Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 52
Ha-yeon's voice suggesting they should start with introductions.
Seo-jin pondered for a moment, then chuckled softly as he recalled an old memory.
His previous life.
This was a memory from when he first met Ha-yeon, buried deep in long-forgotten recollections.
It was a completely chance encounter between two people who had no idea of each other's true identities.
***
38th floor.
A damn floor where only massive underground dungeons and caves existed like ant hills.
It was a crazy world where various tribes, each symbolizing different animals, killed and were killed by each other to fight over the scarce resources.
"Haa, damn it."
Seo-jin, who had been proceeding with a quest on the side of the wolf tribe.
Wearing a wolf mask, Seo-jin lay sprawled in a corner of the cave, completely battered and gasping for breath.
Around him were scattered the corpses of Insane Boars, summoned creatures of the herbivore tribal alliance.
Blood was pouring steadily from his side where he'd been gored by a boar's tusk.
His mana and stamina were both exhausted. He didn't have the strength to lift even a finger.
'Am I going to die like this?'
A life that had barely been saved after being rescued by his master, and now he was going to die miserably in such a dark cave fighting with a crazy pig bastard.
What a futile life.
It was when Seo-jin was lying there, staring blankly at the ceiling without even the energy to take out a recovery potion.
PAT-.
A rabbit mask suddenly appeared, blocking Seo-jin's view.
It was a figure from the herbivore alliance side, which stood opposite to the wolf tribe.
TWITCH-.
If he didn't want to die, he should get up immediately and fight, but Seo-jin didn't even have the strength to twitch his body.
However, contrary to Seo-jin's worries, the figure wearing the rabbit mask didn't attack him but instead crouched down quietly and asked.
"Are you still alive?"
The rabbit mask poked Seo-jin with a tree branch.
Seo-jin answered with an irritated voice.
"......Can't you tell by looking?"
"Aha, you are alive~ Amazing. Then is it okay if I kill you?"
The climbing quest on the 38th floor was a faction-based quest.
From her perspective, having chosen the rabbit tribe's side, killing Seo-jin would be an opportunity to gain more points and achievements.
Seo-jin spoke in a calm voice.
"No, don't kill me."
"You're begging for your life quite boldly."
"......"
"Actually, I wasn't planning to kill you. Where are you hurt?"
While saying this, the figure in the rabbit mask examined Seo-jin's body from various angles, and soon confirmed that blood was flowing steadily from his side.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"It hurts like hell."
"Wait a moment."
FLASH-.
The rabbit mask emitted white divine power and began healing Seo-jin's wounds.
At the time, Seo-jin had no way of knowing that the rabbit mask was Saintess Kwon Ha-yeon.
This floor wasn't even the top floor where the strategy team was active, and whenever she moved alone, she thoroughly tried to hide her identity.
Seo-jin asked the rabbit mask who was silently treating him.
"What is your reason for climbing the Tower?"
At Seo-jin's question, the rabbit mask's hands stopped.
As if thinking deeply, she stopped the treatment and became lost in thought.
Seo-jin had no idea at the time, but later he was able to hear Ha-yeon's inner thoughts.
Hanseong Group, one of Korea's leading conglomerates.
Many people had asked repeatedly why Ha-yeon, the youngest daughter of that chaebol family, would risk her life climbing the Tower when she lacked nothing.
To this, she had answered that there was actually no noble or great reason for climbing the Tower.
It wasn't to save humanity, nor to elevate the nation's prestige.
She had simply climbed the Tower because she hated reality.
The Tower was an escape she had chosen to get away from her damn father's embrace.
But even that Tower wasn't a complete refuge for her.
The reputation of being a Saintess, which she had gained to proudly claim that she was living well even after leaving her father, that she didn't need the successor position obtained with her brother's life as the price.
The weight of that reputation came to strangle her neck once again.
He had heard that the times when she could freely roam the lower floors wearing this rabbit mask were the most comfortable moments for her.
However, such inner feelings were not something Ha-yeon of that time had any obligation to answer to a man she had just met.
The rabbit-masked Ha-yeon asked curtly instead of answering.
"Why are you asking that to someone you've just met? Do you think I'll answer?"
"Anyone who climbs the Tower seeks an answer to that question. It's also the best question to understand what kind of person someone is."
"That might be true. But I think saying thank you should come first before asking questions~"
"......"
Just like now, Seo-jin at that time was severely twisted and could be said to be lacking as a person.
Although he had received Circe's education, she was also an eccentric, so she couldn't teach Seo-jin social skills either.
Seo-jin turned his head away, avoiding the rabbit mask's gaze.
"I'm not particularly grateful."
"Is that so? Then I'll be going."
The rabbit mask dusted off her hands and stood up in the middle of treatment.
Seo-jin pointed his finger at the back of her head as she was leaving.
"Come back and sit down. Before I kill you out of gratitude."
CRACKLE-.
The rabbit mask turned around and looked at the black electricity sparking from his fingertips, then chuckled.
"Are you confident? I'm not easy to deal with."
The rabbit mask shrugged her shoulders leisurely, as if ready to fight at any time.
It seemed the threat wasn't working.
Seo-jin frowned and raised his arm.
"Actually, I'm not confident. I don't have the strength to fight. I can barely lift my hand."
