Chapter 53 ….
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived.”
As soon as we reached the storage room through the men’s restroom ventilation shaft and finally caught our breath, I expressed my gratitude to Noeun.
“You… you really managed to stay alive.”
“What’s with that tone? Sounds like you were sure I’d be dead.”
“There was a rumor about you among the people who returned alive from the 86th floor. They said you went off to rescue the others who went missing even though there wasn’t much time left before the Pillar of Light closed.”
According to her, aside from a few people, most believed my chances of survival were slim.
“And yet, Jinyoung, you broke through those odds and showed up alive again.”
Not that it was strange.
At the time, I really hadn’t made it back to the Pillar of Light within the time limit.
Once the Pillar of Light closed, it meant you couldn’t return to the 90th floor where the guest rooms were.
In other words, even if you were technically alive, you were effectively eliminated from the game — no different from being dead.
Normally, that should have been the end of it…
But thanks to the booklet, Rei’s ability Revelation, and the staff-grade qualification I had obtained by chance earlier, I was able to avoid being disposed of on the 86th floor through a workaround.
“Well, honestly, I just got lucky. I received a lot of help from people and somehow secured the items and abilities I needed. If even one thing had gone wrong, I wouldn’t have made it back here.”
“I see. Then I suppose I can look forward to your abilities being much improved compared to before.”
“I don’t know if they’re worth that much expectation. More importantly, what exactly happened on the 90th floor?”
“…It all started with that sudden incident.”
A few days after the survivors returned from the 86th floor, about twenty people turned into monsters, throwing the 90th floor into chaos.
“With only twenty, it sounds like they could’ve been suppressed without much damage.”
“It just so happened to occur at night, when most people had already returned to their rooms. The problem was that among the monsters that appeared in the party hall, there was a special variant.”
According to her, that special entity possessed the ability to erase the presence, appearance, and even the sounds of itself and the other monsters.
“So the reason large numbers suddenly appeared behind people or dropped from above without any warning was…”
“That’s right. Because of that special entity. Unless you get within a certain distance, you can’t detect anything at all. So in the early stages, many people were bitten before they could properly respond. Those who were bitten also turned into monsters and attacked others, creating a vicious cycle.”
“Then because of that ability… everyone here… Wait, what about Ms. Lyra?”
“No. She didn’t remain here. I don’t know whether she’s alive or dead, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“At the time, the operator — the Black Crow — gave the testers a choice.”
Enter any Pillar of Light corresponding to an uncleared quest from the party hall.
Clear the quest of the pillar you enter, then consecutively clear the remaining uncleared quests.
Or, if you don’t want that, eliminate all the monsters on the 90th floor and proceed with the quests the original way.
Either choice required risking your life.
“The operators left the monsters alone and still gave a choice…?”
“It probably means that some people on the 90th floor turning into monsters wasn’t an accident, but just one of the acceptable scenarios. In any case, the operators only intervened up to that point and then completely stood by.”
Some chose to drive the monsters out of the 90th floor and proceed the normal way.
But as time passed, more and more people dropped out.
Some holed up in their rooms.
Others headed to the party hall to pass through the Pillars of Light.
Those heading to the party hall were probably hunted by the creatures.
And those who locked themselves in their rooms were eventually forcibly evicted after running out of time — and likewise hunted.
Why?
Because the guest rooms aren’t free.
Even if you never leave after checking in, you must pay 30 gold coins every 24 hours.
But gold is a finite resource — eventually it runs dry.
The brutal scenes I saw earlier were proof enough of that.
This is getting troublesome.
From the moment I first arrived on the 90th floor, I’d been doubtful Lyra would be here — and now that was confirmed.
At this rate, Rei would remain like a ticking time bomb until we found another solution.
Another way to treat Rei in this situation…
“Noeun. Are the kiosks still operating by any chance?”
“Most of them aren’t, but a few are still functioning.”
“Then is there one that sells medicine for treating critically injured people?”
“…There is one. But it’s currently unusable. A large number of monsters have occupied it. Unless that special entity is gone, breaking through is impossible.”
So in the end, we had to eliminate the special entity she mentioned to get Rei out of critical condition.
How long could Rei hold on?
I soon shook my head inwardly.
Rather than thinking like that, it was better to focus on what I could do right now.
First, I needed to fully grasp the situation on the 90th floor and eliminate the risk factors.
“Then the 90th floor is practically abandoned right now.”
“I think so. Because the morning wake-up broadcast that used to play at 6 a.m. stopped at some point.”
Haha. Is that so?
That meant the Black Crow believed there were no survivors left on the 90th floor.
I had finally returned to the 90th floor, yet the situation wasn’t much different from when I escaped the 86th floor by loophole.
“Thanks. Now I understand the overall situation.”
“The first thing we need to do is eliminate that special entity that erases all traces. If we don’t, we’ll be walking around with a ticking time bomb.”
“There’s one more besides that guy. One that mimics human voices to lure people. It’s extremely cunning.”
“…There’s another special entity?”
Huh?
Judging by her expression, she clearly had no idea.
Ah… this is starting to get complicated.
Current time: 6:05 a.m.
Just as Noeun said, even at 6 a.m., the wake-up broadcast did not play.
“…Can you really call that a meal with just chocolate?”
I don’t know where she kept them, but she kept pulling chocolates out of her inventory and popping them into her mouth.
Not just one — she was already on her third.
“I used to do this whenever I was too busy with detective work and lacked proper meals or sleep.”
