Korea Will Not Forget
"Thank you so much, Hyeonseok... hic... I'm sorry I doubted you. You must have been so hurt. I was truly, truly rude..."
"What are you talking about? When did you ever doubt me, Minji?"
"I did, in my heart... waaah..."
Kang Minji was bawling her eyes out, suddenly letting out the cutest little whimpers. That was how badly she'd been tearing herself up inside.
"Pull yourself together. When it comes down to it, you're the key to this entire raid."
"Okay... I understand. I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry. I've already finished designing the strategy."
"Waaah!"
"Why are you crying again?"
"Because hearing that makes me feel so safe! hic..."
Everything from the 57th Floor up was identical to the game. Now that that much had been confirmed, there was nothing left to be afraid of.
The so-called Floor of Death. To me, it was no different from every floor beneath it — the ones I already had complete information on.
Just the devs overreaching, that's all. A slightly eccentric floor.
A clear strategy? There was nothing complicated about it. I just needed to hand out Sunbo to a few more people. I wasn't going to, though — it was already easy enough as things stood.
Everyone else saw it differently. From here on, they were treating this as the real game.
I held endless meetings with the people from the US Emergency Response Committee.
"We will give this everything we have."
"We will spare no support whatsoever for your analysis."
"If there is any resource you require, you need only say the word."
"With only four days remaining, I imagine the timeline is tight?"
"Sir, yes sir! Every employee will commence four days of round-the-clock shifts! Please — take command!"
"Hey, hey! People aren't machines. Master Do needs to rest efficiently! Mobilize a hotel penthouse near Master Do immediately. If it's already booked, cancel it somehow!"
"We've already put a healing-type ability user on a plane. It should help him recover."
...These meetings are going to exhaust me before anything else does.
Of course I'd told them, more than once. It wasn't hard anymore. They just took it as me trying to put them at ease.
It was the same with the TASH Director. I asked him to please calm his people down.
"But Master Do — America's future rests on you."
"Ah... right. But first, let's cancel the evacuation. The energy and money it's burning through is just a waste—"
"Your determination to succeed no matter what is admirable. But an all-or-nothing stance can actually degrade a person's performance."
"No, that's not what I—"
"You don't need to go that far. Our support specialists will provide you with the optimal environment."
"Right. Yes..."
I just gave up. The more they pestered me, the more the raid itself would get delayed, but...
I do understand how they feel.
Even if it ran a little late, all that mattered was that we cleared it.
Might as well kick back and enjoy the perks they're throwing at me.
When was I ever going to get treated like this again?
I didn't move to a hotel. Why would I abandon the office?
Game consoles of every kind, a full home-theater setup, a top-of-the-line sofa. Wasn't this office the single most suitable space on earth for resting?
I said as much, and the next day, a pile of things arrived from America.
"What is all this?"
"Allow me to explain."
"Huh?"
I turned around to find a white man standing there. He looked like he'd stepped straight out of a movie — the textbook federal agent. The suit, the sunglasses, the hard-cut face. It all suited him disturbingly well.
"We'll be installing these here."
"The sofa? Do we really need that? The one I have is already top-of-the-line."
"This is a Nightingale crocodile-leather sofa, enchanted with a Comfort effect."
"I'm sorry?"
"The cushions as well. Cloud Sheep wool, also under a Comfort enchantment."
They used those rare materials... to make a sofa? And they used both?
The Comfort enchantment had been extraordinarily rare even in the game. It recovered a party's fatigue at an absurd rate.
Either one of those alone was a cash-shop item worth hundreds of dollars.
And in reality? I'd heard the effect was exactly what it said on the tin — no, that it was comfortable beyond all reason.
But a sofa, not armor. What kind of deranged luxury product was this? So this was America.
"Please try it, Master Do."
"Well..."
I lay back, and the cushions wrapped themselves around my body. Wow. This was insanely comfortable. I could feel myself melting. Melting!
"Ah... if I get a taste for this, I'm going to cry when I have to give it back in four days."
"Should the raid succeed, we will present it to you as a gift of gratitude."
"For real?!"
The man in the suit bowed at the waist.
"You have endured much in pursuit of this great undertaking."
He'd even gone out of his way to use an East Asian turn of phrase. This wasn't a courier. Was he an American government official?
