Chapter 37: Rapid Changes on Earth (2)

 

『[Breaking News] U.S. Acknowledges the Existence of the Tower! Survivors Officially Named ‘Players’!』

 

The moment the United States, the world’s superpower, acknowledged the existence of the Tower, all global embargoes were lifted.

 

The existence of the ‘Tower,’ which had been kept under wraps by governments around the world, was finally revealed to the public.

 

『 A Tower Comprised of 66 Floors? Failure to Ascend Will Result in Humanity’s Extinction? Unbelievable News from the White House Spokesperson! 』

 

『 Korean Government Points to ‘Tower’ as the Cause of Global Disappearances 』

 

The serial disappearances that had occurred until now were finally revealed to have been orchestrated by a divine being.

 

Moreover, this ‘abduction’ event wasn’t the first of its kind. According to what the U.S. government had gathered, there had been at least 650 such incidents.

 

Considering that all these incidents belonged to a single country… If it were happening on a global scale, the number of people who have been summoned to the Tower thus far would be astronomical.

 

『 U.S. Sitting Vice President Reveals He Has Returned from the Tower! 』

 

The one who threw fuel on the already burning public opinion was none other than the Vice President of the United States.

 

He demonstrated his ability to conjure ice out of thin air in front of reporters. The footage was promptly uploaded to YouTube and garnered 100 million views in record time.

 

In short, the response was explosive.

 

-Is this even possible? Do people think this is some kind of novel?

 

-What can we even do besides believing it? Haven’t you seen the video of the U.S. Vice President creating ice on YouTube?

 

-Does this mean gates will start appearing now? What if a goblin shows up in front of my house?

 

-I went to the hardware store to buy a crowbar, and there were at least three more people like me. Better stock up in advance.

 

Koreans, who had become somewhat accustomed to the concept of the ‘Tower’ through various media, had a milder reaction.

 

But in Western countries and other foreign regions, the reaction was much more intense.

 

-If the Vice President isn’t insane, does this mean a deity really intends to wipe out humanity?

 

-Could this be the arrival of the ‘Judgment Day’ mentioned in the Bible?

 

-So are we all going to die?

 

-We should. It’s the will of God.

 

To begin with, the proportion of Catholic and Christian believers in Western countries is astronomically high.

 

There was a heated debate over whether this was actually the work of a deity or the will of some monstrous transcendental being.

 

Extreme groups even emerged, arguing that this was all the will of God, and therefore humanity should simply accept its demise.

 

-But honestly, I’m not even sure if this ‘Tower’ thing really exists.

 

Of course, there were many who didn’t believe in the existence of the Tower.

 

-If you read webcomics or web novels, doesn’t a tower usually appear somewhere in the Pacific? Where is this Tower these crazies are talking about then?

 

First off, the Tower had no physical presence. At least, not on Earth.

 

The Tower remained unobservable even when mobilizing all of humanity’s technological capabilities. The only evidence of its existence was the testimony from survivors.

 

However, the consistency of these testimonies, coupled with the emergence of special abilities among survivors, added a layer of credibility.

 

Still, for the general public, the concept of the ‘Tower’ felt akin to a creature of imagination.

 

-And why can’t those who claim to have survived say what was inside? Are they keeping mum because their testimonies might contradict each other and expose a scam?

 

One reason people couldn’t believe in the existence of the Tower was the tight-lipped nature of its survivors regarding what actually occurs within.

 

While testimonies agreed on the existence of the Tower, not a single account divulged what happened inside it. As if the survivors were looking to monopolize the benefits for themselves.

 

From the survivors’ perspective, this must be a maddening conundrum, because…

 

-You think we’re not speaking because we don’t want to? Did you never consider the possibility that it’s ‘you’ who can’t seem to see or hear about it?

 

They had already been talking vociferously about the Tower.

 

-I told my mom about what happened in the tutorial, and she said I suddenly stopped speaking. I posted about it on an online community, but the post only got 3 views.

 

-But right now, we’re freely discussing the tutorial among ourselves, aren’t we?

 

-That’s exactly the issue. It seems that only those who haven’t been to the Tower can’t see these comments.

 

The returnees from the Tower were acting entirely within the realm of common sense.

 

They had reached out to media organizations and used online communities to spread the word about their experiences in the Tower.

 

-I’ve been posting consistently on various communities about my experience in the tutorial, but barely anyone reads it. Occasionally, if someone does read it, it turns out they’re also a survivor from the Tower.

 

However, all those efforts were in vain.

 

The general public was unaware that we were even trying to talk about the Tower.

 

If you liken it to a game, it’s like the system itself was preventing it.

 

We could discuss very basic information, such as “The Tower has 66 floors,” “If we don’t climb the Tower, humanity will perish,” or “The Tower is the judgment of God,” but mentioning what happened inside was absolutely impossible.

 

<Hey, I’ve thought of a trick to talk about the tutorial>

 

But, as they say, humans are thinking animals. There were those who tried to exploit loopholes to reveal what happened in the Tower.

