Chapter 12: The Interrogation
Marcus sat in the processing room, bound by chains forged from Harvester chitin. His eyes were human now—no more glowing code, no more System arrogance. Just fear.
I sat across from him, my sword across my knees.
"Talk."
He licked his lips. "The council has seven members. Each one controls a sector of the harvested universe. Earth is Sector 7—the newest, the smallest, the least profitable."
"Why Earth?"
"Because the Architect hid here. After they imprisoned him, his consciousness fragmented. Most of it was scattered across the void, but a piece—the largest piece—landed on Earth. The council has been trying to find it for millennia."
"They found it."
"No." Marcus shook his head. "It found you. The Architect's fragment chose you when you transmigrated. That's why you got the Butcher class. That's why you're an Anomaly. You're carrying a piece of him."
I looked at my hands. The hands that had processed monsters, Harvesters, a champion. The hands that had cut through System code.
I was carrying the Architect.
"Not carrying," his voice murmured in my mind. "Housed. Temporarily. You're a vessel, little butcher. But you're also a key."
"A key to what?"
"To my prison. To the council's node. To the heart of the System."
Marcus was staring at me, confused. "You're talking to him, aren't you? The Architect."
"Yes."
"Then you know. You can't defeat the council alone. You need an army. You need weapons. You need to climb all one hundred floors and claim the power at the top."
"And what's at the top?"
He smiled bitterly. "The Architect's original body. The source code of the System. The thing the council has been trying to corrupt for eons." He leaned forward. "If you reach it, you can rewrite reality. You can free every harvested world. You can become a god."
"I don't want to be a god."
"Then you're a fool."
"Maybe." I stood. "But I'm a fool who's still alive."
I walked to the door, then paused.
"One more question. Why did the council make you their champion? You're not special. You're not strong. You lost to me in minutes."
Marcus's face darkened. "Because I was willing. Because I didn't ask questions. Because I would do anything for power." He looked at his chains. "And because they knew you would spare me."
I frowned. "What?"
"The council has been studying you, Jin-ho. They know you're not a killer. Not of humans, anyway. Monsters, yes. System constructs, yes. But people? You hesitate. You showed mercy to the Guardian on the second floor. You showed mercy to me." He smiled. "That mercy will be your undoing."
I left him in the processing room.
---
The Observer transmitted Marcus's interrogation to the council. The cold voice was pleased.
"He's predictable. His mercy is a weakness we can exploit."
The warm voice disagreed. "His mercy is also why his followers are loyal. Why they fight for him. Why they don't betray him."
"Then we find someone who will."
The neutral voice: "We already have. The Paladin."
"Seo-yoon? She's devoted to him."
"Devotion can be broken. Everyone has a price. Find hers."
The council fell silent, planning.
---
I found Seo-yoon in the training yard, running drills with the new recruits. Her shoulder was bandaged where Marcus had thrown her into the wall, but she moved like it didn't hurt.
"You should be resting," I said.
"I should be doing a lot of things." She didn't stop. "Marcus talked?"
"He talked."
"And?"
"And the council is scared. That's good. But they're also desperate. That's bad."
She paused, lowering her sword. "Desperate people do desperate things."
"Yes."
"Like targeting the people you care about."
I didn't answer.
She walked over to me, close enough that I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. "Jin-ho, I'm not going to betray you. No matter what they offer."
"I know."
"Then why do you look so worried?"
Because I didn't know. Not for sure. Trust was a risk, and I'd never been good at taking risks.
"Just be careful," I said.
She smiled. "Always."
---
The seventh floor took us three days.
Its theme was endurance—not just physical, but mental. The corridors stretched on forever, looping back on themselves, wearing down our resolve. The enemies were sparse but relentless, attacking in waves that never seemed to end.
By the second day, two of our fighters collapsed from exhaustion. By the third, even Seo-yoon was dragging.
I kept going because I had no choice. The Architect's voice was a constant presence in my mind, pointing out weak points, suggesting strategies, pushing me forward.
