Chapter 162
“Hey, you confident or what? You sure about this? Goddamn it, you’re really pissing me off.”
“…You got a death wish?”
By the time Choi Ji-won and I arrived at the carriage, a tense standoff had already taken shape.
“Agh, I’m so fucking done. I swear to God, I wanna gouge out that mutt’s damn eyeballs.”
A stocky Asian guy with bleached blond hair was yelling at the top of his lungs, cussing up a storm.
“…”
And across from him, a white guy with a shaved head glared back in total silence, his stare cold enough to kill.
At a glance, it looked like the stocky guy was the aggressor—but watching closely, it was obvious he was actually scared shitless. And for a good reason. The shaved-head guy had an overwhelming presence. Just the way he held that mace made it clear—he wasn’t someone to mess with.
“Babe, let’s just go, okay? What’s the point?”
Even so, the blond guy kept posturing—probably because his girlfriend was watching from behind him.
“What? You got a problem? You looking at me, punk?”
He was just about to cross a line he couldn’t come back from…
“Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you.”
…and then Choi Ji-won stepped forward with a smile, cutting through the tension like a knife.
“Wait… is that Choi Ji-won? The Choi Ji-won?”
“Whoa. Didn’t realize she was still on the 13th floor. I figured she’d be way higher by now.”
“…The national sweetheart showed up.”
Some welcomed her with wide eyes and open admiration, while others muttered bitterness about her being a ‘manufactured hero.’ Either way, she was famous, and her presence alone shifted the atmosphere completely.
“…Count yourself lucky.”
Still trying to act tough, the blond guy exhaled in relief and shuffled back to his girlfriend.
“…He still seems like a total dumbass. Where’s that confidence even coming from?”
The white guy tilted his head, clearly baffled, then headed back toward the carriage. It wasn’t hard to read the room. The shaved-head dude was clearly a top-tier player who knew what he was doing. The blond guy? Just some mid-tier climber who sped through the Tower without much skill.
And that’s the problem with this Tower. As long as you’re willing to compromise on the rewards, even unskilled players can climb fast. Which means skilled and unskilled climbers get thrown into the same mix. Then again… maybe that’s the whole point.
“If you head that way, you’ll find water. Food spawns inside these wooden crates right here. I’ve been waiting here three days, so I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Thanks for the info.”
Players were buzzing around Ji-won, eager to get close to her. She accepted their guidance while casually scanning the surroundings. Meanwhile, I focused on the carriage itself, checking it top to bottom for any useful info.
It was completely empty inside. No horses to pull it either. It was practically just a shell—bare bones.
A few people asked what my relationship with Ji-won was, but I just said we were teammates. Calling her my girlfriend would’ve caused more trouble than it was worth.
“Is this the place? There’s nothing else around…”
While I was still examining the carriage, the 20th and final player finally arrived. At the same time, the floating text above us changed to read:
[20/20]
Shhhk!
The canvas covering the carriage was suddenly pulled back, and a man with a thick, commanding mustache stepped down to the ground.
“Are you the adventurers who took the request? One, two, three… twenty. Perfect. You’ve arrived right on time.”
“What the hell…”
“There was no sign of life inside that thing a second ago!”
“Wait, when did those horses appear in front of the carriage?!”
As the players all scrambled in confusion, the mustached man gave the area a quick glance and nodded to himself, unfazed.
“Very well. I’m sure you’re all aware of the job details, but allow me to explain once more. This carriage will now depart for the village of Kalada. Just to get ahead of any questions—yes, I know. If things go smoothly, we’ll be there in two days. If not, maybe three. Not exactly a long journey.”
“…Where even is that?”
“The reason we hired you adventurers despite the short distance is because of the high value of the cargo in this carriage. The carriage must not—must not—be damaged under any circumstances. You are to guard it with your lives. Ah, the last carriage in the back is an exception. That one contains your food and water supplies, so feel free to use them as needed.”
He delivered the explanation in a strange but rapid accent, then promptly turned to reenter the carriage.
“Hey! Mister! Hold on a sec!”
“Whoa, stop him!”
A few players lunged to block him, but the mustached man simply shrugged them off with inhuman strength and vanished back inside the carriage.
“Are you kidding me? He didn’t even take questions!”
One of the players, visibly annoyed and boiling over, yanked back the carriage’s curtain to follow him—
“…Where the hell did he go?”
