The Tower (2)

Vice Principal Cecilia knew about Yeon Si-mun’s bad relationship with the New Humanity Society, so she didn’t need a very long explanation. Cecilia listened attentively to Yeon Si-mun’s story with a hardened face.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Yeon Si-mun bowed her head.

“I’m sorry for causing you concern.”

Cecilia now looked at Lee Dojin.

“Student Lee Dojin, you should undergo a psychological medical detailed examination. You killed… too many people.”

Lee Dojin slowly nodded.

“I understand.”

On Saturday, in the undiscovered dungeon, Lee Dojin alone killed 5 members of the New Humanity Society. It was an undeniable fact that he had killed many people.

“I know it was justified killing. But many upright hunters have turned into villains when those justified killings accumulated and they became numb to it.”

Hunters are fundamentally broken beings. Because even if monsters are beings that must be killed, they are still living creatures.

They scream and spurt blood.

Even hunters who only deal with monsters need to pay attention to mental issues. Dealing with people was even more so.

That’s why members of the ‘Extermination Squad’, the state-approved organization that deals with villains, undergo psychological examinations once every 3 days.

“I’ll be careful.”

But Lee Dojin wasn’t swayed by that kind of negative emotion.

He believed in himself that it wouldn’t happen.

“Well then, it’s time for me to tell you what I need to say.”

Cecilia brought up a new topic.

“At this rate, this world will be destroyed.”

A very simple and clear topic.

---

Lee Dojin couldn’t easily organize in his head what Cecilia had said for about 10 minutes.

There exists a tower in this world.

And that floating tower is slowly descending, she said.

A tower containing the end of the world.

“If we don’t maintain the conquest of certain floors of the tower, the tower will collapse. Currently, the number of floors conquered is 20. And it was the Iroaz Academy principal and his colleagues who cleared the 20th floor 10 years ago. It includes people from the Ten Existences and two of the Four Superhumans.”

Lee Dojin pointed out the key point he was curious about.

“How often do we need to conquer floors?”

“Every 10 years.”

“What’s the total number of floors in the tower?”

To Lee Dojin’s words, Cecilia answered that it’s estimated to be 100 floors.

Cecilia continued.

“This year marks the 9th year since clearing the 20th floor. We don’t know what will happen if we don’t enter the 21st floor by next January, which will be the 10th year.”

This time Yeon Si-mun opened her mouth.

“What’s the reason for not going up beyond the 20th floor of the tower? Don’t we need to reach the 100th floor to end it?”

Cecilia narrowed her blue eyes.

“Because there’s inevitable death.”

At those words, Yeon Si-mun became even more doubtful.

“With the academy principal, people from the Ten Existences, and even two of the Four Superhumans, were there monsters they couldn’t defeat?”

“The enemies lurking in the tower are on a different level from the dungeons that exist now and the monsters that pop out of gates. The Hell Snake, Snack, currently evaluated as SS-rank, is similar to monsters that appear on the 15th floor of the tower.”

“Snack is on the 15th floor?”

Yeon Si-mun furrowed her brow at Cecilia’s words.

“A monster that requires 30 S-rank hunters to conquer is on the 15th floor…”

Lee Dojin sympathized with the faint shock contained in Yeon Si-mun’s muttering.

He had seen videos of Snack before. A monster with a huge body as big as a building that swallows people whole along with buildings.

Even sword energy or magic power didn’t fully damage its skin compared to other monsters.

To think such a being was only at the 15th floor level.

“The enemies in the tower aren’t beings that can be called monsters.”

Cecilia paused briefly before continuing.

“Apostles.”

Apostles (使徒).

Beings that tried to become gods but failed.

“All the enemies in the tower are apostles.”

Lee Dojin and Yeon Si-mun roughly understood the situation.

That the ‘peace’ people currently feel is all false.

54 years have passed since the Great Change occurred and monsters began to appear.

Due to the full establishment of the hunter system and the upward standardization of hunters’ levels, dungeon and gate conquests have stabilized.

As a result, civilian casualties have become extremely rare since 10 years ago.

People enjoyed literal peace. Stagnant cultural life began to operate again.

Peace to the extent that famous hunters appeared as actors and as panelists on entertainment channels.

“Why have you been hiding the existence of the tower from people?”

Cecilia smiled bitterly at Lee Dojin’s words.

“Because they would despair. If they knew there was always a hammer that could crush this world they believed was safe in an instant.”

After silently mulling over Cecilia’s sentence for a moment, Lee Dojin and Yeon Si-mun agreed with Cecilia’s words.

They would certainly despair. Especially ordinary people without awakened powers, even more so.

The perception of ‘peace’ that had been painstakingly built up until now would crumble at once in front of the tower.

It meant that the S, A, B, C, D hunter ranking system became meaningless in front of the tower.

“The reason I’m telling you this now is simple. It means your lives are precious. Next January, when hunters have to climb the tower again, there’s a high probability that you two will receive invitations to the tower.”

