Back on the First Floor
Tower of Trials 1st Floor Residential Zone
“Hah!”
Yeon Cheong opened his eyes and clenched his trembling hands.
The familiar room came into view. Outside the window, dusty winds slammed against the glass.
It felt exactly like returning to the first floor where he had once lived.
Overwhelmed by the sensation, Yeon Cheong muttered to himself.
“This… is the first floor?”
He frowned and pushed himself upright. The sharp pain that had been stabbing through his body was completely gone, leaving only a hollow emptiness behind.
“I actually survived that?”
He had been certain he was going to die. His arm had been severed, and a dozen swords had been buried in his chest. The blood loss alone should have finished him.
“Wait a second.”
Yeon Cheong looked back and forth between his hands. The right arm that should have been cut off was still firmly attached.
“What the hell?”
He couldn’t make sense of what had happened. Was it a nightmare? Had he been lost in some delusion?
Clatter.
At that moment, a pocket watch fell to the floor. Its hands were broken and motionless.
“The time artifact.”
The very object that had led to his death.
The artifact came into view, and with it came a throbbing headache as memories began flooding back. The last text that had appeared when he died—
‘God of Time.’
The words had been so striking that they were burned into his memory.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Sudden knocking rattled the door. Yeon Cheong quickly hid the artifact behind him.
“Who is it?”
“Who do you think?”
A sharp, playful voice. One he thought he would never hear again. The voice he had missed the most.
Creak.
The door opened with difficulty, letting in a cloud of dust. Yeon Cheong coughed.
“Cough, cough.”
“Ah, sorry. I opened it too fast. Dust got everywhere.”
The owner of the familiar voice apologized and waited for the dust to settle. When it finally cleared, he found himself face-to-face with the person he had longed to see.
“Jin Hong.”
“Cheong!”
Short hair, pale skin, an appearance so cute that anyone would notice her at least once. Her calm crimson eyes contrasted with her lively personality.
Yeon Cheong stared blankly at Jin Hong’s mischievous smile. Seeing her again had felt impossible.
“What’s wrong? You look even dumber than usual today.”
At her words, Yeon Cheong quickly wiped his eyes. After brushing away the tears that had welled up, he stammered with an awkward expression.
“Uh… well…”
“What’s going on?”
The truth was, his memories were hazy. Too much time had passed since he left the first floor, so it took a moment to pull those old recollections to the surface. He knew the general culture of the first floor, but the exact timing of events was unclear. The major incidents that shook the Tower, however, he could still recall if he focused.
“Did the Wanderer show up?”
“What? The Wanderer? Who’s that?”
Jin Hong’s genuinely confused question made Yeon Cheong nod. It seemed they were still before the “Wanderer incident.”
‘Then we haven’t become Deliverymen yet.’
Yeon Cheong calmly organized his thoughts.
‘I really came back to the past.’
It felt like a dream. But Jin Hong’s face in front of him was far too vivid—the furrowed brows, the lively expression. This was reality.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Jin Hong looked slightly flustered. Normally Yeon Cheong would be grinning like an idiot, but now he wore a serious expression, lost in thought.
“Sorry. I just had something to think about.”
“Since when do you think?”
“Uncle Ben always told us to use our heads more.”
Uncle Ben had been a warm presence in their lives. He had been the first to find Yeon Cheong and Jin Hong wandering the streets and had given them a place to stay. In a ruined world, he was a rare kind of person.
‘Is he still alive?’
Uncle Ben had once been a Deliveryman before becoming a distributor. If they really were in the past, he should be handing out rations at the first-floor distribution center right now.
“Is today ration day?”
“Wow… You don’t even remember that?”
“How am I supposed to remember if I don’t?”
“It is ration day. If I hadn’t told you, you would’ve gone another three or four days without eating.”
Yeon Cheong’s mind raced. If he had truly returned to the past, he needed to figure out exactly when they were. Without accurate information, moving around inside the Tower would be dangerous.
“Cheong, come out when you’re ready. I’ll grab the rations for us! I’ve got something urgent today, so I can’t wait for you!”
She turned and headed for the door she had opened.
‘Rations.’
The word stirred an unpleasant memory. The food distributed on the first floor was poor quality, and theft was common. And those bastards would definitely be there.
Yeon Cheong stood up, recalling the beggar-like days he had spent on the first floor. Gu Min-chan and his violent gang. Every time rations were handed out, they would appear and take half of his share. He had suffered from malnutrition because of them. If Jin Hong hadn’t given him that small piece of meat, he never would have become a Deliveryman or a Janitor—he would have been buried in the sand outside the Tower.
“I should head out.”
Meeting them was inevitable, but he couldn’t afford to skip the rations either.
Tower of Trials 1st Floor Residential Zone – Food Distribution Center
“Today’s rations are small again.”
“The Deliverymen haven’t been going outside much lately, so of course.”
The adults on the first floor clicked their tongues as they chatted, each holding a sack and lining up for their share.
“Is it really that hard to get food?”
“You gonna say that to the Deliverymen? Every time they go out, several of them die.”
“...”
The Tower’s Deliverymen ventured outside to gather food. The outside world was so dangerous that most people inside the Tower refused to leave. Yet the Deliverymen risked their lives to find remnants of the fallen civilization and keep everyone fed. Without them, the Tower’s people would have starved long ago.
“By the way, the dust is worse than usual today.”
“At least we can still breathe. Want a drink?”
“With what? We only got one sip of water.”