"You're slowing down, little butcher."
"I'm carrying three people's worth of gear."
"Then drop the gear."
"The gear keeps them alive."
"Sentiment."
"Strategy. A dead fighter can't fight."
The Architect fell silent. I think he was learning.
The Guardian of the seventh floor was a Colossus—a giant made of fused bone and stone, its movements slow but devastating. One hit from its fist could flatten a building.
Seo-yoon tanked it while I looked for weak points. Her Divine Guardian class absorbed the blows that would have killed anyone else, but even she was struggling.
"Jin-ho!" she shouted. "Any time now!"
My Weak Point Detection showed me the Colossus's core—a pulsing red crystal buried in its chest. But the chest was armored, protected by layers of bone that regenerated as fast as I could cut.
I needed a different approach.
"Code Cutting," the Architect whispered. "You can cut through its armor like paper. You've done it before."
On Marcus. On his champion armor. But that was System code, not physical matter.
"The Colossus is a System construct. Its armor is code, given form. Cut the code, and the form collapses."
I raised my sword and focused. Code Sight activated, overlaying the Colossus's physical form with its underlying code. The armor was a complex web of symbols, each one reinforcing the next.
I found the keystone—the one symbol that held the rest together—and cut.
The armor shattered.
The Colossus roared, staggering. Its chest was exposed, the red crystal pulsing. I didn't hesitate. I drove my sword into the crystal and twisted.
\[Colossus defeated. Processing…\]
\[Strength +30\]
\[Vitality +25\]
\[Skill upgrade: Code Cutting Lv.2\]
\[Unique material obtained: Colossus Core. Titan Bone (12).\]
The Colossus fell, its body dissolving into motes of light. Behind it, the passage to the eighth floor opened.
Seo-yoon collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. "Seven down. Ninety-three to go."
"We'll get there."
She looked up at me, sweat and blood streaking her face. "You really believe that?"
"I have to."
---
The Observer reported the Colossus's defeat. The council was not surprised.
"He's growing faster than we projected. The Architect is accelerating his evolution."
"Then we accelerate our countermeasures. Activate the Paladin's price."
"We haven't found it yet."
"Then find it faster."
The warm voice hesitated. "There is one thing. Her mother. She was a survivor of the initial System activation. She's been in hiding, but we've located her."
"Use her."
"As leverage?"
"As motivation. Tell the Paladin that her mother will be killed unless she betrays the Butcher."
"And if she refuses?"
"Then kill the mother anyway. And make sure the Butcher knows who is responsible."
The council nodded. The plan was set.
---
We celebrated the seventh floor's fall that night. Min-jun had found a stash of unspoiled food in the ruins—canned goods, dried meat, even a few bottles of soju. The faction gathered around bonfires in the plaza, laughing, singing, forgetting for a few hours that the world had ended.
I sat apart, watching.
Seo-yoon joined me, a bottle in her hand. "You're not celebrating."
"I'm celebrating by not fighting."
She snorted. "That's not celebration. That's exhaustion."
"Same thing."
She sat beside me, close enough that our shoulders touched. "Jin-ho, can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Smartass." She took a drink. "What were you like? Before. In your first life."
I was quiet for a moment. "A nobody. A butcher's apprentice. I worked the night shift, went home alone, slept, did it again. I didn't have friends. I didn't have family. I didn't have anything."
"That sounds lonely."
"It was."
"And now?"
I looked at the bonfires, at the laughing faces, at the people who had chosen to follow me. "Now I have something to lose."
She leaned her head on my shoulder. "That's called living."
I didn't answer. But I didn't move away.
---
In the middle of the night, Seo-yoon's communication crystal glowed.
She picked it up, frowning. The message was short, written in System code that only she could read.
\[Your mother is alive. She is in our custody. Betray the Butcher, and she lives. Refuse, and she dies. You have 24 hours.\]
Her blood ran cold.
She looked across the camp at Jin-ho, sleeping against a wall, his sword across his knees.
She had a choice to make.
---
End of Chapter 12