S-Rank Seal.
Information will be collected after defeating the boss on the 40th floor of the Tower.
Stage 1 - Seed of Growth
Effect: The owner’s growth rate increases by 100%.
Stage 1 Quest in Progress: Guide 1>
[Homeowner! What came out?]
“Seed of Growth. It says my growth rate increases by 100%.”
[What? That is only Stage 1?? Is that not insane?!!]
I put in the remaining two essences as well.
<Stage 2 Seed Generation in Progress: 10%>
Perhaps because the stage had risen, this time it increased by only 5% each.
[A growth buff?? No wonder the first, second, and third in the world rankings all have Legendary-Grade Titles! The rich go free, and the poor are guilty!!]
Cha Jun-hyeok, looking deeply wronged for some reason, tore at his hair.
[Was this not something that only appeared when a new class was registered in the Tower?!!]
[Our homeowner is special, after all.]
The female ghost, who had been nodding to herself, came closer and asked,
[Homeowner, now that the clear is over, are we going straight home?]
“No.”
[Then?]
Chae Seon-hwa looked at me with eyes full of expectation.
“We are sightseeing.”
[Kyah!]
[Not bad.]
Cha Jun-hyeok sniffed and wiped his nose.
He seemed pleased.
[Where are we going first?]
[Horse meat! Horse meat!]
“Fine. Let us go eat horse meat.”
Eating regional specialties was a way to prime the pump of the regional economy.
Therefore, it could be said that a civil servant consuming regional specialties while on a business trip was a highly desirable act.
SSSSST—!
Sizzle, sizzle.
Horse meat grilled deliciously until it was golden brown.
And horse meat yukhoe and soup.
The ghosts were already immersed in horse-meat bliss.
[The yukhoe just melts in my mouth!]
[Ah! So refreshing~!]
Today as well, I ordered two separate bowls of rice.
When I stuck wooden chopsticks into them and set them out, the ghosts each took a chair and sat down.
There was one thing different from before.
“Um...”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
Today, we were with the owner of the horse meat restaurant.
That was because this place did not have private rooms.
“Are you... not going to eat those bowls of rice?”
From beyond the counter, the owner, who had been making horse meat rolls, looked at me with concern.
“They are for memorial purposes.”
“......Ah!”
After that, the owner said nothing more.
To break this sort of atmosphere, additional orders were the perfect solution.
In capitalist professional terminology, one could also call it icebreaking through money.
“I will add yukhoe, shabu-shabu, and braised short ribs.”
“Yes! Please wait a moment.”
As the owner set the horse meat rolls down before us, he also gave us two bowls of glutinous rice on the house.
“I do not know what your story is, but... please stay strong.”
Perhaps in the owner’s mind right now, a song of the sort that went, “Mother did not like horse meat,” might be playing.
“Thank you.”
[Glutinous rice!]
[It is so chewy!]
Well, as long as our ghosts liked it, that was enough.
[Horse meat has filled me all the way to my throat!]
[I cannot eat anymore!]
The ghosts made this declaration three hours after we had entered the horse meat restaurant.
[It is starting!]
[Caramel popcorn is delicious!]
Today was Saturday.
And the time was 8:38 p.m.
At last, that day had come.
[As expected, weekends are for chicken and beer!]
[What is sprinkled on this chicken? It is perfectly to my taste!]
On the table in front of the sofa, a proper feast had been laid out: fried chicken, pizza, jokbal, popcorn, and even ice cream.
[Homeowner! Hold this for me!]
Cha Jun-hyeok pointed at the wine bottle.
“Why?”
[I will show you something amazing! Hurry!]
When I picked up the wine bottle, Cha Jun-hyeok began gathering his strength for some reason.
[Haaap!]
Cha Jun-hyeok’s knife-hand struck forcefully beneath the cork stopper.
[I touched it!]
POP!
Then, as though it were a lie, the cork stopper shot high into the air.
[Wow! That is amazing!]
[Pour it! Drink it! Toast! Toast!]
My house was now in a festive mood.
Even so, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the living room television.
Soon after, the Lotto drawing began.
<Please press the golden button!>
The moment the host finished speaking, a famous television celebrity pressed the button with a hand wearing a golden glove.
<Regardless of the order in which the balls appear, you win as long as the numbers match. We will begin the drawing!>
The colored balls began spinning brilliantly.
The numbers from 1 to 45 stood out clearly.
<We will begin the 2,131st Lotto drawing!>
[They are doing it! They are doing it!]
[It looks like they are drawing them now!]
RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE—!
<Let us find out the first lucky number. Number 23!>
[Oh!]
[As expected!]
The start was good.
The numbers Chae Seon-hwa had given were 5, 6, 12, 23, 26, and 38.
I placed the three Lotto tickets side by side in front of me and waited for the next number.
