A lone castle stood on a cliff somewhere near the Mediterranean Sea before a wealthy man purchased it as his vacation home a year ago.

Its Middle Age style looked fancy, but it remained empty inside. A conference currently took place in a room without a single piece of furniture.

“We encountered some resistance, but managed to achieve our goal.” The secretary bowed.

“That’s good.” A deep voice filled the room.

“You did well.”

“Thank you, Chairman.”

An elderly man sat on a throne in the deepest part of the castle. His name was Joochul, also known as Changdo, the owner of Daehyun and head of the prestigious Chae family in Korea. Only his pressure and his presence filled the empty room.

“However, we still haven’t identified them yet. They are too human-like to be djinns, but much too violent to be humans.”

The secretary’s report went unusually long today. Something neither djinn, monster, nor human. Something stronger than djinns that possessed intelligence equal to humans. Chae Joochul listened with his eyes closed and grabbed the cane beside his throne.

“Strange beings.”

Koong. Chae Joochul’s cane touched the floor and a shockwave immediately pulsed out. The magic power in the atmosphere trembled and the entire castle shook.

“The association exists to deal with such things. Just leave it to them.”

“Understood.”

The secretary nodded respectfully.

“Another matter also requires the Chairman’s attention.”

A strange hologram appeared and Chae Joochul’s face showed a slight change. A light flickered from his sharp, frowning eyes.

[Black Lotus]

Chae Joochul recognized that symbol. It meant the children who scattered long ago had resumed their activities. A pet he had once abandoned.

However, Chae Joochul didn’t feel anything. His heartbeat remained slow as always and his skin felt cold as ice.

“We’re currently contacting guilds and information agencies about him.”

“…”

Chae Joochul put out his hand without a word and the secretary gave him a stack of documents.

“The first page is our top choice.”

[Truth Agency]

Chae Joochul had heard of it before. The Truth Agency’s motto was swiftness and accuracy. It had quietly grown into a giant in its field over the years. Of course, the general public didn’t know about it.

“We already sent them a message, but they’ve recently entered a hiatus. We believe they are in the middle of expanding their business and network of informants.”

“Hmm.”

Chae Joochul flipped through the documents one by one before throwing the stack away.

“Don’t concern yourselves with it.”

They wouldn’t dare bite him if they recalled the past. After all, even an abandoned dog remembered its master.

Chae Joochul almost ended the conference when a trivial curiosity struck him.

“How is my granddaughter doing?”

“Young Lady Nayun is doing well inside the tower. She will soon enter the top 100 rankings.”

“That’s enough. You can leave now.”

“Understood.”

The secretary immediately disappeared at his words. The old man slowly closed his eyes in the huge, empty castle. Suddenly, he recalled a past when he still faintly had emotions.

The rookies introduced themselves as the Chameleon Troupe and dared to offer him a deal. The children drunk on power tried to grab onto his sleeves. Unfortunately, he couldn’t clearly recall the memory.

Ssss—

The small lamp lighting the room flickered off and darkness descended. Chae Joochul opened his eyes in the dark. They glowed with deep magic power.

***

Leaves swayed in the wind and hot water bubbled from the ground as gentle sunshine enveloped everything. The footsteps of wild animals filled the quiet mountain.

I waited for Kim Suho to speak in this peaceful scenery that suited classical music.

“… Kim Hajin?”

Finally, he called my name. Only then did I turn around with a grin.

“Hey.”

“… Is that really you?”

“You bet. Stop spacing out and come in. I don’t have much time left.”

The number [216] sat above Kim Suho’s head. He received 16 more hours than me. We probably treated the system equally, but Kim Suho must’ve received more because of his righteous alignment. As for me, my alignment must be something like neutral, just fitting for a side character.

“…”

Kim Suho approached without a word and awkwardly scratched his neck in front of the hot spring.

“Come in.”

He finally stretched his leg towards the water.

“You’re gonna keep your clothes on?”

“Oh, right.”

Kim Suho went to take his clothes off behind the bushes. I couldn't see him, but could hear his clothes falling to the ground. It sounded… how do I put it… quite unpleasant.

Kim Suho entered the hot spring after placing his heavy leather armor and other garments on the ground. We finally stood face to face. Splash, splash. He splashed the sparkling water a few times before asking.

“Where are we?”

“The Hot Spring of Peace on the 6th floor. The system should’ve told you that already.”

