Chapter 5
The woman standing in front of me right now had silver hair that reached all the way down to her waist and an appearance that naturally drew attention.
She looked far too much like Mihyeon.
It wasn't just a resemblance. If someone told me she was Mihyeon herself, I would have believed them.
But something felt strange.
Her face looked far too young to be Mihyeon.
“U-Um… Mister. Could you please spare me? I'll pretend I didn't see what just happened….”
She raised both hands to show that she had no intention of resisting.
Her weight was shifted backward.
She was worried that I might attack her and was ready to run at any moment.
Her eyes moved toward the hand holding my dagger.
Then she glanced at the corpses behind me.
Her pupils trembled in obvious shock.
[ A target whose Trait can be plundered has been discovered. ]
[ Trait - Kim Hyeona ]
Shadow Step (A)
Unawakened Trait (??)
[ Condition: Betray her and make her experience devastating betrayal and despair. ]
She was different.
Her name and abilities were completely different from Mihyeon's.
And yet, that face was exactly the same as the one in my memories.
Of course I remembered it.
For the past several years, I had seen that face every single day while we constantly wandered between life and death.
“M-Mister…?”
Hoping that perhaps I was wrong, I lowered my voice and asked her.
“…Do you happen to know Kim Mihyeon?”
Her eyes widened.
“M-My older sister? H-How do you know her…?”
…So that's what it was.
After my regression, none of my former companions besides Taesu had been summoned to the Tower.
And yet the enemies from the past still existed.
Now I could be certain.
To the beings above who controlled the Tower, repeating the same story as before wouldn't be entertaining.
They wanted a different story from the one before my regression.
“Mister, you must've been really close to my sister. The way you looked at me earlier… you looked really… sad.”
Instead of being afraid of me, she was worried about me.
For a brief moment, Mihyeon's image overlapped with hers, making my eyes widen slightly.
“…We were.”
She had been the leader of our raid party.
She led all of us forward.
Her confident and righteous personality always gave everyone hope.
But in the end, even she died cold in my arms.
I still couldn't forget it.
Her final moments as she coughed up blood and died from Yoo Taeseong's attack.
My expression hardened as I clenched my fist.
This time, I wouldn't allow that to happen.
No matter what happened.
Absolutely not.
That was when—
“Hyeona!”
“Sunbae?”
Dozens of people emerged from the bushes.
They immediately raised their weapons and became wary of me.
Among them, one man stepped forward and pulled Hyeona behind him as though trying to protect her.
“Please step back. If you come any closer, we'll have no choice but to attack.”
Everyone tightened their grips on their daggers, preparing for the worst.
Their formation was terrible.
Everything was poor—from the way they held their daggers to the positioning of their weapons.
Except for the man in the center, nearly all of them possessed Traits that would make it difficult to survive in this place.
There were even elderly people and middle-aged civilians among them, people who were relatively weak.
“Everyone, keep your distance. We don't know when he might attack.”
“A-All right.”
With a formation like this, they could be ambushed and killed without even realizing what happened.
And yet, strangely enough, their teamwork was excellent.
…Looks like they've already figured out the key point of this tutorial.
The most important thing in this tutorial was survival.
And in order to survive, players needed to form groups where everyone protected one another.
There wasn't much smell of human blood coming from them.
Most likely, rather than killing other humans during the tutorial, they had survived by working together to kill goblins.
“I'll warn you one last time. Please step back.”
Our eyes met.
The atmosphere was tense enough that a fight could break out at any moment.
“W-Wait! Everyone, lower your weapons!”
At Hyeona's shout, everyone looked confused.
“He knows my sister! Don't attack him!”
She quickly looked at me, signaling me with her eyes.
I lowered my weapon and slowly nodded.
Only then did the man lower his own weapon.
The others followed him and put theirs away as well.
“I hope you can understand. Considering what just happened, we couldn't exactly react any differently.”
The man gave me a friendly smile before introducing himself in a somewhat casual manner.
“Why don't we introduce ourselves first? I'm Kim Jeonghyeon, Hyeona's senior from school. Since you know Hyeona's older sister, meeting you in a place like this must be quite the coincidence. Haha.”
Since everyone's rankings were openly displayed, there was no way I could reveal my real name.
So I gave him an alias.
“Lee Janghyeok.”
“Lee Janghyeok…. I see. Nice to meet you, Mr. Lee Janghyeok.”
He was still smiling pleasantly.
But the gaze he directed at me remained cold.
More importantly, after checking the rankings and realizing my name wasn't listed there, his expression briefly stiffened.
“By the way, how did those people end up dead? It looks like one woman and four men. Was there some reason you had to kill them? You seem to have handled all of them by yourself without much trouble, Mr. Lee Janghyeok.”
I paused.
Everyone's attention immediately shifted toward the corpses behind me.
Several people began gagging when they saw the brutally severed heads.
“W-What the hell is that…? Ugh!”
“So you're saying… that guy did all of that by himself…? Ugh!”
They whispered among themselves while repeatedly glancing at me.
Their gazes quickly became filled with distrust, and they began watching me much more carefully.
Kim Jeonghyeon hadn't asked that question simply because he was curious.
