WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 70
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The Tower that appeared in the sky above home.
At first, it had been translucent like a mirage. You could see it when you looked up, but clouds passed through it, and light shone straight through.
But over time, the Tower's shape, more precisely, the first floor at its base, had gradually become clearer. There were also observations that it was slowly descending toward the ground.
Then, one day.
New land appeared throughout their homeland.
Forests, plains, swamps, and wastelands like those on the Tower's first floor had been added between real stretches of land.
They said it was not as though pieces of the Tower had fallen to the ground and spilled across it.
Instead, existing land seemed to be pushed apart, as though someone were pulling it in different directions, while new terrain was wedged into the gaps.
Naturally, earthquakes followed.
Roads were severed, and buried water pipes, gas lines, and electrical cables broke apart.
All manner of natural disasters came after that. Typhoons, violent downpours, snowstorms out of season, even enormous sandstorms and hurricanes never seen on Korean soil.
It was shocking, but similar things had happened before. Land expanded, and Mobs living there spilled out into the surrounding areas.
But this time, something was different.
[The newly added land barely had any mobs?]
- Not none.
└ Still, compared to the last overflow, it might as well be none.
└ Yeah. Last time, mobs came pouring onto the roads as soon as the land appeared.
- Is it the same in other areas?
└ Apparently some places had them, but only enough for nearby forces to handle.
New land had appeared throughout Korea.
Yet compared to similar incidents in the past, the number of Mobs overflowing from it was strangely low.
Some places were nearly empty. Even where Mobs appeared, local forces could handle the situation.
[Could they be coming here?]
Doesn't the timing fit? I think the Wave started around then.
- I've thought that too.
└ Kind of unclear, though.
└ Isn't this supposed to be like a test server? Why would it send mobs here?
└ How would I know? Only the system knows.
- Then were the increasing mobs whenever the Field Level rose connected to that side too?
└ Isn't that a stretch?
└ If that were true, shouldn't the Wave end when the overflow in the real world ends?
└ Then it should've ended already.
└ How many months has this been going on?
└ It's only gotten worse.
└ How long do we have to keep doing this?
“Hmm.”
Seo Hajin had considered something similar.
He was not certain, though. The system had offered no explanation.
Still, the timing roughly matched.
Around when land from the Tower's first floor began appearing in reality, no, more precisely, from before that, when it began descending toward the ground, the Mob population here had started gradually increasing.
‘It happened as the Field Level rose... but later, there were far too many.’
It became worse after the Wave.
So perhaps the Mobs that should have overflowed outside were, for some reason, pouring into this place instead.
As someone had suggested, perhaps the continued increase in the number of Mobs as the Field Level rose was part of that change.
‘But how long is this really going to last?’
The overflow, the addition of land back home, had already ended. The Tower's first floor had risen a little again and become translucent as before.
But the Wave here continued. Far from ending, the numbers kept increasing.
‘Though that might be because my Avatars' aggro keeps building up.’
In any case, some people who could no longer endure the endless Mob Wave and the struggle to survive within it chose to return at last.
Boss raids had stopped long ago, so they had probably collected and paid one million Points.
‘It must've felt wasteful.’
He knew well how difficult it was to earn one million through hunting. Yet they had chosen to pay it rather than remain here any longer.
But while browsing SNS, he found that other circumstances were mixed in.
‘Ah. Some of them didn't earn it themselves.’
More and more people were apparently hiding away in caves or remote places to survive. Among them, gambling with Points instead of money had become common.
Some of those returning this time had won Points that way. He felt no sympathy for those who had lost while sitting at the same gambling table.
On the other hand, there were also people who gave their own Points to someone else so they could return.
Sometimes Clans pooled Points to send back someone desperate, or to send scouts back first.
They seemed to intend to continue their Clans even after returning home. Whether that would work was another matter, but they appeared to be sending out one person at a time.
Others willingly handed over the Points they had saved so their lover could leave.
A few people found that moving and beautiful, but most called them suckers. Apparently, there were even women who had collected Points from several men before returning.
‘There are cases the other way around too?’
There were also men who had charmed several women, scraped together their Points, and returned. He could not understand how anyone fell for that when Avatars usually looked different from their real selves.
‘Hmm. Maybe they've been here too long.’
Had they grown used to Avatars enough to see them, their own and others', as real?
‘Not me.’
He was Juggernaut, Stone, and Vulcan, but he did not consider any of those Avatars to be himself.
From the beginning until now, they had been no different from characters in a game.
They would remain that way.
He was Seo Hajin.
And he was a terminal cancer patient.
‘I've got more than enough to pay one million.’
But he would not leave.
He knew that many of the remaining users depended on him.
If all his Avatars vanished into Subspace, he could guess where the Mobs converging here would go.
‘Every Area would probably become a complete mess.’
But it was not because he intended to stay for others.
Shaking his head, he checked a small box he had set aside in one corner of Subspace.
Nanobot Treatment.
They were arranged neatly inside.
