[Ash's Apartment – The Bathroom] [Time: 06:00 PM]
I stood in the shower, scrubbing furiously.
The water was turning purple as it swirled down the drain. The King Slime's remains were sticky, smelling like a mix of chemical waste and grape soda.
"I will never eat jelly again," I muttered, scrubbing my hair for the fourth time.
[System: You missed a spot behind your left ear. Also, your 'Night-Weave Suit' is self-cleaning, but your skin is unfortunately not. You currently have the hygiene rating of a dumpster raccoon.]
"Thank you, System. Your support is invaluable."
I stepped out, dried off, and looked in the mirror. The bruising from the Face Sculpting was completely gone. My jawline was sharp. My eyes looked less dead inside. I looked... healthy.
It was a strange look for me.
I threw on a clean t-shirt and jeans. I grabbed the bag of apples I'd bought on the way home—real, red, crisp apples, not the bruised clearance ones.
"Hospital time," I said.
[Seoul General Hospital – Room 304] [Time: 07:00 PM]
My mother was sitting up.
She was actually sitting up. She was peeling an orange, her hands steady. The blue crystallization marks on her neck had receded to just faint, pale scars.
"Ash!" Her face lit up when I walked in. "Dr. Choi said I might be discharged on Friday!"
"That's great, Mom," I smiled, placing the bag of apples on the table. "I brought the good stuff. Fuji apples."
She looked at the apples, then at me. Her expression turned serious.
"Ash... Dr. Choi told me about the medicine. He said it was a miracle cure. He said... it must have cost a fortune."
She reached out and took my hand.
"And your face... you look different. You look stronger. Where did you get the money? You didn't... you didn't join a gang, did you?"
I squeezed her hand. I couldn't tell her I was robbing dungeons, battling robot kings, and working for a villainous mastermind.
"I got a promotion," I lied. "The Porter Union. I'm a... Senior Logistics Manager now. I manage the other porters. It pays well."
[System: 'Senior Logistics Manager'? You carry a stick and hit things. You are literally a caveman with a title.]
Mom looked skeptical, but she wanted to believe it. "Just be careful. I had that dream again. The one where you're carrying the world on your back."
"I'm fine, Mom. I have strong legs."
We talked for an hour. I watched her eat an apple. It was the best 2,000 won I ever spent.
As I left the room, Dr. Choi was waiting in the hallway. He looked nervous.
"Ash," he whispered, pulling me aside. "We have a problem."
"Is she relapsing?" I asked, my blood running cold.
"No, no. She's fine. It's... visitors."
Choi adjusted his glasses.
"Two people came by looking for 'Hana's Guardian'. One was a recruiter from the White Tiger Guild. The other..."
He glanced down the hall.
"...was a woman. Silver hair. Scary eyes. She asked if Hana had a son named Ash."
Seraphina.
My heart skipped a beat. She was tracking me. And she had connected the dots between 'Ash the Porter' and 'Jin the Physics Mage'.
"What did you tell them?"
"I told them patient records are confidential," Choi said, straightening his spine. "But the White Tiger guy left a basket of fruit. And the woman... she left this."
Choi handed me a card. It was a simple, white business card. On the back, written in elegant, icy handwriting:
> Coffee? The Blue Moon Cafe. 8 PM. Don't be late, Clumsy.
I checked my watch. 7:45 PM.
"She knows," I whispered.
[System: Of course she knows. You used the exact same 'Friction' trick on the Slimes that you used to save her from the Snake. You have a signature move. It's called 'Making things slip'.]
"I have to go," I told Choi. "Keep the door locked."
[The Blue Moon Cafe – 3 Blocks Away] [Time: 08:00 PM]
The cafe was quiet. Jazz music played softly.
In the corner booth, she sat.
Seraphina Frost.
She wasn't wearing her mage robes. She wore a stylish blue trench coat and a scarf, looking like a college student—if that college student could freeze you to death with a glare.
She was stirring a cup of iced coffee (ironic) with a straw.
I took a deep breath. I walked over and sat opposite her.
"You found me," I said.
Seraphina looked up. Her blue eyes scanned my face. She noticed the changes—the sharper jaw, the confidence.
"Ash," she said coolly. "Or should I call you Jin?"
