Harin Wants Her Master Even in the Tower

Yoo Harin gripped both of my shoulders, eyes gleaming as if she meant to extract a solemn vow.

"You understand, right? Both holes… th-they're a must, okay?"

"Y-yes, I understand."

Only after securing that firm confirmation did she finally loosen her hold.

I was starting to find the woman named Yoo Harin genuinely terrifying.

Early the next morning. Gangnam Central Tower.

As befitting South Korea's largest hunter gathering point, the place was already thronged with people even at this hour.

Low-rank hunters challenging Easy difficulty, mid-rank hunters preparing for Normal runs, and high-rank hunters who had come out for Hard difficulty assaults.

Thanks to the recent string of major and minor incidents, the area around the tower today was several times more chaotic than usual.

I arrived at the Central Tower entrance together with Yoo Harin.

Inside the Subspace Pocket, Cardia and Sercia were quietly observing the situation.

"Jiwoo-ssi."

She had already returned to her usual Ice Flower Yoo Harin persona as she spoke.

"I'll go call the other S-class hunters for a moment."

"Understood."

"I'll be right back."

She added with a bright smile,

"Just wait here a little while."

"Okay."

I was idly watching Yoo Harin's retreating back when I heard footsteps slowly approaching from this direction.

"……."

It was Park Sungchul.

Wearing an even more irritating smirk than usual, he came closer, trailed by several hunters who looked to be his party members.

"Well, well……"

Park Sungchul twisted the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

"It's been a real long time, hasn't it?"

I didn't answer.

There was no longer any reason to deal with him.

But he was the type who couldn't stand being ignored.

"Rumors have been flying lately, huh?"

"……."

"What's the deal? Suddenly hanging around the Association. Get mixed up in some crime or something?"

"……."

He sneered and jerked his chin toward the direction Yoo Harin had just disappeared.

"Looks like you're pretty friendly with Hunter Yoo Harin too. Playing gigolo for her or what?"

Park Sungchul's fellow hunters snickered uselessly at his words.

After staring at him for a moment, I replied coldly.

"If you've got nothing more to say, move aside."

"What?"

"I'm busy, so get out of the way."

The air around us turned frigid at those words.

The old me would have kept my head down without a peep.

Park Sungchul knew that fact well.

But my utterly confident attitude now…… was making him furious.

"Hey, you little shit!"

He stepped closer, spittle flying.

"An E-class acting all high and mighty?!"

I sighed.

Just as Cardia had said, it felt like an annoying bug had latched on.

But the next words out of Park Sungchul's mouth snapped the last thread of my reason.

"I just don't get why someone like Yoo Harin would look after a guy like you. Oh, wait—is that it?"

"……?"

"Turns out she spreads her legs for guys every night and got caught, so you've got dirt on her, right?"

In that instant, Cardia and Sercia, who had been chattering away inside the Subspace Pocket, fell silent.

I fixed him with a razor-sharp glare.

"……You done?"

"What?"

"You finished…… talking?"

Without another word I closed the distance.

When I was within two steps of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him, Park Sungchul panicked, not knowing what to do.

"D-don't you look down!"

He shouted in a trembling voice.

"How dare you…… an E-class—"

In the next moment I shot out my hand like lightning and seized him by the collar.

Flash.

As if he weighed no more than a feather, Park Sungchul's body floated lightly into the air in my grip.

The surroundings went dead quiet.

An earthquake hit Park Sungchul's pupils.

"W-what the hell? L-let go! Let go of me!"

I still didn't answer.

Instead I flipped him upside down and slammed him straight into the concrete floor.

KWAANG-!

"……!"

"……!"

"……!"

Park Sungchul's body was still thrashing in midair.

His head and shoulders were buried deep in the concrete.

Completely panicked, he screeched.

"Kyaaaaah!! Pull me out! Hurry!!"

His party members rushed over belatedly, but he was buried so deep that the strength of mere low-rank hunters was nowhere near enough.

"What the?"

"Why won't he come out?"

They pulled with all their might, but it was useless.

I spoke calmly to Park Sungchul's party members.

"Just wait right there."

"What?"

I added with a broad smile.

"Don't worry. I'll pull him out once I'm done running the tower."

"……."

"Ah, but…… you might want to empty your minds a bit?"

The party members swallowed hard, waiting for my next words.

