I Turned the Association Upside Down
Time had slipped away without either of them noticing. They'd been fucking like crazy.
Fresh from the shower, Minjun worked a towel through his wet hair, flicking the water off in sharp little shakes. Charlotte lay sprawled on the floor in a full-body starfish, still stranded in the afterglow, grinning a loose, blissed-out idiot's grin.
"Can't even be bothered to go out. Should we just order chicken for dinner?"
He was already looking forward to whatever sound Charlotte would make the first time Korean fried chicken hit her tongue.
"We'll order later, though... Status Window!"
Minjun dropped onto the floor and tossed the words lightly into the empty air. He had hit level 5 earlier that day and gained a new trait, Golem Modification, and he wanted to see exactly what it could do.
He tapped her name where it floated on the window.
Might as well see how much gold this ate. As a test, he poked one of the stats hanging in front of him.
Stamina LV.1 → LV.2
Gold Required: 1,000 G
Pricier than I thought?
Whether it was Charlotte's high grade or not, the gold cost was no joke. Clearing the first floor today had paid out 1,000 gold, which meant that, for now, he could choose exactly one of the five.
Early on, damage matters more than a thick hide anyway.
He turned it over carefully, then made the call.
Strength LV.1 → LV.2
Gold Required: 1,000 G
The moment the confirmation window finished drawing itself, he slapped Yes.
The enhancement has been applied.
"How much gold does it want to push this to level 3?"
No harm in knowing ahead of time. He tapped the Strength stat that had just become level 2.
Strength LV.2 → LV.3
Gold Required: 3,000 G
"Whoa. Are you kidding me?"
The gold requirement had tripled. Even so, he nodded as if it made perfect sense.
"If it costs that much, it must be worth it."
Optimism intact, he closed the Status Window now that he was done with it. Wouldn't hurt to know what was waiting on the next floor before he walked into it. With nothing else to do, Minjun switched his phone on.
Of course, Extreme Difficulty was unknown territory — a tier that had never once been found anywhere in the world. Useful information was not going to be sitting around. Still, something beat nothing. He opened the gallery app.
Every refresh dumped a fresh wave of posts. The gallery was blazing, as if someone had thrown a lit match into oil — and the one who'd struck it was Minjun himself, the same man who'd been feverishly mouthing and sucking on Charlotte until a minute ago.
He had never once drawn attention this hot. No way he was sitting on it. His chest itched; staying still was impossible. Unable to choke down the urge boiling up in him, Minjun let the corner of his mouth twitch and set his fingers moving. Quick and shameless, he slapped up one short post.
He had told the truth, and they still wouldn't believe him. Privately, he laughed at every one of them and enjoyed it.
The next day, Minjun woke clear-headed and went straight into the Tower of Trials.
He looked around. A bleak, savage arena, hardly different from the first floor. The moment both pairs of feet touched the floor — flushed with a red like blood —
Fwaaat—!!
A massive magic circle drew itself across the ground, and the enemies he would face today took shape. The same vicious orcs he had fought on the first floor. The numbers, though, were different. Three house-sized slabs of pig muscle, all told.
The trial begins in 1 minute.
"Ready, Charlotte?"
"Of course, Master."
Armor sheathed her in an instant. She drew the longsword at her hip in one smooth pull.
The trial has begun.
May fortune favor your fight.
"KRAAAAA—!!"
The instant it began, the creatures shrieked and charged as one. Heavy as they were, the three of them moving together made the ground boom loud enough to rattle.
"Go, Charlotte! Tear them to shreds!"
"By your command!"
She answered short and sharp, then kicked off the earth.
"Haaah—!!"
A keen shout, and Charlotte's longsword flashed.
Shhk—!!
She carved a diagonal through the orc leading the rush and split its body clean. The other two fared little better. Furious at their comrade's death, they lunged in full of bravado —
"Die, and rust upon my blade!"
A silver arc split the arena's air exactly twice. Caught in the sword-light Charlotte had unleashed, they dropped without ever landing a real blow. It wasn't a battle. It was a one-sided slaughter.
In that moment, system windows bloomed one after another before his eyes.
Level 10 reached
Authority of the Golem Lord
◈ All stats of owned golems are increased by 7% by default.
◈ Each additional golem owned raises the trait's effect by 3%.
Level increased by 5
LV.5 → LV.10
Upon entering combat, Strength and Defense increase by 2% every 10 seconds.
