Chapter 14—BaMan Branch (3)

“Haa…”

After chugging down the potion I handed him, the man let out a long, exhausted sigh.

‘…Can I talk to him now?’

I stopped him only because I recognized the crest of Falcon on his cloak—but he looked so drained that starting a conversation felt awkward.

How pathetic—this was my own stall, yet I was the one hesitating.

After struggling with myself for a long moment, I finally asked, carefully:

“Um… are you feeling a little better now?”

“Thank you. My stamina was nearly depleted.”

He spoke casually, even slightly informally.
It annoyed me—but I somehow managed to keep a friendly smile.

He stared at me for a moment before asking:

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Ha… I mean, I’m Lee Hae.”

I almost gave my real name out of habit but managed to stop myself.

He nodded and extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I am Alexandro Hale, the last Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Falcon.”

The moment I shook his hand—
A mental lightbulb exploded in my mind.

‘Knight Commander?!’

I’d noticed his heavy full-plate armor—it didn’t look practical for movement.
But I didn’t expect him to be someone that important.

And if he really was the last commander who fought for Falcon,
Then he must know something about the 49th floor—which revolves around Falcon’s fall.

I forced down my excitement and asked calmly:

“You said… you came from Falcon?”

“You know of Falcon?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I never expected to meet someone who knows Falcon in a place like this. You don’t seem to be from our continent, though.”

Alexandro gave a weak smile and fiddled with the potion bottle.

That made two of us.
I also couldn’t believe it.

‘Falcon actually existed…?’

I always assumed Falcon was just a fictional kingdom created for Babel Tower’s scenario.

But a living person from there was sitting in front of me, talking about his homeland.

It felt surreal.

…Especially because he looked human.

Other beings in the Dimensional Market usually looked fantastical or alien.
But Alexandro looked just like a human—
even spoke the same language as me.

‘He’s… speaking Korean.’

It was completely mismatched with his golden hair and pale skin.

“And you seem fluent in the continental language, too. It’s fortunate we can communicate.”

…Continental language?

But I’m speaking Korean.

Apparently, in his dimension, Korean counted as “continental language” for him.

Or did King Sejong reincarnate in their world for some reason…?

I was drifting into useless thoughts when Alexandro asked:

“By the way—how do you know about Falcon?”

“Oh, that’s…”

I hesitated.

‘Should I tell him about the Babel Tower scenario?’

Even if he really is from Falcon, the man looked extremely tired.
Telling him he’s basically a “story NPC” in my world seemed… cruel.

But right then, Minty jumped onto my shoulder.

“Huh? What is it, Minty?”

Minty settled comfortably on my shoulder and whispered softly in my ear:

“Mya…”

***

—It would be wise not to speak lies to this one.
Even if he appears weary, his inner force is anything but weak.
I believe he would respond more favorably to the truth.

“…”

Right.
Minty could apparently sense things I couldn’t.

And now that he said it—
Alexandro’s quiet, perceptive gaze felt unusually sharp.

So I swallowed my nerves and said,

“To tell you the truth… we have something called the Babel Tower in our dimension.
And many people have been stuck on Falcon’s scenario.”

“Ah. As I thought.”

As he thought?

That… was not the reaction I expected.

I was worried he’d be furious, offended, or devastated.

Instead, he said:

“There was a Babel Tower in Falcon as well.”

“…In Falcon too?”

This was a new angle entirely—
and I instinctively knew this wasn’t something to interrupt or take lightly.

When I stayed silent, Alexandro lowered his eyes and began speaking calmly:

“We were in the middle of an all-out war against the Dark Sorcerer. Babel Tower appeared in the northern mountain range of Falcon. But no one could focus on the tower.”

“Why? When a tower appears, awakeners emerge. People would at least try to enter out of curiosity.”

“The capital fell before anyone could pay attention to the tower.”

“…”

“It was because of a spy. We were completely unprepared. I still remember that day.
The day the Dark Sorcerer shattered the audience chamber’s ceiling as he stood atop the spire.
The king’s final moments are burned into my mind.
Perhaps we realized too late… But when I came to, a week had already passed.
I… had done nothing.”

Oh.

I shut my mouth.

I had planned to steer the conversation toward 49F clues—
But hearing this, that suddenly felt disgustingly selfish.

‘I just wanted information… but this is an actual man who lost his entire home.’

