Yoon-seok did. The soul keeper called this place a cemetery and said it was where the souls who had finished their lives could rest before going on to the next. But when he said this, Rick only smiled bitterly.
“So that’s how much you knew. Isn’t it weird? Why is it called a cemetery if it’s a resting place, and why are tombstones here?”
Yoon-seok rubbed his chin, recalling the countless tombstones. It was a question he’d never thought of. Honestly, he brushed it off.
“There weren’t any tombstones here. This place wasn’t called a cemetery, and the souls that stayed were free to play before flying to their next life.”
“…”
“Everything changed after the Tower appeared. The Tower trapped their souls in those tombstones and began to interfere with fate.”
“Interfere?”
“For instance, take admins as an example. They were supposed to fulfill their orders and go to the next life, but the Tower interrupted. For one to achieve their purpose.”
Rick continued in an ever emptier voice.
“Above anything else… no matter how many times you were reborn after the Tower has appeared, your fate remains unchanged.”
It sounded made-up, but he was willing to listen unless he had to hold a memorial service for his ancestors. Rick continued.
“No, it needed to change a little bit. Happy ones will be happier in their next lives, and unhappy ones will be even more unhappy in their next lives….”
“…”
“Which side do you think I was on? What about Elle?”
It must’ve been the latter. While enduring hardships day by day, he thought he’d live to see a ray of hope, but he finally reached a tragic end. In a way, it was similar to Yoon-seok’s life before the return. After suffering so much from Kang Hyung-woo and barely getting into the Tower, in the end, he still became his slave.
“The Tower says it’s an efficient management method. The reason was that a kind of drive was needed, according to her.”
“…”
“And she saved me. She caught me while I was being dragged to this tombstone and told me the truth.”
“But you didn’t know that you were being used?”
Rick laughed at Yoon-seok.
“Kah! Of course, I did. So what? At least she gave me a chance to break this chain with my hands.”
A terrible chain called fate. To break this off, either the Tower or the Queen had to disappear. If the Tower disappeared, this cemetery would function again, and on the contrary, if the Queen disappeared, the Tower would no longer have to take in challengers.
There was no reason to play with the fate of others. Whichever choice he made, he would arrive at his desired end, but Rick chose the Queen because she was the only one who reached out.
“I know. That this wouldn’t have happened without her, but it happened. And if it weren’t for her, what could I have done as an ordinary mercenary?”
“…”
“I’m going to break the Tower, and I will end this tragedy. It is alright even if my soul disappears and turns to powder. At least that child gets to have a normal life… I will make that happen.”
Listening to Rick’s sincere thoughts, Yoon-seok realized that perhaps b Divine Ultimatum}, which had the effect of escaping fate, was also some arrangement prepared by the Queen and Rick.
“Why is the Queen trying to break the Tower, no, this place?”
“…I don’t know.”
Rick, despite his partnership with the Queen, didn’t know everything.
Flop.
Shaking his head, Rick knelt. He worked to stop the repeated tragedies. No, to make that child happy, the child he considered as a daughter.
Bang!
For someone more precious than life, he knocked his forehead against the cold ground without hesitation.
“I can’t break the Tower with my current strength. But you are different. I beg you. Please destroy the Tower.”
Only then did he fully realize that he couldn’t do anything to Yoon-seok with brute force. Rick had no other way but to answer his questions.
‘That’s how desperate he is.’
Yoon-seok made up his mind. The beginning of all these tragedies was the confrontation between the Queen and the soul keeper. The fight between the two made a monster called the Tower. To protect the cemetery, there was this contradiction that they didn’t mind breaking the balance of the world.
“I’ll do whatever you want.”
Protecting the cemetery? Everything returns to normal after the Queen dies? That was nonsense. In Yoon-seok’s perspective, the crazy Tower was different from an AI or a computer; it was mad. The Tower used Rick to kill the soul keeper, the only one interfering. How do you trust someone like that?
It wouldn’t be strange if it tried to kill them all, and the Queen was hardly different.
‘She’s hiding something, too.’
Rick held onto her because he had no choice. The Queen wasn’t exactly a righteous person, and the fact that she used everything around her to achieve her goal was the same. No, she was even more dangerous since Yoon-seok still couldn’t accurately grasp her goal.
“That means…”
“Yes, it means I’ll destroy the Tower.”
“…!”
Rick suddenly raised his head at Yoon-seok’s answer. And at that moment-
Plorkk-!
Yoon-seok’s sword dug into his heart.
“W-why… you…?”
