Unique Difficulty: Floor 2 Clear

I was on my way out after signing the Association President's merch.

For some reason, the Hunter Association was packed wall to wall with reporters.

"Eastern Gunslinger's popularity really hasn't gone anywhere, huh."

"…Me?"

No matter how I looked at it, these reporters had zero interest in pointing a camera at me. I'd been through this enough times that my body remembered the drill. Normally, reporters shoved a lens in your face first and asked questions later.

I've been through that before, too.

Right now, though, every last one of their gazes was locked on something else entirely. I followed where the cameras were pointing.

"…Huh?"

"What? Someone you know?"

Eun Hayoon stood there, completely ringed in by reporters.

"Ms. Eun Hayoon! Is it true you've become an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠S-Rank Hunter?!"

"Why did you retire from competition?!"

"Do you plan to be active as a Hunter from now on?!"

Under the reporters' indiscriminate barrage of questions, Hayoon looked utterly lost. Of course she did. Back in her athlete days, turning down every interview that came her way was standard procedure — and on the rare occasions she absolutely had to give a speech, she dumped the whole thing on me. In other words, her resistance to the press was zero.

"Uh… th-that's…"

The usual blunt, stone-faced Hayoon had vanished. Leave her like this for another thirty minutes and she looked ready to actually cry. Part of me wanted to step in and take the interview for her.

But right now I was the Eastern Gunslinger — someone I had decided to live as separately from the Do Jinwoo everyone cursed. If I walked out and saved Hayoon myself in this state, Do Jinwoo equals Eastern Gunslinger would become an established fact. I couldn't just jump in.

But—

"Slimming."

"What?"

"Could you help me out a little? I'll grant you one favor of any kind. Ah — confessions and marriage proposals are off the table."

What if Slimming saved Hayoon? The only people who knew Slimming and Hayoon were acquainted were me, Slimming, and Hayoon. To everyone else, the two of them were complete strangers.

At my request, Slimming put on a thoughtful face.

"Hmm… Really? You'll really do anything I ask, one thing?"

"Confessions and proposals are excluded."

Slimming curled her fingers into a circle. The signal for okay.

"It's nothing big. Just go save Hayoon for me."

"…You're asking me to rescue that woman right now? I heard she's S-Rank."

"Come on, please."

It was the most emotionless coquetry imaginable, but coquetry was still coquetry. Slimming took one look at me and grinned.

"Fine. Deal. No take-backs?"

With that, Slimming vaulted straight toward Hayoon. The moment she landed cleanly, the reporters wheeled on her instead.

"Slimming! Are you acquainted with Ms. Eun Hayoon?!"

"Is it true you're dating the Eastern Gunslinger?!"

Slimming offered the cameras a sheepish smile.

"Haha. I don't know her. But she's clearly uncomfortable — I can't just stand here and watch."

"Slimming! Please answer whether you're dating the Eastern Gunslinger!"

"That's~ a secret!"

She even threw in a bright little wink for good measure, then scooped Hayoon up in one motion.

"Excuse us~"

The words were barely out before Slimming leapt again with Hayoon on her back. True to her A-Rank status, her jump height was something no non-Awakened person could ever hope to imitate.

"Run!"

"Ah— right!"

I followed Slimming straight out of the Hunter Association. At the words "Eastern Gunslinger," plenty of reporters came charging after me, but—

Not a chance.

I might be an E-Rank Hunter, but my Agility was high. Compared to other Hunters I was still a turtle, sure — but that was only among Hunters. Against non-Awakened people, I was blindingly fast. Shaking a pack of reporters was nothing.

After running for a good while, the reporters were finally gone. Slimming set Hayoon down.

"Th-thank you…"

"Don't thank me — thank Jinwoo. You should've heard how desperately he begged."

Hayoon stared at me, then ducked her head, her face flushing red.

"Thanks…"

"You can't do interviews. You can't even give a presentation."

"Y-yeah…. That's true."

"Which is why you always got a zero on speaking assessments."

"Th-that's…!"

