PGCT 04

chapter 04

Became the Lord (3)

Could the most popular character in the game actually be the mastermind behind everything?

Surprisingly, yes.

Because Jehar wasn’t just an ordinary villain with hidden motives—he was a tragic mastermind.

His true identity was a transcendent being who had created the Tower together with the First Lord.

He had been the First Lord’s partner, closest friend… perhaps even something more.

So why had Jehar nailed the previous lord to a monument?

‘Because the previous lord was a fake.’

As the First Lord repeatedly reincarnated through homunculus bodies, his soul slowly began to break apart.

Eventually, it reached a point where it could no longer endure.

To recover even a little, the First Lord decided to temporarily seal away his soul.

To hide that truth and fill the empty position, they created the previous lord.

A homunculus that possessed neither the First Lord’s memories nor soul—just a convincing imitation on the outside.

A fake designed to be replaceable at any time.

‘One classic dark fantasy trope: the moment someone gets called a fake or a substitute, they immediately become obsessed with becoming the real thing.’

The previous lord was no exception.

The homunculus who wanted to become the “real” one shattered the sealed soul of the First Lord into pieces.

And even that wasn’t enough.

He tried to absorb the fragmented soul’s power into the Tower and seize the position of administrator for himself.

But just before the ritual was completed, Jehar discovered him.

And in the end, the enraged Jehar killed him.

Having lost half his sanity, Jehar didn’t stop there.

He gathered every last bit of power used in maintaining the Tower’s seals and cast a grand spell to revive the First Lord.

‘And that’s how the protagonist… the new Lord… was born.’

Of course, the new Lord couldn’t truly be called “real” either.

She was merely another fake with only the largest fragment of the First Lord’s soul embedded within her.

A transcendent being who released the Tower’s seal and became one of the causes of the world’s destruction just to create that incomplete existence.

A mad mastermind.

But also a victim.

The most trustworthy ally—

and the most dangerous ally.

That was the character named Jehar.

A perfect collection of every trait that makes a character wildly popular.

And for that very reason…

‘He’s the biggest obstacle in the early game.’

Early-game Jehar was completely unstable mentally, so if you picked even one wrong dialogue option, he would immediately scream, “My Lord would never do such a thing!” and trigger a bad ending.

So what would happen if he learned that she wasn’t actually a fragment of the First Lord’s soul at all—

but just a half-unemployed Korean gamer?

‘What else? I’d die.’

She forced herself to stay calm.

“I’m tired.”

She carefully slipped her hand free before Jehar could notice it trembling.

“Unless it’s urgent, we’ll discuss it tomorrow. I wish to rest.”

“…As you wish. You only just awakened, so you must still be confused and exhausted.”

Even though she had blatantly changed the subject, Jehar remained perfectly respectful.

Stepping back, he explained how to pull the servant bell if she needed anything before finally leaving the room.

Only long after the heavy oak door closed did she collapse face-first onto the bed with a gasp.

‘Whew… avoided one bad-ending route.’

If she had responded to unstable Jehar’s “Trust only me” with something like “Okay! I’ll trust only you no matter what!” just to raise affection points—

she would’ve gone straight into the mastermind’s imprisonment-and-isolation ending.

What good was a great character when handling him was this difficult?

Damn dark fantasy.

Not a single easy bastard in sight.

‘Alright. Let’s organize this.’

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she calmly reviewed her current situation.

First: she had reincarnated as the protagonist of the game The Darkness Tower—the Lord.

Second: the character she had created was trash-tier.

Third: if she failed to clear the Tower even with that trash-tier character, the world would end.

‘Yeah… there’s really no hope here.’

Clearing the Tower on hardcore difficulty with a Mind Sorcerer?

Honestly speaking, it was almost impossibly difficult.

To conquer the Tower, you needed to gather as many companion characters as possible.

That was the only way to maintain a stable raid party and deal with unexpected disasters.

But a Mind Sorcerer couldn’t do that.

Because mental magic was the kind of magic that made your companions disappear after you used it.

Then why not simply avoid using mental magic?

Because Sorcerers were a type of psychic and couldn’t learn any other magic.

Mind control was their entire toolkit.

‘There is the method I used in-game—brainwashing all my companions or filling the party with homunculi…’

But that build was far too unstable.

If even one companion got hit with a dispel spell, the entire party would instantly collapse.

And if she traveled around with only homunculi, her reputation would plummet, causing rebellions and outside interference that would derail the entire strategy.

This wasn’t a game where she could just save and reload anymore.

She couldn’t afford to run such an unstable build.

‘Still, giving up on clearing the Tower isn’t even an option.’

Fail the Tower seal and die before going to hell.

Get sacrificed to an evil god.

Become a brain floating in a jar.

In this game, those were considered the “mild” bad endings.

She had to try absolutely everything possible.

No—she would.

Companions?

If she scraped together every possible option somehow, it could work.

Dark Tower had an enormous roster of recruitable characters.

Rare though they were, some characters barely reacted to mental magic—or simply didn’t care.

They were usually criminals, lunatics, or people with stories so catastrophic they made masterminds look normal, so handling them would be difficult in many ways…

but they existed.

So she would recruit everyone except the ones who led directly to bad endings.

Gold farming that she used to avoid because it was tedious?

She’d do it.

Glitches—wall clipping, map breaking, every nonfatal exploit useful for speedruns?

She’d use them too.

Strategies she had only theorized about because of system limitations?

She’d attempt all of them.

There was no time to hesitate.

Survival came first.

