12
Chapter 12
[Congratulations! You have cleared the 2nd Floor!]
[Basic Reward for a Magical Girl: Slime’s Infinite Subspace Pouch. (A tiny pouch shaped like a cute slime, convenient to carry around.)]
[Reward: Soft Slime Liquid.]
[Rank measurement complete!]
[SSS Rank]
[The Magical Girl defeated the forces of evil and cleared the tower.]
"Ooh."
He didn't know what the slime liquid was used for, so he put it aside for now.
Joohyun couldn't help but marvel.
First was the subspace pouch.
He had never heard of a subspace pouch being given as a reward.
Subspace pouches were extremely expensive artifacts.
They were goods that sold for hundreds of millions of won.
But to give out such a subspace pouch for free!
"Accountant Yuna, try putting that headband into this pouch!"
"Ah, okay!"
Yuna took off the headband and put it in the pouch.
The headband was sucked right into the subspace pouch with a *swish*.
'The performance is killer!'
Joohyun smiled and checked the next reward, the magic stones.
'But there's no bonus reward this time. Bummer.'
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the concentration would increase again.
Well, other people might be disappointed.
But that much was already enough.
Even a mere 1% created a massive gap compared to the magic stones of other countries.
'The problem is, what do I do with all these magic stones?'
[You have acquired 40 magic stones!]
The 1st floor gave 30, but the 2nd Floor gave 40.
It was a truly ridiculous amount.
He couldn't sell them all at once.
At the same time, it felt like a waste to just hold onto them without selling.
'I do have one good idea, though.'
If he couldn't sell the magic stones, the only other option was to use them.
By crafting artifacts.
If they were made into artifacts, he could either sell them or use them.
'The problem is that I don't have an artifact expert in my network.'
That was it.
That was the problem.
There was no technician to craft the artifacts.
'Ugh! I can't just let these gather dust either!'
It was obvious that the magic stones they earned would overflow as they climbed higher up the tower.
A day would eventually come when his identity would be revealed and he could sell them without a care.
But that wasn't today.
'I need to find a way first.'
Still, he planned to sell a few.
They were doing this to make a living, after all; they couldn't just starve to death.
"Hehehe."
Joohyun practically drooled at the thought of making money.
Yuna shook her head side to side at the sight of him.
Joohyun always made that devious face whenever money was involved.
'Sigh, who can stop the CEO.'
Even so, his familiar antics brought a faint smile to her face.
"CEO, you should check out your new abilities too!"
At Yuna's words, Joohyun snapped out of his wishful thinking.
"Oh, right. Silly me. I leveled up, so I should see if I learned anything new."
Saying that, Joohyun opened his status window.
📜 Name: Kim Joohyun
Level: LV4
Trait: Mascot
Class: Contractor (Mascot)
Ability: Will You Make a Contract With Me and Become a Magical Girl? (EX)
He was already level 4.
It felt like he was leveling up twice as fast as others.
And a new skill that hadn't been there before caught his eye.
"Oho? If you were going to give it to me, you should have done it sooner. Why now?"
-Owned Skills
[I am a Cute Mascot!][I Am a Fairy-like Being! Stealth!][][][].......
[I Am a Fairy-like Being! Stealth]: Hide your body for a short time! You become invisible to others! (Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown Time: 24:00:00)
The long cooldown wasn't bad.
There was plenty of merit in being able to roam around without being seen.
'This means I won't have to stay stuck inside Accountant Yuna's bag when we go out!'
It was brief, but he could finally enjoy some freedom.
It was better than nothing.
'Should I give it a try?'
Stealth!
As Joohyun shouted internally.
'Ooh!'
Joohyun's figure gradually faded until he achieved complete invisibility.
"Huh? CEO, where did you go?"
Yuna looked around in a panic after Joohyun suddenly disappeared.
'I guess Accountant Yuna can't see me either?'
Feeling mischievous, Joohyun sneakily jumped onto her shoulder.
"Gyaaah-! What the!!"
Startled, Yuna elbowed the invisible Joohyun.
"Keugh-!"
Struck squarely in the face by her elbow, Joohyun groaned and fell.
