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nChapter 80 Savior (2)

n‘Fascinating.’

nShould he say it rang in his mind? His lips didn’t even move, but he could hear his voice. If he didn’t bow or make eye contact, he wouldn’t know who said it.

n“Let’s go.”

n“Yes, I will lead the way.”

nWhen Yoon-seok left with the man who had been talking to him, the scouts around him clicked their tongues.

n“What, he’d already been scouted?”

n“Why did he choose Earth if he is a duelist?”

nHe wondered briefly what place the United Plaza was for them to go about it like that, but Yoon-seok just followed the man. If it went as he’d expected, his questions would be resolved before long.

nClick.

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nOn the second floor of a building, ten minutes away from the plaza. The man who brought Yoon-seok to a room about 10-pyeong wide closed the door. Then, he shook hands with Yoon-seok.

n“Let me introduce myself. My name is Ashton Jackson. I’m with the U.S. Challenger Management Department.”

n“Hello, I’m Choi Yoon-seok.”

n“Would you like to sit down for now?”

nAs Yoon-seok sat down, Ashton moved to sit opposite of him. There was no tea served or anything.

n“You know what? You are the first person to not react to my telepathy.”

nHe knew the man was trying to change the mood by complimenting Yoon-seok. Yet, sadly, Yoon-seok didn’t show any interest.

n“Who were the people at plaza earlier?”

nDid he get a grasp of Yoon-seok’s personality with just one sentence? Ashton immediately changed tracks and complied.

n“They are the clan’s scouts.”

nAs expected, his guess was right. But the underlying question hadn’t been answered.

n“Clan?”

n“To put it simply, it’s the challengers’ authority.”

n“Do you really need authority in the tower?”

n“The more challengers, the better it is if you want to protect your homeland from invaders.”

n“But there were a lot of scouts out there.”

n“It isn’t possible to only have four clans just because there are four dimensions. Aren’t our authorities divided by country?”

n“I see.”

nThen, he didn’t have to ask whether the Clans all had the same mission to stop the invaders. Yoon-seok knew how the world worked.

n“I’ve heard earlier that everyone knows I’m a duelist, and they were surprised that I chose Earth. Why is that?”

n“The plaza where you appeared earlier is where duelists arrive in the Union Plaza. And…”

nAshton continued in a self-mocking voice.

n“Earth’s authority is the weakest among the four dimensions. In other words, it’s the most likely to be invaded.”

nAshton pointed out that the first reason why Earth’s power was so low was because they had no duelists.

n“Do you know how many duel challengers are on the 10th or upper floors? Less than 1,000. And those from Earth…as far as I know, there is no one but Choi Yoon-seok.”

nNow he knew that duel challengers were valued here. He had realized this in the mission trial, that duelists were much stronger than other challengers. But still…

n“I’m the only one.…?”

nThat was unexpected.

n“Yes, not that they died or anything, but you are the first. That’s why the scouts think you come from a dimension other than Earth. So they were surprised when you followed me.”

nWas it that depressing to work here as a scout? He thanked Yoon-seok with sincerity.

n“I was really worried since you arrived later than what Fahur had expected. Thank you very much; regardless of national or political position, this has given us hope.”

nYoon-seok tilted his head. Aside from thinking that Yoon-seok would remain on Earth, one of the things he just said bothered him.

nWas it later than he’d expected?

n“Wait…what’s the date today?”

n“March 9th, in Korea.”

nMarch 9th. In other words, sixteen days have passed since his last trip to Earth. Considering that the waiting room and Earth’s time run at 1:1, the timeline was vast.

n‘Time must have passed while I was on a mission.’

nHe spent a total of 45 days on the mission. If time went by in a 3:1 ratio, the date was about right , like in the adventure trials.

n“Is there a problem?”

n“No, not at all. Can I hear what you wanted to say to me earlier?”

nAshton briefly regained his breath and continued.

n“To ask you to keep your promise.”

nYoon-seok asked the U.S. challenger group for three favors: guard his parents in secret, reveal information about the Tower to the public, don’t let his name be exposed after the incident. For that, he decided to do a practical favor for them.

n‘It was ridiculous thinking about it now.’

nIn the end, it looked like a deal, but…

nIn fact, it was safe to say that it was more of a threat since he said he would come for them if they didn’t do it. At that time, Yoon-seok had no choice. He couldn’t return to the Tower if he just left his parents in Korea. So, Yoon-seok decided to grant their requests unless they were extreme.

nOf course, there was something he had to say before that.

n“Can I confirm that my request has been fulfilled?

n“Of course.”

nThere was no reason not to believe his words. Ashton couldn’t lie through the Eyes of the Executor unless his magic was as high as Yoon-seok’s. As he nodded, Ashton summarized the situation.

n“Your parents are safe, and the Tower’s existence was also revealed to the public. But we were only halfway successful in stopping your name from spreading.”

n“Half?”

