When I looked at the pay stub, it was certain.
The base salary was a little over five million won.
To that, allowances had been added, while taxes and various deductions had been subtracted, resulting in the net pay.
5,176,210 won.
It was only my second week since transferring to the Hunter Management Agency, but perhaps because I had joined after it had been established in the middle of the month, the period I had worked at the district office had also been counted together.
The salary issued under my black operative identity consisted mainly of special activity expenses and reward money.
“The reward for an S-Rank clear is five times the base salary, and for an SSS-Rank clear, twenty times.”
That was what the Commissioner had told me yesterday.
The resulting amount was roughly one hundred fifty million won.
At this rate, in thirty months, I would have an apartment with a Han River view.
Of course, I could not achieve an SSS-Rank clear every time, but I would be going to the Tower frequently from now on, so on a monthly basis, the amount would be similar.
[Homeowner, what are we eating today? Are we having a party?]
[Let us eat that thing from before! The chicken with the powder sprinkled on it! And jokbal too.]
“Just say what you want.”
[Kyaaaa!]
[It is a festival!]
Today, I was willing to buy them anything.
Ah, before that.
“We are going to Gangwon-do first.”
[Yes, sir!]
[That is right! Go, go!]
We left at six and arrived in Gangwon-do at around nine thirty.
<Player Jack Rich_07 will enter Hwanseon Cave Tower’s 2nd floor.>
FLASH!
With the light, my body moved into the Tower.
However, Hwanseon Cave Tower’s 2nd floor had an entirely different atmosphere from the 1st floor.
First of all, it was not inside a cave.
“This is outside.”
“Ah! Homeowner, this is the entrance to Hwanseon Cave.”
“The entrance?”
“Yes. In a moment...”
<The monorail bound for Hwanseon Cave has arrived. Please board the monorail.>
“It is here!”
[The monorail!]
SCREECH—!
A monorail that looked like some kind of futuristic car stopped in front of us.
Once everyone boarded, the monorail slowly began moving. Rails that had not been there a moment ago appeared in an instant.
<Player Jack Rich_07 boarding confirmed. The monorail bound for Hwanseon Cave will depart.>
[Wow! I can see outside!]
Chae Seon-hwa pressed herself against the black glass and looked outside in fascination.
Cha Jun-hyeok hurriedly reached out toward her.
“Hey, wait! That part...!”
WHOOSH!
[Kyaaaaak!]
The word “whoosh” suited it perfectly.
The moment we departed, the black glass covering the monorail was blown away entirely.
[I-I almost died!]
“That is why you have to be careful!”
Fortunately, Chae Seon-hwa clung tightly to the floor of the monorail and held on until the end.
However, the hardship began now.
“Hold on tight!”
WHOOSH──!
The monorail did not observe any proper speed limit.
As though it had become a jet, it practically flew along the rails.
[Kyaaaaaak—!]
Chae Seon-hwa’s scream, her face gone pale, was left behind where the monorail passed.
This was not the end.
“Kieeek!”
I had no idea how they had caught up, but goblins leapt into the monorail.
However, Cha Jun-hyeok had already finished preparing.
He was holding his sword like a baseball bat and waiting.
On top of the monorail moving at a tremendous speed, he balanced with nothing but his two legs and knocked away the heads of the goblins leaping in one by one as though they were baseballs.
“Stri—ike!”
CLANG—!
THWACK!
THUD!
CRACK—!
As he did so, Cha Jun-hyeok laughed heartily.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
[A-are you insane?]
“You bastards!”
THWACK—!
“I am back!”
CRASH—!
“Die, all of you!! Did you truly think I was going to stay dead?!!!”
THWACK! THUD! SLASH—!
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
[......]
He seemed slightly out of his mind, but in any case, Cha Jun-hyeok was faithful to his duty.
In other words, he was working hard to clear the Tower.
<Gangwon-do Tower’s 2nd floor has been cleared.>
<Shortest time updated. Rank will be raised.>
<You have succeeded in the first S-Rank clear of Gangwon-do Tower.>
Basic Rewards: 100 F-Rank Magic Stones, 2 Essences of Sky, 2 Random Box Fragments.
First S-Rank Clear Rewards: 1 Time Delay Ticket, 10-slot Inventory Expansion Ticket, 1 Skill Selection Ticket Fragment>
Attack Power +5%, Defense +5%>
<Would you like to exit Gangwon-do Tower’s 2nd floor?>
“Cancel.”
<Exit standby time is 5 minutes.>
“Homeowner, the exit is this way.”
Cha Jun-hyeok naturally pointed to the monorail exit.
“Wait a moment.”
But today, there was something I wanted to test.
“I will absorb the spirit I eliminated.”
<Would you like to cast Absorption 1?>
“Cast it.”
