Chapter 79: The Masked Auction (1)

— It has now been more than two hours since Person123 entered the Tower. Reports indicate that the number displayed on the Nightmare Communication Channel has not decreased, which suggests that Person123 is still attempting to clear the floor...

The Kim residence.

Kim Seo-a sat watching the live news broadcast, clutching her mother’s hand.

Her father was still at work. Unlike on every previous occasion, when Person123 had entered the Tower in the evening, today he had begun his challenge in the early afternoon.

Humanity had endured this moment every year since the Tower first appeared, yet the suffocating tension never became any easier to bear.

Once again, the fate of the world was being decided.

“Please...”

Person123’s attempt was taking even longer than his clear of Floor 4.

Kim Seo-a whispered the word, her voice trembling on the verge of tears. She wanted him to succeed so desperately that her stomach churned.

“It’s all right. Everything’s going to be all right.”

Choi Su-jin gently stroked her daughter’s back, though she could not conceal the strain on her own face.

As the agonizing wait dragged on...

The news broadcast suddenly erupted into activity, and the anchor’s voice rose with excitement.

— We’ve just received confirmation that Nightmare Floor 6 has been cleared! Person123 has succeeded!

At that very instant, cheers erupted throughout the surrounding apartment complexes, loud enough to be heard even through the closed veranda windows.

“Ah...!”

Kim Seo-a gasped.

Perhaps it was the sudden release of all that tension, but tears burst from her eyes. She threw herself into her mother’s arms, and the two of them clung to each other, overwhelmed with relief.

— Once again, Person123 has successfully cleared the Nightmare difficulty. Nightmare difficulty has now been cleared through Floor 6, extending humanity’s time limit by another year. Of particular note is his decision to save all of humanity once again rather than accept the Ark. Such a choice can only be described as noble...

Choi Su-jin left to buy groceries, intending to prepare a generous feast for dinner that evening.

Kim Seo-a, still swept up in the emotion of the moment, continued switching between news channels.

Person123 had saved humanity yet again.

On Floor 4, he had accepted a penalty for the sake of a small group of people. This time, too, he had rejected the Tower’s offer and chosen the path that would save everyone.

He was incredible.

And noble, too.

How could anyone be so extraordinary?

From the bottom of her heart, Kim Seo-a thanked the man who had once again kept the world safe for another year.

Beep, beep, beep.

The front-door lock sounded.

Kim Seo-hyeon opened the door and stepped inside.

He took one look at Kim Seo-a’s face and asked,

“...Were you crying?”

“What? No, I wasn’t.”

“Your eyes are completely red. You cried.”

“I did not!”

Kim Seo-hyeon glanced at the television, then disappeared into his room.

Kim Seo-a glared after him before sharply turning her head away.

Does he not even care whether the world ends? How can he be so calm?

And instead of staying home, he goes off doing who knows what and only comes back now...

“...?”

She tilted her head.

A sudden thought occurred to her.

Come to think of it, every time Person123 was clearing a floor...

Kim Seo-hyeon had been away on a trip during the Floor 3 and Floor 4 clears.

What about Floor 2?

She could not remember, so she searched online for the time at which Nightmare Floor 2 had been cleared. It had happened in the middle of the night, so she must have been asleep.

‘And Floor 1...’

Now that she thought about it, had it been the same then?

Only hours before the world was due to end, the entire family had been gathered in the living room.

Kim Seo-hyeon had said he was going outside for some fresh air and left the apartment.

Then, shortly afterward, Nightmare Floor 1 had been cleared.

She remembered that clearly. It was not the sort of thing anyone could forget.

Person123 was said to be Korean...

And supposedly a young man...

Huh?

The moment her thoughts reached that point, Kim Seo-a snorted.

“Yeah, right.”

My brother is Person123?

That guy?

And he just came home after clearing Floor 6?

The very idea was absurd.

For one thing, Kim Seo-hyeon was an Easy-difficulty climber who earned his living by selling Magic Stones.

There was no possible way he could be a Nightmare climber.

Dismissing it as a strange coincidence, Kim Seo-a changed the channel.

***

After clearing Floor 6, I went home, ate dinner, and turned in early.

