Chapter: 37
It was noisy.
The roar of car engines.
The chatter of countless conversations.
Even music drifting in from somewhere.
It felt as though every sound in the world was suddenly pounding against his ears.
“Hmm.”
It had been a long time since he’d experienced this kind of commotion.
Right after returning, he’d stayed inside the tiny goshiwon the whole time, so it truly had been a while.
The noise was loud enough to give him a headache, but even that was welcome.
Compared to the end he rememberedāa world filled with nothing but silence and suffocating loneliness.
Hooo…
He took a deep breath.
Compared to the inside of the Tower, the air was filthy.
Exhaust fumes and fine dust stung his nose.
Even so…
A grin spread across Eugene’s face.
This was a world that hadn’t been destroyed.
“Ugh! My nose! It stinks!”
“Blegh… What’s with that guy?”
People around him began gagging as they stared at him.
“…Oops.”
He’d forgotten.
What he currently looked like.
From the 2nd Floor to the 4th Floor…
There hadn’t been a single place to wash.
How many days had he spent hunting like a madman there?
He hadn’t touched water once in over a month.
And Eugene wasn’t exactly the type to hunt neatly.
Naturally, his appearance was nothing short of disastrous.
His entire body was coated in monster blood and bodily fluids, while layers of dirt had built up to the point that even a beggar would click their tongue in disgust.
“I completely forgot.”
Living alongside two others in the exact same condition had made him completely accustomed to it.
He hadn’t even realized there was anything wrong with himself.
“Come to think of it, I looked like this during my first life too.”
It wasn’t just Eugene.
Everyone who reached the 5th Floor and returned outside for the first time looked just like him.
There was no time to think about bathing.
All they wanted was to escape the Tower as quickly as possible.
“Should we call the police?”
“That thing attached to his arm… is that a teddy bear? Is he mentally unstable?”
People whispered among themselves.
A man who looked like he’d been through something horrific had suddenly appeared in the middle of a busy street.
Naturally, they thought they should call the police or an ambulance to help him.
“The world’s still worth living in.”
Although no one dared approach him…
Eugene slowly looked around.
Someone frowning.
Someone staring in shock.
Someone looking worried.
Someone completely indifferent.
Beyond them stretched the lively, chaotic scenery of Seoul.
“It’s been so long.”
Ignoring everyone’s stares without a care, Eugene slowly started walking.
The sidewalks, which had once been completely shattered and unusable, were now smooth and spotless.
Simply walking on them made returning worthwhile.
“First, I’ll go home, wash up, then earn some money. There are still things to do outside the Tower that will help with climbing.”
There were plenty of things outside that would be useful for his future ascent.
If he handled those first, a week would pass in no time.
“I need to move quickly.”
There was no time to drown in nostalgia.
Every second counted.
Eugene needed to move faster than anyone else.
“Oh, right.”
Isaiah and Park Jihoo suddenly came to mind.
“They’re probably in complete chaos too.”
A chuckle escaped him.
“H-How insane…”
Isaiah hid inside a dark alley where not a single person could be seen, carefully checking her surroundings.
She was terrified someone might spot her.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve picked the second option!”
She’d been so focused on getting outside that she hadn’t considered what she looked like.
As a result, she’d appeared in the middle of Gangnam and immediately drawn countless stares.
At first, she was so overjoyed to be outside again that she didn’t notice anything strange.
But only for a moment.
The instant she caught her reflection in a window, she screamed and bolted into the nearest back alley like the wind.
“How am I supposed to get home?”
She was in Gangnam.
Her home was in Yeonnam-dong.
There was no way she could use public transportation looking like this.
A taxi was out of the question too.
That left only one option.
Walking.
“It’ll take at least three hours…”
And the entire time…
Everyone she passed would stare at her.
Absolutely not.
No way.
Never.
NEVER!
She could never wander around looking like this.
“My… phone.”
…Which, of course, she didn’t have.
Every electronic device she’d possessed had disappeared the moment she was summoned into the Tower.
“What am I supposed to do?”
She felt like crying.
Even skinning the Flame Dragon with Black Wing [C] hadn’t felt this hopeless.
But she couldn’t stay hidden in this alley forever.
She only had one week left.
Spending it hiding in a dark, deserted alley would be an enormous waste.
“…I’ll just go.”
No matter how much she thought about it, there wasn’t another solution.
There was only one thing she could do.
“I’ll just run.”
Having reached Level 30, Isaiah’s physical abilities far surpassed those of any normal human.
Running so fast that she became invisible was impossible.
But if she sprinted at full speed, at least nobody would be able to take a clear picture of her.
She imagined someone capturing her face on camera.
“Ugh…”
That would be death.
Not physical death.
Social death.
For a fresh-faced twenty-year-old girl like her, it was a nightmare beyond imagination.
“I’ll cover my face…”
If she simply ran west for a while, she’d eventually reach familiar streets.
With a determined expression, Isaiah began gathering mana.
She was more serious now than she’d ever been while fighting monsters.
Woooooshā
Mana surged outward, whipping up a small whirlwind around her.
“Now!”
Using her heightened senses, she waited until there were as few people nearby as possible.
Bang!
With a sharp explosive sound, Isaiah burst out of the alley and sprinted onto the main road.
“W-What was that?!”
“Eeeek!”
Something huge had suddenly shot out and taken off at unbelievable speed, startling everyone nearby.
