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Tower Realm – Floor 4
[Trial Gate: Mind Labyrinth – Entry Initiated]
The staircase ended in darkness.
No torches. No glowing runes. Just a stone arch carved into the cliff face, pitch-black within. A cold wind rolled from inside, but it carried no scent—no life. Only stillness.
Ha-Joon stepped forward.
The system message floated before him:
> [Trial of the Mind Labyrinth]
Objective: Escape the maze without losing your sense of self.
Threat: Identity Dissolution, Memory Distortion
Reward: Mental Resistance Skill, Intelligence Boost
Warning: Do not trust what you see or hear.
He exhaled. His body still ached from the last trial. Cuts laced his arms, and dried blood flaked from his hands.
But none of that would help here.
This was not a battle of strength.
It was a trial of who he was.
---
As soon as he entered, the door vanished behind him.
The stone corridor shifted beneath his feet, morphing, curving—almost alive. The walls pulsed faintly, as if they breathed. Each passage looked identical. No markings. No sense of direction.
And then the first hallucination came.
He heard it before he saw it.
> "Ha-Joon... dinner's ready!"
His breath caught.
That voice.
That exact tone.
He turned sharply.
His mother stood there—in her apron, holding a ladle, smiling just like she used to on weekends.
His throat tightened.
> "You've been studying too long. Come eat."
He didn't move.
He didn't speak.
He just stared.
The warmth. The details. The way she wiped her hands on the towel. It was perfect.
Too perfect.
> "You're not real," he whispered.
The figure flickered. Her smile wavered… then twisted.
> "You left us, Ha-Joon. You let us suffer while you ran away."
The walls screamed.
The illusion shattered.
He clutched his head as voices erupted around him.
> "Coward."
"Weakling."
"You don't deserve to go back."
"They've already forgotten you."
---
He dropped to one knee.
But only for a second.
He slammed his fist to the floor.
"Shut up!"
> [Mental Fortitude Resistance: +2]
[Instinct Anchoring Activated]
The noise vanished.
Silence returned.
Ha-Joon stood up again, sweat dripping down his back.
"I'm not the same as before."
---
The maze shifted again.
Now he walked through his old school hallway. Lockers lined both sides. Classrooms flickered with shadowy students.
Girls from his class stood by the windows, laughing. One of them pointed at him.
> "He's the weird one. Never talks."
"So quiet. So useless."
"Didn't he get dumped by that one girl?"
He stopped walking.
His eyes were calm now.
These weren't memories. These were weapons.
> "You're not me," he said.
> "You're what I was afraid of."
He walked past the illusions.
They didn't follow.
---
More scenes came—home, street corners, part-time jobs, classmates, teachers.
Old shame. Regrets. Missed chances. Fears.
But the more he walked, the clearer his heart became.
Every trial sharpened him.
And every illusion lost its power.
---
Eventually, the corridor opened into a circular room with a single mirror at its center.
The reflection that looked back… was not him.
It was the boy who first entered this tower.
Skinny. Awkward. Eyes filled with fear and confusion.
The reflection smirked.
> "You think you're better than me now?"
Ha-Joon didn't flinch.
"No."
"I became stronger because of you."
The mirror shattered.
A final system message appeared:
> [Trial Cleared – Mind Labyrinth Completed]
Reward:
• Skill Gained – Mental Barrier Lv.1
• Stat Increase: Intelligence +2, Wisdom +1
• Title Earned: The Unbroken
• Passive Resistance: Illusion Weakened (50%)
---
The exit opened.
Ha-Joon stepped through, his mind clearer than ever.
---
He emerged on a quiet ledge beneath a pale blue sky.
The wind was cool here. The chaos of the tower's earlier trials faded into a strange calm.
He looked down at his hands.
No illusions. No blood. Just him.
Just Ha-Joon.
Stronger.
Colder.
More certain than ever.
---
Back on Earth – One Year Mark
His mother gently set down a bowl of warm soup on the table.
Ha-Rin didn't speak.
Their father looked up from the newspaper. Something was different today.
The house was still quiet.
But in the corner of her heart, Ha-Rin felt something… flicker.
A whisper of hope.
She didn't know why.
She just whispered under her breath:
> "Wherever you are… don't lose yourself."
---
In a world no one could reach, Ha-Joon had already passed that test.
And the next floor awaited him.
He would keep climbing.
Until he broke every chain in his way—
and returned.
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