The opponent’s eyes twitched.
It seemed like the word "report" had hit a nerve.

The movement was swift.

Whoosh—!

The opponent extended his right arm.
A single-edged blade shot out from his cybernetic forearm.

He swung the blade at me.
The blade came at my neck with a menacing sound.

He was quite fast for a human, but he couldn’t match me.
My agility stat surpassed that of a human.

He stared at me with shocked eyes.

“…You’re not Earthling, are you?”
“I am Earthling.”

In moments like this, telling the truth was more effective.

‘After all, he won’t believe me anyway.’

An Earthling pretending to be a martial artist.
An unknown race pretending to be Earthling.

He judged me as the latter.
Even if I pleaded that I was Earthling, he would never believe it.

I smiled, remaining calm, and asked.

“Are you a thief?”
“Heh heh. I’m not a thief. I’m a cop. More precisely, I’m a player who chose the police faction.”

He was a cop.
But why did he suggest I choose the thief faction?

The question didn’t last long.

The corners of his mouth twitched.
I realized there was malice behind his suggestion.

‘As expected, you can’t trust players.’

He knew better than anyone how to backstab a rookie.

“You were trying to sell me out?”
“Sometimes, it’s quicker to experience it yourself.”

Thanks to his blunt behavior, I could resolve my confusion.
It was possible to ‘report’ a suspicious player suspected of being a thief to the police.

“So, what’s next?”
“…I’ll kill you!”

He flipped the table.
The overturned table came crashing toward me.

For a moment, I couldn’t see him.
He had vanished from my sight.

A cheap trick.
In the face of overwhelming speed, such tactics were meaningless.

I shoved the table aside and faced him.
He looked at me with wide eyes.

Slap—!

I slapped him across the face.
He crashed to the floor.

I didn’t use a heavy strike.

‘Just in case.’

I could end up in big trouble if I killed him by accident.
The police were patrolling this floor, so I needed to be cautious.

“Ugh…”

His nose was broken.
It seemed like he had hit the floor hard.

He wiped his nosebleed and composed himself.
His breath was a little ragged.

He was starting to get really tense.

“I can hear your eyeballs rolling from here.”

It seemed like he was looking for an escape route.

“I’m not going to kill you.”
“…What?”
“I still don’t know enough.”

I gestured to him.
It was a signal to sit quietly.

“I have a question for you. If you answer honestly, I might forgive your rudeness this time. What do you think?”
“……”

His cheek trembled.
There was hesitation in his eyes.

He made his decision.
He sat down in the chair.

“Fine. You’re slower than me anyway. The chances of escaping from this small room safely… Well, honestly, it’s pretty low, right?”
“What, what do you want to know? I’ll answer as best as I can…”
“What would a new player want to know, huh?”

He started explaining.
He told me everything I needed to know, in great detail.

“You should have told me earlier that the police can’t just ‘arrest’ thieves at will. Why hide that?”
“……”

The police have the power to ‘arrest.’
But they can’t just use it freely.

A thief can only be arrested after failing the main mission three times.

What he was planning to do was to get the thief’s personal information beforehand and ‘report’ it to the police station.
Then, he could receive a reward.

“So, if you don’t fail the mission, the thief doesn’t get arrested?”
“Yes, yes! That’s right. That’s why skilled players often choose the thief faction.”

At first, he was subtly lying.
He had no shame.

So, to make him speak only the truth, I used a bit of violence.
After a few punches, his face became a mess.

Once he was covered in blood, the truth started flowing from his mouth.

‘I’ll cross-check it later.’

There would definitely be others who approach in a similar way.

“Are—are you going to let me live?”
“No.”

He was the one who threw the first punch.
He thought he could beat me and rushed at me with his blade.

That was a sign of disrespect.
I couldn’t stand it.

Though I didn’t feel the uncontrollable anger like before, I didn’t want to forgive him.

“If you kill a cop, it’ll be a big problem.”
“I just chose my faction. Do you think that’s a threat?”
“It’s not a lie. You could really be wanted…”
“Shut up, you little vermin.”

Compared to Abella, I was relatively merciful.

‘At least I’m not like the old man who kills pirates on a whim.’

I slapped him again.
Since I had used a heavy strike, he was bound to die.

