Jun accepted punishment on my behalf?

The boy tried imagining a scene of Jun chained to a table; somehow, he couldn’t quite picture it.

After all, Jun always held an air of being in charge. He was Madam Lexene’s absolute right-hand man. How could she do that to him?

He thought about the previous conversation held by the other servants. One comment in particular lingered in his mind.

“Right now Jun is recovering. Honestly, I don’t know who had it worse, the boy or Jun. They’re both in very serious condition. I have a feeling that… Jun got it worse.”

It was the way that Aines suggested Jun’s state of being worse than his own. He knew just how damaged his own body was. There was no chance of him being able to move at all if not for his extreme levels of endurance.

Different memories filtered their way into his head.

“I don’t want to do this kid, truly.”

“Honestly, can you just break already? Beg for help, that’s when this ends. Just start begging.”

“You know, when I watch you, it reminds me of how I used to be, so very long ago.”

“Man, it’s the last day… This is really going to suck if this doesn’t work.”

They were all comments that Jun made during their many sessions together. He pieced everything together as a guilty feeling bubbled forth.

Jun really wasn’t the enemy. It seems like he’s forced to do this. I think, I should have swallowed my pride and anger. If I had done that, perhaps Jun would still be fine.

The boy clenched his fist and grit his teeth.

That idiot. Why did he have to go out of his way like that?

He painfully and carefully moved his arm to check its mobility.

Even if I didn’t ask him to. Is he really that type of person? How could he put himself in such a situation. It almost seems like he actually cares about me.

The boy closed his eyes and thought about his past experiences.

The number of people that genuinely cared about him could be counted with one hand, and that was only if you included the dead ones. If he were to truly count, there was a chance that only Meya cared about him, and now this man named Jun.

With his thoughts a mess, he eventually gave way to a deep sleep.

----------------------------------------

Two days passed by. On the second day, Jun finally awoke.

“Aines…”

A small voice croaked from underneath the blankets.

Aines rushed forward once he heard his name. Originally, he only entered Jun’s room for cleaning, but that changed once he realized Jun was awake.

“Are you okay? Can I do anything for you?”

Worry was painted all over Aines’ face as if he were a father welcoming his son back from war.

“Aines, relax. Get me a B grade Four Cloves Vitality Pill, and also… have the boy sleep in here. I can’t move, but I need to talk to him. Can you do that for me?”

Jun spoke slowly and softly, but still managed to detail his instructions.

“Yes, of course. Also, the boy woke up two days ago, but he’s probably still badly injured. Maybe we should let him rest instead.”

“Nah, he’ll be fine, I promise. Just get him in here… I’m… sleep again.”

With those final words, he immediately passed out.

Aines didn’t waste any time. After procuring the pill Jun requested, he then entered the boy’s room to relocate him. However, he was greatly shocked the moment he stepped into the room.

“How- How are you sitting up??”

Aines was stupefied by the boy’s level of tenacity.

“Uh, I can sit up now…”

The boy only gave this reply because he wasn’t sure how else to explain it.

In fact, he had recovered enough to sit up properly as of yesterday, although he still felt too weak to walk. Aines shook his head and refocused on his task.

“Jun is awake, he requested that you rest in the same room so that he can talk to you. Seeing as you’ve recovered a little, that will make the move a bit easier. Do you mind if I…?”

Aines stepped forward with his arms outstretched.

As embarrassing as it was for the boy to accept help, there was no other choice but to do so. He weakly reached with his arms and Aines swiftly scooped him up.

In just a minute, he found him on the other side of Jun’s bed.

Do I really have to share a bed?...

The boy realized how awkward being in the same bed with someone else could be.

He quickly pushed those thoughts aside and inspected Jun’s sleeping figure. He personified pale and sickly in every way.

For some reason, he instinctively felt as if Jun had lost a significant amount of his lifespan.

The longer he gazed at the young man’s face, the more he understood the amount of damage he suffered for his sake. While waiting for Jun to wake up, he focused on his own recovery, which progressed at an alarming rate.

Hours passed, until eventually a haggard voice broke the silence.

“You’re here.”

Jun shifted his head and looked at the boy who sat on the bed.

“I heard what you did.”

“It’s whatever. I told her that you would feel indebted to me if I did it, which would force you to listen to her.”

Jun didn’t hide anything—there was no reason to.

“Don’t you think that I won’t feel like I owe you if you tell me this?”

“Perhaps, but while some hide their motives, I have a feeling I shouldn’t with you…”

Jun’s voice lingered in the air as they both sunk into a moment of contemplation. Both of them thought about what to say, while also trying to read the other’s face.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

Jun broke standstill.

