Sorry
You have cleared Tower of Trials Floor 4.
— Forward Base safety secured.
— Victory achieved without a single sacrifice.
— Ravina succeeded in preserving her divinity through consecutive defensive battles.
The usual settlement message popped up. As I basked in the joy of victory, striking my Maid's Grace pose, a new message caught my eye and sparked some curiosity.
"???"
Ravina had succeeded in preserving her divinity? What did that even mean? Well, whatever it was, it sounded good. For now, time for a V pose. I couldn't slack on practice if I wanted an even more perfect double Maid's Grace.
"VV."
Total Evaluation: S
Ability Points +5
An additional reward selection is provided to you for showing great grace.
1 - Maid's Cleaning (E)
2 - Shield Mastery (E)
3 - Mechanical Understanding (E)
Tower, no skills I like here? No refresh option? Argh. I just picked 1 anyway. It always showed up in the choices, and it was getting on my nerves.
Teleporting to the Rest Layer in 10 minutes.
Nothing is provided in the Rest Layer. Bring your own supplies.
I looked around. No good materials to farm in sight—just the gruesome scene of vampire and ghoul corpses in the distance. Traces of my "communication" with the shotgun and chainsaw. Horrifying. Better clean up before anyone sees.
Time to work, Maid's Cleaning.
Maid's Cleaning (E) — 'Maid's Cleaning Tools' become more powerful.
Maid's Cleaning Tools become more powerful... Maid's Cleaning Tools......
......!
Reinforce Maid's Shotgun (S)? (Success rate: 0.1%)
......!
......
"Hinghinghing..."
I couldn't press it... Tower, could you bump up the success rate just a little? Honestly, this is ridiculous. Even for a flexible thinker like me, this authority on adaptable thought, hoping for a 0.1% miracle is... well, it makes sense. It's not 0%.
I quickly accepted it and wiped away tears that weren't even there. Now, how to deal with all these corpses in 10 minutes... Storing them in subspace would be rude, right? Politely, I gave them a Maid Flame pose cremation. No more worries about decay causing issues.
With cleanup done, I entered the Rest Layer.
Rest Layer. Time for some deep reflection on manners. I'd already broken my promise to the viewers. I'd said I'd rest 8 hours before proceeding, but I'd gone ahead and cleared Floor 4 without thinking. A failed enhancement was dangerous enough to stiffen even my flexible mind.
"Grandpa. Are you busy?"
Sage of the Star Library gazes upon you.
"I've started wondering what manners really are."
Sage of the Star Library expresses doubt.
"Is there anything ruder than casually breaking a promise...? Maybe I've committed a grave sin..."
Sage of the Star Library bestows a blessing upon you.
Sarahk. I caught the leaf Grandpa sent.
It's okay, kiddo. If the whole world points fingers at you, I'll smash that world for you.
"Gasp. No, don't do that."
That wasn't the kind of advice I wanted. Grandpa tends to dote on me too much.
I hurriedly consulted Dad.
"Dad."
Guardian of the Sword Realm gazes upon you.
Gaze of Armaments gazes upon you.
Hand that Bestows Form gazes upon you.
Narrator who Rejects Oblivion gazes upon you.
Spear that Pierces All Things gazes upon you.
A flood of messages made my heart swell. Having so many dads made me too happy.
"I want to become an etiquette master. Teach me manners."
Guardian of the Sword Realm bestows a blessing upon you.
Kung—! I checked the fallen fish. The bold, large handwriting was impressive.
In my world, we showed respect by slashing at each other.
"...I mean human standards of etiquette mastery."
Gaze of Armaments bestows a blessing upon you.
Kong—! I checked the fruit that hit my head. Smaller than the fish, so the writing was tinier too.
Hoe e e eng
"Hoe e e eng..."
Hand that Bestows Form bestows a blessing upon you.
Gasp. Liquid was falling. I quickly pulled out a wooden cup from my subspace pocket and caught every drop without spilling. Naturally, no writing on liquid, so it was just a gift, not a letter.
