“Yoo Da-huin killed the 10th Floor boss.”
Bae Hyeong-seok, the SSS-grade Hunter seated at the far end of the table, spoke.
Inside the spacious conference room, the Korean Hunter Association’s major Hunters had gathered around a round table.
Tension hung over the seats where the SS-grade Hunters sat.
At his statement, some of the Hunters snickered, while others showed subtle expressions.
If it was the 10th Floor boss, it was only an Ogre. It was an opponent that even low- to mid-ranking Hunters could handle well enough.
“So? Did you gather all these busy Hunters and set up a conference room just to talk about that?”
“It is not a light topic.”
Someone asked, and Bae Hyeong-seok shook his head as he spoke.
“He is not a Hunter with formal training or an ability. But he killed the 10th Floor boss, the Ogre. That is important information.”
The fact that Yoo Da-huin, who came from an ordinary civilian background, possessed the ‘Curse of Immortality.’
It meant not a simple breakthrough past the 10th Floor, but the possibility that ‘he might reach the 76th Floor someday.’
Bae Hyeong-seok immediately continued.
“And what if he reaches the 76th Floor?”
For a moment, the conference room fell silent.
Everyone pictured that possibility in their minds.
A being who could not die.
The section beyond the 62nd Floor that countless Hunters had failed to clear.
If Yoo Da-huin climbed all the way to the end of Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2, and if a human with the Curse of Immortality could ultimately conquer that tower?
“…We cannot simply stand by and watch that happen.”
Lee Cheol-heon, an SS-grade Hunter and the Guild Master of Typhon Guild, spoke for the first time.
He seemed to have acknowledged the possibility that Yoo Da-huin could reach the 76th Floor.
“Then we must move first before that happens.”
Bae Hyeong-seok nodded and said, “It is important to collapse the tower faster than Yoo Da-huin.”
Once the tower was completely cleared, Yoo Da-huin would be forced outside, even if by force.
Information about the unknown ability called the ‘Curse of Immortality.’
The media’s questions about the occupation known as ‘Hunter.’
Legal punishment for Yoo Da-huin.
If the SS-grade Hunters simply climbed to the top, all this chaos could be prevented in advance.
But the problem was….
“Hmph. Now that is an interesting story.”
In the corner of the conference room, SS-grade Hunter Oh Yuk-il spoke with a sneer.
Despite his delinquent attitude, no one said anything to him.
Although Oh Yuk-il often made snide remarks and had little seriousness to him, he was a more realistic Hunter than anyone else.
He put his feet up on the table and spoke while spinning a knife between his fingers.
“Is there any reason for top-class personnel like us to go there?”
“That’s right. We….”
“Let’s be honest. For top-ranking Hunters, it’s more profitable to clear the towers with more urgent deadlines first. That’s common sense.”
Someone tried to agree with his opinion, but he immediately continued.
“Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2? There’s still time left before it collapses.”
Every tower has a clear deadline from the moment it is created.
If the tower is not climbed to the very end before that deadline, everything nearby disappears, and the tower’s monsters crawl out.
This is common sense among common sense.
Therefore, by the principles of the market, it was only logical for SS-grade and SSS-grade Hunters to clear the more valuable towers first,
the towers with ‘less time remaining,’ on which the government and Hunter Association had placed higher bounties.
“He is not wrong.”
Lee Chae-rin, also an SS-grade Hunter, agreed.
“Even if no one has climbed past the 62nd Floor yet… is its difficulty really so high that we need to step in?”
The highest floor currently reached in Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2 was the 62nd Floor, climbed by a combined force of S-grade and A-grade Hunters. Past that, it was a tower that had never been cleared.
“That’s true.”
A few of the Hunters in the conference room nodded.
It was true that clearing the towers closest to their collapse date was more efficient.
“Besides, what do we gain?”
The highest-ranking Hunters earned enormous profit from a single tower clear.
But would the reward given by the boss of Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2, which still had plenty of time left before its deadline, truly be worth their time and effort?
-CRACK.
“…So, you are saying there is no need to move blindly because of that ‘money’? Ridiculous.”
Lee Cheol-heon cracked the bones in his hand and spoke in a slightly grave voice.