<Please select a target.>
1. Goblin
2. Goblin
‧
‧
‧
7. Goblin
As expected, just like when using a skill, it seemed only one target could be absorbed at a time.
The choices from number 1 to number 7 were all identical goblins.
In that case, it naturally had to be this number.
“Number 7.”
<Absorbing Goblin Number 7.>
A spirit rose from the dead goblin’s body and approached me.
When I stretched out my hand, the goblin slipped naturally into my palm.
FLASH—!
Up to 30% of the target’s stats can be absorbed.
Vitality: 20
Mana: 2
Strength: 10
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 5>
Only one stat could be selected as well.
The stat worth choosing here was, no matter who looked at it, obviously this one.
“Agility.”
<Stat absorption has been completed.>
“Status Window.”
Class: Necromancer
Rank: Not Yet Measured
Nation: Korea
Title: Sealed
Stats: Vitality [300] Mana [80] Spiritual Power [380] Mental Fortitude [80] Attack Power [2,045] Defense [150] Strength [80] Agility [9] Intelligence [280]
Skills: Summon Spirit 1 (S), Exorcism 1 (A), Materialization 1 (A), Eye of Truth 1 (A), Suppression 1 (B), Absorption 1 (B)
Skill Selection Ticket Fragments: 20>
<Rank Information: View Details>
<Sealed Title Information: View Details>
<Stage 2 Seed Generation in Progress: 65%>
So this was how it was added.
A stat called Agility, which had not been there before, had newly appeared on the Status Window.
For some reason, my steps felt light.
The ghosts in my house immediately noticed the change in me and reacted.
“Homeowner, you seem faster somehow.”
[Ah, it is true!]
Just an increase of 9 Agility had this much effect.
Was this why Hunters climbed the Tower?
“At this rate, will you become stronger than me later? Then will you even create a Guild?”
[Huh? Then are you going to quit being a civil servant? And stop being a Necromancer too?]
The ghosts skipped over all the intermediate stages and were already worrying about the distant future.
“That will not happen.”
“As expected of state power! That is right. Once a civil servant, always a civil servant!”
[Homeowner! Let us live together forever!]
“......”
For some reason, the points that made them happy were slightly strange.
But what I had said was true.
Unless Korea collapsed, there was no chance I would quit being a civil servant.
Rewards will be recalculated according to causality.>
WHIRRR—!
110 F-Rank Magic Stones, 3 Essences of Sky, 2 Random Box Fragments, 1 Time Delay Ticket, 11-slot Inventory Expansion Ticket, 2 Skill Selection Ticket Fragments>
“Let us go home.”
The power of 9 Agility was greater than I had expected.
“Here you are.”
“Ah... thank you, truly... thank you.”
I caught the coffee cup Ms. Su-a had dropped in midair and returned it to her.
“Goodness!”
“Are you all right?”
At the soup restaurant, I caught a customer who had been falling toward the Commissioner by the shoulder and set him upright.
[Oh, huh?]
And I became able to snatch the coin Cha Jun-hyeok was playing with in midair and put it into the piggy bank.
[You definitely became faster!]
[This actually works?]
I was satisfied with my condition as well.
More than anything, the speed at which I handled housework had increased considerably.
Thanks to that, I had gained a little free time and was able to invest time in a new hobby.
“When placing the chessboard, the white square should be positioned on the player’s right side...”
[There are even rules for placing the chessboard?]
[I did not know that!]
The new hobby I had picked up was chess.
It was a hobby Ms. Su-a had recommended.
<The secret to hacking? I learned a great deal from chess.>
Ms. Su-a had apparently been skilled enough as a child to compete in the girls’ division of the World Junior Chess Championship.
<Within the rules of the game, you look at your opponent’s pieces and predict the next move. Hacking is no different.>
“The king moves one square in any direction. The queen moves freely vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. The knight moves only in an L shape. The bishop moves diagonally. Pawns advance one square, but when capturing an enemy, they move diagonally.”
[That is complicated.]
I was learning the basics of chess by watching a WeTube video by a chess champion.
“The knight is special. It is the joker of the chessboard, the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It moves in an L shape.”
The rules were much more complicated than I had thought.
[...Is this really a game?]
[That person says chess is a sport.]
To be precise, they called it a mind sport.
“Other pieces can move only when there are no pieces in front of them, and the game ends when the king is checkmated.”
[So we just have to catch the king somehow?]
[It is not catching the king. It is checkmate!]
[Huh? What is the difference?]
“......”
People said that beginning was half the work.
I had plenty of time, so I intended to learn it little by little from now on.
[Homeowner, you are going to the COS Dungeon today?]
[Ah! The VIP auction?]
“Yes. I plan to handle company work and attend the auction as well.”
Today was Friday.
At the moment, a Magic Stone Expo was being held in the COS Dungeon.
[They hold expos in Dungeons too?]
Strangely enough, that was possible in the COS Dungeon.
