The 25th story arc of the Tower of God series that consists of chapter 37 from the second season. The arc centers around Lero-Ro and Quant arriving at the 77th Floor of the Tower in search for Wolhaiksong.
Arc 24 | Return to the main Tower of God recap page. | Arc 26
77F - Extra Floor - A Suspicious Game Center
In search for Wolhaiksong, the former 2nd Floor Test Admins, Lero-Ro and Quant, arrive at a forest of the 77th Floor's Middle Area. However, since they've been searching for Wolhaiksong for the past six years, they begin to get frustrated, and that they haven't even come across anyone for months. Eventually, the two come across a game center deep within the forest, and go inside. Lero-Ro looks around the game center, and notices on the arcade machines that a person named Blueberry13 has all the high-scores.
The game center owner, Blueberry, appears before the two Rankers, which it turns out to be the Khun family member that was with Yuri's Wolhaiksong party when they infiltrated the 2nd Floor. Blueberry states that it's rare for guests to stop by, and asks if they want to play a game with him, which Quant accepts right away while Lero-Ro remains suspicious that something about all this feels off. Quant plays Blueberry in a series of games which include Tekken, soccer, baseball and Starcraft, but is curb-stomped in every single one of them. Blueberry offers Quant one last chance to win as they take part in a shooting game that's basically Quant going up against the Death Star in a small fighter plane, but like before, gets utterly curb-stomped.
Following Quant's defeat, Blueberry asks if Lero-Ro wants to play him next. However, Lero-Ro informs the game center owner that he's more of a fighter than a gamer, and that he figured it out through a bit of Lighthouse information hacking that the Blueberry13 game-ID is connected to the Wolhaiksong Ranker, Khun Hachuling. Lero-Ro challenges Hachuling to a serious fight in order to force said member of the Khun Family to bring him to Wolhaiksong, which Hachuling accepts. Before the fight could begin however, Hachuling suddenly gets a call on his Pocket from Urek Mazino's attendant, Yuje.
Taking the call, Yuje informs Hachuling of someone that caught Urek's interest in the 21st Floor test (referring to Viole), and gives Hachuling a mission related to that. After the call, Hachuling gets annoyed wanting to just pass the mission off to someone else, which upon seeing Lero-Ro and Quant before him, he realizes he can do just that. Hachuling informs Lero-Ro of the mission he just got, and states that in return for Lero-Ro being brought to Wolhaiksong, he will have Lero-Ro become an intern to take part in this mission. Lero-Ro accepts the deal, and the two of them head off to Wolhaiksong as Quant follows closely behind.
Long Summary
On the 77th Floor of the Tower, the now jobless Lero-Ro and Quant are seen making their way through a large forest searching for Wolhaiksong. Quant complains about how they've just been walking for awhile through the forest, and questions Lero-Ro if they're actually going to find anything soon. He also points out how this may become an issue for him to get out of here if it turns out that they're lost, but Lero-Ro reminds him that it was he who told Quant not to follow him to begin with.
Looking around however, Lero-Ro admits that what Quant said isn't wrong either since it's taken six years to travel to the 77th Floor, and yet they haven't come across anyone for months. Thinking his situation over, Lero-Ro wonders if they've just been walking in circles, and can't even rely on the directions of his lighthouse for clues as to where Wolhaiksong could be.
However, it's at this moment that Quant spots something amongst the trees, and tells Lero-Ro to look as well. Looking to where Quants pointing, Lero-Ro sees a weird multi-colored structure that appears to be a game center. Lero-Ro is left confused at the sight of the game center while Quant begins to get excited at the games that the structure may have. The two former 2nd Floor Rankers walk into the game center as Quant finds it odd how the structure looks to be empty.
Looking around, the game machines all appear to be functional and turned on, as Lero-Ro notices that someone named Blueberry13 seems to have all the high-scores on the games. Suddenly, a person with blue hair pops out of a small opening beneath the counter, and finds it surprising to see that after so long, guests have arrived at his game center. Lero-Ro and Quant remain confused at the sight as the blue-haired person crawls out of the hole he was in, and introduces himself to the two Rankers as Blueberry, the owner of the game center.
Quant questions how Blueberry can own a game center that doesn't seem to get any business, which Blueberry answers that it was his dream in th Tower to become the owner of a game center, and made a cheap land purchase here on the 77th Floor. Blueberry also mentions that since business is weak, he usually plays the games by himself. He asks the two if they want to play a game with him, which Quant excitedly accepts, and that he will take Blueberry on at anything. Blueberry asks if Quant wants to play a fighting game, which Quant quickly answers yes. However, Lero-Ro remains on alert feeling that something about all this feels off. After ten minutes playing a Tekken fighting game, all the confidence Quant had to beat Blueberry has been destroyed.
Quant finds it unbelievable that Blueberry has already beaten him ten times within that timeframe, and begins to get annoyed seeing Blueberry's game fighter using Quant's defeated fighter as a punching bag to practice combos on. Quant calls out to Blueberry to stop hitting his knocked out character, and to show some manners for the dead. However, Blueberry taunts Quant to actually win a game against him in order to stop the beatdown, which irritates Quant even further.
Quant chooses to attack Blueberry in the real world instead, but Lero-Ro holds him before his partner does something stupid. Asking Quant if he found the last game unfair, Blueberry offers Quant to play another game with him, but this time around, they will put a wager on it. Quant quickly accepts the challenge as Blueberry leads the former to the spot where they will play their next game; leaving Lero-Ro behind, who continues to watch Quant make a fool of himself.
