– Tap tap tap
The mechanical sound of typing echoed. Fingers danced across the keyboard.
A light appeared. The glow of the monitor brightened up the relatively dim room.
Weird feeling. It felt like I was recalling memories from the past.
I tilted my head. Why am I suddenly feeling this way?
Even while pondering that question, my fingers continued to pound the keyboard in a dazzling display.
▶Me: Flower Child
▶Me: Flower Child
▶Me: Flower Child?
▶Me: Ebe be bep
▶Me: Knock knock…
Chat messages flooded in like a tidal wave. Usually, it takes at least a moment for responses to come in.
If the timing’s off, it can take hours for a reply.
▶Agapanthus: Why?
The reply came back immediately.
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1VmJxZERiOVBPUXM0UmIzVzdaR1BESitRdXRrWlQySE14UW1mRTllM0FRcA
Flower Child.
I occasionally called Agapanthus “Flower Child,” knowing their nickname was a type of flower.
At first, they seemed baffled by it, but now they responded without much reaction.
The fingers tapping away at the keyboard paused for a moment.
I recalled memories.
I called them out of boredom, but I found myself with nothing much to say. After a brief moment of fidgeting, I settled on the usual topic.
▶Me: Play “Savior” right now! (Play)
▶Me: Flower Child come join me
▶Me: It’s seriously fun
▶Me: Not lying
▶Me: (Puppy emoji looking up with expectant eyes)
Savior.
Now that I think about it, it’s a game that makes my teeth clench, but back then, I can’t deny I enjoyed it a lot.
The rapid-fire replies suddenly came to a halt. Compared to me, who was more or less glued to my chair for 24 hours, Agapanthus’ slow replies were a bit strange.
Whenever I suggested playing Savior, their replies were noticeably delayed.
▶Agapanthus: No
That reply was disappointing. I rolled my eyes and typed again.
▶Me: Aww
▶Me: It’s really fun
▶Agapanthus: I thought it was boring
▶Me: Gasp
▶Me: (Puppy emoji falling into a puddle)
I let out a sigh at that shocking reply. I could immediately spit out three or more fun elements about Savior.
But at that time, I had a self that respected personal taste differences. I swallowed my frustration.
▶Agapanthus: Is it really fun? Can you handle it?
▶Me: Yes, it’s fun. I’m already at the seventh playthrough
▶Agapanthus: …You’re only on the seventh playthrough now? Why so slow?
▶Me: Because Flower Child doesn’t know about Savior. It takes time to dig in slowly. And it’s not like I’m going slow.
I stared at the monitor with a pouty face.
Agapanthus would shoot back that it wasn’t fun whenever I recommended Savior, but they often… no, frequently asked about it.
They never really asked about gameplay itself.
Just if it’s bearable. If it’s fun. So, what happened? Which characters did I befriend, and so on…
Though they didn’t play, they asked me a lot about how I was doing in the game.
▶Me: The seventh playthrough, I went outside Shio-ram and failed miserably.
▶Agapanthus: What?
The seventh playthrough.
It was the playthrough I referred to as the “Rogue” run just to categorize my failures.
The seventh playthrough was so disastrous that it might as well be compared to the first playthrough… honestly, it flopped even worse than my first run.
Unlike previous runs, I foolishly dropped the blessings of growth and other benefits and went charging out of Shio-ram.
After the sixth run, not knowing where to turn for my next move, I thought wandering around the outer map outside Shio-ram would lead me to undiscovered elements.
That thought was a bit shallow.
As I left Shio-ram and wandered around the Korean map, I activated my unique ability “Crisis Detection” and saw the pop-ups flooding in, only to realize far too late.
▶Agapanthus: Why did you go out there?
▶Agapanthus: Are you an idiot?
▶Agapanthus: Why would you leave a place that provides everything from growth to safety?
When I explained that to them, I got a fierce reaction back from Agapanthus, who had been quietly listening.
Seeing how much quicker their reply came compared to usual, I found myself unreasonably offended.
