Chapter 200 - The Tower's New Master [Windbringer] Hong Changki

……….

……….

Year ■■, Month ■, Day ■.

Day two.

The military units that had been sealing off the Golden Tower pulled out. Even the barest of checkpoints vanished, and entry permits went out to the general public. The government — the very one that had spent all this time papering over whatever was happening inside and strangling the flow of information — had finally made its move.

Click. Click. Click.

I flipped through the channels. Nothing on but dull programming. I was about to settle for it and switch the thing off when a familiar face crossed the screen mid-surf: my friend, the Grand Witch, in a pressed suit, soaking up the camera flashes.

"— So what you're telling us is that the tower was never actually cleared to the 50th floor — it was re-cleared starting from the 1st floor up?"

"That's correct."

"No. They're missing. Every last one of them is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alive and well, you see."

"— You verified that with a skill?"

"Not just with skills. The Tower Master himself declared it publicly."

"— In the current situation, is there no chance of the tower overflowing back into the world?"

"Immediately after the 50th floor was cleared, a large-scale subjugation force was dispatched and the job was finished. The tower is now under the complete control of the 6 Great Guilds."

"— Some quarters are calling the military pullout a premature decision."

"— Wouldn't it have been wiser to keep them stationed there, in case of the unexpected?"

"That was the government's judgment, not my own. I'd ask that questions on that subject be directed to the current administration, not to me."

"— The military pullout is one thing. It's also a problem that a matter of this gravity — the tower closing again — was withheld from the public and quietly contained."

"— If the tower had overflowed, the citizens of this country would have walked straight into a great calamity without knowing a thing."

"— Netizens are trembling with anxiety, wondering what else might be getting hidden from them."

"The military withdrawal was the government's decision and has nothing to do with us. As for the information control, that was to prevent needless panic. Thanks to it, we successfully re-cleared the tower without a hitch — while the good citizens remained none the wiser."

"— Don't you think that's an utterly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠irresponsible thing to say!?"

"— The very notion of privatizing the tower is absurd to begin with! People are already saying the guilds are aiming to overthrow the state!"

"— Tch. Isn't all of this exactly what's sowing fear among the citizenry... I'd like to hear your thoughts on that."

"Opinion is currently divided even within the 6 Great Guilds, so I would ask that you not treat the privatization matter as an official answer."

"— That's just an excuse!"

"— The 6 Great Guilds are privatizing the tower to build a new nation inside our own country! That's the fact of the matter, isn't it!?"

"I have no idea how the conversation arrived there. I have not the slightest intention of being jerked around by rumors of that caliber. Whatever you may say about me, I intend to speak calmly, and only of facts."

"— There are also claims that the 6 Great Guilds colluded to control hunting grounds and items."

"Controlling the hunting grounds is true. We stepped in preemptively so that no serious harm would come to anyone when the gate first opened."

"— And the claim that you've monopolized the high-performance items?"

"That is not true. The items in question carry dangerous curses attached to them. That is why they are being controlled."

"— And yet I hear those same items are tremendous boons for conquering the tower?"

"— Word is their performance is something else entirely."

"— The very fact that you insist on controlling items like those says everything! The 6 Great Guilds were a collusion cartel from day one!"

"— Weren't you planning to privatize the tower from the very start!?"

"I will say it again. Every bit of it was necessary for the maintenance of public order. I ask that you understand the 6 Great Guilds did not act out of private greed."

"— The circumstantial evidence is plain as day! The 6 Great Guilds colluded and privatized the tower! That is the truth!"

"— Weren't you the ones who burned a group of religious demonstrators gathered in the plaza alive with sulfur fire!?"

"They were a mob. Even while [Cartographer] was in the middle of explaining, they stormed into our guild of their own accord — so all we did was exercise force."

"— You killed people, and you stand there without a shred of shame!"

"— Murderers, the lot of you!"

"I will state this once more. The privatization of the tower is not the official position of us, the 6 Great Guilds. A new statement will be issued shortly."

"— If you have no intention of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠privatizing it, then all you have to do is take your hands off its management right now!!"

"— Or else install government officials in your place!"

"With the Tower Master's seat currently vacant, there is no telling what would happen if we simply let go at this juncture. As for government appointees — it goes without saying that we are already liaising with them on that front. Nothing like what you are imagining is taking place, so please rest assured."

"— Excuses, excuses, and nothing but excuses!"

"— And! The Representative too! Isn't it strange that a hunter nobody has ever heard of is the Representative!?"

"— Didn't you just prop up a figurehead to divert the blame!?"

"...He is a hunter who conquered the tower legitimately. I would ask you to refrain from slander where he is concerned."

"— Conquered the tower, you say?!"

"— We contacted the Hunter Association and looked into it! Isn't this Hong Changki, at absolute best, a D-rank hunter?"

"Then you already know, don't you. A D-rank who nonetheless conquered his way up to the 50th floor — a genuinely remarkable man. His skill was outstanding regardless of rank, which is precisely why he was seated as Representative. Dig a little deeper and you will also find that he served as an executive of [Chomok] — so kindly refrain from condemning him on nothing more than a surface-level skim."

