The Player Who Can't Level Up

Gi-Gyu had a hard time believing there was another person who could hear his Egos. 

-Why are you so shocked? That woman is already sharing your sight; how hard could getting access to our conversation be?

When Lou muttered, Gi-Gyu grumbled silently, ‘You didn’t have to spell it out like that. I could’ve figured it out soon enough.’

Soo-Jung said to Gi-Gyu, “You know, you can just speak aloud.”

“...?” Gi-Gyu paused before asking, “You just read my thoughts, didn’t you?”

Soo-Jung smiled and answered, “No. I could only hear the conversation you had in your head; I can’t read your thoughts.” 

There were no two ways about it. It was as suspicious an explanation as could be. Thankfully, Lou verified the truth for him. 

-She’s telling the truth.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed and pressed his forehead. The more answers he received, the more confused he became. “Haa… This is just too much for me. Let’s focus on one thing at a time.”

“I guess my pupil isn’t as smart as I hoped,” Soo-Jung murmured. Immediately, the Egos chimed in. 

-This is true.

While Lou agreed, the other Egos protested.

-Do not disrespect the Master.

-Our Master isn’t stupid!

Gi-Gyu felt grateful to El and Brunheart while he contemplated banging Lou on the ground. Shaking her head, Soo-Jung continued, “I’ll explain this situation. Baal wasn’t showing respect to Lou just now.”

“...?”

“He was greeting you.” Soo-Jung pointed at Gi-Gyu.

Lou added.

-That jerk Baal was one of the traitors that betrayed me in the past.

“What?” When Gi-Gyu exclaimed in shock, Soo-Jung replied, “Just like your Ego explained, Baal is one of the demons that rebelled and imprisoned their emperor. To Baal, Lou is just a fallen monarch; you are someone who made the former emperor your minion.”

Baal nodded in agreement. 

-That jerk is so annoying.

Lou muttered, but the statement had no real anger. Gi-Gyu suspected that Lou’s anger disappeared along with his memories, so he patted Lou in sympathy. Betrayal was never pleasant, and then to have to forget the anger also must have been horrendous. 

Lou murmured,

-I don’t need your pity. It was my choice to do this.

Soo-Jung replied to Lou with a grin, “Ah, your attitude is impressive.”

Noticing they were straying from the main topic, Gi-Gyu announced, “Let’s get back to the business at hand. I need some answers.”

When Soo-Jung nodded in agreement, Gi-Gyu asked, “All right. Let’s start with the evil eye.”

***

With a relaxed expression, Soo-Jung began, “To give you a comprehensive answer, we need to first talk about the secret behind the Tower”—she shook her head— “But you aren’t worthy.”

“Not worthy?”

“Haaa… Remember what I told you before? I said, ‘Come see me after passing the 50th-floor test.’ However, I had no choice but to meet you before because of some unexpected circumstances. But until you pass the 50th-floor test, I can’t tell you about it.”

Soo-Jung yawned as if bored, and Gi-Gyu fell in deep thought. 

‘Does this mean the 50th floor is different? I thought even the test would be the same, but it seems the 50th floor holds a secret. No wonder not much is known about this floor.’ 

Soo-Jung continued, “Much time has passed since the former king of demons was imprisoned. Many things have happened since then. And as you can see, Baal and the other demons aren’t completely loyal to their current ruler.”

Gi-Gyu didn’t reply, feeling his time would be better spent focusing on her words so that he could remember everything. 

Soo-Jung added, “The evil eye isn’t common, but it isn’t a special ability either. Most high-level demons have it.”

Lou had already told Gi-Gyu about everything Lucifer had said until now, but they were finally getting into the main topic. Soo-Jung continued, “But even among evil eyes, there are some special ones. Over many generations, this ability has changed and improved, but it has remained exclusive to demons.”

Soo-Jung’s eyes changed from violet to red to green and then finally to black. She murmured, “I can use all types of evil eyes.” 

-Nonsense. You’re lying. Just because your eye color changes doesn’t mean you can use all types of evil eyes.

Lou smirked and added.

-Even I don’t recollect ever being able to use all of them. So how dare you claim—

“But you were a full-fledged demon, remember?” When Soo-Jung asked, Lou became quiet. 

She continued, “A demon can only have one type of evil eye, but I’m different.” 

Since Lou no longer interrupted her, Soo-Jung explained, “The evil eye is one way to distinguish a demon’s rank. Green is the lowest, while red means middle-rank or higher.”

Gi-Gyu, who had kept quiet till now, finally asked, “And violet?”

Soo-Jung giggled and replied, “Only the royals have it.”

“...?” 

“Only the highest level demons possess this color since it's the strongest type of evil eye out there.” Slightly confused, Soo-Jung asked, “I guess you didn’t know about this?”

“...” Gi-Gyu didn’t reply since Lou really hadn’t told him much about the evil eye. Touching his right eye, he cautiously asked, “So why and how did I get this violet evil eye?”

“Who knows? I didn’t expect you to awaken an evil eye. Like I said”—she grinned teasingly—“only demons have the evil eye.”

***

Their party left the cafe before long, partly because Soo-Jung felt better but mainly because Gi-Gyu needed some alone time to think. Then, they returned to Gi-Gyu’s basement together. 

His face tense, he wondered, ‘So the evil eye represents demons, so the fact that I have one must mean…’

Was he a demon? What about his parents? How did he become a player then? 

Gi-Gyu glanced at Baal. He looked like a human. He looked nothing like the fourth-floor guardian and the lowest level demons Perez, Ramus, or the others. Now that he thought about it, Lou’s physical form was also that of a human. 

