TNHAS 15

Chapter: 15

Resurrection

On the way out after exchanging the coins for the auction items.

Chae Seonhwa approached me and casually asked,

[Landlord, what are we doing now?]

“We’re going home.”

It happened to be quitting time as well.

[There’s a delicious Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant around here….]

[What? A famous restaurant? Where?? Hey, weren’t you suffering from amnesia?]

[I remember things like this.]

[Selective amnesia, huh? You’re seriously suspicious!]

[What?! Selective amnesia? What do you take me for?!]

[Oh, Cha Junhyeok, you’re picking on another innocent person again. They promote a guy like you as the No. 1 Hunter on television. I seriously don’t understand it. Charisma, my ass.]

[What? Isea? And you’re a healer who died in the Tower? You’re completely third-rate! How did you even get your ranking?]

[Hey! Cha Junhyeok! Are you crazy?!]

“…….”

We had only gained one additional ghost, but somehow things had become several times noisier.

In any case, it was time for dinner.

If I fed them something, the ghosts would quiet down on their own.

“Follow me.”

I already knew exactly where that naengmyeon restaurant was.

My mother had been a regular there for ten years.

She could only go twice a year, but she was still a regular.

[Hnnng~! This is the flavor!]

[It’s bland.]

[Ha. You don’t understand the world of fine dining. And your expression is wrong, too. It’s not bland. It’s subtle!]

[It’s the same thing.]

[I’m telling you, it’s different!]

Bland and subtle.

I didn’t really know what the difference was either, but my mother had always said this.

‘Jihoo, this is what life is.’

‘Life?’

‘Yes. Even when it’s this subtle and plain, you keep living.’

My mother had smiled contentedly as she drank the broth of her Pyongyang naengmyeon.

But describing her life as subtle and plain didn’t really fit.

My mother’s life had been far too eventful.

Had she dreamed of a life this subtle and plain?

A normal life where she could smile while eating a bowl of food….

I ordered five more servings of dumplings and said,

“Eat a lot.”

[Yes!]

[Thanks, landlord!]

[I’ve never had anything like this before. It’s good.]

It was a rather uneventful dinner without any Tower raids, but I thought perhaps a quiet dinner like this every once in a while wasn’t so bad.

“Good work, Officer Lee!”

The mana stone pouch was quite heavy.

When I placed it on the Director’s office table, it made a distinct thud.

“How was the atmosphere at the booth?”

“At first glance, it looked ordinary.”

“Of course. That side was disguised too. The secretary?”

“He was definitely the Association chairman’s secretary. But….”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“That day, he was a woman.”

“…Huh?”

The Director was silent for a while after watching the footage stored in the sunglasses.

“…That’s how life is, huh? Yeah. Making a living…, it really isn’t easy. It’s not easy.”

The Director checked inside the pouch as he spoke.

“We’ll have the affiliated research institute analyze these together with the synthetic mana stones we acquired previously. They say the results will take about two weeks, so we’ll discuss it again then. For the time being, I think it would be best for you to stick to your schedule.”

“Yes, understood. I’ll submit the out-of-area business trip application immediately.”

At the end of today’s meeting, my schedule for the foreseeable future had been decided.

Monday: Gwanaksan Tower.

Tuesday: Gangwon Province Tower.

Wednesday: Jeju Island Tower.

Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: Gwanaksan Tower again.

On the days I went to Gangwon Province and Jeju Island, we decided that if it got too late, I would stay overnight there and head directly to another Tower the following day.

“Officer Lee, are you sure you’ll be okay? Isn’t this pushing yourself too hard, even through the weekend?”

“I’m fine. It’s more than manageable.”

In order to reach the top floors of the Towers more quickly, I needed to increase my clearing speed a little more. And now I even had the Tower’s Blessing of Growth attached to me.

Cha Junhyeok had said that if I missed this period, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I had also heard that most other Hunters normally spent the entire week raiding Towers.

That was because, except in special circumstances, a Tower could only be entered once per day.

Moreover, in my case, with perfect proxy clearing, a raid usually ended within three minutes. So I was in an even more comfortable position.

“Of course, we’ll pay all of your overtime compensation.”

“Thank you.”

