Why Did I Have to Enroll

"I decided to call it the Ghost Shadow Art."

Ban Yu-won muttered as he walked lightly under the dark night sky where not even the moon was visible.

The black shadow rippling beneath his feet contained an eerie magic power.

Like a monster itself, with sharp claws hidden within a presence that seemed both there and not there.

"There's no leopard or weasel? It's not even an animal at all."

Dokgo Yeon responded dismissively after reading the essence of martial arts from the qi he was emitting.

Ban Yu-won merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

"When I was organizing the mental imagery, I kept the stealth of shadows and the ferocity of beasts while removing everything unnecessary, and only this strange monster remained."

The newly created martial arts concept, Ghost Shadow Art, had a depth of 100, calculated by combining the depths of Shadow Step (38) and Assassination (65) minus 3.

However, the depth of the martial art system itself that encompassed it had jumped from around 420 to 500, and since Ghost Shadow Art was a higher-level concept like Mysterious Body Technique, it had become too powerful to be fairly compared with concepts like Shadow Step or Assassination.

'Of course, it's not perfect yet, but conversely, that means there's room for development.'

Ghost Shadow Art was just the beginning.

Having understood the flow of internal energy (Mysterious Qi) and the harmony of forms (Body), Ban Yu-won harbored an ambitious dream of creating his own martial art based on Mysterious Body Technique, as Dokgo Yeon had previously suggested.

He had gained some confidence while creating Ghost Shadow Art.

Of course, he didn't delude himself into thinking he had exceptional talent for creating martial arts.

'This was only possible because I built the foundation with Mysterious Body Technique. It's because I gained insight into inner force and physical body through Mysterious Body Technique that I could attempt something this bold.'

Although he had gotten many sources from various places, like Dokgo Yeon's guard's secret martial arts and the shadow weasel concept, Ghost Shadow Art was essentially born from the foundation of Mysterious Body Technique.

Mysterious Body Technique was truly like an Eevee of martial arts, capable of developing in unique ways depending on the practitioner's growth direction.

Ban Yu-won slightly suspected that even that... chilling martial art of Dokgo Yeon's that emitted the energy of death might be based on Mysterious Body Technique.

"Dokgo Yeon, I have something serious I want to ask..."

"Shh. We've reached the city wall."

Just as Ban Yu-won was about to ask her, unable to contain his curiosity, Dokgo Yeon coldly cut off his words.

Her entire body had already become invisible, concealed in darkness.

Resolving to ask later, Ban Yu-won also began employing Ghost Shadow Art in earnest.

The sensation was like sinking into shadows.

He had transformed into a shadow monster, hiding in darkness and targeting its prey's nape.

―Indeed impressive. I'd like to teach this to my guard.

―Sorry, but I'd rather avoid meeting that person if possible.

After all, wouldn't they try to tear Ban Yu-won apart on sight for not only learning their secret martial arts without permission but also modifying it to his taste? ᚱÂΝο฿Êȿ

Dokgo Yeon smiled slightly at Ban Yu-won's serious expression and turned her gaze away.

―But there's... no one standing guard? What was with all that strict security during the day?

―Hey, there really is no one.

Ban Yu-won followed Dokgo Yeon in scanning the city wall, dumbfounded.

There should have been at least two guards on duty, but all was quiet.

The two jumped over the city wall and entered the city without hesitation.

Like the wall, the city interior was also extremely quiet.

―We did wait until late night to move... but still, not even patrols?

―Could it be magic?

―If our enemy can cast such large-scale spells, they won't be easy to deal with.

The two people ventured deeper into the city while conversing through sound transmission (not language magic - he naturally became capable of sound transmission while creating Ghost Shadow Art).

The city was an even mix of stone and wooden buildings, and the architectural structure gave some hint about the time period.

Using Earth as a reference, it seemed like Europe from 500-600 years ago.

'Perhaps they transported the appearance of some other dimension with this level of civilization here?'

As Ban Yu-won's thoughts continued, Dokgo Yeon, who sensed something unusual, sent him a sound transmission.

―Something has started moving stealthily.