The boy simply nodded, indicating for him to continue.

“How old are you?”

“Almost 15.”

“14 years old… do you know why men are considered adults at 18?”

The boy thought about it for a moment.

What is the reason? The law? Rules of society?

It was the law, so that must be the reason; but there seemed to be something else from the way Jun asked about it.

“No?”

“When a men and women reach 18, their body will fully awaken their essence of life.”

Jun explained before continuing.

“I’m sure you noticed, but Madam Lexene is surrounded by younger men. Perhaps you can give a few guesses why…”

His voice lingered and his eyes shifted away.

“Is it for the life essence?”

The boy took a wild guess.

“Yea. I heard from a senior… and don’t tell anyone this… that Madam Lexene came to the first floor over 100 years ago.”

First floor… 100 years ago?!

The boy was flabbergasted at this.

“But she doesn’t look any older 30 years old…”

The boy mumbled.

“Heh…”

Jun chuckled before giving a wry smile.

“To the monsters on the tenth floor, 100 years is still pretty young. I’ve asked around, and we’ve made guesses ourselves, but Madam Lexene probably came down from the sixth floor.”

“Right…”

The boy responded, thinking back to when Madam Lexene pushed those heavy looking front doors wide open. Now he had an answer for her unnatural strength.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Why would she come to the first floor?”

This was the burning question in his mind now.

“It’s fairly common for people to regress to previous floors. Just depends on them for the reason. Some want an easier time. Some people progressed too quickly and found the upper floors too challenging. In her case… I don’t know, but I do know one thing.”

Jun paused a moment to catch his breath, he was still quite weak.

“What she does to us… she forcefully steals our life essence.”

Jun closed his eyes, almost as if he were inviting the boy to look him over once more.

The pale and fatigued face, the darkness over his brow. His overall vitality seemed awfully pitiful, even his heartbeat didn’t sound the same from when they first met. The boy sensed all of these things and put everything together.

“It seems you sacrificed a lot for me…”

The air was solemn. He didn’t like being in debt—no one did.

“Heh, this isn’t the first time I’ve been through this. But this is probably… probably the worst it’s ever been. She’s changed, you see…”

Jun spoke as his eyes narrowed.

“She’s changed for sure. Normally, she won’t wear us down to a thread of life. It was as if she didn’t care if I lived or died. Despite how harsh she treated us previously, she still wanted us for this reason, absorbing our life essence that is. However this time…”

Jun glanced at the boy sideways in thought.

“With your looks… hmm. Your high endurance and vitality… Kid, you really might be in trouble once you turn 18.”

“You’re saying that she’ll come for my life essence?”

“No, I’m saying that she’ll only ever go for your life essence, and only yours. Meaning, she no longer cares about the rest of us. You’re the perfect replacement for anything she ever needs. Your only saving grace is that you’re still too young.”

Jun let out a sigh.

“Do yourself a favor and never turn 18.”

The boy’s expression darkened after he heard this. Going after his life essence? Perfect replacement? Never turn 18? Everything that he heard was absolutely ridiculous.

“Well, what can I do?”

“Haha… What you can do is not sign the contract. Remember that advice?”

Jun chuckled, but unfortunately, the milk was already spilled.

The boy shook his head and turned away deep in thought.

“There’s two things we can try. The first is that we can try to escape…”

Jun spoke in a lower voice.

“How would we escape? Aren’t our souls bound to the contract?”

“Escaping is indeed difficult because of the soul contract. The soul contract is supposedly monitored by the tower itself. It is attached to your soul crystal. Ideally she would terminate the contract, or transfer ownership to someone more… palatable.”

“Well she probably won’t do that…”

The boy frowned regretfully.

“Exactly, which leaves us with our other option. The contracts expire at the age of 23, remember?”

Jun eyed the boy with a smile.

“Right, but how does that help me?”

“It won’t help you yet, but it will one day. Madam Lexene keeps a very close eye on age. When you’re about a month away from 23, she’ll take you away… who knows what will happen to you. Speaking from experience, I’ve never seen any of my seniors again.”

Jun gazed at the ceiling. One could only assume the worst happened to his seniors, which meant that this was a normal process for Madam Lexene.

“So you’re saying she kills them before the contract runs out?”

“Probably, yea.”

Jun replied without hesitation.

“So if we can’t survive the contract period, what’s the point of waiting until 23?”

“Hmm… what if you did survive until 23?”

“You could just walk away then, right?”

“Exactly.”

“…But, we can’t survive.”

The boy reiterated the crux of the problem.

“About two months before the contract ends, what if you ran away and went into hiding?”

Jun flashed his charismatic smile.

