The Price Must Always Be Paid (3)

“S-stop.”

Won Seong-jun took a step back, murmuring the word. He couldn’t even raise his voice. Instinct itself was screaming the warning.

She’s deliberately leaving me alone.

Probably so he would still be conscious enough to hand over the TC. Provoke her now and he would end up exactly like the comrades sprawled on the ground, soiling themselves in convulsions.

THWACK!

Even now a wooden arrow streaked through the air and smashed into the hand of a man who had already collapsed. A sickening crack split the night as the wrist twisted at an unnatural angle.

“Guhhhhaaaargh!”

THWACK!

This time a dull impact pulverized someone’s anklebone.

“Aaaaaaagh! My foot! My ankle!”

A massive bulk of a man rolled across the dirt like a child, wailing. The swaggering arrogance of only moments before had vanished without a trace.

That was the last of it.

Kang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Si-a’s movement simply… stopped.

Dozens of shattered wooden arrows littered the ground at her feet. Around them, bodies that could no longer even groan thrashed in silent spasms.

“I-I’m sorry…! Please spare us…!”

“Waaah, please… please stop…!”

“TC! Guildmaster! Give her the TC already! Stop just standing there watching!”

A few who still had their wits left began to beg, tears and snot streaming down their faces. Won Seong-jun finally found his voice as well.

“We lost! Kang Si-a! We’ll return the TC, so please just stop!”

Even as he spoke the words, a chill ran through him.

How… how could a person be this strong?

Was this what happened when you climbed the upper floors of the Tower?

No. That couldn’t be it. He actually knew a climber who had cleared the fifth floor. He had watched that man take down a seventh-rank beast, and it had nowhere near approached this level.

This… this is simply a different league.

Like the difference you felt the moment you looked at a housecat and a tiger. The gulf between that acquaintance and Kang Si-a was exactly that wide.

Creeeak.

Kang Si-a drew her bowstring once more. The tip of the wooden arrow now pointed straight at Won Seong-jun.

“Originally I only meant to make you pay for stabbing my oppa in the back.”

Her eyes shone with cold light.

“But I can’t leave it at that anymore.”

In the end they had charged her. Confirmed she was alone, looked down on her, tried to crush her with numbers. If she had been weaker than them? She would be the one lying on the ground right now, stripped of everything she owned and subjected to every humiliation imaginable. She might even be dead.

Oppa told me.

Whether grace or grudge… return it exactly as you received it. Strictly speaking she ought to kill them, but that too was a promise she had made…

“Put everything down. TC, items—all of it.”

Any lingering affection for the national training center had long since died in Kang Si-a’s heart.

“Th-that’s…”

Won Seong-jun’s face twisted. Not just the TC, but every single item as well? That was as good as a death sentence. In this ruined world, equipment was a lifeline. Losing it meant they might not even survive tomorrow, let alone climb the Tower.

Isn’t that going too far? We still have to eat somehow…

He wanted to say it, but the words never left his mouth. He knew perfectly well how pathetic that excuse would sound. The moment they had tried to trample her and failed, they had forfeited any right to beg for mercy.

“Choose.”

Kang Si-a’s voice was as cold as ice.

“Hand over your items and walk out of here alive… or die here and drop them.”

Creeeak.

She drew the string again. This time it was no wooden arrow. A real shaft, radiating murderous intent from its tip, rested against her fingers.

“I’ll count to three.”

“Hiiik!”

A chill raced down Won Seong-jun’s spine. She meant it. That gaze held genuine killing intent—she really would put an arrow through him.

“Three…”

“I-I’ll hand them over! Everyone, dump your TC and gear!”

In the end Won Seong-jun raised the white flag. At his shout, even the guild ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠members sprawled on the ground frantically opened their inventories.

Clatter-clatter-clatter!

Bundles of TC and all manner of items began to pile up on the dirt. Kang Si-a calmly collected them one by one.

How much had she gathered?

…Forty-seven thousand.

Two weeks of their profits already recovered. Adding the estimated value of the extra TC and items, they had at least shown some sincerity.

Of course a few of them had almost certainly hidden one or two expensive pieces. They hadn’t surrendered every last coin either. But the only way to confirm that was to kill them.

…Enough.

This was sufficient. The purpose of the punishment had been achieved. She had no more time to waste on these people.

Kang Si-a turned without a word and walked toward the exit of the empty lot. She vaguely noticed Won Seong-jun clenching his fists, but paid it no mind.

If you want to jump me, go ahead and try.

The gap was already this wide. And from now on? She would not stop. At Hyun Si-woon’s side she would climb higher and grow far stronger still. The distance between her and the likes of them would stretch until it could never be closed.

Let’s go.

Pungjo was still waiting on the outskirts. She also had to join the dawn training.

Taht!

