Chapter 194
The moment the message appeared...
Suhyeok's vision changed.
He was still possessing Ruzian's body.
When he lowered his head...
The transparent floor beneath him reflected his appearance like a mirror.
Even his clothes had changed quite a bit.
It was obvious that a considerable amount of time had passed since the last memory.
Rustle.
Suhyeok raised his head and looked around.
"This place...."
He was no longer inside that cramped little room.
Instead...
He stood in the familiar white space he had seen countless times before.
A table and chair sat alone in the middle of the room.
For some reason...
His legs began moving on their own.
He slowly approached...
Then sat in the seat Ruzian always used.
"...!"
The moment he sat down...
Suhyeok was stunned by what appeared before him.
No.
Stunned wasn't enough.
It was outright shocking.
An enormous amount of information filled his vision.
The locations of Hidden Dungeons on each floor.
Their maps.
Traps.
The monsters inhabiting them.
This wasn't information gathered over a short period.
It had clearly been accumulated over thousands...
Perhaps tens of thousands of years.
And that wasn't all.
There was even information on the Primordial God.
His location.
How he'd been sealed in the past.
There were detailed records on Peridot as well.
But the most shocking thing of all was...
"The Chalice of Reincarnation?"
Information about the very item that had sent Suhyeok back in time was laid out before him.
There were explanations about the principles of timelines...
And numerous attempts to determine how the Chalice could be used.
The reason Ruzian had gone this far was probably the same reason Suhyeok had chosen to climb the Tower again for revenge.
To recover the memories he'd lost.
And beyond that...
To take revenge.
That was probably why he had continued drawing the portrait of that woman in his notebook.
Suhyeok's thoughts grew complicated.
After seeing Ruzian's memories up to this point...
Could he really call him absolute evil?
Ruzian had been a Player too.
Just like Suhyeok.
He had lost the people precious to him right before his eyes.
Then...
He had been forcibly turned into an Administrator so he could be used.
From Suhyeok's personal perspective...
Ruzian had been an enemy.
System may have led the whole thing...
But the Tower had turned a blind eye to it and continued allowing it to happen.
That made the Tower guilty too.
But from a wider perspective...
Everyone except System and the Tower...
Had simply been victims.
Parts used to fill missing pieces in the machine called the Tower.
"...This is getting more complicated by the minute."
Ding!
[Your existence is currently collapsing.]
[Collapse Rate: 21%]
The percentage had jumped sharply.
And even now...
While Suhyeok merely watched...
It continued rising.
He couldn't leave until he reached the end of the memories.
It was possible the collapse rate would hit 100% before then.
That meant he couldn't forget why he'd chosen to continue.
"The memories beyond this point were restricted by Administrator Authority."
"If he still forced me to see them..."
"Then Ruzian must be planning something else."
Suhyeok no longer believed Ruzian had completely sided with System.
After seeing these memories...
He was even more certain.
Ruzian wasn't truly on System's side.
Then what exactly was he trying to achieve──
Suhyeok's shoulders flinched.
Someone had suddenly entered the space.
He felt a familiar presence behind him.
The sound of wings fluttering.
After a brief silence...
Suhyeok naturally stood and turned around.
The one who had entered...
Was Schunau.
The same Schunau who would later die at Ruzian's hands.
Without hesitation...
Suhyeok began acting like the Ruzian he knew.
He put on that familiar smile...
The one that never easily revealed his true emotions.
"Welcome, Lord Schunau."
"I didn't realize you were coming."
"You didn't contact me beforehand."
"And I certainly didn't expect you to visit in person."
"Haha."
Schunau seemed to notice nothing strange.
He sat across from Suhyeok.
"Yes."
"It's been a while."
"That sly smile of yours hasn't changed at all."
"I've heard about you lately."
"The Players from the world under your management have been climbing quite well."
"The Constellations are satisfied."
"And the Tower also thinks highly of your abilities as an Administrator."
From the moment he'd arrived...
Schunau had been heaping praise on him.
He occasionally mixed in questions to make the conversation feel less one-sided...
But the essence was obvious.
He was praising Ruzian excessively.
And when someone did that...
There was usually only one reason.
"The Tower has also been under considerable strain lately."
"It has always been a deeply cautious being."
"It worries about everything happening across the Tower."
"That's precisely why it recognized System's malice early and cast it out."
Someone above...
More precisely, the Tower...
Wanted Ruzian to do something.
"Then let's get to the point."
"You know about the Chalice of Reincarnation, correct?"
The sudden mention of the Chalice didn't shake Suhyeok.
"...Yes."
"I know of it."
"The Tower says the Chalice of Reincarnation was released into the Tower by System."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Is he suspicious?
Does he think Ruzian received the Chalice from System and still has it?
But something felt off.
When Suhyeok and Ruzian had first spoken...
Ruzian had said he didn't possess the Chalice.
He explained that another version of himself from a different timeline had given it to Suhyeok.
And indeed...
Unlike Suhyeok's first life...
No one except Bong Taesu had been summoned to the Tower.
Which meant...
Schunau wasn't accusing him.
He was warning him.
Suhyeok smiled softly.
"Are you bringing this up because you think I possess the Chalice of Reincarnation?"
"If so..."
"I'm afraid you've misunderstood."
"I don't have such an item."
"Though if you need it..."
"I can search the entire Tower for it."
"Haha."
"...That won't be necessary."
Schunau replied seriously.
"We already know you don't possess the Chalice."
"More precisely..."
"Another version of you from a previous timeline already used it."
Just as Suhyeok expected.
Of course...
That didn't mean all suspicion was gone.
Even if it had been another timeline...
It had still been Ruzian.
"I see."
"I'm familiar with the concept of alternate timelines."
"So another version of me received the Chalice from System."
"Which means..."
"That version of me may have used it."
"Wouldn't you agree?"
Schunau's expression turned grave.
"Soon..."
"A piece of malicious code that used the Chalice System provided will appear."
"You understand what malicious code can do to this Tower."
"To this world."
"No."
"Perhaps no one truly understands."
"That's how great a threat this malicious code poses to the Tower."
