Chapter 12: The Benefactor

I woke that morning to news that immediately put me in a foul mood.

—The United States has failed to clear Nightmare difficulty Floor 2. The challenger is believed to have been the same individual who became the second person to clear Nightmare difficulty Floor 1...

“...Haah.”

So he failed.

There had been no official announcement from the United States, but the report clearly wasn’t fake.

All I had to do was check the Communication Channel. One person had disappeared.

I felt sorry for him.

Honestly, I was disappointed too.

And at the same time, I felt a faint pang of guilt.

Because deep down, I already knew.

I knew that the person with the best chance of clearing Floor 2 was me.

The Time Stop Ability synergized with skills to an absurd degree. Compared to the abilities of the other Nightmare clearers, mine was probably in a league of its own.

And yet here I was, still unable to make up my mind...

“Why the hell is the world like this?”

I closed my eyes and blamed the world for no particular reason.

No, seriously. Fuck that. It really was the world’s fault.

One day, a Tower had simply risen from the middle of the ocean and threatened to kill everyone unless we climbed it once a year. How was that not insane? Huh?

“...”

Guess I had no choice but to do what the threat demanded.

If I didn’t want to die, that was.

‘Let’s go in.’

I couldn’t bring myself to keep sitting on the sidelines, watching and waiting while the other Nightmare clearers died one by one.

Wow. Since when had I become such an altruistic guy?

Hahaha.

Once I finally made the decision, my mind became surprisingly calm.

When should I enter?

Well, sooner would be better.

Whether I died now or lived for another month before dying, the result would be the same.

Besides, the closer the Time Limit came, the more chaotic the world would become.

Tomorrow?

Yeah.

How about first thing tomorrow morning?

I went out for a walk to organize my thoughts.

While getting some fresh air, I checked the Communication Channel and noticed a Whisper.

[ChickenSandwich: ...The Skill Stone currently in my possession contains a normal-grade skill called ‘Leap’.

It is a skill that amplifies jumping power, so it may prove useful when climbing Floor 2. If you do not already possess this skill, please, I beg you, reply to me.]

[ChickenSandwich: If you do not wish to meet in person, simply name a location. Anywhere in the world. Tell me where, and I will leave the Skill Stone there for you to collect.]

[ChickenSandwich: I have no interest whatsoever in your identity. All I want is the survival of humanity. You are our only hope. Please allow me to help, however little it may be.]

“This guy...”

He had sent me Whispers before.

And I already knew who he was.

The world’s richest man and a famously eccentric businessman.

Bilon Must.

At first, I had assumed someone was impersonating him.

But that wasn’t the case.

The man had actually appeared on a broadcast and publicly confirmed that yes, he really was the ChickenSandwich sending those Whispers, and could the recipient please answer him.

I had seen it on the news some time ago.

Bilon Must wasn’t a Climber himself. If I remembered correctly, he had registered his secretary as one instead.

‘He went quiet for a while, and now he’s at it again.’

He was memorable precisely because his request was so absurd.

He didn’t want anything in return.

He just wanted me to take the Skill Stone.

The offer was so outlandish that it somehow felt sincere.

Normally, I would have ignored it.

But this time, I found myself reading his Whispers carefully.

“Leap, huh...”

A skill that amplified jumping power.

The theme of Floor 2 was a jump map.

It certainly sounded like something that could be genuinely useful.

Was this man really offering it solely because he wanted me to clear Floor 2?

Then again, doubting his motives almost seemed ridiculous at this point.

Humanity was once again only a month away from extinction.

Who wouldn’t be desperate?

Now that I had actually decided to enter Floor 2, I felt my resolve begin to waver.

‘...What should I do?’

Reply?

Or don’t?

I hadn’t expected to agonize over this, yet here I was, hesitating.

Once I revealed my identity to someone, I could never take it back.

But with my life on the line, was this really the time to be obsessing over every little risk?

I might die in there and spend my final moments regretting that I hadn’t taken the skill when I had the chance.

He claimed he didn’t care who I was.

He was even saying I could simply choose a location.

Not that I intended to take those words at face value.

Even if he promised to leave the item somewhere, how could I know there wouldn’t be someone watching the location or a hidden camera nearby?

Still, I could sense that what the man truly wanted was nothing more than for Floor 2 to be cleared and humanity to survive.

I wandered the streets for a long time, wrestling with the decision.

***

Bilon Must wanted to go to Mars.

