Chapter 17. After the Crown Game (draft)

Somewhere in the Middle Tower. Announcement: The story will receive a MAJOR change, mainly starting from the Crown Game, so these new chapters will be rewritten and reuploaded. They're alpha versions. I updated the story according to schedule. You can read it now or wait for a few days and read the new changed chapters. What's changed is Bam's role becoming much less important in hte story, and the MC being less of follower of Bam's story and it would instead be his story.

"Oh, our boy sent us a message!" Yuri Jahad showed an excited expression as she felt a tug from her Pocket. After reading the message with a curious look, she smiled and turned to Evan. "Hey, Evan! Isaac said that everything is fine! It looks like he found Bam and the Black March! Nice!"

In turn, Evan was expressionless and didn't respond.

Although he did have a good first impression of the two Irregulars, after thinking about things some more, he couldn't help but worry.

They were 'Irregulars' in the end, abnormal existences.

And especially Isaac. Having his level of strength just on the 1st floor, just what level would he reach in the future as he keeps going up the Tower?

Yuri ignored Evan's sulking expression and she asked, "Do you think it's fine to call them?"

Evan almost choked when he heard this. He frowned and immediately shook his head. "Lady! You know that the Pocket channel is monitored by the King! It's better not to!"

He said this because he knew that Yuri could not control the words that came out from her mouth for the love of Jahad.

But no one should know that she lost the Black March or that she had relations with those two, let alone find out that she actually helped Irregulars go up the Tower!

As Yuri continued grumbling, saying that she wanted to call Isaac and Bam, Evan said, "Can I see the message?"

"Go ahead," Yuri said and indifferently threw her Pocket at Evan.

Evan hurriedly caught the Pocket that threatened to hit his face, then looked through the text message from Isaac.

After reading through, he nodded in approval.

Isaac's message was vague, omitted details and certain words, but that's what it should look like.

As he told him, the communication channel of the Pockets is unsecure. Jahad's forces secretly monitor all messages and calls, so any suspicious words or phrases might get filtered out and investigated, and especially if they were related to the Pocket of a Jahad Princess and not a random person.

After receiving back her Pocket, Yuri rolled her eyes at Evan's lack of reaction.

Putting that thought aside, she then turned to look at the five different paths in front of them and clicked her tongue. "Anyway, why is it so complicated to get to the Floor of Tests?! First there were two, then three and now five roads? It is really complicated. I should have brought a Light Bearer."

Evan sighed. "Even now we have gathered too many people to get back your weapon. It will attract too much attention… Do you want to trigger a war with Evankhell or something, Lady Yuri?"

"Oh, Big Bro! I love war! Weren't we going to war with Evankhell? I thought we were!"

It was a black white-haired man with bulging muscles that spoke up.

'Big bro…' Evan's expression turned dark when he heard his height being ridiculed.

Evan looked at him blankly and said, "War? Go back and look up Evanhkell's rank first. And don't look down when you talk to me. I'll kill you."

"Yuri! We're back!" A little pink-haired girl waved her hand as she came closer with a tall long-haired man.

"Oh! Good! So, which way looks good?" Yuri asked as she patted the little girl.

"I think the 3rd road is the shortest, as Evan said. But there were White Armored Eels on the road! So I think it's better to take the 5th rather than the 3rd road! All the other roads are dead ends!"

Yuri showed a confused expression. "White Armored Eel? So what? It wouldn't be a problem to kill all of them."

"Uh, Lady Yuri, are you really a High Ranker?" the black man asked as he looked at Yuri with a confused expression.

"Huh?"

He explained, "When eels are nesting, they stay where the concentration of Shinsoo is as thick as water, so they can protect their babies from other beasts. The reason they have armor is to be able to endure the pressure from that Shinsoo."

"..."

"In other words, the eels are not a problem, but in Shinsoo concentration like that even our movements would be slowed down."

"What? Slowed down? Why are you so weak? Not long ago I saw two young boys running through Shinsoo like this as if it wasn't there!"

The black man became agitated. "How can that be true? I'm a guy with a wing tree badge, and you know it means I'm one of the strongest in the Tower. If there's someone who can move freely in such a high concentration of Shinsoo, you can take off my badge!"

