The Hero Returns

* * *

Sshwaaaah—

Rain was falling.

A deluge had come to visit the world on the 100th floor.

The world on the 100th floor, as Su-hyeun knew it, was a mysterious island that hadn't see a drop of rain throughout the year, yet crops still grew strong and healthy there. Its skies were always clear.

Therefore, this would be Su-hyeun's first time seeing this place with no clear skies, topped off with continuous and persistent drizzle.

"No, wait. Back in my previous life, I only stayed for about a month in this place, didn't I?"

The 100th floor's world held incredible significance for many people.

In this world, which was referred to as the mother of all hurdles, half of the "people" here chose to give up climbing the tower any further and simply traveled around this peaceful place for a long time.

As for the other half, they were being cautious while gathering as much information as possible in the hopes of challenging the 100th floor.

"Back then, I did worry a lot, didn't I? Lots of people lost their lives here, after all."

In his previous life, Su-hyeun had challenged the trials with eighth-level difficulty.

That certainly was a nearly unprecedented level of difficulty back then. Su-hyeun couldn't remember anyone who had chosen to climb the tower by challenging the trials' eighth-level difficulty other than Gordon and Hak-joon.

Out of the three, it was Gordon who passed the 100th floor first. That was why he could enjoy the title of the world's best awakener until another man named Kim Sung-in appeared.

However, those things had happened a long time ago.

The current Hak-joon had also passed the 100th floor and managed to get somewhere even higher.

"Rain, is it...?"

Shwaaaaah—

Su-hyeun raised his head and stared at the falling rain.

None of the raindrops landed on his body. He enveloped himself in a thin layer of magical energy and kept the rainwater away from him.

However, the majority of people couldn't do something like that. Perhaps that was the reason why he could hardly see anyone out and about, and so, this eerie silence descended upon the previously bustling streets.

The avenues were now filled with only the sounds of falling rain.

Splash—

Su-hyeun continued to walk toward the plaza.

Unsurprisingly, it was also devoid of people. The only presence visible here was a man dressed as a beggar with an old and worn-out hat pressed closely down on his head.

Su-hyeun approached the beggar.

The administrator in the beggar's attire raised his head. "Don't you find this atmosphere wonderful?"

The administrator that was sitting down looked up at Su-hyeun.

His face was dirty, and he was sporting a thick and unkempt beard. It was one of those faces that a painter might come up with when asked to draw a beggar on the street.

Su-hyeun quietly observed that face for a bit before muttering something that had nothing to do with what the administrator asked him. "Your face, it's not real."

His observation caused the administrator to narrow his eyes. The man then pulled the hat down even lower to hide his face.

"You don't have to worry. I can't see what you really look like, after all."

"Were you bluffing then?"

The administrator's voice had a certain hint of sharpness to it. It seemed that he thought Su-hyeun had tricked him.

Su-hyeun resolutely shook his head. "No. I could simply see it, that's all. And it wasn't my original intention, so please don't be too unhappy about it. Aren't I the one who was tricked all along, anyway?"

The administrator took off his hat and grumbled unhappily, "Urgh, that damn fool that called himself the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven sure taught you something troublesome, didn't he?"

Su-hyeun smirked at the mention of the Bull Demon King and said, "Besides, what's so wonderful about this weather, anyway? It's just raining incessantly, isn't it? But if your preference leans toward gloomy and soggy weather, then I can certainly respect that."

"You're late with your reply, you fool."

"My apologies. But like I was alluding to earlier, you should also consider my feelings when I need to chat with a faceless person, you know."

"Why does it feel like I'm on the losing end while talking to you?"

"I'm also not a big fan of this kind of chitchat. Why don't we get to the main topic?"

The administrator nodded at Su-hyeun's suggestion. "Alright. What are you curious about? Hints for the trial you're about to embark upon? Or..."

A meaningful grin appeared on the face of the sitting administrator.

"Or is it the truth about the tower?"

"…"

Su-hyeun was obviously thinking of asking for the hint, so the question caused his lips to clamp shut for a bit there.

An administrator had brought up the topic of the tower's truth first. That also happened to be what Su-hyeun was most curious about.

"The truth about the tower…" he thought.

