Sora understood immediately. She raised her staff. "If I remove the air around him, the sound can’t travel. The barrier will drop."

"Do it now," Kang Min said.

Sora channeled her remaining mana. Three spheres of shimmering blue energy shot toward the cathedral spire. They expanded around the Piper, creating a pocket of absolute silence. The music stopped abruptly. The rats in the square collapsed into a daze, the magical compulsion broken for a moment.

The Piper’s eyes widened. He dropped the flute from his lips and tried to step out of the vacuum. He looked at the players with newfound rage. He realized he was being outsmarted by a group that refused to follow the rules of his fable.

He jumped from the spire. He didn’t fall; he glided on the remnants of the sound waves. He landed on a rooftop twenty meters away and pulled a second, smaller flute from his belt.

"You think silence is your ally?" the Piper shouted.

He played a single, piercing note. The vacuum orbs shattered instantly. The backlash of the sound sent Sora flying backward. Gwon caught her before she hit the stone.

The Piper began a new song—the "Song of the Maw."

The stone of the buildings started to crack. The rats began to fuse together, their bodies merging into giant, grotesque amalgamations of fur and bone. These "Rat-Kings" were ten meters tall and possessed dozens of limbs. They were much harder to push back without using lethal force.

"He’s forcing our hand!" Gwon yelled, slamming his shield into the leg of a Rat-King. "We can’t hold these things back without cutting them!"

"Stay back," Kang Min said.

He activated his [Exchange] skill. He targeted a loose roof tile near the Piper’s feet.

The world shifted. Kang Min appeared on the rooftop. The Piper reacted with incredible speed. He swung the flute like a mace, a blade of solidified sound extending from the tip. Kang Min raised his sword to block. The impact of the sound-blade was like a physical hammer. It vibrated through his bones, causing his vision to blur.

The Piper was an agile boss. He moved with a rhythmic grace, his feet barely touching the tiles. He fired bolts of concentrated sound that punched holes in the stone walls behind Kang Min.

Kang Min realized he couldn’t win a battle of attrition on the rooftops. The Piper’s magic was too versatile. He needed to steal the primary flute, which was still tucked into the Piper’s multicolored sash.

"Blue, focus the sound!" Kang Min shouted.

Down in the plaza, the Blue Tiger stood on its hind legs and roared toward the sky. The azure mana focused into a beam of light that struck the roof where Kang Min and the Piper were fighting. The beam didn’t cause damage; it created a zone of high-density mana that slowed the vibrations of the Piper’s music.

The Piper’s movements became sluggish. The sound-blades he fired moved slower, allowing Kang Min to parry them with ease.

"Your story is over," Kang Min said.

He lunged forward. The Piper tried to play a defensive chord, but Kang Min used [Exchange] again. This time, he swapped his position with the silver flute in the Piper’s sash.

One moment, Kang Min was in front of the Piper. The next, he was holding the silver flute, and the Piper was standing where Kang Min had been, clutching his own empty sash in confusion.

Kang Min didn’t hesitate. He placed the silver flute on the stone roof and brought his heavy boot down with his full weight.

The silver flute snapped.

The sound of the break was not a snap. It was the sound of a thousand children crying out at once, followed by a sudden, jarring silence.

The Piper let out a horrific scream. His body began to age rapidly. His multicolored coat faded to gray. His skin shriveled against his bones. He was a creature of the narrative, and without his instrument, his story had no power. He crumbled into a pile of dry parchment and dust, which the wind finally carried away.

In the plaza, the Rat-Kings began to pull apart. The giant amalgamations dissolved. The gray fur and green ichor evaporated into the air like mist.

Thirty seconds later, the plaza was not filled with rats.

It was filled with children.

Hundreds of boys and girls, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, sat on the cobblestones. They were dressed in the same tattered medieval clothes they had worn centuries ago. They looked around with confused, blinking eyes. Their skin was pale but healthy. The curse had been lifted.

