The Hidden Floor

[Ripcord]

There is no indication it stops at the 44th floor. It could stop at the 43rd tower middle floor, which would make more sense to me.

I did look at the chapters and when they jumped they were riding on lighthouses so perhaps the train is gone. Time will tell.

 

[Spirit]

There is no indication it stops at the 44th floor. It could stop at the 43rd tower middle floor, which would make more sense to me.

I did look at the chapters and when they jumped they were riding on lighthouses so perhaps the train is gone. Time will tell.

That's sort of what I was getting at yeah. I just don't see how the FoD could be the final stop, since Regulars avoid the place like the plague and no one would use the train of it was their final destination.

 

[kkck]

My assertion about Myobokuzan is correct. The fact that Regulars need to take tests means that the path is known to them. Knowing the path and being able to do it are different things. And what do you know about not getting to Myobokuzan. Precedence in Naruto is that there are barriers set up around the important places and perhaps it had one to help keep it hidden just like Konoha had its own protective barriers.

As to your math, I don't recall SIU saying it only goes 6 floors but according to the Wiki there are stations on the 35th, 37th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, and 43rd. This is access to six floors even though the differential between the first and last is 8. It's possible this solves the math puzzle or it's possible that there was no reason to show the other floors. Considering though that express trains skip over stations in real life I could see this express skipping some floors (though the Regulars on the train still have to take the relevant tests).

Even so to me the teams are climbing up the tower. At most I could see them going back to 42.... but they've already been there. And we already know that 41 is a floor Regulars can take a normal path through the inner tower. Only the 43rd floor so far has special requirements to get onto it (aside from passing tests). Just because you can even jump into the shinsu doesn't mean you will make it to the actual FOD.

And regarding the idea about the train not stopping... if you look at the panels in the Manwah it is literally not moving. The train is stationary over the landscape long enough for all the Regulars to jump into the same place in the shinsu below. Since it is not moving that is the very definition of "stopped."

Will the train be there when they "get out" I have no idea but no one said the train had to be parked for a long period of time.

How? In naruto what little is shown about myobukuzan is that it is a borderline mythological place whose location is actually unknown to people. As in, they couldn't find it on a map. Konoha might have a barrier but it's not hidden in any meaningful manner considering foreigners can easily find it. If it was literally hidden then none of the invasions to the place we saw would have been plausible. And if the path is known to regulars then the floor of death can't be hidden. That is quite literally my point.

Well, SIU did say that, that is why I said you should check the wiki. Of course, even then there is a bit of guesswork on my part however it is a fact that SIU has confirmed what was said about the train taking you up six floors.

Well, it is possible they lose the train but so far it has stopped at least for a few days at a time at each station.

 

[Brian Taboada]

Sui did say both the train goes up to the 43 floor from the 35th floor and that it goes up 6 floors were correct.
Perhaps this is a translation error since there are 6 train stations or that floors are just entirely skipped (like folding space).

The train stations are:
1. Train City on the 35th Floor
2. Wooden Horse station on the 37th floor
3. Name Hunt station on the 39th floor
4. Mushroom farm on the 40th Floor (According to Wiki although dont recall it being mentioned)
5. Black Mountain station on the 42nd floor (Again)
6. FOD (Final Station) on the 43 Floor.

Perhaps this may mean the "hidden floor" is either accessible from the FOD or at a location the train turns around. One hint (though weak) that the FOD is not the hidden floor or the end of the train ride is that the title of the latest chapter is still "-THE HELL TRAIN- / The Floor of Death". The title seems to imply that we are still on the hell train.

 

[kkck]

Sui did say both the train goes up to the 43 floor from the 35th floor and that it goes up 6 floors were correct.
Perhaps this is a translation error since there are 6 train stations or that floors are just entirely skipped (like folding space).

The train stations are:
1. Train City on the 35th Floor
2. Wooden Horse station on the 37th floor
3. Name Hunt station on the 39th floor
4. Mushroom farm on the 40th Floor (According to Wiki although dont recall it being mentioned)
5. Black Mountain station on the 42nd floor (Again)
6. FOD (Final Station) on the 43 Floor.

Perhaps this may mean the "hidden floor" is either accessible from the FOD or at a location the train turns around. One hint (though weak) that the FOD is not the hidden floor or the end of the train ride is that the title of the latest chapter is still "-THE HELL TRAIN- / The Floor of Death". The title seems to imply that we are still on the hell train.

