Target Changed: Pat Pat
The pat-pat of a target change. It felt a bit like plucking the strings of an instrument.
When she patted the girl’s back, So-a smiled brightly like a baby lying in a cradle and closed her eyes. It was probably because the pain had vanished completely for the first time in a very long while—perhaps the first time in her entire life.
That was why every bit of tension in her body had unraveled at once, and exhaustion came crashing down on her all at once.
“Sleep well….”
Yuhwa whispered softly and brushed the sweat-soaked bangs from So-a’s forehead.
And then.
So-a fell completely asleep.
So-i, who had been waiting quietly, knelt on the floor without hesitation and prostrated herself.
“Thank you…! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you….”
Her voice was a turbulent mix of desperation, overwhelming emotion, sorrow, and countless other feelings. It sounded thick and choked, as though her throat had tightened and words could barely escape.
“Thank you so much for saving my little sister… my one and only family….”
Yuhwa once again gently swept the hair from So-a’s forehead.
“I have already received a debt from you, Lady Yuhwa, that I could never repay even if I devoted my entire life to you.”
“It is not to that extent. For it was nothing of note to me.”
“…From the perspective of one as exalted as yourself, that may be true, yet from my own it is not. As long as breath remains in this body, I will repay this grace no matter what it takes.”
Watching So-i sob, a satisfied smile rose to Yuhwa’s lips.
Her loyalty’s about to pierce the damn heavens.
In situations like this, acting as if it were no big deal was the proper attitude.
“There is no need for such commotion. I merely found this child appealing and gave her a bit of my attention.”
Yuhwa waved her hand lightly, as though it truly meant nothing.
Then she poked the soft, squishy cheek of the soundly sleeping So-a.
It’s seriously so squishy. Cute. So cute.
As she kept fiddling with it, So-a’s hand groped through the air. It seemed she was searching for something even in her sleep.
“Are you looking for this?”
When Yuhwa placed her tail in the girl’s hand, So-a immediately hugged it tight with both arms.
“Hehe… It’s cool…”
She clutched the tail like a body pillow and rubbed her cheek against it. A faint damp sensation spread across the scales as the child’s drool soaked into it.
Fuck, she’s insanely cute!
Yuhwa nearly squealed and lost all composure, but she barely managed to hold it in. She let So-a continue hugging her tail and spoke to So-i.
“For now, I believe I must hear about this world. Not by searching on a smartphone, but directly from your own mouth.”
So-i remained prostrated on the floor.
“Explain to me the rules and order of this place.”
“Yes! Understood!”
She wiped her reddened eyes and carefully rose. After adjusting her posture to sit properly on the floor, she began to speak.
This isn’t just a simple hunter story, huh?
From what Yuhwa could gather, this world was not a typical hunter setting. It was a strange fusion of raid elements and tower-climbing.
Gigantic towers had appeared across the globe. Awakened individuals could enter them and challenge the trials within.
The towers had four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hell. Each floor could be attempted separately.
The standard practice, of course, was to climb steadily from the easiest difficulty, building one’s strength along the way.
According to So-i, the most crucial reward was the currency granted upon clearing a tower—Coins.
“Does this Coin possess such tremendous value?”
“Yes, it is incredible! Coins are an absolute resource that can accomplish anything. They can purchase top-grade equipment, spiritual medicines, even holy water that cures real-world illnesses. They can even be exchanged for real currency.”
So-i’s explanation continued.
She added that Coins were essentially a kind of “survival tax” imposed on humanity. Nations were required to pay a fixed quota of them at regular intervals.
If a country failed to meet its Coin quota, a raid would begin.
“Then what is the current situation in this nation… South Korea?”
At Yuhwa’s question, So-i’s face darkened.
“To speak honestly… it is not good.”
Her bitter expression said everything.
“South Korea is currently unable to gather the required Coins. We lack powerful hunters capable of clearing higher difficulties.”
So the Korean government had resorted to a desperate measure: the creation of a mana meter and a gate exploration system. They poured every Coin they could scrape together into building devices that measured gate danger levels in advance, then shoved awakened individuals into those gates at rock-bottom prices to bring back even the most trivial byproducts.
South Korea is still South Korea. Not much has changed.
Yuhwa clicked her tongue inwardly.
“Intriguing. Do you believe I would be able to enter that tower as well?”
“To be completely honest… I am not certain. Awakened individuals can enter simply by declaring their intent, but whether the same applies to you, Lady Yuhwa…”
“Well, I can simply try it myself.”
So-i jumped in alarm and spoke urgently.
“If… if you truly intend to enter, I beg you—please, never attempt the Hell difficulty!”
“Why is that?”
“Hell difficulty is literally hell.”
So-i’s face was pale with terror as she continued.
“So far, only one person in the entire world has ever cleared the Hell difficulty.”