“It did, but…” Kim Suho looked at me suspiciously.

“What?”

“Nothing. Anyway, it’s good to see you.”

He suddenly raised his upper body, but I quickly reached out to stop him.

“Don’t come near me.”

“Hm? Why?”

“Just because. I feel kind of uncomfortable.”

Kim Suho’s body most likely looked flawless. Not only did he have a perfect body with well-balanced muscles, but his manhood should also be perfect. I wasn’t too bad myself, but I didn’t want to compare.

“Okay, sure.”

Kim Suho sat back down as I asked.

“Has it been… 3 years?”

Kim Suho smiled and shook his head.

“4 years.”

“That long?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while. Oh, by the way, thanks for the armor and guidebook. I’m still using the same armor.”

“That’s good.”

Silence followed. We didn’t have much to say despite our first reunion in 4 years. It felt awkward, but that was okay. I wasn’t here to chit-chat.

“Kim Hajin, are you the only one here?” Kim Suho asked. I could sense a hidden meaning behind the question.

“Hmm? Ah.”

I quickly realized what he meant. Right about now, everyone should be thinking Black Lotus had entered the 6th floor first. Kim Suho was quite smart, so he must’ve made the connection.

“No. Another person besides me also came here.”

Technically, I wasn’t lying. Kim Suho widened his eyes.

“Then you saw?”

“Saw who?”

“Black Lotus.”

The way Kim Suho spoke sounded somewhat childish. He had the desire to challenge a stronger opponent like any protagonist.

“…”

I silently nodded. The thought that I might be Black Lotus didn’t exist. He trusted me that much and I didn’t want to betray that faith.

“Ah, then did you fight Black Lotus?”

“Huh?”

Kim Suho’s eyes suddenly twinkled. Well, I did constantly battle against myself over smoking, but…

“No wait, maybe you won? After all, Black Lotus isn’t here and you are.”

“Well, no. I didn’t need to fight him. The 6th floor is huge and the time given to each player is limited. I just caught a glimpse of him.”

“Ehh… You’re lying.”

I managed to come up with an excuse, but he kept teasing me.

“Oh, whatever. You do know that you have 216 hours to train here, right?”

I changed the topic and got straight to the point.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. That sounds reasonable with all the buffs and I already found a 7th floor ticket.”

Kim Suho took out the ticket from his inventory.

“You know what they say, Never hastily spend what you earned with ease.”

“Exactly.”

Kim Suho needed to become stronger than in the original story. I would even sacrifice myself for that since anything that benefitted him would naturally benefit me as well.

“I don’t have much time left, so I’ll be quick. Listen carefully.”

First, I explained about the Hot Spring of Peace.

“Your stats will increase faster if you meditate here, so spend at least 3-4 hours doing breathing exercises every day.”

Kim Suho knew a unique breathing technique that he learned from his original world. He should be able to easily raise all his stats by 3 points.

“You’ll find a bamboo forest that looks like it’s made of jewels to the right of this place.”

Next, I explained about the Jewel Forest and the Dark King Mountain Range. I taught him all the places that he could use for training. This should save him about 12 hours that he would’ve spent looking.

“You got it?”

“Y-Yeah. I took notes through the system.”

“Good. Here.”

I only had 3 minutes left. Lastly, I took out 8 stigma crystals. I extracted 2 crystals every day and saved 8 just for him.

“What are those? Gemstones?”

“They’re medicine to speed up your growth. Take one every day.”

[Lv.4 Origin Mana Crystal – Growth Bonus] Lv.4 Stat Increase Bonus: Upon consumption, you will receive a 7.777% growth increase for 24 hours (only valid on the 6F).

“Eh?”

Kim Suho’s expression became somewhat strange. Even his cheeks appeared rosy, perhaps because of the hot spring.

“W-Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh? Oh… It’s just that… I’m grateful, but why are you doing all this for me? Did you know I’d come here? How come your explanation is so detailed? I’m quite moved.”

“…”

Fair questions, but I didn’t have time to answer.

“Don’t worry about that. Just start training.”

I wanted this tower to coexist with the outside world and I needed his help for that. I did everything I could and the rest would be up to him now.

“It was good to see you.”

A system window popped up the moment I finished talking.

[0:00] [Time is up.] [Returning to the 5th floor.] [You may no longer enter the 6th floor.]

“Hey, wait…”

Kim Suho tried to say something, but my vision distorted and I couldn’t hear him. The hot spring’s warmth instantly disappeared and I felt the cold ground beneath my feet. An icy wind blew and my whole body trembled.

