The Faceless One

Someone higher up than Hog. A gap as wide as heaven and earth. The ashen, curly-haired man introduced himself that way.

Bronze skin, lightly tanned by the sun. In these underground waterways reeking of filth and mold, he wore a pure white suit without a single stain.

“Ah, for the record, the guy lying over there was our associate too. Well, I guess that’s past tense now.”

As he spoke, the man pointed at the corpse on the floor, the test subject’s prey. Its face was ruined, its insides spilled out in a mess. Solomon frowned.

“Did that corpse get the same request as me?”

“Yeah. Actually, there was one more besides him, but that one ended up in its belly early and got digested.”

“…So besides me, two people got played?”

It was so absurd he couldn’t even curse. The man nodded, then snapped his fingers.

Kwajik!

A sewer rat that was about to scurry past them exploded on the spot. It was the same rat that had popped out of the corpse’s jawbone when Solomon was about to land a sneak attack.

“That rat…”

“A familiar. The eyes and ears of the underground mages.”

The man shrugged.

“Even now, they’re eavesdropping and spying on us like rats.”

Starting with that one, the rats scattered around them burst one after another. At the very least, it was clear the man in front of Solomon wasn’t from the Cesspit Mage Tower.

And at a glance, his skill was anything but ordinary.

“Why did you show up in front of me?”

“No matter how disposable a contractor’s life is in this line of work, I can’t just stand by and let three people get used as lab rats and die. That’s the code of the profession.”

“It doesn’t look like you came to save me, though.”

“Well, honestly, whether two die or three die, it’s not much different. I’m just saying.”

So in the end, it really was a disposable life.

“In truth, you didn’t come because of our lives. You came for the prestige of the ‘Organization’ we belong to.”

“Oh, sharp eyes. Not bad. Want to say a little more and score some points?”

The bronze-skinned man grinned easily. Solomon answered like it was ridiculous.

“Why would I do that?”

“Looking good to your superiors is the basics of social life, isn’t it?”

“…The Cesspit Mage Tower said the experiment failed and the test subject escaped.”

“Right.”

“The experiment probably didn’t fail. More precisely, everything up to here was ‘part of the experiment.’”

Not to please him. Solomon was simply trying to make sense of the situation.

“The real experiment was probably a performance test for a bio-weapon. They likely cut a supply contract with some guild in Downtown, lied about the request details, and used us as ‘lab rats.’”

In other words, from the start, the test subjects were us.

“Excellent! One hundred and twenty points.”

[Insight Great Success! At your sharp insight, the suspicious man in a suit shows satisfaction!]

The man smiled, clearly pleased.

“You see, in this line of work, trust is everything. The moment you lose it, you’re finished.”

He laughed, then continued.

“I mean the kind of trust built on belief and a promise. The promise that I’ll split the skull of anyone who tries to stab me in the back.”

“And moving to prove that ‘trust’ is your role.”

“Well, that was the plan…”

The man shrugged, then looked at Solomon with exaggerated meaning.

“How can this be! The guy who should’ve had his skull cracked is somehow clinging to life! Wow, that’s amazing!”

“…”

The man laughed again, shoulders bouncing. Just as he said, the one who’d been stabbed in the back by the Cesspit Mage Tower was Solomon.

Solomon had felt his life on the line. He could have died. So yes, he understood “the importance of trust” down to his bones.

“So, interested?”

“…Interested in what?”

“Recovering trust with your own hands.”

This world was not a world Solomon knew. Then again, even if it were, nothing would be different. Anywhere you go, the ones who get treated like suckers and never push back become prey.

That was why he needed to make it clear.

─That anyone who stabbed him in the back would pay.

‘The question is whether I can do that with my power right now.’

Even so, the deciding factor was still power, and the logic of the strong.

“Well, what you do after getting slapped on the right cheek is up to you.”

The man watched him as he spoke.

“But if you think you should split that bastard’s skull with an axe since you got slapped, then come find me at Hotel Snark.”

“Hotel Snark—”

“The one in Ghost Town. Don’t tell me this is your first time hearing it.”

“As if.”