Rick collapsed and grabbed at Yoon-seok’s legs. Why did he deceive him? Rick wanted to know that reason at the very least. But he had nothing to say as Yoon-seok didn’t deceive him. Everything he said was true. The Tower would be destroyed, alongside the Queen. But now wasn’t the time.
“…”
This was a reproduced space, and Rick Gerssey was also fake. Breaking the Tower here was meaningless, and the real Rick would want him to do this. Well, he was curious about the plan made for his future, but… there was no way Rick would answer, so his business here was done.
But that wasn’t the case for Rick.
“G-gasp-!”
Rick raised himself as he vomited blood. His body was gradually turning into dust from his toes up. He reached out with a longing look and took off Yoon-seok’s mask. And then-
Tuk.
Rick’s hands crumbled, and Yoon-seok’s mask fell to the floor.
“W-who are you…?”
Rick began to tremble. It was understandable. Yoon-seok felt something similar when he met Rick on the 14th-floor mission.
“…”
Only their skin, hair, and eye colors were different. Other than that, it was like looking in a mirror.
They instinctively knew the moment they saw each other.
“No way, you’re…!”
Rick shouted. Yoon-seok shook his head.
“I’m not you.”
Rick Gerssey might disagree, but in Yoon-seok’s eyes, he was confused. He was so naive that he was easily taken advantage of here and there because of Elizabeth Lorwen. Because of this big weakness, he couldn’t achieve what he wanted.
But not Yoon-seok.
“Then… then who the hell are you…!”
Yoon-seok picked up the mask and put it back on. Looking at Rick slowly disappearing, he replied.
“Choi Yoon-seok.”
If he had to say more, his job was being a demon. His specialty was smashing the heads of those who had hidden intentions. Therefore, they were different.
「Destructive Monarch has died.」
Yoon-seok raised his head.
「Individual mission success.」
「Reward increases when the mission is completed.」
The Tower and the Queen. Both would pay, no matter what.
Yoon-seok stood there for a while and looked into the sky. Suddenly, a phrase popped up in front of him.
「Current information collection rate, 100/100.」
「Elizabeth Lorwen has learned all the secrets about the Destructive Monarch.」
The information collection rate reached its maximum. How did that happen? As soon as he turned toward the entrance, Yoon-seok understood why.
‘Did she listen to the whole thing…?’
Just as Yoon-seok heard the conversation between Rick and the man, before he knew it, Elle was standing there. When Yoon-seok noticed Asura hiding behind her, he sighed.
‘Strangely, the magic here doesn’t spread far.’
Just as Rick and the man did not recognize Yoon-seok’s existence until he fired his sword energy, Yoon-seok also did not sense Elle’s footsteps. Thanks to that, he felt like something annoying was about to happen.
‘Well, it was that kind of mission anyway, so it can’t be helped.’
He decided to think on the bright side. Once the information collection rate reached its maximum capacity, the reward for completing the special challenges increased.
Trudge. Trudge.
Yoon-seok left the first admin standing silently by the door and approached Elle. The instructions were being updated before his eyes.
「Have a conversation with her and watch them face a different ending.」
A different ending. Yoon-seok didn’t know what it was, but he thought it wouldn’t mean much in the end. It wasn’t like they were playing house; nothing would change even if they faced a different ending in this fake space. But…
“…Why are you smiling?”
Elle was smiling as if she was dreaming a happy dream. But Yoon-seok suddenly felt goosebumps.
‘Is it clairvoyance?’
Yoon-seok realized that she was looking at something else. It wasn’t a lot, but he’d experienced it a few times.
‘What is she looking at?’
As before, Yoon-seok waited, and as time went by, Elle returned to her senses.
“…Was it clairvoyance?”
Yoon-seok asked carefully, but the reply was completely unexpected.
“No.”
“…?”
“I just thought about it. The times when mister and I were smiling.”
Elle just pictured the future as if she were dreaming. She imagined the future that she would never see in clairvoyance.
“That’s all we wanted…”
Yoon-seok bit his lip. Elle’s eyes couldn’t be seen because they were covered with a cloth. So, it’s hard to read her expression. However, Yoon-seok knew. She was crying in the waiting room.
There was nothing he could say.
「You have completed the special challenge.」
Meanwhile, a new phrase appeared. Yoon-seok was speechless.
‘That’s it?’
He didn’t expect anything grand in the first place. Whatever it was, it didn’t mean much. But this was somewhat…
“…”
He was annoyed for some reason. Of course, killing Rick was a big factor in this ending, but he was pissed the Tower made this kind of assignment for him. It was as if the Tower was secretly warning him.
If Yoon-seok didn’t move as they intended, it would end as a tragedy no matter what he did.
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