"Hororok..."
What was I doing? I was in the middle of some important reflection. Oh, right—on manners. Looks like I can't learn standard human social etiquette from them. Self-study it is. Not sure if etiquette is something you self-study, but no choice.
"First, I should apologize to the viewers. Breaking the promise and not broadcasting on schedule was definitely my fault."
How to apologize properly? I racked my brain for common apology methods from my Earth days.
Right on cue, the Tower Gallery—which had basically become the Han Yuyeon Gallery—was buzzing with Yuyeon talk from the morning.
Title: Du... so like...
Author: ShieldIsTheRealBody
Yuyeon suddenly started a dawn raid stream... declared she'd crank up the intensity, pulled out a shotgun... shredded ghouls with it... then chainsaw time for another round of grinding... and finished with a grenade on the cursed ghoul for max intensity. That's it... right? Fuuuuck!! I should've stayed up!!!
For the poor souls who missed the live stream, a ray of hope: a gallery user who clipped all the key moments posted.
Title: Found that high-intensity stream I was looking for
Author: TotalGun
(GIF: Han Yuyeon loading shotgun)
(GIF: Han Yuyeon in shotgun firing stance)
(GIF: Han Yuyeon mowing down ghouls with shotgun)
(GIF: Han Yuyeon in sniper rifle stance)
So friggin hot damn lolololol Not saying Yuyeon is hot. The shotgun is. She didn't fire the sniper tho. (sad... gunner con)
Somehow it turned into a witch hunt, but TotalGun's featured post made everyone feel the power of Shotgun Yuyeon. Chainsaw Yuyeon and Grenade Yuyeon from other users instilled fear and awe, and Yuyeon's words before handling the cursed ghoul touched hearts.
How noble and devoted. Those dragged into Hell difficulty had fought vampires alongside Serbein soldiers. Naturally so—fighting alone is brutally tough, especially when thrown into the battlefield against your will. Yet Han Yuyeon always chose to fight solo. Not just because she's strong, but because she wanted others to enjoy peaceful days.
Her 7 years of secluded training after being taken by the Tower was already extraordinary, but every action was laced with consideration for others. And she casually titled her stream like it was nothing.
She said there's no need to worry watching her stream, that she's always happy and victorious... In that reassuring voice, she named it Munchkin Maid's Subspace Pocket. Even though the Tower's broadcast title wouldn't change no matter what.
Her strong heart was spreading positive influence.
Orphans' homes. Hunter Association. Medical foundations. Donations in Han Yuyeon's name began for those needing help post-cataclysm.
Title: Donation Proof
Author: PowerAnalyzer
(Donation proof pic in Han Yuyeon's name)
Was doing it steadily before but gonna do more now. Hope no lives lost due to lack of money at least
Starting with PowerAnalyzer's post, donation proofs poured in competitively.
As featured posts filled with donations, latecomers jumped in.
Organizations deemed it more than individual charity and issued statements. First, the International Hunter Association.
Today's donations will be fully used for disaster response and hunter rescue system improvements. Usage details will be transparently disclosed.
Medical foundations and orphanage alliances followed suit. A girl's name sparked goodwill that amplified into faith. When corporations, chaebols, and celebs joined, humanity hit peak post-cataclysm humanity high.
Time passed. Gallery users started noticing something off.
Why no broadcast? Did something happen to Han Yuyeon? Forgot, but Hell Floor 5 is on another level. Called the demonic 5th floor—no one from humanity has cleared it. Yuyeon's the strongest Hell climber ever, no debate, but consensus is Floor 5 can't be cleared on raw power alone. Worry set in.
Amid wild guesses, the stream finally started.
Hell Difficulty Climber - Han Yuyeon (Maid) (17) (Floor 5)
Rushing viewers saw Han Yuyeon against a familiar green backdrop.
Han Yuyeon stood blankly in front of the familiar green screen for a while, then bowed deeply for her opening greeting.
"Sorry."