Chapter 133
Chapter 133: It's a Total Mess (1)
Christmas Day. The world was in an uproar from morning.
Japan's Murim Tower time had recently vanished by a full year—right after their Tower's 37th and 38th floors had been conquered consecutively.
Japan's Murim Tower Administration was driven half-mad by the flood of phone calls pouring in without end.
"What on earth is going on!"
"W-we don't quite know either……"
"Didn't Korea lose a year not long ago?"
"Yes."
"Wasn't Ghost suspected of doing it?"
"That's what was said, but nothing's confirmed. No matter how capable Ghost is, many experts say it doesn't add up……. P-perhaps."
One employee hesitantly offered their opinion.
"Shouldn't we actually be glad if Ghost is the one responsible?"
"What are you talking about?"
"When the year vanished in Korea, Ghost and the Nameless Hero appeared in France immediately after. Meaning, right now in Japan—"
The superior barked at them instantly.
"Idiot! Ghost and the Nameless Hero appeared alongside the Golden Tower!"
"Th-then?"
The superior staggered and grabbed hold of the desk.
"It just vanished."
***
Korean community sites were flooded with posts and comments drowning each other out.
[Japan: 4 Months Until Collapse]
: They spent so long trashing our country—serves them right.
└ But why did a year suddenly disappear?
└ Because of Ghost and the Nameless Hero?
└ They're not gods. How could they do something like that.
└ You clearly don't know. The Nameless Hero is a god.
└ Then what is it? If it's not Ghost, how are you going to explain it?
└ In one word, here it is.
└ What is it?
└ Spill it!
└ Divine punishment!!
* * *
President Park Jae-yeol urgently returned to Korea.
Phone calls kept coming even while he was on the plane.
Pyeon Jae-yeong approached him, phone in hand.
"The Japanese Prime Minister."
"I spoke with him just a moment ago. Twice, even."
"He's calling again."
Park Jae-yeol scrunched his face.
"What does he want me to do! I don't know anything either!"
Pyeon Jae-yeong responded with an equally troubled expression.
"He says it's not about the Murim Tower time disappearing."
"Then?"
"He's requesting that the antidote be sold in large quantities. He says they need to clear the 39th floor at Gold rank to buy two more months."
Park Jae-yeol buried his face in his hands.
The antidote for the 37th floor he had once received from the Nameless Hero.
It had been discreetly passed to Japan's Murim Tower Administration through Pyeon Jae-yeong.
Thanks to that, they had even managed to pull Jang Ae-guk out, and Japan had given that antidote to the Musashi Brothers to conquer the 37th and 38th floors.
The rank they achieved was Yellow (B-rank).
But now, there was no antidote left.
The antidote the Nameless Hero had given was originally meant to treat South Korea's climbers, after all.
For Park Jae-yeol—who had even diverted that to Japan—only four vials of antidote remained.
"No. That's……"
They had been set aside for his grandson, Park Je-hwang.
Park Je-hwang, who still had no intention of leaving the hospital.
He would have to take that antidote and climb the Tower.
Park Jae-yeol said to Pyeon Jae-yeong.
"Call the hospital and have Park Je-hwang discharged."
* * *
[Hospital VIP Ward]
Park Je-hwang's wounds from what the Nameless Hero had done to him had fully healed—yet he kept putting off his discharge.
‘What's even waiting for me outside.’
He seemed noticeably less confident than before.
Ye Bo-yeong, who had once trailed after him everywhere before the incident, had been coming by less and less for visits—and recently hadn't even shown her face.
Kim Do-han, whom he had ordered around like a subordinate, had been insufferably busy ever since his father became a minister at the Gukmubon, claiming he was going to become a top executive there and hadn't come even once.
"Stupid idiot—just getting battered around by the press."
The only one who had visited even once was Pyeon Geom-sa, who came by a single time, heaved several deep sighs without saying much of anything, and left.
The only person who still came to see him every so often was a single individual.
The heir to the hospital he was admitted in—Cheon Sa-in.
Slide—
"Je-hwang."
"You're here?"
Cheon Sa-in in his white coat.
As always, both hands were stuffed into his coat pockets.
"Why are you staring like that?"
"Get ready."
"……For what?"
"You're being discharged."
Park Je-hwang answered with an irritated voice.
"I said I don't want to go outside. I've been here so long, it feels like home now."
He rolled over and lay with his back turned.
Cheon Sa-in walked over and yanked the blanket right off him.
"Get out!"
"I said no!"
"It's your grandfather's orders."
"……What?"
Park Je-hwang shot upright. He asked again, disbelieving.
"My grandfather actually told me to be discharged?"
"He did."
"Ah, damn it! Where's my phone?"
