King of the Slums
“Looks like it’s begun.”
Seong Yujin clicked his tongue at the commotion rising from one side of the street. Player influx was finally hitting full swing, so this kind of thing was bound to start cropping up sooner or later.
Robbery by force. Pecking-order bloodbaths. Put three humans together and they start trying to prove who’s superior—that’s just how people were built. Crush anyone who looked weaker, take what was theirs. Inside the Tower, society’s laws meant nothing. Of course the ugliest parts of human nature would come boiling out.
From this point on, chaos would explode in every direction. It had been the same in the first timeline.
“Still, it’s not all bad.”
When fights and feuds dragged on long enough, the weak eventually banded together. Numbers made up for missing strength. Those little factions could end up being a real help climbing the Tower.
“Not that any of that has a damn thing to do with me.”
There was zero chance any of the clowns flexing on the first floor would be useful. The ones with actual potential were already sweating over how to grind levels. They’d figured out that was the only way to survive this godforsaken Tower.
“Forget those idiots.”
He walked. After a long stretch along still-glittering avenues, the massive walls encircling Terra came into view.
“This was the way, right?”
On the first floor there were several ways to get a mount. The place Yujin was heading for was the most popular—and the fastest. Of course, at this point in time, nobody else knew it existed.
The further he drifted toward the outskirts, the emptier the streets became. Players vanished. Even NPCs thinned out until almost none remained.
“Been a while. Getting a little turned around.”
The roads were just as bad. The city center had been laid out like a planned metropolis with broad boulevards shooting straight through. Out here it was an ant nest—narrow, twisting alleys stacked one after another. Anyone who didn’t know the layout could step inside and never find their way out again.
In the early days of the first timeline, a fair number of players who wandered into these alleys by mistake never came back out. Maze-like streets and the human garbage that lived in them saw to that.
“A player?”
“Huh. Already time for them to start drifting in?”
“Center was getting loud earlier. Guess the season’s starting.”
While Yujin moved by half-remembered paths, a few voices began muttering. Long knife scars carved across their cheeks, lazy swagger, and the exact tone of voice you’d expect—textbook back-alley thugs.
“So what’s a precious player like you doing all the way out here?”
“You come all this way just to help us out?”
Three punks grinned, eyes full of naked greed, and closed in.
“That sword on your hip looks nice. Hand it over.”
“Anything else? Pull out whatever you got from the Tutorial floor. Do that and we’ll let you live.”
“How about we start by cutting an arm off and then talk?”
They drew short blades from their coats and let killing intent leak out. This was exactly the kind of trash the word was invented for—parasites who preyed on weak players and NPCs in Terra’s outer districts.
Yujin took one look at their faces and clapped his hands once, sharp and bright.
“Hey, perfect timing.”
“…Huh?”
The reaction was so far from what they’d expected that the thugs froze. Yujin walked straight toward them instead, smile spreading across his face.
That smile was several degrees more vicious than anything three small-time punks could ever manage.
“I’ve got a couple questions. Don’t worry too much. Answer nicely and I’ll only take one arm each before I leave.”
“What the fuck is this crazy bastard saying?”
“Who’s cutting whose arm?”
“You’re dead. Don’t even think about walking out of here alive.”
They barked hollow laughs, unable to believe what they were hearing. The idea that they might lose never even crossed their minds. Fair enough—most players at this stage were still stuck at level one. The insanely lucky ones might have scraped level two. To NPCs, players like that were walking wallets. These thugs themselves were at least level four or five. Of course they only saw prey.
That was the normal case. It did not apply to Yujin.
“I said I’m the one cutting your arms.”
A black flash erupted.
Before anyone could blink, Black Wing [A] was already in his hand, radiating dark light. Something long and wet spun up into the air trailing red.
“Huh?”
Three objects. Three left arms.
Blood fountained from the clean stumps.
“Aaaargh!”
“M-my arm!”
Only after the severed limbs hit the ground did the thugs finally understand what had just happened. The cut had been that fast, that clean.
Still feels damn good.
Yujin was pleased with how his body moved. The synergy between Sovereign of All Ailments [S], God-Infused Physique [S], and Seamless Unity [E] was even better than he’d calculated. Even in the first timeline he had rarely felt this complete. Gathering traits this strong while still on the first stratum was pure luck of the heavens.
“K-kill him!”
The one who looked like the leader of the three screamed through bloodshot eyes.
“You still want more?”
Yujin gave Black Wing [A] a little flick. Black mana rippled along the blade.
“I don’t mind, but you sure about this? Next I’m taking legs.”
The thugs who had been about to charge through the pain locked up mid-step.
This crazy bastard…
Only then did they understand. The man in front of them was nothing like a normal player. Skill was one thing; his temperament was worse. Someone who had just calmly sliced three arms off still looked completely unfazed, like he’d done it a thousand times. If he said he was taking legs, he meant it—exactly the way he’d taken the arms.
