Nine Out of Ten

In the Forbidden City, the newly appointed Director-General of China's Awakening Management Bureau let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Haaah..."

It was the kind of sigh that could sink the ground beneath his feet.

Goddammit. I wanted the promotion, sure—but not like this.

The previous Director-General had vanished. Nobody knew why.

There was one fact, however, that everyone knew. At the tail end of the former director's term, China's First Conquest Team had been wiped out to the last man.

This was not somebody else's problem.

I could end up exactly like him.

Fail the 57th floor, and he too would disappear without a trace.

The 57th floor was still uncharted territory. They had nothing. No intel, no reports, no survivors. The First Team had been annihilated; there was no one left to tell them a single thing about what waited inside.

And America, sitting on that same 57th floor? As if those bastards would share anything.

China would have to conquer it alone. And they were running out of time.

"What's Korea's status?"

"Through diplomatic channels, we're requesting cooperation on the same terms as the United States."

"And their answer?"

"They're stalling. They're using the black operative incident from the other day as a pretext."

For a guaranteed clear of the 57th floor, they needed Hunter Kang Minji or Master Do Hyeonseok.

Kidnapping Kang Minji was out of the question. She was currently the strongest hunter in the world.

So they had gone probing in Master Do Hyeonseok's direction instead. Who could have guessed they'd get caught at the probing stage? Incompetent Ministry of State Security bastards.

Korea had some nerve, too.

"Those arrogant little-country bastards... they don't even remember when we extended a helping hand...!"

Something had gone very wrong. It felt like only yesterday they had been exploiting Korea's 54th-floor collapse crisis. In less than a month, the entire international landscape had flipped upside down.

Korea had cleared the 54th floor with its own people. And not just cleared it—an SS-Rank clear, no less.

I thought the sky had fallen.

China, meanwhile, had failed the 57th floor. Total annihilation. They didn't even have a holder of the Tracking skill anymore.

They had tried, at least, to recover Zhang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Xuan—the Tracking skill holder who had been in Korea. An extradition request for a criminal. Zhang Xuan was a Chinese national and a convicted offender, so they had leaned on the Korean government with everything they had, making refusal impossible.

And then...

"Those vicious bastards! Killing him without a whisper, without a trace!"

Bang! The Director-General slammed his fist down on the table.

Korea's official announcement had been different, of course. Zhang Xuan had died alone during a repeat clear, they said. As if anyone would believe that.

He just happened to die at this exact timing?

It was murder. Kill someone inside the Tower and not a scrap of evidence remains. It was a humiliation, plain and simple.

And after that, we even swallowed our pride and asked them for cooperation.

Only for them to turn around and waltz off to America, of all countries—their rival! Sending that operative had been a blunder from the start.

"Who was responsible for dispatching the operative?"

"Hui Yangmian, of the Ministry of State Security."

"Relieve him of his post."

Violent methods like this one were nothing new for China. The timing, however, had been catastrophically wrong.

If you're going to do it, don't get caught. Botching the job so badly that it poisoned even the request for conquest cooperation...

But giving up was not an option. Give up, and the current Director-General would be the next one to vanish.

For now, they would send three. He summoned three 57th-floor hunters.

"Clearing is not the objective. Grab intel and make it back alive. No—start the exit the moment you enter."

"Yes, sir!"

If you weren't alone, you received a delayed exit window. Number of people times ten seconds. This time, that meant thirty seconds—less than half of what the previous wipe team had been given.

"Do not die!"

"Yes, sir!"

Because if they did, he would follow his predecessor straight into oblivion. The three hunters entered the Tower at once.

A short while later, the recon team returned.

"Hah—hahk!"

A hunter gasping in terror.

The Director-General went pale himself. He had come back alone?

"Damn it!"

The Director-General pressed a hand to his forehead. Two precious 57th-floor hunters had been sacrificed.

Nothing goes right.

The Chairman was going to tear into him again. Still, at least he hadn't wiped the entire team the way his predecessor had. Small mercies.

The hunter who had returned alone was shaking with fear. Intel still had to be extracted, though.

"A-a monster! An invisible monster!"

"Invisible?"

He felt like he had heard of that kind of monster before. And then—

"I-I couldn't see a thing, but Miss Li Ming's head was cut off, and Uncle Wang Wei's chest had a hole—"

Ding!

"...Huh?"

