Kim Chil-gap thought to himself.
'……It was a strange place.'
He had met all sorts of people and visited every kind of place while collecting debts, but he had never encountered anywhere quite so peculiar.
Had they called it the Divine Shaman Family?
It was a typical shaman's house.
For Kim Chil-gap, who didn't believe in shamanism, the sight had been utterly unfamiliar. Yet, strangely enough, it was also a place that made him feel at ease.
Kim Chil-gap made an effort to shake off the lingering image of the Divine Shaman Family.
'Let's not waste time thinking about pointless things.'
After finishing his business in Gangwon Province, Kim Chil-gap had returned to Seoul that same day.
He had plenty of work to do.
He needed to work as much as possible, every day, every hour.
Only by earning more money and pouring it into the hospital could he hope to find some way to treat his wife's illness.
"Next is……"
Fortunately or unfortunately, the world was full of people in debt.
Which meant that work never stopped coming in for a capable debt collector like Kim Chil-gap.
He leafed through his notebook to find the address of his next destination.
"……"
As he stared at the address, however, his mind wandered elsewhere.
─ Excuse me, sir?
─ Yes?
─ Why don't you go home early today?
─ ……Pardon?
The young man from the shaman's house, who had kept his distance from him the entire time, had suddenly approached him before he left and made that suggestion.
─ Make sure you get home early today, all right?
For no apparent reason, the young man had repeated that inexplicable request.
─ What if he casts some evil spell on you?
Naturally, he remembered what his junior colleague had said when he refused to collect a debt from a shaman's house.
"Tsk. He didn't seem like the type."
It hadn't felt like a threat.
If anything, he had sensed genuine concern.
Kim Chil-gap prided himself on being an exceptionally perceptive debt collector. He wasn't so dull that he couldn't recognize malice in another person.
"Hmm……"
As he'd said before, Kim Chil-gap didn't believe in superstition. In fact, he disliked it.
If the young man had put on a clumsy imitation of a shaman and spoken with the authority of someone divining the future, Kim Chil-gap would have refused to listen out of sheer defiance.
But……
─ I'm only saying this because I'm afraid you might brush off my advice…… Please, make sure you go home early today. You understand, right?
Rather than a shaman delivering a prophecy, he had looked like an earnest young man desperately asking a favor.
"……Should I go home early today?"
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he'd properly looked his wife in the face.
He kept saying he was earning money for her sake, but perhaps he had been unconsciously avoiding seeing her.
After all, his heart broke every time he saw how sickly she had become.
"All right. Let's go home."
For once, Kim Chil-gap finished work early, bought the fried chicken his wife loved, and headed home.
And when he arrived, he found his wife collapsed on the floor.
"Honey!"
His heart dropped with a sickening jolt.
***
─ It's fortunate you found her in time. If you'd been even a little later, things could have been very serious. She was incredibly lucky.
"Phew……"
Kim Chil-gap rubbed his face with both hands, trying to calm himself.
His wife was safe.
But as the doctor had said, there was no telling what might have happened if he'd been even a little later.
If he'd stayed out chasing money as usual and returned home late……
'Was that bastard behind it?'
Such was the wickedness of the human heart that the thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"What kind of bastard thinks that……"
He immediately mocked himself for it.
He had seen genuine concern in the young debtor's expression.
He knew that perfectly well.
"……"
As he'd said time and again, Kim Chil-gap didn't believe in shamanism.
But instinctively, he knew.
He had no choice but to acknowledge it.
He owed the young man from the shaman's house an enormous debt of gratitude.
"I'll have to repay that kindness."
To turn one's back on a debt of gratitude was to be worse than a beast.
Kim Chil-gap had entered the rough business of debt collection for his wife's sake, but he was still a man who wanted to live at least a little better than a beast.
Once he had made his decision, he strode off without hesitation.
***
Kim Chil-gap visited Boss Kwon's moneylending office.
"Oh, Mr. Kim! What brings you back here?"
Boss Kwon greeted him with a smile again. The results Kim Chil-gap had built up over the years had earned him that trust.
"Boss Kwon."
"Go ahead."
"You know the case you assigned me this afternoon?"
"Yes. Is there a problem……?"
"Don't assign it to anyone else. I'll handle it personally."
The smile vanished from Boss Kwon's face.
Just as Kim Chil-gap had expected.
Someone like Boss Kwon would never leave the entire job to Kim Chil-gap and sit back without doing anything else.
No matter who collected the money, Boss Kwon only had to pay that person a ten-percent commission and pocket the rest.
"May I ask why?"
"I can't tell you."
"Then that puts me in a difficult position."
Just as a smile was beginning to return to Boss Kwon's face……
"If you send anyone else, I'll never take another job from you."
