Sleeping on the hard-packed earth left my whole body stiff. The one advantage to this place was the perpetual daylight. If you found a spot where the sun hit just right, you could sleep in relative comfort. Jin-woo washed his face at the edge of the pond. Splash, swish, swash. He then rinsed the sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes he’d set aside for the day’s meal. “Is it strange to be washing these in the same water I just used on my face?” Pushing the thought aside, Jin-woo took a bite of a raw sweet potato. The more he chewed, the sweeter it tasted. When was the last time he’d had the luxury of just sitting and enjoying something sweet, with no work looming over him? He found a dry patch of sun-drenched dirt, laid out his bag, and slowly chewed the sweet potato. The only sound was the soft crunching in his own ears. His frantic heartbeat began to slow, and his mind settled into a quiet calm. He was trapped. His food would be gone in a few days. He could very well starve to death. Jin-woo tilted his head, surprised by his own placidness. Still, it was better than being riddled with anxiety. “Back in the office, my heart would hammer against my ribs every time Manager Go called out, ‘Jin-woo, can you come over here for a minute?’ This… this is peaceful.” Jin-woo leisurely finished the sweet potato, savoring a tranquility he hadn't felt in years. “Alright, what’s next on the menu?” After swallowing the last of the sweet potato, he popped a cherry tomato into his mouth. The skin burst under the pressure of his teeth, flooding his mouth with an explosion of tart juice. It was so intensely flavorful he wondered if it was even the same kind of tomato he was used to. Perhaps his taste buds had just become hypersensitive from hunger. Jin-woo focused entirely on the taste, chewing slowly. Unlike the sweet potato, however, prolonged chewing didn't improve the flavor, and the five cherry tomatoes vanished into his stomach in short order. With his meal finished, Jin-woo began his daily routine. Staring at the hole in the ceiling. He gazed blankly at the distant opening, the sole source of light in this massive cavern. Of course, he occasionally broke the silence to shout, “Is anyone there?!” But even that was done with his eyes fixed on the ceiling. After several hours, the sheer monotony of it was exhausting, enough to make him feel like he was losing his mind. “Isn’t there anything else to do?” Jin-woo started looking for a task. ‘First, I’ll water the crops.’ He filled a water bottle from the pond and carefully tended to his small patch of onions, cherry tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. “Grow fast. Grow huge. Daddy is hungry.” He made three trips to the pond, thoroughly soaking the ground around each plant. His stomach rumbled, a stark reminder of his dwindling energy. Just that little bit of movement had made him hungry again. Jin-woo tipped the last of the water from the bottle into his mouth. It filled his stomach, at least for a moment. Jin-woo returned to his spot and resumed staring at the hole in the ceiling. Jin-woo was staring blankly at the ceiling when a shrill sound cut through the silence. Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Since there was no sunset here, he had set an alarm to mark his bedtime. “Time to sleep.” Jin-woo got up and prepared for bed. There wasn’t much to it. He smoothed out the dirt floor where he planned to lie down, then covered his head with his bag to block out the sun. That was it. Surprisingly, sleep came easily. In the middle of what Jin-woo considered the night, a deep vibration shook him from his slumber. “Uhm… what’s going on?” Another powerful tremor rolled through the ground. It was close. Jin-woo scrambled to pull the bag off his face and sat up. He witnessed a bizarre and terrifying scene. The light cascading down from the cave ceiling had shifted from a warm yellow to an eerie, spectral blue. Strange, menacing sounds echoed from the darkness beyond his small clearing. Then, a colossal black dragon materialized high above, letting out a roar that shook the very air. The sight of it soaring through the pillars of blue light was, despite the terror it inspired, astonishingly beautiful. The black dragon roared once more before disappearing as gracefully as it had arrived. The other monstrous noises fell silent, as if cowed by its power. Jin-woo’s mind, however, was noisier than ever. “Monsters… this can’t be happening…” Something was terribly wrong. He had assumed, had desperately wanted to believe, that this was somewhere on the first floor of the tower. He’d told himself the constant light was from the grand chandeliers on that floor. But there were no monsters on the first floor. This meant Jin-woo was not on the first floor. And then there was the blue light—the Cheong-wol. Every floor of the tower had perpetual daylight, but on certain floors, the sun would periodically turn blue. Hunters called it the Cheong-wol. During a Cheong-wol, monsters grew more aggressive and powerful, so hunters actively avoided floors where one was occurring. ‘The Cheong-wol only happens on the 10th floor and above…’ That meant Jin-woo was on at least the 10th floor. There was still a chance of rescue. Ten years after the tower first appeared, the Bong-hwang Guild—Earth’s most powerful guild—had recently managed to clear the 37th floor. Information on floors 31 through 37 was scarce, as the top guilds kept their secrets close. But for floors below 30, plenty of clear-videos had been uploaded to TowerTV for fame or fortune. According to what was publicly known, skeletons appeared on floors 2-10, goblins on 11-20, and orcs on 20-30. From the 31st floor on, spider-type monsters were rumored to appear, though no footage had been released. It was all credible information, verified by multiple hunters in interviews. None of them had ever mentioned dragons. No one had even heard of so much as a lizard-like monster appearing in the tower. ‘What floor is this?!’ Jin-woo clutched his head, a low cry of despair escaping his lips. He might be stranded on a floor that not even the world’s top hunters had reached. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ His heart heavy with dread, Jin-woo stared up at the hole in the ceiling, now bathed in that haunting blue light. His purpose for watching it, however, had changed completely. Before, he had looked up hoping someone might pass by. Now, he hoped no one would. After seeing the dragon, Jin-woo understood that this place was filled with monsters. Beep beep. Beep beep. Having stood guard all night, Jin-woo greeted the fourth day with sleepless eyes. Thankfully, the Cheong-wol had faded back to its usual yellowish light around 4 AM. His head drooped as he kept watch. Finally, he slumped over and fell into a deep sleep. It was no wonder, after staring at the ceiling in terror since the night before. The moment he woke, Jin-woo felt a burning thirst. He fumbled for the water bottle he’d left beside him. He drained it in one go. “Whew! Now I feel alive.” His thirst quenched, a ravenous hunger took its place. He went to the pond and quickly washed his face, along with five sweet potatoes and five cherry tomatoes. Jin-woo chewed on a sweet potato, his gaze returning to the hole in the ceiling. ‘Even if I don’t know where I am, if it’s above the 41st floor, the chances of anyone coming are almost zero.’ That meant he had to survive on his own. Jin-woo looked at the small patch of dirt where he had planted his crops. ‘Should I water them?’ The thought that he was utterly alone made the tiny sprouts seem infinitely more precious. “You guys have to be strong.” “Sweet potatoes, grow huge.” “Tomato, bear lots of fruit.” “Green Onion… um… just grow big and strong.” He watered them carefully, speaking to each plant. He’d heard on the news once that playing music helped plants grow, so a few kind words couldn’t hurt. After watering them, Jin-woo sat back down and stared at the ceiling again. Boredom quickly set in. His eyes fell on the green onion leaves he had torn off and discarded on the first day. He popped a withered leaf into his mouth and chewed. A sharp, spicy flavor filled his mouth, followed by the potent aroma of green onion, which had only concentrated after drying in the sun for a few days. Jin-woo kept chewing without swallowing. ‘There’s sweetness in green onion, too.’ As he worked at it, the spiciness began to fade, and a faint, hidden sweetness emerged. He chewed on the tough leaf and managed to fight off the drowsy afternoon haze. Beep beep. Beep beep. The fourth night of his ordeal had arrived. “Will I be okay tonight?” Jin-woo couldn’t fall asleep easily. The monsters had been active because of the Cheong-wol, but that didn’t mean they were harmless when the light was yellow. He decided to find a sleeping spot away from the light. It would be colder, but nothing was more important than his life. Since he no longer needed the sun for warmth, he folded his bag and used it as a pillow. The moment Jin-woo laid his head down, he was snoring. While Jin-woo slept, the green onions, their roots buried deep in the soil, began to grow in earnest. Beep-beep. Beep-beep. The fifth day of survival began. Jin-woo’s eyes shot open. “Ugh! Why do I feel so light?” He stretched, feeling strangely refreshed. He usually woke up feeling heavy and sluggish, but today his body felt incredibly light. He’d expected to be cold after sleeping in the dark, but he hadn’t been. “Is it because the fatigue from the company has finally worn off?” Jin-woo found it odd but went to the pond. He washed his face, then picked out his meal for the day. When he looked into his plastic container, he saw that half of his food was gone. There wasn’t much left. ‘Should I start eating only half portions from today?’ Jin-woo washed the sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes, his mind troubled. He broke a sweet potato in half, returning one piece and three of the cherry tomatoes to the container. He was already running low, and the thought of cutting back even further was disheartening. Jin-woo sighed and walked over to his usual spot, a patch of flat dirt that was always well-lit by the sun, and sat down. Something was wrong. He was in the shade. Blocking the sunlight that should have been warming the spot was the Green Onion, which had somehow grown to his height. He hadn’t noticed a significant difference when he’d watered it yesterday, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary before he’d gone to bed. The plant had grown an incredible amount overnight. As Jin-woo approached and examined it, he saw the white stalk near the roots had thickened to the width of his wrist. He grabbed one of the new, vibrant leaves. The leaf looked delicate, fluttering in the faint breeze, but it was surprisingly tough. Jin-woo had to put some effort into it before he managed to tear it off. “What? Why did it change so suddenly?” He supposed plants could change depending on their climate and habitat. He could only hope the taste had changed as much as its appearance. Jin-woo put the scallion leaf in his mouth and chewed.

Chapter 2: No One Calls Your Name