Chapter 37 - Earth Is Changing Fast (2)

『 [Breaking] U.S. Acknowledges the Tower’s Existence! Returnees Officially Designated “Players”! 』

The moment the United States, the world’s most powerful nation, acknowledged the tower’s existence, every news embargo around the globe was lifted.

The “tower,” which governments around the world had secretly kept under wraps, was now exposed for all to see.

『 A Tower with 66 Floors? Humanity Will Be Destroyed Unless We Climb It? Unbelievable Revelations from the White House Press Secretary! 』

『 South Korean Government Identifies “Tower” as Cause of Worldwide Disappearances 』

The truth behind the string of disappearances had come to light: God was responsible.

Nor was this the first round of “abductions.” The U.S. government alone had identified at least 650 occurrences. Considering that everyone summoned together came from the same country...

The total number of people summoned to the tower worldwide had to be staggering.

『 Sitting U.S. Vice President Reveals He Returned Alive from the Tower 』

It was the vice president of the United States who clinched the matter amid the public uproar.

He demonstrated his ability to create ice out of thin air before reporters. The footage was immediately uploaded to YouTube and became the fastest video to reach 100 million views.

In a word, the response was explosive.

-Does this make any sense? Do they think we’re in some novel?

-What good’s refusing to believe it gonna do? Haven’t you seen the video of the U.S. vice president making ice on YouTube?

-Does this mean gates are gonna start appearing now? What if a goblin shows up outside my house?

-I went to the hardware store to buy a crowbar, and there were at least three other people doing the same thing. Get yours while you can.

Koreans, who were at least somewhat familiar with the concept of a “tower” through various forms of media, had a relatively muted reaction.

The response overseas, including in the West, was far more intense.

-Unless the vice president’s gone crazy, does this mean God really is trying to wipe out humanity?

-Could this be Judgment Day from the Bible?

-Then are we all going to die?

-Then we die. It’s God’s will.

For a start, an enormous proportion of the Western population was Catholic or Protestant.

Arguments raged over whether this really was God or the work of some monstrous transcendent being.

Extremists even began appearing who argued that, since all of this was God’s will, we should simply accept our destruction.

-Honestly, I’m not even sure this tower thing exists.

Of course, plenty of people didn’t believe in the tower at all.

-In webtoons and web novels, doesn’t a tower usually pop up somewhere in the Pacific? Where the hell is this tower those lunatics keep talking about?

For one thing, the tower had no physical presence. At least, not anywhere on Earth.

Even with all of humanity’s technology brought to bear, the tower could not be observed. All we had was the survivors’ testimony.

That testimony was remarkably consistent, and the fact that the survivors had gained special abilities lent it credibility. But that was all.

To ordinary people, the “tower” felt like some imaginary animal.

-And why can’t those fuckers who supposedly made it out tell us what happened in there? Aren’t they just keeping their mouths shut because conflicting stories would expose the scam?

Another reason people doubted the tower’s existence was that the tutorial’s survivors were keeping silent about what was inside.

They all agreed that the tower existed, but not a single account of its interior had emerged. It was as though the survivors wanted to keep all the benefits to themselves.

Of course, the survivors themselves had to be tearing their hair out.

-You think we’re keeping quiet because we don’t want to tell you? You’re the ones who can’t see or hear it!

After all, they were already talking about the tower nonstop.

-I told my mom what happened in the tutorial, but she said I suddenly froze. I posted it on a forum, and it only got three views.

-But we’re talking about the tutorial with each other nonstop right now, aren’t we?

-That’s the problem. I don’t think people who haven’t been to the tower can see these comments.

The tower’s returnees had acted perfectly sensibly.

They had contacted news outlets and used online forums to try to spread the word about what had happened inside.

-I kept posting about what happened in the tutorial on all kinds of forums, but hardly anyone read it. Whenever someone did, they turned out to be another tower survivor.

But all their efforts were useless.

Ordinary people couldn’t even perceive the fact that the survivors were trying to talk about the tower.

In gaming terms, it was as though the system itself had made it impossible.

They could share the most basic information—the tower had 66 floors, humanity would be destroyed if they failed to climb it, the tower was God’s judgment, and so on—but mentioning anything that had happened inside was completely impossible.

<Hey, I thought of a loophole that’ll let us talk about the tutorial>

Still, humans were thinking animals, as the saying went. Some people tried using loopholes to reveal what had happened in the tower.