“If you were strong enough to deal with all of them by yourself, I thought your name might appear in the rankings. But apparently not. Ah, how many points do you currently have?”
…This bastard.
He had done it deliberately.
He was using their fear to make everyone suspicious of me.
That way, I wouldn't be able to approach Kim Hyeona so easily.
[ A target whose Trait can be plundered has been discovered. ]
[ Trait - Kim Jeonghyeon ]
[ Condition: Completely destroy and ruin his group by any means necessary. ]
His attitude had changed the moment he heard my name.
Then he smoothly changed the subject and asked about my points.
In the end, he was behaving like this because he knew I couldn't casually kill all of them.
“Sunbae, you're making Mister uncomfortable.”
“Haha, I suppose I was being a little rude. If I offended you, I apologize. People sometimes tell me I'm not very good at reading the mood.”
Orator.
Depending on how it was used, it could clearly become either a good or an evil Trait.
He laughed naturally and tried to brush the situation aside.
He had already begun adapting to this place by making use of his Trait.
“…….”
Should I kill him?
With my current strength, I could kill everyone here.
Right now, none of these people would be particularly useful to me.
But Kim Hyeona was different.
To climb the Tower, I needed to gather strong people and help them grow.
And to do that, I needed to recruit her as a companion.
Her Trait hadn't even awakened yet, meaning her potential for growth was extremely high.
“Ah, if you're traveling alone, would you like to join us? Since you're acquainted with Hyeona's older sister, the timing is perfect. We'd also benefit from gaining another fighter. You'll join us, won't you?”
It would take another day to reach the western outskirts.
Right now, reaching the place containing the hidden dungeon was more important than earning points.
Which meant that if I couldn't bring her into that dungeon with me, there was only one decision I could make.
Maybe it's still too early to jump to conclusions….
“Very well.”
Kim Jeonghyeon's smile widened.
“Haha, excellent. Then why don't we head to our camp first? I'm sure everyone there will be happy to welcome you.”
I followed Kim Jeonghyeon's group as they moved away.
While we were walking, Kim Hyeona, who was beside me, lightly tapped my shoulder.
“Mister, there's something I'm curious about. Can I ask you?”
Everyone else was deliberately keeping their distance from me.
She was the only one walking beside me and trying to talk.
She was being considerate because I was alone.
Older sister or younger sister, they're exactly the same when it comes to being considerate.
“Go ahead.”
“How did you meet my sister? Were you two classmates or something?”
“We weren't classmates…. I don't know what she thought of me, but I'd say we were fairly close.”
“Oh, I see…. But there's something else I've been wondering about for a while.”
She hesitated.
“Do you always talk like that?”
I tilted my head.
“…The way I talk?”
“I-I don't mean that it's weird or anything! It's just… how should I put it? You kind of talk like an old man.”
Now that I thought about it, I hadn't paid any attention to that.
For these people, this was the present.
But for me, this was more than fifty years in the past.
“…Don't worry about it. This is more comfortable for me.”
Just as our conversation ended, Kim Jeonghyeon, who had been leading the group, stopped walking.
“We've arrived. It's humble, but we've managed to establish some proper systems here, so it's quite safe. I hope you'll find it comfortable.”
Oh?
Not only had they adapted quickly, they'd already established a base and gathered people.
They had even installed fences around the camp to prevent enemies from entering.
I could also see several wooden houses.
Despite his shady intentions, this is something worth being proud of.
Did he gather people with construction-related Traits?
“All right, everyone, gather around! We have someone new joining us!”
People gathered in the middle of the camp.
Dozens of people were watching.
Kim Jeonghyeon stepped onto a small platform and introduced me.
“This is Mr. Lee Janghyeok, who will be joining us as a new combat member. Everyone, please welcome him with applause!”
Everyone awkwardly looked around before clapping.
They had probably already heard about me from the people who came with us.
“Now that introductions are over, I'll briefly explain the rules of this place. Since you'll be working as one of our fighters, you'll be required to contribute a certain amount of points.”
As though speaking on behalf of everyone, Kim Jeonghyeon continued.
“In return, we'll protect one another and provide food, so I hope you won't see it as too much of a loss. Ah, of course, you don't have to do it if you really don't want to. Personally, I dislike forcing people into things.”
The moment he finished speaking, a middle-aged man pointed at me and complained.
“Just do it already! We're all trying to survive together, so what's there to hesitate about?”
Another person immediately chimed in.
“Exactly. How can a young man be so inflexible?”
The surrounding crowd began murmuring loudly.
Before I knew it, the atmosphere had completely shifted against me.
Kim Jeonghyeon pretended to calm everyone down while secretly fueling the situation even further.
“Haha, everyone, don't be too harsh. I failed to properly consider Mr. Lee Janghyeok's position. I apologize, Mr. Lee Janghyeok.”
…He already figured out point trading.
Players could exchange points with one another through trades.
What he was demanding from me now was obedience to the group's logic.
He had deliberately gathered everyone here so that it would be difficult for me to refuse.
On the surface, he called it cooperation for the group.
But underneath it all was his intention to use me however he could.
It wasn't as though the others were unaware of this.
