The Tower's Master (3)

I had no idea how to explain to him that I was there, even if he couldn't see me.

[First of all, I'm standing in front of you…]

"..."

[Stop it with that serious expression, it's just that you can't see me… I think.]

"Then just show yourself to me."

[You think I'd be acting like this if I could do that?]

Even while we were talking, I'd been diligently waving my hand in front of his face. But even though I was right in front of him, he kept staring blankly into space.

I was wondering if I should try to touch his hand like I did earlier, but I decided against it. I didn't want to cause any misunderstandings over nothing, and it was obvious that it wouldn't work anyways. He'd just begun to calm down a little bit, and I didn't have the patience to soothe him again if he freaked out due to a mysterious touch.

"You're not going to kill me or anything, are you?"

[No. Even if I had a reason to, I don't think that I can lay a hand on you in this state anyways.]

He sighed in relief, as if my words took a weight off of his chest.

"Are you a ghost?"

[Well, dunno.]

I was definitely a human, but I didn't think I needed to explain all that to him at the moment. Even if my soul was like that of a god's, the essence and memory that my soul was pursuing, as well as the body of Kang Han-kyul, were all 100% pure human.

He rolled his eyes at my answer, as if to indicate that he had no idea how to respond to that. He then grimaced, as if the pain of his wounds was belatedly catching up to him.

I didn't know about his other wounds, but the one on his shoulder where a goblin had bitten him looked pretty severe.

'It looks like it'll fester if left alone too.'

Since a monster's immune system was obviously different from a human's, the chance of infection was also high.

Of course, I'd also been bitten by a goblin in the past. Fortunately, the berries that I'd been chewing on without knowing anything about them had acted as a medicinal herb and saved my life.

Maybe I was being meddlesome, but I didn't want to leave this guy to die… He reminded me of what I'd been like in the past.

On top of that, though I'd only spent a brief period of time with them, I felt guilty for losing those guys that I'd called my teammates.

While I was contemplating on how I could help this guy, as he was still gasping for air in front of me, I unexpectedly found a new function I could use. 

[Gift]

You can send a gift to a certain target.

However, every time you send a gift, the target's Merit Points will be consumed. You cannot send gifts that exceed the amount of Merit Points they have.

Available gift targets: Yoo Ji-han

Items that can be gifted: Small healing potion (12), Small magic power potion (30), Painkillers (5)

[Is your name by chance Yoo Ji-han?]

At my question, Ji-han's eyes went wide as if to ask how I knew that.

[Is your name by chance Yoo Ji-han?]

At my question, Ji-han's eyes went wide as if to ask how I knew that.

"Ghost…"

[I told you, I'm not a ghost.]

I'd suspected it because he was able to speak the language, but I was happy to find out that he really was Korean.

I selected [Yoo Ji-han] as the gift target.

[Yoo Ji-han]

Merit Points: 20

I selected one small healing potion as well as a painkiller.

[18 Merit Points will be consumed to gift a small healing potion and a painkiller to 'Yoo Ji-han'.]

[18 Merit Points have been acquired.]

"What…? What is this?"

From his reaction, I assumed that the gift notification had arrived smoothly. Confused by the sudden notification because he still couldn't see me, Ji-han looked around in bewilderment. 

Man, I said I wasn't standing in that direction.

'Looks like he doesn't know how to check that it arrived.'

It was easy enough to send him a gift, but of course I couldn't know what things looked like on his end of the system.

[Listen, can you open something like a status window or an inventory screen?]

"What? Status window? Inventory? What kind of video game terminology… Wait, I think those damn bastards that threw me in here said something like that…"

[Whatever, just open it.]

"How do you open it?"

[Focus your concentration in one place and visualize it like you're seeing it in front of you.]

Yoo Ji-han closed his mouth tightly.

He shot a look in my general direction as if to ask me what the hell I was talking about.

As I kept up my silence, Yoo Ji-han reluctantly did as I told him.

"What is this… Wait, there's something in my inventory…"

As soon as Ji-han reached out and touched the inventory screen, the healing potion and painkiller appeared in his hand.

"Did you send me this gift?"

[What does it look like? Don't worry about it, just hurry and eat it, you might really die at this rate.]

