The three weeks Bora and I had agreed upon passed. My efforts in training the fourth-floor team had paid off. The team could now cast the three basic spells—Gauntlet, Mana Arrow, and Shield—without difficulty and were well on their way to mastering the stamping method and completing the second circle. Under Shin Nara's direction, Garam had also provided active support, offering lectures on interpersonal combat—essential for the official exam—and helping with their stat growth.

Of course, it wasn't just my apprentices who had progressed. My own Flight trait had reached level four, practically the highest it could go through practice alone.

"Haaah." Bora sighed. There was no stopping me now.

"It's okay for me to go now, right?" I said with a sly grin. She puffed out her cheeks and glared at me.

"Why?"

"…It's nothing." She flopped onto the sofa, pulled her legs to her chest, and pretended to scroll through her phone. A moment later, she shot up with a cry.

"Argh! It's so frustrating!"

"Hahaha! What is?"

"Leveling up a trait that much in just two weeks! There's a limit to being a freak of nature! You were just using the fourth-floor team's training as an excuse for your own, weren't you?"

"Killing two birds with one stone," I said, laughing as I popped a fruit jelly from the table into my mouth. "Don't worry so much. The third-floor trial was just an exception. The fourth-floor test wasn't that dangerous, was it?"

"Getting killed twenty-one times by the previous Tower Master isn't dangerous?"

"I didn't 'actually' die." I looked up at the ceiling. Seeing my expression, Bora resigned herself to the inevitable. 'This man can only think about clearing the trial.'

"Well then, I'm off!"

"You're going right now?"

"No time like the present."

"…You could at least wait for everyone to get back and see you off."

"Nah, it's fine. I'll just pop in and out by myself." I stepped onto the magic circle elevator. When Bora moved to stand, I held up a hand. "Don't follow. You have a big shipment to prepare today, don't you?"

"…Alright."

In the end, I disappeared alone on the elevator.

"…Honestly." Bora got up and went to the storage room. She was about to enter the workshop with an armful of potion ingredients when a bright light emanated from the main entrance, revealing Jeong Seojin and Eunsol.

"Bora, I'm here!"

"I have returned."

"Welcome back."

The moment she arrived, Eunsol dashed over and threw herself onto the golden sofa.

"Sol! I told you not to run inside!" Bora chided, while Seojin checked Alchemia's sales figures on his phone.

"Where is the Tower Master?" he asked.

"He went up to the fifth-floor trial."

Seojin froze for a second before his gaze returned to his phone as if nothing had happened.

"When did he leave?"

"Just now. I told him to at least wait for everyone to see him off, but he said he'd just get it over with quickly…"

"I see."

Bora checked her potion ingredients with a worried frown. "…Ugh, I should have stopped him. I'm worried sick."

"Bora," Seojin said, his tone suddenly serious. "I have something to discuss with you."

"Huh? What is it?"

"I heard that two weeks ago, when the Tower Master intended to challenge the trial, you threw a tantrum and stopped him."

"Yes. So?"

"Please refrain from doing so in the future."

The air grew tense.

"I have absolute faith in the Tower Master. If he decides to ascend the tower, I trust he has a sound reason for it."

"Ha," Bora let out a cold, sharp laugh. "You're always talking about trust, but aren't you the one constantly pushing him into danger?"

"And are you not the one holding him back with your childish demands?"

Bora's eyes narrowed. "Holding him back? Are you serious right now?"

"I understand your concerns, but the Tower Master is not meant to stagnate here. He is destined to soar to greater heights, and it is our duty as administrators to help him."

"That has its limits! Once he focuses on something, he can't be stopped! He's always pushing himself too far! Remember the Healer's Union? The Classic Gate? It's an administrator's job to be the brakes for a boss who can't control himself!"

Seojin pushed up his glasses. "I believe you are mistaken. The Tower Master's strength is forged by crossing those countless lines between life and death. The abnormal number of traits he possesses were acquired by fighting with his life on the line."

"He's a certified rank-3 hunter, already one of the strongest in the country! I'm not saying he shouldn't get stronger, I'm saying he doesn't need to keep nearly killing himself to do it!"

They glared at each other, practically growling.

"What if he pushes himself too far and something really happens to him?"

"There is no hunter in this world who fights without risking their life."

"Don't you dare put him in danger for your damn ambition!"

"It is not my ambition; it is the Tower Master's will."

"You…! How could you—"

"Waaaaah!"

