Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Han Yu-ra (2)
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Swish-! Swish-! Swish-!
In the darkness, three arrows sliced through the air in rapid succession. The arrows left the bowstring and struck precisely between the eyes of three goblins. Rapid fire.
"Kieek...!"
With screams, the last ferocious goblins collapsed. It was the end of the seventh night's hunt.
"Hoo..."
Around her, the corpses of goblins she had shot dead were piled up like a mountain. Lately, the monsters in the forest had grown unusually ferocious, and their numbers had noticeably increased.
'Time to head back.'
Han Yu-ra caught her ragged breath and wiped the sweat beading on her forehead. Crushing fatigue weighed down her entire body. She wanted to just collapse right there and sleep, but she couldn't. Not for the people waiting for her, and not if she wanted to survive this hellish tower.
She painstakingly pulled reusable arrows from the goblin corpses one by one, then dragged her weary body toward the cave that served as their base.
The base had been deliberately established at a distance from the hunting grounds where enemies appeared, so the trip back took quite some time.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Day 8 begins.] [Mid-tier ranking system activated.] [From now on, every morning, you can check what percentile your 'point balance' falls into—top % or bottom %.] As the morning of day eight dawned, Han Yu-ra finally arrived at their base cave.
She had led her three-person hunting team, wrapping up the all-nighter and returning as a group.
The sentries at the cave entrance spotted her and shouted.
"Yu-ra's back! The hunting team's returned!"
At the cry, people sleeping inside the cave began waking one by one and gathering at the entrance.
"Yu-ra! You're back!"
"Any injuries?"
Voices welcoming Han Yu-ra rang out. Most of them were summoners who hadn't even reached level 10.
"Yes. Thankfully, nothing major today."
The base she had established started as a small group of around twenty people, but as time passed, more joined, swelling their numbers to about 250.
And Han Yu-ra was the leader of that group—their one spiritual pillar.
She wanted to return the greetings with a bright smile, at least for those coming to meet her, but today she was too exhausted to muster the energy.
Besides, woven into their welcome was an emotion thicker than simple joy: expectation.
As Yu-ra pushed through the crowd toward her shelter in a hurry. Sure enough—
"Yu-ra, welcome back! You must be exhausted after staying up all night."
The first to approach her was a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her late forties. She wore a kind smile, but her eyes gleamed with greed.
'Here she comes again.'
"Yes, Auntie. Everything okay?"
"Of course, of course. We all slept soundly thanks to you. But I'm hungry. When do we get our bread and water?"
She held out her hand as if it were the most natural thing. Han Yu-ra suppressed her fatigue and nodded to another member who managed the points collected by the hunting team.
"Jae-ho, handle the rations."
"Got it."
The man named Jae-ho operated his tablet, distributing the minimum points needed for each person to buy bread and water. But the middle-aged woman wasn't satisfied even with that.
"What? That's all? Why so little?"
"It's the standard ration. One meal per person per day—one bread, one water. By the rules."
Jae-ho answered with a troubled look, but the woman's voice grew louder.
"It should be three meals a day! Breakfast, lunch, dinner! People need three meals to have any strength! You can't just change it on a whim!"
Her shameless demand furrowed Han Yu-ra's brow.
"Auntie, that was only when we had enough points. Hunting efficiency's dropped now, so we're short on points. Besides, the shop's been offering daily rations since yesterday. You should've at least used that for breakfast."
"No way can I survive the day on one of those rock-hard bread scraps! And if points are short, that's on you! It's because you're wasting them on nonsense!"
The woman's accusatory arrow turned toward Han Yu-ra.
"Nonsense?"
"Yeah! Last time, didn't you blow thousands of points on gear for the hunting team? Money that could've bought bread for us! If that's not a waste, what is?"
"We had to equip the hunting team for long-term point sustainability. Thanks to that, we took down more monsters yesterday than usual. It's an investment for everyone."
Han Yu-ra explained calmly, but the woman was unreasonable. She pointed at the other hunting team members and yelled.
"Then why do they get extra? Why not us? Because they go hunting, they eat more? This is discrimination!"
At her nonsense, Han Yu-ra finally hit the limit of her patience.
"Fine. Then you go hunt in our place. We'll treat you the same. If you're confident swinging a sword while chased by monsters all night—or here, take my bow right now and try it yourself."
At Han Yu-ra's cold words, the woman's face stiffened. She just moved her lips silently, unable to respond. At that moment, Hyuk-jin—the early-twenties youngest member of the hunting team—stepped in to hold her back on Han Yu-ra's behalf.
