1.
Snip.
As if on cue, the hairdressing scissors crossed through the air.
"So. You really intend to climb straight to the 100th floor?"
"Yes."
I said, reflected in the large glass window.
Behind me, the director holding the scissors sighed.
"It would be better to rest a bit more before going up."
"You're saying the same thing as Hamustra. No, is it that Hamustra is saying the same thing as you, director?"
"Either way, it's a valid point. When you spend a lot of time together, you naturally influence each other."
Hamustra, Kim Yul, and the director had spent time together in the Planetarium. Time was such that it influenced both parties. Even for someone as significant as Hamustra, this was no exception.
Bae Hu-ryeong and I were no different.
"Yes, I'll be going up right away."
While I was getting my haircut, Bae Hu-ryeong quietly waited by my side.
"Alright."
The director then focused more on cutting without further words.
Snip.
"You really have become a director now."
The director frowned.
"If you're going to add, [Since you've become the manager of the Garden, that makes you the director,] then please stop. I don't want to find out that the child I looked after has become a man in such a manner."
"I wanted to help prevent global warming."
"This isn't Earth."
As the conversation went on, the director continued to trim my hair… while saying,
"150 years ago, a journalist asked a mountaineer a question."
– Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?
"It's not hard to guess why the journalist asked that question. It was for a similar reason to why reporters rushed to ask when Mr. Calenberry declared he would enter the Tower a few years ago."
– Why would someone who can live comfortably risk stability?
– Did you receive any promises as a reward for climbing?
– What makes you take on such a challenge?
– I'm just curious. Please explain.
"That mountaineer simply said this."
– Because the mountain is there.
"Ah. I've heard that saying before too."
"Yes. It was a well-known phrase even when I was your age. There were many parodies. Playing games because they are there, ordering chicken because it is there. Many bland jokes were going around back then."
"I guess Earth was already quite hot back then too."
"It was around the time when global warming started in earnest."
The director's scissors cleanly snipped off some stray hairs.
The cut hair scattered in the wind.
"By telling me this story now, are you trying to ask me why I'm aiming for the 100th floor?"
"No, Gong-ja. I'm not particularly interested in asking that."
As usual, the director spoke quietly with a somewhat furrowed face.
And then, he added.
"Because you have the luxury to."
That was somewhat unexpected.
"Me?"
"You do have a fine home, don't you?"
Indeed, as the director said, this place was my home.
Not the Sanctuary, [The Garden of Withered Flowers], but the mansion where I originally lived.
20th floor.
In the sense that it was connected by stairs, it was one floor below The Garden of Withered Flowers; in the sense that it was connected to the tower, it was 60 floors below that.
"You've also acquired such a beautiful garden."
There was a reason for choosing to have my haircut at home rather than at the sanctuary.
I was determined not to leave anything unnecessary for the flowers in the garden, not even a speck of dirt or a drop of water. Therefore, the hair that was cut from my head mingled with dandelion seeds in my home's yard, not in the garden.
"Having a home means you have a castle to protect yourself and your family. Having a flower garden means you have the leisure to fully consider and care for not just your own family but others as well."
"...."
"There must be a significant reason for someone like you to take on a challenge. You have the leisure to do so."
"Leisure, is it?"
"Only those who have leisure can afford to take on challenges."
The sound of the snipping scissors continued as the director spoke.
"A person wandering in the desert, drinking water from an oasis, can't really call that a challenge. No one would call it a challenge when a starving child hastily picks up bread thrown away on the roadside. It's just struggling against what comes your way."
"Indeed."
"Only those who can afford to lose have the capacity to prepare for something new. Only those who have the leisure to accept themselves as they are can accept others as they are. Only those who have everything in place can afford to take on a challenge. When someone who is able can do more, I don't really question it."
Snip.
"Rather, I do have questions for those who can't take on challenges."
Snip.
"Why did that person end up wandering in the desert? Why did that child end up starving? Why."
Why indeed.
"That's why I don't wonder why Marcus Calenberry or Sean McCallister decided to give up everything and enter here. By the same logic, I don't wonder why the Sky That Gathers Screams aims for the 100th floor either. It's just that I,"
With a heavy sigh, the director continued.
"I'm really curious why twenty-year-old Kim Gong-ja entered the tower."
Hmm.
I twisted my head this way and that, checking the shape of my hair.
"Because the tower is here… what about that?"
"That mountaineer eventually failed to summit."
Snip.
A chill from the cold blade grazing my scalp made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"He briefly stepped outside his tent in a blizzard and then disappeared completely. His body wasn't even found, so his companions and family had to hold a funeral with an empty coffin. It was almost a hundred years later when his body was discovered."
"I've never heard that before."
"It's always the person's words that spread wider and last longer than the person themselves."
Snip.
"Gong-ja."
The director spoke in a quiet voice.
"Why did you enter the tower?"
The director in the mirror looked straight at me.
"Was it really because the tower is here?"
2.
At the crossroads connecting my sanctuary and the 90th floor, The Wand Of Ages greeted me.
"Welcome, Death King. You're dressed refreshingly."
"Yes."
"Your expression isn't so refreshing though. Did something happen?"
Given that this mage had a gloomy default expression since his defeat, it must be fairly noticeable for him to comment like this.
I wiped my forehead as I spoke.
"No, well. I was just reminded of old times."
"You sound like an old man. It's not fitting for someone who have so many days ahead to live to talk like that."
The Wand Of Ages, with his staff in his mouth, said.
"Or should I say days left to die? Which do you think is correct?"
