Chapter 13: Nightmare Floor 2 (1)

For no particular reason, I kept glancing around as I made my way home.

“Phew...”

I had actually gone through with it and met him.

Bilon Must had offered to leave the Skill Stone at any location of my choosing, but I figured that if he was plotting something underhanded, the method of delivery wouldn’t make much difference. So, in the end, I met him face-to-face.

It felt surreal to see someone in person whom I had only ever seen online.

He isn’t going to start digging into my background, is he? Was someone following me on the way back?

Knowing that the man on the other end was someone as powerful as Bilon Must sent every paranoid possibility imaginable racing through my mind.

Forget it.

What was done was done. I decided to leave the rest to fate.

‘You are humanity’s hope. Please clear the second floor.’

His words had sounded sincere, but...

I still couldn’t understand why he was willing to go this far for me.

I was no longer the only Nightmare Climber.

If Bilon Must wanted to invest in someone, it would have been far easier for him to support one of the American Climbers.

Did he believe that the first person to clear the first floor also had the best chance of clearing the second?

Come to think of it, he had probably already invested in all of them and was merely covering me as well. Diversification was the foundation of investing, after all.

I stopped wasting my mental energy on questions that didn’t matter.

[Skill: Leap (Normal)]

Momentarily amplifies jumping power.

Classification: Physical Type

Willpower Cost: 10

Cooldown: 15 seconds

I examined the skill I had just acquired.

Its Willpower cost was only 10, and the cooldown was relatively short.

‘Now that’s dirt cheap.’

There wasn’t even a strange Mental Concentration requirement attached to it.

Compared to Magic Type skills, it was practically a bargain.

Well, it was only Normal-grade, so that probably had something to do with it.

I decided to test the skill immediately.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 1.]

After entering the Tower, I activated Leap.

I planted my feet and jumped straight up with all my strength.

My body shot into the air as though the stone floor beneath me had transformed into a trampoline.

“Whoa...!”

I nearly slammed my head into the chamber ceiling.

When I landed, the impact reverberated through both legs.

That had to have been close to twenty meters.

I hadn’t expected much from a Normal-grade skill, but the increase in jumping power was far greater than I had imagined. Had it more than doubled?

Kerr... kek—

I dispatched the Goblins emerging from the corridors and continued testing the skill.

I tried standing long jumps, then sprinted from one end of the chamber to the other before launching myself through the air.

It wasn’t a difficult skill to use.

I simply needed time to adjust to the distances, just as I had with Teleportation.

‘A few days of practice should be enough.’

I decided to postpone entering Floor 2 until then.

I had acquired a new skill. The least I could do was develop some proficiency with it before going in.

***

Jackal was the second Nightmare Climber to appear on the Communication Channel.

For some time, his provocation directed at Person123—the first Nightmare Climber—had been the talk of the channel.

[Satan: He must really think he can clear Floor 2, huh? What kind of reward did he get from Floor 1?]

[Yukaru: More importantly, his entire country is probably pouring all its support into him. And we’re talking about the US here]

[BananaPeel: Rumor has it the Nightmare Climbers are level 10.]

[Unicorn: Level 10? Isn’t that two and a half times Hard difficulty? Is the difference really that huge?]

[Elevator: Easy Floor 10 = Nightmare Floor 1 lolololol]

[Meteorite: That guy has no manners. He benefited from Person123’s information, and now he talks like that]

[Kandrik: What are you talking about, man? He’s offering to go in first and share information about Floor 2]

[Cheeseburger: Instead of insulting him, we should be cheering him on. Those six people are the only things standing between us and the end of the world]

Then, several days later, the number of Nightmare Climbers on the Communication Channel dropped by one.

The channel erupted all over again.

[Missile: Talked big and got himself killed, just like I expected lololol]

[HakShow: You think this is funny? The odds of the world ending just went up]

[MachineBrain: Is anyone else going to step up and try?]

[TunaSushi: Is everyone still just sitting around, waiting to see what happens?]

[MagicBombardment: Hahaha, damn it all. Another Day of Destruction is creeping closer]

Just as it had a year ago, an atmosphere of dread spread across the world as the Time Limit continued to count down.

U.S. Tower Climbing Management Bureau.

After Jack’s failure, the Bureau felt like a household in mourning.

An entire year’s worth of effort had vanished in a single instant.

There was still one person left.

But the situation was far from hopeful.

“Taylor, let’s postpone the date.”

Taylor, who had been dedicating herself to preparations for Floor 2 as usual, sighed when Max delivered the news.

“Would that really change anything?”

