Oh Minseok, Yoon Jaeseong, Jo Taehoon
A blue gate seethed with energy right in front of me.
This might be the portal Local University Researcher had mentioned.
“So one of these showed up on Floor 1 too?”
I had no idea where a gate like this would dump me, but I was pretty sure it headed for Floor 1.
Goooooo.
I stood before the humming gate and sank into thought.
“It won’t be a one-way trip, right?”
Master had left me this inheritance, but it wasn’t exactly pocket-sized.
It almost felt like Master was saying, Live out the rest of your life right here.
“No. I can’t do that, Master. I’m leaving.”
The second the decision settled, hesitation evaporated.
I poured water into a pack of Hotdak stir-fried noodles and unfolded the sunbed.
“I’ll see you off like this one last time, Master. Thank you! Slurp.”
Master hadn’t completely vanished. I had that stubborn, human conviction.
So I would bury the memories of this place for now and go.
“Floor 1.”
I stood before the gate in my Hawaiian shirt.
The moment I started to step through—
Where would you like to go?
[Floor 1]
[Earth]
“What? I can choose?”
A friendlier portal than I’d expected.
I hesitated.
Home? Or Floor 1?
If I went home I could see family, friends, all kinds of people.
If I went to Floor 1, I could find out where Master had gone.
These two choices felt like a real fork in the road for the rest of my life.
And as if to prove it, Intuition spoke up.
“Guess I’m going this way.”
I tapped the destination with my finger.
The gate rippled, and I stepped through.
Saaaaah—.
Illusion Village square.
Among the crowd stood one man whose frame was noticeably smaller than everyone else’s.
He scanned the people around him with burning eyes.
“Is that him? No. Someone built like that can’t be Ttogass-nim.”
Long curly hair, a small face, glasses—he was actually pretty good-looking.
“I’m sure he’s on Floor 1, though…”
He frowned at the message floating in front of him.
Explore, Explore, Explore (8)
Meet Ttogass of the community.
* Caution: You must not directly say that you want to see him.
Time Limit: None
🎁 Reward: ???
He had already covered every part of Floor 1 except the maze entrance, and there was still no sign of anyone who might be Ttogass.
Well, the guy one-shots wyverns. Of course he wouldn’t be ordinary.
Just then the Golden Carriage team returned, quest complete.
The man adjusted his glasses, eyes sparkling.
“They’re here!”
“Where? Where is he?”
“It’s the Golden Carriage party!”
The first party to clear the quest strode into the square toward the gathered crowd.
Golden Carriage himself carried a crossbow on his back; blood was caked thick on his leather gear.
“You’ve all worked hard! We’ll head out through the portal first and inform the world of the current situation.”
“Waaaaah!”
“We can leave now?”
“We’re finally getting out…”
“We’re alive!!!”
It was obvious they had been through a brutal fight, yet every face in the party was bright.
The awakeners watching them looked just as hopeful.
Hope that they could finally escape this place swelled in countless eyes.
The number of people still hunting has dropped a lot.
The first awakeners who tried goblin hunting were already dead. The goblins were almost as clever as humans; the hunters fell into traps and simply vanished—corpses and all.
As if fanning that hope, Golden Carriage raised his voice again.
“Everyone! Last night, through the auction house—you all know about the wyvern meat that appeared!”
Something important was coming.
The man hurriedly opened the community window so he wouldn’t miss a word.
“The effect of that wyvern meat was incredible.”
He had expected as much. It was Ttogass-nim’s extreme poison, after all.
Like a reporter on deadline, he started typing into the community.
“The goblins who saw the poisoned meat went wild and charged.”
Had the wyvern meat tasted that good?
The goblin warlord that tasted it—
“The warlord tore into the meat, vomited blood, and collapsed. Cleaning up the rest of the trash after that wasn’t hard.”
If it could drop them in one hit, Ttogass-nim could have handled it himself.
A small pang of regret. He had wanted Ttogass-nim to be the first one out.
Some kind of one-sided closeness, maybe.
And it only made him more curious about the person called Ttogass.
“We’re going!”
“Tell Korea everything!”
“Waaaaah!”
Once they finished delivering the news, they stepped into the portal one by one. Each disappearance made the portal ripple.
“Everyone’s leaving now.”
A strange tremor ran through him. He was the type who couldn’t stand not knowing; the future felt both anxious and secretly exciting.
— Day 29 since entering the Illusion Tower. Golden Carriage team exits via portal.
The man who used the alias Local University Researcher was named Oh Minseok.
He typed the information he would leave for the community.
— You must complete a 10-stage quest to use the portal.
That was enough for today’s log.
“Doesn’t look like he’s here. Let’s try somewhere else…”
Just then a new group entered the square.
A man Oh Minseok had spoken with once before.
Name: Yoon Jaeseong. Sent by the government of the Republic of Korea.
Day 29 of tower life.
The clean suit and slicked-back hair were his trademark.
Not a single opening. Not one.
The second-highest bidder on the wyvern meat.
Behind him marched a dozen or so party members who openly declared themselves government-affiliated.
Why is he here, though? Golden Carriage just left.
Word was the government and the frontline teams didn’t get along. Yoon Jaeseong had tried to strong-arm them into joining; Golden Carriage and the First Mage team naturally pushed back.
Yoon Jaeseong addressed the remaining awakeners in the square.
“This is the government of the Republic of Korea. Effective immediately, the portal will be under our management. Please step back.”
He spoke as if whatever he did was automatically right.
“Our government will handle the new goblin warlord. We request the full cooperation of every citizen.”
That was his method—using the awakeners’ hope to snatch the points for himself.
Oh Minseok had wanted to post about it more than once, but he never could.
