diff --git a/kiss b/kiss
index aa03fc4..a369393 100755
--- a/kiss
+++ b/kiss
@@ -1678,7 +1678,7 @@ pkg_update() {
 
 pkg_clean() {
     # Clean up on exit or error. This removes everything related to the build.
-    case ${KISS_DEBUG:-0}-${KISS_LVL:-1} in
+    case ${KISS_DEBUG:-0}-${_KISS_LVL:-1} in
         0-1)
             # If we are exiting the top-level package manager process, wipe
             # the entire temporary directory.
@@ -1739,9 +1739,9 @@ args() {
         ;;
     esac
 
-    # Need to increment KISS_LVL here to ensure we don't wipe the cache
+    # Need to increment _KISS_LVL here to ensure we don't wipe the cache
     # early by non-asroot invocations.
-    export KISS_LVL=$((KISS_LVL + 1))
+    export _KISS_LVL=$((_KISS_LVL + 1))
 
     # Rerun the script as root with a fixed environment if needed. We sadly
     # can't run singular functions as root so this is needed.
@@ -1758,7 +1758,7 @@ args() {
                 KISS_COLOR="$KISS_COLOR" \
                 KISS_TMPDIR="$KISS_TMPDIR" \
                 KISS_PID="$KISS_PID" \
-                KISS_LVL="$KISS_LVL" \
+                _KISS_LVL="$_KISS_LVL" \
                 "$0" "$action" "$@"
             return
         }