The Wailing Wall
The next day.
"Okay."
I returned to the same bathroom stall at the office. Ever since Jo Youchan had caught me so easily, I'd been entering the Tower from a toilet stall every single time.
...No. No matter how I look at it, this is wrong.
I'd finally become the hunter I'd always dreamed of being — and I was entering the Tower from a bathroom? My job satisfaction was in free fall.
The romance of it was a serious matter. Even if it meant getting caught, I needed to find a different spot.
Since putting Park Seongmin away, I'd been clearing the Tower without rest.
Gotta detox that guy already.
When I'd selected Advice 3, an unexpected message had appeared.
This feature has not been unlocked.
10 Master Marks required.
In other words, I needed to clear the 10th floor. Whatever it was, it was definitely a special event.
I'd probably obtain the skill that corresponded to what Advice 3 had described — wielding Thunder Qi in a special way. With that, I could burn the poison right out of him.
He looked pretty anxious. Maybe I should've given him a heads-up.
I'd told him I'd help with the detox, then promptly gotten hit with a locked-feature notice from the system. Caught off guard, I'd mumbled something about telling him later.
He'd looked seriously disappointed. He'd probably try to find a way on his own.
Just hang in there a little longer.
I'll clear the 10th floor first thing tomorrow.
After clearing the 9th floor, I headed up to the rooftop to meet Jo Youchan.
"Congratulations on clearing the 9th floor!"
Jo Youchan greeted me with a bright, open smile. Even so, he looked more drained than usual. The poison, no doubt. He was putting on a cheerful face for my benefit.
"Does nobody else come up here? This is a prime spot."
"It's my secret place."
A cool rooftop, a quiet wooden bench, a ceiling sparsely overgrown with greenery. Smokers would lose their minds over a lunch-break hideaway like this.
"The rest of the rooftop is packed, but this corner's completely empty."
"I gave the people smoking up here a little warning now and then. Nobody comes anymore."
"...'A little warning,' 'now and then.' You sure about that?"
Yeah. I understood why it was empty. Still, claiming a spot this good was a win. There was a certain romance to stealing a quiet lunch break in a place like this. The workplace kind. I liked it.
"You're heading to the 10th floor now, right?"
"That's the plan. I'm going in tomorrow."
"It's a Guardian Floor, so it'll be tough. Don't be too disappointed if you can't clear it."
Can't have that. I needed the Master Mark to treat him.
"Don't worry. I'll handle it."
Today, the guild had a special event: Jo Youchan's return ceremony.
A crowd packed the lobby of the guild building. In the empty space at its center, Jo Youchan — who had gone into the Tower — appeared. The Vice Guild Master was the first to speak.
"...Youchan."
Jo Youchan didn't answer. He just grinned. And the whole lobby erupted.
"Wooo!"
"Congratulations on your return, Hunter Jo Youchan!"
"I can't believe this day actually came."
"You've been through so much!"
Congratulations and encouragement poured in from every corner of the guild. Jo Youchan was ordinarily someone people feared and found difficult — but in this moment, hunters and office staff alike were simply, genuinely happy for him.
The bridge of Jo Youchan's nose twitched in a way that was entirely unlike him. He ducked his head and covered his eyes with his arm.
"Don't cry!"
"Don't cry!"
"Don't cry!"
"It's on you!"
"Who said that!?"
People flinched at Jo Youchan's shout. Then they caught the happy tears and the playful smile, and the lobby dissolved into an ocean of laughter.
"It's on you!"
"It's on you!"
In the middle of all that warmth, my eyes met his from across the room. Without making a show of it, he sent a look of fierce, burning gratitude my way. Yeah. Good for you, you bastard.
This is a good look on him.
Ah. This was the stuff. This was why I did the backseat coaching! Call me an addict if you want. I was living for the coaching either way.
And then a familiar message appeared.
Ding!
⊳ Your disciple has accomplished a feat through the Master's advice.
⊳ You share in your disciple's achievement.
Oh!?
This was—
Nice!