More precisely, I couldn't say that it was entirely my doing because it was Yoo Ji-han's Merit Points that had been consumed, but I didn't feel like explaining all of that, so I just dodged the question.

Even though I'd given him the potion and painkiller, Yoo Ji-han stood still for a while just holding the medicine in his hand. Ji-han tilted his head then spoke out.

"Honestly, I'd rather… ugh! die like this…"

I followed his line of sight to the dead goblin's corpse. He put on a brave face as he stared at it, but only a couple seconds later, he tightly screwed his eyes shut and shook his head.

I sat down on the ground in between Yoo Ji-han and the goblin.

"Huh? I can't see the corpse anymore,"

[What are you talking about, it's right behind me.]

I slightly turned to look at the corpse while I responded, while Yoo Ji-han stared, bewildered.

Points that had been consumed, but I didn't feel like explaining all of that, so I just dodged the question.

Even though I'd given him the potion and painkiller, Yoo Ji-han stood still for a while just holding the medicine in his hand. Ji-han tilted his head then spoke out.

"Honestly, I'd rather… ugh! die like this…"

I followed his line of sight to the dead goblin's corpse. He put on a brave face as he stared at it, but only a couple seconds later, he tightly screwed his eyes shut and shook his head.

I sat down on the ground in between Yoo Ji-han and the goblin.

"Huh? I can't see the corpse anymore,"

[What are you talking about, it's right behind me.]

I slightly turned to look at the corpse while I responded, while Yoo Ji-han stared, bewildered.

He picked up his injured body to walk around me, and returned, frowning, to his original position. No doubt because the corpse was really still there.

"If I sit here, I can't see it. What's going on?"

[It's probably because I'm sitting in between you and the corpse.]

Although he couldn't see me, it looked like I wasn't completely see-through. This was just a guess, but I suspected that, through Yoo Ji-han's eyes, he could only see an ordinary landscape instead of the goblin corpse.

[If you're not going to eat that, I'll take it back.]

"You can't just take back a gift!"

[You said you were just going to die here. What does a dead person need medicine for?]

"I said it might be better to die here, not that I was going to!"

[Are you in your teenage rebellious phase?]

Yoo Ji-han was still just turning the potion and painkillers I gave him over and over in his hands.

What was this obstinacy…

'Well, I guess I used to be difficult too.'

The first time I murdered a living thing.

A world where nothing was familiar.

It wasn't that I didn't understand Yoo Ji-han's feelings. The feeling that even if there was the possibility that I could survive, it might just be better if I curled up and died.

[It's shit, isn't it?]

"What?"

[Not knowing why this kind of thing happened to me, thinking that I don't even know what I did wrong to be thrown into such a place. Not knowing if I'll be able to survive, even if I somehow manage to leave this place.]

At my words, Yoo Ji-han nodded calmly.

I swear, I told you I'm not standing in that direction.

[But live anyways. Isn't it a waste to die like this?]

"What's a waste?"

[Anything, whatever ends up happening. At your age, there should be at least one thing you're proud of having worked hard to achieve. If you think about all you've done up to now, it'd be a waste to die here. Don't you have anything like that?]

At my question, Yoo Ji-han thought for a long time before responding.

"I do… have something."

[What is it?]

"I'm really close to a LoL rank promotion."

I didn't think I'd be hearing about LoL today. 

As I kept my mouth shut, Yoo Ji-han kept muttering to himself.

"Yeah, well, what would you know."

Getting the feeling that he was disregarding my words, I thought maybe I could say something else to uplift him. But at the same time, he started to speak again.

"I guess I'm not in the right state of mind either, considering I'm talking to a guy who I can hear but I can't even see."

[I keep telling you, I'm right in front of you.]

"What am I supposed to do if I still can't see you? But… seeing as the goblin corpse is hidden, I guess I get the sense that there's at least something sitting in front of me. Urk…"

Yoo Ji-han grabbed his trembling shoulders. Inside of Ji-han's head, he was probably thinking hard about whether or not he should drink the potion that he was clutching inside of his hand. 

