## Chapter 246 – 246. The Starting Floor (2)
#246. The Starting Floor (2)
*Ting-*
「You have entered the City of Beginnings, Arcana, on the 1st Floor.」
While Kang Hyun-woo was summoned to the Corridor of Stars, Lucifer arrived in the City of Beginnings, Arcana.
Like seeing something on a screen versus experiencing it in person, a familiar yet strange landscape unfolded before her.
The reality of standing here as a mere player, not a Constellation, made her heart flutter.
But she didn’t dwell on it. She had resolved not to be consumed by such trivial emotions anymore.
Of course, that resolution didn’t last long.
-Pretty.
*Smack!*
At the sudden voice that flashed through her mind, she reflexively slapped her own cheek. Feeling the stinging sensation, Lucifer rubbed her face.
Her heart fluttered again, and she swallowed a sigh. Her face was so hot she couldn’t lift her head.
It still vividly came to mind.
After finishing the hunt that had lasted until dawn, she had tried to talk about going into the Tower, but Kang Hyun-woo abruptly entered the cave.
Just before noon, he leisurely walked out, and as she was about to complain, Kang Hyun-woo suddenly pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
It was a sticky, passionate kiss.
She was momentarily flustered, but honestly, she felt good that he seemed to be showing off their relationship in front of the other women.
The problem was what happened after the kiss.
He stared intently at her, then gave her a light kiss and whispered in her ear.
That she was pretty.
His sincerity, devoid of even a hint of falsehood, made her heart pound as if it would burst.
And the aftermath continued to torment her even now.
Just thinking about it for a moment made her heart race as if she had a heart condition.
‘This won’t do. I have to do something…’
Kang Hyun-woo’s face kept popping into her head at every moment, making it impossible to go about her daily life.
Of course, that wasn’t entirely bad, but…
*Smack!*
Once again, she shook off the stray thoughts that were slowly filling her mind. It stung a little because she hit herself too hard, but it was a hundred times better than acting foolish, thinking about a man’s face, and trying to suppress the trembling corners of her lips.
“Haa…”
Circulating her mana and releasing the heat, her head felt much cooler.
Regaining her usual composure, she calmly looked around.
This was the Starting Plaza, where new players who had cleared the tutorial floor arrived.
And the plaza was packed with clan scouts who had gathered to recruit these new players.
After a quick look around, she estimated that there were about 100 new players in this round.
It went without saying that the tutorial test wasn’t conducted in just one area. It varied each round, but there were at least five or more locations.
Usually, there were close to 200 people, so this round was on the smaller side.
There were over 1,000 people gathered in the plaza. This was proof of how fierce the competition was to recruit talent.
Of course, only a small number of them were from large clans.
Large clans tended to recruit those who had already entered the mid-floors rather than recruiting and developing unproven talent.
Of course, most of them would already be affiliated with a clan, but few could ignore the rewards offered by the large clans.
Fortunately, no one approached her.
「Mask of Illusion
Category: Item
Rank: SS
A mask that conceals one’s true nature.
※Other abilities are sealed.」
Even a scout from a large clan wouldn’t be able to discern an SS-rank item, so it was a natural reaction.
No matter how much she looked around, she couldn’t see Kang Hyun-woo.
‘So, he was summoned to the Corridor of Stars.’
To be honest, when she heard that Kang Hyun-woo had attracted the attention of the Constellations, she was dumbfounded.
They weren’t just any minor gods, but all beings of the highest divine rank.
Kang Hyun-woo was the only one who had received the attention of three of the highest-ranking deities on the tutorial floor.
Of course, she excluded ‘The Eye Guarding the Throne,’ Horus.
What he showed wasn’t goodwill, but rather hostility.
Gods were generally narrow-minded, but the Egyptian deities were a little different.
Rather, they were generous, but they were a race that mercilessly excluded those who deviated from their established rules.
He would probably reappear before long.
‘The only one likely to show up in this corridor is Ishtar, the Holy Woman of Uruk.’
If her predictions were correct, the Dancing Destroyer and the Dweller in the Swamp were unlikely to appear in the corridor.
The Dweller in the Swamp was known to have no interest in making contracts with anyone, and the Dancing Destroyer was too high-ranking to make a contract with a mere player candidate.
On the other hand, Ishtar was different.
The Mesopotamian goddess who was best described by the adjectives arrogant and haughty.
She had shown enough interest to directly sponsor Kang Hyun-woo, who was only a player candidate, so she would definitely show up in this corridor.
Personally, she recommended that he not make a contract with her, but ultimately, it was up to Kang Hyun-woo’s choice.
She had no right to interfere with his every action.
But the thought of him making a contract with Ishtar made her feel inexplicably unpleasant.
‘…He made a contract with me, though.’
She voiced her dissatisfaction inwardly.
This was a matter of reason and emotion.
Reasonably, it was right for him to make a contract with another Constellation. It would be even better if he made a contract with a Constellation that wouldn’t even blink an eye at turning the Eden Star Cluster into an enemy.
But ever since she was stripped of her status as a Constellation… no, to be precise, ever since she met Kang Hyun-woo, she had become strangely emotional.
The more it was related to him, the more difficult it became to make cold and objective judgments.
‘…I’m not in my right mind either.’
She poured the cold water she had brought with her into her mouth, cooling herself down.
Thanks to that, her head was much calmer.
From now on, what she had to do was find Lee Se-rin and Yoo Ah-rin.
Of course, there was no easier target to take advantage of than new players.
The clan scouts would be desperately searching for easy targets, and the two women with their outstanding appearances were sure to be their targets.