"......"
The rabbit mask looked at Seo-jin's trembling hand and shrugged.
"Alright, dishonest wolf mister."
She returned to her spot as if she couldn't help it and continued treating him.
"Then why are you climbing the Tower? Do you have an answer ready?"
Thinking it was her turn now, the rabbit mask asked Seo-jin a question.
Seo-jin closed his eyes and became lost in thought for a moment.
'My reason for climbing the Tower.'
This goes back a bit further.
When the Tower first appeared, it was very chaotic.
The Tower that appeared in the middle of Seoul took tens of thousands of lives just by its appearance.
Moreover, it brought another disaster: the first Gate incident.
The attack of monsters that invaded reality.
Young Seo-jin at the time lost his parents, but was coincidentally saved by someone.
That someone was climber Han Kyeong-cheol.
The first climber to set foot in the Tower, the first association president, and the father of current association president Han Seo-hee and her younger sister Han So-yul.
Afterward, Seo-jin also lived in an orphanage like Se-yeon.
Of course, it wasn't an unfortunate life like Se-yeon's where she was subjected to physical experiments, but it was enough environment for his personality to become twisted.
Han Kyeong-cheol later achieved various accomplishments and then left the world, but Seo-jin decided to become a climber following in his footsteps.
Seo-jin opened his lips while thinking of him.
"Because of the person who saved me. I climbed the Tower out of admiration for him."
"Aha."
The rabbit mask who had finished the treatment stood up.
"Then could I also become one of the reasons you climb the Tower? I just saved you."
Seo-jin looked at the healed wound area and the rabbit mask for a moment, then shook his head.
"......You're not quite at that level."
He was grateful, and she was indeed his lifesaver, but something was different.
For some reason, he didn't want to acknowledge it. He couldn't explain it clearly, but that's just how it was.
At Seo-jin's response, the rabbit mask poked once at the spot where the wound had been.
"What a rude and ungrateful wolf."
The external wound had healed completely, but the pain remained.
"Urgh, I'm used to that kind of evaluation."
Seo-jin, who groaned once, also stood up and asked for his benefactor's name.
"What's your name?"
Since he was currently penniless and couldn't repay her now, he wanted to repay the favor if they met again someday.
Even if he was too embarrassed to say thank you, he should repay the favor.
Seo-jin had some sense of shame after all.
The rabbit mask shot back in a mischievous voice.
"You tell me yours first."
"Lee Seo-jin. What about you?"
Instead of giving her name, the rabbit mask spun around and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.
And she left behind a teasing remark.
"You don't need to know, rude wolf mister."
It was much later that Seo-jin learned her true identity.
***
"......You don't need to know."
Seo-jin smiled slightly as he recalled her words from that long-ago memory.
Then he heard a voice from across the way.
"Oh my, then I won't tell you either."
"Then introductions are done. How many people are on your side?"
"Three. Two weak women and one man."
'Weak my ass, when you're like a bulldozer.'
Her physical abilities, blessed with divine power, were at monster level.
Even if her martial arts were terrible, in terms of pure strength, she probably wouldn't lose even against the Fist King.
Frankly speaking, if Ha-yeon were alone, she might be able to dig through that dirt pile and get out.
"Heh."
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. We have two men. One is a young child. Do you have a way to get out?"
"It's not completely hopeless. But I want to rescue the other survivors too. Would cooperation be possible?"
"How can I help?"
"Come here and share some mana with me."
"That won't work."
Seo-jin's outstanding magical talent allowed him to achieve maximum efficiency with minimal mana, but the total amount of mana was a separate issue.
If someone else used Seo-jin's mana, they wouldn't be able to achieve even one-tenth of the efficiency with that small amount of mana.
"Eh, surely you don't think your mana is too precious?"
"The efficiency would be poor. It would be better if you cooperated with me instead."
"What?"
Ha-yeon's eyes widened.
Even though she hadn't revealed her identity, here was a climber telling her, a Saintess, to cooperate with him.
It was surprising and somewhat amusing.
"Are you asking for my mana? Even if I gave it to you, you wouldn't be able to use it, would you?"
Seo-jin said.
"I don't need mana. I just need to be able to locate the others. Is that possible?"
"Yes, it's possible."
Divine power guides Ha-yeon to those who need healing.
The lower their health, the more dangerous their condition, the stronger the signal she could feel.
She could clearly see where survivors were anywhere in this mine, so finding their locations was no problem at all.
"If you just tell me the locations, I can go rescue them."
Ha-yeon answered in a skeptical, sarcastic tone.
"How amazing. Then could you rescue us first?"
"It won't be difficult."
Seo-jin looked toward Baduki, and his summoned creature barked loyally while casting magic.
GRROWL-!
Earth magic that exerted force as Baduki barked.
RUMBLE-!
Soon, earth walls rose from within the dirt pile, pushing away rocks and obstacles to create a new path.
A stair-like passage connecting the space where Seo-jin was and the space Ha-yeon had created with her cube was completed in an instant.
Since the distance was only about ten meters, it didn't take more than a few seconds.
THUD- THUD-.
Seo-jin walked down the stairs and faced his old connection and former lover.
"......"
Just like their first meeting, she was still wearing a rabbit mask.