On the way out after exchanging the Coins for the auction items.
Chae Seon-hwa came closer and asked subtly,
[Homeowner, what are we doing now?]
“We are going home.”
As it happened, it was quitting time.
[There is a delicious Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant near here...]
[What? A good restaurant? Where?? Hey, but did you not have amnesia?]
[I remember things like this.]
[Selective amnesia, then. You are seriously suspicious!]
[Excuse me?! Selective amnesia? What do you take me for?!]
[Good grief, Cha Jun-hyeok, now you are accusing innocent people again. They praised a guy like this on television and called him number one. I truly cannot understand it. Charisma? What charisma?]
[What? Lee Se-a? And you call yourself a Healer when you died in the Tower? That is completely third-rate, is it not? How did you even get your ranking?]
[Hey! Cha Jun-hyeok! Are you insane?!]
“......”
Only one spirit had been added, yet it had become several times noisier.
In any case, it was time for dinner.
If I offered them food, the ghosts would probably close their mouths on their own.
“Follow me.”
I already knew where that naengmyeon restaurant was.
My mother had been a regular there for ten years.
Although we had only been able to go twice a year, that was still the case.
[Mmm~! This is the flavor!]
[It is bland, though.]
[Ha. You know nothing of the world of fine food. Even your expression is wrong. It is not bland. It is subtle!]
[That is the same thing.]
[I am telling you, it is different!]
Bland and subtle.
I did not know exactly what the difference was either, but my mother had always said this.
‘Ji-hu, this is life.’
‘Life?’
‘Yes. Even if it is subtle and plain like this, you still live on.’
My mother had smiled in satisfaction while drinking the broth of Pyongyang naengmyeon.
But to describe my mother’s life as subtle and plain was far too mild.
Her life had been filled with too many ups and downs.
Had my mother dreamed of a subtle life like this?
An ordinary life where she could smile while eating a bowl of food...
As I ordered five more servings of dumplings, I said,
“Eat plenty.”
[Yes!]
[Thanks, homeowner!]
[I have never had this before, but it is good.]
It was a quiet team dinner without any Tower clear involved, but occasionally, a subtle team dinner like this did not seem bad either.
“You did well, Section Officer Lee!”
The Magic Stone pouch was quite heavy.
When I set it down on the table in the Commissioner’s office, it made a THUD.
“What was the booth’s atmosphere like?”
“At a glance, it looked ordinary.”
“Of course. That side was disguised as well. What about the secretary?”
“I am certain he was the Association Chairman’s secretary. However...”
“What? Did something happen?”
“On that day, he was a woman.”
“......Hm?”
After watching the footage saved in the sunglasses, the Commissioner remained silent for a while.
“...Life is truly like that, is it not? Yes. Making a living... truly is not easy. Not easy at all.”
The Commissioner spoke while checking inside the pouch.
“I will have the affiliated research institute analyze them together with the synthetic Magic Stones we obtained earlier. They say the results will take about two weeks, so we will discuss it again then. For the time being, it would be best for you to move according to schedule.”
“Yes, understood. I will submit an out-of-jurisdiction business trip request immediately.”
After today’s meeting, my schedule for the time being was set like this.
Monday was Gwanaksan Tower.
Tuesday was Gangwon-do Tower.
Wednesday was Jeju-do Tower.
And then, once again, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were Gwanaksan Tower.
On the days I went to Gangwon-do and Jeju-do, if it grew late, I would stay there overnight and move directly to another Tower the next day.
“Section Officer Lee, will you be all right? Are you not pushing yourself too hard, even through the weekend?”
“I am fine. It is fully possible.”
To reach the highest floor of the Tower faster, I needed to increase the clear speed a little more.
And now, the Blessing of Growth had been applied to the Tower as well.
Cha Jun-hyeok said I would regret it for the rest of my life if I missed this period.
I had also heard that ordinary Hunters usually spent the entire week clearing Towers.
That was because, except in special cases, one could only enter the Tower once per day.
Moreover, in my case, thanks to perfect proxy clears, the clears usually ended within three minutes.
So there was truly no burden at all.
“Of course, all overtime pay will be issued.”
“Thank you.”
Still, the reason we had scheduled the three Towers in rotation like this was to renew the buffs while avoiding overlap as much as possible.
After putting our heads together, the spirits in my house and I had judged that S-Rank clears were fully possible.
“Can you keep achieving S-Rank? Below the 15th floor?”
[It will be easy! Easy! Just trust me. I am not low-level anymore!]
[Please leave it to us!]
If experienced workers showed this much confidence, then naturally, it should be possible.
