Chapter 262: Seventieth Floor, Rest Area (2)

[All aggressive actions are strictly prohibited within the rest area. Rest and relax at your leisure. Time remaining: 70 hours 40 minutes.]

Contrary to my expectation that there would be some subtle tension, Ha Hee-Jeong merely shrugged as if it wasn’t worth giving much thought. “I wanted to get back quickly, too. But, you know, he already has lightning-based skills, right? I think that caused some interference. Sparks started flying everywhere, and I actually thought our room was going to catch fire.”

“

Oh?

Well, in that case, I guess it couldn’t be helped.” Alexei chuckled, and Ha Hee-Jeong smiled in response.

Alexei added, “Is the room okay?”

“Of course. Who do you think I am? My magic is more than enough to take care of that.”

Just like that, the atmosphere eased in an instant.

Wait, so they weren’t annoyed because Ha Hee-Jeong and I were together for so long, but just because she arrived later than expected?

I felt not just a little, but very awkward.

Considering how tense things had been between them not too long ago, I had assumed there was still lingering friction. Thankfully, it seemed they had genuinely grown close.

To make things even better, our party members had already ordered food and drinks for us, sparing us some hassle.

With relaxed smiles, Ha Hee-Jeong and I took our seats.

Both groups had spent plenty of time together climbing the tower, so the conversation naturally picked up where it had left off.

“So, you guys were in the southern region?”

“Yeah.

Ugh

, we should have been summoned to the east instead.”

“

Oof

, I heard the south was unbearably hot.”

“You’re telling me! I mean, if it’s a party floor, we should all face the same trials, right? But nooo, some of us got dumped into hell.”

As Seo Ho-Su and Alinder, a warrior from Alexei’s party, kept the conversation going, I sipped my beer and let my gaze wander across the dining hall.

Scattered throughout the room, various climbers were playing musical instruments. With no other real forms of entertainment here, this had become an ingrained part of the culture.

The sounds of different instruments, both large and small, blended into the lively chatter. One corner played jazz, another had an emotional rock ballad, and somewhere else, someone was singing.

Not everyone was a great musician, but that wasn’t the point. Rather than being pleasant to listen to, it was pleasant to witness.

Yet, as I observed the scene, I couldn’t shake the feeling that beneath the liveliness, there was an undercurrent of melancholy. The energy in the room was strangely high, almost too high. It felt like everyone was trying to mask something.

I nudged Ha Hee-Jeong’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s with everyone today?”

“What do you mean?”

“They seem... off. It’s like they’re forcing themselves to have fun.”

“You haven’t checked the Community?” She tilted her head slightly, as if surprised I didn’t already know.

“I haven’t looked in a while. Lately, I’ve just been training.”

Hearing that, she nodded knowingly. “Yeah? I knew you were working hard, but I didn’t think you’d stopped checking completely. You used to love reading that stuff.”

It was true. I did enjoy seeing people talk about me, mostly when they were praising me, though.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, I steered the conversation back on track. “So? What’s going on?”

Lowering her voice, she leaned in closer until her lips were right beside my ear. If she was whispering this discreetly, it probably wasn’t good news.

“A lot of people have started resigning themselves to their fate.”

Resigning themselves?

She probably caught my expression because she immediately continued, “Thanks to you, way more climbers have survived than in my previous life. But now, even those people are starting to realize that the trials are only getting harder, and they’ve already reached their limits.”

“Hmm.”

It was a topic we had discussed before.

Even if we had managed to save more climbers than in her previous life, we couldn’t save everyone.

Right now, tens of thousands more people were alive than before, but once we reached the eightieth or ninetieth floors, only a handful would remain. No matter how much I achieved in the shared trials, every individual still had to face their own tests in the end.

Our goal was simply to add a few more people to that handful.

Talent and limitations were set in stone. However, many talented individuals died before they even had the chance to discover their own limits. What we were doing was giving them that opportunity to push themselves as far as they could go.

