Chapter 171: 174 One Day

Candles hardly did anything to combat such overwhelming darkness, anyway, so it was hardly worth the risk.

He laid on the futon on the ground while Yeong-Un took to another futon just a few feet beside him.

Quietly echoing through the halls were the steps of the other members of Gangcheori getting to their rooms, moving silently as to avoid attracting any prowlers of the Blind Night.

After shuffling through his skill tree while laying on his back, looking through his present skills and future ones to come, he swiped the personal visualizations of his System away and turned over, getting as comfortable as he could.

"--"

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Such terrifying, mighty stomps echoed from beyond the walls that felt as thin as paper in the hell-turned world, yet it was normal to their ears.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Each step sounded like a tremor, shaking the city's foundations itself as they all laid there quietly, doing their best to try to fall asleep.

Scratch. Scratch.

Against the outside walls, the sounds of claws digging into the brick could be heard, dragging along the solid surfaces.

It was the march of the hellborne. Whether it was thunderous stomps of inexplicable size, or nimble creatures scaling the surrounding buildings–they were always on the move, especially during the Blind Night.

…This is life. After this night, it'll just be one more day. It's so close. None of us have really brought it up…It almost feels like bringing it up would be a bad omen, you know? I'm not too different, he thought.

After laying there in the darkness, looking up at the ceiling above him that he could hardly make out past the clingy shadows, he heard some shuffling around in the futon beside him.

"...Hey, fire-head."

It was Yeong-Un, who seemed to be afflicted with the same problem as him: unable to sleep in the unwavering darkness and march of the demons occurring in the cityscape beyond their walls.

"Yeah?" He replied quietly.

Sol was already snoring away, as heavy as a sleeper as always as he slept in an unnatural position on the couch.

"It's weird, ain't it? We really weren't expected to make it. "Reach level twenty in six months", my ass," Yeong-Un said quietly while keeping his arms tucked under his head, "...They're throwin' level twenties and thirties at us like nothin'. That God up there wants us all dead."

"Yeah," he responded.

It wasn't wrong. In fact, it's something he had been thinking about.

If humans were only asked to reach level twenty, then why are creatures dwarfing those levels being thrown at them? It was something he and everybody else who asked the question knew.

"...A God like that ain't welcomin' us to those pearly gates with flowers. Bastard is going to show us somethin' of a whole new caliber two days from now," Yeong-Un said.

"--"

"A God like that…just had to throw one last curveball at us. Just had to…take Binna out like that…" Yeong-Un's words trailed painfully.

This wasn't anything different, either. Just about every night, those locked up emotions of the tough young man had to be vented somewhere.

Yeong-Un wasn't somebody willing to shed tears in front of another, but in the total darkness of the night, it was a different story.

He stayed silent, hearing the quiet, muffled sounds of the grieving friend of his' release of tears. It was painful for him, too. That grief wasn't any less potent for him–too much had been lost, too much to simply get over.

Even if he did his best to "tough it out" and "stay focused"--tears crept silently from his eyes as he laid there, holding his hand up as he clenched his fist.

…Soon enough, the fight will continue. I can still feel it–the efforts placed by my fallen comrades, their aspirations for the future, their desire to live, and the warmth they provided. None of it will go to waste, he thought.

With that night coming to a close while the rumbling of passing demons of unknown magnitude continued outside, the last day before the opening of the Tower came.

[One Day Left Before The Tower's Opening | Morning]

Rising up from his thin bed in the crimson morning, he headed to the main bar, finding nobody else awake yet.

Or, so he thought.

As he dressed into his [Equip], tightening his gauntlets and fixing his coat, he passed by the office, stopping as he made out a muffled sound through the mostly shut door.

"--"

There was only a small space of the door, but he peeked through against his better judgment, driven by curiosity.

"...Dae-Seong…What do I do…? Are we ready for it…? We're still so clueless…"

Sitting at the desk, or more aptly–half laying on it, Ma-Ri spoke to herself in a choked up voice, clearly having shed tears.

