Chapter 72: Desperate Struggle

A private gathering was being held at the headquarters of the US Climbing Bureau.

Taylor, fully prepared to challenge Floor 4, was undergoing one final physical examination.

The newly appointed Director of the Climbing Bureau, Liam, stood nearby with Max and several other Bureau officials, watching in silence.

Until now, the United States had always been the first nation to follow in Person123’s footsteps through Nightmare difficulty.

This year, however, the order had changed.

For reasons no one fully understood, China had challenged and cleared Floor 4 with astonishing speed.

Perhaps it had been intended as a show of strength, a way to put pressure on the United States.

But no one present was going to be shaken by something so transparent.

Taylor had not allowed herself to be rushed. She had completed every stage of her preparations exactly according to plan.

Even so, Liam could not suppress his unease.

He trusted Taylor’s abilities. She had already proven herself by clearing three Nightmare floors.

But Floor 4 was not a trial that could be overcome through ability alone.

‘How much longer can we keep following him?’

Whether it was the United States, China, or any other nation, how long could their Nightmare climbers continue chasing after that man?

Even with Person123 diligently providing them with detailed strategies.

At first, the United States had declared that it would stand at the forefront of humanity’s struggle against Nightmare difficulty.

Then the goal had quietly changed.

Just keep up with Person123.

Now, if Liam was honest with himself, even that ambition was beginning to feel hollow.

The events on Floor 5 had made one thing painfully clear.

The gulf between Person123 and every other climber was almost beyond measure.

There was a saying in Korea, where Person123 was believed to live.

A sparrow that tried to follow a stork would tear its legs apart.

An apt warning against reaching too far beyond one’s station.

If Floor 4 was already this dangerous, then what horrors awaited them on the floors beyond it?

Had Person123 openly revealed himself, the United States would gladly have poured every resource at its disposal into supporting him.

They would have placed all their hopes upon his shoulders.

But Person123 refused to reveal his identity.

Even on Floor 5, he had shown himself only once, forced into the open during the clash between the Security Corps and the Black Star Society.

It had been a powerful display of his character.

He had exposed the identity he had concealed for so long solely to save the lives of others.

Yet since defeating the Zone 3 boss, he had not shown so much as a shadow of himself.

That was deeply regrettable.

Of course, even if the Bureau managed to contact Person123 again on Floor 5, there was little they could do to support him.

The rules governing the transfer of items into and out of Floor 5 were exceedingly strict.

Any item brought into the Tower from the outside world could only be removed by the same person who had carried it in.

In other words, it was impossible to hand an outside item to another climber.

Even if the Bureau met Person123 in person on Floor 5, they could not give him a Skill Stone or any other resource brought from Earth.

The only way to do that would be to meet him in the real world.

Liam exhaled quietly.

This was not the sort of thinking a Director of the Climbing Bureau should indulge in.

At that very moment, Taylor, America’s own climber, was preparing to risk her life in her fourth Nightmare challenge.

Comparing her to Person123, even silently, was profoundly disrespectful.

Liam offered her a silent apology.

Then he straightened and spoke.

“I wish you good fortune, Taylor. America will never forget your dedication.”

Taylor accepted the salutes of those gathered around her.

She took one final, steadying breath.

Then she stepped into the Tower.

Mercifully, the population count on the Nightmare Communication Channel did not fall that day.

Following China, the United States had also successfully cleared Nightmare Floor 4.

***

Time really did slip away before you noticed it.

The Nightmare Time Limit had fallen below sixty days.

Less than two months remained.

That meant I had roughly one month before my next challenge.

I had spent most of my time hunting in Zone 4.

By now, I had given up on defeating the Zone 4 boss before entering Floor 6.

I had already done the calculations while hunting.

At my current rate of progress, filling the gauge in time simply wasn’t possible.

The Zone 4 boss would have to wait until after I cleared Floor 6.

It was disappointing, but the boss was likely twenty levels above me.

Even under ideal conditions, the fight would be a gamble.

One mistake could easily get me killed.

I had not neglected my affinity with Diul either, and I continued taking my regular nighttime walks on Floor 2.

Naturally, I had also made sure not to abandon my life outside the Tower.

Had the year been fulfilling?

Sort of.

