The Bound Guardian

Seoul, Jamsil.

Behind the Tower of Despair.

"Hah… hah…!"

"Hooo…!"

A six-person climbing party had emerged and was catching its breath.

"Aigoo, I'm dead!"

They were so spent that their clothes clung to them in sodden rags of sweat, and a few of them were still bleeding. Yet what sat heaviest on their faces was not exhaustion, but a deep, hard-earned sense of accomplishment.

"Hell yeah! Four days!"

Jeong Da-wit was the first to speak. He flopped onto his back in a sprawling star and laughed up at the sky.

"Isn't this insane? We cleared the eighth floor in four days!"

It had been a brutal forced march. Hyun Si-woon's strategy guide had clearly laid out intermediate safe zones and rest timings, but they had not rested. The single thought of how the seniors on Team 1 would look at them had driven their bodies forward. They had cut sleep, then abandoned it entirely, clearing undead through the night with bloodshot eyes and bypassing the Gorge of the Dead. Every time they hit a wall they had goaded one another on and shoved each other from behind.

Team 1 will be way faster than us.

If we rest here, we fall behind.

Hang on with pure grit!

Even if we can't win, we at least can't let the gap get ridiculous!

That stubborn pride and spite had produced a miraculous four-day record.

"The martial arts helped, sure, but I never thought knowing the strategy would matter this much. That nightmare gorge actually felt easy."

"Facts."

"Honestly, when they see our time, won't the Team 1 seniors be surprised?"

"Maybe we even beat them?"

Bok Dong-jin said it with hopeful energy in his voice.

"Come on, hyung. No way. Us, against those monsters?"

Jeong Da-wit laughed and waved it off, but Bok Dong-jin was serious.

"Monsters, sure—but we ran ourselves into the ground. They probably strolled through it, right? So literally, maybe we did win."

"Huh…?"

That was when a blank, stunned sound slipped from Han Ji-yoon, who had been half-listening while she scoured the community boards.

"What's wrong?"

"What is it?"

Yoo Jin-hyeok sensed something off and asked.

Han Ji-yoon muttered,

"Um… Team 1. It looks like they already cleared the eighth floor two days ago?"

"What?"

"…?"

Silence fell. Everyone opened the community at once. Sitting proudly at the top of the BEST list was a post.

"Insane."

"Two days?"

"Is that even physically possible?"

Jeong Da-wit sat bolt upright. They had risked their lives to clear it in four days, and those people had done it in two? That made no sense. Even in a car you wouldn't hit that speed.

"Damn it—so they noticed us and went just as crazy? Still, by any normal logic that record is impossible."

"They're the kind of people normal logic doesn't apply to. Let's report our clear to Owl before we fall even further behind."

The leader, Yoo Jin-hyeok, rallied the members. They were still comforting one another, eating, and focusing on recovery when—

"Um, Leader?"

Han Ji-yoon's voice dumped cold water on them again. It shook far worse than before.

"There's another breaking post."

"What now?"

"…Ninth floor clear."

"What?"

Everyone instinctively opened the community and searched.

At the same time—

"…"

No one could speak. While they had been fighting for their lives on the eighth floor, the others had already finished the ninth? Yoo Jin-hyeok, who knew the ninth floor's complexity better than anyone, sat with his mouth hanging open.

"How did they do that?"

"Is there video?"

"Uh… nothing separate posted yet."

"…"

Jeong Da-wit's face went vacant. He had known there would be a gap. He had never imagined it would be this vast.

"…Should we just take it slow?"

"Right? If we'd known, why the hell did we kill ourselves running?"

"Hahaha."

The members collapsed flat on the ground. Yoo Jin-hyeok nodded.

Admit what you have to admit.

They could never catch up. There was no longer any reason to force a time attack. Clearing safely according to the guide was far better—especially on the infamous ninth floor.

"Alright. Let's rest a bit, memorize the strategy, do some lock-drill mock tactics, then head in."

Six hours passed. Yoo Jin-hyeok and his teammates had recovered some strength and were drilling the Mirror Labyrinth strategy for the ninth floor, building their tactics.

"Leader, for this section I should enter first and draw aggro."

"No, Da-wit hyung. Too many traps here—I should go first…"

In the middle of their fierce debate—

"Wait."

Han Ji-yoon's trembling voice cut through again.

"A video just dropped."

"Video?"

"Don't tell me…?"

As if entranced, every gaze shifted to the top of the board. Two posts that had just gone up were climbing recommendation counts at a mad pace.

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

"Whoa."

"Just watch it first!"

"Exactly. We've been dying to know how they cleared it."

Mock drills could wait. Checking those videos came first.

A few minutes later—

"Huh."

"They're insane…"

Awe burst from every mouth unbidden.

"They didn't even bypass the gorge—they punched straight through the middle?"

Awe settled over them. To carve through that vision of hell like it was a highway…

Could we do that?

No. That strategy only worked because of the wide-area skill used by the Saintess, Baek Do-hee. Saint's Prayer was super-effective against undead.

But.

The members of Team 2 knew the truth. Baek Do-hee's ability was broken, yes—but the person who had thought to use it by charging into the heart of the gorge was someone else entirely.

Hyun Si-woon.

No one else.

A conductor who can take the finest instrument called a Saintess and draw a perfect symphony from her…

It had to be a first. Even in the game Tower of Despair he would never have tried it. And yet he had carved it open clean, without a single error.