There was also a level 60 new recruit.
“And for Jeju-do, I only need a one-way ticket back.”
The circumstances were completely different from Gangwon-do Tower, where I had to drive there and back.
The travel expenses spent twice over were all paid with taxes, so if they could be reduced, it was right to reduce them.
It was also faster that way.
“Understood. I will tell Ms. Su-a.”
Ms. Su-a?
I could make the flight reservation myself with official air miles, so why would Ms. Su-a need to...
Surely not?
Was she going to create seats where there were none?
With Ms. Su-a’s hacking skills, it would probably be entirely possible...
“You do not have to worry about anything. Just climb the Tower.”
The Commissioner smiled reassuringly, showing his white teeth.
“This week will be busy, so go home early today.”
When I returned to my seat, a message arrived through the Hunter Management Agency’s internal messenger.
It was a system Ms. Su-a had built in a single day while I was away on my business trip.
<Your flight ticket reservation has been completed! Have a safe trip! Good luck! ᕦ( •ᗜ•)ᕤ >
Not even three minutes had passed since I finished speaking with the Commissioner.
“......”
In any case, she was reassuring when she was on the same side.
With that thought firmly in mind, I worked some overtime today.
I spread the Golden Goblin Map on the dining table.
Then I placed Kerk’s Compass, which I had won at auction, on top of it.
<The Golden Goblin Map has discovered the compass. The map will be updated.>
FLASH—!
A blinking red dot appeared on the map, and paths leading toward that dot stretched out in black arrows.
“This must be the entrance.”
The starting point of the arrows.
The number written there was 30.
As stated in the description, this map could only be used after climbing the Tower to the 30th floor.
[I am faster.]
But Lee Se-a said something I could not understand.
[What is?]
[What do you mean?]
[I am on the 27th floor.]
“The 27th floor?”
[Yes. I told you, did I not? My wealth is hidden.]
[What does that have to do with the Tower?]
Lee Se-a smiled faintly at the questioning spirits.
[It is in Gwanaksan Tower.]
[Huh?]
[The fifty billion won. I hid it in the Tower.]
[What? That is possible?]
[It worked.]
Cha Jun-hyeok frowned heavily.
[Lee Se-a, the Tower resets every time you enter, does it not? Stop talking nonsense...!]
[It is connected.]
[What?]
[I said the Tower is connected.]
Lee Se-a smiled as though amused.
[You did not know?]
[No, this is the first time I have heard anything like that.]
It was the first time I had heard of it as well.
But when I thought of the Golden Goblin Map, it was not incomprehensible.
If it was a new place every time one entered, then it would be impossible to ever arrive at the final destination marked on the Golden Goblin Map.
There had to be some method by which the System identified and classified the Tower’s floors.
[It is fine. I will guide you. In exchange...]
I realized only now that I seemed to be rather popular.
With ghosts, that was.
[It is cramped, but livable. Experiencing commoner life like this once in a while is not bad.]
The ghost Lee Se-a, whom I had met in the COS Dungeon.
Lee Se-a had settled completely into my house along with a cat.
“Meow~!”
[Oh! Water Attribute!]
[Oh my! How can this child be so gentle? It is incredibly pretty too!]
[My baby is a little like that.]
“Meow!”
Lee Se-a’s pet, like a cat that loved fish, had mackerel-patterned fur.
“What did you say its name was?”
[La Vie en Rose.]
In any case, Nabi came to my house this morning.
The moment we entered the holding area at the animal shelter, a skinny cat that had been hiding in the corner desperately leapt over the cage bars.
Then Nabi ran toward us like mad and cried out nearby.
“Myaaak—! Myaooow—!”
“Oh my, what has gotten into her all of a sudden?”
The shelter worker who had guided us this far did not know what to do.
[La Vie en Rose! What do I do!! I am sorry!!!]
They said cats were spiritual creatures, and sure enough, Nabi recognized Lee Se-a at a glance.
Instead of the owner she could not touch, Nabi frantically climbed up my body.
“Coco! Stop! I am sorry! She is usually truly quiet. I have no idea why she is acting like this today... I am very sorry.”
“It is all right.”
“If you were startled, would you like me to show you another cat?”
“No. I will adopt this one.”
“What?”
“This cat is fine.”
[La Vie en Rose! Now you are going home with me!]
“Meow~!”
“The cat says she likes it too. Can I take her now?”
“What? Yes? Yes??”
I had already received the required online education for adoption.
I wanted to take her home immediately, but in the end, I was held there for an hour while I filled out several more documents.
“I am sorry. We have procedures too.”
