Internal Conflict (2)
Choi Junseok was in a rather good mood.
It was because he had cleared another Magic Tower floor and the sixty billion won payment for the tower entry ticket Kang Jinsu had mentioned had come through. A total of sixty billion three hundred million won.
That wasn't all.
Lee Nayeon's Super Sonic model shoot fee had also been settled, bringing in another sixty billion four hundred and fifty million won. The sheer amount of money he had never touched in his life left him genuinely flustered, and his lips curled upward on their own.
“That's all tax, you idiot. You planning to pay it back?”
Choi Junseok crossed his arms and looked up at the giant.
Oh Geun-sik's physique was more than two heads taller than Choi Junseok's and bordered on monstrous. His body, honed by every steroid and drug imaginable, looked like it could produce player-level firepower even outside the towers. If a muscle golem ever appeared in a Magic Tower, Choi Junseok thought it would look exactly like him.
Even his footsteps were heavy, sounding like a golem walking.
Behind him, a trembling staff member was visible. The man was probably not a player—likely one of the people confined here for a set period, cut off from the outside world under the pretext of security. Quite a few players besides Choi Junseok seemed indifferent to the fact that many people were sacrificing themselves in the name of maintaining secrecy. And Choi Junseok had never particularly liked people with such rotten personalities.
That suited him just fine.
If the person who hates me is obviously a decent player, wouldn't that make me the villain instead?
“You little punk… Hey. What did you just say?”
“I asked if you're going to pay for what you broke. What if a fragment flew out and tore someone's eye? Stop tormenting innocent people.”
“……?”
Is this guy serious?
He was ranked ninth. Not some double-digit ranker within the top hundred, but a single-digit ranker. That meant he operated on a completely different level from ordinary players. He possessed power and influence capable of swaying national authority itself.
A one-man army, the core of tower climbing, the public's hero, the nation's future and symbol of hope and prosperity.
That was how he saw himself.
Because of that, Oh Geun-sik, who had never received this kind of treatment from anyone before, stood there dumbfounded, unsure how to respond. Choi Junseok continued.
“Sorry, but let me say this first—I have no interest in men. If you want an autograph, take a number and wait in line.”
The thick veins on the man's neck bulged.
“This bastard's lost his mind……”
The moment a nearby staff member, watching anxiously, pressed the emergency button, police officers who had been waiting inside the hall rushed out. Dressed in dark black uniforms reminiscent of special forces, they carried shields and firearms.
“Stand back!”
The special forces officers weren't trying to separate the two. Their objective seemed to be strictly protecting Choi Junseok.
“Protect the VVIP!”
Swish!
In an instant, the security team surrounded Choi Junseok, raising shields and tranquilizer guns to block Oh Geun-sik's approach.
Oh Geun-sik's eyes widened even further at the sight. The other players in the vicinity, drawn by the commotion, reacted the same way.
“……?!”
“Stand back! If you come any closer, we'll open fire!”
The officers approached from both sides with bulletproof shields, clearly intending to stop Oh Geun-sik. Their words implied that Choi Junseok had higher protection priority than the ninth-ranked Oh Geun-sik.
“You… you bastards… Do you even know who I am?”
Choi Junseok looked at Oh Geun-sik with his arms still crossed.
“Why would I care?”
“I'm the Crusher, Oh Geun-sik, ranked ninth, you bastard!”
“So?”
“……?”
“So what? Are there any non-rankers here?”
“You little punk who crawled out of nowhere……”
BOOM!
A single rock shot past Oh Geun-sik and embedded itself in the wall. Because it had been summoned with rotation and acceleration, Oh Geun-sik, without the tower's corrections, couldn't even tell what had passed him. He only knew it wasn't a bullet or tranquilizer dart.
It was because a golden ripple, like a tower skill, had appeared beside Choi Junseok's head.
“……?!”
The man touched his cheek and felt hot blood flowing.
“If you have something to say, use words, you bastard. Don't howl like an animal.”
Oh Geun-sik, still dazed, considered the situation. If whatever had grazed his cheek had struck his forehead instead, he would have died instantly.
Following the stunned gazes of the onlookers, Oh Geun-sik turned to look behind him. Every player and special forces officer in the lobby was staring at the wall in shock.
When Oh Geun-sik finally checked the wall himself, his mouth fell open. A deep crater had been gouged into it, as if a massive hammer had struck it.
“You can pay for that too.”
─┼
Players couldn't believe what they had witnessed earlier that day.
Everyone knew where Oh Geun-sik's distrust and anger toward Choi Junseok came from, but—
“……He can use abilities outside the tower?”
“Does that make any sense?”
“Dude, since when has anything about the towers made sense?”
“Things we thought were common sense become nonsense in an instant, and nonsense becomes common sense overnight when it comes to towers, right?”
“Even so, is something like that possible? He wounded Oh Geun-sik's cheek in an instant and left a mark on the wall.”
“Is it a government summon?”
Everyone's attention was now focused on Choi Junseok's performance in the lobby.
Meanwhile, Choi Junseok had collapsed onto his bed in his room, looking utterly drained.
“Damn… I was scared shitless.”
If the special forces hadn't suddenly appeared to block the way, he honestly wouldn't have been confident. Would his legs have been shaking? Actually, he thought he'd managed to look pretty natural.
Throwing the first punch at a UFC champion was something he could never have done without the special forces intervening. That giant would have gone down if hit with a tranquilizer dart anyway. Plus, it was a good opportunity to imprint on people exactly what kind of existence he was.