[5F, Materialized Demon Realm]

I returned to the 5th floor.

“Ugh, so cold.”

I took out my gear from the inventory and wore them back on. Then I tried to use the 7th floor ticket right away. However…

Boom!

I heard a loud bang from far away.

“Whoa! What was that?”

It sounded too big to ignore, so I scouted the area with my thousand-mile eyes and everything became crystal clear.

“Oh?”

A huge fight involving almost 20 players created the chaos. I couldn’t fully grasp the situation with all of them fighting each other.

“Hmm.”

I drove towards them in the dwarven supercar and recognized a few familiar faces when I arrived. I didn’t want to get caught up in it, so I climbed a nearby mountain and observed from above. Other players also watched from a distance.

“Wow.”

Cheok Jungyeong undoubtedly stood out the most. Simply put, he looked like a war god in the high level equipment I gave him. The price one had to pay for messing with him seemed too great. KWANG! BOOM! With just one punch, the earth cracked and a huge explosion burst into the air. Most players couldn’t even dream of approaching and even Aileen struggled to stop him with her Spirit Speech.

“Hajin.”

I became completely absorbed in their fight when someone grabbed my sleeve. I glanced back, but didn’t see anybody. A ghost? I got goosebumps when a voice came from below.

“Over here.”

I lowered my gaze and discovered a little girl around 6-7 years old. Her skin looked fair and she had beautiful blonde hair.

“Who are you?”

The girl grinned.

“It’s me, Jaaiin!”

“Huh?”

***

Jain told me the entire story. A quarrel broke out between the 3 Chameleon Troupe members and Aileen’s party consisting of Jin Seyeon, Yi Yongha, and Shin Jonghak. They fought over the special crystal stele that the Chameleon Troupe had found.

“Mmm. So it doesn’t function as a checkpoint, but gives out quests instead.”

Fights often broke out over quest-giving crystal steles on the 5th floor.

“Quest? Ah, it did give us a quest,” Jain answered while disguised as a child.

“What was it about?”

“Protecting the crystal stele for 3 hours. The reward is a special skill book called Secret March.”

“Ah.”

Secret March was quite a good skill. I would’ve fought in their shoes too.

Their fight over the quest captured many players’ attention. Of course, most wouldn’t dare to intervene, but a few greedy djinns joined in. Evil Society’s Kim Hakpyo, Satan’s Servant Kim Oh-Sung, and other famous djinns jumped into the fight with their followers.

“What about you, Jain?”

“I ran away. I didn’t want to fight.”

The young Jain sounded quite amusing with her high-pitched voice.

“By the way, is that what you looked like as a child?”

“Ah? Yeah.”

“Doesn’t a child stand out more?”

“That’s true, but people usually hesitate before attacking me in this state. Then it’s the end for them because I’ll kill them first.”

Such harsh words didn’t suit her cute appearance. I formed an elegant black bow with aether. Some might even mistake it for a peak grade artifact. I nocked 5 arrows and pulled on the bowstring.

“You’re gonna shoot them?”

“Yeah. Just the djinns.”

“Hajin really hates djinns. Always trying to kill them.”

I gave a small smile. I hadn’t anticipated this situation, but the djinns I wanted to get rid of all gathered in one place. I only let them be because killing them one by one would’ve wasted my time.

“Jain, you get out of here first.”

I infused 2 streaks of stigma into the bow and arrows. Woong— The bow resonated with my magic power and glowed dark red. I planned to shoot from multiple angles and kill exactly 10 djinns with the 5 arrows. Well, maybe not Kim Hakpyo and Kim Oh-Sung.

“Won’t you stand out if you shoot from here?”

“It’ll be fine if I run away right after.”

“How?”

I smiled.

“You’ll see.”

I would use the 7th floor ticket right after shooting.

“Okay. Then I’ll get going.”

I waited for Jain to retreat far enough before releasing the bowstring.

Chwaaak—

The arrows enhanced with stigma’s magic power went in different directions towards their targets. It took less than a second without a sound. The victims fell to the ground without ever knowing what happened.

Chweeek—

The arrows returned to me after completing their tasks and I tore the ticket in half the moment I retrieved them. My whole body violently shook before the others could locate me.

[Entering the 7th floor.]

A system window popped up.

[Welcome to the 7th floor, Game Center.]