Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 391: Eighty-Eighth Floor, Waiting Room (1)

[Heal the mystical beast under the alchemist’s protection. Time remaining: 75 hours 12 minutes.]

Nothing had happened to Cho-Yeon—that I was certain of.

The forest wasn’t dangerous anymore. Moreover, if someone had forcibly entered this world, I would have sensed it immediately.

My spiritual perception remained active, even while I slept. At this point, I could react unconsciously to any approaching danger without needing to think.

Is she out collecting herbs? No.

If that were the case, the fairies and mystical beasts wouldn’t have approached.

Is this another hidden mission?

With how uncertain I felt about the situation, it was something I had to verify. I quickly rose to my feet, determined.

As I pushed open the tent flap, I found Serendel waiting outside, shifting restlessly. Behind her, the luminous gazes of fairies and mystical beasts gleamed in the darkness.

“You’re awake. I apologize. I tried to stop them, but the children were too insistent.”

Although Serendel had described herself as the forest’s steward, she apparently didn’t have control over the other fairies.

Perhaps that was only natural. If she could control the forest’s inhabitants, Hwa-Jo couldn’t have betrayed the forest in the first place.

When she continued to wear an apologetic expression, I slightly shook my head to reassure her. “It’s fine. I slept well.”

Her expression softened, relief washing over her.

“You came because Cho-Yeon disappeared, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea where she went?”

“Unfortunately, no. At some point, she vanished without a trace. The children sensed something was amiss and came to tell you.”

“I see. Give me a moment.”

I turned and headed toward the cabin. The beasts stepped aside and cleared the way without prompting.

Still, I sense nothing. Not even a trace of her presence lingered in the area.

When I opened the door and stepped inside, I found everything meticulously arranged. There wasn’t even the faintest sign that someone had recently occupied the space—except for one thing.

Atop the desk, she had left behind dozens of tonic pills and a small glass bottle filled with a vivid blue liquid.

Looks like the tower took her.

Although Cho-Yeon had been wary of the situation, she really had been brought here to make medicine, just as she had suspected.

The moment she finished, the tower had likely taken her.

Even so, something about the situation still seemed off to me. There hadn’t been a compelling reason for her to appear on the eighty-seventh floor.

We definitely could have done without the tonic.

Poong-Wol’s condition didn’t drastically worsen during the three days before I arrived, either.

I dismissed the thought almost immediately. Guessing the tower’s intent was nigh on impossible.

“Haha,” I laughed dryly.

She had given me a hard time for not giving her a heads-up when I would be late, but she had disappeared just as silently.

Still, I chose to be understanding. Whatever the reason, I was willing to believe it had been beyond her control.

When I stepped out of the tent again, I found Serendel gently resting a hand atop Poong-Wol’s head.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

The other mystical beasts lingered nearby, hovering uncertainly. This was likely the first time they had seen Poong-Wol in a while.

He responded with a low, rumbling growl. They deserved a quiet moment to reunite, so I decided to give them time.

Eventually, Poong-Wol stirred and nudged his head toward me.

Placing my hand beside Serendel’s, I carefully infused divine energy into him.

“Hey. Did you sleep well?” I communicated through our bond.

Although Poong-Wol had become my divine beast, I couldn’t summon him just yet. The limitation wasn’t due to a lack of divine power, however, because I could summon Gehennah, my apostle.

Poong-Wol just hadn’t fully recovered. He simply needed time.

Who knows how time flows here compared to within the tower?

Still, it didn’t concern me.

Unlike Natalie’s dimension, I was directly connected to this world and could traverse it freely with Divine Power.

I didn’t need to summon him right now, and I could stop by whenever necessary to check on him.

Once we finished communing, I turned my gaze toward Serendel. She gestured lightly toward the beasts behind her.

Handling animals isn’t something I have much experience with.

Regardless, they all wanted to remain close to me. As the forest’s master, it was time I accepted that responsibility.

***

I spent the next stretch of time with the mystical beasts and fairies. Though I didn’t do anything extraordinary, just being in their presence seemed enough for them.

Although I petted a few of them, whether from timidity or awe, most stayed slightly distant. Still, they appeared genuinely content to simply be nearby.

During those moments, I trained, ate, and moved through familiar routines.