Suddenly realizing something, Gi-Gyu asked loudly, “Hey, Soo-Jung! What about you? Are you a demon too?”

When Gi-Gyu spoke more familiarly, Soo-Jung smiled and replied, “You’re finally acting more comfortable around me.” 

Gi-Gyu didn’t bother repeating his question. When he remained quiet, she finally replied, “No, I’m a human.”

“Then how did you get the evil eye?” When he asked, a bitter expression appeared on Soo-Jung’s face. She murmured, “I’m a special case. Of course, there is a chance you’re a special case too.”

Feeling he was getting close to the answer, Gi-Gyu prodded, “Special case?”

Suddenly, Soo-Jung began removing her top. Gi-Gyu's eyes widened before he covered them and tried to shout, but Baal removed his hands from his face and pointed at Soo-Jung.

Thankfully, she was wearing her underwear. When Gi-Gyu saw her body, he gasped. 

“That’s…”

There was a small jewel on her chest. When he looked closer, he saw that the jewel resembled a cat's face. It reminded him of Brunheart on his own body and made him feel strangely closer to her. 

Soo-Jung explained, “I got it transplanted from a demon. This is another form of Baal. Because of him, I’m now a half-demon, half-human creature. As someone on the edge of the two worlds, I can use several special abilities.”

Listening to Soo-Jung’s explanation, Gi-Gyu realized something. She must have also gone through many hardships like him that she couldn’t talk about or even explain to anyone else. 

Soo-Jung continued, “Baal’s cat jewel has the same predatory power as Lou’s. Of course, Baal’s power is more limited and comes with serious side effects, unlike Lou’s.”

Soo-Jung put her shirt back on and added, “I believe you awakened the evil eye because of your special abilities. When I took you in as my pupil, I didn’t expect that; I just saw something special in you.”

She slowly approached him and caressed his fingers; Gi-Gyu didn’t refuse her touch. She stroked Lou and El on his fingers and caressed Brunheart on his chest. “You’re the only man who can fulfill my wish.”

His voice a little calmer now, Gi-Gyu asked, “And what’s your wish?”

“Don’t you remember?” Soo-Jung’s eyes widened as if she was disappointed in him. She reminded him, “I told you I was wrongly framed as Lucifer.”

Turning away from him, she added, “My wish is to kill the real Lucifer.”

***

Since Soo-Jung was very tired toward the end of their conversation, she asked Gi-Gyu to leave so she could rest. After discussing it with his family, it was decided that Soo-Jung could stay in their house for a while. 

Gi-Gyu was also tired after the serious discussion, but he headed toward the association because he had much to do.

‘Lucifer… The evil eye…’

Gi-Gyu already felt burdened by all the secrets he knew, but there were still plenty more he had to unveil. Until now, Gi-Gyu believed all the demons were his enemy; after meeting Soo-Jung and Baal, it seemed not all demons were foes. 

‘Are there demons that side with humans?’

Tae-Shik asked, “What are you thinking about so hard?”

“It’s nothing,” replied Gi-Gyu.

“That woman Lucifer didn’t do something to you, did she?” Gi-Gyu shook his head and answered, “No, it’s not like that. But is it true? Did the Iron Guild really take its hand off its Korean branch? Despite the multiple casualties on their side, they just accepted it?” 

Earlier, Tae-Shik explained to Gi-Gyu what happened after the Yeoksam incident. The association’s official statement: Iron Guild lost all its Korean branch members to a sudden gate break. However, many had a hard time believing this story despite heavy hitters like the Cain, Morningstar, and Child guilds acting as witnesses. 

The U.S. public was also in an uproar. To them, the Iron Guild branch was equivalent to the U.S. military. They were furious that their entire branch was massacred on foreign soil. 

Shockingly, all this skepticism and fury was kept under control, thanks to two people. 

‘Lee Sun-Ho and Ironshield.’

The association released that Lee Sun-Ho himself was dispatched to help with the Yeoksam gate break. Lee Sun-Ho also publicly attested that the gate monsters annihilated the entire Iron Guild branch, shocking the world as a whole. 

Lee Sun-Ho was the greatest player on earth, so most believed him. As for those who didn’t, they didn’t dare to raise questions. 

Then, there was Ironshield. He didn’t question the association’s explanation and publicly mourned the dead players. Since even the guild master reacted this way, how could the public not accept the “truth?” 

In the end, the Iron Guild players dispatched to Korea were honored as heroes. They were praised as brave souls who died to protect Korea. Gi-Gyu couldn’t help but smirk at the irony. Before, the Iron Guild being seen as heroes could have ticked him; now, he just didn’t care. 

‘Because I’m going to destroy it in the end anyway.’

What frustrated Gi-Gyu was Ironshield’s calm. He had hoped that Ironshield would become furious and come to Korea; thus, he would’ve lured Ironshield into his territory. Then, he would’ve defeated the guild master with help from his friends and allies. Since this tactic worked on Rogers Han, why wouldn’t it work on Ironshield too? Sadly, Ironshield didn’t fall into his trap.

Tae-Shik said unhappily, “This means the Korean branch was just a pawn to Ironshield. There must be more to his plan.” Raising his hands to hold Gi-Gyu’s shoulders, Tae-Shik added, “But at least thanks to his indifference, the association didn’t have to do much to clean up this mess.”

Tae-Shik’s hands felt unusually heavy today. When Gi-Gyu looked up at him, Tae-Shik murmured encouragingly, “So you don’t have to worry about anything. Just find out as much as possible from Lucifer.” 

Tae-Shik’s eyes shined with determination and trust as he added, “You must get as many secrets as possible from her.”

Favorite