014
Morning.
When I woke up, I shuffled out of bed like a zombie.
And then I caught a spicy smell drifting in from the living room.
Kimchi stew for breakfast today, huh.
Hot, savory soybean paste stew was still the best, of course.
But nice, fiery kimchi stew wasn’t bad either.
I padded into the living room.
My sister was cooking in there.
“You’re up? Hold on a sec. I’ll have breakfast ready soon.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded and gulped down some cold water.
That was when my sister spoke again.
“Oh, right. I succeeded in convincing her. Hyeji’s going to join the party as a porter.”
“Seriously?!”
At last, I had an item-auto-looting pet?
No more rummaging through piles of corpses?
I could just cast magic and coast through the tower like it was easy mode?
Hehehe. Nice.
“Sis, thank you!!!”
“Hey! You trying to blow my eardrums out? Don’t yell first thing in the morning. You scared me half to death.”
“I’m just that grateful.”
“I only did my job as your manager, that’s all. Anyway... Hyeji agreed to join. There’s just one condition.”
“A condition?”
What, did she want a ton of money?
Not a bad deal. If money could buy her silence, then paying extra was fine by me.
Besides, our profits were obviously going to start growing exponentially.
A little spending was perfectly manageable.
But the condition my sister mentioned wasn’t money at all.
“She said if it ever feels dangerous, she wants us to stop the raid immediately and let her leave the party.”
“There’s no danger, though?”
“You’re talking about climbing above Floor 5 with two people. You’re basically trying to clear sections that everyone else does with a five-man party. Of course she’d worry.”
“Right... if she doesn’t know what I can do, she’d have no choice but to think it’s dangerous.”
Floor 5 of the Tower of Trials.
The section where five-person party play was the standard.
And here I was, planning to clear it with just two people, one of whom was a porter and, in effect, basically the only one actually fighting.
No way anyone would think that sounded safe.
Still, it was kind of impressive.
How exactly had she convinced her?
A normal Hunter would never accept a crazy proposal like “let’s clear Floor 5 with just two people.”
My sister made a weird expression.
“The posts you were putting up helped.”
“My posts? You mean on Hunter Gallery?”
“Yeah. Once she realized everything you’d been posting there was true, she was half-convinced already. So I seized the opportunity and worked on her. I told her she could back out anytime, but to at least try one run with us.”
“Oh... so my dedication to Hunter Gallery finally paid off. I’d better keep grinding the forums.”
“Can you maybe cut back on the internet a little...? Ugh.”
My sister puffed out her cheeks and muttered something under her breath.
Still, I felt pretty damn proud.
Hunter Gallery. I’d only ever used it for fun.
And yet those ridiculous posts had actually turned out useful.
Turns out everything in life has a purpose.
“Let’s eat, then head straight to the Climber’s Branch and submit the paperwork. We need to lift the detention measure first before she can be accepted as a party member.”
* * *
After breakfast, I headed to the Climber’s Branch.
I placed my hand on the crystal orb and exchanged points.
“Please specify the amount of points to transfer to Republic of Korea.”
“All of them.”
354 points will be transferred to Republic of Korea.
“Hunter Baek Jiho. I’ve confirmed 354 points. 3.54 million won will be deposited into the designated account. The Republic of Korea will remember your dedication.”
The usual send-off from the usual civil servant.
I handed over the documents I’d brought.
“I’m trying to form a party with a reserve Hunter. Please process this.”
“Understood. I’ll file the temporary suspension request for reserve Hunter mobilization. The detention measure will be lifted within twenty-four hours.”
The civil servant faxed over the papers, stared at the PC screen for a moment, and then looked up in surprise.
“Hm? That was processed immediately. Seems the person in charge was already handling that case. It usually takes about a day.”
“Immediately?”
“Yes. The detention release should be issued soon. You’ll probably be cleared to leave within thirty minutes.”
“Oh...”
Lucky me.
I’d expected to wait a day, but they were lifting the detention right away.
If things went well, maybe we could form the party today.
While I was getting excited, the civil servant, who had been peering closely at the PC, scratched his head as if something didn’t add up.
“But why is the approver the Deputy Minister of Climber Management...? What is this? This isn’t the sort of case a deputy minister should be signing off on, so why...?”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, not exactly. But... Hunter-nim. Do you happen to know some high-ranking official or... no. Never mind. Take care. The Republic of Korea will remember your dedication.”
“?”
The civil servant rambled incoherently, then clamped his mouth shut.
Some high-ranking official? Like hell I did.
My sister may have gone to Hankuk University, but we were still a dirt-poor family.
There was no way we had connections in high places.
“Anyway, that’s processed, right? I’m heading out then. Thanks for your help.”