He had killed countless Mobs and received just as many boxes. Still, there were few treatments.
‘Even if I collect boxes all day and open them at once, I might get one. Maybe.’
Sometimes none appeared for days, so he still had not reached his initial goal of one hundred.
‘Were they really that rare?’
Still, the goal did not feel endlessly distant. Compared to the beginning, he was certainly getting closer, little by little.
But that brought a new concern.
‘Should I leave as soon as I collect one hundred?’
His goal had been to secure the treatment. Once he achieved that, would there be any reason to stay?
Did he really need to keep struggling against waves of Mobs almost alone, twenty-four hours a day?
‘Though more is always better.’
The thought continued.
It had been similar until now.
‘And by the time I collect all one hundred, I'll probably have nearly fulfilled the stay-time condition anyway. They won't reduce the Point cost just because the remaining time is shorter.’
If he was going to pay one million Points to leave, he should have left long ago.
There was no reason to pay it now when he was so close to the end.
‘The opposite could happen, too.’
He could be unbelievably unlucky, and Nanobot Treatment might continue not to appear.
There was a chance, however small, that he could fulfill the stay-time condition without reaching his goal of one hundred.
‘Hmm... They said Points can be used back home too. And one million doesn't seem like a small amount.’
If he had no money, perhaps. But he had other things he could turn into cash, especially the resources he had secured here. Gold, in particular, was steadily piling up.
‘Let's rule out leaving early.’
He lowered his view from the sky and looked down at the Avatars still fighting desperately below.
They were all fine, but one of them seemed due for a rotation soon.
Juggernaut did not need to go out right away, so he sent out another avatar that had been waiting.
“Ah, that feels good.”
Juggernaut stepped out of the bath and dried the water from his body. He prepared clean clothes instead of the ones he had taken off, then flopped onto his dedicated bed until the next rotation.
At most, he would sleep for about two hours.
But he had grown fairly accustomed to sleeping deeply even for a short time, so he was not particularly tired from it.
“This club would be good for next time.”
A new club lay on the clothes prepared beside him. In one corner of Subspace, disposable clubs were still being crafted.
Another day passed.
Days gathered into a month. Months passed several times, and the seasons changed.
He had still not collected one hundred treatments.
But he was certainly closer than in the previous season, than last month, and than yesterday.
As usual, Juggernaut woke after a deep sleep, put on clean clothes, and gripped the club he had prepared.
* * *
A long time passed.
The end that many had awaited since they first arrived here gradually drew near.
Then, at last, that day came.
[Accumulated Stay Time has exceeded 20,000 hours.]
[You have fulfilled the Return Condition.]
[At any time you wish, you may end the Test Area and return to where you were before.]
“...”
The man blankly stared at the message before him.
The cave two people had carved together high atop a cliff long ago had now become a fairly livable place.
Thanks to steady expansion, it was wider than before. Planks and fur hides were tightly laid across the floor.
Hand-carved shelves and a small table were attached to the walls.
The Item Box held leftover Firewood from the winter, leather, food, clean water, and more.
Of course, he had also carefully saved a considerable number of Points over time.
“I can go? Really?”
He had waited for this moment every day.
But now that it was before him, his hand did not immediately move toward the system message asking if he wished to return.
He stepped outside the cave.
The bottom of the cliff was still full of mobs.
It was a sight that had continued ever since he first climbed up here.
He had dropped rocks on them countless times, sometimes looking regretfully at the items dropped by the mobs that died beneath them.
Of course, that was over now too.
‘I should go.’
The man turned and looked at the cave across the ravine.
Until recently, light had shone from his neighbor's cave. Now its entrance was dark and silent.
The neighbor he had fled here with.
They had not been particularly close then, so things had been awkward at first. But as they worked together to dig out rocks and lived pressed together in that narrow space, something like camaraderie had formed.
That comrade had returned about an hour ago.
Their farewell had been brief.
They said they would contact each other again in reality, and that they had to meet if they were still alive.
At first, they considered exchanging phone numbers, but since they were connected as SNS friends, there was no need.
“...”
The man looked around his cave.
He had put everything he could take into his inventory and Item Box.
There were things he did not need to bring, such as the Korean chessboard, but he packed even that in the end.
His hand hesitated as he wondered whether there was anything else to do. Then he opened the system and went to the marketplace page.
“Ha ha.”
Familiar listings appeared there.
Items Juggernaut had put up for sale.
Wolf Meat, Mountain Goat Meat, and various other meats.
Leather, Lumber, clean water.
“...”
The man bought a chunk of Mountain Goat Meat.
He was not hungry. He simply wanted to eat it one last time.
He lit a fire as he had done so often.
He put thin slices of meat onto a stone griddle and slowly turned them as they cooked.
Soon, the smell of cooking meat spread through the area with the smoke.
Before, his neighbor would have messaged to ask if he was eating, or quietly come over with their own meat to eat together.
But now, he was alone.
