Entry Ticket

The British community. A Floor 11 review had gone up.

Most of them didn't believe it. Couldn't see in front of you? It wasn't that bad.

But right then, a strange message appeared.

A clear notification for Floor 11's large monster. And the one who had cleared it was a single name. JUNE.

An impossible achievement. A solo Predator hunt. The whole world went up in arms.

"......You're saying he cleared it alone?"

America was no exception. An emergency meeting was called at once.

"That does appear to be correct. If any hunters besides JUNE had taken part, the achievement message would have listed the names of the others who joined the battle. The same way it did when we cleared the Predator on Floor 23."

One congressman brought up the past — the hunt in which the strongest guild members in America had assembled as one and brought down the Floor 23 Predator.

"Well. This is absurd. Cleared it alone..."

Which only shocked America further. How had they managed it, back then?

"How many years did we sink into catching the Floor 23 Predator? We gathered the prospects separately and built up their strength, tuned their gear to the optimal level. Then we spent months more just to assemble in a single phase... And Hunter JUNE did it two days after reaching Floor 11?"

They had suffered every hardship there was to suffer, and burned every hour there was to burn. Only then, barely, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had they caught a Predator. And the time JUNE had taken? Two days. Alone.

"......Mr. President? I think we ought to recommend naturalization..."

"Y-yes. As you said before, it would be best to proceed with naturalization..."

"Let us do so. A hunter this exceptional is wasted in Korea, wouldn't you say?"

"And our own deadline for the highest floors is hardly generous either..."

The congressmen's attitudes had changed.

I'd caught the large monster. The Predator of Floor 11. What would they even give me for it? I checked at once.

Huh? What?

What the hell was this?

Whoa.

What was this?

"......"

Tower entries, plus one. And I could confirm a Predator's location? The thing was huge, sure, but finding it was a job all on its own. And I could just check that, on the spot?

And the set options — what were those supposed to be? Another entry stacked on top. Choosing a phase, a minimap, even? Summoning hidden monsters?

"......This is insane. Completely insane."

Did something like this even exist?

No. I could state it flatly: absolutely not. It was a solo-hunt reward to begin with.

"Whoa."

This was no joke. It was genuinely astonishing.

My climb would be faster than anyone else's, too.

And that wasn't all. I could call hidden monsters as well. Which meant national buffs.

I'd gotten my hands on a pretty useful item.

Floor 10 was an examination of sorts. Floor 11 was where you first came face to face with a large monster — an experience floor — and so it was vast, and running into other hunters was rare.

But Floor 12?

A floor like the ones that had come before. About the same size. About the same rhythm of meeting other hunters.

Welcome news, for some. Agony, for others. Korea belonged to the latter.

"Over there — Korea!"

"Everyone, charge!"

"Kill the Koreans, no exceptions!"

The air was wrong. An unusual obsession with Korea — and from every country.

"What the hell is wrong with those bastards?"

"Why are they charging us? There are weaker ones right in front of them!"

"They're blowing straight past the Philippines and coming right at us?"

It would have been easy to take it for the usual slaughter of minor nations. It wasn't. Not a culling of the weak — a culling of Korea.

Korean hunters dropped one after another. The entire kill feed was plastered over with Korean names. There had never been a pile-on this shameless.

"Fuck, we can't just sit here and take this. Koreans, group up! Group up!"

"Let's overwhelm them with the national buff!"

"Everybody, revive the monsters and push!"

But this was not the Korea of before. They had a national buff now, one that had never existed for them — and the Korean contingent went on the counterattack.

"Ghk!"

"Graaah!"

"R-run!"

Because of it, they won now and then. In the old days they would have been crushed without question. The enemy, however, did not sit still.

"H-huh? What the hell is that guy?"

"Something's wrong with his items. The grade looks pretty high!"

"Damn it. We'd just barely pushed them off."

"Did they go get their mom or what? Why are freaks like that suddenly..."

They had finished one pack, and a powerhouse appeared. Same level, same tier, or so it went — but the gear he wore was another matter entirely. He was holding Heroic-grade items.

"......Fuck. How are we supposed to beat a guy like this."

"This is insane. What's someone like that even doing here?"

"Damn it."

He was not an opponent they could beat. Heroic grade was absurd on its face. Someone was clearly feeding him resources on purpose.

Stranger still was why a prospect like that was helping at all. He ought to have been thinking about growing fast and climbing. From the start, something was off. It felt like torment, deliberate.

