Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 393: Eighty-Eighth Floor, Waiting Room (3)

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

“What are you talking about?”

Meeting the Tower of Ordeal? What kind of absurd statement is that?

Just as confusion began to settle in, something flickered through my mind.

Cho-Yeon.

The mystical beasts who had voiced their hatred for the tower and Poong-Wol’s sudden seizures when left alone with her came to my mind.

Even the fact that Cho-Yeon—who hadn’t been necessary to complete the trial in the first place—had posed those strange and pointed questions toward me.

“No way...”

Natalie nodded to confirm what I had barely dared to consider. “Yes. Cho-Yeon. It was her debut performance. She is the Tower of Ordeal.”

I was too stunned to respond right away.

Wait. What? Seriously? Cho-Yeon is the Tower of Ordeal?

Despite Natalie’s words and all the circumstantial evidence, it still didn’t feel real. However, it had to be true.

Suddenly, a host of unanswered questions began to fall into place.

Were her questions subtly hinting at the truth all along?

Thinking of it that way, it started to make sense.

Still, why give hints instead of saying it outright?

I had no clue.

There hadn’t been a single reason to doubt her. Her acting had been flawless, but more than that, there had been nothing to suspect in the first place.

The realization sent a chill down my spine.

All the small complaints, the expressions of concern, the faint traces of pain—every one of them had been an act.

Yet the more I thought about it, the less strange it seemed.

Most of my encounters with the tower up to this point painted the image of a seemingly friendly, but deceptive, entity. Since a god had forged it, it wasn’t so hard to imagine it would carry emotional scars of its own.

I sighed hollowly. “It’s hard to believe, but now that you’ve told me, it makes sense.”

“It’s not strange that you didn’t realize. If I hadn’t formed a contract with you, I probably wouldn’t have noticed either.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Because of our contract, I’ve been able to observe the tower more closely. That’s the only reason I figured it out. I doubt even the other gods know. That includes ones with Dimensional Witches.”

I understood the first part, but the second left me puzzled.

“The other gods with Dimensional Witches? Can you explain more?”

“Oh, a Dimensional Witch doesn’t see every truth or future. My abilities are limited to events my contractor is related to. And when I don’t have one, my reach becomes even more restricted. It’s hard to explain precisely.”

“No, that makes sense.”

Hearing her spell it out helped me connect the dots. Natalie wasn’t the only Dimensional Witch. If they could see every future and truth, then the gods they had contracted with should be able to do the same, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

“And actually, because of you, I can see more than the others.”

It didn’t sound like she was only talking about visions with me in them.

“What do you mean, ‘you can see more’? Don’t the other Dimensional Witches have contracts with gods, too?”

“They do.”

“Then shouldn’t they see more?”

Natalie simply shrugged. “I don’t know why. I just can. Maybe I’m not the special one, but you are.”

“Hmm, maybe it’s because I’m a challenger?”

“Could be,” she responded uncertainly, but I wasn’t worried about it.

If it worked in our favor, that was all that mattered, although we had wandered off-topic.

As I was about to circle back to the original topic, a concern suddenly came to mind. “Hold on. Are you allowed to tell me this? That the tower came to meet me?”

Up until now, Natalie had always been careful about sharing anything related to the tower. She had mentioned that there were restrictions in place. I didn’t want her to get in trouble.

Waving both hands lightly, she reassured, “It’s fine. This time, the tower overstepped.”

“Overstepped?”

“It pushed too hard just to meet you in person. Oh, but you can’t tell anyone about this.” Her face turned serious as she added, “Not even Hee-Jeong. Outside of this place, only you and I can know.”

“Ah, I understand.”

It wasn’t so much a matter of secrecy as it was a result of the restrictions placed on her. I could respect that.

Still, one thing continued to bother me. Judging from the circumstances, it seemed like Poong-Wol had known Cho-Yeon’s identity. If so, why hadn’t he told me?

We had definitely shared some things during our bonding times.

Though, come to think of it, it wasn’t as if we had communicated much. Perhaps his power hadn’t fully returned yet.

“Do the other mystical beasts or fairies know?”

“Only Poong-Wol. Mostly because the Primordial God bestowed power upon him.”

“Then why didn’t he share that with me? Was it because he hadn’t healed fully?”

“No, he wasn’t permitted to speak of it.”

“Hmm.”

Even for a divine beast, it seemed there were limits to what could be done. Natalie was merely an exception.

To be honest, there was still much I didn’t fully understand.

“You don’t know why she came to see me, do you?”

