Chapter 34
I’m translating the full chapter and preserving all special in-universe text in styled HTML blocks. Next I’ll return the completed chapter in the required `CHAPTER_TITLE:` format.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chapter 34: Tidying Up (1)
“A reprieve… what’s that supposed to mean?”
One of the Changcheon Clan executives stared blankly into space.
The hunters who had joined the clan were just as stunned, not by the thrill of conquering the 80th floor, but by Abyss Floor 1’s declaration of reprieve, as if it were looking down on them from above.
A long while later.
Flesh tore. Bone crunched. Blood welled with a wet suck.
At the sound of meat being carved apart, every gaze turned to Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol.
Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol was using the Frost Demon Sword to slice into the lava giant’s chest and pull the mana stone from within.
To be honest, Han Hyeon-cheol was shocked too.
Even so, as always, he simply did what had to be done.
While extracting the mana stone, he mulled over the word reprieve.
And then he understood.
Ghost wasn’t simply erasing Abyss floors.
He was a being with the power to control the system itself.
The triumph of clearing the 80th floor felt suddenly small and distant in front of that absolute presence called Ghost.
One of the executives spoke carefully.
“Chairman.”
“Go on.”
“Could we… ask the media to hold off on the Ghost report for just one day?”
At that, Go Gyeong-taek’s eyes widened.
He shouted on Han Hyeon-cheol’s behalf.
“What nonsense is that?”
The executive hurriedly waved both hands.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting we hide it.”
“Then what?”
“Ordinary people don’t receive system announcements. So if we make our announcement first, then letting the Ghost story go public naturally the next day won’t be too late.”
Another executive chimed in.
“If we think about the effort of the guilds that took part in the subjugation under the Changcheon name…”
In other words, they wanted their share of the credit.
Go Gyeong-taek glanced at Han Hyeon-cheol and shook his head.
“That’s like trying to cover the sun with your palm.”
“Goodness, why are you being so stubborn when you ought to know better?”
The executive calmly tried to persuade him, pointing to the hunters who had joined the raid.
No, it was closer to pressure.
“What’s wrong with wanting the world to properly recognize the blood and sweat we spilled?”
“……”
In the end, Go Gyeong-taek shut his mouth.
Soon all eyes turned to Han Hyeon-cheol.
And then.
Han Hyeon-cheol’s hand, still holding the sword, trembled.
So long as ordinary people don’t know?
Wouldn’t awakened hunters only laugh at them instead?
More than anything else—
Ghost is saving the world without asking for anything in return.
The white-haired veteran only looked down at the Frost Demon Sword in his hand.
Then he swept his gaze once over the executives.
Pathetic men.
“...I’ll step out first.”
He offered neither agreement nor refusal.
Only a hollow smile remained as he left the Abyss.
* * *
The next day, in a café.
Over the tables of people who had come to recharge on caffeine, a holographic news screen hovered in the air.
“Changcheon Clan Successfully Clears Abyss Floor 80!”
“Steel Guild: ‘A victory all the more precious for how difficult it was.’”
“Hunter Park Dae-hyeon: ‘We did it with our own strength, without borrowing trillion-won items from the United States!’”
“Guild Leader Yoon Hwi-won: ‘We swung our swords only for the sake of citizens’ safety.’”
And then…
“Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol: ‘I offer my sincere condolences to the hunters who lost their lives in the subjugation.’”
A man sipping his drink said, “I was wondering if I’d have to move overseas, but at least these bastards got their act together.”
“Was Floor 80 supposed to be easy?”
“The U.S. and everybody else were all struggling too.”
“Come on, they had item buffs coming out their ears. If you put it that way, Changcheon’s actually impressive.”
“What’s so impressive? Other places cleared at Floor 82 difficulty, and we had Floor 80 difficulty.”
A man with a loudly whirring implant arm looked at Han Hyeon-cheol in the hologram and spat, “Look at that old bastard, puffing himself up like he did something.”
Then a low voice came from behind him.
“If someone did well, you say they did well. Don’t just trash them for no reason.”
“What the f—”
The man glared and turned around.
His opponent was Han San-ho, the broad-shouldered guild leader of the Hansan Guild.
Just from one look, the man could tell Han San-ho was a high-ranking hunter, and he quickly averted his eyes.
Han San-ho jerked his chin toward Han Hyeon-cheol in the hologram.
“He only expressed condolences for the dead hunters, so why are you throwing a fit? And you said you were going overseas. If you hate it here that much, then emigrate.”
