The Boundary Between You and Me (1)

The first thing I noticed was the mission description. The second was the need to overcome the trauma lingering in the depths of my memory. I'd been so focused on the keyword "overcoming trauma" that I'd completely missed the actual details of the task itself.

'The fourth floor isn't a place made solely from my memories.'

If the fourth floor had truly been recreated only from my memories, as the mission suggested, then any location I'd never visited or any unfamiliar environment should have been impossible to manifest.

“Why didn’t I think that was strange sooner…”

I had never once set foot inside the hospital across from the convenience store. I’d only worked at the store right in front of it—I hadn’t commuted from the hospital, so there was no way I could know its layout.

“Hmm…”

Yet the hospital was fully realized, from the first-floor lobby all the way through every single area. The floors, the walls, the people in patient gowns, the hospital staff—everything was rendered with perfect clarity.

“Now that I look at it, the explanation really was lacking.”

I reread the notification window that had appeared when I first arrived here.

The mission itself was summarized with the simple objective of overcoming trauma. But reading the description again, I couldn’t help but feel it was far too incomplete.

“The moment your future is overturned, the door to the fifth floor will open…”

There was no concrete explanation like “when you overcome your trauma, your future will change.” In other words, regardless of whether the trauma was overcome, if the future changed, the path to the Tower’s fifth floor would open.

Seeing two explanations that didn’t converge on a single answer, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a clear error.

“Changing the future, huh…”

The fourth floor was my mission. Since I was the subject, if the being known as “me” didn’t exist in this world, that alone might mean there could be no further future.

Looking at it extremely, even if I simply died, the future would change.

But I couldn’t just choose death.

“Still, it’s not like there are zero options.”

A way to disappear from this world without dying. As my thoughts reached that point, a question arose: if I went to a space that no one who had entered the Tower could possibly know in detail, what form would it take?

The surrounding environment came back into focus. Hospital visitors strolling through the lobby, a few patients who had come out to greet them, and doctors in white coats passed by my side.

“A general hospital…”

I looked at the hospital directory and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠checked what was on each floor.

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

There wasn’t a single place in this building that human footsteps hadn’t reached. But there was one location not listed on the directory—one that people would normally never visit.

Step. Step.

I walked over to the information desk. The employee who had been working on the computer looked up with a smile as I approached.

“Hello. How may I help you?”

In response to her question, I clearly stated the location that had just come to mind.

“Excuse me. Where is the morgue?”

The place where bodies are temporarily kept before funerals and cremation. The employee, who had been smiling brightly, showed a brief moment of confusion at my question. She seemed to assume that someone close to me had passed away.

“The morgue is in the basement of the annex building. It’s next to the funeral hall—if you exit the main building and go to the right, you should find it.”

“Thank you.”

After hearing the employee’s explanation, I left the building without hesitation. Soon, a structure noticeably smaller than the one I had just exited came into view.

The basement of the annex. Unlike the relatively bright atmosphere of the main hospital, this place exuded a distinctly bleak aura that immediately signaled it was where the dead were sent off.

[MORGUE]

There were no staff members near the morgue. I couldn’t tell whether no one normally stood guard in front of the morgue or whether no one who had seen the fourth floor of the Tower had ever witnessed a guard here, but either way, it was fortunate for me.

“Huu…”

I carefully pushed open the firmly shut metal door. Whoever had visited the morgue in the past must have been too mentally distraught at the time—there wasn’t even a handle on the door.

Creeeak.

It was cold. Not just because the temperature inside the morgue was low, but because of the atmosphere. It felt more chilling than any place I had ever experienced.

‘That one…’

Drawers large enough for a single person to lie in were lined up along the wall. A place no living person should ever have to experience. I found an empty drawer among the long rows, grabbed it, and pulled it open.

And then—

As the drawer fully opened, warning notifications began to sound along with a loud alarm.

“So that’s how it is?”

Countless urgent-looking notifications began popping up before my eyes. But just as the Rabbit had said in the past, Constellations and Helpers could only guide players through coins and missions. They couldn’t intervene in events that occurred off the prepared path.

Seeing the mission that had suddenly appeared, I could clearly feel just how desperate the Constellations were right now. There was no difficulty level or theme. It was the bare minimum measure to get me out of here.

‘There’s no failure penalty either…’

All I had to do was do nothing and go back, and I would receive a whopping 100,000 coins. I was the one who had created countless victories through stat gaps. And now that I knew that was what a player’s Status truly meant, I couldn’t possibly be unaware of how valuable those coins were.

But.

“That just makes me even more curious.”

Why would these bastards pay 100,000 coins just for me to leave the morgue? The Constellations I knew were selfish, cruel, and extremely meticulous beings.

In other words, my entering this error-ridden space held enough significance for them to pay 100,000 coins.

Messages from the Constellations whose names had been mentioned several times began to appear. But what mattered more was that I had already laid my body inside the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drawer where corpses were supposed to rest.

And so, surrounded by countless messages, my vision slowly faded to black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was—bafflingly—still inside the hospital.

“What changed… huh?”

But it didn’t take me long to notice that the atmosphere around me had subtly shifted. The people in the hospital parking lot were slowly backing away from me. Some were secretly taking photos with their phones, while others were calling somewhere.

“Hello? Is this the police station?”

What was surprising was that even though they were quite far away, I could hear every word they said. I lowered my head to check my condition.

“Aha?”

A white cloth robe that dragged all the way to the ground. And the plain sword I had been carrying since the tutorial.

“Status window.”

The stats had returned to the state they were in after my awakening. The message about being expelled due to an error seemed to mean I had left behind my past body.

‘But this…’

When I checked the mission to understand the situation, I could only tilt my head in confusion.

Blank. Not once since the tutorial had there ever been a moment without a mission.

The very first skill I had obtained activated in that moment. But this time it didn’t stop at simply understanding the situation—additional messages appeared.

“Huh?”

I was stunned by the sudden growth of the skill. But once it activated, my head cleared and I quickly began organizing the current situation.

And at that moment—

The mission appeared blurry, as if filled with noise. But the moment I saw it, I instantly understood what I had to do.

This was Seo Seyeong’s space. And the best way for me to head to the next floor of the Tower was to find her and help resolve her trauma.

I looked at the mid-sized sedan visible in the parking lot. Then I carefully approached the car and placed my hand on it.

Grrrrk!

The vehicle slowly lifted with a sound like crumpling metal. The weight of the car body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was lighter than I expected, which felt strange, but I paid it no further mind and slammed it into another car.

Kwaaaaaang!

A tremendous roar erupted. But it wasn’t as loud as the collision of magic power I had experienced while climbing the Tower.

“Huuuup!”

I took a deep breath and concentrated magic power in my lungs for a moment.

The person I needed to find right now was the protagonist of this world—Seo Seyeong.

“Seyeong! Can you hear me!?!”

Spectators began appearing from all over at the sudden explosion. Sirens and screams echoed from afar. But I simply continued what I had to say.

“I’ve come to get you!!!”