169 – The Returner Wandering (5)
“About 10 months from today… “The Earth may be in danger.”
“… ?”
“… Yes?”
Choi Ji-won and I froze for a moment and could not move. What is this sound? Earth is in danger?
“First of all… Let me start by telling you how I found out about this. “Can you excuse me if I want something to drink?”
Michael Jeter said that and opened the refrigerator to get water without asking permission. He picked up a 1.5 Liter water bottle without a cup and drank it all in an instant.
“Whoa. First, let me ask you this. How long has it been since you were summoned to the ‘tutorial’?”
“About… “I think it’s been about three months.”
“It’s been four months for me. You could say he was one of the first people summoned to the tutorial. Actually, I already cleared the 15th floor two months ago.”
“… “That quickly?”
“Yes. We gathered trustworthy people and worked as a team. Except for the time it took for 100 people to gather on the 4th floor, no time was wasted. “I have now cleared up to the 23rd floor.”
It’s the 23rd floor. I’m not sure if anyone climbed the top faster than Michael Jeter… The 23rd floor is probably close to the peak of humanity. 23Rd floor in 4 months. Considering the fact that the tower has a total of 66 floors, the speed is incredibly fast. If you maintain this pace, you can conquer the tower in just one year.
“So… “What does it have to do with your quick climb to the tower and the fact that there is a crisis on Earth?”
“The higher the floor in this tower, the more information you can learn. It has been three months since I took the position as President of the Players Association. It is a position with a lot of responsibility, but it also has a lot of rights. “I used that ‘power’ to secretly nurture players whose abilities were excessively dangerous.”
“… “Are you saying the ability is ‘excessively’ dangerous?”
“Don’t you remember that I teleported here?”
“So?”
“This is not a person…” What would it have been like if it had been a bomb or something? If it is possible for a person to move from New York to Seoul, would it be impossible to go anywhere else? There isn’t even any evidence left. “There is no way to detect the player’s abilities on Earth yet.”
“… “
“Besides bombs, biochemical weapons. Listening device. Or fabricated evidence. Everything can be moved secretly and without evidence. This power… It is a power too dangerous for a group to grasp. “It is a force that can destroy the balance of human society.”
Michael Jeter clasps his hands together and covers his mouth with his arms raised.
“There are two main reactions from those in power who discover ‘excessively’ powerful powers, like the long-distance travel ability I used this time. You can either deal with it completely by providing the means to completely control it, or… “
“Either destroy it.”
“That’s correct. “This is why I mentioned that it was ‘excessively’ dangerous.”
He was killed because his abilities were so great. This is a very possible scenario. If your body’s strength is weak, it will be even more dangerous.
“If I find such a player, I erase their traces from the association database and bring them in separately to develop them. If its existence becomes known, life is in danger. There are already 7 players gathered.”
Michael Jeter calmly recites a story.
“Among them, an Indian player named ‘Mahesh’ cleared the 15th floor about 3 weeks ago. Mahesh’s ability is called ‘divination’. “It is the ability to tell you how to achieve the best results in the situation you are currently in.”
“A little… “Is this an ability like navigation?”
“That’s right.”
Michael Jeter said that, unusually, a man named ‘Mahesh’ came to visit Michael Jeter first. After he returned to reality, he used his fortune-telling ability, and a fortune-telling message appeared telling him to go see the Players’ Association president.
“Mahesh, like you, cleared the 15th floor with ease. “The old man gave me an appropriate reward, a blue portal opened, and the only thing left to do was clear it.”
Mahesh felt a little uncomfortable here. He used his ‘divination’ ability to relieve his discomfort.
“The fortune telling says… “The answer came back telling me to use the ‘Spell of Emotions’ on the dragon-shaped statue.”
“… “A spellbook of emotions?”
That’s… It was clearly a reward for the 12th floor. Maybe the number was [25]? That spell book, which I also have, suddenly came out with a fortune telling me to use it on a statue?
“This is the number Mahesh saw at that time.”
Michael Jeter takes out a small piece of paper from his pocket. There was a list of numbers scribbled very hastily with a pen.
-325:11:24:41
“… Timer?”
“Yes. If you say seconds, minutes, and hours from the right… “The first 325 could be .”
Raise your finger and tap the paper. Talk. Talk. Michael Jeter pounding. There was no change in his expression, but the atmosphere became heavier.
“I am not the first to clear the 15th floor. However, when I entered the 15th floor… There were very, very few statues. But I heard that the number of statues has increased considerably now. “Is this true?”
