Isaiah's Leaf
◈ Used raw, delivers a sedative effect powerful enough to stop the heart
The moment Didascalia put the question to him, Yujin closed his eyes and activated it.
Fortunately it counted as an item, so the effect triggered without him having to swallow the thing. That was why a lie could leave his mouth without a single physical tell giving him away.
He'd wondered whether it would even work against whatever item Didascalia was packing. Thankfully, it did.
The problem came after the bastard left.
A stopped heart meant death. That was Yujin's state. The tension drained out of him, and the heartbeat he'd been forcibly holding onto simply quit.
He collapsed straight to the ground. Lee Sia blinked, then turned to look at Park Ji-hoo.
"What the hell…"
It went past absurd into pure bafflement. He'd been ranting about killing and dying like a complete maniac, then just drops?
"N-Nuna."
Park Ji-hoo, who had carefully approached Yujin to check on him, called out to Lee Sia with a face drained of all color.
"Why? Did he pass out?"
"His heart isn't beating!"
"…What?"
Come to think of it, right before he fell, Yujin had muttered something about CPR…
"Move!"
Lee Sia was an ordinary twenty-year-old college freshman. Meaning she'd almost never had a chance to perform CPR. Fortunately, though, she was a MeTube addict. Spend a few hours a day watching videos and all sorts of random knowledge piled up in your head. CPR was one of those things.
She didn't know it perfectly, of course. Just roughly where to press.
H-here?
Completely forgetting Yujin's earlier behavior, Lee Sia stacked her hands and began compressing his chest hard.
"Hup! Hup!"
How many compressions before breaths again? She couldn't remember. No—even if she remembered, she had no intention of giving mouth-to-mouth. Why would she kiss a guy who'd been casually telling her to kill him a second ago? Better to just let him die.
But contrary to that thought, Lee Sia grew frantic. Because the idea hit her that Yujin might actually die for real.
It wasn't that she was worried about him. What she was really worried about was the two of them left behind in this place after he was gone. He was a lunatic with not a single likable quality, sure—but at least he hadn't left them to die. If she and Park Ji-hoo were going to get out of this hell alive, they needed Yujin's power.
"Come on! Live! You hear me!"
How many times had she pressed down on his chest? Crossing level 10 had given her strength and stamina incomparable to ordinary humans. After hitting 20, she'd grown even stronger. It was around the time sweat was pouring off her that—
Thump-!
A faint vibration reached her fingertips. A heartbeat. The heart that hadn't moved at all started beating again.
Lee Sia sucked in a huge breath and collapsed right there.
"Huuuuh!"
At the same time, Yujin started breathing. Coughing violently, he wiped the spit from the corner of his mouth and lifted his head.
"Fuck, I almost actually died."
His first words were a curse. Half-relieved, half-furious, Lee Sia raised her fist and smashed it down on the back of Yujin's head.
Wham-!
An attack that never would have landed under normal circumstances. But having just come back from the dead, Yujin was half out of it—he didn't even think to dodge and took it full force.
"Gah!"
"You fucking bastard!"
"It was all part of the plan."
Yujin lied with a perfectly straight face.
"So you didn't mean any of that?"
"Right. I wanted him to let his guard down. Then—slash. You know how it is."
Know how it is, my ass. Lee Sia glared at him, eyes full of distrust.
"Don't look at me like that. My conscience is clear."
Yujin still came at her with a go-ahead-and-try-me attitude. He wasn't Didascalia—fooling a couple of newbies like this was nothing.
"Ugh. How did I ever end up stuck with this maniac."
In the end, Lee Sia had no choice but to drop the interrogation. Nobody had died, and they'd gotten through it in one piece. That was what mattered.
"If you ever say anything like that again, I'm done with you. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. How many times do I have to hear the same line?"
He scratched at his ear as he said it. Lee Sia sighed and shook her head.
"Anyway. I won't say that kind of thing again, so relax."
"That's not what I care about. What the hell is a regressor, anyway?"
Yujin thumped his chest in a show of promise, but Lee Sia ignored it completely and asked something else.
"Hm? A regressor?"
Of course she'd be curious. An Administrator had gone out of his way to find Yujin and ask him that—complete with talk of killing him or letting him live.
"Pretty much what it sounds like. Someone who regressed. You've never read a web novel or anything?"
"Ah… I don't really read that stuff."
She seemed to grasp the general idea anyway. Webtoons and dramas used the same plot device all the time.
"So why did he ask you if you were a regressor?"
"Because I'm that good."
"Now that you mention it, you do know a suspicious amount of random information. And you got strong insanely fast on your own. Yeah, I can see why he'd suspect you."
Lee Sia ignored Yujin's answer again and turned to Park Ji-hoo instead.
Nod nod.
The boy bobbed his head rapidly, agreeing with her. Honestly, it would have been stranger not to suspect him. They'd all been summoned on the same day at the same time, and yet only Yujin was racing ahead—using information no one else even knew existed. Didascalia suspecting him of being a regressor wasn't unreasonable at all.
"Explain while you've got the chance. How do you know all that stuff?"
