.
The second floor felt particularly oppressive because it was open in every direction.
At least there were plenty of abandoned vehicles scattered along the road, so we could use them as cover.
The monsters here were sand scorpions...
They soaked up plenty of bullets, but they did not appear very often.
We made small talk as we walked.
This was a place where we had to rely more on our eyes than our ears.
The light sandstorm would drown out any noise.
“Come to think of it, the body armor on the fifth floor stopped bullets completely. Full-auto fire eventually punched through, though.”
“Really? It must’ve been the latest ceramic armor. Probably Russian Class 5.”
“There’s Class 5 body armor too? Mine’s Class 4, and I was told it was top-tier.”
“Russian armor uses a different rating system from the US. Armor standards differ in general.”
Go Jiho considered it seriously.
“Should we start phasing out 5.56mm and switch to 6.8...”
“Huh? I only just got used to this rifle.”
“Don’t worry. The rifle you use comes in a 6.8mm version too.”
So he had considered all of this from the beginning.
“Then why didn’t we use it from the start?”
“Setting aside how hard ammunition is to find, the rounds are much bigger and heavier. You need a heavier, sturdier gun too.”
That meant we would be able to carry less ammunition.
“For now, let’s use what we have and think about the rest once we get out.”
After chatting and walking for quite a while, we reached the checkpoint.
Several buildings of varying sizes stood clustered together...
It was one of the few places on the second floor where we could find decent loot.
Sang Hajun checked the roof first.
“Roof is clear.”
“Moving in.”
It was about time to eat, so we entered the building.
Then we heard faint sounds from inside.
Clink.
Rustle.
Following what I had been taught, I raised my right fist.
Everyone froze.
“Three people inside. Looks like they’re just farming.”
“Surround them first.”
There were only so many entrances and exits.
Kim Yuna covered the back door while I watched the windows.
Once everyone was in position, Go Jiho shouted.
“Hunters inside, disarm yourselves and come out! You’re surrounded!”
“Eek!”
“Don’t shoot! We’re coming out!”
The startled hunters stopped farming and came out with their hands raised.
They surrendered so immediately it was almost anticlimactic.
They seemed to panic the moment they saw Go Jiho.
With his huge shield and full set of body armor, it was understandable.
‘... They don’t seem to be criminal hunters.’
Their equipment was extremely poor.
They wore body armor that was practically garbage, carried rusty guns, and had dented little backpacks.
Still, they wore something resembling military uniforms.
Go Jiho did not bother taking their loot.
It was obvious they had nothing worthwhile, and demanding it would only start another fight.
Instead, he asked for information.
“Have you been near the second floor’s Direct Exit... the one by the tunnel?”
“Ah, there? Yeah, we have.”
This was where the problem began.
If we were lucky, there would be nothing around it.
Even if the second floor had many criminal hunters, those bastards were not usually good at working together.
To become a force capable of threatening properly armed, legitimate hunters, they needed something more.
Loot they had happened upon that would help them survive.
Or a leader with exceptional leadership.
Once again, the tower was not going to let us leave easily.
“The criminal hunters built a huge camp right in front of it.”
“... Who’s their leader?”
“I don’t know the name. But they were trying to charge hunters a toll. Was it 5,000 gold per team?”
You might wonder what criminal hunters would need gold for...
But they could spend it at the Interfloor Zone shop.
They could use it when descending from the second floor to the first...
Or when climbing back up from the first floor to the second.
Just as there were Descent Exits, there were routes from lower floors to higher ones.
They were not called exits because they took you farther away from escape.
Five thousand gold per team.
At first glance, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable price.
But we could not trust criminal scum.
If they thought they could extort 10,000 gold from us, they would raise the price without hesitation.
And if they thought they could kill us, they would.
“Have they fortified the place? How many are there?”
“They built the walls pretty high... At least twenty people, I think.”
That was a lot.
Could the food and water found on the second floor support that many people?
Go Jiho had the same thought.
“Wouldn’t they be short on food?”
“Some of them are basically slaves. They keep sending patrols to every place where food appears.”
If they had succeeded in raiding even once, they could have secured a fairly comfortable food supply.
The Inter-Floor Merchant sold food at relatively low prices.
Of course, their consumption rate would be no joke.
“Understood. Avoid that area for the next day or two. If we spot you nearby, we’ll shoot you on sight.”
“Y-Yes!”
They gathered their loot and hurried off in the opposite direction.
We ate a quick lunch, then passed through the motel complex.
Food and water often appeared there...
But there were signs it had recently been picked clean.
“Looks like they weren’t completely lying.”
“We’ll reach the Direct Exit around sunset.”
We could use a Descent Exit to go down to the first floor...
