Chapter 294: Seventy-Fourth Floor, Prison Break (12)

[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 76 hours 58 minutes.]

After dealing with the warden, I turned to face the guards.

They stood there, inside the room, at the doorway, and lining the hallway, in stunned silence. Their mouths were agape as if still processing what had happened. Some wore expressions of humiliation.

They didn’t even manage to put up a proper defense.

A few had tried to stop me, only for me to instantly knock them unconscious. Roughly ten of them lay sprawled on the floor, out cold.

The silence that followed felt oddly out of place. Tension filled the air.

At some point, I had begun to sweat, and I tasted a hint of saltiness.

I spat onto the floor. “

Ptuh.

”

Lifting my head again, I scanned the crowd of guards. None of them met my gaze, likely afraid of my wrath. Even those who looked resentful lowered their eyes when I stared at them.

I sighed inwardly.

Ugh.

To be honest, the seventy-fourth floor hadn’t been a particularly fulfilling trial, considering the lack of a decent fight.

Of course, my combat power had surpassed the tower’s standard, but at least there had been some semblance of challenges on previous floors.

This time, the most I got was the fight with the Gatekeeper.

To be fair, he would be worth sparring with at least once. Though if I had to compare him to my opponents from previous floors, he was noticeably weaker.

I had been expecting the warden to be formidable and had even looked forward to punishing him. That anticipation, perhaps, had made the conclusion feel all the more underwhelming.

Huh?

I sensed a persistent stare from one side and turned toward it. There was Phiri, standing in one of the corners to my left. While the other guards averted their eyes, she met my gaze honestly.

Her expression was difficult to read—quiet, yet conflicted. In that brief instant, I could feel her emotions.

What is this?

I didn’t know why, but they—an intense gratitude and a sensation of being moved—were being transmitted to me.

This wasn’t purely in my imagination, either. Phiri’s emotions were being conveyed to me clearly and unmistakably, without any filter. I had never experienced anything like it before.

There could only be one explanation.

Divinity.

Although I couldn’t be sure what had activated this phenomenon, nothing except Divine Power could reasonably explain it. If she possessed the ability to transmit feelings, she would have used it long ago.

I had only hoped for her to remember me, but this devotion went far beyond anything I had expected.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to offer a parting word.

Hoping my feelings would reach Phiri, I sent her a quiet thought.

You have endured more than enough.

For an instant, my divinity stirred, ever so faintly, and her eyes widened just a little. It seemed like my message had reached her.

So it really works like this.

She didn’t think of me as a god, and I wasn’t truly one—not yet.

However, my divinity had stirred. I had no idea how it worked, but whatever the mechanism, it had turned out to be a fortunate thing for me.

In any case, now that we had exchanged thoughts, it was better to leave without lingering. I started walking forward.

The guards, still wavering, turned their eyes toward Phiri and a few others. They were likely the highest-ranked among those remaining.

Before any of them could speak carelessly, I glared at them. “Let’s end it here. From the beginning, the warden was my only target.”

I quietly swept my gaze across the room. “You all know by now that I haven’t killed a single guard on my way here. I plan to leave quietly.”

Despite the circumstances, the guards under my watch stepped forward and met my eyes.

“But if you try to stop me now, I can’t be held responsible for the outcome. I’ll be a little tired, sure, but you’ll suffer far worse.”

Hmm. Was that too forceful?

I figured it would be wise to leave them an out—no matter how weak of an excuse. Even if they could logically understand that my psychological pressure was for their sake, most beings didn’t act on logic alone. Therefore, this seemed like the more prudent approach.

“There’s no shortage of excuses you can create. You’ve seen for yourselves what kind of man the warden was...”

I deliberately left the rest unsaid because those with half a brain would understand the implications. For instance, they could claim that the sadistic warden had dragged a prisoner into his room, leading to this entire incident.

No one replied, including Phiri. She wasn’t focused on my explanation, just watching me quietly.

