Chapter 2

[Exiting the game.]

With the notification, the light that had filled his vision faded.

"... Huh?"

Woojin could only stare in bewilderment when he opened his eyes.

"This is... Moretti village, isn't it?"

He had definitely logged out. The game had shut down. So why... was he seeing this same sickeningly familiar scenery again?

The fountain behind him, even the paved paths running through the streets—nothing had changed.

No...

Far too much had changed.

Everything was broken. The village was nothing short of a ruin.

"What... happened?"

BOOOOM!!!

Before he could take stock of the situation, a deafening blast erupted. The fountain behind him shattered as though it had exploded.

"A-aaagh!!!"

Woojin threw himself aside and rolled across the ground.

CRAAASH...!!!

Debris from the shattered fountain rained down on him.

"Hah... hah..."

Dust billowed into the air. Curled up with his arm shielding his face, he slowly opened his eyes.

'I-I'm alive.'

But it was too soon to relax.

CRACK... CRACKLE...

CRAAASH...!!

The burning buildings around him came crashing down. Instinctively covering his head with both hands, Woojin broke into a run.

[SKREEEEECH!!]

[SKREEECH!!]

At the sound of those monstrous, eardrum-splitting shrieks, Woojin hurriedly looked around.

"The village..."

Everything was red. Black smoke rose into the sky, and fires blazed throughout the village.

[SKREEEEECH!!!!!]

The roar came again. Then its source appeared before him, leaving Woojin rooted to the spot, staring blankly.

"What the hell is going on...?"

Just then—

"Get your head down!!"

A rough shout rang out behind him. Without even time to turn around, Woojin hastily ducked.

THWACK!!!

A dull impact sounded, and something sticky and lukewarm trickled over the backs of the hands covering his head.

THUD.

Something struck his shoulder and fell.

"Agh!"

Woojin cried out when he opened his eyes. What had landed before him was the head of a grotesque, batlike monster.

"Damned gargoyles! So they've finally made it this far. If Moretti is this bad... the central continent must be even worse."

Woojin looked up. An elderly man in blood-soaked armor stood before him, breathing heavily.

"An adventurer? Haven't seen your face before. You've done well to make it into a place like this."

"Pardon?"

"You look young, too. You must be lucky to have made it this far. Are you also on your way to the Lion King's stronghold?" the man asked him.

"The L-Lion King?"

... Who was that?

"But be careful. This is the Faceless Monster's territory. The Dark Forest was a hunting ground for beginners once, but now..."

The man surveyed their surroundings as he spoke.

"It's one of the most dangerous places there is. That damned House Muren... If those imbeciles hadn't meddled where they shouldn't, Moretti would never have ended up like this."

'What's this Faceless Monster, and what the hell is House Muren?'

It was one unfamiliar thing after another. Unable to make sense of the situation, Woojin could only gaze at the man in bewilderment.

"Take care of your life. If we both survive, perhaps we'll meet ag—"

"Wait!"

"...?"

"What exactly is this place? And what happened to the village? The tower... Where did the tower go?"

This man knew this world. Woojin couldn't simply let him leave.

The ruined village was one thing, but the most jarring difference was the tower—or its absence. The very thing that could be called the objective of [Evil Tale], that immense tower soaring into the sky, visible from anywhere on the continent, was nowhere to be seen.

"Tower?"

Instead, the man tilted his head at the question, as though he had no idea what Woojin meant.

"The Labyrinth Tower! It has a hundred floors... the tower full of monsters!"

Whether he was inside the game or not, if this was the world of [Evil Tale] he knew, the tower had to be here.

"A hundred-story tower...? Do you mean Vandarius's Tower? It's been ages since that collapsed..."

"... What? Collapsed?"

The answer left Woojin speechless.

"The last suicide squad cleared the ninety-ninth floor ten years ago, didn't they?"

The old man's tone suggested he was asking about the obvious, but Woojin couldn't begin to understand what he meant.

'T-ten years ago?'

He couldn't help being shocked.

'But we're only just working on the tenth floor...?'

"Isn't this year 87 of the Akedoina calendar?"

"87? What are you talking about? Fifty years have passed since then."

