"Hello! Haven't we met before?"
"By any chance... did you attend Korea University? I think I've seen you on that campus!"
Whooosh!
Just like before, Choi Ji-won swiftly slashed at the bridge of my nose.
"...Stop bothering me and get lost."
It seems like Korea University was not the right guess.
[ You have taken damage. ]
[ You will regress to the moment you first entered the 0th floor. ]
"Could it be... Shinchon University?"
She didn't respond.
"Or... Anam University?"
Still no response.
"Hyehwa..."
No reaction.
"Hoegi..."
"Stop with the nonsense."
I tried naming all the universities I knew, but all I got in return was her cold blade.
"I don’t know many high schools, but..."
The possibilities were one of these three:
First, I don't know the university she attended.
Second, she never attended a university.
Third, I guessed it right, but she doesn’t care about alumni stuff and just brandishes her sword like a madwoman.
Regardless, it seemed impossible to get a meaningful reaction from her by pretending to recognize her. Maybe it's about closeness? This time, I tried learning swordsmanship from her.
"Huff, huff..."
"I've taught you enough. Now, leave."
"... Ji-won."
"Leave, alright?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"No."
She didn’t give any chance from the start.
No matter how much I played the part of a kind citizen, Choi Ji-won's heart remained closed. Being kind just made her less hostile, but she was never friendly. Even when receiving food, I tried striking up a conversation by saying 'thank you', but she never responded.
No matter what I said, Choi Ji-won never gave a meaningful response.
Out of frustration, I tried being absurd.
"Hey! You, come at me!"
"...Hold on, idiot. Even for you, calling someone a 'crazy bastard' is too much."
"… I didn’t say that."
A fist swung at me with an incredibly swift trajectory.
Thud!
[ You have taken damage. ]
[ You will regress to the moment you first entered the 0th floor. ]
This time, I could at least see her attack, but that was the problem. The punch came in a strange arc that I couldn't defend against with my sword's angle. Even if I had blocked it, I would have been knocked back. It was a really powerful punch.
"...Tough woman."
I don’t know what the issue is. No matter what I do, she just ignores me. Was Choi Ji-won an unattainable character from the start? Damn... should I just give up and go find the boss? I could probably find the boss given enough time. Or I could follow others. For instance, the firefighter left the gathering place on the morning of the second day with a group of survivors. I could clear a path in advance and follow him from the second day...
Wait a minute.
Another person?
I'm not talking about having someone else do strange things on my behalf.
Choi Ji-won consistently treated everyone coldly, except for the short-haired woman, Baek Da-hye, with whom she rarely spoke. This means she doesn't specifically discriminate against me. She treats everyone like a psychopath.
I want to use 'another person' in a slightly different way.
"Hehe...hehehe..."
Choi Ji-won.
I'll test your limits.
Thud!
[ You have taken damage. ]
[ You will regress to the moment you first entered the 0th floor. ]
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Running, running, and running again. My body, having sweated out its last drop, couldn't even produce sweat anymore. My head felt dizzy, and even though I was gasping for breath...
"Aaaaargh!"
A massive goblin, wielding a knife, was crazily chasing me.
The first day in the tower was fine. After discovering that killing goblins yielded food, Kim Jun-kyu and his party roamed the tower with a lighthearted gaming mindset. Although food was somewhat scarce, they never felt their lives were threatened. The cold bottle in their hands was sharp, and the goblins were weak. Thus, the trio of Kim Jun-kyu's party spent their first night smoothly. Walking confidently without any sense of danger, their steps filled with confidence and their shoulders held high, Kim Jun-kyu's group suddenly encountered a large goblin sitting on a tree stump.
"Jun-kyu bro, doesn't that one look a bit stronger?"
"Hey, our level is already at 10. Goblins are no longer a challenge. It's time to change our prey."
"Is that so..."
They never considered it might be dangerous. After all, a goblin is just a goblin, right?
The first to approach was a younger brother who became close after entering the tower.
"Bro, since I put all my stats into strength, I think I can handle up to 500 now."
The younger brother, flexing his impressive muscles, looked reliable.
"Watch me take that one down with a lateral raise stance."
As the younger sibling confidently approached the mutated goblin with his axe,
Whoosh!
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the fast-moving mutated goblin disarmed him.
Crunch!
"Ugh...!"
He was split in half right away.
"Wh... what..."
As Kim Jun-kyu and the remaining person were frozen in shock, the goblin swiftly picked up the other axe and threw it.
Thud!
A surreal, ringing sound followed as the person standing next to them fell, their face splattered with warm blood.
"Oh... Ahhhhhhh!!!"
In terror, Kim Jun-kyu began running like mad.
After about 10 minutes of sprinting,
"Heh, ha... ha..."
Although his level had increased and his stamina had improved, a 10-minute sprint was still exhausting.
"Heh, cough!"
Suddenly, his vision spun. Maybe he tripped over a rock. He tried to get up, but his arms felt weak.
"Heh...heh...heh..."
The mutated goblin, breathing heavily but looking much better than Kim Jun-kyu, slowly approached.
"Please... someone... help..."
Is this how I die?
Because of a simple mistake of provoking a large goblin?
He had always imagined dying of old age. Facing death now was nauseating, terrifying, and suffocating.
"Please..."
"Heh heh..."
Just as the large goblin was about to strike, something pierced through it.
Whoosh!
The goblin's movement halted. Slowly, it bent forward.
"...What?"
No, it wasn’t just bending. Its upper body was being severed from its lower half.
Splatter!
Green blood splashed everywhere.
"Are you okay? Get up."
Then, a savior appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The sunlight formed a halo around him, obscuring his face, but the blade dripping with green blood was clearly visible.
"Th...thank you..."
Did this man save me?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you...
Unable to voice his gratitude due to his choked-up throat, he repeated the words in his mind.
"This one also has an F-rank trait. It won't merge."
The savior muttered to himself, then his gaze fixed on Kim Jun-kyu.
"What's your name?"
"Kim Jun-kyu... I am Kim Jun-kyu."
Answering with a cracked voice, the savior gently grabbed his shoulder.
"It's tough, isn't it, Jun-kyu?"
"...Yes."
It's so hard.
His two close friends were dead.
He was nearly killed, barely saved at the last moment.
The tower wasn't a simple RPG where you could hunt leisurely.
It was a survival of the fittest.
Facing this brutal reality, Kim Jun-kyu's spirit broke.
"I'm so weak... I'm sorry..."
He hung his head in shame.
But the savior, with a compassionate smile, comforted him.
"It's okay."
"...What?"
"It's okay to be weak."
"But..."
In this tower, if you're weak, you can't survive.
Kim Jun-kyu was now afraid of battles. He wasn't even sure if he could defeat the weakest goblin.
If he didn't kill, he wouldn't get food or water. Kim Jun-kyu felt doomed. "No."
The savior shook his head gently.
"You can survive even if you're weak. You can enjoy life even if you're weak."
"But how..."
With a mysterious gesture of his finger, the savior pointed in a certain direction.
"Go back."
"...Pardon?"
"Go back to where you started."
He tenderly caressed my back with his warm hand.
"There, you'll find a warm place to rest, food and water, and people who will welcome you."
It sounded like a sweet promise, almost as if he was describing a paradise.
"...Yes."
All Kim Jun-kyu could do was nod in agreement.
Choi Ji-won.
Let's see how many people you can save on your own.