Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 19
Tower 2nd floor's Chinatown.
Another name for the Thief Guild: 'Haomun (下五門)'.
The five forces that make up the sect. The main headquarters of Haomun, where the five pillars representing Cha (車), Seon (船), Jeom (店), Gak (腳), and A (牙) have gathered.
Oryonggeon (五龍殿).
In the deepest dungeon of that Oryonggeon, a man's lament echoed.
"No, little sister, I really didn't break it, so why are you being like this? Can't you trust your big brother that much?"
The one clinging to the iron bars and lamenting pitifully was none other than Shadowless Flying Hero Nam-gung Cheon.
Despite his cool alias that had spread throughout the tower, right now he was nothing more than a good-for-nothing older brother.
"Shut up. If not big brother, then who else could single-handedly destroy Black Snake Gang? Do you know how much guild funds come out of there?"
A woman in a black cheongsam dress that contrasted with Nam-gung Cheon's white prison uniform.
It was Nam-gung Rin, the guild leader of the Thief Guild and privately Nam-gung Cheon's younger sister.
"Ah, seriously. The one who destroyed Black Snake Gang wasn't me, it was some crazy bastard who uses Blood Magic. The gang members testified to that too, didn't they?"
The mysterious assailant who turned all the Black Snake Gang members into electric-grilled whole chickens and bound Nam-gung Cheon with Blood Magic.
That bastard was the culprit of this incident.
Nam-gung Cheon was just an unfairly wronged victim.
However, what came back to Nam-gung Cheon was only cold harsh words and sharp pain in his shin.
WHACK-.
"Shut up. If I say it's like that, then it's like that."
"ARGH!"
Nam-gung Cheon rolled around on the floor clutching his shin that had been struck by a high heel.
Nam-gung Rin looked at such a brother as if he was pathetic and continued speaking.
"Anyway... Big brother, go and catch that guy."
"That guy? Why should I?"
Nam-gung Cheon stopped his exaggerated whining and asked back.
Nam-gung Rin blew air to sweep away her bangs that were stuck to her forehead.
"The man who attacked Black Snake Gang. It seems like he's the person the Climber Association is looking for."
"Ah, that rising star?"
Everywhere he went, that was all people talked about, so his ears were practically calloused from it.
They said there was a monster who consecutively broke the records for both the tutorial and the 2nd floor climbing test.
"Yeah. His appearance matches, and he uses black lightning magic just like the information said. If we track down that person's whereabouts and provide it to the association, the reward money is 1 million gold, so we can cover this deficit with that. Big brother can catch him, right?"
The 500,000 gold bounty placed on Nam-gung Cheon. And the damage caused by the destruction of Black Snake Gang's 2nd floor organization.
Nam-gung Rin intended to collect all of this from her big brother without fail.
Nam-gung Cheon fell into thought for a moment.
'1 million gold.'
It was certainly a tempting proposal.
That amount would be enough money to eat and play around for a lifetime.
However.
"Why should I?"
He wasn't someone who was bound by money in the first place.
If he had coveted money, he would have continued operating the Thief Guild.
He was someone who valued unfettered freedom more than money.
But life is such that you can't live doing only what you want to do.
Nam-gung Rin, who held the key to control her willful big brother, spread her fan to cover her mouth.
"Why? Because I won't return big brother's confiscated items until you catch that guy."
Her smile spreading beyond the fan.
Nam-gung Cheon's lightweight clothing, including his daggers and throwing weapons, various elixirs and material items, were all in Nam-gung Rin's hands.
She had emptied his entire inventory while bringing him in, so she had no intention of returning anything until this matter was resolved.
"Little sister. If you take all my gear away, how am I supposed to catch that guy? That guy isn't ordinary, you know?"
"Be quiet. What can I trust to let big brother go if I return everything? And if expectations are right, that man's level is at most around level 20. He's only cleared the tutorial and 2nd floor. You play the chivalrous hero going around stirring up trouble everywhere, but you can't even catch that?"
At the mention of level 20, Nam-gung Cheon briefly replayed his fight with him.
'Huh? That guy's combat sense was definitely not at a level 20 standard.'
Setting aside the magic casting speed and power, the entire flow of combat itself was very smooth and organic.