"Fifty years...?"

"Wait a moment."

Something about what the man had said was strange, and it wasn't just the date.

What about the hundredth floor? Why had the tower collapsed when they had cleared the ninety-ninth? Shouldn't there still have been one last floor?

[SKREEEEECH!!!]

As though jolting Woojin out of his confusion, the swarms of gargoyles blackening the sky began to shriek as if they might swoop down at any moment.

"We'd better hurry. Night is starting to fall."

The man tugged on Woojin's arm.

"Follow me if you want to live."

"A-aagh?!"

With one pull of the old man's hand, Woojin was hauled effortlessly to his feet.

'How is he so strong...?'

Before Woojin could even puzzle over it, the old man was already far ahead, running out of the village toward the forest.

"W-wait!"

In the night that had fallen over the ruins, the sound of their footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

* * *

"... What? You're not from this world? And in your world, you can come back to life even after you die?"

After leaving the village and entering the forest, they had taken shelter in a small cave.

"Well, now... What an enviable world you lived in."

Despite Woojin's serious account, the old man merely chuckled, taking it lightly.

'Of course. He wouldn't believe me.'

Woojin thought as much himself. If he went so far as to explain that the place was actually a game and that the reality he lived in was somewhere else entirely, the man would surely call him mad.

'Especially when I'm dressed like this... '

Feeling awkward, Woojin ran his palms over his body: worn leather armor and a sword strapped to his waist.

CLINK.

In the pouch on the other side, he could see the potions that had been in his inventory.

Right now, he wasn't the Kim Woojin of the real world. He was [Khan], a level 10 warrior in [Evil Tale].

'What on earth happened...? I definitely saw a notification saying I'd logged out.'

This wasn't reality, but another world. And he was here in the body of his game character.

'And that village was definitely Moretti.'

Even in ruins, he was certain of it. It was the starting village in the beginner region, where the only monsters nearby had been things like slimes and gnolls.

And yet...

'Those things called gargoyles were flying around.'

High-level monsters he would normally have had to travel to the central continent to see. This place resembled the game world he knew, yet it was an entirely different world.

'Just how many monsters like that are out here?'

At the thought, his whole body began to shake like a leaf, beyond his control.

"Have some."

The old man handed him something. A pleasant, savory aroma wafted up.

GRRR...

Absurdly, hunger swept in to replace his trembling.

"You need a full stomach to have the strength to fight. Whether you're fighting an enemy or yourself."

Woojin bowed his head and accepted the bowl the man offered.

"I've had this since before the central continent fell. It's rather hard to come by these days."

The bowl contained a pale, thin soup. It tasted bland, as though water had been added to stretch it out.

But...

GULP. GULP.

Woojin began to gulp it down ravenously.

"Not bad, is it?"

The old man watched him with a faint, understanding smile.

"Ah..."

Only after emptying the bowl did Woojin let out a breath.

The warmth sliding down his throat spread pleasantly through every part of his body. Ridiculous as it was, this unremarkable soup felt like the finest food he had ever tasted.

"A privilege only survivors get to enjoy."

The old man poured his own soup into Woojin's bowl.

"The name's Raoul."

"Kim Woo—no, I'm Khan."

Woojin corrected his name as he glanced over his clothing once more. There had to be a reason he had arrived in this form.

"Where... exactly are we?"

"Ah, yes. You said you came from another world, didn't you?" Raoul asked teasingly.

"... It's true. There's a place exactly like this one. Of course, that isn't really where I live either... Anyway, they're still trying to clear the tower's tenth floor there."

"The tenth floor? Heh heh... I don't know if it's true, but if so, that must be a truly happy world."

"Pardon?"

Raoul gave him a self-mocking smile.

"All right. I still think you're talking nonsense, but I'll play along a little. This is the first conversation I've had in six months, after all."

He looked at Woojin. Somehow... Woojin felt as though he had asked something he shouldn't have.

"The tower appeared out of nowhere. Many adventurers took up its challenge. Unbelievable rewards and resources could be found inside, and the kingdoms prospered because of them."

"Then... why did things turn out like this?"

"We thought that prosperity would last forever."

"What happened on the ninety-ninth floor?"

