The horned girl remained completely unmoved by the handsome young man's attempt at conversation.
Her crimson eyes didn't even glance at him.
It was as though he did not exist.
The smile frozen on the young man's face gradually stiffened.
An awkward silence descended around him.
Then—
The horned girl shifted her gaze toward the thousand climbers gathered throughout the chamber.
Her voice echoed clearly across the vast white hall.
"My name is Moo."
"You may consider me the guide for newly arrived Tower Climbers."
The handsome young man remained standing beside her like a forgotten decoration.
A few seconds later, laughter erupted from the crowd.
"Hahaha!"
"That idiot got ignored!"
"He really walked up and asked if she's a cowgirl!"
"What the fuck was he expecting?"
"Brother thought he was the main character."
The young man's face immediately darkened.
Some people were even pointing at him while laughing.
He wished the floor would swallow him alive.
Meanwhile, Moo completely ignored the commotion.
Her expression remained indifferent as she continued.
"I will only explain this once."
"Listen carefully."
The laughter immediately died down.
Every climber focused on her words.
"If you wish to create a party, first find individuals willing to join you."
"After obtaining their agreement, place your hand upon their head and say—"
"Party Join."
The moment those words left her mouth, countless climbers memorized them immediately.
Moo continued.
"Afterward, a symbol will appear upon the back of your hand."
"The same symbol will appear on every member who joins your party."
"And finally…"
She paused briefly.
"When your party is prepared to challenge the First Floor Trial…"
"Simply say—"
"Floor Test Begin."
"Your entire party will then be transported immediately."
The hall fell silent.
The explanation was surprisingly simple.
Then Moo's body gradually began dissolving into particles of crimson light.
Before disappearing completely, she delivered one final sentence.
"My task is finished."
"Good luck."
The crimson particles scattered throughout the chamber.
And she vanished entirely.
The instant she disappeared—
The atmosphere exploded into chaos.
People immediately began searching for acquaintances.
Some gathered into groups.
Others attempted to recruit talented individuals.
Many simply wandered around while evaluating potential teammates.
Everyone understood one thing.
The First Floor was no longer a survival test.
It was a test of cooperation.
Or at least—
It appeared that way.
Among the crowd stood Yang Kai.
A faint smirk rested upon his face.
He had been waiting for this exact moment.
Party formation.
Information sharing.
Coordinated exploration.
Everything was proceeding exactly as he remembered.
Then—
His eyes suddenly shifted toward the far side of the chamber.
A familiar figure entered his vision.
Black eyes.
White pupils.
A dangerous aura.
Yamazaki Gun.
The corner of Yang Kai's lips immediately curled upward.
"Well…"
"Found one."
Without hesitation, he began walking toward him.
Meanwhile—
Gun stood calmly amidst the crowd.
Unlike the others, he showed absolutely no interest in finding teammates.
His hands rested inside his pockets.
His expression remained indifferent.
Inside his mind, a simple conclusion had already formed.
I'm not weak.
Therefore, I don't need a party.
Solo is enough.
His confidence wasn't arrogance.
It was simply the result of his strength.
Throughout his life, he had relied upon himself alone.
Why would that change now?
Then—
A familiar aura entered his perception.
Gun slowly turned his head.
And immediately saw Yang Kai approaching.
The moment their eyes met—
A devilish smile spread across Gun's face.
"Looks like you're still alive."
Yang Kai stopped a single step away from him.
His crimson-black robe swayed lightly behind him.
"You recognized me that quickly?"
Gun chuckled.
"I don't forget people who can fight."
A dense wave of spiritual energy slowly leaked from his body.
"And I definitely don't forget people who can give me a good fight."
Yang Kai laughed.
At least someone wasn't calling him a stranger after his transformation.
That alone improved his mood.
Then Gun suddenly narrowed his eyes.
His gaze traveled across Yang Kai's face.
His jawline.
His appearance.
His hair.
Then he asked bluntly.
"How the hell did you turn into this?"
"You were an ugly bastard before."
Yang Kai's smile immediately twitched.
His forehead almost developed a vein.
Why did everyone keep mentioning that?
Still—
He controlled himself.
With a calm laugh, he replied.
"That's a secret."
Then he leaned slightly closer.
"But I'll tell you if you join my party until the Tenth Floor."
Gun's smile never disappeared.
In fact, it widened.
"Not interested."
"I'd rather clear everything solo."
Yang Kai wasn't surprised.
This answer perfectly matched Gun's personality.
So instead of arguing, he simply shrugged.
"Well."
"I wasn't asking for my benefit."
Gun raised an eyebrow.
Yang Kai continued casually.
"If we form a party, we'll gain something useful."
"Something that remains active until the party disbands."
"Whether you join or not is your choice."
Gun's eyes narrowed slightly.
That statement clearly caught his attention.
But before he could ask further—
Yang Kai had already turned around.
Placing both hands behind his head, he began walking away through the crowd as though the conversation had already ended.
Gun watched his departing figure silently.
He had already made up his mind not to join anyone.
To him, parties were nothing more than shackles.
A burden.
A gathering of weak people seeking protection from stronger individuals.
He had no interest in carrying anyone.
Nor did he have any intention of depending on others.
Even after hearing Yang Kai mention some mysterious benefit obtained through party formation, Park Gun's expression had remained unchanged.
Cold.