 

<Hey, I’ve thought of a trick to talk about the tutorial>

 

{You know how when we try to talk about the tutorial, it appears to regular folks like we’ve simply frozen? Can’t we reverse-engineer that?

 

Right now, I’ve asked a friend to pick out around a thousand words that might be related to the Tower. My friend will then show me each word one by one.

 

If I see a word and it exists in the Tower, I’ll nod; if it doesn’t, I’ll shake my head. What does that do? For the words that don’t exist, I’ll shake my head, but for those that do, it’ll look like I’ve frozen, right? If my friend picks out only the words that make me freeze, he might get a rough idea about the Tower, don’t you think?}

 

-Are you a genius?

 

-Isn’t this a good idea? Using the very fact that we freeze when trying to talk about the Tower…

 

There was someone who tried to use a sort of logic to disclose information about the tutorial.

 

But the outcome was disastrous.

 

<Guys, it’s a fail.>

 

{As soon as we tried to start the experiment, it wasn’t me who froze, but my friend. Turns out, he had completely forgotten that we were even attempting the experiment. Seems like they’ve got all the loopholes covered. Let’s just give up, guys.}

 

No matter what means were used, stories from inside the Tower couldn’t be shared with those who had never been there.

 

The inside of the Tower remained a complete mystery.

 

For about a month, the Earth’s population engaged in fierce debates over the subject of the Tower.

 

Switch on the news, and there’s talk about the Tower. Internet communities were buzzing with discussions on the Tower, and people were talking about the Tower when they met.

 

But as they say, all bubbles are destined to burst at some point.

 

After a period of massive confusion, the world was broadly divided into three categories.

 

First, ordinary people who did not believe in the existence of the Tower.

 

Second, ordinary people who did believe in the existence of the Tower.

 

And lastly, the third group: survivors of the tutorial.

 

The public perception of these survivors was, to put it bluntly, plummeting into the abyss.

 

-Why the hell aren’t these survivors climbing the Tower? I heard there are only a handful who have even entered the second floor.

 

-What’s in the Tower that’s stopping them? I get that there are life-threatening risks, but we’re talking about the potential extinction of humanity here.

 

-Would you risk your life if you were told to? Also, you guys have no idea what’s on the first floor, right? I pity the ones who weren’t chosen.

 

First of all, the survivors of the tutorial didn’t want to ascend to the second floor.

 

Excluding people like me who got through the Tower relatively comfortably... everyone else had undergone the worst experiences of their lives.

 

Not to mention trauma; some even sustained permanent physical damage.

 

On top of that, the first floor is practically a paradise. You can eat what you want and do what you want.

 

The only drawback is that you can’t bring anyone else in. Other than that, you can enjoy pretty much anything you can imagine. That’s what the first floor was like.

 

There were very few people on this planet willing to abandon the sweet fruit laid before them to suffer for the sake of others. Limit that to just survivors, and the number shrank even more.

 

But from the perspective of ordinary people, this was nothing but selfishness.

 

-If you guys don’t do it, we’re the ones who are screwed, you know? We have to die because of you!

 

-Let me in that tutorial then. I’ll go climb that Tower myself. Why should humanity’s fate be left to such cowards?

 

When your life hangs in someone else’s hands, and that ‘someone’ is lukewarm in their response, it’s impossible not to get angry.

 

And that wasn’t the only issue.

 

『 Global Spike in Crimes Committed by Players! Is There Truly No Solution? 』

 

Players had the ability to open a portal back to the first floor whenever they wished.

 

In other words... This meant they could commit crimes and then escape to the Tower.

 

Players who not only had extraordinary physical abilities but also possessed supernatural powers beyond modern technology… There was no way to catch these criminals who could narrowly escape the dragnet by fleeing back into the Tower.

 

『 U.S. Police Advise Caution Around Physically Disabled Individuals, Sparking Discrimination Controversy 』

 

A commonality among the criminals using supernatural abilities was that many of them lacked some part of their body.

 

Presumably, they had committed sins so great during the ‘Judgement’ of the tutorial that they had to pay with their physical selves. Of course, this was an area unknown to ordinary people.

 

Whatever the case, a social climate of fearing the disabled had emerged worldwide. Naturally, disabled individuals fiercely pushed back.

 

Just one month since the reality of the Tower was revealed. The world was spiraling into chaos.

 

People were becoming wary of each other, living in fear, and fighting.

 

But the Tower itself did nothing.

 

It neither spat out monsters nor posed a threat to humanity. It simply existed somewhere.

 

“...Haah.”

 

As the situation unfolded like this, I was convinced.

 

Even if God didn’t directly intervene...

 

If left to its own devices, humanity would self-destruct within a mere decade.

 

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**Author’s Note (Afterword)**

 

It’s possible to mention that the tutorial is dangerous and should be approached cautiously...

 

But specifics like, “Goblins appear,” can’t be spoken about due to the established setting!

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

 

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– – – End of Chapter – – -

 

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