Worst-Case Matchup
Five minutes had passed since we bolted out of the café following Commissioner Kim Han-soo's frantic call.
Footsteps clattered against the polished tiles as we sprinted down the corridor in utter silence. I stole a glance beside me. Hunter Lee Sehwa is...
Just as I thought. She was nervously gnawing on her lower lip, visibly on edge.
Well, they've known each other for years. It would have been stranger if she were calm. My lungs burned with every breath. If I'd known this was going to happen, I should've worked out a bit more.
To guarantee their personal safety, the facilities for Elite Hunters were housed in a completely separate complex from the main Awakened Persons Management Bureau. That meant we still had at least five more minutes of hard running ahead of us to reach Hunter Kim Suho. The distance had felt trivial when I was first guided through the grounds, but right now, it felt agonizingly far.
"Jisu-ssi."
"...Yes?"
"I think it would be best if we moved up our contract schedule."
"...I agree."
What if they had already possessed the potions I brewed?
Then a disaster like this probably wouldn't have happened.
Conquering the Tower was deadly business. I had heard that on the upper floors, even a split second of carelessness was enough to forfeit your life. That terrifying lethality was precisely why Elite Hunters received such astronomical compensation and reverence from the public.
"Could you tell me more about the forty-ninth floor?" I asked between strides.
My grasp on Floor 49 was practically nonexistent. Not only was I light-years away from climbing that high, but the media frenzy over Lee Sehwa conquering the floor had blown over quite some time ago.
Still, I need to know right now.
There was a chance that among the concoctions I could brew, one might significantly lower the floor's clear difficulty. Or at the very least, it might help me diagnose Kim Suho's current condition. Something akin to the electric resistance brewed from my newly acquired Thunderstrike Grass, for instance.
Lee Sehwa caught on to my intention immediately.
"Floor 49 is... well, it's a place I never want to step foot in again."
"A place you never want to revisit?"
"It's an endless swamp."
A swamp. Yes, I seemed to recall catching glimpses of murky bogs in old raid footage.
"On top of that, every zombie roaming that floor inflicts poison damage with their attacks," she continued. "You have to stay on razor's edge the entire raid, because the moment their attacks graze you, the poison damage stacks."
"So they rely on venom?"
"Yes. Once you take a certain threshold of damage from them, the system flashes a warning that you've been poisoned."
Poison. Poison, huh...
"Suho-oppa must have fallen victim to that," she said grimly. "What makes those monsters so treacherous isn't just their physical strength."
Hunter Kim Suho. South Korea's official Rank 2 awakened ranker, and the nation's premier fortress-type vanguard. While I didn't know the exact mechanics of his awakened trait, the raid broadcasts I had seen depicted him fighting with an unyielding, close-quarters brawling style.
An absolute worst-case matchup.
A melee tank who fought with his bare fists was prime prey for venomous zombies. To land a blow, he had to close the distance, which was practically begging them to poison him as quickly as possible.
If Kim Suho's affliction really stemmed from poisoning, just as Sehwa suspected, then curing him was well within the realm of possibility.
Because I have Spiky.
The newly awakened trait Spiky possessed was none other than poison. Having already extracted venom from its thorns to craft poison pouches, I was confident I could formulate an antitoxin potion as well.
"Jisu-ssi, do you happen to know any potions related to poison...?"
Seeing me lapse into thoughtful silence, Sehwa couldn't contain her anxious curiosity any longer.
Nothing was set in stone yet, however.
"I'll have to examine his symptoms in person before I can say for sure."
At my measured reply, the taut lines around Sehwa's mouth relaxed slightly.
Hey now, that just means I don't know yet. It was flattering that she placed so much faith in me, but if this kept up, she was going to mistake me for an omnipotent miracle worker who could conjure anything out of thin air. Still, I didn't bother correcting her. The urgency of the moment didn't allow for casual banter, and we were already stepping into the elevator heading toward the medical ward.
Ding.
With a cheerful chime, the elevator doors slid apart.
"This way!"
Her anxiety boiling over, Lee Sehwa broke into a flat-out sprint.
I seriously need to start working out. Even though she was pacing herself so I wouldn't collapse behind her, we had been running non-stop for nearly ten minutes. If only Tower levels applied in the outside world.
The physical stat amplifications granted by Tower levels were strictly bound to the Tower's interior. Out here in reality, neither awakened hunters nor ordinary civilians enjoyed those superhuman benefits. And right now, that system limitation was hitting my lungs like lead.
"We're almost there!"
Why on earth did this complex have to be so colossal? If I ever became a landlord, I swore I'd build everything within arm's reach. Fortunately, the double doors leading into the intensive care unit finally came into view ahead.
