Chapter 31

Lee Woo-jae, the unnamed child, and I just kept walking.

We didn’t know exactly where we were heading, but it felt like we were going in the direction of our original destination.

We hadn’t fought, but for some reason, the atmosphere was heavy.

“Uh… sorry.”

Lee Woo-jae broke the awkward silence.

I was the one caught off guard instead.

“No, why are you apologizing? I understand.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. Honestly. If I were you, I would’ve just left it alone too.”

I meant it.

When have I ever cared about others?

I’ve always lived with the mindset that as long as I live well on my own, that’s enough.

I just realized that seeing a situation like that made my heart waver.

“I guess I’m just not used to it yet.”

Like parallel universes… there are multiple worlds, and every time someone enters the Tower, a new world is created.

And the people in those worlds are merely data generated by the Tower.

But I held back from saying that out loud.

I was afraid of how the child next to me would react if he heard those words.

“You’re right. The Tower is just data. Even if it weren’t, I don’t know if saving this world would mean anything.”

“H-Hey, you really shouldn’t say that here…”

“It’s fine. He doesn’t understand anyway.”

Just as he said.

Even after hearing such shocking words, the child only had a blank expression on his face.

As if the system blocked him from understanding.

I was speechless.

It wasn’t unexpected, but seeing it in action was always a shock.

Lee Woo-jae wore a bitter expression.

“It’s not like I’ve never tried saving the worlds before. But after doing it a few times, I realized it was meaningless.”

“……”

“It took a tremendous amount of time and effort to save them, but for newly entering hunters, it was a world before salvation. No matter what I did, only my version of the Tower changed. And I got no reward from the system.”

“…Must’ve felt like a waste of time.”

“Yeah. After that, I focused solely on clearing the Tower. Because in the end, this is just a game.”

The people inside the Tower acted like real people.

If I had been in there, I might have formed emotional connections with them.

But if it was all fake?

How would I have felt?

Maybe I’d end up making the same choice as him.

That’s why I understood where he was coming from.

“Uh, Mister and Mayor… where are we going?”

But for me, it wasn’t so easy yet.

It was hard to treat people who moved and talked like real humans as mere data.

That’s why I was keeping the kid with me.

If I let him go and he got beaten by that factory owner again, I’d feel guilty.

I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought he was just data.

“We’re going to the blacksmith.”

“Wow! You mean that master craftsman?”

“He’s famous?”

“Not just famous! He’s the most well-known person in all of Crank Nova!”

“Crank Nova?”

“That’s the name of this world in the Tower. It’s a world where technology and magic are fused.”

Ah.

Of course, the people here wouldn’t know about the Tower. That made sense.

Hearing that made me curious about this world.

“Then why is this floor of the Tower called The Abandoned Blacksmith’s Tower? Did blacksmiths become useless with technological progress? Once machines are made, blacksmiths become obsolete.”

“Not at all. Because he wasn’t an ordinary blacksmith.”

“What kind of blacksmith was he?”

“A dwarf.”

“A dwarf?!”

Like the fantasy kind? The ones who love booze, swear a lot, but are lightyears ahead of humans when it comes to ores and mechanical stuff?

Lee Woo-jae nodded.

“Yeah. That kind of dwarf.”

I should’ve noticed earlier, especially since it was obviously set in an Industrial Revolution era.

He had said it was a hybrid with medieval fantasy.

But there was another reason I didn’t catch on sooner.

“But… everyone in this city seems to be human?”

“That’s because humans are the only ones with somewhat of a sense of human rights here.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Humans do the least painful jobs, relatively speaking. The other races are elsewhere.”

According to him, all other sentient beings besides humans were slaves.

Orcs were the lowest-ranking slaves, working themselves to the bone in mines and construction sites.

Elves were used in skilled labor, helping design and produce magical engineering items day and night.

Elves who refused to be enslaved hid in forests like in the old days, but if they were caught, they were enslaved for noblemen’s pleasure—regardless of gender.

Their only alternative to sex slavery was becoming magic slaves, so many worked in the cities to avoid that fate.

“…This Tower is brutal.”

“It’s not the Tower that’s brutal. It’s humanity. Including me.”

I could only agree with him.

If these races existed during the Industrial Revolution, wouldn’t humans have enslaved them?

We enslaved each other, after all.

“Why would the Tower even design a world like this for the 71st floor? This goes beyond hunting monsters—it’s way too much.”

“Beats me. The Tower’s never made sense. Starting from the 11th floor, it just throws you into all these pointless worlds.”

“What’s the boss monster of this floor?”

“Like I said, from the 11th floor on, every 10 floors are one world. You understood that, right?”

“Yes. It’s more like clearing stages than climbing floors.”

He nodded and continued.

“This world was created when humans stole dwarven tech and developed it into magi-tech.”

