In the midst of fooling around with Jasbi…

“Taebaek, you any good at fighting?”

The landlord asked out of the blue. Beads of cold sweat hung thickly on her forehead.

“What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?”

She’d been mumbling some incantation to herself, and this was what came out. Absurdity clogged his throat, but Goeun pressed him.

“Can you throw down?”

“I could probably manage.”

He replied nonchalantly.

“Then come with me somewhere.”

…?

The vices of the City’s upper layers were lavish and sticky. They differed in kind and degree from the Red-Light District in the depths.

If the latter was a naked woman, the upper layers’ indulgences were like glimpses of key areas…

Don’t get the wrong idea.

It’s just a metaphor. A metaphor.

Back to the point.

Upper-layer residents needed outlets for their desires too. But they didn’t put those outlets on display like the Red-Light District did.

And their cravings weren’t limited to base physical needs. Time for a trivia tidbit.

Desire hierarchy theory. It divides human needs into eight tiers, with physiological urges at the very bottom, the most basic.

Upper-layer folk were the City’s elite. They were the sort to cut off a perfectly good limb or two and attach a cybernetic prosthetic.

Physical needs? They’d transcended those ages ago. These were souls that stood stiffly at attention only for the pinnacle urge: self-transcendence. Insane perverts, every one.

Self-transcendence desire.

The wish for one’s child or proxy to surpass oneself. The upper layers satisfied it in ways no one could have imagined.

Rooooaaarrr…!!

A vast hall. Dead center stood a cage of barbed iron fencing. Inside, two men fought bare-knuckled, splattering blood.

Both faces were unrecognizable mush. Brows sagged to their eyes, and few teeth remained between battered gums.

Their expressions blurred crying and laughing. They clutched each other’s necks, swinging fists on pure momentum. Desperate.

The crowd satisfied their self-transcendence and sadism through proxies. Cheers clung stickily to the skin.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

A cauldron of violence evoking the ancient Colosseum. Lee Taebaek parted the wave of flesh. Landlord Goeun and roommate Jasbi followed.

“Kevin! I bet 5,000 Won on you! Lose, and kiss your balls goodbye!!”

“Ryunoah! I put a hundred million on you! Cripple that fucker Kevin quick, then hit the brothels with my cash! You’ve gotta live a little, Noah! Kill him, kill him! Kee hee hee!”

The people.

No, beast cubs wearing human masks cheered the spectacle. Bills peeked from ring-laden fingers.

Every time the fighter they’d bet on landed a solid hit, those fists opened. Cash fluttered like cherry blossoms, but no one picked it up. Too engrossed in the fight, and upper-layer types wouldn’t stoop for pocket change anyway.

Disgusting. A scene showing how far desensitized humans could fall. Lee Taebaek frowned.

“Didn’t know you had a hobby for places like this.”

“We’re not close enough to share hobbies.”

Goeun shrugged at the pointed remark. What was this woman’s game?

“Not saying I do. Only come for business. I fight when I have to, but spectating’s not my thing.”

“Fair enough. But am I even allowed here? Isn’t my face plastered on wanted posters up top? Even if this is deep underground, the City Government’s bastards—”

“Nah, don’t worry about it!”

Jasbi, glued to his side, cut in.

“This is Kergel Magic Tower turf, so city gov can’t touch it!”

This was the upper layers. Strictly speaking, geographically below them, but metaphorically their underbelly.

Ark Arena. A place to win and make money off people’s lives. Goeun had dragged Lee Taebaek here for some reason. She’d tried ditching Jasbi, but predictably, the whining won out…

Perfect. Time to take her to the junk shop for some “education.” The “cry more and the tiger’ll eat you” kind. Oblivious, Jasbi puffed up and added,

“Security’s lax too. Cameras are kept to a minimum. VIP treatment!”

I’m not asking ’cause I don’t know.

Of course.

He was a key Raken’s developer. He’d practically built the upper districts himself. Few spots escaped his touch; even sewer layouts were etched in his brain.

