Chapter 1
Life Easy Mode.
If I had to describe my life, that would be it.
Because I had a superpower.
Not as a metaphor, but a real superpower.
"Dad, Dad."
"Hm? Hold on a second, Seohyeon. Dad is busy."
"Why don't you stop and think? Then time won't pass."
"...? Now, now, I'll play with you as soon as I finish this game, so go over there for a bit."
"Nooo~! You don't have much time left, Dad! I said stop and think!"
Was there a time when I was young and got scolded harshly for bothering my dad while he was playing Online Janggi on the computer?
Up until kindergarten, I didn't know.
I thought everyone else could naturally do what I could because I was young.
My parents just brushed it off as the strange ramblings of a child with a rich imagination.
As I gradually grew older, I realized that I was different from others.
Whenever I wanted it in my mind, the world stopped.
The people and objects in front of me all halted, and time stopped.
Time Stop Ability.
But then again, it wasn't all that amazing.
Because it wasn't the kind of overpowered ability people usually imagine, but rather a half-measure.
When time stopped, I couldn't move either.
I could only stay still and think.
Of course, that alone was enough to live life easily.
"Are you home, Seohyeon? Did your midterm scores come out?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, I got one wrong in science."
"Really? What about the other subjects?"
"I got them all right."
"Hoho, that's my boy! I'm so proud of you~."
Studying was the easiest thing in the world.
For me, it really was.
A part I couldn't understand while studying?
I would stop time and think until I understood it.
If there were a lot to memorize?
I would also stop it until I memorized everything.
If I idled around and an exam was right around the corner?
I just had to study intensely the night before, stopping and resuming my studies.
Other people's single minutes and seconds could be as fruitful for me as an hour.
Of course, when taking an exam, I was the only one without a time limit.
If there was a problem I couldn't solve, I just had to stop time and think it over.
In that way, my grades have always been at the very top of the school since elementary school.
Besides that, the minor uses for my ability in daily life were endless.
You could say it was like a pause function in a game.
When you pause a game, the character can't move either, but the player in reality can keep thinking, so technically, this is a more accurate comparison.
Wouldn't it be a useful ability when fighting, too?
I had never been in a fight in my entire life.
I had absolutely no interest in using my body, so I never really utilized my ability in sports either.
I just grew up as an ordinary model student.
And today was CSAT Day.
"Don't be nervous. Okay? Just relax your mind."
"Yes. I'll be going now."
I arrived at the testing center in my parents' car.
I waved to the two of them, who seemed more nervous than I was, and entered through the main gate.
As always, I took the exam with a light heart and returned home.
"I'm home."
After eating dinner, I downloaded the answer sheet and graded my test.
The results came out as expected. A perfect score.
Of course, I had worked hard too.
Even without time pressure, you need the ability to solve all the problems to get a perfect score.
I hummed a tune and stretched.
"SNU College of Medicine, you're a piece of cake."
Ah, so easy, so easy.
Doesn't my conscience prick me for being the only one using a cheat when everyone else must have worked hard?
What can you do?
Life is inherently unfair.
Even so, there's no reason not to use such a good ability when I was born with it.
Anyway, now I just have to play to my heart's content and prepare for the medical school interview, and that's it.
My life has been smooth sailing up until now, and it will continue to be so in the future.
I was just about to open my door and step out to share the good news with my family.
Suddenly, a vibration rang out.
Kugugugugu.
I urgently grabbed the corner of my desk and regained my balance.
I could hear my family's urgent voices from outside as well.
What is happening all of a sudden? An earthquake?
An earthquake this strong hit Korea?
I didn't even have time to continue my thoughts.
Something appeared in the empty air before my eyes.
[The Tower calls the Climbers.]
[You have received the Tower's Call.]
[The difficulty you have been assigned is 'Nightmare'.]
[Easy]
Personnel: 100,000
Time Limit: 364 days 23 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[Normal]
Personnel: 100,000
Time Limit: 364 days 23 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[Hard]
Personnel: 100,000
Time Limit: 364 days 23 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 100,000
Time Limit: 364 days 23 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[If the time limit is exceeded, the Tower's Curse will descend.]
[Upon the time limit being exceeded for Easy difficulty, 10% of humanity will die.]