Park Je-hwang called, but no one answered.
"Is this real? Why does he suddenly want me out?"
"It's not sudden. How many months has it been already?"
"Sa-in. I'll just pay the hospital bills out of my own pocket. Let me stay a little longer."
"Quiet. It's the President's order—do I have any reason to get our hospital shut down? Get out, quickly."
Park Je-hwang let out a deep sigh.
Cheon Sa-in said,
"I'll send your belongings to your house, so just take yourself and go."
Slide— thud.
Cheon Sa-in, looking equally exhausted, closed the door loudly behind him and left.
Park Je-hwang stared blankly at the closed door, then opened the wardrobe and heaved yet another deep sigh.
"Damn it. If you're going to tell me to leave, at least bring me some clothes before you go."
In the wardrobe was only the combat uniform he had been wearing the day he was first admitted.
It was the outfit he had received from his master, Hwangbo Geom—the torn parts had been sewn back together, and it had been washed clean—but still.
"How am I supposed to go outside in this."
Park Je-hwang ran his fingers along the stitched seams, then looked at his own face in the wardrobe mirror.
The scar cutting diagonally across his face.
He had undergone laser treatment multiple times, and Cheon Sa-in had paid special attention to it—but the scar couldn't be fully erased.
"Damn everything."
He turned toward the door, intending to at least borrow some clothes from Cheon Sa-in.
Just then.
Slide—
The door opened and a nurse walked in.
"Oh, hello."
"……Yes."
"A delivery just arrived for you."
"What is it?"
"It smells fragrant, so I think it might be a flower basket."
Park Je-hwang took the box.
Just as the nurse said, a faint floral scent drifted from it.
The nurse bowed politely and left.
The strict security and escorts from before had faded over time—
But still, this was the VIP ward.
It wasn't the kind of place a delivery rider could just wander in and out of.
Park Je-hwang tilted his head and tore off the tape to open the box.
Inside was a flower basket.
One filled with white chrysanthemums.
"What the hell! Which son of a—!"
Park Je-hwang burst into a rage, rushed out, and grabbed the nurse who was walking away.
"Who sent it?! Who?!"
"I'm not sure……. A delivery rider just handed it over and left."
The nurse answered in a trembling voice as Park Je-hwang roared at her.
"Son of a biiiitch!"
As he screamed in fury, the hospital room window rattled and shook.
Thwack!
Park Je-hwang kicked the flower basket in a fit of rage.
Thud.
"……!"
A small note fell out.
「Merry Christmas—From an old friend.」
* * *
I slipped out of the hospital and took off my motorcycle helmet.
"That punk. What a racket he made."
[Kim Tae-yang says 'The white chrysanthemums were my idea'. +1 Happiness]
"Yeah. Good job."
[Kim Tae-yang asks 'Should I have slipped a spoon in too?' +1 Happiness]
"Don't. Not yet. Let Park Je-hwang go crazy with curiosity first."
I gazed absently down at the scar on my right hand and murmured.
"The whole world's in chaos."
The reactions from every country were setting the internet ablaze.
So much so that the French festival—which should have been massive news on its own—was getting buried.
[(Breaking News) The Iron Instrument God's Sword. Discovered in France!]
[Location of Iron Instrument God's Sword discovery: The statue of Sun King Louis XIV in front of the Palace of Versailles!]
[The Iron Instrument God's resplendent sword—gripped in the hand of the Sun King!]
It was the gift I had given to France.
Not Ro-dam, of course.
"Vicious Sword."
It felt unsettling to keep, and worrying to give away in case it caused trouble—
France was just right.
The Louvre Museum's Murim Tower special exhibition hall.
The one empty spot they had left open was meant for nothing but the Iron Instrument God's Sword.
"They said they'd display it—but hopefully they're not planning to take it into the Tower, right?"
That thing's a Vicious Sword.
Well, it probably wouldn't matter much even if they did.
It was a Vicious Sword, yes—but until its owner died, that would take anywhere from a few years to over a decade at the shortest or longest.
And besides.
If there was a climber with a righteous heart like the old gentleman I had met in France—
They might even be able to wield the Vicious Sword properly.
Everything's done by people, after all.
The gift to France wasn't just that.
[(Breaking News) A single box discovered beneath the statue of the Sun King!]
[Inside the box—one bead!]
What I had placed in the box was the Azure Spirit Poison-Warding Bead.
One of the three supreme-grade Poison-Warding Beads found on the 35th floor.
"That should be enough for at least one person to clear the 37th floor without trouble."
If they passed it around, several people could manage it too.
They'd have to keep it in their mouth, which would feel a bit unpleasant—
[(Exclusive Report) Word that a letter left behind by the Nameless Hero is inside the box!]
