The Cleanup Begins
Aaaah~ Announcement from the basement~
The 10th floor of the Tower of Trials.
The final stage of the solo trial section.
The ultimate exam of Hell Difficulty: hunt an ogre alone.
The ogre was the worst creature in the entire trial stretch, the one that sent Hell Difficulty survival rates plummeting. A four-meter-tall giant that could tear a person apart bare-handed.
“Phew. No big deal. Hey! Ji Cheonwoo! You watching?! I did it! Cleared the trial section! And on Hell Difficulty, no less!”
Is Lee Hyeji actually insane?
She took that thing down?
Her talent for pure martial combat really was top-tier.
Even with Agni’s Heart auto-buffing her and jacking up her regeneration, the pain should still have been the same. Bones twisting, flesh bursting—and she just gritted her teeth and tanked it?
You’re a real martial artist.
I acknowledge you.
So this is what talent looks like.
Figuring I should at least go congratulate her, I opened the rest-area door and stepped out onto the 10th floor.
“That’s my Lee Hyeji. Brain’s a little small, but the body’s incredible!”
“Hey! What the hell does that mean?! And when did you even get here?!”
“Uwaah! Hey! Are you crazy?! Don’t hug me! You’re getting blood all over my clothes!”
“I knew I felt eyes on me. My instincts never lie.”
“Eugh… Wait, listen to me for a second! Blood! You’re getting blood on me!”
Damn it, Lee Hyeji, you absolute menace!
You’re getting blood on my clothes!
Aargh, there’s no washing machine in the rest area—laundry’s already a pain…
Still, she looked so happy. Glad I came to watch.
“Hugging a girl feels way better than I expected, right?”
“You bastard! What kind of nonsense is that…?!”
“I liked guy-Cheonwoo as a friend too, but girl-Cheonwoo’s even better. Sniff—ahhh, that Cheonwoo baby scent.”
“Wh-what kind of deranged crap is that?! Have you lost your mind? Let go already!”
This gorilla of a woman!
Why is she so strong all of a sudden?!
No matter how hard I thrashed, I couldn’t break free of Hyeji’s grip…
“Ugh.”
“Hehe. Stay still, weakling Ji Cheonwoo. You’re no match for me anymore, got it? Be good and big sis will spoil you.”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Easier than twisting a kid’s wrist to steal candy—Hyeji just manhandled me and started ruffling my hair like crazy!
My pride is wounded.
The great Ji Cheonwoo, getting hugged and head-patted…
Keep this up and you’re gonna leave scratches on my heart.
A former real man and current basement Manager, Ji Cheonwoo, having his head patted so freely.
To fix my friend’s terrible habit, I swung my palm.
Slap!
“Kyaaah! Hey! Wh-what do you think you’re doing, suddenly hitting my chest…?!”
“Hoo. Thought I was gonna suffocate.”
“This is sexual harassment…”
“Uh, I’m a girl.”
“Ah—! Right!”
That’s right. Now you and I are equals. Or at least peers.
I get the protection of the law too now.
I earned the right to touch and hit right back.
Sure, I lost something pretty important in exchange… but anyway!
“You’ve attained the same status as me.”
“Yeah, Lee Hyeji. One-sided sexual harassment no longer exists.”
“I’ll admit it, Ji Cheonwoo. I am you.”
“….!!!”
Using that line at a moment like this.
Classic Lee Hyeji. Just like my friend.
Our manga tastes were always similar.
Two friendless loners who spent our college days hitting every anime movie screening together.
“But Cheonwoo, were you watching the whole time?”
“Yep. I was watching, but they said if I interfered you’d get a penalty. So I just watched.”
“I see.”
“Still, I was ready to jump in if it got dangerous.”
“That’s my friend Cheonwoo. Body might be a little girl’s now, but the loyalty’s still intact!”
“Obviously. The inside’s the same. More importantly, take this.”
“What’s all this? There’s a ton of stuff.”
“Clearance celebration gift.”
“Whoa…!”
As a reward for clearing, I handed over the gear I’d looted from Noah Johnson in the basement.
Gauntlets forged by a German blacksmith-class master craftsman, plus assorted accessories.
And a bag with space magic that made the inside bigger than the outside.
“You’re giving me all of this? Best friend ever!”
“Are you crazy?! Giving? Who said free? This isn’t free!”
