Chapter 383: Nine Keys (1)
Snip.
As if it were just any other day, hairdressing scissors crossed through the air.
“So, you’re really planning to head straight for the 100th floor?”
“That’s right.”
I spoke, reflected in the large window.
Over my shoulder, the director sighed as he held the scissors.
“You could rest a bit longer before ascending.”
“Hamusutra said the same thing. Or is it that Hamusutra is echoing you?”
“Either way, it’s sound advice. Spending time together, it’s natural to influence each other.”
Hamusutra, Kim Yul, and the director had spent time together in the planetarium. Time being a two-way street meant influencing each other was inevitable, even for someone as significant as Hamusutra.
And so did I and the Guardian Spirit.
“Yes, I’m going up right away.”
Guardian Spirit waited quietly beside me as I got my hair cut.
“Alright.”
The director then focused more on his scissoring without further words.
Scissors.
“Now you truly have become a director.”
The director frowned.
“If you’re about to add, [Since you’ve become the manager of the garden, you’re a director now,] I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t want to find out that the child I once cared for has become a grown man in such a manner.”
“I just wanted to contribute to preventing global warming.”
“This isn’t Earth, you know.”
Even as banter continued, the director kept cutting my hair… and then said,
“150 years ago, a journalist asked a mountaineer a question.”
-Why do you want to climb Everest?
“It’s not hard to guess why the journalist asked that question. It was similar to when journalists rushed to ask Marcus Callenbury why he was entering the tower a few years before.”
-Why forsake safety when you can live comfortably as you are?
-Is there something promised to you in exchange for reaching the top?
-What drives you to challenge yourself?
-I’m just curious. Explain it to me.
“The mountaineer simply said this.”
-Because it’s there.
“Ah, that phrase. I’ve heard it before.”
“Yes. When I was your age, it was a well-known saying. It spawned many parodies. About gaming because it’s there, or ordering chicken because it’s there. Various lame jokes were popular back then.”
“The Earth must have been quite warm then.”
“It was around the time when global warming was starting to take off.”
The director’s scissors snipped away a stray lock of hair.
As my hair was trimmed, the fallen strands scattered in the wind.
“Bringing up this story now, are you trying to ask me why I’m aiming for the 100th floor?”
“No, Gong-Ja. I don’t really want to ask that.”
As always, with a slightly grim expression, the director quietly spoke.
And then he added,
“Because you have the luxury to.”
That was somewhat unexpected.
“Me?”
“You have a splendid home, don’t you?”
As the director said, this place was indeed my home.
Not the sanctuary, the [Garden of Withered Flowers], but the mansion where I originally lived.
20th floor.
In terms of connection by stairs, it was one floor below the Garden of Withered Flowers, but in terms of connection to the Tower, it was 60 floors below.
“And you also have such a beautiful garden.”
There was a reason for choosing to cut my hair in the non-sanctuary house.
I intended not to leave even a single grain of soil or a drop of water in the garden that wasn’t needed by the flowers. Thus, my trimmed hair intermingled with dandelion seeds in the yard of my house, not the garden.
“Having a home means you have a fortress to protect yourself and your family. Having a flower garden means you have the luxury to fully care for and consider not just your family but others as well.”
“…….”
“Someone like you, with such luxury, must have a good reason to challenge yourself. You have the means.”
“Luxury, you say.”
“Only those with the luxury to spare can prepare for something new. Only those with the luxury to accept themselves can accept others. Only those who have everything in place can challenge something new. I have no doubts about someone capable of doing more.”
Snip.
“Rather, I have doubts about those who can’t challenge themselves.”
Snip.
“Why did that person wander in the desert? Why did that child starve? Why.”
Why indeed.
“So I don’t wonder why Marcus Callenbury or Shawn McCallister dropped everything to enter. Similarly, I don’t wonder why the Heaven that Gathers Wails aims for the 100th floor. I just,”
With a heavy sigh, the director continued.
“Can’t help but wonder why Kim Gong-Ja, at the age of twenty, entered the Tower.”
Hmm.
I twisted my head this way and that, checking the shape of my hair.
“Because the Tower is here… how about that?”
“That mountaineer ultimately failed to summit.”
Snip.
A chill ran down my spine as the cold blade of the scissors grazed my skin.
“He stepped out of his tent into a blizzard for a moment and vanished without a trace. Not even his body was found, and his friends and family had to hold a funeral with an empty coffin. It wasn’t until almost a hundred years later that his body was discovered.”
“That’s… new to me.”
“People’s words tend to spread wider and last longer than the people themselves.”
Snip.
“Gong-Ja.”
The director spoke in a soft voice.
“Why did you enter the Tower?”
The director, reflected in the mirror, looked straight at me.
“Was it really just because the Tower is here?”