“But dwarven tech is usually too advanced to copy, right? How’d they steal it?”

“One weirdo dwarf helped them.”

I nodded in understanding.

Even in our country, there are people who sell state secrets.

That dwarf must’ve been branded a traitor among his own kind.

“Anyway, the final boss of this world—the 80th floor boss—is an army of magical machines with intelligence, including a giant automaton.”

“Makes sense. Machine armies fit this world. The magic-based AI is intriguing, though.”

“It’s a kind of magical artificial intelligence. The biggest problem was the lack of safety protocols. So I had to fight a legion of machines using advanced magic.”

“I assume humans and dwarves supported you in that?”

“Nope. No one helped.”

“What?”

So even though the machines were attacking humans, nobody helped? Why?

It didn’t take long to realize.

“The dwarves predicted this and hid underground. They already hated magic and foresaw the machine uprising.”

“Smart of them. And they avoided slavery too.”

“That’s why it’s called The Abandoned Blacksmith’s Tower. It was originally the blacksmith’s tower, but the blacksmiths abandoned it.”

A double meaning.

At first, I thought it was “the tower of an abandoned blacksmith,” but it’s actually “the blacksmiths’ tower that was abandoned.”

Then again, with magi-tech replacing dwarves, both meanings work.

“What about the humans?”

“They were busy suppressing internal rebellions. The orcs and elves had finally rebelled.”

“Phew…”

So humans were too busy cleaning up their own mess, and the dwarves were already gone.

No wonder this was a high-level, hell-difficulty Tower.

“What about that master craftsman dwarf? The top technician? What was he doing—if not hiding or helping?”

“He’s the one who sold out the dwarves.”

“Oh.”

“He was completely insane. He believed that combining magic and tech would lead to better machines. When sentient machines emerged, he was ecstatic. Thought he’d reached the peak of creation.”

“…That guy sounds like a total psychopath.”

People were dying, and he was thrilled his dream came true?

“How is someone like that still around? Shouldn’t he have been executed after the war?”

“I saved him.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he didn’t side with the machines. He was satisfied just knowing he could create them.”

“So he didn’t care. He could just make them again.”

“Exactly. And he’s useful to me. I made this puppet through him.”

“Still…”

“You mean he should be executed for all the lives he cost? Maybe. But to me, they’re all just data. Like a game.”

I understood, but I couldn’t fully accept it.

Will I eventually think like Lee Woo-jae too?

Maybe. I don’t know what paths he walked or what mental scars he bears.

Sure, if each new Tower spawn created identical worlds with identical people, it’d be hard to see them as real.

But the child walking beside me felt real.

As if understanding my heart, he added,

“I get how you feel. I felt the same way before.”

“Are you patronizing me?”

“No. I mean it. If I still believed this world was real and meaningful, I would’ve tried to change it too. But I learned it wasn’t worth it. That’s why I focused only on clearing the Tower. I just want to get out of here.”

“I understand.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

The air grew heavy again, like everything was soaked.

We weren’t mad at each other. We were just trying to come to terms with a cruel reality.

Ironically, the one who broke the heavy silence was the kid I’d brought along.

“Um… I don’t really get what you’re talking about, but cheer up!”

“Huh?”

“You both seem really down… If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“No! I’m sure there’s something I can help with!”

The kid was no more than ten years old.

Too young to be this cautious and considerate.

He must’ve grown up too fast in this bleak world.

Worried about becoming useless, he quickly pulled something from his pocket.

“Um, I’m pretty good with machines! I’ve secretly made some during sleep hours!”

“Huh?”

“I never learned magic, but I can draw magic circuits!”

He pulled out a tiny robot.

It didn’t look like a person, exactly—but it could walk on two legs and moved surprisingly well.

A small magic crystal on its head glowed, and the robot spoke.

[Hello, master. How may I assist you?]

“Shake!”

[Shaking, sir.]

“Spin!”

[Spinning now.]

“Dance the waltz!”

[Waltz music activated.]

It spun in circles and danced to waltz music—like a puppy.

While I was busy being amazed, Lee Woo-jae muttered beside me.

“That kind of output… from such a small magic stone?”

“That impressive?”

“It’s insane. A ten-year-old building a robot that follows complex commands is already amazing—but pulling that off with a discarded magic stone? Unbelievable.”

“Hehe, I made it myself! I didn’t have money, so I used scrap crystals.”

A prodigy. A genius born once in a generation.

And in that moment, one thought flashed across my mind.

“Woo-jae.”

“Hmm? What?”

“You said the people here are all just data, right?”

“You think seeing this changed my mind? It didn’t. That’s just an impressive talent. Nothing more.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“Then what?”

“From a system perspective… does this kid also count as data?”

“Probably, yeah. …Why?”

“There’s something I want to try.”