My steps were light as I left the Market.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for my comfortably padded bank balance to return to a number perilously close to zero.
“Payment completed.”
Even after paying nearly ten million won toward the surgery, there was still more left to pay.
Still, I had put out the most urgent fire for now, so I could finally breathe a little easier.
After making the installment payment for the surgery, I went straight to the hospital room where my father was staying.
“Kang Hyuk, is that you?”
I must have looked quite different from before, yet my mother greeted me just as she always had.
Her eyesight was not particularly good, but more than that, perhaps my current appearance was simply one of the faces she had once been accustomed to seeing long ago.
“How is Father?”
“He’s sleeping. Don’t wake him. He only just managed to fall asleep.”
My mother was caring for my father, who lay in the hospital bed.
He had always been energetic enough to go hiking on weekends whenever he had the time, but the man lying in that bed now looked terribly old.
“I paid the first installment of the surgery costs. I think I can cover the rest by next month.”
“I’m sorry. You’re having a hard time these days too, and now we’re placing this burden on you……”
“Please don’t say that.”
Even though our family had never been particularly well-off, my parents had always done everything they could for me.
“What about Gi-jeong?”
“Gi-jeong stopped by earlier. She said she’ll come again tomorrow.”
Choi Gi-jeong was my younger sister, twelve years my junior.
Perhaps because she had been born so much later than me, she had caused our parents no end of trouble ever since she was young.
At least she had begun living diligently after becoming an adult.
Our parents used to look at Gi-jeong and constantly say that they would have nothing left to worry about once she got married.
Recently, however, ever since my divorce, they had stopped saying that altogether.
I could not know for certain, but Gi-jeong was probably rather grateful to me.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m the same as always.”
“Do you still have to keep working as a Hunter? You’re not young anymore. Isn’t it dangerous?”
“I’m still perfectly healthy. Don’t worry. People like me who only work the lower floors are hardly ever involved in accidents.”
In fact, the mortality rate among Scavengers who moved only between the first and fifth floors was not particularly high.
Especially up to the second floor, where the officially recorded mortality rate was literally 0%.
That statistic had been how I eventually convinced my parents, who had opposed me becoming a Hunter until the very end.
“I looked into that woman. What a wicked bitch……”
“Why are you bringing her up again?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I told you not to marry that bitch, didn’t I? Good grief……”
My mother had vehemently opposed my marriage to my ex-wife.
She had gone so far as to wrap a white band around her head and stage a hunger strike like something out of a television drama.
But back then, I had been somewhat blinded by love.
Looking back now, perhaps the saying that women understood other women best had been true.
My mother had seen through her.
I had been wrong.
But what could I do about it now?
It was already in the past.
“I should get going.”
“Already? At least eat before you leave.”
“I’m busy with work.”
“All right. You must be busy, so hurry along.”
My mother’s weak smile made her look even older than usual today.
Looking at my father lying in bed and my mother smiling so faintly, I made myself a promise.
I was going to live well.
I would succeed so spectacularly that my parents would see with their own eyes just how well I was doing.
With that resolution in my heart, I left the hospital.
The weather was gradually growing colder.
***
Kim Ja-young had lived with a severe inferiority complex ever since she was young.
An ordinary appearance.
An unimpressive mind.
Meanwhile, her friends on social media always seemed to shine, and she constantly compared herself to everyone around her.
As soon as she turned twenty, she took out a loan and underwent plastic surgery.
The results looked somewhat obviously artificial, but in the end, Kim Ja-young became prettier.
Between repaying the excessive loan she had taken out for surgery and trying to enjoy her youth like everyone else, Kim Ja-young found herself perpetually struggling financially.
Naturally, she began wanting someone who could support her, and her attention turned toward marriage.
That was how Kim Ja-young met her husband.
He was an exceptionally promising man who even possessed the extraordinary distinction of being one of the very first Hunters.
‘Look at me now. What do you think?’
