“New employee Shin Jia. Seems like she had a rough first day at work.”
Fumbling through the new women’s blazer—still with the tag on it as if she forgot to remove it—I found a card wallet holding an ID.
The young woman in the photo, looking barely twenty years old, was undoubtedly the owner of this body.
This body I now inhabited, thanks to the Avatar Changer, wasn’t a created shell but someone else’s original body.
I had no idea where the original soul had gone.
Perhaps it had left during the transfer process, or the system forcibly ousted it from the body.
Of course, the current me wasn’t delicate enough to feel guilt over such matters.
I took only the ID and discarded the wallet with its cards and money on the ground.
They were utterly useless in this world anyway.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
The fact that I ended up in a woman’s body was irreversible, so I decided to focus on what lay ahead.
What mattered was what I would do to achieve my goal.
To get what I wanted, I needed overwhelming power—enough to crush and destroy anyone who dared to stand in my way.
If I hadn’t had power in my previous state, I wouldn’t have even had the chance to free my soul and take on a new body.
[“By now, you all know where this is, and what’s about to happen, right? It used to be fun dealing with rebels by cutting off their heads, but now it’s just dull, and explaining things has become a chore.”]
While I was gathering my thoughts and rummaging through my belongings, the guide fairy was yawning and giving a half-hearted explanation.
It looked rather impressive in its own way, but I understood why.
More than ten years had passed since the Tower appeared in the world.
Basic knowledge and strategies about the Tower had become essential information for anyone who might be summoned there.
Unlike when I first arrived at the Tower, where people floundered about in ignorance, the ones panicking now were those who either neglected to prepare or simply lacked capability.
“Hurry, let’s get to a safe place! We have to survive for the next three days!”
“Monsters will come out after sunset. There’s not much time left!”
The moment the fairy announced the beginning of the trial, people started scrambling around, taking action.
What monsters would appear, when they’d show up, where to find things, and how to use them—all this was already common knowledge.
While their movements were stiff and awkward, there was no hesitation.
But I simply watched them without moving.
Even after ten years, the Tower still held many secrets.
For instance, hidden dungeons or rewards on the first floor.
Over time, some of these secrets had been uncovered, but others remained.
And one of those secrets was something I had personally “witnessed.”
The original discoverer had died in vain, leaving me as the sole person in the world who knew about it.
I once thought it meaningless without the Avatar Changer, but I’d looked into it just in case, and the secret still seemed to be intact.
“This time, that’s mine.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of talent Shin Jia’s body had, but feeding it something would reveal results eventually.
Especially in the early stages of climbing the Tower, the rewards gained were exponentially more effective later on, making them something I absolutely couldn’t miss.
“Excuse me!”
At that moment, as I watched the people moving away, someone called out to me from behind.
“We need to move quickly. It takes time to reach the nearest safe zone.”
The person addressing me was a young man in a hoodie, looking youthful enough to make me wonder if he’d even served in the military.
I froze for a moment, staring at him blankly, unable to say a word.
It wasn’t something I had anticipated or even imagined.
Someone else approaching me to start a conversation?
In hindsight, it had rarely happened since I became a notorious dark sorcerer.
“Are you alright?”
However, the young man’s eyes held no hostility.
If anything, his intentions seemed genuinely kind.
This instinct—one of the most reliable senses I had honed over the years—rarely failed me.
Those who approached me knowing I was a dark sorcerer were either looking to make a deal or planning to kill me.
Even those who came to make deals nine times out of ten intended to scam me.
To survive among such people, I had to sharpen my intuition for discerning others’ true intentions.
Though, admittedly, it hadn’t been sharp enough to predict the betrayal that ultimately came.
“You seem quite shaken, but we’ve been dragged into the Tower. If you’re not careful, you could actually die here.”
‘Right, right now…’
From his urgent tone and expression, I realized that the current me was no longer the feared dark sorcerer everyone avoided.
Now, I was just a fledgling climber, barely stepping onto the first floor, with neither the cursed tattoos etched all over my body nor the oppressive aura of dark magic that emanated from me even when I stood still.
“Come on, follow me. We need to hurry.”
He gestured for me to follow him, even glancing back to ensure I was coming along.
