Chapter 176
Meanwhile...
At that same time, inside a meeting room of the Order on the 30th floor...
For some reason, everyone who had attended the banquet was gathered in one place.
A cold silence filled the room.
Lee Yumi sat in her chair with an extremely displeased expression.
She had been staring for quite a while at something on top of the meeting table.
Eventually...
She broke the silence first.
"...So you're saying Suhyeok oppa went up to the 90th floor by himself?"
The "something" sitting on the table was none other than Leon.
He looked completely shriveled up, one paw raised in the air.
"Th-That's right, nya...."
"I told you everything without leaving anything out, so can I lower this paw now, nyaaa...?"
Yumi sucked in a breath.
"Don't act like you did something good."
"Even if oppa told you not to say anything, you should've told us immediately, you fat cat!"
"All you ever care about is Churu anyway."
At the words fat cat...
Leon looked genuinely hurt.
His chin drooped.
His ears and tail sagged like a cat caught in the rain.
"Still..."
Lee Serim spoke up.
"Isn't this serious?"
"If Lee Suhyeok left even you three behind and went to the 90th floor alone..."
"That means it's dangerous enough for him to do that."
The atmosphere sank even further.
Yumi immediately shot Leon an even sharper glare.
"Miss Yumi, that's enough."
Bong Taesu tried to calm her down.
"There's no need to keep scolding him just because he didn't tell us."
"Brother was the one who gave him strict instructions."
"There probably wasn't much he could do."
"Isn't that right?"
"R-Right, nya...."
Leon carefully exchanged glances with Taesu before answering.
Yumi let out a disbelieving laugh.
Meanwhile...
Lee Serim rested her chin on one hand and calmly organized the situation.
"Like that fat cat..."
She paused.
"No, like Mr. Leon said earlier..."
"The Constellations are about to enter some kind of survival game where they kill each other."
"And Lee Suhyeok is participating too."
"Yet before that..."
"He went to the 90th floor."
She frowned.
"There has to be a reason."
"The problem is that we don't know what it is."
Kang Dongwoo, Guild Master of the White Tiger Guild, crossed his arms and tilted his head.
Then he raised a hand.
"Hold on."
"Then why don't we just go to the 90th floor right now?"
"Wouldn't that be more certain than sitting here trying to guess why he went?"
"Right, Uncle Haksu?"
Jang Haksu of Haegwang was still deep in thought.
He merely tapped his fingers against the table.
Tap. Tap.
He gave no answer.
Then...
"This is ridiculous."
Cheon Sohee spoke coldly.
"What good will come from wasting time like this?"
"This lady's opinion has remained the same from the beginning."
"We go to the 90th floor immediately."
"I agree."
Kim Hyuna nodded.
"We can't let Mister carry everything alone."
"He made that choice for our sake..."
"But we can't just sit here doing nothing."
Cheon Sohee nodded vigorously.
Her face practically said, Exactly! That's how it should be!
"Oh?"
"It's been a while since you've said something I approve of."
"Yes."
"That is the proper mindset of a concubine."
"Who are you calling a concubine?"
Hyuna stared at her in disbelief.
"We already settled this matter before."
Cheon Sohee scoffed.
"How many times must this lady explain it?"
"This lady is the one and only legal wife."
"Hah."
"Forget it."
"I'm done talking to you."
"No."
"I'll just ignore you."
"Does that mean you acknowledge this lady as the legal wife?"
Watching them start bickering again...
Olivia pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Haa..."
"This isn't the time for that."
Her expression turned serious.
"Right now, only Players can even attempt to reach the 90th floor."
"The only reason all of us can gather here on the 30th floor is because Lee Suhyeok made it possible."
She lowered her gaze.
"The 90th floor isn't a place we can underestimate."
"Simply deciding that we want to help Lee Suhyeok doesn't mean we'll survive there."
"If we think about this objectively..."
"We probably wouldn't be any help to him at all."
Cheon Sohee looked at her in surprise.
"You know about the 90th floor?"
"How?"
"Even this lady, a resident of the 50th floor, knows nothing about it."
"Most people here probably don't either."
Normally...
The only way residents of a floor could learn about other floors was through Players...
Or through people who had descended from higher floors.
In other words...
Lower-floor residents could only hear information about higher floors indirectly.
Yet Olivia knew information about the 90th floor that no one else here seemed to possess.
Then...
Dolkin, who had been gulping down alcohol, slammed the bottle onto the table.
THUD!
"Kuh!"
"Not bad."
"It's no Empire wine..."
"But the stuff on the 30th floor isn't terrible either."
"Maybe it tastes better because I'm not paying for it."
He paused.
"Ah."
"That's not the point."
"Yeah."
"I told the Princess about it."
Silence.
Everyone stared at him with expressions that clearly asked...
How the hell would you know?
Dolkin clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"What are you all staring at me like idiots for?"
"Never seen a Climber before?"
"Huh?"
Cheon Sohee's eyes widened.
"Oh."
"Come to think of it, you are a Climber."
"Perfect."
"Since the boundaries between floors don't restrict you, you can take us to the 90th floor right now──"
"That."
"Is."
"Exactly."
"What I would've done already if it were possible."
Dolkin emphasized every word.
"If I could've gone, I would've done it the second our Princess asked."
He took another long drink.
"Kuh."
Then wiped his mouth.
"Bottom line..."
"It's not like I didn't try."
"The moment I heard Lee Suhyeok disappeared..."
"I tried going to the 90th floor myself."
"But I couldn't."
"Some System or whatever blocked it."
"Completely."
"So no one can enter."
In other words...
Even Players and Climbers had been locked out of the 90th floor.
No one could follow Suhyeok.
Silence returned.
The atmosphere became increasingly hopeless.
Then...
Leon, still sitting there with one paw raised, cautiously spoke.
"W-Well..."
"It's not like there's absolutely no way, nya...."
Everyone's eyes widened.
They all stared directly at him.
Yumi immediately shot to her feet.
She grabbed both of Leon's cheeks.
"It's really possible?!"
"Fat cat, you're not lying, right?!"
"Right?!"
"W-Who are you calling a fat cat, nya?!"
"Let go of my face, nya!"
"And I only said it's possible!"
"I didn't say it's possible right now, nya!"
"And I didn't say we could go to the 90th floor either, nya!"