“……”
“What, you wanna square up if I keep looking at you? Want to step outside?”
“N-no. My eyes are just weird, that’s all…”
“They sure are. Anyway, watch your mouth.”
Crushed by the murderous pressure, the man and his friends fled the café.
When Han San-ho turned back, Song In-a, the sharply dressed woman sitting opposite him, clicked her tongue.
“They were just talking among themselves. Why did you butt in?”
“If someone were cursing your grandfather, would you just sit there and listen as his grandson?”
“Good grief. You’re the one who cut ties and walked out…”
Realizing she’d almost overstepped, Song In-a trailed off, but Han San-ho only grinned as if it meant nothing.
“Just because I left home doesn’t mean Grandfather stops being my grandfather.”
Song In-a coughed once and changed the subject.
“So why did you want to see me?”
At her question, Han San-ho tapped the news tab on the hologram.
He kept flipping through the articles.
“Why’s it like this?”
“Like what?”
“Why isn’t the story about Abyss Floor 1 on the front page? There isn’t even a speck of an article about Ghost.”
“……”
Song In-a frowned at his words.
Han San-ho asked again.
“Is the clan hiding their accomplishments, or did you guys learn something about Ghost?”
Song In-a let out a sigh.
“You’re right. It’s about the credit.”
“I knew it.”
“Early this morning, the clan contacted my father and asked if they could delay the coverage by just one day.”
“Haah…”
“Those people really never lose their minds, do they.”
Song In-a toyed with her coffee cup as she spoke.
“Still, it’s not as if ordinary people will suffer some disaster because the information’s a day late.”
“That kind of common-sense-defying thinking is exactly why awakened hunters get called a privileged class.”
“You’re the last person who should be saying that after enjoying those privileges yourself.”
At Song In-a’s sharp voice, Han San-ho gave a bitter smile.
“I did enjoy them. Even went through artificial awakening procedures to do it. Fine. Happy?”
For a moment, silence settled between them.
Then Song In-a asked, “But why are you so interested in Ghost?”
“I’m trying to bring him into Hansan Guild.”
Song In-a shook her head.
“You really do dream big.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with our guild? We’re like family, and we care about each other!”
“You don’t have any money.”
“……”
Hit right in the sore spot, Han San-ho groaned.
Song In-a’s expression turned serious as she lowered her voice.
“And because of the world announcement, most countries are probably already scrambling. …For all we know, the United States will move too.”
“Come on, the U.S. is our ally. You think they’d really do that?”
When Han San-ho voiced his doubt, Song In-a rubbed her temples in exasperation.
“The deeper you go into the Abyss, the more absurdly hard it gets, right? So what happens if Ghost erases just a few upper floors? The overall difficulty drops.”
“……”
“Need me to explain what that means? Hunters survive more often, and the risk of subjugation falls. If Ghost exists, everybody can breathe easier. So you really think the U.S. is going to sit still?”
Han San-ho fell silent.
It was an irrefutable fact.
Song In-a looked out the window.
“The hunt for Ghost… has already begun.”
* * *
Arlington, Virginia, USA.
The Pentagon strategy conference room.
Blue light washed over a long table.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Liam and Hunter Administration Director David sat with their arms folded, staring at the hologram floating in the air.
On the hologram was the headline:
“KOREA ABYSS - FLOOR 1
SUSPENSION”
“Report.”
At Secretary Liam’s deep, heavy voice, Jacob, the shaggy-bearded man standing beside the screen, opened his mouth.
“As you can see, a world announcement has appeared stating that the destruction of Korea’s Abyss Floor 1 has been suspended.”
Secretary Liam stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes.
“Any chance it’s a system error?”
“We’ve already verified it through the South Korean hunters who hope to naturalize on our side.”
Jacob connected the dive port on his cybernetic body to the computer and projected the data.
Moments later, a hologram appeared in the air, using hunter reports and hand-drawn maps rendered by AI.
Among them, the physical graph of the wendigo stood out.
Jacob pointed to the wendigo’s sharply plummeting line.
“The reported physical stats of the wendigo are about one-fifth of what they were for the wendigo on the original third floor.”
Only then did David, who had remained silent until now, speak up.
“As you can see, this isn’t simply a matter of removing a floor, Secretary. The difficulty of every floor has been forcibly adjusted.”
Secretary Liam’s brow twitched.
“Then… the Changcheon Clan’s clear of Floor 80 in Korea as well?”
“Yes. Thanks to that Ghost, they were able to clear it without borrowing our items.”