Of course, she had given them a few words of advice before they were transferred, so there was no need to worry right away, but you never knew.
It was a matter of urgency to find them before they got caught up in unnecessary trouble.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, it seemed that there was no need to search for the two women’s location.
The only problem was that she was already a step late?
“I don’t need it!”
A voice that sounded quite agitated was heard.
It was a voice she had heard somewhere before. People’s attention began to focus on that place one by one.
As expected, at the center of the incident were Lee Se-rin and Yoo Ah-rin, confronting men who looked like they had been drawn haphazardly.
Swallowing a sigh, she walked towards them.
***
The men who had approached Lee Se-rin and Yoo Ah-rin because of their appearance pressured them to join their clan, but Lee Se-rin flatly refused, saying that she had a group.
It would have been nice if it had ended there, but the men were persistent.
Unable to overlook the increasingly rude behavior of the men, she raised her voice, and Lucifer, who witnessed this, intervened.
Too much attention caused the effect of the ‘Mask of Vanity’ to wear off, and the men, who were captivated by Lucifer’s appearance, tried to forcibly take the three of them away.
The result?
As you can see, only the men who had been beaten to a pulp were rolling on the floor.
After listening to Lucifer’s brief explanation, I kicked one of the men who had fallen to the floor.
*Bang!!*
The man flew straight and crashed into a pillar in the plaza.
It would be lonely if he flew alone, so I kicked the rest of them fairly as well.
“Haa… How dare those insignificant things touch my women?”
For a moment, my head was filled with heat.
If one of them had succeeded in grabbing Lee Se-rin’s wrist, as Lucifer had explained, I would have torn off their limbs.
Whether it was because their bones were broken when they hit the pillar, the guys groaned in pain and crawled on the floor.
I might have made a slight mistake in controlling my strength, but if they were going to target a woman who already had someone, they should have been prepared to endure this much.
“To blow away the Black Roar guys like that… He must be fearless because he’s a new player.”
“Was he even a new player in the first place? He seems stronger than me?”
“If he was weaker than you, he would have died a long time ago.”
“What did you say, you bastard?”
“Tsk tsk, to mess with Black Roar of all people. Arcana will be noisy for a while.”
“If you don’t want to get caught up in it and die a meaningless death, you should leave the city for a while.”
To avoid the gazes and attention of the increasingly gathering passersby, I immediately took the three of them and left the plaza.
Several people spoke to me, but I ignored them all.
They were all clan scouts anyway.
Walking along the main street, I naturally entered an alleyway. I didn’t know anything about the city’s geography, but it didn’t matter since I was just trying to avoid being followed.
After walking for a long time along the complicated path, the gazes that had been pouring down on us disappeared.
“Are you both okay?”
I brushed the dust off Lee Se-rin’s hair.
I should have cast a protection spell if I had known this would happen.
“I’m okay.”
“Me too.”
Fortunately, neither of them seemed to be hurt.
But that didn’t mean I was going to let this go.
More than anything, after listening to the people around me, it seemed that they weren’t the kind of guys who would let it go easily even if I didn’t do anything.
As I was taking a breather and planning for the future,
“…What about me?”
A voice filled with resentment pierced my ears.
Lucifer was glaring at me with her arms crossed.
“What?”
“I was there too, but why didn’t you ask if I was okay?”
I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Lucifer’s strangely cute appearance recently was unfamiliar yet welcome. It meant that she trusted and relied on me even more.
“Eek?!”
As soon as my hand grabbed her chest, a shrill scream erupted.
Lucifer glared at me with a bright red face, clutching her chest.
“Wh, what are you doing!”
“I was just going to check if you were hurt because it looked swollen.”
Even though she was tightly wrapped in clothes, its size was unusual. I wanted to take it off and check it right away.
But it seemed that even if kissing in front of others was okay, touching her chest wasn’t.
As I was regretting it and smacking my lips, someone tugged at my sleeve.
It was Lee Se-rin.
She looked somewhat uneasy.
“Um… will we be okay? Those people from before didn’t seem to belong to an ordinary clan.”
“I also heard people around me whispering that they were Black Roar.”
I heard it too.
Black Roar, probably the name of the clan.
“Have you heard of them?”
“No. At least they’re not a large clan.”
Lucifer, who was adjusting her clothes, shook her head.
Well, there were easily thousands of clans in the Tower, so it was realistically impossible for her to remember all of them.
Especially if it was a clan that was founded after she was imprisoned.
‘I need to know the situation to make a plan.’
Of course, there was also the option of attacking them right away.
But if I used force in the city without justification, I would be easily caught by the guards.
I couldn’t ignore the guards because the lord who ruled Arcana was a high-ranking noble.
The fact that I didn’t know the location of their clan house was also a problem.
Finding a reliable informant in a city I was visiting for the first time was as difficult as picking a star from the sky.
Even if I found one, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t be a minion of Black Roar.
“Ah! They said with their own mouths that their clan house was in the commercial district.”
“The commercial district?”
Arcana was largely divided into four districts: commercial, industrial, administrative, and residential. For reference, the outskirts were slums.
Unexpected information made my head spin quickly.
Even though Arcana was wide, it wasn’t ridiculously wide.
They would be looking for us too, so if we were walking around the commercial district, they would approach us on their own.
Besides, it was surprising that they had a clan house in the commercial district, which was the most expensive area after the administrative district, and if they were bragging about it to a woman, its size must be considerable.
‘…I needed a building to use as a clan house anyway.’
A smile naturally spread across my face.
If I did well, I might be able to get a building without any initial investment.