As we charged toward the ward, the guard stationed outside spotted her and yelled, "Hunter Lee! Over here, quickly!" Then his eyes darted toward me trailing behind her. "And the person beside you is...?"
"No time to explain, open the doors! Hurry!" Sehwa shouted without breaking stride.
"R-Right away!"
The guard keyed in a series of commands on the wall terminal. With an upbeat electronic trill, the heavy security doors parted.
Yet completely at odds with that lighthearted chime, a suffocating wave slammed into us the instant the threshold cleared—thick tension, the sharp sting of disinfectant, and the heavy, metallic stench of fresh blood.
"In here!"
Following the guard's lead into the medical bay, we found a large crowd gathered in the main corridor.
"Hunter Lee Sehwa has arrived!" the guard announced.
At his shout, every head in the room snapped in our direction. Faces familiar from television broadcasts and YouTube streams filled the corridor—nationally certified Elite Hunters standing shoulder to shoulder, the very vanguards carrying the burden of South Korea's Tower conquest.
The moment I took a step inside, a distraught sob echoed through the hall.
"Uwahh! Unnie! What do we do about Suho-oppa?! What if he dies?!"
A teenage girl hurled herself into Lee Sehwa's arms, weeping uncontrollably. It was Han Song-hee, famed across the nation as the youngest Elite Hunter.
A high school sophomore, wasn't she?
Seeing her in person, she looked even younger than on screen. Because of the public controversy surrounding underage hunters, she had only been inducted into the elite roster relatively recently. One look was enough to tell she was wholly unaccustomed to brush-with-death emergencies like this.
Lee Sehwa stroked Song-hee's back, murmuring gently, "It's all right. He's not going to die. I brought someone who can fix this."
Wait a second. Putting it like that is way too much pressure!
Too late—the words were already out. Weeping against Sehwa's chest, Song-hee blinked tearfully between Sehwa and me. "Huh...? Fix it...? Is that true? That oppa over there...?"
"Yeah. So don't worry, Song-hee, just wait out here. Where's the Commissioner?"
"I-Inside... *hic*..."
Having swiftly pacified the distraught girl, Sehwa turned toward me. "Hunter-nim, let's head inside."
"...Right."
Prickling glares bore into me with every step I took behind her. Geez, you're going to burn a hole right through the back of my skull. It's not like my face is that mesmerizing... Well, I am good-looking, but that's beside the point.
Just as we reached the inner entrance and prepared to push through, a hand clamped down firmly onto Sehwa's arm.
"Sehwa. Who is this guy?"
A slick, sharp-featured young man had intercepted her.
Sehwa shook his hand off with cold efficiency. "Gijun, this is an emergency. I'll explain later."
Nam Gijun. He had joined the Elite Hunters half a year ago, specializing in stealth and assassination traits. If I recall correctly, he's currently stationed on Floor 37.
Gijun blocked her path once more, his voice laced with indignation. "I know it's an emergency. That's precisely why I'm asking."
"What?"
"Even if it's you, do you really think it makes any sense to drag in some ordinary civilian who isn't even an Elite Hunter?"
"Sigh... That's not what this is. I'll explain everything later, but we have to get in there right now."
"If it's not, then just tell me who he is. Is that so difficult?"
Hmm. Things were veering in an awkward direction.
Watching Lee Sehwa glance nervously at me, it was obvious she was desperately trying to keep my identity under wraps. The fact that she was prioritizing my privacy even amidst such chaotic circumstances proved she was far from a shallow person. It was time for me to step in.
"...Hunter-nim?"
Notice how she had naturally swapped from 'Jisu-ssi' to 'Hunter-nim' the second other rankers were within earshot? Sharp and quick-witted.
Without breaking stride, I walked right past the two of them and grasped the door handle.
"Wait, what do you think you're—"
Nam Gijun reached out to yank me back, but the door had already swung open.
"...! Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing—"
His protest died in his throat.
From inside the room, Commissioner Kim Han-soo caught sight of me and bellowed with raw relief, "Ah! Hunter-nim! You're here! Please, come right in!"
A massive question mark practically materialized above Nam Gijun's head. And he wasn't the only one; the other Elite Hunters waiting in the corridor wore identical looks of stunned disbelief.
Flashing the warmest, most innocent smile I could manage, I chuckled amiably. "You heard him, right? Given how urgent the situation is, I couldn't help myself. Haha."
"......"
I tilted my head toward Sehwa. "Come on in, Sehwa-ssi."
"...Ah, yes!"
Glancing back at Nam Gijun one last time, I offered another cheerful nod. "Well, seeing as it's an emergency. Haha."
Slam!
I shut the door right in his face.
"......"
