Chapter 372: Eighty-Sixth Floor, Waiting Room (1)

[47 hours 42 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

The message came through just as I was halfway up from the spring, about to begin my training. At the sound of the notification, I sank back down into the water.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Hey! You should’ve messaged me when you got back. Why didn’t you say anything? I didn’t even notice since I was busy training.

I had figured that since I had spent a decent amount of time on the eighty-fifth floor, a proper conversation with Ha Hee-Jeong would take at least ten minutes.

Of course, I could technically talk while getting ready, but I preferred to focus solely on the conversation.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): I thought you could be sleeping. You usually message first, anyway.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Still! You should’ve reached out first. You were stuck on the eighty-fifth floor for days.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Alright, alright. I’ll message right away next time.

After sending the reply, I glanced over at Doppy. “Doppy, keep going on your own just a bit longer. I’ll be there soon.”

“No rush! Ryun’s teaching me well!” Doppy, who had been swinging his sword, responded enthusiastically. I nodded, then turned back to read the newest message.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Nothing bad happened, right? Was it just a really long trial?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Yeah. No combat or anything. It was just a week-long ordeal. How was the eighty-sixth floor for you?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Me? You know me. Nothing much ever happens. I finished it quickly and just went back to training. But seriously, I was worried. You were gone for so long, and there was no word from you.

Her words, laced with concern, brought a faint smile to my lips.

To be honest, the eighty-fifth floor hadn’t posed a direct threat to me. At most, I would have been unsettled if I had failed to stop the lava tsunami. The people near the Sea of Lava would have borne the consequences.

Of course, if I hadn’t found the horn and been forced to punch through the trench, it would have been much more difficult.

Still, it hadn’t been unreasonably hard in the end. The tower always presented trials within the realm of what one could endure.

It had felt dangerous in the moment. However, in hindsight, even the divine-infused lava had stayed within the boundaries of survivability. Even if my shield had failed, exposing me to the lava, I would have been badly injured at worst, but I wouldn’t have died.

I typed out a response without much thought.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Ah, come on. Don’t worry so much. You know I’d call if things got bad.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): How am I supposed not to worry? You weren’t responding at all. What if something had happened to you before you even had the chance to call?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Come on, it’s me. As if anything could take me out that quickly.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying, you know. When you’re stuck in the waiting room with nothing to do, all sorts of thoughts start creeping in.

Yeah. I could feel where this was going.

I had known Ha Hee-Jeong long enough to read the signs. One more comment, and this would turn into a fight.

Honestly, it would be silly to argue over something like this. It all came from a place of care. She was just worried about me, and I was worried about her.

Personally, I would have preferred if she didn’t have to wear her heart out over me, but I couldn’t blame her. I understood where she was coming from.

In a situation where a perilous future was all but guaranteed, it was only natural to worry when someone vanished for days without a word, still locked in a trial.

If I were in her shoes, I would have felt the same. In fact, I would likely overreact even more.

Telling her not to worry would be pointless; I simply had to thank her. That was enough because that was the kind of relationship we shared.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Alright. Thanks for worrying about me.

For a brief moment, she didn’t respond.

In the past, I would have snapped back with something playful, so I figured she was caught off guard this time.

A few seconds later, her reply arrived.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): That’s not why I said it. I didn’t mean to fish for a thank you or anything.

This was one of those times when messages didn’t quite do the job. If we were speaking face-to-face, I would see her flustered expression. She probably would have muttered that I had misunderstood her before trailing off.

I could have called her using the necklace, but being in the spring made that tricky.

Besides, truth be told, we had both been holding back from seeing each other in person. It wasn’t something we had ever discussed aloud, but we knew. Spending time together tended to dull the tension needed for climbing the tower.

As much as we enjoyed each other’s company, it did interfere with our training schedules.

Ha Hee-Jeong swiftly shifted the topic.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Anyway, what was the eighty-fifth floor like? You said there wasn’t any fighting, right?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): It’s kind of hard to describe. There weren’t any battles, but it was still exhausting.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Let me guess. Another rescue mission?

We talked about trials often enough that she had developed a decent sense for how they went.

I explained the nature of the eighty-fifth floor. Just like the trial itself, it wasn’t overly complex—simply pierce a blocked trench. If I had failed, the world would have ended, so I had dived into the lava and cleared a path.

That was it.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Ugh, lava? That had to have been boiling hot.

As always, she reacted perfectly. Even over the smallest things, she always empathized with me.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): It wasn’t too bad. I had gear and help from a wind spirit.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Still, you saved an entire city. You probably gained a ton of divinity.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Right? My rate of recovery sped up, too.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Honestly, it had to have looked incredible. I’ve never seen anything related to divinity myself, so I can’t even imagine what kind of barrier could stop a lava tsunami.

I had heard the cheers of the crowd back on the eighty-fifth floor, but strangely enough, Ha Hee-Jeong’s words gave me a deeper sense of fulfillment.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): You really should’ve seen it. Even I think it looked amazing.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Hey. You know, saying that yourself makes it way less cool, right?

I could almost see the smirk on her face as she typed that.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): What? We’re close enough. Want me to show you later?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Nah. You said you burned through a ton of divinity. Don’t waste more of it, and go train.