nYoon-seok asked as if he had no idea.

n“Yes, the general public doesn’t know, but…the governments know about you. I want you to take into consideration that this was inevitable because it was too much of a task.”

nThe Earth challenger he’d met in the mission trial knew Yoon-seok, and he also said that it was a fact that had already spread. That was why he thought the U.S. didn’t intend to keep its promise at all…

nNow that he heard it, it seemed unlikely.

n“I see.”

n“Thank you for your understanding.”

n“So what favor is it that you wanted to ask for?”

nAshton briefly paused.

n“I want you to kill a challenger.”

nBefore the detailed explanation, Ashton first told Yoon-seok about his sixteen-day trip back to the Tower in chronological order.

n“After discussing with the Korean government, the incident was reported as a fire at the hospital.”

nHowever, it didn’t end with a simple fire, as many of those whose names were widely recognized perished. Korea as a whole was in chaos, but nobody knew anything.

nThen, three days later, information about the Tower was released to the public. The U.S. was planning to release the information more slowly. Since there were treaties intertwined among many other nations, there were other factors to take care of. But there was a reason for the quick timeline.

n“It’s because of the challenger I’ve asked you to kill earlier.”

nA challenger, believed to be from Kilian, arrived on Earth. The number of floors they had reached wasn’t confirmed, but he was a duelist. He destroyed people, animals, and landmarks at random.

n“300,000 people died in the UK alone on that day.”

nThe massacres carried out in downtown areas of the UK quickly spread to all parts of the world. When there was an ongoing rumor about an alien invasion, the U.S. released information on the Tower that was prepared to comply with Yoon-seok’s conditions. Criticism and protests against the government had flooded every country, but they weren’t bothered as long as they had nothing to hide.

nChallengers from all over the world joined forces to stop the slaughterer.

n“He covered his tracks, however.”

nIt would’ve been a blessing if he had gone back to the Tower altogether…

nBut a week ago, as of today, the whereabouts of the challenger were identified through satellite imaging. He was working on something on an island in the Pacific Ocean.

n“I don’t know how, but there’s a huge crack open that I’ve never seen anywhere before.”

nCracks, tears in space, were the phenomenon by which invaders appeared. What challenger groups did was destroy the invaders and close the cracks before they caused any more damage to the civilian population.

n“The invaders from the great cracks in the Pacific Ocean were not the same as we normally saw.”

nIt spread by constantly eating away things around the island. Challengers on the 5th floor or above were mobilized, but it was impossible to stop it. No, in the first place, they couldn’t stop even the challenger who created the rift, let alone the invaders. It wasn’t something he couldn’t understand.

nFahur, who was a duel challenger on the sixth floor at the time, was said to be one of the most powerful men on Earth. Even if there were a few challenges at that level, Yoon-seok was confident that he could deal with them all by himself.

n“In the meantime, word came up about you. Fahur said it during the meeting.”

nYoon-seok was suggested as a counterpart. He was confident that Yoon-seok would soon reach the tenth floor. He and several others truly believed it. They agreed that if he had reached the tenth floor, they might have hope, since the only people who went that far were monsters.

n“…”

nYoon-seok closed his mouth while listening to Ashton’s story.

n“You must feel pressured. But if we leave it as it is, the world will end. In that case, your family….”

n“Stop.”

nAt Yoon-seok’s words, Ashton grew quiet.

n“Don’t worry. I don’t mean to run away.”

nHe didn’t know what the challenger’s intentions were, but a strange bastard came to Earth and ensued chaos while he was not here. Even if it wasn’t a family issue, Yoon-seok had no intention to stand idly by and watch.

nHe killed 300,000 people in the UK alone? He was sure that person was evil.

n「Return Ticket (Rank E) has been used.」

n「Returning to Earth.」

nOne day might not be enough, so he bought a week’s worth of Rank-E tickets. Yoon-seok, having returned to Earth, checked his surroundings. He was at the entrance of Bugaksan when he last wandered around Seoul.

n“…”

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nIt was daytime, but no one was around.

n“Avatar.”

nWhen he activated Avatar and spread his wings, his clothes ripped. He was no longer wearing the equipment of the Tower that transformed according to its user’s body.

n‘It would’ve been nice if we could take equipment with us…’

nYoon-seok smacked his lips in disappointment. He once thought that reaching the tenth floor might let him find a way, but according to Ashton, Shin Sang-hyun’s equipment was brought to Earth with his skill.

nFlap! Flap! Flap!

nYoon-seok spread his wings and rose to the sky, heading to the place Ashton told him to. As he looked down from the ground down in downtown Seoul, he could feel the confusion that had happened in the preceding weeks. Of course, in the midst of this, most people seemed to continue their lives as normal…

nBut as evidence of their anxiety, convenience stores, and supermarkets were closed. When he looked closely, the shelves were empty, and as if some stores were sacked, the glass windows were shattered.

nIt looked as if the world was coming to an end.

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