Chapter 57
After China cleared the First Branch Tower and the Second Branch Tower appeared in Mongolia, the communication window was noisy all day.
\[World Tree: China << Have these guys really lost their humanity?\]
\[Flying Squirrel: Millions of lives are on the line, yet they aren't doing any Information Sharing...\]
\[Gogigogi: Do they even have human hearts?\]
\[Ballpoint Pen: How can they be so selfish?\]
\[Number 39: I saw the news, and apparently they're telling Mongolia to hand over all their resources?\]
\[Lethe: Do they really want to act like that? Do they feel nothing even after seeing Person123?\]
The majority of people were cursing China for pressuring Mongolia without sharing the Branch Tower's information.
\[Black Tiger: Wang Kai risked his life for the First Clear, so do you guys even have the right to tell him what to do?\]
\[Rock Mountain: You should know that demanding information someone else worked hard to get for free is what's truly selfish.\]
\[Wildflower: What do you mean millions of lives. They have a week, so they can just leave the city.\]
\[Downstream: Why are you only cursing Wang Kai? Who among the Highest Floor Climbers is doing Information Sharing right now anyway.\]
\[Zhang Wei: Then go whine to Person123 to clear it for you, hehe.\]
And a few Chinese Climbers were defending him.
\[Huafeng: Mongolia should be thanking us. If it weren't for Wang Kai, how could they even solve it themselves?\]
\[Dododo: Man, if you don't want to negotiate, figure it out yourselves\~ You don't want this, you don't want that, what do you want us to do\~\]
\[Shooting Star: Shut up before I smash all you crazy Chinese bastards' heads in.\]
\[Gogigogi: They're shamelessly blabbering among themselves here.\]
\[Hada: Whoa, whoa, calm down, Mongolian friends. Have you all run away from Ulaanbaatar yet?\]
They were busy cursing and fighting with each other.
\[Battery: Will Person123 really not clear it for them...?\]
\[Cyclone: Going all the way to Mongolia, I mean.\]
\[Radiwe: Why not, there's a chance Person123 could be Mongolian, you know.\]
\[Chechek: I'm Mongolian, and Person123, please help us... Mongolia is on the verge of ruin right now!\]
\[Takoyaki: But is it true that Person123 can clear it? Isn't he Level 40 right now?\]
\[Tree: We don't know since Wang Kai isn't opening his mouth. If it's a difficulty that requires being around Level 50, it would be too much for Person123 too.\]
\[Amazon: Stop saying crazy things. Why would Person123 do a Branch Tower clear?\]
\[Salad: If something goes wrong with him, it's Humanity's Ruin.\]
With only arguments going back and forth, people ultimately just watched to see what would happen to Mongolia, while Mongolia, the party directly involved, was drying up with anxiety.
\[Second Branch Tower Deadline: 5 days, 8 hours, 9 minutes, 17 seconds\]
\[The Second Branch Tower has been cleared up to the Last Floor.\]
\[Time remaining until the Third Branch Tower Appearance: 5 days, 8 hours, 9 minutes, 16 seconds\]
That is, until the message suddenly popped up saying Mongolia's Branch Tower had been cleared.
\[Triangle: ?\]
\[Trial of Life: Oh, what's this\]
\[Lake: Did Wang Kai clear it?\]
\[Requiem: There hasn't been any news, though? Did Mongolia accept China's demands?\]
\[Oliver: Doesn't seem like it. It looks like Mongolia and China don't know either?\]
Mongolia, the party involved, quickly announced their stance that they themselves didn't know who had cleared the Branch Tower.
If a Climber from another Nation had cleared it, something should have been said, but everyone was hearing it for the first time.
The tower was cleared, but no one claimed to have cleared it?
Because of that, people couldn't help but know exactly who had cleared the Branch Tower.
\[Lion King: Ah... Could it be you again?\]
\[Cherry Pie: It is lol Who else would it be\]
\[Railroad: Person123! Person123! Person123! Person123! Person123!\]
\[Premium: If you cleared it, please tell us in the communication window that you cleared it, Mr. Person123...\]
\[Scales of Judgment: Simply the greatest Pacifist in human history, the GOAT\]
\[Chain: He's truly on a different level from the likes of Wang Kai\]
\[Terrace: Compare things that are actually comparable;\]
\[Berry Berry: These Chinese guys just became dogs chasing after chickens lmaoooo Man, that's refreshing\]
\[Ritmen: They got super greedy and ended up with nothing, bwahaha\]
\[Hero: Hey, but could Person123 actually be Mongolian...?\]
\[Whistle: He probably just went directly to Mongolia. If he were Mongolian, wouldn't he have cleared it faster?\]
As always, people praised him today, and China was busy being mocked.