<Next, let us see the second number. Number 6!>
[Oh! Oh!]
[Wow!!]
So far, it was within expectations.
<The third lucky number is! Number 38!>
[It matched! What do I do? My hands are shaking!]
[Take a calming pill or something!]
I took out one of the Gongjindan I had been saving and gave it to her. I had received it as a gift before, with someone saying it was good for the heart.
[It looks expensive... The packaging is luxurious too. Is it truly all right for me to have this?]
[Hey! Swallow it already! Breathe!]
[Hoo...! Ah! Hoo! Ah...!]
“......”
Regardless of our circumstances, the broadcast continued.
<The fourth number is! It is number 5!>
[What do I do!!! What do I do?]
[Ha ha ha! Ahahahahaha! Are we moving to a big house now?]
<The fifth lucky number is! Number 12!>
[Kyaaaaaak!]
[That is it! This is it!!!!!!]
By this point, the years I had lived began flashing before my eyes like a revolving lantern.
As expected.
It had been right not to lose my dream.
But even if I bought an apartment by the Han River, I would continue working as a civil servant.
After all, the most important thing in life was stability.
And this was also a promise I had made with my mother.
From now on, I could calmly save my salary little by little...
I was making such future plans when the long-awaited final number rolled out.
<The sixth number is! Yes, congratulations!>
It was the moment the ghosts clasped hands and raised them high into the air.
<Today’s winning ball is! Number 1!>
[Hm?]
[......What?]
Chae Seon-hwa blinked as she looked at the screen.
Then she quietly sidled over to my side and checked the Lotto tickets placed in front of me.
[...Eh?]
That could not be.
Her expression clearly said as much.
“......”
[You really pulled off quite a trick! What a trick! Wow, Chae Seon-hwa! I did not take you for that kind of ghost. And you spoke so confidently after this? Where is your conscience? No conscience at all! Completely shameless!]
[Th-that... no, I mean...!]
“Gangwon-do Tower. We are going again next week.”
[Yes! We have to go! Let us go! And on the way back...]
Cha Jun-hyeok clicked his tongue and looked at Chae Seon-hwa with a pitying expression.
[Uh, no... wait! Just... just a moment!]
[Why? Do you have something to say? Is this your final plea?]
[Second place! It is second place, is it not? I only got one number wrong!]
“No.”
[...What? Why not? Why is it not?]
The television gave the reason.
<The second-place bonus ball is number 11!>
[B-bonus ball?]
[You did not know? You have to match five numbers and the bonus ball to win second place.]
[Where is that rule written!!!]
[Go complain to them.]
[Even so, I...!]
[How much is third prize? Does it even reach one million won? The Hanwoo you ate that day alone cost more than a million won!]
Chae Seon-hwa, looking as wronged as possible, sobbed in a voice that seemed to crawl into the ground.
[...B-but I still got them right...]
[Got what right?]
[The Lotto numbers...]
[Huh?]
[Those too! Those are also Lotto numbers! They were not first or second prize, but... still!]
The more Chae Seon-hwa spoke, the more confident she became.
[Why do people only remember first place? People in third place are people too! Even the person in last place is still a person! Here! There is a person here too! People came before money, not the other way around!!!]
At this rate, it seemed she would soon start invoking universal human morality.
“It would be best to start with Gangwon-do Tower next week.”
[I agree.]
[What? G-Gangwon-do?! No! If you abandon me, I will become an earthbound spirit! I will cling to this house forever and never, ever leave! I truly, truly mean it!!!]
With Chae Seon-hwa’s scream, today’s festival came to an end.
[Homeowner, you are going to Ganghwa-do today?]
I was leaving the house to attend the memorial ceremony when Cha Jun-hyeok blocked my path and spoke.
“Yes.”
[Then will the Seed Quest end today?]
“We will only know once we go.”
If I was lucky, it would be resolved at once. If not, I would have to go looking again.
[If you need our help there, enter the Tower right away.]
[Ah! That is right!]
If the experiment in Jeju-do was any indication, the moment I entered, the room-corner ghosts from my house would be summoned immediately.
Cha Jun-hyeok folded his arms with a satisfied expression.
[In any case, homeowner, for the next hundred days, every Hunter in the Republic of Korea will worship you! The next time you enter the Tower, it will be complete chaos.]
[For a hundred days? Why?]
[Originally, when a new class is registered in a country’s Tower, a Tower buff appears. It is called a Growth Buff.]
[A Growth Buff?]
[Yes. It is similar to the seed the homeowner obtained, but its effect is a little weaker. This one increases growth by 50%.]
[Why does that matter?]
[This gets renewed when the owner of a Unique-Grade or higher Title enters. But there is a condition.]
“Does a seed have to be generated, by any chance?”
[Exactly! That is it!]
