Chapter 19
The Bloodsky Ghost King was the title I was given back when I rampaged through the Tower alone, because I was said to be so cruel that blood covered the sky.
When I think about it now, it was a pretty cringeworthy name.
Still, since it was the first title I ever earned, I did grow somewhat fond of it once….
“That's right…! The Bloodsky Ghost King……!”
“……….”
Why was that coming out of their mouth?
Apparently, this person—not Lucia—was the one from the Tower.
Well, well. So I wasn't the only one dragged here after all.
It was nice to meet someone from my homeland after so long, but…. We weren't the only two people here, you know?
The instructor and every other student were all staring this way, nameless friend.
Ignoring my feelings, my fellow countryman inhaled.
Judging by their posture, they didn't seem to be preparing to attack.
They looked like they had more to say.
But I had no intention of listening to someone's backstory all the way to the end like a web-novel protagonist.
I couldn't stand frustrating stories.
I slowly exhaled.
Then I lightly gripped the hilt of my wooden sword and looked at my opponent's head.
And then.
“Why! Aren't you going to answer?! You are that person—”
-Whack!
First strike wins!!
“What's a Bloodsky Ghost King…? I'm Lee Rowoon, the sickly pretty boy, y'know?”
I closed the distance and brought the wooden sword down on their head.
Oof… it hurts… sorry.
Let's catch up later. There are too many people here, right?
Meanwhile, the students who had been quietly watching the sparring match began to stir in an instant.
“Wooooow……. I couldn't even see it!”
“So this is S Class…….”
“Hey. That's him! The top student!”
Almost no one had probably seen it properly.
The other person was from the Tower too, so I had to hit that hard to knock them out in one blow.
“……The winner. Lee Rowoon.”
Instructor Kaeron's gaze changed.
The interest from before vanished, replaced this time by blatant suspicion.
And… he's glaring at me like crazy.
It probably didn't look like strength a fifteen-year-old could produce.
Even though I'm ten.
What!
I'm the Extreme King's disciple, you know?
The Four Emperors have publicly acknowledged my existence, so what can he do just by glaring at me?
I turned my head and looked down at the person lying unconscious.
Come to think of it, this person was weaker than I'd expected.
Not everyone from the Tower was strong.
Aside from those of us who tackled the Tower as the vanguard and the few who climbed steadily, most of their combat power wasn't much different from that of the powerhouses in this other world.
They were people who had eventually given up on the Tower and fallen behind.
Was this person probably the same?
Judging by the fact that they called me by the title from my embarrassing past, the Bloodsky Ghost King, they probably hadn't climbed very high.
After the 70th floor, I was called by a different title.
But this person….
“……Keh… keh-kek….”
They look like they'll die if I leave them like that…?
Hey, Instructor Kaeron? This isn't the time to glare at me!
“Instructor. That student looks hurt, so I'll take them to the infirmary and come back.”
I should save my fellow countryman first.
And hear what they have to say while I'm at it.
“……Do that.”
It definitely wasn't because Instructor Kaeron's glare scared me.
***
“……!!! Haa… haa….”
“What? You're awake.”
“The… Bloodsky Ghost King, Lee Rowoon…!”
“Could you leave out the title and just call me by my name?”
In a fit of irritation, I almost slammed the person I was carrying straight onto the ground.
No, why did they keep including the title when they called me?
I was seriously embarrassed by that title….
“Let's go somewhere quiet first.”
I avoided people's eyes and wandered around campus for quite a while.
Eventually, I found an alley where students probably wouldn't come often.
It was a narrow alley wedged between two buildings….
It looked exactly like the sort of place delinquents would gather to smoke.
Perfect for talking secrets with someone from my homeland. Yeah.
“…So you're really from the Tower, right?”
At my question, they nodded with a tense expression.
“I'm Baek Sang-a. I was staying on the 66th floor.”
“Right, right. Nice to meet you, Sang-a. I'm glad to meet you too.”
After we exchanged greetings, Baek Sang-a spoke up.
“The Tower… can no longer be climbed.”
The words they brought up were anything but light, however…….
“Because monsters started invading the waiting rooms.”
“……Huh?”
And the story I heard next was even more unbelievable.
The Tower had waiting rooms where climbers could rest for a while before ascending to the next floor.
Those places were safe under any circumstances.
Naturally, monsters couldn't enter, and no one died from starvation or dehydration, either.
So people who no longer had the courage to climb the Tower would remain there and make a life for themselves.
Technically, I suppose you could call it living.
“So what does that have to do with you coming here?”
This was what I was curious about.
I understood that the waiting room had been overrun, but how had they gotten all the way here?
“When I was in LA—”
“Three-line summary.”
“……”
They stared blankly for a moment, then obediently folded down their fingers.
“1. Monsters from the upper floors invaded the waiting room.
2. A red rift appeared while we were fighting.
3. I didn't want to die, so I jumped into the rift, and when I came to, I was here.”
I folded my arms and fell into thought.
The 66th floor was a section where mid-level demons usually appeared.
The problem was whether Baek Sang-a alone had crossed through the rift.
Or whether the demons had crossed over with them.
“How many people were in the waiting room?”
“There were about eight of us. We were all in the same party.”
“Did those people enter the rift?”
“Yes. I entered the rift last.”
Hmm….
I organized the possibilities one by one in my head.
Was it only the 66th floor?
No, this phenomenon had probably occurred on almost every floor.
I had come here too, after all.
Then how many people had come here?
“What about the rest of your party?”
At that, Baek Sang-a hesitated before opening their mouth.
“That…. I don't think they made it to this world.”
