The Judge's Wrath
[Tower of Trials 5th Floor Judges' Residential Zone]
The streets were immaculately clean, not a speck of dust in sight. The residents wore neat clothing and had pale, unblemished skin. These were people who had never known hardship. Simply because they had been born on the upper floors, they enjoyed a life of wealth and comfort.
The floor inhabited by the Judges' clan maintained the highest level of public order in the entire Tower of Trials. Since it wasn't far from the central staircase, movement between floors was also the easiest here. Their assigned role within the Tower was to judge crimes committed inside it. They tried and punished every criminal act. While the authority to carry out punishments belonged to the Janitors or the Tower's highest powers above, the act of judgment itself held immense significance for the people living inside the Tower.
It didn't matter whether someone was truly guilty or not. By making them pay the price for their supposed crimes, the Judges proved that civilization still existed among humanity. Countless people had died unjustly beneath their hammers, yet the Judges' clan paid it no mind. All that mattered was how many sinners they could send into the abyss. That was why the Judges' clan wielded such enormous influence within the Tower—though, of course, if they ever displeased the highest powers above, they would be cleaned up just the same.
“Ugh… ugh…”
Someone was sprinting through the Judges' residential zone, clutching his jaw. It was Gu Min-chan, whose jawbone had been shattered by a single strike from Yeon Cheong.
“Hey, what the hell are you?”
The 5th-floor guards frowned and approached him. His tattered shirt, bloodied lips, and overall filthy appearance made it hard to believe he was a Judge.
“Ugh… ugh…”
Since his jaw was dislocated and he couldn't speak properly, one of the guards raised his suppression baton and asked again.
“What the fuck are you, you bastard? Did you crawl up from the lower floors?”
Gu Min-chan waved his hands frantically, trying to gesture. Just like he had explained to the Deliverymen and guards at the central staircase, he was trying to show that he was a resident of the 5th floor. But almost no one understood the gesture. Even the guards and Deliverymen at the central staircase wouldn't have let him come this far without the Judges' symbol.
Gu Min-chan quickly tried to pull the symbol from his pocket, but the guard's baton was faster. The blow to the head knocked him unconscious in an instant. The guard spat on the ground and scowled.
“Why the hell is some lower-floor bastard lying around here? The guys at the central staircase can't even do their jobs properly?”
He frowned and rummaged through Gu Min-chan's pockets, suspecting he might have been reaching for a bribe. What he pulled out was an iron cross necklace, and behind it was a note with personal information.
“...Shit. We're fucked.”
The guard's eyes widened as he cursed. The name written clearly on the note was Gu Min-chan, son of Judge Gu Jeong-gi. The guard's face darkened rapidly.
“Something wrong?”
His colleague approached and asked. He had come over after seeing the guard strike the man with the baton, wondering if he'd caught someone.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
“What happened?”
The guard scowled and showed him the iron cross he was holding.
“What do you think happened? You're screwed too.”
Assaulting a member of the Judges' clan was a serious felony. Whether it was petty revenge or a misunderstanding didn't matter. The punishment the Judges handed down to anyone they held a grudge against was always the same: execution.
[Tower of Trials 1st Floor Residential Zone]
Yeon Cheong sat in his room, examining the time artifact. If he had truly returned to the past, it must have been thanks to this artifact's power—yet he still couldn't figure out how to use it.
I'll only know once I try.
He sighed and turned the artifact over in his hands. It resembled an old pocket watch, just small enough to fit awkwardly in his palm. Most importantly, the hour, minute, and second hands were all frozen in place.
It's pointing to three o'clock. I have no idea what that means.
Artifacts were occasionally given to Janitors to assist with difficult missions. After use, they had to be returned, though some Janitors had become obsessed with their powers. Yeon Cheong, however, had never used an artifact before. He had always completed every mission the higher-ups demanded without needing one. He had even sparred against artifact users and come out on top multiple times.
“Cheong!”
Jin Hong suddenly burst into his room. Yeon Cheong hurriedly hid the time artifact and replied.
“Don't you know how to knock?!”
Even with Yeongdeung active, his body was far weaker than in his prime. Normally, he would have sensed Jin Hong approaching and prepared himself instantly, but he hadn't felt a thing.
“I can forget to knock sometimes.”
Jin Hong looked at him as if it were no big deal. After all, knocking wasn't the reason she had come. Yeon Cheong sighed and asked what was going on.
“There's another head hanging outside.”
“...?”
“They say it's a guard from the 5th floor.”
Yeon Cheong stood up. The 5th floor was where the Judges' clan lived—where Gu Min-chan resided. A guard's head hanging there was extremely rare, so the 1st-floor residents couldn't help but be curious. Yeon Cheong and Jin Hong left the room and stepped into the residential streets. As they walked, more and more people gathered until the streets on both sides were packed. Though Yeon Cheong was short and couldn't see clearly, he could still make out the guard's face hanging at the entrance.
“How did that happen?”
Jin Hong stared at the pitiful guard in the distance. Yeon Cheong answered bluntly.
“Just bad luck.”
“Cheong, does bad luck mean you have to die?”
“This world has always been cruel.”
