The End of Paradise (1)

The 1st floor of the Tower of Life. This floor, composed of a vast primeval jungle, had its entrance gate atop a massive cylindrical rock. Except for the very narrow path leading up, it was surrounded by steep cliffs that looked to be at least 30 meters high. This terrain, which anyone could see was advantageous for defense, had been intentionally designed for the climbers taking their first steps into the tower.

Cha Ildo stood in a corner assigned to the 3rd team, gazing at the endless jungle stretching out below the cliff. "Whoa, with terrain like this, defense should be easy, right? Is the 1st floor really a bonus floor?"

"Wouldn't the 2nd-floor gate be really close, too?" Eunseo nodded at the words of Cha Ildo and Park Hyungtae.

"I heard they already found it. About 10km northeast from here. But they’re still debating whether they can beat the boss."

I clicked my tongue at Eunseo’s words. "Tsk. If we clear the boss room, we wouldn't need a defense battle."

"True, if we catch the boss, isn't the safe zone guaranteed?"

"Yeah. That’s why," Eunseo said, looking toward the northeast. "The boss of this floor must be difficult."

Difficult ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on the 1st floor? My foot. I sat down on the ground and took a deep breath.

"What’s wrong, Hyunseo? Already scared? If you want to go home, now’s your only chance."

"It’s not like that. I just need to check something for a second." I suppressed my trembling heart as much as possible and opened the status window.

‘Huh? An inheritance quest? No, what about my stats? My skills?’

While I was furrowing my brow, Eunseo hugged me tightly. She looked at me with teary eyes. "Can't you stay away from our party? We’ll definitely protect you."

"...Yeah."

"...It’s a promise?"

I made a pinky promise with the anxious Eunseo. "It’s a promise. We’ll risk our lives to protect Hyunseo."

"Sure, sure."

Not that it would be necessary. I pulled up the inheritance quest in front of me. "Hoo." This was the problem.

"Ha." The quest conditions made no sense. What kind of twisted, sadistic quest was this? The "restricted situation" seemed to mean they wouldn’t unlock my skills or stats, and "death of the target" was basically telling me to just go die.

‘Anyway, they never let anything go my way.’

After staying in the tower for a long time, there were times when I felt a terrible malice. Situations that forced cowardly choices or seemed to wish for someone’s death. It felt like that now. As if asking if I could endure this test.

"..." Heh heh heh. I clenched my fists and stood up. So now they’re telling me to die? I lifted the corners of my mouth and smiled. Not a chance. It won’t go your way. I will never die just because you want me to.

‘Do you think I can’t do anything just because you blocked my stats and skills?’

Death had always been by my side, but it had been defeated by me every time. Today would be no different.

* * *

"Seriously, why are you sending an unregistered hunter? I’m busy as hell!" Kim Jiho, an official at the Hunter Bureau, grumbled while flipping through documents in the safe zone. Since this defense battle involved so many hunters, the Hunter Bureau, a state agency, had dispatched one official and one administrative officer.

"Ugh, writing this report is a pain." Kim Jiho rubbed his temples.

"What’s the matter?"

"Ah, Officer Park."

"There’s an unregistered hunter."

"...Unregistered?" Administrative Officer Park Chansu’s expression crumpled, then smoothed out. "Well. It’s nothing special."

"Excuse me?"

"Just give them a formal quick test and send them off."

Kim Jiho’s face twisted at the officer’s words. "Ha... They’re unregistered, participating in a defense battle, and if the quick test rank is low, it’s going to be full of exceptions, isn’t it?"

"Tsk tsk. There are a lot of people like that at a time when the tower is changing." Park Chansu took a puff of his cigarette and said, "What can you do? We’re dragging in the 3rd team and all the small-to-medium guilds as it is."

"I’m asking if bringing them helps."

Park Chansu replied stiffly to Kim Jiho’s words. "To buy time, even if they die. You know that’s why we brought them."

"..."

"Stop talking nonsense and categorize them properly."

The time it takes for monsters to kill low-rank hunters. Or the moments they spend tearing apart corpses. This was a defense battle where the intention was clearly to secure a safe zone by scraping together every bit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of time possible.

The remaining time was 10 years and 11 months. It wasn’t that time was tight, but the problem was that we couldn’t keep clearing without a safe zone forever. In a situation where the 1st floor was the current clearing floor, having no safe zone meant there was no safe place in the entire tower. Since I heard there were casualties in the 1st team recently, it was highly likely that was the cause. The guild that had casualties must have been making a fuss, saying they couldn’t continue without a safe zone.

"Of course, since the 1st and 2nd teams are all participating this time, there won’t be much of that."

"If we’re unlucky, the 3rd team will all die."

