Clearing the Nightmare 1st Floor

The Nightmare 1st Floor was cleared with only three hours left until the apocalypse! Humanity was given a new lease of life!

I had slept like the dead since yesterday afternoon and only woke up at dawn. I habitually fiddled with my phone.

Whether it was XTube news or portal site articles, everything was plastered with a single piece of news.

I tossed my phone onto my pillow and stretched.

“Ughhh…”

I feel quite refreshed right now.

It was natural, because a major hurdle had been overcome.

Though it was only an extension of life by one year, well…

Isn't it a good thing that I didn't die yesterday and get to live for another year? Hahaha.

It truly was a day that made me realize the preciousness of life.

“Ha…”

Right, one year.

Could it be that I'd have to challenge the 2nd Floor too?

Honestly, I felt it yesterday.

No one would be able to clear this.

The Nightmare Difficulty was simply not designed for humans to clear.

To be frank, I only barely cleared it thanks to my ability and a stroke of luck.

No, but now that I've cleared it, the 1st Floor might be different.

Since I cleared it, the 1st Floor is no longer an unknown, information-less hellhole.

If I share the information, wouldn't one or two people succeed in clearing it?

If the information is released, people will naturally prepare thoroughly based on it, and more Challengers will appear.

What if more people climb the Nightmare Difficulty that way?

Some other exceptional individual might clear the 2nd Floor and the 3rd Floor, and so on!

If you clear just the 1st Floor, your level goes up and you can use skills.

Then I wouldn't have to risk my life entering the Tower anymore.

I could get my peaceful daily life back.

I opened a feature I hadn't checked yesterday.

“Communication Window.”

The Climber Communication Window was where Climbers could chat with each other and post messages.

In short, it was a community exclusively for Climbers.

Since it was a reward obtained by clearing the 1st Floor, should I say it was exclusively for Climbers on the 2nd Floor and above?

[You have entered the Climber Communication Window for the first time.]

[Please set a nickname to use in the Climber Communication Window.]

[Once set, a nickname cannot be changed.]

A nickname, huh.

I fell into thought for a moment.

Even when playing games, I was the type to spend a long time just setting a character's nickname.

Ah, this is taking unnecessarily long again.

I'll just make something up.

['Person' is already in use.]

['Person123' is an available nickname.]

[Would you like to set your nickname as 'Person123'?]

[Your nickname has been set to 'Person123'.]

Once I finished setting my nickname, a window appeared before my eyes.

[Easy (30,561)]

[Normal (21,194)]

[Hard (3,935)]

[Nightmare (1)]

Four windows are divided by difficulty.

The numbers next to them were probably the counts of Climbers currently logged into the Communication Window.

As expected, I was the only one in Nightmare.

You can only post messages in the Communication Window of your assigned difficulty.

I tried entering the Easy Communication Window.

It seemed that while posting was only possible within one's own difficulty, viewing other difficulties was not restricted.

[997/1,000]

[1,000/1,000]

[652/1,000]

After entry, the Easy Communication Window was further divided into several channels.

Was the maximum number of people per channel a thousand, and these were the currently connected users?

I connected to the channel with the most people.

It seemed everyone was talking about the Nightmare 1st Floor clear.

[Pulip: Has the Nightmare Conqueror's identity still not been revealed?]

[Macaron: Must be an Unregistered Climber with no info. Otherwise, wouldn't there have been an announcement already?]

[Klestin: It hasn't even been a day yet.]

[Gyeranbap: The National Level might be hiding them to protect their identity.]

[Peter3: True, it would cause a huge stir if they were revealed.]

[Warrior of the Tower: Still, shouldn't they release the 1st Floor information? Conscientiously, for the sake of the world?]

[RollingTwist: What kind of talk is that to the Savior who extended Earth Service by 1 Year? Conscience?]

[Mr. Kim: Seriously, I'm curious what came out that 40,000 people died trying to clear.]

[Piksukwatur: The most curious thing is what country they're from.]

[Sangangbada: Obviously Chinese.]

[Hongcha: Oh, stop fantasizing.]

So this was how it worked.

It was a forum where climbers from all over the world could gather and converse.

The fact that everything appeared in Korean meant the Tower was probably employing some Real-time Translation Ability, but it wasn't particularly surprising.

After all, the Tower's Message would appear in everyone's respective languages anyway.

By the way, everyone seemed to have a great interest in me.

An Unregistered Climber…

In fact, it was illegal in our country for a Climber not to register.

What would happen if I came forward now and registered as a Climber, revealing to the nation that I was the Nightmare Conqueror?

There were advantages.

A Climber who clears the 1st Floor and awakens his or her Status Window can acquire skills and enter the Tower with items.

Since all rewards from the Tower can be brought out, not only magic stones but also skill stones and items are traded.

If I informed the Government, I could receive investment, whether it's skill stones or items, or whatever.

But would it be free?

Ultimately, it would mean having to keep challenging the Nightmare Difficulty.

“That’s a bit much.”

I shook my head.

Once revealed, it would be irreversible.