“… “It’s true.”
“So, it would be correct to assume that this statue is created each time a player enters. If we calculate the statue’s time backwards… It seems that the timer starts one year after clearing the 15th floor. Do you agree?”
“I agree.”
The timer’s time was 325 days three weeks ago. And since Michael Jeter cleared the 15th floor about two months ago… It would be reasonable to assume that the timer was set to one year from the time Michael Jeter, or someone faster than him, cleared it.
“Then…” “What do you think will happen the moment this statue’s timer runs out?”
The statue I saw on the 15th floor. Most of them took the form of some kind of monster. Whether it’s a goblin, a wolf, or a dragon…
“My colleagues and I guess… It was judged that the statues would appear on Earth in a tangible form. It may appear again on the 15th floor, but it is highly likely that it will make clearing it impossible for latecomers. That’s why Earth. It looks like it will appear on Earth. Of course, it’s just a possibility.”
“… “
“It’s possible that nothing will happen. However, considering the structure of the 11th and 12th floors, I think it is right to prepare.”
Choi Ji-won and I couldn’t say anything. Rather than saying what he said was so absurd, it was so plausible that I couldn’t open my mouth. Honestly, there is a timer on the statue, so what other possibilities are there?
“The reason I haven’t made any official appearances recently… “It was about finding a solution.”
In the past, I read an article posted by Michael Jeter on the Internet. It was probably on the second floor. The atmosphere felt in his post at the time was pleasant. This means that he was not an infinitely heavy man.
What has changed him so much in the past four months? Perhaps, like me, he was aware of the weight he was carrying on his shoulders. I think it was because of a sense of responsibility, ‘If I don’t do my job, the Earth will perish.’ Suddenly a thought occurred to me.
“I have been experimenting. First of all, it is impossible to inform the general public that monsters appear. No, people who haven’t reached the 15th floor can’t even recognize it. “I think that filtering is probably because it is treated as ‘top content.'”
“Then…” “It would be impossible to prepare realistically.”
“I think so too. Perhaps, if we can figure out a trick or provide appropriate nuance, we can achieve some level of contrast… It may not be enough to prepare for global chaos. We don’t know what size, where, or how the statues will appear. “All we know is time.”
“Seup… “
It’s difficult. This is very difficult. Monsters appear on Earth? It’s impossible to even announce that? This is no different from the fact that large-scale casualties were planned. Moreover, they say the statue was shaped like a dragon… It doesn’t seem easy to stop it with modern firearms.
“Can’t I get help from the association?”
Michael Jeter shakes his head in response to Choi Ji-won’s cautious question.
“The executives of the association… I’m currently preoccupied with something else. I don’t know exactly what it is, but all I know is that it is a very large project in collaboration with the U.S. Government. “They probably won’t even listen to me properly.”
“It is true that there was a disagreement with the association.”
“It was just a relationship where we used each other. “I will take a moment to drink some water.”
Michael Jeter took out another bottle of water from the refrigerator and drank it in an instant. He toughly wiped the water with the back of his arm and looked at the ceiling with hollow eyes.
“The first confusion… It cannot be stopped. You have to endure this. What’s more important, I think, is preparing for what comes after. “If monsters continue to pour in endlessly in the future… All humanity other than the players will be destroyed.”
He stopped looking at the ceiling and extended his two fingers toward us.
“I think there are two main theoretical solutions. First, it drastically reduces the number of players who can climb to the 15th floor or higher.”
I don’t know the exact conditions, but it is estimated that one statue is created every time a player enters the 15th floor. But what if no players enter the 15th floor? No more statues will be made, and the Earth will one day become safe.
“But… “Wouldn’t that be impossible?”
“I think so too. Rather, it seems much more likely that there will be a backlash.”
But this is impossible. Not only was there no way to prevent each player from entering the tower in the first place, but it was also a human trait that telling people not to climb the 15th floor made them want to climb even more.
“So, the second solution is the only solution.”
Michael Jeter, with one finger folded and only the index finger pinned, spoke in a determined voice.
“The number of strong players who can respond to the sudden appearance of a monster… It needs to be increased to a much more extreme level than it is now. “No matter when and where a monster appears, the infrastructure must be in place to respond.”
“That means… “
“Yes.”
Even the one remaining finger folds, turning into a scarred fist full of determined will.
“For humanity to survive… “The era must come of the players, by the players, and for the players.”