Chapter 50 - Choi Jiwon Is Too Strong (1)

The key to my latest plan was drawing attention.

I needed to thoroughly distract the city’s ruler. I had to create an environment where she couldn’t concentrate.

Considering her response was essentially, “Fight me if you don’t like it,” what better way to distract her than to take her up on that?

Naturally, I couldn’t be the one to do it. A single lightning bolt would trigger Regression. Fighting her myself had never been an option.

But wasn’t the mark of a great leader not being good at everything, but making good use of people who excelled in their fields?

If I couldn’t fight, I just needed someone to fight for me.

And as far as I knew, the strongest person who hadn’t reached Floor 2 yet was Choi Jiwon.

The tender conversation we’d once shared in the clearing was still lodged in a corner of my heart, so I was a little reluctant to face her... But I had no choice.

There were no alternatives. What else was I supposed to do?

How could I just sit around waiting when I had no idea when Choi Jiwon would arrive? I’d thought this through before committing.

For starters, it was incredibly easy to hold out on Floor 2.

The Silver-grade residents were compelled to perform their jobs faithfully.

And perhaps because they had nowhere to spend their earnings, or lacked the free will to do so, they weren’t particularly interested in money. Most places offered all their services for free.

I’d never been outside the city, but apparently resources were extraordinarily abundant... So I could understand why they didn’t feel any particular need to charge.

What did that mean? It meant I could freeload.

Food? I could just walk into any restaurant and eat.

Clothes? Any clothing shop would let me take whatever I liked.

Sleep? This city had an inn. With no travelers passing through, it was utterly deserted... But it existed. If I wanted somewhere to sleep, I had it.

Everything was perfectly suited to hunkering down and waiting. If this place had been as dangerous as the tutorial, I wouldn’t have dared wait for Choi Jiwon either.

Reviewing the plan in my head, I thought it was flawless.

In two months, Choi Jiwon would successfully clear Floor 10.

That meant she should arrive on Floor 2 within a month at the latest. There was no chance I’d have to wait for years.

“All right, then...”

I settled into a corner of the clearing, squatted down, and started watching the people being summoned.

When are you coming, Choi Jiwon?

Preferably... soon.

“...”

The sun was beginning to set.

There was still no sign of Choi Jiwon. All I’d learned was the useless fact that most people summoned during the day were Asian, while the proportion of Westerners increased as time passed.

Perhaps that was because the time on Earth varied depending on where you lived, whereas the tower ran on a fixed time.

“Time to get some sleep, I guess.”

As darkness fell and drowsiness crept over me, I headed for the inn. I didn’t intend to sleep for long. I doubted Choi Jiwon would come to Floor 2 in the early hours of the morning, Korean time... But I couldn’t be certain.

My long wait was only just beginning.

“Boss, what’s with that bastard?”

“Beats me. He’s always over there doing that. Just ignore him. Keep an eye out for anyone coming with a Gold token. Ah, fuck. I heard the predawn shift has it easy.”

“The predawn shift?”

“If you got a Gold token, would you come during the day or before dawn? Apparently the hit rate’s way better before dawn.”

A week passed.

Choi Jiwon still hadn’t arrived.

The biggest problem with doing nothing was overcoming the boredom.

Checking the faces of everyone arriving on Floor 2 to see whether Choi Jiwon was among them was excruciatingly dull.

“But is getting a Gold token really worth it? I’m not even sure the rewards are all that different...”

“Man, you really don’t know jack shit, do you? Rumors about ‘magic potions’ are already all over the underworld. I only recently found out they came from the tower myself... But anyway, people are going nuts over them. You know rich old bastards are buying up everything that comes out of the tower these days?”

“... It’s that big a deal?”

“I’m from Detroit, all right? Potions are the hottest thing around right now. Low-grade ones, especially—you can’t get those even if you’ve got the money. Think I came to Floor 2 for no reason? Bring one of those back, and you’re set for life. You could buy a whole truckload of women. You can’t make women on Floor 1.”

“True...”

But apparently the thugs blocking the alleys were just as bored, because their mouths never stopped moving.

It made sense when I thought about it. How could they wait here endlessly without knowing when some bastard with a Gold token would show up?

Both the thugs and I ultimately had to win a battle against ourselves.

