Chapter 1 Part 1: People Are The Enemy

The pocket watch in my hand ticked away.

I stared intently at the pocket watch before tucking it back inside my coat.

I wondered if I had come too early, but it didn’t matter.

There was always someone at the Magic Tower 24 hours a day.

I thought of the zombies who had given up on going home and holed themselves up in their laboratories as I walked.

The massive tower, built from stacked gray bricks, gradually grew closer.

I had sworn I would never return to that place, but I never thought I’d be going back of my own volition.

A chill ran down my spine with every step.

I was even breaking out in a cold sweat.

Wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, I muttered.

“How did I get into the Magic Tower again?”

It had only been two years since I quit, but my memory was already hazy.

The Magic Tower was an object of envy worldwide, and at the same time, many countries coveted it, so security was inevitably tight.

Every time I commuted, I had to verify my identity three times.

First, a primary check at the main gate with my face and name.

Second, a fingerprint check in the middle passage.

And third, a final identity check by a security guard.

I had just passed the first and second checks, so I just needed to pass the final third check.

For the third check, it was definitely…

“Please stop right there!”

Someone swooped down from the air.

Startled, I jumped back.

I almost let out a scream.

My first day back, and my first scream—just thinking about it was fantastic.

I pressed my palm firmly against my mouth and stared at the person hanging upside down in the air.

As if hanging upside down wasn’t enough, they were dressed in a clown costume straight out of a play.

Their face was hidden behind a pure white mask.

Still covering my mouth, I examined the mask.

The oval-shaped eyes and the mouth stretched into a wide grin gave off an eerie feeling.

It was a good thing it was dawn now; if I had seen this at night, I would have fainted from shock.

An ordinary person might think, ‘What’s with this person?

Why are they dressed like that?’ but I didn’t think that.

I say it’s my first day back, but I had worked here before.

There was probably no place that respected people’s individuality as much as the Magic Tower.

I cautiously asked the clown.

“Are you… a guard?”

The clown nodded and landed lightly on the ground.

The bell on the tip of their long hat jingled cheerfully.

“Yes.

I’m a new recruit who just started, though.”

Pride was thick in the clown’s voice as they spoke.

The jester pulled out a card and held it out to me.

With a poof, accompanied by white smoke, the card transformed into a single rose.

“I am Pierrot.

A proud guard of the Magic Tower―!”

What an honest name.

Naming a clown Pierrot.

That’s like naming a dog ‘Dog’.

Anyway, they said they just started.

The fact that a new person had entered the Magic Tower meant someone had either died or retired.

I really hope it’s the latter.

I’m sick and tired of people dying off.

I was already starting to dislike the Magic Tower again.

This was a problem.

I needed to last at least three months here.

As my expression rapidly darkened, Pierrot tilted their head.

“Do you not like roses?”

The rose was thrust right in front of my face.

I quickly snapped out of it and answered.

“No, I like them very much.”

“Really?

That’s a relief.”

Pierrot waved the rose at me as if urging me to take it.

I couldn’t refuse someone’s kind gesture, so I reached out my hand.

The moment my fingers touched the rose, more smoke billowed out and the rose petals scattered in all directions.

Now, only a red ball remained in Pierrot’s gloved hand.

As I silently looked down at the ball, Pierrot made a salute gesture.

“I will now perform the final identity verification.

Please bite down on that ball.”

The Magic Tower had never once permitted unauthorized intrusion by an outsider.

Even if someone somehow managed to pass the first and second checks, they always got caught at the final third check.

Because the third check was absolutely impossible to pass.

There were a total of five guards at the Magic Tower, and each of them verified identities in their own way, throwing intruders into confusion.

So this was how Pierrot did it.

I picked up the ball and put it in my mouth.

Pierrot took out another card and showed me the front and back once.

Both the front and back were blank.

But when Pierrot lightly swiped their palm over it, my name and face appeared on the front.

“Alice White.”

My name and face appeared on the front.

Pft, Pierrot let out a small laugh.

Since I had the ball in my mouth, I couldn’t ask why they were laughing.

I just stared at Pierrot silently.

Pierrot waved their hand dismissively and answered.

“I’m sorry.

Your name is just too cute.”

I still couldn’t say anything with the ball in my mouth, but I shrugged my shoulders.

I hear that a lot.

“It really suits you.”

I haven’t heard that one much.

Pierrot alternated looking at the card and me, then suddenly reached out a hand.

My eyes narrowed involuntarily.

The feeling of a gloved hand touching my face was utterly strange.

“Alice is a cute name, isn’t it?