That was simply how organizations worked.
“I understand.”
I placed the cat in a carrier and put her in the car first.
Then Lee Se-a slipped into the car after her.
The two were in the middle of an emotional reunion.
Before leaving, I opened the car trunk and took out several sacks of pet food I had prepared in advance.
“This is the pet food for donation that I mentioned over the phone.”
“Thank you! Our children will really love it.”
With the shelter worker seeing us off, we were able to depart safely from the animal shelter.
And so began my cohabitation with a cat.
“Meow!”
[Oh my, oh my, oh my!]
[She is smart!]
[See? I told you, she is like this.]
Nabi was merely eating the food in her own bowl.
Even as we spent this pleasant time together, Lee Se-a sometimes looked gloomy.
[La Vie en Rose... I will never be able to hold you again, will I? I cannot even touch you...]
[Tsk, tsk.]
[What?]
[Trust our homeowner.]
At Cha Jun-hyeok’s statement, which came out of nowhere and without explanation, Lee Se-a looked dumbfounded.
[Is the homeowner some kind of god? What am I supposed to trust?]
[You want to touch La Vie en Rose again, right?]
[That is true, but...]
[You are truly lucky.]
[Do not make me laugh! If I had been lucky, would I have died?]
That was true.
Having a short lifespan could never be called an indicator of good fortune.
[...In any case, follow our homeowner around. Then it is possible.]
[What is?]
[Becoming human.]
[......What?!]
Lee Se-a looked at me with trembling eyes.
[What kind of nonsense is that?]
“......”
It was time for me, the homeowner, to step in on behalf of the wronged Cha Jun-hyeok.
Although I had taken a half-day of leave in the morning to go pick up the cat, I planned to enter the Tower in the afternoon anyway.
“Follow me.”
Today was Monday.
Ordinarily, I should have cleared Gwanaksan Tower.
However, today, I planned to go to Gangwon-do Tower first.
It was to maintain Gwanaksan Tower’s 20% buff until tomorrow.
“Section Officer Lee, you have done something tremendous! Thanks to you, we may be able to break through the next floor of Gwanaksan Tower!”
It was a decision made in haste, but the government believed there was a chance of success.
At present, Korea had lost its first- and second-ranked Hunters.
That was why the nation judged that it could not miss this opportunity.
If the highest floor was not cleared now, while Gwanaksan Tower had a 20% buff, no one knew when such a chance would come again.
As it happened, welcome news had come last week from the Hunters who had gone for a first attempt and a rehearsal.
“Gwanaksan Tower’s 36th floor seems possible.”
Thus, the final clear schedule was set for tomorrow morning.
So my schedule for this week was decided as follows.
On Monday, after lunch, I would clear Gangwon-do’s Hwanseon Cave Tower around one o’clock.
After staying overnight in Gangwon-do, tomorrow, I would move directly to Jeju-do Tower through the Status Window.
For today, I had reserved a pension in a recreational forest in advance.
[It is a trip! A trip!]
[I like recreational forests!]
Unlike other times, the cat was with us today as well.
<Please select the Tower you wish to enter.>
1. Hwanseon Cave Tower (40th Floor, 93 days 20:54:17)
2. Gwanaksan Tower (36th Floor, 83 days 05:31:05)
3. Seopjikoji Tower (26th Floor, 145 days 06:17:32)
“Hwanseon Cave Tower.”
<Player Jack Rich_07 will enter Hwanseon Cave Tower’s 3rd floor.>
When I entered while holding Nabi, the cat was automatically registered as a party member.
And this time, it was Lee Se-a’s turn.
<Would you like to bind Lee Se-a as an affiliated spirit?>
[My grandfather said I should not go around carelessly signing contracts.]
As expected of someone from a chaebol family, Lee Se-a was cautious.
But perhaps this was how pet owners felt.
[Still, well, I am already dead... If I sign this, you will let me meet La Vie en Rose, right?]
After saying that, Lee Se-a signed without hesitation.
Scribble, scribble.
And then.
“Meow~!”
“La Vie en Rose!”
Nabi leapt from my arms and into Lee Se-a’s embrace.
“It was true! It was really true!!!”
Lee Se-a, her eyes brimming with tears, held Nabi tightly.
“Mrow!”
The two embraced each other for a long time in a moving reunion.
At that moment, Cha Jun-hyeok quietly recited her circumstances.
“Lee Se-a. Died while clearing Gwanaksan Tower’s 36th floor. At that time, her domestic ranking was second.”
“...Yes.”
As if remembering that time, Lee Se-a’s face grew gloomy.
