The Abduction

Basilisks were among the more troublesome monsters to fight.

Meeting their gaze paralyzed the body, and they emitted strong poison.

No matter how many safety measures he took to protect the flowerpot, Lee Jae-heon didn’t want to bring it into a dangerous place swarming with basilisks.

If Kang Yu-jun were here, he would have entrusted it to him for a moment, but he wasn’t present.

His eyes drifted to Garam — a powerless, fragile farmer.

Yet among the nearby people, if he had to choose someone he could trust, Garam might actually be one of them.

“When did that trust even build…”

It wasn’t exactly trust — more the belief that Garam would guard the flowerpot properly if only to avoid dying.

“Keep it safe.”

“Yes!”

The security guards were also B~C-rank awakened.

They could at least serve as shields if necessary.

Nothing should happen within five minutes.

Thinking so, Lee Jae-heon leaped forward.

There were eight basilisks rampaging inside the arena.

Many were already dead, and a few awakened fighters were resisting — but they were like tiny candles flickering in the wind.

“It’s too much! The poison is too strong!”

“Ugh, help! Someone’s paralyzed here!”

Everything was chaos.

In the midst of it, Lee Jae-heon descended.

“He—he’s a Ranker!”

Ignoring the shout, he drew his sword and charged straight at the basilisk.

The basilisk locked eyes with him, trying to petrify him — but as long as he didn’t take it head-on, he was fine.

He jumped, landing on top of the basilisk’s head, and drove his sword into its forehead.

Nothing survived once its brain turned to mush.

Basilisks were no exception.

“One.”

The second basilisk hissed, spraying venom and whipping its tail furiously.

Such a simple attack pattern.

He severed the tail, and as it screamed, he drove his sword into its mouth.

“Two.”

He killed all eight basilisks in under three minutes.

The people around him watched in awe.

“As expected of a Ranker!”

“I can’t believe he killed basilisks that easily…”

Someone looked defeated.

“Still, thank goodness. If he weren’t here, over half the people would’ve died.”

“That’s true.”

Everyone acknowledged it.

With all basilisks eliminated, Lee Jae-heon hurried back toward the VIP room.

No one stopped him, so he could keep his promise.

He could have kept it—

—but something was wrong.

A security guard lay collapsed in front of the VIP room, bleeding.

He rushed inside.

The room was empty.

Garam and the flowerpot were both gone.

Only a nearly unconscious security guard and a severely injured Park Deok-pal remained.

Lee Jae-heon let out a laugh — one born of disbelief.

His eyes gleamed with a violent fury.

Had Garam run away with the flowerpot?

No.

Garam was far too weak for that.

Then who touched him?

Rage boiled inside him.

He needed Kang Yu-jun and the Hatch Guild’s analysis team immediately.

Whoever it was—

—they would pay dearly for laying hands on what belonged to him.

It happened in an instant.

Purple smoke filled the VIP room, followed by violent sounds.

When the smoke cleared, all the security guards around Garam had collapsed.

“This is bad!”

Garam tried to dash away, but it was too late.

The only exit — the door — was already blocked.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

A masked man smiled.

He formed a gun shape with his fingers and pointed it at Garam.

“Move and you die.”

He looked ready to kill even if Garam didn’t move.

Garam’s eyes darted around for another exit—

—and at that moment,
someone struck the masked man on the back of the head.

“Stop fooling around and grab him already.”

“Hey! I almost died! Do you even know how strong you hit?”

“Hurry. The basilisks won’t last long.”

Only then did the first man move quickly, approaching Garam.

He chopped the back of Garam’s neck.

Garam’s arms went limp and everything went black.

When he woke again, he was thrown into an unfamiliar room.

Gray walls on all sides,a single dangling lightbulb—

and only one person: the masked man from earlier, sitting slumped on an old sofa.

He seemed to be dozing.

And on the table before him— the flowerpot.

Garam carefully moved, grabbed the flowerpot, and hugged it tightly while backing into a wall.

The masked man didn’t wake.

But Garam didn’t relax.

Instead of trying to escape, he checked the flowerpot.

Just as Lee Jae-heon promised, the plant was completely unharmed.

“Thank goodness.”

If the flowerpot stayed safe, maybe Lee Jae-heon wouldn’t kill him later.

He let out a tiny sigh of relief—

—and the masked man opened his eyes.

“You into flowerpots too?”

“No.”

He was not a pervert like Lee Jae-heon.

“Really? Kinda boring. I pretended to sleep, but instead of running, you just check the flowerpot? That’s it?”

This man was also a weirdo. Garam shouldn’t have blamed only Lee Jae-heon.

He shut his eyes briefly, then inhaled deeply.

“But why did you kidnap me?”

He could guess. But he wanted certainty.

“Because you’re Lee Jae-heon’s lover. And you were holding his precious flowerpot.”

So enemies as numerous as allies — typical of someone like Lee Jae-heon.

“I’m tired of being on the receiving end. It’s time to strike back. Just imagining it makes me shiver. How furious will he be when his precious lover comes back broken?”

A chill crawled down Garam’s spine.

He wanted to scream, We’re not even lovers! —but that might make things worse.

If he wasn’t important, they might kill him faster.

So Garam shut his mouth and curled up around the flowerpot.

“Aren’t you curious? Why I hate Lee Jae-heon so much?”

The man was a chatterbox, just what Garam didn’t need right now.

He crouched in front of Garam, holding a small sharp dagger, and lifted Garam’s chin with it.

“Ugh…”

Garam groaned involuntarily,
which seemed to delight the man.

“He’s the symbol of tower climbers, you know.
Someone once said: if you reach the top of the tower, the world will return to normal. Ugh, imagine how horrible that is. All the abilities we awakened for? Gone.”

Garam wondered— wouldn’t a peaceful world be better?

As if reading his thoughts, the man continued:

“I don’t want that. Life’s best right now. I can kill whoever I want, use people as slaves, rule over the weak. It’s perfect.”

Wow. A perfect piece of trash.

Garam felt justified calling him “trash-man” from now on.

“You’re giving me a dirty look. Should I pluck those eyes out?”

As the dagger came close, Garam squeezed his eyes shut—

—and a loud thud echoed.

“Agh!”

The other man from earlier had struck him.

“I told you — no physical harm before negotiations.”

“It’s just an eye!”

“As if you’d stop at one.”

“What, is that all the trust you have in me?”

“Remember your past actions.”

He spoke coldly and sat on the sofa.

Creak.

The springs cried under his heavy weight.

“Relax. We won’t touch you until negotiations.”

“And if negotiations fail?”

“We’ll probably cut off a finger.”

It was over. His finger was doomed.

Garam couldn’t imagine Lee Jae-heon agreeing to terrorists’ demands.

Maybe if it were the flowerpot— but a finger? No way.

His mood sank.

“I’ll head out. Watch him.”

“Yeah.”

The masked man waved at the other one, as if telling him to leave faster.

Once they were alone, the masked man sat back down and pulled something from his coat.

Jerky.

Then he removed his mask for the first time.

Around his mouth, the skin was a different color — a healed but vivid scar.

“What are you staring at? Ah, this? Your boyfriend gave me this scar.”

He grinned.

“Don’t worry. Bear-guy said not to touch you yet. Waiting isn’t so bad anyway.”

He began chewing on the jerky loudly.

“So let’s get along until then, yeah?”

In every possible way— this was the worst.