I'm the Only Wizard Climbing the Tower - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Chapter 16: 016

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Na Hyeji returned home drained.

She immediately stripped off her clothes and went into the bathroom.

After washing herself in warm water and changing into luxurious silk pajamas, she flopped onto the bed like she had collapsed.

Staring at the ceiling, she murmured quietly.

“Fuck. I still feel like I can smell blood. Even though I washed myself clean...”

Ugh.

Na Hyeji shuddered.

The sensation remained painfully vivid.

The feeling of digging through disgusting pools of blood and chunks of flesh to retrieve loot.

Whenever she recalled that fishy smell of blood and the revolting texture...

Goosebumps rose across her skin.

It had been an experience straight out of hell.

She would probably never forget what she had gone through today for the rest of her life.

At the same time, none of it felt real.

Hyeji let out a small, hollow laugh.

“A wizard... Seriously?”

She thought back to the abilities Baek Jiho had displayed in the Tower.

When he raised his staff, clusters of Fireballs had appeared, scattering bright light. Every time one flew out, a huge explosion followed, blowing Goblins apart into pieces.

It had been horrific and brutal.

Yet it had also been overwhelming.

Seriously.

He had wiped out an entire group that included a Goblin Warrior with a single attack?

She had no choice but to admit it.

“So all those ridiculous posts were actually true...”

Hyeji picked up her smartphone and searched Hunter Gallery for Blue Dot.

[Post Title: Newbie Hunter Cleared Floor 5 Today]

[Author: Blue Dot]

Had he made another post already?

Baek Jiho was once again getting all the attention on Hunter Gallery by posting unbelievable nonsense.

Hyeji slowly read through the post and its comments.

└Blue Dot: Hmm... Is it that bad? Goblin Warriors really weren't anything special.

└Blue Dot: Everyone, stay strong and climb hard! You can do it!

└Blue Dot: Oh dear... If everyone's this scared, how are you going to survive the harsh work of being Hunters...

As she read through the post and comments, something suddenly flared up inside her.

‘Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of you today...?! And you're just screwing around like this?’

Her anger boiled over.

Hyeji furiously moved her fingers and started leaving comments.

└You fucking bastard

└You son of a bitch

└You piece of shit

They were incoherent insults typed out in a rush of emotion.

A reply appeared moments later.

└└Blue Dot: H.J., is that you?

“Eek?!”

Startled, she hurriedly deleted her comments.

That had been a mistake.

└(This comment has been deleted.)

└└Blue Dot: You worked hard today. Go to sleep early.

“Ugh...! I shouldn't have deleted them! Now it looks like I basically admitted they were mine!”

Filled with belated regret and embarrassment, Hyeji repeatedly kicked her blanket.

A little later.

“Phew...”

Completely exhausted, Hyeji sank into her bed and muttered softly.

“...Right. In a way, this is an opportunity. If I do my job as a porter well, I can safely reach the Middle Floors, can't I? I can immigrate too. If I just hold on until Floor 11, I can live in Japan. If I can make it into the twenties, I can live in the United States.”

Collecting loot from corpses that were practically balls of blood and flesh.

It was disgusting, filthy, unpleasant, creepy, and revolting...

But if it meant surviving, what couldn't she do?

If she just stuck close behind Baek Jiho, she could reach the Middle Floors and immigrate to Japan or the United States.

It was far too valuable an opportunity to give up just because corpses made her sick.

She made up her mind.

“Right. I'll endure it! You can do this, Hyeji! It's just porter work! I'll hold on until Floor 20, then go live in the United States!”

Her eyes filled with determination.

They were as fierce as they had been when she studied for college entrance exams.

No, they were fiercer than that.

* * *

Morning.

I went to the Climber Branch and checked in again today.

[Please specify the amount of Points to transfer to the ‘Republic of Korea’.]

“All of them.”

[Transferring 550 Points to the ‘Republic of Korea’.]

“...Hunter Baek Jiho. We have confirmed 550 Points. We will deposit 5.5 million won into the designated account. The Republic of Korea will remember your dedication.”

“Keep up the good work.”

I left the branch after receiving the familiar farewell from the civil servant.

Still, something felt strange.

‘Why do they seem so much more polite today?’

The civil servant had always been strictly businesslike, but today they were oddly courteous.

It almost felt like they were sincerely trying to serve me.

Could they have misunderstood and thought I really had those high-ranking connections people mentioned before?

I clicked my tongue.

“They really seem to be mistaken. It'd be weird if I came out and directly said I don't have high-ranking connections... What a bizarre situation.”