Boss Kwon's face stiffened again.
Kim Chil-gap had delivered no small number of successful collections over the years.
Boss Kwon couldn't afford to let him go so easily.
"I take it that means you're certain you can collect the money?"
"Yes. Without fail."
'Even if I have to pay it out of my own pocket.'
Kim Chil-gap swallowed those words.
There was no need to show a man like Boss Kwon the cards in his hand.
"Very well. Let's do that."
"Thank you."
Kim Chil-gap smiled faintly.
His repayment of that kindness had only just begun.
***
[Tower Entry Ticket: Available]
At last, three days had passed, and the cooldown on my Tower Entry Ticket was over.
"Ancestor, shall we go in?"
─ How diligent you have become. You were reluctant at first.
"I've got to earn money."
Seeing that debt collector had really driven the point home.
I'm in debt now.
I've got to work hard and save up money.
If I failed to come up with the money, that man's pot-lid-sized fist might end up having a touching reunion with my face.
One thing was certain: that man's fist was far closer to my face than my Ancestral God, who couldn't fight, was.
"Ancestor."
─ What is it?
"What should I take with me this time?"
It's not as though I'm incapable of learning.
A Divine Shaman is someone who foresees the future and prepares for it in advance.
I can't foresee the future myself, but don't I have a miraculous Ancestral God who can do it for me?
In that case, making preparations beforehand is my responsibility.
─ You are learning.
"Haha!"
Even my Ancestral God praised my cleverness.
─ Take a set of shamanic bells with you.
Shamanic bells are clusters of bells that shamans use for various purposes, such as inviting gods, telling fortunes, driving out evil spirits, and performing shamanic rituals.
In other words, they're an all-purpose tool for a Divine Shaman.
Since I have the Lending skill, they should work especially well with it.
"……Where did we keep the shamanic bells? Oh, right. There."
I remembered that the shamanic bells passed down through our family were kept in a chest in the shrine.
They weren't something just anyone was allowed to touch, but since I had my Ancestral God's permission, there shouldn't be a problem.
I'd already figured out where the chest was while cleaning.
Clatter.
I opened the chest and carefully took out the shamanic bells.
Jingle—jingle.
The bells swayed, producing a clear, delicate ringing.
[Relic discovered.]
And the System responded.
"……Huh?"
I'd heard rumors about this before.
Apparently, among old objects known as relics, there were occasionally items that functioned like equipment inside the Tower.
─ They will strengthen your Spell Power. By about thirty percent, I would say.
Thanks to my Ancestral God, I could learn their effect without using the Appraisal Skill.
To be honest, I couldn't really grasp how much of a difference thirty percent would make.
"Amazing."
Even so, this was incredible.
Objects that functioned as items in the Tower all sold for high prices.
To think something left forgotten in a corner of the family home had turned out to be a relic. Considering the Divine Shaman Family's long history, perhaps that shouldn't have been surprising.
I had no intention of selling it.
For one thing, it was a family heirloom. Besides, I doubted there was much demand for it.
I couldn't remember ever hearing of an Awakened who used Spell Power.
"Shall we enter?"
The thought that I might be the only person at a mere Level 2 to enter the Tower's second floor equipped with an item filled me with confidence.
─ Take a dagger as well. One with a sharp blade.
"Wouldn't a longer one be better?"
─ A dagger.
"Yes, sir."
It was best to follow my Ancestral God's instructions.
You might wonder why a household would have a dagger instead of an ordinary kitchen knife, but a shaman's house had one. It even had a longsword.
"I've got it."
Unfortunately, the dagger wasn't a relic.
─ Let us go.
I nodded at my ancestor's words and took a deep breath.
Even with the protection of my Ancestral God, I knew climbing the Tower wasn't a pleasure trip.
"Enter!"
My vision went dark with a sensation that was starting to feel familiar.
***
[You have entered the Labyrinth Tower - Korea, Floor 2, 'Cursed Swamp'.]
[Physical abilities readjusted to match your level.]
[Mission: Kill 7 Corrupted Basilisks.]
[Time Limit: 24 hours]
[Success Condition: Complete the mission within the time limit.]
[Failure Conditions: Time limit expires, death, or escape.]
***
"This place is creepy."
The second floor of the Labyrinth Tower was the Cursed Swamp.
Curses.
Fortunately or unfortunately, they were a concept quite familiar to shamans.
As I've said several times, I hadn't studied shamanism, so I didn't know how to lift curses or anything like that. But with my Ancestral God beside me, I wasn't afraid of them.
"Still, I should be careful."
The scenery on the Labyrinth Tower's second floor was quite different from the first.