A sense that couldn't be seen as a beginner's. But level 20?
Nam-gung Cheon scratched his head and thought quietly, then finally decided to accept his sister's proposal.
'Right, I have to chase that guy anyway to get back the iron ingot (Sword's Original) he took.'
That item was essential for refining the Uicheon Sword. He absolutely had to get it back.
If he could also get the bounty money from the association and reduce his sister's troubles, it would be a big gain.
Since she was his poor sister who was struggling to clean up after him.
And he had become a bit interested in that guy too. He should catch him and interrogate him a bit.
PHEW-.
Should he play the big brother role for the first time in a while?
Nam-gung Cheon wiped away his playful expression and hardened his gaze.
"Alright. I'll catch him and bring him back. But I have conditions."
***
CRACKLE-.
Space split apart with red lightning, and Seo-jin walked out from within it.
He had successfully climbed to the 3rd floor.
Seo-jin, who had come up to the 3rd floor using the teleportation stone, opened his status window to check the notifications.
[You have cleared the Bat Cave dungeon.]
[You have defeated the Vampire Bat King.]
[Achievement, Double Climbing has been achieved.]
[You have entered the 3rd floor.]
Messages floating up before his eyes one after another.
As Seo-jin was dismissing the notifications one by one, Hyeon-wol spoke to him.
[But who was that girl from earlier?]
"Hmm? Why suddenly?"
[You were treating her quite warmly somehow. Unlike your usual self.]
He didn't know how long she had been watching him to say such things, but it wasn't entirely wrong.
It was true that he had been favorable toward Se-yeon.
But he had no choice.
Se-yeon was the second close acquaintance he was seeing after his regression.
'She belonged to the strategy team but always acted alone.'
Even when party members recommended it, instead of participating in raids, she would go around slaying monsters by herself, so there was no particular friendship during the tower strategy period.
Still, after the tower's collapse, when dealing with disasters that appeared in reality, there were quite a few points of contact.
When Seo-jin made medicine effective against madness and left it outside the research facility, she would take the medicine and leave spoils of war and magic stones in that place.
Not even a tiger repaying kindness, really.
Anyway,
Nam-gung Cheon had to flee without proper conversation due to the circumstances, but Se-yeon's case was a bit different.
'Right now Se-yeon needs help.'
Whether she wanted it or not, he had become connected with her in this life too.
And once entangled, he didn't want to let things go awry like in his previous life.
Even without Seo-jin's intervention, she would climb the tower on her own, but the direction would be completely different from his previous life.
'Well, it's not like I did anything grand though.'
He didn't treat her warmly. It would only amplify her wariness.
But he didn't act completely cold either. Se-yeon was too young and precarious for that.
So Seo-jin maintained an appropriate sense of distance.
A bit cold, sometimes teasingly.
Just enough to make her want to chase after Seo-jin out of annoyance.
He also provided a shelter where she could rest briefly since she seemed to have nowhere to go, and created a small goal for her to pursue when she came to the 3rd floor.
He didn't know how much impact that would have.
If today's events could bring about even a small change to Se-yeon, who had been climbing the tower based on emptiness and hatred, then he had done everything he needed to do.
'But where is this place?'
Seo-jin looked around. The place where he had been summoned was deep in a dense forest.
If he had climbed the tower through the Tower Climbing Management Office, he would have arrived at a teleportation circle in a safe village.
But when climbing the tower through such a primitive method, you never knew where you'd end up. This was the biggest problem.
'The 3rd floor is mostly composed of jungle areas made up of tropical rainforests, different from the 2nd floor which has diverse vegetation and environments.'
Seo-jin identified his location by checking the types of trees and the ecology of surrounding weeds.
'It seems to be the monkey rainforest in the southeastern part of the 3rd floor.'
Fortunately, the climbing test site wasn't too far away. About 2-3 days on foot.
Considering that the total area of the 3rd floor was about the size of South Korea, he was quite lucky.
'The association... is probably still chasing me.'
Since the association was desperately searching for Seo-jin with fire in their eyes, it would be dangerous to continue taking climbing tests through the Tower Climbing Management Office.
THWACK-.
Seo-jin struck a large tree beside him with Mixed Origin Fist.
THUD THUD-.
OOK, OOK-!
