Confirmation

The three of them stopped a few steps short of us. The man in front turned his eyes on Logan.

"...Logan Howard?"

Did they know each other?

There was no gladness in the voice that spoke the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠name. Logan was no different.

"It has been a long time."

"So it has."

That was all. The man glanced back at the two standing behind him, and the momentum that had carried them straight toward us only a moment ago seemed, oddly, to slacken.

Only then did his gaze travel past Logan's shoulder. It found me. Starting at my face, it drifted slowly down over the leather armor and came to rest on the sword at my hip.

"A companion?"

"He is."

"A face I haven't seen."

Logan gave no answer. The man studied me a moment longer, then looked back at him.

"Newly arrived, by the look of it."

"Have you business here?"

Logan's voice had dropped. At that, the man let out a thin little laugh.

"Nothing in particular. There was a face I hadn't seen before."

"Then you have seen it."

A brief silence passed. For no good reason, I closed a hand around the sword at my hip. Only a little while ago I had been pleased with myself for killing a single slime, but with three people standing in front of me, that slime suddenly seemed like nothing at all.

The man, who had been watching Logan, was the first to step aside.

"Right. We're done."

The two behind him moved with him, clearing the path. Logan walked straight past them toward the entrance.

"Let us go."

I followed. As I passed the three of them, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt eyes on my back. Sure enough, when I turned my head, the man who had spoken was still looking at me.

Our eyes met. The corner of his mouth lifted, just barely.

That sat wrong.

I turned away at once. Three years of facing customers, and I had thought I'd seen every expression there was. I had never seen a smile like that.

Only after we passed through the blue light and came back out onto the Ground Floor did the tension ease a little. Voices, footsteps, merchants calling their wares — it felt like an entirely different world from the one a moment ago.

"Who were those people?"

I asked it of Logan, walking ahead.

"No one of consequence."

"For people of no consequence, they were looking at me awfully hard."

Logan slowed his steps.

"The newly arrived draw the eye. A great deal."

I was fairly sure I had heard this answer somewhere before.

"All the more so now."

His gaze dropped to my hip.

"It is not common to see a man walking Floor 1 in new gear. Those who have just come know little of how things stand here. Not the price of goods. Not people."

I thought I understood, more or less.

"You're saying they meant to rob me?"

"They might have."

"And they might not have?"

"Hm."

So which was it. Seeing my face, Logan added a short word.

"There is no need to call certain what is not."

That was fair.

"In any case, be careful. A monster is dangerous exactly as it looks. A human is not."

I gave a small nod.

All at once, Return came to mind. If things had truly turned dangerous, I could have gone back to Earth. But having the skill did not mean I was free of every danger. I would have to accept the risk of it being exposed, too.

I really am going to have to learn.

At the very least, I needed to get past the point of reaching for Return the moment I saw three people.

"Logan."

"Hm."

"I'll be counting on you from here on, too."

Logan glanced back at me once.

"The meal."

"I'll be the one buying, obviously."

"Good."

At that same hour, in an office of the Nyx Merchant Guild.

"What did you learn?"

"A few things. They're only guesses, though. Nothing certain."

Kim Taeyong nodded, as if that hardly mattered.

"First, Logan is as we already knew. He left a sick son on Earth, and he's saving money against the day he can go back."

"Hm. Money?"

Go back to Earth, and what use would money from this place be...

"Ah. Don't tell me..."

"Yes. It seems he means to buy potions here and take them back with him."

"I see. True enough. With potions, an illness on Earth is nothing at all. Provided one can actually carry them out, of course."

Potions produced in the Tower were that potent. At the highest grade, they held enough power to regrow a severed limb. Even a low-grade potion could treat most chronic illnesses, and anything of mid-grade or above could cure, without much difficulty, diseases that Earth would have called incurable.

"Ah..."

Why hadn't he thought of that? It struck Taeyong like a blow to the head.

"W-wait a moment..."

Can things from here be taken out as well?

"Is something wrong?"

"No. No. Go on."

Jane picked the thread back up.

"And this I heard from the landlord. He said Logan ignored a plea for help from the tenant who lived there before Minsu."

"What do you mean?"

A veteran brushing off a newcomer's help was only natural. More often than not, you helped and came out the worse for it.

"He asked to be bought a single meal, I'm told. Logan ignored him and left. And that night..."

"Ah."

Only then did the pieces begin, slightly, to fit. Why a tank of Logan's skill was helping Minsu at all.

"Something like repentance."

"It might be."

Ignoring a request for a meal made sense, too. It would begin as one meal. The odds were high it would not end there. And the Tower was that kind of place: fail to stand on your own, and you were weeded out. Being weeded out, in the end, meant death.

"Handle this well, and we might even come away with a fine tank."

Taeyong's eyes curved into a smile.

The next day.

"Hah!"

I brought the sword down with everything I had, and this time the point didn't shudder wide.

"How was that?"

"Too much strength."

"Still better than yesterday, though, don't you think?"

"Better than yesterday."

"Then that's good enough."

"Yesterday was a disaster, after all."

Getting a single word of praise out of that man was this hard. I sheathed the sword and dropped straight down onto the ground.

Today, as yesterday, I had come to Floor 1 with Logan. The only thing that had changed was the small bag now sitting on my back.

I had felt it during yesterday's training. Walking around empty-handed was more inconvenient than I had expected. Even a single canteen had to be carried in my hand, and every time I needed something, I could hardly just cram it into a pocket. So that morning, near the plaza, I had bought a leather bag that was cheap enough. The workmanship wasn't much, but it would do for now.

I pulled the bag over and took out the canteen.