Raoul shook his head at Woojin's question.

"The ninety-ninth floor isn't what ruined the world. The world had already changed by the time we cleared just the sixtieth."

"..."

"The monsters inside the tower began pouring out into the world."

GRIND.

He ground his teeth.

"But we didn't simply sit back and take it. We fought desperately to clear the tower, pinning our hopes on the words inscribed on a stone monument on the sixtieth floor—the floor we had cleared at the very moment the monsters began pouring out."

"What did it say?" Woojin asked, his voice trembling.

"Clear the hundredth floor of the tower, and any wish, any miracle, can be made real."

GULP.

At those words, Woojin swallowed without realizing it.

'If that's true... '

If he cleared the final, hundredth floor, could his wish to return to reality come true as well?

"But that was as far as we got. Clearing the final floor was impossible."

Raoul spoke quietly, as though he had read Woojin's mind.

"Why?"

"Because there's no way to reach the hundredth floor."

Raoul pointed outside the cave.

"Do you see it over there? That floating castle in the sky. That's the tower's hundredth floor."

"... What?"

He had never imagined such a thing.

'The tower's final floor is in the sky...?'

Speechless, Woojin raised his head and stared blankly.

Raoul poured water into his bowl, swallowed the remaining soup with it, then sat back, wrapping his cloak around himself.

"It's time to give up. How could anyone reach that tower floating in the sky? Every kingdom on the central continent has fallen... Our only hope now is to flee to the refuge the Lion King is said to be building."

With that, he turned over as though preparing to sleep.

"Since I treated you to a meal, I'll sleep first. You don't mind that much, do you? Wake me when the hourglass runs out. It should be about two hours."

Was he simply unguarded, or confident in his abilities?

'What? He's asleep already?'

The instant he closed his eyes, he even began to snore.

"Whew."

Once the frantic rush had passed and he was left alone in the silence, Woojin finally took stock of his situation. As if being trapped in a game hadn't been enough, now he was in another world.

["Aren't you mistaken?"]

He remembered what the administrator had said to him in the square.

-[R&C Technology] Reaches 100 Billion Won in Revenue!!

-Named One of the World's Top 20 Young CEOs to Watch!!

-Kim Woojin's Team Expands Beyond Asia to the World!

He had once graced the front pages of every kind of news outlet. From rock bottom to the heights of success, he had truly been a living legend, just as the headlines claimed.

He had gone from strength to strength, and yet...

'Now I can't be certain of anything.'

Even his own existence, as he remembered it, felt as though it was wavering.

All he had done was enjoy playing games. People envied his success, but in truth, every day of his life had been fierce and suffocating. Those brief gaming sessions had been his only respite, allowing him to forget the cutthroat world outside.

But...

He rested a hand on the sword at his waist. Its weight was different from what he had felt in the game. And its edge was keen.

It was a real sword.

In reality, he had learned all sorts of things—golf, squash, climbing, swimming—and kendo had been among them. He had even competed in a fairly large tournament, so he had some confidence in handling a sword.

That was why he had chosen a warrior in [Evil Tale]. But the moment he gripped the sword now strapped to his waist, the truth struck him.

Could he use it properly?

Its heavy, rough feel was nothing like a wooden sword.

"... Log in."

Woojin glanced at Raoul and murmured quietly.

Nothing happened. He let out a soft sigh. He didn't even know how logging out had brought him here in the first place.

"Ahem. Log in!"

Even when he tried speaking a little louder, there was still no response.

'I wanted so badly to get out of the game... and now I actually want to go back.'

It was enough to drive him up the wall, but Woojin kept pulling himself together.

"Status window!!"

He called out again on the off chance it might work. But once again, nothing happened.

Then Raoul, who had been sleeping, sat up.

"I-it's nothing. This is, well, something like a prayer I say before bed..."

"Shh."

As though he had no interest in Woojin's explanation, Raoul raised his index finger to his lips.

"So much for getting any rest tonight."

CLICK.

Suppressing his presence, Raoul took hold of his sword. Then, watching the cave entrance, he spoke to Woojin in a low voice.

"Monsters."

The embarrassment in Woojin's eyes gave way to alarm.