The Player that Can’t Level Up

“How… Why the sudden change?” Bodhidharma couldn’t hide his shock either. They had a plan, and they were slowly getting the situation under control. But now, it seemed something unexpected had happened.

“Haures and Go Hyung-Chul are in danger,” Gi-Gyu announced. The situation was changing much faster than he had anticipated.

“All right. We’ll leave right away,’ the monk replied and turned around. Michael and Hamiel immediately accompanied him.

Haures and Go Hyung-Chul’s signals were so weak that Gi-Gyu felt they could disconnect any second. In other words, their situation was dire and could lead to death.

“Wait.” Gi-Gyu stopped the monk, Michael, and Hamiel. When Bodhidharma looked at Gi-Gyu’s face, he saw Gi-Gyu looked a little better.

Gi-Gyu explained, “I think they got away. They are safe for now, but I still can’t communicate with them.”

“Good, but this doesn’t change the fact that we must hurry,” replied the monk.

“...” Gi-Gyu seemed hesitant before he announced, “This won’t do. I better go with you.”

“What…?! But shouldn’t you leave to save your family and Soo-Jung?” Bodhidharma looked shocked.

“Through the breaking message, the last thing I saw was”—Gi-Gyu looked up at the monk—“Ironshield.”

***

The reinforcement team for the Tower was stopped. Due to the sudden change in the situation, Gi-Gyu needed to come up with a different plan.

“Thankfully, I think they are safe now,” Gi-Gyu explained as he looked around. As this was an emergency, the central figures inside Eden gathered around him.

Heo Sung-Hoon asked loudly, “You still can’t communicate with them?”

“Yes. And I’m not sure if it’s because of some kind of barrier or something else.” Thanks to the sync, Gi-Gyu knew they were alive but still couldn’t talk with them. “And what I last saw through that broken connection…”

“You saw Ironshield,” Heo Sung-Hoon murmured.

“Yes, I did. But I don’t think Ironshield is the mystery human player Haures and Go Hyung-Chul were after.”

Sung-Hoon and everyone in the area had their eyes trained on Gi-Gyu.

Gi-Gyu added, “When Go Hyung-Chul was attacked, there were definitely two players.”

When Go Hyung-Chul had contacted Gi-Gyu, Gi-Gyu could see what Go Hyung-Chul saw. Only those with an excellent ability to visualize their thoughts could do this, so only a few of Gi-Gyu’s creatures and Go Hyung-Chul could do this.

Gi-Gyu was certain he had seen two players through Go Hyung-Chul’s eyes. One was definitely Ironshield, and he didn’t recognize the other one.

Sung-Hoon asked, “Are you saying Ironshield and this unknown player are working together?”

“I don’t know.” The information Gi-Gyu could extract from Go Hyung-Chul’s sight was limited.

“Hmm…” Gi-Gyu contemplated. He had previously heard that Ironshield had killed Andras and entered the Tower in search of something to make him perfect. Still, Gi-Gyu hadn’t expected Haures to encounter Ironshield.

Gi-Gyu announced, “For now, we must come up with another group to send into the Tower. The first one I came up with isn’t enough. It will be too dangerous.”

Sung-Hoon muttered, “This is getting complicated.”

Gi-Gyu needed to send a group to the Tower’s basement to rescue Soo-Jung. He still didn’t know how to reach her, but he needed to have a group ready. Of course, Gi-Gyu and his highest-level creatures would go on this mission, but they also had to help Haures and Go Hyung-Chul concomitantly.

Just then, Gi-Gyu felt someone’s gaze. ‘Lou.’

He saw that Lou was looking at him with deep concern.

Sung-Hoon said earnestly, “For now, I’ll try to create a better list for this group. I’ll work as quickly as possible, so please give me some time, Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu.”

Gi-Gyu knew he could trust Sung-Hoon, so he nodded and left the room. Unsurprisingly, Lou followed him out and requested, “We need to talk.”

***

The look Lou gave Gi-Gyu was grim. They sat in Gi-Gyu’s room and stared at each other.

“Umm…” Lou was having a hard time starting the conversation.

“What is it?”

“I want to ask you something,” Lou asked simply, but the look on his face suggested that his question would be anything but simple.

“Could I”—Lou walked up to Gi-Gyu—“have a look at your shell?”

“What?”

Lou was now standing right in front of Gi-Gyu.

‘What? He wants to look at my shell?’

In the past, Lou had examined Gi-Gyu’s shell from time to time when Gi-Gyu couldn’t. However, Lou hadn’t done so ever since Gi-Gyu learned to look at his shell. It was such an unexpected question that Gi-Gyu couldn’t hide his shock.

Lou pointed at Gi-Gyu’s heart and asked, “When was the last time you studied your shell?”

“About a week ago? I took a look to check out the changes from Eden’s compartmentalization. Why do you ask?”

“Well…” Lou lowered his finger and hesitated. “And you haven’t found any problems?”

“Nope, not really.” A week ago, when Gi-Gyu had looked at his shell, he didn’t see anything out of place or problematic. Everything looked even better, honestly.

“Then I can have a look, right?” Lou insisted.