But I did not like that idea.
The first floor was swampland and forest.
It was far too favorable for ambushes.
And it probably had just as many random stragglers as the second floor.
After trudging along for who knew how long, taking occasional sips of water, we finally spotted the base in front of the tunnel at the end of the road.
The setting sun was behind us, making it less likely that we would be spotted.
“There it is. Everyone, get down. What do you think?”
“The walls are just plywood. Bullets will go straight through.”
Still, they had built several things resembling watchtowers, so there was probably someone with military experience among them.
Only a few people were visible outside...
But there were several residential containers inside.
We could not completely trust the hunters from the checkpoint.
Still, those bastards would not have built walls with good intentions.
The decision to attack and break through passed unanimously.
“Kang Hyun, make the plan. What do you want to do?”
Was this already deputy team leader training?
At Go Jiho’s instruction, I considered it for a moment.
“We should go after dark. They may have secured food and water, but they probably haven’t secured electricity.”
There were several large searchlights at the base...
But they were probably just for decoration.
We had night vision goggles, so we had an overwhelming advantage.
“Yuna and I infiltrate first, then the main group attacks from outside at the same time... Does that work?”
“Kang Hyun, are you really not ex-military?”
I had not expected him to approve it so easily.
Once night had fully fallen...
Kim Yuna and I left our backpacks behind and set out lightly equipped.
“Kang Hyun, are you going to use your skill?”
“I don’t know. I was planning to...”
Seeing their pathetic guard posture, I no longer wanted to use it.
Using it on them would be an insult to my skill.
There was no way criminal hunters would be diligently standing guard in the first place.
The one who gave the order probably did not expect much, either.
They were probably just posted there to get shot before him.
“I’ll save it for now.”
“Okay.”
Using the sandstorm and cover to hide ourselves, we slowly approached.
Normally, they should have cleared away cover like this long ago...
But they seemed to lack both the manpower and motivation.
When I turned on the night vision goggles, the world turned green.
“Wow, these goggles really let you see clearly.”
“They’re the newest model. They have thermal vision too, but they drain the batteries fast.”
Still, they would last several hours without a problem.
The plywood walls had almost no defensive value, but they did have one advantage.
Like most things in the wasteland, they were badly worn and rusted...
Any slight touch made a tremendous amount of noise.
Thankfully, Kim Yuna’s teleportation skill made that irrelevant.
“Can you get over there?”
“Yeah. Stay close to me.”
Kim Yuna could only teleport to places she could see or had visited recently.
The plywood walls were full of holes, so we could clearly see the other side.
Flash!
Once we got over safely, I immediately drew my pistol.
It was much quieter than a rifle.
The criminal hunters inside the base were chatting without any enthusiasm.
“They’ve been controlling water too strictly lately...”
“Things were better when we had women. Wouldn’t it be better to just leave at this point?”
“Are you insane? You want to go back to prison?”
“Then you like this?”
“Prison depends on where you are... If you get locked up in a third-world prison like I did, you can’t even get a proper meal. The cells are so cramped you can’t even stretch.”
“Ha... They say they’ll pardon us if we bring in about 1,000 gold. But maybe because the rumor spread, hunters barely come by anymore... Even when we go on patrol, we get nothing.”
“A pardon? You believe that? What a pathetic bastard.”
“Well, a third-world bastard like you might not be able to believe it...”
They were already fighting among themselves.
I quickly made them get along by shooting them.
Pfft, pfft!
There were numerous presences inside the containers.
But we could not deal with them yet.
Ting!
As soon as Kim Yuna dealt with the sniper in the most troublesome position, the main group began moving too.
Rifles were louder, so we nearly got discovered as well...
“Huh? What was that sound?”
“E-Enemies outside!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Han Juwon pushed in alongside Go Jiho.
The machine gun and sniper fire swept across the top of the wall.
“Enemies! Everyone, get out here!”
“Aaargh!”
The door of a nearby container opened, and startled hunters rushed out.
Pfft!
I shot the first two who came out, then threw a grenade into the container.
I closed the door again.
Unlike these guys, I was civilized, so I had to mind my manners.
“W-Wait!”
Boom!
The three people inside the container were taken out in an instant.
Infiltrating first really did make things easy.
“What the hell, why are there enemies inside too...”
“That guy with the shield! Bullets aren’t even penetrating!”
“Grr... I’m getting out of here!”
“Wait, go with me!”
A lot of them eventually gave up and ran.
It made sense. The Direct Exit was right behind them.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Han Juwon’s Ghost Bullets tore through the thin steel doors.
The hunters, who had completely lost their will to fight, fled in a panic.
I hesitated over shooting them in the back, then stopped myself.