"Ash is fine," I said. "Jin is... a work persona."
"I knew it," she leaned back, looking satisfied. "The moment I read the forum post about a 'Janitor' using gravity to make a Clockwork King slip, I knew. There aren't many people who fight like that."
She took a sip of her coffee.
"So. The 'Wasted Potential'. The F-Rank Porter. It's all a lie, isn't it? You're an S-Rank masquerading as a weakling."
"I'm not S-Rank," I said honestly. "My mana capacity is truly F-Rank. Check the Association records."
"Then how?" She leaned forward. "How did you decapitate a Centaurion? How did you deflect a mace with your head? How did you vacuum a King Slime?"
"Physics," I said. "I don't use mana to create force. I use mana to guide force. It's efficiency."
Seraphina stared at me. She was a High Mage. She understood the theory, but the application was insane.
"You're an anomaly," she concluded.
"Why did you call me here, Seraphina? To blackmail me?"
"No," she scoffed. "I owe you my life. I don't bite the hand that saved me, even if that hand belongs to a liar."
She slid a folder across the table.
"I called you here because I need help. And you're the only one crazy enough to do it."
I opened the folder.
[Target: The Frozen Spire (A-Rank)] [Location: Sector 1] [Restrictions: Ice Elementals Only]
"An A-Rank dungeon?" I raised an eyebrow. "That's suicide. I'm a C-Rank on paper."
"It's a specialized dungeon," Seraphina explained. "The monsters are made of Perma-Ice. They regenerate instantly. Fire magic doesn't work; it's too cold. Physical attacks shatter them, but they reform."
"So?"
"So," she looked me in the eye. "I need someone who can stop them from reforming. I need someone who can manipulate... Entropy."
I froze.
"How do you know I can do that?"
"I saw the Centaurion's corpse," she whispered. "The neck wasn't just cut. It was decayed. The cells had aged a thousand years in a second. That's not gravity, Ash. That's Negative Energy."
She was sharp. Terrifyingly sharp.
"If you help me clear this dungeon," she said, "I will keep your secret. I won't tell the Association about Jin. I won't tell the White Tigers. I'll cover for you."
"And the loot?"
"We split it 60/40. You get 40."
"50/50," I countered. "And you buy the coffee."
Seraphina paused. Then, a rare, small smile touched her lips.
"Deal."
[System: Quest Accepted: The Frozen Spire. Partner: The Ice Queen. Warning: A-Rank Dungeons are not a joke. If you mess up, you won't just die; you'll be a frozen statue forever.]
"One problem," I said. "I can't enter an A-Rank dungeon with a C-Rank license. The scanner will block me."
"I have a 'Guest Pass'," Seraphina revealed a golden ticket. "It allows a Party Leader to bring one 'Porter' regardless of rank. You're going as my baggage handler."
"Great," I sighed. "Back to carrying bags."
"Just bring that big hammer of yours," she stood up, wrapping her scarf tight. "We leave tomorrow at dawn. Don't be late, Janitor."
She walked out of the cafe, the bell jingling behind her.
I sat there, staring at her empty cup. The ice cubes in it hadn't melted. In fact, they had grown, freezing the leftover coffee solid.
[System: She is definitely Bipolar. Or maybe Tri-polar. But hey, A-Rank loot? That could get us to Level 20.]
My phone buzzed.
It wasn't Seraphina. It was The Chairman.
[The Chairman: I see you're making friends with the Frost Monarch's disciple. Good. She is a useful piece.]
[The Chairman: The 'Gear of Chronos' you retrieved has been decoded. It contained coordinates.]
[The Chairman: The coordinates point to the Frozen Spire. Retrieve the 'Heart of Winter' from the Boss. If Seraphina gets it first... kill her.]
I stared at the screen.
The Chairman wanted me to betray her.
"Kill her," I read the words again.
I looked at the cafe door where she had just left.
[System: Plot Twist. The Villain wants you to kill the Waifu. What will you do, Hero?]
I pocketed the phone.
"I'm not a Hero," I said, standing up. "But I'm not a murderer either."
"I'm the Administrator," I grinned, though my hands were cold. "And I think it's time to change the rules of the game."
[End of chapter 15]