Chapter 20 (1/2)

Choi Seung-hyun

‘I should get moving.’

It was dangerous to stay here. I hurried down the hill, grabbed a taxi, and called back the person who sent me the message. It had been a little over a week since I started my life as Seo Jin-wook, and there was only one person who would contact me directly.

“Yes, Secretary Kim. I got the message.”

“Huh? You woke up earlier than usual. Team Leader, I received the contents by secured email. If I leave for the company house now, I think I will arrive at around eight. Shall I go to the room right away?”

It seemed that as soon as he got up, he checked his email and contacted me. He was definitely diligent.

“I was calling in case you would do so. You don’t need to hurry, so let’s see each other around nine o’clock as usual. It’s not something to be discussed on the phone. We will talk about the rest when we meet.”

It seemed that it would take about that amount of time to get to the company house and secretly return to my room. After finishing the call, I looked at the terminal again. The message from Secretary Kim was as followed.

-The partial report you requested came in. I will head to work right now.

There were two things he requested from an external intelligence agency according to my instructions. These were Angelica Heard’s current location and the background check of those who attacked us the other day. Which information about those two could’ve come in first? I closed my eyes as I buried my head in the taxi seat. The momentary darkness that filled my eyelids was sweet.

*

Someone called out to me.

“Hey, grandpa.”

“···Huh? What?

“Grandpa! Choi Seung-Hyun! What are you doing, daydreaming like that?”

I opened my eyes. I got myself together and looked around. My senses felt awkward, but all the scenes that came into view were familiar. My head swiveled. Right, this was the 95th floor of the Tower of Choice. I could see my colleagues who had been together until here. On the floor, there laid the boss of the 95th floor, the Blood Lich, slain. My face full of wrinkles shone on the glossy black floor. From behind my back, Nate looked at me with a strange expression.

“···Nothing.”

“Are you tired? Do you need some support?”

Nate asked with a smile. Pah. I shook my head.

“It’s alright. I was thinking about something else for a second.”

Then he approached.

“Now, there are only five floors left. Keep it up for a while.”

After a brief silence, the weight could be felt in their voices.

“In the meantime…you all have worked hard.”

To others, it looked like a young man in his 20s and an elderly man in his 80s shoulder to shoulder. However, there was a deep sympathy between the comrades who had survived together against adversity for so long.

“When we go down the tower, leave the rest to us and go relax. Did we perhaps abuse you too much? I will stop the elderly abuse, so please spend the rest of your life comfortably.”

“···Shut up.”

Nate snickered, scratching his curly hair roughly. It sounded like a joke, but the weight behind his words was obvious. I turned my head and looked at my colleagues. All of them were youthful in appearance, full of life. I looked down at the back of my hand again. My skin looked like twisted bark. Unlike the guild members who climbed the tower together, the life left for me wasn’t long. Could it be about ten years left?

This was because it was impossible to slow aging and reconstruct the body with mana in my body like them. It was a fate that was already set upon Awakening. Still, thanks to my unique skills, I was able to contribute like this. I was able to come this far. I spoke to them while trying to suppress my emotions.

“It’s not over yet. Don’t let your guards down. Who’s going to solve the rest of the tricks?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

The guy shrugged whilst shaking his bone wand. Of course, I didn’t doubt his ability. It was all thanks to his skeleton soldiers that a hunter like me was protected. It allowed me to arrive up to the 95th floor without dying. Of course, it wasn’t that there were no close encounters with death. On average, it was roughly once per floor.

“By the way, isn’t this puzzle taking quite long?”

Hibiki, the great mage, worked hard to place patterns on the door, exhaling enormous mana and sweating. To see it from a 3rd person’s view, enough mana was pouring down that one might think a meteorite was heading toward us. Nate spoke to her.

“Are you lacking? Do you need some mana?”

“I don’t need it!”

Hibiki, who replied that way, again devoted herself to work. Randy, sitting on the floor, cautioned him.

“Nate, leave Hibiki alone.”

Randy was feeding the monster’s blood to the magic sword. Today, instead of stabbing the sword properly into the belly of the monster, as usual, he used a novel method. When the battle was over, saying he had to suppress the sword before going to the next floor, he inserted the sword into the Giant Chimera’s anus, which looked like a mix between a hippo and an anteater.

The sword faintly vibrated as if to speak the magic sword’s emotion while making a ‘woong-‘sound. It seemed like it would be pouring curses and profanities through telepathy, and I felt fortunate that I couldn’t hear them. Randy then spoke up, pointing at Hibiki with his chin.

“You know that she gets sensitive whenever she solves a puzzle.”

“It was solved by grandpa; I’m only moving the mana as told.”

“That’s not an easy task either.”

In the tower, the floor didn’t end with knocking down assigned bosses. After that, one had to solve a puzzle with mana. I didn’t know who designed this tower, but I couldn’t help but think of this as we went up… it made me question, ‘Was it made to check how humanity’s control of mana has evolved?’

It was as if someone was going to score the results of the tutorial and the grades. That, or I might be overthinking. At that moment, a person interrupted our conversation.

“Before entering the next level, we might need to gear up with electricity-immune items.”

The saint, who was concentrating with her hands together and eyes closed, stood up and turned to Randy, who was in charge of the supply.

“Did a prophecy come out? Is the next floor with ones that use electricity?”

“Yes.”

“Is there any more detailed information?”