Having steeled her resolve, she raised her head.

The glass window across from the bed reflected her appearance like a mirror against the darkness outside.

An overwhelmingly beautiful woman stared back at her.

She still couldn’t get used to it, but she looked straight at the face that now belonged to her.

And silently made a vow.

From now on, I am Camellia.

Camellia Lord, ruler of the cursed city Nidstar.

I will survive… and reach a proper ending no matter what.

The next morning arrived.

After barely bothering with her appearance, Camellia headed straight for the office.

As expected, the knight commander Lohengrin and the steward Jehar were already waiting for her.

A silver-haired knight who looked like the embodiment of integrity.

A black-haired mage who seemed like seduction personified.

Even the gloomy office felt brighter with the two of them standing there—

but Camellia didn’t look at either of them.

Both Lohengrin and Jehar were mandatory characters.

She couldn’t afford to lose either one.

‘If I accidentally raise affection too much and they start stabbing each other, the Tower run is doomed on the spot.’

Only loyalty.

She would aim only for loyalty!

Firming her resolve, she walked toward the massive window covering one side of the office.

The first thing she saw was the Tower standing at the center of the territory.

It was already wrapped in a crimson hemispherical barrier, and lightning crashed down around it nonstop.

One glance was enough to tell it was far from normal.

It was a scene she had seen countless times in the game, but witnessing it in reality carried terrifying intensity.

As her gaze remained fixed on the Tower, Jehar carefully spoke, apparently interpreting her silence.

“Yesterday, your condition was poor, so I was unable to report it properly, but the state of the Tower is more critical than expected.”

Then he explained.

The seal on the first floor had been damaged, causing monsters to pour out endlessly.

They had deployed a defensive barrier, but even if they held out as long as possible, it would only last two days.

Before then, they needed to find a solution.

“There is no need to worry. Just as you have returned, the Tower will soon return to normal as well. We only need to reactivate the sealing formation inside.”

Jehar was right.

If the sealing formation was reactivated, the monsters would stop pouring out, and the ancient evil sealed within would remain contained.

The problem was that only the “Lord” could control the seal.

Which meant she would have to personally handle the whole thing.

Ninety-nine times.

‘This game seriously sucks.’

Just thinking about it made her dizzy, but it had to be done regardless.

So she calmly asked,

“What about the citizens?”

Jehar answered immediately.

As soon as they confirmed monsters were emerging, they deployed the barrier, minimizing casualties.

“Even so, we evacuated everyone to shelters just in case and stationed guards near the barrier to prepare for emergencies.”

“And the adventurers?”

No matter what ancient evil was sealed inside, the “Tower” was still a dungeon.

An unconquered dungeon that had stood unmoving for over a thousand years.

Adventurers seeking wealth and fame constantly flowed into the territory, and the city itself survived because of them.

For the city’s operation, adventurers were just as important as the citizens.

Unlike when speaking about the civilians, Jehar’s voice darkened slightly.

“…The situation is not favorable. Because the barrier was deployed so suddenly, most of the adventurers inside the Tower were unable to escape.”

She already knew that, so it wasn’t surprising.

“What about the remaining adventurers?”

“Many fail to understand the situation. The complaints from the Adventurers’ Guild Master and several renowned adventurers are especially severe…”

Apparently deciding Jehar’s explanation was insufficient, Lohengrin suddenly interrupted.

“They understand the situation perfectly well. They are frustrated because merely holding the line with barriers solves nothing.”

“Sir Eshen.”

Jehar called his name as though warning him not to speak unnecessarily.

Lohengrin ignored him.

“My Lord, monsters are literally flooding out. The seal must be repaired as soon as possible. If possible, immediately.”

Jehar glared at him.

“My Lord has not yet fully recovered. What if something happens because we rush recklessly?”

“And will waiting two more days improve the situation? Monsters are still appearing even now.”

“That is precisely why we must proceed carefully. We don’t even know the condition inside the Tower yet. I oppose sending my Lord.”

‘Wow. They really fight well.’

This level of argument wasn’t surprising at all.

Dark Tower was packed with characters so strong-willed that even extroverts would feel drained around them.

The companions constantly fought with one another, and they frequently forced the protagonist into “Is it them or me?” situations.

If things escalated too far, one side would kill the other and abandon the party.

Or stab the protagonist while screaming,

“This is all your fault, Lord!”

The solution to preventing such insanity was surprisingly simple.

Strike first.

Become the craziest person in the room.

How dare they raise their voices without permission?

Did they want to see their Lord go insane?

“Enough.”

Camellia mercilessly activated Domination.

The result was an overwhelming success.

Both Jehar and Lohengrin instantly fell silent as though they had never raised their voices at all.

Keeping her gaze fixed outside the window, she continued.

‘I don’t take advice from people worse at the game than me. I know Tower strategies better than anyone.’

“You speak far too freely for people who were never granted permission to voice opinions. How insolent.”

Highest number of hardcore clears in Korea.

World record holder for hardcore speedruns.

First player in the world to clear hardcore solo.

A veteran among veterans.

That is who I am.

Thank you, Immortal Charm, for perfectly translating gamer nonsense into noble speech.

After silently thanking her trait, Camellia turned toward the two men and declared:

‘I’ll carry you all, so just trust me and follow along.’

“There is nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. You need only follow me.”

‘Or I won’t let you join the party.’

“Do you understand?”

[The loyalty of Lohengrin Eshen has increased.]

[The loyalty of Jehar al Rashid has increased.]

Good.

That’s more like it.