Some people called him nothing more than a money-obsessed businessman, a fraud pretending to be a visionary so he could deceive the masses.

But the core of his dream had never once changed, not since childhood.

Go to Mars.

Venture out into the wider universe.

Turn humanity into a multiplanetary species.

And then, fuck.

One day, Earth went completely to shit.

Humanity was handed a death sentence.

Every year, they had to climb the Tower simply to cling to survival.

Bilon had been forced to tear apart vast portions of the plans he had spent decades creating.

Before humanity could dream of reaching the stars, it first had to survive.

He had thrown himself wholeheartedly into constructing infrastructure for Climbers.

He funded facilities, sponsored organizations, and expanded his business empire into the rapidly growing Magic Stone industry.

In truth, the Tower had not given humanity nothing in return.

The Magic Stones obtained from it were, quite literally, miraculous materials.

Bilon Must saw in them the possibility of accelerating his dream by decades through technologies powered by Magic Stone energy.

Provided, of course, that humanity survived long enough to see that future.

That was why climbing the Tower had always been his highest priority.

More precisely, climbing Nightmare difficulty.

“Damn it all. We’re completely f**ked.”

Bilon Must felt the sudden urge to launch a rocket directly at the headquarters of the Tower Climbing Management Bureau.

The all-or-nothing attempt to clear Nightmare Floor 2 had ended in total failure.

Jack Davis, the second person to clear Nightmare Floor 1, had failed.

According to reports, he hadn’t even survived for several minutes after entering.

The government had played a significant role in helping Davis acquire his many skills, but Bilon Must’s support had been no less substantial.

He had poured sponsorship money into the man without hesitation.

In truth, Bilon had never wanted to invest that level of support in Jack.

From the beginning, he had only been interested in the first Nightmare clearer.

He had repeatedly reached out through Whispers using his secretary’s account, but he had never received so much as a single reply.

Eventually, he had been forced to give up and settle for an alternative.

Now that Plan B had collapsed, only one option remained.

Why won’t you answer me?!

I’ll give you everything I have!

Just please take the Skill Stone!

...Though admittedly, “everything he had” amounted to a single Leap Skill Stone from his personal collection.

Skill Stones were permanently scarce on the market.

To make matters worse, the Management Bureau had already bought up every available one to funnel into Jack, so obtaining another was impossible for the time being.

Money alone couldn’t solve this problem.

The United States still had one more Nightmare clearer.

Taylor.

By all rights, the Skill Stone should probably have gone to her.

But no.

Bilon simply could no longer bring himself to place his hopes there.

In the end, the answer had been the same from the very beginning.

The first Nightmare clearer.

The one who had conquered Nightmare Floor 1 without any information whatsoever.

That person alone was special.

That person was the only one with a genuine chance of clearing Floor 2.

Bilon didn’t care in the slightest whether the clearer was a man or a woman, a child or an elderly person, a criminal or even a terrorist.

It truly made no difference to him.

If the clearer already possessed Leap, then fine.

But if not, Bilon desperately wanted them to take the Skill Stone and challenge Floor 2 with even slightly better odds.

So please.

Just answer me...

“...Chairman! We received a reply!”

Bilon shot to his feet.

“What? It came? Really?!”

“Yes! They said they accept the offer! They’re asking whether you can come to where they live...”

Finally.

After ignoring him for so long, it seemed the first Nightmare clearer had finally changed their mind.

Of course they had.

When even every possible precaution might not be enough, how could anyone enter without accepting every available skill?

That person couldn’t afford such carelessness.

They were humanity’s hope.

“Where?! Tell them I’ll leave immediately, even if it’s the North Pole!”

“Yes, well... they say it’s Korea.”

Bilon blinked.

Korea?

“...South Korea, obviously?”

“That’s correct.”

“Understood. I need to leave immediately.”

He was slightly surprised.

The first Nightmare clearer was Korean?

But their nationality didn’t matter in the slightest, so Bilon arranged his trip to Korea as quickly as possible.

The clearer’s conditions were simple.

The meeting had to remain secret, and under no circumstances could it be disclosed to anyone.

Bilon, of course, had no intention of revealing it.

However, a sudden trip to a foreign country without any clear reason would attract attention.

And for a public figure of Bilon’s stature, leaving the country in complete secrecy was impossible.

So he created a public pretext for the visit.

As it happened, he had a meeting scheduled with the chairman of a Korean company in the near future, so he simply moved it forward.