This was like a pro Go player getting advice from an amateur.

Well, AI, so maybe okay.

AlphaGo schooling a Go master felt natural enough. Damn, the noise was scattering his thoughts. He shook his head.

When he glanced over, Jasbi beamed proudly. Goeun smirked and kept walking.

Jasbi scurried after, the hem of her robe slapping her calves.

Pat pat pat pat.

Jasbi wore the robe hood up. The entrance guard waved the shorty through. Inside, it made sense.

Kids everywhere. Kids holding their dads’ hands, come to sightsee.

Lions teach cubs to hunt. Same logic: early education in shedding morals.

I said it before. Not humans—beasts.

Crack—

Match over, apparently. The tall skinny one’s face caved in. Ref raised the barely standing victor’s arm; the loser slumped, his body a brush drawing blood lines with sweat. Cheers erupted as Lee Taebaek mused,

Reason she brought me here…

Not clueless. The arena held a unique “item.”

Goeun, of all people, would know its location was here. She was a broker whose life was information, and an ex-Kergel mage.

But why bring me? No obvious reason or justification came to mind. The curiosity only stopped when the forward movement did.

Stop.

Goeun paused at a door.

Two burly suits guarded it like temple guardians. Eyes slowly scanned the trio’s faces.

Wary. A gloomy beauty, raincoat-hooded kid, masked youth…

What the hell?

In the awkward silence, Goeun spoke.

“Manager inside?”

“…Who…?”

Snap—flame sparked at her fingertip. She used Samadhi True Fire as identification.

The guards tensed. Mages got special treatment here. It was Tower turf.

“Tell the manager Hwaryeon wants a word.”

“Ah… yes.”

Right guard radioed. Soon after,

“You may enter.”

Left guard opened the door. As the group was about to move, the right guard blocked them.

“Only Hwaryeon may enter.”

“Fuck off.”

Goeun muttered, shoving past their shoulders. Guards frowned but didn’t press.

They couldn’t stop her. Jasbi darted through; Lee Taebaek followed a beat later.

“Bitch walking to her death… Tsk, ptoo.”

Right guard spat venomously, loud enough for Taebaek to hear. Left topped it.

“Desperate ’cause her days are numbered. Nothing to lose. HQ won’t let her slide much longer. A sword dance in her final days.”

Guards whispered. Then, as if feeling his gaze, their heads turned toward each other. Lee Taebaek eyed them, hands pocketed.

“Quiet to their faces, trash-talking behind their backs? Even you think that’s lame. You’re Kergel too.”

Provoked, brows furrowed subtly. As Tower pros, they reined in their emotions. No big reaction.

Lee Taebaek smirked. If they were mages, they wouldn’t be guarding doors. He brushed past deliberately. On contact,

“Shitty hospitality.”

“…!”

“Heads too high.”

“What… guk…!”

Heads dropped suddenly. Knees buckled in sync.

Hands and feet stuck to the ground, the guards shivered. Chill from his shoe snaked like rope, binding them.

Pale lips mumbled. ‘Ice Magic?’ Tongues froze mid-sentence.

Ice Magic: lost arcane art. Kergel still pursues restoration.

Hence their confusion. Lee Taebaek sneered coldly.

“That’s how you greet people.”

With that, he entered.

Passersby glanced at the guards. They had to savor the greatest humiliation a former Jianghu person could feel for a long while.

The room’s owner had broad shoulders.

Yet…

Couldn’t shake the sense he underdelivered on bulk. The manager scribbled busily with a quill, but thick fingers made it toothpick-thin.

Arena manager’s office this serene?’

Like a library plopped in a club. Outside reeked blood; inside, ink and incense tickled the nose faintly.

Even with three intruders, the manager paid them no attention. All his focus was on the paperwork.

Goeun sat on the sofa as if it were her own bedroom. Jasbi grabbed a spot shamelessly.