Well, the hell train is sort of a meta arc made up by the mini arcs at each station and the time they spend at the train itself. IIRC the mushroom farm was where they picked up hockney. I don't think they actually stopped at or showed the black mountain. And IIRC the 43rd floor does not even have a station and they just straight up jump out of it. I guess the question is how they will return to the hell train at all. We can't really rule out urek giving them a ride after this. On the other hand, it would be kinda odd that they can just advance to the next floor (44) via urek.

 

[Ripcord]

Arg you really are forcing me to do what I didn't want to do, since you are not being open to new evidence I'm going to throw more evidence at you.

First off I was trying to show Kishi established precedence with barriers which is a common thing in literature. It's true that we have no direct evidence of a barrier around Myobokuzan but in lieu of evidence we can only talk about possibilities and certainly it's possible there are barriers around it. We can continue to revisit it but I was just trying to use an analogy to help you see my point... and it failed. So here is another try. When something is disputed in a manga/Manwah it is often best to go to the source language.

In Korean the word that represents hidden is:
숨겨진 (sumgyeojin)

I'm no expert in Korean at all so I am relying on web sources which usually don't include cultural meanings. Still that word has a few meanings when translating to English. It can mean:

Hidden, privy, or close

Hidden is simple enough, you can't find it, or getting to it is not obvious. Privy means to share in the knowledge of something secret or private. Close is a complicated word but I believe that given the other meanings of sumgyeojin then close means "carefully guarded." All of these definitions revolve around a SECRET of some kind. We already know that Jahad doesn't want anyone to know his secret with Arlene and Baam and so he would lock it away, at least as much as he could, to make it hidden from the tower.

I don't know how SIU meant that word (perhaps even in Korean it really has one meaning that combines those 3 but is hard to translate) but let's look at some more evidence.

Boro and Sachi have ridden the Hell Train many times and yet they didn't know that they had to jump from the train. Also, they didn't know any safe paths to get to the inner FOD, rather they relied on a Red Witch guide to get there. Therefore the path to the real FOD was a closely guarded secret you had to be privy to, otherwise the way is hidden. You can also say that the normal way to get to the FOD has been closed by Jahad. We don't know if it's a physical barrier or what but whatever it is Regulars don't know the way to get past it. And even if they could get onto the 43rd floor they'd still be unable to navigate to the inner parts of the floor. This also fits within the meaning of sumgyeojin.

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2017, Original Post Date: May 25, 2017 ---

I would also add that even though Garam was not sleeping there, the FOD did have a princess hidden in it. Rumors are usually half true.

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2017 ---

The last thing I will add is that perhaps they will get back to the Hell Train with Urek's help but they certainly won't advance a floor. Even the High Rankers don't mess with that part of the tower and interfere with tests. Though as I write this I'm not sure if there will be a test as there is no administrator on this floor (though wouldn't it be funny since Hell Joe is the baby admin that he grants them the ability to go up ).

 

[kkck]

Arg you really are forcing me to do what I didn't want to do, since you are not being open to new evidence I'm going to throw more evidence at you.

First off I was trying to show Kishi established precedence with barriers which is a common thing in literature. It's true that we have no direct evidence of a barrier around Myobokuzan but in lieu of evidence we can only talk about possibilities and certainly it's possible there are barriers around it. We can continue to revisit it but I was just trying to use an analogy to help you see my point... and it failed. So here is another try. When something is disputed in a manga/Manwah it is often best to go to the source language.

In Korean the word that represents hidden is:
숨겨진 (sumgyeojin)

I'm no expert in Korean at all so I am relying on web sources which usually don't include cultural meanings. Still that word has a few meanings when translating to English. It can mean:

Hidden, privy, or close

Hidden is simple enough, you can't find it, or getting to it is not obvious. Privy means to share in the knowledge of something secret or private. Close is a complicated word but I believe that given the other meanings of sumgyeojin then close means "carefully guarded." All of these definitions revolve around a SECRET of some kind. We already know that Jahad doesn't want anyone to know his secret with Arlene and Baam and so he would lock it away, at least as much as he could, to make it hidden from the tower.

I don't know how SIU meant that word (perhaps even in Korean it really has one meaning that combines those 3 but is hard to translate) but let's look at some more evidence.