For the U.S. Hunter Administration, which also ran an item lending business, that wasn’t exactly good news.
With his arms still folded, Secretary Liam glared at the word SUSPENSION on the screen.
An existence that could seize the Abyss system by the throat, erase upper floors, and arbitrarily cut down the difficulty at will.
Wait.
What if you cleared the lower floors after the upper floors had been erased, causing their difficulty to drop?
Secretary Liam straightened his back and asked,
Could this mean…
“The Abyss can be destroyed, can’t it?”
It was the hope humanity had dreamed of for seventy years.
“We think the same thing.”
Holy shit….
The curse slipped from the Secretary’s mouth before he could stop it.
He steadied his pounding heart and went on.
“Director David, activate your hunter intelligence network to maximum capacity. And we… will deploy a hunter team under JSOC.”
His order was clear and merciless.
“Find Ghost before anyone else, and bring him back.”
And then…
Secretary Liam added something far more extreme.
“Give him a blank check. If that doesn’t work, feel free to use one of our hunters with psychic abilities. Just bring him here.”
“Understood.”
Listening to the two of them, Jacob clicked his tongue inwardly.
Tch.
At a time when even Blood Soo and I can’t find a single clue about Ghost, now these bastards are jumping in too.
Jacob, who also worked as an information broker, pulled the cable from his dive port with a sour expression.
* * *
Meanwhile, Ghost, Im Du-ho, had finished his day’s work and was standing out on the terrace of his room.
He opened his status window.
[Main]
Name: Im Du-ho
Class: Mechromancer
F-rank Lv. 78
Experience: 3492/3572
Trait: Super-intelligence Summon/Summon Release, Garage
Collection: Isto, Hoguai
Skills: Metal Manipulation, Part Detection
Dimensional Entry/Exit, Nanobot Lv. 6
Mana Affinity 97, Machine Knowledge 104
Crafting Power 100, Mana Circuit 85
Available Stat Points: 112
“I went up sixteen levels.”
Eighty wendigos with 1 experience each would never have been enough, but the golems had filled it all in at once.
Well…
I got lucky.
Chik—tok.
The crisp sound of a can of beer opening rang out.
Cold beer slid down his throat.
“Ahh….”
Seoul’s night view, spread out below from the balcony, sparkled like jewels and felt wonderfully refreshing.
His parents were downstairs in the living room, chatting quietly while watching TV.
His twin younger siblings were studying hard in their own rooms.
And his bank balance was steadily growing fuller and fuller.
Du-ho shook the can lightly and looked up at the night sky.
“...This really is heaven.”
What was strange was that he had expected the whole day to be noisy because of Ghost, yet the media had been plastered with nothing but the news that Floor 80 had been cleared.
Right.
It did buy me an entire year, after all. Of course this is how it should be.
To be honest, the fact that Ghost wasn’t getting attention meant—
“It’s actually a relief.”
Ding—
His smartwatch chimed.
Who is it?
Du-ho looked down at it to check the message.
And then.
Breaking News: Abyss Floor 1 Destruction Put on Hold
“Why is this showing up now?”
He opened the news tab, and suddenly it was full of Ghost and the reprieve story.
Why now, of all times?
“Why???”
One news item stood out in particular: a huge banner hung in Tehran.
Iran had openly defied the law and used its oil money to extend Ghost a blatant love call.
Du-ho enlarged the hologram and checked the amount written on the banner.
“...A hundred billion?”
It was so much money it didn’t even feel real.
What came to mind first, though, was:
That can’t happen because of Isto and Hoguai.
One of them talked about world conquest every time he opened his mouth, and the other kept shouting for robot liberation!
Above all else, both of them were the only mechs in the world that could function inside the Abyss.
“They’d drag them into a lab, nine times out of ten.”
Of course, the two of them wouldn’t go quietly.
Hunters or Defense Ministry robots would swarm them all at once…
But still.
I don’t think those two would lose.
More than anything else, there was this peaceful life he shared with his family.
I’m plenty happy already.
Du-ho’s gaze drifted toward a shadow swallowed by the dark.
At the corner of the terrace railing, Hoguai was maintaining a vigilant stance, making tiny adjustments to his scope.
A reassuring presence, and yet somehow a little pitiful too.
Gulp.
Du-ho drained the beer can and stood up.
“Hoguai. Let’s go inside.”
—Yes?
“We should check the parts shop.”
—Ah! You mean Mimic.
“Yeah, and we should open the treasure chest too.”
Du-ho and Hoguai went into the Garage.
At last, it was time for the reward he had been waiting for.
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