Ji-Hoon became speechless as he had believed his leader was the strongest in all five villages.
Chae-Yeong noona is…
He had expected that the match would end quickly, but didn’t think the winner would be someone else. Although he could imagine someone swinging another person as a weapon, it was a completely different matter to witness the scene with his own two eyes. The Human Calibur’s two victims, who were now covered in blood, had collapsed on the floor.
“Listen to me,” Seon-Hu said.
“Huh?”
Seon-Hu continued, “I’m not going to say anything about you pulling a stunt to survive, but grow up. If you continue acting like that, you will die soon.”
“You are saying that because of your leader…” Ji-Hoon hastily came to an abrupt halt because he had just realized the reason why the central village had a number of survivors as the single-armed man was walking toward him.
“That girl made it harder, but I guess it wasn’t too bad. Who is this?” Seong-Il asked Seon-Hu about Ji-Hoon.
“H…hello, hyung… I’m umm… so… I’m …” Ji-Hoon stuttered as he couldn’t take his eyes off of the blood dripping from Seong-Il’s hand. The agitation from the battle still lingered on Seong-Il’s face. When he tried to give Ji-Hoon a nice smile, the awkward curve of his lips made a chill run down Ji-Hoon’s spine.
Seon-Hu smiled slightly. “Anyway, try your best to survive. Good luck. And.”
“What?”
“It would be good for you not to pretend to know me again. Now, get the fuck out of my face.” When Seon-Hu continued to speak in a cold tone, Seong-Il’s awkward smile slowly disappeared.
“Who is that?” Seong-Il asked while looking at Ji-Hoon, who was leaving as if he was running away. However, Seon-Hu didn’t respond as Ji-Hoon wasn’t worth paying attention to.
***
The single-armed man who had defeated Chae-Yeong noona and the strong-looking leader of the other village had walked on eggshells in front of Seon-Hu. Then, he brought the single-armed man and the woman who seemed to be in a high position into the tower, and they immediately reappeared with rocks in their hands. They looked different from when they had confidently walked in the spire. The single-armed man and the woman were groaning as if they were dying.
“The time that passes in there is different than here. Keep that in mind when you make a plan. I can finish it if you leave it alone, but I’ll leave it to your decision. But! One door per floor is mine, so make sure no one touches it.”
None of the central villagers made a noise in complaint.
“Also, make sure you guys accompany an attack squad when going in there.”
The people from the other villages were closely looking at the reaction of the central villagers.
What is it? What is it?
Ji-Hoon watched the scene from afar, then suddenly rummaged through his backpack. He took out two cigarettes that he had cherished from the iron box, then walked around busily. He needed to find a central villager who was easy to approach.
He greeted, “Hello.”
“Who are you?”
The man looked at Ji-Hoon with eyes full of wariness. The sword in Ji-Hoon’s hand was more sophisticated than the man’s weapon, and it looked like Ji-Hoon was equipped with eight items. Above all, the other man’s eyes were filled with confidence in his ability.
“I’m from the west, and I had ranked fifth there. Do you smoke?” Ji-Hoon asked.
“Why are you asking that?” the man asked.
Ji-Hoon handed the man a cigarette, “If you do, then…”
“Ah, I appreciate it.”
The man looked around before taking the cigarette. Then he carefully wrapped it around and put it in his jacket pocket.
Ji-Hoon asked, “Are you going to save it?”
“Why? You want to take it back?”
“Nah, I’m not that petty. My name is Kim Ji-Hoon.”
“I’m Yeong-Il. Lee Yeong-Il.”
Everyone was sensitive in the beginning as no one knew whether they would end up fighting each other, but the tense atmosphere completely died down after victory and defeat had been finalized. Also, the way Odin smashed another door on the first floor of the spire overwhelmed people. In this situation, the man thought there would be no harm in getting to know people from the other villages as they would be combined together for the next stage.
“I have one more cigarette left. Do you want it?” Ji-Hoon offered.
The man shook his head. “I’m fine with this.”
“I’ll sit here,” Ji-Hoon smiled and sat next to the man.
“I heard the time scale is different.”
“Yeah.”
The man had witnessed the world inside the tower yesterday.
Ji-Hoon continued, “I thought the guy in the competition was the leader of the central village, but I guess not? He is…”
“Odin? Odin is also not our village leader. Mmm… he is a leader, but not officially. If you want to live in our village, make sure you win favor from him. Oh, but, by the way, he doesn’t like talking to anyone.”
Seon-Hu had been like that in middle school. Ji-Hoon wasn’t sure he would remember, but there was a time when Ji-Hoon had wanted to be friends with him as they were in the same class with the school bullies. However, when he swallowed pride and said hi, Seon-Hu looked at him with indifferent eyes.
How come he is the same? He was a monster back then and still is here.
“I hope you don’t get offended, but Odin doesn’t seem to have any items,” Ji-Hoon said.
The man shrugged. “Come to think of it, that’s right. Well, Odin doesn’t really need items as his skills and stats are outstanding. For him, the first floor of the spire is easy enough that he doesn’t need to bring items. But for people like us, it’s actually really hard.”
“Then…?”
“A fully armed Odin looks terrifying.”
Ji-Hoon continued, “I realized that the man with one arm is strong, too. I can’t imagine someone more powerful than him. I honestly didn’t believe that my leader would collapse like that.”