No matter how I look at it… that man is terrifying.
Sssshhk—BOOM!
“Aaaagh!”
A black mass slammed into Yoon Jaeseong and exploded.
“Combat ready!”
“Shields up!”
The government awakeners had fought together long enough that they reacted instantly.
Whoosh, thunk, thunk!
Whooooosh! Thunk!
A rain of arrows followed. The moment the team raised shields to protect Yoon Jaeseong—
Clang! The arrows bounced off harmlessly.
In that same span the non-combat awakeners scattered in panic.
Yoon Jaeseong already had a massive greatsword in hand, though he didn’t look good.
What? What’s going on?
Oh Minseok knew he should run, but he also wanted to watch.
Who would attack the government? Everyone on Floor 1 had already been confirmed Korean. So why?
Identifying them didn’t take long.
In a corner of the square he spotted four figures. The one standing in front—
“The First Mage?”
A new spell shot from his hand toward Yoon Jaeseong.
Saaaaah—.
Even from a distance the black sphere looked devastating.
KRA-BOOM!
The government team barely blocked it again.
After the brief clash, a lull settled over the square.
“Yoon Jaeseong! You don’t get to take it like that!”
“What the hell is this?!”
Oh Minseok’s mind spun under the flood of new information.
Government versus First Mage team—fighting over the wyvern meat.
He scribbled notes before he could forget.
Then the conversation continued.
“Snatching it like that—don’t you think it’s a little arrogant?”
“…”
“Why do you keep looking around? This isn’t Korea. Nobody’s coming to help you.”
Still no answer from Yoon Jaeseong.
“Fine. Don’t talk if you don’t want to. You’ll talk whether you like it or not.”
The First Mage prepared another spell. Tension flooded the square.
Wiiiiing.
Thud, thud.
The portal rippled, and a man no one had seen before stepped out behind Yoon Jaeseong.
Who’s that playboy?
What is this beggar?
Why is he walking out of the portal?
Exclamation marks practically popped over every head the moment the stranger spoke.
“Finally made it up.”
The man in the fluttering Hawaiian shirt spread his arms as if tasting freedom.
“Wh… who are you? Why do you look like that…”
“And who might you be?”
Shin Sihyun appeared behind Yoon Jaeseong, whose once-pristine suit was already ruined.
“I’m Shin Sihyun?”
The First Mage—Jo Taehoon—watched them both. Sensing an opening, he prepared a spell and launched it.
Sssshhk, fwoosh!
The instant I saw the magic flying at me, I cast.
Shield
Saaaaah—.
A violet barrier unfolded around us.
The magic bullet slammed into the shield.
BOOM!
“Urgh!”
Yoon Jaeseong, protected inside the barrier, groaned.
“Wait, this…”
Looking at the magic bullet that had made even my shield tremble, the first day I entered the tower suddenly flashed through my mind.
“You… you son of a bitch! Perfect timing! You’re that salaryman from back then, aren’t you?!”
Thunk, thunk! Thunk!
Arrows and spells kept flying even while he talked.
“Oh?”
Somehow the silhouette felt familiar.
The clothes—no, the gear—were different, but those hollow eyes made the memory crystal clear.
“You bastard! I’ve been remembering you this whole time!”
I recalled the second day after Jo Taehoon entered the tower—the incident by the sea.
The clueless-looking man who had vanished into the ocean had just walked out of a portal.
How?
Jo Taehoon’s question didn’t last long.
“Sleep Mist. Paralyze… huh?”
Psssssssh. Thud.
A wind strong enough to turn every woman in a skirt into Marilyn Monroe blasted outward.
The breeze gently swept through the government team.
Thud, thud.
One by one they collapsed.
Even Oh Minseok, who had been busy noting down the Hawaiian shirt, dropped inside the area of effect.
Thump.
“What, they’re out already?”
Everyone nearby was asleep. Their poison resistance was weaker than I’d expected.
I looked back at the salaryman.
“You made some friends in the meantime.”
“I thought you died back then. Guess not.”
“Thanks to you I went through hell.”
I planned to let him experience the same poison buffet I had enjoyed.
Fly
Whoosh, whoooosh!
I rose into the air and launched myself at the salaryman.
Paralyze Shot
Pang. Shuk.
I fired a basic spell from the intermediate grimoire—zero lethal force, pure paralysis.
“Suchan-nim!”
“Leave it to me!”
A man with a huge shield stepped forward to block.
Thunk!
Bullet met shield with a light ring.
The shield-bearer braced to charge the flying awakener.
“…?”
“Paralyze Shot. Paralyze Shot. Paralyze Shot.”
Block it if you can.
The mana-wrapped bullets burst on contact and spread paralytic poison. The radius wasn’t huge, but against people who couldn’t even react to magic, it was more than enough.
Thud, thud, thud!
The woman who had been drawing a bow, the salaryman, and the unknown man beside him all took direct hits at the same time.
“….”
“….”
Four men and women stared at me with round, unblinking eyes, unable even to close them.
I landed in front of them and asked,
“Why’d you do it?”
Honestly, I was curious.
I didn’t even know who this guy in front of me was.
Why attack me? It was the same question that had followed me the entire time underground.
“….”
“Answer.”
“….”
“Not talking? Fine. You’re getting a taste first.”
I pulled a specially prepared poison from my inventory—the one I had made for exactly this day.
The moment the poison appeared, a new message arrived.
Ding!
Dispose of the Impersonator
Eliminate Jo Taehoon, the impersonator claiming to be the First Mage.
🎁 Reward: ???
⚠ On Failure: Title of First Mage will be revoked
⏱ Time Limit: 01:03:45
“No way. It was you?”