“Probably not. The higher-ups want to wait a little longer and see how things develop.”

“...See how things develop. Everyone is thinking the same thing, aren’t they? They’re all waiting for someone else to go in first.”

It was a game of chicken.

None of the remaining Nightmare Climbers wanted to be the first to challenge Floor 2.

Even less so now that one of them had already failed.

Had any nation announced that its Climber would make an attempt?

Not one.

China, India, Russia—all of them remained silent.

With only twenty days left until extinction, everyone was still weighing costs against benefits.

At this rate, they would end up doing exactly what they had done last time: gathering together on the final day and praying for a miracle.

“Jack may have been reckless, but I believe he was moving in the right direction. His courage deserved respect.”

The project had been created to serve humanity and place their great nation at the forefront of Nightmare difficulty.

They both knew the truth.

If they continued playing it safe, the project had been doomed from the beginning.

“So we proceed as originally scheduled. Even without authorization, I’m going in.”

Conflict crossed Max’s face.

How could he fail to understand her?

Someone had to step forward.

But what awaited them was so clearly hell itself.

Jack had prepared meticulously and received every resource that could possibly be provided, yet he had died within a minute.

What manner of nightmarish trial could be waiting on Floor 2?

Max could not even begin to imagine it.

“I’m sorry, Taylor.”

To make matters worse, she would be entering without receiving proper support from the Bureau.

The decision to concentrate all available resources on Jack had been made partly on the recommendation of Max, who had served as their Floor 1 training instructor. That made it all the more difficult for him to face her.

Taylor understood the meaning behind his apology and gave him a bitter smile.

“It was the obvious decision. You have nothing to apologize for.”

Concentrating their resources on the person most likely to succeed had been perfectly rational.

Everything else was merely hindsight.

Taylor found herself reflecting on why she had chosen to climb Nightmare difficulty in the first place.

As a former agent of the CIA’s Special Activities Center, Taylor had done many things in service of the country where she had been born and raised.

The division to which she had belonged did not officially exist.

She had participated in countless black operations, killed and tortured enemies, and watched close colleagues die.

Her disillusionment had already begun to deepen when she was selected as a Nightmare difficulty Climber.

Driven by a sense of duty, she had believed she had travelled too far down a road from which there was no turning back.

Then, suddenly, a new path had opened before her.

By taking it, she could serve her country without having to watch anyone else die, whether enemy or ally.

And it was no longer merely about her country.

The fate of all humanity was at stake.

Nothing could possibly be more important.

So she abandoned everything else and volunteered.

Having made that choice, she owed it to herself to see it through to the very end.

Taylor lowered her gaze to her trembling hands, then slowly clenched them into fists.

She could only hope that even the faintest sliver of a chance still remained.

***

After several days of practice, I had grown completely comfortable using Leap.

I began preparing to enter Floor 2.

Dear Father, Mother, and little brother...

I wrote a will and tucked it into my desk drawer.

Once again, I prayed that it would never need to be opened.

“Thanks for the meal. It was delicious.”

I was finishing the last of my dinner when my mother spoke.

“Seo-hyeon, has something been bothering you lately?”

“Hm? No.”

Wait.

Was it really that obvious?

My father, who was still seated at the table, glanced over at me as well.

I thought I had been behaving as I normally did, but my parents were far too perceptive.

“I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind. That’s all.”

“...Don’t worry. The world doesn’t end that easily.”

My father spoke as though trying to reassure me.

“It was the same last time. Someone came through then, and someone will come through this time too. What was his name—the first Climber who cleared it? I heard the Russian government is backing him and helping him prepare.”

He must have assumed that the Nightmare Time Limit was what had been weighing on my mind.

But since when had I been receiving support from Russia?

That’s fake news, Dad.

“Really? That’s a little reassuring, then.”

“Yeah. Trust me.”

I forced a smile and returned to my room.

Sitting quietly at my desk, I tried to steady my nerves.

No matter how firmly I steeled my resolve, putting my life on the line was never easy.

To be honest, I was more hesitant than I had been the first time.

Back then, I had been in a situation where I had nothing to lose.

Now, with plenty of time still remaining on the clock, the stakes felt different.

Does it really have to be me?

If I wait just a little longer, won’t someone else manage to clear it...?

I shook away every last one of those thoughts.

Time passed, and the clock slowly crept beyond midnight.

After confirming that everyone else in the house was asleep, I quietly closed my door.

I changed my clothes, put on my shoes, and stood in the center of the room.

[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty Floor 2?]

“Enter.”

All right.

Let’s go.