Only then was Joohyun's form revealed.
"C-CEO?"
"Ugh. One more hit like that and I'm a goner."
Joohyun picked himself up with a groan.
'I guess the stealth effect wears off if I take an impact?'
Anyway, learning that fact wasn't a bad thing.
Aside from his face stinging, that is.
Yuna had also learned a new skill as she leveled up.
📜 Name: Lee Yuna
Level: LV4
Trait: Flame Mage
Class: Magical Girl
Ability: Magical Girl
Skill: [Apostle of Justice!] [Fireball LV4][Fire Circle LV3][Fire Storm LV3][Fire Punch! LV1]
[Fire Punch! LV1]: Wrap your hands in fire and throw a punch!
Unlike her previous skills, this was a melee skill.
Using her other skills at close range risked damaging herself as well.
The skill she learned this time was perfect for attacking enemies up close.
The problem was.
"I understand everything else, but why is Fire Punch the next shared skill I got?"
[Lee Yuna]
-Shared Skill: [Fireball! LV4] [Fire Punch! LV1]
He thought they were shared sequentially one by one, but that didn't seem to be the case.
'I have no idea what the conditions are.'
There were far too many things that remained unclear.
What exactly is the Magical Girl Reward, and how is the Shared Skill chosen?
'Still, a good thing is a good thing.'
There was one thing he knew for sure.
The fact that the tower was very favorable to Joohyun and Yuna.
"Ah! Alright, I'm in a great mood! Let's have a Company Dinner today!"
"A Company Dinner? I'd love to!"
Yuna jumped up and down at Joohyun's words, seemingly in a good mood as well.
"But if it's a Company Dinner, are you treating, CEO? Will you be okay? Your wallet isn't doing so well."
"I have enough money to treat you!!"
"Still......."
At the sight of Yuna hesitating, Joohyun gave a snort.
"Ah, forget it! If I say I'm treating, I'm treating! Let's eat, drink, and drop dead tonight!"
"What? CEO, are you allowed to drink?"
"Of course I am!"
He was in high spirits after clearing the tower twice already and getting various rewards.
It would be a crime to skip the alcohol on a day like this!
"Now, let's head back!"
Seeing Joohyun do a spin as he said that, Yuna burst into laughter.
"Pfft!"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"A-Ah, it's just."
Yuna looked away from Joohyun, trying hard to hold back her laughter.
Joohyun tilted his head and looked around his own body.
"W-What is this!"
He discovered a coin-sized patch on his back, seemingly caused by the slime's body fluid splashing earlier.
"Pfft! Ahaha! Because it's completely empty right there, it looks like you have circular hair loss!"
"W-What did you say?!"
'H-Hair loss?!'
The absolute number one thing you should never say to a man.
'Your hair volume looks a little thin lately. Are you losing your hair?'
Joohyun had heard those exact words from a friend while drinking in the past.
Since that day, he had hunted down and eaten everything said to be good for hair loss.
He checked his hair volume day by day.
To someone like Joohyun.
The word 'hair loss' was bound to be a trigger button.
Because his hair volume was precious.
Joohyun lunged at Yuna, visibly ticked off.
The two played tag like that for a while until they got tired and went home.
* * *
A dockside somewhere in Incheon.
A cool breeze and the salty smell of the sea.
Inside a shipping container located there.
Whir-!
The loud sound of a running motor echoed.
In the dark shipping container, a woman was making an artifact relying on the light of a surgical light.
"If I sell this, I won't have to worry about money......."
Disheveled hair of a golden hue.
An exotic-looking face.
Dark circles coming down to her cheekbones.
Dry, snow-white skin.
No, a face pale beyond being snow-white.
It was obvious how deep her immersion in her research was, not even stepping outside.
"It's done....... Let's get some sleep now."
The woman tossed the completed artifact aside and threw off the goggles she was wearing.
Clatter-!
Next to her, artifacts were piled up like a mountain.
The woman stumbled over to the refrigerator, took out some water, and drank.
Even though she only wore a white lab coat over worn-out top and bottoms, her whole body was drenched in sweat.