Lee Sehwa was looking at me with an utterly bewildered expression. I handled that well, didn't I? I thought I was being as polite as humanly possible.
The momentary levity vanished the second we took in the inner ward. What lay before us choked the words right out of our throats.
A massive isolation room stretched out beyond a panoramic wall of reinforced glass. On the other side of the partition, several medical personnel clad in sterile white scrubs were frantically moving back and forth.
"Oppa..."
"...Damn it."
Lying on an oversized hospital bed was Hunter Kim Suho.
His skin was splotched with patches of sickly, dark green, but worse still, the blood vessels across his entire body bulged violently beneath his flesh like writhing cords. The jagged lacerations and bite marks inflicted by the zombies refused to clot, leaking dark fluid until the sheets beneath him were thoroughly soaked in crimson.
"Blood pressure seventy over forty! He's slipping into shock! Push epinephrine, now!"
Desperate shouts from the medical team blared through the intercom, thick with panic.
"Fuck! None of the atropine or naloxone-class antidotes are doing anything! If anything, his convulsions are worsening the more we push!"
"Halt administration immediately!"
"Stopping now!"
Beep— Beep— Beep—!
The vitals monitor wailed an erratic, piercing alarm. Shouted orders flew back and forth among the doctors. Beyond the glass, Kim Suho's massive frame convulsed violently.
Reeling from the horrific sight, Lee Sehwa stumbled backward.
"Ah..."
"...Are you all right?" I asked, steadying her elbow.
"Y-Yes... Th-Thank you..."
"Sit down here for a moment."
I guided her trembling frame to an adjacent chair. Truth be told, I was just as rattled.
I had no idea it was this severe.
I had assumed he was merely bedridden, running a terrible fever from some monster venom. But from the perspective of an active climber, I was barely a novice who had just cleared the 10th floor. Besides, you'd never find something this gruesome broadcast on television.
This was my very first time witnessing the raw, visceral cost of a failed Tower raid.
I turned to Commissioner Kim Han-soo, whose brow was furrowed so deeply it looked carved into his skull. "What is his exact condition right now?"
"...Are you familiar with the environment of Floor 49?"
"Yes, roughly."
"Then this will save time. It is poison. An exceedingly lethal neurotoxin."
"It seems modern medicine isn't taking effect at all."
Kim Han-soo dragged both hands down his face, letting out a sigh heavy enough to cave in the floor. "Indeed. Modern pharmacology is utterly useless... In fact, it only triggers increasingly severe anaphylactic shock."
"Did Hunter Lee Sehwa ever suffer from this poisoning during her clear?"
If it was a poison native to Floor 49, what had happened when Sehwa conquered it?
Sehwa answered the question herself in a frail, strained voice. "I only suffered minor exposure... After some time, it wore off on its own."
"...I see."
Kim Han-soo elaborated, "We reached out to foreign vanguard teams currently operating on Floor 49 and above, but every nation reported they have never witnessed a case this severe."
Naturally. Most raid parties would favor long-range artillery or evasive maneuvers that minimized physical contact. Kim Suho's awakened trait and combat doctrine were extraordinarily rare on the global stage: a frontline vanguard who hardened his own flesh to absorb punishment. Awakening traits within the enhancement classification were scarce to begin with, and among them, Kim Suho was the sole human being to have reached Floor 49.
"May I examine his condition up close?"
Commissioner Kim Han-soo's face brightened instantly. "Of course. That is precisely why I begged you to come."
As we completed the sterilization procedures to enter the clean room, both the Commissioner and Lee Sehwa stared at me intently.
Whoa, the pressure is palpable.
Their gazes burned with the desperate conviction that I was a miraculous savior who could resolve any crisis. I'd better make things crystal clear right now.
I appreciated their faith, but professional boundaries had to be drawn. If expectations were set unrealistically high and things went south, the fallout would be catastrophic.
I addressed them both in a measured tone.
"Just to be completely clear, I am not a medical doctor. I'm not a pharmacist either, nor have I ever worked a single day in the medical field. I'm just an ordinary civilian."
Ripples of uncertainty flickered through their eyes. Even so, I had to lay down the facts. Setting clear boundaries was the only way to avoid trouble later.
"All I do is brew potions."
"......"
Lee Sehwa bit her lower lip.
Watching her, I exhaled a soft breath. "...However, I will do everything in my power to examine his symptoms and concoct a potion tailored to neutralize the poison."
A brief silence settled over the anteroom.
Then Commissioner Kim Han-soo spoke.
"......That is more than enough."
His gaze deepened with profound earnestness. Beside him, Lee Sehwa looked at me with the same quiet resolve. One glance was enough to tell: they understood exactly what I meant.
I gave a firm nod.
"Then let's head inside."