At least the guy blocking the street near me was a good talker, so he kept me entertained for a while. But even that had its limits.

This felt harder than fighting goblins like my life depended on it.

Choi Jiwon. When are you coming...?

Two weeks passed.

Yesterday, in the early evening, David—the Black guy who’d acted all buddy-buddy with me—cleared Floor 2 with a Gold token.

How did he deal with the guys blocking the way?

“All right, move aside. I brought four tokens. We’re supposed to help each other out, right?”

“O-oh...”

He bribed them with tokens. Maybe it had taken him around two weeks because he’d also been gathering the Gold tokens he needed to buy off the roadblock crew.

“Those NPCs got in my way, so it took a while... But I used to play football. If you’re playing a game, you’ve got to win, right?”

David looked as triumphant as a running back who’d scored a touchdown.

I considered saying something... But decided against it. There didn’t seem to be any point.

Choi Jiwon. When are you coming? I’m seriously going to lose my mind.

Two and a half weeks passed.

I saw the occasional Korean, but still no familiar faces.

Unable to bear the boredom, I ended up getting acquainted with the thugs blocking the alley near my spot. (The guys who’d been chatting earlier had long since extorted Gold tokens and cleared the floor. Apparently, they called that “graduating.”)

I asked them something I’d been wondering for a while.

The bastard who’d created the tower had openly declared that he would judge humanity, and had demonstrated it in the tutorial.

I told them I couldn’t understand why people still committed evil acts despite that...

Their answers were more shocking than I’d expected.

“Well... Someone else will figure out that whole judgment thing. Nobody expects me to clear Floor 66 in the first place. Surely it’s fine if just one guy like me lives like a piece of shit? It’s not like I’m the only one doing it.”

One with the mindset that one more wouldn’t hurt.

“That judgment’s over, isn’t it? So I’ve paid the price. What? What if there’s another judgment later? Then... I’ll just give up some stats. It’s fine as long as I pay for it, right?”

One who intended to commit evil in exchange for paying the price.

“I’m not really thinking about anything. My life’s already fucked anyway... Might as well all get fucked together.”

And one who simply wasn’t thinking at all.

“...”

Earth was a big place.

Across the whole world, were there more good people or bad people?

More educated people or uneducated people?

In a way, I realized, it was only natural that crime never stopped around the world.

Give individuals too much power, and things were inevitably going to turn into a shitshow.

I really did need to climb the tower quickly.

Three weeks passed.

After a long wait... I finally saw a familiar face.

“Long time no see... I suppose I should say.”

That’s right.

The person everyone had been waiting for.

The person whose return I would have eagerly anticipated if this world were a novel and I were a reader.

Someone with a righteous heart.

Someone who strode confidently toward me and offered a handshake.

“Good to see you. Do you remember me, by any chance?”

It was Park Cheoljin, the middle-aged firefighter.

“Thank you for what you did in the tutorial. You saved my life...”

“...”

“At first, I wondered whether I’d dreamed it all... But I wasn’t the only one who’d experienced it. And then there’s the fact that I can create a portal to Floor 1 whenever I like... I’ve more or less accepted it now.”

“...”

“First we went through the tutorial together, and now we’re on Floor 2 together... At this point, it almost feels like fate. Ah, how long have you been on Floor 2? There don’t seem to be any immediate threats... But the mission objective hasn’t appeared yet.”

I was glad to see him.

I was, but... I would’ve preferred to see someone I’d be even happier to meet.

I was so dejected that I’d clamped my mouth shut without realizing it.

“Excuse me. There’s so much I want to ask you, and so much I want to tell you... But I’m expecting someone. Ah, there she is.”

Firefighter Park Cheoljin turned to look toward the center of the square.

STEP. STEP.

A woman was walking toward us from the direction he was looking.

“... What are you doing here, looking like that?”

A swaying ponytail. A sword with a familiar shape.

As I slowly turned my head, the face from my memories was staring straight at me.

Those cold eyes were fixed on me.

“... Thank you for what you did in the tutorial.”

Choi Jiwon.

She had finally reached Floor 2.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Choi Jiwon and Park Cheoljin are teammates! More precisely, they’re something like an expedition’s advance party...

I’ll explain in detail in the next chapter!

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