Since you’re cute too, it suits you.”

Their fingers pressed firmly into my cheek.

“Just like a little mouse.”

Was that a compliment or an insult…?

I slowly blinked my eyes.

Pierrot continued to feel my face.

I just clenched the ball tighter with my teeth.

I could ignore the hand, but their masked face instinctively made me hunch my shoulders.

I really would have fainted if I’d seen this at night.

It was terrifying.

I wondered if the face under that mask was smiling too.

As their touch grew more persistent, I bit down even harder on the ball.

This must be part of verifying my identity.

It had to be.

But I couldn’t maintain a blank expression.

As I just kept clenching the ball with my teeth, Pierrot giggled and withdrew their hand.

“Identity verified.

You may enter.”

Whoosh.

The card flipped over.

On the back, the words [Affiliated with the Magic Tower] were written in gold leaf.

I pointed at the ball with my finger, asking what to do with it, and Pierrot readily answered.

“You can just spit that out.”

I spat out the ball as instructed.

The ball, now on the floor, sprouted red wings, as if it had been hiding them all along.

Wow, an exclamation of admiration slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

In an instant, the ball transformed into a butterfly and lightly landed on the floor.

Then, as if preparing to fly away, it fluttered its wings a few times.

Forgetting to breathe, I waited for the butterfly to take flight.

But a red silk shoe mercilessly crushed the butterfly’s wing.

My eyes widened.

Pierrot, however, paid no attention and gestured towards the Magic Tower with an exaggerated motion.

“Please, go on in.”

The butterfly fluttered one wing as if trying to fly, but the crushed wing wouldn’t lift from the floor.

The butterfly could only thrash its body uselessly.

Nausea rose in my throat.

I knelt on one knee and reached out my hand to the butterfly.

My fingers touched the crushed wing.

White smoke curled up, enveloping the wing.

Hoo, I blew out a long breath.

As the smoke subsided, the crushed wing slowly returned to its original form.

Except for the color.

“Is this too noticeable?”

I looked at the wing, one side red and one side white, then stood up.

The butterfly crawled onto my finger.

At least it could fly now, so that was a relief.

After fluttering its wings a few times on my fingertip, the butterfly soon fluttered away into the sky.

Pierrot, who had been watching the butterfly fly away with me, then clapped their hands together in applause.

“As expected, this much is nothing for a mage of the Magic Tower.”

If I had ignored the butterfly and walked past, my neck probably would have been crushed like the butterfly’s wing just now.

I tore my gaze away from the butterfly, now just a small dot barely visible, and smiled brightly.

“You can really go in now.”

“Yes, I’ll go in.”

I walked past Pierrot.

As I placed my palm on the massive door, said to be made from a thousand-year-old tree, green vines sprouted from the center of my palm.

The vines grew at an invisible speed, wrapping around the entire door.

When I took my hand away, the vines constricted the door tightly.

A gap opened in the door, just wide enough for one person to enter.

I stepped through the gap.

“You’ve finally come.”

As soon as I stepped inside, a flat, emotionless voice greeted me.

The moment I was completely inside the Magic Tower, the door closed again.

I silently stared ahead.

The ceiling was invisible no matter how painfully I craned my neck.

Stairs coiled inside the tower like a serpent.

And then,

“Alice White.”

People looking down at me from in front of the railing.

Countless eyes, too many to count, were fixed on me.

I had really returned here.

I closed my eyes and blew out a long breath like I had done earlier.

My stomach churned with nervousness.

What should I do?

I already wanted to quit.

“It’s been a while for everyone, hasn’t it?

How long has it been?”

I hastily pulled up the corners of my mouth, which were trying to droop on their own.

I stood in the center of the hall so people could see me more easily.

Let’s not be intimidated.

I hadn’t done anything wrong anyway.

The fault lay with them.

They were the ones who had made things so hard for me.

If it weren’t for the money, I wouldn’t have come back to a place like this.

Adjusting my bag, I spoke in the brightest voice I could muster.

“Meeting again like this after two years, fate truly is a strange thing.

I’m glad to see you all again.”

Glad, my ass.

I had been so nervous every time I went out, afraid I might run into someone from the Magic Tower on the street.

I even hung a dreamcatcher by my bed, scared their faces would appear in my nightmares.

Who would have thought all that effort would be for nothing?

No, I never thought I’d end up re-employed here either.

That damn money is the enemy.

After I quit, I thought my parents would let me stay at home for a while, but I never expected them to kick me out without mercy.

Thanks to that, I had to use part of my savings to urgently find a place to live, and there were unexpected expenses for buying essentials.