So that's what it means to be EndSeeker?

Yoo Jin-hyeok shuddered.

"Keep watching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ninth-floor video too."

Better than any mock drill was seeing the environment with their own eyes—which fragment of which mirror had to be broken to shatter the illusion, and so on. Of course Team 2 already knew. They had studied it. But knowledge in the head and knowledge seen with the eyes were different dimensions. Standing before thousands of shards, the atmosphere alone could overwhelm you until you no longer knew which was the third and which was the seventh. Panic, and mistakes became inevitable. So they all fell silent and drank in every frame of Jang Cha-yul's footage.

At that same moment.

The entrance to the Tower of Despair in Jamsil was even more crowded than before. Under the guidance of the Executors a snaking line of people waited, and through the heart of that chaos a party of six cut across with easy, unhurried strides.

"Ohh!"

"That's the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Pioneer Party!"

"They're going in again! Again!"

"Insane…! Are they really pushing for the tenth floor?"

"Another level entirely."

Cheers, reverence, and envy tangled together in the shouts that followed them. Strength was one thing; the VIP treatment from the Executors that let them skip the line was envied just as much.

"Dragon Savior-nim! Fighting!"

"Please film video again this time!"

"Whoa, Bear-tank, you look even more like a bear in person!"

Of the members only Baek Do-hee flushed and waved to the climbers; the rest wore rigid faces, too tense for the weight of all those eyes to even register.

Tenth-floor boss.

Rex, the Bound Watchman!

Every ten floors of the Tower of Despair demanded the slaying of a final-boss-class beast. Where earlier floors meant exploring vast maps—forests, prisons, gorges, labyrinths—and hunting hidden routes, the tenth floor had none of that process. Only one enormous chamber. And in the center of that chamber, a single final boss.

We can do this.

Originally Hyun Si-woon had planned to use Noe-je's manifestation. It would have ended the moment they stepped inside. An ancient Ranker given a full thirty seconds—how could a mere tenth-floor boss survive that?

But he had decided against it.

Power that is too overwhelming becomes poison that stunts growth.

In the previous regression the party had cleared the tenth floor with Yoon Seo-a and without his help. That meant they could clear it now without Noe-je as well.

Besides.

Hyun Si-woon intended not to use Noe-je inside the tower at all going forward. Rankers of unknown identity still lurked near the tower. He did not know why they remained, but from what the members had said in the last loop, they had encountered a few Rankers.

They said they survived by dropping to their knees and begging for their lives.

That was not something his temperament would allow.

Noe-je stays reserved for Ranker combat.

Lost in those thoughts, he found himself standing before the main gate of the tower. An Executor pointed with its scythe, and the doors slammed open.

"Everyone ready?"

Hyun Si-woon asked. The members nodded. Even now they were still repeating and memorizing Rex's patterns.

"Then let's go."

It was time to meet the master of the tenth floor.

When they opened their eyes, a vast circular altar stretched before them. Fastened to the central pillar that rose from its heart, the ferocious beast Rex slept in chains.

From the waist up it was a black panther; from the waist down, a man. Half-man, half-beast. Over its massive frame, sharp angular carapace covered every surface.

Footfalls.

The members entered the altar without a word. That was the Phase 1 start condition—when the arriving party stepped onto the altar.

A burst of light.

The pattern etched into the altar began to glow, and with a deep rumble Rex's eyes slowly opened. The members swallowed dryly under its pure-white, pupil-less gaze.

"Move. Yeon-ho hyung first."

"Okay!"

Baek Yeon-ho sprinted forward with his shield raised. He would have to tank.

Phase 1 is Discord.

Hyun Si-woon's eyes sharpened. Bound to the pillar, Rex could only perform limited attacks—slamming its forepaws down, unleashing a sonic breath from its maw.

But because of the resonance carapace covering its body, no attack lands.

A so-called invincible state. To break it they had to solve the room's gimmick: among the six resonance crystals set into the outer walls, smash the two that rang with a different tone when struck. It was a gimmick that demanded serious teamwork.

"Everyone to your positions!"

"Yes, hyeong-nim!"

"Got it!"

The members scattered—twelve o'clock, one, three, six, seven, and nine. With Baek Yeon-ho planted in front of Rex, Hyun Si-woon had to cover both twelve and one himself.

—Grrrrrr!

Rex's pure-white gaze locked onto Baek Yeon-ho.

Rex always recognizes and attacks the one standing directly in front first.

That was the pattern—until Hyun Si-woon frowned.

"Huh?"

With a grinding noise, the gaze that had been fixed on Baek Yeon-ho twisted in a deeply unnatural way, as if a machine were forcibly cranking its head around. Slowly. Obsessively. The stare slid past Baek Yeon-ho, raked over Hwang Dae-un, Jang Cha-yul, Kang Si-a, and Baek Do-hee in turn—an eerie motion as if it were scanning every party member's data one by one.

And at last, Rex's gaze stopped on twelve o'clock—on Hyun Si-woon.

Me?

A chill ran down Hyun Si-woon's spine—

A flash.

The seams of the carapace covering Rex's entire body split open, and the pure-white energy sealed within erupted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠outward. At the same time its eyes began to stain another color—radiant, overwhelming gold.

A brand-new pattern never once seen in Tower of Despair.

What the hell is this now?