Chapter 10
I’d given a clear warning to the fools being used by the Constellations.
I’d also had a good laugh watching the gallery go to hell and the mods and users collectively lose their minds.
Maybe it’s time to head back to the basement.
“You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah. I’ll come visit again, Mom.”
“All right. Make sure you come often. Here, take this with you, too.”
“What’s this?”
“Side dishes for you to eat, and clothes for my daughter to wear.”
“Why is there so much?”
A paper bag filled with my favorite side dishes and clothes for a girl.
But how many outfits had she bought?
There’s underwear, too?
“I just thought of you and bought some. Go put them on when you get there. Take off that weird jumpsuit.”
“Mom, this is my work uniform.”
“Is that so?”
She’d really gone out of her way for me.
Last time, after I went to buy underwear with Hyeji, she said she was sorry she hadn’t been able to get me any.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“It’s nothing. My so—daughter! Right, daughter. I keep getting confused.”
“....Um, Mom.”
“Yes?”
“It’s a little weird, isn’t it? That I suddenly became your daughter?”
“What is?”
“I mean, it’s strange. It can’t be easy to understand.”
“Cheonwoo, whether you’re my daughter or son doesn’t matter. You’re my child.”
“Mom...!”
My emotions spilled over!
Hot tears streamed down my face!
Was this what a parent’s love felt like?
“I’ll just think of it as my son growing up and living on his own while I raise a young daughter. Hehehe. Seeing Hyeji made me think it’d be nice to have a daughter like her.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So don’t worry about me. Go on, and be careful. Don’t get hurt, okay?”
“Okay...! I’ll do my best!”
I threw my arms around her—!
Thank you, Mom.
I’ll do my best!
I didn’t know when I’d get to come out again after going back in.
Since I didn’t know when I’d be able to come out again, I entered Floor -1, promising to visit her again someday.
******
Thump—!
“Ow. My butt.”
It’s still dark in here.
And creepy.
It really feels like a basement.
The office on Floor -2 and the library on Floor -3 are at least a little better.
I hate Floor -1. It’s gloomy and eerie every time I come here.
[The antipsychotic filter activates.]
That’s a little better.
Yeah, with the filter on, this place almost seems kind of cheerful.
“Popo? Kuku? I’m back! Where is everyone?”
But will they come when I call them?
Floor -1 is huge, after all.
What if they can’t find me?
Skitter-skitter-skitter.
“Huh...?”
It felt like bugs were crawling around.
I turned toward the strange presence, but...
There was nothing....
“Aaaah! There you are!!!”
What the hell is that?! Why is it clinging to the ceiling!!!
That scared the hell out of me.
“Hehe. Hi, Cheonwoo.”
“Y-you! What are you?”
“It’s me. Me. The guardian of Floor -1.”
“Oh...! That entity from before!”
The same face as mine.
The same build.
The same voice.
It was wearing the same outfit as when I first encountered it.
It looked like a complete rip-off of me!
So the guardian of Floor -1 was a doppelganger!
It had copied my appearance perfectly.
It looked so much like me, it gave me the creeps.
“Oh my, you’ve already met. Welcome, miss.”
“Welcome back, Boss! I’ve been waiting for you!”
Popo had arrived, along with Kuku, who was still standing at attention.
But why was Kuku calling me Boss?
Had we really become employer and employee?
Anyway, all my bodyguard entities were gathered in one place.
“Now, greet the Administrator like you were taught.”
“Uh... Ad-Administrator? Nice to meet you?”
“You’re supposed to say ‘Nice to meet you.’ Hmm? Are you going to keep disobeying?”
“S-sorry... It’s nice to meet you!!!”
“What is this...?”
The Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost was teaching the doppelganger.
I’m pretty sure that doppelganger just checked Popo’s reaction.
The doppelganger’s hand was trembling slightly!
That was clearly a terrified reaction...
“Um, Kuku.”
“Yes! What is it, Boss?”
“What happened yesterday? Why is that one so scared?”
“Oh, well, Popo ‘educated’ the guardian of Floor -1!”
“Educated...???”
“Hehe. This child knew so little, so I just taught them a few basic manners, miss.”
“J-just...?”
That didn’t sound basic at all.
It even looks like it wet itself a little.
What kind of lesson did Popo give it?
Don’t tell me she disciplined it with beatings and violence?
“For the record, I didn’t hit them or anything. Right, Kkingki?”