At the very least, I had always tried to make it so.

As time passed, all manner of events, both large and small, continued to unfold across the world.

Things were changing quickly.

One of the biggest recent stories concerned the successful development of a pollution-free cooling device using materials harvested from the Ice Spirits on Floor 4.

Negotiations between Japan and the allied nations regarding the Mana Vein had also concluded successfully.

Afterward, I had gone to Sendai and reactivated the Mana Vein there.

Then came the news that the United States had cleared Nightmare Floor 4 after China.

A new Spanish Nightmare climber was also being hailed as the year’s greatest rising star after clearing three floors in rapid succession, with a Floor 4 challenge already expected soon.

And then there was the story playing on the news right now.

— We have just received confirmation that Universe Z’s first crewed Mars exploration vessel has successfully landed on the Martian surface after approximately three months of travel. Human history has officially expanded beyond Earth and is now being written upon the soil of Mars...

A grainy video of the spacecraft touching down on the Martian surface played across the screen.

Universe Z.

Bilon’s world-famous private space company.

There had been no shortage of previous reports about efforts to improve spacecraft technology using Magic Stone energy.

Every few months, another breakthrough had supposedly been achieved.

And now, at last, came the announcement of a successful crewed mission to Mars.

It was genuinely something worth celebrating.

[Person123: I saw the news. Congratulations.]

I sent Bilon a message through the Communication Channel.

His reply arrived almost immediately.

[Chicken Sandwich: Thank you. More than anything, Mr. Kim’s assistance proved decisive. The Supreme Magic Stones you provided allowed us to advance our research far more aggressively. If anyone should be offering thanks, it is me.]

[Chicken Sandwich: Without the power of the Magic Stones, reaching Mars would have taken at least another six months. We were able to reduce that time dramatically. To explain the underlying principle in greater detail...]

It was nice to hear that I had actually been useful.

Bilon must have been in an excellent mood, because he immediately launched into a long chain of technical explanations.

I probably would not have understood them even if he had drawn diagrams.

I wasn’t exactly a pure humanities person, but there was no chance I was following any of that.

So I simply responded with polite, agreeable noises.

[Person123: By the way, didn’t you say the government couldn’t find out about the Supreme Magic Stones I gave you?]

[Chicken Sandwich: The research was conducted privately. The Magic Stones installed in the actual spacecraft were officially purchased by the company, of course. There is no need for concern.]

Privately?

Had he built some secret research facility on a remote island?

He was the richest man on Earth.

It did not seem impossible.

I had only been worried that Bilon might somehow end up in trouble.

But if he said everything was fine, then fine.

After a little more conversation, Bilon sent another message.

[Chicken Sandwich: I will be visiting Korea soon. What would you say to meeting in person again after all this time?]

He wanted to meet face-to-face.

When I had first begun receiving Skill Stones from him, I had met Bilon directly on several occasions.

After that, however, his agents had handled all the deliveries.

It had genuinely been several years since we had last seen one another.

[Person123: Sounds good.]

I had no reason to refuse.

By now, Bilon was someone I trusted without reservation.

We had communicated exclusively through the Channel for years.

I wanted to sit across from him and speak properly for once.

[Chicken Sandwich: Then shall we meet as we did in the past? I would like to treat Mr. Kim to a proper meal at a proper establishment, though I imagine that may be asking too much.]

I considered it briefly before answering.

[Person123: That should be fine. Choose the place, and I’ll come to you.]

I had Concealment now.

I also had Warp Teleportation.

At this point, I had accumulated quite an assortment of useful tricks.

Entering wherever Bilon happened to be without a single person noticing?

Easy.

***

On the day of the meeting, I left home to see Bilon.

He had reserved a suite at a famous five-star hotel.

It was more extravagant than I would have chosen, but I was the one going to him.

Once I reached the area around the hotel, I activated Concealment and entered unnoticed.

Following Bilon’s instructions, I located the suite.

Then, standing directly outside the door, I used Teleportation.

“...!”

The moment I appeared inside, Concealment deactivated.

The two men in the room flinched at the sight of me, even though I had warned them in advance not to be alarmed when I suddenly appeared.

They were Bilon and his secretary, Ellen.

“Mr. Kim!”