After clearing his entire schedule for the day of his arrival, Bilon began moving discreetly.

Surprisingly, the first Nightmare clearer had said that he wanted to receive the Skill Stone in person.

Bilon left all his security personnel behind and headed to the meeting place accompanied only by Ellen, his secretary and registered Climber, who was practically an extension of himself.

Naturally, he had first requested and received permission from the other party.

“Is this the right place?”

“...The GPS isn’t functioning properly. My apologies.”

Ellen struggled to follow the directions.

They drove into a dilapidated alley and pulled the car over near the curb.

[Person123: The black car in front of the utility pole. That’s you, right?]

A moment later, a man approached the vehicle and knocked on the rear window.

Bilon opened the door.

A man wearing a cap and mask climbed into the back seat.

Most of his face was concealed, but Must immediately got the impression that he was very young.

“...Nice to meet you.”

Bilon extended his hand.

From the driver’s seat, Ellen watched the rearview mirror tensely.

Bilon had been involved to some extent in the Management Bureau’s Nightmare clearing project, and Ellen, as his closest aide, had access to some of the relevant information.

Including the level reached by a Nightmare Floor 1 clearer.

Level 10.

Put simply, a superhuman capable of killing a bear with his bare hands.

Ellen was also a Climber, but he had only cleared one floor on Easy difficulty.

Physically, that placed him at roughly the level of a strong ordinary person.

If the man in the back seat had any hostile intentions, Ellen would have no way to protect Bilon.

Of course, Bilon had come here fully prepared to accept that risk.

If his only goal had been to hand over the item, he could simply have sent Ellen alone.

But Bilon had wanted to meet the first Nightmare clearer at least once in person.

“Nice to meet you. Thank you for coming all this way.”

The man accepted his handshake and replied in English.

“...You speak English fluently?”

“I can manage a little.”

Even if they hadn’t been able to communicate verbally, they could have used the Communication Channel, so it wouldn’t have mattered.

What surprised Bilon was not the English.

It was the man’s voice.

He sounded far younger than Bilon had expected.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet. I’ll get straight to the point and give you the item.”

Bilon wasted no time.

He took the Skill Stone from the bag beside him.

The man accepted it and carefully examined it.

“Thank you. Would it be all right if I used it here?”

“By all means.”

The man immediately activated the Skill Stone.

A burst of light spread through the car, and the stone disintegrated into countless fragments before vanishing completely.

The man stared into empty space for a moment, apparently checking his Status Window, then gave a small nod.

“I’ve confirmed that I acquired it. Thank you.”

Bilon was the one who wanted to thank him.

After all, this man was a savior who had already rescued humanity once.

The first Nightmare clearer was most likely someone who deeply resented any threat to his anonymity.

For that reason, Bilon had originally intended to hand over the Skill Stone without unnecessary conversation or questions.

He had thought that prying would only create resentment.

But in the end, he couldn’t restrain himself.

“Do you have any idea when you might attempt Floor 2?”

The man answered as casually as though Bilon had asked about the weather.

“I’m planning to enter first thing tomorrow morning.”

“...”

“Oh, though now that I’ve acquired a new skill, I should probably practice with it before I go in. So perhaps not tomorrow, but it will be soon.”

Bilon swallowed hard.

Then he said the one thing he had been desperate to say.

“You are humanity’s hope. Please, I beg you, clear Floor 2.”

The man hesitated briefly before replying.

“...I’ll do my best. I don’t want to die either.”

After offering a final polite bow, the man stepped out of the car.

Once his figure had completely disappeared into the alley, Bilon started the car.

He gazed through the window, silently replaying the strange encounter in his mind.

Ellen was the first to speak.

“...He looked even younger than I expected.”

Bilon nodded.

The man’s build had not been particularly large, and his manner had been remarkably ordinary.

In every respect, he was completely unlike anything Bilon had imagined before meeting him.

Had someone so young truly cleared Nightmare Floor 1?

He had seemed so ordinary that the ordinariness itself became extraordinary.

Bilon murmured,

“He said he would attempt it soon...”

There were still roughly twenty days remaining on the Time Limit.

Why was he rushing this time, unlike before?

Was it because of the American failure?

Perhaps he wanted to make his attempt before more Nightmare clearers died.

And if even he failed, what would happen to the world?

They would know soon enough.

For the first time in a long while, Bilon felt the urge to pray to every god that might exist.

Please save humanity one more time.

Our savior.