It feels weird.

Even surrounded by so many beings, the absence of a single person cast a quiet hollowness over the forest.

It was a strange feeling that I wasn’t used to.

I hadn’t been particularly fond of Cho-Yeon, and we had only spent a couple of hours together at most. Compared to other people I had encountered during my climb—such as Comet and Aoshi—our time together felt oddly distinct.

Is it because Cho-Yeon is so talkative?

Perhaps it was because I could sense she harbored hidden pain.

Lying down, my thoughts wandered.

What if I plant the World Tree seed here?

The idea had come without warning, but it didn’t seem like a bad one. I immediately sat upright.

Back on the seventy-ninth floor, I had saved Euros and received a seed as a reward. Until now, I had left it untouched as I didn’t have a place worthy of planting it.

I did consider planting it on Earth.

In hindsight, however, that wouldn’t be wise.

Even now, I couldn’t predict what would happen if I returned. People were watching my exploits, and by then, I would be revered as a god.

The public attention alone would be overwhelming, and managing a World Tree on top of that would be nearly impossible.

This place is better.

After all, this forest now belonged to me, and strangely, I had come to own a planet before Earth. Although talking about “ownership” of a planet felt odd, planting the World Tree in a place I could truly call my own carried a certain meaning.

I carefully took out the seed and approached Serendel, who was laughing gently as she played among the fairies.

“I’d like to plant a World Tree. Will that be alright?”

“There’s no need to ask me. You’re the master of this forest, Su-Hyeok. And if it’s a World Tree, I’m sure everyone will welcome it with joy.” She smiled, equal parts calming and affirming. “If you still feel uncertain, I suggest speaking to the forest itself rather than to me. It will follow your will, of course, but your words may offer it comfort.”

“Ah.”

I had forgotten I could do that. I still wasn’t used to my newfound abilities.

Drawing on the power embedded deep within my chest, I reached out to the forest. I felt it awaken, responding to my call.

Is it okay if I plant the World Tree?

The forest responded affirmatively. In fact, it welcomed the idea warmly and even suggested a location—not at its heart, however, but the cabin.

The forest seemed to believe that the location held meaning.

I smiled in return.

Whether the forest had sent an order or the beasts understood the situation, the area soon cleared.

In the clearing just before the cabin, I dug a small hole and gently placed the seed within it. After covering the pit and tamping down the loose soil, the seed was ready.

Carefully extracting some of my divinity, I wrapped the seed in it and watched as hairline cracks formed across its surface.

A moment later, a tiny sprout emerged, pushing up through the earth.

It didn’t grow further. At least, not yet.

Regardless, I could already feel the surrounding area pulse with greater vitality.

The World Tree will need time, too.

If I continued visiting and nurturing it with divinity, it would strengthen the forest and help it flourish. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

More and more, I seemed to be accumulating divine responsibilities. Then again, the same likely held true for other gods.

When I lifted my gaze, I found the mystical beasts had quietly gathered around me once more. The more time we spent together, the more the distance between us quietly diminished. With a faint smile, I unhesitatingly stepped toward them.

After that, I continued spending my days among the mystical beasts and fairies.

Poong-Wol slept through most of it, though he occasionally stirred just enough for us to briefly bond. It was a pity that we couldn’t truly communicate yet. Our exchanges remained vague and incomplete.

In time, some of the fairies began speaking to me as well. One conversation stood out more than the rest.

It turned out that not every fairy shared Serendel’s composure.

A particularly small one—clearly on the younger side—asked me, “Su-Hyeok, what kind of person are you?”

Though it seemed like a simple question, it made me pause. I offered a quiet smile and decided to think on it.

What kind of person am I, truly?

“Hmm, someone who follows their heart, maybe?”

It was an honest response born from clarity I had gained in the forest, though perhaps it was too ambiguous for someone so young.

As I opened my mouth to clarify, the little fairy beat me to it and remarked, “If you followed your heart and still chose to save Lord Seorden’s forest, then you have to be a good person! Not that I didn’t already know that!”

She grinned, her bright laughter barely above a whisper. It echoed faintly in the air, light and pleasant, lingering in my thoughts.

***

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the eighty-seventh floor of the Tower of Ordeal. He will now enter the waiting room.]