Even after becoming a Dungeon, it had retained the functions of the convention center it had once been.
[If you go there, there is a shuttle to the convention center. It is convenient if you take that.]
[A shuttle? Inside a Dungeon?]
[Only there. In the past, you had to kill all the monsters to enter the center too, but these days, if you take the shuttle, it goes straight nearby.]
I took out the items I had brought from the Hunter Management Agency for infiltration into the expo.
A shuttle ticket, a disguise mask, sunglasses with a spy camera, and a Magic Stone Expo admission ticket.
Among them, the disguise mask was an item from the Tower.
A new item rental office had recently been created in the basement of the Hunter Management Agency, and I had borrowed it from there.
<Disguise Mask>
Causes the wearer to be recognized as another person.
The wearer’s appearance can be changed using Magic Stones.>
I took an F-Rank Magic Stone out of the Inventory.
As I had been told when I borrowed it, I let the mask absorb it, and a Status Window appeared.
<Customization will begin.>
<There are a user-defined method and a random transformation method.>
“Random transformation.”
<Please wear the mask.>
It was more comfortable to wear than I had expected.
It felt as though a thin film had adhered tightly to my face.
[Huh? Homeowner, your face became blurry.]
[How fascinating!]
<Random transformation will begin.>
<Up to 5 transformations are possible per Magic Stone.>
<1st transformation.>
FLASH!
A bright light wrapped around me.
[Huh?]
[...Who are you?]
There was a reason the ghosts reacted that way.
In the mirror, there stood a half-dressed person who looked as though they had stepped out of Greco-Roman mythology.
“Fix Northeast Asian as a condition. Random transformation again.”
<Minimum condition for random transformation has been set. Northeast Asian.>
<2nd transformation will begin.>
FLASH!
[Hm???]
[...Ah!]
“......”
It was indeed Northeast Asian, but this time, I was a woman.
Glossy hair flowed all the way down to my waist.
“Fix ordinary man as a condition. Transform again.”
<Random transformation conditions have been updated. Northeast Asian. Ordinary male.>
<3rd transformation will begin.>
FLASH!
[That is fine.]
[This is it! This one!]
This time, it was right.
The appearance of an ordinary Hunter in his late twenties.
Not too conspicuous, yet not too flawed either.
It was exactly the kind of appearance I had wanted.
[No one would recognize you at all.]
[It is the kind of face one might pass several times a day.]
That was what I wanted.
An ordinary impression perfectly suited for infiltrating as a spy.
Now it was time to report to work at the COS Dungeon.
Inside the relatively quiet COS Dungeon shuttle bus.
[It really is different because it is a Dungeon, is it not? Somehow, I feel full of strength!]
[Me too!]
As the room-corner ghosts of my house shared their impressions, satisfied with the environment inside the Dungeon, it happened.
“The shuttle is departing!”
The long shuttle bus began to move.
At the same time, more than a dozen motorcycles set off with it.
The Hunters riding the motorcycles circled the shuttle and escorted us.
Each time monsters blocked the path, they eliminated the enemies with practiced ease.
Thanks to that, the shuttle bus continued forward without stopping.
As I looked out the window like that, someone spoke to me.
“Which Guild are you with?”
It was the person standing in front of me.
The person standing beside him chuckled and tried to stop him.
“Hey, why would you ask something like that?”
“I am curious. An expo in broad daylight? Is he some Guild Master?”
There were many people nearby wearing similar clothes.
Judging by the way they all glanced this way... were they all companions?
Were they all from the same Guild?
[What is this guy?]
[Why is he curious about that?]
But despite the person beside him trying to dissuade him, the man was unrestrained.
“You usually have to have a certain number of years under your belt before you can freely go around to expos on weekdays, but I have never seen your face before.”
“I have not been Awakened for very long.”
“Ah, is that so? Then I suppose you do not know much about this industry yet.”
[What? What nonsense is this? Is this gatekeeping?]
[How dare he try to gatekeep our homeowner? Has this person lost his mind???]
My spirits flared up more than I did.
“I am giving you advice because I feel bad for you. You have to climb at least to the 15th floor before you can afford this kind of leisure. Or climb to the 20th floor, like me. From the looks of it, you must be busy clearing the lower floors right now, so low-level people should not loiter around places where upper-tier Hunters gather like this. Your growth will slow.”
[Wow! A mere 20th-floor climber is really lording his level over you!]
[Homeowner! Should I place a curse on him?!]
The room-corner ghosts of my house were flying into a rage.
But I was, rather, relieved.
“Thank you for the lesson.”
Perhaps he had not expected to be thanked immediately, because the man looked briefly flustered.
“Uh... yes. Be careful from now on.”
His reaction was something I was grateful for instead.
It meant my disguise, which was intended to make me look like an ordinary Hunter, had succeeded.