It wasn't shaped like a cavern, and there weren't multiple branching paths. As the name suggested, a fairly vast expanse of swamp stretched before my eyes.
That was what made it dangerous.
I recalled information I'd picked up on online communities long ago.
[One wrong step and you sink into the swamp. Getting out is an absolute nightmare.]
[Sharing tips on escaping the swamp if you fall in while climbing Floor 2.]
There was a reason the Awakened who had given up on climbing the upper floors and made their living farming resources stuck to the first floor.
On the first floor, all you had to do was wander through the branching passages. On the second, the swamp's traps served as the maze itself. Naturally, it was far more dangerous.
This, too, was a labyrinth.
[If you remain trapped in the swamp for too long, curses accumulate. They're believed to be debuffs that restrict your movements. It's better to abandon the mission and escape the Tower. Try again in three days.]
Getting cursed sounded absolutely dreadful.
But it was fine.
I just had to avoid falling in to begin with.
My Ancestral God would be there to guide me, so it wasn't something I needed to worry too much about.
"Which way should we go?"
─ Wait a moment.
Jingle.
The shamanic bells suddenly rang in a place where there wasn't the slightest breeze.
"Hm?"
Then my vision changed.
─ I have lent you my Spirit Sight. With the shamanic bells, this much is possible.
My Ancestral God had used the Lending skill.
The swamp traps, which leaked an aura of curses, became clearly visible to my eyes.
"Amazing."
My Ancestral God really was the best.
***
─ Let us go that way.
"Yes, sir."
I strode across the second floor, following my Ancestral God's guidance.
Normally, I'd have had to move cautiously, testing how firm the ground was with every step. But there was no need for that.
I wasn't stupid enough to step into a trap I could plainly see.
After walking for a while, I spotted a monster.
"Oh."
A basilisk.
The sight drove home the fact that the Labyrinth Tower didn't belong to our world and that beings from other worlds really existed.
The basilisk resembled a crocodile, but it looked more like a prehistoric dinosaur.
"That's really fascinating."
There was a reason I could afford to be so relaxed.
Corrupted Basilisks were non-aggressive monsters.
I'd heard they did nothing but wander the swamp as though constantly searching for something.
─ Poor creatures.
That was my Ancestral God's assessment.
Corrupted Basilisks.
The monsters certainly weren't in a normal state.
Perhaps the real victims of the Cursed Swamp's curses weren't the Awakened but the basilisks themselves.
"I still have to kill them, right?"
─ You do.
I crept toward a basilisk that showed no intention of attacking.
[Mission: Kill 7 Corrupted Basilisks.]
I had to complete the mission, after all.
"Phew."
Even though these monsters were weakened by the corruption and didn't attack first, killing them wasn't easy. After all, not attacking first simply meant they attacked second.
In other words, they'd fight back if you hit them.
To kill a basilisk, I had to strike first. And if I couldn't take it down in a single blow, I'd have to be prepared for its counterattack.
Unless someone had awakened an excellent offensive trait, piercing a basilisk's thick hide and killing it in one strike was no easy feat.
─ Wait a moment.
"Yes, sir."
It seemed my Ancestral God had a solution.
He concentrated for a moment.
Jingle—jingle—jingle—jingle.
The shamanic bells began ringing loudly.
"HISSS—!"
Amid the basilisk's hissing, something bulged out from its forehead.
It wasn't a physical object.
Thanks to the Spirit Sight granted through Lending, I knew I could see it only because my spiritual eyes were open.
─ That is its Soul Meridian. As I thought, the connection between its body and soul is loose.
I didn't know exactly what a Soul Meridian was, but I instinctively understood that stabbing it would kill the basilisk.
Just as my ancestor had planned, a dagger would be enough.
─ Stab it precisely between the eyes.
"It feels a little wrong to kill something that's alive."
─ Think of it as helping the creature's soul pass on.
"Yes, sir."
I squeezed my eyes shut and thrust the dagger forward.
SQUELCH!
The dagger's tip struck the basilisk's Soul Meridian squarely between its eyes.
"Grrrk."
The Corrupted Basilisk quietly closed its eyes.
I'd heard that climbers sometimes suffered fatal injuries when basilisks thrashed about just before dying, but striking the Soul Meridian had even prevented that.
It was a truly flawless strategy.
─ Tsk.
But my Ancestral God frowned slightly.
"Is something wrong?"
─ The wound is too large. You have damaged the hide. Next time, aim more precisely at the Soul Meridian. The size of the wound determines the quality of the hide.
I had a bad feeling about this.
"……Didn't you say we were helping its soul pass on?"
─ Ahem.
Then again, I'd always known that my Ancestral God had a taste for material possessions.
After the Dead One's Resentment, it seemed he'd now set his sights on basilisk hide.