CRASH!
A lavish Luxury Mansion.
Wang Kai threw the whiskey glass he was drinking from. Shattered glass and liquor scattered across the marble floor.
Li Wei, a Central Committee Member of the Party sitting opposite him, flinched in surprise before managing his expression. He asked, subtly demanding an explanation.
"What is the meaning of this? Didn't you say the difficulty was definitely not something Person123 could clear?"
"...That's what I'm saying. This is ridiculous."
Wang Kai muttered, his face dripping with irritation and anger.
"Isn't that bastard Level 40? It's a difficulty you'd need to be at least Level 50 to clear."
Whether there was a difference in difficulty between each Branch Tower, or if Person123 was much stronger than expected.
Having turned off the communication window with a boiling stomach after seeing the rampant mockery directed at him, he spoke to Li Wei as if giving an order.
"I get it, so I will unconditionally clear the next Branch Tower. Prepare everything so I can move there as quickly as possible the moment the Third Branch Tower appears."
"Ahem... I'll have to speak with the higher-ups first."
"What do you mean, speak with them? Are you not going to take the Mana Vein? I'll spoon-feed it all to you, so you guys just do your job and support me properly."
What an arrogant bastard. Li Wei cursed inwardly and nodded.
Person123 had suddenly intervened, causing them to absurdly lose the big catch they had already hooked in Mongolia, but just as Wang Kai said, China had to secure all the subsequent Branch Towers.
Now that a pesky interloper had started making moves, there was no longer any time to extract more through negotiations.
Given Person123's disposition, there was a high probability he would try to clear the next Branch Towers as well. Wang Kai had to clear them faster than him.
The Mana Vein Activation Rights that the Clearer obtained as a reward. As long as they possessed that, regardless of which Nation the Branch Tower was in, China could conduct the Share Negotiation of the Mana Vein from a position of superiority.
"Fuck, playing the Savior like it's some joke..."
Wang Kai thought to himself that he would clear the Third Branch Tower first and show him the difference in their levels.
Five days passed as they waited solely for the Third Branch Tower to appear.
\[The Third Branch Tower appears.\]
Surprisingly.
The Nation where the Third Branch Tower appeared was Japan.
Following China and Mongolia, it was the third consecutive Branch Tower Appearance in Northeast Asia alone. It was a staggering coincidence.
Regardless, it was a good coincidence for China. The distance wasn't that far, so they could quickly move into the Branch Tower's radius.
Wang Kai, who had been waiting at the airport, moved under the guidance of his Attendants the moment the message popped up.
Reservations? Security checks? When the Party flexed its power, such things were unnecessary.
He immediately secured a seat on the fastest flight heading to Sendai City, Japan, and boarded the plane.
Since they couldn't know which Nation the Branch Tower would appear in, this was the fastest method rather than using a private jet that required prior clearance.
\[The Third Branch Tower has been cleared up to the Last Floor.\]
"...??"
It was right after he sat down in his First-Class Seat on the plane.
Wang Kai took off his sunglasses upon seeing the incomprehensible message pop up before his eyes.
"What the fuck."
It had only been a little over 20 minutes since the Third Branch Tower appeared.
But what? Cleared?
Unless someone was already within the radius the moment the Branch Tower appeared, this speed was impossible.
Wang Kai, who was just standing there with his mouth open in sheer bewilderment, muttered in disbelief.
"Person123, this bastard..."
Was he actually a Japanese person?
---
The Third Branch Tower that appeared in Sendai City, Japan.
The Japanese Government didn't even have time to declare an emergency.
\[The Third Branch Tower has been cleared up to the Last Floor.\]
It was because it had been cleared less than half an hour after the tower appeared.
The communication window was in an uproar once again.
Person123 must have cleared it this time too, which was nothing surprising, but what fiercely ignited the controversy was the clear speed.
\[Reynold: He cleared it in less than 30 minutes?\]
\[Sugu: That's an impossible speed unless he was already in Japan...?\]
\[Firefly: Wait a minute, was Person123 actually a Japanese person?!\]
People murmured and chattered about whether Person123's nationality was actually Japanese.
Because unless that was the case, the speed made no sense.
Mongolia took two whole days to clear, but Japan took a mere 20 minutes.
