Chapter 48

Yoo Se-byeol’s unconscious sword strike shattered the balance in an instant.

Perez’s barrier collapsed, and a storm of mana tore through the control room.

Monitors burst apart, devices slammed against the walls, and when the dust finally settled on the stone floor, the last man standing was Hans.

“Guh! Wh–why…?”

“Ah, th–that was an accident…!”

It had been an accident, but if Perez wasn’t the true culprit, it was a dangerous gamble.

There was no backup to expect. Only one High-Level mage left standing.

『I knew I could count on you, Deputy Commander! Please hold on, I’ll secure Perez and head over right away!』

Hayan’s voice came through the channel, but his figure was nowhere to be seen. He had slipped away into the debris, leaving only his voice behind.

Hans turned toward Se-byeol, who was still gripping her sword tensely.

“What happened to the monsters above?”

“…The monsters?”

“The three Basilisks that appeared on the second floor.”

“One of them I dealt with myself. The other two should be finished by now.”

『One of those was mine. The biggest one.』

“Be quiet, I’m in the middle of a conversation!”

“Huh?”

“N–nothing. Um, Hans, sir…”

Was Hayan really right about him?

Se-byeol kept her guard up, but Hans calmly began explaining why he had come.

“Years ago, I visited the Yellow Tower to research the Philosopher’s Stone. Perez hounded me about ways to acquire the blood of an Outer God, so I mentioned the Sword Immortal’s scabbard. Looks like he finally acted on it.”

“…I see.”

“He slipped real monsters among the clones, then used magic in the control room to mix my voice into the broadcast. Good thing I came to check.”

“So the shady lines and the way you two talked—it was all Perez’s setup, wasn’t it?”

“The story about my wife cheating three times, though—that was true.”

“….”

“….”

Silence fell for a moment.

Se-byeol mulled over his words. The Philosopher’s Stone—ultimate pinnacle of alchemy, said to be possible only for a master of White Magic. With the blood of an Outer God infused, it was rumored to even resurrect the dead.

But Perez wasn’t Transcendent. Even if he had learned of the scabbard from Hans, he couldn’t possibly craft one himself.

Unless he had backing.

As she thought, Hayan’s strained voice suddenly came through the channel.

『Argh! It bit me! This thing bit me!』

『Deputy Commander… I feel… s–something’s wrong…』

That settled it. She couldn’t leave him alone any longer.

She lowered her sword.

“Fine. We’ll interrogate him and find out the truth. Until this is resolved, you’ll stay with me.”

“Of course.”

Hans nodded, then pulled a silver key from his pocket and offered it to her.

“What’s this?”

“Key to the equipment room. The Tower apprentices barricaded themselves inside. Go tell them the crisis is over.”

“Ah… thank you.”

“The control panel is broken, so the first-floor entrance will have to be forced open. I imagine outside must be in chaos by now.”

“Heh… no kidding.”

Her head already throbbed at the thought of cleaning this up.

The Tower of Proof’s architect had released monsters inside, and even attempted to assassinate a Special Unit officer.

If word spread, the Yellow Tower could end up erased from Korea just like the Black Tower.

“That’s why I’d like to minimize the international fallout if this comes to light.”

“You mean…?”

She wasn’t the only one worried.

“I’ll handle the Tower’s side and keep mouths shut. In return, I’d like to request something of the Bureau when we get out.”

“So? So what happened, our Deputy Commander Se-byeol?”

“What do you think? I swept it under the rug as a simple accident.”

The very next day, after the Tower of Proof concluded with the second mission, Se-byeol sighed over drinks in a Seoul tavern.

This time, she was meeting Lee Sohyun one-on-one.

The news skipped over what had really happened underground. Instead, they reported only that real monsters had suddenly appeared during the Tower of Proof.

The official story was that the crisis nearly escalated, but thanks to Baek-seon and the combined efforts of the participants, three rank-1 Basilisks had been slain. In truth, only two corpses were confirmed—the last was unaccounted for, so additional search teams had been dispatched.

Still, the incident boosted ratings. Even though the third mission was canceled, the broadcast drew the highest viewership in years.

“‘Basilisk family that settled happily in the Tower, found dead of natural causes.’ …What kind of headline is that?”

Se-byeol grimaced and tossed back her drink.

“For now, Perez has been handed over to the Bureau. He admitted to the attack. But whether he acted under someone else’s orders—he refused to say. No idea how far the investigation will go.”

“And the Tower?”

“The Yellow Tower? Strangely enough, they went along with our mediation without protest. Maybe they felt guilty.”

“Well, they were the ones who approved him as architect. They just don’t want the blame to stick. Still… surprising. I didn’t think you’d accept a deal like that.”

“I don’t always get to ignore reality. What good would it do if the truth came out?”

If everything had been exposed…

The Yellow Tower’s reputation would be in ruins. Citizens would panic.

The Tower of Proof, with its long history, might never open again.

And worst of all, it would mean revealing to the world that the root cause had been the scabbard passed down from her grandfather.

Yoo Se-byeol wasn’t looking for that kind of attention.

“Didn’t you get any orders on your side?”

“Of course. We had to swear a mana oath not to speak of what happened in the control room, mandatory therapy camp, and… what else was it—ugh, whatever.”

Lee Sohyun drained her glass in one shot and leaned close.

“Enough boring Tower talk. Tell me what happened after the cameras went off. So, what about you and Agent Hayan? I never even saw his face.”