Was this one of those misunderstanding stories or something?

I trudged out of the Climber Branch and got into my older sister's car.

Then she gave me some good news.

“Good news. Hyeji said she'll keep working as your porter. She's coming to our house this evening.”

“See? I told you she wouldn't quit. My porter couldn't possibly be that irresponsible.”

“Just based on her reaction, I thought she'd quit immediately...”

“It's because I'm too handsome. Even if the work is difficult and exhausting, she wants to stay right by the side of a cool, handsome, capable man like me.”

“...”

My older sister didn't respond to my bullshit.

She completely ignored me, as if it wasn't even worth reacting to.

Tch.

That was embarrassing.

Anyway, the reason Hyeji was continuing as my porter was obvious.

‘Immigration, probably.’

For a Hunter to immigrate to another country, they had to reach at least the Middle Floors.

But reaching the Middle Floors was practically impossible with her abilities. It wasn't like she had valuable connections with upper-floor Hunters, either.

Hyeji's reality was that she would die alongside the Republic of Korea when it fell three months from now.

Then a bus driver named Baek Jiho appeared.

The ride might be rough because of all the bloodshed, but it was the fastest and safest bus in the world.

If she could put up with the rough ride, she could reliably become a Middle Floor Hunter and gain the qualifications to immigrate.

That meant she definitely wouldn't quit until at least Floor 11, maybe even Floor 20.

I wouldn't need to worry about finding a porter for a while.

Still, something confused me.

“But Sis, why is Hyeji coming in the evening? Wouldn't it be better for her to come by the afternoon at the latest? If she comes in the evening and we enter the Tower, we won't get out until nighttime.”

“Oh, that. I think she's buying Hunter equipment. She said she has to go to Techno Mart, so it'll take a while.”

“Equipment?”

Well, she had joined my party as a porter rather than an ordinary Hunter.

She would need new equipment suited for porter work.

Like a large, sturdy backpack and sacks.

Anyway, if she was even buying new equipment...

I could take that as a sign that she was serious about being my porter, right?

That was a good sign.

“Let's go home soon, Sis.”

“Is there anything you want to eat? Other than soybean paste soup. I'm sick of that now too.”

“Then let's grill some pork belly.”

“Pork belly again? Don't eat so much meat. You'll get fat.”

“You know I actually need to gain some weight.”

“Hmm... That's true. Then why don't you work out? Even if your body got stronger after becoming a Hunter, you still look like a skinny anchovy. This is a good chance to build some muscle and look more manly.”

“Wizards with intelligence builds are supposed to be skinny. A muscular strength mage is a heretic.”

“What are you even talking about...”

My older sister and I chatted as we headed home.

Today's target was Floor 6.

* * *

After returning home, I looked up information about Floor 6.

[Floor 6 Is Fucking Awful]

[How the fuck are we supposed to clear this]

[One of our party members trolled and we almost wiped. We barely survived by taking the Return Portal.]

[Entrance defense is fucking hard]

[Choose your Floor 6 party members carefully if you don't want to die because of a trolling teammate]

All kinds of terrible reviews came up when I searched Hunter Gallery for Floor 6.

It made sense.

Floor 6 was notorious for having a fucked-up difficulty level.

‘Floor 6 is basically an entrance-defense floor.’

Its structure was simple.

Climbers were summoned into a large room.

Behind them were a tightly shut door and a Return Portal. Ahead of them was a narrow, long passage.

Goblins poured out of the narrow passage in front of them.

The climbers had to hold back the Goblins until the door behind them opened.

‘It takes about an hour for the door to open... and the total number of Goblins that come through is around four hundred, I think.’

Five people had to hold off four hundred Goblins for an entire hour.

That sounded extremely difficult.

But when I considered the layout, it didn't seem all that hard.

The passage the Goblins came through was too narrow.

It was barely wide enough for two Goblins to pass through at once.

Whenever they emerged, five Hunters could form up and take them down in an instant.

On top of that, Goblin corpses would pile up and gradually make the passage even narrower.

If the teamwork was good, it was surprisingly manageable.

‘That is, if there weren't any Goblin Warriors.’

Click.

I moved the mouse and checked more Floor 6 posts.

[Post Title: Floor 6 Is Fucking Awful]

At first, only a few Goblins came out at a time, so it was manageable.

But then Goblin Warriors started appearing one or two at a time in the middle, and our formation immediately broke down into chaos.

Even if you stack up Goblin corpses, those Warrior bastards turn them all into bloody mush with one kick and send them flying.

