Something about this pattern was different from the usual.
I stood still and carefully examined the black message.
My shadow had swallowed another shadow against my will, and then this thing had popped up.
It had even appeared in place of the familiar blue message window.
‘Shadow Devour complete….’
That single notification was all I got.
There was no explanation of what the devouring had done or what would happen next.
“And? Is there anything else?”
Another message belatedly appeared.
Its background was still black.
[Devourable Essences]
- Essence of Regeneration
- Essence of Monstrous Strength
- Essence of Indomitability
“You keep things pretty brief, don’t you?”
A different color, a different manner of speaking, and an explanation so sparse that I could hardly believe this was the System I knew.
Everything was strange.
Perhaps that was why.
Something about this situation felt subtly unsettling.
‘Still, the contents are good, so I suppose it’s fine. It’s telling me to choose one of these, right? Or maybe not? It must be. Looking at them, this is obviously a list of the Ogre’s Skills.’
‘I will never forget this kindness for as long as I live. Please spare me even a single coin!’ was less pleasant to hear than ‘I picked this up on the way. You can have it.’
Who cared if the packaging was a little lacking? What mattered was what was inside.
‘Out of these, it obviously has to be… this one.’
There was no reason to hesitate.
Monstrous Strength was tempting too, but how could I resist after seeing that severed wrist reattach itself?
“The first one, Essence of Regeneration. I’ll take that.”
[This choice cannot be reversed.]
“I don’t care….”
[Digestion complete.]
Digestion completed the instant I made my choice.
‘I thought it was asking me to confirm, but that was just a notification.’
With that, the black message window slowly faded away, and the familiar blue System message soon appeared.
[A new Skill has been learned through an unknown route. ‘Super-Regeneration (A)’ permanently acquired.]
An unknown route?
‘What’s that supposed to mean now?’
Could the entity behind this blue message have failed to detect what had just happened?
‘How could the Tower’s status message not know about it?’
One question after another.
At that moment, a thought struck me.
‘…Doesn’t the blue System message know exactly what my shadow is capable of?’
Thinking of it that way also explained why I could use Skills outside the Tower.
An Awakened who could use Skills even outside the Tower.
It was limited to Skills with the word ‘Shadow’ attached to them, but that alone was abnormal.
It meant I was operating outside some of the rules established by the Tower.
‘Something can exert influence inside the Tower without the Tower knowing. And its medium is shadow….’
By the time my thoughts reached that point, a chill ran down my spine.
‘I was just happy that I could use a few Skills outside, but this isn’t an ordinary matter.’
Life at the orphanage had taught me that nothing I possessed was ever wholly mine.
And thanks to this talent for readily copying anything, I had learned early that simply being better at something than others could earn their hatred.
That was why I had kept my identity hidden even after becoming fairly famous under the nickname ‘Bounty Lord.’
Envy. Jealousy. Things like that.
‘I’ll have to be even more careful from now on.’
I did not know whether hiding would actually keep me hidden.
The Tower blasted out an announcement to everyone every time I did something, after all.
But one thing had become certain.
Even if my identity happened to be exposed, I could never allow my ability to be exposed.
“Phew… Fine. Getting an A-Grade Skill is good, but… what in the world is going on?”
Defeating the fifth-floor boss had unlocked a part of my ability that had remained sealed until now, and its effect had granted me a Skill permanently.
That was the gist of it, but I could not learn anything beyond that.
My new ‘different-colored’ friend was not much of a talker.
‘Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll probably see it again if I keep climbing. I can figure it out little by little.’
Since when had I ever perfectly understood everything that happened in the Tower?
What mattered now was that I would no longer need to use potions in most situations.
‘That’ll save me money. With a Skill like this, I probably won’t need to take a separate recovery Skill either.’
Come to think of it, the tingling pain in my wrist had vanished without a trace.
“…Well, the effect is killer.”
***
At daybreak, faint light seeped in through the windows of the Tower Disaster Control Headquarters.
Even at this early hour, the lights in Headquarters Director Jeong Jin-hyeok’s office shone brightly.
He had been buried under an arduous workload for quite some time now.
He had every reason to be exhausted from working through the night, yet Jeong Jin-hyeok still studied the whiteboard in one corner of his office with a piercing gaze.
‘I feel like I’m almost there….’
The board was densely covered with the names of those who had recently returned alive from the Tower’s Forced Summoning Incident.
The most likely candidates were grouped at the top.
Those with nothing else particularly unusual about them occupied the lower section.
‘What am I missing?’
As his thoughts only grew more troubled, Jeong Jin-hyeok slipped a hand beneath his glasses and pressed firmly against his weary eyes.
‘I’ve had so little sleep that my mind has gone rigid. I should get some rest and think about this again.’
At last, he stepped away from the whiteboard and dropped heavily into his chair.
But he was not granted even enough time to close his eyes for a moment.
KNOCK, KNOCK.
A knock sounded from beyond the entrance to the Headquarters Director’s office.
“Headquarters Director, I came to make a report. Do you have a moment?”
“Yes, just a moment.”
Jeong Jin-hyeok straightened his tie and checked his appearance before finally receiving his visitor.
“Come in.”
“You have been working very hard, Headquarters Director. The report on the movements of overseas agencies is ready.”
It was the Leader of the Overseas Intelligence Team.
He looked every bit as exhausted as Jeong Jin-hyeok.
“Good. Let us hear it.”
“Yes. First, the United States’ Tower Anomaly Response Agency (T.A.R.A). TARA has elevated the tracking of VVIP to its highest priority. Under the pretext of dispatching a research delegation to study the ‘Bounty of the Swamp’ phenomenon, a large number of researchers and field agents have entered the country through Incheon International Airport.”
