Chapter 3. A Wish
Flash!
A powerful light burst from the sheath at Cha Junhyuk’s waist.
And what appeared before my eyes were five goblins lying scattered across the ground, their bodies completely cut apart.
At the same time, notifications began popping up rapidly in my status window.
<You have cleared Floor 1 of Gwanaksan Tower.>
<Rewards will be issued.
Basic Rewards: 100 F-Rank Mana Stones, Basic Inventory (10 slots), 3 Earth Essences.
First S-Rank Clear Rewards: 1 Time Delay Ticket, 10-Slot Inventory Expansion Ticket, 3 Random Box Fragments>
<As a special benefit for achieving the first S-Rank clear, a buff will be applied to Gwanaksan Tower for one week.
Attack Power +5%, Defense +5%>
<Would you like to exit Floor 1 of Gwanaksan Tower?>
“Did the exit notification appear?”
Cha Junhyuk asked as he put his sword back into its sheath.
“Yeah.”
“Cancel it.”
When I did as he said, the remaining time appeared on the status window.
<Remaining time until exit: 5 minutes 30 seconds. >
“Just trust me and follow me!”
Cha Junhyuk strode toward the forest where the goblins had appeared.
He seemed to be in a good mood, even humming to himself.
Five roughly constructed huts came into view inside the forest.
They seemed to be the homes of those goblins.
We followed the wooden fence around to the back of the huts, where we found a shabby door made of logs tied together.
“Here.”
Outside the door was simply the forest.
But when we passed through the door…
<You have discovered a hidden entrance to Floor 1 of Gwanaksan Tower.
The rewards will be recalculated according to causality. >
Ratatatatak─!
The sound of a banknote-counting machine, the kind you would normally hear at a bank, rang out.
<Reward calculation complete.
110 F-Rank Mana Stones, Basic Inventory (11 slots), 1 Time Delay Ticket, 11-Slot Inventory Expansion Ticket, 4 Earth Essences, 4 Random Box Fragments>
“Did the rewards appear? See? I told you I found this route! Even now, only a few of the top-ranked Hunters probably know about this.”
The ghost from the corner of my room winked and looked proud of himself.
<Exiting Floor 1 of Gwanaksan Tower.>
With a flash of light, our bodies were transported outside the Tower.
We emerged at the beginning of a hiking trail on Gwanaksan Mountain.
[It was only for a moment, but it was great!]
Cha Junhyuk, who had become a ghost again, smacked his lips.
I thought he might want to enjoy being human in the Tower a little longer, so it was surprising that he didn’t waste any time and immediately finished the hunt.
“The fastest clear time for Floor 1 was recorded.”
[I knew it! I knew it would be like that. I’m hundreds of times stronger now than I was before!]
“Well done.”
[Of course! It’s because I’m me!]
The ghost from the corner of my room puffed out his chest before cautiously asking.
[We’re coming back to the Tower, right?]
“Of course.”
I had expected to struggle a little longer inside the Tower, but we had finished the conquest much more easily than I expected.
It was a perfect case of someone else doing the actual clearing for me.
If we could clear towers like this, there was no reason I couldn’t climb every day.
[Thank you! Thank you. You made the right choice! It’s really good for you too, you know.
Good for me too?
“Why?”
The ghost looked left and right before lowering his voice.
As if that wasn’t enough, he moved closer to my ear and whispered.
[Shh! This is a secret, but…!]
“Move away.”
[No! Why!!]
Because he was cold.
The reason people got goosebumps even unconsciously when they sensed the presence of a ghost was because of this.
When a ghost came into contact with a living creature, it unconsciously stole some of their life energy.
It was caused by the difference in the density of life energy, similar to convection, or, in other words, the reason wind blows.
Anyway, I was the only person who could understand what the ghost was saying from this distance.
There were ghosts on the road over there, beside the bakery, and even at the crosswalk right next to us, but nobody could see them.
Even while grumbling, Cha Junhyuk took one step away from me.
[Listen carefully, homeowner.]
“Okay.”
[The Tower grants wishes.]
A completely unexpected statement suddenly came out of the ghost’s mouth.
But his expression remained serious.
He didn’t seem to be lying.
“A wish?”
[That’s what the system said after I cleared Floor 39. Other countries probably know about it too but are keeping quiet.]
“I suppose they would.”
If information like this leaked out while the current order of the world was still being maintained, it could cause enormous chaos.
