Everyone Knew
Everyone knew. In this tutorial generation, only two beings were permitted to stand at the very pinnacle of the challengers. Carmia, and...
"Th-this is ridiculous..."
Right now, before one man, the white-haired beastkin was visibly shaken. The hunter named Lisha, who had been riding the highest wave of popularity, was the woman every rookie in this generation looked up to with envy.
"What? Still can't believe it?"
Yet the man standing before her wasn't satisfied with merely maintaining a confident posture. He radiated an overwhelming presence that no one dared to challenge. With his arms crossed, he looked down at Lisha with an arrogant gaze.
Originally, there had been no place for him here. Unlike everyone else who had entered the tower with determination, dreams, and hope, Kang Woojin had simply dropped in one day—into the tower, and on top of that, the absurd Apocalypse difficulty.
But he had done it. He had really pulled it off. The result that no one in the community had believed, his own unbroken life laid bare for all to see. Covered head to toe in blood, his eyes filled with killing intent, he looked down at Lisha.
- Thud.
Unable to bear the suffocating standoff any longer, a woman intervened.
"That's enough."
"Huh?"
"I can't overlook any more threats. Do you want to be kicked out of the waiting room?"
"I was just saying hello?"
Woojin looked back and forth between Lisha and Carmia with a genuinely wronged expression.
"...."
Until that moment, Lisha had been unable to give any proper reaction, caught between anger, humiliation, and denial.
- Tremble, tremble...
Her fists shook, but there was nothing Lisha could do. She could only stand there, enduring everyone's needle-like stares.
'Why?'
The world she knew was collapsing. It should have ended as a single incident. The community trolling, the phenomenon that should have been dismissed as simple aggro—had snowballed like an avalanche, pinning Lisha to the ground.
"What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"
At the voice asking with an utterly harmless expression, as if completely uninterested in her feelings—
"...Ah."
Lisha looked at Woojin, her mind growing hazy.
.. ... ....
#
'Is she sick?'
From the moment their eyes met, her face had gone pale. Maybe he had gone too far with the joke. He hadn't wanted to pressure her this much. He had only wanted to convey, in the spirit of camaraderie, that he was glad they had both survived.
- Ding!
Check the results and claim your bonus reward.
"Ah. Right, the reward."
He still hadn't received the reward for defeating the tutorial boss, the Goblin Champion. Was it finally time to claim it?
Skill: Predator's Domain (Lv3)
'Oh yeah, my baby.'
Regardless of anything else, if he wanted to survive as a hunter, he needed to take good care of this skill. Even though he hadn't known it for long, he had already benefited from it several times.
"How do I claim the clear reward?"
"...In a day. You have to wait here for a day."
"Why make it so complicated?"
At his question, Carmia answered without relaxing her tense expression.
"Because those are the system's rules."
"Then I guess there's no choice."
If the higher-ups say jump, you jump. What can powerless laborers like us do?
"No, wait. Maybe it's actually a good thing?"
He looked down at his body.
- Drip. Drip.
Soaked in so much blood that it was still dripping onto the floor, not yet dry.
"Hik."
Seeing his appearance, and then glancing around—terrified gasps echoed from all directions once more.
'Was it because of this?'
Somehow, it felt like an overreaction for someone who had just survived death.
"Hey."
"...?"
Meeting Carmia's gaze as she looked at him—
"Is there anywhere around here to wash up and rest? Somewhere I can get some proper sleep."
He wanted to take care of his business first.
.. ... ....
#
"Whoa... This is insane."
With fragrant steam rising from the hot water, he enjoyed the ultimate therapy.
Challengers who have cleared the 'Tutorial' may use the waiting room's rest system.
▶ Target: Floor Spreader ▶ Grade: The Black (SSR)
Beyond the flashy grade that looked like it came straight out of a gacha game—
"...Holy crap."
A hotel landscape so luxurious that simply stepping on the floor made him feel unworthy greeted him. After washing up properly for the first time in a while, they even provided comfortable spare clothes. They said they would wash and neatly repair his blood-soaked clothes. So he gladly tossed them into the washing machine provided.
After that, he grabbed some delicious food from the restaurant and came out to the lobby, the largest area here—
"...Oh."
Weren't two familiar faces looking at him suspiciously? Red hair and white hair. The idols of the rookie hunters who had taken 2nd and 3rd place were already seated in this empty lobby.
"Where are the others?"
"The Royal Floor can only be used by challengers of a certain grade."
"And those certain people, including me, are just the two of you?"
At his words, Carmia nodded.
"Hmm..."
The hotel was this huge, yet there were only three people. It felt empty. Or rather, awkward.
'No, that's not it.'
The moment he thought that, he whipped himself and corrected his mindset. This was the result he had achieved, the benefit he deserved. Especially here, in the tower. He needed to greedily accept every opportunity and benefit the system offered. Why? Because they would become the stepping stones for the 'next stage.'
So—
"Uh, uh...?"
He approached Lisha, who had been hesitantly glancing at him from afar, and plopped down on a chair right next to her with obvious intent.
"Wh-why over here..."