"Talking with her is useless, because Yuri won't get it anyway. She's naturally highly resistant to Shinsoo, so she doesn't understand what it means to have her movements slowed down by it," a blue-haired young man added as he didn't move his eyes from his gameboy.

Yuri said, "Ah, if you say so, then ok. Let's take the 5th road. Hehe. And Kurdan."

"Huh?"

"When we get to Evankhell's floor, you might need to remove your Three-Winged Badge. ~Yep, that's my boys!"

"Hm? Are you... are you serious, Lady?... Lady!"

At the side, Evan looked at Yuri with cold eyes and did not say anything. 'You shouldn't be so happy about them, Lady Yuri… They're extremely… dangerous.'

***

Evankhell's Floor.

Test Director's office.

Lero Ro sat in front of Ha Sung, cups of instant coffee laid down on the table in front of them.

He already knew from Quant that the original purpose of the Crown Game was to quickly send the troublesome team from the other testing area to the Third Floor.

However, it failed.

Yet even though it failed, the Test Director seemed to not care about it. This made Ler Ro have some doubts.

"Supervisor… What was the real purpose of the Crown Game?" Lero Ro asked, finally getting to the point.

Han Sung suddenly stopped stirring his coffee and faintly looked at him. "... Mr. Lero Ro, do you know why we gather all the Regulars and test them?"

Lero Ro was taken aback for a moment by the simple question, then gave the obvious reply, "Well… Isn't it to test if the Regulars are qualified to go up the Tower?"

"... No. It isn't. The reason why we test them is because..." Han Sung paused as he lifted the stick he stirred his coffee with to eye level, causing droplets of coffee to drip down from it.

If she's going to educate Mr. Lero Ro, he might as well be dramatic and cool about it.

After a moment's pause, he continued: "... They have very dangerous powers. They come into the Tower to fulfill their own desires. Glory, money, power, or something else that they want... But what if they desire something dangerous that could be harmful to the world?"

"..."

"What if there's someone who dreams of the world's end? It could be disastrous."

Lero Re gently wrinkled his eyebrows. Of course, that was an extreme example, but still a possible one.

During the time he was climbing up the Tower, he had met many kinds of individuals, each one of them desperately trying to get to the top to fulfill their own wishes, some of them more twisted and crazy than others.

Han Sung said, "That's why we test them and sort out the black sheep - the ones who bring threat to the Tower."

"..."

"Do you get it? The tests are not meant to find 'Outstanding Candidates'. They're meant to find the 'Black Sheep', those that could bring threat to the Tower."

Lero Ro frowned. "I don't understand the intentions behind your words-"

His sentence was cut short as Han Sung interjected: "Mr. Lero Ro. Who do you think are the most dangerous amongst the Regulars taking the test this time? Didn't they lose the Crown Game? Because of the team from another area?"

Lero Ro's eyes widened.

Who were the most dangerous ones?

Guessing who Han Sung was talking about, Lero Ro's face turned expressionless, as he raised his cup of coffee and gulped it down in one go.

After that, he stood up.

"Thank you for the coffee, Test Director Yu. See you later."

Before leaving the room, Lero Ro paused his footsteps and turned back toward his Supervisor one more time. "Test Director Yu."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever seen someone… Who's not from the Ten Great Families or who hasn't made a contract with an Administrator, but can still freely manipulate Shinsoo?"

"No, I haven't. This breaks the rules of the Tower…" said Han Sung. "Oh! But I've heard of one - Urek Mazino. He was an Irregular."

"... I see."

As Lero Ro slid close the doors, Han Sung formed an amused smile on his lips. Taking a sip of her instant coffee, he made a mental note, 'Mr. Lero Ro is a bit hard to handle. Unlike the silly Mr. Quant.'

As he pulled back his coffee cup and looked at its surface, a slightly more complicated expression appeared on his face as he thought of the Irregulars.

In truth, this Crown Game had two purposes.

One was to merge the team of 'Michelle Light' from another contestant area into this one while preventing the team of Bam from going up.

The other one was to test Bam and see if he was really the child of the prophecy. After all, if he can't even survive a bit of danger, how can he be their destined avenger that will turn the Tower upside down?

Apart from that, testing the extent of abilities of all the Irregulars was a bonus.

That third Irregular, Isaac, was someone who appeared unexpectedly, but everything worked out in the end.