Lost in thought, I was pulled back when Ha Hee-Jeong swallowed slightly before adding, “Some of them are saying that if those four floors hadn’t collapsed, they’d be dead already. And that means, they’ll probably die on the seventy-first or seventy-second floor. So, they figure. If they’re going to die soon anyway, they may as well enjoy themselves while they can.”

“No one tried to talk them out of it?”

“Of course, some did. But by now, most people know their own limits. Especially those who’ve barely scraped by this far.”

“It’s not a good sign.”

Emotions spread frighteningly fast—it was just human nature. Whether good or bad, a single person’s words, actions, or mood could easily influence those around them. The closer people were, the stronger that influence became.

I had always believed that negative emotions spread even faster than positive ones.

Ha Hee-Jeong sighed. “Well, yeah. But what can you do? It’s not something we can stop.”

“But if even those who could survive start getting affected, that’s a problem.”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that. The only ones who feel that way are those who already know they won’t make it. No matter what we say, they won’t just suddenly regain hope. Nothing is going to change.”

She sounded doubtful. Maybe it was because she had already experienced all of this before regressing.

I didn’t share her sentiment, however. “There’s got to be something we can do.”

Her gaze sharpened slightly at that.

After a brief silence, she murmured, “Let’s step outside for a bit.”

I nodded.

As we stood up, the others turned to look at us, curiosity in their eyes. Their expressions seemed to be asking what was up.

Ha Hee-Jeong brushed it off easily. “We just need to talk for a sec.”

“Alright, just don’t fight,” Seo Ho-Su joked as he waved his hand playfully.

The brief heaviness in the air lifted slightly. Ha Hee-Jeong and I both chuckled.

“It’s nothing like that.”

“We’ll be back soon.”

“Got it.”

As we stepped outside, we found that even the central plaza was crowded.

Avoiding the main paths, we veered toward the empty plains. A couple, caught up in a rather intimate moment in an alley, scrambled away when they saw us approaching, creating a bit of a commotion.

Before long, we reached a secluded area, and Ha Hee-Jeong finally turned to face me. “Don’t underestimate the other climbers.”

Her tone wasn’t sharp, but there was a firmness to it.

“What do you mean?”

“You said there has to be something we can do. But that was just a thought, right? Do you really think people who’ve made it to the seventieth floor are just waiting around to die?”

Well, she has a point.

Every climber had their own natural limit, and while we had saved far more than before. Anyone lacking at least some level of tenacity wouldn’t have even made it past the thirtieth floor, let alone the fiftieth.

Honestly, this misunderstanding had come from the fact that I hadn’t been checking the Community myself. Ha Hee-Jeong seemed aware of that, too.

“I probably didn’t explain it properly. I was just being cynical. It’s not exactly how you think. People know what’s coming. It’s bittersweet, yeah, but no one needs meaningless words of comfort at this point.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Everyone just knows. It’s a bitter truth. Sooner or later, they’ll hit their limits. Once that happens, what’s the point of offering meaningless comfort?”

I nodded slightly. Ha Hee-Jeong was right.

In a way.

Telling someone who would never be able to fly that they could was nothing more than cruel and false hope.

The conversation had more or less run its course.

Still, I found myself wondering why Ha Hee-Jeong had insisted on stepping outside. This was something she could have easily whispered to me at the table.

“So why exactly did you ask me to come out here?”

I didn’t press the issue much, but she knew exactly what I was getting at.

For a moment, she hesitated, seeming to weigh something in her mind. Then, she let out a quiet chuckle. “No real reason. We exchanged gifts today, so I figured we may as well take a walk together.”

I could tell right away that wasn’t the whole truth. She had meant to say something else.

If she had brought me all the way out here, then the thing she had wanted to share probably related to her knowledge as a regressor. Most likely, something about the climbers and their inevitable deaths.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but that was my best guess.

Even so, I had no desire to push her for answers. Ha Hee-Jeong always acted in my best interest, so I trusted her completely. If she wasn’t telling me something, she had her reasons.

