Gather the Evidence!
Collect the evidence!
Oh Se-jun would undoubtedly do everything in his power to suppress, threaten, or obstruct any evidence that surfaced—or even threatened to surface. Even if he didn’t act, his father certainly wouldn’t stay idle. Otherwise, the trial I’d seen in my precognitive dream wouldn’t have ended in such an unjust verdict.
‘In the end, I need power. The kind of power that can stop bastards like them from doing whatever they please…!’
While clearing the second floor, my level rose to 5. Thanks to that, I obtained a whopping six skill cards! With the Scales of Moirae trait granting an extra skill card choice and the Sword of Moros trait allowing me to reroll options, I was able to select and acquire exactly the skills I needed.
As a result, my current skill tree looked like this:
Minion of the Underworld Lv.5 (Death)(Undead)(Summon)
Intelligence Lv.2 (Passive)(Stat)
Night Crow Lv.2 (Darkness)(Magic)
Lullaby of the Night Lv.1 (Soul)(Buff)
My main skill and breadwinner, Minion of the Underworld, remained the core, while I chose the darkness-attribute attack magic Night Crow as my sub-skill. I invested in Intelligence because it directly amplified both Minion of the Underworld and Night Crow. Lullaby of the Night was a self-buff usable only outside combat that rapidly restored mental energy. Since it also carried the (Soul) attribute, it benefited from the Baptism of Thanatos trait, which multiplied the final effect of all (Death)(Undead)(Soul) skills by five. Even at level 1, the mental recovery was substantial, making it extremely useful.
“Good morning, Humin.”
“Hello, Sowon. Sorry for calling so early.”
It was only 7 a.m. Considering most hunters slept in, finished basic training, then gathered parties to start raids in the evening, this was an absurdly early hour.
“No, I’m really fine. I’m just following you around anyway, and you handle all the hunting yourself. What’s the problem with starting early? It’s not like we have other party members to coordinate with. If anything, finishing sooner and going home early sounds better, right?”
“If that’s how you feel, thank you. Shall we head out?”
“Yes!”
With Sowon the porter in tow, we headed straight for the third floor that day.
The monsters on the third floor were two-headed wolves called Kennywolves and large horned rabbits. Kennywolves were annoying because while you attacked one head, the other would strike back. The large horned rabbits were twice the size of regular horned rabbits, with double the speed and destructive power. Both were tricky opponents for hunters tackling the third floor. Depending on rank, even A-class hunters were advised to form parties of at least four for safety, and lower ranks naturally required even more people. D-class hunters sometimes needed ten-man parties just to hunt safely. Of course, as levels rose through repeated grinding, even D-class hunters could reduce numbers and clear the third floor with three or four people. The higher the level, the more stats and skills grew, widening the gap between ranks considerably.
And I… seemed to be an absurd outlier in that regard.
“Minion of the Underworld. Summon.”
Whoosh!
Another large horned rabbit rose from the ground, blue flames flickering in its empty eye sockets. Including this one, I now had five resurrected minion large horned rabbits. The result was ridiculous.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh……!
If regular minion horned rabbits were bullets, these minion large horned rabbits were literal cannons. Even more absurd was that these cannons never stopped—they flew across the ground.
No tank, no ranged or melee dealers—nothing was needed.
Shwaaak! Thud!!
The moment a minion large horned rabbit kicked off the ground and charged, its horn pierced straight through a Kennywolf’s torso. The Kennywolf, unable to even react to the charge, let alone defend, was impaled and died instantly. Far from satisfied, the minion large horned rabbit touched down and immediately launched itself toward the next target.
Five of these insane living missiles were flying around me in a frenzy. Every time one struck, Kennywolves and large horned rabbits collapsed into cold corpses without even a scream.
“I’m sorry, Humin! Please slow down a little!”
Sowon, who was using Bonus Looting, had to beg me to wait—that’s how fast the bodies were piling up. Corpses left untouched inside the Tower disappeared automatically after a set time. Since the rate at which monsters died far outpaced Sowon’s looting speed, there was a real risk that bodies would vanish before she could apply Bonus Looting.