“Ha, those bastards. For supposed allies, they have certainly found themselves a convenient excuse.”
Researchers alone would have been unsettling enough, but field agents as well?
Jeong Jin-hyeok was well aware of their ulterior motives.
“Very well. It is little more than covering their own eyes and meowing, but at least our American friends announce when they come and go.”
The problem was China, whose entries and exits alike were covert.
“What about China?”
“They are making quite a show through the front door. Claiming that they intend to purchase the Tower by-products produced by the ‘Bounty of the Swamp’ in bulk, they have sent a trade delegation into the country. They are doing so through a state-owned enterprise.”
“And?”
It was a question posed as though there was obviously more.
Of course, there was.
“The National Intelligence Service has received intelligence through its network in Chinatown that they are attempting to identify VVIP. Signs also indicate that they are preparing a highly lucrative recruitment offer.”
“Tsk. They have not changed either.”
Jeong Jin-hyeok rubbed his temple with one finger, openly displaying his displeasure.
Those two alone were enough of a headache, yet one more country remained.
“Has Japan been quiet so far?”
“On the surface, yes. With both the United States and China making their moves, their official position is that they will observe the situation for now….”
“They are most dangerous when they are quiet. There is no telling what they may be plotting.”
“Yes. If any relevant intelligence comes in through any channel, I will report it immediately as our top priority.”
That concluded the report on the movements of the three most troublesome countries.
Just when it seemed they could breathe a little easier, the Leader of the Overseas Intelligence Team let a careless remark slip.
“Fortunately, it appears that every country is still having difficulty identifying VVIP.”
The instant he said it, he realized his mistake.
Sure enough, Jeong Jin-hyeok immediately delivered a pointed remark.
“The same is true of us. We are searching for one of our own citizens, here on our home ground. In truth, we are the ones lagging furthest behind.”
After glancing at Jeong Jin-hyeok to gauge his mood, the team leader continued in a stiff voice, as though attempting to change the subject.
“Ahem, Headquarters Director. This is unrelated, but… the number of foreign Awakened who entered the country through Incheon International Airport over the past seventy-two hours has surged by 1,400% compared with the previous week.”
One thousand four hundred percent? It was an absurd figure, but not particularly surprising.
The number of foreign Awakened entering the country had already been slowly rising due to the ‘Bounty of the Swamp’ alone.
The appearance of Special EntityGoblins had poured oil onto that trend.
“It was inevitable. The Tower follows the Territoriality Principle, not the Nationality Principle.”
Those were the rules the Tower had established.
Any Awakened, no matter who they were, could climb the Tower of the Republic of Korea while standing on Korean soil.
Conversely, if a Korean went abroad, they could climb that country’s Tower as well.
As a result, the nations of the world had maintained an uneasy system of cooperation since the Moscow Tragedy.
Of course, that did not mean peace.
Just as they had in the past, they merely remained entangled by their respective interests and continued a war without gunfire.
‘Allies or enemies, everyone is too busy poaching one another’s Awakened.’
Backed by its immense financial power and overwhelming human resources, China had consolidated its dominance over Tower security throughout the surrounding region and the African continent. The United States had likewise erected invisible walls around its allies.
Europe and the Middle East remained much the same as they had been before the Towers appeared.
Under the hollow facade called the European Union, Europe’s old empires pretended to cooperate while coveting one another’s Awakened beneath the surface. And as always, the Middle East never stopped at merely poaching Awakened.
Kidnapping, imprisoning, and enticing one another’s key Tower-security Awakened—and killing them when they could not be taken—had become commonplace.
In the midst of all that, Korea had gained a reputation as a mother lode. The hyenas could not help but swarm in.
“Was there anything else regarding the influx of foreign Awakened?”
“They say they are moving to develop ‘tourism packages tailored to the Awakened’ that capitalize on this opportunity, in close cooperation with the Tourism Bureau.”
“How carefree of them. For the moment, that is the right move, but….”
Both the Bounty of the Swamp and the appearance of Special Entities would eventually end.
Simply having capable Awakened visit Korea and climb the Tower of the Republic of Korea was good news for the country.
And if some of them found Korea livable and settled here?
With every country desperate to steal Awakened from its neighbors, Korea could only be grateful.
‘The problem is what happens if the Bounty of the Swamp, which keeps being extended one day at a time, lasts forever.’
VVIP’s appearance was an incomparable blessing for Korea.
But some countries had been shattered precisely because they possessed too much.
History had proven that much.
‘…Even so, will the benefits ultimately outweigh the risks?’
Perhaps this opportunity would allow Korea to absorb talented people from across the world, just as the United States did.
If that happened, Korea surpassing the United States and standing at the forefront of the Tower-climbing world would no longer be a mere dream.
“Of course, it was still only a ‘possibility.’”
It might never happen, and even if it did, it was a story for the distant future.
“That concludes my report.”
“Thank you for your hard work. You should go and rest now, Team Leader.”
“Should you not return home and get at least a little rest yourself, Headquarters Director? It has already been several days since you were last able to leave work….”
“I am fine. Do not worry about me; go and rest. I may not have been able to go home, but I have been resting whenever I can.”
“…Then I will not stand on ceremony. I will go and get some sleep. Please take care, Headquarters Director.”
His subordinate withdrew, and silence settled over the office once more.
Seated in his chair with his back against it, Jeong Jin-hyeok’s gaze naturally drifted toward the very bottom of the whiteboard, to a corner that had nearly been erased.
[Kim Si-hyeon: Survivor of the Forced Summoning Incident. Awakened that day (Healer). Unregistered, nothing noteworthy.]
Among the countless names, the three syllables of ‘Kim Si-hyeon’ barely held their place.