I smirked and lightly tapped her shoulder. “Don’t people usually take walks after a few drinks?”

“So what? It’d take me hours to even get tipsy with how strong I am. We can just go again later.”

“Well then. A walk sounds good.”

Side by side, we wandered in silence across the open plains, the crimson sky stretching endlessly above us.

For a while, we exchanged idle conversation, letting the moment linger without urgency.

When we finally returned to the dining hall, our companions grumbled about our disappearance. However, we paid them little mind.

It felt as if everyone was celebrating like there was no tomorrow.

Yet, despite the lively atmosphere, their eyes still burned with a raging intensity. Whether that fire meant they were determined to push forward until the very end, or that they intended to enjoy their last moments before their inevitable deaths—I couldn’t say.

By the end of the night, I received invitations to bed from six women and one man. It wasn’t uncommon, but today, the number was unusually high. Of course, I declined all of them.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

***

[All aggressive actions are strictly prohibited within the rest area. Rest and relax at your leisure. Time remaining: 62 hours 23 minutes.]

The next morning, not only was Alexei at the plains, but our party members and hers were.

We hadn’t planned for such a large gathering. At first, it was just Alexei, Seo Ho-Su, and Alinder who had challenged me to a spar. Their reasoning was simple—they wanted to grow stronger, and the collapse of four floors had prevented them from growing as much.

Everything changed when Ha Hee-Jeong bragged about the relic I gave her, however. Curiosity spread like wildfire, and others started pestering her to show it off. So, she casually announced that she would use it the next morning.

Why she chose to wait, I had no idea. I could only guess that she wanted her first time using it to be memorable, or maybe she had just gotten caught up in the drinking.

Because of that, our sparring session was pushed aside and turned into what felt like a showcase of the dragon’s legacy instead.

Standing before the group, Ha Hee-Jeong took out the relic and glanced around. “Well, shall we give it a go?”

“Yes!” Seo Ha-Rin answered enthusiastically.

Simultaneously, a mage from Alexei’s party clapped excitedly.

“Woohoo!”

Everyone’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

With a small grin, Ha Hee-Jeong channeled her mana into the relic. Then, a low hum resonated before a deafening explosion burst through the air.

Boom! Thud!

A crimson beam shot into the sky, flames crackling around it like a living inferno.

So the output scales with the user’s mana.

It was several times more destructive than the beam I had seen on the sixty-fifth floor.

As I marveled at its power, the beam reached the heavens.

Crack!

A sound like shattering glass echoed through the air. It was as if an earthquake had erupted in the sky itself, fractures spreading across the fiery expanse above.

“

Whoa

, holy shit.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What the hell?”

Exclamations of shock erupted from the group as they stared upward in stunned disbelief. Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the cracks in the sky vanished.

A message appeared before us.

[The barrier surrounding the integrated rest area has been broken. Due to the guilty individual’s non-malicious nature, the action is permitted.]

[Further violations will result in penalties for Climber Ha Hee-Jeong.]

Silence fell. Mouths hung open as everyone gawked at the sky and the message floating before them.

Alexei finally broke the stillness, “Holy shit, that’s insane.”

Still staring in awe, she reached over and gave my arm a solid thump.

Then, as if she had just remembered something, she looked up at me expectantly and asked, “But hey, Su-Hyeok. Where’s my gift? I thought you were going to give me something last night.”

Wait, she was expecting a gift? Did she assume that since I gave one to Ha Hee-Jeong, she would get one too?

Her clear, innocent gaze bore into me, full of anticipation.

After a split-second of hesitation, I gave her my answer.

“Well, I did prepare something for you. A very intense sparring session.”

“...”

“Remember that master I told you about from the sixty-third floor? The one I trained under? That’s the kind of sparring we’re talking about.”

“...”

Even as I continued, I knew I had screwed up.

Sure enough, Alexei’s face contorted into pure disappointment as she glared at me.

Uh. Should I just pull something random out of the mimic and hand it to her?