Chapter 55 – Unwanted Proof (1)

Ṛėаԁ өｎ ḰａțＲｅαđіɴ​ǵḈɑ​ƒε

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah.”

Early in the morning, as I stepped out of my room with a somewhat dazed expression, Kim Ji-eun, who had been waiting, subtly checked on me.

No matter how much the constellations of Fate Road were stirred, reality hadn’t changed much.

In reality, no one knew what Jung Chan-soo had muttered to himself, and no one dared to gossip about my virginity.

Instead, things were still noisy due to the coliseum incident.

The cause and resolution of the incident were both somewhat extreme and loud, so it was only natural.

“You’ll have a tough time ahead.”

“Yes. I’m prepared.”

It was also around this time that I finally had a proper conversation with Shadis.

At my warning, Shadis nodded as if she had already prepared herself.

“It’s a burden I’m willing to bear… I won’t refuse it.”

By then, it was already quietly spreading that I was Shadis’s backer.

The fact that I had taken a keen interest in her had spread throughout the tower, so Shadis would no longer be able to escape the attention of others in her future activities.

That attention could be helpful, but it could also turn into poison.

She knew the weight of it well, which was why she wore such a determined expression.

“…Go to the sanctuary. You never know when someone willing to give you a new opportunity might appear again. And if you keep climbing the tower without giving up, you might one day achieve what you want.”

I advised Shadis to go to the sanctuary and seek out a new constellation.

There was already a somewhat clean user who had stepped forward to voluntarily become Shadis’s constellation.

That user, who genuinely wanted to train Shadis into a warrior for me, had even spent points to create a Shadis gallery.

And it didn’t matter how well Shadis understood and followed the constellation’s guidance.

I would guide her whenever I had the chance.

“I’ll definitely succeed. Until we meet again.”

I smiled bitterly as I watched her firm expression of determination.

Thinking about it, this kind of relationship was a first for me.

Unlike Jung Chan-soo, who had steadily built his forces by expanding his supporting cast, I was different.

Even following in his footsteps was exhausting.

The guild members were actually more influenced by Kim Ji-eun than by me, and even Kim Ji-eun had started as an equal companion.

‘Is this the taste? Is this why people conquer the tower, become constellations, and obsessively watch over challengers?’

I was starting to understand the feeling.

After all, even now, I would be happy if Shadis, who had given up on the challenge at the 30th floor as a mere thief, became a strong ranker and reappeared before me.

“We’ll have to postpone the visit to the 41st floor for now. Instead, let’s investigate the dungeon on the 151st floor.”

“The 151st floor?”

Unlike the constellations of Fate Road, I wasn’t going to stir up strange topics for fun.

At my mention of the 151st floor, Kim Ji-eun’s eyes widened.

“You said you wouldn’t take on the vanguard role…?”

“I’ve changed my mind. And Shadis needs some time.”

The original plan was to acquire a new ability on the lower 41st floor and continue my gradual career restructuring.

But due to recent events, I decided to postpone that plan for now. Shadis, who needed to accompany me, needed time to contract with a new constellation and get used to their guidance.

Instead, I decided to investigate the 151st floor, which had just begun to be explored.

The sub-dungeons that needed to be cleared before moving on to the 152nd floor.

Investigating those was entirely up to the individual.

‘I was originally going to skip it.’

However, being the first to explore a newly appeared dungeon, the so-called “vanguard” role, was quite dangerous and tricky.

Moreover, I couldn’t recall any sub-dungeons on the 151st floor worth the time and risk.

Even the guide written by fan gallery users indicated that there was nothing on the 151st floor worth my time.

I was doing this solely for the unicorn.

Even though it was an S-rank mount, I had no traits or abilities that required riding a mount, so it was entirely unnecessary.

I planned to sell it off to someone else for a high price once I was done.

If I was lucky, I might even get something I needed in return.

“I like it. If it’s the 151st floor, it means we’ll be alone together.”

“…You know, right? There are no dungeons left that the two of us can handle.”

I flinched at Kim Ji-eun’s sparkling expression.

“There are a total of 11 dungeons discovered on the 151st floor… Which one will you choose? Since none have been explored yet, it’s purely a guessing game.”

Kim Ji-eun brought the materials herself. Maps of the 151st floor and information about the dungeons discovered there.

“According to the information we’ve gathered, there’s already movement from others trying to investigate these four.”

Kim Ji-eun, back in her capable assistant mode, pointed out a few dungeons with sparkling eyes.

Securing a dungeon was quite important for any faction.