Did he actually clear a Guardian Floor?
Whoa!
Twice!
Why twice? Did it level the skill up by the tens digit of the Guardian Floor?
Hold on. At this rate... I could challenge the 10th floor right now.
Buoyed by that thought, I sprinted for a stall in the men's restroom.
A single skeleton stood in the distance.
Oh... so that's a Martial Skeleton in the flesh.
It was nothing like an ordinary skeleton. Anyone could tell these were a martial artist's bones — long, thick, and powerfully built.
Every tenth floor of the Tower had a Guardian. Similar in concept to a boss mob, Guardian Floors came with a sharp spike in difficulty.
And this one, in the game and in reality alike, was the first Guardian — the notorious wailing wall where newbies broke themselves. The Martial Skeleton of the 10th floor.
That thing's supposed to be that good at martial arts?
Amazingly enough, it was a skeleton that used martial arts. Rookie hunters came here, felt the importance of technique in their bones, and got their heads on straight. Or so I'd heard.
Let's see...
I'd just get a taste of it first. I squared up against it, light and easy — no attacking, just focused on evasion.
A heavy whoosh cut the air. A sharp crack. A solid thud.
Whoa. That's brutal.
Becoming a 10th-floor hunter had made my body superhuman. And I was still barely keeping up.
But this actually feels like practice.
Until now, I'd one-punched every floor. This was my first real fight. So this was what people meant by training.
Not bad.
It was like that feeling you get walking home in the evening, the first weekend you ever spent at the library as a student — that quiet pride of having actually studied. I felt, for no good reason, like a decent human being.
Now then. How well will an attack land?
I'd heard these bones were absurdly hard. A Master Clear right off the bat would be tough, I figured. How many hits would a Level 4 Heavenly Exploding Strike even take? I'd start with a simple one.
Heavenly Exploding Strike — Lv.4
KRAKOOOOM—!
Ribs, spine, and pelvis shattered to pieces. The Martial Skeleton split in two.
"Huh?"
I'd been getting to the point where even the 9th floor was cutting it close for a Master Clear. A Level 4 Heavenly Exploding Strike was on another level entirely.
"Damn..."
Crackle. Crackle. Current crawled across the ground. Still, the Martial Skeleton had a little life left in it. I was about to finish it off when—
...Wait.
A good idea occurred to me. Why not get some martial arts practice in myself? I'd challenge the 10th floor on purpose. Multiple times.
Once you clear a Guardian Floor, you can't come back.
Jo Youchan's poison wouldn't spread for a long while yet. And the Master Clear was already a lock. I could afford a few days of practice.
"Hang tight. I'll be back tomorrow!"
The skeleton clattered pitifully. I left the Tower just like that.
At Advance Guild, a regular meeting was held once a week. And in the middle of a session attended mostly by team leaders—
Ding!
"What!?"
"Whoa!"
"Vice Guild Master, this is..."
The Vice Guild Master nodded.
"We'll convene an emergency meeting this afternoon. The agenda is Master. Since this is a meeting about Master, team leaders and above, please organize your materials and attend."
Support Team Leader Song Byeongsam returned to the office, grumbling as he gathered his documents.
"An! You busy?"
"I was training Associate Do Hyeonseok."
"Help me put some materials together."
"Yes. Hyeonseok, keep drilling this until you've got it down."
"Yessir."
Team Leader Song flipped roughly through a document titled Support Project Proposal for Master's Guild Induction.
"Ugh. How many meetings is this now because of this guy."
"I wish he'd just reveal his identity already. Then we'd at least have the motivation to try and win him over somehow."
"He's too much of a mystery right now. You can't even reach for someone you can't see."
"I'm curious on a personal level, too."
"That as well."
The man's very existence was unreal. Nine Master Clears in a row. The whole world was probably hunting for Master, same as they were.
"Where is he even hiding, honestly."
"I'll go ahead and clean the conference room."
"Ah — let's do it together later, Hyeonseok."
"You're busy. I'll just take care of it now."
"Haha. Then I'll leave it to you."