―Isn't that just us... ow!

Despite him using Ghost Shadow Art, Dokgo Yeon somehow found Ban Yu-won's forehead and flicked it before leading him up onto a nearby building's roof.

―Look.

―Wow, that's really suspicious.

A hooded figure was crossing the alley with quick steps.

Though they kept looking around warily, they apparently weren't skilled enough to detect Dokgo Yeon and Ban Yu-won.

This seemed to disprove Dokgo Yeon's 'Room 23 Monster Group Theory.'

"Lord, please help me find the culprit today..."

The voice that drifted from under the hood reached Ban Yu-won's ears on the night wind.

It was the voice of a young man, neither an angel nor a girl.

―A culprit? Are they looking for the perpetrator of some incident in the city? At this hour?

―Let's watch a bit more.

The man who had been moving cautiously eventually stopped in front of a fairly large stone building.

As the two watched, he knelt on the ground and raised his clasped hands in prayer.

"Lord, please answer me."

A small voice that seemed to be sobbing.

Ban Yu-won guessed it was a magic incantation.

"Is the murderer inside here?"

'...Huh?'

Ban Yu-won's eyes widened at that moment.

But regardless of what he might have thought, the magic successfully manifested.

A pure white cross appeared in the air, pierced into the building, then dissipated and vanished.

The man despaired at the sight.

"Ah, to fail to find them again...!"

"..."

The man rose from his spot in despair.

It seemed he had little magic power left, as he was panting heavily while heading back into the alley he came from.

Ban Yu-won watched his lonely retreating figure with an infinitely bitter expression.

―What's wrong, Ban Yu-won?

―This reminds me of a game I know. But I'm not certain yet. Let's wait a moment.

―A game... amusement? In this situation?

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait thousands of years.

After just a few minutes, they could sense something moving within the city.

A very rough and ferocious, uncontrolled energy.

A group that reeked of blood was prowling through the city.

―Shall we go?

―Yes.

Just as Dokgo Yeon and Ban Yu-won exchanged sound transmissions and were about to leap forward.

A new rule of the Trick Room appeared before their eyes as if it had been waiting.

―Those who have not contracted with a constellation cannot act within the city at night.

"Ugh?!"

"...!"

As their vision became hazy, a terrible force flung them high into the sky.

Dokgo Yeon maintained her balance in mid-air while Ban Yu-won quickly summoned Release to mount it, but they couldn't re-enter the city.

"We're completely blocked. ...I sense a vulgar energy similar to constellation authority."

Dokgo Yeon clicked her tongue after tapping the invisible barrier blocking their path several times.

The barrier perfectly enclosed the entire small city in a hemisphere shape, leaving no gaps to exploit, and a hazy fog had risen making it impossible to see inside the city.

"I guess sneaking in at night was against the rules. I thought it would be fine..."

Ban Yu-won sighed as he responded.

Perhaps they had managed to avoid being expelled for several minutes because their infiltration skills were too high to be detected?

But when a real 'change' occurred in the city and they rushed to pursue it, that's when they were caught.

"Sorry, it's my fault. If I had let you go alone, you could have gathered enough information."

"Ban Yu-won, don't talk nonsense. I allowed you to accompany me because I considered your stealth abilities no less than my own. So both our abilities were lacking. Hm!"

Though Dokgo Yeon spoke firmly, she tapped the barrier a few more times before landing on the ground with a faint sigh.

Ban Yu-won guided Release to land beside her and said,

"Well, thanks for saying that."

"I wasn't being considerate of your feelings, so don't worry about it."

Dokgo Yeon's cross-shaped pupils flashed as she looked back at the small city shrouded in fog.

"Let's try again head-on when dawn breaks. At least we learned one more trick."

"They mentioned constellations."

Ban Yu-won's eyes lit up as he picked up on Dokgo Yeon's words.

Dokgo Yeon nodded and continued.

"Those who haven't contracted with a constellation cannot act at night. This isn't demanding climbers to contract with constellations..."

"It's a hint that those moving at night are connected to constellations."

The city's citizens who reject outsiders, the city that falls into unnatural silence as soon as night falls.