They shuffled backward. Keep this up and they really might die.
“Where do you think you’re going? I never said you could leave.”
Yujin rested the blood-slick blade on his shoulder and spoke almost casually. The thugs swallowed hard.
“S-sorry. We’re sorry.”
“We picked the wrong person…”
“Please spare us!”
They dropped to their knees, faces white as paper.
“I already told you. Answer my questions properly and one arm each is all I’ll take. So just answer what I ask.”
“Ask us anything!”
They looked ready to sell their own country if it meant survival.
“Good.”
Yujin liked the attitude and nodded.
“I’m looking for someone. Name’s something like Taylon, I think. You know him?”
Taylon was a name that would soon be burned into the memory of every player in the Tower.
“Y-you’re looking for Lord Taylon?”
“That person is…”
The thugs’ eyes darted. The man in front of them was terrifying, but Taylon was just as terrifying in a completely different way.
“Don’t know? Then I guess the legs come off too. We had a deal.”
“We know! We know him!”
The moment Yujin took a single step forward, one of them shrieked like he was having a seizure.
“Then start talking.”
“Just follow the blue doors!”
“…Blue doors?”
“O-over here, look—”
One of them lifted his remaining arm and pointed at a doorway painted blue.
“They’re like landmarks. Follow any path that has a blue door and keep going deeper. You’ll reach Lord Taylon.”
“Hmm. That so?”
He remembered finding the place a little more easily last time, but the information didn’t feel like a lie.
“Alright. Thanks for the help.”
Yujin started walking toward them.
“Y-you said you’d spare us…”
They began to tremble violently, certain that now that he’d gotten his answer he was going to finish them off.
He had no such intention.
“I’m not killing you. I keep my promises to the letter. But you wouldn’t happen to have any decent items or coins on you, would you? Dig them out if you do.”
Instead, he shook them down for everything they had.
“Oh, this looks right.”
After thoroughly emptying the thugs’ pockets, Yujin followed the trail of blue doors for a long while until a familiar stretch of alley opened up. Still the back streets, but the air had changed—heavy, cold, pressing down on the shoulders.
An alcoholic sprawled in a corner blowing into a bottle. A homeless man sleeping under scraps of paper. Clusters of punks gambling in little circles. None of their eyes were looking his way, yet Yujin could feel countless watchful gazes crawling over his skin.
Yeah. This place is different.
The three who’d just lost their arms wouldn’t even have been allowed to set foot here. Stronger predators had claimed every corner.
Yujin walked straight into their territory without the slightest hesitation.
Silence dropped like a guillotine. The air grew thick enough to choke on. They still didn’t move, but the message was crystal clear: one more step and you’re done.
Yujin couldn’t have cared less.
Footsteps.
“Hey.”
Someone finally stepped out to block his path. The man was enormous—easily over two meters, twice Yujin’s bulk, and the mana rolling off him was no joke.
Damn. This one’s at least level twenty.
On the first stratum of Terra, that was ridiculous. A few more levels and he’d qualify as a named monster.
But Yujin wasn’t looking for some oversized meat wall.
“Move, meatball.”
“…Just another suicidal idiot.”
The giant snorted and swung a hand the size of a cauldron lid. Not a single player currently on the first floor could have dodged that blow—except one.
Yujin flowed sideways like water. One soft step was enough. The giant’s palm carved empty air. From the blind spot the big man could no longer see, Black Wing [A] whispered free of its sheath.
A clean, merciless arc, as casual as swatting a fly.
The giant’s eyes flew wide. He understood in that instant that he could neither dodge nor block.
The overwhelming performance of God-Infused Physique [S] erased a ten-level gap like it was nothing. The black blade was a hair’s breadth from the giant’s ribs when a cold voice cut through the air.
“Stop.”
A crushing force seized Yujin’s body and locked every muscle in place. It was not of his own will. Power far beyond what he could currently handle had bound him solid.
He turned his head slowly.
In the corner, the alcoholic who had been slumped over a bottle was rising to his feet. Until a second ago the man had radiated zero presence. Now it felt as if an entire mountain had decided to stand up. The frame was small and scrawny, yet the pressure was immense.
“That’s far enough.”
Looking thoroughly annoyed, the alcoholic flicked his hand. The giant went flying like a scrap of paper and slammed into a wall with a heavy crash.
Yujin’s expression settled into something cooler as he regarded the man.
“Seems like you’re my guest. Am I right, Player Seong Yujin?”
Somehow he already knew exactly who Yujin was.
Yujin sheathed Black Wing [A] as if he’d expected this all along and nodded.
“Taylon. That right?”
One of the five lords who ruled Terra alongside Cupiditas.
“Yeah. I’m Taylon.”
The King of Slums.