"Because today's going to take a lo~~ng time!"

Laughter erupted among the surrounding hunters.

"Pffft!"

"Khk!"

"So he's stuck like that all day?"

Park Sungchul's face flushed scarlet with rage and humiliation.

Of course, being planted upside down, it wasn't even properly visible.

"Baek Jiwoooo!! You bastard, you wanna dieee!!"

I shrugged and replied.

"Tone down that temper of yours. All that blood rushing to your head must already be a problem."

Roars of laughter burst out all around.

That was when it happened.

"Jiwoo-ssi?"

I turned my head to see Yoo Harin returning with the S-class hunters.

Sword King Kang Taejun, Iron Wall Han Doyun, Thunderbolt Jin Muhyeok, and Saintess Lee Seoyun stood behind her.

Yoo Harin cast the briefest glance at Park Sungchul thrashing while planted in the ground, then spoke to me.

"Shall we start from Hard Floor 1, then?"

"Yes!"

The moment we stepped onto Floor 1 of the Hard difficulty tower, I knew.

"Whoa……!"

The air itself was completely different from Easy.

More precisely, the very concentration of mana dissolved in the air was different.

Even so, compared to Nightmare, this was still nothing more than a cute joke.

Just then, Cardia's voice drifted from inside the Subspace Pocket.

[Please do not worry, Master.]

"Hm?"

[With Master's current mana, you can more than handle it with ease.]

Sercia's affirming sound followed right after.

[Nod ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nod.]

Even a simple head bob came through vividly.

I chuckled and asked them back.

"Ohhh, that good?"

[Yes.]

[Rather, the surrounding mana is afraid of Master.]

"…Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

[It is not.]

[It is the truth.]

Both dragons answered at once.

I found myself recalling the mana measurement results at the Association.

Not A-class, not even S-class—Unmeasurable.

Clearly, the current me had become an existence that could no longer be judged by ordinary hunter standards.

At that moment my eyes met those of the S-class hunters standing with us.

South Korea's representative top-tier hunters.

Every single one of them was looking at me.

I strode confidently to the very front and called out.

"Shall we begin, then?"

They had no idea.

That from this moment on, a one-sided massacre of Hard difficulty had begun.

KWAAAAANG!!

With two or three light flicks of my hand, the first monster pack was annihilated.

KWAJIK!!

And the monster pack on Floor 2 that followed was wiped out in a few more gestures.

Hwarrrrk!!

The third monster pack, hit simultaneously by the power of the Red Lotus Dragon and the Blue Sea Dragon, simply evaporated.

Psssssssssh-!

"……."

"……."

"……."

The S-class hunters trailing behind me couldn't close their gaping mouths.

Normally, even a single monster on Hard difficulty required thorough strategic movement.

Yet every monster in the places I had passed was already a corpse—or had vanished completely.

Something that overturned the common sense of the hunter world was unfolding in real time right before their eyes.

Kang Taejun muttered,

"Is that…… even possible?"

Another S-class hunter, Han Doyun, let out a hollow laugh.

"We're basically just freeloading at this point."

Meanwhile, another emergency had broken out at the Korean Hunter Association.

"It's been updated again! Hard difficulty Floor 5 cleared!"

Every gaze turned to the giant monitors.

Association President Kang Taehyuk pressed a hand to his forehead.

And that was only the beginning.

One of the staff muttered,

"Insane……"

It wasn't just South Korea.

The United States, Japan, China, Europe.

The same records were popping up on every nation's Association servers.

UNKNOWN.

A monster shattering Hard difficulty in mere seconds.

The internet was already exploding.

The entire world fell into panic.

And I, standing at the very center of it all, tilted my head on the threshold leading to Floor 43.

"Huh? It's already over?"

That was when it happened.

Yoo Harin, who had somehow drawn up beside me, pressed her chest against mine and whispered.

Squish!

"Jiwoo-ssi…… no, Master Jiwoo?"

"Y-yes?"

Yoo Harin winked with one eye as she added,

"On Floor 43 there's a lovely little pool in one corner of the cave, you know?"

"Y-yes."

"Once we take care of the boss…… let's play there. Just. The. Two. Of. Us."

In that instant my heart began to race.

And the image of her playfully winking right in the middle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of that pool naturally unfolded in my imagination.