“Ugh... I-it’s true! It was a fun... game.”
A game!? Kkingki?
What had Popo done to an entity who looked exactly like me...?!
I think my brain’s going to break.
My antipsychotic filter is trembling like crazy.
“L-let me get this straight...”
“This is Kkingki, Boss!”
“Kkingki. So Kkingki, the guardian of Floor -1, is definitely on our side now?”
“Hehe... That’s right, miss. I’ve trained them well.”
When I looked at them all together, they seemed ridiculously overpowered.
Popo could clear Floor 40 all by herself.
And Kuku was on equal footing with Popo.
I didn’t know how strong Kkingki was, but they probably weren’t far behind those two.
‘Can anyone actually clear this?’
I don’t see how ordinary climbers stand a chance.
Wait. Why should I care about those people?
I don’t need to worry about them.
I’m the one being invaded.
Right. How is this the Administrator’s fault?!
It’s the Constellations’ fault for trying to invade the basement without permission!
The real problem was those bastards who lured the Seekers down here in the first place.
That made me feel much better.
If the intruders die, that’s not on me.
“All right! You three, protect the basement!”
“Hehe. Leave it to us, miss.”
“Then I’ll head down!”
“Sure~ See you later.”
“Take care, Boss!”
“Bye, Cheonwoo...!”
“You have to greet the Administrator properly.”
“B-bye-bye, Ad-Administrator...!”
I’ll leave the rest to you!
I’m going back to the break room.
I can just relax and wait for the results without thinking about anything.
While I’m waiting, I might as well eat some snacks and see what Hyeji’s up to.
From Floors 1 through 10, climbers have to choose one of four difficulty levels and climb alone.
Hyeji’s probably climbing the Tower all alone, feeling lonely.
Lazing around as a NEET while watching my friend work.
I can’t get enough of that.
******
The swamp zone on Floor 18 of the Tower of Trials.
In front of the Murder Lizard’s nest.
Fifteen people had gathered there.
====
Title: Basement Raid Party Recruiting
Posted by: I’llBecomeDust
Only people summoned by a Constellation can join.
Post the Constellation you worship in the comments, and I’ll invite you after verifying you.
====
Normally, climbers formed parties through Babel Gallery.
Once they formed a party, they could enter the same room on the same floor.
This was party climbing, which became possible starting from Floor 11.
And all fifteen climbers gathered here were Seekers who’d come at the command of their Constellations.
Their goal was to invade the basement and kill the Basement Administrator.
Only handpicked powerhouses had gathered here to carry out the mission.
Every one of them was proudly ranked among the world’s top 100.
“Everyone ready?”
“Of course. Let’s go in already.”
“I can hardly wait. Hehehehe.”
An unexplored zone where no one but the Basement Administrator had ever been allowed to go.
The Seekers thrilled at the thought of entering it.
“You don’t seem nervous at all.”
“Why should I be? The Administrator’s Korean, right? Why would I be nervous about some climber from a weak country? Plenty of people have gotten some lucky break, strutted around, and then died. Why be scared just because they have some weird ability?”
They looked down on their opponent simply because he was Korean.
In the Tower, being Korean had come to mean being weak.
Their contempt for the weak came naturally.
Even though they knew little about their opponent, the habits of the powerful were still ingrained in them.
“He’s right. The Constellation told me hunting the Administrator would be easy.”
“You can tell from how they spammed the gallery begging us not to come down. They must be shaking in fear at the thought of us coming. They’re definitely scared.”
“A frightened dog always barks the loudest.”
They were right.
The Administrator himself was weak.
“Come to think of it, I heard the Administrator’s a woman.”
“Really? Hehehe. Can I have a little fun with her before I kill her?”
“The Constellation said all we need to do is kill the Administrator.”
“Good. Now I’m even more excited.”
They felt more thrilled by the thought of playing with their opponent
than they felt afraid of entering an unknown place.
To the Tower’s rankers, an unknown place was simply somewhere to explore,
and a hidden room was a treasure trove of chances to grow stronger.
Accustomed to the Tower’s trials, they had little sense of fear.
They were in a state much like being dangerously careless about their own safety.
“We’re opening the basement’s back door now. Get inside before it closes.”
“Okay.”
“Got it. Hurry up and open it.”
Soon, the back door into the basement, which the Constellations had opened, swung wide.
The fifteen Seekers checked their weapons and entered the basement...
“This is the basement?”