Once you figured out what trials it required and what resources it yielded, successfully monopolizing it would allow you to optimize quickly and surge ahead of others.

‘Luckily, they don’t overlap.’

After checking the dungeons other factions were eyeing, I let out a small sigh of relief.

While monopolizing a dungeon required approval from the alliance, it would be a hassle if we overlapped.

“It’s better to exclude those, right? How about here? I think this looks good.”

I naturally pointed to the place I had been aiming for from the start.

The place where the unicorn appeared as a reward.

And there was a reason I was openly planning this without delegating it to Kim Ji-eun.

‘They’re watching, right?’

I deliberately kept my gaze fixed on the map.

I was certain that Serpina and the other gallery users were hurriedly recording this situation and sharing it on the gallery.

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[I’ve never been to that dungeon. What’s there?]

ㄴ“Looks like Reina picked a dud this time? Just a lot of effort for nothing.”

ㄴ“The only thing worth getting is the S-rank random reward limited to the first explorer, but no one knows what will come out of that.”

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That night, as I naturally logged into the community before bed, the gallery users were actively discussing and sharing opinions about my next move, just as I had expected.

It was a place where constellations from various worlds and experiences gathered.

With their combined knowledge, they naturally had detailed information and guide for the 151st floor.

Thanks to that, I managed to learn in detail about the dungeon, which had uncertain information in the original work.

‘By the way, do they not know what a unicorn is? This is unexpected.’

One surprising fact was that the unicorn that appeared there wasn’t a fixed reward, and they didn’t even know what a unicorn was, as it was the first time one had appeared in Tower 3445.

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ㄴ“It shouldn’t be too hard.”

ㄴ“Think of it as gaining experience. If you’ve been picking the right choices all along, it’s only natural to have times like this.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

So, they thought I had chosen an inefficient route.

While that was the prevailing opinion, some still expressed disappointment.

Seeing them, I felt a bit spiteful.

After all, the virginity controversy board, which I could see out of the corner of my eye at that very moment, proved why I was so intent on going there.

The comments had already piled up.

‘Even if it’s a random reward, I already know the future. The unicorn is definitely going to appear as a reward.’

Even with my intervention, it was certain that the unicorn, whose appearance was predetermined, would be the reward.

Once the unicorn appeared, the users would naturally become curious about its identity and abilities, and once that was revealed, things would proceed as I planned.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[So, they need a minimum of six people to enter, meaning they need five more. Who’s Reina bringing? One is probably Kim Ji-eun.]

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The topic naturally shifted to the temporary companions I would bring.

As I had told Kim Ji-eun, missions that the two of us could handle only existed on lower floors.

“Finding four people shouldn’t be too hard. Even though it’s a vanguard role, there are always people who want more rewards.”

Kim Ji-eun, who had started planning in earnest, said to leave the party recruitment to her, as usual.

While such situations were rare, they weren’t unheard of.

Back then, Kim Ji-eun had also used her connections to find temporary companions.

“Alright. Do that.”

Since there was no reason to refuse, I nodded casually.

‘By the way, does this mean the Diana incident that caused controversy in the original work won’t happen?’

As I watched Kim Ji-eun’s retreating figure, I naturally recalled why I knew about the unicorn’s existence.

In the original work, the unicorn was one of the foreshadowing elements symbolizing the dark past of Diana, one of Jung Chan-soo’s heroines.

The incident was triggered when the unicorn, which had been docile around other heroines, suddenly went berserk around Diana, who had thoroughly hidden her past before entering the tower.

What followed was predictable.

The arguments the constellations had on Fate Road were recreated almost verbatim in the original work’s comment section.

Her dark past as a fallen royal and a plaything for nobles, which she had hidden all her life, was one of the hot topics in the original work.

‘It seems even the constellations don’t know. As long as she doesn’t meet the unicorn, it should be fine.’

From what I remembered, the noble family that had abused her since childhood was annihilated just before she entered the tower.

Like me, her past would never be revealed unless she spoke of it herself.

“Um… Reina. Some pretty big names have volunteered to join us.”

“What?”

But perhaps the path of fate isn’t so easily escaped.

Kim Ji-eun, with a strange expression, brought in people whose faces I recognized.

“I heard the news, Moonlight Sword Radiance. May we join you in conquering that dungeon?”

Diana, with her light blue hair, and Lee Se-jin, standing beside her, formally and politely proposed forming a party with me.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Talk about something and it would bite you back in the ass tenfold, the victim here is the lewd saintess.