It wasn’t his first time hearing it. He’d read the setting in the rulebook. Even so, Solomon’s brow creased.

Because of that “setting.”

“If three days pass and you don’t come, I’ll take it as you offering the other cheek too.”

“I want to ask one more thing.”

“Ah, please. Ask as much as you like.”

“What should I call you?”

“Oh, that’s a difficult question. And philosophical at that. Even I don’t really know who I am.”

At Solomon’s words, the man chuckled, sly as a thief.

“I have so many names. Usually, people just call me the ‘Faceless One.’”

[Info Acquired! The man in front of you called himself the Faceless One.]

“Well, whether you believe it or not is up to you.”

[In this city, there is no one who does not know of him, and yet… he is a top-tier contractor that nobody knows.]

The top of the top.

“…”

“Also, tell the hog to starve or live however he wants, since he’s the one who brought the request in the first place.”

“That bastard…”

Before Solomon could even spit out the curse, the man was already gone.

Solomon couldn’t even guess what kind of magic or ability he’d used. That was how absurd the gap between them was.

And since the voice in his head had said that much, there was no reason to doubt his identity.

More than anything—

‘He’s testing me.’

It wasn’t hard to guess he’d taken an interest in Solomon. There was no other choice. Offering the other cheek and showing weakness practically meant death in this business.

Without a word, Solomon looked down at the test subjects rolling on the floor.

He’d killed two level 3 creatures.

‘That’s not enough to level up, huh.’

Even so, today’s fight had been no small gain for Solomon. At the very least, he’d learned something about this world’s rules.

Even if this world wasn’t a tabletop, the power build he’d set up still worked.

---

By the time he returned after finishing the Cesspit Mage Tower request, it was already dawn.

Solomon didn’t go straight back to his cramped room at Grimrow Court 2, No. 17. He stopped by Dawn Skylark Tavern instead, and as expected, the hog, Roach, was there.

The moment Roach saw him, he spat out the meat stuffed in his mouth and made a face like he’d seen a dead man return.

“S-Solomon! How are you al… No, I mean, I knew you’d make it! Damn it!”

“How did I make it? I came back from the dead, you damn pig bastard.”

Solomon couldn’t help being furious. Even if the Cesspit Mage Tower was the one that stabbed him in the back, the hog in front of him was the one who’d happily taken that trap request and delivered it to Solomon.

He felt like hanging Roach on a slaughter hook right then and there, but Roach reacted faster than Solomon’s rage.

“W-Wait! Take this first, then talk! It’s triple the original amount!”

“How much exactly?”

“F-Forty-five million!”

Financial therapy.

──
[Negotiation] “Five million more.”
──

Of course, Solomon’s condition was severe, so it didn’t heal that easily.

“I already scraped up even my own money!”

───
[Intimidation] “That high and mighty person who came to the site said this. Whether you get boiled or roasted, he doesn’t care. By the way, which do you like better? Whole roast pig, or boiled pork?”
───

“E-even if you threaten me, it’s useless! I’m desperate too!”

[Intimidation Failed!]

He really did look desperate. Solomon didn’t care.

───
[Intimidation] “Right. Meat that’s going to hang in a butcher shop doesn’t get to have concerns.”
───

“Fine! Fine! I’ll talk to the top again! No, I’ll do something, somehow! S-Sixty million! How about sixty million?!”

[Intimidation Great Success! The hog even handed over his gallbladder.]

‘That wasn’t intimidation though?’

Why does it keep calling it intimidation? This is ridiculous, Solomon thought.

Roach, uncharacteristically, bowed hard and begged. Only then did Solomon, a little steadier after some financial therapy, stop moving.

Roach trembled and asked carefully.

“Anyway, you said someone from high-up came to the site…?”

“Yeah.”

“W-Who?”

“The Faceless One.”

“…Uh, ah, goddamn it.”

The moment he heard the name, Roach swore.

“I’m fucked.”

Solomon didn’t bother answering. After a short silence, Roach asked again in a trembling voice.

“D-Did that monster really show up…? T-That can’t be. Right? Was it really him?”

“Well, he told me to believe it or not however I wanted.”

The hog’s pork belly trembled, and a howl leaked out of him. It sounded like a pig getting its throat slit.

