Chapter 155.

Pandemonium’s 30th ranked private organization, ‘Hounds of the Demon Realm’ .

Its executive, Kim Goohwan, was walking in stifling nervousness . He was in a daze so much so that he didn’t even know where he was . He was solely focused on following the puppet in front of him and not straying off course .

After about 30 minutes…

Clunk .

The puppet stopped and pointed deep into a desolate alleyway . Kim Goohawn nodded as he took a deep breath .

The puppet soon disappeared, and Kim Goohwan walked into the alleyway .

There, he found a Portal created through magic power .

“…Gulp . ”

He swallowed hard . They were beyond this Portal . The ones who shook the whole of Pandemonium were waiting for him .

His stomach churned from nervousness . He was starting to regret coming forward .

However, Kim Goohwan clenched his fists and stepped into the Portal courageously .

He could feel himself traveling through space .

Chwaaa…

Was it the sound of leaves rustling? Or was it the sound of waves crashing?

He opened his eyes in an unknown place .

“You’re here?”

In a completely dark space, an excited voice rang out from a dilapidated staircase . Kim Goohwan looked up and saw an Eastern woman with white hair .

The mysterious woman greeted him .

“Hi . ”

“Y-Yes, it’s an honor to meet you . My name is Kim Goohwan . ”

He tried to maintain his composure as much as possible . However, he was sweating profusely, and his breathing was starting to get rough .

“Where’s the item?”

“H-Here . ”

He felt dizzy as though he was going to faint at any moment . Thankfully, he had practiced what to say and what to do over a hundred times . Kim Goohwan reached into his pocket and took out a ticket . Even while maintaining respect, he wasn’t showing any weakness or submissiveness .

“No . ”

“…Pardon?”

However, the woman didn’t take the ticket .

“I won’t be taking it . There’s someone else who wants it . ”

Although Kim Goohwan didn’t expect this situation, he quickly adapted to it .

“Yes, understood . ”

He backed off and waited .

“…Oh, there he is . ”

Tap, tap .

Footsteps echoed out in the empty space .

Kim Goohwan turned his gaze to the direction of the sound .

At first, he thought a shadow was walking towards him . But he soon realized that it was a man dressed entirely in black .

Kim Goohwan stared at the man calmly .

Unlike the woman, he didn’t give off any imposing aura or pressure .

However…

“I heard you guys call him Lotus . ”

The woman’s next sentence caused his body to freeze cold .

Kim Goohwan stared at the man walking towards him .

He couldn’t breathe as though he was being choked .

A ghastly aura seemed to be emanating from the man’s slow footsteps . Of course, it was only a hallucination .

Black Lotus . The man who destroyed several towers and hideouts with a single attack, and even assassinated an executive of Blood Poison, Pandemonium’s rank 10 organization .

This man was currently standing only a foot away .

Kim Goohwan felt a chill run down his body .

He had to introduce himself, but his mouth refused to move .

Although the man was covering his face with a black mask and hoodie, his eyes seemed to pierce through everything .

“What’s wrong? He’s waiting . ”

“…Ah, y-yes, here, here you go . ”

Kim Goohwan snapped out of his daze and gave the item to the man clad in black .

The man stared fixedly at the ticket, then took it off of Kim Goohwan’s hands .

Kim Goohwan gulped and waited for the man’s next move .

Suddenly, the man raised his hand .

Was he unhappy with something?

Kim Goohwan couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes .

He simply stood in terror, waiting for the man’s hand to behead him…

Tak .

The man put his hand on his shoulder .

Tak, tak .

Then, he lightly hit him a couple of times . It was almost as though the man was giving a compliment .

For a moment, Kim Goohwan forgot who he was, where he was, and what he was doing .

After barely holding onto his consciousness for a long time…

Thud .

Kim Goohwan fainted and fell on the ground .

“…What, what happened?”

The person most confused by this was the man who praised Kim Goohwan .

Kim Hajin .

**

After the exchange, I returned to Chameleon Troupe’s hideout .

“Is that what you wanted?”

Jain canceled her disguise and asked .

“Yes, but…”

I thought about the man I just met who fainted from a single praise .

Jain seemed to understand my worries as she smiled playfully .

“You can add that to your resume . ”

“… . ”

To be honest, my notoriety in Pandemonium was too much .

People began to be fearful especially after I killed Blood Poison’s executive . In my defense, that executive wasn’t physically powerful . Although he was decent with magic, the reason he became an executive was his unusual craftiness and cleverness .

“Oh, by the way, can I enter the Tower too if I have a ticket?”