I trudged out of the branch and got into my sister’s car.
She was on the phone, holding her cellphone to her ear.
“Yeah. Hyeji? The detention’s been lifted? You can come out right away? Wow! I just submitted the paperwork and they already lifted it? Guess the timing was good.”
My sister was talking to Na Hyeji, my porter-in-practice.
Looks like the detention had really been lifted, and she was on her way out of the dormitory already.
Man, our country’s civil servants really were competent.
That fast, that efficient.
Truly the nation of ppalli-ppalli.
“Then where should we meet? Should we come to your place? Ah. You’ll come to us? Sure, then. I’ll send you the address.”
Was she already setting up a meeting for today, now that she was free?
Well, it made sense. Better to get into the tower quickly.
Especially for a reserve Hunter like Hyeji, who’d get detained again the moment she stopped climbing for a day.
It was important to get some clear raid records down as fast as possible.
I nodded.
All right. Time to see what my porter looks like.
I sincerely hoped she was pretty.
That was the humble wish of a twenty-seven-year-old lifelong bachelor.
* * *
Na Hyeji.
Five years into being a retired Hunter, she had ultimately accepted the porter offer.
After being released from detention and returning home, she muttered while packing her gear.
“The world really is small. Who would’ve thought that ‘BlueDot’ would turn out to be Jiye’s little brother...”
She let out a hollow laugh.
“So all those ridiculous posts were true? No way. Hahaha...”
Hunter Gallery user BlueDot.
The insane attention-seeking gimmick poster who had been very active on Hunter Gallery for the past few days.
He was a user who posted daily climbing reports, and they were disturbingly bizarre.
He claimed he’d cleared a tutorial difficulty above Hard.
He claimed he’d killed dozens of goblins starting from Floor 1, cleared Floor 2 in three hours, and slaughtered over a hundred goblins on Floor 3.
He claimed he’d wiped out an entire goblin village on Floor 4.
He was a user who kept posting things that flatly denied everything people thought they knew.
He was obviously lying.
Na Hyeji knew him well.
In fact, she’d been a very old user on the forum, lurking on Hunter Gallery whenever she had the chance since long ago.
So it was only natural that BlueDot’s ridiculous, over-the-top posts had caught her attention.
Which was why she’d replied more than once.
└What the hell is this “Extreme Lunatic Hell” nonsense? You just listing random difficult-sounding names? This guy’s totally unhinged.
At first she’d insulted him.
└This guy’s delusions are getting worse by the day lol. Monsters got scared and ran away? What kind of bullshit is that
She kept insulting him after that too.
└This crazy gimmick-freak is still at it
And then she insulted him again.
That was only natural.
Anyone would react that way to what looked like a blatant delusion-filled lie.
But... what if it was all true?
If BlueDot really was Baek Jiye’s younger brother, and if he had become the first person in history to emerge from a Hard-or-higher difficulty tutorial...
And if that meant he possessed power that transcended common sense?
Then everything would make sense.
Why her friend Baek Jiye had proposed a suicidal two-person party raid of Floor 5.
Why, instead of picking from any of the countless easygoing Hunters out there, she had specifically tried to recruit someone as unremarkable as a retired Hunter friend.
It all fit.
But there were still signs he was hiding something, and on top of that she was worried about her own life, so...
It was still too early to be certain.
She stood up and murmured, “Once I’m inside the tower, I’ll know.”
* * *
Just after lunchtime, in the early afternoon.
Na Hyeji came to our house.
“Hyeji! Welcome! This is my little brother, Baek Jiho.”
“Hello. I’m Baek Jiho.”
“I’m Na Hyeji. I’ve heard a lot about you from Jiye.”
At last, I got to see my porter’s face.
My impression was simple.
She looks kind of gloomy.
Big glasses that covered half her face.
A dreary expression with dark circles hanging under her eyes behind the lenses.
Long hair that hung down in heavy strands.
She was pretty if you looked closely, but there was something so gloomy about her that... she wasn’t really my type.
For reference, my standards were pretty high.
Typical bachelor syndrome. No relationship experience, but absurdly high standards anyway.
Still, I was allowed to have high standards.
Because I was the Extreme Lunatic Hell Hunter.
Since I was destined to become the greatest Hunter soon enough, I figured having high standards was only natural.
Still, it was puzzling.
“But aren’t you a Hunter? Why the glasses...?”
Once you became a Hunter, your body got basic enhancement effects, including improved eyesight.
You could see just fine without those damned spectacles.
So why was someone who’d made it to Floor 4 still wearing glasses?
At my question, Hyeji hesitated before answering.
“They’re non-prescription. I’ve worn glasses my whole life, so I just feel awkward going around barefaced... so I wear them on purpose...”
