Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Morning of Day 14 since entering the Tower.

“Nnnngh. I slept well.”

Inside the warm, cozy sleeping bag.

Woo-jin wriggled around and stretched, if only a little.

Purr... purr.........

Blackie was sleeping inside the Yukgaejang cup noodles box.

When Woo-jin had first given him the box, Blackie had gotten angry, saying, ‘As if I’d go into such a shabby place, nyah!’ But now it seemed to have become his absolute favorite item.

“Good morning, Doppelganger.”

(…….) Nod!

The Doppelganger was sitting properly on the ground.

When Woo-jin waved, the Doppelganger nodded.

Before going to sleep last night, Woo-jin had tried to unsummon it, but once he learned that Magic Power was not consumed unless the Doppelganger took some particular action, he had simply left it alone.

Does it sleep?

It did lie down when I went to bed last night.

Well, anyway.

He went to the lake inside the cave, scooped up a cup of water, and drank.

The water was clear and transparent.

It was like Samdasoo sold at supermarkets.

It tasted good too.

Gulp, gulp.

“Khhh.”

After drinking water, it was time for morning exercise.

There was nothing like national calisthenics for waking up a body grown languid from sleep.

Elementary, middle, and high school P.E. classes.

The exercise he had done every morning during roll call in the military.

It had been so long that he thought he would have forgotten it all, but his body remembered.

“One-two, one-two.”

Breathing exercise, leg exercise, arm exercise.

As he went through them in order, Blackie woke up before he knew it and was watching Woo-jin exercise. The Doppelganger was watching too.

“Woo-jin. What are you doing, nyah?”

“National calisthenics. Do you two want to try?”

“I want to try too, nyah!”

“Good. Then both of you stand in front of me.”

Blackie and the Doppelganger stood in front of him.

Woo-jin began slowly from the first exercise, breathing.

“One-two, one-two.”

“One-two, nyah! One-two, nyah!”

(…….) Step, step!

They followed along well.

In the first place, national calisthenics were not especially difficult.

They had been made so that men and women of all ages in South Korea could do them easily.

“Whew. Let’s eat breakfast now.”

“Breakfast! I like that, nyah!”

Today’s breakfast was cherry tomatoes.

Cherry tomatoes were extremely good for the body.

One of the representative superfoods.

And the cherry tomatoes Woo-jin had grown went one step further.

[Tower Magic Power Cherry Tomato]

- Grade: D

- Effect: Permanently increases Magic Power by +0.002 when consumed.

- Description: A cherry tomato from the Tower cultivated by someone. Eating it seems likely to increase Magic Power, if only by a very tiny amount.

‘They raise Magic Power too. Hehehe.’

Bright-red ripe cherry tomatoes.

He popped off the green leaf stems and sent them straight into his mouth.

Pop!

When he split a cherry tomato in half with his teeth, fresh fruit juice burst inside his mouth. Thanks to the crunchy skin, the texture was good too.

[You have consumed Tower Magic Power Cherry Tomato and permanently increased Magic Power by 0.002.]

[You have consumed Tower Magic Power Cherry Tomato and…….]

“It’s refreshing, nyah!”

(…….) Thumbs up!

It seemed to suit everyone’s taste.

Woo-jin ate twenty cherry tomatoes in one sitting.

With that, Woo-jin’s Magic Power increased by 0.04.

“Whew. That was good.”

He was sitting there resting for a moment when the Doppelganger stood up, gathered the cherry tomato stems from the ground, and threw them into a pit.

It did things neatly on its own, even when he had not said anything.

Woo-jin watched with a pleased expression, as if he found it admirable.

“Hm? Blackie, what are you doing?”

Blackie was taking notes with paper and pen.

He did not seem to be trying to hide it. Even when Woo-jin went closer, he simply continued his work and did not hide the paper.

He looked happy.

“This, nyah? I’m writing a report, nyah.”

“A report?”

“Administrators must report their management logs to the Association once a month, nyah. Today is report day, nyah.”

“I see.”

Hm?

Wait.

“Blackie!”

“Nya-nyah?!”

“I don’t know what this Association is, but you’re going to report about me, right?!”

“That’s right, nyah.”

“Gasp! Then maybe I might be able to get out of here? Me entering Mythic difficulty has to be some kind of error!”

Blackie blinked. Then he slowly avoided Woo-jin’s eyes.

“Th-that will be difficult, nyah.”

“Why?”

“Managing the Tower is the Association’s work, but entry into and exit from the Tower are outside an administrator’s domain, nyah. I plan to report it as a special note, but making you escape is impossible, nyah.”

“Tch.”

“I-I’m sorry, nyah…….”

Woo-jin let out a sigh.

Well, of course.

If reporting to the Association could let him escape the Tower, Blackie would have told him.

“It’s fine. It’s not something you need to apologize for.”

Blackie finished writing the management log.

- Current number of adventurers: 1

- 1st Floor: 0

- 2nd Floor: 0

- …….

- 99th Floor: 1

- Cleared: X

- Special Notes

1. Adventurer is level 1 and was summoned to the 99th Floor.

2. Sustaining life through farming.

The content was brief.

