Betrayed in the Dust
The residential zone on the second floor of the Tower of Trials lay thick with dust, pierced only occasionally by shafts of sunlight.
Leave your shoes off for even a moment and they would fill with sand and grit. It was a harsh, unforgiving environment for anyone trying to survive.
Yet people still lived here.
Humans pushed to the brink of extinction, protected by humanity’s final stronghold. The Tower of Trials was both their bunker and the sole structure keeping the remnants of mankind alive.
“You’re late.”
A man leaned against the wall on the second floor, his sharp eyes carrying the unmistakable scent of danger. He had clearly walked through countless battlefields. Despite that, his face was striking enough that a few passersby stole glances at him.
Can’t be helped.
His name was Yeon Cheong.
He was a Janitor of the Tower of Trials. The title had nothing to do with sweeping dust; in the Tower, Janitors were assassins—men and women tasked with “cleaning” other humans. They were the kind of people no one wanted to meet.
“Sorry! I’m late!”
Someone waved cheerfully at him. At the innocent tone, Yeon Cheong sighed.
“It’s already done, Andrew.”
Andrew threw his hands up in exaggerated shock. “As expected! The ace among Janitors! I can’t believe you finished while I was still on my way!”
Yeon Cheong dug a finger into his ear, then pulled the artifact from his coat and held it out.
“Here. The time artifact the higher-ups wanted. Make sure it reaches the next floor safely.”
“Of course. Artifacts are dangerous things. I’ll handle it with care.”
Andrew might have been shady, but the fact that he held the rank of Janitor meant his skills were undeniable.
“So… this is the last time we’ll see each other?”
Andrew tucked the artifact into his pocket and smiled.
“If you come up to the higher floors, we might meet again.”
Yeon Cheong nodded. The Tower’s hierarchy was absolute. No matter how talented someone was, their floor determined everything. The higher one climbed, the closer they drew to real power. Yeon Cheong was preparing to leave his life as a Janitor behind and ascend.
“Damn. Fastest promotion and fastest retirement in history. I’m so jealous I could die.”
Andrew kept praising him, but Yeon Cheong felt no joy in it. Climbing meant standing beside the powerful, yet the weight of all the lives he had taken never left him. Blood clung to his hands no matter how many times he washed them.
Maybe I should visit the first floor for once.
Whenever the guilt grew heavy, his thoughts drifted to the first floor—where he had once had friends and family. Most of them were long gone, but the dusty scenery remained unchanged, so he returned often.
“By the way, this really is the real artifact, right?”
Andrew turned the broken-pocket-watch-shaped object over in his hands, clearly doubtful.
“I don’t know. It didn’t seem to do anything when I tried it.”
“You tried activating it?”
Yeon Cheong’s expression hardened. “Don’t even think about keeping it for yourself.”
Andrew looked around in panic. If word got out that he had stolen an artifact, Yeon Cheong would be branded a traitor too.
“I’m not! Do you really think that little of me?”
Yeon Cheong sighed. “Just don’t get any ideas. Artifacts grant power, but they don’t make you invincible. They only imitate a god’s ability—they don’t turn you into a god.”
“Go. Before someone starts wondering what we’re doing.”
“Got it.”
Andrew vanished in an instant. Once he was gone, Yeon Cheong sat on a nearby bench and exhaled.
…Something feels wrong.
He hoped it was just paranoia.
*
[1st Floor Deliveryman Training Zone]
Yeon Cheong descended to the first floor as planned and claimed a seat in the rest area beside the training grounds. Without new orders from above, this was where he spent most of his time.
“Jin Hong.”
A silhouette flashed across the parade ground. For a moment it overlapped with the image of his closest friend—the one who had died long ago. Only an illusion, of course. The dead did not return without the power of a god.
Yeon Cheong wiped dust from the table and sighed. “Still so much dust here.”
People on the first floor breathed it in every day. When the wind blew through the Tower’s entrance, visibility dropped to almost nothing within a few meters. Yet he kept coming back. He had been born here, raised here, nearly died here from starvation and dust storms. The memories were mostly bitter, but they were his.
Everyone’s gone now.
He had survived the brutal first floor and risen to become the Tower’s top Janitor. After this final mission, he would retire. He would never have to clean again.
“And I won’t be coming back here either.”
He lifted the small canteen hanging from his neck and drank. Once, even a sip of that water had felt precious. Now he could drink whenever he wanted. He had earned that right through years of service.
“Junior, you’ve grown enough to chug precious water like that, huh?”
A woman’s voice came from above. Yeon Cheong looked up to see Lee Na-young, a senior Janitor with a small scar on her cheek that did nothing to diminish her beauty.
“Na-young? What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be on the fourth floor?”
“I was. Turns out I wasn’t needed.”
She sat beside him and let out a weary sigh. “Did you finish the job? It was supposed to be your last one.”
“I’m retiring after this.”
“Before me?”
She gave a bitter smile. Yeon Cheong smiled back and nodded.
“Getting permission from the higher-ups wasn’t easy.”
Lee Na-young’s expression shifted. She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Did they really approve your retirement?”
“Once this mission is over—”
She cut him off, eyes narrowing. “Three on the left, four on the right rear, eight directly ahead. All hidden.”
“…What?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
Her voice was soft, but fear threaded through it. “It looks like the higher-ups have decided to throw you away.”
Yeon Cheong’s face remained calm. He had survived the ruined world by never losing his composure. Surprise came and went in an instant.
“Is that so?”
The hidden figures were Janitors—elite assassins sent by the very people he had served.
“I was wondering why you came all the way down here, Senior.”
Lee Na-young bit her lip. Yeon Cheong smiled gently.
“You’re not going to beg for your life, are you?”
It wasn’t malice. Just a quiet question between two Janitors who understood what came next.
“No. I still have my pride.”
She smiled back, already resigned to death.
“See you in hell.”
Yeon Cheong stood and walked toward the massive main gate. Wind howled through the holes in the walls, stirring the ever-present dust into a blinding fog.
He stepped into the swirling gray and vanished.
The hidden Janitors burst from cover in confusion.
“Where did he go?!”
Lee Na-young spoke quietly. “He knows Yeongdeung. You won’t find him.”
A cold sensation bloomed in her stomach. Warm blood coated her fingers when she touched it.
“Even the death he brings…”
Within the dust, Yeon Cheong’s blade flashed again and again. One by one, the assassins fell. When the fog finally settled, only two people remained standing: Yeon Cheong and Lee Na-young.
“You don’t know anything else?”
“Nothing. I only received the cleaning order.”
She wiped the blood from her mouth and collapsed forward. Yeon Cheong knelt and gently closed her eyes.
The time artifact.
He rose. The higher-ups had abandoned him. His only path forward was to seize the artifact and escape the Tower before it reached their hands.
“If I move fast enough…”
There was still time.