51
* * *
The Yeoun Guild’s 2-night, 3-day pension retreat—which was called a unity competition but was closer to a bonding trip—officially began.
According to the schedule announced in the group chat, there were only three things to do on the first day of the gathering:
- Eat lunch after arriving at the pension.
- Practice the 50th floor boss patterns on the training floor.
- Eat dinner.
It was a schedule that would horrify any organized person. Of course, Samin had made the plan. It was a plan that perfectly revealed his personality—someone who seemed to live life earnestly but, upon closer inspection, just went with the flow.
To carry out the second item on the schedule, the group split between Samin’s and Jang Hyeonseong’s cars and arrived at the tower near the pension.
[International Standard Magic Stone Exchange]
[High-Value Artifact Purchase]
[All Menu 10% Discount for ‘Solaris’ Guild Members]
[Hunter Wear SUMMER HOT SALE! UP TO 40%!]
The area was packed with franchise cafes and restaurants, magic stone exchanges and pawn shops, and clothing stores. As befitting a tower district, there was quite a lot of foot traffic.
“Oh? Guild Master, that cafe says all menu items are free if you verify you’re an S-rank hunter. Should we go clean them out before we head in?”
Kim Chansol, who had been walking with them from the paid parking lot near the tower, pointed at a poster.
[All Menu Items Free for S-Rank Hunter Visits! (*Limited to personal orders only)]
Samin glanced at the poster and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Ugh, no way. I’m not going.”
“Why not!”
“That crazy bastard is advertising for them.”
“…Huh?”
Kim Chansol belatedly looked at the poster again. When she spotted the small face printed in the corner, she was horrified.
[Promotional Model: ‘Libra’ Guild Master Zodiac Kim Jeonghyeon]
Perhaps they couldn’t bear to put such an unfinished-looking face prominently displayed, so the face was tucked away small in the corner of the poster.
“Ugh. That was a close call. Let’s go somewhere else.”
Kim Chansol grimaced and moved away from the store.
‘No matter how much I like free stuff, if I ate anything free from there, I’d be ridiculed on the anonymous boards immediately…’
They couldn’t go to a place advertised by someone who picked fights with Yeoun at every opportunity. If Samin or Doun were to verify as S-rank hunters and drink free iced americanos, the anonymous boards would become a complete mess that very day.
As Kim Chansol shook her head, Doun, who had been watching from behind, rolled his eyes slightly and thought.
‘…Do they have really bad relations with Libra?’
When you belonged to a large guild that conquered high floors, you inevitably came to know these things. As difficulty increased, alliances became essential, and the industry was so small that you knew everyone within one degree of separation.
Doun had also conquered floors together with Zodiac Kim Jeonghyeon, whom Samin seemed to dislike.
‘He is a bit of a strange person, but is there a specific reason for disliking him this much?’
He felt a bit awkward asking directly. This was a main street with passersby glancing their way, and Doun didn’t have the nerve to ask whether there had been conflicts with other major guilds. But as if to resolve Doun’s curiosity, Samin suddenly asked quietly.
“Hyung. Are you by any chance close with that crazy bastard Zodiac?”
The rather irritated tone made Doun pause to think for a moment.
Zodiac. The guild master of Libra Guild, ranked 11th domestically. He was an attack-type hunter notorious for being eccentric. Doun recalled his interactions with him and shook his head.
“…No.”
They had only conquered floors together a few times; they were definitely not close enough to call themselves friends.
“Good thing you’re not close. Since we’re talking about it, our guild has the worst relationship with Libra.”
“…Why?”
“It’s a long story, but Zodiac and I had a huge fight.”
Doun was momentarily surprised to hear about a fight, but since he felt he wouldn’t get a proper chance to ask otherwise, he casually inquired about the reason.
“Why did you fight?”
“This crazy bastard made all the arrangements to conquer floors with us, then on the morning of the raid, he said his horoscope was at its worst and ditched us without notice.”
“Ah…”
Doun trailed off. Libra’s guild master Zodiac Kim Jeonghyeon was a famous astrology believer who, if his daily horoscope was bad, wouldn’t even come out of his house, let alone participate in conquests.
“He’s still doing that?”
“You got burned by him too, hyung?”
“A few times…?”
“I really don’t understand that guy. Check your horoscope weekly in advance! How does it make sense that he only trusts horoscopes that update at dawn on the day of?”
“When it’s a superstition, what can you do…”
“When I confronted him about whether he was in his right mind, he told us to figure it out ourselves without alliances if we didn’t like it. Naturally, I couldn’t get an apology either.”
It was an infuriating response. Breaking a same-day conquest promise and then acting defiant about it. Doun could understand why Samin was disgusted.
“Anyway, after that huge fight, he takes every opportunity to call our guild a playhouse guild made by kids, so we don’t associate with him at all. You be careful too, hyung.”
“Huh? Oh. Got it.”
Doun nodded somewhat bewildered.
“Let’s buy coffee after practice? There’s no time to protect coffee cups while practicing.”
Everyone agreed with Samin’s suggestion and headed straight for the tower entrance.
[Notification: ‘Slope’ invites you to join the party. Waiting for your acceptance.]
[Notification: You have joined ‘Slope’s party <Let’s Practice Hard>. The current party leader is ‘Slope’. You cannot leave the party after entering Veritas Tower.]