Ending unnecessary conflicts had always been a matter of overwhelming power and force.
Surprisingly, the man hadn't been as terrifying as expected. Maybe it was because he had the unshakable confidence that Lee Nayeon and Song Hana, those two absurdly powerful beings, would protect him at any moment.
But it wasn't just that. Ever since climbing the towers, his nerve had grown far stronger than before.
Honestly, no matter how scary that guy is… he's not scarier than watching a Holy Sword drop right in front of me and imagining the aftermath.
He was the same person who had felt his entire body melting from the heat of the Holy Sword's aftershock while climbing the lower floors. Having dealt with power he couldn't even control right before his eyes, it was only natural that his courage had grown.
His actions unintentionally fueled more misunderstandings and rumors about him.
Whether in the gym or the cafeteria, players only stared at Choi Junseok from afar. They didn't dare speak to him, let alone approach.
Amidst this, the first person to approach Choi Junseok was none other than Kim Cheol-gon, leader of the top-floor raid team.
He suddenly bowed deeply in front of Choi Junseok, who had just finished working out.
“I sincerely apologize on behalf of my team member for his rudeness.”
His forehead nearly touched his knees. Choi Junseok smiled and replied that it wasn't necessary.
Team Leader Kim Cheol-gon bowed so low his waist nearly touched the ground. The gesture carried significant implications.
“It's fine. Please stand up. Shall we talk?”
“How can I possibly make amends for today's rudeness……”
If he wanted to resolve his suspicions and questions through normal conversation, Choi Junseok had no reason to refuse. It was a misunderstanding that needed clearing up eventually anyway. How unfair would it be if people suddenly started saying he was a tower summon?
At the coffee bar in the lounge overlooking the Player Residential Village and the surrounding forest, with the distant skyline of high-rise buildings visible, the conversation between Kim Cheol-gon and Choi Junseok was nothing short of extraordinary.
His very first words weren't an apology, nor an attempt to probe his identity or gauge his strength.
“Please join our top-floor raid team.”
He said this before they had even sat down or received their coffee. This man seemed to have quite the impatient personality.
“All of a sudden?”
“I heard the rumors about the summon. If you're a government summon… until the day your life ends……”
Ah.
Choi Junseok chuckled.
So that's why he came after hearing that rumor.
After all, if someone could display that level of ability outside the tower, it made the most sense to assume it was a summon skill beyond the level of ordinary items.
“I'm sorry, but I'm not a summon.”
“……You're not?”
“It's just the effect of a defensive item I happened to obtain in the tower.”
A plausible excuse, appropriately mixed with truth.
“Then you really are a secret weapon-level player the government has been hiding.”
Choi Junseok had only suspected as much, but hearing someone actually say it left him somewhat flustered. Just how were the rumors about him spreading in this world?
“There's also a rumor that Choi Junseok is Function.”
……Oh. Sharp.
However, Choi Junseok simply smiled leisurely and nodded.
“Function is indeed a player managed by the government.”
“…So you don't know who it is.”
“Does anyone actually know?”
Choi Junseok shrugged. He was merely fanning the flames of the rumors about himself that would spread through this raid leader's mouth.
Of course, the opinion that he wasn't Function would spread. But the only thing that would grow was the rumor that Choi Junseok, a secret government weapon, was a hidden asset of the Player Management Agency.
After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Kim Cheol-gon nodded as if he understood the picture.
“Trying to find out would be dangerous. Calling you a government secret weapon would be rude. Is the reason government players aren't being deployed to the upper floors because the agency believes players haven't reached their limits yet?”
“……”
How should he answer this? It was the kind of question where saying the wrong thing could cause serious trouble.
These were people risking their lives to break through the front lines of the towers for Korea, after all.
Unable to answer, he simply stared into the man's eyes. Once again, Kim Cheol-gon nodded as if he had figured it out himself.
“I understand. I see. The agency must have decided they can't reveal their important assets to the world when they're only in the sixties.”
So he's someone worth protecting even at the cost of sacrificing several top players and rankers.
Recalling Choi Junseok, Lee Nayeon, and Song Hana, Team Leader Kim Cheol-gon nodded.
“Could you tell me your current climbing rank?”
“……It's classified.”
Given the atmosphere, he couldn't exactly say he had just left the lower floors and was about to challenge the twenty-seventh floor today. More than anything, that would be advertising that he was Function.
“Since there aren't many government players like me, they probably think there's no need to deploy us directly to the upper floors yet. That's just my personal guess, of course.”
Many other questions were exchanged, but Choi Junseok mostly stayed silent or denied things while Kim Cheol-gon nodded or added his own interpretations.
After nearly thirty minutes of what felt more like an interrogation than a conversation, Kim Cheol-gon belatedly realized his attitude had been closer to an interview or interrogation than a dialogue. He straightened his posture as if trying to restrain himself.
“I apologize for my rudeness.”
“I already knew there was dissatisfaction about me among the players, so it's fine. I hope that through this conversation, any misunderstandings or conspiracy theories about me will be cleared up through you.”
“Of course. Thank you for your time.”
Just as Choi Junseok was about to relax slightly and return the greeting, another bombshell came from Kim Cheol-gon's mouth.
“There may soon be a major rift in the player community. I hope… you don't lose your balance in that chaos.”
With that, he hurriedly left without waiting for a response.