An Unannounced Guest (1)

**

We stepped out of the elevator and slowly looked around.
The spacious hotel stretched out before us.

“I-Is it over…?”

At Han Gyeong-ah’s uncertain question, I nodded.

“Looks like it…”
“What in the world was that back there?! Everything suddenly started burning…! I seriously thought we were going to die!”

Gyeong-ah hadn’t been in the Main Hall, so she had no idea what had happened and flailed around as she spoke.
Since she was completely lost, I gave her a rough explanation of how we’d resolved everything.

“…And that’s what happened.”
“Oh my God…”
“He did it all. Things could’ve gone really badly without him.”

I gestured toward Lee Sa-hyuk.
We’d only made it out of the Mansion because of that man.
Most of the time, his presence was practically invisible, yet somehow he always came through at the most critical moments.

“Sa-hyuk, thank you!”
“If you’re grateful, give me some cigarettes.”

He replied indifferently, barely acknowledging her thanks.
He seemed far more interested in smoking a cigarette than receiving anyone’s gratitude.
Consistent as ever.
Kang Se-rim clicked her tongue as if to say, ‘Of course.’

“Anyway… it’s really over now, right?”
“Yeah. No doubt about it.”

I recalled the message from earlier. We hadn’t merely escaped the Mansion. We’d brought down Floor 2 itself.
It was nothing short of miraculous. We’d even received rewards.
I looked at the clear rewards in my hands.
A jingling bundle of brass-colored coins and a crude rabbit doll.

“And what are those?”
“Well… I guess you could call them gifts she left behind.”

I opened the system and checked the item descriptions.
First, the Old Coins.

Hmm.
I still had no idea what they were actually used for.
Were they some kind of achievement points?
They’d probably have a use eventually. For now, though, I was more interested in the other reward.

At first glance, it was nothing more than a shabby, pathetic-looking rag doll.
But to me, it meant something far more.
I could feel the effort and care its maker had poured into it. I smiled faintly and tucked the doll inside my clothes.
It was the best gift I could have asked for.
Either way, the conclusion was simple.
We had survived. We’d safely escaped Floor 2 of the Tower.
An overwhelming sense of relief filled my chest. Everyone else seemed to feel the same, each of us finally letting out a breath.

“Haaah… I thought we were fucking dead…”
“Good work, everyone.”
“Thank goodness… I’m so, so glad…”

Gyeong-ah was the most emotional of us.
She looked ready to cry from sheer relief that we’d survived.
And so we stood in the Hotel Lobby, savoring our return.

‘Come to think of it…’

Hadn’t the group that went up yesterday escaped Floor 2 too?
They should be on Floor 1 as well. Sure enough, someone appeared in the lobby almost immediately.

“Yaaawn… What’s all that noise?”

Speak of the devil. A woman with long, loose hair poked her head out.

“Ah! You guys!!”

The moment she saw us, she let out a delighted shriek.
She rushed straight over and pulled Kang Se-rim into a tight hug.

“Ghk.”
“Are you okay?! You’re really safe, right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

Kang Se-rim squirmed for air beneath the woman’s overwhelmingly affectionate embrace.
Gyeong-ah recognized her and greeted her happily.

“Bada unni!”

I knew her well too. She was one of the major characters in 「Tower Death Game」.
Joo Bada whipped around toward Gyeong-ah, planted her hands on her hips, and gave her a stern scolding.

“Gyeong-ah, you! How could you disappear without telling anyone? Do you know how worried I’ve been?”
“Unni, actually…”
“I’m just glad you’re safe! Do that again and I’m really going to scold you!”

Either way, she clearly seemed overjoyed to have Gyeong-ah back.
Gyeong-ah seemed to be trying to explain something…
but Bada was so free-spirited that she simply talked right over her and moved on.
…Exactly like in the game.
I brought up her Status Window.

‘Status Window.’

Flash-!

‘Just as I thought…’

Unsurprisingly, the information matched what I already knew.
She was an actress by profession.
Apparently, she was a famous actress whose name just about everyone had heard at least once…
Honestly, I had no idea.
After all, that was just part of the setting of 「Tower Death Game」.
To me, they were all characters from a game, so looking at Han Gyeong-ah or Joo Bada didn’t feel all that different.

‘…She is pretty, though.’

Maybe it came with being an actress, but she was remarkably beautiful.
Even standing still, she had the kind of presence that could captivate anyone.
She wore nothing more elaborate than a tight white top and jeans, but her figure made the simple outfit stand out.
And her heart was every bit as generous as her looks.
She was kind and gentle, unusually mature and grown-up for someone in her twenties.
She was highly sociable too, the kind of mood-maker who had broken the awkward tension when everyone first met.
Just like now.

“Aww, you had a rough time, didn’t you?”
“Ugh…”

After fussing over Kang Se-rim to her heart’s content, Joo Bada turned her attention to Lee Sa-hyuk beside her.
She teasingly poked him in the shoulder several times.

“Doctor, you went too? You wouldn’t budge when we kept asking you to come with us, but I guess you’ve finally decided it’s better to stick together!”
“Not at all.”
“Come on, Doctor. You like being together more than being alone too, don’t you? Stop playing hard to get and be a little more honest!”
“…”

Lee Sa-hyuk frowned.
Joo Bada went around checking on everyone one by one.
When it finally came to me, our eyes met.

“Hmm?”

Joo Bada froze halfway through a cheerful smile. Only then did she recognize me, and her eyes widened in shock.