Instead, a different guard, who had been gauging the situation, finally murmured, “

Um

, everyone. Step aside.”

“S-sir!”

“P-Puhyon!” one idealistic guard objected, but Puhyon shut him down immediately.

“Enough. He’s not someone we can handle.”

I gave him a subtle nod. “Glad someone here knows how to use their brain.”

He turned to the other guards. “Step aside.”

Some of them looked frustrated, but nobody moved to block me.

I walked forward steadily. I had wanted to share one last glance with Phiri, but it felt better not to. Instead, I sent her a final thought.

Be happy

.

My walk almost felt like a ceremonial occasion, though considering the hostility aimed toward me, perhaps not quite.

Regardless, I descended the staircase like Moses parting the sea. As expected, the guards shifted awkwardly, avoiding my gaze. Perhaps it stemmed from a mix of helplessness and shame, knowing that they couldn’t stop a prisoner from walking out.

I calmly made my way down, then turned to my left. Beyond the wide-open prison gates, the massive bridge I had seen earlier came into view.

So it is finally over.

Reflecting slightly, I stepped outside. Beneath the bright light, the sea shimmered as gentle waves rippled across it.

I walked ahead for a while, then turned back to take in the prison’s full silhouette. It was built atop a small island, floating in the sea.

What a filthy place. I am never coming back.

Incarceration wasn’t something I wished to experience a second time. Therefore, I turned away unhesitatingly.

I had commonly heard that individuals are greeted with tofu upon leaving prison[1], but this was the tower.

No such hospitality here.

Without lingering, I kept walking.

The result itself was satisfying.

My goal had always been to take down the warden and escape.

Of course, it hadn’t gone perfectly. My neighbor’s claim of being falsely accused lingered in my mind, but whether it was true or not was something I couldn’t determine. Setting a criminal free by mistake would have been worse.

Still, after all the struggle and overthinking, it ended rather anticlimactically.

I had been locked up for days, yet the actual escape had lasted less than an hour. The ten or twenty minutes spent recovering the cuffs had been intense, but everything afterward fizzled out like drinking flat soda from a bottle left open too long.

Still, the fact that I had earned Phiri’s heart—whether it was belief or something else—was more than enough.

About a minute into my walk, a notification window appeared.

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the seventy-fourth floor of the Tower of Ordeal: Prison Break. Achievement points will be calculated.]

Since meeting Angelina, I hadn’t paid much attention to the messages that appeared at the end of each trial.

This time, however, I watched closely. I was genuinely curious about the hidden missions this floor had to offer.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has successfully escaped Al Ferhadeen. He completed the hidden missions ‘Poisoned Stew,’ ‘Did You Just Find Mana?’, and ‘The Pain After the Trial.’]

Just as I had suspected, avoiding the stew, eating the mana utensils, and escaping without relying on Phiri were hidden missions. Moreover, I had been right about relying on her being the standard route.

Considering how much time I had spent deliberating within that prison, my decisions had likely been the right ones. If I had freed the other inmates, perhaps another hidden mission would have appeared.

However, the risks outweighed the potential benefits.

I turned away from the message window, and a faint floating sensation rose in my chest.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok will now enter the waiting room.]

***

[29 hours 59 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

As my surroundings brightened, I realized the others had already returned. Before I had a chance to scan the room, Doppy, Yoonie, and Ryun greeted me in succession.

“Su-Yeok! You’re back!”

“Welcome back! Was everything alright?”

“You were gone for a while.”

I let out a long breath and turned to Doppy. “Yeah. I’m back. That one drained me.”

He was already on his feet and quickly asked, “What happened? Did something go wrong?”

Despite his eagerness, I shook my head. “Give me a minute. I’ll tell you after I shower.”

I hadn’t bathed in days, not even brushed my teeth. While I hadn’t had a cavity since entering the tower, the discomfort was wearing me down.