At the crossroads where my sanctuary and the 90th floor met, the Staff of Time Immemorial greeted me.
“Welcome, King of Death. You’re dressed refreshingly.”
“Yeah.”
“Your expression isn’t as refreshing, though. What’s wrong?”
If even this mage, who defaulted to a grumpy face since his defeat, said so, I must be quite obvious.
I wiped my forehead and said,
“No, just reminiscing about the past.”
“Sounds like something an old man would say. You’re at an age where you have nothing but days ahead, yet you speak like this?”
The Staff of Time Immemorial spoke, holding the staff in its mouth.
“No, should I say you have nothing but days left to die? Which do you think is correct?”
“If possible, I’d like to hear that only happy days are left for me.”
“That’s a nice thought, but the one who should tell you that isn’t me.”
True that.
“Let’s go.”
The Staff of Time Immemorial snorted and started walking ahead, leading the way.
I followed. We ascended the staircase that seemed like an umbilical cord connecting the floors.
As always, the fox was wrapped around my neck like a scarf, and the serpent bracelet clung to my wrist. And by my side floated the Sword Emperor.
The only place that felt empty was my waist, where the Holy Sword usually hung.
‘Sword Emperor.’
-What?
The Sword Emperor responded immediately.
I asked both out loud and in my heart.
“What lies beyond this?”
The Staff of Time Immemorial didn’t look back. The Sword Emperor didn’t glance at me either.
But both answered simultaneously.
“The Tower Master was an artist.”
-I’m a fighter.
Step.
“The Tower Master’s life showed that she was a warlord, a politician, a noble, but equally a gladiator, an actor, an architect.”
-You’ve seen me so far, haven’t you? Pondering and measuring isn’t my style. Sometimes my taste clashes with the world’s, but eventually, my taste becomes the world’s.
“She especially loved fugues.”
-This tower is the same, Gong-Ja.
“In composing, melodies and rhythms are connected to create a piece, ensuring the start and end are connected, enjoying the different starting points converging at the same endpoint.”
-If those nasty beings playing with memories tried their tricks while I climbed the Tower, their heads would’ve been crushed by me. Just like you did. You have to admit it, right?
Then.
Both spoke as if in unison.
“So.”
-So.
“What lies beyond is an extension of what has been.”
-Nothing new lies beyond.
The world began to blur.
As if mixing dozens of colors of Play-Doh, the distant ground below melted away first. The sky followed. It melted. The speckled sky eventually turned into countless grains of sand and poured down like a waterfall.
“Perhaps you could reach the 100th floor.”
-I hear Grey Spider reached up to the 94th floor, right?
No.
It wasn’t a waterfall.
“Anyone who has climbed from the 1st to the 90th floor could reach it.”
-For her, starting from the 50th floor, it must have been hard to climb any higher.
It was a gigantic hourglass.
It resembled Mutia’s sanctuary I once saw. An expansive desert spread far and wide. The distorted sky, like a mirage under the scorching sun, was due to the incredibly thick glass. In the center, a slow sand waterfall flowed, much like blood seeping from a serpent’s heart.
I stood in the middle of the hourglass.
A familiar voice greeted me.
“Welcome, King of Death! Or should I say, the person who should now be called Wailing Heaven!”
I looked at the figure with a dumbfounded expression.
“Princess?”
“Yes! It’s me! Long time no see!”
The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages greeted me with bouncy jumps. She was as lively as ever.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long… Ah. Did you come to guide me?”
“Yes! Exactly.”
The princess grinned, spun around on the spot, letting her hair fly, and then waved at the Staff of Time Immemorial.
“I’ve taken over from here, auntie. You’ve worked hard.”
“Alright, alright. This old woman will take her leave.”
“Yeah, yeah. Help out Miya if you’re free.”
“That kid doesn’t like others meddling in her work.”
“Auntie… that’s exactly why you should help.”
“Really now……”
The Staff of Time Immemorial retreated with a look of disgust but also a strangely satisfying smile. It seemed she had found the perfect stress relief.
Hmm.
“Advisor Gu Won-Ha sure has it tough…”
“Advisors are meant to suffer. Doesn’t Wailing Heaven’s advisor also suffer?”
“Maybe, but I think I’ve suffered more because of her.”
“That’s exactly it. Liu Bei must have thought of exploiting Zhuge Liang to the fullest when he had the chance.”
Casually making a statement that would split fans of Shu into two, the Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages, with a chirp, pulled something out.
*E/N: Liu Bei was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China.
Zhuge Liang, courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.
It was a small slate.
“That is……”
“Yes.”
The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages grabbed both sides of the slate and lifted it with all her might.
“Wailing Heaven, I’ll tell you what you need to do from now on.”
The slate had nine holes in the middle.
“Collect the nine keys!”
The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages declared.
