[Surface World: Seoul – Solaris Guild Headquarters]
The air in the grand ballroom of the Solaris Guild smelled of expensive champagne, lilies, and power.
Crystal chandeliers cast a golden glow over the elite of South Korea's Hunter society. Camera flashes popped like miniature stars every time Pyo Tae-Jun smiled. He stood at the center of the room, his golden hair perfectly styled, wearing a white suit that cost more than a porter's lifetime earnings. On his chest pinned the 'Medal of Valorous Sacrifice.'
"Mr. Pyo! Just one word for the fans!" a reporter shouted, pushing a microphone toward him. "How does it feel to be the man who secured the Divine Core from the 15th floor? They're calling you the 'Light of the East'!"
Tae-Jun dimmed his smile just enough to look mournful. He lowered his glass of sparkling wine, his eyes becoming misty. It was a performance he had perfected over a decade.
"It's an honor," Tae-Jun's voice was smooth, like silk over a blade. "But my heart is heavy. As many of you know, I lost a brother on that floor. Kwon Do-Hyeon... he was my shadow. He gave his life so I could deliver this light to humanity. This medal isn't mine. It belongs to him."
A collective 'Aww' rippled through the crowd. Women dabbed at their eyes. Men nodded in respect. What a hero. What a saint.
Only Tae-Jun knew the truth. As he turned away from the cameras to take a sip of his drink, his hand trembled—just for a fraction of a second.
'Why is it so cold?'
He looked at his palm. His 'Sun Knight' mana, which usually felt like a warm hearth, flickered. For a heartbeat, his golden aura turned a sickly, bruised purple before snapping back to gold.
'It's nothing. He's dead. I felt his mana core shatter,' Tae-Jun hissed to himself, his grip tightening on the crystal glass until it cracked. 'The Abyss doesn't leave survivors. Do-Hyeon is dust. He's food for the bottom-feeders.'
But as he looked into his reflection in the dark wine, for a split second, he didn't see himself. He saw a pair of violet eyes staring back from the liquid. Cold. Hateful. Patient.
Tae-Jun gasped, dropping the glass. It shattered on the marble floor, the red wine spreading like a pool of blood.
"Mr. Pyo? Are you alright?" his assistant rushed over.
"I'm fine," Tae-Jun snapped, his voice trembling. "Just... tired. Get me out of here."
[Floor -2: The Screaming Catacombs]
Deep beneath the world of champagne and medals, Kwon Do-Hyeon was drowning in filth.
He wasn't wearing a white suit. He was covered in the black, acidic bile of a hundred Lamenters. His breath came in jagged, burning gasps as he dragged the Grave-Keeper's cleaver through the hair-moss.
[Sanity: 78%]
[Warning: The 'Lament of the Lost' is eroding your mental barriers.]
"Shut up..." Do-Hyeon growled at the voices in the air.
The whispers were no longer just random regrets. They were taking shape. He saw his mother, crying in the hospital bed because they couldn't afford the mana-treatment. He saw Tae-Jun, laughing as he pushed him into the Rift.
"You're just a porter, Do-Hyeon. You were born to be stepped on."
"I said... SHUT UP!"
Do-Hyeon swung the cleaver into a wall of stone. The impact sent vibrations up his arm, cracking the obsidian scales that now reached his shoulders. He was changing. The human skin underneath was becoming pale, almost translucent, while his veins pulsed with a dark, violet light.
He reached the end of the corridor. The 'Screaming' stopped.
The silence that followed was even worse.
In the center of a wide, circular chamber sat a massive, pulsating organ. It looked like a human heart, but it was the size of a carriage, suspended by thick, fleshy veins that reached into the ceiling and floor. This was the [Heart of the Catacombs].
But there was someone in front of it.
A young girl. She couldn't have been more than twelve. She wore a tattered school uniform, her hair matted with blood. She wasn't a monster. She didn't have emerald eyes. She was huddled in a fetal position, sobbing.
"Help... please... it hurts..." she whimpered.
Do-Hyeon stopped. His obsidian claws twitched. 'A survivor? Here? No, that's impossible.'
[System Notification: The Gate to Floor -3 is sealed.]
[Requirement: Sacrifice a 'Pure Heart' to the Abyss.]
Do-Hyeon looked at the girl. Then he looked at the pulsating Heart behind her.
"Is she... the sacrifice?" he whispered.
The girl looked up. Her eyes were wide, filled with a terrifying, innocent hope. "Mister? Did you come to save me? My dad... he said the Hunters would come."
Do-Hyeon's heart—the Abyssal Core—shuddered. This was the test. To climb, he had to become the very thing he hated. He had to be like Tae-Jun. He had to sacrifice the weak to reach the next level.
"I..." Do-Hyeon took a step back.
"Kill her," the voices in the moss whispered. "Do you want revenge? Do you want to see Tae-Jun bleed? Then do it. One life for a thousand floors. Isn't that what heroes do?"
Do-Hyeon looked at his hands. They were monstrous. He looked at the girl. She reminded him of his younger sister who died during the first dungeon break in Seoul.
"I'm not a hero," Do-Hyeon muttered, his voice cracking with emotion. "But I'm not him. I am NOT HIM!"
He raised the cleaver. The girl screamed, shielding her face with her thin arms.
SHHH-TUCK!
The blade didn't hit the girl. Do-Hyeon had swung with everything he had, driving the cleaver directly into his own chest—right through his own Abyssal Core.
[HP: 5/100]
[Critical Damage! Your soul is fracturing!]
"You want a heart?" Do-Hyeon roared, blood—dark and glowing—pouring from his mouth. "Then take mine! I won't kill a child for a shortcut!"
The Abyss screamed. The entire floor shook as if the Tower itself was offended. The pulsating Heart in the center of the room turned a violent shade of black.
[Warning! Unprecedented Action detected!]
[The 'Sovereign' has refused the Sacrifice.]
[The Abyss acknowledges your 'Will of the Void'.]
The girl didn't vanish. Instead, her form began to melt. She wasn't a girl. She was a [Phantasm of Regret], a manifestation of Do-Hyeon's own guilt. As she dissolved, she turned into a stream of pure, white light that flowed into Do-Hyeon's self-inflicted wound.
[Hidden Condition Met: Sacrifice of Self.]
[Absorbing the 'Purest Sorrow'...]
[Skill 'Gluttony of the Fallen' has evolved!]
[New Skill: 'Soul Devourer' unlocked.]
Do-Hyeon's wound didn't just heal; it fused with the shadow. His level, which had been stagnant at -8, began to flicker wildly.
[Level Up! -8 -> -15]
[You have conquered Floor -2 through 'Self-Denial'.]
The red gate at the back of the room opened, but it wasn't a gate anymore. It was a gaping maw of black fire.
Do-Hyeon stood up, his body trembling, his eyes no longer just violet—they were pits of endless stars. He looked at the place where the "girl" had been. He felt a coldness in his chest, but it wasn't the hunger. It was something else. A resolve that went deeper than revenge.
"Tae-Jun," he whispered, staring into the black fire of the next floor. "You killed your friends to climb. I'll kill myself a thousand times to pull you down."
He stepped into the fire.