"What's your title, if you don't mind?"
"My title?"
"Who are you."
"Ah. You mean introductions. I'm not accustomed to Eastern etiquette — that was my mistake. My apologies."
He didn't need to apologize. He was already ten times more polite than Jo Youchan.
"This is who I am."
With a carefully measured posture, he held out a business card. Oh, a business card. Maybe I needed to get some of those made.
"I don't have one."
"Please don't concern yourself. The achievement you are about to accomplish will serve as Master Do's business card."
Ohh...
He was a foreigner, and yet his speech was steeped in the courtesy of the Eastern land of manners. Had he studied that hard?
Huh? Two cards, though?
Deputy Director of TASH. And simultaneously, Deputy Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. This guy was seriously overqualified.
Wait. The Federal Bureau of Investigation...
The FBI?!
"H-huh?! Are you allowed to just reveal your identity like that?"
"I'm a public-facing officer, so it's fine. Thank you for your concern."
"Y-you don't need to thank me..."
His name was Maxwell Thompson.
"Please call me Thompson."
"Got it, Thompson."
Even while we were introducing ourselves, staff members were installing this and that around the office.
"Why are you replacing the lights?"
"It's light of the Holy attribute. It has recovery and mental-stabilization effects."
"Whoa, whoa... even the lightbulbs are items."
They hadn't actually changed all that much. They'd deliberately kept it lean, so as not to eat into my working hours. Every single change, though, was a heavy hitter.
"We'll station bodyguards along the building's primary routes."
"Huh? Bodyguards?"
I looked outside the office. About twenty hunters in suits were standing in formation. Talk about overkill.
"Then I'll leave you to it, Master Do."
Thompson left. But where had that cringey title even come from?
...Well, whatever. I'd ended up enjoying a level of luxury I couldn't have imagined.
Now then — how special was a movie going to feel from atop an ultra-rare sofa?
The phone rang almost immediately. Riiing!
An international call. A researcher on the TASH side, looking for advice.
"Regarding the change in attack patterns between the first video and the second. The specific control factors corresponding to each variable..."
"Ah, that. So—"
I answered the question. All right. Now, the sofa...
Riiing!
A different number this time. David the tanker.
"Good day, Master Do. The thing is, the conditions under which the Dark Emperor's damage amplifies during tanking have been shifting..."
"That's based on the tanking judgment..."
Answer delivered. This time, for real...
Riiing!
"Aaagh!"
The consulting requests and meetings came without a single gap to breathe.
Jo Youchan and Lee Yeonhwa, who'd been out while the office was being renovated, walked back in.
"Let us have a meal, Master."
"I found a trendy pasta place! The wait's only twenty minutes this time."
"Pasta? Today I was kind of craving gomtang—"
Riiing!
"H-hold on, phone."
The call ended.
"...Kids, the phone's going to keep ringing today. I don't really want to go out, so let's just order in."
"You won't go down to the company cafeteria?"
"A call's going to come in halfway through anyway. The office is more comfortable."
The two of them looked at me with pity in their eyes.
"Aren't you living far too busily...? You have to take proper care of your meals. You'll ruin your health like this."
Was this what counted as busy? I'd already finished everything I needed to do. I'd handed the raid strategy over to the Americans a long time ago.
So why is everyone this worried...?
The raid was starting tomorrow anyway. Just get through one more day.
I'd answer their questions, sure. But from where I was sitting, it was all unnecessary noise.
You don't need to fuss over any of that.
Just follow the strategy I gave you!
Well. Lives and a country are on the line... I suppose I have to understand.
The phone rang again already. Riiing!
"Order whatever. Hello?"
"Master..."
Lee Yeonhwa, who'd been worrying over me, took the elevator down. A short while later.
"Whoa, what is all this?"
She'd somehow gotten a full twelve-dish Korean banquet arranged and carried the whole tray up herself. The main was the Naju beef bone soup I'd said I was craving.
"I explained the situation to the cafeteria lady, and she sent up a special meal."
"Long live the cafeteria lady! And you did great too, Yeonhwa!"
Lee Yeonhwa grinned, hehe. On her shoulder, Yeohwa's feelings had synced with hers, both tails swaying happily.
Meanwhile Jo Youchan stood there with his arms crossed like a jealous sister-in-law.