A message bloomed in the air before the hunter, who had been babbling in terror.

"Disciple Jo Youchan, ready to run!"

I had let him drive around in a Porsche, and Jo Youchan was still riding that high. Lightning was already crackling around his body.

"Hold up."

"Huh?"

The 24th floor was a little different from the last one.

"Are we taking a different approach this time, Master?"

"Yeah. I looked at the data. The last method isn't going to work here."

"Whoa... I looked at it too, but I couldn't tell at all."

"Same here."

Not that I was about to mention I knew this from the game.

The 24th floor spawned Totem Pole Dokkaebi. Try to speed-blitz it the way we had last time? A totem pole would pop up out of nowhere in the middle of the field, lock your feet in place, and you'd eat a faceful of hex-fire in the open. Game over.

"A breakthrough is too dangerous this time. I'll cross first with Shunpo. I'll tear up the inside and shut down their long-range bombardment, so Youchan—you come in fast and back me up."

"Yes, sir!"

I ran in alone. Before long, orbs of dokkaebi fire came shooting my way. This time I neither dodged nor cut through them.

Whoosh—

The back of a dokkaebi's head filled my vision. I had crossed the entire battlefield in a blink.

400% damage: ON.

KRA-KOOOOM—!

A 400% damage proc, stacked on top of a Heavenly Exploding Strike that had been leveled to 5 with the natural energy of Spirit Eyes Lv.3.

Thunder crashed like the sky splitting open. The shockwave swept through the surrounding dokkaebi, and seven of them were deleted in a single blow.

Hexes came flying my way. Shunpo again.

Whoosh— 400% damage: ON.

KRA-KOOOOM—!

Two hits, and half the enemies were gone.

So I can still clear this on my own, huh?

Not dead yet, apparently.

Then, all of a sudden, the sorcerous barrage cut off. Naturally, that also meant I couldn't close the gap with Shunpo.

Huh?

Why had it gone so quiet? The thought had barely formed when something came crashing down from the sky with a heavy whump. Three enormous totem poles.

Thick, elongated trunks of wood. At the top, exaggerated faces and Confucian scholar's hats.

Those things look a little creepy.

I drove my fist straight in.

KUH-KUH-KUNG!

"Huh?"

They were solid. The totem pole took the blow with its body. Cracks spiderwebbed across its entire surface, but it had survived a one-shot kill.

In that case.

Another totem pole reached for me. I timed Shunpo to the movement.

Eat a 400% Heavenly Exploding Strike.

KRA-KOOOOOM—!

The totem pole shattered. My feet, however, were still locked in place. Two of them left.

I switched on Spirit Eyes, and in the distance I could see a massive hex winding up.

Uh-oh.

Taking that hit would be bad. And it wasn't just one—if I mistimed Shunpo, I could be in real trouble. A concentrated barrage was charging up, no exaggeration.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Tch. Should I just exit?

That was when I heard it.

"Awoong—!"

A wolf-sized adolescent Rangi. He lunged at one of the totem poles, shredded it with flaming claws, and the thing went up like kindling.

"Rangi, nice!"

Right—fire was the totem poles' weakness. I had forgotten because it wasn't my own attribute.

Rangi tore into the totem pole, and at the same time, his power came flowing into me.

"Oh...? Wait—hot!"

The surprise lasted only a moment. Like stepping into a steaming bath, the fire qi settled in fast.

This is...?

I threw a Heavenly Exploding Strike. Lightning wrapped my fist—and flame coiled around it with the thunder.

Fwoosh—!

"Ohhh!"

Now that was cool. I launched a Heavenly Exploding Strike at the totem pole with no Shunpo bonus at all.

KRA-KOOM—!

I hereby name it: Thunderflame Strike! Lightning and flame scattered together. The totem pole blew apart in a single hit, reduced to ash and splinters.

Rangi finished off his totem pole as well. Then the reinforcements arrived.

"Master!"

BZZZT-CRACKLE—

Jo Youchan tore across the field with Supreme Heavenly Movement, ripping through the dokkaebi's formation. The mass of hexes that had been charging up all fizzled out.

"Whoa, how is he that fast?"

"Grrn."

Youchan was way faster than before, wasn't he?

I switched on Spirit Eyes and saw wind curling around him. Spirit wind.

Right—Yeohwa grew the same way Rangi did. Her support's gotten a lot stronger.

