I’m Alone on the 100th Floor Episode 022
7. The Dark Side of the Black Market (2)
“This one?”
Serin tilted her head as she lifted the dark-colored necklace she was wearing.
“Now that I think about it, I just accepted it and left it hanging.”
What I couldn’t decide on because of the arrows flying from the shrine was the ‘alias’ that could be used additionally when wearing the name cover.
[Undecided]
[Level: ???]
Thanks to the two trinkets, Serin’s head now had the word Unknown and three question marks instead of her name and level.
“You can’t keep walking around like that, right? If you like being called that, then there’s nothing I can do.”
Serin responded to Eugene’s words as if it didn’t matter at all.
“I don’t really care what it is.”
Although she didn’t like changing the name her parents had given her, she couldn’t keep using the name ‘Hanserin’ because of her work at Black Rose.
“Then shall we go to the princess?”
Like the Shin-gung we just met, it was a nickname she had when she made a name for herself as a black magician in Black Rose.
“If that’s what you’re going to do, then there’s no reason to use a name mask.”
Yu Jin scratched his head as he witnessed Serin’s disgusted expression.
“I guess it wasn’t that great? Black Princess.”
“I didn’t like that word in the first place. They made up weird nicknames like Black Princess and such.”
“Then, is there any other alias or nickname you wanted to have?”
“Well? Not really?”
Eugene stood there with his arms crossed and muttered as he watched Serin, who seemed uninterested in the pseudonym.
“There’s nothing I can do. I’ll decide.”
At Eugene’s words, the evil spirit hiding behind his back slowly revealed itself.
〈Oh, are you giving the girl a name too? Then she will be my younger sister!〉
“Little brother?”
As Serin tilted her head at Eternal’s words, Eugene explained while pushing in the head of the evil spirit that was sticking out over his shoulder.
“This guy didn’t originally have a name. I gave him one.”
I gave the ordeal a name, and in the eyes of other people… … .
[Eternal of Rotten Flame]
[Level: XXX]
It was hard to accept that it could look like this.
“Is that possible? In the first place, the fact that the trials can roam the safe zone of the 10th floor… … Eugene shrugged his shoulders at Serin’s question.
“The highest level of trials will be a bit different. The name… I just gave it to you like that because I felt bad for you who don’t have one. I didn’t know it would be displayed like that though.”
Serin, who had decided not to ask any more questions about him because it was difficult to find another answer, asked something else.
“Then what did Eternal mean by ‘little brother’?”
“When I named him on the 98th floor, I said that names are given by parents.” At that time, we were within a footstep of each other.
I remembered those bad memories of your parents hurling abuse at Eternal.
“Oh, so… …
Serin, who had been checking over Eugene’s shoulder for no reason, asked, thinking of the evil spirit that was now invisible.
“It seems like a good name.”
“okay?”
For some reason, it felt like the evil spirit hiding behind Eugene was making a pleased expression.
“If it’s not just empty words, I can make the decision for you easily.”
Eugene, without much thought, readily suggested a pseudonym for Serin to use.
“Let’s go with the guide.”
“guide?”
“That’s what I call it anyway, and I can’t think of any other nicknames. If there’s a better nickname, I’ll use that… but it seems like there aren’t any separate opinions.”
When purified, it was a pseudonym that meant guide or guide.
“I think it’s okay.”
The reason for wearing name masks and level masks in the first place was to stimulate climbers who were slow to conquer the top, so it didn’t seem like a bad idea to be called that.
“I hope this will change the mindset of those on the front lines.”
The tower was finished, and there was less than a year left until the cataclysm that would see the climbers being recalled.
Rather than conquering the tower, the climbers were only focused on competing with each other, and had to be encouraged to clear at least 50 floors.
“Let’s go down and check the bulletin board. The monster that appeared on the 10th floor… It looks like it’ll be quite noisy.”
While Eugene was muttering, above Serin’s head, who had finished manipulating her, instead of the two letters “Undecided”… … .
[guide]
[Level: ???] A new alias was displayed.
