Chapter 154
Flash.
The scenery changed.
A pure white space.
The same place where Suhyeok had spoken with Ruzian in private before.
Right in front of him...
Ruzian sat leisurely drinking coffee with a smile on his face.
"Welcome, Lee Suhyeok."
"Congratulations on safely clearing the final Wave."
"Ah, or should I call you a Constellation now?"
"‘Player,’ Lee Suhyeok."
"...You didn't pull me aside just to make that kind of joke."
Seong-a had disappeared from his waist.
Leon was nowhere to be seen either.
Even the broadcast he'd left running had been cut off.
It was probably a property of this space.
Suhyeok looked at Ruzian.
[Trait Plunder is available for this target.]
Before, all he'd received was a warning message.
Now...
It was completely different.
The same applied to the countless Traits of the Constellations he'd seen at the Banquet.
I can steal them now.
Whether they're Constellations... or Administrators.
The Plunder Conditions were difficult.
But they weren't impossible.
That was probably possible precisely because Suhyeok still held the position of a Player.
Of course...
It also meant his Rank had risen that far.
Let's see what Traits he has.
[Trait - Ruzian]
Tower Administration (EX)
Devil's Whisper (S)
Eternal Shackles (X)
[Plunder Condition: Destroy the System.]
Suhyeok froze.
...Eternal Shackles?
He'd never heard of that Trait before.
No.
Calling it a Trait almost felt wrong.
It was closer to a curse.
[Trait - Eternal Shackles]
A restriction granted by the Tower in the distant past at the same time as the Tower Administration Trait.
The target can never act against the Tower's rules.
Certain memories belonging to Ruzian are sealed.
Escape is impossible. These are eternal shackles.
His memories are sealed...?
And X-rank.
That was a rank Suhyeok had never seen before.
He hadn't even known it existed.
"What are you staring at so intently?"
Ruzian smiled.
"I suppose you can see me now too."
His expression remained impossible to read.
But Suhyeok understood one thing.
That Trait was most likely the reason Ruzian wanted to destroy the System badly enough to ally himself with Suhyeok.
Taeo's diary suddenly came to mind.
If what he'd read back then was true...
The Administrators were people who had once climbed this Tower themselves.
Ruzian was probably no exception.
...It doesn't matter.
Whatever circumstances you have...
Even if we're allies right now...
In the end, it doesn't change the fact that you and I will become enemies.
"Haha."
"If you keep staring at me like that, even I'll get embarrassed."
Ruzian chuckled.
"You're more of a pervert than you look."
"Stop peeking and sit down."
"We have things to discuss."
Suhyeok sat.
Ruzian carefully lifted a teapot and poured him a drink.
Warm black tea steamed inside the cup.
"First..."
"Aren't you curious what happened to Lee Baekho?"
"Come to think of it, he was sacrificed during the final Wave."
"Was that the System's doing too?"
"Half right and half wrong."
"The System can't simply interfere however it pleases."
"...Lee Seha did it."
"Correct."
Ruzian smiled.
"More precisely, Lee Seha used the System's power."
"Though I assume you already understood that after what happened in the Sanctuary."
Suhyeok frowned.
So he'd been watching all of that too.
"Would've been nice if you'd warned me beforehand."
"Unfortunately, my position isn't that simple."
Ruzian shrugged.
"It wasn't a situation where I could openly intervene either."
"Still..."
He reached into his clothes.
"With that in mind..."
Ruzian placed something on the table.
A photograph.
"...Where is this?"
Most of the landscape had been devoured by black shadows.
It looked almost like an entire nation swallowed by an error.
Strangely...
It also felt familiar.
Then Suhyeok realized.
"Don't tell me..."
"The 80th floor?"
"Correct."
Ruzian nodded.
"As you can see..."
"The 80th floor you'll be climbing next has been closed."
Closed.
Suhyeok could hardly believe it.
In truth...
This shocked him even more than everything Ruzian had said before.
Naturally so.
Every variable that had appeared until now had only deviated slightly...
Or moderately...
From what happened before the regression.
But an entire floor being shut down?
That couldn't be called a mere variable anymore.
Suhyeok's expression hardened.
He bit his lip as he thought.
This is bad.
The 80th floor was a cyberpunk world.
As one of the Tower's highest floors, it contained extremely valuable resources.
Cybernetic equipment could alter or outright replace parts of the body.
There were also countless body-enhancement drugs and reinforced potions.
They would've been incredibly useful.
...My plan is ruined.
No.
This is much worse than simply ruining the plan.
What the hell happened?
As if answering his thoughts...
Ruzian smiled.
"The 80th floor was closed solely by the Tower's will."
"I don't know the exact cause either..."
"But this was almost certainly the System's doing."
"...Wait."
Suhyeok's eyes narrowed.
"Then what happened to the residents there?"
"All deleted."
Ruzian answered casually.
"Quite unfortunate."
"They were effectively erased by a bug for no reason at all."
He called it unfortunate...
Yet there wasn't the slightest shift in his emotions.
No guilt.
No discomfort.
It was almost as though he viewed those people as nothing more than defective parts.
...In that sense, maybe I'm not that different.
Suhyeok had been surprised by the news.
But that was all.
He didn't feel grief.
Or guilt.
Even earlier...
When he first heard the 80th floor had been closed...
His first concern had been his original plan.
Not the residents.
"Hehe."
"You just thought you and I might be similar, didn't you?"
"..."
"In this regard, perhaps we are."
Ruzian leaned back slightly.
"You and I both pursue only our own interests and objectives."
"Which brings me to one more unfortunate piece of news."
Ding.
Two windows appeared in the air.
They resembled profile screens.
Suhyeok didn't recognize either person.
But then...
He froze.
"...Climbers?"
"Don't tell me they were on the 80th floor."