Everything just appeared without any warning one day.

Dungeons, awakeners, and the tower that bestowed them with abilities.

No, hold on—honestly, no one knew if it was indeed a "tower" or not. It was merely named the "Tower of Trials," and the individual worlds were classified as "floors," but other than that, no one so far had claimed to have seen the actual tower from the outside.

Just how did all these things appear? How were the trials given, and just what kind of existence were these administrators?

Nothing about them was known at this stage.

"You can actually tell me about them?"

Su-hyeun had already asked another administrator about the truth of the tower before. However, he couldn't get any answers. That's why he had basically given up on learning more about the subject until now.

Yet the 100th floor's administrator brought it up first.

"Only a portion of it. Obviously, not the whole thing."

"When can I learn the whole truth, though? No, what do I need to do?"

"Climb higher. Then you'll learn it. However, now isn't the right time for you."

Su-hyeun's expression crumpled at that reply. The one asking if he was curious was now saying no answer would be forthcoming?

The administrator noticed Su-hyeun's expression and quickly waved his hand. "Don't make that angry scowl. I told you, didn't I? I can only tell you a portion. Even that's coming from my own discretion, so obviously, I can't tell you the whole thing. Think of it as a kind of special privilege."

"…Sure, thanks a lot, I guess."

"In any case. I'm cheering you on, you know? There's a reason why I can't tell you the whole story, so please be more understanding, will ya?"

"But why are you willing to ignore that reason to tell me a portion of the information in the first place?"

"I'm a bit different from the other guys, you see. I believe that hiding the truth wouldn't lead to anything good in the end. Doesn't matter what it is, it's always better to know the truth rather than be ignorant about it, wouldn't you agree?"

As expected.

With this reply, Su-hyeun came to understand one new piece of information.

"This guy has a similar personality to the administrator from the 43rd floor," he realized.

Administrators supervising the individual floors all had their own personalities. They might have shared their opinions and agreed on things while working within a larger framework, but some of them also definitely held differing opinions from the rest.

"So, one faction wants to let the information out, while the other doesn't," he inwardly mulled.

There was the 43rd floor administrator who appeared as a hero named Luslec and then bestowed Su-hyeun with a trial to fight against numerous other heroes, and then, there was the 100th floor administrator who was of the opinion that the information regarding the tower needed to be known publicly.

As such, he didn't mind sharing the info with Su-hyeun in the slightest. No, he was even willing to go against the rules to share a little bit of information with Su-hyeun.

"There's a limit to the amount of info I can get," he thought.

Maybe one or two pieces of information at most, but even then, the administrator wouldn't be able to answer the questions that got uncomfortably close to the truth of the matter.

If that was the case, then there was one thing that he wanted to know more than anything else. On the other hand, he felt fearful of the potential answer.

When Su-hyeun kept his eyes tightly shut for a while, the administrator couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? You're curious about something, yet why do you look so scared to ask?"

Su-hyeun opened his eyes. Indeed, it was better than not knowing, wasn't it?

"The worlds found inside the trials..."

Even then, he was still afraid, and his words came to a halt. He sucked in a deep breath before continuing.

"Are they worlds that really exist?"

"Is that what you're really curious about?"

"It's important to me. More than anything."

Su-hyeun bit down hard on his lip.

Even though he thought, "It can't be," a part of him just couldn't shake off his curiosity.

Were they all made up?

Were they like fantasies created within a framework called "trials"?

Were they merely bits of data like in video games, which only existed for the purpose they were given?

Questions came one after another one.

According to the 43rd floor's administrator, the trials found on each of the floors depended on the individual administrator in charge.

This meant that the type of trials could be changed based on the whims of the administrators involved, just like the 43rd floor's trial took place in a made-up world created by the administrator.

"Sounds like you've grown fairly attached to the 60th floor's world."

"There are many others besides that one."

Before he reached the current floor, Su-hyeun had encountered many different people.

Despite him repeatedly telling himself that these were merely trials, he just couldn't help but get close to the people that he encountered. That was his personality as a human being, and there was nothing he could do about it.

And so, he silently wished every time he encountered a person within the trial.