“If some disappear, there’s nothing we can do. Just loot what you can. I can’t afford to slow down right now.”
Money mattered, but right now my priority was squeezing out every last drop of experience to grow faster. Bonus Looting only provided extra income on top of normal drops; skipping it didn’t mean losing regular items or mana stones. So I kept hunting at full speed. Every time monsters fell at an unbelievable rate, my experience bar climbed proportionally. The growth speed was so extreme it felt like I must have picked up an experience-boosting trait.
‘It’s because we’re a two-person party, so we split experience between fewer people.’
In the Tower, the more party members who entered together, the more the experience was divided. High-rank hunters deliberately minimized party size not out of arrogance, but because the experience required for each subsequent level grew astronomically. We hunted for over ten hours, even after clearing the third-floor objective, until evening.
“Let’s stop here for today. I’m not gaining any more experience.”
“You hit the daily experience cap?! Wow… I’ve never seen anyone hit that before.”
If you gained too much experience in a single day on a given floor, you eventually hit a cap where no more experience could be earned. Of course, when splitting experience in a full party, reaching that point was rare.
“Good work today. By the way, Humin.”
“Yes?”
“Did something happen?”
“No. Why?”
I tried to hide my sudden nervousness as I asked. Sowon tilted her head.
“No reason. You just seem… strangely impatient somehow. I always knew you were hardworking, but today feels different. Like you’re anxious, or desperate. The vibe is completely different.”
“If I grow faster, I can reach higher floors quicker. Wouldn’t that let me earn more money than obsessing over profits on the lower floors?”
I gave a vague excuse. There was no reason to tell her the truth, and I didn’t want to burden someone unrelated with unnecessary worries.
“If that’s really the reason, you might want to reconsider. I know it might seem nosy, but watching you today made me genuinely nervous more than once or twice. I know how strong you are now, but no one knows what dangers lurk in the Tower. Running forward without looking back could get you killed in an instant.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I was genuinely grateful for Sowon’s sincere concern.
The total profit from the third floor came to 24 million won. Because we’d hunted so many monsters, I’d discarded most junk items and only kept the valuable mana stones. After paying Sowon her share and settling some of the overdue hospital bills, I had 10 million won left. I wanted to use every last bit to pay off debts, but there was something more urgent.
“Uncle Yeong-gwang, it’s me. Humin. Do you know anyone trustworthy I could hire for a job?”
[What kind of job?]
“I need to find some people. There might be witnesses besides the convenience store owner. I have to find anything that could serve as evidence or testimony.”
[If that’s what you need, I know a guy… but unlike me, he charges a pretty penny. You okay with that?]
“I have enough money. Please, I’m counting on you.”
[Got it. I’ll send you the address. He’s better than me at finding people, at least.]
Following my uncle’s recommendation, I arrived at “Cosmic Detective Agency.”
“Thank you for coming all this way, customer. I’m the owner, Woo Joo-tae. I heard about you from your uncle. Said you’re like a son to him?”
Woo Joo-tae poured instant coffee into a paper cup and set it in front of me with a friendly smile.
“Hello, sir. I’d like to find witnesses to an accident. Is that possible?”
“Possible? Impossible? We don’t deal in those words. We just do what we’re paid for. Pay us right and we’ll find you chupacabras or yetis if that’s what you want.”
I placed a paper bag full of cash on the table. Woo Joo-tae peeked inside and his eyes widened.
“That’s more than I expected. Looks like about five hundred?”
“The case files are in the envelope. Find as many witnesses and pieces of evidence as you can. That’s the down payment—100 more per witness you locate. Any testimony must come with legally admissible evidence.”
“In this crowded little country, you think there’s only one or two witnesses? Don’t worry and head on back. I’ll contact you the moment I find anything.”
“Thank you. Ah, and if anything happens while you’re looking, please call me right away. The defendant in this case is probably searching for witnesses and evidence too.”
“Understood, customer. Take care~!”