The Contract

A Fallen King? What was that supposed to mean? What kind of contract?!

But the curiosity lasted only a moment. The mounting pain left me unable to think straight.

"Aaaargh!"

I stared at my hand.

"B-blood!"

Blood was welling up inside the recess where I'd pressed my palm. That blood was unmistakably mine.

Panicked, I tried to yank my hand free.

"Why won't it come out?!"

I strained with everything I had, but my hand wouldn't budge. The pain kept surging, and the veins in my hand swelled as if they were about to burst. My hand was turning blue. Before long, the recess was completely full.

Then my hand slipped free.

I stared at the hand that had come out. It looked like a lump of rotting meat. The pain was gone.

At that moment, the ground began to shake. And then came the endless drone of insects.

Wiiiiing—

The air around me was thick with swarms of flies. In the center of my open palm was a hole. A hole that didn't bleed.

The flies around me began swarming toward my hand. And every last one of them dove into that hole in my palm.

"Aaaargh! What the hell is this?!"

Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? An enormous swarm. One minute. Just one minute. In that time, the entire legion of flies poured into my palm.

When it was all over, I examined my hand. The color had returned. No blood. The hole in my palm gradually narrowed, and once it reached a certain size, it migrated to my wrist, then my forearm, then the back of my shoulder, where it settled.

And a single black mark appeared.

A spider wearing a crown. That was the shape of the mark.

I remembered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nothing after that.

Thud—

I collapsed.

Drip— drip—

I opened my eyes at the sound.

Where am I?

The first floor. I'd woken to the sound of water dripping from a stalactite.

I checked my palm. It was fine.

Was it a dream?

But the pain still felt vivid. Then a wave of dizziness hit me.

Climb.

What was that voice? I looked around. I was sure I'd heard a strange voice.

I must be in bad shape.

Thinking that, I walked toward the Tower's entrance. It had been a truly terrifying day. Deep inside the Tower. A swarm of about twenty bats. If not for the guard's tip, I might have been torn apart and eaten alive.

I really need to thank that guard.

When I emerged from the Tower, a beautiful sunset painted the sky. I spotted the guard ahead and called out to him.

"Guard, thank you. You saved my life."

The guard turned.

"What are you talking about?"

His brow furrowed slightly as he answered.

"Ah..."

The man who turned around wasn't the guard I knew.

"Is the guard who was on duty around noon still here?"

"I was on duty at noon as well."

My pupils dilated and my shoulders twitched. A chill ran down my spine.

C-come on, this has to be a joke, right?

Horror movies flashed through my mind.

"Come on, I've been having that guy check my ID for the past week. Don't mess with me. You scared me~"

The guard gripped his spear tightly, clearly furious.

"You think I've got time to joke around with the likes of you?"

"But..."

"I've been on guard duty for a week straight. Who exactly checked your ID? Did you sneak into the Tower without authorization?"

The guard's eyebrows shot up. He genuinely seemed to have no idea.

"I must have been mistaken. I'm sorry!"

I smoothed it over with that and fled back to the inn.

"How was today? Any good haul?"

The warm words of the innkeeper lady. Moments like this were a comfort.

"Ran into some bats and nearly got myself killed."

I said, shoulders slumped.

"Be careful. If you die, Ki-seok, one of our rooms goes empty~"

The innkeeper joked as she stirred a pot of stew. I went back to my room and lay down.

In my memory, there was clearly an altar, flies, and a hole in my palm. Retracing the events, I remembered the mark ending up on the back of my shoulder. I hurried to the mirror, stripped off my top, and checked.

"What the hell is this?"

There was a mark I didn't recognize. The mark looked like a spider… it was a spider. And on the spider's head—

A crown?

A crown sat slightly off-center on its head. I touched it, but it was just skin. It felt unsettling, but dwelling on it would only give me a headache.

Then my stomach growled.

I'm starving. Feeling weird anyway — maybe I should go get something good to eat?

Outside my usual restaurant near the inn. Aside from the free meals at the inn, I ate almost all my meals here. They had a dish I absolutely loved: a whole chicken roasted with rice and garlic stuffed inside, paired with fermented honey wine. That combination was pure perfection.

Ding-a-ling—

"Oh my, you're back again? What can I get you today?"

"Chicken barbecue and honey wine, please~"

"Got it, just a minute~"

The food came out. Delicious aroma and cool wine.

"Looking good, huh?"

I started shoveling it down. A little later, two short men walked in. They sat down and ordered fish and drinks.

That looks good too. Should I order some?

As I was eyeing their food, their conversation drifted over.

"Hey, brother. You hear? People keep dying in the Tower lately."

"People dying in the Tower? That's nothing new. Why bring it up all of a sudden?"

The short man with the long beard said dismissively, picking a fish bone from his mouth.

"That's not what I mean. They're not dying to monsters."

"What? So you're saying they got killed by people?"

This was getting interesting.

"Exactly!"

"How many died?"

