The Ghost's Reversal
Multiple figures rushed one man. The sounds of flesh being sliced and bones shattering echoed from every direction.
Overwhelming numbers produced predictable results. The Black Wolf Faction members were being subdued one by one by Eun-gu's fighters.
“Boss!”
One subordinate screamed Jun-sik’s name, realizing they were losing ground. He was urging retreat before it was too late.
“Boss… Boss?”
His voice never reached Jun-sik. Through a gap in the melee, the subordinate saw their leader’s headless body collapse. Blood sprayed across the floor, and a blood-smeared mask stood out clearly in the chaos.
“You… you bastard?!”
The man stumbled backward in panic. The Neck-Cutting Ghost they had all been hunting had appeared right in front of them—and had already taken their boss’s head. The situation was deteriorating fast.
“Well, you’ve cost us quite a bit lately.”
Eun-ho set his hammer down as he spoke. Eun-gu, once a criminal syndicate, had suffered heavy losses in the black market. They had planted informants across the first floor to recover, but every single one had been eliminated by Yeon Cheong.
“Just who the hell are you?”
Yeon Cheong wiped the blood from his mask. When the red liquid stained his hand, he casually smeared it across his sleeve.
“Just a first-floor resident.”
“A first-floor resident? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Eun-ho frowned. No ordinary resident could possess that level of skill. He suspected at least a Deliveryman—perhaps even a veteran.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re still going to die.”
Eun-ho lifted his hammer and spun it as he advanced. Countless lights flickered through the dim space. It was the worst possible environment for using Yeongdeung, but Yeon Cheong knew Eun-ho’s personality too well. The hot-blooded man wanted to kill him personally. He would pour everything into crushing the parasite who had ruined his organization, saving the final blow for that hammer.
“Everyone! Take him down first!”
At his command, Eun-gu’s men charged as one. Yeon Cheong snatched up Jun-sik’s sword and met them head-on.
Whoosh!
He slipped past the incoming strikes with ease and counterattacked, claiming lives with every exchange. I’ve got far more stamina and mental fortitude than before. Attacks like these were nothing he couldn’t deflect and suppress instantly. Eun-gu’s fighters weren’t individually powerful, so this was much easier than the black market incident.
“I can’t see his movements!”
Every time the men blinked, Yeon Cheong vanished from his spot. The moment they took a confused step, he reappeared right in front of them.
Small frame helps, too.
Compared to his prime, his body was pitifully weak, yet its compact size was a genuine advantage—smaller target area and greater agility.
Find safe positions with Yeongdeung.
Yeon Cheong ducked under a massive blade and claimed the spot he had already marked, moving into his next action without hesitation.
Counter with the Focus Talisman.
The talisman bought him the split-second needed to judge whether his strike would land safely. Those few moments of thought let him filter out surrounding threats, ensuring every counter succeeded and steadily thinning Eun-gu’s ranks.
Slash!
As heads continued to fall, Eun-ho’s expression darkened. He had tried to overwhelm with numbers, yet the enemy showed no sign of faltering. The impossible judgment, speed, and lethal precision were slaughtering his men in seconds.
“Still…”
Yeon Cheong exhaled. Even with increased stamina, exhaustion was exhaustion. By the time he felled the tenth man, his breath was already ragged.
“He’s just one guy! Push harder!”
“But…”
Of the roughly thirty men who had started, nearly half were gone. Yeon Cheong had killed ten through counters and incapacitated another five. One man whose arms had been severed rolled across the floor screaming. Another lay motionless, a knife buried in his spine.
“Crazy bastard.”
Eun-ho spat and gripped his hammer. With Yeon Cheong this tired, he figured he stood a chance.
Running out of steam faster than I expected.
Yeon Cheong steadied his breathing and faced Eun-ho. They were similar in build, but the stamina gap was enormous. Yeon Cheong had already carved through fifteen men, while Eun-ho remained fresh, conserving every ounce of strength.
“You’ve already taken on fifteen. You must be half-dead.”
Eun-ho advanced, swinging his twin hammers. The heavy weapons looked brutally threatening.
Whoosh!
Yeon Cheong dodged the strikes and looked for an opening, but Eun-ho’s reputation as a former Deliveryman held true. With catlike footwork he slipped away, denying every counter.
“Haha! You really are exhausted. You’re much slower than before.”
Yeon Cheong glanced at his trembling hands. The signs of physical limits were clear now, and Eun-gu’s men cheered.
“How about that? Nobody’s ever lasted more than three minutes against our boss!”
