Chapter 88 |
As the sun hung low beyond the horizon, the sky was painted in a distant light. It felt like 6 PM.
“Baron! Could you please check this!”
“Hmm... It seems to be done.”
Baron Jorge closely inspected the place where the stones had been packed in.
The project he was advancing was nearing completion. Except for a small side door facing the mountains, the castle walls were now cut off from the outside.
“Mr. Junho. We’ve finished searching up to the second floor. We found a room filled with ‘magical tools’. We plan to experiment with their uses once daylight returns.”
The search operation in the castle was progressing quickly. Yoon Junghyun, the narrow-eyed man, was quite capable. He knew where to place people effectively and had the charisma to lead his subordinates.
“Ah, and tomorrow we plan to search the third floor.”
Yoon Junghyun brushed off the snow accumulating on his shoulders as he spoke nonchalantly.
“...Yes?”
Here, I smiled as if it was nothing and stopped the search, while Yoon Junghyun frowned, unable to understand, then quickly returned to his usual expression.
“...But-”
“-You’ve worked hard. You should go inside now. It looks like the sun will set soon.”
“...Yes.”
Yoon Junghyun disappeared back into the castle after my firm response, not insisting further. He probably felt quite upset, although he didn’t show it overtly. It wasn’t my place to give him ‘orders.’
We were temporary allies, and I was a temporary leader. It was only natural he’d feel resentment for being treated as if someone were above him when we didn’t have a proper hierarchical relationship.
“…It can’t be helped.”
Although what lay on the third floor remained unknown, with the discovery of the portal on the fourth floor, further searches seemed pointless. In fact, they might even have adverse effects.
A portal that only five people could pass through. Its utility was one thing, but figuring out how to handle the portal was another issue.
Reveal the existence of the portal to everyone? Without a way to penalize those who entered, everyone would abandon their tasks and rush for the portal.
Choose five people peacefully to enter the portal? No matter the method chosen, controversy was inevitable. No one would quietly hand over a lifeline in a situation as dire as this. The moment the existence of the portal became known, chaos was almost guaranteed.
Given the nature of the portal on the fourth floor, it was reasonable to suspect that something on the third floor might also provoke division among us. There had been secrets hidden in the basement, first, second, and fourth floors. It would be strange to assume the third floor had nothing.
“...”
After a brief glance at the mountains bathed in orange light, I headed back inside the castle.
Perhaps... It was time for the brewing discontent to erupt.
**
As Kim Junho had predicted, discontent was silently spreading among the players. The complaints varied, but they could be summarized in one sentence:
“Is this alright?”
Humans are creatures whose attitudes change based on the situation. Initially, driven by the fear of possible death, they had cooperated actively. But now, on the second night with no incidents, their eagerness had waned, partly because the awe inspired by the “awe” trait had diminished.
“Is something supposed to happen...?”
“The mission is to survive, but...”
Human emotions are like a rubber band. The players, once tightly wound with tension, had relaxed more than ever as a reaction and began to question the very situation they were in.
The variety of doubts among the individuals was as diverse as the individuals themselves, and they could be summarized as follows:
“I think that really strong guy has been deceiving us. He’s leading us around to keep us busy while he quietly reaps the benefits.”
First, the Kim Junho conspiracy theory.
“But what benefits are we talking about?”
“I don’t know exactly. He must have hidden it very thoroughly.”
“...”
Naturally, this opinion didn’t gain much traction due to its lack of evidence.
“The otherworldly beings are definitely suspicious.”
“In what way?”
“The mission explicitly tells us to survive, yet we see no sign of monsters. What else is there to focus on if not the otherworldly beings?”
Compared to that, the ‘betrayal by otherworldly beings’ theory had some basis. They were the only visible potential threat.
“But... it’s been two days already, and we haven’t suffered any harm, have we?”
“The structure of this castle makes it difficult to find someone if they disappear... If they were going to do something, they would have acted by now.”
However, this also lacked enough persuasiveness to garner significant support.
“In my opinion, there were never any monsters to begin with.”
Thus, the most fervently supported was the ‘Player Division Theory.’
“This tower wants us to divide ourselves. It’s fostering suspicion, disputes, and fights among us—that seems to be the tower’s intent. Wasn’t that the nature of the tutorial?”
From the beginning, there were no monsters, and the real threat to be wary of was division itself.
“Cold weather. The eerie, quiet castle. The sudden appearance of otherworldly beings. Narrow passages. Small rooms. All perfectly designed to psychologically pressure us. In my opinion, as more time passes, an incident will occur that will drive us to suspect each other. That will be the true crisis.”
Certainly, this was a plausible opinion. It explained why they hadn’t seen any hint of monsters or immediate threats.
“Exactly, I knew I wasn’t such a scoundrel.”
“Ah, so it was the tower’s fault.”
The players’ inherent frustration and negative feelings were eased by the opinion that it wasn’t their fault but the situation’s.
This much might have been fine. After all, who would oppose the sentiment of not fighting among themselves and cooperating instead?
However, where there is light, there is also darkness. People were no longer inclined to follow orders strictly. They felt that as long as they stayed alive without fighting, there was no need to earnestly follow Kim Junho’s commands.
“...Hey, did you see that otherworldly woman earlier? She was really amazing.”
“...What are you thinking?”
“Calm down, man. She’s just an NPC, not even a player.”