The trials on the 7th floor of the Tower of Trials were mainly about avoiding traps rather than fighting monsters.
The floor, which seemed to be a replica of the interior of a large medieval castle, had simple traps such as arrow traps, thorn traps, and wall traps installed in certain areas.
“… hey.”
Deep in the corner of the 7th floor.
There were two gatekeepers guarding a place where a normal person going up and down the tower would never set foot.
[Level 56]
[Level 57]
Two climbers, each over level 50, who were unrivaled by any other climber, were acting as the gatekeepers of this place.
“Why?” “Did you see the latest trending topic of the day? It’s about a warlock.”
“No? I didn’t see it?”
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“Take a look. It’s super fun.”
This is how the gatekeepers, who took turns guarding the gate, passed the time: they looked at the bulletin board on the tower.
[Today’s Hot Topic]
[Title: The Black Magician You’ve Never Seen?]
[Author: Patrick]
[Did anyone see the fight that just happened in the 10th floor vacant lot? There was a warlock who looked a bit off, and he seemed to be getting attacked by a ranker archer, and then he suddenly disappeared without a trace? He was wearing a name mask and a level mask, but judging by his ability to dodge arrows, he looked like he was going to devour all the rankers… If anyone has any information, please let me know.]
[Comments (763)]
[What a crazy guy. The warlock didn’t even block the ranker archer’s arrow, he just dodged it?]
[Aggro is filtered.]
[That spring!]
[Is this real… You didn’t stop it from flying in from a square, but rather evaded it?]
[After dodging a few arrows, he suddenly disappeared into the ground with a whoosh.]
[The type of arrow that flew was a steel skewer, mainly used by level 50 archers. That’s right, a ranker.]
[It suddenly disappeared? If it was a black magician, didn’t it just use a magic circle?]
[That must be it.]
[Then what was that stupid thing you did before you disappeared? Like shooting green lava into the sky?]
[Huh? Guys, wasn’t the 10th floor a safe zone? Fighting was possible?]
[The Resting Floor is not a place where there are no trials, but it is not impossible for climbers to fight each other. It is dark under the lamp, and in the past two years, more crimes have occurred in the safe zone.]
[I heard that the ranked archer mentioned here is a divine archer?]
[Huh? A shrine?]
[He leaves laughing.]
[I was there from the beginning. That warlock… not only did he dodge, he even deflected the arrow with his arm.] [You idiot, just do it.] [I’m Team Leader Kim Mi-young! I’ll lend you gold! Add me as a community friend for easy access! Up to 50,000 gold at the lowest interest rate! I’ll send it to you within 3 days!]
[It looked really scary… It was surrounded by something like black smoke.]
[If this is true, the top guilds will be a bit nervous. I don’t know which guild they belong to, though.]
[…….]
[…….]
A level 57 climber muttered after checking today’s trending article.
“There are a lot of aggro posts these days. 2 million gold came out of the 10th floor auction house at dawn, something happened at the Paradise Hotel… Even trivial things are being posted as trending topics.”
As the level 57 climber grumbled as he closed the bulletin board, the level 56 climber who was standing next to him snickered and answered.
“You never know? Who knows if all the stories posted here are true? Maybe at least one is a fact? Just look at the number of comments.”
The level 56 climber who had been giggling stopped laughing when his partner poked him in the ribs with his elbow.
“Hey, do you see that?”
“hmm?”
“What is that?”
What the two people saw was two climbers they had never seen before walking towards them.
[guide]
[Level: ???]
[Seon Yu-jin]
[Level: 10]
What was unsettling was that one side looked more like a trial than a climber.
“Hey, is that really… …
A dark hooded cloak, with a dark aura flowing upwards… If the warlock from the hot topic I just saw on the bulletin board were real, he would look exactly like that.
“??? Do you think you’ve come to the right place?”
“Should I take out my badge?”
It took quite a while for Seon Yu-jin to find this place, and her expression wasn’t very good.
“What are you taking out?”
Eugene Akmun walked ahead of the guide.
“Stop.”
