Do Not Seek Me
My vacation was already winding down.
Twenty-four hours? Isn't that way too short?
"Leaving already?"
"Yeah. I've got stuff to prep before I head back into the basement. Time to go."
"Alright. Stay safe. Thanks, Cheonwoo!"
Once Hyeji starts climbing the Tower, she'll clear Floor 28 in no time, right?
Then Korea might finally claw its way out of being a Tower backwater.
There was just one problem...
The Association is still packed with garbage people.
That was the real issue. No matter how much the hunters grew, if the organization supporting them was trash, you were screwed.
In that sense, the leadership of the Tower Management Bureau left a foul taste in my mouth. They practically handed hunter personal data over to foreign countries and shrugged off every disaster that followed. Tax thieves who couldn't care less about protecting their own climbers.
They needed a thorough re-education.
But how?
I was a basement person. Without using vacation time, getting out was hard enough. If only there were some kind of basement spokesperson. Hyeji had only just become a climber, so she was still out of the question. How nice it would be if someone else cleaned house at the Association for me. I just wanted to lie down, do nothing, and freeload my way through life.
Nursing those rotten thoughts, I headed home—and collided with someone.
"Ughk!?"
"Oh my. Are you alright?"
A white dress and a wide-brimmed hat.
I'd bumped into this person around here before, hadn't I?
That's right! It was her!
Insanely tall, ridiculous chest, narrow eyes—the ultimate busty big-sister type!
I'd run into her in this neighborhood last vacation too. She must live nearby.
"I'm fine. Well then, goodbye..."
"Wait a moment!"
"Ehh...? Wh-why are you—!"
I tried to bow and leave, but she seized my hand. Don't tell me this person has a thing for little girls? Absolutely not. That was way too dangerous.
"Hey... are you by any chance from the basement?"
"...Excuse me?"
How the hell did she know?
Had she been targeting me all along? But barely any information about me had leaked yet—not on the galleries, not in the news. They hadn't even figured out my gender properly. So how had she nailed it in one shot? A hunter with identity-detection skills? Then I was in real trouble. Getting exposed this fast was—
"I knew it... so you are."
"W-wait a second."
"Don't be afraid. I have no intention of hurting you. I just... want to talk. Is that alright?"
"Talk...?"
"Mm. Let's step into that alley."
"Aagh..!"
I couldn't shake her off. This woman was ridiculously strong!
"Um. How did you even realize I came from the basement?"
"Hmm. You smell like it."
"Smell?"
"Yes. That distinctive, faintly bitter basement scent..."
"How do you know what the basement smells like?"
I was the only human who could enter the basement. So how did this person know anything about it?
"Because I'm from there myself."
"...What?"
"I got fired from the basement. That's why I'm like this..."
Hold on. What was she even saying?
Mental Filter activated.
What!? What was this? What just happened?!
She had only smiled brightly—why had that suddenly triggered?
"Oh my, you're not even startled."
"N-no. I mean... just checking, but... are you an Entity?"
"Yes. Correct. An Entity that outlived its usefulness in the basement."
"......"
Wait, Entities were allowed to stroll the streets? Weren't they supposed to be subjugated?
"What business does an Entity have with me..."
"I was wondering if I might be able to get some Almond Water."
"...Huh?"
"You know—the ivory-colored liquid that comes in glass bottles..."
"I know what Almond Water is. But why do you need it?"
"Because Almond Water is the staple food of Entities."
She had been fired and cast out of the basement, which meant her supply of Almond Water had been cut off. Without it she would slowly weaken until she eventually vanished. To survive, she had no choice but to start eating people.
Hold on.
Eating people!?
"When I spot a bad person, I just gulp them down."
"Crazy... h-how many have you eaten so far?"
"One attempted rapist. Two hit-and-run drunk drivers. And... three stalkers?"
"......"
All scumbags, at least!
But this Entity had already eaten six people. She was a monster!
"I try to stick to people who've done bad things. Of course, not everyone is like me."
"People who aren't like you...?"
"Mm. Friends who get hungry and just eat whoever's nearby. Usually the ones who've been out of the Tower for a long time. Without Almond Water their minds dull and they turn into little more than beasts. Those ones live however they want while waiting for the day someone finally subjugates them."
"....."
Without Almond Water she had to eat one person a month. One bottle of Almond Water could keep her going for a year. And these days, whenever someone vanished, everyone just assumed they'd been dragged into the Tower...
So people had been getting eaten behind the scenes all this time!?
"If you give me Almond Water, I'll swear my loyalty."
"So... one bottle of Almond Water hires you for a whole year?"
"Yes. Exactly. For one year I'll be your servant. I'll do anything you order."
"...Anything... how strong are you, exactly?"
Was she even worth hiring?
"Me? Hmm. I could probably solo a Floor 40 boss mob, at least."
"Insane."
She was ridiculously strong!
Soloing a Floor 40 boss? That put her on par with the world's top ten rankers.
Wait a second.
I'd been needing a subordinate anyway.
With this big sister...
"You're hired."
"Really?"
"Yes. Immediate employment!"
"Yay~"
I'd needed a basement spokesperson right about now. One bottle of Almond Water for a full year of useful service was pure profit. And she was strong on top of that? Perfect!