Boro and Sachi have ridden the Hell Train many times and yet they didn't know that they had to jump from the train. Also, they didn't know any safe paths to get to the inner FOD, rather they relied on a Red Witch guide to get there. Therefore the path to the real FOD was a closely guarded secret you had to be privy to, otherwise the way is hidden. You can also say that the normal way to get to the FOD has been closed by Jahad. We don't know if it's a physical barrier or what but whatever it is Regulars don't know the way to get past it. And even if they could get onto the 43rd floor they'd still be unable to navigate to the inner parts of the floor. This also fits within the meaning of sumgyeojin.

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2017, Original Post Date: May 25, 2017 ---

I would also add that even though Garam was not sleeping there, the FOD did have a princess hidden in it. Rumors are usually half true.

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2017 ---

The last thing I will add is that perhaps they will get back to the Hell Train with Urek's help but they certainly won't advance a floor. Even the High Rankers don't mess with that part of the tower and interfere with tests. Though as I write this I'm not sure if there will be a test as there is no administrator on this floor (though wouldn't it be funny since Hell Joe is the baby admin that he grants them the ability to go up ).

I wasn't close to new evidence before, you simply hadn't provide any.

Now, it is a fair point about the meaning of the word hidden BUT even by your explanation this does not quite add up. Mostly that most of the things you mention as plausible definitions for the word don't actually apply to the FOD. I have gone on long enough about how the floor of death is a world infamous location whose history and location is known or otherwise available to literally everyone in the tower. By all intents and purposes literally the opposite of hidden or a secret. Which leaves the bit about it being closed. Is the floor of death closed? Lets look at a few facts:

Anak hid there before she started climbing the tower. We saw how her mother was killed and she clearly wasn't at the floor of death. Which means anak made it there on her own from whichever floor her mom lived on. Basically anak got there on her own and then somehow got out. It's not a stretch that she got there with help though.

Garam got there somehow.

Urek has been there. repeatedly. And his wolfhaikson friends are presumably floating about and could have gone with urek if they had wanted to.

There is actually a literal train that makes round trips to the floor of death.

Now, it is true the path to the floor of death is dangerous. But does that mean it is closed? Of course not. The place is naturally dangerous. That would be like arguing the african savanaa is sealed or closed because hyena's live there.

More importantly, we have yet to see a single thing that evidences the zahard empire has done anything at all to isolate the floor of death from the outside. If anything everything we have actually seen points to the most extreme opposite of that. Sure, going there is forbidden but there aren't any barriers there that prevent entry overall. More so, the place itself is supposed to have plenty of fugitives... Which sounds likely considering anak made it there on her own as a powerless child somehow. Even if she had help from rankers for some reason this is still the opposite of closed, the anak bit is very strong evidence that people can get there consistently.

So in summary in regards to the points you mentioned:

Hidden: The place is the most extreme opposite of hidden in pretty much all forms and contexts I can think off.

Privy: Literally everyone in the tower knows where the place is, how to get there and it's history.

Sealed: People seem to go there as they please. And there is an actual literal train that goes there. And urek got there on his own. And garam got there on her own. And anak got there somehow (and again, not even a regular at the time). And if she had help it would prove beyond doubt that people can basically walk in there as they please.

And sure, you can say most people have to give up their souls to enter and it is sealed. But zahard didn't have anything to do with that. That is something set up by the rulers of the floor as far as we know. And even then they are surprisingly cool about letting people in. It's getting out that is problematic. Even if there is a seal somewhere in the floor, it seems to be more of an inconvenience at best considering how people keep getting in.

Boro and sache weren't trying to get to the FOD before. I also have my doubts about hwa ryun knowing the way in meaning the information was "privy" to anyone. Well, it does seem there are red witch secret routes but to me this seems like it is contextually different from what we were talking about before. For one thing, this would further suggest there is no literal or figurative seal on the place. Unless it is not doing it's one job of keeping people out. Not to mention there is also the FUG way into the floor which karaka used and has also used before. Basically there are a bunch of ways in and out of the damn place.

 

[Ripcord]

Sorry but as far as I can tell only a few high rankers and Red Witch guides have made it into the inner FOD. Regulars certainly can't get inside without help. And when I say the FOD is the 43rd floor I mean specifically the inner 43rd floor. We don't know if Anak was on the outer or middle 43rd floor. Based on what we've seen from the Anak flashback it looks nothing like the inner 43rd floor and we already know that the entire landscape was destroyed when the administrator was killed. Not to mention Anak's husband was making chicken pies and we know there is no food on the inner 43rd floor. So Anak can't possibly have been living on the inner FOD.

