Gi-Gyu remained dazed for a moment. 

Rattle.

He forgot to close the gate immediately in his daze, and a skeleton soldier used this opportunity to make a break.

“Hup!” With a short breath, Gi-Gyu sliced the monster in half. His body now worked on autopilot whenever he saw a monster.

“Huh?” But something felt a little different. Gi-Gyu could tell the skeleton’s strength and speed had increased slightly. It was such a subtle difference that he wouldn’t have felt it if not for his improved senses.

“Does this mean the monsters inside the gate become stronger if I put crystals inside?”

-I think so!

Brunheart replied cheerfully. Rubbing his rough beard, Gi-Gyu shook his head and murmured, “But it’s not like I can control them. If they become stronger, it will be just more annoying for me whenever I open or close a gate.” 

Suddenly, a random thought crossed his mind. 

“Wait! I can hunt them, right? If I just put the crystals, which I can’t carry anyway, to make those monsters stronger… And then if I hunt them later…”

However, a frown appeared on his face as he realized something. 

“Dammit! I can’t enter this gate myself!” 

Or could he? Gi-Gyu decided to test it out immediately. He opened the gate and tried to enter it from all directions. Unfortunately, failure smacked his face every time he tried to enter the gate: The gate would close every time he tried to step in. He wished he could ask someone else to enter the gate, but he didn’t want to put anyone in danger. Consequently, Gi-Gyu couldn’t test to see if anyone could enter this gate.

“Well… I’m sure I’ll find its use someday,” muttered Gi-Gyu. At the very least, he didn’t waste his crystals by abandoning them in the Tower. He resumed walking, feeling satisfied with his situation.

***

Gi-Gyu soon reached the 29th floor. The 30th floor was just above him; he would enter a whole new world after crossing that line. More red players could be found on the higher floors while the association’s authority and protection weakened. Suffice to say, stronger monsters wouldn’t be his only problem on the floors above.

So, once he was close to reaching the 30th floor, Gi-Gyu decided to take a short break. His beard had grown so much that it was now enough to cover the general shape of his face. Oh, and Brunheart hadn’t stopped talking in the meanwhile. 

-Master, I’m so sad! I’ll get to see your mother and sister soon, right?! I want to meet them as soon as possible! My master’s family! I also want to meet the Ego named Lou. Oh, and El is way too quiet.

‘Brunheart is so talkative.’

But Gi-Gyu didn’t mind it. Lou was still silent, so there was no constant flow of sarcastic comments. El was barely speaking, as usual. All in all, there was no one else in the Tower he could talk to. So, Brunheart was actually helping Gi-Gyu maintain his basic social skills. 

-By the way, why don’t you hunt with other players, Master?

“Because it’s annoying.”

-Annoying?

“Exactly.” Gi-Gyu rubbed his beard again and realized it was now covering his cheeks. 

‘I better shave it off soon.’

He smirked, imagining how ridiculous he must look right now. Stretching his arms, Gi-Gyu answered Brunheart’s question, “Everyone here is weaker than me. Since I’m much faster at hunting, anyone I hunt with will just waste time admiring me.”

-Hmm…

Gi-Gyu wasn’t being pompous. While most players hunting on this floor were C-grade, he was almost a ranker, so no one here could match his speed or strength. 

“Besides, humans”—Gi-Gyu slowly stood up—” can be very jealous. Most people want to defeat foes stronger than them. That is unless they encounter someone way beyond their reach. The Tower is a dangerous place, to begin with, so I don’t want the added risk of hunting with others.”

-Hmm… It’s so tricky. I wish I had a body, so I could run and hunt with you, Master!

Gi-Gyu laughed and agreed, “I would love that too.”

If Egos had physical bodies and could work with him, Gi-Gyu would’ve considered them his true companions. 

“I’m sure if we keep working hard, we’ll find an answer.” 

Then, Gi-Gyu resumed hunting.

***

It didn’t take long for Gi-Gyu to become well known in the Tower. The 20-something floors held many players, but they were all C-grade on average. One could find most of the players between the 20th and the 30-something floors. So, even though Gi-Gyu tried his best to avoid other people, many still saw him and his feats. 

Like the other players, he had to find the spots with the most monsters, so he frequently met various players. But they never tried to make conversation with Gi-Gyu or interfere with his hunt. After all, he was large and had an eerie look. He wielded his double swords to massacre all monsters in sight wherever he went. That, along with his messy beard, pictured a not-so-good image in everyone’s minds.