Kang Si-a kicked off the ground and vanished into the darkness.

One month passed after that night.

Once Midas’s Hand began managing the finances in earnest, Hyun Si-woon’s TC skyrocketed at a geometric rate.

Even after paying the Owl Guild and Midas’s Hand everything they were owed, he still had well over two million TC. Combined profits from distributing the wandering merchant’s goods, TC and equipment recovered from the traitors, and the steady harvest from monster hunting had all added up.

At this point…

He no longer needed to worry about TC. According to Ha-wol, he now held more than most low-rank Rankers.

And that was not all. Crafting materials were also piling up in his inventory like mountains.

Hell yeah.

Dozens of material slots were packed solid; even scrolling down revealed no end. The only Unique-grade materials were the Holy Spirit Stones he had obtained from the Moonlight Tribe, but Normal and Rare materials continued to pour in at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dirt-cheap prices.

Park Du-shik really knows how to get things done.

The man’s skill at manipulating the market was astonishing. By cleverly steering the flow—encouraging climbers to sell “useless” materials so they could buy even one extra potion—he had successfully made most Ascenders regard crafting materials as junk.

There’s only one regret…

Even with this much TC stacked up, Lumi’s VIP shop still showed no change. Perhaps the unlock condition wasn’t simply the amount of TC held.

Well, no need to get impatient.

Noe-je’s summon cooldown had fully recovered as well. He could have called the Thunder Emperor out right now to raise proficiency, but Hyun Si-woon chose not to. Noe-je was his ultimate trump card—to be used only in decisive moments: the high floors of the Tower, or against powerful Rankers.

Furthermore…

This month’s shop from Lumi belonged to Hwang Dae-un. Attack power of 25 plus an area-damage option—it would give wings to the man currently mastering the Great Mountain Mace Arts.

The past month of hellish training had transformed the members into beings of an entirely different dimension. Brutal group drills every morning, individualized martial-arts refinement, and live sparring against Hyun Si-woon himself. As a result, every party member’s average stats had finally shattered the wall of twenty. They had crossed the boundary between human and superhuman and stepped into the realm of monsters.

Hyun Si-woon himself had broken through twenty across the board.

“At this level…”

He looked at his status window and allowed himself a satisfied smile.

“The tenth floor should be manageable.”

Back when he had cleared the original Tower of Despair, he had barely scraped through with every dirty trick imaginable. Now it would still be tough, but he could clear it safely. The sheer quality of the power and speed he felt with every movement was different… and his control over qi had become incomparably refined.

Time to start climbing again.

Hyun Si-woon rose from his seat. His gaze settled on a small girl training alone in one corner of the practice ground.

“Huuup… haaah…”

Yoon Seo-a.

The child was no longer the frail, sickly girl she had been. In the short span of a single month she had undergone a startling transformation. The Moon Spirit Divine Art had perfectly tamed the runaway yin energy inside her body and even turned that power into nourishment for growth. Healthy color had returned to her once-pale cheeks, and her formerly stick-thin frame had filled out enough that she now looked as lively as any child her age.

She was currently at the second stage—Flowing Water. Once she stepped into the third stage, Heart Lake—the same level as Hyun Si-woon himself—he planned to begin teaching her proper sword forms and footwork in earnest.

And from that point on…

Teaching her would certainly bring him gains of his own as well.

Because Yoon Seo-a now lived in Eden, Yoon Tae-shik visited roughly once a week. They even timed Pungjo’s flights to match his schedule. Before seeing his daughter, he always reported to Hyun Si-woon first.

“Commander, I have something to report.”

“Go ahead.”

“Before coming today I used Seraphim’s Vision again.”

Hyun Si-woon’s eyes lit up. The Owl Guild’s artifact, usable only once a month!

“Anything unusual?”

“The six-man party that was on the sixth floor… they cleared the seventh.”

“Oh.”

A low note of admiration escaped Hyun Si-woon.

“Impressive. In just one month.”

“That’s not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all. Once again… every member survived.”

“Hmm.”

Hyun Si-woon nodded. They had cleared the seventh floor? That settled it. They clearly knew the strategy for the Tower of Despair as well. It wasn’t exactly shocking. Outside of Hyun Si-woon himself, the world record had been the tenth floor, and strategies for everything up to that point had been all over YouTube back in the day.

“I was already thinking it was about time to head up again.”

“Oh—so you’re challenging the sixth floor?”

Worry flickered across Yoon Tae-shik’s face. The sixth floor. A realm they could not even begin to imagine.

“Yes. That, and…”

Hyun Si-woon slowly turned his head to meet Yoon Tae-shik’s gaze. A faint smile curved his lips.

“What the hell. Let’s just clear all the way to the seventh floor in one go.”

“……?!”

What?

Th-the seventh floor?

Yoon Tae-shik’s eyes went wide.