TNHAS 16

Chapter: 16

200% Tariff

“Cha Junhyeok… what you said, is it true? Are you really the owner of a Legendary-grade title?”

“That’s right.”

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

And then…

“…Landlord!!!”

Isea’s eyes and mouth simultaneously widened in surprise.

However, Cha Junhyeok continued speaking seriously as he looked at Isea.

“It’s still too early to be surprised, Isea.”

“Why? Why, what else is there?”

“Do you know what the reward for Stage 1 of the Legendary-grade title is?”

“Ah! Why? What is it?”

“A buff.”

“A buff? Why is that such a big deal?”

Cha Junhyeok paused for a moment.

Judging by his expression, he was doing it on purpose.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to tell me already?!”

Cha Junhyeok, who had been grinning as he watched Isea’s reaction, finally opened his mouth.

“A 100% buff.”

“…What? 100%? You can get a 100% buff? What kind?”

“100% growth speed.”

“……”

“This is completely broken, isn’t it?!”

“Exactly! I told you, you really are incredibly lucky.”

The two of them simultaneously turned their gazes toward me.

They stared at me seriously for a moment with indescribably intense eyes, then both suddenly began laughing.

“Come on, Isea! If you’re with the landlord, you can come back to life too. We’re human beings!!”

Cha Junhyeok stood with his back to the waterfall and stretched out his hand.

“A wish ticket…! If I can be together with Lavie en Rose again… then, I!”

The two of them—or rather, the two ghosts—firmly clasped hands.

However, there was someone who chose that exact moment to interrupt their touching agreement.

“Kieeeek!”

“Grrr….”

Goblins came charging out of the cave, thrusting their spears forward.

Behind them were goblins taking aim with bows.

“So noisy!”

“Get lost!!”

Slash!

Cha Junhyeok’s sword cut through a goblin’s neck,

“Reverse Regeneration!”

and Isea’s magic drained the goblin’s life force.

Watching the goblins turn to ash and scatter in an instant, Chae Seonhwa muttered softly.

[Is she really a healer…?]

At the same time, Chae Seonhwa also fired a spirit-energy orb.

Boom─!

<Rewards will be distributed.

Basic Rewards: 100 F-grade mana stones, 10 inventory expansion slots, 3 Essences of Earth.

First S-grade Reward: 1 Time Delay Ticket, Random Box Assembly Ticket, 1 Random Box Upgrade Ticket, 1 Skill Selection Ticket Fragment>

<As a special reward for achieving the first S-grade clear, a buff will be applied to Hwanseongul Tower for one week.

Attack Power +5%, Defense +5%>

“Cancel.”

“I’ll absorb them.”

<Select a target.

Goblin

Goblin Spearman

Goblin Archer

Goblin Archer>

This time, the choices were fairly diverse.

There were both spearmen and archers.

For now, I decided to choose an archer.

“Number 6.”

The soul of the goblin holding a bow separated from its corpse.

Then it slid smoothly into my hand and was absorbed.

Shuaaak─!

<Select a stat from Goblin Archer No. 6.

You can absorb up to 30% of the target’s stats.

Health: 20

Strength: 21

Agility: 23

Intelligence: 10

Attack Power: 10

Defense: 7

Concentration: 30>

Interestingly, there was a stat called Concentration this time as well. Was it because its class was an archer?

“Concentration.”

This time, I gained 8 points of Concentration.

My eyes seemed to focus more clearly than before, and I could see distant objects more distinctly as well.

“Landlord, it’s over here!”

Today’s exit was simply the real entrance to Hwanseongul.

Under the ceiling of the cave, the characters spelling ‘Hwanseongul’ were hanging one by one.

<You have discovered the hidden entrance to Floor 3 of Hwanseongul Tower.

Rewards will be recalculated according to causality.>

Tararararak─!

<Reward recalculation complete.

110 F-grade mana stones, 11 inventory expansion slots, 4 Essences of Earth, 1 Time Delay Ticket, 1 Random Box Assembly Ticket, 2 Random Box Upgrade Tickets, 2 Skill Selection Ticket Fragments>

[Landlord, is today a welcome party?]

[Ah, that’s right! Since Se-a unni has newly joined us!]