[Upon the time limit being exceeded for Normal difficulty, 20% of humanity will die.]
[Upon the time limit being exceeded for Hard difficulty, 50% of humanity will die.]
[Upon the time limit being exceeded for Nightmare difficulty, 99% of humanity will die.]
[Will you enter Nightmare difficulty, 1st Floor?]
I just stared at the messages popping up one after another with uncontrollably trembling eyes.
* * *
November 13, 2025.
The world underwent a cataclysm.
Strong earthquakes occurred worldwide over a short period.
Along with them, a massive tower-shaped structure surged up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A small number of people received the Tower's Call.
At least, that was according to the expression in the messages that appeared before their eyes.
Easy, Normal, Hard, Nightmare.
100,000 people were chosen for each of the four difficulties.
The people who received the Tower's Call were called 'Climbers'.
The Climbers could each enter the difficulty they were assigned.
A Black Tower had appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but it was merely a structure with no entrances, making physical entry impossible.
Climbers could enter the tower anytime, anywhere, if they wanted to.
People with a strong sense of adventure climbed the tower first.
It was quickly revealed that Clearing a floor extends the time limit by one year.
The tower warned humanity that a curse would descend when the time limit ran out.
The Easy was 10% of humanity.
Normal was 20% of humanity.
50% of Humanity was Hard.
...And Nightmare, which I was assigned, would result in 99% of Humanity dying.
It was a warning that had not yet been realized, as it hadn't been a year since the Day of Upheaval.
national governments moved busily.
It was inevitable, as they were suddenly facing the end of humanity.
Just watching the news made every single day a spectacle.
The Government of Korea also urged climbers to make a voluntary registration to the nation as soon as possible.
They enacted laws, established facilities and organizations, and stated they would spare no support for climbing the tower.
I did not report that I had become a climber.
I merely watched the daily progress status through the floating text before my eyes.
[Easy]
Personnel: 95,361
Time Limit: 9 years 237 days 11 hours 52 minutes 06 seconds
Reached Floor: 10th Floor
[Normal]
Personnel: 94,022
Time Limit: 5 years 237 days 11 hours 52 minutes 06 seconds
Reached Floor: 6th Floor
[Hard]
Personnel: 96,081
Time Limit: 2 years 237 days 11 hours 52 minutes 06 seconds
Reached Floor: 3rd Floor
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 97,910
Time Limit: 237 days 11 hours 52 minutes 06 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
They say climbers get stronger as they climb the tower.
Like a game, their levels rise, they use a skill, and they gain power beyond human limits.
The progression was fastest for Easy difficulty.
It was said that the enemy encountered on the Easy difficulty 1st Floor was a single goblin.
They had already reached the 10th Floor, so Easy's time limit had accumulated to over 9 years.
Normal and Hard had also reached the 6th Floor and 3rd Floor, respectively.
Nightmare difficulty was the only one where even the 1st Floor hadn't been cleared yet.
It was a story that had absolutely nothing to do with me.
I had absolutely no intention of climbing the tower.
Why would I? Am I crazy?
Once you enter the tower, you cannot leave unless the current floor is cleared.
In other words, if you fail to clear, you die.
Just look at the progress status of Nightmare difficulty.
Out of the 2,000 people who had entered so far, not a single one succeeded, and they all died.
Since no one returned alive, there was also no revealed information whatsoever.
It's just throwing your life away.
Since it's normal for a person to value his or her life, Nightmare difficulty had a significantly lower number of people who had entered so far compared to the other difficulties.
Still, someone will succeed eventually.
There are still over 200 days left on the time limit, right?
With that thought, I devoted myself solely to my daily life.
I entered medical school and continued my college life.
The world was changing very rapidly on one side, but the majority of people still led normal daily lives.
This wasn't turning a blind eye.
I was just an unlucky person who got caught up in it.
Someone will do it. Someone...
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 94,936
Time Limit: 135 days 1 hour 6 minutes 32 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 92,571
Time Limit: 56 days 21 hours 18 minutes 56 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 87,920
Time Limit: 10 days 3 hours 43 minutes 23 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
.
.
.
However, time passed.
Before I knew it, however, the Collapse Deadline had approached right before my eyes.
