WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 11: Master of the Tower (3)

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I had no idea how to explain that he simply couldn't see me.

[Well, I am standing right in front of you...]

"......"

[Don't look at me like that. I think you just can't see me.]

"Then make it so I can."

[If I could do that, you think I'd be stuck like this?]

Even as we talked, I kept dutifully waving my hand in front of his face.

But he stared right through me like he was looking at empty air.

I thought about touching his hand again like before, then decided against it. I didn't want to cause any more confusion, and it clearly wasn't going to work anyway. Besides, he'd only just calmed down. I wasn't confident I could talk him down again if he started freaking out about some unknown presence.

"You're not going to kill me or anything, right?"

[No. There's no reason to, and it looks like I can't even touch you anyway.]

At my answer, he let out a breath like some of the tension had drained out of him.

"Are you a ghost?"

[Who knows.]

I was human, technically, but I didn't think I needed to explain all that to this kid. My soul might belong to a god, but the essence and memories my soul pursued, along with Kang Hangyeol's body, were a hundred percent human.

At my answer, he rolled his eyes around like he didn't know what to say.

Then, like the pain from his wounds was finally catching up to him, he winced.

I couldn't say much about the other injuries, but the goblin bite on his shoulder looked pretty serious.

If left untreated, it could easily fester.

Monster immune systems were different from human ones, obviously, which meant a high chance of infection.

I'd been bitten by a goblin once too, back in the day. I'd been incredibly lucky that the fruit I'd eaten without knowing anything, back then, happened to double as a medicinal herb. That's the only reason I survived.

Maybe it was none of my business, but I didn't want to let him die right now. Something about him overlapped with my past self.

At the same time, there was guilt, however brief, over losing the people who'd been my teammates.

Watching him struggle for breath, I wondered if there was anything I could do to help, and that's when I stumbled on an unexpected function.

[Gift]

- You may send a gift to a target.

- Sending a gift consumes the target's merit points. You cannot gift beyond the target's available merit points.

- Eligible recipient: Yu Jihan

- Available items: Small Healing Potion (12), Small mana potion (30), Painkiller (5)

[Hey, is your name Yu Jihan by any chance?]

At my question, Jihan's eyes went wide like he couldn't figure out how I knew that.

"You really are a ghost......"

[I told you I'm not.]

He'd been speaking Korean, so I'd wondered, but knowing for sure that he was actually Korean made me genuinely glad.

I selected Yu Jihan as the gift recipient.

[Yu Jihan]

Merit points: 20

I chose one Small Healing Potion and a painkiller.

[Consumed 18 merit points to gift a Small Healing Potion and painkiller to 'Yu Jihan'.]

[Obtained 18 merit points.]

"What, what's going on?"

Judging by Jihan's reaction, the gift notification had gone through fine.

Unable to see me, Jihan flinched at the sudden alert and looked around in confusion.

Wrong direction, I keep telling you.

Guess he doesn't know how to check it.

Giving him the gift was fine and all, but I had no idea how his side's system actually worked either.

[Hey, can you open a status window or an item window or something?]

"What? Status window? Item window, what kind of game talk is that... wait, the bastards who shoved me in here said something like that too......"

[Whatever it is, just open it.]

"How do I even do that?"

[Focus your mind on one point and imagine something appearing in front of your eyes.]

Yu Jihan clamped his mouth shut. He looked like he thought that was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

When I stayed silent, he reluctantly did as told.

"What is this...... There's something in what looks like an item window......"

When Jihan touched the item window, a healing potion and a painkiller appeared in his hand.

"Did you give me this?"

[Something like that. More importantly, eat it now, you might actually die otherwise.]

Technically it was Jihan's own merit points that got spent, so saying I gave it to him wasn't quite right, but explaining all that felt like a hassle, so I just glossed over it.

Even with the potion and painkiller in hand, Jihan stayed frozen for a while, not moving.

Jihan lifted his head and spoke.

"I think I'd rather just die like this, ugh."

His gaze drifted toward the dead goblin's corpse.

He'd worked up the courage to look, but within seconds he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.

I sat down on the ground between Jihan and the goblin.

"Huh? The body's gone."

[What are you talking about, it's right behind me.]

I answered while glancing back at the corpse over my shoulder, but Jihan looked even more confused.

Dragging his injured body up, Jihan walked around behind me, winced again, and came back to his spot.

I'm telling you the body's right there.

"It's not there when I sit here, what's going on?"

[Maybe it's because I'm sitting in between. Could be that.]

I couldn't be seen, but apparently I wasn't completely transparent from behind either.

My guess was that instead of the goblin, Jihan's eyes were probably seeing some ordinary patch of scenery in its place.

[If you're not going to drink that, I'm taking it back.]

"You can't take back something you already gave."

[You said you're going to die. What use is medicine to someone who's dying?]

"I said dying would be better, not that I was actually going to die."

[Are we having a teenage moment?]

Jihan kept fidgeting with the potion and painkiller I'd given him.

What was he even so stubborn about.

