Side Story Chapter 144 - Tower of Creation (2)

Three days passed since the Tower of Creation surged from Haeundae Beach. Members of Guardians, various guilds, and Players not affiliated with any organization set out to search for invitation letters to enter the Tower of Creation.

“You found one?”

[Yes.]

Oh Kang-Woo, who was scouring through Gates with Balrog and Kim Si-Hun, expressed shock after getting a call from Layla. He and his party members headed to the Hall of Protection immediately and were met with his three wives, Echidna, Kang Tae-Soo, and a few new faces.

“Kang-Woo hyung-nim!! It’s been a while!!”

“Sure has. How’ve you been?”

Kang-Woo lightly greeted Tae-Soo who greeted him excitedly and went to Layla. She was holding a white letter enveloped in translucent light.

“Is that the invitation letter?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Yes. Once you grab the invitation letter, a translucent message window, unlike the blue one that Eve sends, appears that says '

Tower of Creation Invitation Letter

.'”

Kang-Woo grabbed the invitation letter and saw the message window pop up as Layla mentioned.

‘So this is a System window created by a different Law.’

According to Eve, other Laws of Titans governed certain outer worlds. It made sense; countless worlds other than Earth existed, so it was outrageous for there to only be one Law to govern them all.

‘Too bad we can’t just take their Law for ourselves.’

Kang-Woo suggested to Eve they should take another world’s Law of Titans and transplant it into their world but she immediately replied that it was impossible.

‘I mean, I guess it’s obvious if you think about it.’

Not even organs could be transplanted to anyone as if they were robot parts, so there was no question for a Law that governed an entire world.

“Where did you find it?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Do you remember the Gate in Egypt where you went relic hunting?”

“Of course. That’s the first place we went in search of these letters as well.”

The Gate where one could find the relics was fused with an entire floor of the Tower of Creation. Kang-Woo had searched every nook and cranny of that Gate and the Den of the Night Demons since he expected that would be the most likely place they would find the letters.

“Hmm, then you must not have found them when you were there. It was found in that Gate,” Layla remarked.

“Urgh, I thought I looked hard enough.”

“It’s not your fault. Not only is the inside of the Gate massive but search magic is ineffective.”

Just like relics, the invitation letters couldn’t be detected by Authorities or magic. Hence, Kang-Woo had no choice but to search for them the old-fashioned way.

“At least we found one,” Kang-Woo said.

“The problem is...” Layla replied as she sighed deeply. She pointed at the white letter in Kang-Woo’s hand and continued, “We only found one.”

“...”

A deathly silence fell. They had only managed to find one invitation letter despite using Guardians’ massive manpower for three days straight.

“I guess we have no choice, then.”

There was no guarantee they would find more invitation letters. In the first place, they didn’t even know how many invitation letters were released onto Earth, so they couldn’t just wait around and hope to find more.

“I’ll enter the Tower of Creation by myself.”

“That’s a bit...”

“K-Kang-Woo...?”

Cha Yeon-Joo frowned as she flinched and Han Seol-Ah grabbed Kang-Woo’s hand worryingly.

“Why don’t you wait a little longer?” asked Layla as she sighed, thinking Kang-Woo was acting too hastily.

“There’s no guarantee we’ll find more invitation letters even if I wait,” Kang-Woo replied.

“That’s true, but...”

“It’s not too late for you guys to enter as well if you manage to find more.”

Rather, it was more of a waste not to use an invitation letter they had painstakingly found.

“And besides,” added Kang-Woo as he smiled. “I doubt it’d take long.”

“You think so...?” asked Layla as she tilted her head in confusion.

Kang-Woo turned to Horos, curled up in a ball as he trembled in a corner of the Hall of Protection, and asked, “How far up has the Tower of Creation been conquered?”

“A-As far as I know... around the fortieth floor. We met on the thirty-seventh floor.”

“Really? Fortieth, huh? And you said you don’t know how many floors the tower has, right?”

“Yes, but the apostles guess the peak is located around the seventieth to eightieth floors.”

“Oh? And what’s their reasoning?”

“When the apostles cleared the fortieth floor for the first time five years ago, the God of Adventure

Hodos

told his apostles that they were halfway there on their journey.”

Kang-Woo nodded in understanding. He didn’t know what standing the gods had in the Tower of Creation but he doubted they would lie to their apostles.

“So, how long did it take to clear the fortieth floor?” Kang-Woo asked.

“I am not entirely sure about that either, but... I am aware it has taken centuries.”

“Really? Then how long do you think it’ll take for me?” Kang-Woo asked with a smile.

“Th-That’s...” Horos’ eye darted dumbfoundedly.

Kang-Woo shrugged and turned to Layla. “You get why I said it wouldn’t take long now, right?”

“Hohoho. I’m out of arguments.” Layla giggled as she shook her head. “But please don’t rush. No one is immune to making errors.”

“But of course. I’ll take my time to take everything I can before climbing each floor.”