Inside, the carriage was packed tight with wooden crates. So full, in fact, that there wasn’t even the slightest gap for a person to fit into.
<13th Floor>
– Escort the carriage.
A short, blunt message appeared right in front of our eyes.
The players could only stare at the floating text with blank expressions.
“…Seriously? That’s it?”
“They don’t even explain anything—just ‘escort the carriage’ and that’s it?”
“Hey, hey! The carriage is moving. We have to go!”
“…Son of a bitch.”
There wasn’t even time to stand around in shock. The horses that had magically appeared in front of the carriage neighed and shook their heads, then began pulling it forward on their own.
“Where’s it even going? Are the horses just… taking us there?”
“Yeah, this is… really sudden.”
Up until now, any intelligent beings we’d met in the Tower were residents—like we were intruding on their home turf.
But that mustached guy from earlier? He felt like a real NPC in every sense of the word. Popped out of nowhere, dumped a bunch of fast-talking instructions, and disappeared again just as fast. No wonder everyone’s so thrown off.
“Jun-ho.”
Choi Ji-won quietly slipped up beside me while the group started moving.
“You know something, don’t you? Be honest. You’ve got that weird look on your face.”
“I wouldn’t say I know something exactly, but… I’ve got a good idea of what the possibilities are.”
Five carriages.
Three days.
And twenty people assigned to protect them.
This was a classic “escort mission” setup. Honestly, it’s the kind of scene that pops up in webnovels so often that it’s almost cliché.
“In my opinion, there are three possible outcomes here.”
Walking beside the carriage, I began laying it out for Ji-won.
“First possibility: There really is something valuable in the carriage.”
Could be the last surviving heir of a fallen kingdom.
Could be a sacred relic.
Could be the final masterpiece of a legendary craftsman.
Whatever it is, it’s something worth protecting.
“In that case, we just have to watch out for two things—external threats and internal ones.”
Naturally, if we’re escorting something, someone’s gonna try and steal it. And there’s always going to be that one idiot player who just can’t help themselves and tries to peek inside.
So, as long as we guard the carriages properly and keep everything safe, we’re golden. With Ji-won and me here, this route would be easy money.
“And the second possibility: We shouldn’t be escorting the carriage at all.”
Now let’s twist it.
What if there’s something horrific inside the carriage? Something sealed away for a reason—like a monster or a cursed object—and the moment someone opens one of those crates, it’s released.
In this case, the attackers might actually be the good guys. Maybe they’re trying to destroy whatever’s inside. But without knowing any better, we just slaughter them all.
Yeah… this one’s also a well-loved genre classic.
“And the last one is…”
“What is it?”
“There’s also the chance… the carriages are just full of junk.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, the carriages aren’t the real objective—we are.”
It’s possible there’s nothing valuable inside them at all. The real goal might be to simply transport us players to this so-called Kalada village. And when we arrive?
Boom—ambush.
A horde of enemies shows up, grinning and saying, ‘You’ve been played!’ as they draw their blades.
“Well, there could always be some totally ridiculous scenario I haven’t thought of yet. The Tower’s instructions are so vague that it’s smarter to keep all possibilities open.”
“Huh… so it’s kind of like a puzzle, right? Looks like a simple escort mission on the surface, but once you crack it open, there’s a bunch of stuff hidden inside.”
“But here’s the thing—we don’t actually need to overthink it.”
“…?”
Ji-won gave me a look that basically screamed, ‘You just listed a dozen crazy theories, and now you’re saying we shouldn’t overthink it?’
“I mean, this is just a hunch—but I bet we can still clear the floor just by escorting the carriages properly. Even if there’s something deeper going on, the Tower might be set up so we never even realize it.”
“So you’re saying, let’s just play it straight the first time?”
“Exactly.”
I’ve had enough of smashing my head against secrets by repeating regressions over and over again. Hell, there might not even be a secret to begin with.
And once we get back to reality, we’ll receive the full debrief from the Association anyway. All we need to do for now is clear the mission once.
Besides, this is me and Choi Ji-won we’re talking about. Failing an escort mission? Not happening.
“Knew it. It would be a little too easy this time.”
This was one of those floors—the kind you see all the time in Tower stories.
Full of hidden layers, tangled truths, and puzzle-box setups.
But for a regressor like me?
This is about as easy as it gets.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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