There is a difference between an impossibility and simple neglect.

To make matters worse, I was annoyed. If they were going to send me back, the Tower of Ordeal could have at least let me wear the prison uniform.

Seriously, what is this bullshit?

When I returned to the waiting room, I was dressed in the gear I had worn before entering the seventy-fourth floor—a climbing suit layered beneath leather armor and a robe.

The bloodstains were one thing, but after days of sleeping on cold stone, every part of me felt unclean.

Without delay, I peeled off the robe and armor.

Great. Even the climbing suit is filthy now.

Ugh.

Still, it felt like a waste to throw it out. Since I was headed to the shower anyway, I could wash it while I was at it.

Clad only in the base suit, I headed toward the bathroom.

Along the way, Ha Hee-Jeong sent me a message.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Seventy-seventh Floor): What the heck? Why’d it take you so long?

Her message brought me a quiet sense of relief. It had been days since we had last spoken.

Still, getting clean comes first.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Seventy-fifth Floor): Hey, Hee-Jeong, sorry. Give me a minute. Let me shower first.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Seventy-seventh Floor): Ah, got it. Message me after.

As expected of a regressor, she didn’t need much of an explanation to understand my situation. Technically, I could have replied while showering, but I disliked dividing my attention.

At that moment, all I wanted was to scrub away every trace of the prison thoroughly and without interruption.

***

[28 hours 32 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

I spent about an hour simply eating after chatting with Ha Hee-Jeong. Honestly, I was already full, but I kept forcing food down. It felt like I had been replaced with a starving parasite after days without a proper meal.

The hunger wasn’t so much physical as it was psychological.

After all, I often used food as a way to cope with the stress of the tower. The rebound from not being able to eat anything recently had hit me harder than expected.

Aside from that, most climbers were in the seventy-seventh floor’s waiting room. It wasn’t anything unusual since I had spent quite a bit of time on the seventy-fourth floor.

Even with so many people waiting, I had no intention of rushing to the next stage.

Things are different now.

The climbers ahead were hoping I would take my time.

Some are just hoping I won’t die. Others are probably wishing for more time to train.

Since I hadn’t had a chance to train properly on the seventy-fourth floor either, I intended to use every moment available to me.

Although many climbers were waiting, some were still on the seventy-fifth and seventy-sixth floors, so it wasn’t a problem.

Hmm. Starting from the sixties, it kind of feels like I have been lagging behind a little.

With my floors being distinct from the other climbers, I had assumed I would be the first to reach the top. Clearly, I was wrong.

I planned to take my time and train while waiting, but oh, well.

A faint sense of disappointment crept in.

The trials themselves were also starting to feel a bit contrived.

My divinity awakened because of the seventy-first to the seventy-third floors.

Yes, I got it through hidden missions, but I ended up using that divinity right away on the very next floor, thanks to Phiri.

It felt intentional, like something the tower had planned.

Of course, it was just speculation on my part, but it did seem likely.

Hmm. Will there be more trials like that going forward?

Maybe future trials would all be centered on saving someone and earning their trust, gaining faith in return. Through that, I would gradually learn how to accumulate divinity and utilize Divine Power.

I don’t particularly mind, but, um.

Personally, I was hoping for something more combat-driven in the next few floors. The enemies appearing lately hadn’t been all that difficult, but it was impossible to know when something like the apostle of the Furnace would suddenly show up.

The tower’s trials often struck hardest the moment a climber let their guard down. One could never know when an unexpected enemy would appear.

Well, if I wanted to handle that kind of situation without trouble, training was essential.

Time to train.

I picked up my axe and rose to my feet. The feel of Soulbound in my hands after so long was unexpectedly reassuring.

1. In Korea, tofu is traditionally given to someone who has just been released from prison as a symbol of a fresh start and purity. Its white color represents cleansing oneself of past wrongdoings and beginning anew with a clean slate. ☜