"— Answer honestly! Aren't you hunters planning to topple the state and rule as dictators!?"

"That is an absurd claim. We will respond firmly to rumors of that nature."

"— If everything is 'not true' and 'not true,' what concrete means will you offer to prove it?"

"Means, shmeans — because I could overthrow this country single-handedly, without even needing to seize the tower."

"— What nonsense at an official event!?"

"— Did you forget this broadcast is live!?"

"That is exactly why I said it. To re-acquaint everyone with the fact that even without the tower's support or anything of the sort, our guild alone could flatten a tiny little country like this one."

"— Then why bother conquering the tower at all!?"

"Because we are its citizens, and it was patriotism, plain and simple. Please do not forget that the only reason I and the other hunters abide by this country's rule of law at all is exactly that."

"— So the 6 Great Guilds want to claim these remarks merely slipped out during some opinion-coordination mishap?"

"— That you only took over managing the tower because there was no Tower Master and you had no other choice? Are we seriously meant to swallow that!?"

"— We hear an entire guild that opposed the 6 Great Guilds' dictatorship vanished off the face of the earth! How do you intend to explain that!?"

"Explanation or not — as I said before, they attacked us, so we responded. I would like to emphasize once more that we, the 6 Great Guilds, sought to resolve the matter as peacefully as we possibly could."

"— 'Responded' means you laid hands on them in the end, doesn't it!"

"— How many people did you kill!?"

"This is not a question of killed or not killed. They thrust their gun barrels at us first. Furthermore, they launched an attack on civilian facilities — which makes what happened tantamount to the suppression of terrorists."

"— What do you think this is, America!?"

"It is all too easy to misunderstand the tower's interior as extraterritorial ground, but make no mistake — this is, unmistakably, lawless territory. We, the 6 Great Guilds, are doing our utmost to keep the tower safe. That is all."

On screen, a whole crowd of people was ripping into Ian.

Truth, lies, rumors — whichever. Total pandemonium either way.

And the press releases flung out through every broadcaster had stacked themselves high across my desk.

"My, my. They are absolutely devouring our former Representative in there. Like a school of piranhas."

"Talk that way to a man who could split this country down the middle if he ever snapped — just what do they think they're counting on?"

"As if they'd know. They're the kind of bastards who'd keep cooking up gossip for a payday even if a skill dropped them dead right there on that stage."

"God, what a pain in the ass."

I swung a fist sideways into the desk and batted the whole stack of press releases clean off it.

Seongyeon, standing beside me, swept up everything that had scattered across the floor with a blank face and dumped it in the trash.

Our faces stayed perfectly flat. No anger, no stress — nothing of the kind. We were simply doing our best, quietly, to absorb the situation.

"They're still coming today, right?"

"Yeah. They apologized for keeping us waiting. Though honestly, they didn't seem to think it was any big deal at all."

"Crazy bitches."

Having spat the curse out low, I rose from my seat and headed for the floor-to-ceiling glass that stood in for the wall.

This was the Skyscraper.

Occupying the seat that, under any normal circumstances, should have been Ian's, I looked down at the world below.

"It's quiet out there..."

"Sure is."

Even in the immediate aftermath of everything that had happened, the tower was running exactly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as it always had. Aside from the few people in the plaza hoisting protest placards, it was genuinely calm.

No — how could it possibly be anything but calm?

Right beside the plaza where we'd been standing that day, a colossal hole punched into the ground caught my eye.

"What ever happened to those bastards, by the way? The ones waving weapons around, shouting they'd never hand the tower over to the 6 Great Guilds?"

"A blast of sulfur fire caught them, and they were gone in one hit."

……….

So that was what that hole was.

One sudden strike of sulfur fire, and the crowd disbanded then and there — commotion concluded, case closed.

Thanks to which, out there they were flaying me and Ian alive like this, while in here it was as if nothing had ever happened at all.

It had only been two days.

From the "privatization declaration" that detonated that very same day to swallowing the situation as it stood now — it had taken a fair stretch of time. The hunters in here would be no different from us. The Tower Master — a god, no less — had fallen out of a clear sky, and the 6 Great Guilds had announced they would take control; of course everyone would be chewing on it. We had recognized the hunters' cleared floors and told them to keep hunting as before, but even granting all that, the whole arrangement stank to high heaven. For the religious types, doubly so.

"Changki. Is this really going to be all right? What if trusting Suni blows up in our faces?"

"Beats me. Whether it's fine or not, we're about to find out."

Busy over on their end too, apparently — they'd staked everything on my name and staged that entire circus, and in all this time I hadn't seen a single one of their faces. And Ian had gone straight from rescuing his own mother into that shitshow, so they had to be running themselves ragged.

— What exactly were they thinking, dumping the tower on me?

— Why try to make me the Representative?

— Madame Olivia being mixed up in it, fine — I could buy that. But why had Nayami been in the state she was?

— And Dalgui and Don Quixote, who'd been abducted — why them?

……….

Questions that would untangle themselves soon enough — so I closed my eyes with an easy mind.

The door opened.

"Master. Your guests have arrived."

"Show them in."

"Yes."

Three sets of footsteps draw closer.

The masterminds behind this whole affair had just set foot inside the Skyscraper.