Bilon’s face lit up.

He strode toward me with both arms spread wide in an enthusiastic welcome. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

After a brief embrace, I exchanged a smiling handshake with Ellen.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Ellen, Mr. Bilon’s secretary.”

He was also the person who had faithfully relayed Bilon’s messages through the Communication Channel whenever we spoke.

One side of the suite—though calling it a room hardly seemed adequate—had already been prepared with a lavish banquet.

This was less a hotel suite and more the living room of a private estate.

I removed my coat, washed my hands, and sat across from Bilon.

“You must be hungry. Please, help yourself.”

“Then I won’t hold back.”

I had skipped dinner before coming, so I genuinely was hungry.

The table held a feast worthy of an emperor.

There seemed to be cuisine from nearly every nation on Earth.

I had told them that I would eat almost anything.

Apparently, they had taken that statement to its logical extreme.

I began with the dishes I recognized, then gradually worked my way toward the unfamiliar ones.

“Is everything to your liking?”

“It practically melts in my mouth.”

We spoke as we ate.

Bilon shared more details about the Mars expedition, while I updated him on my own situation.

“...I’ve been hunting continuously in Zone 4, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to fill the gauge before I enter Floor 6.”

“I see. Please do not push yourself too far.”

I took a few sips of the rare wine Bilon had prepared.

As our conversation continued, the slight heaviness that had lingered between us began to fade.

“So, in another month, you will challenge Floor 6.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Bilon swirled the wine in his glass.

“There is something I have always wondered, Mr. Kim. What were you thinking when you first entered Floor 1?”

The question came without warning.

I paused to think before answering.

“I was just grasping at straws, really. There were only a few hours left, no one had cleared the floor, and the world was about to end.”

“Even so, an ordinary person would not have been able to attempt it. Most would simply have waited, praying that someone—anyone—would succeed during those final hours.”

Yeah.

To be honest, I had thought the same way at first.

So why had I ultimately gone in?

Looking back, I could no longer clearly remember what had been going through my mind.

Maybe, on some instinctive level, I had realized that no one else was going to succeed.

Whatever the reason, it had turned out to be the best decision I had ever made.

It had changed the world.

And it had overturned my entire life.

I was living a genuinely strange existence now.

The thought struck me with renewed force.

“Mr. Kim, you are truly an extraordinary man. Humanity, myself included, owes you a debt that can never be repaid.”

He really did not need to praise me that much.

“It was something someone had to do. It just happened to be me.”

Bilon smiled.

Then he continued.

“What is your dream, Mr. Kim?”

“...My dream?”

There was only one answer.

“To climb Nightmare difficulty all the way to the highest floor.”

I had no way of knowing whether reaching the top would erase the Tower’s Time Limit once and for all.

But for now, I had no choice but to believe that it was the only path capable of preserving the world.

Bilon set down his glass.

“My dream is the expansion of human civilization across multiple planets.

“To move beyond Earth. To extend humanity’s domain into space. To increase the chances that our species will survive.

“And Mars will be the beginning.”

He paused briefly before continuing.

“Now, with the immense threat posed by the Tower, another crucial reason has been added to that dream.

“If humanity escapes Earth, will the Tower’s curse follow us to Mars?

“Or will the Tower in the Pacific simply create another Tower there, pursuing humanity wherever it goes?”

Yeah.

What would actually happen?

Would something possessing power that was, for all practical purposes, omnipotent simply allow humanity to leave?

Still, Bilon’s plan was unquestionably worth pursuing.

Whatever the outcome, humanity had to struggle.

We had to fight with everything we possessed, in every way available to us.

“Once the crewed Mars expedition concludes safely, we intend to devote everything we have to carrying out the Mars migration project.

“While Mr. Kim fights to save humanity, I wish to contribute whatever little I can from my own position.

“Faced with a vicious enemy like the Tower, humanity must surely resist with everything it has, by any means necessary.”

Bilon had put my own thoughts into words.

I could not help laughing.

“We have to fight back.”

I lifted my glass.

“Right until the very end.”

Because no one wanted to die.

And no one wanted to live in a world where ninety-nine percent of humanity had been transformed into monsters.

Bilon and I smiled at one another.

Then we clinked our glasses.