“Ooh, cookies! Can I?”

“Go ahead.”

“Lemonade too?”

“Make yourself at home.”

Lee Taebaek blinked at the disconnect, then leaned back on the sofa opposite Goeun. Hard leather cradled his back.

“I don’t talk to corpses.”

Manager finally spoke. His eyes were still fixed on the quill tip.

“Is this the first time since my betrayal that Chae Hakgyun, you, and I have talked about work?”

“…”

The manager dipped the quill in the inkwell.

“You felt it too, that’s why you’re here. That ‘Her’ has started to move. Until she moved, you were walking a tightrope. Now? Corpse.”

Chae Hakgyun ignored Lee Taebaek and Jasbi utterly. The blunt dismissal wasn’t offensive.

He continued.

“For old times, get out. You, your gigolo, that bimbo. From my turf. Go play dead elsewhere.”

Suddenly he was being called a gigolo.

Better than constantly being mistaken for a girl. Kid saw right. Bittersweet.

Not the point.

That ‘Her’ Chae mentioned.

Who else? Arena under Tower. Manager calling “her”? Tower Master only.

Myo the Heavenly Demon.

City’s strongest, flat out. Knocking on the demigod realm by her own power. Once led the Heavenly Demonic Cult, now heads Kergel.

That set her overwhelmingly strong even among the asymmetric Ten Wings. For Team Leader Seo…

Rigid Team Leader Seo insisted the Heavenly Demon couldn’t be a pushover.

So he made her the peak of the lore. He raised the cap sky-high. He went overboard.

MacGuffin anyway.

In the early scenario, she ascends as a true god. That preserves her dignity, satisfies Seo, and reins in power creep plausibly.

But an unintended snag occurred.

Her ascension is a main story event. Now it’s five years prior. Her presence in the physical world was still strong.

Damn, feared scenario hit.

Goeun fled the Tower.

An apostate’s fate was obvious.

Sooner or later, Kergel handles them. Not killing quickly shows the Tower’s evil. Apostates dread the when.

They don’t even give time to prepare. Most mages were half-mad anyway.

Control needs superior madness. The pinnacle is the Tower Master.

To summarize the two madmen’s conversation…

The Tower Master is sending an assassin soon. A long-simmered powerhouse.

“Burn incense at my portrait?”

“Have your gigolo suck your marrow.”

This prick’s scraping raw nerves?

Chae glanced at Lee Taebaek. His face was blank, but his eyes were hostile.

Sudden stare-down. Sparks clashed where gazes met. Chae averted first.

Chae went back to work. Goeun slung an arm over the sofa back toughly and pulled out a pipe.

“No smoking.”

He said, re-dipping the quill.

“No smoking in an arena is bullshit. Chae Hakgyun, even if I go when it’s time, one cigarette should be okay.”

Goeun exhaled smoke with a lame joke. Chae’s lungs were stained by secondhand smoke, and his heart blackened just as much.

“Why… did you betray…?”

Quill snapped. Goeun lolled her head back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Hakgyun.”

“…”

“This isn’t a request. It’s a proposal.”

Smoke swirled. Her eyes traced the past she shared with Chae Hakgyun within it.

“Put Lee Taebaek on the tournament roster.”

“Goeun, putting forward a ‘champion’ now? For the first prize?”

“I want it, but not for me. You know I’m not that selfish.”

“Then.”

“You ask knowing. It’s for him.”

“Why on earth would you go that far!”

“Mages want to leave a legacy.”

“…”

Silence. Jasbi munched cookies quietly, thumped her chest softly, sipped lemonade.

A moment later, Chae tossed the broken quill. He rose and yanked a book from the shelf.

Rumble.

Bookshelf parted, revealing space. Before entering, he crooked a finger at Lee Taebaek. Eyes gleamed murder.

“Follow, gigolo.”

That bastard really.

Suppressing his murderous urge, Lee Taebaek trailed Chae Hakgyun into the secret room.