Edit: the above section in italics is not true but I left it in case people read it. The SIU blog post that is roughly translated mentions a conversation between Endorssi and Anak that is not in the Manwah. Anak indicates she survived because of Garam, but it also mentions that was AFTER her mom was killed which means that Anak and her mom had been hiding somewhere other than the FOD.

Considering that Garam has knowledge of what happens outside of the FOD and can interact with people there, this still proves nothing about whether the FOD is the hidden floor or not. We have no clue how Anak as a child was saved by Garam, but if Anak was able to hide from Zahard on the FOD then doesn't that suggest it is a hard to get to kind of place that even Zahard doesn't know what is going on there???

Also the history of the FOD is NOT known to many in the tower. Yes they might know Enryu killed a guardian there but very very very few people know WHY Enryu killed the guardian and what the 43rd floor meant to Zahard. This is quite clear because we already know that De Sah and De Jah imprisoned the FOD residents to prevent the secrets from getting out and they put up huge barriers to prevent anyone from getting inside.

And the last point I will make is just because something is famous doesn't mean it isn't hidden. And just because it's hidden doesn't mean some people can't find it. There are some bars in cities for example that are quite famous but if you don't know the secret entrances and sometimes the passwords then you can't get inside.

I've presented plenty of evidence but I think we will have to agree to disagree and wait to see who is right and who is dead

 

[kkck]

Sorry but as far as I can tell only a few high rankers and Red Witch guides have made it into the inner FOD. Regulars certainly can't get inside without help. And when I say the FOD is the 43rd floor I mean specifically the inner 43rd floor. We don't know if Anak was on the outer or middle 43rd floor. Based on what we've seen from the Anak flashback it looks nothing like the inner 43rd floor and we already know that the entire landscape was destroyed when the administrator was killed. Not to mention Anak's husband was making chicken pies and we know there is no food on the inner 43rd floor. So Anak can't possibly have been living on the inner FOD.

Edit: the above section in italics is not true but I left it in case people read it. The SIU blog post that is roughly translated mentions a conversation between Endorssi and Anak that is not in the Manwah. Anak indicates she survived because of Garam, but it also mentions that was AFTER her mom was killed which means that Anak and her mom had been hiding somewhere other than the FOD.

Considering that Garam has knowledge of what happens outside of the FOD and can interact with people there, this still proves nothing about whether the FOD is the hidden floor or not. We have no clue how Anak as a child was saved by Garam, but if Anak was able to hide from Zahard on the FOD then doesn't that suggest it is a hard to get to kind of place that even Zahard doesn't know what is going on there???

Also the history of the FOD is NOT known to many in the tower. Yes they might know Enryu killed a guardian there but very very very few people know WHY Enryu killed the guardian and what the 43rd floor meant to Zahard. This is quite clear because we already know that De Sah and De Jah imprisoned the FOD residents to prevent the secrets from getting out and they put up huge barriers to prevent anyone from getting inside.

And the last point I will make is just because something is famous doesn't mean it isn't hidden. And just because it's hidden doesn't mean some people can't find it. There are some bars in cities for example that are quite famous but if you don't know the secret entrances and sometimes the passwords then you can't get inside.

I've presented plenty of evidence but I think we will have to agree to disagree and wait to see who is right and who is dead

That is not just a few people. At least that seems like a gross understatement. Evan has also gone there on a pilgrimage. So what we have is that all red witches and all grey dwarfs can go to the FOD. Then you have FUG that also has it's own paths. Then you have wolhaikson that has gone there repeatedly. I am not sure of what you mean about anak though, the information we have suggests that she hid at the FOD. The SIU bit confirms that. Of course, that would be after anak's mom was killed. Not while she lived with her. Clearly the place where anak and her mom lived was not the 43rd floor.

As for regulars not being able to get to the floor of death on their own.... What? There is an actual literal train that is specifically meant for regulars that goes to the FOD. Sure, the train is dangerous but they still have a perfectly clear and well known route there.

That is mixing a few different issues. Sure, zahard somehow mass brainwashed people into forgetting arlene. But the bit about enryu attacking and killing the administrator is common knowledge. the FOD itself is by no means a secret.

You have not presented a speck of evidence of anything to what you are suggesting. None of the definitions you to hidden you have presented so far actually apply to the place at all.