Team Leader Song nodded, looking thoroughly pleased.
"I really picked a great junior, didn't I?"
"You didn't pick him — he dropped from the sky. Parachute fully deployed."
The two of them attended the afternoon meeting shortly after. The Vice Guild Master opened the topic.
"Tomorrow is the day Master challenges the 10th floor."
"That's the pattern, yes."
Master Clear announcements for the 8th and 9th floors had dropped two days in a row, after all.
"Our guild had one fatality on the 10th floor recently."
"...The deaths on the 10th never stop, do they. Identify everyone scheduled to attempt it and strengthen their support."
Guardian Floors were extremely dangerous. Even Jo Youchan had been stuck on the 20th, hadn't he?
The 10th floor had the highest fatality rate of any floor. That was why so many people were arguing back and forth over Master's upcoming attempt.
"He won't die, will he?"
"Die? Hardly. The real question is whether a Master Clear is even possible. The 10th-floor fatality rate is inflated with a lot of noise — rookies stepping into a real technical fight for the first time and getting wrecked. That's the padding."
Of course, that didn't change the fact that it was a difficult floor. Plenty of voices doubted a 10th-floor Master Clear was even possible.
"There's a high chance he'll hit a wall on the 10th. If we approach him then and offer to help with a 10th-floor Master Clear, that could be an excellent point of contact."
"But we still haven't even identified him..."
"He still hasn't registered as a hunter?"
"No."
That was deeply strange. It would be like trying to live in Korea without a resident ID — the inconvenience would be enormous.
"No registration, and an anonymous nickname..."
"He must have some special purpose."
Opinions went back and forth.
"I'm less curious about Master himself than about whoever raised him and whoever's backing him. Who on earth is it?"
"Regardless — if we want to recruit him, now is the time, while he's about to fail the 10th. Step up the search."
"Yes, sir."
Two meetings in a single day. Team Leader Song dragged his exhausted body back to the office — and flinched the moment he stepped through the door. He went straight to Associate An and whispered.
"Hey. Why does that mad dog keep hanging around here?"
"How should I know? Ask Hyeonseok. He said he comes to see Hyeonseok."
"Ugh. Then go talk somewhere comfortable. Not here."
Of all people, it had to be that mad dog, that loose cannon Jo Youchan. Song was going to die of stress.
"How the hell did Hyeonseok tame the mad dog?"
"Right? Feels like just yesterday Jo Youchan was screaming on day one."
The jokes on the support team had already gone as far as, "That day's coaching actually opened Jo Youchan's meridians!" It was already a famous anecdote in the department.
Uneasy, Team Leader Song kept half an ear cocked toward Jo Youchan even from his own desk. And so, without meaning to, he overheard the conversation.
"How was the 10th floor?"
"Easy? I tapped it and it died."
"What? F-for real? That Martial Skeleton? The tanky one?"
"Yeah. But it looked useful, so I'm re-clearing it."
"Re-clearing?"
"I mean I'm re-challenging it on purpose."
Familiar words drifted over. Team Leader Song turned to Associate An, puzzled.
"What are those two talking about? I thought Hyeonseok wasn't a hunter."
"Hunter Management, I think."
"HuntMan?"
"It's a famous game called Hunter Management."
"Hmm... a game?"
Kids these days, talking about games in the office. Hyeonseok's usual conduct was good, so he decided to let it slide this time. It absolutely was not because of Jo Youchan.
And then, about three days later.
"Aaaaagh! Another meeting! An, grab the materials and follow me!"
"Yeees..."
The agenda was always the same.
"There's been no Master Clear announcement for three days."
"So he failed after all."
"Yes. He's never had a gap this long."
The Vice Guild Master smiled, anticipation in his eyes.
"Couldn't he just be making thorough preparations?"
"Whether he failed or he's preparing, now is definitely the best time for a recruitment offer. Hurry and find him—"
That was when it happened.
Ding!
"Ah!"
"V-Vice Guild Master!"
The Vice Guild Master shot to his feet, his face blank with shock.