Chapter 52
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa has sponsored 10,000,000 Gold!]
- ???? Ten million gold? I’m not misreading the number of zeros right now, am I?
- Crazy. Burning 10 billion won in one shot?
- Shoving that much money in without even knowing what the grace is, damn.
- Ah lol Even Sol-Peul-Jwa can’t resist a Dinner Date ticket with True Ancestor-nim lol
Fr Fr lol
“…Is he crazy?”
Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa’s ten-million-gold sponsorship.
I was just as incredibly shocked as the Community’s comments indicated.
‘He’s pouring out ten million gold all at once?’
Of course, the total amount I received from countless people when I uploaded my first post was roughly ten million gold.
So the number itself wasn’t unfamiliar, but I never expected one person to send it in a single lump sum.
I couldn’t even fathom just how much he wanted to receive my grace.
Anyway, it was such an overwhelmingly massive amount, and a figure that instantly more than doubled the previous highest bid.
Even after waiting a long while, no new competitors appeared.
‘Well, at this point, it’s safe to say this Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa guy is the winner.’
I nodded my head while looking at the System Window in the air.
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: Hey. Can we seriously have a chat regarding Tower Strategy?]
Fortunately, his Sponsorship Message was solely a question about Tower Strategy.
Phew.
I was inwardly relieved that it wasn’t some weird demand.
Seeing how he wrote guide posts and strategy posts kindly, he definitely seemed to belong to the normal crowd within the Community.
Having a conversation of that level wasn’t a very difficult task.
I immediately opened a 1-on-1 Message Window with him and sent a reply.
[True Ancestor: Mortal. You have offered a rather useful tribute befitting my footsteps. I shall permit a conversation with me as you desire.]
Then, a reply came back a few seconds later.
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: Oh]
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: Thx thx]
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: There was one thing I wanted to ask]
Anyway, what on Earth was he hoping for while making a 10 billion won sponsorship?
He said it was a Tower Strategy question, but it wasn’t like I had anything amazing to tell him.
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: Ah. Of course, I’m not shameless enough to ask you to reveal your detailed route with just this amount of money.]
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: I’d just appreciate it if you answered exactly one question.]
“…?”
10 billion won is “just”…?
Asking for a strategy with this much is considered a free ride?
I really couldn’t understand the financial sense of the rich.
[Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa: Hey. When you cleared the 5th Floor Chapters 1 and 2, did you plan your route based on the strategy I wrote?]
“Based on your strategy? Of course not.”
Of course, I did carefully read the 5th Floor strategy post that Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa had put so much effort into writing.
I even got some help from it.
But the overall strategy was completely different.
For Chapter 1, I went wearing the dress Riri made, and the NPCs bowed down on their own and gave me a free pass.
Thanks to my Vampire race perk, I also breezed through the Lord’s trust quest.
Besides, didn’t Chapter 2 end immediately as soon as I scouted Sera?
In fact, there was nothing grand enough to even call it a strategy.
I typed in the chat to answer with the exact truth.
[True Ancestor: How arrogant, mortal.]
[True Ancestor: Why would this True Ancestor walk along the shallow footprints dug out by a human? I merely climbed the Tower in my own way.]
“Hmm…”
I smacked my lips while looking at the text that came out quite high-handed, contrary to my inner thoughts.
Anyway, I had clearly conveyed the main point, so I waited, expecting a reply to come.
However,
“Huh?”
The indicator that the other Party had read the message popped up, but there was no reply even after a long time.
As time passed, I slowly started to get anxious.
“Gasp. Did he get hurt?”
That person probably knew and took into account that my tone was fundamentally rude.
Still, my conscience was pricked for no reason, and I wondered if I had just suddenly poured out harsh words to a VIP who had just sent me 10 billion won.
I hurriedly sent another message mixed with an excuse.
[True Ancestor: …Why are you silent?]
[True Ancestor: Well, I suppose your strategy was not bad for a human, so do not take it to heart.]
It was the utmost comfort I could offer within the bounds permitted by [Exalted Dignity].
Would this be enough to make him feel a bit better?
I stared at the Message Window with a worried heart.
* * *
A large mansion stood in California, America.
It was a luxurious mansion complete with numerous rooms and an outdoor swimming pool, but the state of the living room where the owner actually stayed was a mess.
It was a dark space where not a single ray of Sunlight entered due to the thick Blackout Curtains drawn shut.
Empty energy drink cans rolled around on the floor.
Half-eaten pizza boxes were piled up like a mountain.
Sitting on the sofa in that messy living room was a black-haired young man in his twenties, Ethan.
He was the very man using the nickname “Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa” in the Climber Community.