They both fell silent and looked down. Eunsol, her eyes brimming with tears, was clutching the fabric of their clothes.

"Why are you fighting? Stop fighting! I don't like it when you two fight! Waaaaah!"

"…S-Sol!" Bora quickly crouched down to comfort her. Seojin loosened his tie and sighed.

"…I'll be heading up." He whispered a small apology in Eunsol's ear and left. Bora watched his retreating back as he climbed the stairs, then whipped her head away.

'So annoying.'

After calming Eunsol and sending her to the third floor, Bora returned to her potion work on the first floor.

'Shatter!'

"Oh my god!" Her concentration was shot. It was the second bottle she'd broken. "Ugh, this is ridiculous. This stuff is so expensive."

She fetched a broom and dustpan to sweep up the glass, then wiped the floor with a rag. As she cleaned, a wave of emotion washed over her, forcing her to pause several times. "What? Holding him back for being worried? That jerk, the way he talks…!"

While cleaning up the shards, she glanced at the magic cauldron. The simmering potion looked just like her own bubbling anger. What was she supposed to do? She was worried.

She screamed, fumed, and occasionally wiped her eyes with her sleeve, but she finished the day's potion quota. She carefully packed the status-ailment potions into boxes bearing the Alchemia label and stacked them on a cart. Pushing the cart across the first floor, she moved it into the subspace storage.

Her work finally done, she ran to the sofa just as Eunsol had and collapsed. For a long time, she did nothing but lie there, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Her mind was a mess. While messaging a friend from the academy, she caught herself typing, 'Jeong Seojin is a stupid piece of trash.'

"Ugh! I can't take this!" She shot up, took the magic circle elevator to the fourth floor, and entered the Weather Design Bureau. It was empty, as expected. She kept walking toward the stairs leading to the fifth floor. At the top, a door would be sealed by the trial's magic. Inside that space, Yusin was fighting for his life.

But then…

"Huh?"

On a landing halfway up the stairs, she found Seojin wrapped in a blanket and typing on a laptop.

They stared at each other in silence.

"Haha." Bora laughed first. "What are you doing here? After all that talk about trusting the Tower Master, you came because you were worried after all?"

Seojin returned his gaze to his laptop without a word.

"There's a saying, 'When the lord is shamed, the vassal dies.' It is only natural for a subordinate to worry about their leader."

"Hilarious." Bora sat down beside him. She stared at the trial's entrance, which loomed like a black hole at the top of the stairs. It was quiet, save for the soft 'clack-clack' of Seojin's keyboard.

Then, Bora snatched the blanket Seojin was using and wrapped it around herself.

"Let's share." She smiled cutely. Seojin, now left with only the thin blanket he'd been sitting on, glared at her.

"What is the meaning of this? If you want a blanket, bring your own."

"Nope. Too lazy to go back down."

Defeated, Seojin reluctantly pulled the remaining blanket over himself and went back to his work. Bora peeked at his screen. It was some strange spreadsheet filled with numbers she didn't recognize. After staring blankly for a moment, she sighed softly.

"Hey—"

"I apologize."

Startled, Bora stopped short.

"I have been on edge lately," he said. "I meant no harm."

Perhaps because he apologized first, her anger vanished as if by magic. She hugged her knees to her chest.

"Me too. I'm sorry for what I said about your ambition."

Not much more needed to be said. They fell back into an awkward silence, waiting for Yusin while fiddling with their devices.

"He'll be okay, right?"

"Of course."

"Bora!"

Just then, they saw Eunsol scurrying up the stairs. Bora's face lit up.

"Sol, over here!"

Eunsol ran up the last few steps and threw herself into Bora's arms. Bora hugged her tight.

"Did our Sol come because she was worried about Yusin, too?"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's all wait here together."

"Okay! Okay!"

The three of them turned their heads in unison to look at the black, swirling entrance to the trial, praying for his safe return.

* * *

Fifth-Floor Trial.

"…Why are my ears itching?" I muttered, scratching my ear as I sent the winged golem into a sudden burst of speed. I effortlessly dodged the incoming mana arrows with a high-altitude maneuver and floated on my back in the air.

-In the East, there is a superstition that one's ears itch when others are talking about them, Tower Master.

'Who could be talking about me?'

-I surmise the other administrators are worried.

"Aha! I hope I'm not worrying them for nothing. After all…" I shifted my center of gravity and executed a tight spin, letting the projectiles zip harmlessly through the empty air. "This is too easy."

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