Jain sounded interested .

“Yep . You can use the orange ticket that we have . ”

It didn’t hurt to have extra tickets as they could be used in many ways .

The most obvious way was to sell them to others . You could also give it to someone in exchange for them becoming an ally inside the Tower . Furthermore, the scant amount of available tickets made them all the more valuable .

200 whites, 1000 greens, 800 yellows, 500 oranges, 300 reds, 5 blacks . The total number of people who could enter the Tower was at most 3105 people every two months (each red ticket counted as 2 people) . Considering the size of the Tower of Wish, 3105 was tiny .

“Will we see each other once we’re inside?”

“Probably . I don’t know for sure though . ”

“This sounds fun~”

It seemed Jain was interested in going .

I took off my hoodie and put the black ticket in my pocket .

“Then I’m leaving now . ”

“You’re going home?”

“Yes . ”

“Alright~ I’ll take a nap then . ”

Jain returned to her room, and I came back to Seoul through Khalifa’s Portal .

However, I didn’t go home . Instead, I headed to an underground facility located in the Seocho District .

This huge, 650-square-meter space with high-rank mana density was a training room I created for Evandel . It was an underground bunker I purchased from some rich guy .

“Let’s see… ah, there she is . ”

It was hard to see Evandel since she was so small compared to the size of the space .

“Hiyaap~ hiyaap~!”

Wearing a magician’s hat and holding a wand, she was seemingly performing a rhythmical dance routine .

There was also a small army of ghosts following her guidance . A horse, a tiger, a crocodile… wait, is that a unicorn? And that’s… a velociraptor!?

“…Yep, that’s talent alright . ”

I was planning on bringing her home, but she had a new ‘friend’ every time I visited . Perhaps this was why it was good to expose children to movies and fairytales .

“Wave of Honor~”

Evandel was working hard on her own right . Ever since she started watching PreCure, she started adding names to her moves as well .

“Spinning Swirl~”

“… . ”

“Shoooot—!”

It seemed I needed to ask exactly what she watched .

“Evandel?”

I called her name as I approached her . Evandel stopped training and turned towards me . Her eyes curled into crescent moons, and she hopped over to me .

“Hajin~”

“Did you have fun?”

“Un!”

“Then you must be tired . ”

It was time to go home .

“It’s still okay . ”

“Really?”

“Un!”

Evandel smiled brightly and nodded .

It seemed she liked training more than I thought .

But I was also pressed on time…

Then, I remembered the wolf sleeping in my chest .

“You can play with Fenrir for ten minutes . We can leave afterwards . ”

I called Fenrir out .

“Grrrr—”

Fenrir ran out excitedly and licked Evandel’s leg .

“My wolf!”

As expected of Evandel’s first Servant, Fenrir grew a lot over the past three years .

===

「Ghost Wolf」

[Servant] [High-intermediate rank]

—The first Servant created by the witch, Evandel .

▷Basic Stats

[Strength 9 . 950]

[Bite force 10 . 850]

[Stamina 6 . 535]

[Speed 11 . 550]

[Perception 11 . 605]

[Vitality 6 . 750]

[Magic power 7 . 850]

===

As you could guess from his incredible stats, he didn’t lose to most low-intermediate ~ intermediate rank Heroes .

“Ebebebe, ebebebe . ”

“Krrrr, rrrrr . ”

But in front of Evandel, Fenrir was only a gentle puppy .

Seeing them playing around together, I laughed bitterly .

Once I entered the Tower of Wish, I wouldn’t be able to see Evandel for at least a month and a half . Though, I should be able to come back for 2~3 days once the tutorial ended…

“Evandel . ”

I called Evandel’s name in a slightly more serious tone .

“Hnn?”

“…I need to tell you something . ”

I already asked Haeyeon’s parents if they could take care of Evandel for 1~2 months, and they happily agreed .

“From July 1st, I’m going to be away for a month . ”

“… . ”

Evandel froze .

“But it’s nothing dangerous . I’ll come back soon . ”

“… . ”

Evandel didn’t say anything .

I was worried that Evandel would cry for the first time in 4 years .

After a long period of silence, Evandel asked instead of crying .

“…A month? 30 days?”

“Yeah . ”

“…I can’t go?”

I shook my head silently .

“… . ”

Evandel bit her lips .

Her eyes watered, and her lips trembled . Still, she didn’t cry .

“I’ll come back soon . You can think of it as a month-long break . Meanwhile, you can have fun with Hayang and Haeyeon . You can sleep in or watch TV late into the night . ”

I consoled Evandel . I even picked her up and gave her a peck on the cheek . Or at least, I tried to .