“How do you know?”
“One of my traits lets me check my party members' locations and conditions…. But I can't sense anything here.”
Did entering the rift not necessarily mean coming here?
At least that was fortunate.
The monsters that had attacked the Tower were probably in the same situation.
Assuming that something similar had happened on every floor, the calculation came out to one person per floor, or two at most, crossing over.
I continued organizing my thoughts.
Then I suddenly noticed something strange.
“But your name is Baek Sang-a? I didn't hear a name like that earlier.”
Anyone could tell it was a Korean name.
There was no way I wouldn't recognize it.
“Ah. This body's name is Sara Laviere! I suppose… since I possessed it…….”
…Possessed? And a noble at that?
No wonder they didn't look Korean!
Come to think of it, I was a commoner, wasn't I? My stomach suddenly started hurting.
Still, now that I had met someone from my homeland, I couldn't pretend not to know them…….
I briefly explained what kind of world this was and the plot of the original story.
“So this world is inside a novel…?”
“Yeah.”
“And all sorts of men—the Crown Prince, the Tower Master's disciple, the son of the Northern Grand Duke, and so on—fall for a mere commoner?”
“That's right.”
“Does that make any sense?? There's no narrative logic!”
Did you forget to put your brain in before coming here?
Romance fantasy makes anything possible. Anyway, it works.
“Because it's a romance fantasy.”
“…….”
Explaining at length why things are like this -> boring and pretentious
It's a romance fantasy, anyway -> makes perfect sense!!
***
After school ended and I ate dinner outside with Lucia, I was slowly walking along the academy streets to help digest.
The academy was so large it could be called a small city. Besides educational facilities, it had all sorts of other facilities, one of which was.
“Hey, this place is really good. Want to come again tomorrow?”
“I don't have any money, so I was just going to buy groceries here and cook in the dorm….”
“I'll pay, punk. If you call me big brother.”
Like a real city, it had all kinds of shops.
From stores to restaurants and workshops!
The academy was a school when you got down to it, but it had facilities like these! It was a culture shock.
Students naturally came and went along the streets, while employees inside the shops bustled about preparing for dinner service.
……Normally, my eyes would have gone wide as I looked around at everything, but I wasn't in the right state of mind now.
-Pat pat
“Hehe….”
Thanks to that, Lucia was enjoying the luxury of enthusiastically stroking my head, which offered no resistance.
Come to think of it… possession?
Sara—no, no, Sang-a said they hadn't been transported to another world like me, but had possessed a body.
And they hadn't crossed over here through a red gate, but through a rift in space.
“Does crossing through a gate mean transportation… and crossing through a rift mean possession…?”
“Heehee, huh? What did you say?”
Wait, Sia. Big brother's thinking right now.
That meant there was a high possibility of monsters or demons living disguised as humans.
If they were ordinary, unintelligent monsters, there wouldn't be much of a problem. But if they had intelligence, that was a different story.
…Phew, it's Mafia time.
I came to a conclusion.
In any case, there was only one thing I could do right now.
I should stay at the academy and keep an eye on the kids.
And search for demons and fellow countrymen while I'm at it.
Okay! Plan complete!
Now that I'd organized my plans for the future, I was about to remove Lucia's hand from my head when.
“Huh? It's Sis! Isabel, Sis—!!!”
The culprit who had been stroking my head for free immediately ran off.
Sis? Isabel? But why is Noona here?
“Oh? Lucia? Nice to see you. Good evening.”
“Hehe, good evening to you too, Sis!”
I slowly walked over to where Lucia and Isabel were.
“Lady Isabel, are you unable to see adorable little me?”
“Oh, Rowoon was here too! Our Rowoon would be adorable if only he didn't cause trouble.”
“I haven't caused any trouble since entering the academy, though?”
“…You don't remember trying to come in through the window this morning?”
Oh, right.
I'd completely forgotten because there had been so much going on today.
“Ahem. Anyway, what were you doing here, Sis…?”
I hurriedly changed the subject.
My head was already complicated enough, and if I got nagged on top of that, I might cry.
“Ah, I was looking around because I'm interested in club activities.”
“Ah… clubs….”
Come to think of it, there were clubs, weren't there?
The essential element of an academy romance-fantasy story was, without a doubt, clubs.
A flower-growing club or a place where you baked bread—those were romance-fantasy clichés.
Isabel would join the baking club, just like in the original story.
Isabel showing off her perfect baking skills beside the romance-fantasy male leads?
I couldn't miss this!
Honestly, I liked that episode quite a lot, so thinking that I would get to see it in person made me look forward to it for no reason.
“Oh—which club are you going to join? Personally, I recommend the baking club—”
“The farming club.”
“Huh?”
“I'm going to start a farming club. Our Rowoon likes potatoes, right? I'll make you something delicious with potatoes we dig up ourselves there.”
“……….”
Isabel was making a club because of me…?
What kind of messed-up butterfly effect was this?
I was speechless for a moment.
Honestly, I didn't care what club she joined….
But I guess I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
But then……. Were the male leads going to join the farming club too…?
Absolutely. Just as Leonir had fallen for Isabel that morning, all the original story's male leads must have fallen for Isabel.
Then were the Crown Prince, the son of the Northern Grand Duke, the Tower Master's disciple, and all those dignified noble lords going to pick up shovels and work the fields?
Wow, that sounded fun. I kind of wanted to see it.
Ah, why was I so certain they had fallen for her?
Because
-A glance
-A furtive glance
There had been guys hiding over there and peeking at Isabel since earlier.
Leonir and two guys from S Class.
What are you doing over there?