“Oh? And who might that be?”
“A Holy Knight affiliated with the Vatican. No one else has ever returned alive.”
A Vatican Holy Knight… that sounded rather impressive. Perhaps there would be an opportunity to meet her someday.
“Ah, Lady Yuhwa! One more thing I must tell you!”
So-i spoke in a rush.
“After clearing the first floor, there is a one-week cooldown in real time before you can enter the second floor. There is no cooldown when moving from Easy to Normal on the same floor, but advancing to the next floor always requires you to wait!”
“For what reason does such a thing exist?”
“I… wouldn’t know…?”
Well, that was only natural. There was no reason So-i would know.
“Are you… truly going to enter?”
“I merely wish to give it a little taste.”
“Taste…?”
“Ahem. I learned the term from the internet.”
“Ah. I see. Yes.”
So-i froze for a brief moment, then quickly searched for strategy guides and showed them to her.
“As you can see… there are no guides for Hell difficulty.”
“I suppose that Vatican Holy Knight has not uploaded one?”
“Correct… apparently they fear that posting a guide would cause even more people to attempt it.”
“A rather reasonable concern.”
Muttering to herself, Yuhwa imagined entering the tower.
Would you like to enter the Tower of Trials (Floor 1)?
[YES / NO]
Yuhwa chose YES without hesitation.
Honestly, she was curious. She wanted to know exactly how strong she was. She was also curious about those Coins.
A perfect stage to test the extent of her power, and a chance to earn some tasty Coins.
Let’s go.
Wooong—!
Inside the Korean Hunter Association headquarters, where the shock of the catastrophe-class monster’s appearance had yet to fade, a completely different kind of alarm suddenly tore through the central control room that had been drowning in suffocating tension.
“Wh-what is it this time?!”
“Th-that is…! Abnormal data is pouring in from the Tower’s record archive!”
An agent hammered his keyboard frantically and switched the feed on the massive screen.
The screen displayed the real-time global ranking board that tracked every hunter’s tower-clear records across the world.
And at the very top of that board—the Floor 1 records that the entire planet watched with bated breath—were changing in real time.
“R-report! An unregistered awakened on the Korean regional server has cleared Floor 1 of the Tower!”
“Unregistered? Who the hell is it?”
The agent’s voice shook.
“Nickname… ‘Life Ruined’!”
Floor 1 (Easy) Cleared — Record: 13 seconds
Silence blanketed the control room.
“…Thirteen seconds?”
“What? That’s slower than expected.”
Considering the alarm that had gone off, the record seemed underwhelming. After all, the current world record for Easy difficulty was three seconds.
Compared to that, thirteen seconds was—
Floor 1 (Normal) Cleared — Record: 10 seconds
“Normal difficulty cleared in ten seconds!”
“Easy took thirteen but Normal only ten…?”
Normal difficulty featured a larger map and far trickier gimmicks than Easy. Clearing it faster than Easy could only mean one thing: the person was growing stronger in real time.
Floor 1 (Hard) Cleared — Record: 5 seconds
“Hard difficulty cleared in five—five seconds!”
Every agent in the control room stopped working and simply stared at the screen in a daze.
Hard difficulty. Even in South Korea, only a handful of people had ever cleared it. And this person had blown through it in five seconds? It was impossible.
“Don’t tell me… even Hell difficulty?”
“No way… right?”
“Who the hell is this person…?”
Everyone held their breath and stared at the screen.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, the next message appeared.
Floor 1 (Hell) Cleared — Record: 1 second
Perfect silence. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
“Holy… shit…”
One person’s trembling murmur became the spark. The control room erupted like a bomb had gone off.
The global ranking board froze. Frantic communications flooded in from hunter associations around the world.
The Association President gripped the microphone with a trembling hand.
The catastrophe-class monster that had appeared in Korea.
In the midst of that despair, this unregistered awakened who had shown up might very well be the miracle South Korea needed.
It was clear that this unregistered awakened was growing stronger in real time. She had clearly awakened an ability that allowed her to become stronger at a speed that defied all common sense!
The chief secretary swallowed hard as he looked at the screen, then spoke carefully to the President.
“For now… perhaps we should try to gauge her strength. So we can understand the power of this ‘unregistered awakened.’”
The President gave a heavy nod.
He spent Coins (which were required even for basic functions).
Would you like to spend Coins to learn the target’s abilities, identity, and strategy methods?
Required Coins: 11,432,537,983,270,092 C
[Y/N]
They could only be stunned. The number was so absurd—roughly eleven quadrillion four hundred trillion—that it would require every Coin on the entire planet to even attempt it.
When the news spread, silence fell for a moment. Three full minutes of silence.
And then.
The target was changed. Instead of searching for the catastrophe-class monster, the new objective became finding “Life Ruined.”