"Ughhh, I can't even be bothered to wash up......."
She hadn't washed for days, but she didn't even have the energy left to wash right now.
It was just as she was about to lie down on the bed.
Slam-!
The door of the shipping container opened roughly.
She looked toward the open door with half-closed eyes.
Standing there was.
"Master?"
Shaggy hair and slightly cracked glasses.
A bushy beard.
A man wearing a white lab coat over beggar-like ragged clothes stood there.
"Park Mina! This is no time to sleep! Get up!"
The man came in giving a scolding to Mina, who was just about to go to sleep.
Thud-!
The man put down the bags he was carrying on both sides.
Just from the sound, one could tell that something heavy was inside the bags.
Mina looked at the bags with puzzled eyes.
"Master. What is that?"
"You mean this?"
The man chuckled.
Seeing the man laugh, an inexplicable sense of unease washed over Mina.
Zip-
The man slowly opened the zipper.
Inside was.
"Magic stones? Where did you get so many......?"
There were countless magic stones emitting a blue light inside.
"Is that what's important right now?! The important thing is that we can resume our project!"
"!!"
At the man's words, Mina's half-closed eyes widened.
"Our project, don't tell me....... We decided to think of another method for that because of the magic stone concentration!"
"That problem has been solved! Thanks to a Magical Girl appearing, the magic stone concentration in South Korea increased by a whole 1%!"
"A Magical Girl......?"
She almost got a little excited hearing the word Magical Girl, but she shook her head to shake off her distracting thoughts.
'A Magical Girl is super important too, but that's not what matters right now.'
Mina had been cooped up in the shipping container, in deep immersion with her research, so she didn't know the situation outside.
On top of that, she didn't have any South Korean magic stones on hand, so she had absolutely no way of knowing.
'The color is definitely deeper than other regular magic stones.'
The concentration of all magic stones only had extremely marginal differences.
But the magic stones right in front of her were distinctly different from the others.
"Yes. A Magical Girl or whatever appeared, and as a bonus reward for South Korea, the magic stone concentration rose by a whole 1%. No, that's not what's important right now! We needed magic stones with exactly a 1% higher concentration, and now we have them!"
The man lowered the curtain drawn at the very back.
And then, over there.
Gurgle, gurgle.
There was a large capsule completely filled with liquid containing a young woman inside.
"Finally, I will finally be able to see you again, Suhyun."
The man lightly stroked the capsule with his hand, then immediately returned to pour the magic stones from his bag into a large tank.
That tank was a special device capable of melting magic stones.
Realizing the man's intentions, Mina frantically approached him.
"M-Master. No, Professor Park Chanhoon! Let's do some more tests first. We don't know what side effects there might be yet!"
"Quiet! My theory is perfect! There's no way there will be any side effects!"
With that, Chanhoon pushed Mina aside and operated the machine.
Stumbling backward and falling, Mina looked at the woman inside the capsule.
'Suhyun.......'
Mina recalled the day she had first arrived here.
It was an Email from Chanhoon that brought her here.
'Mina, Suhyun is in a Critical Condition. Please help me.'
Mina, who had been conducting research in the United States, boarded a flight To Korea without a moment's hesitation.
Chanhoon was Mina's Mentor.
When Mina was struggling, Chanhoon was the only one who Supported her.
It was a request from such a person.
There was no reason to hesitate.
Suhyun's condition when she saw her after arriving in South Korea was unusually grave.
All her limbs had been severed.
It was a Miracle she was even still breathing.
The tower.
Those were injuries sustained in the tower.
On top of that.
A mere three days.
That was Suhyun's Remaining Lifespan according to the doctor.
'Suhyun, I have to save Suhyun.'
Chanhoon cried and clung to Mina.
Mina looked at Suhyun.
Back in college, she used to follow Mina around, constantly calling her Unnie, Unnie.
Therefore, to Mina, Suhyun was like a real Younger Sibling.
'Don't worry. Let's find a way together.'
And so, the two geniuses gathered and researched all kinds of methods to save Suhyun.
'W-With this method, we might be able to save her!'