“Nothing happened! You know how chaotic it was after the monsters showed up. We just…”

“Just?”

Se-byeol’s head tilted slightly, lost in thought.

Two droplets slid down the side of her glass, tumbling together until they merged at the bottom, disappearing into the wood grain.

It reminded her of fighting the Basilisk side by side with Hayan, then descending underground to stop Perez’s scheme.

And yet… not everything was resolved.

Especially the moment when Hayan asked Commander Ha Yeri to let him interrogate Perez himself—only to be refused. That was suspicious. It couldn’t have been mere curiosity.

Was he chasing a lead? Did he suspect another group behind all this?

“…”

“Se-byeol, are you drunk?”

“No! Not at all! I should get going—I have work tomorrow.”

Snapping out of it, she hastily wiped the table with a napkin and stood. Reaching for her wallet, her hand brushed something smooth and rubbery.

The band from the three-legged race.

As Sohyun came over, Se-byeol quickly stuffed it back into her pocket.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you lost your wallet.”

“N-no! My hands are just cold.”

“Forget it, this one’s on me. My hazard pay went up, I’m flush—like a million and a half won.”

“R-really? Thanks…”

Amid all the chaos, no one had noticed the missing piece of equipment.

Leaving her friend to settle the bill, Yoo Se-byeol stepped outside first.

She hadn’t managed to get as close to Hayan as she’d hoped. But if she tried harder, maybe the distance between them could still close.

“Taking vacation and ending up in the hospital? Now you’re pulling every excuse in the book to skip training.”

“…”

“Tch. Fine. When the evaluations drop and you fail because you were busy slacking, that’s on you.”

Seoul Central Hospital.

The first thing out of Kang Ha-neul’s mouth as he walked into the ward was scolding.

Considering it was barely past 5:30 a.m., it was obvious—he’d finished morning training and come straight here.

Which meant the most reasonable response from me was to pull the blanket over my head and ignore him.

Seriously, how is visitation even allowed at this hour?

Doesn’t this place have visiting hours?

“And this isn’t a general ward either. Where’d you get the money for such a fancy room? I nearly got lost finding the right elevator, and there you are, sleeping soundly.”

“Snoooore…”

“If some guild member from The Old Gods’ Wound hadn’t helped me find the way, I’d have just left. Why were they so polite, huh? Did you bribe them?”

“…”

“What was his name again… Seol? Seol Sa…?”

So it was you, Seol Si-heon!

I should’ve finished you off when you were trembling before the Basilisk!

Fists clenched under the blanket, my whole body shook with rage.

After Perez sank his teeth into me—

And after I tried to bite him back to stop him from fleeing—Seol Si-heon had scooped me up and declared,

“No matter what happens, I’ll take responsibility and save his life, Deputy Commander—!”

…only to stab me in the back like this.

If he’d just shown up a little later, I could’ve at least used the Tentacle of Suggestion to interrogate Perez while Se-byeol was distracted talking with Hans.

Instead, thanks to useless Seol Si-heon, I was now getting chewed out endlessly by Kang Ha-neul.

“If you’d gotten hurt fighting your way to the top of the Tower, at least you wouldn’t look so pathetic. But from what I heard, the rescue team pulled you out of the first basement floor.”

“…”

“While the Deputy Commander was fighting Basilisks, what were you doing? Losing to a staircase?”

“…sniff.”

This was so unfair!

Until the investigation was fully complete, everything that happened inside the Tower of Proof was classified as top secret.

Just like during the flooding of the Sea of Decay, we weren’t allowed to leak any details, not even to members of our own unit.

With Commander Ha Yeri’s terrifying gag order hanging over me, I couldn’t say a word.
So Kang Ha-neul kept on nagging for another thirty minutes straight.

He finally left a fruit basket, a bouquet of flowers from some shop near the subway, and a single book on the chair before heading out.

Was he afraid that an anonymous post about workplace bullying might pop up on the Special Unit Bamboo Forest board?

I shoved the book aside and picked up the basket. Just in case it was poisoned, I had Digestion test it first.

“Digestion, time to eat.”

“Kiiiieeek!”

“Come on, this is rare stuff. Don’t complain, just chew it properly.”

Still digesting the Basilisk, Digestion whined and shook its head, but once I shoved the fruit in, it wailed,

“It would’ve been better if it really was poisoned—!” before vanishing.

Satisfied, I dug into the fruit Ha-neul had left behind.

I was just about to drift back to sleep when I felt someone’s presence by my side.

Another visitor with a gift?

I rubbed my eyes and peeked out from under the blanket—then froze.

Because standing there was none other than my Outer God.

“Mala-nim!”

I threw off the covers and leapt into her arms.

Barely two days. That was all the time I’d been separated from her inside the Tower.
The loneliness and unfairness I’d suffered welled up all at once.

“Let’s never be apart again. It was my fault, I’m sorry…!”

There was no mistaking it.

The snow-white hair.

The cold, impassive eyes.

The slim, elegant legs.

Just like Mala-nim.

“A pathetic man, aren’t you.”

And most of all, just like Mala-nim, she clenched her teeth when angry instead of speaking.

…Wait.

“I told you, there is no Outer God called ‘Mala.’”

“Baek-seon?”

“Call me Lruyeh. That’s my name.”

Without a sound, she’d appeared like a ghost. She set the skull she always carried down on the pillow beside me.

“You already know why I came.”

Though the skull had no eyes, I felt its gaze. As if it were whispering, “Soon, you’ll end up just like this.”