While you're dealing with a Goblin Warrior, other Goblins keep crawling out and surround you from every direction.

The moment our formation broke, we ran for the Return Portal and barely survived...

Fuck, this is awful. How are you supposed to clear it? Does this difficulty have no conscience?

└Teamwork is fucking important on Floor 6.

└When you see a Goblin Warrior, focus fire and gang up on it to disable it right away, then quickly block the entrance again.

└If Floor 5 was practice for building teamwork through five-person combat, Floor 6 is built so you have to refine that teamwork to the absolute limit to pass. Your chemistry with your teammates has to be good.

└On Floor 5, the others can cover for one person trolling... On Floor 6, if one person trolls, it's immediately welcome to Goblin hell lol.

...

The posts all emphasized teamwork.

Apparently, the key was to kill the Goblin Warriors that appeared from time to time as quickly as possible, then quickly restore the front line and block the entrance properly.

But that only applied to ordinary Easy-rank, Normal-rank, and Hard-rank fools.

“An Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard like me can easily clear it without teammates.”

Strictly speaking, there was one teammate entering with me.

But she felt more like a pet with automatic item pickup than a comrade fighting alongside me, so it was only right to exclude her from our combat power.

Anyway.

“A small, narrow passage... Endless enemies rushing in...!”

Thump thump.

My heart pounded wildly.

I knew it.

Finally.

At last.

The chance to fulfill my dream had arrived!

“It's time for Wind Cutter!”

I had once had a dream.

To fight in a cool way with Wind Cutter.

A horde of Goblins rushing at me without end.

And I would stand there proudly, casually slicing through the air with Wind Cutter as if I were a Sword Master firing sword aura.

The charging Goblins would be swept away in droves.

That was the kind of cool fight I had always dreamed of.

I had failed on Floor 3.

Those fucking Goblin bastards had countercharged and escaped through a tiny hole.

Thanks to that, I couldn't worry about looking cool and had been too busy desperately throwing out magic.

But on Floor 6, it would be possible.

There was no tiny hole to flee through on Floor 6, and with other Goblins packed in behind them, they wouldn't be able to turn around and run either.

The ultra-cool Wind Cutter slice-and-dice plan.

It was completely achievable!

“Heh heh. Those Goblin bastards are all dead.”

It was time to get revenge for Floor 3.

I waited for Hyeji with eager anticipation.

Ding dong.

“You're here, Hyeji! Let's get to the Tower already!”

The second I heard the doorbell, I hurriedly opened the door to greet her.

Then I saw what Hyeji looked like.

“...Who are you?”

“Your porter.”

She looked completely different from how I remembered her.

A hissing gas mask covered her face.

A full-body protective suit with a strange sheen covered her body, while large gloves and boots covered her arms and legs.

To put it another way...

“Was there an outbreak or something? What's with that outfit? You came dressed in a CBRN protective suit.”

She had arrived at my house wearing something like a chemical warfare protective suit from a movie.

Hyeji proudly answered my question.

“What do you think? This way, I can collect loot without getting a single drop of blood on me, right?”

“...That must've been expensive. How much did you spend?”

“I'll just tell you that everything together cost over a hundred million won.”

Whoa.

Na Hyeji had spent more than a hundred million won just to search through piles of corpses.

For reference, rubber was valuable Hunter equipment material.

Rubber was a resource that only appeared from the Middle Floors onward inside the Tower, which meant equipment made with lots of rubber was always expensive.

And looking at Na Hyeji's outfit now, it was covered in rubber.

A rubber gas mask, a rubber-coated protective suit, rubber gloves, and rubber boots.

It was practically a Gum-Gum Gatling.

She might even use Gear Second.

Anyway.

“An outfit like that will definitely make the corpses less unpleasant... but isn't it suffocating? It'll be inconvenient to move around in the Tower.”

If she covered her entire body like that, she could collect loot without getting a single drop of blood on herself.

But that outfit had to be horribly hot and uncomfortable.

There was a reason everyone cursed like hell when MOPP Level 4 training was announced in the military.

It was hot, humid, hard to breathe, and made your body feel heavy...

It naturally brought out every curse imaginable.

And she wanted to crawl into the Tower dressed like that?

Was she in her right mind?

My concern wasn't wrong.

“It definitely is really hot and suffocating... but still, it's better than getting blood on my body... Ugh.”

Flop.

Perhaps dizzy, Na Hyeji staggered and fell to the ground.

It was a scorching summer day.