[Notification: ‘Sekwon-dong Fallen Angel’s party <Practice Practice> joins your alliance. The alliance name is <111>.]
He opened his eyes slightly to the now-familiar notification windows and the sensation of being scanned from head to toe.
[Notification: You have entered the training floor. Total number of people who entered this floor: 10.]
[Notification: Alliance leader ‘Slope’ is changing the training floor terrain.]
As Samin adjusted the settings and pop-ups appeared and disappeared, the ordinary empty field instantly darkened.
[Notification: The currently set terrain is ‘Floor 50: Tomb of the Ancient Lord’.]
In the dark space where only people’s silhouettes were faintly visible, there was a musty smell. The dampness and coolness, like a basement untouched by human hands for ages, made Doun unconsciously rub the back of his neck.
As the terrain changed, Hong Chan quickly summoned several orbs of white burning light to secure visibility. Only then could the faces of people who had been mere silhouettes be seen clearly.
“Hyung. Have you watched the 50th floor videos?”
Samin, who had quickly adapted to the visibility, grinned and asked Doun.
“Yeah. Mainly your guild’s conquest videos.”
Even though he said he had done his homework in advance, Samin seemed displeased about something and raised an eyebrow. The terrain was already dark and ominous, and his annoyed expression doubled the sense of foreboding.
‘Why is he frowning?’
As Doun tilted his head in puzzlement, Samin narrowed his eyes and responded.
“…You mean our guild’s videos, right?”
It was an intonation that strangely emphasized certain words. Doun was silent for a moment, then realized that what he had casually said might have sounded a bit strange.
He had said it that way because it felt awkward to say “our guild” for conquest videos from a time when he wasn’t there. He had expressed it indirectly because it felt like he was taking credit for achievements made by others while only adding his spoon to the mix, but Samin seemed hurt by it.
‘Really, he’s sensitive about the strangest things.’
Doun couldn’t help but chuckle.
“…Yeah. Our guild. I meant the videos from when I wasn’t there.”
When Doun corrected himself, Samin’s expression finally brightened.
“Right. The mid-boss is fairly manageable, but the floor boss is a bit troublesome. It has behavior patterns, but there are many variables, so even if you memorize them, you have to rely on quick thinking.”
“I checked the videos, but honestly it was too dark to tell what was what. It was hard to confirm patterns too.”
“That’s normal.”
The 50th floor had many difficulties for conquest due to its dark surroundings and blocked ceiling structure. Due to the terrain characteristics, skills like Meteor that summoned burning meteors from the sky or lightning strikes couldn’t be used, limiting attack skills.
“The 50th floor has no ventilation either. I used ‘that skill’ once at first and everyone except me got poisoned. Suyeon noona got so angry while casting detox that she cursed me out.”
The supporter Hong Chan’s ‘Poison Immunity (A)’ couldn’t cover the strong toxicity, so the healer Seong Suyeon had quite a hard time back then. Doun became serious at this story.
‘It did seem like ventilation would be poor…’
Doun was earnestly excluding skills that shouldn’t be used on the 50th floor when Seong Suyeon crossed his arms and snorted.
“Samin. You should speak properly. When did I curse you out? I asked if your head was just for decoration.”
“That’s cursing, what else would it be?”
“You say that because you haven’t heard noona’s real fucking profanity.”
“Being good at cursing is something to brag about, really. Whatever, let’s just practice.”
[Notification: Alliance leader ‘Slope’ is generating the 50th floor mid-boss ‘Flawless Ancient Chancellor’.]
[!Warning! If the system determines a threat to user safety, the mid-boss will immediately disappear.]
The 50th floor mid-boss that Samin suddenly generated appeared on the training floor with a ripple. The moment the notification window appeared, the group instantly looked at the magical beast with serious attitudes.
[Notification: ‘Flawless Ancient Chancellor’ is about to awaken.]
The mid-boss ‘Flawless Ancient Chancellor’ that appeared on the 50th floor was a skeleton weathered by time. The magical beast, wearing tattered rags that seemed barely able to maintain their form, emitted bright red light from its empty eye sockets.
Since the mid-boss hadn’t yet taken an attacking stance, now was the only time to ask questions. Doun asked in a tense, almost murmuring tone.
“Are there any patterns or points to be careful about?”
He remembered having quite a hard time going from the 39th to 40th floor. Killing the magical beasts became twice as difficult, and their attacks became sharper, often resulting in serious injuries. That’s what it meant when the tens digit changed.
Doun felt a bit dismayed. Just as he was about to make a slightly tearful expression, worried about whether he could do well, Samin grinned and muttered in a tone suggesting that mid-bosses appearing on the 50th floor were nothing.
“You just beat that thing up.”
It was a nonchalant tone. At that moment, Doun felt his heart sink. He could feel that Samin, who had been playful and full of nonsense, was—though it was nothing new—a hunter who had conquered much higher floors than himself.
‘He must have spent a lot of time in towers to be able to say such things so naturally?’
Now he had to adapt to an environment completely different from the old days when he always had to take responsibility for everything. He naturally wanted to adapt, and he had to adapt.
A trustworthy guild master, reliable colleagues, a harmonious guild atmosphere, and even new floors he had never been to.
Doun’s heart was pounding.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