[Time Remaining: 12 hours, 56 minutes, 51 seconds]

“Hwaaah...”

I woke in the hours before dawn and checked the timer.

There were twelve hours left until the so-called Masked Auction began.

I opened the Communication Channel and scrolled through the messages.

Everyone else was talking about the auction, just as I was.

Whatever it turned out to be, it was part of the Tower’s rules, which meant there was no chance it would be anything good.

After browsing the Channel for a while, I closed it.

Normally, I would take an entire day to rest after clearing a floor.

But with the timer counting down toward some unknown event, I could not bring myself to relax.

Going straight into the hidden floor, on the other hand, felt a little too hasty.

Instead, I began thinking about how to put together a strategy guide and whether other climbers would be capable of clearing Floor 6.

‘Without the boss, it shouldn’t be that difficult.’

As long as they knew the correct order in which to destroy the Nexuses, the number of Ogres would never rise above three.

Even if one lane was left undefended while the other two were cleared, our side would still advance faster than the enemy.

The First Turret might be pushed back slightly, but the Second Turrets came in pairs. Three Ogres would need a long time to break through them.

The real problem was the boss.

I had killed it in a single strike with Destruction Ray, but other climbers would probably struggle against it.

I would have to return later and determine precisely how strong it was and what abilities it possessed.

Thinking about the floor reminded me of Diul, so I summoned it.

“You doing all right, Diul?”

Diul emerged from the bracelet and drifted around my head.

It appeared to have recovered completely. Its condition looked as good as ever.

“Floor 6 was rough on you too, wasn’t it? By the way, are you evolving? Your form keeps changing.”

I tried to strike up a conversation.

All I received in response was a vague impression of indifference. Diul did not answer.

And yet it had been fooling around in the Reward Room earlier.

“Want to go for a nighttime walk on Floor 2?”

There was still no answer, but I sensed a faint flicker of pleasure from it.

A small smile crossed my face as I entered Floor 2.

[You have entered Nightmare-difficulty Floor 2.]

Floating platforms hung above the lava.

Now that my body had reached level 80, I no longer needed them.

Thud!

Using Leap, I crossed the entire distance in a single jump and landed directly on the main stretch of ground.

I made my way out of the Tower structure and began running along the forest path beneath the night sky.

Sure enough, our regular walks had been worthwhile.

Diul had already awakened a third ability.

It grumbled every time I asked anything of it, but I had managed to clear several floors thanks to Diul, Floor 3 among them.

There was no denying how reassuring its presence had become.

After taking a decent walk around Floor 2, I left and entered Floor 3.

“Want to use that ability again, Diul?”

I had decided to gain a proper understanding of Diul’s new power.

Perhaps the walk had improved its mood, because Diul activated the ability without any obvious reluctance.

Whoooosh.

Black mist spread through the surrounding area.

Its range was narrower than it had been on Floor 6.

The Undead swarming toward me entered the Darkness Zone.

Just like the Ogres, they immediately lost their balance, collapsed, and began flailing helplessly on the ground.

So the ability did more than simply deprive them of sight.

Because it had no effect on me, I could not tell exactly what condition the enemies were experiencing.

“Could you make it affect me too, Diul?”

At that very moment...

Everything in front of me went black.

I could not see.

I could not hear.

Even the stench of corpses that had been burning my nostrils disappeared.

Then I lost all awareness of my own body.

I could no longer tell whether I was standing still or moving.

It was absolute darkness.

The unfamiliar sensation of being completely cut off from every sense left me genuinely shaken.

A moment later, my five senses returned.

When they did, I discovered that I had fallen to the ground and was flailing about just like the Undead.

‘Pfft.’

Diul hovered nearby, watching me with playful amusement.

I let out a bewildered laugh and climbed back to my feet.

Right...

So that was what the ability did.

No wonder it consumed so much of Diul’s strength.

The ability essentially reduced its targets to helpless, senseless fools.

The Darkness Zone faded, and the Undead regained control of themselves.

I decided to give the technique a name.

“Since it resembles fog, let’s call it Pitch-Black Fog. What do you think, Diul?”

Diul could not have looked less interested.