I couldn’t understand why he would show me such kindness.
The ten years I had spent in the Tower had left a much deeper impression on me than the 25 years I lived before coming here.
“Most of the others are probably headed there too.”
Ultimately, curiosity and intrigue were the only reasons I decided to follow him.
What kind of confidence did a beginner, who could barely protect himself, have to help others?
And what did it feel like to receive someone else’s help—something I had long forgotten?
Even before being betrayed, I had always been the one offering help, rarely on the receiving end.
“What’s your name? I’m Han Sunghoon. I’m 24 and a college student.”
As I struggled to navigate the rough forest path—far from any well-maintained hiking trail—in unfamiliar dress shoes, he introduced himself first.
“Shin Jia. I’m… 20.”
The delay in my reply was due to my effort to suppress my habitual tone.
I was now a completely different entity, from head to toe.
There was no need to carry remnants of the past.
As long as others didn’t show hostility first, there was no need for me to do so either.
This was a rule I would have to keep firmly in mind going forward.
“We’re almost there. Oh, it’s right over there.”
Fortunately, he seemed to interpret my awkward tone as a sign of nervousness and offered a reassuring smile.
What appeared before us was a cluster of wooden buildings nestled within the forest.
Originally used as a base for rangers, this was one of the few safe zones on the first floor.
Whether ten years ago or now, surviving three days using these places as a base was the first trial for beginner climbers.
“Wait, we’re full here! 32 people already!”
As we approached, several people from within the base blocked our way.
They claimed that the safe zone was at capacity and told us to head to a more distant one instead.
“Hold on! The sun is already setting! We won’t make it there in time!”
Han Sunghoon shouted desperately, his voice trembling.
When the sun sets, monsters emerge, attacking indiscriminately.
Asking novice climbers who had just entered the Tower to traverse to another safe zone amidst those monsters was essentially a death sentence.
‘How pitiful.’
Unlike the frantic Han Sunghoon, my mind was calm and cold.
I knew this feeling all too well—the bitterness of being antagonized, rejected, and pushed away.
Of course, what they were doing now came from a place of panic and survival instinct, unique to rookies who had just been dragged into the Tower.
Considering that, I could overlook their actions; after all, they were barely able to take care of themselves.
This was a moment where survival instincts took precedence over everything.
“Let’s just go somewhere else.”
“But…”
When I placed a hand on Han Sunghoon’s shoulder, he flinched, his eyes filled with fear.
Despite his earlier attempts to appear strong, he was just as much a novice as anyone else, and his fear was only natural.
“Wait, everyone. Let’s just let them in.”
At that moment, someone raised their voice from within the safe zone.
“It’s already too late for them to head elsewhere, and while supplies like food and water might be limited, if we all ration a little, we can manage one or two more people.”
The speaker was a middle-aged man with a kind demeanor and graying hair.
Introducing himself as Park Dongsik, a small business owner from the countryside, he began persuading the others to let us in.
“It’s not too much to ask, is it? Of course, I don’t want to sit here spouting optimistic nonsense like I’m still in the outside world, but… I’m not ready to make harsh decisions just yet.”
With the eloquence of a businessman and statements that subtly tugged at people’s sympathy, he swayed the hesitant crowd, still caught up in their confusion.
Even for those who had studied the Tower in advance, knowing something in theory and acting on it were two different things.
The hearts of novices, unsteady and unadapted, were easily swayed.
In the end, they were convinced by Park Dongsik’s words and moved aside, allowing us entry into the safe zone.
“See, it’s fortunate we have someone competent and kind who’s willing to take on leadership. It makes things easier, doesn’t it?”
“Kind…?”
Han Sunghoon muttered to himself with a sigh of relief as he stepped inside the safe zone.
But I couldn’t agree with his words.
Even if Park Dongsik had leadership qualities, the way his eyes examined me from head to toe from a distance was entirely different from Han Sunghoon’s earlier gaze.
It was a look I knew all too well—the calculating eyes of a merchant, plotting how to lay a trap and exploit his target.
Glancing down at myself, I could already guess what a man like him, staring so intently at someone with nothing to her name, might want from me.