I wasn't sure I could even keep up with that speed. He looked like a speedster out of a movie. All that flash—he'd be a hit if he ever went to America.

"How was that?"

"Good!"

God, I love having a team.

Just one Master Mark left until the next ability unlocks.

What was coming next? I was looking forward to it.

Alright then—rewards!

Drumroll, please!

Ding!

"...?"

I planted a hand on my hip and glared at the message.

"Master, thank you for your hard wor— why are you making that face?"

"This isn't right."

"Excuse me?"

This was seriously not right! Something had gone wrong here.

Don't tell me the drop rates are actually the same as in Hunter Management...

That could not be allowed. In Hunter Management you could farm a floor several times a day and collect the rewards over and over.

Reality? Once a day.

Isn't there some kind of workaround?

At this rate I was either going to end up a rice cake vendor, or Rangi and Yeohwa were going to end up obese. One or the other.

We exited the Tower. Rangi had shrunk back down to tiny size. Yeohwa, in the meantime, had clamped her jaws around my pants pocket—the one holding the rice cake—and was dangling from it.

"You got that again, didn't you?"

"Tsk."

Rangi took one look at Yeohwa and figured out the situation. He sat down primly, gazing up at me with big, glittering eyes.

I held the rice cake out to Jo Youchan.

"You're not feeding them today?"

"I-I'm fine, really."

Looks like he'd had a rough time of it. I just fed them myself.

"You all did great today, kids."

"Grawr!"

"Keheng!"

Chomp, chomp. They chewed with gusto.

"Well then, Master!"

"Hm?"

"We're done with work too, so shouldn't we get something sweet, just like the kids?"

"Something sweet?"

Lee Yeonhwa held out her phone, Instagram already open.

"A cake shop!"

"Hah?!"

Jo Youchan and I locked eyes and froze in unison.

Thirty minutes... that's longer than it took us to clear the Tower today.

Was this for real?

"It is the weekend, but a forty-five-minute wait is short for a Saturday!"

Unbelievable. Today's Tower raid was over—but a far more grueling cake shop raid was about to begin.

Kang Minji attached a compact camera to her body and recleared the 56th floor.

An SS-Rank, of course. And the footage was released to the public.

The shock among hunters, in particular, ran even deeper.

Once the footage dropped, the American response burned even hotter.

Even more reporters crowded in front of Kang Minji's hotel. Citizens began actively demanding that she be scouted.

"America, embrace Wonder Woman!"

"Use our tax dollars to recruit Kang Minji!"

TASH analyzed the footage as well.

Joseph, the mage who had entered the 55th and 56th floors with Kang Minji. They had heard his testimony only yesterday.

Joseph's account had been so absurd that nobody had fully believed him. This was Joseph, after all—the man who made a habit of overreacting on a normal day.

"She went whoosh right in front of my eyes, vanished, then bam—popped back up out of nowhere waving the sniper's head around."

That had been yesterday's testimony.

Whoosh? Bam? Did that sound like something a sane person would say?

But the TASH personnel gathered for the video analysis—the Director, the Deputy Director, all of them—watched the footage and could only shut their mouths.

It was exactly as Joseph had described.

"See?! I told you so!"

Joseph had been indignant. Now he was downright ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smug. One look at the Director's face and he felt downright vindicated.

"...I don't believe it."

Play like that was actually possible?

No wonder she got an SS-Rank.

They had even brought in a specialist for this meeting. A man who served as special advisor to America's top four guilds—someone who had mastered technique itself, independent of how many floors he had cleared.

"What's your assessment?"

"My assessment? The completeness of that technique is so high I can't even begin to comprehend it."

He was far too excited for a man of his distinguished age.

He was a technique specialist, not an ordinary hunter, and it showed. His analysis was locked onto the skill itself, not Kang Minji.

"Director. Did Hunter Kang Minji create that technique herself? Or does she belong to a particular martial school? Where is it? I would very much like to pay them a visit."

"Please, calm down. I was told it's a skill her master taught her."

"And who is that? Who in the world created that technique?"

The longer the TASH Director spoke with him, the clearer it became. Who the truly important person was.

The operation to recruit Advisor Do Hyeonseok... what was the budget on that again? Whatever it was, I'm going to need a lot more.

It seemed he would need to request another audience with the President in the near future.