[Drink it. Survive. Even if I didn't tell you to, you'll probably be forced to drink it in about 30 minutes. But nothing good is going to come out of being stubborn.]

Discord Link: https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

* * *

"What should I do if I survive?"

[You can do whatever you want. You can go back to your original world and rank up in your game, or if not, you can find the bastards that put you here and give them a good punch in the face.]

Yoo Ji-han gripped the potion tightly.

There were so many things that I wanted to ask him.

Things like why a Korean person like Yoo Ji-han was in a place like this, or what the hell had happened in this tower.

"Hey, who even are y—"

[A dimensional rift has occurred.]

Even before Ji-han could finish his sentence, the space around me started to warp.

[You have acquired administrative privileges to the 1st Floor Lobby.]

[Teleporting to the lobby.]

"Great timing."

It looked like I'd spent too much time talking about useless things.

I looked around at the place called the lobby. Inside of the large, circular space there was a small village.

The place looked close to deserted, with every house looking like it'd been quite a while since a person had lived inside of it. When I lightly touched a wooden building, the whole structure collapsed in a heap.

"Cough, cough…whew. What kind of lobby is this?"

If you were going to give me administrative rights, you might as well give them all to me at once.

In the center of the lobby, there was a portal with a huge magic circle drawn inside. It especially caught my eye as it was the only structure made of stone amidst all the wooden buildings.

As soon as I touched it, information appeared in front of my eyes.

[Portal]

Enter this portal to challenge the Tower of Trials.

"I knew it."

My hypothesis was correct. After stepping down from the portal, I checked my status window again.

e drawn inside. It especially caught my eye as it was the only structure made of stone amidst all the wooden buildings.

As soon as I touched it, information appeared in front of my eyes.

[Portal]

Enter this portal to challenge the Tower of Trials.

"I knew it."

My hypothesis was correct. After stepping down from the portal, I checked my status window again.

[Dimension Management]

Name: Tower of Trials

Description: A master-less dimension that was dumped into the dimensional trash can. What kind of insane god would want to have a dimension like this?

Dimension Conquest Rate: 1%

History (+See more)

1st Floor: Goblin Village cleared. Met a Korean person who entered the tower in the past as a result of dimensional distortion. No matter what I did, it looked like I couldn't get him to see me. He looked like an ordinary high school student, but the injury he sustained from fighting the goblin looked pretty severe. For now, I gave him medicine as a gift, but I have no idea what will happen to him. The next time I meet him, I hope he's still alive.

As if it was reflecting my thoughts, the history record was written in a casual and disorganized manner. Well, it's not like anything written here was wrong.

There was one more thing that had changed.

'The Dimensional Conquest Rate has risen by 1%.'

Simply put, I could conclude that each floor was 1% of exploration. I would get administrative privileges every time I ascended the tower, but that meant that I would have to clear each floor at least once.

The road ahead of me really was long.

[Do you wish to leave the Tower of Trials? You can return at any time after exiting the tower.]

"Yes."

[Leaving the Tower of Trials.]

'I'll have to check out what's happened in the world outside.'

After pressing the confirm button on the status window, I closed my eyes, then opened them again.

"Goddamn it."

What greeted me was none other than an enormous gorge. It really was like I was standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon.

If I'd stepped forward without thinking, I would've plummeted to my death. I looked slightly further upwards. 

From below, I could see the figures of Hunters.

"Hello!! There's someone down here!"

"What's that sound…Oh! I found them!"

The Hunters that stuck their heads out to check that I was there soon got busy moving to come help me. 

Seoul Hunter Association.

Two middle-aged men were investigating me.

"So you're saying you cleared the dungeon, and then suddenly you were transported to the next dungeon?"

"Yes."

"Your party should've been there with you, did you see the other members of your party?"

"Didn't my party members also come over with me?"

"I'm sorry to say, but the only one we found in the dungeon was you."

Ah, how unlucky.

As I sat there with my mouth closed, the two of them stared at me with thinly-veiled suspicion.

I started to put on my best pitiful act.

"Ah…But I-I really don't know anything about that! Ahh, I thought I could finally start acting like a real hunter… What happened? Then does that mean the party members that went in with me are all dead? What the hell happened? How could something like this happen?"