◈ A-Grade Magic Stone ×1
◈ B-Grade Magic Stone ×1
◈ 2,500 Gold
The same flood as the first floor.
A grin split his face. Windows packed his vision edge to edge, and the corner of Minjun's mouth — full to bursting with joy — curled until it nearly reached his ears.
Having burned through every daily challenge attempt, Minjun returned to reality. He had business to handle. He changed in a hurry and left the house with Charlotte at his side.
His steps brought him to the Hunter Association. He had come for exactly one reason: the Awakener registration card required to use the exchange.
"Welcome. How may I help you?"
The clerk at the information desk asked it with a neat, practiced smile.
"I'm here to register as an Awakener."
"May I have your ID for identity verification?"
"Here."
He pulled it from his wallet and handed it over.
"Verification is complete. Please take this temporary pass."
Along with his ID, she held out a badge on a lanyard.
"This one's a golem I made with my ability. She can just come in with me, right?"
"I'm sorry? A g-golem...?"
Startled by what Minjun had said, the clerk looked Charlotte over from every angle. No matter how she looked, the woman didn't seem all that different from an ordinary human, and bewilderment sat plain on the clerk's face.
"O-one moment...!"
Flustered, the clerk set something on the desk — a portable terminal with a large palm print drawn across it.
"Could you place your palm here for just a moment?"
"Charlotte."
"Understood, Master."
Charlotte stepped forward and lightly set her hand down, just as asked.
Beep!
A moment later, a clear chime sounded from the machine.
"Verification complete. You may go through."
They passed the entry gate, rode the elevator up, and were handed a queue ticket with instructions to wait until their number was called. They sat on a sofa in the waiting room.
It wasn't long.
Ding!
A bright electronic chime, and a queue number flared large across the monitor hung from the ceiling. It was the number Minjun had just been given.
"I'll be right back, so wait here and behave."
"Should any danger befall you, Master, this Charlotte will reach you in a single stride."
As if anything like that would ever happen at the Association.
Leaving her grim resolve behind him, Minjun stepped into the examination room.
Rattle—.
He opened the door slowly. In that instant, his gaze was swallowed by the enormous mana-measuring device occupying the center of the wide room.
"You are Kim Minjun, correct?"
A young staffer in a white coat pushed their glasses up as they asked.
"Ah, yes."
"Please stand lined up with the sticker on the floor."
He walked onto the spot they indicated and stood straight.
"The scan will begin now. You must not move at all until the examination is completely finished."
With that short briefing, the start button was pressed.
Wiiiiing—!!
Honestly, this is kind of lame.
He had already heard, more times than he could count, that an Awakener registration exam was simple. Standing still in front of a machine was all there was to it, and the whole thing was dull enough to kill the mood.
That aside, how's this result going to come out? I'm the first person in the world challenging the Tower on Extreme Difficulty. An S-Rank's basically guaranteed, right?
Already planning the proof post he'd slap on the gallery, he waited for the exam to hurry up and end.
Right then —
Psshuk—!!
An ominous sound cut in out of nowhere. Minjun knew at once where it had come from. The lamps on the measuring device, which had been running just fine, burned a red so fierce it raised goosebumps just to look at it.
Kshhhhh—!! Crack-crackle!
Acrid smoke poured from the gaps in the machine, and sparks spat like mad.
EEEENG—!!!
Emergency situation! Emergency situation!
A deafening siren wailed, and a frantic evacuation announcement blared with it.
It works just fine when anyone else does this. Why does this crap happen on my turn...
KWA-AANG—!!
"Master!!"
In that instant, the thick iron door blew clean off its frame. Charlotte, armored head to toe, rushed in on urgent feet.
He had no idea why the measuring device had suddenly gone berserk. One fact, though, he grasped on instinct. If he didn't stop that machine right now, the examination room was finished — and everything around it would take the damage with it.
"Charlotte, think you can stop that machine?"
"I shall try."
Minjun took one step back. Without hesitation, Charlotte drew the longsword at her hip, gripped it in both hands, and raised it high overhead as she gathered her focus.
Wooong—!
In that moment, a ring of pure white light condensed around her keen blade and dyed it blindingly bright.
"Haah!"
She swung on a short shout.
SKRRRKK—!!
A silver slash tore horizontally through the air. Under that single blow, the measuring device — built of special alloy — split clean in half, like a block of tofu under a knife.
Pshhh...
Even the core power components inside had been severed in two. The frenzy of a moment ago went quiet all at once, so suddenly it felt like a lie.