While watching Gi-Gyu battle, one onlooker murmured, “That player definitely doesn’t belong on this floor.”

“Ugh, he looks so scary. He couldn’t be a red player, could he?” his companion whispered in fear. The other players were curious about who Gi-Gyu was, but no one was brave enough to approach this monster-killing machine. 

“By the way, doesn’t he kind of look like that hero on TV?” wondered one of the players from a hunting group nearby.

“You mean that masked ranker?” another player asked.

“Yes, him. Maybe not…?”

“Well, this guy does have a similar body…” 

“Oh, come on! I heard that the Yeosu hero is the association’s secret weapon. Why would such an important player be here on the 29th floor looking like that?”

“I guess you’re right…”

The longer Gi-Gyu stayed in the Tower, the more interest he seemingly attracted from his fellow players. A few wondered if he was the Yeosu hero, nicknamed the mask ranker, but they couldn’t be certain. 

Gi-Gyu was eavesdropping on their conversations while diligently hunting. After killing the last monster in a herd, he murmured, “Hmm… This is good. I feel relieved.”

Gi-Gyu was afraid someone might recognize him, so he was considering wearing the full ski mask Sung-Hoon gave him earlier. But it seemed that not wearing anything and walking around confidently helped hide his identity. 

“Phew… I think I’m almost done.” A few more herds and Lou wouldn’t need the blood of this floor’s monsters for stat points. He expected to finish up in a day or two. Afterward, he planned on taking some time off before attempting the 30th-floor test. The cornerstones for his plan were finally beginning to take shape. 

“I’m way behind schedule,” murmured Gi-Gyu in disappointment since it took him much longer than expected to reach this floor. However, he didn’t mind this delay because he was becoming stronger at a surprising speed. 

Gi-Gyu gradually moved to a more isolated area to find another herd of monsters. Thanks to him, the monsters in the nearby areas were almost extinct. His bag was still a crystal away from bursting, so he had been feeding all the crystals to Brunheart. The monsters of this area would take a while to regenerate, so he needed to find another place to hunt.

Suddenly! 

Clang, clang.

Gi-Gyu’s sensitive ears picked up the sounds of clashing weapons and skills. 

“Kyaa!”

“You bastards!”

The screams and shouts of many players followed the clangs, clanks, and clangors. 

“We’re from the Cain Guild! Do you think you can get away with this?!” Gi-Gyu heard the pained voice of a player.

“We’re going to kill you all here anyway, so who cares? No one will find out,” a vicious voice replied. 

Gi-Gyu was about to walk away, but when he heard “Cain Guild,” he paused and continued to eavesdrop.

“Dammit. The guild master was right. We shouldn’t have come here!” a desperate voice muttered. 

“The Smurfs… They are too strong…” another voice groaned in despair. Gi-Gyu could hear their anguish and hopelessness. With a sigh, he turned around and headed toward the battle; he used Accelerate to reach there as quickly as possible. Since he had become much stronger, Accelerate had also amplified accordingly. The battle took place far away, but Gi-Gyu arrived there in no time, thanks to the amplification.

“What?! Who the heck are you?!” The player who first spotted Gi-Gyu yelled.

“If you don’t want to die, just get lost! We’ll kill you on the spot if you get involved!” a player with a red mark on his chest warned. 

“We’ll be fine, so please run and get some help!” one of the players from the Cain Guild screamed at Gi-Gyu. The Cain Guild member didn’t want Gi-Gyu to get hurt by getting involved. Feeling even more sure about what he must do, Gi-Gyu moved and swung his swords simultaneously.

Slash!

The sound of a sword cutting into human flesh rang ominously. Everyone stared in shock, forgetting they were in the middle of a battle. 

Thud, roll.

The head of one of the red players fell and rolled on the ground. 

Psst!

A fountain of blood began to spew out from the dead man's severed neck. Gi-Gyu, standing closest to the body, became covered in blood as he announced, “Who’s next?”

No one raised their hands.

***

“T-thank you.” Do Bong-Gu, one of Cain Guild’s mid-level guides, bowed deeply. He was thanking Gi-Gyu respectfully, but the guide couldn’t hide his intense fear. What Gi-Gyu did to the Smurf Guild member was beyond sinister. Without using a single skill or ability, Gi-Gyu had just killed a player with momentum alone.

