The Tower That Didn't Collapse (2)
Jo Insu stared out the airplane window on his flight to France, lost in thought.
The economy seat provided by the Likey Likey Function Guild had already been handed off to his attendant. He was comfortably seated in first class.
‘They actually sent me overseas.’
Jo Insu let out a short laugh.
He had gone along with it, but he had never truly believed this possibility would become reality.
He had already predicted that Likey Likey Function would dispatch him abroad. He had estimated the odds at roughly ten percent.
The most likely scenario, he thought, was that they would simply add him to the guild roster without assigning any real work or summoning him for duties.
After all, having someone of his caliber—the vice-guild master of Phoenix Guild—on their books could only be beneficial, right?
So he had dismissed the idea of an overseas assignment as unlikely. Yet they had done exactly that.
The moment he signed the contract, they had ordered him abroad right to his face. It was no different from a corporate transfer meant to pressure him into resigning.
“Lee Nayeon… I heard that woman’s temper isn’t exactly normal either.”
But that only made her more appealing.
The greater the challenge of taming a prickly cat, the sweeter the thrill of conquest.
“This might actually work out better. If she had been like those other women who fawn and wag their tails, I would have lost interest.”
He had heard and guessed that Lee Nayeon’s personality was far from ordinary, but he had not expected it to be this extreme.
‘Take a hundred billion and then tell me to get lost if I don’t like it? That’s not happening.’
He leaned back into the plush seat and crossed his legs with ease.
He planned to use his time in France for some recuperation while simultaneously creating troublesome situations for Lee Nayeon.
Whatever happened, the guild would ultimately bear responsibility, wouldn’t they?
He could decide the details once he arrived.
There was also the matter of forcing her to confront him in person.
Now free from the chains of SG Group and Phoenix Guild’s surveillance, he had become an unrestrained scoundrel with nothing left to lose.
‘She’ll eventually bow her head and beg for help.’
While he enjoyed French wine and the company of Western beauties on vacation, events would unfold on their own.
Yet something about the situation felt strangely off.
Of all the Magic Towers in the world, why Lyon Magic Tower specifically?
‘Out of so many countries, why Lyon… Is it mere coincidence, or is there intent behind it?’
Upon arriving at Lyon Airport, Jo Insu boarded the waiting vehicle. Beside him sat the head of SG Group’s French branch.
“Is everything prepared?”
“Yes, young master. Contact with the research players inside the tower has been established.”
“Good. Drop me off at the hotel club, then handle your own tasks. Drag things out as much as possible. Understood?”
“Of course, young master.”
The car sped across Lyon. The towering Magic Tower visible through the window pierced the sky majestically.
Loud music and flashing lights filled the club, yet the crowd was sparse.
Lyon was considered a major city in France, but the appearance of the Magic Tower had drained its vitality.
“This is rather disappointing.”
The stage stood empty.
He might as well drink wine and brandy in his room and sleep.
Gold-diggers approached the tall, handsome Jo Insu, dressed like a typical chaebol heir. He paid them no attention, and his guards sent them away.
However, one man standing among the women was different.
“What business do you have?”
The moment the guards moved to block him, they collapsed, struggling to breathe.
Startled, Jo Insu immediately assessed the man. He was registered as a player.
The mysterious man walked straight up to Jo Insu and spoke.
“You look terribly bored.”
Jo Insu twisted one corner of his mouth into a smile and glanced at him through the room’s mirror.
“Got something interesting?”
“Ah, of course. Something related to the mystery of Lyon Magic Tower.”
The man cut straight to the point without beating around the bush.
Jo Insu’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
“This is information that even SG Group and various government agencies don’t fully know—only a handful of high-ranking French players are aware of it. Are you interested?”
It seemed like a drug deal at first, yet the man offered something far sweeter than narcotics.
The guards, having regained their senses, tried to intervene, but Jo Insu waved them off.
“Very much so.”
“You’re aware that Lyon Magic Tower hasn’t collapsed even after three hundred days, correct?”
“Don’t tell me that’s the so-called mystery.”
“Haha, of course not. Furthermore, this tower has no daily entry limit. Unlimited access is possible.”
“……What?”
“If you’re interested in uncovering the tower’s truth and controlling its power for the greater cause, I could share more.”
Jo Insu smirked at the peculiar tone, but the man’s expression remained serious.
“A new era is about to begin.”
Jo Insu leaned forward.
“Tell me more.”
“Magic Towers do not collapse after three hundred days.”
“……What?”
“According to our research, when a tower collapses, it simultaneously generates new rifts across the world. However, some force has replaced that phenomenon with the appearance of collapse. The suppression began with Lyon Magic Tower. Mr. Jo Insu, haven’t you felt that players are no longer treated as well as before?”
“……?”
“Players have grown accustomed to tower climbing. They’ve become like civil servants. Those who once risked their lives to protect others now appear as people simply coasting through life, don’t they?”
“Hmm……”
Suddenly bringing up player treatment? What was his angle? Still, it was true.
Players had become increasingly familiar with climbing and more skilled, yet they had also turned into safety-first individuals.
With global big data on tower ascents accumulated, it had become quantifiable exactly how far one’s level—or a given party’s level—could safely reach.
Player mortality rates had dropped so low that jokes circulated claiming they were safer than police officers in American ghettos.