Chanhoon and Mina found a single method.
Magic stones and artifacts. They succeeded in the Extension of Suhyun's Lifespan using the tower's byproducts.
However.
There was a problem.
They had forcibly extended her life, but there was no way to wake her up.
Additionally, the Extension of her life required a Capsule.
To solve all of this.
Only one thing was needed.
A magic stone with a Concentration just 1% higher than what they had used.
But such a magic stone couldn't be found even if they searched The Whole World.
They had caught a Clue, but there was no way to move forward.
They had hit The 1% Wall.
One year passed like that.
Just when they thought they should slowly start looking for another method.
The perfect magic stones had appeared.
It wasn't that she didn't understand Chanhoon's joy at finally getting the materials.
'It's still dangerous. We haven't even run a single Experiment on it yet.'
There had been no issues when they ran a Simulation.
But reality was always different.
"Master! Please stop!"
Mina shouted, but Chanhoon had already lost all reason.
One year. He had endured for a year with the feeling that he could save his Daughter.
It was only natural that he couldn't hear a thing.
Clink-!
As the magic stones finished melting.
Chanhoon connected a tube to the Capsule containing Suhyun.
"No!"
Mina had already gotten up from her seat to stop him, but it was too late.
Gurgle, gurgle-
The melted magic stones began to rapidly flow down the tube and into the Capsule.
"Finally, finally!"
Tears fell from Chanhoon's eyes.
It was because of the thought that he would finally be able to talk to his Daughter again.
The green Liquid in the Capsule was soon dyed Bluish.
Flash-!
Suhyun opened her eyes, emitting a blue light.
Hiss-!
The Capsule opened and blue smoke drifted out like Sea Fog.
The two looked at the Silhouette standing inside the smoke.
"S-Suhyun!"
Chanhoon pushed through the smoke and ran to where Suhyun was standing.
'A success?'
Mina couldn't believe it. It was Theoretically perfect, but she didn't expect it to succeed on the first try.
It didn't take long for her to realize that thought was wrong, though.
"K-Keugh!"
Chanhoon's groan could be heard after he ran to Suhyun.
The thick smoke cleared.
And right there.
Stood Suhyun, grabbing Chanhoon by the neck and lifting him up with one hand.
Because of her long Milk Beige hair, she looked like a lone wolf.
Grrr-
She was vibrating her vocal cords like a beast, glaring at Chanhoon with glowing blue eyes.
She was draped in a single white Burlap Cloth, so it wasn't clearly visible, but her hands, feet, and several organs had been replaced with artifacts.
Her body was moving with magic stones as its Power Source, rather than blood.
Meaning she was no longer human.
"Master! Suhyun!"
At Mina's cry, Suhyun's gaze naturally turned to her.
And then.
Slam!
She tossed Chanhoon aside and slowly walked toward Mina.
"P-Pull yourself together, Suhyun!"
Mina, who was inching backward, fell onto her back and ended up in a crawling posture.
As Mina crawled backward like that, her hand touched something.
'Magic Bullet Artifact.'
An artifact that condensed the energy of a magic stone to be fired like a gun.
Mina slowly grasped the gun with her hand.
But it was already too late by the time she aimed it at Suhyun.
Because Suhyun had closed the distance in an instant.
Mina closed her eyes.
Because she thought it was all over.
However.
"Huh?"
Sensing something strange, Mina opened her eyes.
In front of her.
Grrr.
Suhyun was grabbing her own head and groaning.
"U-Unnie......."
"!! S-Suhyun, snap out of it! It's me, Mina Unnie!"
Suhyun stared at Mina for a while like that.
Roar-!
She let out a fierce howl before swatting Mina away with her massive hand.
Ahhh-!
Mina flew into the wall from the powerful impact, hit her head, and fainted on the spot.
Rooar-!
Slam-!
Leaving the two behind, Suhyun howled as she smashed through the Shipping Container door.
Grrr-!
Then, her gaze naturally turned toward the towering tower.
Rooaar-!!
Letting out a sound that could be from pain or just a Roar, Suhyun started running toward the tower illuminated by the moon.