Indifferent.
Unmoved.
When suddenly—
A crimson-black notification window erupted before his eyes.
The screen appeared so abruptly that even Park Gun's pupils narrowed slightly.
The ominous glow illuminated his face.
Every line of text seemed alive.
Breathing.
Pulsing.
Waiting.
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
〔 SUDDEN MISSION 〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Mission:
Join Yang Kai's Party
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Objective:
Successfully become a member of Yang Kai's party before it departs from the current floor.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Reward:
→ Devil Void Eyes (Lv. 1) Awakening
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Mission Type: Forced Trigger
Time Limit: Active Until Party Formation Ends
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Failure Penalty:
Death
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Accept Mission?
[ ACCEPT ] [ DECLINE ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
The crimson-black window floated silently before him.
For the first time in quite a while—
Park Gun's calm eyes showed genuine interest.
"Devil Void Eyes..."
His gaze lingered on the reward.
The words themselves felt abnormal.
Dangerous.
Ancient.
As if they originated from something that should never have existed within a normal world.
Then his eyes moved downward.
Failure Penalty:
Death.
Park Gun stared at those words for several seconds.
A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Interesting."
Without hesitation, he selected Accept.
The screen shattered into countless crimson particles before disappearing completely.
At almost the exact same moment—
Yang Kai had already begun walking away.
"Okay, I'll join."
His voice was calm.
Yet it caused Yang Kai to immediately stop.
The latter turned around.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
"Changed your mind?"
Park Gun merely shrugged.
"Something came up."
Yang Kai did not ask further.
Everyone possessed secrets.
He was no exception.
Walking back toward Park Gun, Yang Kai raised his hand.
Before Park Gun could even react—
Yang Kai's palm landed directly on his forehead.
"Party Join."
A brilliant radiance instantly erupted.
Crimson-black light enveloped Yang Kai.
White-blue light erupted from Park Gun.
The two energies intertwined.
Merged.
Spiraled upward.
The phenomenon immediately attracted attention.
Regulars throughout the enormous chamber turned toward them.
"What the hell?"
"They already formed a party?"
"Those guys are fast."
"I haven't even found a single teammate yet."
"So that's what Party Join looks like."
Whispers spread everywhere.
The two figures stood motionless within the radiance.
Several moments later—
The light slowly faded.
Yang Kai lowered his hand.
Park Gun looked down instinctively.
A strange symbol had appeared on the back of his palm.
It resembled a devil's eye surrounded by intricate markings.
Yang Kai possessed the exact same mark.
The two examined it briefly.
Then their gazes met.
A creepy smile appeared on Yang Kai's face.
An equally sinister smile appeared on Park Gun's.
For some reason—
The surrounding Regulars felt uncomfortable looking at them.
As if two predators had just discovered one another.
Neither looked normal.
Neither looked trustworthy.
Yet both seemed ridiculously strong.
Without another word, the pair began walking side by side through the massive chamber.
Yang Kai placed both hands behind his head casually.
"Now listen carefully."
Park Gun glanced at him.
Yang Kai continued.
"If we somehow gather eight more members and complete a ten-person party, we'll unlock something extremely useful."
"What?"
"A chamber."
Park Gun frowned slightly.
"A chamber?"
Yang Kai nodded.
"Party Chamber."
His eyes gleamed.
"It functions similarly to our Personal Rooms."
"But it's far more valuable."
Park Gun remained silent.
Yang Kai continued explaining.
"Your Personal Room becomes connected to the Party Chamber."
"You can enter the shared chamber whenever you want."
"Party members can visit one another's rooms with permission."
"It's basically a giant shared headquarters."
"Meeting hall."
"Training ground."
"Resting area."
"Information exchange center."
"Everything."
Park Gun nodded slowly.
He could already understand the usefulness.
For climbers constantly risking their lives, a secure gathering place was invaluable.
However—
Yang Kai suddenly smiled.
The smile immediately made Park Gun suspicious.
"What?"
Yang Kai's grin widened.
"The problem is..."
"Only the first one hundred parties that reach ten members receive it."
Park Gun's eyes narrowed.
"So there are limited spots."
"Exactly."
Yang Kai's expression gradually became serious.
For once, there was no narcissism.
No jokes.
No stupidity.
Only determination.
"I want that Party Chamber."
"No."
"I need it."
His crimson-black eyes seemed to darken slightly.
"Even if I have to do some fucked-up things."
"Even if I have to steal members."
"Manipulate people."
"Threaten idiots."
"Whatever."
"I'm getting one."
Park Gun looked at him silently.
Then he laughed.
A genuine laugh.
Not because the statement was absurd.
But because it sounded exactly like something Yang Kai would say.
"You're crazy."
Yang Kai smirked.
"And you're following me anyway."
The two continued walking through the crowd.
Around them, countless Regulars were desperately searching for teammates.
Negotiating.
Arguing.
Recruiting.
Trying to secure their futures.
Yet amidst the chaos—
Yang Kai's eyes were already scanning the crowd.
Searching.
Calculating.
Evaluating.
Looking for people worth recruiting.
Because if he remembered correctly—
There were certain benefits hidden within the Party Chamber that nobody else knew.
Benefits left behind by the creator of the Tower himself.
And as the original creator—
Yang Kai had absolutely no intention of letting those rewards fall into someone else's hands.