"Then would you stamp your handprint here?"
"On your forehead?"
"Yes. That seals the contract."
"Um, do I need to draw blood or something?"
"No, no! Employers don't have to do that."
She lengthened a fingernail and lightly slit her own forehead. What the hell! Blood? That coppery smell!
"Here. Please stamp it."
"This isn't going to cause problems later, right?"
"Not at all! It simply establishes an employer-employee relationship. You give me Almond Water, and I faithfully carry out your orders. I may not look it, but infiltration and assassination are specialties of mine."
I still didn't fully understand, but mind-breaking situations were everyday fare in the basement! I already knew that not every Entity was terrifying. And this one only ate bad people—she was a good(?) Entity.
"Alright."
"Ohhh..."
I pressed my hand firmly onto the forehead of the tall, busty Entity. The moment the print took, the wound vanished cleanly. As expected of an Entity—amazing!
"But I don't have any Almond Water on me right now. I'll have to bring it out."
"Mm-hmm. That's fine, Miss. You don't have to give it immediately."
"Miss...?"
"You're my employer now, after all."
"Ah... right."
"By the way, Miss, about how many bottles of Almond Water do you have?"
The very first bottle I'd received was already gone. But every bottle after that was still crammed into the Breakroom fridge. Quests seemed to drop one bottle each, so more would pile up.
"About four bottles. And I can probably get more."
"Four bottles! Wonderful. Then, Miss, do you have any orders for me right away?"
"Uh, well..."
"Just say the word. I'll do anything."
"I... don't really have anything for you to do right now."
"Is that so? Then I'll protect your personal safety of my own accord."
My personal safety, huh.
True—Babel Tower Gallery and the news had been going crazy trying to find me. I wasn't sure exactly how she planned to protect me, but she'd figure it out.
"I will definitely produce results, Miss. When you next leave the basement, please call for me."
"Ah, yes..! Wait! What should I call you from now on?"
"Eight Feet... Popo! Please call me Popo."
The Entity named Popo bowed her head, smacked her lips, and melted into the darkness.
She really had been an Entity.
My heart was hammering.
Seriously, Entities shouldn't just be wandering the night streets...
Terrifying. I needed to get home, fast.
Republic of Korea Tower Management Bureau Headquarters.
Conference room on the top floor.
Director Choi Taesu tapped his fingers anxiously against the desk as he spoke.
"We must find them by any means necessary. We have to identify the basement opener no matter what."
His goal was simple: hand the basement opener over to China.
Korea was currently under international condemnation. All kinds of problems were erupting because of it. To clean up the mess, the identity of the basement opener had to be exposed. Choi Taesu wanted the basement opener to "sacrifice for the nation."
Of course his real motive was pure self-interest—preserving his position and filling his pockets. Thanks to Chinese influence he held the director's seat despite never having been a climber himself, which meant he could be discarded the moment he stopped pleasing the Communist Party. Such was the political reality of Tower-backwater Korea.
The country had long since been half-swallowed by Tower-advanced China. Every time a promising Korean talent was siphoned off to China before they could properly grow, Director Choi Taesu had been the one responsible. He was the sort of man who would sell out his own country for a promotion and personal safety.
No—he already had. By leaking Korea's rising stars en masse overseas, he had traded the nation's future for his own comfort.
"Of the fifty people who entered the Tower on the day the basement opened, only four still haven't come out."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. And of those four, the only one who has never been confirmed inside the Tower is a single individual."
Ji Cheonwoo.
That name was about to be spoken officially in the conference room.
In that instant...
Crackle!
"Wh-what?"
The lights in the conference room went out.
More precisely, every light in the room where the Bureau's high-ranking officials were gathered had died at once.
"Why... only in here..."
"Th-the conference room door won't open...!"
"What!?"
Every light was gone. Darkness settled thick and heavy. Even if they tried to escape, the door refused to budge. There was no way out.
Ssshhh.
"Huh...?"
The director sucked in a sharp breath at the enormous woman who had somehow appeared right behind him. How had an outsider breached every layer of the Bureau's security and reached this room? Was she even human? She wore a human shape, yet she looked nothing like one. The space around her twisted unnaturally, and her swirling pupils were the eyes of a predator.
One step. That is all the chance you have left.
A warning that digging any deeper would mean death for every last one of them.
Do not dig.
Do not poke around.
Even if you know, close your eyes and pretend you don't.
Do not even try to reach the truth.
The Manager of the basement does not wish for her identity to be revealed.
So this is as far as you go.
Push any deeper and your lives cannot be guaranteed.
"W-wait! We have our reasons! We have to find the basement opener—! U-uhh...!? KRAAAAAAH!!!!"
The mouth of the eight-foot woman opened wide enough to swallow a human head whole.
One step.
Director Choi Taesu of the Tower Management Bureau took that single step.
Gulp.
And so the breeding ground of corruption and every kind of graft—Director Choi Taesu of the Republic of Korea Tower Management Bureau—vanished from the conference room.
That same day, the majority of the high-ranking officials present suffered severe mental breakdowns and seizures. The incident led to a sweeping purge and normalization of the Tower Management Bureau's upper ranks.