"Trade secret."
Yujin had absolutely zero intention of answering. Was he really going to hand over a secret he'd protected at the cost of his life to the likes of Lee Sia?
"Questions end here. I'm not taking any more."
The only reason he'd talked as much as he had was because she'd saved his life. That was over now. He had no time left to waste on unproductive conversation.
"You two both hit level 24, right? I specifically told you to gain one more level by today."
At Yujin's words, both of them slid their gazes away.
"Well, uh. Stuff kept happening all of a sudden…"
It was a valid excuse. Anyone would have accepted it. But Yujin was not "anyone."
"You couldn't even do what you were told, and you've been standing around here goofing off?"
"Who's goofing off!"
Lee Sia bristled, but Yujin was faster.
"You going to go hunt, or what? I can leave you two here and climb without you."
It was a threat that chilled the chest. More terrifying, somehow, than when Didascalia had talked about killing them a moment ago.
"W-we're going!"
Lee Sia shouted and spun around—and saw Park Ji-hoo's back already racing away into the distance.
He's stupidly fast.
She could never get a read on that kid's personality. Lee Sia shook her head and pounded the ground with her feet.
We have to reach the fifth floor as soon as possible!
Didascalia had said it clearly on the Tutorial Floor. Every five floors, you could leave the Tower. Only for a week, sure—but a week was still something. She had to get strong fast, climb to the fifth floor with that monster of a man, and get out. A day sooner. An hour sooner. A second sooner.
Growth was going smoothly. The plan had wobbled here and there, but overall he was more than satisfied with the pace.
It's all thanks to the Akasha System 2.0.
Yujin was thoroughly pleased with the upgraded system's performance. Ever since forming a party, experience had been stacking at an insane rate. On top of that, the daily quest rewards were solid—he was growing like a ship with a perfect tailwind.
Fourth floor's almost done already.
Bickering with Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo while hunting like maniacs, they'd somehow reached the fourth floor. Yujin's current level was 31. The other two had both hit 30. The gap from the first timeline was enormous.
Back then, when I hit the fourth floor, I was around level 20, wasn't I?
He wasn't certain, but it had been roughly that. A full ten-level difference. That alone showed how effective the party system and daily quests were. A shame he still hadn't gotten a chance to use the shop, though.
"Hmm."
Yujin's gaze drifted forward. The scene unfolding ahead of him was nothing like his own leisurely mood.
KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-BOOM-!
"Die, you bastard!"
Lee Sia's swords carved through space.
"Shibamkwang!"
Park Ji-hoo's fist warped the air itself.
I still can't get a handle on that kid's character.
Shibamkwang? There was no skill by that name.
KRAAAAAAAAGH-!
A roar utterly unlike the pair's light battle cries shook the space.
"Flame Dragon."
The gatekeeper of the fourth floor. For all the grandeur of its name, it was closer to a lizard with flames fluttering off its scales—but its power lived up to its lesser-dragon bloodline. It was holding its own against two people who had both reached level 30.
"Should I give them a little help?"
Lee Sia's blades were working on the Flame Dragon. Its hard scales had split open with a sharp crack. Park Ji-hoo's gauntlets, though, were another story. The matchup had been bad from the start. Pure blunt force wasn't putting effective damage into the Flame Dragon. He was still swinging for all he was worth, but…
"The item gap really shows."
Compared to Black Wing [C], Park Ji-hoo's nameless cheap gauntlets were far too weak. E-grade, or D-grade at best.
"I'll have to find him something better."
They were usable enough up through about the tenth floor, but there were plenty of times the matchup went sour. Factoring that in, it was about time to get him something decent.
"First, the problem right in front of me."
The two of them were fighting hard against the Flame Dragon, but without any real skills or traits yet, it was taking a long time. This was a boss monster designed for a raid of dozens, not two people. Even at level 30, of course they were struggling.
"Both of you, clear out."
The moment Yujin said it quietly, the two of them peeled away from the Flame Dragon as if they'd been waiting for the order.
"This is the last time I help. From the fifth floor on, no more freebies."
He gathered his mana. With the Flame Dragon Blade [E] destroyed, he had to face the thing with his bare hands.
Woooooom-.
The mana concentrated in his fist.
"Park Ji-hoo. Watch carefully."
Yujin glanced once at the boy who had already sidled up beside him, then stomped a true step into the ground.
KUUUNG-!
The earth shook as if an earthquake had hit. Tremendous force surged up through his legs. Feeling it, Yujin rotated his body. Ankle, knee, waist, shoulder, elbow—all the way into the fist. Every joint he had turned smoothly, transferring the power in full.
PAAANG-!
His fully extended fist collided with the Flame Dragon's scales. The noise wasn't that loud. Just the sound of air bursting. The result, though, was something else entirely.
The Flame Dragon, which had been thrashing madly, went still—a hole punched clean through it big enough to fit ten fists. Scarlet blood dripped steadily from Yujin's outstretched hand.
"This is the Fist."
He said it to Park Ji-hoo, whose eyes were blown wide open.