“Does everyone become a Hunter for money? An S-grade Hunter died at the hands of an ordinary civilian, and a curse dwells in him. Even as Hunters, with professional duty alone….”
“Bullshit.”
Oh Yuk-il kept spinning the knife and spoke with a snicker.
“Professional duty, my ass. A job is something you have to make money, old man. Not something you do with a sense of calling.”
“…You bastard….”
“Enough.”
Bae Hyeong-seok intervened briefly, then quietly sank into thought.
Some of it was true.
The SS-grade Hunters could swarm Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2 and break through it.
But he could not be certain that was the ‘best’ option.
Even apart from the financial side, there were already countless towers in Korea with little time remaining.
“Then how about sending an advance team first?”
Bae Hyeong-seok revealed his proposal.
Before the highest-ranking Hunters went there personally, they would send S-grade Hunters as an advance team to investigate the 62nd Floor and above.
Based on the information they brought back, they would decide whether SS-grade Hunters and above should step in.
“First, we need to confirm why the clear was halted beyond the 62nd Floor.”
Bae Hyeong-seok spoke.
When he added that, Lee Cheol-heon tapped the table and answered.
“…Typhon Guild has records of that. We will disclose all the information we have.”
Oh Yuk-il snickered.
“Right. If we follow those three dead bodies and Yoo Da-huin, we will find the answer.”
“You bastard…!”
-CRASH—!
Lee Cheol-heon struck the table and glared at Oh Yuk-il.
“Enough! Oh Yuk-il. Stop sneering.”
Bae Hyeong-seok glared at Oh Yuk-il as if he was sick of him and mediated between the two.
“Yes, yes. Understood.”
Oh Yuk-il stopped spinning the knife, raised both hands, and answered with a chuckle.
After mediating between the two, Bae Hyeong-seok said,
“We will form an advance team and investigate as quickly as possible.”
He declared it so.
Most of the Hunters above SS-grade here were Guild Masters of their respective guilds, and each guild would form a team to focus on clearing Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2.
Therefore, they would use those teams to confirm the difficulty of the tower beyond the 62nd Floor.
That became their top priority for now.
***
[ Ding! ]
[ You have cleared the 14th Floor of the tower! ]
───────────────────
[ Floor: 14th Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 2 hours 36 minutes 52 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 1 minute 55 seconds ] (Shortest tower climb record)
───────────────────
[ Clear Conditions Met ]
▶ Goblin Warrior (Normal) x7 defeated
[ Climb Ranking: Last Place ] (Current: 41,982nd)
[ Ding! ]
[ Clear Time has set the all-time longest record! ]
“Phew.”
There were two things I had realized while climbing the tower up to the 14th Floor before I knew it.
First.
From the 10th Floor, in other words, from the boss floor onward, the number of participating Hunters had clearly decreased.
Come to think of it, I was sure I had heard somewhere that Hunters around D-grade or below did not usually challenge the boss round.
And second.
“…Status Window.”
-FLASH!
────────────────
Name: Yoo Da-huin
Class: ??? (Curse of Immortality)
Level: 1 (Level Up Impossible)
────────────────
Health: ∞
Attack Power: 8
Defense: 5
Magic Power: 0
────────────────
Trait: 『Curse of Immortality』 (Detailed Information Available)
Skills:
[ Pain Numbness LV.5 (MAX) ]
[ Enhanced Regeneration Speed LV.5(MAX) ]
[ Death Detection LV.1 ]
[ Hidden Skill: Intimidation ]
────────────────
Death Count: 11252
────────────────
It was about skills.
This Hidden Skill called ‘Intimidation,’
I had felt it when I fought the Ogre too, but it seemed to make enemies tremble in fear once certain conditions were met.
I did not know what those ‘certain conditions’ were, but thanks to it, climbing the tower had become far easier after the 10th Floor, where I obtained the Intimidation skill.
The enemies that had first been mowing me down could not even carry out proper coordinated attacks against me because the more I died, the more they eventually started trembling.
I managed to clear up to the 14th Floor by getting stabbed here and there, twisting the bastards’ necks, or picking up knives and cutting them down.
And as for this skill called ‘Death Detection,’ which I gained after dying an additional 1,000 times….
“I really don’t know what this is supposed to be.”
-Press.