[Absorbing the soul of Leo (Citizen).]
[Agility increased by 0.01.]

Whooo—.

My smartphone rang.
A message had arrived.

[Administrator] ─ Hurry up and make your faction choice.

It was a general message.

‘Are there many players like me who are hesitating?’

I guess so.
This isn’t a tutorial, after all.

Players who know enough about the Tower of Struggle probably have a hard time choosing this one.

Then, I remembered the Tower’s message.

[5th floor, mock the police and steal the treasure.]
You killed a police officer.
You killed an innocent citizen and stained your hands with blood.
Therefore, you are not qualified to be a police officer.

You haven’t made your faction choice.
But your faction has been forced.

I checked my smartphone, and I was part of the thief faction.

“No. Damn.”

Being in the thief faction wasn’t necessarily bad.
Skilled players gain much more by being a thief.

However, this wasn’t the way I wanted to be part of the thief faction.

[Administrator] ─ Players who have completed their job selection, please choose your mission. The rewards vary by difficulty, so choose wisely. Missions are first-come-first-served.
[Administrator] ─ Thieves can also form teams to apply! You can steal treasures with trustworthy teammates!

A new app had been downloaded.
I checked its features.

‘Looks like a public institution app.’

Mission applications, anonymous communities, suggestion boards, and so on.

Most of the mission details were similar.
Only the rewards differed.

‘Thieves steal, police stop them.’

The community was especially active.
It seemed that this was the only place where players could communicate via the smartphone.

‘Better start with the easier ones.’

Anyway, the fastest way is to experience it yourself.
There’s a saying, ‘Seeing is believing,’ after all.

I scrolled through the list.
The difficulty was kindly marked.

‘Police vs. Thief. Difficulty varies depending on the ratio.’

The more thieves there were,
The fewer police there were,
The lower the difficulty.
And the rewards became poor.

‘There’s even a mission where the thief’s reward is just about the same as the police pay.’

It was a level where failure was impossible.
Since similar events happened on the 2nd floor, there was some consideration for weaker players, so it wasn’t too surprising.

“…Wait a second.”

Our friend, the now-dead Citizen, said there were three chances.
From the thief’s perspective, if you fail twice, you won’t be ‘arrested.’

‘If you succeed in the mission, you’ll earn the right to ascend to the 6th floor.’

You just need to clear it once.
Technically, the difficulty of climbing is easier than on the 2nd floor.

‘Think in reverse.’

A regular player would clear the easy missions early on.
Then, before failing three times, they could climb up and not worry about being ‘arrested.’

But I thought of the opposite.

‘I’ll challenge the extreme difficulty.’

I can fail once at the beginning.
There’s practically no penalty.

‘For me, especially.’

If I lower the difficulty, I’d have nothing to fear.
If I fail twice, I’ll just take on the lowest difficulty mission.

“Best reward.”

I kept scrolling down.

[Main Mission #42]
Location: France Artifact Museum
Objective: Hero’s Relic
Difficulty: Level 9
Participants: Thieves 4/5, Police 50/50

The lower the number for difficulty, the easier it is.
Level 9 was essentially the highest difficulty.

‘The important thing is the reward.’

Reward: A-ranked or higher artifact (equipment, artifacts)

The reward was impressive.

‘Is it really right not to challenge this?’

I had to go for it.
If I don’t, I’m an idiot.

‘And I can apply by myself.’

There’s no reason to hesitate.

[Would you like to apply for the main mission?]

Auto-call.

In the blink of an eye, the place where I was sitting had changed.
I was now at the terrace of a café, in front of the museum.

“……”

There were many people.
It almost felt like being in the middle of a street on Earth, not the 5th floor of the Tower.

But that wasn’t all.
Cars that didn’t exist on the 5th floor were driving by on the road.

[5th floor, steal the hero’s relic.]
Join forces with your teammates to steal the designated relic.

The Tower’s message designated the relic.

A matchlock gun.

‘No location given?’

Whooo—.

As I pondered, my phone vibrated.
I checked the message, thinking it might be from the Administrator…

《Thief Faction (5/5)》

[Elise] ─ Based on the fact that the name isn’t registered, it looks like a newly ascended player applied.
[King of Thieves] ─ This bastard. Starting to play tricks right after coming to the 5th floor.
[Great Magician] ─ Hahahaha