The Lower Floor Killer (1)
A Mythic skill?
The icons for ordinary skills had gray borders. But this one’s border shone a brilliant gold, like pure sunlight.
I clicked it for a closer look.
What? Was I seeing things?
Upgrade skill performance with magic stones?
This was… a total cheat skill!!
My nostrils flared as excitement surged through me. Finally! I was getting a broken skill of my own!
I thrust a fist toward the sky right where I stood, striking a victory pose, then scrambled to pull every magic stone I’d collected out of my inventory.
Hundreds of first-floor stones, carefully stockpiled to sell later.
I started deliberating.
Acceleration? Or Poison Coating?
After a long stretch of agonizing, I made my choice.
“I’ve been mocked for it long enough. I’ll prove with my own hands just how good the poison attribute really is.”
I pressed the Feed button beneath the Poison Coating skill and entered a quantity.
“Alright—one!”
I hit confirm.
Nothing happened.
“Haha… yeah, one was way too few, huh? Then five!”
Still not so much as a twitch.
“Ten!”
“….”
“Thirty!”
“….”
“What is wrong with this thing? Fifty!!”
The skill window remained utterly unchanged. My face flushed scarlet as I smashed the MAX button.
“Damn it! Take them all, then! All in!!”
I hit confirm and squeezed my eyes shut.
Please…
I cracked one eye open.
The skill window sat there, completely unmoved.
“You piece of dog-crap skill!!”
Irritation boiled over. I punched the floor.
“Ah—ow…”
Of course, the only thing that hurt was my fist. Scraped knuckles. I let out a short sigh and pushed myself up.
Yeah. Life was never going to be that easy.
Still—I’d gotten one useful skill out of it.
With that, I set off deeper into the first floor.
After a long walk, I reached the deeper reaches of the first floor.
That was when a scream cut through the air.
“Help me!! Somebody save me!!”
I broke into a run.
“Please! Help me…!”
A man was under assault from bats, doing his best to shield himself with his arms. Five of them. His wounds looked bad—he was one hard yank away from going completely bald, every last hair about to be ripped out.
I charged in and cut the bats down.
Steady breathing. Strength that hadn’t been there before. The bats didn’t look all that frightening anymore.
“Just rats with pointier teeth, huh?”
They almost looked cute. The corner of my mouth lifted as I struck even faster. My strength was more than enough to handle first-floor bats.
I finished off the bats and held out a hand to the adventurer. His eyes locked onto me like stars were about to pop out of them.
A little intense…
Then he opened his mouth.
“Thank you for saving me! Hyung-nim! My name is Henry!”
He suddenly bowed low. I froze.
“I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m Ki-seok. Come on, get up.”
I took the arm I’d offered and pulled him to his feet.
Lower body seems fine.
His injuries looked concentrated on his upper body.
“Can you walk? Let’s get out of the Tower first.”
“Yes, hyung-nim! You can drop the formal speech! I’ll serve you as my hyung-nim from now on!”
“Alright… wait—alright. Let’s go, Henry.”
In that same moment, two men watched Henry and Ki-seok from a distance.
“Tch. Let’s go.”
We left the Tower together, cleared the belongings inspection, and headed straight for a healer’s house. Healing from a proper healer cost more than I’d expected, but Henry’s condition was serious enough that I paid without complaint and got him treated.
“Bandages would’ve been fine. Thank you so much, Ki-seok hyung-nim.”
“Bandages, with you looking like that? Here—tell me bandages are fine.”
I gave a light press to the arm that hadn’t been treated yet. Henry tried to hide the pain, but a groan slipped out as his brow crumpled.
“Ah! Aaaah!”
“What’s with the ‘aaaah’? I’ve lived long enough to end up in another world and still never heard an ‘aaaah.’ Just get treated already!”
“Yes, hyung-nim…”
Henry, who’d been trying so hard to play tough, finished his treatment with his lips stuck out in a pout. Full recovery wasn’t possible—he’d need about another week of rest.
We left the healer’s and went to get a meal. There, I got to hear all sorts of stories about Henry.
He’d been born in a small village on the far outskirts, well away from Tebe, and had come to the city chasing the knights from his storybooks, determined to become one himself.
“So you can become a knight just by being strong?”
“Yes! Adventurers who climb high enough in the Tower can receive a knighthood.”
“Hmm~”
That was news to me.
So that’s why everyone risks death climbing the Tower?
A total life turnaround—literally climbing the Tower. I listened to Henry and knocked back some mead.
“Oh! That mead is a specialty of our village, too!”
“This mead? This is my favorite drink.”
“Our village is famous for it~ And we’ve got a brew that can even put those short fellows over there on the floor.”
Henry pointed at the dwarves at the next table, draining tankards bigger than their own heads. Apparently they’d overheard us, because they set their cups down and came over.
“You there! I can’t just sit and listen to that. You’re saying there’s a drink that can put me under? Where is it! Where!”
“Hahaha! Mister, the kid took a hit to the head. I’m sorry.”
I pointed at Henry’s bandaged skull and shot him a look. Henry hung his head like a scolded puppy.
“I’m sorry, mister. I was just talking big.”
“There’s no drink in this world that can beat a dwarf! At least not me! Wahahaha!”
Satisfied with the answer, the dwarf headed back. We finished eating in a hurry and left.
“Henry, take care of yourself.”
“Yes, you too, hyung-nim. Where are you staying?”
“That inn over there.”
I pointed at a building with a blue roof. Henry’s face lit up.
“I’m at that one! Our inns are right next to each other, hyung-nim! We really are fated—ow!”
I pinched the cheek of the bouncing, overexcited Henry.
“Go inside. See you later. And stay out of the Tower for a while—there are ugly rumors going around.”
“I couldn’t go in for a while anyway. Trauma. Don’t worry, hyung-nim.”