After marrying a Hunter, Kim Ja-young felt as though she had finally been compensated for everything she had endured in life.
For the first time, she reveled in the sense of superiority she felt whenever she saw the way her friends looked at her.
So what if he was F-rank?
He was still a Hunter!
However……
Twenty-five years ago, there had not been many Hunters in the first place.
Kim Ja-young had assumed that even an F-rank Hunter would eventually be promoted over time, just as an ordinary office worker advanced through the ranks.
But she had been wrong.
Far from being promoted, the man she had chosen remained F-rank for more than five years.
It was only much later that she learned a Hunter’s maximum potential was essentially determined from the moment they awakened.
“Hee-su’s husband is already D-rank? Then Ja-young’s husband must be around A-rank by now, right?”
“W-Well… my husband doesn’t really like doing dangerous things.”
“Oh, I see. He’s a family-oriented man. I’m jealous, Ja-young.”
From that point onward, the way she looked at her husband began to change.
“Make your own food! Am I some kind of machine that exists to cook for you?”
Naturally, she began neglecting him as well.
Even the slightest brush of his fingertips made her skin crawl, and she hated merely breathing the same air as him.
What else could she do?
“But even Hunters who started at F-rank usually climb through the ranks eventually. Isn’t Ja-young’s husband just too lazy?”
“Exactly. Poor Ja-young is the only one suffering.”
Now that she thought about it, they were right.
She felt unbearably sorry for herself, trapped by such an incompetent husband and unable to live her own life.
Kim Ja-young sincerely believed she had been the victim of a fraudulent marriage.
Then, one day.
At a school reunion, Kim Ja-young happened to run into a former classmate who had once liked her.
“It’s been a while, Ja-young.”
“…Chang-su? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Kim Chang-su.
Back then, he had been a pathetic man she would not even have spared a glance.
But now, he had become a C-rank Hunter.
And he was even a member of the White Tiger Guild, one of the greatest guilds in Korea?
Meanwhile, her husband was still merely an F-rank Hunter despite his incredibly long career!
“Chang-su… I don’t want to go home tonight.”
That was how Kim Ja-young’s affair began.
Naturally, after that, she began dreaming of a new life with Kim Chang-su once her divorce was finalized.
‘They say when the clunker leaves, a Benz comes along!’
Kim Ja-young’s ex-husband had been a clunker.
Kim Chang-su was the Benz.
“We’re getting divorced.”
Kim Ja-young declared that she wanted a divorce.
They had no children together anyway, so there was nothing complicated to resolve beyond dividing their assets.
Ultimately, Kim Ja-young received an enormous amount of money from the division of assets, more than she had ever handled in her entire life.
Yet she sincerely believed that even that amount was far too little compared to the youth she had sacrificed.
After all, Kim Ja-young placed an exceptionally high value on herself.
Once she had more or less finished settling her affairs, Kim Ja-young gradually began bringing up marriage with Kim Chang-su.
“So when are we getting married?”
“Married? Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
“Well, my divorce is finalized now, so I thought maybe it was about time we moved in together……”
“Let’s talk about that later.”
Perhaps she had brought it up too soon.
‘Come to think of it, he said his B-rank promotion exam is coming up soon……’
He was probably already sensitive because of the upcoming exam, and she had unnecessarily burdened him with another complicated matter.
Kim Ja-young happily decided to wait.
Whatever anyone else might say, Kim Chang-su was not a clunker like her ex-husband.
He was a Benz of a man!
***
The next day arrived.
Today, I would challenge the tenth floor.
I had completed all my preparations.
On my way home yesterday, I had rented Hunter equipment, and once I arrived, I had researched every piece of information I could find about clearing the tenth floor.
“Enter the Tower.”
[Please select the floor you wish to enter.]
[1st Floor ]
[2nd Floor ]
[3rd Floor ]
.
.
.
[10th Floor ]
There was never any real question about which floor I would choose.
[Would you like to enter <Tower 10th Floor>?]