Even so, the reason I had arranged a schedule alternating between three Towers was to renew the buffs with as little overlap as possible.

After putting our heads together with the ghosts in my household, we had concluded that S-rank clears were more than possible.

“Can you continue at S-rank? Up to the 15th floor?”

[It’ll be a piece of cake! A piece of cake! Just trust me. I’m not a low-level anymore!]

[Leave it to me!]

When experienced professionals were this confident, surely we could do it.

And we even had a level 60 rookie.

“And for Jeju Island, we only need a one-way ticket.”

The situation was completely different from the Gangwon Province Tower, where I had to drive back and forth.

The travel expenses for both directions were all taxpayer money, so if they could be reduced, it was only right to reduce them.

It was faster that way, too.

“Understood. I’ll let Sua know.”

Sua?

I could make the flight reservation myself using official airline mileage, so why did Sua need to…?

Could it be?

Was she creating a position that didn’t actually exist just to do this?

With Sua’s hacking skills, she probably could….

“You don’t have to worry about anything. Just focus on going to the Towers.”

The Director smiled reassuringly, showing off his bright white teeth.

“You’ll be busy this week, so go home early today.”

When I returned to my desk, a message arrived through the Hunter Management Agency’s internal messenger.

It was a system Sua had built in just one day while I was away on my business trip.

<I’ve completed the flight reservation! Have a safe trip! Fighting! ᕦ( •ᗜ•)ᕤ >

Not even three minutes had passed since I finished talking with the Director.

“…….”

In any case, having someone like her on your side was reassuring.

With that thought firmly in mind, I worked a little overtime that day.

I spread the Golden Goblin map out on the dining table.

Then I placed the Kerk’s Compass I had won this time on top of it.

Pop─!

A single blinking red dot appeared on the map, with black arrows stretching out toward it.

“This must be the entrance.”

The starting point of the arrows.

The number written there was 30.

As stated in the description, this map could only be used after climbing to the 30th floor of the Tower.

[I’m further ahead.]

But then Isea said something I couldn’t understand.

[What?]

[Huh? What is?]

[I’m on the 27th floor.]

“27th floor?”

[Yeah. I told you, didn’t I? I hid my fortune.]

[What does that have to do with the Tower?]

Isea gave a faint smile toward the ghosts who were asking her.

[It’s in Gwanaksan Tower.]

[Huh?]

[The 50 billion. I hid it in the Tower.]

[What? Is that even possible?]

[Apparently.]

Cha Junhyeok frowned deeply.

[Isea, the Tower resets every time you enter, doesn’t it? Stop talking nonsense—!]

[It’s connected.]

[What?]

[I said the Tower is connected.]

Isea smiled as though she found it amusing.

[Didn’t you know?]

[No, I’ve never heard that before.]

It was the first time I had heard it, too.

But considering the Golden Goblin map, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

If it were a completely new location every time we entered, there would be no way to ever reach the final destination of the Golden Goblin map.

There had to be some kind of system for identifying and classifying the Tower’s floors.

[It’s okay. I’ll guide you. In exchange….]

Only now did I realize it, but I seemed to be quite popular.

Apparently, with ghosts.

[It’s small, but livable. Every now and then, it’s nice to experience how ordinary people live, you know?]

The ghost Isea whom we had met in the course dungeon.

Isea had completely settled into our house along with her cat.

“Meow~!”

[Oh! Water attribute!]

[Oh my! How can she be so gentle? And she’s so pretty, too!]

[My girl is like that.]

“Myaa~!”

Isea’s pet, befitting a cat that loved fish, had fur with a mackerel pattern….

“What’s her name?”

[Lavie en Rose.]

In any case, Nabi had come to our house that morning.

The moment we entered the animal shelter’s housing area, a skinny cat that had been hiding in the corner desperately leaped over the cage.

Then Nabi came running like crazy and cried out loudly right in front of us.

“Meow─! Myaow─!”

“Oh my, what’s gotten into her all of a sudden?”

The welfare worker who had guided us there didn’t know what to do.

[Lavie en Rose! What do I do!! I’m sorry!!!]

Apparently cats were spiritual creatures, because Nabi recognized Isea at first sight.