[Only the United States, which has cleared Floor 50, and China, which has cleared Floor 43, have gone beyond Floor 40 anyway, right? Anyway, it said that after clearing Floor 40, it would hold a Q&A session and give detailed hints, but…]
“You died?”
[That’s right! Because of those bastards in the association!
“The Association? Then your death…”
[I was planning to go once I was fully prepared. It’s an important floor, after all. But the Association threatened me and insisted that I had to go alone that day. I mean, is it really okay to go to the highest floor and a boss floor without even having a party? I thought they were talking complete nonsense. It was so ridiculous that I ignored them at first.]
“But then?”
[They brought an item on loan from China. So I thought I might actually be able to do it this time.]
China?
“What item?”
[The Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warrior. It’s a special S-Rank solo item that can only be used once a week. And the Association also bought information about Floor 40 and gave it to me.]
“From China? What kind of information?”
[Information about Floor 40, specifically the floor boss. There’s a floor boss every ten floors in the tower. These bosses are quite troublesome, but they told me that the Floor 40 boss had a fire attribute. The boss can differ from country to country, but the general strategy is usually similar.
A fire attribute and a Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warrior?
“Was it a defensive item?”
[That’s right! When the Wyvern breathes fire, you enlarge the Terracotta Warrior and hide inside it. It’s a legendary-grade item, so it’s really famous.]
“Then why did you die?”
[It was a fake.]
“…”
Perhaps remembering that moment, Cha Junhyuk’s face twisted in anger.
[Those bastards from the Association! If I ever see them, I’m going to kill them all!! Aaargh!!!]
As Cha Junhyuk became enraged, frost suddenly began falling around us.
“Ah! It’s cold!”
“What the heck? Why is frost suddenly falling?”
When a ghost harbored a grudge, it could cause localized weather abnormalities like this without much difficulty.
And if the grudge came from something that had caused its own death, even more so.
After about three seconds, the frost that had been pouring down wildly suddenly stopped as if nothing had happened.
Of course.
Cha Junhyuk had only just become a ghost.
This was the limit of the influence a newly formed ghost could have on the real world.
[The information about Floors 10 and 20 was accurate, so I trusted them, but then they stabbed me in the back like this!!!]
It seemed that the association had actually built up a certain level of trust with Cha Junhyuk until then.
[I’ll get my revenge! I’ll catch every single one of those Association bastards and tear them apart!!!]
But there was no point in swearing revenge.
As a ghost, Cha Junhyuk couldn’t do anything.
Unless several hundred years passed like this, perhaps.
Right now, the most he could do was enter someone’s dream and scare them a little.
But if a Grim Reaper caught him doing that, he’d immediately be put in shackles and dragged away.
That was something I had heard from my grandmother.
She used to say that both humans and ghosts needed to keep their hearts pure.
[Anyway, that’s what the Tower said. If you climb all the way to Floor 100, it will grant you anything a human can imagine. That’s the condition the Tower offers! And it said you don’t even have to be human. As long as you clear it, that’s enough! I heard it clearly while I was dying!
It would even grant the wishes of the dead?
There was something almost omnipotent about the Tower.
And there was one more thing.
“Anything a human can imagine…”
I needed to learn more about this.
If it were really true…
Then it would become one of the most important reasons for me to climb the Tower from now on.
“Understood.”
[You really made the right choice, homeowner. The Tower never lies.
Cha Junhyuk smiled brightly and pounded his chest proudly.
He looked much happier than he had the day before.
***
The new director of the Hunter Management Agency was Kim Cheolho.
Kim Cheolho had remained stuck at Grade 5 for fifteen years because of personnel bottlenecks, but this year he received an extraordinary promotion.
As expected, life is all about one big opportunity!
At this rate, even becoming a minister wasn’t an impossible dream.
His fellow Grade 5 colleagues disliked the idea of becoming a minister, saying that ministers were quickly removed from office, but Kim Cheolho had a different perspective because he had an unusually strong desire for power.
Before retiring, no matter what happened, he would become a minister at least once.
That was Kim Cheolho’s dream.
But ministers were appointed positions.
Their appointment was decided according to the president’s orders.
In other words, it was a position where connections with the right people mattered.
Having connections with powerful figures was also important.
But instead of becoming an aide to a member of the National Assembly, Kim Cheolho had passed the difficult Higher Civil Service Examination and entered the government as a Grade 5 working-level civil servant.
The reason was simple.
A minister who actually knows how to work.
That was the ideal minister Kim Cheolho dreamed of becoming.
To achieve that, he first needed to understand actual administrative work properly.