While the two men bantered, Yeon Cheong slipped between them and headed toward the center of the distribution area.
‘This is where Uncle Ben used to be.’
The distributor stationed at the center was indeed Uncle Ben—the kind man who had acted as a guardian to the orphaned Yeon Cheong.
“Just a little more, please.”
Yeon Cheong looked up at him.
“Again?”
“Come on… I’m not the only one doing it.”
“If anyone finds out, I’ll be buried in the sand…”
“Please~”
As a boy, Yeon Cheong had been small and adorable—cute enough that from a distance he could be mistaken for a little girl. Uncle Ben had always fallen for his pleading.
Later, after becoming a Deliveryman, he had grown tall and lost that cuteness. By the time he became a Janitor, a fierce look had settled on his face. But right now, that old “weapon” was still useful.
“Ha… This little brat.”
Uncle Ben frowned, but a smile tugged at his lips. He pulled out an extra piece of dried jerky from the sack and handed it over carefully.
“It’s a bit old, so it’s tough, but it’s still edible.”
“Thank you.”
“This is the last time. If I get caught, I’m dead.”
“You’ve never been caught before.”
“You never back down, do you? Now get lost! Other people are waiting!”
Uncle Ben waved him off with a laugh-filled scolding. Yeon Cheong quickly slipped through the crowd.
‘Now then…’
It was about time they showed up—the first-floor thugs who would try to steal his rations.
“Hey, shorty!”
Sure enough, the gang appeared right on cue. Gu Min-chan and his crew stood in front of him, just as Yeon Cheong had expected.
“Where do you think you’re running off to with that food? You’re supposed to hand it over to me first, aren’t you?”
“I’m not a delivery boy.”
Yeon Cheong set the sack of rations on the ground and straightened his worn clothes.
“So what?”
Gu Min-chan snorted, frowning. Yeon Cheong settled into a stance.
“I’m not giving you the food.”
With his current small frame, he couldn’t win a head-on fight against the larger gang members. But even in a weak body, the core was still the man once called the strongest Janitor.
Whoosh!
Gu Min-chan reached out to grab Yeon Cheong’s face, but his hand met empty air.
“What the—?”
The smaller boy had vanished from his sight in an instant.
Thud!
When facing a much larger opponent, the simplest way to win was to strike the vital points accurately.
“Ugh… ugh…”
“This bastard just hit him right there!”
Yeon Cheong’s fist connected squarely with Min-chan’s groin. Min-chan clutched himself and dropped to his knees.
“Shit… What are you all standing around for? Get him!”
At Min-chan’s shout, Yeon Cheong read every presence around him. His body hadn’t accumulated internal energy yet, so he couldn’t sense everything, but the experience from his days as a Janitor remained. He could still use the Yeongdeung he had trained his entire life.
Thwack!
The thugs’ heads snapped back, teeth flying. Even with a small body, attacks that used full body weight carried real power. They were toyed with and left seeing stars.
“You little shit!”
While calmly dodging and stepping back, Yeon Cheong sensed another surge of killing intent. Min-chan, enduring the pain, had pulled out a knife from somewhere and swung it at him.
“A knife? Regular residents aren’t supposed to have those.”
Min-chan slashed with the blade, but to Yeon Cheong the attack looked like a toddler’s punch. He read the trajectory and dodged effortlessly, then flowed into a counter, driving his fist into Min-chan’s jaw in one smooth motion.
“Ghhk!”
Min-chan staggered backward and dropped the knife. Yeon Cheong caught it mid-air and asked,
“Where did you get this knife?”
“...”
“Don’t you know residents aren’t allowed to own blades?”
“Fuck.”
The muttered curse revealed Min-chan’s true feelings. Possessing a knife was a clear violation of Tower rules. Only those granted permission by the Tower could carry edged weapons.
“You wanted your head cut off and hung on the front gate?”
“What are you trying to say?”
Yeon Cheong smiled.
“Your parents are from the upper floors, right?”
“...!”
Min-chan’s face showed shock. Yeon Cheong answered the unspoken question himself.
“It’s obvious. Everyone else is wearing filthy shirts, but you’re the only one in a neatly mended T-shirt.”
Now that he looked closely, there were plenty of clues that Min-chan was from a wealthy family. The way he stole food but didn’t eat it right away, the clothes that clearly didn’t belong on the first floor. Back then, Yeon Cheong had been too busy getting beaten to notice the signs. But now he knew everything.
‘After all, I was the one who killed him.’
This wasn’t some petty childhood revenge. He had cleaned them out thoroughly just because they opposed the higher-ups. Only later had he learned Min-chan was from the upper floors.
‘Right now he’s just an annoying brat with no hint of rebellion.’
“So what the fuck are you gonna do about it? What can you even do? Kill me?”
Since he was from the upper floors, carrying a knife could probably be smoothed over. That limited what Yeon Cheong could do.
“I can do this much.”
Still holding the knife, Yeon Cheong punched Min-chan square in the face. There was a crunch as his jaw twisted completely around. Min-chan’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.
Yeon Cheong rubbed his hand and frowned. It was something he had wanted to do since long ago, and he had done it without regret.
“I almost died because of you once.”
Min-chan was already out cold, so he wouldn’t hear the words, but the dislocated jaw showed just how hard he had been hit.
“He won’t be chewing food for a while.”
Yeon Cheong dusted off his hands and began thinking about what he needed to do next. Since he had returned to the past, he had to determine exactly when he was and decide how to act from here on.