The tower had suddenly appeared from Haeundae beach but monsters were not crawling out of it to attack people. In other words, there was no need to rush to clear the tower.

“But I’ll be as quick as I can since I don’t want my Darling to wait too long for me,” he said as he squeezed Seol-Ah’s hands tightly.

Seol-Ah, who was staring at Kang-Woo worryingly, sighed softly and smiled.

“Layla is right. I don’t want to be apart from you either, but... It’s more important to me that you don’t get hurt, Kang-Woo.”

“Hehehe. No matter how many of those weaklings in the tower come at me, they’re no match for me.”

It was not baseless confidence; based on the apostles he had met until now and the Demon King of Pandemonium he had fought, Kang-Woo’s chances of coming across someone who could threaten his life were practically nonexistent.

‘But I kind of have a feeling those gods will be trouble.’

Kang-Woo placed his hand on Horos’ head.

“P-Peep?”

“You mentioned a God of Adventure or something, didn’t you? What are those gods?”

“Th-They are known as Constellations. They observe humans who enter the tower and grant them various powers if they agree to become a god’s apostle.”

‘So that’s why the people of the tower mention whose apostle they are when they introduce themselves.’

“What about demons?”

“There are precedents of demons becoming a Constellation’s apostle, but that is limited to Constellations with strong inclinations toward evil...”

“I see.”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and fell into thought, focusing on the fact that transcendental beings known as Constellations chose apostles and granted them powers.

‘Why do Constellations choose apostles and grant them powers instead of clearing the tower themselves?’

It did not take long to get his answer.

‘They’re not choosing to stay out of it. They have no choice.’

If that were not the case, they would never choose to do something so inefficient.

‘It’s the same as our Earth.’

Before the Law of Titans was destroyed, Gaia chose Layla as her incarnation to exert indirect influence over the physical realm because she was restricted from direct actions. The Constellations were acting just like Gaia had back then.

‘In that case.’

There was no cause for concern. He did not need to be wary of a bunch of backseaters who couldn’t even manifest into the physical realm because they were bound by the Law.

‘I mean... I doubt it’s the same as the situation on Earth.’

Everything Kang-Woo had thought of thus far was but a guess. He might be met with something completely different compared to what he expected.

‘But I don’t care.’

He would kill anyone who got in his way. He would use them if he had a use for them and would devour them if they were useless. He would answer evil with greater evil, and bloodlust with even more bloodlust. He would use the same method he had stayed true to for the past ten millennia and clear the tower with it.

“One month,” Kang-Woo declared confidently as he looked around. “I’ll be back in a month.”

‘Even if I have to bring down the entire tower.’

***

“Kang-Woo, you haven’t forgotten anything, have you?”

“You’re like a mom making sure his son has everything packed for his field trip.”

The next day, Seol-Ah continued to give him various items as she made sure he didn’t forget anything. Kang-Woo chuckled. He had already packed everything of value for the trip since he could create an extradimensional space using one of his Authorities.

“I told you I’d be back in a month or less.”

“B-But you never know.”

Seol-Ah frantically looked around the house, wondering if Kang-Woo would need anything else.

“Sheesh, why are you even worried about this guy? I’m sure he’ll be fine on his own,” Yeon-Joo remarked.

“Yoen-Joo... you grilled your guild members into preparing tons of stuff for Kang-Woo.”

“Th-That’s—!! Well, I mean...!!” Yeon-Joo stuttered with a reddened expression.

She had prepared daily necessities like tissues and various other things, as well as various communication devices in the small chance that any of them might work.

‘I doubt it, though.’

Considering the space between the tower and Earth was distorted, no form of communication should work.

“Hehe, thanks anyway, Yeon-Joo. You too, Darling.”

“A-Ahem. As long as you know. You’d better come back in a month, you hear?”

“Oh, right. Take this, Kang-Woo. I prepared it yesterday.”

Kang-Woo tilted his head in wonder. Seol-Ah brought a giant bag from the kitchen.

“Packs of flash-frozen kimchi stew. Heat them and they’ll be ready to eat.”

“WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!” Kang-Woo raised his arms high and cried. “AS I THOUGHT, YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE FOR ME, DARLING!!!”

He hugged Seol-Ah and showered her cheek with kisses.

“H-Hehe. It was worth staying up all night yesterday to make them all.”

“I-I helped too!! Some of them are ones I made, so make sure you eat those too,” said Yeon-Joo as she pouted.

‘What is this, Russian Roulette?’

“Fufu. As for me...”

Lilith came close to Kang-Woo and handed him a book. Kang-Woo tilted his head as he opened it.

“A... mollusk encyclopedia?”

“Ahng, why are you opening that in front of the others, my king? ❤”

Lilith placed her hands on her cheeks and twisted in embarrassment.

“...”

Fwoosh!

“Ahh!! Why are you burning it?!”

Kang-Woo turned back from the disappointed Lilith and held the white invitation letter.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“Well, then.” He ripped the letter in half. “I’m off.”

Translucent light wrapped around Kang-Woo.