The players stood in the center of the children, their weapons lowered. Some of the climbers were weeping. Even Jace, who had tried to sacrifice a teammate, sat on the ground with his head in his hands.

Sora looked at Kang Min on the rooftop. "You saved them. You actually saved the children."

Kang Min looked at the system window that was now glowing with a brilliant, golden light.

「Main Scenario: The Pied Piper’s Encore - COMPLETED」

「Clear Result: True Hidden Condition Met.」

「Condition: The Piper’s Debt is voided. The Cursed Generation is liberated.」

「All participants receive the title: ’Guardian of the Lost’.」

「Player Kang Min has acquired the ’Flute of the Voided Debt’.」

The children began to stand up. They walked toward the cathedral, where the ghosts of their parents were beginning to manifest in the doorway. It was a scene of quiet, somber reunion. The dead city was no longer dead; it was a place of rest.

Gwon walked over to Kang Min as he descended back to the plaza. He looked at the broken pieces of the silver flute Kang Min held in his hand.

"You cleared it," Gwon said. "Without losing a single person. Without getting the Calamity title."

"The Tower wants you to be a monster," Kang Min said, looking toward the gate that was opening at the far end of the plaza. "It gives you the easy path of the sacrifice and the violent path of the slaughter. But the rewards are always hidden in the path that requires you to remember why you started climbing."

[Live Stream Chat]

" -THIS DUDE IS NOT REAL WTF?!!-"

" -He really just swapped positions with the flute while it was still in the Piper’s belt? 1000 IQ play right there!!-"

" -Look at all those kids... I actually feel bad for doubting him when he started breaking into houses.-"

" -Sora’s vacuum orbs were clutch but Kang Min directed that whole setup like a conductor!!-"

" -Jace is a total fraud for trying to sacrifice that girl... I’m glad Kang Min snapped his wrist.-"

" -The Blue Tiger is the real MVP for holding back that sea of rats without killing a single one of them!!-" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

" -Imagine being the Piper and realizing your flute is gone and a whole human is suddenly in your pocket.-"

" -I’m actually tearing up seeing those kids reunite with the ghosts... this stream is an emotional rollercoaster.-"

" -Kang Min really just told the Tower ’No, I choose the secret third option’ and it actually worked!!-"

" -How does he know so much about the mechanics and clear conditions? This guy is suspicious as hell but he’s a legend.-"

" -THE BLUE TIGER’S ROAR WAS ABSOLUTELY INSANE IN 4K!!-"

" -He didn’t take the easy way out even once... that is my absolute goat right there.-"

" -Everyone else was panicking and he was just standing there analyzing rat bone structure... built different.-"

" -The ’Guardian of the Lost’ title is insanely rare... I heard only 0.0001% of players have ever seen that message.-"

" -I cannot wait to see what he does at the next floor...I couldn’t make it coz I’m sea sick!!-"

" -Kangpany stocks just hit the ceiling after this clear!! I’m investing everything!!-"

" -HE SNAPPED THE SILVER FLUTE LIKE IT WAS A DRY TWIG!! ABSOLUTE MADMAN!!-"

" -The Piper aged like a grape in the sun the moment the music stopped... that was so satisfying to watch.-"

" -Who even thinks about using a vacuum to stop sound waves? Sora and Kang Min are a dream team for real.-"

" -That ’Exchange’ skill is honestly the most broken ability in the entire Tower right now.-"

" -SINGULARITY SUPREMACY IS THE ONLY WAY!!-"

" -I need a Blue Tiger summon in my life right now... look at how he protected the players!!-"

" -The way he just walks through absolute chaos without even blinking... he’s definitely not a normal human.-"

" -That exchange with Gwon at the end was cold... ’I didn’t tell you to climb.’ SAVAGE!!-"

" -The hidden lore about the Three Tigers is something I’ve never heard in any other stream!!-"

" -Watching him outsmart the system is more satisfying than any boss fight I’ve ever seen!!-"