“No beard!”

“… . ”

Evandel rejected me . Turning away with a pout, she refused to look at my face .

“I’ll shave tomorrow, no, today . ”

“… . ”

Evandel looked back at me with watery eyes .

The only thing I could do now was smile .

**

2029, middle of May .

The biggest Tower in the history of mankind had been given the name ‘Tower of Wish’ . At the same time, information about ‘entrance tickets’ began to spread quickly . Many ordinary people were posting comments online stating that they picked up an entrance ticket .

The Association wanted to establish a system to control the tickets ordinary people found, but it was too late . It didn’t take long for people to find out about the tickets’ value, and they began to sell them online .

“…Hm . ”

Currently, inside Essence of the Strait’s team leader office, Yoo Yeonha was staring at a computer monitor in thought .

Entrance ticket .

Although she wasn’t sure how it worked, she knew she had to obtain as many as possible .

“Why do something so risky?”

Frustrated, she muttered with a sigh .

Many people who posted about tickets online had gone missing . They were most likely attacked by Djinns .

“13 might be enough…”

Thanks to the Falling Blossom guild, Yoo Yeonha already purchased 13 entrance tickets . What she wanted now was information about the Tower . She didn’t want to lose precious members of her guild to an unknown Tower .

—Tok, tok .

At that moment, someone knocked on the door .

“Who is it?”

—Team Leader Yoo Yeonha, a package arrived .

“…Come in . ”

The door opened, and a guild employee walked in with a mysterious piece of furniture .

“What’s this?”

“Um, a chair . ”

It indeed looked like a chair, albeit a bit futuristic and strange . First, it had two legs instead of the standard four, and the back of the chair looked like a tidal wave .

“Who sent this?”

“It’s from uh… Kim Hajin-ssi . ”

“Kim Hajin…? Oh right, it’s my birthday present, right?”

“Ah, yes, that’s what it says here . ”

A week ago, Yoo Yeonha had received a text message from Kim Hajin saying that he would send a birthday present .

“He sent a chair as a birthday present?”

‘A bit weird, not that I have any problems with it . ’

“Thank you . You can go back . ”

“Yes . ”

Yoo Yeonha put the chair down and tried sitting on it .

“It’s not like I’m lacking chairs in my…”

She paused in the middle of talking . No, she couldn’t speak .

Feeling a strange sensation, she leaned against the chair . A strange, indescribable comfort wrapped around her body . It was as if the chair was hugging her tightly .

Kwang, Kwang!

“Hey!”

At that moment, someone kicked open the office door .

“Hey, Yoo Yeonha!”

It was Chae Nayun .

Startled, Yoo Yeonha quickly shot up .

“A-Ah, geez, I’m a team leader, you know!”

Yoo Yeonha shouted at Chae Nayun who didn’t give her any face as a team leader .

“Oh, sorry, I was just in a hurry . ”

Chae Nayun smiled wryly as she scratched her head .

“Geez… huu . So, what’s up?”

“Send me there!”

“…Where?”

“The Tower! The Tower of Wish . I heard you have tickets . The guild can keep whatever I bring back, so just let me go . ”

“Oh, it’s about that . ”

Yoo Yeonha knew Chae Nayun would want to go .

“Let’s talk about that . ”

“Oh, what’s up with this chair? It looks so weird . ”

At that moment, Chae Nayun sat down on the chair she got as a birthday present .

Yoo Yeonha blinked a few times and stared at Chae Nayun .

“It looks… weird… but, wow… this is… amazing…”

Seeing Chae Nayun looking comfortable and happy, Yoo Yeonha felt an unknown anxiousness .

“…Hey, get up . That’s mine . ”

“Eh? It’s not for guests?”

“N-No . It’s a su~per precious chair I got for my birthday . ”

“Oh . ”

“Can’t you tell just by looking at it . Now, get up . ”

“…Alright, alright . ”

As soon as Chae Nayun got up, Yoo Yeonha changed the chair she has been using with the one Kim Hajin gifted . She didn’t want to put it off and have to worry about Chae Nayun asking for it .

**

2029, early June .

Guilds like Essence of the Strait, Desolate Moon, Frost Sanctuary, and Creator’s Sacred Grace managed to obtain entrance tickets and began to meet for discussions .

Meanwhile, the English Royal Court guild was also in a meeting .

The topic of their meeting was also the newly discovered Tower, but compared to other guilds, they were in a much better position .