▶Me: You don’t know anything, Flower Child
▶Me: You’ve never actually tried it yourself
▶Agapanthus: Even if I haven’t tried it, I know this! Leaving is dumb.
▶Agapanthus: Ugh, idiot
▶Me: Pfft
▶Me: I won’t talk to someone who doesn’t understand
I glared disappointedly at the monitor.
I knew it was a dumb choice. If I’d just played through in Shio-ram, I would have been stronger than all my previous runs.
But that wasn’t enough.
The mechanical sounds of keystrokes came to a stop. My fingers contemplated and then nodded.
In “Savior,” final bosses and ending conditions were never really defined.
I just kind of picked what I wanted to tackle and vowed to do it.
There are five towers holding up the world in the story.
The Tower of Space.
The Tower of Harmony.
The Tower of Observation.
The Tower of Knowledge.
The Tower of Growth.
The Tower of Space physically connected worlds via gates, while the Tower of Harmony broke down language barriers, restoring communication with smartwatches and the internet.
The Tower of Observation tracked the threats posed by monsters and villains appearing across the globe, and the Tower of Knowledge preserved the knowledge humanity must never lose.
The Tower of Growth safely and swiftly trained key heroes to stand up against various threats.
From any perspective, these towers were helpful allies for humanity. They played a crucial role in sustaining the world’s existence.
But there was also the opposite.
‘……’
The Tower of Necromancy.
The Tower of Eternal Winter.
The Tower of Purgatory.
These were the elements I randomly and grandiosely determined to be the final boss and ending conditions, striving to conquer.
After graduating from Shio-ram, those three towers unleashed a torrent of powerful monsters like crazy. They slowly encroached upon the surroundings, tightening their grip on humanity.
I didn’t know the exact conditions that triggered their activity.
In the first playthrough, all three awakened, but afterward, sometimes only one or two would wake up.
I ended up dying at the hands of the Tower of Necromancy’s master in the first playthrough.
As you can tell from the name “Necromancy,” the corpses used for a large-scale military force were indeed impressive.
Yet, despite that theme, their actual power was that of a monster, and I couldn’t even resist before I was killed.
In the second and third runs, I died on stupid mistakes before even meeting the masters of the towers.
In the fourth run, I died again to the master of the Tower of Necromancy.
In the fourth run, “The Immortal,”
I tried to showcase my unique ability “Assimilate” to implement the traits of various monsters while gaining regeneration to hold my own against the military of the Tower of Necromancy.
I only managed to hold out. I was swept away by their military, my soul crushed under the pressure.
In the fifth run, while trying to devise a way to wipe out the military in one go, I ended up exploding and dying like in the third run.
In the sixth run… I dabbled in necromancy like the master of the Tower of Necromancy, adopting dark magic and spatial magic for training.
Drawing on dark energy, I mimicked immortality and created something like a shadow army. Still, I couldn’t win against the army of the Tower of Necromancy in real battles.
When it got to that point, the master of the Tower of Purgatory, specialized in one-on-one combat, sliced me up.
‘Ugh.’
Even now, my hands trembled at the thought.
Honestly, even if I hadn’t been sliced by the master of the Tower of Purgatory, I would’ve probably died without a peep to the master of the Tower of Necromancy.
Frustrating.
The thought that I’m not enough. With my current growth method, even dealing minimal damage to the masters is a tall order.
I needed to change my growth method. I had to find a method big enough to be called a game-changer, something that could raise my character’s specs.
So in the seventh playthrough, I set out early to find such hidden pieces. Yet I spent the entire playthrough running away without growing at all.
However, I felt like I found something.
Even if I couldn’t be sure before I got to use it properly and ended up dying, I thought that if I used it well, I could achieve significant growth.
While considering that, I took a quick glance at the monitor.
I saw Agapanthus’ messages repeatedly lamenting that they couldn’t understand why I would leave the optimal training ground like Shio-ram.
▶Me: Pfft pfft
▶Me: Honestly, if our towers fought alongside us, we would have won by now for sure
▶Agapanthus: ….