Its expression seemed to say, Do whatever you want.

Pitch-Black Fog it was, then.

I had acquired a remarkably useful ability.

***

Time passed, and afternoon arrived.

[Time Remaining: 1 minute, 29 seconds]

There was almost no time left.

With my arms folded, I paced back and forth across my room and waited.

The message had said that one hundred people would be invited at random.

Naturally, I had no desire to be among them.

The number of climbers who had cleared through Floor 6 was not especially large, but there had to be at least several thousand.

That meant my chances of being selected were below ten percent.

‘There’s no way they’ll choose me.’

[Time Remaining: 1 second]

Snap.

The scenery before me changed in an instant.

...Ah.

Had I just jinxed myself?

I had hit the jackpot.

“Whuh?”

“Uh...”

The space around me was crowded with masked people.

My field of vision was strangely narrow.

I reached up and touched my face.

I was wearing a mask as well.

The others were staring around in confusion, warily studying one another. They had to be the other people who had been selected.

Each of them wore a numbered tag on their chest.

I lowered my head to check mine.

It read 15.

The place resembled a dimly lit theater.

Rows of seats extended across the hall, and [N O V E L I G H T] a stage stood at the front.

[1,000,000 people]

A number floated in the corner of my vision.

One million people?

What was that supposed to mean?

Tap. Tap.

The sharp sound of dress shoes echoed through the hall.

The crowd’s murmuring gradually died away as every eye turned toward the stage.

What is that...?

A figure in a suit stood there, its face hidden behind a mask.

The hand visible beneath its sleeve, however, did not look human.

The creature raised a microphone and began to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on being invited to the Masked Auction. Please take whichever seats you find most comfortable.”

Its voice was dry and businesslike.

Still bewildered, the people around me began choosing their seats.

There was no telling what might happen if I refused to comply, so I sat down near the back.

Snap!

The stage lights came on.

The being onstage spoke again.

“I am the Auctioneer, and I will be presiding over today’s auction. There are two rules that all participants must observe during the proceedings.

“First, you must not attack the Auctioneer.

“Second, you must not damage or attempt to steal any item offered for sale.

“As long as you abide by these two rules, you may enjoy the auction until its conclusion, after which you will be returned to the place from which you were taken.”

Hmm...

What exactly was this?

Every Tower rule we had encountered so far had involved destroying the world or killing people.

And now, without warning, the Tower was holding an auction.

I had no idea what it was trying to accomplish.

“Now, then. We shall begin immediately. The first item offered for auction is...”

An object suddenly appeared on the platform at the center of the stage.

It was a Skill Stone, glowing with green light.

[Skill: Formation Collapse (Rare+)]

Leap high into the air, then descend with tremendous force, unleashing a powerful shockwave. The greater the height of the descent, the greater the resulting power.

Type: Physical

Willpower Cost: 100

Cooldown: 1 minute

Although I had not touched the stone, its description appeared before my eyes.

Judging by the startled reactions around me, everyone else could see it as well.

It was, after all, a Rare+ skill.

“The number currently visible to each of you represents the currency available for use during the auction. Every participant has been allotted precisely one million units.”

At the Auctioneer’s words, I looked again at the number in the corner of my vision.

[1,000,000 people]

So that was the money available to me.

But why was the unit written like that?

It did not say points, credits, or coins.

It said people.

The word used to count human lives.

“What does ‘one million people’ mean...?”

Someone who had evidently been wondering the same thing raised a hand and asked the question.

The Auctioneer answered casually, as though what it was about to say were perfectly ordinary.

“The lives of Non-Climbers. For every unit of currency you spend, one randomly selected Non-Climber will die.”

“...Wh-what?”

“This is a special reward granted to those of you who have cleared through Floor 6. Please also note that those who die as currency during this auction will not become the Fallen, as their deaths will not be caused by the Tower’s Curse.

“You may spend the entire one million, or you may spend nothing at all. The decision is entirely yours. Please enjoy the auction without reservation.”

...What kind of deranged bullshit was this?

The Auctioneer continued.

“The opening bid for the first item is one thousand people. Anyone wishing to place a bid should raise their hand and state their price.”