And so the slaughter began again. The Koreans went down with no way to answer it.

Shanghai, China. An upscale restaurant.

The wine glasses met with a bright clink.

"Hehehe. The results are better than I expected, wouldn't you say?"

"They are. I never imagined Korea would be this thoroughly unable to lift a finger."

"We have Japan to thank. To spend even an Item Transfer Ticket on this plan... What is anyone supposed to do against a man bearing Heroic grade?"

Two ministers, seated together. The Chinese minister of the Hunter Bureau, and Japan's. Smiles spread across both their faces.

"If we simply continue like this, it should hold. Why did we wait until now to sit down together? Whenever I think of that damned hidden-monster theft, or the Floor 8 massacre..."

"Well, we are no different. If we had only hurried a little, the Trap Zone reward heist would never have happened either."

Damn it. And those had been no small matters. For a moment, both their faces darkened.

"......But it's been set right now, hasn't it? According to the reports, in the phase where we ran the Floor 12 operation yesterday, the Korean hunters couldn't bring their strength to bear at all. Hahaha!"

"Oh, is that so? The reports we received said the same! Hahaha! At this rate, we'll take America as well?"

"Oh, please. Of course. However impressive America may be, could they possibly match us? Haha!"

Pure self-congratulation. The two ministers clinked their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glasses again.

"Let us keep it exactly like this. JUNE or not, what can he do? We move only after he has already acted, and we strike only specific phases. What recourse does he have?"

"Kehehe. Quite right. By all means, let him try picking out our phase and walking in! If he can. Hahaha!"

China's advantage was its enormous population, and the scheme was built on it.

First: confirm JUNE's activity. Move only after it was certain he had spent every entry ticket he had that day. As if he could show up again.

Second: operate in only a handful of specific phases. He would have a hard time finding them. By the time the rumors spread, they would already be gone.

"As time passes, Korea will crumble bit by bit. The low-floor massacres in specific phases will collapse them from the bottom up. The future of a nation that cannot grow is obvious, is it not?"

"Of course. The heights sit easy only when the foundation holds them up. We continue exactly like this."

The plan was perfect. The results were perfect as well. And so Korea's Hunternet went up in an uproar.

There was nothing to be done. Even a single nation was hard enough to face. With China and Japan joining forces, there was even less of an answer.

The real problem started here. Unless you escaped, you stayed locked in place. Which meant facing those bastards every single time.

Everyone was looking for a mom.

That afternoon, I came out of the Tower, put this and that in order, and was halfway through a late lunch alone when a message arrived.

The dealer. The car had finally come in, he said.

"Oh."

Thump, thump, thump. My heart started hammering in the middle of the meal. My new car was finally here! I'd done nothing but wait for it to arrive, and now, far off, I could see it coming — a top-of-the-line domestic SUV!

"Congratulations, sir! The car is finally here. Haha. Shall we get in? I'll give you a quick rundown."

The dealer stepped out and greeted me. An SUV, parked right in front of me. A car I'd only ever been able to envy, every time one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠passed me on the road. And now, he said, it was mine.

I climbed in with him. Plush brown seats, an interior that gleamed. ......This was my car now? I still couldn't believe it. Hehehe.

"......I think that covers what you'll need, and the details are all explained in this booklet, so have a look through it. At any rate, congratulations once again!"

"Ah, yes. Thank you. Haha."

The dealer left, and I sat alone in the car, poking at this and that.

"Oh, cars have features like this these days?"

"Damn, this is nice."

"Ohhh. Is this that famous massage seat?"

The admiration came out of me on its own. Maybe because my old car was so far out of date, the comparison only cut deeper.

Let's see, the time... My wife would be getting off soon. I'd better go pick her up in the new car. I headed straight for her hospital.

And so I pulled up out front. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Thirty minutes still to go. Maybe slip into the Tower one more time?

Let's hit Floor 11 again.

Why? I had another Predator to kill. I needed the item.

I went in at once, and the moment I arrived I used the item. A low hum — and a strange pillar of light shot upward. The Predator's location, confirmed. I blurred toward it, and the instant I judged I'd come far enough, the skills left me without a breath between them. Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak. A roaring downpour. Then the rumble, and the blast — kugugugung, kwaaaang!

Hehehe. Another one. That completed the 2-set. Which meant—

I've still got one more shot.

I could catch another.