“...”
What a strange person.
Most people would pay money just to get LASIK.
And here she was, wearing glasses on purpose despite having perfectly fine eyesight.
Anyway.
I calmly sized Na Hyeji up.
Her dragged-out way of speaking, her hunched posture, her gloomy eyes, her awkward expression...
Overall, she looked timid and fragile.
That gloomy vibe was just icing on the cake.
I was worried.
Can someone like this really be my porter?
It was a job where you had to pick through ghastly piles of corpses and get your hands splattered with blood.
She didn’t seem like she’d be able to handle it well.
Well. We’d know once I made her try it.
“I’ll give you a more detailed introduction later... for now, should we head straight to the tower?”
“Yes. If it gets dangerous, we’re really coming right back, okay...?”
“Of course. Don’t worry.”
I held out my hand, and Na Hyeji took it.
I murmured softly, “Tower entry.”
⊳ Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea : Floor 5)
⊳ Na Hyeji (Republic of Korea : Floor 5)
⊳ Please select the floor to enter.
“Floor 5.”
We entered the Tower’s fifth floor in a flash of bright light.
* * *
As the light faded, I slowly surveyed the surroundings.
The first thing I saw was a long, dark corridor.
Inside it, goblin packs of a dozen or so were scattered at intervals.
I pulled the information on Floor 5 back out of my head.
Floor 5 is basically a forward-march map.
The overall structure was similar to Floor 3.
There was a long, straight corridor, and if you kept pushing down it, you’d eventually reach the escape portal.
But the difference was this:
The corridor was much wider and longer than Floor 3’s, and the monsters were grouped together at fixed intervals.
Some of those groups even included a few Goblin Warriors.
Unlike Floor 3, where you could clear the whole thing by sprinting straight ahead the moment you entered, Floor 5 demanded that you crush each goblin group one after another and keep inching forward.
And most of those groups contained five to ten goblins.
Some of them even had Goblin Warriors mixed in.
That was why Floor 5 required party play.
No matter how skilled a normal Hunter was, there was no way they could take on ten goblins alone.
Of course, I could clear it easily by myself.
Which was exactly why I’d only brought a single porter as my party member.
I turned and looked at Hyeji standing beside me.
Since she was the porter, she had a large bag slung over her back.
Her expression was stiff with nerves.
“Hyeji, are you ready?”
“Y-yes...!”
“Just speak casually, okay? You’re my sister’s friend, and you’re older than me anyway.”
“...‘Older than you’? I’m only two years older. Why did you say it like I’m way older?”
“Ah.”
Twenty-nine.
She was at the age when women were especially sensitive about that sort of thing.
Looks like I’d stepped on a land mine.
I hurriedly changed the subject.
“Now that we’re inside the tower, I think it’s about time I told you my secret.”
“...Your secret. You mean the secret behind those absurd achievements you posted in the gallery, right?”
“Yep. Watch closely.”
I nodded, raised my staff, and began preparing magic.
-Wooooooong!
Blue dots arranged themselves in the air, scattering pale azure light.
-Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Multiple fireballs rose above my staff and began orbiting it.
Thanks to the light spilling from them, the dim corridor was suddenly lit up brightly.
“W-wh...!?”
Na Hyeji stared at me in shock.
Looking at her, I said quietly, “I’m a mage Hunter. Probably the only one.”
“What in the...!”
Leaving the stunned Hyeji behind, I pointed my staff straight ahead.
“Fire.”
-Ssssshhhaaaaaak!
The fireball tore through the darkness and shot forward.
It plunged squarely into the middle of the goblin pack waiting in front of us.
The next instant—
-KWAAAAAAAANG—!
An explosive roar thundered through the corridor.
More than a dozen goblins were torn apart and disintegrated.
Chunks of flesh and innards scattered everywhere, and blood rained down over the walls and floor.
At that grotesque sight—
“...My God.”
Na Hyeji stood there with a blank expression.
I looked at her and said calmly, “Hyeji, you’re the porter. Your job is to collect the loot from that pile of corpses.”
“...Huh?”
At my words, Hyeji’s gaze slid toward the heap of bodies.
And what she saw was this:
Arms and legs torn apart and strewn everywhere, with pieces of innards and flesh splattered across a sea of blood.
And here and there, goblin daggers, bows, and other loot.
Of course, everything was already covered in blood and guts.
Her role was to pick up every last one of those things.
“Hieeek...!?”
Na Hyeji’s face went deathly pale.
A wicked grin crept onto my lips on its own.
Heh heh. No more getting my own hands dirty.
The porter would do the work by rummaging through the corpse pile for me.
And I’d just sit back and spam magic like it was nothing.
The perfect start to a flawless raid.