“The world needs to be normalized. Or rather, the suppressed laws of the Magic Towers need to be restored to their proper state.”
“Anyone in contact with Jo Insu?”
Lee Jiyu shook her head.
Choi Junseok immediately called Team Leader Kang.
“Yes, it’s me. What do you mean by an emergency situation?”
- Have you been able to reach Player Jo Insu?
“They say no.”
By now he should have arrived in France, yet there had been no word at all.
- It seems something is happening at Lyon Magic Tower.
At the same time, the item Choi Junseok had received as a reward for breaking the record on the fifth floor also seemed to carry some significance.
“You didn’t send him expecting him to properly carry out a player protection mission, did you? You sent him because it was a good chance to use an S-rank cheaply.”
Team Leader Kang hesitated, unable to deny the truth.
“He’ll complete the mission somehow anyway.”
- I wish it were that simple. We’re in contact with the dispatched research team, but they say they haven’t met Jo Insu. Only someone using his name showed up.
“Weren’t you somewhat expecting this? Aren’t you overreacting?”
- ……Just in case, it might be wise to pack your bags.
Team Leader Kang had also received confidential information about Lyon Magic Tower from various national intelligence agencies while handling matters related to Choi Junseok and Jo Insu.
And sure enough, the United States and France had immediately dispatched tracking teams.
‘There’s something. Something Jo Insu sensed that Korea failed to grasp. Or perhaps it’s all happening simultaneously by coincidence.’
While tension gripped Korea, Jo Insu had joined a new team inside Lyon Magic Tower in France.
“Our target floor is the sixty-eighth. We must remove the device that twisted the tower’s causality on the sixty-eighth floor of Lyon Magic Tower.”
Jo Insu replied in fluent English.
“Sorry, but this is my first time at Lyon Magic Tower.”
They chuckled, exchanging glances that said, ‘This guy really knows nothing.’
“It doesn’t matter. The laws of this tower are twisted, so we can reach the sixty-eighth floor in an instant.”
Jo Insu assessed the gathered players and tilted his head.
“You could reach the sixty-eighth floor without me just fine, couldn’t you?”
“Of course. We can reach it. The problem was that we lacked the card to break causality once we got there.”
“And that card is me?”
They burst into laughter.
“This bastard really came without knowing a damn thing.”
“What, did you just come here to drink at the club? We explained it to you.”
“No… We only told him enough in case he turned on us later.”
“Well, that was smart.”
“He didn’t even know about meeting the Sword God?”
“Sword God?”
‘Is he talking about Lee Nayeon?’
Jo Insu, who had no way of knowing about Yu Junhyeok residing inside Choi Junseok, could only make that assumption.
“You’re one of the very few Koreans who has met the world’s former number-one ranker.”
Contact with a Korean who had met Yu Junhyeok.
That was the only key capable of unlocking whatever had halted the secrets of Lyon Magic Tower and the world’s Magic Towers at the sixty-eighth floor.
And remarkably, Jo Insu was one of the rare players who had met the conditions to serve as that key.
“Enough complicated talk. Let’s move.”
Jo Insu elegantly summoned daggers, spun them, and gripped them before disappearing into Lyon Magic Tower.
They began ascending the tower at a devastating pace.
“Doesn’t seem like there’s anything particularly special. No need to scare people for nothing.”
“Then why did the Player Management Agency send him to France when they knew it could become a problem?”
At Song Hana’s question, Lee Jiyu sighed in agreement.
Sending that chaebol third-generation troublemaker on an overseas mission had been a mistake.
It would have been better to give him no mission at all.
“They must have done it without knowing. They say coincidence makes history.”
Lee Jiyu was surprised by Choi Junseok’s unexpectedly relaxed attitude.
With a hundred billion won secured and a way to leverage and circulate the funds, Choi Junseok had every reason to feel at ease.
The cycle that would place him on a mountain of money was now visible.
He tapped away on his phone, relaying his business plans and ideas to Team Leader Kang.
Essentially, he was telling them to secure the guild and prepare everything themselves.
“You look busy. Aren’t you giving them too much work?”
“It’s fine. They said they’ve hired a lot more team members recently.”
“Didn’t you say Team Leader Kang used to handle all the Function-related work alone?”
“Yeah. Though apparently it was only about five or six people.”
Lee Jiyu swallowed dryly at those words.
“Um…… Do you think they’ve also shared the plan to squeeze a hundred billion out of Jo Insu and sideline him?”
“Well… Jo Insu joining the Likey Likey Function Guild was going to be made public anyway, so…… they probably did?”
Lee Nayeon bit her lip, and Lee Jiyu’s expression suggested she now understood how the pieces fit together.
Someone inside the Player Management Agency had deliberately arranged for him to be sent to Lyon, France.
Since the reason appeared legitimate on the surface, Team Leader Kang had likely executed it without much thought.
It seemed increasingly certain that something was unfolding.
Lee Jiyu suddenly grabbed Choi Junseok’s arm and spoke.
Her eyes trembled, and physical contact like this was unusual for her.
“Junseok, contact Team Leader Kang right now and tell him to secure the entire Function team immediately.”
Choi Junseok, belatedly realizing the situation, bit his lip as well.
He had a feeling he would need to use the coordinate teleportation scroll after all.