 

[Ripcord]

That is not just a few people. At least that seems like a gross understatement. Evan has also gone there on a pilgrimage. So what we have is that all red witches and all grey dwarfs can go to the FOD. Then you have FUG that also has it's own paths. Then you have wolhaikson that has gone there repeatedly. I am not sure of what you mean about anak though, the information we have suggests that she hid at the FOD. The SIU bit confirms that. Of course, that would be after anak's mom was killed. Not while she lived with her. Clearly the place where anak and her mom lived was not the 43rd floor.

As for regulars not being able to get to the floor of death on their own.... What? There is an actual literal train that is specifically meant for regulars that goes to the FOD. Sure, the train is dangerous but they still have a perfectly clear and well known route there.

That is mixing a few different issues. Sure, zahard somehow mass brainwashed people into forgetting arlene. But the bit about enryu attacking and killing the administrator is common knowledge. the FOD itself is by no means a secret.

You have not presented a speck of evidence of anything to what you are suggesting. None of the definitions you to hidden you have presented so far actually apply to the place at all.

People can get to the outside sure but Regulars would die if they tried to get inside. Also it is not common knowledge you need to jump into the guardian's blood. I know we have a privileged point of view. From people's reactions, meeting and working with a guide seems super rare.[/QUOTE]

 

[kkck]

People can get to the outside sure but Regulars would die if they tried to get inside. Also it is not common knowledge you need to jump into the guardian's blood. I know we have a privileged point of view. From people's reactions, meeting and working with a guide seems super rare.

[/QUOTE]
That doesn't really make much of a difference. The area from which they have to jump to the blood of the administrator is already the 43rd floor to begin with. Outer or inner area adds up to the same thing in this case. It's not like they are jumping from the 42nd floor into the 43rd. And even then, what we have seen shows wolfhaikson, fug, both varieties of guides, garam, and whoever helped anak get there knowing the way. Unless any of those parties themselves helped anak, this makes at least 6 different groups of people that are familiar with the way in. At the bare minimum the amount of people that have access to the floor of death is the entirety of people making up these groups. Not to mention every single regular that makes it through the train. There is no seal to the floor of death and even if there was one there is no evidence it is much of a hindrance. Which kinda makes sense considering there is no guardian.

 

[OneEye]

Hello everyone,
Going through your various posts gives me an idea: what if the Hidden Floor was originally the 44th floor, which comes right after the 43rd floor, but happened to be officially suppressed from the official floor listing after Enne was sealed in it!?! Remember what Garam said to Bam about the tower's entire system, under Zahard, being based on LIES.!!!
My theory is that the Hell Train goes from the 35th floor to the 44th (I mean the presumed ''real 44th floor that in now officially hidden ), such that, as it isn't counted, the train officially stops at the 43rd floor, and those who can survive up till then get a rare opportunity of reaching the Hidden floor.

 

[Ripcord]

Smh. We already know Garam helped Anak....

--- Double Post Merged, May 27, 2017, Original Post Date: May 27, 2017 ---

Not to mention Hockney who was from FOD said Sachi shouldn't go there because he would die.

And we know De Sah and De Jah put up the protections to keep FOD residents inside and everyone else out. Gran De Lee confirmed this.

And let me ask you this. Does standing outside the Super Bowl stadium count as being at the Super Bowl? No you actually have to get inside. I'm sure some people would say it counts but if we are being precise you would have to say you were outside.

Take that with the fact that Hwyarun said that the corpse of the administrator was merely covering the true FOD so until you made it inside you hadn't really gone to the FOD.

If you can't get into the FOD then you can't say you've been to it. Evan said he was never inside the real FOD.

We know Red Witches have tribal knowledge on how to navigate it as their abilities don't even work.

This floor is pretty damn sealed as far as I'm concerned.

As to the 44 and 43 thing, no I don't buy that at all. It has been said the train stops on floor 43 and normal Regulars still need to go through the middle area from 42 to 44, which means the entire 43rd floor still exists it's just that the inner Floor 43 which was for Regulars is sealed off.

And lastly it seems there are millions if not more Regulars and who knows how many other people that are living in the tower. And other than the Red Witches, we are talking about less than 100 people (and I'm being generous here) that know how to get in and out. I mean Zahard can't even find Garam and he couldn't find Anak because they hid on the FOD. The fact that Urek knows about FOD and Garam speaks to his awesomeness rather than the FOD being easy to get into.

 

[kkck]

Smh. We already know Garam helped Anak....

--- Double Post Merged, May 27, 2017, Original Post Date: May 27, 2017 ---

Not to mention Hockney who was from FOD said Sachi shouldn't go there because he would die.