He prayed that one day, he would get to meet them again—that it would be wonderful for all of them to survive and meet again with smiles on their faces in a peaceful world.

He also wished for one more thing. He prayed that his meetings with those people had not been simple fantasies.

His wish became even greater after the events on the 60th floor. He prayed that all the things he went through with his sworn brothers, those who called him their little brother and showed him affection, were not illusions.

"They are all real."

And then, Su-hyeun's wish came true.

"Everything from the 10th floor up, it was all real. The 43rd floor was the sole exception, though."

The trial on the 43rd floor was specially cooked up by the administrator of that floor.

Everything except that floor was all real?

"All of them?" Su-hyeun asked back with a face full of excitement.

"Yes, all of them."

A definite answer came his way.

It felt like tension escaped from his whole body. Su-hyeun breathed a sigh of relief but still didn't forget to satisfy his curiosity on a different but still related matter. "In that case, are the trials of other people also…?"

"Nope, they are an exception. Actually, should I say you're the exception in this case?"

"I am?"

"That's as much as I can tell you. Any more than this and I'll get scolded," replied the administrator in a firm voice. However, his expression showed how rueful he was about it.

It seemed that he wanted to provide more answers but found it tough to do so under the agreement reached by all the administrators.

Su-hyeun could only smack his lips ruefully as well. He had a mountain of questions to get off his chest.

Why was he the only exception?

Also, if his trials were the exception, then in what manner did other awakeners' trials proceed?

Many other questions were birthed from this answer, and now that he couldn't get any clarity, frustration tightly clogged up his chest.

Still, that one thing he was curious about, as well as most worried about, had been answered clearly that day.

"They were all real," he thought.

Squeeze—

Su-hyeun tightly clenched his fist.

The feeling of relief washed over him, and the fresh and bright emotion intertwined with his thoughts, which almost made him cry out in elation as he raised his head toward the falling rain.

"None of them were fake."

Su-hyeun continued to repeat those words in his mind.

He was so worried—worried about what he would do if all the experiences he'd had so far were make-believe and lies.

"You seem really happy."

The administrator smirked while looking at Su-hyeun, who was desperately reining in his laughter by biting his lip.

Unlike the gloomy, rainy weather, Su-hyeun's expression was bright from happiness at the administrator's answer. It was as if he had forgotten that the 100th floor's trial, feared as the mother of all hurdles, was right before his eyes.

"I get that you're really pleased, but you'll find it hard to survive the next floor's challenge with that mindset."

"…Oh."

Su-hyeun regained his wits at the administrator's advice and smiled sheepishly.

He lost his tension for a moment there from the euphoric feeling. He believed that some amount of tension was a necessity, but judging from what happened, he must have been far too lax.

Su-hyeun nodded and hardened his expression back to how it was previously, prompting the administrator to ask in a satisfied voice, "So, you still want the hint?"

"Of course."

"The 100th floor's hint is a bit expensive, though. I know that you've managed to save up a lot of points, so why don't you be a big spender today and get a hint that'll help you out in the future, too?"

Su-hyeun heard the administrator's advice and pondered for a while, but he eventually nodded his head in agreement.

At the very least, the administrator of the 100th floor seemed to be especially friendly toward him. If he paid the information fee now, the administrator should have the pretext to hand out the relevant information, so Su-hyeun thought it would be for the best to pay out a lot of points as suggested.

"Three million. I've been told to subtract the information fee from the 60th floor since the hint you got became meaningless, all thanks to the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven. The original fee was five million, but I've subtracted two."

"It's still a considerable sum."

"Even then, I'm giving you a big discount here. If I go any lower, the others will complain big time."

Su-hyeun shrugged his shoulders at the administrator's playful tone and paid the requested amount of points.

In the blink of an eye, his three million points were gone. He did think that it was a bit of a loss, but he told himself that whether it really was a loss or not would depend heavily on what the administrator said next.

"Now, let's see… Where should I begin…? Right." The administrator took his time contemplating and then said, "That thing you learned from the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven? That training thing to become a god."

"You mean, the Sage Arts?"

"Right, that. The Sage Arts," the administrator nodded theatrically as if he had finally recalled that name. "You gotta be careful of that from now on."