Chapter 27
Back in the past, when the conquest of the Tower was at its peak...
A slightly drunk Bong Taesu grinned foolishly and joked with Suhyeok as usual.
“Hyung, you’re back? I was wondering where you went. Guess you really needed to use the bathroom.”
“...Don’t misunderstand. I was training.”
“Haha. Why are you taking it so seriously? I was just joking around to lighten the mood.”
“Where are the others?”
“They all said they didn’t want to talk to me and went back to their rooms.”
Taesu laughed.
“So now you’re the only one left, hyung. Want to talk with me?”
Normally, Suhyeok would have ignored him and returned to his room.
But that day was different.
He quietly sat down.
And listened.
“Hmm. This might be a pointless story.”
Taesu scratched his head.
“But I don’t think I’ve ever really told you about myself.”
Humans accumulated pain no matter how brightly they smiled.
Suhyeok silently remained beside him.
“Haha. This is actually pretty embarrassing.”
Taesu stared at his drink.
“Where should I even start...?”
Before entering the Tower, Suhyeok had been an office worker.
Bong Taesu had practiced judo at university.
He had been considered a promising athlete.
His talent had been recognized in the judo world.
But wherever people gathered, unnecessary hierarchy and bullying often followed.
Smack!
Hey. You think you’re special, don’t you?
A senior shoved Taesu’s shoulder.
You look down on your seniors, so now you’re talking back to me, huh?
“...No. I’m sorry, senior.”
What do you mean, no? If you didn’t think that way, you wouldn’t behave like this.
The senior sneered.
Those guys are being punished because of you. Do you understand?
Taesu could not understand.
He had only worked hard at judo.
Yet simply because he was more skilled than his seniors...
He was punished.
On days when he had matches, his friends were forced to suffer in his place.
Naturally...
Their resentment turned toward Taesu.
What the hell is this because of him?! He could just lower his head once!
If he keeps doing this every competition, isn’t he basically trying to screw us over?
He’s huge for no reason.
Maybe his brain is made of muscle too.
Bad rumors spread.
Eventually, despite his excellent results, Taesu chose to drop out.
He stayed locked in his room all day, drowning in self-doubt.
Then one day...
His eyes fell on an old martial arts novel.
It was a predictable story.
The protagonist always protected justice.
Always followed righteousness.
Always sacrificed himself for others.
But after reading it...
Bong Taesu changed completely.
He began living while imagining himself as that protagonist.
“Haha! Let me push that heavy cart for you!”
He willingly pushed the cart of an old woman collecting waste paper.
“Ahhh! That man stole my bag!”
He chased down thieves and returned stolen belongings.
He did all kinds of righteous things to help others.
The people he helped thanked him.
“Thank you, mister!”
“I-I’m not a mister...”
“Wow! Mister, you’re amazing!”
“You’re handso... Ah, no. Anyway, you’re really cool!”
“Ahem. Haha. Thank you.”
After revealing everything about his past, Bong Taesu looked strangely relieved.
Then he asked Suhyeok,
“Have you ever heard of The Giving Tree?”
“I read it a lot as a child.”
Taesu blinked.
“Haha. Right. I didn’t think you were the type to read something like that.”
Then his expression softened.
“Anyway, the tree in that story gives everything it has.”
But Taesu was not talking about the obvious lesson everyone knew.
“I started wondering something.”
He smiled faintly.
“The tree watched everyone it gave to grow, didn’t it?”
Taesu looked at Suhyeok.
“But no one knows how that tree itself grew.”
He scratched his head awkwardly.
“This sounds embarrassing, but...”
His expression became sincere.
“To me, hyung, you were that Giving Tree.”
It was unusually poetic for Taesu.
Apparently embarrassed by his own words, he coughed and scratched the back of his head.
“Ahem! Anyway!”
He laughed awkwardly.
“I want to know how you lived too.”
Taesu rubbed his neck.
“I tried to say it indirectly, but now I’m just embarrassed.”
Suhyeok opened his mouth.
“I...”
Back in the present...
Bong Taesu had once again revealed his past.
Then he asked Suhyeok in a low voice,
“...Hyung, have you ever been afraid?”
Taesu stared into the night sky.
“I think I’ve been afraid ever since I came here.”
He clenched his hand.
“Everyone else keeps running farther and farther ahead.”
His voice shook slightly.
“But I feel like I’m standing still.”
Even the strongest tree could eventually break.
Taesu had desperately tried to catch up with the others.
For the past month, he had woken before dawn and trained alone.
“At first, I didn’t think much about it.”
Taesu smiled bitterly.
“I’ve always been confident when it comes to working hard.”
He looked down.
“But after one week became two... and then almost a month...”
His voice grew quieter.
“I started wondering.”
“What if all this effort is meaningless?”
Taesu silently looked into the night sky.
He remembered the Tutorial.
His first impression of Suhyeok had been a thin man wearing an ordinary suit.
Then Taesu had watched him brutally slaughter goblins.
He had thought...
Perhaps this was what the protagonist of all those martial arts novels he had read would look like.
“So maybe that’s why I chased after you so desperately, hyung.”
Taesu smiled weakly.
“I thought that if someone ordinary like me refused to give up and kept trying...”
He looked at Suhyeok.
“Maybe one day I could become like you.”
Then he laughed bitterly.
“Now that I’ve said it out loud, it sounds pretty pathetic.”
Suhyeok immediately replied,
“Yeah. That’s incredibly pathetic.”
Taesu froze.
Then he laughed.
“...Hahaha. As expected of you, hyung.”
He rubbed his chest.
“I knew you’d say something like that, but hearing it directly still hurts.”
Taesu looked at him.
“Now tell me about yourself.”
He smiled.
“You’ve never had a pathetic time like mine, have you?”
It was exactly the same question Taesu had asked in Suhyeok’s previous life.
Back then, Suhyeok had not spoken about his past.
It had been an ordinary life no different from anyone else’s.
When Suhyeok had told him that...
Taesu had shaken his head.
Suhyeok remembered the words he had said.
“Someone I knew once told me something.”
Taesu listened.
“Iron becomes stronger by being heated and struck repeatedly.”
Suhyeok continued.
“Then, as it cools, it begins to take shape.”
Untreated iron was nothing more than a lump of metal lying on the ground.
But once forged...
It could become an unbreakable sword.
People were the same.
Only by striking and refining themselves again and again could they truly grow.
Suhyeok looked directly at Taesu.
“How much have you struck yourself?”
Taesu froze.
“I...”
He fell into thought.
For a long time, he tried to find an answer.
Then...
Something seemed to click inside him.
He suddenly burst out laughing like usual.
“Hahaha!”
Taesu stood.
“That sounds exactly like my Trait.”
He smiled broadly.
“How much have I been struck, huh...?”
He stretched.
“Heave-ho!”
Taesu looked much lighter than before.
“Talking to you helped a lot, hyung.”
He smiled.
“You go inside first.”
Taesu picked up his stance.
“I’ll train a little longer.”
Then he blinked.
“Hyung?”
Suhyeok was walking in the opposite direction.
“That’s completely opposite from the exit.”
Suhyeok silently walked toward a barrel filled with wooden swords.
He picked one up.
Then he spoke casually toward the wall.
“If you’re that worried about him, stop hiding and watching.”
He raised the wooden sword.
“Come train with him.”
Two people flinched behind the wall.