[A welcome party? What do you do at a welcome party?]

[Obviously, a company dinner!]

[A company dinner?]

[Landlord! What are we having today?]

“Mountain vegetable bibimbap, potato pancakes, and makgeolli.”

If you came to the mountains, this was a must-try at least once.

[Makgeolli! Makgeolli!]

[Potato pancakes and makgeolli are the truth! Can we have acorn jelly too?]

“Of course.”

[Kyaaaah!]

[Acorns? Why would you eat acorns?]

[Tsk tsk, this is why rich country bumpkins are like this. It exists, you know. Just come along for now.]

[What?! Country bumpkin?!]

Isea, who had been following behind us with her eyes narrowed into a glare, nevertheless drank makgeolli more enthusiastically than anyone else.

[Kya! It’s rice drink, rice drink! I like it!]

[Unni, try this too!]

[Acorn jelly! The best!]

[The ends of potato pancakes are definitely the best!]

As Cha Junhyeok enthusiastically picked at only the edges of the potato pancake, Isea slapped the back of his hand.

[Hey! Are you the only one with a mouth?]

[I thought you said this was your first time eating potato pancakes, Isea.]

[Just because it’s my first time doesn’t mean I don’t know what tastes good.]

[This is why they’re called rich country bumpkins. Once country bumpkins get a taste of commoner food, they make an even bigger fuss.]

[What? Country bumpkin?! Hey!!!!! Are you looking down on the countryside right now?!]

“We’ll have three more servings each of potato pancakes and acorn jelly.”

“Yes, thank you!”

I figured they wouldn’t fight if I gave each of them their own serving.

[Huh? Really?]

[As expected of our landlord!]

[I told you, didn’t I? Our landlord isn’t an ordinary person. He’s got a different kind of generosity.]

Chae Seonhwa smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically.

[Let’s have a toast!]

[Me too! Cheers!]

“Cheers.”

Today, I walked all the way back to the lodging with a bunch of tipsy ghosts.

[It’s nice spending a night in the forest too!]

On a moonlit night, Chae Seonhwa, dressed in an outfit that perfectly suited the setting, followed brightly behind us.

The next dawn, an emergency was declared at the Hunter Management Agency.

Although I had been away on a business trip, I hurriedly returned to Seoul.

First, I stopped by home, dropped off the cat and the ghosts, changed my clothes, and then headed back to the Hunter Management Agency.

“Ha… America. Those damn bastards!”

On the TV in front of the conference room, a news anchor delivered the report with a grave expression.

It was nighttime in Washington.

However, the area in front of the White House was brightly illuminated by the lights set up competitively by reporters from around the world.

<Yes. With the deadline for the Washington Monument now only one week away, the United States has begun pressuring other countries to mobilize their top-ranked Hunters from around the world.>

The screen briefly switched to the White House briefing room.

Everyone in the conference room was shocked by those words.

“What? T-two… 200%?”

“Are they insane?!”

Snap.

The ballpoint pen in my hand broke.

Ever since awakening, I had developed a slight problem with controlling my strength.

Of course, I was fine under normal circumstances.

But when even a little emotion crept in, troublesome things like this happened.

Immediately afterward, the current President of the United States delivered a statement.

Beep─!

With that sound, the TV turned off.

At the same time, the Director threw the remote control onto the floor of the conference room. However, he seemed to have restrained his strength appropriately, because the batteries didn’t fly out of the remote or anything like that.

It was essentially a performance saying, ‘I’m angry right now.’

Office supplies were precious, after all, so it was only natural to be careful.

“As you all heard, America has declared a tariff war.”

Hoo… A sigh could be heard from somewhere.

Everyone gathered here was probably thinking the same thing.

‘Those damn American bullies. That idiot has done it again!’

Thanks to this, all government officials in South Korea were now facing the prospect of working overtime.

But the current situation wasn’t merely a matter of overtime.

“What about the FTA?”

“How is this a request for cooperation?”

“No, forced mobilization of Hunters? Does that even make sense?!”

Forced mobilization of Hunters.

That was the real problem South Korea was facing.

The United States called it a voluntary mobilization, but in reality, its intention was to sweep up all the top-ranked Hunters from its allied nations.