“You’re Kim Yohan…?!”

Her expression practically screamed, ‘Why is he here?’
Even her startled reaction looked like something straight out of a movie.
Kang Se-rim had reacted like this at first too.
I was briefly wondering how I should explain myself when,

“What’s going on?!”

a rather frivolous-looking man came rushing into the lobby, apparently drawn by Joo Bada’s shout.
He was another participant in the Tower. Once again, Gyeong-ah called out his name happily.

“Nam-jae!”
“Gyeong-ah?! You’re safe…!”

I looked at the startled Shin Nam-jae and brought up his Status Window.

Honestly, I didn’t know much about him.
Not because he was a man…
but because he had practically no presence in Chapter 1. After his introduction in the prologue, his screen time had all but vanished.
He barely spoke and rarely appeared while the game was underway.
He didn’t have an especially distinctive personality or memorable looks either, so there wasn’t much to remember.
He was basically a background character.
His presence was faint in an entirely different way from Lee Sa-hyuk’s.

“We were really worried when you suddenly disappeared! We thought something might have happened to you…”

Shin Nam-jae kept his gaze fixed entirely on Gyeong-ah.
He had a weakness for women, so he didn’t even spare me a glance.
Maybe that was a good thing.

“I’m sorry I made you worry because of me…”
“N-No! I wasn’t saying it because I wanted an apology…”

I was watching a scene I’d only ever seen in the game when another pair, a man and a woman, walked into the lobby.
Their presence was obvious even from a distance. My gaze was immediately drawn to one of them.
Because I instinctively knew who that person was.

‘That person…’

I knew instinctively.
I’d expected the day would eventually come when we met…
but I hadn’t expected it to be now.
No amount of preparation could stop me from getting nervous.
They were someone deeply significant to both Kim Yohan and me.

The protagonist of 「Tower Death Game」.
That person was approaching from across the lobby.
Even the way they slowly walked toward us carried an overwhelming presence.
How should I put it…?
As befitting the star of this world, they practically radiated an aura from head to toe.
They felt completely different from a Third-Rate Villain like Kim Yohan.
Their presence was so intense that even the space around them seemed to distort.

“…”

Wait. It actually was distorting.
I wasn’t exaggerating. The surroundings were warping like a heat haze.
The problem was with me.
My vision suddenly blurred as a hazy fog settled over my eyes.

‘Huh…? What’s happening?’

My body wouldn’t listen to me.
My head throbbed, then the world began spinning. All the exhaustion I’d accumulated had finally reached its limit.
Truthfully, I’d been holding myself together through sheer willpower for a while now…
but I couldn’t keep going. My body couldn’t withstand the overload any longer.
It was trying to forcibly shut itself down.

I still had so much to do…
I couldn’t collapse now. I staggered, desperately trying to hold on to consciousness.
But before I could resist, my eyes slowly slipped shut.
It happened in an instant.

Thud.

I heard the loud sound of my body hitting the floor. I must have collapsed, yet strangely, I couldn’t feel anything.
It didn’t hurt at all. So this was what passing out felt like.
That was my last memory.

**

**

An unfamiliar ceiling…
No. A familiar ceiling.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a ceiling I recognized. Coming to my senses, I realized I was lying on a soft bed.
The pillow carried the familiar scent of jasmine and a pleasant fragrance. I groggily sat up.

“This is…”

Gyeong-ah’s Private Room.

“You’re awake.”

I turned to the side and found Lee Sa-hyuk sitting in a chair, looking thoroughly inconvenienced.

“You passed out, so we brought you here. It’s been two hours.”
“Passed out?”

My head was still foggy. I’d actually blacked out and collapsed…?
When I tried to move, aching pain swept through my entire body.

“Ugh.”

Lee Sa-hyuk looked at me as though I were pathetic.

“You pushed your body too hard. You were exhausted enough that your brain forced you to rest.”

The diagnosis from an actual doctor was simple: temporary loss of consciousness caused by accumulated fatigue.

“You’re not in any danger, so don’t worry.”
“So I passed out as soon as we got back to Floor 1… and I’ve been unconscious this whole time?”

Apparently even speaking had become too much trouble, because he gave me a halfhearted nod.
It seemed he’d been waiting here until I woke up.

“You’re weak. Collapsing from this little exertion.”
“…”

I had nothing to say to that.
No one understood better than me just how poor my stamina was.
Feeling awkward, I changed the subject.

“Where’s everyone else?”
“How should I know?”

Right. This was the kind of person he was.

“Then I’m leaving.”

Lee Sa-hyuk stood without hesitation, as though his business here was finished.

“I’ll bill you for the medical fee once we get outside. Keep that in mind.”
“…”

I had to pay him too?
Applying real-world logic at a time like this left me speechless. When it came to money, the man was ruthlessly precise.

Creak-

And just like that, I was left alone in the room. My body was completely drained, and my head was a mess.

‘What happened while I was out?’

I collapsed from exhaustion almost immediately after meeting everyone.
I had no idea what might have happened in the meantime.
He said I’d been out for about two hours…
I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
What worried me most was how everyone had reacted to seeing Kim Yohan.
Whatever their reaction had been, it couldn’t have been good.
My thoughts kept spiraling as anxiety gnawed at me.

Creak-

The room door opened, and someone strode inside.
I didn’t even need to see who it was. The footsteps told me everything.

“Dumbass… You awake?”

It was Kang Se-rim.