“The Association said this was the opportunity.”
“The opportunity to clear the highest floor of Gwanaksan Tower? Without even including me?”
“I do not know. That was what the Association bastards said. They said you, Cha Jun-hyeok, were busy because of your Hwanseon Cave Tower schedule.”
“They rushed it too much, did they not? And the result was this. Korea’s only S-Rank Healer died.”
Lee Se-a’s shoulders trembled little by little as she finally burst into tears.
“But what happened? How does a Healer even die?”
Lee Se-a raised her voice.
“That is what I do not know!”
“What?”
“I do not know why I died either!”
“This is ridiculous.”
Cha Jun-hyeok clicked his tongue.
But Lee Se-a truly seemed wronged.
“If I had known it would be like this, I would not have gone, draft order or whatever else be damned! I would have retired altogether!”
Lee Se-a tightened her arms around Nabi.
It was as if she were vowing never to be separated from her again.
“Meow..., meow!”
Nabi licked her owner’s hand.
“La Vie en Rose! I thought I would never see you again! I was bound to that jewel, so I could not go anywhere else. I am sorry!”
Bound to the jewel?
Then was it not that Lee Se-a had possessed the jewel, but that the jewel had possessed Lee Se-a?
“I cannot know for certain, but this jewel! There is something in it!”
“The jewel? Was it not originally yours?”
“What are you talking about? I do not like jewels. The Association gave this to me for the clear.”
“What? You too?!”
“What do you mean, me too? What is it, Cha Jun-hyeok? Did you perhaps...?”
The deaths of the two had one thing in common.
That was the Hunter Association.
More precisely, items given by the Association.
“Those Association bastards...!”
“They begged me to help just once for the sake of the country, and so I...!”
Their anger showed no sign of cooling for quite some time.
Along with curses about killing them all, all kinds of skills poured down from a clear sky.
CRACK! RUMBLE, BOOM! FLASH! KABOOM! BOOM, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!
[S-so scary!]
“M-meow, meow...!”
Only after hearing Nabi’s pitiful cry did the two come to their senses.
“Whew, in any case, Lee Se-a. You came to the right place.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our homeowner is no ordinary person.”
“I think that much is true.”
Nod, nod.
Beside them, Chae Seon-hwa nodded diligently.
“Our homeowner is state power...”
To Cha Jun-hyeok, being a civil servant meant state power.
“And...”
“And?”
Lee Se-a waited calmly for Cha Jun-hyeok’s next words.
“He resurrects people.”
“Resurrection? Becoming human in the Tower? Why would that be resurrection?”
“Not that.”
“Then?”
“We can come back to life.”
Lee Se-a’s eyes went blank.
Then, as if she had come to her senses, she frowned and laughed.
“What are you saying? Hey, Cha Jun-hyeok. We are dead.”
“I know. We are dead.”
“And? How are we supposed to live again? This is because we are with the homeowner. And outside the Tower, we become ghosts again anyway.”
At that, Cha Jun-hyeok raised his index finger and pointed upward.
“The 100th floor of the Tower.”
“The 100th floor? What about it?”
“If we reach the 100th floor, we can come back to life. Probably even us spirits.”
“...What?”
Lee Se-a’s eyes widened.
“You know I cleared up to the 39th floor, right?”
“Hwanseon Cave Tower? Of course I know. It caused a huge uproar.”
“I heard it from the Tower then. The Association told me to keep it secret until it was confirmed, so I did not announce it separately.”
“That... then?”
“The Wish Right. Information about wishes. It said I could learn the details if I cleared the 40th floor.”
“But then you died?”
Cha Jun-hyeok nodded.
“So, Lee Se-a.”
“...What?”
“All you have to do is trust our homeowner and follow him.”
“What?”
“You know about Legendary-Grade Titles.”
“Legendary-Grade? Of course I do. But what does that have to do with the homeowner... Surely not???”
Lee Se-a’s eyes grew so wide they looked ready to pop out.
“Ah! Miss, be careful!”
Chae Seon-hwa quickly caught Lee Se-a’s eyes, which looked as though they were about to roll out.
“Really?! Is it true? Our homeowner? No, there is someone in Korea with a Legendary-Grade Title?! Does that make any sense???”
Cha Jun-hyeok, his face solemn again, smiled and stretched out his hand as though clinking a wineglass.
“Bravo.”
“Br... no! Cha Jun-hyeok!! I am asking whether it is true!!!”
Cha Jun-hyeok only laughed heartily at Lee Se-a’s shock.
Perhaps deciding that this would not do, Lee Se-a turned her gaze toward me.