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[The Morning of the "Sky Dungeon" Expedition, Three Weeks Until the "Tower" Opens]

To his surprise, but at the same time not, he was the first one outside of the hotel on that morning, already dressed in his mostly-black [Equip] uniform as he brought his azure hood up to combat the cold.

It\'s not too far out…until we\'ll have to abandon this world and venture into the unknown "Tower". I don\'t know whether to be excited, scared, or both. All we can do now is wait it out and gain the strength we can to prepare for what\'s to come, he thought.

It was a particularly cold day, as a light layer of mist occupied the streets and the cold pressed against his skin like tiny needles.

"...Lazy bums," he muttered out as his breath left in a mist.

"What was that?!"

His soul nearly left his body completely at the sudden, far-too-loud, rough voice of Yeong-Un directly against his ear, causing him to jump in a startle.

"Holy–! You can\'t sneak up on me like that in the morning, man!" He huffed.

Yeong-Un seemed pleased with himself, chuckling as he left a pat on his shoulder, "Ha-ha! Yer\' fault for being so jumpy."

"Anyway…Sol didn\'t come down with you?" He asked, looking past Yeong-Un, but there was nobody else standing on the block.

"Nah," Yeong-Un replied, folding his arms across his chest, still keeping his blue sleeves rolled up to his biceps despite the chilly weather, "Did ya\' expect that bastard to wake up on time?"

Every word that left the mouth of the scar-covered adolescent exuded a frosty mist towards his face.

"Good point," he sighed out, "How\'re you feeling?"

"Huh?" Yeong-Un looked at him.

"I mean, after the fight against that angel. It was pretty rough–for everybody," he clarified.

Yeong-Un smiled bright, slapping his own chest, "Oh, that? I\'m in tip-top condition! Ha-ha! Eunji\'s magic is the real deal!"

"You\'re definitely right with that…Seriously, healing magic is amazing," he smiled a bit.

It wasn\'t long after that the two were finally met with the late arrival of their third, who walked out with spastic, messy bedhead and half-open eyes, yawning out.

"...Mornin\'..." Sol greeted them.

"Dude, did you get any sleep?" He chuckled a bit, looking at Sol.

Sol shook his head, trying his best to adjust his unkempt, light-brown locks to the best of his ability for wrapping his red headband over his forehead.

"The hell were ya\' doing all night, then? Ya\' knew we were doing something today!" Yeong-Un asked.

"I…err…I just couldn\'t sleep," Sol explained tiredly, yawning again with bags visibly present beneath his eyes.

It was a bit worrying for their third to be so clearly exhausted before heading to a new, unknown dungeon, but they both knew he was more useful unconscious than conscious.

"Are you sure you don\'t want to wait a bit? Maybe grab a coffee?" He asked, looking back at Sol.

They already began journeying down the street, leaving the bounds of Samseong-Dong, heading towards Cheongdam, an affluent section of Gangnam-Gu.

"So, why\'re we doing this so early?" He asked.

The entire day yesterday, they left him in the dark about the specifics about the day-long expedition, but he didn\'t exactly mind–it was an excuse to pass up his daily patrol.

"Isn\'t that obvious? So we don\'t hafta deal with the others!" Yeong-Un told him with a wide smile.

"Okay, but why don\'t we want to deal with the others?" He asked wryly, not getting mch of an answer from his friend.

He looked to Sol to clarify this, who seemed to be the one who thought this "Sky Dungeon" was such a secretive thing in the first place.

"Well, you see…Dae-Seong doesn\'t know we\'re heading out here," Sol explained with a forced smile.

"...What? Why not?" He raised an eyebrow out of surprise.

"Sky Dungeons are off-limits, that\'s why!" Yeong-Un added, "...It\'s bull, though! Who says they\'re any different from Obsidian Dungeons, huh? Ol\' leader is just being a bit too cautious."

"Cautious isn\'t bad…" He responded.

"Jeong-Hui," Sol called his name, looking at him, "...We have to get stronger. I don\'t know about you, but I don\'t have a good feeling about the Tower, if it has more foes like that angel you guys fought…And, I don\'t feel like relying on Baek-Hyeon."

Sol looked down with his words, clenching one of his leather-glove-covered fists as they walked together down the block, putting a few blocks of distance between themselves and Gangcheori\'s district now.

"Look at you," he said with a smile, "I thought you had no pride at all."

"Hah!" Yeong-Un laughed at his remark.

