Became a stagnant person in a squalid prison cell

Chapter 33 —

“What was that? Did I imagine it?”

The figure he saw had already disappeared, as if it had been a hallucination. Maybe it wasn’t real.

Yes, his teacher had a slim build for a man, but… what he saw just now…

Helios took a deep breath. He didn’t know the truth about Kia yet.

“Good night, Helios. Tomorrow’s going to be tiring, so it’s best to sleep deeply.”

Even after hearing that, Helios couldn’t fall asleep.

He kept thinking about the silhouette that had appeared and then vanished in an instant. About the way the hair gently flowed.

He stared at the small, round lump in the blanket—his teacher buried in covers—then shut his eyes tightly.

Thump. Thump.

Chapter 4. You’re a man, I’m a man too, so why?

The 26th and 27th floors of the Tower had trials similar to the 25th.

But the scarecrow bosses started looking more and more like real humans.

“Ah, I get it now.”

Luckily, Helios’s party had someone with the same Illusion-type Kia ability — Haira.

Just like people with Fire Kia understood how fire grew or how it could be put out, Haira understood illusions.

“Haira, come on, stop that crazy mantis! Seth is going to die!”

“Uwaaaah! Save Seth!”

“Hahahaha, what a mess. Total chaos.”

“All right, shut up, you idiots!”

At the end of each stage, people from other zones would appear. Beating them without killing was difficult, but not impossible.

All they had to do was put everyone into an unconscious state.

“Helios, ready?”

“Run in three seconds!”

I had given them a hint.

Instead of killing, Helios’s group improved their skills by perfectly knocking out prisoners who had grown addicted to killing.

‘A surprisingly positive side effect.’

And so, today—

Helios and Ged’s group cleared the 28th floor.

“Now I’ve got a real feel for it!” Haira cheered, clenching her fist.

“Yeah, congratulations… though Seth almost died… Seth, be a man and forget about it!”

“G-Ged, you keep reminding me though?”

“Hahaha. At least we’ve figured it out. I really thought we were done for today.”

Until Haira could break illusions on her own, the rest had to fight hard because she couldn’t stop the variants forever.

And on top of that, the scarecrow bosses became more human-like and stronger as the floors went on, and they had to capture them alive.

‘The Tower’s just raising the difficulty by itself… Not that I mind watching.’

“Still, all this was possible thanks to the leader. That was a real manly decision!” Ged tried to put his arm around Helios, but Helios brushed him off coldly, leaving Ged sulking.

Haira nodded.
“I agree. Using Kia against the other group earlier was perfect timing. Without it, Seth would have fallen into that hole.”

“What? Why me?!”

“Because I would have grabbed you and fallen with you.”

“Why only me?!”

“You’d lift us up with telekinesis, right?”

“Telekinesis isn’t all-powerful… y-you pig!”

“What? I’m lighter than that mantis variant. Don’t tell me I’m heavier than it?”

After I told him about the top of the Tower, Helios had changed slightly.

‘No… can I even call this a change?’

“Helios.”

As I approached him, he flinched and stepped back while he was talking to Brett.

Three steps of sudden distance. Strange.

‘This is the weirdness lately.’

“…What?”

His tone and face were the same as before, but whenever I got close, he pulled away like this.

“Haha, Master, did you secretly beat up our leader or something?”

“Not recently.”

“….”

Brett, who always smiled with squinting eyes, suddenly lost his grin for a moment. It was the first time I saw his eyes open.

‘Not beaten… more like special training.’

Training whenever I had free time — sometimes ambushing while he changed clothes, sometimes during meals, or suddenly in the room.

“Haha… Master, I can’t even joke with you.”

“Why? I’m pretty funny.”

“….”

Plenty of people used to laugh at my jokes back in the day.

“…Master, asking ‘Am I funny?’ is basically a threat to laugh.”

I thought I heard Daril sigh in my head, but I ignored it like always.

“Haha, well… anyway. Master?”

Brett glanced around, then leaned closer.

“Ugh, your breath. Back off.”

He flinched, then leaned again.

“Haha, no, Master. What I mean is… I don’t have prejudice. You know that, right?”

“Know what?”

“…Anyway, just saying.”

Did he just glance at Helios and me in turn?

“Haha, he means stop your little love fights.”

Love fights?

“Ah, I’ll go now!”

I was left alone, thinking.

Training could count as a kind of affection, right?

‘Was Helios jealous?’

Brett never trained much, so I usually ignored him.

‘Guess I’ll give him proper training next time.’

While I was thinking that, I heard Haira’s voice.

“29th floor will be fine. Trust me, Seth. If you trust me, money will flow, and the whole universe will help you.”

“…You sound like a scammer, sis.”

“Yeah, I am. Guess how many crimes I’ve committed? If I get serious, how many of your organs do you think I could sell?”

“Eek! I-I don’t want to know!”

Clearly, with Haira mastering her ability, the 29th floor wouldn’t be a problem.

‘They’re growing fast.’

There was only one reason.

Helios was working the hardest.

Even with his natural talent, he pushed himself relentlessly, so his skills soared, and he was leading the party smoothly too.

‘Anyone else would die of envy hearing this.’

The party grew together under his lead. After all, they were also blessed Kia users.

‘An incredible party.’

It was almost time to head back.

After the 25th floor, the deaths piled up, so resurrection outside the Tower took longer.

Soon, we stepped out and quietly followed the guards back to the prison block.

Helios walked right beside me this time.

‘What’s this about?’

The distance between us was unusually close.

“I have something to ask.”

“You’ll only get close when you need to?”

“….”

“Just kidding. What is it?”

“Master, how can you say jokes with such a straight face!”

Why so touchy? I ignored it like usual.

“Do you… have a sister?”

“What?”

I thought he’d ask for feedback on today’s fight or Kia usage… but this?

‘I don’t have a sister. Of course not…’

Then I paused. This was Garet’s body.

No need to reveal everything, but I had memorized his profile.

Let’s see, Garet had…

“One older sister.”

On paper, at least. He also had a brother.

“Does she look like you?”

…Why is he asking this?

“Why do you care if she looks like me or not?”

“It’s an important question.”

“How important?”

“If I don’t know, I won’t be able to sleep.”

…That important?

I hesitated. I didn’t even know what Garet’s sister looked like.

But if Helios, my only disciple, couldn’t sleep out of curiosity…

‘She’s just a fictional profile anyway.’

I finally spoke.

“She has the same hair color as me. Same eye color too. But her expression is different — her eyes tilt up sharply, like a cat’s.”

“…Wouldn’t her eyes kill someone if they tilt up that much?”

“Ugh, just imagine it roughly. Explaining is annoying.”

My only disciple, who should be pouring everything into climbing the Tower, was focusing on something so useless.

‘Don’t live a normal life! Live a Tower life!’

I wanted to shout that, but his face was so serious that I just answered him.