Chapter 30 – Explorer II

Chapter 30 – Explorer II

[Translator – Jjsecus]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 30 – Explorer II

“Aryeon. Hold the elevator door open for a moment.”

“Yes?”

“The Guild Master has something to check.”

I immediately climbed up the elevator wall. Aryeon looked startled, as if he had seen a giant spider, but I casually ignored it.

After imbuing my palm with aura, I sliced through the ceiling like cutting tofu. With a sizzling sound, sparks flew from my hand.

Before long, a neat hole was pierced in the elevator ceiling. This was the power of a skilled aura user.

“Guild Master, what are you doing now...?”

“Shh. Wait quietly and see.”

I cautiously extended my upper body outside the elevator. It felt like a scene from Mission Impossible.

“Hmm.”

The wind was chilly.

The view outside the elevator was dimly lit. It was not only due to the lack of lighting but also because it was excessively dark.

To be more precise, it was ‘sloppy.’

Although there was a rope attached to the elevator’s car, that was it. There were no essential items that should be present in an elevator, such as a speed governor rope or a car door operating device.

In any case, the elevator currently in operation in the “Tower of Sauron” was too shoddy in structure to be considered an elevator. For such a tall building, even the capsule of the elevator lacked streamlined curves?

‘Sloppy.’

The imagination that became the prototype of this oddity was not born from experts.

It was just an oddity born from the preconceptions and images of ordinary Koreans... In other words, it was an oddity derived from the average Korean.

‘Avoided the worst-case scenario.’

I chuckled softly.

It makes things easier.

“Thud.”

I descended from the ceiling.

Aryeon, who was asked to hold the door, couldn’t overcome his curiosity and was poking his head outside the elevator.

“Guild Master. P-people are perfectly fine... Their clothes aren’t even wrinkled. Everything is so clean... Oh. The carpet is completely messed up because of our shoe prints...”

At that moment, the gazes of the ‘beings’ gathered in the hotel lobby were sharply focused. It was as if their pitch-black pupils were all looking at Aryeon.

“Yikes.”

“Quiet.”

I immediately blocked Aryeon’s mouth, which was about to burst into screams. I quickly covered his ears and whispered to him as he flinched.

“Don’t make a fuss. Try not to make eye contact either. Those staff members and other guests are all anomalies.”

“Huh?”

“More precisely, they’re part of the anomalies. Or you could say, they’re terminals. There’s a high chance that this entire hotel is one anomaly and void. If you attract their attention, eventually the ‘entire hotel’ will focus on you.”

“Ugh... Got it?”

“....”

Aryeon timidly nodded his head up and down, then stopped. I ignored the saliva on my hand, which made it a bit dirty.

“From now on, I’ll show you the exploration of the void by a skilled Awakened. Aryeon, you just stay quiet while they’re around. Just look around with vacant eyes, no matter what I say. Can you do that?”

Nodding.

“Good.”

I released Aryeon’s mouth and walked together towards the check-in counter.

Step by step, the anomalies or terminals moved their eyeballs with exactly the same pace, staring at me fixedly as I took each step forward.

Perhaps an ordinary person, in other words, a novice with little experience in dealing with anomalies, would feel ominous from here.

But who am I? Along with anomalies, I am the reincarnator who has experienced the East Sea and Baekdu Mountain to the point of wearing them out.

I approached without blinking an eye.

Creak...

The staff standing behind the counter opened their lips. The black hole in their mouths was pitch black. Not even the tongue could be seen beyond their teeth.

It was an imitation of a human.

-Hello, welcome. Have you made a reservation at our hotel? If so...

“Good morning.”

The staff froze in unison.

Regardless, I continued smoothly.

“I have a reservation at this hotel. I’m a travel-focused YouTuber. Could I please check in?”

-Oh, um. Um?

The confusion of the staff was clear. Of course it would be.

Because I was speaking in German right now.

The high-end hotel counter staff can speak English and can relatively easily handle Japanese or Chinese. However, languages like German, French, Spanish, or Russian cannot be immediately dealt with unless prepared in advance.

Naturally, indigenous anomalies on the Korean Peninsula also have the same sensibilities as the average Korean when dealing with foreigners. In other words, they become exceedingly vulnerable.T0ppp novel updates at novelhall.com

– Uh, um, sorry. Sir. Can you speak English? Reservation? Reservation, please?

“Well, in this global age, relying solely on English won’t do.”

– Excuse me?

“Ah, I’m sorry. I can’t speak English. Deutsch. Bitte. Okay?”