The realization stirred complicated feelings in him anew.
The man picked up a piece of well-cooked meat with his chopsticks.
“Juggernaut, sir.”
It was a pre-meal greeting that had started as half a joke.
At first, it had been a little embarrassing to mutter it alone, but before he knew it, it had become familiar.
But today's greeting was a little different from all the ones before.
After hesitating for a moment, he smiled and finished speaking.
“Thank you for all the meals.”
Naturally, there was no answer.
He slowly chewed the grilled meat.
It still did not taste good, but he was still grateful.
After finishing his meal, he put out the fire completely.
He considered leaving the stone griddle behind, then shook his head and placed it in his inventory.
There was truly nothing left.
He stood outside the cave for a moment, then selected the return option in the system window.
[Would you like to end the Test Area?]
“Yeah.”
[You have decided to return.]
[Please wait a moment.]
White light enveloped the man's body.
Aside from a faint lingering smell, the empty cave was all that remained to show he had been there.
Once the man disappeared, the mobs that had packed the bottom of the cliff began changing direction and moving away.
* * *
[I'm leaving too]
Finally filled the time requirement
See you all in reality
- You're really leaving?
└ Yeah, the message just appeared.
└ Lucky. I've still got fifty hours left.
└ Probably because of the time you spent dead.
└ Why'd you die so much?
- Let us know how it is after you get back.
└ SNS still works there too, right?
└ The people who left first have been posting.
└ But I heard you can't see what's happening here from outside?
└ Can't be helped.
└ Why would you need to see this place after leaving? If I knew which direction it was in, I wouldn't even piss that way.
└ Is this the military? lol
- I'm done tomorrow too.
└ See you in reality.
└ How will we contact each other?
└ We're already SNS friends.
Users who fulfilled the Accumulated Stay Time condition began returning one by one.
Not everyone left on the same day.
Time spent waiting to revive after death was excluded from Accumulated Stay Time, so even people who arrived on the same day left at different times.
Still, the trend was clear.
Every day, more people returned.
The types and quantities of items listed on the marketplace gradually decreased, and SNS posts changed as well.
There were more discussions about where to go in reality than how to survive or avoid Mobs.
Could they still use Avatars after returning?
Should they report themselves to the government or military?
How could they find out whether their families were alive?
Some people belatedly asked about things that had already been shared long ago.
They had either been too busy surviving to use SNS, or had never known how to connect it to the system in the first place.
Some had known but could not use it because they lacked an Otherworld Terminal. But they acquired one later, sometimes as gifts from those leaving first, and finally connected.
Some found it annoying when people asked about things everyone already knew, but others kindly shared information.
According to them, reality had changed from before.
But at least people were not immediately being killed by Mobs in the streets.
There were differences by region.
Areas near the military or with many Awakeners were relatively safe. On the outskirts, there were still places where Mobs and otherworldly creatures wandered around.
Even so, no one hesitated to return.
They had already been trapped here for years.
Even if there was something left to gain here, their desire to return was now stronger.
[Most of the D-Day Clan is leaving this week too.]
- What will happen to their base?
└ What could they possibly do with it before they leave?
└ What a waste.
└ You can't take it to reality, so what's the point of regretting it?
└ Why not have a campfire? It'd look nice burning bright.
└ This guy probably shouldn't be sent back.
└ Setting a camp on fire isn't a campfire.
- Hasn't 3SecondsMissJi left yet?
└ Apparently she's staying to wrap things up.
└ She's sending people off and leaving later.
└ Guess that's what being a Master is like.
└ Did they decide that person isn't actually Ji Seoyeong?
└ No idea lol. People are still suspicious.
└ If the Avatar looks exactly like them, it could be real.
- So the Northern Safe Zone is ending too.
└ It was only a safe zone because Juggernaut kept being there.
└ Juggernaut will leave soon too, right?
└ There's no reason for him to stay.
└ Then it really will all be over.
- Why hasn't Juggernaut left? If he'd never died, he should've fulfilled the condition already.
└ He probably stayed because of his subordinates.
└ Oh, maybe things are different for his subordinates.
└ Guess they'll keep traveling in a pack even after they leave.
Those who had settled down and lived in various places began clearing away their traces one by one.
Houses and fences made from gathered lumber.
Caves and cellars dug to survive the winter.
Places where they had lived for close to several years, places that held no small amount of gratitude and attachment. But there was no way to take them whole.
Still, some people cleaned up until the moment they left. They removed doors to list them on the marketplace, or gave their remaining food and Firewood to people with time left.
Many sold their stored leather and medicine for nearly nothing, so valuable goods flooded the marketplace for a while.
- Couldn't they use that stuff after returning? Why sell it?
└ Some people are clearing out everything before they go. I think they just hate it all.
└ It was hard, but it was good in its own way.
└ It'll become a memory once enough time passes.
└ You never know. This place might be better than home.
└ Then the world would really be over.
Then, one day.
A new post appeared on SNS.
[What is this, though?]
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