Surprisingly, he was a civil servant with a strong sense of duty and firm principles.
There were generally two types of civil servants.
One type wanted a stable job.
The other worked because they felt a sense of duty toward public service.
Kim Cheolho belonged to the latter group.
And right now, Kim Cheolho was sweating profusely as he ate pork-and-rice soup.
Pork-and-rice soup was one of the most representative ordinary people’s meals.
The reason he was eating it here in the middle of summer was to understand public sentiment at a local restaurant.
Maybe I should have just eaten cold noodles.
Kim Cheolho briefly regretted his choice as sweat ran down his face.
[Because to control great power, we need even greater power.]
The news about the president’s address was playing on the restaurant’s television.
The director nodded.
It was true no matter how many times he heard it.
[With the Hunter Management Agency established by the strong will of the President, the first Director will be…]
As the announcer spoke, Kim Cheolho’s face briefly appeared on the television.
Reporters were eagerly pushing microphones toward him.
And he had boldly made his way through the crowd in front of them.
Kim Cheolho hunched his body as much as possible and leaned even closer to the steaming stone bowl.
He was doing this in case anyone recognized him.
He didn’t want to disturb the citizens’ peaceful meal.
“The Hunter Management Agency?”
“Didn’t they have one before?”
“They just established it.”
“But that Director…”
Could they have already recognized me?!
Kim Cheolho suddenly felt like a celebrity.
He finally understood why celebrities were always so careful in public.
Even when you weren’t consciously looking, you could still feel people sneaking glances at you.
He was extremely tense as he mechanically moved his arm and spooned soup into his mouth.
“Why? Who’s the director?”
“Why are you asking? Do you even know?”
“Of course he’s a parachute appointment.”
…A parachute?
Tsk.
People tended to talk carelessly when they didn’t know what was really going on behind the scenes.
Just then, his smartwatch vibrated.
What is it?
Kim Cheolho, who had been mixing the remaining seasoned chives into his pork soup, casually glanced at his smartwatch.
<Officer Lee Jihoo: Gwanaksan Tower Floor 1 – 3 seconds.>
Huh?
At the same time, a status window appeared.
<Gwanaksan Tower Floor 1 has been cleared with an S-Rank rating.
The player who cleared it is Jack Reacher_07.
As a special benefit for the first S-Rank clear, a buff will be applied to Gwanaksan Tower for one week.
Attack Power +5%, Defense Power +5%.
“What?!!!!”
Bang!
The Director of the Hunter Management Agency, Kim Cheolho, slammed his hands against the restaurant table and stood up with force.
Unfortunately, the sturdy table split dramatically in half.
“Ah…”
The director repeatedly bowed his head to the startled customers before walking over to the restaurant counter.
He took out a business card that had been delivered by express that morning and handed it over along with ten 50,000-won bills.
“If there aren’t enough funds to cover the damage, please send the additional bill to this address.”
“Yes, yes!”
The owner, who immediately recognized that he was an Awakened person, nodded vigorously.
“Sorry about this.”
Kim Cheolho bowed once again and left the restaurant.
However, the more he walked, the straighter his back became.
“Ha! That guy…”
From the moment he first met him, there had been something unusual about him.
That righteous and courageous look in his eyes somehow reminded Kim Cheolho of his younger days.
Even when he stood still, there was a sense of integrity in his eyes, the kind unique to a civil servant who worked with a strong sense of duty.
His name was Officer Lee Jihoo.
Even after awakening as a Hunter, he chose to remain in public service…
In many ways, the young man reminded him of himself.
“Ha, seriously. That guy…”
Although Kim Cheolho sighed out loud, the corners of his mouth kept rising.
Trill trill trill─!
Just then, an emergency call came through his smartwatch.
Mu-gung-hwa No. 1!
Kim Cheolho remembered the warning he had received when the minister of national defense had handed him the smartwatch.
If a call came through as Mu-gung-hwa No. 1, he had to answer immediately, before the second ring.
“Yes! I’m on the line!”
[Director Kim Cheolho.]
A serious voice came through the smartwatch.
Sensing that something was wrong, Kim Cheolho immediately put the wireless earbud connected to the smartwatch into his ear.
“Could it be…?”
[That’s right. It’s me.]
The voice wasn’t unfamiliar.
It was the same voice he had heard just moments ago.
The very person who had been giving the address on the television news.
Through the phone came the voice of Lee Young-soo, the current president of the Republic of Korea and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
“M-Mr. President!”