The boy’s eyes lit up as an idea instantly took shape.

“You’re saying, hide before she comes to finish you off. Then wait out the contract. But she can inflict pain…”

The boy mumbled. He still vividly remembered his first experience when dealing with the contract’s power.

“Right... the pain. This is why I think only you could really do this method. If it was anyone else, they might be driven insane by the pain and turn themselves in freely to stop it. However, if it’s you. I think you could make it.”

Jun truly meant it as this was the only method that he could think in the pursuit of freedom.

However, he knew deep down that this newcomer would realistically have a chance of accomplishing this task. As soon as Madam Lexene found out that a servant is hiding, she would without a doubt send a constant current of torment through the soul contract.

“Even if I could resist the pain… can’t she detect us using the soul contract?”

The boy remembered the moment he signed the contract, the invisible connection, or tether, to Madam Lexene. He knew that she could sense that connection at any given time.

“That is correct, however, there is a grade A medicine pill that can conceal your soul fluctuations for three months, the Soul Enshrouding pill. I’ve already acquired two of those pills with some help, but it’ll be difficult to acquire more until I’m free.”

“Jun, how old are you?”

“Almost 22…”

It was easy to see that knew his time would be up soon. It even seemed like he was mentally prepared for it as well.

He must have thought about this a lot recently.

“Then…”

“Yes, I intend to try. A year from now, I will run away from this place. I must succeed. I have someone waiting for me, you know?”

Jun grinned wildly.

“Family?”

He was completely unaware that this was the first time Jun had ever opened up to any of the other servants.

“Something like that. A beautiful woman is waiting for me. We’re counting down the days till my freedom. As soon as my contract ends, we’ll run away from this place and never look back.”

Jun spoke about his plans as if they were guaranteed, it was the only thing he could do to maintain his confidence.

“Jun, I don’t really understand. How did she convince you to sign the contract?”

This issue had been plaguing the boy for a while now.

“…My father and mother... My father was a powerful man. No, my father is still a powerful man on the fifth floor. One day my mother fell out of favor with him. He found a new wife and started a new family. He abandoned us. Myself, my mother, and my younger brother.”

Jun looked into the air as he recalled his memories.

“My mother died from overworking herself. I was a bit older than you, taking care of my younger brother. He’d probably be close to your age now if he were alive.”

“He died?”

“Yes. After my mom died, we tried to get by. My younger brother grew sick, some birth disease. The only way to cure it was with a grade A pill called Starlight Dew Remedy. When Madam Lexene came across me, I was begging people for help outside a high-class auction house.”

“I signed the contract on the condition that she gave him the medicine. She stayed true to her word, and his birth disease was cured. At the time, I didn’t care what happened to me, as long as my younger brother could live a good life… I found out later that he died alone in the wilderness.”

Jun scowled with a vicious glint.

“In an effort to make money, or perhaps to gain strength, he began venturing with a group of people in the mountain range. His companions abandoned him to a beast in order to escape. They abandoned him because he was the weakest in the group."

Jun went silent after saying this.

“Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. If I went back in time, I would have still made the same decision. I still appreciate Madam Lexene’s generosity. Most of us servants weren’t coerced into this the same way as you. Most of us have something to be thankful for, some more than others. Just remember that.”

“If you want to try your plan… I’m in. I will try to help you. Just let me know what to do.”

The boy looked at Jun in earnest.

“You’re a good kid. We should get some sleep. Oh, one last thing. Don’t ever give yourself to her. Never break in, never let her have her way with your body. Don’t ever let her steal your life essence. It’s not hers, it’s not in the contract, it’s yours. Got it? This is probably my biggest regret…”

Jun warned him before finally dozing off, leaving the boy with a head full of thoughts and emotions. Eventually, sleep overtook the boy as well, which allowed his body to heal at a more rapid pace.

----------------------------------------

The next morning the boy awoke to a playful laughter.

It sounded like a few individuals were having a good time down the hall. Curious, he decided to get out of bed, and just like that, his body listened to his commands.

In less than a week, the boy restored enough strength to move about.

His hidden injuries didn’t bother him anymore, if anything, he was more disgusted for being so unclean. He secretly lamented how he lived before experiencing life in the hotel.

Constantly dirty, never caring about his clothing, and never worrying about where he slept.

His current standards were a night and day difference from the past. Naturally, he never forgot what it was like to sleep on hard stone, or to wash himself in a public pond. He knew that if life really took a turn for the worse, he wouldn’t mind living as he once did.

He unsteadily made his way out of the room and followed the sound of laughter. The hallway was lengthy, and he used the wall for support all the way until he reached the main room.

“I can’t believe you did that!”