"..." Park Chansu stared at the intensely blue tropical rainforest. "You never know. The inside of the tower has always been that kind of place."

"Damn it. I’m shaking."

"Didn’t you know that when you applied to the Hunter Bureau?"

"Numbers are different from what you see in person." Honestly, I only came because I heard promotions were fast, but to think I’d be dragged into the middle of a battlefield like this. Kim Jiho bit his lip and finished processing the last of the documents.

"1 unregistered, 884 E-rank, 665 D-rank."

"This unregistered person is..." Kim Jiho’s expression crumpled as he looked at the special notes. "It says they have an intellectual disability?"

"...It’s not that urgent." Park Chansu took the documents. Is this country crazy? Even so, isn’t it too far gone to bring someone with an intellectual disability into the tower? Park Chansu furrowed his brow while reading the documents.

"Tsk, look at this."

"Yes?"

"This was written at the police station, right? A temporary ID."

"Yes. That’s what it says."

"They passed the buck."

"Excuse me?"

"They didn’t want to deal with it, so they’re telling the Hunter Bureau to handle it."

Intellectually disabled, but no procedures for connecting to welfare agencies, no disability registration card, and no linkage with other identity information or administrative processing. The only information available was a single magic wavelength.

"They’re probably a villain, and they’re saying, 'We don’t know, you guys handle it.' When they do that, they attach labels like intellectual disability or amnesia to pass the buck."

"Then this girl... is she a villain?"

"Would a villain crawl into the tower? Risking their life?"

"..." True. Aren’t they the kind of people who kill others because they’re afraid of the tower?

"It smells fishy. She’s probably a missing person."

"A missing person?"

Park Chansu flipped through the documents and said, "If she’s twenty, it’s around the time of the Tower of Beginnings collapse incident."

"Ah, there were a lot of missing people then, right?"

"Yeah, that’s why the Hunter Bureau was created. If you’re done with the paperwork, let’s go give this friend a quick test."

When the two of them carried the documents to the center of the safe zone, they saw people gathered. "Alright, coming through." Kim Jiho looked around. Passing through hunters wearing suits and various strange items was a much more fascinating experience than expected.

"Ah, you’re here." A woman who looked like a squirrel greeted Kim Jiho and Park Chansu. "This is Kang Hyunseo, who will be taking the quick test this time."

"Kang Hyunseo..." A girl who just blinked even though Park Chansu’s gaze was on her. The woman behind her pressed her head down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to make her greet them. "You have to greet them."

"Kang Hyunseo."

"And 'is'?"

"...I am Kang Hyunseo."

Kim Jiho scratched his head and whispered to the officer. "The police seem to have done their job properly."

"...Sigh. There’s no way those guys would do that." Park Chansu tilted his head and took a small device out of his pocket. "Uh, we will begin the quick rank test."

The hunters were stirred by the officer’s words.

"Oh~ is that the tester?"

"It’s small?"

"Well, it’s just a quick one."

"They say it even specifies the class."

"That’s true, but the probability is only 80%."

"That’s usable? Should our guild get one too?"

"That thing costs 50 billion won."

"Crazy."

When they attached the electrodes from the tester to the girl’s wrists and turned it on, the screen shone brightly and a clear sound was heard.

"Oh..." The girl, who was looking at the tester as if it were fascinating, tilted her head. "It seems somewhat accurate."

"No, Hyunseo was D-rank? Wow, they said she had eaten well in the tower, so it must have been true."

"S-supporter? Hey Kang Hyunseo, you said you used a sword!"

"Well, I don’t know either."

The atmosphere became noisy. Since supporters were hard to find, there was quite a demand even for D-rank, and...

"...Officer. I’ll bet both my testicles that she’ll become a celebrity hunter."

That was true. Honestly, since she was a girl pretty enough to be mistaken for a celebrity, it was clear that she would become famous here and there.

"What’s the use of betting that. Let’s go quickly. We have to upload the report." Park Chansu hurried his steps with a stiff expression.

The error display that appeared on the tester screen, visible only to the officer.

Because that fact meant only one thing, Park Chansu began to run almost at a sprint.

"O-Officer?"

"Come quickly! We have to get out of here right now!"

"No, why all of a sudden...?"

Park Chansu quickly scanned his surroundings and quietly drew a 'B' in the air. Kim Jiho’s jaw dropped when he saw the sign. Code Black. It meant it had to be delivered directly to the Minister of the Hunter Bureau, and going directly to the Minister meant it would soon be reported to the President.

"...Damn it, is this for real?"

"Does it look like a joke?"

When Kim Jiho, who was following behind, turned pale, a red notification window appeared in front of the two of them.

"What... is this..."

The sky, which had been bright blue in the tropical rainforest, was turning blood-red.