Jiwoo had left the room much earlier than her given time. Maybe it was just too awkward? Jinwoo couldn't help but ponder to himself.
The metallic room only consisted of Jinwoo, but it felt as if there was another presence there. A cosmic presence to be said.
Jinwoo still stared at the translucent screen, hovering right at his face as he lay down on the hard bed.
[Congratulations!]
[The Black Tower of Abyss of the 35th dimension has chosen you for an early visit.]
[Would you like to enter?]
[Y/N]
"Hey system, What's this all about?" Jinwoo called out his schizophrenic friend.
[Well, I don't know the entire detail, but I am pretty sure it's an invitation]
Jinwoo rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I know that much, white old man."
[sorry to burst your bubble, but I am younger than you. Fuck you, geezer.]
Jinwoo punched the screen, but his hand phased right through it, the blue screen glitched for a moment, then showed an emoji of laughter, further enraging the tempered man.
"tch! This useless blue knock off AI"
[Hey! I heard that!]
Jinwoo, puzzled, asked. "What? How?"
[We can talk telepathically, of course I can hear you through your mind.]
"WHAT?!!"
[How else do you think only you could hear me.]
"I thought It was because no one wanted to pay attention to your hideous voice."
The voice silenced. Its voice was something it was insecure about, and now someone made fun of it. The system was deeply saddened. Jinwoo could see that.
How you ask?
"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU USING CRYING EMOJI??!!"
For some reason, the system was very fond of emojis. No unnecessary words, no chatter with this cosmic variable. Just simple emotions in one single drawing.
"Ugh… whatever." Jinwoo rubbed his head, "Gimme more details on this tower invitation."
[The Black Tower is one of the seven towers of the abyss.]
"Start from beginning. What's the abyss?"
[The abyss is, what you would call the web of extra dimensions. Take for example, your dimension is the 35th dimension. Each dimension has seven towers to represent their worlds.]
[From what I gathered from this planet, you can take each dimension to be a universe. The web of these dimensions is like a spider's, at the very middle the 1st dimension, with all the other ones spreading endlessly.]
"What are the other towers? What are the worlds they represent?"
[The towers of each dimension are the same seven ones. They are just like branches of the main towers present in the 1st dimension. The towers are, The Green Tower, The White Tower, The Gold Tower, The Crimson Tower, The Violet Tower, and lastly… The Black Tower]
"What's up with the dramatic reveal of the Black tower? Is it special or what?"
[Nah. I just wanted to waste your breath.]
"…"
[Each tower has a number of worlds inside of them. From what in know, The Black Tower has 100 different worlds, each world having different eco system while being all interconnected with each other through the sea of the abyss.]
"You really love this abyss and dimension talk, don't you?" Jinwoo turned in his bed, gathering his thoughts out from this useless info dump chapter.
"So it's like those webtoons but more detailed, huh.."
The screen lit up, as if intrigued by the mention of its favorite medium of time wastage.
[Exactly! If I had known you knew about them it would have been even easier to explain to you.]
"And why would you think I don't read?"
[There's no way you asked me that with a straight face, what kind of maniac like you would do a sacred act such as reading.]
As much as Jinwoo hated it, this guy was seriously good at giving out insults at the very precise timings. Unfortunately for Jinwoo, this was a yap chapter. So, he had to listen to every single word anyways.
[Whatever. You going or nah?]
"Nope."
[Then Tap the N on the screen] The screen said, before dissipating and showing the same screen once again.
[Would you like to enter?]
[Y/N]
Jinwoo did listen. He swatted away the screen. "Nah, I am just curious. I will go when I feel like it."
[You are so annoying.]
"I hear that a lot." Jinwoo dismissed the adjective thrown at him. He had heard many remarks about his personality. Even in his past, and even now. From being a loser to a monster. He had grown thorough all of it.
Unpretentious remarks such as annoyance were mildly amusing.
[Hey, since this is an info dump chapter. How about we listen to your backstory?]
Jinwoo didn't reply. He stared at the texts for a moment. This was the first, maybe second time the system had actually shown some kind of empathy. He was starting to question it's existence too much.
"Forget mine, I am no protagonist. How about we have a bit of yours? B-35…"
[…]
The system was silent. No witty comebacks nor any emojis. Just a dead silence from the other side. Then, it spoke.
[Nope.]
Jinwoo clicked his tongue, he did not like the fact that he knew almost nothing of this AI he had been talking since months. Sure, there was a bit of familiarity that grew within those times, but it always felt one-sided. And if he had to add more, this system was also the entity that gave him this power.
"I will respect your privacy."
He said before looking at the ceiling and exhaling heavily.
"The Black Tower…"