Well, I guess I hadn't been easy either, back then.

His first kill. A world where everything was unfamiliar.

I understood, at least a little, why Jihan might feel that dying could be better even though he had a chance to survive.

[It sucks, doesn't it?]

"What?"

[Not knowing why this is happening to you. Not knowing what you actually did wrong. Not even knowing if you'll survive even if you try to live.]

At my words, Jihan nodded quietly.

Wrong direction, seriously.

[Live anyway. Isn't it a waste to die like this?]

"Waste of what?"

[Whatever it is. At your age, you've probably worked hard enough to accomplish at least one thing. Thinking about everything you've done up to now, it'd be a waste to die here. Isn't there something like that?]

Jihan thought hard for a while before answering.

"There is, actually."

[What is it?]

"I was this close to a rank up in League."

I hadn't expected League of Legends to come up.

When I stayed quiet, Jihan muttered.

"Yeah, what would you know."

Something about that felt a little dismissive, and I was about to say something back when he spoke again.

"Though I guess I'm not exactly normal either, chatting with some voice I can't even see."

[I told you I'm right in front of you, and you're still saying that.]

"What am I supposed to do if I can't see you? Still, I guess I can tell something's in front of me since it's blocking the goblin's body from view. Ugh......"

Jihan grabbed at his throbbing shoulder.

He was still hesitating over whether to drink what was in the bottle in his hand.

[Drink it. Survive. Probably in about thirty minutes you'll end up forcing it down anyway even without me telling you to. There's nothing good about being stubborn over this.]

"What happens if I survive?"

[Whatever you want. Go back to your own world and do your rank ups again, or if not that, go find whoever did this to you and land a punch on their face.]

Jihan gripped the bottle of potion tight.

There was a mountain of things I wanted to ask. Why a Korean like Jihan was here, what had actually happened in this tower, things like that.

"Hey, who exactly are you......"

[A dimensional rift has occurred.]

Before Jihan could finish speaking, the space rippled.

[You have obtained administrator authority over the Floor 1 Lobby.]

[Moving to the lobby.]

"A transfer, of all timing."

Guess I'd said too much unnecessary stuff.

I looked around the place called the lobby. Inside a large circular space sat a small village.

It looked as though no one had lived there for quite some time, and every single house was practically a ruin.

I touched one of the wooden buildings lightly, and the whole thing came crashing down.

"Cough, cough...... ugh. Some lobby this is."

If they were going to give me administrator authority, they could've given me all of it.

At the center of the lobby stood a portal etched with a massive magic circle.

Among the wooden buildings, it stood out for being the only thing built from stone.

I touched the structure, and information appeared.

[Portal]

A portal that allows a challenge to the Tower of Trials.

"Figured as much."

My guess had been right. After stepping down from the portal, I checked the status window again.

[Dimension Management]

Name: Tower of Trials

Description: An ownerless dimension discarded in the dimensional trash heap. Honestly, what god in their right mind would even want a dimension like this?

Dimensional conquest rate: 1%

Records (+see more)

Floor 1: Cleared Goblin Village. Due to a distortion in the dimension, encountered a Korean who had entered the tower in the past. It seemed like this Korean couldn't see me. Looked like an ordinary high schooler, but the wounds from the goblin attack looked pretty severe. Gave him some medicine before leaving. Not sure what'll happen. Hope he's still alive next time we meet.

Whether it reflected my own thoughts or not, the record had been written on its own. Well, it wasn't wrong, so.

There was one more thing that had changed.

The dimensional conquest rate went up by 1%.

Simple enough. I could conclude it was 1% per floor.

I gained administrator authority every time I climbed the tower, but that meant I had to clear each floor at least once to get it.

There was really a mountain of work ahead.

[Would you like to leave the Tower of Trials? You may return at any time after leaving.]

[Leaving the Tower of Trials.]

I should check what's going on outside.

I pressed the confirm button on the status window, closed my eyes, then opened them again.

"You've got to be kidding me."

What greeted me was nothing other than a massive canyon.

The scene looked like something out of the middle of the Grand Canyon.

If I'd stepped forward without thinking, I would've fallen straight down. I looked a little further up instead.

Hunters came into view.

"Over here!! There's someone here!!"

"What was that...... Ah! Found them!!"

The Hunters, spotting me after leaning their faces down to check, moved quickly.

* * *

Seoul Hunter Association.

Two middle-aged men were questioning me.

"So you're saying, you cleared the dungeon, and suddenly got moved to the next dungeon?"

"Yes."

"You must've had a party. Did you not see any of them?"

"Weren't the rest of my party moved over too?"

"Unfortunately, you were the only one found in the dungeon."

Ah, what rotten luck.

When I stayed quiet, the two men looked at me with open suspicion.

I played the part of the pitiful victim as convincingly as I could.

"Ah...... but I really don't know anything about this! Aah, I was just about to start working as a Hunter. What's even happening? So does that mean everyone else in my party is dead? How did this even happen, can something like this even happen?"

Footnotes:

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