“Ahhha, I was sweating like crazy. I stood there praying that she wouldn’t check underneath the sack of frost wheat. Who could possibly have predicted that I would need to reorganize the entire storeroom. That’s always been Jun’s job!”

“So what did you do after-“

The voice went silent as it stared at the entrance of the main room.

Multiple pairs of eyes followed his gaze, where they found a young boy leaning against the wall for support.

“Holy hell… How are you awake right now?”

One of the men exclaimed in surprise. Everyone expected the newest recruit to be bedridden for another couple of weeks.

“He’s actually been awake for a few days now…”

Aines said offhandedly.

“A-a-a few days?!”

A small commotion rippled within the crowd of servants.

One of the older servants made his way towards the boy and introduced himself.

“Hello there, I’m Sonne. It seems you’ve already met Aines. Everyone come introduce yourself!”

Sonne called backwards to the group. They rushed forward, lining up in a practiced fashion.

“We have here, from the youngest to the oldest, Clence, Tianli, Myself, and Aines. Marcel, the actual youngest, is currently with Madam Lexene on a business trip. And Jun, the oldest, is… resting.”

After Sonne introduced each servant, they broke formation.

“You look really young, how old are you?”

Clence asked the boy with a smile.

“Almost 15…”

“Whoa… really is young.”

Clence looked at Aines.

“Aines, she wouldn’t… you know, because he’s too young, right?”

Aines shook his head.

“I’ve never heard of her doing such a thing. He should be safe, at least until 18.”

“So what’s your name?”

Tianli asked this time.

The boy stared at Tianli for a moment in thought.

“My name…”

He faltered after dredging up old memories of his parents.

It was a time of heartache, when his father lost his eyesight due to the illness. That was the last day he ever heard anyone call out his name. As he was about to reply, he closed his mouth and looked towards the floor.

Everyone present was able to see the clear pain in his eyes.

There was an unspoken agreement amongst the servants to never bring up painful memories, mostly because each of them had their own experiences that they wished to forget.

“Ah don’t worry about it, really.”

Tianli waved it off nervously.

“You can call me Little X.”

He gave them a breathtaking smile.

At first he didn’t care for this nickname, but now it was the only thing that reminded him of Meya. He felt fortunate to have known her as that was probably the best time in his life so far. Training in the mountain range was also pretty fun until the end, but in general it was also very nerve wracking.

“So it’s Little X?”

Tianli was about to clamp his down on his shoulder as a friendly gesture, but Sonne swiftly caught his arm.

“Easy there, he’s still injured.”

“Oh oops!”

Tianli retracted his hand back in embarrassment.

“Tianli here often has an unnoticeable presence. Despite how diligently he works, he tends to be overlooked.”

Sonne ruffled Tianli’s hair as he explained, causing the latter to take a shy step back. Next to Tianli, Clence eyed the new servant and raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t look injured… I heard it was awfully bad. Are you okay? Should you really be walking about?”

Clence asked what was on everyone’s mind. How was this kid walking around right now?

“It’s nothing, I could maybe go through worse and be okay.”

The boy waved off his injuries as if they were nothing and a new wave of shock spread about the servants.

“Incredible…”

“Truly, if I had his endurance it’d be a blessing.”

“Alright, alright, get back to work guys.”

Aines broke up the group, at the same time he eyed the boy intrigued.

The boy wasn’t lying. Although the pain was very real and the wounds were also pretty bad, it wasn’t his limit. If given enough time to restore, he knew he could definitely come back from worse.

He clenched and unclenched his fist secretly.

That’s not all… I think my body somehow became stronger.

Was it possible? Did all of that pain and torment awaken something deep inside? Or was his body just adapting?

Whatever it was, he couldn’t be sure, but he did know that his upper limit increased substantially.

“How about I show you around? Eventually you would also help in keeping the place tidy. Normally Madam Lexene passes down instructions for each servant through Jun. But… you know. Jun can’t really function right now, and she’s not here. So you’ll have a couple weeks of freedom.”

Aines extended his hand out to help, but the boy declined.

“Perhaps if you could show me the bath… otherwise, I want to move about on my own if it’s okay. It helps me recover.”

He took a few unsteady steps forward and gently pushed off the wall, standing without support.

“If you say so… Right, what did Jun talk to you about?”

Aines nonchalantly asked.

“He… He was just explaining about how tough everyone has it.”

Aines nodded to his reply.

Originally, the boy was going to tell Aines more information, but then he realized something.

Who can I really trust?

Jun’s words still rang in his mind, that each of these servants might still feel gratitude towards Madam Lexene, at least to some degree.

Which servants were truly on his side, and which ones were on Madam Lexene’s side?