"Hmph. It wasn't even that hard. Attending to one's Master is a disciple's natural duty."
"Then what did you do?"
"I'll look after Rangi and Yeohwa. So as not to be a nuisance!"
And with that, he scooped Rangi and Yeohwa into his arms. Forget Lee Yeonhwa — this idiot couldn't even measure up to Thompson.
"If someone like you had gone down there, I get the feeling the cafeteria lady wouldn't have packed a meal at all."
"The cafeteria lady is extremely kind to me!"
Well, of course she was. He was the Guild Master's son.
Still equally punchable, though. I sent a command inwardly.
Yeohwa, bite him. Rangi, scratch him.
Both kids' eyes flashed wide.
"KYAAAAH!"
Serves you right!
Huh? Wait a second.
How had I just commanded Yeohwa? She wasn't even my spirit.
I didn't have time to sit with the question. The phone rang again. Riiing!
I grabbed my spoon in a hurry and picked up. First, one bite. Slurp!
"Ahhh! Hello?"
As expected, our cafeteria lady's cooking was the best!
And the next day, at last, the 57th Floor raid began.
In Switzerland, Tower officials from every nation had gathered.
"We will now commence the Global Collapse Response Summit."
The 57th Floor was a crisis that would soon come for every other country as well. This was the venue for discussing countermeasures.
It was also, at the same time, the venue for America's appeal for aid.
"We need as many helicopters and pilots as possible. We are critically short on transport personnel."
The TASH Director was occupied. In his place, the US Secretary of State had come, and he spoke with genuine desperation.
China moved to check them at once. It was the newly appointed Director of the Awakened Management Bureau.
"The United States has no standing to request aid."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"You cannot half-heartedly attempt a clear and then have the gall to extort support from the rest of us."
"Do not slander us. The United States is doing everything in its power."
China flicked a glance toward the Korean table, then added another remark.
"You haven't even deployed Hunter Kang Minji, your single most critical asset, and you call that your best effort? Ha!"
Jeong Sangguk, sitting for Korea, had his face twist.
Those bastards.
They were scheming to force Kang Minji onto the 57th Floor.
Jeong Sangguk swallowed his anger. At the same time, he turned a hard look toward the Japanese side. They were no different.
The Japanese Tower Climbing General Minister, meeting that gaze, found it thoroughly offensive.
A mere bureau director, daring to look at me like that?
Korea had once been a rival in hunter strength. But Japan had pulled ahead a long time ago. And they still had the nerve to carry themselves like this!
Peninsula types really don't know their place. We cannot allow those people to hold any vested power.
Recently, Korea had come within a hair of overtaking Japan. That was a very serious problem.
Pride in one's hunter forces, and the stability that came with it — in modern society, those things mattered enormously.
If we were overtaken by anyone, let alone Korea...
It would go down as this cabinet's worst achievement.
We have to use this crisis to get Kang Minji killed.
The Japanese Tower Climbing General Minister took the microphone.
"We understand America's circumstances. However, is the cause of this situation not internal?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"The United States had entered into a 57th Floor raid contract with Korea. And yet Hunter Kang Minji has not so much as set foot on the 57th Floor. Only American hunters have been sacrificed."
Jeong Sangguk cut in, raising his voice.
"That is sophistry!"
"Responsibility for this situation lies with Korea."
"Hunter Kang Minji stepped forward with full commitment! In two days she cleared the 55th and 56th Floors..."
They weren't even listening. Jeong Sangguk, unable to endure it any longer, drove straight at the heart of the matter.
"If we're assigning blame, it obviously belongs to China — for feeding nine people to the Dark Emperor!"
"W-what did you say?!"
"The United States agrees with Korea's position."
Jeong Sangguk shot a look at the US Secretary of State. The Secretary was cleverly putting Korea out in front to check China.
Leave it to a career diplomat to be this slippery.
The TASH Director had long since recognized Hyeonseok's value and thrown himself fully at his feet.
But Hyeonseok's assistance was a closely held secret. The Secretary of State didn't know the details.
He's going to regret this.
Jeong Sangguk would make an issue of it later, without fail — once Hyeonseok resolved the situation and the positions were reversed.
Japan was the same. Japan would be entering the 57th Floor soon enough. They would regret this then, without a doubt.
And yet.
...Is it even possible?