Moreover, the responsibility was too heavy.

I didn't have any grand mission or anything.

I just challenged the 1st Floor out of desperation, like grasping at a straw when everyone else was dying.

If possible, I didn't want to keep climbing the Tower.

But if I revealed myself as the Nightmare Conqueror, I would no longer be able to return to a normal daily life in any way, regardless of my will.

Various factors considered, it was better not to register at all.

[Tulip: Hey, the Nightmare Communication Window has a '1' next to it.]

[Frigg: ?]

[Cheesecake: Oh my god, it's true?]

[Blue Wolf: It seems our Nightmare Conqueror has finally logged into the Communication Window?]

[Pulip: No posts have appeared yet.]

The conversation suddenly sped up.

I ended up closing the Communication Window.

While I was watching, dawn broke without my realizing it.

When I came out of my room, my father was watching TV in the living room, and my mother was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. I guess I was a bit tired yesterday.”

My father seemed to be in a good mood.

Morning news was on TV.

The content was, of course, about the Nightmare clear.

“Tsk, what on earth is going to happen to the world…”

My father clicked his tongue.

A world where Humanity's Fate was extended by a year with each Floor Clear of the Tower.

It had indeed become a ridiculous world.

- It is reported that new people have once again received the Call of the Tower simultaneously with the clearing of the 1st Floor of All Difficulties of the Tower. Just like on the Day of Upheaval a year ago, a total of 400,000 people received the call this time as well…

My father asked while watching TV.

“Seohyeon, you didn’t get it, did you?”

“Huh? No, I didn’t.”

“Good. Even if by some chance you become a Climber, you must never think of climbing the Tower.”

“Oh, me? No way. What’s the point of earning a lot of money? One wrong move and you die.”

I replied with a good-natured laugh.

“Right. If so, that’s a relief. Nothing in the world is more precious than a human life.”

*I completely agree, Father.*

But well, this is how it turned out.

That’s why I could never tell my family. It’s obvious how worried they would be.

“Are you going to work today?”

“Of course. I’m the boss, so I have to.”

After breakfast, my father left for work, and my younger sibling also went to school, as it wasn't a holiday.

The world almost ended just yesterday, but it was as if nothing had happened. It is truly an amazing country.

“Seohyeon, aren’t you going to school today?”

“I’m leaving at 1 PM.”

I also had afternoon classes.

I sat down at my desk in my room and reconnected to the Communication Window.

[Nightmare (1)]

The Nightmare Communication Window, with only me in it, was empty and desolate.

Before logging out, I planned to upload information about the Nightmare 1st Floor.

I sincerely hoped that by reading this, more Nightmare Conquerors would appear.

*…Is it wrong to hope for that?*

Honestly, what I went through yesterday was not something a human should have to do.

But even if I didn't wish for it, there would be people who would challenge it, wouldn't there? This time too, the number of people increased.

I was just lucky.

How could I bear this heavy burden alone?

To prevent the world from ending, many more Nightmare Difficulty Conquerors were absolutely necessary.

This was information for them.

I organized the content in my head and began writing the post.

* * *

After the clearing of the Nightmare 1st Floor, the world was busy recovering from the chaos.

The world hadn't ended, but the Fear of Ruin people felt before the 1st Floor was cleared was nothing short of a pandemic.

The financial markets were a mess, and not a few people ran around proclaiming the end of the world, leading to total chaos in society. The Republic of Korea was in a relatively good state.

But that was that, and they had to prepare for what was next.

The Apocalyptic Crisis hadn't disappeared; it had merely been postponed by one year.

“We stood at a critical juncture. Humanity's Fate was like a candle in the wind before the Unknown Threat of the Tower, and everyone prayed for a miracle. And indeed, a miracle occurred.

As the President of the United States, I express my immeasurable gratitude and respect to the Hero who succeeded in clearing the Nightmare 1st Floor. Now, we see hope. One year is a long time. To ensure such a situation never happens again, our Government will do its utmost to clear the Nightmare Difficulty, more actively and desperately than ever before.”

Meanwhile, everyone was frantically searching for the Climber who cleared the Nightmare 1st Floor.

“Still no announcement?”

“What about China or India?”

“Everyone’s quiet. Could it really be an Unregistered Climber?”

“They said someone logged into the Climber Communication Window? Has anything been posted?”

This was the only person who had cleared the Nightmare 1st Floor, which has been shrouded in mystery until now.

That person was the Forefront of Humanity's Hope.

And the information about the Nightmare 1st Floor that they held was of immeasurable value.

What if a specific country intended to keep the Nightmare Conqueror's identity a secret? Or what if it was an Unregistered Climber who had no intention of revealing their identity? What if it intended to monopolize the information, whatever the case?

Only a day had passed, but it was natural for everyone to be anxious.

And around noon.

“It’s, it’s up!”

“They just released the Nightmare 1st Floor information? Really?”

A post suddenly appeared in the empty Nightmare Communication Window.

[Person123: Nightmare 1st Floor Clear Information.]

The post began with that concise sentence, without any superfluous words.