Chapter 4
Sung Hyun is an orphan, even if he tried to recall his earliest memories, there was no one he could call a parent. He vaguely remembers the faceless face of a couple dropping him off at the front door of the orphanage, he remembers how they drove off while the car radio blaring out loudly playing the newest pop song at the time, he waited and waited as the rain falls upon him as he stands in front of the orphanage gate for them to come back and to look back, alas they never did. So did the parents that came after them to adopt him, he never remembered their faces and soon enough he ended up back in the orphanage again.
Every parent that adopted him always said the same repetitive things as if they have been practicing among them, “this is your new home.” But home is where you belong, and he never did belong to them or their family, thus he was left again in the same place they picked him up…the orphanage.
One night he sneaks out the comic book that the older kids hide under their bed in his room. The comic opens a new world to him, the hero is an orphan just like him, they are abandoned just like him, but they manage to rise above it all, defeating the villains and saving the world. He believed that he was special. After all, every main character in the story he reads has a tragic background just like himself, but that doesn’t make him sad, no. He dreams and dreams of his superhero awakening, and years pass by and he wakes up. He is nothing special, just another unfortunate kid thrown into an orphanage, an orphan.
Sung Hyun changed himself, he no longer daydreams, he started to exercise and work out. He understands he needs to be someone who the kids at the orphanage can look up to, a role model, perhaps a hero in their eyes he secretly whispers to himself. He put up a persona of a boy-next-door. He slowly became popular among his peers, among teachers, and finally he could see himself finally being notice and appreciated in the orphanage director's eyes; the warmth and familiarity that it used to exude came back like it never went away.
He stared back at the boy with bleached blonde hair wearing a worn down highschool uniform, it was obvious that the white uniform was a bit big for him in the mirror. He should be happy, everything went how he planned it to be but he didn't—He felt empty, bleak and lonely.
There was nothing exciting to look forward to in his life—an endless boring routine.
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As if to reply to his prayers, he met him.
“Welcome! To 9-5 Store” greeted the cashier as he entered the store.
There wasn’t anything particularly special about the convenience store located in front of the school, it was just another regular convenience store you go to everyday when you are hungry for a late night snack or maybe to grab some drinks on the way home. He can’t even remember why he stopped by the store on his way home back to the orphanage, but something within him urged him to do so, so he did.
A guy with dark brown hair with light brown tips, tall and well built and with a closer look you can see that he has muscle but not buffy. He wasn’t very conspicuous, he wore an all black attire with black cap, it was obvious he didn't want any attention on him but Sung Hyun cannot take his eyes off of him perhaps it's due to the fact that the guy is emptying all the gummies the store had for sale.
Then his eyes met with light brown orbs similar to his own, a sense of deja vu washed over him, and by the time he came to his senses, the stranger had already checked out and hurried out of the store. Ever since that day he kept having strange dreams, it was so vivid as if he wasn’t dreaming it, the sense of deja vu lingers in his mind and down his spine, as if there is an entity warning him that it wasn’t a dream but in fact it is a memories or an omen. Deep down, he knows it himself that everything started with his encounter with the stranger at the store.
From then on, his night was haunted with those dreams and there was some night that the dreams shows him pleasant visions where the stranger was wearing the same highschool uniform he wears almost everyday except his look new and clean and his face is adorned with with smile and laughter as if he was having the time of his life with student surrounded all over him as if he was a king and all of them are just a peasant awaiting his commands, that was one of the good nights that he was able sleep soundly.
There was a night that kept him awake, shaking and scared to fall asleep by how scary and vivid the visions are, it was as if someone was playing a thriller movie inside his dream starring him and the stranger. There was so much bloodshed, everyone was dying and screaming and he stood there in the middle of it all, frozen. No matter what night it was, there was a common variable in the dream; the mysterious stranger— except he wasn’t really a stranger in his dreams, they were friends, best friends.
The dreams, the visions continued every night until he was twenty years old, the dreams started to become less frequent and in the last one he saw himself lying in the arms of that same stranger who became a regular role in his dream, at first glance of the vision in front of him, he immediately knew, he was dying in the dream, he was all bloodied from head to toe and there was a hole in his abdomen.
Weirdly enough, he knew that ‘the him’ in the dream felt nothing but peace, as if he was freed. But not the stranger, he was devastated; crying and screaming for Sung Hyun to wake up from the dead. If only everything wasn’t a dream, he would have loved to have someone crying for him too.
