“Ugh….” Every time Gi-Gyu heard new information about the basement, he would feel that atrociously horrid pain. The pain from the penalty made him groan, worrying Old Man Hwang. “Are you… okay?”

“I… am okay… P-please continue…” Gi-Gyu bit his lips again and groaned. A drop of blood trailed down his face and fell on Old Man Hwang’s forehead. The blacksmith murmured appreciatively, “Thank you.” 

Old Man Hwang was thankful Gi-Gyu was willing to listen to his story. But Gi-Gyu wasn’t enduring this pain just to appease the blacksmith. 

‘A different world…’

As expected, the Tower had many secrets. Gi-Gyu guessed that Soo-Jung, Tae-Shik, and the others refused to tell him these deep secrets because they knew about the penalty. So this was his chance to find out as much as he could.

Old Man Hwang continued, “Like a vagrant, I roamed in this new world.” 

“What was it like down there?” Gi-Gyu asked as he poured more potion into the elderly man’s mouth. The potion was doing nothing more than temporarily prolonging the blacksmith’s life, but that was enough. Gi-Gyu kept giving him small doses to keep him alive and fulfill his dying wish.  

“Burning lands… Lifeless...