Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Hug Me (4).
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The members of the Milky Way Guild waited for results outside the Tower.
They went about their tasks, but all their attention was focused on the Tower.
Choi Da-eun was especially grave.
She directed every bit of her focus toward the Tower.
She was practically abandoning her duties despite having work to do.
'Please... come back alive...!'
Just a month ago, she had wished he would die. But now, the situation had completely changed.
Please let Park Sun-woo come back safe and sound.
The atheist Choi Da-eun prayed like that to a god she didn't even believe in.
Normally, just seeing that bastard's face made her furious, her hands and feet trembling with rage.
Right now, more than anything, she wanted to see that bastard's face.
That would mean her victory.
She could land a huge blow on Hwang Deok-su.
"......"
However, Choi Da-eun had to face not Park Sun-woo, but someone else.
The masked trash who summoned her every other day.
He stood in the room dressed in a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts.
With his skills, he couldn't catch her.
At best, he was D-rank hunter level.
He seemed to have realized that and put on clothes.
"Choi Da-eun, isn't it about time you stopped running away?"
The masked trash began stretching.
He bent and straightened his knees, preparing to leap.
Choi Da-eun didn't stay still either.
She glared at him, staying alert to bolt at any moment.
In the room that was narrow if you called it narrow, wide if you called it wide.
The game of tag between the man and woman began.
The masked trash chased after her.
He put everything he had into snatching Choi Da-eun somehow.
'...Something's off?'
Choi Da-eun, who had been dodging him every which way, sensed something strange.
This guy who couldn't even keep up with her before—suddenly, his reaches started feeling threatening.
'Is this bastard growing stronger too?'
The masked trash had an absurdly cheat skill.
A once-in-a-lifetime scam skill that unconditionally reflected any attack aimed at him.
But in comparison, his stats were pathetic.
Even a C-rank hunter like Choi Da-eun could evade him while he flailed helplessly.
That didn't mean he'd stay at that level forever, though.
He could get stronger too.
A creeping pressure built up—the sense that if she let her guard down, he might catch her.
Choi Da-eun dodged his grasp with all her might.
"Huff, huff!"
Until recently, it had been just the masked trash panting alone.
Her pattern had been to toy with him leisurely, sneering.
'I even spat on the back of his head.'
But not anymore.
Choi Da-eun was sweating bullets too.
Her thin t-shirt clung to her body from the sweat, clearly outlining her upper body's curves.
The masked trash glanced at Choi Da-eun and licked his lips.
"Getting scared? Not much time left, Choi Da-eun."
"...Shut your mouth."
Choi Da-eun growled, glaring at the masked trash.
Why was a piece of trash like this the only one growing?
Why did the world give talent only to scum like him?
It felt so unfair and infuriating.
She had dodged his dick today, but what about next time...?
Choi Da-eun shivered.
For some reason, his gaze sent chills down her spine.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ My total stats added up to over 90.
In simple terms, that meant I'd reached level 90.
Of course, only on paper.
To level up, you had to hunt monsters in the Tower.
Your stats rose in that process, growing as a hunter.
I had grown through an abnormal route.
Due to my lowly talent, hunting couldn't raise my levels or stats at all.
So my actual prowess was still lacking compared to level 90 hunters.
Far below, in fact.
They say you can use aura once you hit level 100.
The key here was that 100 was just the average.
Reaching level 100 didn't automatically activate aura; you had to meet certain conditions to expel mana outward.
In other words, even if I pumped my stats up to around level 100, I might not be able to use aura.
'Total stats need at least 150.'
Just a guess.
Even at 150, I might not be able to.
It was day 7.
As dawn broke, a message appeared.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ A boss monster has appeared somewhere! I already knew the location.
The 10th-floor boss monster, 'Wounded Merman Warrior,' would be hiding deep inside the eastern cliff cave.
We still had 3 days left to clear the 10th floor.
The mood lately wasn't bad.
With stabilization and optimization in place, everyone felt confident we could clear it smoothly like this. The hunters' tension was sky-high.
But catching the boss monster would let us clear 3 days early.
We could escape the scorching sun for cool air conditioning, leave this sticky uninhabited island to wash in running water.
"It's too much."
I gathered the team leaders for a meeting.
The topic: Should we try hunting the boss monster?
After a week together, I had a rough sense of their personalities. I figured Training Team 3's leader would definitely oppose it.