“No. But I think she just wanted to see you with her own eyes.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I don’t know why either, but...” Natalie offered a small shrug, a soft smile tugging at her lips.

Whatever Cho-Yeon’s motives were, they didn’t seem malicious.

Was it a trial, just in a different sense?

Even after getting a rough grasp of the situation, it still left me reeling.

In a way, I found it a little insulting. “This is just unbelievable.”

“Sorry?”

“No, I meant the tower.” I started laughing incredulously. “Haha, you saw her going on about tower contracts, right? Even though she is the tower, haha? She complained about them. Said that’s just how the tower always is. Even mentioned that all the food was prepackaged. Hahaha.”

Natalie chuckled lightly, a faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “I actually found it even more amusing once I realized she was the tower.”

In a sense, she wasn’t wrong. “Yeah, it is kind of funny.”

Seeing the tower in person had a strangely disarming effect.

I had assumed it would be cold, mechanical, and even detached, given what it was. However, recalling how it had acted in front of me, it didn’t really feel that way. That sense of distance I had once felt diminished ever so slightly.

“Well, that’s all I had to say. I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“It’s nothing. It was only right. Should we get going? You said you wanted to visit Seorden’s forest, so we should make the most of our time.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” I returned to the garden alongside Natalie.

***

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

I was lying on the bed, heavy and fatigued after training. With nothing else to do, I thought about our visit to Seorden’s forest.

Everyone had enjoyed themselves.

However, since the fairies and mystical beasts didn’t like unfamiliar presences, we hadn’t met them directly—something that left me with a lingering sense of regret.

I had hoped everyone would get along, but apparently, the inhabitants of the forest hadn’t avoided Cho-Yeon simply because she was the tower.

Still, I hadn’t wanted to force them to do anything they weren’t comfortable with. I didn’t consider our relationship as hierarchical to begin with.

I thought Gehenna and Hyang would be fine since they carry my divinity.

Unfortunately, the faeries and mystical beasts had treated them no differently from the others. The one small consolation was that everyone had met Serendel and Poong-Wol.

Ha Hee-Jeong had even mentioned she envied the fact that I could command a dragon.

I figured their relationship with the other fairies and mystical beasts would gradually improve. Poong-Wol’s recovery, the World Tree, and everything just needed time for now.

“Ugh.” Stretching out, I pushed myself up from the bed.

I didn’t know how long we would have until the next floor. Roughly thirty people still hadn’t finished the eighty-seventh floor. It wasn’t exactly an optimistic sign, as most of them were among the lower-ranked climbers.

Though they would have once been considered strong with their current ranking, those days were long past.

The tower truly was fickle.

Hmm.

My thoughts drifted to the eighty-eighth floor. The disappearance of the Essence of Decay didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. There was no way I, as I was now, would fail a trial we had already cleared in Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life.

In the end, the hidden mission would be our biggest obstacle.

The all-climber floors weren’t especially difficult, but when a hidden mission got involved, things became considerably more complicated—like when we faced the Catastrophe Valsaron in Burning Truth’s world.

Though in hindsight, I grew a lot because of it.

For this trial, I wasn’t so much worried as I was eager. Ever since defeating Endless Furnace, it felt like I had crossed a threshold.

Prior to killing a god, I had already been in a class of my own, but now the difference felt even starker. Unless I was facing a trial that required a lot of thinking, I felt like I could break through just about anything.

That said, getting complacent was never an option.

“Still, you can’t let your guard down. The trials ahead will only grow more difficult. Not that you’re the type to get careless, Oppa.”

Natalie’s warnings had always stayed with me. In the end, the only path to victory was relentless training.

“Doppy, let’s go.”

“Okay!”

With Doppy—who had been lying down until this point—by my side, I made my way to the training room. I was eager for the next floor

As always, there was a high chance the eighty-eighth floor would differ from Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life.

Now then, what is waiting for me this time?

***

The Community on Earth, during Ha Hee-Jeong’s current life.

[I'm gonna start a religion for Goddess Hee-Jeong. I’ll be the first believer of the Church of Ha Hee-Jeong.]

[😂 what kind of delusional nonsense is this?]

[If Su-Hyeok is a god, why are you starting a church for Ha Hee-Jeong?]

[Are you guys dumb? It’s a given that Su-Hyeok becomes a god. And who’s Goddess Hee-Jeong? Isn’t she Su-Hyeok’s ultra-bestie?]

[“Ultra-bestie”? LMAO, what year are you stuck in?]

[Anyway, Su-Hyeok and Hee-Jeong are close, but so what?]

[There are worlds with two gods, okay? Of course, Goddess Hee-Jeong will become one, too.]