One of Cecilia’s two abilities, <Eyes of Truth>, was telling her so.

The golden aurora flowing through Lee Dojin and Yeon Si-mun’s bodies.

That aurora, visible only to Cecilia’s eyes, signifies the genius possessed by humans.

The reason Cecilia called it the ‘Golden Generation’ with one genius per grade was based on her ability.

The two before her eyes and the Golden Generation students from 2nd and 4th years she had interviewed earlier.

These 4 individuals possessed more talent than any hunters she had encountered so far.

‘As if heaven has ordained that this is the chance for Korea to conquer the tower.’

Cecilia didn’t think this was a coincidence.

“I’ll work with the hunter upper echelons to resolve the New Humanity Society issue as quickly as possible so you won’t have to worry about it. You are more precious resources than you think.”

It means don’t die because there’s a use for us.

Lee Dojin felt his head becoming terribly complicated.

The conversation ended like that.

---

Step step

We opened the door of the vice principal’s office and came out. Senior Yeon Si-mun walked in step with me.

“What do you think about the vice principal’s story?”

“It doesn’t seem like a lie.”

Because there was no reason for it to be.

“It probably isn’t a lie. I just don’t like it. The idea that something is predetermined.”

I sympathized with that.

“I intend to finish my revenge with my own hands. I’ll move as my desires dictate rather than abstract things like the future of this world.”

The senior stared intently at me.

“Do you think I’m selfish?”

“No.”

I didn’t think it was selfish at all.

“Let me know if you need help.”

I was in a position to clash with the New Humanity Society anyway. It didn’t seem like Vice Leader Ryu So-hye would stay still.

“I’d like you to listen to the vice principal’s words though.”

“I’m not really the type to listen well to others.”

The only important thing is my own judgment.

Yeon Si-mun chuckled.

“Let’s have a meal again sometime.”

“Yes, senior.”

She probably meant the dinner we often had together. It seemed her thoughts weren’t organized yet. Understandably so. It wasn’t an ordinary matter.

After parting with Senior Yeon Si-mun, I headed to combat class 1.

When I entered through the already open door, what greeted me was an unwelcome visitor.

“Who’s this? Dojin was looking for you for a while.”

Baek Hwayeon pointed at that unwelcome visitor in front with a light jerk of her chin.

A woman with sky-blue hair. It was So Yu-eun.

So Yu-eun spoke while shuddering her shoulders for some reason.

“…I have something to say.”

I didn’t know what she was going to say, but it was obvious that eyes would be drawn if we talked here.

“Let’s talk on the bench in front.”

I came down the stairs. So Yu-eun followed down those stairs. We didn’t exchange any conversation.

So Yu-eun hesitated and couldn’t sit down.

“Sit.”

So Yu-eun nodded heavily and sat on the bench.

“Say what you have to say quickly.”

So Yu-eun stared at me intently.

Two black eyes looked directly at me.

“We can’t go back to that time, can we?”

There was a faint trembling in her low voice.

That time.

She must be talking about our first year at <Athena>, the awakened high school.

When So Yu-eun recognized my combat talent and spared no support. And when I went around numerous places with her out of a sense of debt and gratitude for that.

Thinking of that time, I felt more regret than displeasure.

Not because things didn’t work out with So Yu-eun in front of me, but because I could have avoided getting involved.

It was regret for not refusing her blind devotion.

Because it was useless help to me anyway.

But, in the end, all of this is a retrospective story.

I dropped out of Athena and returned to my hometown, met Mistilteinn in my father’s workshop.

And it’s clear that the sense of defeat from that time was one of the driving forces that made me come this far, gritting my teeth.

It was a bloody effort stemming from the desire to never feel that sense of defeat again.

To me now, So Yu-eun is…

Just a student attending the same Iroaz Academy. With no emotion or feeling.

She couldn’t be more than a past connection that had passed.

Rather, she could be less than that because of the existence of Sword Emperor So Dae-cheol.

Because the current So Yu-eun is a pathetic puppet following her misguided father’s orders.

“We can’t go back.”

So I answered coldly.

“I didn’t feel the need to go back to that time originally, and the moment your father sent hunters to forcibly take me away, any chance of our relationship working out was completely ruined.”

At my harsh answer, despair settled in So Yu-eun’s eyes.

“I guess so.”

So Yu-eun clenched both her fists tightly.

“Father told me to ask. Not to just vaguely say to wait, but to set an exact date.”

Sword Emperor So Dae-cheol.

Is he thinking of firmly crossing the line? Judging by how he suddenly tried to have hunters kidnap me, he probably has the underlying thought of making me an invalid.

Rather, that’s good.

Because such trash just needs to be crushed.

“The day after summer vacation.”

So Yu-eun nodded.

“Okay, I’ll tell him.”

So Yu-eun turned her body and moved away from me.

I hoped.

That So Yu-eun wouldn’t cross the line any further.