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Despite the fact that neither the tower nor the system has ever shown bias toward any living thing, the burden of responsibility and blame is invariably placed on its shoulders. They are not sentient, and all that guides their behavior is the information, calculations, and rules that He has programmed into them; however, what the players don't know won't hurt them in any way.
『 MAY THE SYSTEM BE WITH YOU 』
『 MAY HIM BE WITH YOU 』
No one has ever disclosed the history of the tower's beginning, and no one has ever spoken publicly about it. It's possible that no one has ever lived long enough to tell the tale, or that people have simply never been courageous enough to do so because doing so might attract unwanted attention and put them in danger. Of course, there have been rumors and hypotheses floating around here and there throughout each level of the tower, but it's important to keep in mind that those are just what they are—rumors.
One may ask what about the administrator?
Why would they even bother to say anything really? You might forget that they were once players; they are sentient creatures, and like you, they are bound by the desires and prejudices that are uniquely their own. So, whom will you consult if you want to know the truth?
There was a record of a previous ranker who called himself "The Scribe" before Izz regression. His location was unknown for the majority of the time, but there were speculations that he was hiding somewhere on the 80th level away from other players. He was the only individual who had ever been found to have been successful in locating the scripture that described the early records of the tower's inhabitants and their history. As soon as he reached the eighty-first level, locating that player ought to have been his first priority.
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Somewhere inside the tower, A man stood under the tree while smoking the cheap cigarettes he bought from a local tavern. The man has long, wild, dark brown hair; bright blue orbs that look as if they could pierce into your soul; tanned skin with scars decorating his abdomen; however, rather than making him look intimidating, it gives off a slightly wild charm that attracts people's eyes as if to covet his attention.
“This round is more interesting than the last one,” the man murmured to himself as exhale the smoke out of his lungs.
“Indeed, it is,” a tuxedo-clad man with black hair that was slicked back and a bat mask that resembled a certain comic hero spoke as he walked out of the portal that appeared out of nowhere.
The man let out a loud sigh and annoyance could be seen on his features as he looked at the administrator with nothing but contempt in his electrifying blue eyes. The cigarettes were thrown away and trampled on the ground, leaving a small dark burn mark on the soil.
“Did that motherf***ker send you here again?” he paused “what?...Is he scared I’m really going to snitch on him to that creep Zala?”
“That motherf***ker you speak of is your god, your patron, your father”
“He’s no god of mine! Nor is he my father,” he replied with contempt, face flushed with anger as he turned his body facing the uninvited guest.
“You don’t mean that,” the administrator said as he shook his head in disappointment and disagreement with the words of the man before him. “All of this is for a bigger cause”
“Is it really,” he scoffed back, obviously not believing any of the words uttered.
“It is”
“Just go before another administrator find you here, Ace”
“Fine…” Ace paused “For your own sake, please see the bigger picture”
Ace looked back at the man one more time before creating a portal with a wave of his hand and leaving.
The man chuckled as he took out a hair tie from the pocket of his pants and tied his long hair into a man-bun, “bigger picture, my foot.”
He walks away from the tree he had been spending his days away to another unknown location, not before making a small green orb that floats towards the ground where the cigarettes burned the grass and soil black. He leaves as if he was never there, the grass and soil back recover as if it was never burned in the first place, leaving only the ash and the thrown away cigarettes as the only proof he was ever there.
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February 28, 2018. 12:00 KST
It was an average day in Korea, the sun is up and everyone just goes on with their day like usual. Most people are just having their lunch break, planning what to eat to fill the hunger in their stomach and the students are running past each other towards the cafeteria and Izz is putting everything into the dimensional backpack given to him by X through the system.
The backpack is in black color, made by Apollo and Hephaestus and is only in production in Hephaestus' workshop on the 80th floor. The bag can fit everything, from dagger, foods, cloth to something as big as an elephant if you want to.
X can be generous if he wanted to but he is also fickle and cunning, he never did a favor without any return. It was unspoken but it was obvious that X is trying to make him lower his guard and become one of his many pawns to control in the tower. Izz knows he is curious by nature; it was natural of him to be curious about X and his agenda, but there are some waters you shouldn’t lurk in, especially with his state right now, where survival and getting stronger are his absolute priorities.