Asking things like, “So, anything that can help us beat the Dark Sorcerer?”
would make me a complete piece of trash.

Alexandro continued:

“Before we could learn what Babel Tower was or why it appeared, Falcon fell.
I tried desperately to save whoever I could… but in the end, I saved no one.”

“……”

“Babel kept urging us. To climb the tower.
But there was no one left who could do so.
Everyone was too busy fleeing from the Dark Sorcerer.
And the sorcerer was obsessed with conquest.
Until Babel’s deadline arrived…”

His expression twisted painfully, as if reliving the moment.

“I realized too late that we were supposed to climb the tower.
By the time I entered… the only thing that awaited me was a tear between dimensions.”

‘A dimensional rift…’

“When I regained consciousness, I was in a completely different world.
I became the sole survivor of Falcon.
My world… no longer exists.”

The grief in his voice was heavy enough to suffocate.

So he had been wandering alone ever since?

‘…For how long?’

I suddenly felt dizzy with the weight of what I’d heard.

And then—
I realized something else.

“Wait—‘deadline’?”

He had definitely said Babel set a deadline.

‘But our Babel Tower doesn’t have anything like that…’

He nodded.

“You didn’t know?”

“Know… what?”

“If you fail to climb Babel Tower, the dimension is destroyed.
A destroyed dimension becomes a stage where stories endlessly repeat and consume themselves.
Like a playground.”

“…What the f—”

The curse slipped out before I could stop it.

Maybe this was why Falcon being real made me uneasy since the beginning.

Minty flicked his tail around my neck, humming softly.

“Mya.”

***

—My dimension, too, has known such tragedy.
Fate can be terribly cruel.

…What?

—A great archmage once succeeded in contacting another dimension.
But he learned that the other world was doomed by its own tower.
The story of that collapsing world eventually became a scenario on our stage.

Wait.

So his friend’s world was turned into a scenario?

My spine turned cold.

If Earth fails…

Earth could become a scenario in SOMEONE ELSE’S dimension.

Earth.
Korea.
My life.
Everything.

Even Minty’s world might one day see the “Korea Scenario.”

Horrified, I quickly asked:

“How do we find out the deadline?!”

“I do not know.
But in Falcon, no one entered the tower for a year after it appeared.
If I had to guess… that was when our deadline began.”

His words made my brain spin rapidly.

Earth’s Babel Tower appeared ten years ago.

That means—

‘If clearing a floor takes more than a year… the tower considers it a failure?’

We’ve been stuck on the 49th floor for over six months.
Almost seven.

Other countries were in similar situations.

Meaning—the whole world was a ticking time bomb.

“This is… insane…”

“If you have the time, you should think carefully.
The end comes all at once.”

I was an E-rank hunter with no stats…
What was I supposed to do with this information?

Alexandro stood, wiping dust off his armor.

“I should go. Thank you for the potion.”

Instead of using automatic market payment, he placed an old gold coin on the counter and bowed deeply.

“At least my world is not completely forgotten. I suppose that is something to be grateful for.”

How could he think that positively?

If someone told me my country became an RPG scenario, I’d lose my mind.

But Alexandro looked strangely calm—
like someone who had truly lost everything.

“Thank you for listening.
I hope your world manages to climb the tower.
A wanderer’s life is… not easy.”

His faded Falcon cloak fluttered as he walked away.

I had approached him only to ask about 49F—but…

I couldn’t ask anything.

Instead, I learned about the awful end of Babel and the despair of one man.

Maybe Alexandro had never been able to tell anyone about Falcon’s destruction.

I stared at his weary back and, without thinking, called out:

“Sir Alexandro!”

He turned, looking slightly puzzled—as if wondering if I had more questions.

But I couldn’t ask anything useful.

Instead, I hurriedly took out a business card and held it out.

“If you ever need anything… please contact me.”

A wanderer drifting through dimensions.

Honestly…
I couldn’t help thinking—
What if my missing brother ended up in the same situation?

Alexandro paused, then gave a faint smile and accepted the card.

He played with it for a while, then finally said:

“Thank you…
I cannot offer anything in return, but… ah.”

As if remembering something, he added quietly:

“Knowing the Dark Sorcerer’s true name will help you greatly.”

Then, with a firm voice full of warning:

“The Dark Sorcerer’s name… was Phernikeis.”