[ TWATF ]

Chapter 4: Millions of Stabs (3)

Jaehwan then mumbled as he saw the image of people disappearing into the light.

“Yeah… maybe so.”

Beastlain nodded.

“So, you probably have heard enough. Let’s get to the…”

Jaehwan interrupted him.

“You want me to start the game from beginning.”

“Haha, you sure got that right.”

“Without sending me back to the past.”

“Right. It is done by…”

Jaehwan nodded.

“Yeah. Thanks to you, I now realize what this tower is.”

“Yes?”

Jaehwan had been curious for long time. The enormous tower that appeared all of a sudden through the sky. And the mysterious message.

[Congratulations! You are chosen to be <Time Walker> to save the world from the will of the <Tower of Nightmares>! Do you accept the summon?]

[Yes / No]

He agreed to the summoning. That’s why he was here.

Jaehwan walked up and placed his hands on the walls. He felt the cold feeling of the stone. He had spent more time within the tower than the time he had spent time on Earth. But after all this time, he had never realized that this giant structure was an [Item]. It was time to change what he knew. He closed his eyes and focused on the tower. He imagined the shape of it. Everything he had seen and experienced.

After a few moments, his head hurt. It was as if something within him had broken down. Then a window popped up with an item description.

[Item Detail]

Name: Tower of Nightmares – Tutorial Mode

Description: 2nd Creation of Nightmare [Mulack], the creator of the ‘Fortress of Remorse.’ Traps the one who accepts the summon into its dream world.

“This tower is a giant [Stone of Nightmare].”

Jaehwan spoke. “I was already within the ‘Dream of Nightmare’ created by this tower from a long time ago. From the day I accepted the summoning.”

Silence fell. Beastlain was lowering his head so his face couldn’t be seen. He shivered as if he cried for a seconds, then raised his head.

“HAHAHAHA!”

He laughed so hard. But his laughter now contained an anger of some kind.

“This… this is amazing! You have astonished me so many times!”

Beastlain snapped his fingers again and the screens changed. The screen was now showing the outside world.

Jaehwan was dumbfounded. The world was fine. The city, people, everything that he considered to be gone after the Tower Impact was still standing. No one had been killed yet.

“As you can see, no one among you has died yet. Isn’t it troubling if all of you died before even the ‘Real Game’ began?”

Beastlain continued, “Haha, isn’t it wonderful that no one died? I believe it’s good news for you humans who form groups like ‘Family’ or a ‘Friends’.”

All the people who seemed to be Walkers were sent to hospitals to be taken care of. It seemed the government was working to protect them. Among those patients was the unconscious Jaehwan. It had been many years, but his face on Earth was still his young self.

“You had lived tens of years here, but only a month has passed in your world.”

Jaehwan nodded.

‘Right… this is a dream. That explains the time difference.’

But this was only true if he could trust the image shown by Demon Beastlain. He had no power to discern if this was all true. The demon already had lied to him, so he could not see what was the truth. Then all the screens turned off at once.

“Well, we have used up too much time! Anyway, I assume you realized you have nothing to lose with my offer then. You are not going back in time. You’re just restarting it.”

Beastlain then began punching something in the air.

“It has been a pleasure.”

Something popped up in front of Jaehwan.

[Gamemaster is trying to terminate the Tutorial Game. You can return back to World 294, and join the real game with all of your memory intact. Do you accept the offer?]

[Yes / No]

Jaehwan looked at the screen and made a choice.

- You have refused the offer.