He quickly withdrew from that scene, forcing himself away as he shook his head in disappointment of himself for being so nosy. Still, it wasn't something he was happy to have seen, either.

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Ma-Ri…You're not alone. We're in this together, he thought.

Before the others could wake up, he set off into the kitchen to get ready for breakfast–one which felt more important than ever with the time until the Tower's opening closing in.

"Time," he said quietly to himself.

[Time until Tower opens: 1 days, 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 12 seconds]

With it being so close, he gathered an accurate estimate of what exactly the setting for the opening would be as he got to preparing a morning meal for each member.

Tomorrow, eight hours…It'll be around noon, then. We should head out in the morning. I'll talk to Ma-Ri about this, he thought.

After sprucing up breakfast, he served it to the groggy, recently awakened members of the group who gathered in the main lobby of the bar.

While they were all present, having poached eggs with a side of toast, he decided it was as good of a time as any for discussion.

"...About tomorrow," he said.

Those words alone that alluded to the prospect of the Tower's opening made the room quiet as all eyes were on him.

"I was thinking it'd be best to head out first thing in the morning. I don't know if there's some sort of time limit in which we have to arrive at the Tower, but I don't think it's a good idea to test that theory out. What do you think, Ma-Ri?" He asked the leader of the group, who was sitting across from him on a stool.

Ma-Ri was quiet, looking down at her plate while the others watched her for her answer to the foundationally important question.

"Ma-Ri?" He called her name again.

"Yeah, sorry…I didn't get much sleep last night," she told him.

It wasn't much of a surprise, going off of the dark bags beneath her icy-blue eyes and the unkempt look of her usually straight, immaculate hair.

"...It would be best to head out as early as possible tomorrow, I agree," Ma-Ri said.

"Alright," he nodded.

Surprisingly, she agreed without much else words having to be exchanged. With the breakfast continuing, silence filled the room before another spoke up.

"...What about that bastard?"

Yeong-Un said in a harsh time while tightly holding his fork, staring towards the ground. "That bastard"--though he didn't say an actual name, they all knew who he was referring to.

"--" Ma-Ri didn't answer.

"If he's comin' to the Tower…We have to kill him," Yeong-Un said, "After what he said, what he's capable of…Why the fuck should he be allowed in there…?!"

"--"

Though the way in which he approached it was less than tactful, Yeong-Un's words weren't foreign to any of their hearts.

In fact, he felt a similar rage burning in his blood on the topic of the traitor, and the mass of death left in his wake.

Even so, seeing how Ma-Ri was clearly overburdened by all of this and falling silent, he took it upon himself to answer in a civilized way.

"That's…not our priority, Yeong-Un," he said calmly, looking at his friend.

"Did I hear that right? "Not our priority"--takin' out the person who killed so many of our friends–our family, somebody who is on his way to the pearly fuckin' gates that we fought tooth n' nail for…that's not our priority? Then what is it?!" Yeong-Un asked.

As the spiky-haired young man fiercely placed his question, he slammed his hand against the arm of his chair, causing his plate to crash down and break.

Eunji flinched from the dish breaking, staying silent amidst the heated topic. Still, he kept his eyes on Yeong-Un.

As he locked eyes with his passionate comrade, he could see the blue-and-gold eyes of Yeong-Un's quivering with utter grief and lamentation; such potent feelings that the fiery young man had little clue how to deal with.

That pain in his eyes only reignited his own as he clenched his fists, having to suppress his own personal feelings in the matter because in truth–he wanted the same.

"Our priority is making sure we don't lose anybody else, Yeong-Un…" He said quietly.

"You–"

"He's right."

–Supporting his words was the most veteran amongst them: the one-armed, long-haired man who sat near Ma-Ri.

Korain's own place in this discussion threw Yeong-Un off, who clearly believed of all people, Korain would possess the same feelings as him in this matter.

"...How? We're gonna lose more people anyway if that bastard is left to his own devices out there…! This is our chance!" Yeong-Un clenched his teeth with tears welling up in his eyes.

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