It did not seem like something written in long, detailed paragraphs.

Only the necessary details were written.

Other matters, such as having used the Administrator Passage to go down to the 98th Floor, were not included.

‘Well, I wouldn’t write that either.’

A Tower administrator must not provide convenience to a specific adventurer.

If that fact were discovered, the administrator would be stripped of their qualifications.

“Now I will submit it after finishing it, nyah.”

“Mm-hm. Okay.”

Blackie had said that escaping the Tower was impossible.

But in truth, Woo-jin was secretly getting his hopes up.

After all, a level 1 adventurer being summoned to the 99th Floor of Mythic difficulty was clearly an error, and errors were supposed to be corrected.

“Do you go in person to report?”

“That’s right, nyah. I will report to the Association President, nyah. Still, just in case, I will ask the Association President whether Woo-jin can leave the Tower, nyah.”

Originally, the rule was to submit reports through the system, but in cases with special achievements or special notes, one could report directly to the Association President face-to-face.

Blackie had never once made a face-to-face report before.

At last, a chance had appeared for him to make a proper, impressive report like the other administrators.

---

Official designation: Administrator No. 350.

Blackie visited the Administrator Association.

Blackie’s eyes sparkled, and his tail swayed gently.

How long had it been since he had come to the Association?

Since graduating from the Tower Administrator Academy and receiving his appointment as a Tower administrator, he had never once come here.

At that moment, a large shadow fell over Blackie.

Blackie blinked and peeked upward.

Standing there was a giant.

A giant about three meters tall.

A fellow graduate from the Tower Administrator Academy.

It was ‘Administrator No. 300.’

“What? No. 350, what business do you have here?”

He was one of the main people who had ostracized and mocked Blackie at the academy.

To Blackie, he was a trauma. Their sizes were far too different too.

Blackie naturally shrank in on himself and became intimidated.

“I-I came to make a report, nyah…….”

Blackie’s fur stood on end in shock, and he took one step back. At the word ‘report,’ Administrator No. 300 burst into laughter so loudly that the corridor shook.

“A report? Someone like you, No. 350, is making a report? What could you possibly have to report to the Association President when you were assigned to Mythic difficulty, where not a single adventurer ever comes?”

“Th-there is... an adventurer, nyah……!”

“What? Let me see that report.”

“I have no reason to give it to you, nyah! Only the Association President may see the report, nyah!”

Administrator No. 300 frowned, then forcibly snatched the report from Blackie’s backpack.

Blackie was horrified and jumped up and down, begging him to return it, but taking it back from a giant three meters tall was impossible.

Administrator No. 300 looked over the contents of the report.

“What is this? There’s one person on the 99th Floor? Hey, No. 350. Are you sane, trying to show the Association President a false report like this?”

“It isn’t a lie, nyah! It’s real, nyah!”

It seemed to be true.

With No. 350’s bean-sized courage, there was no way he would dare falsify a report to show the Association President.

But how was there an adventurer in Mythic difficulty, and on the 99th Floor at that?

‘Even if they crossed over from Hell difficulty... there shouldn’t be any changes there. The current highest point for Earth’s adventurers actively climbing is Hard difficulty’s 34th Floor.’

Special Notes.

The adventurer’s level was 1, and he was sustaining his life through farming.

Administrator No. 300 burst into laughter.

“Like administrator, like adventurer! Hahahahaha! What a pair of fools! Do you not know that no matter how much you struggle in the Mythic difficulty Tower, only death awaits?”

“D-do not laugh at Woo-jin, nyah!”

That was when it happened.

“What is this commotion?”

A kindly looking old man leaning on a cane appeared.

The old man was the Association President. Blackie and Administrator No. 300 hurriedly bowed their heads.

“W-well, that is…….”

As Administrator No. 300 stammered, the Association President gestured with his hand. Administrator No. 300 handed over the report he was holding. The Association President swept his eyes over it once.

“Administrator No. 350. Is everything written in this report true?”

“Th-that is correct, nyah.”

“An adventurer who should have entered Normal difficulty ended up entering Mythic difficulty. What a pitiful adventurer.”

Blackie asked,

“Association President! Is there perhaps no way to return this adventurer to Normal difficulty’s 1st Floor, or to reality, nyah?”

The Association President shook his head.

“He is said to be sustaining his life through farming, but he is as good as dead soon. If it is the 99th Floor, that is where the Dragon Lord resides, is it not? On top of that, the Objective is to slay the Dragon Lord. That is absolutely impossible.”

The report in the Association President’s hand floated up into the air, then flew off somewhere with a whoosh. It would be placed into the report storage cabinet in the Association President’s office.

“Administrator No. 300. For the offense of stealing and reading a report, you receive 5 demerit points.”

“...Yes. I apologize.”

“Administrator No. 350.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“Good work. Continue working diligently from now on. I will give you 1 merit point.”

At those words, tears welled up in Blackie’s eyes.

“Yes, sir! Thank you very much, nyaang!”

Blackie, who had received merit points for the first time in his life, was utterly delighted.