Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

"......."

The contents were not as grand as he had expected.

Rather than a warning, it was closer to a grumbling note.

‘Is this written for the person mentioned in the records?’

Apparently, there had been ‘someone’ who had been after this Food Storage.

Whether they were an enemy or an ally—he still did not know.

But at the very least, traces of a person remained here.

"Ha ha...."

Jin-woo let out a faint laugh.

The Arcanist, who had seemed overwhelming in the records, had left a note like this.

‘It’s no different from someone opening the refrigerator in the middle of the night.’

Jin-woo folded the note and tucked it away.

He did not know whether it would be useful right now, but it might help someday.

‘It’ll be perfect for language research.’

"Then...."

He looked back at the compressed nutrition block.

Food.

Even before Regression, he had suffered quite a lot because of this.

‘Eating was the hardest part.’

In the Tower, hunger soon gnawed away at judgment.

There had actually been Hunters who ate monster meat.

They must have believed it would be fine if they roasted it over fire, but the result was obvious.

A monster’s toxicity did not disappear with heat.

The moment you ate it, your body broke down.

‘Once I get to around the twentieth floor later, I can get medicinal herbs that neutralize toxicity, but....’

There were none on the first floor.

Right now, he had no options.

After hesitating for a moment, Jin-woo picked up one compressed nutrition block.

When he opened the lid, an unidentifiable smell faintly spread out.

It was not a smell that let him expect flavor.

"...To hell with it."

He chewed, and his jaw froze.

The moment he chewed, what came in first was not flavor, but function.

"......."

It clung like dough, and it had no taste.

Something that was not a taste at all remained in his mouth.

"This really... tastes awful."

When he forced it down, he felt warmth spread inside.

It was unpleasant, but his body reacted first.

[High-calorie.]

[High-protein.]

[Taste is not a consideration.]

Jin-woo smiled bitterly.

"Yeah... excellent protein."

Jin-woo washed the foul taste left on the tip of his tongue away several times with precious water.

It still did not disappear.

"This isn’t something you chew. It’s something you shove down."

[Recommended intake: 2 per day.]

[Overconsumption reduces digestive efficiency.]

At Lumina’s guidance, Jin-woo shook his head.

"They really do see people as fuel."

His stomach slowly filled, and the hunger he had felt until a moment ago subsided as if it had been a lie.

The taste was the worst.

The efficiency was certain.

‘So this is the Tower’s food.’

It was not food that gave satisfaction, but fuel for survival.

Jin-woo looked at the remaining compressed nutrition blocks, then quietly took a few more.

Even if they tasted awful, that was enough for now.

And then.

Ding.

《Food needed for survival secured.》

《Survival EXP accumulates.》

Today too, the Tower kept ‘me’ alive.

In return—it would demand tomorrow’s fuel.

Slosh.

Jin-woo shook his canteen to check it.

He had water, and he had food.

And yet, his chest would not settle.

Both were stopgaps dependent on a ‘broken device’ and a ‘sealed storage room.’

If just one thing went wrong—he was finished.

‘Someday... I have to repair the Magic Tower itself.’

Strangely, that thought remained like excitement.

Fighting had always been ‘consumption,’ but repairing—builds.

For the first time in the Tower, it became clear.

“My reason for surviving” was—in the end, ‘repair.’

***

《DAY -5 ended.》

《Survival EXP accumulates.》

"Haaaahm......."

Jin-woo yawned long and pushed himself up.

Rustle—

His half-asleep hair stuck out in all directions.

The cot he had grown used to came into view.

The hardness that scraped at his back still lingered.

At first, he had thought his back would not survive, but now even that level of discomfort was close to a luxury.

‘I can get used to this in no time.’

As he climbed down from the bed, he muttered to himself.

"Still... it’s better than a jiggling Slime bed."

Back then, it really had not been sleep but ‘passing out.’

Every time he closed and opened his eyes, there was one fewer companion.

That was why even this felt like safety.

"Whew...."

Jin-woo lightly rolled his neck to ease the stiffness, then looked around.

And he naturally asked.

"Lumina. How much energy is left?"

[Remaining Energy: 12%]

What the number meant was simple.

If he ran the Water Purification Room, it was over. If he turned on ventilation alone, it was over.

If the defenses collapsed—he would be finished before he even had time to calculate.

《Energy decrease detected.》

《Magic Tower Stability decreased.》

《Magic Tower Stability: 35%》

The reaction came immediately.

Even if he raised the stability, it kept falling.

‘If I can’t manage it, I die.’

"Good. Today... if I put it off, I’m finished."

It was the fifth day since his Regression.

At first, everything had been unfamiliar and full of wariness, but now the structure and flow of the Magic Tower were slowly becoming familiar to his body.

‘First, food.’

Jin-woo turned and headed to the Food Storage.

When he opened the door, the neatly arranged compressed nutrition blocks inside came into view.

There was still enough of them.

‘As long as these are here, I won’t starve to death for a while.’

He picked one up, hesitated for a moment, then put it in his mouth.

"....... Ugh."

It clung mushily.

"This isn’t food... it’s fuel."

It was not something that filled the stomach—it was fuel that ‘operated’ the body.

The Tower did not see people as human beings.

It saw them as functioning parts.

[Taste is not a consideration.]

"I know already."

Jin-woo grumbled, but in the end, he swallowed all of it.

The taste was the worst, but the energy spreading through his body was certain.

As if heat were rising from within, his body slowly woke up.

