Chapter 289 (1/2)

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Sshwaaaah—

Rain was falling.

A deluge had come to visit the world on the 100th floor.

The world on the 100th floor, as Su-hyeun knew it, was a mysterious island that hadn’t see a drop of rain throughout the year, yet crops still grew strong and healthy there. Its skies were always clear.

Therefore, this would be Su-hyeun’s first time seeing this place with no clear skies, topped off with continuous and persistent drizzle.

“No, wait. Back in my previous life, I only stayed for about a month in this place, didn’t I?”

The 100th floor’s world held incredible significance for many people.

In this world, which was referred to as the mother of all hurdles, half of the “people” here chose to give up climbing the tower any further and simply traveled around this peaceful place for a long time.

As for the other half, they were being cautious while gathering as much information as possible in the hopes of challenging the 100th floor.

“Back then, I did worry a lot, didn’t I? Lots of people lost their lives here, after all.”

In his previous life, Su-hyeun had challenged the trials with eighth-level difficulty.

That certainly was a nearly unprecedented level of difficulty back then. Su-hyeun couldn’t remember anyone who had chosen to climb the tower by challenging the trials’ eighth-level difficulty other than Gordon and Hak-joon.

Out of the three, it was Gordon who passed the 100th floor first. That was why he could enjoy the title of the world’s best awakener until another man named Kim Sung-in appeared.

However, those things had happened a long time ago.

The current Hak-joon had also passed the 100th floor and managed to get somewhere even higher.

“Rain, is it…?”

Shwaaaaah—

Su-hyeun raised his head and stared at the falling rain.

None of the raindrops landed on his body. He enveloped himself in a thin layer of magical energy and kept the rainwater away from him.

However, the majority of people couldn’t do something like that. Perhaps that was the reason why he could hardly see anyone out and about, and so, this eerie silence descended upon the previously bustling streets.

The avenues were now filled with only the sounds of falling rain.

Splash—

Su-hyeun continued to walk toward the plaza.

Unsurprisingly, it was also devoid of people. The only presence visible here was a man dressed as a beggar with an old and worn-out hat pressed closely down on his head.

Su-hyeun approached the beggar.

The administrator in the beggar’s attire raised his head. “Don’t you find this atmosphere wonderful?”

The administrator that was sitting down looked up at Su-hyeun.

His face was dirty, and he was sporting a thick and unkempt beard. It was one of those faces that a painter might come up with when asked to draw a beggar on the street.

Su-hyeun quietly observed that face for a bit before muttering something that had nothing to do with what the administrator asked him. “Your face, it’s not real.”

His observation caused the administrator to narrow his eyes. The man then pulled the hat down even lower to hide his face.

“You don’t have to worry. I can’t see what you really look like, after all.”

“Were you bluffing then?”

The administrator’s voice had a certain hint of sharpness to it. It seemed that he thought Su-hyeun had tricked him.

Su-hyeun resolutely shook his head. “No. I could simply see it, that’s all. And it wasn’t my original intention, so please don’t be too unhappy about it. Aren’t I the one who was tricked all along, anyway?”

The administrator took off his hat and grumbled unhappily, “Urgh, that damn fool that called himself the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven sure taught you something troublesome, didn’t he?”

Su-hyeun smirked at the mention of the Bull Demon King and said, “Besides, what’s so wonderful about this weather, anyway? It’s just raining incessantly, isn’t it? But if your preference leans toward gloomy and soggy weather, then I can certainly respect that.”

“You’re late with your reply, you fool.”

“My apologies. But like I was alluding to earlier, you should also consider my feelings when I need to chat with a faceless person, you know.”

“Why does it feel like I’m on the losing end while talking to you?”

“I’m also not a big fan of this kind of chitchat. Why don’t we get to the main topic?”

The administrator nodded at Su-hyeun’s suggestion. “Alright. What are you curious about? Hints for the trial you’re about to embark upon? Or…”

A meaningful grin appeared on the face of the sitting administrator.

“Or is it the truth about the tower?”

“…”

Su-hyeun was obviously thinking of asking for the hint, so the question caused his lips to clamp shut for a bit there.

An administrator had brought up the topic of the tower’s truth first. That also happened to be what Su-hyeun was most curious about.

“The truth about the tower…” he thought.

Everything just appeared without any warning one day.

Dungeons, awakeners, and the tower that bestowed them with abilities.

No, hold on—honestly, no one knew if it was indeed a “tower” or not. It was merely named the “Tower of Trials,” and the individual worlds were classified as “floors,” but other than that, no one so far had claimed to have seen the actual tower from the outside.

Just how did all these things appear? How were the trials given, and just what kind of existence were these administrators?

Nothing about them was known at this stage.

“You can actually tell me about them?”

Su-hyeun had already asked another administrator about the truth of the tower before. However, he couldn’t get any answers. That’s why he had basically given up on learning more about the subject until now.

Yet the 100th floor’s administrator brought it up first.

“Only a portion of it. Obviously, not the whole thing.”

“When can I learn the whole truth, though? No, what do I need to do?”

“Climb higher. Then you’ll learn it. However, now isn’t the right time for you.”

Su-hyeun’s expression crumpled at that reply. The one asking if he was curious was now saying no answer would be forthcoming?

The administrator noticed Su-hyeun’s expression and quickly waved his hand. “Don’t make that angry scowl. I told you, didn’t I? I can only tell you a portion. Even that’s coming from my own discretion, so obviously, I can’t tell you the whole thing. Think of it as a kind of special privilege.”

“…Sure, thanks a lot, I guess.”

“In any case. I’m cheering you on, you know? There’s a reason why I can’t tell you the whole story, so please be more understanding, will ya?”

“But why are you willing to ignore that reason to tell me a portion of the information in the first place?”

“I’m a bit different from the other guys, you see. I believe that hiding the truth wouldn’t lead to anything good in the end. Doesn’t matter what it is, it’s always better to know the truth rather than be ignorant about it, wouldn’t you agree?”

As expected.

With this reply, Su-hyeun came to understand one new piece of information.

“This guy has a similar personality to the administrator from the 43rd floor,” he realized.

Administrators supervising the individual floors all had their own personalities. They might have shared their opinions and agreed on things while working within a larger framework, but some of them also definitely held differing opinions from the rest.

“So, one faction wants to let the information out, while the other doesn’t,” he inwardly mulled.

There was the 43rd floor administrator who appeared as a hero named Luslec and then bestowed Su-hyeun with a trial to fight against numerous other heroes, and then, there was the 100th floor administrator who was of the opinion that the information regarding the tower needed to be known publicly.

As such, he didn’t mind sharing the info with Su-hyeun in the slightest. No, he was even willing to go against the rules to share a little bit of information with Su-hyeun.