We were midway through reminiscing when—

"That's enough tearful reunion! I'm going out to play with Jinwoo now, so head home by yourself~"

"…Excuse me?"

Hayoon looked completely blindsided by Slimming's announcement.

"That was the price for saving you. No objections, right?"

"Ah…. Fine. Get home safe. And if you try anything weird with Jinwoo… you know what happens, right?"

"Haha! I won't do anything weird. Probably?"

"What did you just say?!"

I shook my head watching the two of them raise their voices at each other.

These two fight every single time they meet.

I genuinely had no idea why.

Slimming had claimed she was going out to play with me, yet somehow she kindly dropped me off right in front of my house.

Slimming, do we not have to hang out?

Ah~ that? Not today. Today I've got to clear the Tower.

Ahh…

You're turning the stream on tonight, right? I've got to watch Jinwoo's broadcast, so I need to finish Floor 2 first~

Apparently watching my stream came before hanging out with me. Worked out fine for me, honestly.

With Floor 2 on the schedule today, I needed a mana top-up urgently. The mana I'd spent at the Association still hadn't fully recovered. Mana restored naturally over time — even non-Awakened people knew that much.

So, quiz time: how do you recover mana faster?

There were basically two methods. First, chug a mana potion and restore it instantly. That one had a fatal flaw, though — the price. Even the cheapest mana potion easily ran past a hundred thousand won a bottle. Efficiency: trash. Price: trash. Zero reason to buy them.

So what was method two? Stuff your face with food. For reasons nobody quite understood, eating made mana recover faster than usual — there was even research on it.

And just now, I had demolished an absurd amount of food. I checked my status window. Current mana: 150. Full tank plus the Night Bloom buff on top of it — power surged through my whole body. I entered the Tower at once. Going in at night was specifically for the Night Bloom buff, and it was already active.

"Do me a favor."

My vision went black at once. Now that I was inside the Tower, I typed out a title right away.

The second I went live, viewers poured in like they'd been waiting for this exact moment. I gave them a light wave.

"Hey. You guys really must've been waiting, huh."

Watching the viewer count explode made it physically impossible to be in a bad mood.

"Today's goal is another 100,000 points. If I can't hit 100,000, I'll even chug a mana potion to make it happen."

The moment I said I'd use a mana potion if I had to for a perfect score, the chat went up in flames in real time.

I'm not even that rich…

I had more than most people my age, sure, but on a global scale my money was pocket change.

"I don't have money. That's why I stream. Chat, please take care of the donations today too, yeah?"

Ah. Right. Compared to Floor 1's nightmare difficulty, the re-clear rewards were painfully stingy. Ordinary Hunters would have risked their lives fighting — and for risking your life, you got a measly 1,000 Coin. Risking your neck for a hundred thousand won really was too much.

"Haa… Fine. You guys have your own situations. Can't be helped."

"I'm a ricer myself, for the record…. Anyone cleared Floor 2 yet? I'd appreciate it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if you told me what drops."

"Ha."

I couldn't help the hollow laugh at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chat's response. Telling me wasn't even hard, and they were already angling for a reward.

"What exactly do I have to do for you to tell me?"

"Insane. I'm just clearing it myself."

I shoved the chat window far out of sight and drew my Avid.

"The clear begins now."

At my call, a blue status window bloomed in midair.

Thankfully this floor was a single target as well. I'd one-shot an S-Rank monster before. A C-Rank should only take about ten mana.

I gathered mana at my fingertips — less than last time. Silently counting out ten mana, I pulled the trigger the instant the High Wolf King appeared.

"Grrrr…!"

Bang—!

The Avid fired, and the High Wolf King hit the floor with a wet, heavy sound. Using less mana than last time meant it kept its original form. Sorry I couldn't put on a bigger show.

The chat was going absolutely nuclear. My eyes, though, were fixed somewhere else entirely.

"Unknown Key…?"

I checked the Unknown Key without much thought.

"Hah— haah…"

It was a jackpot item with an acquisition difficulty of S-Rank.