Thud.
Sleeping on the floor made my body so stiff. The good thing about this place is that there is no night. So, if you sleep where the sun is just right, you can sleep comfortably at a pleasant temperature.
Splash! Splash!
Sejun washed his face briefly at the pond.
And then
.splash, swish, swash.
He washed the sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes he would eat today.
“It feel strange to wash them with the water I used to wash my face?”
Sejun put aside his discomfort and bit into a sweet potato.
Crunch.
The more I chew, the sweeter it becomes.
Did I ever have the luxury of chewing on something sweet like this without having to go to work?
He sat down on a dry patch of dirt where the sun was shining, laid out his bag, and chewed on a sweet potato slowly. There was complete silence, except for the sound of chewing. His heart beat started to slow down, and his mind also calmed down.
He was lost, and his food would run out in a few days. He might starve to death.
‘Strange.’
Sejun tilted his head. He was amazed by his own feelings. But it was better than being anxious.
“Every time Manager Go called out ‘Sejun, can you come over here for a minute,’ my heart would race. But, how peaceful it is now.”
Sejun leisurely enjoyed the sweet potato, relishing the peace that he couldn’t feel easily before.
“Shall we move on to the next menu?”
After finishing the sweet potato, Sejun put a cherry tomato in his mouth and chewed.
Pop.
The skin of the cherry tomato couldn’t withstand the pressure of Sejun’s teeth and burst. Sourness filled his mouth as the juice of the cherry tomato exploded.
“It’s delicious…”
It was so delicious that he doubted whether it was the same cherry tomato he usually ate. Perhaps his taste buds had become extremely sensitive due to hunger.
Sejun focused solely on the taste of the cherry tomato and chewed slowly. However, chewing on the cherry tomato for a long time didn’t make it taste better, so the five cherry tomatoes quickly disappeared into Sejun’s mouth.
After finishing his meal, Sejun began his daily routine.
Staring at the hole in the ceiling.
“······”
Sejun stared blankly at the hole in the ceiling.
“Ah··· I’m bored.”
Of course, he occasionally shouted, ” Is Anyone Here?!” But even that was done while looking at the ceiling. After staring at the ceiling for several hours, it was so tiring that he felt like he was going crazy.
“Is there anything to do?”
Sejun started looking for something to do.
‘Let’s water the crops first.’
Sejun filled a water bottle and watered the onions, cherry tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.
Joljoljol.
“Grow fast. Grow huge. Daddy is hungry.”
He went back and forth to the pond three times, thoroughly soaking the ground where the crops were planted.
Then
Ggororug.
His stomach informed him of the fuel shortage. Just moving a little made him hungry again. Sejun poured the remaining water from the water bottle into his mouth.
Gulp. Gulp.
He felt his stomach fill up a bit. Sejun returned to his spot and stared at the hole in the ceiling.
After several hours.
“……”
Seojun stared blankly at the ceiling when
Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
The alarm went off.
[May 12th, 10 PM]
There is no sunset here. So, he set the alarm to match his bedtime.
“It’s time to sleep.”
Seojun got up and prepared for bed. There wasn’t much to do in terms of preparation.
Tap tap.
He leveled the dirt floor where he would lie down and covered his head with his bag so he couldn’t see the sun. That was the end of his bedtime preparations.
Surprisingly, sleep came easily.
*****
In the middle of the night, by Seojun’s standards.
Grrrr…
Grrrr…
Grr…!
Seojun woke up from sleep due to the ground-shaking vibrations.
“Uhm… what’s going on?”
Just then,
Grrr!
He felt another strong vibration. It was close.
“…!”
Seojun hurriedly removed the bag from his face and got up.
And then he witnessed the bizarre scene.
“Wh… what is this?!”
The light coming down from the cave ceiling had turned blue.
And
Screech!
Caw!
He heard strange, threatening noises.
At that moment,
Roar!
A huge black dragon appeared in the sky and roared. The sight of it flying high alone, cutting through the blue light, was astonishingly beautiful.
The black dragon roared and disappeared gracefully. The other monsters became silent, perhaps frightened by the dragon’s roar.
However, Seojun’s mind was noisier than ever.
“Monsters… this can’t be happening…”
Seojun thought something was wrong. He believed that this place was somewhere on the 1st floor of the tower. He wanted to believe that the light illuminating the cave all day was the chandelier lighting of the 1st floor of the tower. But there were no monsters on the 1st floor.
In other words, Seojun was not on the 1st floor of the tower.
Moreover, the blue moon, where the sun turns blue.
Every floor has sunlight all day long. But on each floor, there is a periodic time when the sun turns blue. Hunters called this phenomenon the Blue Moon.
During the Blue Moon, monsters become more aggressive and powerful, so hunters avoid the floors where the Blue Moon occurs.
‘The Blue Moon is a phenomenon that occurs only on the 10th floor and above…’
This meant that Seojun was on the 10th floor or above. There was still a chance he could be rescued.
However,
‘There’s a catch.’
That was the dragon.
After the tower appeared ten years ago, the Phoenix Guild, the most powerful force on Earth, recently achieved the feat of clearing the 37th floor.
From the 31st to the 37th floor, guilds were keeping each other in check, so they didn’t release any information. But below the 30th floor, quite a few clear videos were uploaded to YouTube for money or publicity.