"Even if this is all part of the benefits, it's too empty with so few people."
"...?"
"So since we're all gathered here anyway, let's chat a bit among the top students."
The competition was already over. The rankings had already produced their results. All they had to do was wait here, receive their rewards, and leave the tower.
'Ah, right.'
The moment the thought reached that point, the image of his friend who must have heard the news by now flashed through his mind.
"Oh, shit."
The someone who had persistently pushed him, telling him not to even look at hunters. The memory suddenly resurfaced, sending a chill down his spine and an unpleasant reaction.
"....?"
"It's nothing."
After roughly explaining to the startled Lisha, he gave Carmia a look.
- Step.
Not betraying his expectations, the Dragonoid woman took a seat at an appropriate distance.
"...What is it you want to say?"
She asked in a voice that still carried caution.
"I don't have any particular topic in mind."
"Then..."
"Honestly, I feel like you two probably have more questions for me than I do for you."
"...."
Seeing the two rookie hunters glancing at each other with expressions that said he had hit the nail on the head, Woojin felt a surge of pride that his instincts, honed on tough job sites, hadn't failed him.
"What's your real name?"
"Kang Woojin."
"...Woojin. Kang Woojin."
After slowly repeating his name, Carmia opened her mouth again as if an opportunity had arrived.
"Did you... awaken?"
"Of course."
It wasn't what he had wanted, but somehow he had overcome hardships and trials to make it here.
"Even so, how could you clear the Apocalypse difficulty alone..."
To that, he answered willingly.
"That's one of the Three Great Mysteries arranged by this tower."
"....?"
At his words, Carmia and even Lisha, who had been pretending not to care, perked up their ears.
He kind of wanted to touch them.
"M-mystery?"
"I don't know either. One day I came to my senses and I was here, so I just cleared the stages as the system told me to."
"That can't possibly be an explanation...!"
Lisha, who had been listening quietly, glared at him with the same fiery spirit as before.
"Oh, right. Lisha, my friend. Got any questions?"
Honestly, he felt more internal closeness with her than with Carmia. You know, that thing called 'hate-love' even in the community.
"Wh-why am I your friend—"
"We survived a near-death experience together, so we're colleagues in the same industry and friends. After all, this is a place where you die if you don't clear it."
At his words, Lisha's mouth snapped shut. She looked furious, as if he had struck a nerve.
"Were there no other awakened in your dimension?"
Climbing the tower wasn't just for Earth's hunters. Just like the Dragonoids and Tiger Clan before him, hunters representing each dimension's world were conquering the tower, risking their lives for the peace of their worlds.
So there were many things he was curious about regarding their dimensions as well. Whether the ridiculous, dogshit things that had happened to him had ever happened to anyone else.
"There were a few awakened."
"Oh."
"But among them, there was no hunter who displayed the overwhelming prowess you showed us, Woojin."
Was this something to be happy about? According to Carmia, even if awakened entered the tower due to their fate, they only displayed potential within the bounds of common sense that hunters typically possessed.
So in the end, it circled back without explaining what had happened to him.
"That's a shame."
He had asked with some expectation, but the information he got back wasn't satisfying. Maybe he should dig into Earth's side instead?
"...There's one more thing I want to ask you, Woojin."
"Oh, what is it?"
"I want information about the final boss of the tutorial you cleared."
"The final boss?"
"That information will be extremely useful, both for us and for other hunters. So, please..."
Well, that made sense. He had just cleared the highest difficulty, Apocalypse. Practically every single experience and memory he possessed was 'high-grade' information to them.
"If you cooperate, I'll definitely repay you."
"Oh."
"I swear on my horns. The information you share will only be used for the greater good."
Quite an impressive statement. Then for the Tiger Clan over there, would the tail be important?
"Even hearing that, I don't really feel how important those words are to me."
"...Mmm, you're right."
"Then let's do this."
"...?"
"From what I heard earlier, it seems like you have pretty reliable backgrounds. Let's agree to acknowledge each other from now on."
Kang Woojin was a man who could always put on a friendly smile when it came to building solid connections. From what he could tell, Carmia and Lisha seemed to be treated as 'nobles' even among the other rookie hunters.
So if he made connections here and went back, he could probably paint a pretty good picture.
"I swear it."
Satisfied with the straightforward answer, he turned to Lisha this time.
"...I."
When the prideful peer hesitated, Carmia quickly added,
"Lisha, separate public and private matters. You know it too. Once this moment passes, it won't come back."
'Not necessarily.'
Kang Woojin was a man whose heart was always open—
"Damn it...! Fine, I get it, I said I get it...!"
In the end, Lisha, who raised the white flag first, turned to look at him with trembling eyes.
Thus, the network of the Royal Family— no, the Royal Rookies was formed.
"So what, what do you want to do?"
When he asked, Carmia told him,
"Come with us to the Simulation Room."
"Simulation Room?"
"Yes. It's a system that can recreate stages you've already cleared. There's no better benefit for sharing information."
Whoa, it even had a replay function? He couldn't help but be amazed at the tower's technology once again.