Her playful reply made me smile. I had told her about the eighty-fifth floor, but I hadn’t mentioned the corpse of the god yet.

Not for any grand reason, but I just wanted to surprise her a little.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Oh, right. I picked up something interesting on the eighty-fifth floor.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Huh? Now you tell me? How did you find it, through, like, a treasure-hunt hidden mission or something?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Pretty close.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Ugh, don’t keep me hanging. What’d you get? Spit it out already.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): The corpse of a god.

Over five seconds passed without a response. She was definitely shocked.

A few moments later, her concise reply arrived.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): How?

Even though she hadn’t said a lot, I could easily picture her exclaiming in disbelief before typing it out.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): It’s real.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Don’t mess around. You’re serious, right?

I smiled as I began explaining.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Yeah. I came across it while completing a hidden mission.

Starting with how I found the horn inside the volcano, I followed it up by explaining how it helped me locate the rest of the god, and how I used that very horn to pierce through the blockage.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): What the hell, seriously. That’s something you should’ve told me right away.

Though she had spoken casually, a sheer sense of betrayal practically radiated from her message.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): It was supposed to be a surprise.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Are you crazy? That’s not the kind of thing you spring on someone. How could you not tell me you found a god’s corpse?!

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Which is why I’m telling you now.

I was chatting playfully, but she seemed more shaken by the fact that a god could leave behind a corpse.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): I mean, wow... So they actually leave behind a corpse when they die? And that remnant got absorbed into the horn, right?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Yeah. I think I’ll be able to use it as a weapon down the line.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Down the line... as in, the future The Meticulous Architect showed you?

It looked like she had reached the same conclusion I had, so we seemed to be on the same page. I replied in the affirmative.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Whoever it is that defeats me, if they don’t appear on the eighty-sixth or eighty-seventh floor, they’ll probably show up somewhere in the nineties.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Right? Starting from the eighty-eighth, it’s only all-climber floors.

As much as I had enjoyed our conversation, it was time to bring it to a close. That was partly why I had brought this up in the first place. I needed to refocus and return to training.

Spending time talking to Ha Hee-Jeong was always comforting, but in the end, it was a fleeting reprieve. We were still inside the tower. True happiness and comfort were things I could only enjoy once we had completely conquered the Tower of Ordeal.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Anyway, we’ve more or less said what we needed to. I’m heading off to train. I’ll message you again when I take a break.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): Got it. Go give it your all. And since you just got back from a trial, maybe get some proper rest before texting again.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): When do you plan to head to the eighty-seventh floor?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Eighty-seventh Floor): I’ve got about eight hours left.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Eighty-sixth Floor): Alright. I’ll message you again before you go in.

After sending the message, I rose to my feet. It was time to train in earnest.

***

[37 hours 42 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

Training went as it always did. Ryun and I briefly helped Doppy with his drills, then I shifted my attention to my own routine.

I focused on the fundamentals, then moved into applied techniques, eventually practicing on the interplay between divine power and mana. I didn’t feel particularly tired, so I skipped sleep.

By the time I wrapped up, Ha Hee-Jeong was already preparing to enter the eighty-seventh floor. I wished her luck before she went in.

I then slept for about two hours, and when I woke again, I found myself in Natalie’s world. A garden—full of three distinctly colored varieties of flowers, likely tailored to personal taste—surrounded me, while a tea table stood nearby.

There were five chairs in total.

Looks like she even made one for Hee-Jeong.

After lightly exchanging greetings, Natalie brought out tea and cookies. I had never been much of a tea drinker, but this one seemed pleasantly fragrant.

Just a single sip was enough to know it wasn’t bad. Moreover, the flow of my mana and divine energy grew subtly more stable.

Natalie watched me closely as if trying to gauge my reaction. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I’m not usually into tea, but this one’s alright.”

“It’s high quality. It helps a bit with mana circulation. Same with divine energy.”

“I noticed. But where do you even get something like this? You’re not stuck here all the time, right?”

Natalie offered a faint, knowing smile. “I’m a dimensional witch. I have my ways.”

Gehenna and Hyang, seemingly well accustomed to this setting, sipped their tea and nibbled on cookies in calm silence.

The atmosphere was quiet. They were clearly waiting for me to speak first.

There wasn’t a strict hierarchy between us, but in practice, I held the highest position. Perhaps that explained their deference.

I did have something I wanted to ask, so I looked around at them. “You all know I obtained the god’s horn, right?”

“Yes.”

“Was that what you were referring to last time when you told me to give it my all?”

Natalie didn’t answer. She simply offered me a gentle smile and shook her head slowly. That was her way of silently saying she couldn’t tell me.

“Alright. Got it.”

Still, her faint smile was a good sign. Whatever the case, it wouldn’t be something harmful.

Even if Natalie had meant something else, the horn could still be a part of her larger plan.

As a brief silence settled over the group, Natalie shifted the topic. “

Oh

, Oppa. Could you show me the horn sometime?”

“

Huh?

I don’t mind. But why?”

“I haven’t seen it in person yet, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it may have other uses.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“I won’t know until I see it up close. But I have a feeling something will become clear,” she answered vaguely, but considering she was saying it, there was a good chance she would find a new way to use it.

Encouraged by the unexpected prospect, I immediately reached into my mimic and retrieved the horn.