Sol wasn\'t as joyful at the snide comment, "I don\'t mean it like that! It\'s not pride, or anything! It\'s just…I don\'t know–Baek-Hyeon gives me a weird feeling–I can\'t explain it."

For some reason, the hazel-haired, shortest of the group voiced exactly what he felt about the peculiar, enigmatic member of Gangcheori.

"...You too, huh?" He responded quietly as his breath left in a cold mist.

"Wait, you think so, too? I thought I was going crazy…" Sol added, letting out a sigh of relief.

Their attention shifted to their blue-haired friend, who didn\'t seem to have much to say one way or the other.

Yeong-Un placed his hands behind his head as he marched forward, "I don\'t feel anythin\' from that guy. That means I don\'t really suspect him, but…It always means I don\'t really trust \'im, either."

"The leader trusts him though, doesn\'t he?...Maybe we should just leave it at that," Sol looked down.

"I don\'t think we should blatantly take every action from Dae-Seong as the gospel–even he can misjudge somebody," he added, "...I just think we should be wary of Baek-Hyeon. That much power in somebody\'s hands…and, well, yeah…something about the aura he gives off just makes me shiver."

After a prickly conversation that they wouldn\'t dare let meet the ears of any other members, they continued on their way on the cold morning.

Though the walls of Gangcheori\'s district were far spread, the southern walls weren\'t guarded at all, as the bulk of their base was in one area at the northern sector.

This made it easy for the three to slip through, once again entering Defect territory. Within an hour of walking through the frosty morning, passing through the desolated, abandoned cityscape, and avoiding prowling Defects–they arrived in Cheongdam.

Right away, it was clear what level of wealth the city displayed in its heyday: large hedges sat at the sides of the streets, though now unkempt and overgrown.

Many of the buildings occupying the neighborhood in abundance possessed unique, sophisticated architecture–some seemingly made completely of glass, and others intertwined in ivory material like a piece of art.

"Ever been here before? I mean, before everything fell," he asked while they all slowly walked through the abandoned street.

Sol shook his head, "Nope. I don\'t think my family was rich enough for this area, ha-ha."

"Hell no! This place still reeks of pompous assholes!" Yeong-Un answered the same, just with less elegance.

The first notable area they found themselves in was the "fashion street" of Cheongdam, though it was mostly occupied by high-end, big-brand businesses, there were at least cute, anthropomorphic statues to greet them.

"Where exactly is this "Sky Dungeon" anyway?" He asked, poking the snow leopard statue.

"Should be closeby," Sol answered.

"Well, hurry up! I\'m itchin\' to cut some Defects!" Yeong-Un called out.

It was always a melancholic feeling to stroll through affluent areas like this; the abandoned shops were leftovers of mankind, and passing by the large headquarters of entertainment mammoths that ran the pop industry in Korea reminded him of the way of life that was stripped away.

…It\'s like walking through a ghost town. Just a year ago…this place was packed full of people, he thought.

Standing still and taking in the air, he could imagine it clearly, feeling the past presence of thousands of people who occupied the streets. He could almost hear it, too: that ambience of a bustling city.

"Jeong-Hui! You coming, or what?" Sol called out from up ahead.

"Hurry it up, fire-head!"

"Coming!" He shouted back in return, jogging to catch back up.

As they reached a narrow market street, something unique finally came into view–a large, enigmatic structure of pure-white material inhabiting the sky without any assistance below.

The only thing connected it to the ground below was a single, golden rope, hanging down in an ominous invitation.

"Is that the dungeon?" He asked.

Due to the mist hanging around it, it was impossible to tell just how large the quartz structure inhabiting the sky was.

"Yup! There it is!" Sol proclaimed, seemingly surprised he actually managed to find it again.

"Hell yeah! I\'m pumped–!" Yeong-Un moved forward first.

The three gathered in front of the golden rope, looking up as it let upwards around two-hundred meters into the sky.

"...This is really our only way up to it?" He asked wryly.

"Yeah…I\'m not the biggest fan of it, either," Sol gulped, adjusting his umber coat, making sure his sheathed spear was in its proper hold.

"Hah! Nothin\' like a good warmup! You two should be roarin\' at this chance!"

Yeong-Un, obviously, couldn\'t be more excited, jumping up as he began rapidly ascending the rope as if he were an olympian in the sport.

"Well…Guess that\'s our cue," he muttered.

Taking the second spot, he followed behind Yeong-Un, though at a much lesser rate as he preferred slow and steady, rather than risking falling as he tugged himself up its monstrous length.