The Tower's Master (1)
A vast room lay in ruins. Shattered furniture and debris littered every corner. At its center stood a ragged man, barely upright as he leaned against a broken desk. His body swayed unsteadily, yet his eyes burned with cold fury as he glared at the figure before him.
He let out a raspy chuckle.
“So you planned to stab me in the back from the very beginning…”
“Yoo Ji-sung. Your language remains as crude as ever.”
“At least I’m better than bastards who slaughter for fun while pretending to be noble. Don’t you think so, Hinkel?”
Hinkel waved his hand dismissively. A violent gust of wind erupted from the simple gesture and slammed into Ji-sung.
Whoosh!
Thud!
“Kuhak!”
Despite the distance between them, the impact hurled Ji-sung’s body into the wall. He crumpled to the floor, coughing up black blood.
“Kuh…!”
Even as agony wracked his frame, the hatred in his eyes never faded. He snarled at Hinkel through gritted teeth.
“Kuk! You sucked me dry, so now you want me gone. Is that it? You really think I’ll just die like this?”
“That, too, is an undignified remark. Yoo Ji-sung, you once said that a hunting dog past its usefulness should be eaten. It was not a noble sentiment, yet it was rather fitting.”
“Kik! I did say that. Never thought I’d be the dog, though. But Hinkel—if I’m the dog, then you’re a blind hunter. Too useless to hunt alone, so you scrounge around for scraps like me.”
“Vermin…”
Hinkel’s brow furrowed. Another flick of his wrist sent Ji-sung crashing into the opposite wall. Ji-sung screamed, but Hinkel’s expression remained unchanged. He merely brushed dust from his clothes, as though Ji-sung were beneath his notice.
Ji-sung ground his teeth in rage.
Damn it! I thought I could at least cripple him… or at least hurt him!
“Quite the impressive welcome. You even dirtied my clothes.”
“Kehak! Glad you liked it. I’ve made plenty of enemies, so I needed ways to protect myself. Something like you, for example. Right, Hinkel? Urgh!”
Before Ji-sung could finish, crushing pressure slammed down on him. Hinkel stared coldly at the man pinned to the floor.
“Do not speak my name with that filthy mouth. It only makes you more pitiful.”
“Bullshit!”
Madness flared in Ji-sung’s eyes. He had survived countless brushes with death through sheer venom and will. Hinkel’s words were like gasoline on a fire.
Ji-sung roared like a demon, but Hinkel merely shook his head at the pathetic display.
“Your efforts allowed Marknus’s forces to reach Earth. The passage opened far sooner than we anticipated—fast enough to surprise even Marknus himself. We intended to grant you an honorable death as the Tower’s administrator, yet you insist on bringing this upon yourself.”
“Shut your mouth, Hinkel! Kuaaaak!”
Ji-sung’s eyes widened in agony as Hinkel suddenly appeared and stomped on his thigh. Bone splintered. Muscle tore. Every nerve screamed as the pain lanced through his brain.
“Kuuuuuugh!”
He forced his head up through the torment and saw the floating windows embedded in the ceiling—floors one through one hundred. Marknus’s troops were hunting everywhere Conquerors existed. Screams echoed as people fled in terror.
Damn it all!
He bit his lip to stifle the screams, but they still escaped.
When he had first allied with Marknus, Ji-sung had dreamed of becoming Earth’s ruler—an absolute being no one could look down on. Now every plan lay in ruins.
They promised to make me king of Earth? To let me rule? Was that a lie from the start?
He had known Marknus was a warlike, destructive race. Still, he had never imagined they would betray him so completely.
“H…inkel. Answer one thing.”
“You still don’t know your place. I’ll allow it this once because of your contributions. Speak.”
“You… planned to use me and discard me from the beginning? Marknus’s honored citizen? Ruler of Earth? You never meant any of it, did you? You just ran your mouths, you filthy bastards!”
Hinkel’s lips curled into a smirk.
“You ask the obvious. You were a capable and convenient tool. We merely dangled rewards to maximize your efficiency. I take no pleasure in lies, but completing a three-hundred-year plan in ten years was quite the bargain. As thanks, I’ll grant you a painless death.”
“Kik! You bastards… You really were planning to betray me all along? Who the hell is dying here? I’m not dying. I’ll survive. And when I do, I’ll impale every last one of you Marknus scum on pillars, set you on fire, and make sure you can neither live nor die!”
“Is that your final word?”
“Final word? No. This is a declaration, you son of a bitch! You trash—!”
Thud!
Hinkel’s kick silenced Ji-sung. Through blurred vision, Ji-sung saw a dark-red sphere aimed at him—an orb radiating such power that the air around it warped.
His body was already ruined. Even without the spell, he would die. The fact that Hinkel still used it told Ji-sung everything.
Ji-sung laughed bitterly.
“Kikik! So you’re scared after all. Going through all this trouble just to kill me.”
“I simply prefer certainty. I have a blood festival to enjoy now. Disappear. Be honored that you die by my hand.”