My feelings were a little complicated, so I made a half-hearted excuse.
“Bullets are expensive.”
“Good call,” Kim Yuna said, lowering her gun.
The inside of the container hit by the grenade was a mess.
The loot taken from the hunters was not especially impressive either.
We gathered whatever looked valuable...
Then Han Juwon, who had been watching outside, shouted.
“Someone’s coming! A five-person hunter team!”
“What?”
We rushed outside to find a fully armed five-person hunter team slowly approaching.
They looked relaxed, as if they had no intention of fighting.
There were flag patches on their body armor...
American flags.
“American hunters?”
“... Doesn’t look fake.”
Their gear was clearly on a different level at a glance.
It was similar to ours or even better, all top-of-the-line equipment.
Go Jiho frowned the moment he saw them.
“Those bastards... They waited until we broke through.”
“Oh, really?”
“They couldn’t have shown up at exactly the right time by coincidence.”
Go Jiho stood his ground at the ruined entrance.
“American friends, you’re a little late. This is Alpha Team from Korea.”
“Oh, Koreans? It’s been quite a while since we met any in the tower. So you’re Alpha Team. We’re Sierra Squad from the American Association.”
“Some crazy bastards fired rockets on the third floor. It’ll take a week for the place to auto-repair, right?”
The American hunters spoke casually as they tried to enter.
Would charging them a toll here make us no better than the criminals?
It was a little hard to tell.
Go Jiho had his own thoughts.
“You’re just going to walk in? You should compensate us for our trouble.”
“Compensate you? We’re allies. Are you really going to be so petty?”
“You people only call us allies at times like this.”
Thankfully, the atmosphere was not particularly hostile.
They had probably already taken all the worthwhile loot while coming down to the second floor...
At this point, getting back safely was what mattered most.
Since both sides had considerable firepower, a fight would guarantee bloodshed on both sides.
Then, when Kim Yuna and I showed ourselves, one of the American hunters stepped forward.
He pointed at the pistol I was holding.
“Wait, is that an MK.23? Are they giving rookies antiques that belong in a museum?”
“... I’m not a rookie.”
I protested, but nobody believed me.
The American hunter who had spoken said proudly.
“My family sells custom firearms. Forget that antique and try this. I’ll give it to you as a special gift.”
“What?”
He suddenly took out a pistol and handed it to me.
It even had a suppressor attached.
The moment I took it, it fit perfectly in my hand.
“Whoa...”
“How is it? Fits Asian hands perfectly, right? A .45 has an absurdly thick grip... Try 9mm from now on. It’s built on a 2011 platform, with a custom grip and a design tailored for a suppressor and enhanced rounds.”
The grip felt so good it was almost unsettling.
It was also much lighter than my old pistol, even though the magazine held far more rounds.
Go Jiho complained from beside me.
“You’re telling him to use 9mm in the tower?”
“It’s a sidearm anyway. Whether it’s 9mm or .45, neither can penetrate proper body armor. And 9mm has a vastly higher capacity.”
Click, click.
“Wow! It’s so smooth.”
I pulled back the slide and marveled.
Go Jiho seemed a little wounded in his pride, but he whispered to me.
“Take it for now. A custom pistol like that is worth at least $7,000.”
“Uh... How much is $7,000?”
“At today’s exchange rate, around ten million won.”
“... What?”
He was casually giving me a ten-million-won gift?
And since it probably used tower-made components, it was likely worth even more.
No.
Looking at it, he was probably using this to cover our compensation.
It was a clever way to protect both sides’ pride.
Since it was technically a gift, it worked for both the person giving it and the person receiving it.
“Just promote it properly for us. Sales shoot up whenever videos of foreign hunters using our guns get uploaded.”
“Like American patriotic content... I’ll make sure to give it a proper review,” Kim Yuna said confidently.
I hurriedly offered the thanks I had forgotten.
“Thank you! I’ll put it to good use!”
Still, selling custom firearms as a family business...
And advertising them while working as a hunter.
I had never met anyone like that before.
If I had never entered the tower, I probably never would have met someone like him.
Entering the tower really had been the right choice.
Thinking of my first pistol, I asked just to be sure.
“This one has a safety, right?”
“... What did you say?”
The American hunters turned toward Go Jiho as if they were looking at a caveman.
They all began shouting over each other.
“Hey, what kind of garbage pistol did you give a rookie for the kid to ask something like that...”
“Don’t tell me it’s one from the Korean War? That’s abuse!”
“N-No! His first time with a pistol went badly!”
Go Jiho protested as if he had been grievously wronged.
A little later, we gathered all our luggage and headed for the Fixed Exit.
Flash!
It was our second return from the tower.
Footnotes:
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