“We’re about to begin the second assault on Gwanaksan Tower, aren’t we?”

At someone’s remark, everyone nodded.

Ranked 1st, Kim Yongho.

Ranked 2nd, Moon Taeo.

Ranked 3rd, Jeong Eunseo.

Ranked 4th, Park Jongsu.

Ranked 5th, Kim Yejin.

The maximum number of people who could form a party inside a Tower was five.

That was why South Korea’s five top-ranked Hunters had all gathered in one place to challenge Floor 36 of Gwanaksan Tower.

And under normal circumstances, they were scheduled to begin the second assault on Floor 36 exactly one hour from now.

“We already briefed them that we thought it would be possible….”

“If not now, then when?!”

“That’s right. The 20% buff ends today too!”

The 20% Gwanaksan Tower buff obtained as a reward for the first clear of the event stage. The expiration time for this buff was 9:05 a.m. today.

When the Tower determined the time, it always used the moment of entry as the standard.

This was a rule known throughout the world.

So even with a Tower buff like this, it didn’t matter how many days they spent clearing the Tower inside. Only the time of entry mattered.

Tap, tap!

The Director tapped the conference table with the back of his hand.

“At least five days.”

That was the result of the AI calculating the schedule for clearing Floor 36 of Gwanaksan Tower.

If we entered Floor 36 as originally planned today, our country would be unable to meet the schedule America wanted.

The Hunter America wanted was Jeong Eunseo, ranked 3rd in South Korea and 9th in the world, who specialized in wide-area attacks. But without Jeong Eunseo, South Korea would also be unable to carry out the assault itself.

“If only Cha Junhyeok were here….”

“No, at least if Isea were still alive, we’d be fine!”

“What on earth is happening this year?”

Two top-ranked Hunters had already died.

This was anything but normal.

“Why on earth did Cha Junhyeok go to Floor 40 alone?”

“He was sent by the Association.”

“What kind of Association is this, seriously!!”

The conference room became noisy as everyone voiced their opinions.

That was how absurd what America was trying to do was.

“200%….”

“They have no common sense! None!”

“Is this how they treat an ally?!”

“Have they seriously decided they want to destroy themselves?”

“They’re basically saying we should all die together!”

Anyone could see that this was practically a suicide operation intended to drag everyone down with them.

America was also in a desperate situation.

The United States had recently lost one of its own top-ranked Hunters.

John Howard, who had been ranked 3rd in the world.

No one had expected someone who boasted such overwhelming strength to die.

But an unexpected event had occurred, and John Howard had died.

Right here, on Floor 50 of the Washington Monument.

So the allied countries that had received America’s request were trapped in an impossible situation.

If they didn’t send their Hunters, they would face 200% tariffs.

But what if they sent their Hunters and one of them died in Washington Tower?

If that happened, the very foundation of the country could be shaken.

The Hunters America was demanding were the ones who represented each country.

The situation was becoming increasingly chaotic.

And there was an even worse possibility.

What if a country refused to participate in this Hunter mobilization, only for America to somehow succeed in clearing the Washington Monument?

The economic retaliation that followed would certainly not end with a 200% tariff.

No.

Economic retaliation might not even be the only problem.

South Korea was currently nothing more than a small East Asian country protected under America’s umbrella.

And it was surrounded by powerful nations.

The cards America held did not end there.

Depending on the circumstances, it could put forward something even worse.

For example, defense issues.

It might even drag the nuclear submarine issue into this.

With the current American president, such a situation was entirely possible. He was the kind of person who always did something beyond anything you could imagine.

Clearly, leaving things as they were was far too dangerous.

Last time, Isea had said…

‘They’re connected. The Towers.’

She had definitely said that.

If that was true, then something like this might be possible too.

An item I had accumulated all this time without paying much attention to it.

If its name meant exactly what it said, then perhaps…

‘Time Delay Ticket.’

I opened my inventory window and checked the detailed information on the Time Delay Ticket.

<Granted upon achieving the first clear of an S-grade or higher Tower.

Extends the Tower’s deadline by one day.

The Towers currently available for application are Gwanaksan Tower, Hwanseongul Tower, and Seopjikoji Tower.