According to the known information, skeletons appear on floors 2-10, goblins on 11-20, orcs on 20-30. And from the 31st floor onwards, spider monsters appear, although no videos were released.
This was credible information, as multiple hunters had mentioned it in interviews.
None of them mentioned dragons. They hadn’t even heard of lizard-like monsters appearing in the tower.
‘Which floor is this?!’
Sejun clutched his head and wailed. He might have been stranded on a floor that even the top hunters had not reached.
‘Why is this happening to me?’
Sejun looked at the hole in the ceiling with a heavy heart, bathed in blue light.
However, his purpose had changed. Previously, he had looked up hoping someone would pass by, but now he hoped that no one would. After seeing the dragon, Sejun realized that there were monsters in this place.
Beep beep. Beep beep.
[May 13th, 6 AM]
The alarm went off.
Sejun greeted the fourth day with sleepless eyes after standing guard all night. Fortunately, the blue moon turned back to its usual yellowish light around 4 AM.
5 hours later.
“……”
Sejun’s head drooped as he stood guard. Then he fell into a deep sleep. It was understandable, as he had been keeping watch, staring at the ceiling since yesterday.
“Ugh… water…”
As soon as he woke up, Sejun felt a burning thirst. He fumbled for the water bottle he had placed beside him.
And then
Gulp, gulp.
He drank the water in one shot.
“Whew! Now I feel alive.”
His thirst quenched, hunger set in.
He went to the pond and quickly washed his face, as well as five sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes.
Sejun chewed on a sweet potato while looking at the hole in the ceiling.
‘Even if I don’t know where I am, if it’s above the 41st floor, the chances of someone coming are almost 0%.’
That meant he had to survive on his own.
Sejun looked at the field where he had planted crops.
‘Should I water them?’
Thinking that he had to survive on his own made the crops seem more precious.
He watered them.
“You guys have to be strong.”
“Sweet potatoes, grow huge.”
“Tomatoes, bear lots of fruit.”
“Green Onion… umm… just grow big and strong.”
He watered the plants and spoke kindly to them. He had heard on the news that playing music for plants could help them grow, so he thought a few kind words wouldn’t hurt.
After watering the plants, Sejun sat down and stared at the hole in the ceiling again.
However, boredom quickly set in.
“Should I eat this?”
Sejun saw the Green Onion leaves he had pulled off when planting the roots on the first day.
“Ugh… it’s spicy.”
As soon as he put the Green Onion leaves in his mouth and chewed, a spicy taste filled his mouth, accompanied by the strong scent of Green Onions. The taste had become more concentrated after drying in the sun for a couple of days.
Sejun continued to chew without swallowing.
‘There’s sweetness in Green Onion too.’
As he kept chewing, the spiciness faded, and the hidden sweetness of the Green Onions gradually emerged.
‘Great!’
He chewed on the Green Onion and managed to endure the drowsy afternoon hours.
And then
Beep beep. Beep beep.
[May 13th, 10 PM]
The fourth night of the ordeal had come.
“Will I be okay tonight?”
Sejun couldn’t fall asleep easily.
The monsters had been active at dawn because of the blue moon. However, that didn’t mean they were friendly when it wasn’t a blue moon.
Sejun decided to prepare a sleeping place where there was no light. It would be cold, but nothing was more important than his life.
Since he didn’t have to sleep under the sun, he folded his bag and used it as a pillow.
And then
Srrrrr.
As soon as Sejun laid his head on the bag, he fell asleep snoring.
While Sejun was asleep.
The scallions with their roots in the ground began to grow in earnest.
*****
Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
The alarm went off.
[May 14th, 6:00 AM]
The fifth day of survival began.
Sejun’s eyes opened wide.
“Ugh! Why do I feel so light?”
Sejun stretched out refreshingly. He always felt heavy when waking up, but today his body felt extremely light. In addition, he thought it would be cold sleeping without the sun, but it wasn’t cold.
“Is it because the fatigue from working at the company has been relieved?”
Sejun thought it was strange and went to the pond.
Splash! Splash!
He washed his face and picked out the sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes to eat today.
“Uh…”
When he picked up the sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes for today, half of the food in the plastic container had disappeared. There wasn’t much food left.
‘Should I start eating only half from today?’
Sejun washed the picked sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes while pondering.
Pop. Pop.
And
Snap.
He cut the sweet potato in half and put half of it and three cherry tomatoes back into the plastic container. He was already running out of food, and the thought of having to cut back even more was disheartening.
“Sigh.”
Sejun sighed and moved to his usual spot with flat rocks well lit by the sun and sat down.
However, something felt off. He was in the shade.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“The Scallion, which had grown to Sejun’s height, was blocking the sun that should have always been shining.”
There was no significant difference when he looked at it while watering it yesterday… and there was no change before going to bed. The scallions had grown tremendously overnight.
“When did it grow like this?”
As Sejun approached and examined it closely, the white part where the scallion roots were had grown to the thickness of a wrist. Sejun grabbed and tore off one of the new scallion leaves.
“Uh?!”
“What?!”
The scallion leaves appeared fragile as they fluttered in the wind, yet they were surprisingly tough.
“Ugh!”
Sejun put in effort and tore off the leaf.
“What? Why is it like this all of a sudden?”
It seemed that the appearance of plants changed depending on the climate and habitat.
“How will it taste?”
He hoped that the taste would change as much as the appearance had.
Sejun put the scallion leaf in his mouth and chewed.