They simply chose to ignore it because they wanted to survive.
“Contribution. That's a nice way of putting it.”
There was one thing they were overlooking.
They blindly assumed that everything that happened from now on would continue going according to their plans.
Kim Jeonghyeon smiled.
“Thank you for understanding. Then I'll assume you'll contribute according to our arrangements—”
I cut him off.
“I'll say this directly.”
Everyone went silent.
“I have no intention of following your rules.”
Kim Jeonghyeon's expression froze.
I continued.
“And before long, all of you will probably change your minds as well.”
“You'll realize just how foolish this whole arrangement is.”
A cold silence settled over the camp.
Kim Jeonghyeon quickly checked the reactions around him before showing another smile and trying to manipulate the crowd once again.
“…It puts me in a difficult position when you say it so directly, but there's nothing I can do. We won't force you.”
He sighed dramatically.
“It's simply disappointing to see someone behave so selfishly while everyone around him is struggling to survive.”
Then he looked at the others.
“Wouldn't you agree, everyone?”
The dissatisfied gazes and voices around me steadily grew louder.
Of course, that was exactly what he wanted.
Chiiiik—
[ Ah, ah. Can everyone hear me? ]
Suddenly, a loudspeaker appeared in midair.
A voice echoed loudly throughout the entire area.
[ It seems everyone is surviving in their own ways. Due to unavoidable circumstances, I've come here instead of the Lower Administrator Leon. ]
[ I am Uji, a Lower Administrator and the Administrator of the 20th Floor. ]
If the Tower itself was essentially a game created for the entertainment of those above, then the tutorial's greatest purpose was also entertainment.
Since this was still the beginning, what they wanted to see was the players' desperate struggle to survive.
Then what would happen if that struggle disappeared?
What if someone overwhelmingly cleared everything with ease, without suffering or sacrifice, and everything ended happily?
Obviously, they wouldn't like that.
[ Things seemed to be progressing too easily, and I thought everyone might get bored. So I've prepared a small event. ]
[ I hope you enjoy it. ]
The moment everyone heard the word event, uneasiness appeared on their faces.
Whatever this event was, they instinctively understood that it wouldn't benefit them.
[ From now on, every player must pay 50 Coins at a set time every day. ]
[ Keep in mind that the amount will increase with each passing day. ]
“W-What did he say? What the hell does that mean?”
Someone looked at Hyeona in panic.
“Hyeona, what the hell is he talking about…?”
[ As long as you kill monsters properly, the amount should be affordable, so I hope no one worries too much. ]
Then his voice casually continued.
[ However, if you fail to pay the required Coins… ]
[ Regardless of who you are, you will die. ]
Everyone froze.
“D-Die…?”
“We're already barely managing to stay alive! How are we supposed to pay 50 Coins every single day?!”
The entire situation had changed.
Until moments ago, everyone's anger had been aimed at me.
Now that same threat was pointed equally at every single person.
“Kuh…!”
Kim Jeonghyeon's face twisted at the unexpected development.
I looked at him and gave a small laugh.
“This has become troublesome.”
He glared at me.
“Everyone now has to pay a contribution that's difficult enough once, yet you expect them to pay twice.”
I smiled faintly.
“Must be nice for someone who can just sit around and collect Coins from everyone else.”
“Wouldn't you agree?”
His expression hardened.
“…Isn't that merely your interpretation? Even if the situation has changed, if everyone works together—”
“Save those hope-filled thoughts until after you take a look around you.”
“……!”
At my words, Kim Jeonghyeon quickly checked the people surrounding him.
The people he had successfully brought onto his side had already begun turning their backs on him.
“H-Honestly, does this whole contribution thing even make sense?”
One man hesitantly spoke up.
“You call it a contribution, but isn't it basically tribute? Right? We're all supposed to be trying to survive together, but o-only one person gets to collect everyone's Coins….”
Another person immediately joined in.
“Exactly! I never liked it from the beginning!”
“Isn't this supposed to be a democratic society? Why the hell are we paying tribute?!”
“Honestly, what has he even done for us? What's the point of suddenly demanding contributions like this?”
The complaints quickly spiraled out of control.
Kim Jeonghyeon's expression was rather entertaining to watch.
His cunning tongue, which he had believed could solve everything, was suddenly useless.
I looked at him.
“With so many elderly people and women in this camp, do you really think this arrangement can continue for the next month?”
“What do you think?”
Kim Jeonghyeon ground his teeth before avoiding the situation altogether.
“…For now, everyone should disperse.”
He forced himself to speak calmly.
“Once we've organized everything, I'll explain the situation again. Please don't panic too much and wait until then.”
He turned away.
“That's all.”
Kim Jeonghyeon quickly left as though running away from the scene, accompanied by several people.
Kim Hyeona followed them with a thoughtful expression on her face.
Then—
[ Hmph. Looks like you're having quite a lot of fun, nya. ]
[ Meanwhile, someone's been suffering this whole time. Don't you agree, nya? ]
I turned around at the familiar voice.
Leon was floating in the air behind me in a translucent form.
Looking at Leon, I quietly smiled.
I've been waiting.
Waiting for this guy to come find me himself.