[Oh...]

[Oh my ass 😂. Doesn’t matter, Su-Hyeok’s the real god anyway. What’s the point?]

[Still, better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon, right?]

[And who said you could even be the snake’s head? There are already countless people worshipping Goddess Hee-Jeong.]

[No... have I already missed the train?]

[Missed it? Bro, the last train left like a year ago. After Su-Hyeok, the next most popular one is Goddess Hee-Jeong. Then it’s Alexei.]

[But why do people even worship Ha Hee-Jeong? Didn’t she literally kill a bunch of people?]

[Did this boomer just log onto the internet for the first time in twenty years? What is that information gap?]

[?? Am I seriously the only one who didn’t know this?]

[The current prevailing theory is that Ha Hee-Jeong is either a regressor or can see the future.]

[??? What even is this conversation?]

[Did you just wake up from a months-long coma or something?]

[Actually... I got into a motorcycle accident and just came back after eight months...]

[Ah...]

[Stop riding motorcycles.]

[Yeah, I sold it.]

[Ugh. Fine, I’ll explain.]

[Let’s gooooo!]

[Yeah, she was controversial at first. But like 84% of the people she killed had criminal records back on Earth, and when that came out, public opinion completely flipped.]

[Wait for real?]

[You think I’m lying?]

[He’s right. At first, people were like, “Isn’t Su-Hyeok just another killer?” but after that incident, and seeing him constantly whispering with Hee-Jeong before clearing hidden missions, it basically became accepted canon.]

[Watching all the antis get wrecked back then was hilarious LOL.]

[I tracked all their IQs—wait, I mean IPs. As soon as Su-Hyeok shows up again, I’m reporting every last one of them.]

[IQ? You mean IP, dumbass. xD]

[You don’t get the joke?]

[smh]

[But like, how are you even gonna report them?]

[You just pray to Su-Hyeok.]

[LOLOLOLOL]

[😂😂😂]

[LMAO. That’s all you need. Just pray. I even saved PDFs of all the people who slandered Goddess Hee-Jeong, and the reporters who went to her house.]

[But honestly, looking back, that was some straight-up insane behavior LOL. Who did they think they were messing with?]

[Didn’t everyone who was badmouthing her suddenly start posting apology letters after floor 50 or something?]

[Yeah, one of the online news site CEOs even went to Hee-Jeong’s house and literally begged for forgiveness on his knees.]

[I was watching like, damn, chill. She’s not even your parent LOL.]

[The hell are you talking about?]

[Are you insane?]

[Got a file on that guy, too.]

[No, but seriously, a fight between climbers caused a murder in the real world, and that’s when the U.S. started protecting climbers’ families.]

[Okay, and?]

[Ever since then, our country’s been doing the same, providing state protection for the families of high-ranking climbers. They’re guarded by special forces now.]

[What are you even saying? I heard there’s like fifty cops stationed near Su-Hyeok’s house, and that’s it.]

[Right? Doesn’t his family still go to work like normal?]

[No, seriously, I’m telling you the truth. Ugh.]

[Don’t bait us with nonsense. Who’d be stupid enough to touch a climber’s family? The moment you mess with one, you’re dead once the Tower of Ordeal shows up.]

[Wait, actually, when you put it like that, it kind of makes sense?]

[This guy has gotta be on an alt account or something. He’s full of it.]

[No, like, what if someone from another country kidnapped Su-Hyeok’s family and used them to make demands? Of course, Korea would use special forces for protection.]

[As if anyone would actually do that. You’d have to be brain-dead to even try.]

[I’m saying they already put protection in place then. It made sense for the government to step in.]

[Oh? You’re right. They always prepare for the worst. Even with fifty cops around, if special forces show up, it’s game over.]

[Wow. You finally believe me now. 😭]

[Okay, but then what about all the climbers’ families we see in interviews and recent pictures?]

[Those are actors in prosthetic makeup.]

[??? Where’d you even hear that?]

[My older brother told me.]

[And what does he do?]

[He’s in the special forces. He only comes home sometimes when he is on a mission.]

[Hold up... dude, can you even say that? You should delete this before it turns into a real problem.]

[Huh? This site’s anonymous. Why would that be an issue?]

[Bro, are you dumb? How old are you?]

[Seventh grade.]

[Dammit. I got baited.]

[HAHAHA you actually believed that?]

[No, seriously, ahhh 😢 skipping lunch for this info dump.]

[Friend, this isn’t the time. Delete that post before something really happens.]

[Too late, I already took a screenshot.]

...

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