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“Even the smallest light casts the longest shadow.”

Rachel spun, her eyes wide with something between fear and fury. For a moment, she looked like a cornered animal. Then, her expression softened into something crueler—a mask of pity.

“You’re a Bottom-Feeder,” she said. It wasn’t a question. “You can’t even see the light, can you?”

She turned back to the gate. “You want a story, little rat? Fine. There’s a boy on the 2nd Floor right now, taking the same tests as me. He’s kind. Too kind. He thinks climbing the Tower is about friendship. He doesn’t know that the Tower eats kindness for breakfast.”

She walked away, disappearing into the maze of rusted pipes and flickering lights. Ren stayed, his heart pounding. He realized then that he wasn’t a character in this story. He was a footnote. A single pixel in the 1080p resolution of a world he’d never truly see.

The Outer Tower, Floor 2 (Evankhell’s Hell, before the Crown Game)

But Ren had a secret: he could see the Shinsu.

“I was there. At the beginning of the end.”

“I see Shinsu,” Ren said, defiant.