– Uh, bitte. ...What should we do? He seems German. Oh, sorry. Please wait a moment, sir.

My flawless German pronunciation instantly made the anomalies flustered, as if they were confused hamsters scrambling around.

“Oh. So that’s why you deliberately handed over the backpack...?”

“Yeah. When exploring the void, you need to quickly understand the characteristics of the space and adjust yourself to it. As long as you follow the rules properly, there’s only... about a 50% chance of them attacking me first.”

“Only half?!”

Well, that means you need to build up the strength to knock them out as soon as they attack, no matter when they come at you. Tsk tsk.

When we arrived at the first floor, the elevator opened. As a test, I snapped a picture of the first floor with my camera.

“Hmm.”

“W-what came out...?”

“I’ll let you know in a bit.”

In the photo of the first floor. There were piles of bodies scattered everywhere.

Around 20 humanoid figures with half-eaten heads were standing near the glass, and about 100 corpses were stuck to the glass, scraping it with their palms.

What might have looked like a beautiful chandelier structure to my eyes was just a feast of bodies hanging from nooses in the photo.

“Let’s just get out of here.”

“Y-yeah...”

As expected, this time the glass door opened smoothly when pushed. With a swish, the rough outside air rushed into our noses.

Aryeon slumped down in fear.

“I-it was s-so scary...! It was terrifying! Guild Leader, please! Don’t drag me into such things because they’re bad for my heart!”

“Here, this is a souvenir from the first floor.”

“A souvenir? What... Aaaah!”

Aryeon fainted on the spot.

By the way, I was satisfied. It’s fun to be with him like this. His reactions are good, aren’t they?

Of course, my satisfaction waned a bit when I saw the nonsense post on SGnet the next day.

-KoreanVillage: I stamped my foot on ‘that tower’ in Gangnam, Seoul, lol.

-KoreanVillage: Is this the famous dungeon they’re talking about? There’s nothing special here. These Awakeneds always make a fuss, but they’re just dying in this cheap dungeon?

(Photo of the 79th floor lobby)

(Photo of the 1st floor elevator)

-KoreanVillage: I brought a proof shot with my ability item. Take a good look and see if your mom and dad’s faces are missing here, lol.

As expected, the proof shots uploaded by KoreanVillage villain were the instant photos I handed to Aryeon.

The reactions poured in like wildfire.

-Anonymous: Where is this?

└ BookGirl: It’s obviously the Sauron Tower.

└ Anonymous: ?? This guy raided the Sauron Tower alone and came back in one piece?

-[Three Thousand] Cadet: Seriously, what’s up with this KoreanVillage villain? Is this aggro-seeking personality really a hidden master?

-[Baekhwa] 6th Grade High Schooler: Eww. :3;;

-Anonymous: Haha, SasGot-RyeoJangHam, lol.

-[Satisfied] CookingQueen: Very interesting indeed.

Hmm.

I glanced over at Aryeon, who was sitting in the guild lounge, playing with his phone.

“Heh, hehe...”

Aryeon, lying sprawled on the couch, looked happy. Very much so.

Perhaps true anomalies are like that, aren’t they?

4

Epilogue.

In the very next run, I grabbed takeout with Seo Gyu at Busan Station and then researched “Sauron’s Tower” on the internet.

It was still early in the period when civilization had just begun to charge towards extinction. Images of hotel vouchers were easily available on the internet.

And I manipulated the hotel voucher with that image file.

Well, the barcode was messed up, but anyway, the creatures wouldn’t really be able to check the barcode, right?

So, armed with this voucher (top-tier presidential suite, room size 145m2, including meals, regular price for one night 8 million won), I visited “Sauron’s Tower” alone once again.

The result?

“Yes, your reservation has been confirmed, Mr. Jang. We will serve you with the best service.”

“Oh....”

Surprisingly, the reservation went through!

Thanks to that, that night I not only enjoyed dinner at a high-class restaurant after a long time but also took a bath while enjoying the beautiful Seoul night view outside the window.

Wherever I went in the hotel, the staff greeted me with a smile and treated me kindly.

“It’s like living the dream.”

The next morning, I tried taking a photo of the meal placed on the table for breakfast.

Click-

While waiting for the film to develop, I enjoyed the delicious seaweed soup. And finally, I looked down at the photo that came out.

“Hmm....”

I won’t reveal what was in that photo here.

But I’ll just say that if anyone plans to come here for fun, they should definitely choose someone with a very strong stomach.

Ah.

Of course, Aryeon won’t be coming.

– Explorer. The End.

[Translator – Jjsecus]

[Proofreader – Gun]