She even offered me one, saying it worked well when you were tired or your brain wasn’t functioning.
When I first met her, she was drinking ridiculously sweet hot chocolate — so that’s why.
This won’t do. I guess I’ll have to jog the memory of someone whose blood probably smells like chocolate by now.
I summoned my backpack from the inventory and took out cup ramen, wooden chopsticks, a bottle of water, and a retort hamburger steak.
Riiip.
I opened the ramen, added the powdered soup and dried toppings, then poured in the bottled water.
“You said you secured useful supplies while narrowly escaping death — and you really do have precious food. But without hot water…”
“Did you think I’d do this without a way to heat it?”
Next, I pulled out a rechargeable microwave.
Only then did surprise appear in her chocolate-chewing eyes.
As expected.
No way she’d stay calm after seeing this.
Especially in such a food-scarce environment.
“Want some?”
I handed her the freshly microwaved cup ramen.
“Are you sure you can just give something this valuable away?”
“I’m not giving it away for free. Thanks to you, I’m alive. Compared to the price of my life, this is cheap.”
Only then did she accept the ramen.
She’s eating well.
For someone who claimed chocolate was enough, she must’ve been starving.
While she ate, I microwaved two hamburger steaks.
One for me.
One for Noeun.
Since she was a high-grade asset who even had a gun, this level of investment wasn’t a waste.
After eating, we retraced our path through the ventilation shaft and returned to the corridor.
“You said there was one more companion?”
“Yes. She’s in my room. Let’s regroup with her first.”
The distance from the restroom to my room wasn’t far.
[Checking smartwatch authentication number. Please wait.]
Soon after, the authentication was confirmed and 30 gold coins were paid.
“Mister!”
The moment she saw me, Rei’s face brightened as she ran over.
Good. She doesn’t seem angry.
“Sorry for leaving just a note and going out. You were worried, right?”
“N-no! I was more worried something might have happened to you…”
I had left a note before heading out early that morning, but I wasn’t sure how Rei would take it.
Looks like I worried for nothing.
“Still, the trip was worth it. I found another survivor besides us.”
I introduced Noeun and Rei to each other.
“N-nice to meet you. I’m Takaoka Rei.”
Noeun knelt on one knee to match Rei’s eye level.
“I’m Chae Noeun. Nice to meet you. Please take care of me.”
She said it with a gentle smile.
So she has a side like that too.
Given how rational and cold she’d seemed until now, it was a bit unexpected.
Anyway, after introducing them, I prepared Rei’s breakfast.
There was no hotel room service here, so unlike us, she probably hadn’t eaten anything.
“Let’s continue what we were talking about. Before that, do you remember when the tutorial first began?”
Noeun asked that while Rei was in the middle of eating the cup ramen and retort food I prepared.
“I remember. How could I forget?”
“Then do you remember what the people who turned into monsters had in common back then?”
“Hmm… not really.”
“Then let’s shift the topic slightly. You remember the <Initial Information Confirmation Report I> we obtained, right?”
I nodded.
We got it while doing a special quest together — there was no way I’d forget.
The document was currently auto-saved on my smartwatch.
I had recently found the second report too, so I’d been thinking a lot about it.
I was planning to bring it up when we met again, so the timing of her mentioning it first was oddly perfect.
“As you saw in the report, it talks about a certain virus and its symptoms. When we first read it, there were too many unknowns, so we only vaguely thought it might be related to this game.”
“We also agreed to move on for the time being since it wasn’t the right situation to discuss it in detail.”
“Right. But after what happened on the 90th floor, I realized it might be a major hint.”
What she referred to was the progression: early cold-like symptoms such as coughing and runny nose, followed by a high fever.
“After that, it mentions memory deterioration, cognitive impairment, language degradation, and loss of reason. Now that you recall this and think back to the tutorial… doesn’t something come to mind?”
It did.
There were definitely people in the café showing cold symptoms back then.
Especially the one who collapsed right in front of me with a high fever.
That person eventually turned into a monster and killed someone with long, sharp nails.
“Judging by your expression, I think you understand what I’m getting at.”
“You’re saying that virus isn’t just part of the game’s setting — the participants might have actually been exposed to it somehow?”
She nodded grimly.
“…If that’s true, what is Laurel trying to achieve?”
“I think figuring that out is what we need to do going forward. If I had to guess, it might be an experiment to collect data — but nothing is certain yet.”
“Noeun. Speaking of the report, I have the continuation of it.”
“Really?!”
I pulled up the document on my smartwatch as a hologram and showed it to her.
She read it carefully for a while.
“I’ve finished reading. Thanks to you, I learned quite a few new things I didn’t know.”
“Glad it helped.”
“Especially the fact that infection can occur not only through the mouth but also through simple breathing and skin absorption — that’s the biggest takeaway.”
“Come to think of it, you said nearly twenty people turned into monsters on the 90th floor. Don’t tell me the reason you brought up the tutorial and the report is…”
“All twenty showed the symptoms listed in the report over several days. And every single one of them turned into monsters — without a single exception to the anomalies noted in Report No. 2.”
That was when—
“Um…”
Rei, apparently finished eating, carefully raised one hand.
“What is it?”
“Listening to you just now… I have a question.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Noeun looked at Rei with interest.
“I-I’m not sure if I understood correctly, but… to turn into a monster, you have to be exposed to the virus like catching a cold, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then… where did those twenty people get infected? It doesn’t seem like they were infected on the 90th floor.”