"Seven, according to the investigation."

Seven people? Wanting to hear more, I took my food and sat down next to the short men.

"What's this? Who are you? Why'd you suddenly sit here? Get lost."

"Aw, come on, dwarf brothers, don't be so cold. Auntie! Three honey wines and two chicken barbecues over here!"

"Heh heh, this guy..."

The dwarves pretended to be put out, but once I ordered the honey wine, they stopped telling me to leave.

"It's on me today. Tell me everything in detail."

Once the food and drinks arrived, the dwarves got tipsy and started filling me in one by one. Apparently, murders happened in the Tower from time to time — because the Tower was cut off from the outside world. But even in the Tower, murder was strictly forbidden and punished by law. Lately, though, a lot of killings had been happening on the lower floors. On floors 2 and 3, excluding the first floor where guards occasionally patrolled.

"Why are they killing people?"

"You really don't know?"

The short-bearded man looked exasperated at my question.

"Money, obviously. What else would it be?"

"They're killing people for money?"

"The bodies were found stripped of all their gear, apparently."

I pressed on, frustrated.

"Doesn't the Tebe Kingdom do anything about it? People are dying like this and they're just letting it happen?"

"Actually, the kingdom's about to put out a request to adventurers soon. They're also posting more guards, but it won't be easy. The Tower's huge."

The short-bearded dwarf said. Then the long-bearded dwarf added:

"If they send in too many guards, the killers will notice and run. In practice, strong adventurers will have to catch them."

"Yeah, and there's some political stuff mixed in too."

I sighed.

"If you're worried, don't go into the Tower for a while. Even the first floor isn't necessarily safe."

"What are you fretting about? The first floor should be fine~"

"Thank you. Thanks to you brothers, I've learned some useful information."

"We're the ones who got free drinks. We're better off."

"Right, let's toast! Cheers!"

Stuffed to bursting and pleasantly buzzed, I returned to the inn and lay down. I'd eaten about twice as much as usual.

"Adventurer killer, huh..."

The Tower was dangerous. The first floor was a complete newbie zone with patrols, so no murders had happened there yet — but it could blow up anytime.

I should stay out of the Tower for a while.

But that resolve didn't last more than a few days.

I woke up hungry. I'd woken about an hour earlier than usual. Ever since the day I got attacked by bats, my wake-up time had gotten earlier. I was hungry, and I wanted to see monsters. I wanted to go beat up monsters as soon as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠possible. My appetite had roughly doubled compared to before.

Is there a beggar living in my stomach? Why am I so ravenous these days?

After finishing my meal, I started running around the neighborhood. The morning breeze rushing into my nostrils as I ran. Being able to run like this again felt wonderful.

"Hello!"

"Hey, running again today?"

The fish shop owner called out. I stopped running and jogged in place.

"You don't look the type, but you've got some serious stamina, huh? Need any Anka fish from our shop? It'll help you run even longer."

"If you give me a good price, I'll come buy some later!"

"Sure, sure, go on then!"

The Anka fish the shop owner mentioned was famous for being good for stamina. That's why he often recommended it to people who exercised.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Business is booming for him~

Lately I'd started paying attention not just to running but to strength training as well. Thanks to that, my stats had started climbing little by little. Even without hunting monsters, I could raise my level and stats. How hard must muscular Aiham have trained? With those muscles of his, his strength had to be beyond his level.

I felt good checking my stats in the status window. But this thirst — I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dying for monsters, and I kept wanting to go back to the Tower. Was hunting addictive too?

Today I'd go to just the first floor for the first time in a while. Even if a killer was active, they supposedly didn't come to the first floor.

I returned to the inn and got ready. At the Tower entrance, I peered around to see if that guard was there.

Hard to tell with the helmet on.

I approached the guard.

"I'd like to enter the Tower."

I carefully checked the face inside the helmet. It wasn't the guard who'd saved me.

"Why are you staring at my face like that? Creepy."

"Ah... nothing. Excuse me."

After a simple belongings check, I entered the Tower.

Finally, hunting monsters. My first hunt in a week.

"How long has it been~ My paradise."

Excited, I started smashing slimes. Ten… thirty… fifty… a hundred. Like a man possessed by hunting, I began massacring the slimes.

How much time had passed? I leveled up.

I put the free stat point into Stamina. Thanks to all the exercise lately, I was really feeling the benefits of Stamina. Higher Stamina meant I could work out longer.

Then suddenly a system message appeared.

A passive skill?! I hurriedly checked the skill window.

Breathing Master — looking at the name alone, the skill didn't seem to have much merit, but reading the description, I was stunned. Being able to breathe more steadily. That meant I could use my Acceleration skill more efficiently.

Feeling good about getting a solid skill, I was about to close the skill window. But below, there was another icon I hadn't seen before.

What's this?

Like Poison Coating, a skill that activated when clicked. I pressed it. A skill that shone brilliantly. With a picture of a mouth and a golden border, the skill's name was—