He was a Ranker at the very top of the current level rankings, and Rank 1 in the Tower rankings.
“Haa…”
Ethan rubbed his bloodshot eyes and tossed an empty can onto the floor.
The System Window was the only thing emitting a faint light in the middle of the dark living room.
His expression as he looked at it seemed incredibly exhausted.
True Ancestor.
An Irregular who shattered all existing common sense upon her appearance and set overwhelming records.
When she opened something akin to an auction in her recent post, offering to bestow a grace, Ethan jumped in with the feeling of grasping at straws.
He paid the massive sum of 10 million gold all at once, but he didn’t feel it was a waste at all.
If only he could get a clue that might slightly alleviate this terrible stagnation and self-loathing.
He would have been willing to pay any amount, even something much larger.
The familiar text was floating in red on the System Window before his eyes.
[Normal Difficulty 88th floor Climb - Failed]
He was blocked again.
He had always maintained the image of a relaxed and cheerful veteran in the Community, taking care of newbies and kindly writing strategy posts.
But that was all just an act.
“In truth, I am a cowardly runaway.”
Whenever he got stuck on a climb, what came to mind was none other than the Nightmare Difficulty.
The World believed that Ethan had voluntarily stopped his Nightmare Difficulty climbs because he prioritized efficiency.
He had written as much in the Community himself, hiding behind that rationalization.
But the essence of it was simply evasion.
In the past, he had thrown himself at Nightmare 8th Floor Chapter 1 countless times.
He exhaustively reviewed every possibility he could think of, selecting and refining only the best routes among them.
He had carved out the perfect strategy route like that.
But he absolutely could not clear it.
‘Isn’t this floor just completely impossible?’
If even he, the World’s greatest strategist, was blocked, who could possibly do it?
His own pride and self-esteem had, paradoxically, trapped him in a terrible sense of despair.
Facing a massive wall for the first time in his life, he was ultimately broken by his inner demons and ran away from the Nightmare Difficulty.
His writing of guides and strategy posts in the Community wasn’t purely out of altruism either.
It was a subconscious cry for salvation.
Please, let someone find another path that I couldn’t see.
Or at least, let someone reach my level and share this heavy burden crushing me.
But whenever he got stuck even in Normal Tower climbs, the thought that he was ultimately just a loser who ran away from the Nightmare 8th Floor dominated his mind.
Ring.
At that moment, the True Ancestor’s reply popped up on the System Window in the air.
Ethan’s pupils contracted minutely as he read the message.
The statement that she hadn’t followed his strategy.
‘She didn’t just optimize my route further… there was a completely different route?’
If she had followed his path and refined it more intricately, it would have merely been a confirmation that the True Ancestor’s talent was above his own.
But if it was a completely different path, the story changed.
And to think she achieved such a phenomenal score despite that.
“Haha… ha…”
The meaning behind that fact was clear.
It meant that the method he believed to be the only correct answer might have actually been just one of countless paths.
‘It means a completely different path, one my thoughts couldn’t reach, definitely exists.’
It was the moment a crack formed in the wall of impossibility that he had concluded was his limit and believed would never break.
Even though his blind faith that until now he had never been wrong was denied
Furthermore, even though he was dismissed in a rather high-handed manner, he didn’t feel bad.
Rather, having her state it so firmly and decisively made him feel even more refreshed.
Ethan felt as if the massive boulder crushing his chest had been cleared away in an instant.
Ring.
While he was lost in thought, the True Ancestor’s second message arrived in succession.
As he quietly stared at the sentences, the corners of Ethan’s mouth lifted defenselessly into a smirk.
It felt as if her haughty voice, which he had heard through comments and posts, was automatically playing in his brain.
Even if it looked endlessly crude in the eyes of that monster-like being.
She didn’t completely deny the trajectories he had written down while struggling to find a path.
While acknowledging his efforts thus far, she simultaneously presented the possibility that there was a new path to surpass his limits.
‘It’s True Ancestor. She might be a better person than I thought.’
I thought she was just an Unidentified monster.
She had a somewhat kind side.
“Pfft.”
At the same time, a chuckle echoed through the pitch-black living room.
“To think I was despairing while pretending to know everything, unable to even consider that there might be another path.”
He had been far too arrogant.
Ethan slowly stood up from the sofa, picked up a remote control, and pressed a button.
Whiiir-.
The thick Blackout Curtains slowly drew back to both sides, and the blazing California Sunlight filled the living room.
Facing the blindingly bright light head-on, Ethan smiled.
‘I am Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa. I can’t lose.’
His hollow, dead eyes were already shining clearly and brightly once again.
“System.”
Ethan murmured.
“Tower of Trials. Enter the Nightmare 8th Floor.”