A French public broadcaster got hold of the letter I had left and aired a special live broadcast.
The anchor spoke in excited French I couldn't understand at all—
And held up a photo of the letter that had supposedly been obtained.
It was the first page.
「If you hold this bead in your mouth, you won't be poisoned.」
Content explaining the Poison-Warding Bead.
English is cultivation too.
I was quite confident now.
[English Divine Art has risen to 3 stars. +1 Happiness]
Kim Tae-yang. I told you to stop messing around with the messages.
Maybe the next excursion(?) wouldn't require a translator.
The anchor held up one more photograph.
The second page.
Just two words, written in English.
「Be happy」
"Keep climbing hard, France. It was quite an enjoyable trip on my end. Merci beaucoup."
I smiled up at the distant sky.
And then.
"Climb like your life depends on it, Japan."
France or Japan—
The faster you all climb, the less suffering I'll have from upper-floor intel.
"Right. Greetings all done."
I turned on my phone.
Ding ding ding—!
In an instant, messages and missed call notifications began flooding in like a waterfall.
There were many calls from Red Dragon Gate's Lee Won-ryong and the Choi brothers—
87 in total.
The person with the most missed calls by far was—
Kang Hae-san.
* * *
[Southern France. Kilian Ferrand's Hideout in Marseille]
Louise lay in a room filled with works of art, receiving an IV drip.
Her uncle Kilian Ferrand was dead—but the vast fortune and influence he had left behind still stood intact.
A nurse approached and spoke to her.
"My lady, the injection is finished. I'll remove it now."
"……"
"May I remove it?"
Louise gave no answer. The nurse hesitated, then reached for Louise's arm to pull out the needle—
Grab!
Louise's eyes flew open as she seized the nurse by the hair.
"Kyaaaah!"
"……!"
The sharp scream snapped Louise back to her senses.
"What are you doing?"
"I-I was removing the needle……"
The nurse fumbled to pull out the needle and scurried away.
Louise pressed her hands to her face, rose from the bed, and stood at the window.
She was sunk in deep thought.
Her dilemma was this,
‘Could the Nameless Hero be Park Je-hwang?’
The one who had appeared before her that day was unmistakably the Nameless Hero.
No.
She had believed so.
Yet her memory was hazy and unclear.
As though thick fog blanketed everything—the situation and the name ‘Park Je-hwang’ came back to her clearly enough, but the Nameless Hero's face refused to surface.
So she had gone through every publicly released Nameless Hero composite sketch one by one—but they all showed unfamiliar faces.
And that made sense.
She had never actually seen the Nameless Hero in person before the events of that day.
‘Perhaps what I believed to be the Nameless Hero was my own misperception.’
In that case.
‘Who is Park Je-hwang?’
Searching the internet, the answer came up easily.
[Super Tower Climber K's Murim Alliance Leader's identity: Park Je-hwang.]
[Park Je-hwang is the grandson of South Korean President Park Jae-yeol.]
The questions only deepened.
Super Tower Climber K.
That enormously publicized competition had ended with a showdown between Murim Alliance Leader Park Je-hwang and the Nameless Hero.
The Nameless Hero had brought Park Je-hwang to his knees and walked away with composure.
If things were as she understood them, it would mean a fight between the Nameless Hero and the Nameless Hero.
‘After making such a spectacle of everything, why would he reveal his identity to me as Park Je-hwang?’
She recalled something her uncle had told her long ago.
Kilian Ferrand.
[Louise. If you want to hide something from an enemy, the best place is somewhere they would never suspect.]
[That's like the saying—if you want to hide sand, hide it on a beach?]
[There's a better place than a beach.]
[Tell me. I'm so curious! Where is it?]
Kilian had answered with a meaningful expression.
[In my enemy's house.]
‘That's it!’
Louise's mind snapped into clarity.
The identity of ‘Ghost’—what the Nameless Hero absolutely had to conceal.
What if that person was Park Je-hwang, the very opponent the Nameless Hero had crossed blades with?
"A perfect disguise! One no one would ever suspect!"
It had sounded like a joke at the time, but now she was almost in awe of her uncle's words.
The dilemma was resolved.
Her body had recovered.
It was time to move forward with her revenge.
"I can't do it alone."
Her uncle had been a member of the European Black Market Alliance.
And the head of the Alliance was ‘Ria Bright’—
Representative of the British Black Market.
With the power of the information she held, she could move the British Black Market—
No, the entire European Alliance.
"Pyeon Jae-yeong, Pyeon Geom-sa, Park Je-hwang! Not one of you will die peacefully."
Louise called for a subordinate and gave the order.
"Have the car ready. We're going to the airport."
"Where are we headed?"
"London."