[Something like that exists? Then our homeowner’s is 150%?]
[That is right! It activates the moment the homeowner enters the Tower! So make sure to take full credit for it! If you do not say anything, no one will know!]
Leaving behind Cha Jun-hyeok laughing heartily and Chae Seon-hwa clapping, I left the house.
The two ghosts were surprisingly well in sync.
August 21.
The day the first Tower in the Republic of Korea collapsed, and the tragedy in which every resident of Ganghwa-do was massacred occurred.
Every year on August 21, a memorial ceremony was held in Ganghwa-do.
However, right now, the employees of the Hunter Management Agency were on an out-of-jurisdiction business trip to the very uninhabited island where the Tower had collapsed.
Before the flag at half-mast on the flagpole, we observed a brief moment of silence.
After that came the Commissioner’s instructions.
“Let us see. There are six of us, so each of you should scatter and dig up three clumps of soil. Everyone received a hand trowel and a zipper bag, correct?”
The Commissioner looked at the employees on the uninhabited island as he spoke.
“Yes!”
At present, there were six of us here: the Commissioner, four field agents who had entered through special recruitment, and me.
The Hunter Management Agency’s organization was currently growing day by day.
The moment the interior construction was finished, as though they had been waiting, around a hundred central government ministry civil servants who had been working in Sejong City were reassigned here.
“They had been predesignated even before the address was announced.”
That was the Commissioner’s brief explanation.
That was why they had not bothered recruiting ordinary people during the presidential briefing.
In addition, thirty-two Awakened people who had previously been active under the National Intelligence Service and the military transferred to the Hunter Management Agency.
On paper, they had all transferred their affiliation to the Hunter Management Agency on the same day I joined, but unusually, they all had dual identities.
In a sense, they were black operatives.
Perhaps because of that, they only showed their faces at the office about once a week.
And now, Ms. Su-a and I also had dual identities.
A few days earlier, the Commissioner had opened his mouth in Ms. Su-a’s office.
“Section Officer Lee and Ms. Su-a belong to the Audit Office for now.”
“Yes, understood.”
<The Audit Office!>
“And you are black operatives.”
<Black operatives?>
“Do you mean dual identities?”
It was a setting I had seen before in a British spy drama.
“That is right. Exactly. Section Officer Lee knows his things.”
The Commissioner smiled at me with satisfaction.
“True gems are meant to be hidden in plain sight. It catches people off guard!”
To borrow the Commissioner’s words, it was a kind of bluebird theory.
“Your performance bonuses and reward money will be paid under your black operative identities for now, so keep that in mind. They will be issued as cryptocurrency coins. Ah, and...”
The Commissioner handed me a bundle of documents.
“The price of Magic Stones has crashed lately, and it seems the Association is likely the one playing games with Magic Stones. So...”
“Yes, please tell me.”
“There is something I would like you to handle discreetly. I want you to make a trip to a Dungeon. It is called the COS Dungeon, and it is in Samseong-dong.”
“Understood. Please leave it to me.”
“If it seems dangerous, absolutely do not get involved. Understood, Section Officer Lee?”
Of course.
Naturally, that was exactly what I intended to do.
“I will keep that in mind.”
In this way, Ms. Su-a and I became the new black operatives of the Hunter Management Agency.
The Commissioner, standing before the flagpole on the uninhabited island, continued speaking.
“Good. Then we will gather here again in thirty minutes. We have to go to Ganghwa-do as well, so assemble on time.”
Originally, the memorial ceremony site was Ganghwa-do.
However, because of the procedure of taking soil from here, we had gone out of our way to come to this uninhabited island.
In truth, the memorial ceremony was an event hosted every year by the Hunter Association under the name “Remembrance Ceremony.” But starting this year, our Hunter Management Agency had taken it over.
This procedure, for the time being, also followed the method the Hunter Association had used.
“There is no need to change everything in the very first year. The bereaved families may find it unfamiliar too.”
That was because of the Commissioner’s policy.
It was a perfectly understandable measure.
If a memorial event that had continued for more than ten years was suddenly conducted in abbreviated form, it could easily seem insincere.
From the perspective of the newly established Hunter Management Agency, there was no need to bear that sort of risk from the very beginning.
Before scooping up soil, I looked around the uninhabited island.
This island was not merely a small rocky island.
It was larger than I had expected, with a river cutting across it and mountains visible in the distance.
It was simply an island without people living on it.
Given its size, perhaps that was why a Tower had been able to stand here.
It was while I was looking at the place where the Tower had once stood with that thought in mind.
‘What is that?’
A desolate area where only the site remained.
In that place, where only a few stones rolled about, there was a patch of ground that shone faintly.
‘Could it be?’
The traces of a collapsed Tower that the Seed Quest mentioned...
Surely it meant that?