The Devil’s Cage

After he entered the room, Kieran seemingly walked casually but actually, he had already activated [Tracking].

Although it was definitely safe inside a player’s room, it was another player’s room and the ‘someone’ even displayed their abilities in activating a certain power in other player’s room.

It was enough for Kieran to be alarmed.

Musou level [Tracking] allowed Kieran to easily see the tracks and traces that existed in the room.

Other than the puppet that acted as the guide, there were many more sets of footprints present but…

None of them were from the small door underneath the stair’s turning point.

All of them came from the stairs instead and every set of footprints chose the left side of the Y-shaped stairs.

Dak, Dak, Dak!

Kieran walked up to the first half of the stairs and stopped at the spot where the stairs split in two. He didn’t follow the footprints and went straight to the left side, instead he looked down on the footprints.

They were all lined up neatly and filled with intentional traces. Obviously, someone did arrange the prints to look like this.

Why though?

Think about the puppet from before, it seemed like the test was still going on.

Kieran squinted his eyes and drew out the [Python-W2] from his waist and fired repeatedly at the right side of the stairs.

Bang Bang Bang!

The bullet marks were clearly left on the marble steps but nothing unexpected happened.

“I see, so this is the right way to go up!”

With the thoughts in his mind, Kieran jumped and stepped on the stairs where the bullets hit, going straight up to the balcony on the second floor.

The balcony was facing inside, allowing anyone who stood there to see who was walking up the stairs.

Though there was nothing there but a table. Further away, there was a closed door.

On top of the table was a folded paper similar to an invitation or a greeting card.

Kieran scanned the second floor before heading over to the table.

He double checked the area and made sure there wasn’t any danger lurking, he then picked up the folded paper.

There was no special traces on the paper except for the white color and inside was some words.

…

To 2567:

If you are seeing this invitation, then we want to congratulate you because you have joined us.

You might have doubts and be baffled by all of this but we will slowly explain it to you.

But first, you must reach the level of the Advance Ranks.

Don’t ask us what the Advance Ranks are, it is something you must find out yourself.

When you have reached the Advance Ranks, only then you have the rights and qualifications to open that door to see us!

We wish you all the best in reaching that goal!

From,

Some people who are forced to hide.

…

Vuuum!

When Kieran finished reading the invitation, the paper instantly ignited.

Kieran lifted his mouth corner disdainfully as he looked at the paper turning into ash rapidly.

“Hmph, mystifying BS!” He commented.

Other than that, he couldn’t think of any other words to describe the scene.

From the moment he entered the grand room, “they” had been trying to create the atmosphere similar to a “test”. Kieran didn’t know what would happen if he followed the puppet into the door or took the left side instead but he knew “they” didn’t know everything about him, at least “they” didn’t know he had reached the Advance Rank, “I” rank.

“So it means that freaky smiley face can tag me, but it can’t eavesdrop or anything else.

Kieran couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief when he came to the conclusion.

If the freaky smiley face could really eavesdrop him or watch him, Kieran would certainly do some special or extreme measures to prevent it. He didn’t want himself to be exposed completely under “their” eyes.

As for how the smiley face was able to tag him, after continuous encounters with the “clone” and “competitor” who appeared before him without any warning, it had already stated the problem clearly.

Though, Kieran couldn’t do anything about it now.

He tried a lot of ways to remove the freaky smiley face but he failed eventually.

Whether it was the normal rubbing, washing or using potions to try wiping it off, nothing worked.

He even tried cutting his skin off but when his hand healed, the freaky smiley face would regrow with his skin.

It made Kieran understand that unless he chopped his hand off and chose not to heal himself, otherwise, the freaky smiley face will always be on his hand.

Fortunately, he spent most of his time in the dungeon world and even if he were to return to the game itself, he’d stay in his own room out of habit.

It infinitely minimized the restriction of the tag on him.

Huuu!

Kieran released a heavy sigh.

He turned to the door further away. He wanted to know what was behind the door but his logic told him, it wasn’t time yet.

Even though his Spirit has reached I rank, it was just his Spirit. Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Intuition were nowhere near the Advance Rank. Moreover, his I rank Spirit was obviously the lowest among the Advance Ranks.

With an organization like this, surely it didn’t just consist of members with the lowest I rank, there must be higher ranks amongst them.

Once conflict broke out…

While recalling how the competitor behaved previously, Kieran silently turned around and went down, leaving the dome clock tower.

He reached the street outside, Amilder Ail Road, without any further obstructions.

“2567!”

The familiar voice sounded from afar and Lawless was rushing towards him.

When Lawless saw Kieran was in one piece, he felt utterly relieved.

Then, it was a bombardment of questions.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Although my luck is sh*tty in dungeons, we should fight side by side in this big city!”

“What is that thing? Is it dangerous?”

“They are an organization? Why are they on to you?”

…

After being fired at by a machine gun of questions, Kieran briefly explained to Lawless while they boarded the train.

“There is such an organization?” Lawless sounded utterly surprised from his tone.

“Who knows? The big city is expanding every day, among those new players that kept gushing into the game, it wasn’t really weird for a few maniacs and guys with weird fetishes to be amongst them.”

Kieran avoided the important point and dwelled on the trivial.

Just like what he said before, after knowing how flawed Lawless’ character was, he had tried to avoid the words that would excite his friend.

“Hmm, sounds legit as well.” Lawless nodded unconsciously.

Then, the conversation between them soon turned into Lawless’ one-man show with Kieran’s intentional guidance.

From the secrets between veterans to the interesting things that happened in the big city and even what kind of new buildings appeared in what street, Lawless’ mouth didn’t stop for a second before Kieran stopped at Wallway 13th.

Kieran’s eardrums were buzzing heavily and he even started to see stars. He was eager to dash in his room when he saw his room within his sight. He had never noticed how important the game room was for him.

“Don’t want to invite me in for a drink?”

Lawless who was following tightly behind Kieran was shocked when he wasn’t granted access to the garage.

“Nope. I think you should return to Harvest Inn to pay your debts… Oh right, I’ve sent a message to Rachel, stating that you’ve ditched work without a reason.”

The door then slowly closed after that.

“Noooo! How could you, 2567!”

“We are friends! How can you have the heart to see that woman control me! You…”

Lawless was shouting like a 5-year-old.

“I’ve made recordings also.”

Kieran’s voice sounded through the seams of the door.

Lawless was instantly choked on his own words, being utterly speechless after that.