"Ugh..."

I swallowed a few mouthfuls of lukewarm water. The smell, as ever, was not something a person got used to.

"Once you are used to holding a sword, it will tax you less."

"My arms feel like they're about to fall off as it is."

"Then you must get used to it."

He was right, so I had nothing to say. Logan sat down on the rock beside me. No shield again today. A single short sword at his hip was all he carried.

It was a little deflating, every time I looked. I came onto Floor 1 in full leather armor, and this man tagged along as if he had stepped out for a walk around the block.

"Have you... family?"

The question came out of nowhere. I turned my head, but Logan wasn't looking at me.

"Mm... I suppose you'd say I do."

"Complicated, then."

"What about you?"

This time the answer didn't come right away. I was starting to think I had asked something I shouldn't have when Logan's hand went to his neck and drew something out from inside his clothes. A small silver locket, hung on a chain. With a practiced click, he opened the cover.

Inside lay a single old photograph. In it, a young boy was laughing with his whole face.

"My son."

"Ah."

I hadn't expected that. I leaned in for a closer look. The colors had gone faint, bleached by sunlight, but the child's face was clear enough to know.

"He's a good-looking kid. How old is he?"

"Eleven."

A silence passed. Eleven. Logan had said it was already ten years since he entered.

"He was that age when I came here."

Which meant, now—

"He would be twenty-one by now. I wish I could have bought the boy his first beer."

The answer was calm. Logan's thumb, though, moved slowly across the photograph.

"You must miss him."

"I do."

Maybe I shouldn't have asked. But Logan didn't look particularly bothered.

"I wonder, sometimes. If we passed on the street, whether I would even know him."

That was a hard thing to answer. I looked at the photograph again. Eleven. Twenty-one, by now. He would look nothing like the child in the picture.

A strange thought came over me.

Couldn't I look for him?

I could go back to Earth. If I knew even Logan's name, and his son's, it wasn't as if there would be no way at all. But I didn't say it aloud. Logan still didn't know what I could do. More than that, I already knew that the moment I told him, it would not end at simply finding one man's son.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing."

I shook my head.

"I just thought he looks a lot like his father."

Logan looked down at the photograph.

"Does he."

The corner of his mouth rose, just barely. It was an expression I was seeing for the first time.

He closed the locket, tucked it back inside his clothes, and stood.

"We begin again."

"Already?"

"Did you come to rest?"

"Nngh."

Another round of training, and I was soaked through with sweat.

"Ah."

I opened the bag and pulled out a towel I had brought from home.

I had forgotten I even packed this.

"Here. Use one."

I took out a second and held it out. Logan looked down at the towel.

"This?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

He didn't take it. He hesitated.

What was that about.

"It's clean. It's been washed and everything."

Thinking he might still be uneasy, I started to draw my hand back — and Logan took the towel.

"No. I will use it."

"All right."

I drew the sword again without much thought. Logan, though, spent a while just looking at the towel. He even rubbed the cloth once between his fingertips.

"Is something wrong?"

"It is nothing."

Only then did I understand. A towel was not, by any measure, a common thing here. I had slipped up. But Logan asked me nothing, and carried on as he always did.

By the time training ended and we returned to the Ground Floor, it was a little past lunch.

"I will make good use of it."

"Ah. Right."

Even on the way out of the restaurant after we had eaten, Logan gave his thanks again, saying he would put the towel to good use.

We had just stepped out and started walking when a familiar face was waiting for me.

"Oh, Jane?"

"Taeyong asked to see you for a moment."

"Me?"

"Yes."

What was this about.

"I'll head over on my own."

"Do so."

I followed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jane to the Nyx Merchant Guild.

"You're here."

When I stepped into the office, Taeyong looked up from his documents to greet me.

"Is something the matter?"

"Nothing serious. Have a seat."

Once I sat, he spoke first.

"Are you getting along with Logan?"

"Yes. We went to Floor 1 together again today."

"I see."

"Though something a little strange did happen yesterday."

I told him about the three men we had met near the entrance to Floor 1. Taeyong asked a few things about their appearance, then frowned, just slightly.

"Don't go around alone for the time being."

"Do you know them?"

"I have a rough idea who they are."

"Who?"

"Just some lowlifes."

He left it there, offering nothing more detailed.

"If Logan was with you, nothing much would have come of it."

"They just left."

"That's good, then."

Taeyong thought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for a moment, then went on.

"Have you looked into the skill any further?"

"A little."

"What changed?"

I gave him a brief account of what I had confirmed the night before. Time on Earth and in the Tower seemed to flow almost the same. I could carry things from the Tower out to Earth, though I still didn't know exactly how far that reached. And when I came back to the Tower, I returned to the place where I had used Return. Taeyong listened with a look of considerable interest.

"Then on Earth, do you always go back to the same place?"

"Yes."

I started to answer, then stopped.

"...Probably."

"Probably?"

"So far I've only gone home."

Taeyong nodded.

"So it seems to be an ability that takes you home."

"I think so."

Even after I said it, something snagged, faintly. An ability that took me home. Was that really what it was?

From the first time I opened the skill window until now, the name it displayed had been only one.

Nowhere did it say home. And every time I used Return, I had simply thought of home, as if that were natural. The first time, the word had spilled out like an accident. After that, I had taken it for granted that home was where it led.

Then.

What if I thought of somewhere else?

"Is something the matter?"

"No."

I stood.

"There's something I need to check."

Taeyong looked at me, puzzled, but he didn't try to stop me.

The moment I got back to my lodging, I opened the skill window.

© Grand Jackpot #1qxce

Author's Note

Thank you.