The Tutorial Is Too Hard

Proofreader: G.o.dlyCash

I can roughly imagine the circ.u.mstances outside.

Although I can’t predict accurately, how the world works is always similar.

Even if the monster comes out and the world is in ruins, what should remain unchanged will remain unchanged.

[Kim MinHyuk, 30th floor: What, do you have anything else to say? You’re too indifferent.]

[Lee HoJae, 41st floor: That’s all. I have nothing to say.]

[Kim MinHyuk, 30th floor: Alright. See you later. ]

Kim MinHyuk ended the message with an agreement to meet next time.

I don’t have any interest in knowing the life or death of my family.

Even if South Korea suffers minimum loses, the death toll exceeds one million.

It’s really crooked to be optimistic that my family won’t be one of those countless victims.

But it’s not bad to hope.

I call Ahb.o.o.boo to confirm whether other people think of me.

“Ahb.o.o.boo.”

[Yes, Warrior.]

“Do you have a family?”

[What are you saying? I am not an orphan.]

Ahb.o.o.boo uttered angrily.

Maybe it’s because I suddenly asked that, he feels unhappy.

“Tell me about your family.”

[Family? When I was a child… no, the story is before I became a sword, so this is a story from the distant past. Let me think…]

I asked Ahb.o.o.boo to talk about his past.

Ahb.o.o.boo held no secrets and enjoys telling others his stories, so he starts talking about it without any complaints.

All in all, it was a story of Ahb.o.o.boo’s childhood.

Ahb.o.o.boo said that he paid more attention to the sword than his family ever since he began practicing with his sword.

Nevertheless, Ahb.o.o.boo’s narrative still showed his deep yearning for his family.

I’m contemplating as I listen to Ahb.o.o.boo’s story.

Why can’t I share the same feelings as Ahb.o.o.boo?

Even now, when I hear some news about my family, why am I so indifferent?

* * *

[Tutorial, the 40th Floor of h.e.l.l Difficulty Cleared.]

[Take care, have a good day.]

With the farewell from the G.o.d of Nature, I stepped into the portal.

I left the temple of G.o.d of Nature and moved to Kiri Kiri’s field.

After moving, the sight of the G.o.ds, which has disappeared for some time, back to me.

[Many G.o.ds of the Hundred G.o.ds Temple are watching you.]

The number of eyes now exceeds 3,000.

These gazes that watch me often make me feel uncomfortable and frightened

But at least the existence that is opposite to me at the moment isn’t as worrisome.

“Kiri Kiri.”

“h.e.l.lo!”

I see Kiri Kiri hopping toward me as she waves her hand.

Her smile was still so naive that it felt creepy.

“Hee-hee, look at that, you’re a little late this time.”

As usual.

Smart, lovely, pure.

Looking at Kiri Kiri eases my tension.

Even if I still have a bad feeling about her.

I’m sure that my feelings for her have changed and it’s not because I like her, but because of her ability.

Kiri Kiri and the uncle on the 60th floor were my life-saving straws when I fell into the h.e.l.l difficulty alone.

If even one of them was missing, I would never have climbed to the 40th floor.

I look forward to meeting Kiri Kiri after clearing each stage because I can hold her tightly and cry.

We can also chat over tea and cake while playing together like children.

For me, Kiri Kiri is not only a parent, but also a teacher, a friend, a sister.

So I still can’t easily accept the fact that the smiles she gives to me with an innocent face were fake.

Even though she has been reading my thoughts at this very moment, she still maintained that innocent face as if nothing had happened which made me feel even more terrible.

Faced with the smiling Kiri Kiri, I am filled with frustration.

I wanted to scold her and be angry at her, but I can’t do it at all.

“Kiri Kiri.”

“Yes, what?”

Aren’t you reading my mind?

Don’t you know what I’m going to ask? I jeer at her.

I’d rather she be frank with her thoughts.

“You explained to me about information control in the tutorial before, correct?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You told me about privacy. If one spends points and information fees to set specific information as private, then n.o.body can peep at this private info without paying a higher price. So please set what I want to be private.”

Kiri Kiri nodded.

Information privacy has been released in large quant.i.ties.

Since it’s still in its infancy stage, every conversation protocol day held in Korean servers has been related to the privacy settings.

I know everything about privacy.

I also know some of the secrets that uncle hides.

But this is not because I paid enough information fees to see uncle’s private information, but because the information is open to the challengers of h.e.l.l Difficulty.

“This time I heard from the G.o.d of Nature. There is another method, a method to control a specific people’s information.”

Kiri Kiri’s curious eyes shook in antic.i.p.ation of my next words.

I began to fear her innocent face.

I don’t have to explain that method.

Because she knows all about it.

I accelerate the progress of this dialogue.

I want to end this dialogue as soon as possible.

“He asked me if I had exposed the trigger to the floor manager.” [1]

I close my eyes tightly.

I held my trembling hands behind my back and spoke my next words.

“Kiri Kiri, tell me what you’re hiding.”

No response.

I peeked at Kiri Kiri only to see her staring at me with a smile.

Note:

[1] The following contains information explaining what all of this means. This does not contain spoilers, but rather about the current situation. If you wish to figure it out yourself, then please ignore this note.

Lee Ho Jae wants confidentiality for the method of conquering the 61st floor as private for only Lee Yeon Hee, rather than ordinary privacy (ordinary privacy is open to all the challengers of h.e.l.l Difficulty). Then he can make use of Lee Yeon Hee to clear the 61st floor, so he asked Kiri Kiri what he can do. Kirikiri said the Specific Person Information Control can be used. The Specific Person Information Control needs a trigger mechanism, the setter can set a keyword as a trigger for the confidentiality of a particular person, as long as the one in the dark speaks the keyword out, one will never know the private information. Lee HoJae set the keyword ‘turtle’ and he deliberately mentioned this keyword in his communication with Lee Yeon Hee, which made Lee Yeon Hee curious. Lee Yeon Hee thought that the ‘turtle’ was Lee Ho Jae’s nickname for Kiri Kiri, so she asked Kiri Kiri to prove that. But Kiri Kiri did not deny it (she lied) and hid the fact that Lee Ho Jae set Specific Person Information Control trigger. When Lee Yeon Hee was on the 40th floor, she learned the fact that she had been betrayed by Kiri Kiri and Lee HoJae by the G.o.d of Nature’s question, “Did you ever tell the manager (Kiri Kiri) about the trigger (turtle) of the Specific Person Information Control method?”