“We have a total of seven tickets . ”

The English Royal Court guild was lucky enough to obtain 10 tickets: eight greens, one orange, and one red .

However, they sold their two off-color tickets and one green ticket to Jeronimo Mercenary, and only had seven green tickets left .

The purpose of today’s meeting was obviously to decide who would use the entrance tickets .

Although there were many ideas, no one actively came forward .

Everyone was secretly afraid of what was lying inside such a giant Tower .

The entrance ticket stated, ‘participants can freely exit once the tutorial is over’, but there was no information about this ‘tutorial’ .

“I’ll go . ”

Someone volunteered resolutely . Immediately, everyone in the room stood up .

“N-No!”

“If something happens to vice-leader…”

“There’s little chance that guild master will agree . ”

However, the Royal Court guild’s vice-leader, Rachel, made her decision clear .

“No, I’m going . And you don’t need to worry…”

She hesitated slightly before continuing .

“Um, Jeronimo’s Fenrir will be entering as well . ”

“Ah~”

“In that case, I’m sure it’s fine . ”

The atmosphere changed instantly . That was how much Fenrir was loved in England (although England didn’t know, Cheok Jungyeong’s achievements were all changed to Fenrir’s) .

“Ah, could it be!? Did Fenrir say he would protect you!?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m curious too . Did he say he’d protect you!?”

The meeting suddenly transformed into a press conference .

“I can tell that you’re flustered~”

“F-Flustered? N-No! Everyone be quiet!”

“Now you’re angry~”

“No, I’m not! We need to proceed with the meeting…”

The young, 21-year-old vice-leader was an easy target for the other, more experienced members in the room . As many of them knew Rachel from when she was young, the English Royal Court guild had become quite like a family .

**

2029, July 1st .

The promised date arrived .

Currently, I was inside Chameleon Troupe’s hideout, waiting for the Portal to open .

“Huaam~ I’m so bored . Newbie, when is the Portal opening?”

Cheok Jungyeong asked .

“Just wait a bit . ”

Other than me, Jain, Cheok Jungyeong, and Boss had tickets .

Other members showed interest, but they were either busy or didn’t mind waiting for the second round of tickets .

“Ah, I’m itching with excitement . Jain, you’re following me as my companion?”

“…You’re my companion, idiot . ”

Jain glared at Cheok Jungyeong uncomfortably . Jain obtained a red ticket, and Cheok Jungyeong annoyed her until she agreed to let him accompany her .

“Everyone be quiet and wait . ”

Boss spoke . At that moment…

Ssssss—

Our entrance tickets glowed with magic power .

We threw down our tickets on the ground . Immediately, the tickets sucked in nearby magic power and created three pillars of light .

Orange, red, black .

The three pillars all had different colors .

“So we just walk in?”

Cheok Jungyeong asked as he smacked his lips .

“Yes . ”

“Alright, I’ll see you inside, Newbie . ”

“Ah, before you go, I think you should choose the lowest difficulty level for the tutorial . We want to meet up as soon as possible . ”

“I don’t mind… but I doubt this idiot will do that . ”

Jain smiled wryly while Cheok Jungyeong agreed .

“Obviously I’m going for the highest difficulty . ”

“…Then Boss, at least you should—”

I turned to Boss .

“Hm?”

Recently, Boss’ trust in me had greatly risen .

“…Oh, o-okay, then I will go with the, um, lowest difficulty . ”

But by the looks of it, she was planning on doing what she wanted .

“Alright, I’m going in . ”

Without hesitation, I walked into the black Portal .

Immediately…

“Uwoah!”

The world flipped upside down, and I landed on my back .

“Uuu… what the heck . ”

A cold ground, chilly wind, an unusual sensation .

Even my voice was coming out staticky, like a broken television .

Although it was exactly like how I described it in my novel, it still felt strange experiencing firsthand .

I quickly got up and took a look around . I was in a pitch-black space .

“I wonder when it’s going to start . ”

After waiting for about five minutes, blue words popped up in front of me .

[Welcome to the Tower . ]

It was a more realistic 3D text than what was shown in VR games .

[Before you start, please choose your nickname . ]

Nickname .

The Tower seemed to have the same setting as the one I created .

“Nickname, huh… . ”

Kim Suho should be MasterHolysword, Shin Jonghak should be YoungFly, Jin Sahyuk should be StrongestWill[1], and Chae Nayun should be ImGosu .

After thinking for a moment…

“I guess I’ll go with this . ”

[Extra7]

I decided on my nickname .

[Extra7-nim, welcome . ]

[Your nickname will replace your name in the tower’s community room . ]

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