"I'd prefer to hear that only happy days are left for me."
"That's nice. But I'm not the one who should be telling you that."
That was true.
"Let's go."
The Wand Of Ages snorted and began leading the way.
I followed him, calmly walking up the stairs that draped like an umbilical cord.
Around my neck, as always, was a scarf from Fox, and on my wrist hung a serpent bracelet. And floating lightly behind me was the Sword Emperor.
Only the usual place on my hip where the holy sword hung felt empty.
'Sword Emperor.'
– What?
The Sword Emperor responded immediately.
I asked both aloud and in my heart.
"What comes next?"
The Wand Of Ages did not turn to look at me. Neither did the Sword Emperor glance at me.
Only their answers came simultaneously.
"The Tower Master was an artist."
– I am a fighter.
Thud.
"You've seen the Tower Master's life, so you roughly know. She was a warlord, a politician, and a noble, but equally a gladiator, an actress, and an architect."
– You've seen me so far, right? You know I don't like to measure and weigh things. Sometimes my taste conflicts with that of the usual world, but eventually, my taste becomes that of the world.
"At the same time, she was also the most outstanding musician in the kingdom."
– Those who tried to impose their tastes on me all ended up with broken heads.
With each step up the stairs, the sky seemed closer.
"In some ways, you could say she was similar to you."
– Honestly, didn't you climb the tower in a similar way to me?
"The Tower Master was so free-spirited that no one could leash her. But that freedom had clear boundaries."
– The Ghost King was quite unexpected, but when defeating the Devil King of Fall Rain, I became certain. Wow. Have I ever seen such a reckless, crazy bastard like this? But, yes. If you don't like the quest you're given, you should beat up the one giving the quest. If there's a rule you don't like, you beat up the one making the rules until they're to your liking.
The changing scenery with each step had an unreal feel to it. It felt like walking on a treadmill; I was moving in place while the surroundings seemed to step down with each move.
"The Tower Master especially liked fugues."
– This tower is the same, Gong-ja.
"She liked to compose music where the beginning and end connected, and she enjoyed having lines with different starting points converge to the same end."
– There are nasty things that play with memories, but even they would have had their heads broken if they pulled that nonsense while I was climbing the tower. Just like you did. You have to admit it.
Then.
Both spoke in unison, as if breathing together.
"So,"
-So.
"What lies beyond here is an extension of what has been."
-There's nothing new beyond here.
The world began to distort.
Like mixing dozens of colors of rubber clay together and smushing them, the ground far below melted away first. The sky followed. It melted. The sky, disintegrating into droplets, eventually turned into countless grains of sand and flowed down like a waterfall.
"You probably could make it to the 100th floor."
– I hear Grey was the last to reach the 94th floor?
No.
It wasn't a waterfall.
"Anyone who has climbed from the 1st to the 90th floor should be able to make it."
– For her, starting from the 50th floor, it would have been difficult to climb higher.
It was a giant hourglass.
It was similar to the sanctuary of Mutia I had once seen. An vast wide desert. The distorted air under the blazing sun seemed like it was caused by incredibly thick glass. In the center, like blood oozing slowly from a snake's heart, a sand waterfall was flowing.
In the middle of the hourglass, I stood.
A familiar voice greeted me.
"Welcome, Death King! Or should I say, Screaming Sky, as you should be called now!"
I looked at the figure with a bewildered expression.
"Lady of the Mirage?"
"Yes! It's me! Long time no see!"
The Lady Who Walks the Mirage greeted me with bouncy jumps as usual, full of energy.
"It doesn't seem like it's been that long… Uh, did you come to guide me?"
"Yes! Exactly."
The lively lady twirled around on the spot, her hair fluttering, and then waved at The Wand Of Ages.
"You've had a hard time till now. I'll take over from here."
"Alright. This old man whose string has snapped will now take his leave."
"Yep yep. If you find the time, go help Miya out."
"That kid doesn't like others helping with her work, you know."
"That's exactly why you should help."
"You little…"
The Wand Of Ages retreated with a disgusted yet strangely amused smile, as if he had found the perfect stress relief.
Hmm.
"The Advisor has had a tough time…"
"Originally, advisors are meant to have a hard time. Doesn't Screaming Sky's advisors also suffer?"
"Maybe. But I think I've suffered more because of that kid?"
"That's exactly it. Just like how Liu Bei used Zhuge Liang with the intention of getting the most out of him." (ED: Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande, was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. And Zhuge Liang, courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor. He served as the Imperial Chancellor (or Prime Minister) and regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.)
After making a statement that could split fans of the Shu Kingdom into two, the Lady Who Walks the Mirage casually pulled something out.
It was a small stone tablet.
"That is..."
"Yes."
The Lady Who Walks the Mirage grabbed the sides of the stone tablet with both hands and lifted it forcefully.
"Screaming Sky. I will now tell you what you need to do."
In the center of the stone tablet, there were nine holes.
"You need to collect nine keys!"
The Lady Who Walks the Mirage declared.
*****
ED: Hi, until now, I was unclear about the Wand of Ages's gender, so until now, I have translated Wand of Ages as male, but in this chapter, Lady Who Walks the Mirage addresses Wand of Ages (I have removed that part) as Auntie, which means Wand of Ages is female. So, I don't plan on changing it, but it was something I felt you guys should know. In the future, if I have time, I will change it, but for now, it will remain the same. Also, this happens because the Korean language doesn't have pronouns like English, so it becomes difficult to determine the gender sometimes.