We parted ways, and I went back to my lodgings and fell asleep.
The next day.
Today was the day I’d been looking forward to forever—the bathhouse. I packed a small basket, soap, and a shaving knife and headed over.
I haven’t properly washed once since coming to this world.
It was true. Even wash water had to be bought separately, and at the inn the best I could manage was wiping down with a damp towel. Back in my old world I’d bathed every day—holding out had been torture.
I pushed open the bathhouse door.
“Welcome. Just yourself today?”
“Yes.”
“That’ll be thirty copper coins.”
Expensive! That was ninety slime jellies’ worth…
But nothing was stopping me today.
“Here you go. How does it work?”
“Enter through the men’s side, wrap a towel around your waist, rinse off first, then get into the bath.”
Even in another world, it was pretty much the same. Public hygiene concepts probably didn’t differ that much here either.
Thud, thud—
I opened the men’s entrance. About five people were already inside. I rinsed with water from a small basin and walked toward the bath.
There sat a long-haired man with a muscular back and copper-toned skin.
Damn. Those are some serious muscles.
I stepped into the water and, curious, checked his face—
“Aiham!”
“Huh? Is that you, Ki-seok? Here for a bath?”
“Yes. It’s been a while.”
It was Aiham. Of course—muscular men like that didn’t exactly grow on trees.
I wrapped a towel around my head into a pair of bunny ears for the first time in ages, leaned my shoulders back against the rim of the bath, and fell into conversation with him.
Simon had landed a major spice deal recently, and Aera was still asking after me these days. Old man Lu was apparently worn out looking after that tomboy Aera.
I shared my own stories too—how many slimes I’d killed, how many magic stones I’d gathered, and how I’d recently saved Henry from a bat attack.
Two guys talking in a bathhouse—before long we were friends, and the formal speech dropped away on its own.
“You’ve had it rough, Ki-seok.”
“Yeah, but I keep getting stronger. I want to get jacked like you.”
“Hahaha! Your muscles… well, not quite, but your posture’s better than before. You look more like a man now.”
“I started working out again lately. Maybe that’s it~”
“By the way—it’s been bugging me since earlier. What’s that mark on your shoulder?”
Aiham pointed at the spot on the back of my shoulder.
“Ah, this? The first time I ran into bats, I was running and found a hole in the wall. I fell through and got this scar~ Turns out the Tower has an underground, too?”
At that, Aiham just stared at my face without a word.
“Wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that? Hey, I’m not interested in guys.”
“That’s not it…”
He hesitated, struggling to continue.
“What is it? Just say it. What’s wrong?”
“The thing is… the Tower doesn’t have an underground.”
“What are you talking about~ I fell into one. You just don’t know about it, right?”
“I’m serious. In twenty-two years, not a single person has ever claimed to have gone underground. Not until you.”
“No—I really fell underground!”
Aiham still studied my expression like he couldn’t believe it. He clearly thought I was joking.
What am I, a novelist?!
“Then how did you get out?”
“How… I blacked out, and when I opened my eyes I was back on the first floor…?”
Hearing that, Aiham laced his hands behind his head and snorted.
“I’m telling the truth!”
“Of course you are~ Sir Ki-seok.”
This guy didn’t believe me at all.
But Aiham’s questions started raising doubts in my own mind. Had I just hallucinated and collapsed? But then what about the mark on my shoulder?
My head was a mess, but I soon let the thoughts go and simply enjoyed the bath. When we finished, we parted with a handshake.
Glad everyone’s doing well.
A good long soak behind me, I was already starting to miss the Tower’s monsters again. I decided I’d head back in tomorrow.
The next day, at the Tower entrance.
I was going through the usual ID and belongings check.
Thud-thud, thud-thud—
Heavy, booming footsteps. Ranks in formation, steps perfectly matched—
“Soldiers?”
That’s right. Tebe’s soldiers. Curious, I asked the guard. I’d gotten pretty friendly with this particular one lately.
“Guard, why are so many soldiers gathering all of a sudden?”
“Ah~ those guys? Don’t tell anyone else.”
He leaned in and whispered by my ear.
“Apparently murders keep happening on the second and third floors. Those are kingdom soldiers going in to find the killer.”
I’d heard the same thing from the dwarf brothers at the tavern.
“Doesn’t seem like a lone wolf, either. Whew—glad I’m not in that lot. Imagine trying to patrol the whole Tower~ Your feet would—”
“Be covered in blisters for sure.”
“Right? You get it. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me sick. Lucky I’m on gate duty this week.”
The guard sighed in relief. Stronger than me, and still complaining—his level was 11. That was Aiham-tier strength.
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Be careful if you’re heading up. Though you’re still only doing the first floor, right? Then you should be fine.”
I burned the image of the roughly thirty kingdom troops into my eyes one more time and stepped into the Tower.
I smiled contentedly at the loot. Another satisfying haul. The bats that used to torment me weren’t even a match for me anymore.
“Maybe I’ll roast some bat meat today?”
If I borrowed the inn’s brazier, I could grill the bat meat I’d hunted myself. When I brought back a big catch, I always shared some with the landlady.
She’ll like that, right?
Lately, even in this world, the number of people I could laugh and talk with had grown. I turned my steps around. I’d taken enough bats for the day—better get back and cook them before the sun went down.
That was when I saw them.
In the distance, four sturdy men who looked like a party. Three of the faces I knew.
Those guys.
The same faces I’d had bad blood with ever since the Adventurers’ Guild, all the way to the restaurant. One of them was the red-haired bastard who’d tried to kill me.
I dropped my gaze a little. To the weapons in their hands.
Dark crimson liquid clung to their blades.
“Blood…”
My gut told me the truth.
That’s not monster blood.
A moment later, our eyes met.