Of course, he could have coincidentally gone on a trip to Japan and coincidentally happened to be within the Branch Tower's radius, but probabilistically, wouldn't such a case be slim?
The communication window blazed up, and in an instant, the atmosphere shifted to treating Person123 being a Japanese person as an established fact.
The ones most excited were the Japanese people.
\[Start: Person123 is a Japanese person? Is this real?\]
\[Takamura: Given the circumstances, the probability is very high...!\]
\[Monsoon: Then has a Japanese person of ours been saving Humanity all this time?\]
\[Ramen: Quite surprising (laughs)\]
\[Sword Ghost: I knew something was weird... It made no sense that Japan didn't have a single Nightmare Challenger yet.\]
\[Human Pass: It's not that we didn't have one, it's that he was from our Nation from the start.\]
\[Rhythm: I'm proud! Person123!\]
Person123, the Record Holder of Nightmare Difficulty and the Savior of Humanity, was actually a Japanese person?!
For the Japanese people, who, along with Korea, had yet to produce a single Nightmare Challenger, this was a lethal dose of national pride—and then some.
Worldwide news media also quickly reported this news as breaking news.
The World became noisy with the controversy over Person123 being a Japanese person.
---
After clearing the Second Branch Tower, returning home, and some time passing.
Absurdly enough, the Nation where the Third Branch Tower appeared was Japan.
What is this?
Is the land of Northeast Asia cursed or something?
Anyway, I prepared to fly to Japan the moment the tower appeared.
The distance to Sendai, Japan, was about 1,300 km. The required willpower was 130,000.
Charging Time was about 6,000 minutes, 100 hours.
Over the five days after clearing Mongolia's Branch Tower, the willpower I had charged in my spare time every day, excluding sleep, amounted to about 85 hours' worth.
This time, for the trip there, I only needed to charge 15 more hours' worth.
Though for the trip back, I'd have to start from scratch again.
I finished charging the Warp Device and immediately moved to Japan.
\[Successfully Cleared the 1st Floor.\]
\[Successfully Cleared the 2nd Floor.\]
\[Successfully Cleared the 3rd Floor.\]
.
.
.
The monsters on the Early Floors were no different.
But as I went up, things changed a bit starting from the 5th Floor.
The Minotaur changed into some Triceratops-like monster.
The bat swarm also changed into an Insect Swarm the size of birds instead of bats.
Only the monsters had changed; the difficulty itself was similar.
After clearing straight through and reaching the Last Floor, the 10th Floor, the boss that appeared was Dracula.
"Oh...?"
When I attacked with Flame Strike, his body turned into a pool of blood, scattered, and then reformed.
Wow... That looks pretty good?
His Physical Abilities themselves were lower than the Black Knight, the boss of the Second Branch Tower.
However, he seemed to be a tricky monster due to his annoying liquefaction ability.
Shoooo...
Of course, everyone was equal before the Line of Destruction.
Taking a direct hit, he vanished without leaving even a handful of blood behind.
\[The Third Branch Tower has been cleared up to the Last Floor.\]
\[Acquired ownership of the Third Branch Tower.\]
Lightly cleared the Third Branch Tower as well.
"Haa..."
The reason a sigh came out was this.
Because recharging the Warp Device to return was more of a torture than the Tower Clear itself.
I exited the tower.
In some unknown Japanese Forest, I repeatedly stopped time to recharge the Warp Device again, and returned home.
When I returned home, my Younger Sibling was lying on the sofa watching TV.
"...?"
As I was about to enter my room, the absurd news playing on the TV screen caught my eye.
- Japan's Branch Tower was cleared in less than 30 minutes. It is presumed that Person123 cleared this as well, and controversy is currently brewing over whether Person123 is a Japanese person...
What kind of nonsense is this.
"Person123 is a Japanese person...?"
My Younger Sibling also muttered in surprise while watching.
"Did you see? They say Person123 is a Japanese person!"
"Uh... Yeah. Right."
That's truly surprising.
I immediately understood why such ridiculous news was coming out.
It was because I cleared it too early.
Since I crossed over to Japan almost immediately after the Branch Tower appeared. Hmm, come to think of it, it's understandable that they'd misunderstand.
I checked the communication window once, and sure enough, it was in an uproar. I turned it right back off.
Ugh... Recharging the warp made me so damn tired.
I didn't pay it much mind and went into my room.
It was a misunderstanding that would be resolved immediately once I cleared the next Branch Tower anyway.
I'll just let them enjoy it for a bit.