“Sure, go ahead.” Gi-Gyu assumed Lou had a good reason for this, so he exposed his chest. Lou quickly touched Gi-Gyu’s chest with his finger and closed his eyes. It had been a long time since someone other than Gi-Gyu had approached his shell.

While Lou and Gi-Gyu’s other Egos could easily enter his shell in the past, a fortress-like barrier now actively protected his shell. The barrier prevented Lou from entering the shell, so Gi-Gyu lifted it.

“Hmm…” A few minutes later, Lou took away his finger. Gi-Gyu replaced the barrier around his shell for protection.

“So what’s wrong?” asked Gi-Gyu.

“I was just looking to see if there was a problem in your shell.”

“So why did you do that?”

After momentarily pausing, Lou answered, “Because you were acting strange just now. You did something you would’ve never done before.”

“What?”

“In the past, you would’ve never hesitated in a situation like this.”

Gi-Gyu quietly listened to Lou.

“It’s just so odd. You couldn’t decide whether to go to the Tower or its basement.” Lou frowned. “Your friends and Ironshield are inside the Tower, so I understand your desire to save them, but…”

Lou tilted his head in confusion and continued, “To abandon your family? Ever since I have known you, you’ve always prioritized saving your family. I always thought that was abnormal, dangerous even.”

“...”

“The Gi-Gyu I know would have impetuously left for the basement the moment he heard that his family was in danger there. That was why I got ready to go to the Tower’s basement. Yet, you changed your mind. I realize that you resent Ironshield, and your creatures are in danger, but I can’t understand your decision. That is why I looked inside your shell. I wanted to see if anything has changed since you met with Kronos and your recent growth spurt.”

Lou stepped back and added, “But I couldn’t find any problems inside your shell. So I have no choice but to ask you something.”

Gi-Gyu felt Lou studying him. Being examined like that wasn’t pleasant.

Lou asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“...” Gi-Gyu couldn’t answer.

***

Lou was right. His family had always been at the top of his priority list. Normally, he wouldn’t have even put Ironshield, Haures, or Go Hyung-Chul alongside his family in importance.

“It’s true. I wouldn’t have hesitated to go to my family,” said Gi-Gyu. But at the moment, Gi-Gyu was torn, and he could think of a few excuses.

‘First, I still don’t know how to get to the right dimension in the Tower’s basement.’

Gi-Gyu still hadn’t learned how to correctly traverse the many fragmented dimensions in the Tower’s basement. He couldn’t just jump into the basement without a plan.

‘But in the past, I would’ve jumped down without a plan and then figured things out on the go.’

The second excuse was what Kronos had told him.

‘He said I shouldn’t trust Soo-Jung.’

Gi-Gyu couldn’t help but wonder if Soo-Jung was lying. What if this was a trap? What if she had lied about meeting Suk-Woo and knowing where his family was? The only thing he knew for sure right now was that Haures and Go Hyung-Chul were in grave danger. Gi-Gyu also knew exactly where they were and how to get to them. Therefore, he needed to reach them to fix the situation. If Kronos’ warning was true and Soo-Jung had lied to him, Gi-Gyu would suffer a great loss.

‘But in the past, I still wouldn’t have hesitated to go find my family.’

Gi-Gyu knew that his old self wouldn’t have cared if this were a trap or not. He would've dived in head first if there were even the slightest chance that his family was in danger.

“And…” Gi-Gyu tried to think of another excuse, but he failed. “I just don’t know.”

Why was he not prioritizing his family anymore?

‘Or am I?’

Gi-Gyu still believed that his family was the most important thing in the world. But he no longer acted blindly for their sake like before.

“Is this a good thing…?” Gi-Gyu wondered. In the past, whenever his family had been involved, he couldn’t think clearly. This could have been his greatest weakness, and at the moment, it appeared that he no longer had this problem.

Now that he thought about it, he realized that the way El looked at him had also changed, just like Lou. But unlike Lou, El hadn’t said anything, but Gi-Gyu could feel that something had changed.

“Ugh…” Gi-Gyu groaned, feeling confused. What was the right thing to do? Why did he change?

‘Or… could it be that someone is controlling this whole situation? Am I being controlled right now?’ Gi-Gyu contemplated. He didn’t want to be controlled by the situation anymore. He was powerful now, so things needed to change.

“I’ll change the situation to suit me.” Gi-Gyu opened his eyes.

***

Gi-Gyu no longer needed to hesitate. He left his room confidently.

Sung-Hoon, who had been waiting outside Gi-Gyu’s room, announced, “I’ve come up with a new list for the reinforcement—”

“Thank you for your hard work, but… it’s not necessary anymore.” Gi-Gyu pushed away the report Sung-Hoon had offered him.

Sung-Hoon looked confused at first, but he replied, “All right.”

It appeared that Sung-Hoon was relieved.

‘I guess Sung-Hoon also felt that I was acting odd.”

Thankfully, Gi-Gyu finally knew what to do. He requested, “Sung-Hoon, please gather everyone again for a meeting.”

“They are already here. So what are you going to do?” Sung-Hoon seemed curious.

Without a single hint of doubt on his face, Gi-Gyu announced, “I am going to the Tower.”