Instead of being able to touch her owner, who was beyond her reach, Nabi frantically climbed up my body.

“Coco! Stop! I’m sorry! She’s normally really quiet. I don’t know why she’s acting like this today…. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Were you startled? Shall I show you another one?”

“No. I’ll adopt this one.”

“Pardon?”

“This cat is fine.”

[Lavie en Rose! Now you’re going home with big sister!]

“Meow~!”

“Even the cat seems to like it. Can I take her now?”

“What? Yes, yes??”

I had even taken an online course in advance to learn about the adoption process.

I wanted to take her home immediately, but in the end, I was held up for an entire hour and had to fill out several more forms.

“I’m sorry. We have procedures we have to follow.”

That was how institutions worked.

“I understand.”

I put the cat into a carrier and placed her in the car first.

Isea followed her and slipped into the car as well.

The two of them were having an emotional reunion.

Before leaving, I opened the trunk and unloaded several bags of pet food I had prepared in advance.

“This is the donated pet food I mentioned over the phone.”

“Thank you! Our animals are really going to love it.”

With the welfare worker seeing us off, we were able to leave the animal shelter safely.

And so began my life living with a cat.

“Meow!”

[Oh my, oh my, oh my!]

[She’s so smart!]

[See? I told you she was like this.]

Nabi was simply eating the food in her own bowl.

Even while enjoying such happy moments, Isea would sometimes look gloomy.

[Lavie en Rose…. I won’t be able to hold her again, will I? I can’t even touch her….]

[Tsk, tsk.]

[What?]

[Trust our landlord.]

At Cha Junhyeok’s baseless statement, Isea looked utterly dumbfounded.

[Is the landlord some kind of god? What am I supposed to trust?]

[You want to touch Lavie en Rose again, right?]

[I do, but….]

[You’re really lucky.]

[What a joke! If I were lucky, would I have died?]

That was true.

Having a short lifespan could never be considered a sign of good luck.

[…Anyway, stick with our landlord. Then it’ll be possible.]

[What?]

[To become human.]

[……What?!]

Isea stared at me with trembling eyes.

[What the hell is he talking about?]

“…….”

It was time for me, the landlord, to step in on behalf of the indignant Cha Junhyeok.

I had taken the morning off to pick up the cat, but I had planned to enter a Tower in the afternoon anyway.

“Follow me.”

Today was Monday.

Normally, I would have raided Gwanaksan Tower.

But today, I planned to go to the Gangwon Province Tower first.

That was to maintain the 20% buff on Gwanaksan Tower until tomorrow.

“Officer Lee, you’ve done something huge! Thanks to you, we’ll be able to break through to the next floor of Gwanaksan Tower!”

It had been a rushed decision, but the government believed there was a chance of success.

At present, Korea had lost its No. 1 and No. 2 Hunters.

So the country had decided that it couldn’t let this opportunity pass.

Now that Gwanaksan Tower had a 20% buff, if they didn’t challenge the top floor now, no one knew when another opportunity would come.

Fortunately, good news had come from the Hunters who had gone on a preliminary raid last week as a rehearsal.

“I think Gwanaksan Tower’s 36th floor should be possible.”

Thus, the final raid schedule was set for tomorrow morning.

So my schedule for this week was decided as follows.

On Monday, after lunch, I would raid the Hwanseongul Tower in Gangwon Province at around 1 p.m.

After staying overnight in Gangwon Province, I would use the status window to travel directly to the Jeju Island Tower tomorrow.

I had already reserved a pension at a recreational forest in advance for today.

[It’s a trip! A trip!]

[I like recreational forests!]

Unlike other times, we had a cat with us today as well.

Hwanseongul Tower (40th floor, 93 days 20:54:17)
Gwanaksan Tower (36th floor, 83 days 05:31:05)
Seopjikoji Tower (26th floor, 145 days 06:17:32)

“Hwanseongul Tower.”

When I entered while holding Nabi, the cat was automatically registered as a party member.

And this time, it was Isea’s turn.

[My grandfather always told me not to sign contracts carelessly.]

Perhaps because she really was from a chaebol family, Isea was cautious.

But perhaps this was simply the heart of someone who kept a pet.