His eyelids grew lighter, and strength returned to his fingertips.

‘Still, the effect is undeniable.’

He brushed off his hands and nodded.

In this Tower, survival came before taste.

"Now, then."

Jin-woo’s gaze naturally turned in one direction.

"I should get moving."

The mine.

There were Mana Stones he had to mine today too, and there was no time he could stop.

And so, Jin-woo headed back toward the mine.

***

CLANG—!

Only after a few more swings did Jin-woo lean the pickaxe against the wall.

"That’s enough. This is it for today."

There was no need to get greedier.

Jin-woo gathered the Mana Stones one by one and gave a short nod.

Mining was over.

He headed to the Main Room.

"Now."

Jin-woo counted the Mana Stones and put exactly twenty into the fuel tank.

"One day’s worth for the Water Purification Room... and emergency reserves."

Twenty.

The minimum maintenance line.

Below that, it would collapse immediately.

Jin-woo drove that number into himself as a rule of survival.

[Energy Charge.]

[Remaining Energy: 91%]

Then,

《Stability increased.》

《Magic Tower Stability: 36%》

Perhaps because he had eaten a compressed nutrition block, he had strength left and had been able to mine more than usual.

‘If it piles up little by little like this, I might get some breathing room.’

Jin-woo looked at the Mana Stones stacked to one side and nodded.

Having surplus pile up was a good thing.

It was a little hard, though.

He was growing used to this place.

"Then... shall I do the work I’ve been putting off?"

After drinking water to wet his throat, Jin-woo immediately moved.

It was time to understand the structure of the Magic Tower.

It was work he had kept putting off because simply surviving had been too much to handle.

But now it was different.

Today, he intended to see it through to the end.

"Let’s see...."

After leaving the Main Room, Jin-woo slowly began looking around the inside of the Magic Tower.

The passages were simple.

Jin-woo divided the zones by ‘function.’

Living—sleep and body temperature.

Storage—food and reserve fuel.

Work—purification and repair.

And... doors that had yet to open.

"It’s wider than I thought."

Jin-woo stopped walking and organized the structure in his head.

He had grasped the rough layout.

"Hmm... not bad."

This was not random.

There was intention and design.

Jin-woo nodded.

The outline of the Magic Tower was now within his grasp.

"But...."

Jin-woo stopped in front of a door.

One firmly closed door.

But something was strange.

A smell was leaking through the gap in the door.

It seemed rotten, but it was not simple decay.

The moment he breathed in, the tip of his tongue tasted bitterness first.

"Lumina. What room is this?"

[Record damaged.]

[Unable to classify.]

Jin-woo did not take his hand off the handle.

An unknown room was the most dangerous.

"Right... can it be opened?"

[Opening possible.]

[Awaiting command.]

After Lumina’s prompt ended, Jin-woo could not answer right away.

His hand stopped near the doorknob.

He knew he had to do it.

He could not simply skip this room when he was trying to grasp the interior of the Magic Tower.

He felt uneasy for no reason.

‘This feeling.......’

Jin-woo frowned.

‘The door of a refrigerator with the power cut.’

You did not know until you opened it.

But once you opened it, the air itself changed.

It was not a smell. It felt like failure rising up.

Jin-woo had experienced that far too many times.

"...Open it."

[Opening.]

Vwoom-

With a short vibration, the door opened.

At the same time, "Gah! What is that smell?!"

A tremendous stench poured out.

At the same time,

《Contaminant detected in the Magic Tower.》

《Magic Tower Stability: 33%》

《Declining》

The moment the door opened, contamination spread.

If he closed it, it would stop.

But the moment he closed it—he would be giving up on ‘checking.’

Lumina’s report continued.

[Contamination Level rising: 35 →40%]

The number climbed.

The number was even more ominous.

Jin-woo hurriedly covered his nose.

He could not even tell what kind of smell it was.

It was horrible.

"Lumina... what on earth is this...."

[...Cause unknown.]

[Close?]

"...No."

Jin-woo shook his head.

The smell was awful, but it was not unbearable.

After climbing to the ninety-eighth floor,

he could endure a stench of this level.

"I need to find out why it smells this bad."

Jin-woo stepped inside.

The air was different.

It was enough to make breathing difficult.

"Lumina... can’t you vent this smell out?"

[Emergency Ventilation System Activation.]

[Energy Priority Reallocation.]

‘Reallocation again.’

Jin-woo clicked his tongue.

Every time this Tower moved one thing, it threw away another.

What it was throwing away now—was tomorrow’s breathing room.

VWOOOM-!

A strange sound came from the wall.

At the same time, the unpleasant smell thinned a little.

It seemed the ventilation system was running.

"Now I can breathe a little...."

He barely caught his breath.

Only then did the things around him enter his sight.

"....... This is pretty bad."

Jin-woo’s gaze lowered to the floor.

It was a passage.

No, it was closer to the traces of what had once been a passage.

The floor had collapsed into debris, and a black, hardened layer covered it.

When he took one step—

Squelch.

The fact that it stuck at all was the problem.

If it got on the soles of his boots, it would move to other zones.

Once contamination spread, it was over.

Here, cleanliness was defense.

"...Wow."

His face twisted instinctively.

The source of the smell was clear.

This entire passage had effectively become a garbage dump left abandoned for a long time.

The walls were not intact either.

In every gap between metal and stone, traces of contamination remained, as if something had flowed down and hardened.

"What is this?"