Yeon Cheong shook his head and looked back. The guard's death was clearly the result of what had happened when Yeon Cheong broke Gu Min-chan's jaw. The Judges' clan had thrown a fit and executed the guard, and now the man was paying for his own actions. Yeon Cheong didn't care. He had far more important things to worry about than mourning a stranger's death.
“Was it you?”
Yeon Cheong stopped at the sound of the deep voice. Several guards stood nearby, and a tall, overweight man was glaring at him. His neat appearance and the way he frowned at the dust around him gave him the look of someone who had always eaten well and stayed clean—like a pig.
Judge Gu Jeong-gi.
Yeon Cheong recognized him immediately. It wasn't surprising. He had expected some kind of backlash after hitting Gu Min-chan.
“A pretty boy with a fierce look in his eyes.”
“...”
“They said I'd know at a glance, and I guess I do.”
The man jutted out his lips and gestured for the nearby guards to back off. He clearly wanted to speak with Yeon Cheong one-on-one.
“You little bastard. You had the nerve to break my son's jaw?”
“It looked a bit crooked, so I gave him some surgery.”
Jin Hong, startled by the sudden appearance of the man in the suit, slowly approached. Yeon Cheong gestured behind him, signaling her to stay back. Getting her involved in this would do no good.
“What surgery?”
“Just a joke.”
Yeon Cheong smiled. The guards began murmuring among themselves, surprised that he wasn't backing down in an argument with a Judge. Their chatter made Judge Gu Jeong-gi furrow his brows deeply. They quickly shut their mouths and returned to stern expressions, watching Yeon Cheong.
“You know exactly what you did, and you're still acting like this?”
“You mean breaking your son's jaw? I know all about it.”
“If you know so well, why are you standing there so confidently? Instead of groveling and begging for forgiveness, you dare look me in the eye—”
Yeon Cheong nodded before the Judge could finish. There was nothing to be ashamed of. It had been self-defense, and Gu Min-chan had been the one to pull a knife and charge first.
“Do you even know who I am, acting like this?”
“Aren't you a Judge?”
“If you know that, do you want to end up like the guy hanging up there?”
He scowled and pointed at the guard's corpse hanging at the entrance. The sight of the body dangling pitifully was truly pitiful.
“I personally judged him and put him on display. Even the worms on the 1st floor will understand what kind of power I have.”
“So what?”
“...?”
After the man's tirade, Yeon Cheong casually picked at his ear and continued.
“I didn't even know your son was from the upper floors. I was also beaten half to death by him and his gang.”
“A 1st-floor resident like you—”
“They even stole my rations, so I've nearly died a few times because of it.”
Angry voices erupted around him, but Yeon Cheong kept speaking steadily.
“Isn't it more surprising that I didn't kill him?”
“Fine. I'll hang your head up there too!”
“You can't touch me anyway.”
Yeon Cheong stared straight into Gu Jeong-gi's face. The Judge's expression twisted with rage, his face flushing red and blue, but he couldn't find the words. It was the classic look of someone barely holding back their anger.
If he could touch me, he would have already.
Yeon Cheong thought to himself. There was a reason Gu Jeong-gi couldn't legally touch him under the Tower's laws. The moment he punished Yeon Cheong, his own son would likely face punishment as well. No matter how powerful the Judges' clan was, they couldn't erase crimes that were already well-documented. Gu Min-chan's idiotic misdeeds were too heavy to dismiss just to punish Yeon Cheong. Carrying a knife as a non-Deliveryman. Forming a gang on the 1st floor without permission and beating someone. Stealing distributed rations. These crimes were too numerous to cover up, especially since he had paraded his gang around and there were countless witnesses on the 1st floor.
If he wanted to judge me, he would have done it already.
The fact that the hot-tempered Judge had come to threaten him instead of holding a trial made it obvious. He couldn't punish Yeon Cheong—doing so would put his son in danger. Rather than getting caught up in trouble, he had come to intimidate Yeon Cheong directly. He would pretend not to have seen his son's crimes, and if Yeon Cheong talked, he would end up like the guard hanging at the entrance. Of course, the threat meant nothing to Yeon Cheong.
“I'll keep my mouth shut.”
“...”
“In exchange for breaking your son's jaw once?”
At Yeon Cheong's words, the guards began glancing around nervously. The idea that he would stay quiet if the Judge just left made Gu Jeong-gi's expression rot with murderous intent.
“We're done here, right?”
Yeon Cheong smiled, patted Gu Jeong-gi's shoulder, and walked past him. Jin Hong, looking flustered, shouted and hurried after him.
“Cheong! Wait for me!”
As Yeon Cheong casually brushed past him, Gu Jeong-gi felt a rage unlike anything he had ever experienced.
“...”
“Sir… are you all right?”
When a guard asked, Gu Jeong-gi waved his hand and muttered in a low voice.
“There are some guys on the 1st floor, right?”
“Which guys do you mean?”
“Those damn bastards. Call them right now.”
One of the guards nodded. Gu Jeong-gi watched the guard run off and let out an angry sigh, muttering to himself.
“I need to beat him half to death before he'll come to his senses. He needs to learn who he messed with.”
But he, too, had no idea who he had just provoked. Touching a Judge was “dangerous.” Touching a Janitor of the Tower was “insanity.”