“Was that… a person?”
“Wasn’t that the woman from earlier?”
“The one covered in all that disgusting stuff?”
“I think it looked like her.”
“Wow… Was she some kind of former track athlete?”
“Even then, wasn’t she way too fast?”
Even Usain Bolt couldn’t have matched the speed they’d just witnessed.
She had been that fast.
“Did anyone get it on video?”
Gangnam was packed with people.
Which meant countless smartphones and security cameras.
Even if nobody had intentionally filmed her, there was a good chance she’d been caught by accident.
“I want to see that again.”
“The athletics association is going to go crazy looking for her.”
If they could send that woman to the Olympics…
A gold medal would practically be guaranteed.
“Seriously. Anyway, where are we eating?”
“I heard there’s a great all-you-can-eat sliced pork belly place over there. Want to go?”
Isaiah was quickly forgotten.
To everyone else, it had simply been a strange little incident.
What they didn’t know…
Was that because of herāand the other two peopleāthe entire world was about to be thrown into chaos.
Unlike Isaiah, Eugene casually strolled home as though he were taking an evening walk.
Fortunately, he’d appeared not too far from his goshiwon, so he arrived quickly.
Then he encountered a formidable obstacle.
“Good heavens, that smell! What is this? Don’t come in here! Get out before I call the police!”
The obstacle…
The goshiwon landlady.
Standing on the stairs with both arms spread wide, she clearly had no intention of letting him inside.
“I live here.”
“We don’t have anyone like you staying here! Even if we did, I wouldn’t let you in!”
She didn’t recognize him.
Which wasn’t surprising.
He looked absolutely terrible.
“I’m in Room 602. The guy who works part-time and exercises. You always said I was handsome and even gave me side dishes.”
In front of anyone else, Eugene was fearless.
But in front of the landlady…
He automatically became much more timid.
She was still the owner, after all.
“…Room 602?”
She looked at him suspiciously.
As if trying to determine whether he really was the young man she knew.
“Huh? It really is you! What happened to you? Were you kidnapped or something?”
Thankfully, she’d finally recognized him.
“Well… something like that.”
Technically, he really had been kidnapped.
“Where on earth have you been? You stopped paying rent, and nobody could contact you. I already packed up all your things.”
“My belongings?”
“What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t leave the room empty forever. I have to make a living too.”
“Ah…”
She wasn’t wrong.
Missing one or two days of rent was one thing.
“But I was behind for…”
About three weeks.
Roughly calculating the dates, that sounded right.
“So my things…”
“Check the storage room. I put everything there.”
Eugene thought for a moment before shaking his head.
There wasn’t much to begin with.
A few sets of clothes and some exercise equipment.
Nothing worth going out of his way to recover.
“Could I wash up first? I’ll transfer the overdue rent immediately afterward.”
The landlady looked reluctant.
If someone in that condition used the shower, it’d obviously become a complete mess.
But at the same time, if she turned him away, she might never see the overdue rent.
“You’d better clean up properly afterward.”
“I will. Oh, and… could I borrow some clothes? I’ll pay for them.”
“Wait here. I’ll see if I can find some of my son’s old clothes.”
“Thank you.”
Eugene bowed politely.
His social skills had long since been shattered.
Even so…
He couldn’t help softening around the landlady.
Before he was summoned into the Tower, she’d been the one who looked after him more than anyone else while he struggled through life.
“Good grief, that smell. Hurry up and get inside and wash!”
Only then did she finally step aside.
Eugene quickly rushed upstairs and headed straight for the shower room.
It was a weekday afternoon.
Everyone was either at work or studying at the library.
The place was completely empty.
Amid the uncomfortable silence, Eugene stripped off his clothes and turned on the shower.
Shhhhhhhā
Warm water poured over his body.
It had been so long.
The comforting warmth melted away his exhaustion.
“I really was filthy.”
The blood and chunks of flesh washing onto the floor looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
“I had to reach around Level 50 before I could finally look like a normal person again.”
Around that level, elemental skills started appearing.
With a water-element skill, he could stay clean even in places without NPC cities.
Until then…
There was no choice but to keep living like this.
“Ah… this feels amazing.”
After washing his matted hair and scrubbing every inch of his body with body wash, he felt unbelievably refreshed.
“Room 602! I’ll leave the clothes outside! Get changed and come out!”
“Yes! Thank you!”
After standing beneath the hot water for quite a while, organizing his thoughts, Eugene dried himself with a towel and stepped out of the shower.
“Hmm.”
The clothes the landlady had left were waiting for him.
A blue tracksuit with three white stripes.
It was so worn that he could tell at a glance how many years it had been used.
“Well, I’m not exactly in a position to complain.”
The clothes sitting in storage that belonged to him weren’t any better.
After changing, he stretched.
“Now then…”
It was time to move again.
The first place he needed to visit…
“The outskirts of the Tower of Light.”
There were some very important people waiting there.
People he needed to speak with.
An ordinary citizen wouldn’t even be allowed to approach.
“But I’m not ordinary.”
With the power Eugene possessed now…
No security could stop him.
After mentally reviewing his plan one last time, he stepped out of the goshiwon.
Or rather…
He was about to.
“Pay before you leave!”
The landlady stopped him.
“…Where did you say the storage room was again? My wallet should be in there.”
He’d better pay what he owed before doing anything else.