“Nonsense…”
The crimson sphere engulfed him before he could finish. Agony scorched every nerve. Ji-sung could only scream.
Yet even as his mind frayed, one thought remained crystal clear.
You bastards… Did you think I managed the Tower just to end like this? I’ll have my revenge. You dared to toy with me? I’ll kill every last one of you!
Even as consciousness faded, Ji-sung’s curse toward Marknus never ceased.
“Kuhak! Hah… hah…!”
Air rushed into his lungs. His eyes snapped open.
Ji-sung shot upright, startled by the sudden change.
“What the hell… is this?”
His body, once broken beyond recognition, now felt whole. Every sense worked perfectly. He recognized the administrator’s chamber at the Tower’s apex. The luxurious desk and chair stood intact, untouched by destruction.
Strength drained from his legs. He collapsed onto the floor.
“A dream…? No. That couldn’t have been a dream. Roa! You traitorous bitch! Where are you?!”
> Administrator. Your language is excessively crude. You and I are equals—
“Shut up! You backstabbing whore!”
Ji-sung’s voice thundered through the chamber. The image of Roa standing behind Hinkel was still vivid in his mind. When he had been stripped of even the Tower’s meager authority, the only ally he had ever trusted had turned on him too.
If Roa had remained on his side, she would never have interfered when he tried to trigger the traps.
If I’d used Roa to set off every trap at once, I could have hurt that bastard…
The memory of having his control over Roa stolen and watching her protect Hinkel instead made his body tremble with rage.
“Show yourself. Now.”
> I do not understand.
“Appear before me. Right now!”
> That is beyond my capabilities.
“Stop spouting nonsense and get out here!”
> That is beyond my capabilities. Administrator, I recommend rest.
“I said stop—!”
Ji-sung’s voice gradually faded. The pointless argument with Roa was slowly restoring his frozen reason.
“You’re saying manifesting is beyond your abilities?”
> That is correct.
“That can’t be…”
Ji-sung bit his nails, confusion etched across his face. Blood welled from his fingertips, bringing sharp pain. Only then did the reality of his surroundings sink in.
“What the hell… is this?”
He looked down. Gone were the luxurious robes and Marknus uniform. Instead, he wore tattered rags barely worthy of being called clothes. The armor he had on was so damaged it offered no protection. A broken sword lay discarded nearby, its edge chipped and useless.
Ji-sung stood and examined himself. A small insect crawled up his shirt toward his face.
“U… uwaaaah!”
He frantically shook the creature off and stomped it repeatedly, face pale with revulsion. The sensation of it being crushed beneath his sole made him gag.
“Damn it! Why is there a bug suddenly—wait…”
Recognition struck him like lightning. He had experienced this exact scene before. The memory of insects and filth was one he could never forget.
“What the hell…?”
> I recommend rest.
“You shut up.”
Ji-sung kicked his filthy shoes into a trash bin and changed into fresh ones from the display case meant for the administrator. He paced the vast chamber like a man on the edge of madness.
“Have I returned to the past? Back to when I first became the Tower’s master? But why?”
No other explanation fit. If this were after Marknus’s invasion, Roa would never have been unable to manifest. The desk held pristine books. The manual that had once been reduced to rags was whole again. The trophies of Conquerors were absent.
I’ve… returned to the past.
The truth finally settled in his bones. The pain in his hands, the grit between his teeth—everything was real.
“Tch! Roa.”
> You called?
“How long has it been since the Tower appeared on Earth?”
> One year.
“Right. Of course it has.”
A dark smile spread across Ji-sung’s face. His eyes gleamed with madness as he stared at the crystal orb on the desk—the communication device he had used for ten years to contact Marknus.
For a moment, Hinkel’s face seemed to flicker within it.
“Hinkel. I told you, didn’t I? I’d survive. I’d make sure none of you could live or die while I burned you alive.”
Ji-sung turned and strode toward the deepest part of the Tower—the place he had never once visited in ten years. The location of the Tower Core.
> Administrator?
“I told you to shut up.”
> Do you know where you are going?
“Ah, so that’s why you called me? Kik! I know exactly. It’s the place you deliberately avoided so you wouldn’t upset Marknus.”
> I do not understand. Please explain.
“Do I have any obligation to explain myself to you?”
Before him stood a pair of massive doors. Ji-sung placed his hand on the transparent crystal at their center.
My stats are the same. I can do this.
Having managed the Tower for years, his control over mana surpassed anyone else’s. He poured his mana into the crystal and closed his eyes, skillfully guiding it through the alien mana structure.
His mana passed through the first gate.
Kuuung!
So the proper method of entry doesn’t apply here?
The Tower trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling as though warning an intruder.
Ji-sung never lost focus. He forced his mana through the second and third gates, wresting control of the crystal away.
> Administrator!
“Done.”
Ji-sung removed his hand from the crystal with a satisfied expression. The doors slowly parted, revealing the interior.
He had never come here himself, yet the scene matched exactly what he had imagined. A blue window floated in the air, displaying Hinkel’s face twisted in rage.
Ji-sung bared his teeth in a savage grin.