Gates Turned Out to Be Surprisingly Decent Places

"Hey, Joo So-jeong. You know Gates pop up when a Tower collapses, but they can also appear even if nobody climbs a Tower. Know why?"

"I'm not interested."

"The thing is, Towers are basically prisons for monsters, and Awakeners climb them to reduce the number of monsters constantly spawning inside! There's even footage of a Tower left in a ruined country turning entirely into a Gate!"

"Is that so?"

"...You're not listening to me, are you?"

Jeon Su-yeong glanced back after crushing a lycanthrope's head with her grimoire, her voice tinged with disappointment.

Whether or not she was listening, So-jeong was busy fighting werewolf-type monsters alongside Sawako.

Even though she could listen while fighting, So-jeong only gave halfhearted replies. Mi-reu smiled bitterly and grabbed the face of a charging satyr, squeezing hard enough to crush its head.

"You have to understand. So-jeong doesn't care about anything unless it's related to something she wants. She might act a little differently if she's interested in it, though."

"So she wasn't really interested in Towers or Gates at all? Then how'd she end up climbing the 100-floor Tower?"...