“Dang.”
“Noah Johnson’s gear is on loan. Sell the rest, take a ten-percent commission for yourself, and give the rest of the money to my mom. I can’t get out often.”
“Wow, total filial son… wait, filial daughter. Excellent!”
I’m short on vacation days, so even if I want to leave I can’t go outside the Tower much.
Basically the life of a lighthouse keeper.
The sorrow of a basement Manager.
But Lee Hyeji, who’d cleared the 10th floor, was different.
She could come and go from the Tower whenever she wanted now.
“Got it, Cheonwoo. I’ll do that. But is this the thing?”
“Yep. Gauntlets worth six billion won a piece. Twelve billion for the pair. Looking at the options, that price feels about right.”
“Whoa… whoa whoa whoa!!! Holy crap. One of these is more expensive than my house?”
Yeah. More expensive than my house and your house put together.
Truth is, there’s no set market price—it’s whatever people will pay.
Rich Western hunters drop hundreds of billions on gear, so I ballparked the pair at twelve billion.
If we put them up for auction separately, who knows how high they’d go.
“Whoa… but you’re really just lending these to me?! Indefinitely?”
“Yep. In exchange, just run some errands for me from now on.”
“Aigoo! Of course! Order me around all you want.”
“Then while you’re selling the gear, swing by the Tower Management Bureau and deliver this for me.”
“A letter?”
“Yeah. I wrote down the instructions. Just hand it over as is.”
“I’m curious—can I open it?”
“No!”
“Hmph.”
“But even if I say no, you’re gonna open it anyway.”
“How did you know…?!”
“You think I don’t know you?”
Hyeji carefully tucked the letter into her clothes.
A letter from the basement Manager.
And the strongest hunter in Korea right now, delivering it.
We were kind of a big deal, weren’t we?
“Now get going already. You reek of blood and sweat. Wash up before you hit the Bureau.”
“Okay! Got it~ I’ll be right back! Oh, need anything while I’m out?”
“It’s all written in the letter. The Bureau will handle it.”
“Really? Confirmed! Then I’m off!”
Hyeji left the Tower just like that.
The moment I was alone—
Ding!
Your Goal!
📍 Find the Chef’s body on Basement 4th Floor.
Reward!
🎁 3 days of vacation
🎁 Ritual Meat 1 geun (600 g)
A new quest popped up!
What?! Three days of vacation!!
I’d been waiting for vacation days to show up—this was perfect timing.
And looking at the part about helping the Chef on Basement 4th Floor, it naturally meant the –4th floor was a restaurant or kitchen.
–1st floor was the corridor lobby.
–2nd floor was the office.
–3rd floor was the library.
Time to head down to a new floor.
But the reward was a little unusual.
Where almond water used to be, a brand-new item had appeared: “Ritual Meat 1 geun (600 g).”
Since a vending machine for almond water had shown up separately, maybe it meant they wouldn’t be giving almond water as rewards anymore?
“Kuku, Popo. Rested enough?”
“Yes, Miss. Thanks to your consideration, I spent the most comfortable time of my life.”
“Yep! I rested super well too!”
“Good. Then I’ve got new work for you. I’m heading to the –4th floor, so you two go outside the Tower. Business trip.”
“Is there a human that needs handling?”
“No. Well… is it? Isn’t it? We need to take out the trash.”
Looking at Babel Gallery and Constellation Gallery, a few people were starting to move in some pretty bad directions.
No idea where the info leaked from, but my name had started getting mentioned.
The top floor of the Korean Tower Management Bureau.
The exact same conference room where the previous director, Choi Taesung, had gone missing.
“Pressure to share the basement Manager’s personal information is getting stronger by the day.”
“The U.S. government doesn’t seem inclined to let this slide either. They lost Noah Johnson. They’re going to demand appropriate compensation.”
“First we need to identify the Manager. If we leave this alone, we’re going to lose more talent.”
“We have to protect them before other countries reach out first…”
From the basement Manager’s gallery takeover to the mass disappearance of the basement expedition team, the whole world was in an uproar over the basement Manager.
And everyone—civilians and climbers alike—was dying to know the Manager’s true identity.
“Enough. Attempts to uncover the basement Manager’s identity are not advisable.”