"Auntie, enough! You know how hard Yu-ra works—why do this?"
"Wh-what? Why are you butting in?!"
As the situation grew noisy, Han Yu-ra let out a deep sigh and retreated to her tent deeper inside the cave. She had no energy left to listen to their whining.
Once inside the tent, Han Yu-ra slumped straight onto the cold floor. Fatigue crashed over her all at once. But her heart ached even more than her body.
'How did it come to this?'
She lamented her fate. In the real world, she was Korea's representative archer.
Bathed in spotlights and cheers, she had seized everything through her own efforts.
But in this hellish tower, her talent had been reduced to a mere 'tool' for feeding others.
She was a hunter here. But at the same time, a sucker propping up selfish parasites.
She was the group's leader, yet no one understood her pain. They cared only for what she brought back—points and food.
'Maybe it'd be easier alone.'
But she couldn't. She knew her own personality well—she couldn't abandon the weak. And that very trait had trapped her in this hellish mire.
Han Yu-ra buried her face in her knees and shed silent tears. In this endless vicious cycle, she was slowly wearing down.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ How much time had passed? Han Yu-ra woke from the chill of the cold floor. It had been a short sleep, but having dozed off in deep despair, her mind felt sharper than before.
She stared at the tent ceiling, shaking off the powerlessness that had crushed her moments ago.
'Yeah. I can't just sit here lamenting.'
The middle-aged auntie's shameless face, the greedy eyes of group members who saw her as a sucker.
All of it reignited the fire in Han Yu-ra's heart. They were wrong. This tower couldn't be endured through simple perseverance.
'Thanks to them, I got to temper myself once more—reminded why I need to level up.'
The reason Han Yu-ra endured being treated like a fool by others and held her position steadfastly.
It was 'strength'.
Overwhelming power that no one could treat her lightly. True power to protect this group, these frail people.
For that power, Han Yu-ra was prepared to pull more all-nighters, to drench herself in more monster blood.
As if confirming her resolve, she opened her tablet and checked her status window.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 👤 Name: Han Yu-ra
⭐ Level: 13
🎯 Job: Sniper (Rarity: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆)
⚡ Strength: 68 (48+20) 💨 Agility: 56 (41+15) ✨ Intellect: 12 (10+2) 🍀 Luck: 8 (6+2) 📊 Remaining Stats: 0
🎁 Tower's Blessing: Strength (A), Agility (B)
🏆 Achievement: 『First to Form a Group』
Sniper (Rarity: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆) Job Bonus: Strength +15, Agility +10 Job Effect: Greatly increases accuracy and critical hit chance when using bow-class weapons. Special Ability: Eagle's Eye
>→ Expands field of view 5x and enhances dynamic vision for 10 minutes, allowing trajectory prediction of ultra-high-speed targets. (Cooldown: 1 hour) Penalty: All stats -20% in close combat. Passive: Low chance to automatically aim for enemy vitals on attack. Held Skills: [Camouflage], [Sniper Shot], [Tracking Arrow] And below that was a secret she had never told a soul.
Tower's Blessing: Strength (A), Agility (B) Effect: You possess exceptional potential in strength and agility. The Tower bestows its blessing upon your path. [Achievement: 『First to Form a Group』] Effect: Every time the number in the group you lead surpasses a multiple of 100, all your stats permanently increase by 1. Additionally, grants 'Loyalty' buff (+5% attack/defense) to all in your group, and 'Bond' buff (+10% attack/defense) to party members. This was the reason she bore all these burdens—and the true source of her power.
The potent physical abilities from the Tower's Blessing, and the powerful leader buffs from being the first to form a group.
'Who knows what lies ahead. The Tower's trials could threaten us anytime, in any way. One thing's certain: this power wasn't given for nothing.'
Great power comes with great responsibility.
Han Yu-ra knew instinctively. The world inside the Tower couldn't be conquered with a light heart.
'So there's only one thing I can do. No matter the situation, max out my stats and buffs to become stronger than anyone—to survive.'
Han Yu-ra clenched her fist. That was the only way to survive this hell.
She coldly analyzed her abilities. Thanks to the Blessing and Achievement, she held a far superior position to other summoners.
'The one regret is not hitting level 10 first. If only I'd known sooner that first achievements give rewards...'
Han Yu-ra shook her head. No point dwelling on the past. What mattered was moving forward.
'Focus on the now.'