“I-I only just found out too! I didn’t know two people already got used and died! Once I found out, I figured you were dead for sure, and since I caused that mess, I was too…”

“And you can still shove steak down your throat?”

“Well, I figured if I’m gonna die anyway, it’d be my last meal…”

As soon as he said it, he grabbed the tomahawk steak on the table again.

“That Faceless One asked if I wanted to take a job.”

“!”

The moment he heard that, Roach choked again and started coughing. Thankfully, he seemed to have forced the meat down past his throat somehow.

“W-What kind of job…?”

“Something about getting slapped on the right cheek, so you split their skull with an axe.”

“Don’t tell me he personally… to you…?”

“Yeah.”

Solomon answered.

“He said if I feel like it, come to Hotel Snark within three days.”

“Fuck, that Hotel Snark?! You’ve made it!”

“That’s if I can get there alive.”

[Hotel Snark in Ghost Town. That place is not somewhere just anyone can enter. It is where Guild City’s ‘real ones’ gather, symbolically and physically.]

Roach looked like he’d lost even more will to live.

“Hey, can I ask you for one favor, thinking of our old ties…?”

“Say it.”

“I-If you see him, you know… tell him… give me… a chance…”

“For free?”

Solomon asked back.

“I’ll do anything I can! You need a hole?! I’ve used it so much it’s gotten loose, but the grip still isn’t ba…”

“Cut the disgusting shit. From now on, answer what I ask without questions.”

“Yeah! I’ll answer! I’ll answer!”

The conversation slid back under Solomon’s control.

“How much do you know about the Faceless One?”

“What?!”

“Looks like you know something I don’t.”

“Ah, even so, I can’t just…”

“Do you remember what I said earlier?”

[Intimidation Success!]

He didn’t intend for it, but the voice in his head rang out anyway. Seriously, it wasn’t intimidation.

“H-He, the Faceless One… is one of the Organization’s ‘Seven Rogue Masters’! That’s really all I know!”

[Clue Acquired! Organization and Seven Rogue Masters]

Solomon also knew a certain amount about the Organization he belonged to.

It had no special title. It was just the Organization.

A massive crime guild where contractors, fixers, and all kinds of brokers loosely gathered in a network and handled every kind of illegal and extralegal work in this city.

As for the leadership that ran the Organization, the Seven Rogue Masters… even the rulebook’s setting book didn’t describe who they were.

“T-Truth is, I don’t know much about the Organization either. There’s hardly ever direct orders or requests from them. Most of it is stuff I dig up myself…”

“Was the request you brought from the Cesspit Mage Tower one of those?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Then you’ll add five hundred million, right?”

“Yeah, take it all, you robbing bastard…”

Roach kept talking with the air of a man surrendering.

“And brokers like me periodically ‘report’ on partners we work with. Sometimes those reports get noticed, and someone from the top scouts you directly. In your case too… it seems the higher-ups find you kind of interesting.”

“The Organization.”

“Yeah.”

Roach’s voice went flat with resignation.

“Uh, anyway, I’m saying this just in case…”

As Solomon organized the information, Roach asked carefully.

“You know how to enter Ghost Town, right?”

“As much as most people do.”

“Well, call it paying back the debt. I know a skilled spirit medium.”

Ghost Town and the Hotel Snark inside it weren’t places just anyone could go. It wasn’t figurative like the narrator made it sound. It was literally true, physically too.

“S-So about that five million…”

“I’ll think about it.”

Officially, the only urban districts in Guild City were Uptown and Downtown.

In the first place, a place called “Ghost Town” didn’t exist.

And yet—it did. It was just that the place wasn’t in this world.

The boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. An immaterial domain where lost spirits wandered. A shadow world.

That was why they called the realm of the dead, unreachable by ordinary means, “Ghost Town.”

Hotel Snark was a place that existed inside that Ghost Town.

And people called that hotel on the boundary of life and death 「the Assassins’ Hotel」.

The first test of the Rogue Master, the Faceless One, had already begun.

Within three days, Solomon had to escape the threat of the dead who hungered for the living, and reach Hotel Snark safely.