<Hey, I thought of a loophole that’ll let us talk about the tutorial>

Whenever we try to mention the tutorial, it looks to ordinary people like we’ve completely frozen, right? Couldn’t we use that to our advantage?

I just asked a friend to come up with about a thousand words that might have something to do with the tower. Then he’s going to show them to me one at a time.

We agreed that I’ll nod if what the word describes exists in the tower and shake my head if it doesn’t. So what happens then? I’ll shake my head for things that aren’t there, but for things that are, won’t I look frozen? If my friend picks out just the words I freeze on, couldn’t he get a rough idea of what’s inside?

-Are you a genius?

-This is pretty good. You’re using the very fact that you freeze when you try to talk about the tower.

Someone had tried applying their own logic to share information about the tutorial.

But the results were disastrous.

<Guys, it failed.>

When we tried to start the experiment, my friend froze instead of me. A little later, it turned out he’d completely forgotten that we’d even been planning an experiment. Looks like they’ve blocked every loophole. Give it up, guys.

No matter what means they used, they could not tell anyone who hadn’t been to the tower about what was inside.

The tower’s interior remained utterly unknown.

For about a month, people across the globe argued furiously over the tower.

Turn on the news, and they were talking about the tower. Online forums talked about the tower. Whenever people met, they talked about the tower.

But all froth eventually settles, as they say.

Once the initial wave of turmoil had passed, the world broadly split into three groups.

First, ordinary people who didn’t believe the tower existed.

Second, ordinary people who did.

And finally, third: the tutorial’s survivors.

Public opinion of the tutorial’s survivors was plummeting straight into the abyss.

-Why the hell aren’t those survivor bastards climbing the tower? I heard you can count the fuckers who’ve entered Floor 2 on one hand.

-What the hell is in there that’s making them act like this? I get that they could die, but humanity’s facing extinction here!

-Would you risk your life if someone told you to? Besides, you don’t know what’s on Floor 1, do you? Poor bastards who weren’t chosen.

For a start, the tutorial’s survivors didn’t want to advance to Floor 2.

Apart from the people who’d had an easy time getting through the tower with me... everyone had just endured the worst experience of their lives.

Trauma was a given, and some had even suffered permanent physical damage.

On top of that, Floor 1 was practically paradise. You could eat whatever you wanted and do whatever you wanted.

Aside from the drawback of not being able to invite anyone else in, it was a place where you could enjoy everything you could imagine. That was Floor 1.

There were very few saints on this Earth who would cast aside the sweet fruit right before their eyes and willingly take the hard road for others. Limit that pool to the survivors, and the number shrank even further.

But from an ordinary person’s perspective, this was nothing but selfishness.

-Look, if you don’t do it, we’re fucking dead! Why should we have to die because of you?

-Summon me to that tutorial too. I’ll smash the damn tower. We’re supposed to leave humanity’s fate in the hands of cowardly fuckers like that?

Their lives were in someone else’s hands, and that “someone else” was lukewarm about doing anything. How could they possibly contain their anger?

And that wasn’t the only problem.

『 Player Crime Runs Rampant Worldwide. Is There Truly No Solution? 』

Survivors could open a portal back to Floor 1 whenever they wanted.

Which meant... they could commit crimes and flee into the tower.

These survivors had exceptional physical capabilities, along with supernatural powers that modern technology couldn’t counter.

There was no way to catch criminals who fled into the tower the moment the authorities finally managed to close in.

『 U.S. Police Urge Caution Around People with Physical Disabilities, Sparking Discrimination Controversy 』

One common trait among criminals using supernatural abilities was that many were missing some part of their bodies.

Presumably, they had committed sins grave enough to require payment in body parts during the tutorial’s “judgment.” Of course, ordinary people had no way of knowing that.

Whatever the cause, fear of people with disabilities began spreading through societies around the world. Naturally enough, people with disabilities pushed back furiously.

Barely a month after the tower’s existence was revealed, the world was descending into chaos.

People were wary of one another, afraid of one another, fighting one another.

Yet the tower itself had done nothing.

It wasn’t spewing out monsters or threatening humanity. It simply existed somewhere.

“... Hah.”

Now that things had gone this far, I was certain of one thing.

Even if God never personally brought down divine punishment...

Leave Earth alone for just ten years like this, and humanity would destroy itself.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

They can mention things like the tutorial being dangerous and needing to be careful...

But the rule is that they can’t give specifics, like saying goblins appear!

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