Yeon Cheong spun his sword and reset his stance. Can I use the artifact? He glanced at the lower right. No text had appeared yet, so it seemed available.
“Then it doesn’t matter.”
He nodded and charged straight at Eun-ho. His sharp strike grazed the hammer and sent sparks flying. They traded blows, and Yeon Cheong gradually found himself pushed back.
“Hah! A desperate all-or-nothing rush?”
Eun-ho pressed forward with his hammers while Yeon Cheong deflected and retreated.
“This is about the spot.”
Yeon Cheong had been searching for a specific position—the place he had stood roughly ten minutes earlier. If he reached it, everything would be resolved.
“Let me see that face!”
Eun-ho’s hammer grazed the mask. A crunch sounded, but it didn’t shatter completely—only a few fragments flew off.
“Impatient as always.”
Yeon Cheong steadied himself and activated the artifact.
Thud!
When the text appeared, he smiled. The ability he could use now was Reversal—restoring his own condition.
“Die!”
Just before Eun-ho’s hammer connected, Yeon Cheong blocked with his sword.
“...!”
The man who had barely managed to defend each swing now met him head-on in a contest of strength. Eun-ho couldn’t hide his shock.
“Small frame definitely has its perks.”
Yeon Cheong nodded and knocked the hammer aside, then leveled his sword at Eun-ho.
“But the power you can draw is still limited.”
Same build, same conditions. The only reason Yeon Cheong had been losing was simple stamina. After fighting the subordinates, he had been at a disadvantage. But he possessed the artifact. Reversal could rewind not only position but his entire state.
Artifacts really are broken.
Even with only partial access, its utility was absurd.
“This guy suddenly looks full of energy…”
Eun-ho’s eyes widened as he looked between his hammer and Yeon Cheong. Yeon Cheong didn’t waste the opening. He lunged.
Whoosh!
“Huh…?”
A single moment of carelessness invited death. Flustered by the sudden reversal, Eun-ho failed to react. His head was severed in one clean stroke.
Slash!
When Eun-ho’s head hit the ground, both factions froze. The swarm that had been attacking like hornets fell into chaos the instant their queen died.
“Blade’s dull now.”
Yeon Cheong tossed Jun-sik’s sword aside. Clashing with hammers so many times was already impressive.
“…What do we do now?”
The surviving members of both groups stared at the two decapitated leaders and swallowed hard.
“Run, you idiots! What are you standing around for?!”
At the shout, Sinners’ Street descended into pandemonium. The already chaotic brawl became pure anarchy.
They sure panic easily.
Yeon Cheong adjusted his broken mask, then noticed something stuck to his hand.
“Even if it restores my body…”
He wasn’t sure whether the artifact’s function was restricted or if it had always been this way, but the shattered mask remained broken.
“I really should be careful using it.”
He picked up the scattered fragments, erasing every trace he could. A Janitor’s natural instinct.
The clash between Black Wolf and Eun-gu that day became the biggest turning point the first floor had ever seen.
Tower of Trials 1st Floor Residential Zone — Sinners' Street
The next day.
The guards responded to the report and entered Sinners’ Street. Several looked around in fear while the more experienced veterans examined the scene and quickly grasped what had happened.
“Looks like that guy’s work again.”
“The Neck-Cutting Ghost.”
The guards clicked their tongues at the reappearance of that existence.
“Identities confirmed?”
“Yes. We’ve identified the heads of Park Eun-ho, boss of the criminal syndicate Eun-gu, and Geum Jun-sik, presumed boss of the Black Wolf Faction.”
“Both killed by him?”
“It appears so.”
The report drew sighs from everyone. Two syndicate bosses dead improved security on the first floor, yet they still had no leads on the culprit.
“Should we report to the captain?”
“We have to… damn it.”
They sighed and began collecting the bodies. Fights between organizations weren’t rare, but never before had the damage been this severe.
“Black Wolf is completely wiped out. Eun-gu won’t be showing their faces around here for a while.”
Just as the veteran guard predicted, Black Wolf had vanished, and Eun-gu—now leaderless—would likely decline and be absorbed by another faction.
“Aren’t we going to catch the Neck-Cutting Ghost?”
“Why bother catching a ghost?”
The veteran chuckled at the young guard’s question.
“If he’s doing our job for us, that’s a good thing.”
“Are you going to report that to the captain too?”
“Do you want to die? Erase it.”
The young guard had been meticulously recording every detail in his notebook. At the veteran’s words, he hurriedly scratched them out.