“The Human Calibur? Which one was it? The guy or the girl?”
“The girl was our leader,” Ji-Hoon clarified.
“It could have been worse. Ha. Oh, I’m so sorry. But you should be thankful that Seong-Il was on the rink, not Odin. They would have died within one second. You know this, right?”
The man pretended to slice his neck with his finger.
“The whale doesn’t intervene in the shrimp’s fight. That is his way.”
“Odin is that strong?” Ji-Hoon asked, eyes widening.
The man replied with a question, “How was your last wave?”
Ji-Hoon grimaced. “…What do you think? We had a disastrous time against such a monster.”
“We had Odin. Soo-Ah and Seong-Il helped him, but Odin basically took care of it alone.”
Ji-Hoon felt like a lump was blocking his throat. The man was definitely not bluffing.
“How could he get rid of such a thing alone?” he whispered.
The man smiled wryly. “It sounds like a lie, right? Do you think it was just that? He went into the top floor of the spire yesterday…”
The man explained how Odin was the symbol of the central village. If Odin had treated the town like the yakuza did in the southern village, things would have been terrible. However, he had never forced the villagers other than the moment he had blown off the neck of the second leader, the doctor. Anyway, his existence had made it possible for the village to overcome the worst moments.
The man finished talking about the long story.
“Von Dragon. That Von Dragon? What the hell… everything comes out in this world. Is that possible?”
“Yeah.”
Ji-Hoon’s face darkened.
I don’t know how he managed to do that, but fuck. I killed the goose that laid the golden egg. I wouldn’t have made a mistake if I knew he was that strong. Ah, shit, shit, shit!
***
Ji-Hoon scratched his head with his sharp nails.
“Who are you?”
There was a middle-aged man approaching him with a smile while Ji-Hoon was annoyed and upset.
“You are Mr. Kim Ji-Hoon, correct? We are rebuilding our attack squads. We believe forming it with elites of the four villages would increase the chances of our survival.”
Ji-Hoon grimaced. “That’s a good idea, but is it that easy to make it happen? I already belong to a group.”
“You are from the west, right?”
The moment the middle-aged man changed his tone, he listed three people’s names. Of course, Ji-Hoon knew all those names as they were the second, third and fourth in their group’s ranking, and they were whispering over the man’s shoulder. They were ignoring the people from their town.
“Did they say yes already?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Wow. Did they betray Chae-Yeong noona that quickly? Those bastards have always been like that.”
The middle-aged man shrugged. “No skin off my back if you are not interested in it.”
Ji-Hoon quickly interjected, “Who said I wasn’t interested in it? There are a total of five villages, but why are you saying only four? Is the central village not included?”
“No, they are not.”
“That’s fine because I don’t like anyone from that village. We, the marginalized ones, should pull together.”
During Act One, Stage One, everyone on the stage had been tied to the quest. However, just looking at the several target areas in the spire, Stage Two’s rewards would be taken by those who had completed the quest first. Unlike Stage One, where they only had to focus on defending, Stage Two required active combat by forming an offensive team. Ji-Hoon easily grasped the situation and realized that the later he began, the more chance he would get eliminated.
“Can I bring one of my people there?” he asked.
The middle-aged man responded, “If the person is a healer. We don’t have room for the others.”
“Yes, sure. What’s your name again? Have you told me?”
“Kang Woo-Seong.”
“The question is who will be the captain? It seems like you are going to do that, but things will change after people gather. Let’s do this. I’ll take one more person in, and we will support you. Well, only when you have enough ability.”
“Hey, Ji-Hoon. You suck at pulling a stunt. Isn’t Joo-Ha the girl you want to bring?” someone interjected.
“…”
“Ah, she must be your sitting target. What do you want to do now? Should hyung just leave?”
“What do you mean hyung? You are like my uncle’s age.”
“Haha, then call me uncle. It’s not bad for me to have another nephew.”
What the heck?
Ji-Hoon was supposed to get annoyed, but strangely, he felt fine. He actually envied this type of person as he got older. The man looked capable, but had weaknesses that made him more humane and warm-hearted. Those types around Ji-Hoon were generally well-established and had good connections. The man’s sly smile, and heavy and cave-like voice made it look like he had broken a lot of girls’ hearts when he was younger. As the man said, Ji-Hoon would have called him an uncle if they were in the real world.
Who knows? He might have given me a job at a major company like Jeon-il.
However, they weren’t in reality.
“Why should I trust you to join the attack squad? This is my first time meeting you. If I say a single word, then the people from our village will…”
Then, the man’s hand quickly came into Ji-Hoon’s view at a speed that surpassed Chae-Yeong’s speed.
“Yo, it’s okay if you don’t join us, but let’s shake hands. Today is not the only day.”
The man’s main purpose wasn’t about creating the attack squad anyway. He had heard that the yakuza, the leader from the southern village, was already dead, and the leaders from the eastern and western villages would need a couple of days to recover. Now was the perfect time to get control of the three villages. The way the central village’s self-governing committee rallied other villages was not efficient. Woo-Seong planned to expand his power one step at a time.
If I go back to Seoul after building up my power…
Woo-Seong shook his hands with Ji-Hoon while strengthening his determination again.
“Are you Mr. Kang Woo-Seong?” Seon-Hu suddenly asked.