Over time, Quant ends up playing more than just one more game against Blueberry. He ends up losing easily in sports games, such as soccer and baseball, as well as getting destroyed in a match of Starcraft. Soon enough, Quant looks at his Pocket, and realizes that he's used up all his money trying to beat Blueberry at video-games. Lero-Ro is left looking at Quant in disappoint as the latter holds his head in pain thinking to himself how this happened to him.
Blueberry walks up to Quant, and asks if the latter has now finally given up. Despite Quant breaking down to tears, he states that it's not over as he's been risking his life to beat him. Hearing that Quant's putting his life on the line gets the game owner interested, and replies to Quant that he will give the former 2nd Floor Ranker one last chance to try to win his money back. Quant begins to get excited again, and asks what the game will be, which Blueberry answers that it will be a shooting game.
Quant and Lero-Ro are brought to a figher plane outside the game center, which leaves Quant confused if he's going to be flying it. However, Blueberry informs him that it's not an actual real plane, and that the game machine is inside it. Walking up to the plane, Blueberry warns Quant that it's hard to control, but Quant answers back not to underestimate him.
Entering the fighter plane, Quant puts on the helmet, and begins flipping switches to turn the game on. He also talks to his annoyed self that he will be sure to get back at Blueberry for acting cocky against him throughout these games. Quant gives off a smile, and claims that he will be sure to beat him this time around. He grabs hold of the plane's centre stick, and begins to fly the plane. To his surprise though, he becomes more excited that the plane game actually has a built in system to make it feel like the plane is actually floating in the air. However, Lero-Ro continues to watch from the outside as he sees that Quant's plane, that's supposed to be fake, is actually flying around in the air.
Looking around, Lero-Ro remains confused as to where Blueberry went. A sudden rumbling occurs as a giant circle object appears behind him. Lero-Ro turns around only to see a giant ball calling itself the Death Star now floating in the air, which leaves Lero-Ro even more confused.
Quant flies toward the giant space station, and claims that the best part of any game is taking down a giant spaceship with a small plane. He begins to fire his plane's tiny guns at the Death Star, but the space station fires its giant cannon in return, which instantly destroys Quant's plane. After his plane crashed to the ground, a burned up Quant manages to escape out of it.
He calls over to Lero-Ro to avenge him by fighting against Blueberry, but Lero-Ro informs him that he plans to do no such thing. Blueberry finds it surprising that Lero-Ro doesn't want to play games with him, which the latter answers that he's never really been much of a game player. Lero-Ro answers instead that he's someone who prefers to fight rather than play games. Knowing that Blueberry is Khun Hachuling of Wolhaiksong, Lero-Ro asks if he wants to fight. Surprised that Lero-Ro found out his real identity, Hachuling asks how he found out. Lero-Ro answers that after breaking through a bit of lighthouse protection, he was able to track the Blueberry13 ID used at this game center to a person named Khun Hachuling. Pulling out his weapon inventory, Lero-Ro states that it took him six hears to finally find someone from Wolhaiksong, and now that he's here, he threatens Hachuling to take him to Wolhaiksong's base.
Hachuling begins to make sense of why Lero-Ro and Quant have come to the 77th Floor, and admits that his plan was just to continue playing games with them until they called it quits. However, seeing that he's got no choice now, Hachuling draws out a weapon of his own prepared to face Lero-Ro in a serious fight. Lero-Ro and Hachuling stand opposite one another ready to fight, but before it could begin, Hachuling gets a call on his Pocket. Hachuling asks for Lero-Ro to wait a moment so that he can take this call first. Quant whispers behind Lero-Ro that nows the perfect opportunity to attack him while he's talking to his Pocket, but Lero-Ro orders Quant to shut up. Over the Pocket, Hachuling tries to tell Urek's attendant, Yuje, that he's busy at the moment, but is finally convinced to go along with the attendant's word upon realizing that Yuje's not backing off.
The conversation over the Pocket ends as Hachuling is left annoyed having to do a mission that he wants to be no part of concerning a certain Regular. Hachuling turns back to Lero-Ro and Quant, and asks if the two are still trying to get into Wolhaiksong. The game owner informs them that Wolhaiksong is suddenly in need of an intern, and that if things go well, he will gladly take the two of them to Wolhaiksong. Lero-Ro and Quant are left confused, and think to themselves that this suddenly doesn't sound good.
After thinking it over, Lero-Ro decides that he will accept Hachuling's offer, which leaves Quant even more confused. Lero-Ro asks what he's supposed to do, which Hachuling answers that it involves a particular person that caught Urek's attention in the 21st Floor test.
Hachuling and Lero-Ro begin to walk away together towards Wolhaiksong as the former states that he will tell the latter all the details along the way, which Lero-Ro accepts. Following behind them, Quant remains confused about the whole situation, and is left stunned upon realizing that Lero-Ro isn't actually going to be getting revenge on Hachuling for him.
Extra Floor - A Suspicious Game Center Tropes
- Arc Villain: Hachuling could serves as this for Lero-Ro and Quant in this chapter.
- A Day in the Limelight: A chapter for Lero-Ro and Quant as they try to find Wolhaiksong on the 77th Floor.
- Cliffhanger: Lero-Ro joins up with Hachuling as an intern to take part in a job from Wolhaiksong regarding Viole.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Hachuling performed this on Quant multiple times playing games.
- Goal in Life: Hachuling's dream was to one day create a game center in the Tower.
- In-Universe Nickname: Hachuling goes by Blueberry at his game-center to keep people from knowing that he's a member of Wolhaiksong.
- Shout-Out: To Tekken, Starcraft, and Star Wars during Hachuling's games against Quant.