[Still, well, I’m already dead…. If I sign this, you really will let me meet Lavie en Rose again, right?]

After saying this, Isea began signing without hesitation.

Scribble, scribble.

And then.

“Myaaang~!”

“Lavie en Rose!”

Nabi leaped from my arms and into Isea’s embrace.

“It’s real! It really was true!!!”

Isea’s eyes filled with tears as she hugged Nabi tightly.

“Meow!”

The two of them held each other tightly for a long while in an emotional reunion.

At that moment, Cha Junhyeok quietly recited her record.

“Isea. Died while raiding the 36th floor of Gwanaksan Tower. At the time, she was ranked No. 2 in Korea.”

“…Yeah.”

Isea’s face became gloomy, as though she were remembering that time.

“The Association said this was our chance.”

“An assault on the top floor of Gwanaksan Tower? Without me?”

“I don’t know. That’s what those Association bastards said. They said you, Cha Junhyeok, were busy because of your schedule at Hwanseongul Tower.”

“They rushed it too much, didn’t they? And look at the result. Korea’s only S-rank healer is dead.”

Isea’s shoulders trembled as she finally burst into tears.

“But what happened? How does a healer even die?”

Isea raised her voice.

“You’re asking me that?!”

“What?”

“I don’t know why I died either!”

“This is insane.”

Cha Junhyeok clicked his tongue.

But Isea really did seem wronged.

“If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone no matter what the draft order said! I would have retired altogether!”

Isea squeezed the arm holding Nabi tightly.

As if she were making a vow never to let go again.

“Meow…, meow!”

Nabi licked her owner’s hand.

“Lavie en Rose! I thought I’d never see you again! I was bound to that jewel, so I couldn’t go anywhere else. I’m sorry!”

Bound to the jewel?

Then had Isea not been possessing the jewel?

Had the jewel been possessing Isea instead?

“I don’t know for certain, but this jewel! There’s something inside it!”

“The jewel? Wasn’t it originally yours?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t like jewels. The Association gave this to me for the raid.”

“What? You too?!”

“What do you mean, ‘you too’? What’s that supposed to mean, Cha Junhyeok? Don’t tell me you….”

There was one thing in common between the two of their deaths.

The Hunter Association.

More precisely, the items given to them by the Association.

“These Association bastards…!”

“They begged me to help just once for the sake of the country, so I…!”

Their anger showed no sign of cooling for quite some time.

All sorts of skills rained down into the sky along with curses about killing everyone.

Crack! Rumble, boom! Flash! Boom! Crash, booooooom!!!

[Th-that’s scary!]

“Meow, meow…!”

Only after hearing Nabi’s pitiful cries did the two finally come to their senses.

“Whew. Anyway, Isea. It’s good that you came.”

“What?”

“Our landlord isn’t an ordinary person.”

“He does seem that way.”

Nod, nod.

Beside them, Chae Seonhwa vigorously nodded her head.

“Our landlord is basically the power of the state….”

To Cha Junhyeok, a civil servant was practically the same thing as the power of the state.

“And….”

“And?”

Isea waited calmly for Cha Junhyeok’s next words.

“He brings people back to life.”

“Resurrection? Becoming human in the Tower? How is that resurrection?”

“Not that.”

“Then?”

“We can come back to life.”

Isea’s eyes went blank.

Then, as though she had regained her senses, she frowned and laughed.

“What are you talking about? Hey, Cha Junhyeok, we’re dead.”

“I know. We’re dead.”

“Then? How are we supposed to live? It’s only possible because we’re with the landlord. And once we’re outside the Tower, we just become ghosts again anyway.”

Cha Junhyeok then raised his index finger and pointed upward.

“The 100th floor of the Tower.”

“The 100th floor? Why?”

“If we reach the 100th floor, we can come back to life. Probably our subordinate spirits can too.”

“…What?”

Isea’s eyes widened.

“You know I cleared up to the 39th floor, right?”

“Hwanseongul Tower? I know. It was a huge deal, wasn’t it?”

“I heard it in the Tower back then. The Association asked us to keep it secret until they could confirm it, so they never announced it separately.”

“That… then?”

“A wish ticket. Information about wishes. They said we could learn the details after clearing the 40th floor.”

“But you died?”