And we know De Sah and De Jah put up the protections to keep FOD residents inside and everyone else out. Gran De Lee confirmed this.

And let me ask you this. Does standing outside the Super Bowl stadium count as being at the Super Bowl? No you actually have to get inside. I'm sure some people would say it counts but if we are being precise you would have to say you were outside.

Take that with the fact that Hwyarun said that the corpse of the administrator was merely covering the true FOD so until you made it inside you hadn't really gone to the FOD.

If you can't get into the FOD then you can't say you've been to it. Evan said he was never inside the real FOD.

We know Red Witches have tribal knowledge on how to navigate it as their abilities don't even work.

This floor is pretty damn sealed as far as I'm concerned.

As to the 44 and 43 thing, no I don't buy that at all. It has been said the train stops on floor 43 and normal Regulars still need to go through the middle area from 42 to 44, which means the entire 43rd floor still exists it's just that the inner Floor 43 which was for Regulars is sealed off.

And lastly it seems there are millions if not more Regulars and who knows how many other people that are living in the tower. And other than the Red Witches, we are talking about less than 100 people (and I'm being generous here) that know how to get in and out. I mean Zahard can't even find Garam and he couldn't find Anak because they hid on the FOD. The fact that Urek knows about FOD and Garam speaks to his awesomeness rather than the FOD being easy to get into.

We know anak lived with garam. That is slightly different from garam having got anak inside the floor of death herself. Of course, it does look like garam has some contact with people outside the FOD based on a conversation we saw earlier but we don't yet know who they were.

Well, yeah, but the protection so far seems to be the soul thing. Which is hardly a seal for the most part. I mean, it literally lets people in extremely easily. It's the getting out that is difficult.

That's not a relevant analogy. The issue here is simple, either the hell train takes you to floor 43 or it doesn't. The place from which they jumped was as far as we know floor 43, there is no reason for us to think it was floor 42 or some other random non floor space.

http://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/tower-of-god/season-2-ep-232/viewer?title_no=95&episode_no=313

There is what evan said about the FOD. he said he had been there before on a pilgrimage but hadn't been to the center. One way or the other that is floor 43 though.

Sealed in such a way that literally anyone can get into it? That doesn't sound right. So far it doesn't seem like there is any real obstacle to getting to floor 43 other than the travel distance. There ultimately is no relevant form in which the floor is either sealed, hidden or a secret....

 

[Ripcord]

Agree to disagree then. You don't interpret the evidence the same way I do. We will just have to see if they move on or not. TBH it would be awkward if there wasn't some epilogue after this FOD stuff since it is so large which makes me feel like there is no other hidden floor than the FOD, but that's just a feeling not evidence.

 

[Shobu_Yoruichi]

I can tell ya... Baam and the Month series can be considered hidden floors, the Rice Pot and the special wagon that even Karaka cannot enter could be this hidden floor.

I'm not excited in the slightest with other space, neither Anak' story, because she's a character that only appeared once to realize some importance and by now Garam - Yuri duo have excel every princess of the story.

But for sure, this floor is not within those numbered, simply because logic tells me that Zahard got guardians for each floor to extend his kingdom... Is an attitude of a king to forbid the enter of a place to it's people? A place big enough to contain a continent? obviously no.

 

[Ripcord]

We know anak lived with garam. That is slightly different from garam having got anak inside the floor of death herself. Of course, it does look like garam has some contact with people outside the FOD based on a conversation we saw earlier but we don't yet know who they were.

Well, yeah, but the protection so far seems to be the soul thing. Which is hardly a seal for the most part. I mean, it literally lets people in extremely easily. It's the getting out that is difficult.

That's not a relevant analogy. The issue here is simple, either the hell train takes you to floor 43 or it doesn't. The place from which they jumped was as far as we know floor 43, there is no reason for us to think it was floor 42 or some other random non floor space.

http://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/tower-of-god/season-2-ep-232/viewer?title_no=95&episode_no=313

There is what evan said about the FOD. he said he had been there before on a pilgrimage but hadn't been to the center. One way or the other that is floor 43 though.

Sealed in such a way that literally anyone can get into it? That doesn't sound right. So far it doesn't seem like there is any real obstacle to getting to floor 43 other than the travel distance. There ultimately is no relevant form in which the floor is either sealed, hidden or a secret....

You were right, and it seems Rak is somehow stuck in the hidden floor.