And those who move secretly in the sleeping city.

Room 23's theme wasn't just a simple trick, but rather testing how climbers deal with spaces where constellation authority is in effect.

Ban Yu-won couldn't help but smile bitterly.

'As expected, the Tower and constellations have a mutually beneficial relationship. Not surprising at all.'

He had thought about this while experiencing various constellation-related phenomena in the Tower, including sanctification.

That not only do constellations use the Tower, but the Tower might also be using the constellations.

Sure enough, now that they've reached Room 23, they've learned that the Tower openly uses constellations to test climbers.

But apart from such insights, he had realized something about what was happening in Room 23.

'The city's atmosphere is completely different between day and night. While ordinary citizens can't move around, only certain people can... there's someone with special means to find killers. And killers move in groups.'

"Wait, isn't this exactly like a Mafia (Werewolf) game?!"

"There you go with that amusement talk again. Tell me more about it."

"Well..."

Ban Yu-won briefly explained the werewolf game he knew to Dokgo Yeon.

Night is the time for killers (constellation contractors), when they run wild and pounce on citizens to create innocent victims before slinking back into darkness, playing innocent.

When day breaks and citizens wake up, they only know that new victims have appeared, but they can't tell who the killers are.

Yet they must find and hang the killers.

Before all the city's citizens fall victim to the killers.

"Of course, there are also ability users (other constellation contractors) who oppose the killers, but as we saw in the city earlier..."

"It was an absurdly weak ability that could only detect whether a killer was present in an arbitrarily designated space."

"Right. If they could find and eliminate killers quickly, it would be too advantageous for the citizens' side. It's a well-balanced game in many ways."

Ban Yu-won smiled faintly as he recalled playing the mafia game with friends during his high school field trip.

As often mentioned, Ban Yu-won's way with words was beyond what ordinary people could match, so whichever team he was on would always win when playing mafia.

It happened so often that eventually, whether mafia or citizen, killing Ban Yu-won first became an unwritten rule when starting the game!

'Still makes my blood boil thinking about it. Those bastards are dead when I get back to Earth.'

Dokgo Yeon made a slightly disgusted expression seeing his smile tinged with murderous intent.

"To think such amusements exist, your world... gets more chilling the more I learn about it. I thought you hadn't killed anyone before coming here, but I'm a bit surprised."

"Are you crazy."

Don't look at me like I'm some death game survivor!

"It's a game, just a game. We're not actually committing murder, just gathering people to enjoy role-playing scenarios under certain rules."

"That's even stranger. But anyway... so you're saying tomorrow we need to enter the city, side with the citizens, and find and kill the murderers?"

"That's right."

Ban Yu-won nodded while thinking to himself.

'I could probably solve this immediately with my authority.'

―That's what I was saying.

Selon spoke with a sulky tone after reading his thoughts.

―Besides, you can start recognizing constellation contractors now, right?

'Probably, as long as their abilities aren't significantly greater than mine.'

Ban Yu-won's fundamental understanding of constellations had deepened after receiving sponsorship from two constellations.

Above all, didn't he possess 5 constellation marks?

Unless the opponent was as powerful as Dokgo Yeon, it wouldn't be difficult to recognize the marks they carried within.

Even if the All-Reading Eyes's good and evil distinction was somewhat ambiguous, he could perfectly identify the killer group by finding those carrying constellation marks and cross-referencing!

"Hmm..."

But hearing this, Dokgo Yeon made a contemplative expression before...

"...No."

She glanced at Ban Yu-won's composed face and spoke as if making a resolution.

"You could probably end this instantly with your abilities. But that way, the other party members won't develop their crisis management skills. We can't just rely on you one-sidedly."

"But if we finish quickly and cleanly, we could taste the Fruit of Eden in Room 30 too."

"...Still, let's try. Once should be fine."

"Alright, I understand."

For about 5 seconds.

For the sake of her honor, they decided to pretend not to notice how Dokgo Yeon seemed to be in serious inner conflict, wearing an expression of great shock at the possibility of not being able to eat the Fruit of Eden.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!