▶Me: It’s seriously because our team is playing dead
▶Me: What are our tower masters doing?
▶Me: We would’ve won if it were a 5:3 match
For some reason, I vented my grievances to the silent Agapanthus.
After that, casual chatter flowed.
We talked about more than just “Savior.”
Did you eat well? Don’t eat like that, eat properly! Did you use that product I recommended? Here, try this if you can’t sleep, etc.
Time flew by. I dragged my chair. My legs hurt, and I didn’t want to get up.
The sky was visible.
The night sky was captured in my gaze beyond the window.
Gray clouds floated above, shining starlight… and the full moon hanging in the center of the sky.
It was a scene that suddenly sparked a sense of dawn. After watching it for a moment, I rolled the chair back and moved to the desk.
▶Me: I’m going to bed now
▶Agapanthus: Yeah, you should get some sleep
▶Agapanthus: Good night. Sweet dreams
▶Agapanthus: If you get scared of nightmares, don’t forget to use the product I recommended
▶Me: I’m using that stuff and it works
▶Me: Really, thank you
▶Me: (Puppy emoji bowing)
▶Me: You too, have nice dreams
Thus, the conversation came to an end.
Tick-tock- Time passed.
I stared blankly, blinking.
Loneliness struck me suddenly.
That’s a weird feeling.
Just now or right now, the room is quiet.
Only the sounds of the keyboard clicking and the chair sliding echoed.
Yet, now I felt lonely.
My hand wandered absentmindedly. My fingertips aimed for the medicine cabinet, then returned up to the keyboard.
They say taking too many pills is bad. The doctor told me it’s better to avoid medication whenever possible.
My head spun. Things in front of me blurred and then cleared up.
I shook my head. I needed a topic to divert my attention.
I thought about going to sleep but instead moved the mouse.
– Click
For a moment, the startup sound followed, and a bright-colored game lit up on the monitor.
“Savior”
I found no game that could keep my focus like this.
Just thinking of playing for a moment, and planning the concept for my eighth playthrough, I moved the mouse.
That night, the basic concept for the eighth playthrough was completed.
The next day, starting the eighth playthrough, I crushed the previous high points of all my past runs effortlessly.
Thanks to the method discovered in the previous seventh playthrough, there was immense growth.
With the growth achieved in the eighth playthrough, I later engaged in combat with the master of the Tower of Eternal Winter.
And I was stabbed in the back by Baek Ahrin.
.
.
.
Consciousness surfaced.
My mind felt hazy. It was like being clouded by mist; my senses were dulled.
I reflexively tried to blink, but every “instinct” resisted. What’s the point of opening my eyes if I can’t see anything?
Instead, I tried to wiggle my fingers.
I couldn’t wiggle them.
My fingers were entwined with something, unable to move.
…Something felt off.
My right arm couldn’t move. Something strange was happening. My left arm also couldn’t move. And it shouldn’t.
I sensed nothing. I felt as if there was no place to receive the command, “wiggle your fingers.”
Something felt extremely wrong.
At the same time, it felt oddly familiar.
‘Um…’
While muddling my lips absentmindedly, my hazy mind replayed a memory.
The monster, Aerus. That monstrosity with those unsettlingly colored fur. The creature veiled in red mist, attempting to kill me.
My left hand stretched out in desperation, unable to stop it.
Suddenly, it was bitten; my skin and muscles torn apart, bones crushed—a wave of agonizing pain.
The restraints broke away, ripped apart… torn apart…
My left arm.
‘Ah.’
My left arm… I felt a twitch on my shoulder. A sense of emptiness from my weak body washed over me.
That feeling was excruciatingly familiar.
When I had my left leg crushed at some point.
“Ah—”
A gasp slipped out.
“…Ah─! …! …!?”
Then a spasm like my throat being ripped apart sent my body jolting upright.
– Bee bee bee!
A loud warning sound blared nearby.
I sensed the approach of presences as I panicked, my heart racing.
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