The Tower (1)

“What were you doing?!”

Baek Hwayeon puffed up her cheeks and thrust her face towards Lee Dojin.

“…We were talking?”

Lee Dojin said quietly. For some reason, he felt he should speak quietly.

Yeon Si-mun grinned.

“Yeah, we were just talking.”

Phew, Baek Hwayeon let out a sigh of relief.

Her complexion brightened a bit, as if she had calmed down.

“R-right… You, you, you weren’t having any kind of bodily conversation, right?”

“Bodily conversation? Your imagination is too rich, Junior Baek Hwayeon.”

And her complexion became extremely bad again at Yeon Si-mun’s slick words.

Yeon Si-mun raised her upper body and stroked Baek Hwayeon’s pink hair.

“Hee, heek! Wh-why are you doing this?”

“Could you step out for a bit? Our conversation isn’t over yet.”

At Yeon Si-mun’s gentle words, Baek Hwayeon nodded and slowly backed away.

She did keep looking back at Yeon Si-mun and Lee Dojin as she stepped backwards, as if something was unsettling her.

After Baek Hwayeon left the hospital room,

Once again, it was just Yeon Si-mun and Lee Dojin alone.

Yeon Si-mun slowly buttoned up the white shirt placed on the shelf.

“Junior Baek Hwayeon is cute. She seems to like you. What do you think?”

“I don’t have the luxury to think about that kind of thing yet.”

Yeon Si-mun chuckled.

“Don’t say that in front of Junior Baek Hwayeon. She’ll be very disappointed.”

Yeon Si-mun continued.

“Thanks for helping with the revenge. If it weren’t for you, half my waist would have flown off.”

“There’s no need to express gratitude.”

“You just helped because we’re friends?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Si-mun slowly got up from her seat.

“You’re very romantic, Junior.”

Deep eyes stared into Lee Dojin’s eyes.

“But there’s no need to feel responsible for other people’s circumstances, for revenge. Even if it’s someone you’re close to.”

Those words sounded very serious.

“Revenge is quite messy and very tiring…”

Even killing the one who cut her senior brother’s neck didn’t make her senior brother’s face disappear from her mind.

That probably won’t disappear even if she kills the New Humanity Society leader.

But, revenge must be carried out.

Even if nothing changes for herself, she couldn’t let the leader breathe in this world.

Originally, revenge isn’t done hoping for one’s own happiness.

It’s done to make the other person unhappy.

Yeon Si-mun slowly raised her body. Perhaps because she had been lying down for a while, her body that had only looked strong staggered.

Lee Dojin didn’t hesitate to grab Yeon Si-mun’s waist and support her body.

“If I have the strength to take responsibility, I can feel responsible for a friend’s affairs. And I intend to become stronger.”

Yeon Si-mun let out a hollow laugh.

“Junior, there’s really nothing in your head but training, self-improvement, martial arts. Huh?”

Yeon Si-mun was delighted. The situation where a truly reliable junior suddenly appeared.

“I really like that personality.”

Lee Dojin chuckled as he supported Yeon Si-mun.

He couldn’t deny that the bond that had already been sprouting as they often ate dinner together had grown even more due to this undiscovered dungeon incident.

When he opened the door, Baek Hwayeon came running from far away.

“Why! Why! Are you pressing flesh together?!”

With a bright red, flushed face.

Yeon Si-mun intentionally leaned her face on Lee Dojin’s shoulder.

“I’m just getting support, so there’s no need to worry.”

“I’ll give you that support!”

Baek Hwayeon’s shout filled the hospital ward.

---

Lee Dojin, who had returned to the Iroaz Academy dormitory, lay down on the bed.

And he entered Mistilteinn’s world.

Pitter-patter!

Like Baek Hwayeon running in reality, Mistilteinn came running barefoot with her snow-white hair fluttering.

And she stared at Lee Dojin silently with green eyes.

She even raised herself on tiptoes as she checked various parts of Lee Dojin’s body.

After circling around Lee Dojin’s body in a circle to check, Mistilteinn stood in front of Lee Dojin again.

And she put her small hands on both his shoulders.

“Master, you’re really not hurt anywhere, right?”

Lee Dojin tilted his head.

“Shouldn’t you know better than me since you were in Advice Ego state? I’m not hurt.”

“That’s true… but I didn’t know they would suddenly attempt self-destruction like that either.”

Lee Dojin slowly nodded.

“I was surprised by that too.”

Though he wasn’t hurt.

The scene of that spearman’s body exploding was still vivid.

He had certainly learned a lesson.

That anything can happen in this world.

“Hmm? Did something happen?”

Slurp-

Hwangbo Seryeong, who was eating thin noodles, tilted her head after hearing Lee Dojin’s words.

