The sky and earth met, facing each other from opposite ends. Both longed for something by their side, so the sky and earth each forged a sword. This time, they had each other, so they didn’t need to cut themselves.
The sky struck his sword down toward the earth, and the earth raised his sword upward. Hundreds of strikes and parries were exchanged. From the wide gaps in the sky, wind poured out, while water gushed from the grand fissures in the earth.
The sky’s fragments were frozen in various moments: spring, summer, autumn, winter, polar night, white night, new moon, and full moon, while the cracked earth formed dozens of continents and tens of thousands of islands, each with their own unique ecosystem.
In honor of the birth of the climate, the sea, the seasons, and life, people named the moment of the second strike the Moon of Sword.
✦ ✦ ✦
An unexpected commotion erupted at Cafe Planetarium, the brunch cafe serving as the Lion Realm’s midway base. A thug with a Mohawk roughly grabbed the wrist of a fragile-looking woman. His tongue, which had a small, glinting piercing at the tip, flicked endlessly.
“Hehehehehe, climb the Tower with me, lady~”
The woman, who was wearing glasses, shrank back in fear, her shoulders hunched. “P-please stop...”
The thug laughed. He was relentless. “Don’t be like that. Let’s climb the Tower together~ Don’t just stay here~ Be more ambitious~ Let’s reach the hundredth floor with a strong will to become better. Mwahahaha~”
“Ugh... S-someone, please help me..."
Like a worker facing a boss who had assigned an unfair amount of workload, the woman sniffled and cried for help. Tragically, it seemed that no one in this Tower tried to help her. That injustice sparked a rage within a particular young woman, who had just been trying to eat in peace.
“Phew… Really? The world will never let me eat in peace.” The young woman, who had been eating with her trowel at her waist, stood up.
What was there to hide? She was the head steward of the Death King Clan, and her power could shake heaven and earth. If she stepped forward, the thug would clearly be unable to withstand a single strike from her. In the end, however, the young woman didn’t have to draw her trowel.
“Stop, Lady Head Steward of the Death King Clan.”
Voices echoed behind the young woman. After all, true justice existed in this world.
“Hm? You’re…”
“We’ll handle this.”
The men who stopped her were wearing white martial arts uniforms with a large hanja for “heaven” on their backs.
“Your beautiful hands aren’t meant to deal with such feeble scumbags, don’t you think so?” the man leading the group asked.
The young woman sat down and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. Fine, I’ll leave it to you. I want to have my seafood cream pasta.”
The men in the white martial arts uniforms chuckled and crossed their arms in unison.
“Hmph… Understood.”
“That guy is a street thug causing trouble.”
“Stopping guys like him is our job.”
The men stood up and walked away from the young woman. Only one of them had their hood pulled low and said nothing, but they all walked toward the Mohican thug. Their clothes were plain, yet they walked like the elephants once found on the Serengeti grassland.
“Oi, oi. That’s enough.”
“Huh? What? Who are you?” the Mohican thug asked, baring his teeth.
The man leading the group looked up with a complicated expression that said, “Oh, dear. I guess there’s no other choice.”
The Mohican thug grinned. “What? You seemed bold, but you’re just another pretty boy.”
That was right. The leader looked more like a boy than a man. Any onlooker would worry about the boy if he got into a fight with this thug, yet the boy wore a smile that could charm any girl.
The boy said, “My name is Gahaeil.”
“What?”
“As the former heir to the True Heavenly Sword Sect of the Righteous Path, I held the title of Sun-Shooting Sword in murim. In the end, I decided to join the OJP Sect. My title is Haruto.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ll leave the rest of my introduction to this. Unlock my Hunter Card.”
Swish.
A card-shaped light glowed in the air.
“Huh? A Hunter Card? You’re just a boy, so your Hunter Class would be— Gyaaaah! This rank is…!”
The Mohican Hunter yelped. Of course he panicked when he examined the card. What was there to hide? Could anything truly be concealed? The average Hunter Class among the men in martial arts uniform was B. Haruto, who had shown his Hunter Card, was actually—
“C-Class A Hunter?!”
The term “Hunter” referred to those who climbed the Tower, and these men could be considered some of the strongest in this Tower. Moreover, they were highly regarded even within the OJP Sect, one of the Five Guilds. Their power level was quite clear.
The Mohican Hunter dropped to his knees and prostrated. “I-I’m sorry for not recognizing you sooner!”
Looking down at this sad man, Haruto wore a plaintive face and—
“This is very annoying to watch. Can you please drop this bullshit?”
Haruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Why, Junior? You interrupted at the best moment…”
The man in the martial arts uniform who had his hood up pulled it down. Not only that, he flung his hoodie away. “The best moment, my ass! All of this is just a shitshow! All of you, Haruto, or whatever your name is! Ah, all of you are just a bunch of cringey sons of bitches!”
The handsome man who had flung his hoodie away had a jet-black ponytail.
Haruto was flustered. “Wait, Junior Yoo Soo-Ha, you shouldn’t…”
“I shouldn’t…? Shouldn’t do what? I think that you shouldn’t exist!”
“What did we—”
“What? Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I mean—”
Haruto only said “Wait” or “I mean—” over and over. It looked like a jock bullying a nerd. Perhaps because this was considered normal around here, none of Cafe Planetarium’s guests or staff joined in the commotion. The chief steward of the Death King Clan and the two other clan vassals, who had finished their meal, were nowhere to be seen, probably because they had returned to their holy ground.
Yoo Soo-Ha pointed at two people seated at a nearby table to vent his frustration. “You’re all the same! What are you sitting there for?!”
An elderly man and a boy were sitting where he was pointing, cupping their chins like tulips as they watched everything unfold.