“Yes.”
[Entering <Tower 10th Floor>.]
The first thing I saw upon entering the tenth floor was a veil of mist stretched through the forest like spiderwebs.
The stench of rotting leaves assaulted my nose, while sinister cries resembling the cawing of ravens echoed overhead.
CAAAAAW──
It was a bleak, ominous landscape completely different from anything I had seen through the ninth floor.
There was a good reason for that.
The monster that appeared on the tenth floor was on an entirely different level from the ones on the floors below.
[10th Floor Mission Overview]
-Eliminate the Kobold King.
-Completion Condition: Eliminate the Kobold King
-Failure Condition: Death
A so-called boss monster appeared on every Tower floor that was a multiple of ten.
The monster awaiting Challengers on the tenth floor was the Kobold King.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that whether a D-rank Hunter could become D+ rank was determined by whether they could clear the tenth floor.
‘Shall we?’
CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
With every step I took, dry branches snapped beneath my feet, sounding like ominous warnings.
Faint moonlight occasionally slipped between the leaves, casting grotesque shadows across the ground, while moss-covered rocks and rotting tree trunks radiated a silence that made it seem as though time itself had stopped.
The scenery resembled a cursed forest.
Before long, I saw an enormous altar piled high with skeletons.
In front of it stood a massive figure that appeared to be performing some kind of ritual.
Considering that only one monster inhabited this entire forest, it was not difficult to guess what I was looking at.
‘Found you.’
The Kobold King was nearly three times larger than an ordinary Kobold.
In terms of height alone, it easily seemed to exceed three meters.
-GRRR……
The Kobold King sensed my presence and turned around.
Its crimson eyes glared down at me.
I recalled what I had read in the tenth-floor information guides.
-When you see the Kobold King, you will temporarily suffer from the Fear effect and become unable to move. To overcome it……
‘I’m fine?’
Contrary to the warning, my body did not freeze in the slightest when I looked at the Kobold King.
I felt perfectly normal.
-GRUH?
If anything, the Kobold King seemed somewhat confused.
There was no chance I would let that opportunity pass.
‘The first strike wins.’
I tightened my grip on the rented Tower-metal sword and swung it.
SLASH!
A single strike.
A thin line appeared across the Kobold King’s torso.
Then its upper body slid cleanly away from the rest of it.
THUD!
[You have defeated the Kobold King!]
[Experience points acquired.]
.
.
.
[You have cleared <Tower 10th Floor>.]
[All stats are ‘10’ or higher. Additional experience points will be awarded instead of stat increases.]
[10th Floor clear reward granted.]
[You have achieved SSS-rank.]
[A special reward for achieving this rank will be granted.]
[You have broken the clear record for <Tower 10th Floor>.]
[Leaving the Tower.]
Once I left the Tower, the familiar scenery of my room appeared before me.
‘First, let’s check the rewards.’
The moment I opened my inventory—
‘Hmm?’
One particular item was glowing noticeably inside it.
It was none other than the Medal of Transcendence I had received as an SSS-rank special reward.
‘What is this?’
Wondering what was happening, I took out the Medal of Transcendence.
As though it had been waiting for that exact moment, a notification window appeared.
[Conditions have been fulfilled.]
[Would you like to use the ‘Medal of Transcendence’?]
“…Huh?”
So this was an item I was supposed to use?
But what happened if I used it?
And why had the option remained unavailable until now, only to activate at this moment?
‘…Should I just try it?’
I had no idea what it did, but since it was an item I had received as a reward, I doubted anything bad would happen to me.
‘Hmm.’
After hesitating briefly, I used the Medal of Transcendence.
[5 ‘Medals of Transcendence’ have been consumed to enhance Experience Sale (Lv.1).]
[Lv.1 → Lv.2]
[List of Purchasable Stats] [Lv.2]
-Vitality
-Magic Power
-Strength
-Agility
-Random Skill [New]
*Distribute Evenly