“Is that so?”
Moreover, some players’ greedy gazes were directed at the otherworldly beings.
If there were a common enemy, they might consider them allies...
But now, they were seen merely as appetizing pieces of meat.
**
And of course, we were aware of this situation.
“Let’s kill one or two as an example. What’s the harm? They’re a waste of space alive anyway.”
“Phew. Don’t talk so horribly. There is a line that humans shouldn’t cross.”
“So, William, what do you plan to do?”
“If we just rough them up a bit with fists, they might learn something.”
“Hmm, that’s a bit disappointing...”
Yoon Junghyun twirled a dagger in his hand, and William Smith, a white middle-aged man, held his forehead as if he had a headache.
Baron Jorge, Yoon Junghyun, I, and William were gathered in a small room, discussing our future plans.
“But William.”
I called William cautiously.
“Yes?”
“You mentioned... roughing them up with fists?”
“Yes.”
“...You were healing the injured earlier, don’t you have a healing trait?”
“That’s correct. Actually, I run a small church in Kentucky. Oh, and just for your reference, I believe the creator of the tower and the Lord are separate entities.”
“…”
I was flabbergasted and couldn’t close my mouth. I wondered how a healer had made it up to the fourth floor, then I noticed William Smith’s forearms weren’t ordinary.
“Moreover, I think there’s credibility to this ’Player Division Theory.’”
Baron Jorge seized the timely moment to interject.
“Setting aside the fact that the lost blades are pointing towards my people... it’s quite plausible. The absence of monsters also aligns with this.”
“I actually thought so too.”
If anything were to appear, it would have happened by now. The conflicts that naturally emerged made me suspect that it was the true challenge of the fourth floor.
“Assuming things continue this way, and we can control the players... we could all survive unscathed. Now, let’s discuss measures to prevent any aberrant behavior among the players...”
“Um... Junho?”
A woman’s voice interrupted me.
Baek Dahye, the buffer we saw in the tutorial, was peering into the room.
“Can’t you see we’re in a meeting?”
Yoon Junghyun was about to snap in irritation when she interrupted.
“Kyung Nam says he’s found an important clue...”
The words that flowed from Baek Dahye’s mouth were too significant to ignore.
“...”
“...”
The four of us exchanged wordless glances. The word ‘important’ wouldn’t have been used lightly.
The contemplation was brief, and the decision was quick.
“Let’s go.”
We immediately rose from our seats.
**
The ordinary corridor on the first floor harbored a secret. Pressing a specific stone block, the wall naturally shifted to reveal a hidden room.
The room was tiny, and the floor was covered with worn and tattered books. This ‘secret library’ was aptly named, and in the center, Kyung Nam, the brother of Kyung Joon, was deeply engrossed in thought.
“...Ah, you’ve arrived.”
He hadn’t been just casually focused; it took him a moment to realize we had arrived, and he rose from his spot to greet us sheepishly.
“So... what did you find that you called us here?”
“Ah, please take a look at this.”
Responding to my inquiry, Kyung Nam presented an old book. It looked unremarkable, but something was scrawled in red ink on the inner cover.
“How about it? I’ve searched through all the books here to find it.”
Kyung Nam smiled confidently.
“...I don’t know. Isn’t this a language from another world?”
However, my reaction was lukewarm. Regardless of what it said, it was in a language unknown to me. I needed to understand it to evaluate anything.
“...I don’t understand it either.”
“...”
As Baron Jorge shook his head in dismay, our looks toward Kyung Nam turned slightly suspicious.
“Ah, um, I’m sorry. Thanks to my trait, I can interpret it...”
Realizing his mistake, Kyung Nam scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“So... it’s written here in red ink.”
Kyung Nam scanned the room, swallowed hard, and began to stutter out the words.
“...The moment when the remaining past and the forthcoming future become the same, you all will come to realize again that you will die.”
“…”
“…”
After Kyung Nam finished speaking, a moment of silence followed. Everyone seemed to be rolling that sentence around in their minds.
“...Memento mori*?”
Yoon Junghyun muttered this unconsciously.
“But doesn’t it sound too harsh for that? It seems to directly mean ‘death’ itself.”
William Smith, the middle-aged healer, gently contested this interpretation.
Memento mori, meaning “remember that you will die,” is traditionally used as a reminder not to be prideful. However, in this context, as William suggested, the phrase carried a much grimmer nuance, almost like a warning: ‘Prepare to die.’
“Certainly...”
“Hmm... Was the ‘Player Division Theory’ wrong then?”
“Not necessarily. If a real monster appears, the division among people will only deepen, not lessen.”
“Wait a minute.”
While everyone else seemed to nod in agreement, Baron Jorge still seemed unsettled by unanswered questions.
“Alright, I get that something serious is supposed to happen, but how should we interpret the previous part of the sentence?”
“The remaining past and the forthcoming future being the same. It might mean, temporally, exactly in the middle, doesn’t it?”
This time, I responded, and as Baron Jorge understood my explanation, his expression hardened.
“Could it be...”
“Yes, that’s right. We need to survive here for five days. That’s 120 hours. Which means...”
I muttered ‘status window’ softly, and a message window naturally appeared before my eyes.
-83:12:00
When the remaining time hits 60 hours.
Something... a calamity is bound to happen.
– – – End of Chapter – – -
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