As per the rules, level 56 and 57 climbers who were trying to block anyone who tried to set foot here pointed their weapons at Eugene.
“I don’t know how you found out about this place, but you can’t enter here without a ticket.”
Pointing a weapon at a mere level 10 climber was a bit of a stretch, but considering the unidentifiable hooded cloak visible behind him, it wasn’t an overreaction at all.
“It seems right, but I just wanted to confirm. Is this the ‘hint room’ that William was talking about?”
At Eugene’s question, the level 56 or 57 climber glared and swung his weapon aimed at him.
‘By the rules!’
‘We have to kill them!’ If the intruder who came without a badge knew the identity of the place they were guarding, there was only one thing they had to do.
According to the rules given above, the intruder had to be killed to prevent him from spreading other stories.
“If you had asked a question… …
Eugene moved before their weapons.
“I have to answer.”
Just before the two goalkeepers’ weapons reached Eugene’s head, the direction of the blades changed.
???pop!
After their weapons bent, the sound of air bursting rang out a little later.
“Ugh?!”
The shock transmitted to the palm of his hand caused the level 56 climber to drop the weapon he was holding.
‘What, what just happened?’
A level 10 climber named Seon Yu-jin was still in the same position as when he first walked up to them, his hands in his jacket pockets.
“My guide and I wasted quite a bit of time trying to find this place?”
Although his pose and face were relaxed, his voice did not feel that way.
“Is this a black market?”
The two goalkeepers swallowed hard, looked at the guide standing behind them once, then at Eugene standing across from them, and nodded.
“good.”
So Eugene nodded and took out ‘William’s Badge’ from his inventory.
“I brought the ticket. We are entering legally.”
The goalkeepers noticed that the badge had changed hands, but they did not dare to spit on him.
“No objection?”
It didn’t occur to them that they had seen something and made a mistake.
Only level 10?
That wasn’t it.
Is it presumptuous to have both hands in your pockets?
That’s because it was meant to be.
The difference in strength was so overwhelming that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to stop him.
“let’s go.”
As Eugene passed the two frozen climbers and entered the inner part of the 7th floor, the guide followed behind him.
The two goalkeepers were unable to carry out their duties even as the black hooded cloak passed them by.
“… Was it true?” I just kept thinking about how most of the stories in the trending posts on the bulletin board that seemed like lies were actually true.
‘Well, it’s understandable to be flustered…
Seo Rin, who had passed the frozen climbers, followed behind Eugene and spoke.
“There were two climbers just now.”
“Why them?”
Eugene, who was fidgeting with his hands in his pockets, looked back at Serin.
“He was a climber I didn’t know.”
“Well, it could be someone I don’t know.
“There are 100,000 people summoned to the tower.”
“no.”
As Eugene shrugged his shoulders and answered, Serin shook her head and continued speaking.
“Just now, the two climbers were level 56 and 57 respectively. This is a high enough level to be called a top ranker. But… …
Eugene narrowed his eyes as he noticed what Serin wanted to say.
“Unknown?”
“that’s right.”
When Serin nodded, Eugene asked in an ambiguous tone.
“Isn’t that someone you just don’t remember, or someone you didn’t see at the time?”
“It’s been a long time since I stepped away from the front lines, but I still remember most of the people who showed potential or seemed like they would be active.”
Serin’s expression was serious.
“Even if I don’t know the name, I have a vague idea of the person’s first impression. The ‘Shingung’ I met on the 10th floor is a representative example.”
This was because there weren’t many climbers over level 50 who could be called rankers on this tower.
“Come to think of it, the three people who were in charge of William’s escort at the restaurant were also of a level close to that of rankers, right?”
“That’s right. Level 49, 50, 51.”
“It’s suspicious. The two people who just passed by, and the three people I ran into then… I’ve never seen them before on the 40th floor.”
If what she says is true, the two climbers who were just acting as gatekeepers of the black market were probably… … .
“Maybe it really is. There might be a mastermind behind this tower.”
“Maybe it really is. There might be a mastermind behind this tower.”