Bam seemed to be the son of V, the child of the prophecy that will hopefully bring forth their goals and dreams.

As for Isaac, he was still a mystery. He appeared out of nowhere and has unusual powers. Even the Guide is clueless about him, while what Headon told them didn't amount to much.

For them, Isaac as an Irregular was a possible powerful ally, but more so a dangerous variable that could ruin their plans.

For example, according to the guide, Rak Wraithraiser's path led him to become teammates with the boy, but Isaac appeared suddenly, took that place and bent fate to his will.

Isaac's goals for climbing the Tower are also unknown.

If this new Irregular could be pulled over to their side, then it would be something very good; his talent doesn't seem ordinary at all, unlike the girl. Now that they knew about him, they would certainly not easily give up on an Irregular like that.

But if he proves to be a possible obstacle for their plans, they'd have to eliminate him.

'His connection to Yuri Jahad is problematic. He is very smart too, but luckily, he seems to be rather easy to control,' Yu Han Sung thought.

They can control Rachel using her greed, control Bam using Rachel, and control Isaac using Bam. This kind of plan formed in Yu Han Sung's head, feeling that Isaac is a kind-hearted and chivalrous person.

…

In the meantime, Lero Ro walked through the corridor outside with an expressionless face.

He had already carefully gone through all of the recordings before this several times.

Firstly, he was aware that rather than Isaac, the person who caused the final attack in the Crown Game should have actually been the boy Bam.

'It wasn't manipulation of Shinsoo. It seemed as if… Shinsoo attacked of its own volition. It wasn't that powerful, but the point is that the way he did it violates the rules of the Tower.'

When it came to Bam, he discovered that there wasn't a single moment during the tests where he called over his Pocket and could have made a contract with the Floor's Administrator.

Despite that, he controlled Shinsoo without even forming a Baang and without a Shinsoo Contract.

As for Isaac, being unafraid in front of a Jahad Princess, holding the Black March and having such a strong body and Shinsoo Resistance despite not using a name of one of the Ten Great Families, he also appeared abnormal.

Most of all, he could use Lightning attributed Shinsoo Boost skill to a very high degree.

Abilities like Shinsoo Boost are usually only taught on the official floors of the Tower, because before this point those who are not true Regulars are not allowed to use sufficient amounts of Shinsoo as a result of their limited contracts. Only rare individuals have the inborn ability to do that before entering the Tower.

Rather than saying that Isaac is a quick learner, Lero Ro expected that Lightning Shinsoo Quality and the ability to reinforce his body using Shinsoo should be the natural talent of his body.

Even so, what was strange was the way that Isaac utilized Shinsoo when he jumped up.

Rather than strengthening his body from the inside like with a normal Shinsoo Boost, it was as if he consciously controlled electric Shinsoo to propel himself up like with a jet boost.

Both of these Regulars were… very unusual.

'Will the boy awaken?'

…

Regulars' area, Evankhell's mothership.

After sending a message to Yuri, Isaac left his room.

Following a guide robot that he asked in the corridor, he arrived at a room that should belong to Bam.

After knocking at the door, the door opened after a while and he walked in.

Inside, he saw that Khun was already there, sitting on a bench in front of the bed.

Meanwhile, Bam laid sleeping on the bed with his head wrapped in white bandages.

"Isaac."

"Hey, Khun." Isaac faintly smiled and walked in deeper. "I was busy with something. So how is Bam?"

"... He's still unconscious, but according to the doctor, his condition is stable."

"I see. That's good," Isaac said as he sat down next to Khun.

Seeing Isaac not being affected much, Khun frowned a little and added, "He suffered a heavy concussion and even his skull fractured. It's a miracle that he's still alive."

"Oh." Isaac was a bit surprised.

Things were more serious than he thought. Bam truly dodged death here with nothing but luck.

[It looks that this boy's injury was damn serious. Well, it's something he brought onto himself.]

Isaac was expressionless when he heard Mordred's words. He knew that Mordred wasn't evil, but she also wasn't a goody-two-shoes and wouldn't care much about a stranger; on that point, they were quite similar.

Khun said, "Hopefully, he'll wake up in the next three days."

"Mhm. I feel he'll be fine." Isaac replied with an indifferent humm. After being silent for a long while, he said, "Hey, Khun. I actually need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"Do you have any money? I actually don't have any clothes."