All Kill

Jackson, of the United States, was tearing through the second floor like a man out on a joyride.

"Gack!"

"Guhk!"

Was he only running around? Hardly. Anything that crossed his line of sight, he put down, and first place, for the moment, was his without question.

He had the full weight of the United States behind him, and Americans who watched one another's backs. There was nothing in the world he needed to fear.

Got myself a decent haul this time, too.

The bag at his hip sat fat and heavy—and it wasn't only his own. He'd taken the bags off the ones he'd killed. The Koreans', above all.

Weak as they are, they sure do love throwing themselves at it.

Which only made it better. There was a savor to killing the weak. Heh heh heh.

A low boom rolled across the floor.

"……Hm?"

That was when it happened. The sky darkened all at once, and a moment later it was red.

"W-wait. Hold on."

Something about this was wrong. A review flashed through his mind—hadn't someone written that the sky turned red? ……No. Surely not.

A furious pattering drummed down out of the dark, and then flame roared to life.

"What the fuck!"

Every miserable hour he'd spent filling that bag, and it was taken from him.

That was the message waiting for me the moment I stepped off the second floor. So I'd gone and broken the world record again. The achievement reward came with it, of course.

Another Skill Enhancement Ticket. The sort of thing other people could barely get their hands on, and already my second—when all I'd done was clear the second floor.

Have to admit it. EX-rank really is something else.

One cast of the skill and it was over. This time the range had even widened, which was probably why the kill count had jumped so far. I might as well enhance the skill first.

Three choices. A damage increase was among them this time. But—

Range. No question. Everything else could wait.

"All right, then…"

Time to open the bag. I checked the materials that had come in.

I should try activating the other crafting stations, too.

This was a station the first floor's materials hadn't been able to unlock. I checked whether it would work this time.

Oh. It worked. The third crafting station—alchemy. I looked over what it had.

Three things I could make. Health, mana, and antidote. And the one I actually cared about?

If I've got mana potions, maybe I can cast more magic.

Mana was the urgent thing, if I was honest. Enhancing the skill had been an option, sure—but shaving twenty percent off the cost still left me with a single cast. A mana potion, though? Wouldn't that beat a cost reduction? Right. Let's make some.

Ten percent a use. Drink ten of them and I'd be back at full mana, which meant one more cast. I had fifty-six.

Materials will keep coming in while I'm moving around.

Hmm. This ought to be enough for now, right? It wasn't perfect. There was a cooldown. Still better than having nothing.

Ah. I should get home.

The Tower I'd stepped into from the car, after clocking out. When I came back to myself and checked the time… barely more than ten minutes had passed.

I got home.

"Daddy, take your shoes off!"

"Daddy, shoes!"

Heh. Some greeting.

"Have fun today?"

"Yeah! We went to the playground again!"

"I rode the swing. The swiiing!"

I took my little ones by the hands and headed into the living room. My wife, home ahead of me, was watching TV.

"……This nickname. You said it was you, didn't you?"

My wife had turned to stare at me with the round eyes of a startled rabbit.

"Yeah. After work I ducked into the Tower from the car for a bit."

"……A bit?"

"Yeah. About ten minutes."

"……"

Blink. Blink.

My wife blinked, both eyes.

"……I can't quite get used to this. You talk about going to the Tower and coming back like you just ran out to the convenience store."

"Ah, does it come off that way? Haha."

"What? Dad, you went to the combenience store?"

"I wanna go too! Me too! Me too! Let's go right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now!"

And that was why I couldn't tell them a thing.

They'd even brought an expert on. What were they about to say…

I sank onto the sofa. The kids plastered themselves against me.

They were guessing at my rank. SSS-rank, was it. Mine sat a step above that.

"……What's your rank, anyway?"

"Ah. It's EX-rank, apparently."

"……G-good heavens. What is even happening."

Startled all over again, my wife locked her eyes back on the TV.

I stared at the television, blank. The news was talking about me. Talking me up, at that.

This feels unreal.

Since the awakening, my life had been changing, little by little.

Ding!

A message had come in.

What? How much just landed? Thirty million won…?

I read the message in a daze, then read it again. Counted the digits properly, just to be sure.

……It's real?

"Let's eat out today."

"……Eating out? Out of nowhere?"

"Yeah. It's been a while. Let's have beef. Hanwoo."

"Beef?"

"Beef, yummy! Doyoon doesn't like pork. Beef is yummy!"

"Ayoon likes beef too!"

Ah, there was no holding this in. Today was a hanwoo day—premium Korean beef, nothing less.

……I just made my annual salary in a day.

The next day.

The heat on Hunternet had not cooled.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Call it vicarious satisfaction. How long had they choked on it—every ass-kissing circus they could stage just to get out alive, and even then, scrape together what you could and it was taken anyway.

But that had been turned inside out. A single person was shaking the entire world empty. And the changes didn't stop there.

A guild recruitment post, up out of nowhere. As a rule, only the bottom-feeding guilds used this board. The ones in the rankings drew recruits without lifting a finger.

But the guild ranked fifth had written a post. The others could hardly sit still.

I entered the third floor, confirmed where the exit was, and immediately let off a single skill.

"Whoa."

The wider range, was it? I'd cleared a thousand in a single cast. All I'd done was push the range out a little further—though, granted, it had grown quite a bit since the start.

Let's try this, too.

But that wasn't the important part today. I'd been meaning to test the mana potion. Just how well would it work?

One minute later.

One minute later.

And so I kept at it, drinking as I moved from place to place. When ten minutes had passed, my mana was full again.

……Yeah. This is good.

In that case, there was no reason to wait.

Let's cast it again.

Two casts in a row, for the first time. How many kills was this going to be?

A deep rumble rolled overhead, and the sky flushed red once more.

Shwaaaaa—! Shwaaaaa—! A rain of fire came pouring down.

The kill messages surfaced once again. But it didn't end there.

They're congratulating me?

Huh?

What did it just say?

"……"

So that was two casts of the magic, back to back.

"I all-killed them……"

I'd killed every last one of them.