The sirens began twenty minutes after Argen vanished.
At first, they were faint—distant echoes carried by the cold morning wind. But gradually, they thickened, layering over each other until the entire city trembled with the sound.
Not explosions.
Not screams.
Just… alarms. Endless, suffocating alarms.
Han Joon-seo walked in silence, one hand pressed against his temple as if he could hold the pain inside. The world around him blurred—like the air itself was still unstable after the Tower's awakening.
He felt hollow.
Not because the danger scared him.
But because the moment Argen faded, something inside him disappeared too—like a thread connecting them had snapped.
"Why am I… feeling this much for a summon?" he whispered under his breath.
But the ache in his chest didn't answer.
---
Seoul Streets — 10:14 a.m.
Fog wasn't common in Seoul.
Not like this.
It clung low to the ground, mixing with dust from collapsed walls and smoke drifting from car accidents scattered across the intersections. Traffic lights blinked uselessly into the haze. Half the city had abandoned their cars and run on foot.
A woman on the sidewalk was kneeling over her unconscious son, shaking him while calling for help. A man shouted through a megaphone on a police truck, telling people to return home. No one listened. No one knew what "home" even meant now.
Joon-seo stopped walking.
His reflection stared back at him in a shattered storefront window.
His eyes looked different.
Darker. Sharper.
Like something old and unseen had touched them.
The system window still hovered behind his shoulder, flickering gently in the sunlight.
──────────────
SUMMON GATE — LV. 1
Cooldown Remaining: 34 minutes
Warning: Excessive summoning without Tower Adaptation may result in Neural Erosion.
──────────────
Neural… erosion?
His fingers trembled.
The system wasn't playful.
It wasn't generous.
It was closer to an executioner giving him a deadline.
---
Inner Thoughts
Why me? Why this skill? Why something that takes more than it gives?
Is this… a punishment? A test? Fate?
He didn't know.
But the silence around him felt heavy, as if the Tower itself was listening.
---
A Military Checkpoint — Near Ewha University
A barricade stretched across the street. Armored vehicles lined both sides, pointing machine guns toward the sky as if expecting something to emerge at any moment. Soldiers shouted orders, guiding civilians into shelters.
One soldier spotted Joon-seo.
"Hey! You—stop right there!"
He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the fog.
"You're bleeding!"
Joon-seo lifted his fingers. A thin line of dried blood marked his ear.
"When did that happen…" he whispered.
"Have you been exposed to a Tower anomaly?" the soldier demanded, stepping closer.
Tower anomaly…
That must be what they're calling it.
"I—"
He hesitated.
Should he tell them about the Summon Gate?
He imagined their reaction.
Confiscation. Testing. Lockdown. Scrutiny.
He would be treated like a weapon.
"No," he said quietly.
The soldier stared at him for two long seconds, then sighed.
"Get to a shelter. The Tower is opening in—"
A voice in an earpiece crackled.
The soldier froze.
Joon-seo stepped back instinctively.
Something about the sudden stillness in the air felt wrong.
The fog shifted.
And then—
A man stumbled out of it.
---
The First Dead Man
His clothes were torn. His face pale.
A glowing red burn mark covered half his chest.
He had no weapon. No expression. No breath.
He collapsed onto the asphalt.
People screamed. Soldiers ran forward. Cameras snapped pictures. Someone shouted:
"He came from the Tower! He came out—did he die inside?!"
Another soldier knelt beside the body.
He touched the burn mark.
His fingers shook.
"This… this isn't human-made. It's not any weapon we have."
The air thickened.
Every civilian around the checkpoint held their breath.
Joon-seo's system window blinked.
> [First Casualty Detected.]
[Tower Difficulty: Increasing.]
"Increasing?" Joon-seo whispered.
"Already?"
The soldier swore loudly and ordered everyone back.
But the damage was done.
Fear—real fear—spread like infection in the air.
---
Joon-seo's Mind Tightens
He swallowed hard.
If a normal person couldn't survive even minutes inside…
And every Candidate was forced to enter in less than 3 hours…
Then—
Argen wasn't weak.
Argen wasn't a failed summon.
Argen had been protecting him.
The realization hit him like a punch.
His legs weakened slightly.
The edges of his vision dimmed.
He wasn't supposed to survive the first call.
Argen took the damage for him.
And even worse—
Argen faded with a smile.
---
A Voice Beside Him
"Are you a Candidate too?"
Joon-seo jerked his head up.
A girl stood near him, about his age.
Black ponytail, white jacket smeared with dust, eyes trembling with confusion and fear.
Her hand was glowing faintly — a soft green light pulsing under her palm.
"I—I healed someone earlier," she whispered.
"I think… that's my ability."
A healer?
Her voice cracked:
"Do you think we'll die in there?"
Joon-seo looked at her.
Really looked at her.
She wasn't strong.
She wasn't confident.
She wasn't pretending like him.
She just wanted to live.
He took a slow breath.
"…I don't know."
His honesty surprised even him.
"But we'll try."
The girl nodded, tears forming.
"I'm Mina," she whispered.
"Joon-seo."
A silence hung between them—fragile and heavy.
For the first time since morning, he didn't feel alone.
---
The Tower Moves
A deep thrum rolled across the sky.
Not sound—vibration.
Like a heartbeat.
The fog parted, and the Tower across the river pulsed with light—dark, rhythmic light that cast halos over the water.
A system notification appeared for every Candidate in Korea:
──────────────
[TOWER OF FATE — 2 HOURS UNTIL FORCED ENTRY]
──────────────
People around him collapsed crying.
Some prayed.
Some cursed.
Some simply stood frozen like statues.
Mina covered her mouth.
Joon-seo stared at the Tower.
Its shadow stretched across Seoul, swallowing entire districts.
Inside that place, hundreds would die.
He might be one of them.
But something inside him—something cold and stubborn—rose quietly.
Argen didn't fade so Joon-seo could die outside the Tower.
He owed that first summon a debt.
A debt paid only by stepping in.
---
Final Scene — The Whisper
As he walked away from the checkpoint, the world around him fading into a blur, he heard it again—
A faint voice.
A whisper.
Not from the sky.
Not from the Tower.
From the space behind his heartbeat.
> […Master…]
He froze.
Argen?
No.
Impossible.
He closed his eyes.
And the whisper came again—
> […Summon…]
[…me…]
[…back…]
His breath caught.
Argen wasn't gone.
He was trapped somewhere…
waiting.
The Summon Gate pulsed once, like a dying ember trying to come back to life.
Joon-seo clenched his fists.
"Just wait," he whispered.
"I'll bring you back."
Above him, the Tower hummed in response—
as if amused.
---
— END OF CHAPTER 3 —