“It’s not much.”
“They called it the other side of the Tower. Is this it? I thought it’d be like hell.”
The intruders switched on the lights attached to their shoulders and looked around.
A long, empty hallway.
It was dark and gloomy, but they sensed no particular threat.
This wasn’t what they’d expected.
The place was simply silent and desolate.
There was nothing here to frighten them.
“This is nothing compared to the ruins on Floor 50.”
“Tell me about it. Not compared to hordes of undead crawling out...”
Clunk.
“Hmm?”
“That sounded like a door opening.”
“Everyone, stop talking.”
Noah Johnson, who was leading the group, warned them.
The Seekers all fell silent,
and listened carefully to locate the source of the sound.
Click. Click.
The sound of metal striking metal.
It sounded like a pair of scissors snipping.
Faced with the strange noise, which had no place in a hallway like this, the basement intruders prepared for battle,
and someone appeared in the tense corridor.
[Am I pretty?]
SHRAAAK—!!!!
The mouth of the Seeker at the front was torn open.
The tragedy happened in an instant.
Not one of them could react.
Not one of them could fight back.
“A-an enemy!”
An enemy unlike any they’d seen before.
Entities didn’t appear on the Tower’s upper floors.
Entities were hostile creatures generated only in the basement.
The unknown was always frightening.
“U-uh... Aaaaaah!!!”
[Popo-popopopo.]
Before anyone knew it, a tall woman had crept up behind a terrified Seeker and lifted them off the ground.
With their head in her grasp, the Seeker screamed as they wet their pants.
They used their skills.
They swung their weapons.
They threw everything they had at her.
“M-monster...”
They couldn’t even scratch her.
By the time four of their companions had died in the blink of an eye,
the eleven remaining Seekers all had the same thought.
They had to run.
“D-don’t split up!”
Noah Johnson shouted at the others,
but none of them were in any state to listen to him.
Rankers who roamed the floors in the fifties were being torn apart and crushed without a chance to fight back.
It would’ve been strange not to be terrified.
They were monsters.
In the end, the Seekers ran in different directions,
down different corridors, through different doors.
The saying that you had to stick together to survive didn’t apply here.
If they stayed together, they’d only die together like dogs.
If they wanted to live, they had to run.
They had to keep fleeing until they escaped Floor -1.
“Hah... Hah... Shit... What was that? What the hell was that...?”
Noah Johnson fled, dizzy from the sight of his companions being brutally killed in front of him.
He was running from the tall woman who could crumple people like balls with her inhuman strength,
and from the madwoman in the red mask who laughed as she ripped people’s mouths open.
Terrified, he ran and ran,
begging his Patron Constellation, Frozen Heart, over and over to save him,
but there was no reply.
Despair. Frustration. Utter terror.
As his reason began to fail him, countless holes appeared before him.
Holes leading downward.
Pitch-black darkness inside them.
If he jumped down one of these...
Maybe he could escape those monsters?
“U-uh...!”
But he wasn’t even given the chance to reach Floor -2.
The holes were full of entities.
They were Hole Worms.
The Hole Worms the Administrator fed snacks and petted whenever she had time stopped the intruders.
In the end, Noah Johnson opened the door to a room he didn’t recognize and ran inside, whimpering.
It was the only place left for him to run.
Unaware that he was being led there, he stepped inside.
“Hah... Hah...”
The basement.
A place humans should never have trespassed into.
He posted what he’d seen here on the gallery.
====
Title: Please Save Me
Posted by: I’llBecomeDust
I’m in the basement.
Someone, anyone, please come down and help us.
There have to be other Seekers who were summoned besides us.
I’m begging you. Anyone, please come down.
I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to be killed by these monsters here.
Please.
My Patron Constellation is Frozen Heart.
My Constellation isn’t answering my calls.
Please contact my Constellation on my behalf.
I’m begging you, please.
Save me.
====
Noah Johnson posted a tearful, incoherent message.
Replies appeared on his post in an instant,
and several attempts to help him got underway,
but Noah Johnson couldn’t see the comments left by the climbers.
Kikiki...
The moment he posted, a voice came from the ceiling of the room.
Noah Johnson’s whole body trembled as he looked up at the ceiling.
[It’s me. Noah Johnson. Nice to meet you.]
SHRAAAK—!
Before he knew it, the guardian of Floor -1, who had perfectly copied Noah Johnson’s appearance, was diving straight at the original.