I brought my finger to ‘Death Detection’ and pressed it.
-FLASH!
────────────────
Skill: [ Death Detection LV.1 ]
You become more sensitive to death.
────────────────
Soon, an explanation appeared with a small window.
…No, can this even be called an explanation?
I become more sensitive to death? What the hell does that mean?
“What bullshit.”
I waved my hand and closed the window.
…Honestly, I wonder if analyzing this even has any meaning.
“A bastard climbing the tower to die is fussing over skills and Status Windows.”
Anyway, the thing I had become certain of in the boss round was that,
I could not die to most small fry.
But surely, if I kept climbing the tower, a clue would appear,
and I would simply climb the tower while chasing that clue.
…Even if that clue was not waiting at the end.
The only thing I could do was.
[ Continue climbing to the next floor? ]
[ Yes / No ]
-Press.
Continue climbing.
-FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
When I pressed the Yes button, I once again heard the sound of air being sucked in, and gravity twisted.
“Hup.”
-TAP.
With a landing I had grown quite used to by now, I arrived on the 15th Floor.
“Sniff, sniff.”
First, I smelled the air.
The eerie, damp scent of death filled the floor.
The scenery was a gloomy, dark cave.
What will come out this time?
[ Reached the 15th Floor of Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2! ]
[ Subjugation begins! ]
Even when that familiar message appeared, I did not think much of it.
At most, I figured bastards like Goblins, Skeletons, or Slimes would appear.
But.
“…Things like this come out too?”
Soldiers wearing armor stood before my eyes.
They carried huge greatswords and held themselves in a dignified posture, almost like humans.
There were five of them. It was the smallest number since the 10th Floor onward, where about seven always appeared.
…But something was….
“…Strange.”
I felt an eerie sensation that was hard to explain.
Between the gaps in their armor, I could not see flesh or bone. Only a pitch-black void churned inside.
Until now, they had been monsters I knew, but from now on, were monsters that only proper Hunters could know about going to appear?
“I don’t know. What’s the point of thinking about it?”
I was not going to die anyway.
-TAP!
For now, I charged at the bastards.
-SQUELCH!
“…Kuhup.”
I was splendidly pierced through the abdomen by the greatsword the bastards held, spewing blood from my mouth and back.
“Keuk, kuhuk.”
But this was my fighting method.
-GRAB.
I grabbed the shoulder of the bastard that had skewered my abdomen.
-SWISH!
With my remaining hand, I tried to strangle the bastard.
However….
-WHIFF.
“…?”
The feeling of brushing through empty air.
I could not touch the bastard’s ‘neck.’
“What the….”
But my doubt could not reach an end.
-CRASH—!
The bastard kicked me with a leg clad in thick armor. I rolled across the floor and was thrown away.
“Kuhuk, keuk!”
I vomited blood while waiting for my wound to repair itself, then glared at the bastards.
I can’t touch them?
Are they like ghosts?
Then, then….
How am I supposed to kill them?
“…Fuck!”
No more thinking.
I had felt this bitterly while climbing to the 15th Floor.
First, I had to throw my body at it!
-WHOOSH!
I stopped worrying, picked up a stone, and threw it at the bastard.
-SMACK!
The stone merely struck the bastard’s helmet and bounced away.
As if it had taken no damage, it trudged toward me where I had fallen.
What should I do?
Should I steal its sword and stab it?
But how do I steal it?
Should I charge in and try taking off its armor?
If I just keep dying, won’t it work somehow?
The moment I was thinking that.
[ Ding! ]
[ ‘Death Detection’ activates! ]
The ‘Death Detection’ skill, which had never activated even once before, activated.
“…What the fuck?”
[ Attacks do not affect the enemy! ]
Attacks do not affect it?
Damage does not go through?
“Then how….”
As I fell into thought again for a moment, a new notification window appeared before me.
[ Enemy cannot currently be killed! ]
The enemy cannot currently be killed.
The enemy does not die.
It does not die?
“…It’s a ‘clue.’”
A clue about ‘Immortality’ that I had been searching for all this time.
A way to make what cannot die become able to die.
The first expression I made after seeing the notification window was.
“Ha. Hahaha!”
The laugh of joy from meeting one of my own kind.