“That level of dying together is like an everyday occurrence in the central martial arts world. This place must be very peaceful.”

Lee Dojin didn’t expect sympathy from Hwangbo Seryeong either.

The martial arts world he had briefly heard about from Dan Cheonwoo and Hwangbo Seryeong was a place where you couldn’t even see tomorrow if you weren’t strong.

“The answer is already in your head.”

“…Becoming strong enough to survive no matter what scheme I get caught up in?”

At Lee Dojin’s words, Hwangbo Seryeong grinned.

“Yes, that’s all there is to it.”

---

New Humanity Society Vice Leader Ryu So-hye was looking at something.

A video was playing on the laptop screen.

A man swings his sword with a cold face.

And soon red blood splatters across the screen.

It was a video filmed through the action cam of the swordsman killed by Lee Dojin in the undiscovered dungeon, and automatically saved and transmitted to the cloud.

“Beautiful.”

Ryu So-hye replayed Lee Dojin’s sword path over and over with red eyes.

“It hasn’t been that long since we met, but to grow this much in such a short time, it’s too precious.”

Ryu So-hye smiled with madness.

Something rose up from between her closed thighs.

It was clearly pleasure.

“Hnngh… Haah.”

It was a sweet sigh.

Imagining the moment she would face Lee Dojin again, an orgasm bloomed.

Ryu So-hye repeated her last words with lustful eyes soaked in greed.

“So precious.”

As Ryu So-hye was continuously appreciating Lee Dojin’s appearance, a gentle voice was heard from behind her.

“Is this the vice leader’s new toy?”

It was a man with narrowed eyes.

The New Humanity Society leader looked at Lee Dojin with an eye-smile.

“So this is the student who extended Student Yeon Si-mun’s lifeline.”

If the variable named Lee Dojin hadn’t been involved, Yeon Si-mun would have died in the undiscovered dungeon today.

The leader was certain of that.

Even if she had succeeded in killing New Humanity Society’s 7th Seat Baek Hyun-su alone, Yeon Si-mun would have suffered severe injuries that would have made it impossible to move,

And the other 4 people except Yeon Si-mun were not accustomed to person-to-person combat, so they would have all died at the hands of the remaining subordinates.

Just one person.

The variable named Lee Dojin completely overturned the result of the New Humanity Society’s death list execution.

“He’s worthy of Vice Leader Ryu’s attention.”

Ryu So-hye glared at the leader.

“He’s mine. Don’t touch him.”

The leader stroked Ryu So-hye’s head.

“Of course. Who would touch someone else’s toy?”

“Don’t touch my head either.”

The leader immediately removed his right hand that was stroking her head.

“Is your interest in Yeon Si-mun over?”

At Ryu So-hye’s words, the leader slowly shook his head.

“Originally it was, but seeing her lifeline suddenly extend, I’ve become interested again. In Student Yeon Si-mun.”

The leader stroked his chin.

Then, as if his thoughts were organized, he slowly opened his mouth.

Yeon Si-mun wasn’t someone who would be moved by the New Humanity Society’s beliefs. Recruitment was impossible.

“I’ll have to kill her myself.”

“Yeon Si-mun is probably thinking the same about you.”

“I suppose so.”

The leader hummed a tune as if he was delighted.

“Ah, holding knives to each other’s necks… how beautiful it is. Don’t you think?”

“Pervert.”

Ryu So-hye didn’t remember the fuss she had just made herself.

The leader didn’t even pay attention because it was a self-contradiction he had seen many times.

“Let’s pick both well-ripened fruits. They’re both children the academy upper echelons care about. If we kill them, the impact will be considerable. It’s an opportunity to widely spread our society’s beliefs.”

The night began to deepen.

A night where they emit killing intent towards each other from opposite sides.

---

Monday.

Lee Dojin headed to the Iroaz Academy Vice Principal’s office even before the morning theory lecture began.

He had received a summons through the Iroaz Watch.

A security guard with a hunter background was standing in front of the vice principal’s office.

“You can go in.”

The security guard opened the door. Lee Dojin slightly bowed his head, then entered the vice principal’s office.

A blonde woman with features that made it difficult to easily guess her age.

Academy Vice Principal Cecilia Freire smiled as she looked at Lee Dojin.

“Welcome, Student Lee Dojin.”

“Hello.”

And unlike the disheveled hair when they parted on Saturday night, Yeon Si-mun with neatly arranged silver hair was visible.

“I heard that you two had a clash with the New Humanity Society on Saturday. I called you to hear about that, and I also have something to say.”

Lee Dojin obediently sat down next to Yeon Si-mun.

He had a feeling the conversation would be long.