The Missing Parents

This flow follows William Oh’s unresolved search for Mary Oh and Thomas Oh and the way their disappearance turns exploration into a personal mission.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Orphaned Questions

Orphaned Questions Years of Absence Gertrude tells William Oh that Mary Oh and Thomas Oh are probably dead after years without contact. Will rejects the conclusion because accepting it would make his abandonment final. Anger as Protection He converts grief into sarcasm, demanding servants, shoes, and explanations. His refusal to mourn openly keeps him moving, but it also prevents emotional resolution. A Larger Mystery Gertrude reveals that his parents pursued the mysteries of The Tower rather than wealth. Their disappearance therefore becomes connected to the world’s hidden history.

The Tenth-Floor Story

The Tenth-Floor Story Gertrude’s Memory Gertrude recalls a ruined town whose layout exactly matched a Climber’s hometown. The incident makes The Tower seem less like a dungeon and more like a machine with a buried history. Parents Reframed Mary Oh and Thomas Oh are presented as investigators who kept climbing because questions became more compelling than safety. Their choices appear reckless, but not meaningless. Will’s Inheritance William Oh inherits their curiosity despite claiming to want only money and power. His stated goal of reaching the Tenth Floor becomes a compromise between revenge and understanding.

A Substitute Goal

A Substitute Goal From Revenge to Rule William Oh first says he wants to find his parents and punish them. Gertrude asks what he will do if they are already dead. The Tenth-Floor Promise Will chooses an achievable intermediate goal: reach the Tenth Floor and establish a Lordship there. The goal preserves his desire for power without requiring certainty about his parents’ fate. A Directional Compass The plan turns private pain into a public ambition. Will can now advance even if the family mystery remains unresolved, while every floor may still bring him closer to an answer.

The Buried Steel Chamber

The Buried Steel Chamber A Hidden Structure At the bottom of the Kaith chasm, William Oh discovers steel, painted lettering, an emergency hatch, and a red-lit chamber buried beneath natural stone. Evidence of the Past The chamber does not resemble ordinary Tower ecology. Its construction suggests that an unknown civilization or system predates the current understanding of the Floors. Mystery Renewed The discovery validates Gertrude’s warnings about ancient vestiges. Will does not yet understand what he has found, but his parents’ obsession now seems increasingly rational.

A Future Investigation

A Future Investigation Questions Multiply William Oh learns that monsters, Lordly schemes, and hidden facilities may be connected. Each answer produces a more dangerous question about who controls the Tower. Parents in the Background Mary Oh and Thomas Oh remain absent, but their investigative path now shadows Will’s own. Reaching higher floors becomes both personal pursuit and historical inquiry. An Unfinished Thread The mystery is not solved at the novel’s end. Instead, it becomes the intellectual foundation for Will’s future Climb and his eventual confrontation with the Tower’s creators or manipulators.

during Gertrude’s first private conversation with Will

during Gertrude’s account of her Climbing years

immediately after Will’s conversation with Gertrude

after Will falls into the Kaith chasm

at the end of the novel’s Third-Floor events