Surprisingly, no one managed to do it.
- The time limit for Nightmare difficulty has approached within a week. The US government, which announced it is considering a direct nuclear strike on the Tower of the Pacific...
- The unclimbed personnel for Nightmare difficulty are still over 80,000, and...
The news clamored every day about whether the world would perish like this.
national governments offered all sorts of benefits and urged Nightmare climbers to challenge the 1st Floor, but it didn't seem to have much effect.
Korea was relatively fine, but overseas, riots and violent incidents surged almost daily.
- Wow, fuck, is Humanity really going to perish?
- Not perish, 1 percent will live
- No, what are the Nightmare difficulty climbers doing?
- The world is about to end, but they say over 80,000 still haven't entered. Fucking selfish bastards, seriously
- Would you challenge a difficulty that no one could clear while over ten thousand people got ground up? lol
- Are you a Nightmare Climber?
- Shouldn't the government somehow track them all down and force them to challenge it?
- Say something that makes sense
- Other than voluntary registration, there's no way to find them if they just keep their mouths shut
It was full of nothing but those kinds of stories, even when one looked around the comments on the internet.
"The end is coming! Those without faith will fall to Hell...!"
Yesterday, while walking down the street, I saw strange people walking around shouting with a loudspeaker.
It was the end of days.
Not just as a saying, but the end of the world was truly approaching.
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 77,105
Time Limit: 3 hours 36 minutes 7 seconds
Reached Floor: 1st Floor
The time limit was the final day.
The surviving personnel decreased rapidly.
Even now, it is decreasing in real time.
I understood how everyone felt.
They must feel that there's nothing they can do anymore.
Even so, the reached floor still hadn't changed.
A whopping 20,000 people challenged it, and no one succeeded?
Are you kidding me? Is it even possible to clear?
I kept letting out hollow laughs as I looked at the numbers before my eyes.
"Hah..."
99% of Humanity is perishing.
About 8 billion humans will die.
It's not that absolutely everyone dies.
Still, it was a staggering figure that would clearly ruin the world.
If I hadn't been chosen, at least I wouldn't have had to agonize over it.
Other people would just accept death like this.
But I had the option to at least grasp at straws.
"I don't want to die either, fuck..."
I don't want to die.
It's not just simply dying, either.
If I enter the tower, I don't know what kind of gruesome and painful death I might face.
I just want to wait and pray that someone will succeed within the remaining 3 hours.
I want to pin my hopes on the 1% chance of survival, at the very least.
But what would that amount to?
Could my family, including me, all survive on that slim chance?
...Such a miracle won't happen.
Would 99% of Humanity really die just because the time limit runs out? Does that make sense?
I tried to deny reality.
But I knew.
Whether it made sense or not didn't matter.
Ever since the day the tower surged up, the world's common sense had long been twisted.
I sat in front of my desk with my eyes closed for a long time.
Eventually, I opened my eyes and stood up.
I placed the will I had written in advance into my desk drawer and set an alarm on my phone.
When I changed my clothes and came out of my room, my father, mother, and younger sibling were all gathered in the living room.
"...Where are you going?"
"I just want to get some fresh air for a bit."
"Alright. Don't come back too late."
My Mother smiled weakly.
My younger sibling has been continuously sniffling for a while now.
A [Countdown Display] as large as a door, ticking down, was shown on the turned-on TV screen, and the news anchor was chattering busily.
My father spoke as if making a request.
"You have to come back soon. Let's at least have one last dinner together as a family."
"Yes. I'll be right back."
But I probably wouldn't be able to return.
They were quick-witted, so they didn't say anything unnecessary.
I had already written everything in the letter. If I couldn't return, the alarm would ring on time, and they would find and read it.
What meaning would it have in this situation, but still, shouldn't they at least know in the end why their son couldn't return?
Leaving the house, I walked down the deserted, quiet street.
I entered an alleyway and stared straight ahead.
[Will you enter Nightmare Difficulty: 1st Floor?]
It had been exactly one year since that day.
The message that popped up as soon as I made up my mind to enter appeared.
From now on, I am going to die.
Even so, I have no choice but to do it.
"...Enter. You fucking bastard."
Simultaneously with my murmur, the scenery before my eyes completely changed.