[The eighty-eighth floor requires all climbers to enter simultaneously.]

[Other climbers have not yet conquered the eighty-seventh floor. Please wait.]

[There is no timer until the next floor begins. Please take a rest.]

Although Poong-Wol hadn’t fully recovered by the time I had finished the floor, we had solved the underlying cause of his illness. Therefore, the trial had come to an end.

I couldn’t help but wonder if my trial had concluded the moment Cho-Yeon disappeared. The extra time could have simply been the tower’s grace or the natural extension of a hidden mission.

Despite the difficulty, I had completed that hidden mission, and the experience left me with a strange sense of renewal.

Is this what inner peace feels like?

Of course, the next ordeal would arrive soon enough, and the tension would return. For now, though, I had gained far more than I had lost. The forest had become mine, my divinity had grown, and I had communed with a divine beast.

Doppy lay fast asleep. Beside him, Yoonie stirred and lifted her head, catching sight of me.

Before she could greet me, I brought a finger to my lips. “Shh.”

Doppy was completely out, as if someone had cut all power to him. Usually, he would have sensed my presence as soon as I entered the waiting room, but he had driven himself far beyond exhaustion. I had no desire to wake him.

With a quiet nod, Yoonie floated over to me.

Only after I activated a barrier around Doppy to muffle sound did Yoonie finally shout, “You’re back! You have to be exhausted!”

“Yeah. Have you been doing all right?”

“Of course! But you’ve changed somehow. The feeling around you... it’s completely different.”

“The scent... of the forest... still clings to you... You’ve done... something noble...”

Ryun had already sensed it. Given that he was an ent, it made sense that he would be especially attuned to such things.

“You caught on quickly. I saved a forest. Want to see it sometime? I think you’d like it.”

“I would... always... be honored...”

Before his words had even finished echoing, the familiar sound of a notification chimed.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): You made it back safe, right?

Already? I hadn’t even been in the waiting room for two full minutes. Her timing had always been eerily precise, but this was unusually fast.

Is it just a coincidence?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-eighth Floor): How’d you manage to message me the instant I got back? Don’t tell me you’ve been obsessively refreshing the rankings or something?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): Huh? How did you know? Actually, I embedded a surveillance camera in Yoonie’s eye using a spell.

What?

I turned to Yoonie immediately, only to be met with her usual wide-eyed innocence.

Ugh, of course not.

Still, with how uncannily well-timed her messages always were, I couldn’t help but suspect it was true. It appeared I had poked fun at her one too many times and was now reaping the consequences.

Before I could respond, another message popped up.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): I’m joking. The truth is, I get alerts from multiple sources whenever you return. Didn’t I tell you?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-eighth Floor): Wait, seriously?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): There are tons of people keeping tabs on the rankings. The moment your name pops up, the forums go wild, and members of your fan club flood me with messages.

In hindsight, it made perfect sense. No wonder she always timed her messages perfectly. Unless I was sleeping deeply or lost in training, her messages always arrived within twenty minutes of my return.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-eighth Floor): Didn’t you mute all of your notifications?

Most high-ranking climbers—myself and Hee-Jeong included—usually kept message alerts off. Back on the lower floors, the other climbers constantly bombarded us with tens of thousands of messages.

Without the notifications disabled, each message would generate a notification prompting me to accept or deny it, so I filtered most of them.

Occasionally, I would accept one out of boredom and regret it immediately. There were far too many odd individuals out there.

Things only became manageable after the system introduced better controls.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): I left a few alerts on. Some of the Shadow Su-Hyeok fan club members are ranked pretty high. Plus, it’s convenient. They let me know the moment you arrive.

A chill crawled up my spine.

There was a reason they were called the Shadow Su-Hyeok fan club. They generated divine energy for me, so I couldn’t deny their usefulness, but still.

Should I ask them to stop? But on what grounds?

They claimed to follow me out of reverence, so I couldn’t exactly criticize them for that.

Wait.

She had mentioned that the fan club included some high-ranking climbers.

A name surfaced in my mind, someone I had once met at the rest area.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-eighth Floor): Don’t tell me. Park Sang-Hyuk is one of them?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-eighth Floor): Huh? Yeah, he is.

Ugh, of course he is.