Monkeys fleeing from the tree at the sudden impact and bananas falling down with thuds.
Seo-jin looked at the deeply carved marks on the tree's surface.
'Those tracking me are probably conducting searches focused on mages based on the magic I've shown so far.'
If he temporarily sealed his magic and used only martial arts through the Primordial Unity Technique, they wouldn't be able to identify Seo-jin.
This information would eventually be discovered too, but then he could just climb the tower through other methods.
'I could use necromancy or Blood Magic. Or maybe I should learn swordsmanship or spirit magic while I'm at it.'
Seo-jin bent down and picked up a banana that had fallen to the ground while thinking about various possible futures.
A deliciously ripe banana.
Seo-jin peeled and ate the banana while moving his steps toward the Tower Climbing Management Office.
***
Tower 2nd floor. The Land of Beginning.
Se-yeon carefully entered the village through a deserted alley.
Even after entering the village, she constantly checked her surroundings to see if there were any pursuers.
She still couldn't shake off her suspicion that Seo-jin's proposal might be a trap.
After hiding near the Blue Cluster Inn and watching for about two days, she found that there was nothing particularly unusual about the inn.
The people coming and going from the inn were just ordinary guests, with no particularly suspicious individuals.
Only then did Se-yeon lower her guard and enter the inn around late evening.
DING-.
The inn owner lady dozing off at the counter.
Se-yeon hesitated in front of her for a moment, then gathered courage and opened her mouth.
"Lee Seo-jin."
"Uh, uhm?"
The innkeeper who woke up from sleep frowned at the shabby-looking girl who had suddenly appeared before her.
"Who did you say?"
"Lee Seo-jin. A guest."
When the innkeeper frowned as if she didn't understand what this was about, Se-yeon added an explanation.
"Tall and weird person. Handsome."
"Ah, that person?"
The innkeeper clapped her hands as if she finally remembered who it was.
She soon pointed to a name on the guest list and spoke.
"Here it is. Lee Seo-jin. He threw a gold pouch on the counter for lodging fees and hasn't been seen for several days. Did you come to take over?"
Se-yeon silently nodded her head.
The innkeeper seemed pleased that this worked out well and modified the guest list while speaking.
"What a strange person. Saying he had received help before and giving money before leaving. The Choi family's soup restaurant said the same thing? It's definitely a face I've never seen before, but do you know him?"
"...I don't not know him."
He wasn't someone she knew, but he wasn't someone she didn't know either. She hadn't lied.
The innkeeper, who had been thinking for a moment, took out a gold pouch from the drawer and placed it on the table.
JINGLE-.
"...?"
"Just in case, I didn't touch the money. You get in trouble if you wrongly pocket stuff like this."
Se-yeon stared at the gold pouch.
Was this the gold pouch that man had thrown and left?
She could have pretended not to know and wiped her mouth clean, but she was an honest innkeeper.
After finishing her thoughts, Se-yeon looked at the gold pouch and asked.
"How long can I stay with this?"
"Hmm, about a month? Including meals."
'A month.'
She didn't intend to rest for that long. A week would be enough.
"I'll stay for just a week. The rest..."
Se-yeon was about to tell her to just keep it but stopped and closed her mouth.
Her mind had changed.
"Give me change."
Normally she would have coolly handed over the money, but somehow this time she really wanted to receive it.
It wasn't simply greed.
This was the first kindness from another person that Se-yeon had received in her entire life.
Let's start over from the beginning with this.
"Alright."
The innkeeper handed over change along with a key.
"For meals, come down to the 1st floor and breakfast and dinner are provided, and for washing, use the private room's bathroom. Be careful because hot water doesn't come out after midnight."
Se-yeon nodded and headed to her assigned room.
A room that was neither too spacious nor too cramped.
A modest room with only a table, wardrobe, and bed, but it felt strangely comfortable.
"..."
Se-yeon was about to examine the inside of the room for any potential threats but stopped.
'What's the point now.'
After that, Se-yeon washed herself clean in the bathroom and flopped down on the bed.
Since she had been moving constantly and had lost a lot of blood, the exhausted Se-yeon fell fast asleep as soon as she lay down on the soft bed.
It was the first deep and quiet night she had ever experienced, without the nightmares and hallucinations that always tormented her.