The other Smurf members ran without even taking care of their dead player’s body. Gi-Gyu didn’t bother to chase after them because he knew they wouldn’t recognize him later. 

‘Hmm… Cannibalism didn’t absorb him; the same happened when Choi Won-Jae died. Is this because Lou is still occupied by his awakening? Or does this skill only works on ranker level players?’

Even though Do Bong-Gu was voicing his gratitude, all Gi-Gyu could do was think about this question. Gi-Gyu remembered Choi Won-Jae being almost egofied due to Cannibalism. But the same thing hadn’t happened a second time since then.

“U-um…” Do Bong-Gu murmured in confusion when Gi-Gyu didn’t respond.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was checking something in my head.” When Gi-Gyu apologized for his rudeness, Do Bong-Gu stammered, “N-no, it's all right. I just wanted to thank you again for your help.”

The other Cain Guild members approached Gi-Gyu and murmured, “Thank you.”

Gi-Gyu shook his hands and smiled as he replied, “No worries. I only helped because I know your guild master.”

“Pardon?”

“Your guild master is Suk-Woo, right?” Gi-Gyu asked.

“Yes…?” Do Bong-Gu looked at Gi-Gyu with suspicion. 

“I’m friends with Suk-Woo. I was going to just walk by, but I heard you mentioning the Cain Guild, so I came to help,” Gi-Gyu explained.

“Oh! I see!”

Players scarcely helped each other in situations like these since no one wanted to risk their lives to help others. The red players knew this very well and used it to single out players and attack them.

Gi-Gyu asked Do Bong-Gu, “Isn’t this a well-known hotspot for red players? Why did you come here?” 

Gi-Gyu could tell Do Bong-Gu was the leader of this group, so he spoke to the Cain Guild guide directly. Do Bong-Gu scratched his head and murmured, “Well… We heard about the bulk massacring of monsters going on inside the Tower. Since we hadn’t entered the Tower in a while, we entered today to see if the rumor was true. We were told some random weirdo was hunting all the monsters—” 

Suddenly realizing the “weirdo” was Gi-Gyu, Do Bong-Gu raised his hands and apologized, “I-I’m so sorry!”

‘What a strange man.’ Gi-Gyu thought as he watched Do Bong-Gu become flustered. However, Gi-Gyu also felt apologetic since all these players were forced into this dangerous area because he massacred the monsters everywhere else.  

But still, this group shouldn’t have come here even if they couldn’t find any monsters in their regular spots. Gi-Gyu asked, “But as a group leader, you shouldn’t have…” 

His face turning a little red, Do Bong-Gu replied, “I knew there were red players here, but I didn’t think they would dare attack us, the Cain Guild.”

Gi-Gyu had to agree with Do Bong-Gu’s rebuttal. The Cain Guild was a pretty famous group in Korea. Attacking its players would’ve resulted in dire consequences for those red players. Gi-Gyu could now understand why this guide felt safe entering this area. 

However, when was it not better to be safe than sorry? Gi-Gyu stated firmly, “You never know what those bastards might do.”

“Ah, of cours—” 

The sentence, “But you look just as suspicious and dangerous as them,” was about to leave Do Bong-Gu, but he stopped himself just in time. 

Still feeling guilty for killing all the monsters in the area, Gi-Gyu offered, “Then would you like to hunt with me for a while?”

“Pardon?” 

“I know some areas nearby where you can find many monsters. I can help you for a while if you wish.” Do Bong-Gu contemplated the offer. Although the scary bearded player in front of him claimed he knew Guild Master Suk-Woo, Do Bong-Gu wasn’t naive enough to believe it without any proof. However, it also didn’t seem like he wanted to harm them since he had just saved them. Then again, it was stupid to believe any strangers inside the Tower. 

Realizing Do Bong-Gu’s hesitation, Gi-Gyu quickly introduced himself.

“Ah, I guess I didn’t even tell you my name. I doubt Suk-Woo ever mentioned me, but”—Gi-Gyu scratched his cheek shyly and offered his hand—“my name is Kim Gi-Gyu.” 

Gi-Gyu forgot that his hand was soaked in blood, but Do Bong-Gu didn’t care. A bright smile appeared on Do Bong-Gu’s face when he heard Gi-Gyu’s name.