Honestly, Jeong Sangguk himself was skeptical. The same as everyone else.
The deadline had been a mere seven days. Three remained.
America had failed. China had failed. Even if it was Hyeonseok — this was too reckless an attempt.
On top of that, wasn't Hyeonseok a man of the lower floors? Brilliant at analysis, but far too short on actual raid experience. It was hard to expect a miracle.
Jeong Sangguk's voice gradually grew smaller.
The hearing dragged on. Most nations stayed silent. This was a staring contest between America and China. Why get your back broken as the shrimp between two whales?
"Just throw Hunter Kang Minji in already!"
"...The United States will not forget this day. Even if America clears the 57th Floor and China comes asking for aid—"
"Ahahaha! I do believe your head is a little too full of flowers."
China mocked them openly.
"Even we, the People's Republic of China, could not do it — and you think you'll clear it in a week? Three days left now, I see. Ahahaha!"
It was a remark of considerable intensity. China was certain the American Tower would collapse. And once it did, America would never be what it had been.
"China will never have cause to come begging to America or to Korea — I suggest you remember that!"
Flushed with momentum, he pulled the microphone even closer.
"We, China, will not forget the rudeness shown by America and Korea today."
Seeing his opening, the Japanese Tower Climbing General Minister piled on.
"Japan, likewise, will not forget the rudeness shown by Korea today."
Jeong Sangguk trembled. His fingers dug into the table.
They aren't even hunters, and they run their mouths like this...!
And then, at that moment, his phone vibrated.
Huh?
His work phone was off. This was the secured device used exclusively for contact with Master.
In other words — a message from Hyeonseok.
What is it?
He checked it at once.
"Hah—!"
W-was this real? There were still three days left?
"The Korean representative will sit down at once!"
"What do you think you're doing in a sacred hearing chamber? Is this a hunter trying to threaten us with force?"
The two countries moved to check him immediately. He didn't even care anymore.
He looked toward the American side.
They got the message too.
The US Secretary of State's eyes went so wide they looked ready to split as he stared at his phone.
He bolted from his seat and rushed to the hunter bodyguard standing at the back of the hall.
"What is the meaning of this! Are America and Korea both simply going to walk out now?"
The bodyguard and the Secretary exchanged a hurried whisper.
A moment later, the bodyguard vanished in a blur — and reappeared with a face of utter shock. He nodded so hard his head looked ready to come off.
And then the Secretary sat back down.
He's not announcing it right away?
In that case... he was going to squeeze every last drop of advantage out of this while the information was still under control.
If America were the one to announce the clear?
The credit would most likely go to America.
He couldn't allow that.
"Until Hunter Kang Minji is deployed, China will accept neither responsibility nor—"
"If I may have your attention."
Jeong Sangguk's deliberate interruption. The Chinese side's faces twisted.
"I have just received word."
"Now you're cutting people off as well? You've decided to simply run wild—"
"I would ask that everyone celebrate."
An opening that came from nowhere. Even the Chinese official who'd been fuming tilted his head.
A brief silence. Everyone in the hall wore the same expression: What did he just say? Only the US Secretary of State went pale, his eyes flying wide in alarm.
Japan sneered at once.
"Korean representative. Are you joking right now?"
"Does it sound like a joke?"
"W-what?"
Jeong Sangguk's voice swelled with confidence in an instant. By then, the other nations seemed to sense that something was off. They started placing calls in every direction.
The hall grew noisy. The meeting was briefly suspended.
"Th-this can't be!"
"The average clear time in the 50s is two weeks. How?"
"America actually did it?"
"Their scout team died not that long ago."
"What on earth happened?"
If he could have order, please! Jeong Sangguk drew the room's attention once more, his heart set.
They dare try to throw Hunter Kang Minji under the bus?
His fellow disciple? The senior sister who had trained under the same Master?
"Let me make this unequivocally clear. At the center of this raid was Korea — and specifically, the overall command of the Jingyeok Guild's special advisor."
The other nations murmured.
"Is that true?"
"You may verify the facts through the United States in due course."
Then, one after the other, he locked eyes with the Chinese and Japanese representatives.
You said it yourselves. That you would have no need of Korea's help.
He would be sure to pass that along. The evidence of their media manipulation, too.
Jeong Sangguk gave them their own words back, exactly as spoken.