I even knew why she'd oppose.
"No need to push ourselves."
Several leaders nodded in agreement with her.
Almost all of them.
We had successfully completed the base fortification operation.
Using the fortress we built, we'd perfectly blocked the 10th-floor monster wave.
'Blue Lobsters' or 'Green Crabs' wouldn't break it no matter what—everyone was convinced of that.
Dozens pounding on it hadn't collapsed it, proven in reality.
"Food's an issue, but we can hold out 3 days."
Water was solved.
Everyone had reached the level of stockpiling drinking water by filtering it with their bodies.
I'd heard male hunters sometimes traded food for water from female hunters.
Water from pretty female hunters was popular.
'Training Team 3's leader wasn't popular.'
Maybe that's why she had such a prickly personality.
"I know it's tough. No need to touch the boss monster."
The Milky Way Guild's goal from the start was just clearing the 10th floor.
Hunting the boss wasn't on the checklist.
Though with our fortress, the checklist from Milky Way was kinda pointless now!
Guild Master Hwang Deok-su and the other training team leaders hadn't mentioned the boss even once.
It was completely off the table.
From F-rank and E-rank hunters' perspectives, no need to poke the hornet's nest.
I understood and respected their choice.
"If that's how everyone feels, nothing we can do."
"...We're not trying to ignore your opinion, Park Sun-woo."
Training Team 3's leader offered faint condolences.
The atmosphere acknowledged me, so I felt a bit better inside.
'Look at all the achievements I've racked up!'
At the very least, these people couldn't ignore me.
Yeah, they absolutely couldn't.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...So the meeting ended like that?"
"Yes. Everyone seemed reluctant to hunt the boss."
Training Team 4's Lee Eun-seo wanted to ask Park Sun-woo.
'So you just came back?'
Lee Eun-seo had observed Park Sun-woo for 6 months.
Not out of any fondness.
What kind of man was he, really?
Like an entomologist pondering an insect. Or an archaeologist unearthing a never-before-seen fossil, curiosity ablaze.
That led to a question.
Lately, Park Sun-woo had been acting too normal.
It was prime time for him to pull off something big.
The Park Sun-woo she knew wouldn't back down here.
He'd endured Training Team 4 despite being treated like a beast by Choi Da-eun.
A mad bastard who knew how to torment her more and put it into action.
'Hiding his power is proof.'
Lee Eun-seo thought Park Sun-woo had twisted tendencies.
Obsessed with a woman who ignored him, scheming to get her attention...
To her, Park Sun-woo seemed like an elementary school boy.
Such a man had stated what he wanted.
Let's go hunt the boss monster.
No matter how all the team leaders refused, this wasn't a Park Sun-woo who'd obediently retreat.
"Right?"
"Pardon?"
Lee Eun-seo looked at Park Sun-woo and asked.
"I believe you won't. You're not that crazy, are you?"
"......"
"People could die."
"......"
She decided just to warn him.
Stopping the madman before her, Park Sun-woo, was impossible.
Even Choi Da-eun couldn't.
She didn't think she could either.
Park Sun-woo's eyes were only on Choi Da-eun.
Her attention after clearing the 10th floor—that was his goal.
Not just clearing it normally, but taking down the boss too?
'...Please say no.'
Lee Eun-seo was Christian.
She prayed to Jesus over and over.
Jesus abandoned her.
"...Fuck, what the hell is that?"
"Why's the boss monster coming up to the base?"
"Park Sun-woo! Park Sun-woo did it again!"
"That motherfucker! Just stay quiet for 3 days!"
From afar, the 'Wounded Merman Warrior' approached with slow steps.
It was relentlessly chasing one hunter.
"Huh? Me?"
Everyone assumed it was Park Sun-woo.
That Park Sun-woo had provoked the boss and lured it to the base.
But Park Sun-woo's voice came from right beside them.
The questioning hunters.
One of them asked him.
"Wh-what? Why are you here?"
"You make it sound like I shouldn't be here."
"No, obviously you were the one with the boss..."
Park Sun-woo was inside the base.
Then who the hell was that guy luring the boss?
There was no other man crazy enough besides Park Sun-woo?
It drew closer.
The man's face came into view.
A man grinning idiotically.
"Ehehe, ehehe!"
It was Training Team 1's former leader, Jin Yu-han.
"Good boy."
Park Sun-woo looked down at Jin Yu-han with a satisfied smile.