Park Seongho, the new director of the Korean Tower Management Bureau, swallowed a frustrated breath as he looked over the newly reorganized high-ranking officials.
Some of them had already figured out Ji Cheonwoo’s existence.
The rest were burning with the desire to find out.
The investigation records Choi Taesung had left behind before vanishing.
Ji Cheonwoo’s name was clearly in there.
But they absolutely must not dig it up.
No need to poke the hornet’s nest for no reason.
Ji Cheonwoo was currently the most dangerous Korean alive.
“Absolutely. Absolutely do not provoke that person.”
“But Director, we can’t keep dodging answers forever.”
“Fifteen people died in the basement.”
“All of them top-tier hunters from various countries. If we keep stonewalling, they’ll apply diplomatic pressure.”
“The United States will never let this incident go. We need to prepare some kind of response.”
“I think you’re all under a serious misconception. This is not the time to be worrying about America’s feelings.”
America, China—what did any of that matter?
If they dug, they’d be the first ones to die at that person’s hands.
Park Seongho knew exactly how the previous director had “gone missing.”
“Our policy remains the same as before. Until the basement Manager contacts us first, we do not provoke them in any way. Understood? Meeting adjourned.”
Director Park Seongho ended the meeting right there.
But he still felt uneasy.
The previous director, Choi Taesung, had essentially been a Chinese asset.
A traitor who deliberately leaked hunters’ personal information and sold promising talents to the neighboring country.
Back then they at least didn’t mess with us openly. But now…
The reaction when you clearly see someone as beneath you versus when you start seeing them as a competitor or rival is night and day.
If kidnapping and persuasion had been China’s main attack methods—and relatively mild forms of pressure—then now they had started responding more aggressively and hardline.
For example, openly applying economic pressure.
Or brazenly attacking Korean climbers.
Assassination attempts on Korea’s major hunters, Rankers, or their families were happening daily.
What if someone touches Ji Cheonwoo’s family…?
According to his investigation, Ji Cheonwoo only had one living relative—his birth mother.
If they touched his mother? Just imagining what would happen sent chills down his spine.
This was the person who had pulled the insane stunt of confiscating magic books from the entire world.
A monster who had casually killed fifteen of the world’s top hunters.
The master of the basement who might start a war with neighboring countries without a second thought for the consequences.
“Um, Director. Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, but this is urgent.”
“What is it…”
“A woman claiming to be the basement Manager’s proxy has appeared.”
“….Excuse me? That’s ridiculous… Send her away.”
“Well… I think you need to see her yourself.”
At the secretary’s anxious expression, Park Seongho frowned and went to check on the visitor.
The moment his eyes met the woman in the reception room who was happily demolishing a mountain of expensive cookies, his words stuck in his throat.
“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m the basement Manager’s friend. I brought a letter the Manager sent.”
“W-wait a second. That thing floating behind you…”
“Huh? This? It’s a magic book.”
“And those things on your hands…”
“Oh, these are Noah Johnson’s? That old guy’s gear, apparently.”
“….”
“It really does seem she is the basement’s proxy, Director.”
“C’mon, I really am the basement proxy. Have you all been living under a rock?”
A bright, carefree voice with zero worry in it.
But hidden behind the smiling face were eyes like a beast’s.
Park Seongho had seen eyes like that once before.
People who’d gone completely insane for Tower climbing had eyes like that.
In the end, the director accepted the letter Lee Hyeji handed over.
After barely steadying his trembling hands, he opened the envelope…
“…….”
The director couldn’t close his mouth.
“Um, Director. Is the letter content that serious?”
“…Inform the Tower Management Bureau. Effective immediately, issue expulsion orders for foreign hunters… especially unregistered hunters of Chinese and Joseonjok origin, or foreign hunters who have caused problems within the country.”
“Excuse me…?”
The letter from the basement that the director had just read aloud.
The secretary’s face went pale in an instant.
“Starting exactly one day after this letter is opened, we will begin full-scale separation of recyclables. A massive cleanup… and the normalization of the Republic of Korea… is what it says. In handwriting that looks like a child’s… that’s what it says.”
“S-separation of recyclables…?”
“Yes. They say they’re going to take out the trash.”
Park Seongho ended up shedding tears.
He had no idea where to even begin cleaning this up.
Looks like another all-nighter was locked in.
He might as well consider sleep a thing of the past.