My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 33

========== CHAPTER 33 ==========

Before humanity’s relief and cheers could even fade, a chilling mechanical sound rang out in everyone’s ears once again.

[Notification: The 100 Pioneers for the Republic of Korea Sector have been confirmed.]

[Notice: In 5 days, the official Tower conquest will begin.]

Returning to the office, Go Gyeol tapped his tablet nonchalantly toward his party members who were sprawled out on the sofa.

“Alright, the games are over. In 5 days, we’re entering real hell. If you need anything, write it down now. Equipment, personal items, it doesn’t matter what it is.”

At Go Gyeol’s words, Kang Hoon raised his hand, looking cautious.

“Um… Hyung. Do we have to pay for this out of our own pockets? Actually, I don’t have much money saved up….”

Kwon Do-geun also fiddled with his mask, wearing a troubled expression. Having been disgracefully kicked out of the entertainment industry, all he had left were debts and a drained bank account. Go Gyeol replied without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Everything will be covered by company expenses. You are my products. Don’t worry, we aren’t such a poor management agency that we’d begrudge the cost of maintaining our product’s value.”

At those words, the party members’ complexions brightened instantly. Each of them began to scribble something down on paper, and a moment later, four lists were in Go Gyeol’s hands. Go Gyeol scanned the lists roughly and called out to Lee Seong-ha.

“Seong-ha, you come with me. Let’s go shopping.”

“Me? Hey, I’m tired as hell….”

“Let’s go.”

Faced with Go Gyeol’s firm attitude, Lee Seong-ha grumbled but stood up. The place the two arrived at was a famous, massive complex shopping mall in downtown Seoul. Usually, this place would have been bustling with dating couples and families, but after the appearance of the Tower, it was in chaos, crowded with citizens trying to hoard daily necessities and Hunters preparing for the Tower conquest.

Pushing a cart, Lee Seong-ha snuck a peek at the list of party members that Go Gyeol was holding. Then, his brow furrowed deeply.

“Hey, Go Gyeol. I’m genuinely curious… why are we here?”

“I told you, we’re here to shop.”

“No, look at this list. Kang Ji-hyeon wants top-tier silk pajamas and organic tea sets, Kwon Do-geun wants unscented special wet wipes and the massage packs he used when he was an actor, and Kkomaengi wants limited edition chocolate snacks and the entire collection of comic books… Is this the list a Hunter writes when they’re about to go fight for their life?”

Lee Seong-ha stopped Go Gyeol, looking incredulous.

“Usually, in times like this, shouldn’t we be going to a Hunter Market that sells armor or high-concentration magic potions? This is just a place where regular people buy clothes and food. You said you have 2 billion won worth of supplies in your sub-space, right? So why is all the stuff the kids asked for just luxury items?”

Go Gyeol stood in front of a luxury pajama store and turned to look at Lee Seong-ha. Even amidst the noise of the crowded shopping mall, his eyes were strangely calm.

“Combat supplies? I’ve already stocked enough of those in my sub-space to climb to the 100th floor.”

“Then why are we here?”

“Seong-ha, you don’t understand the essence of broadcasting.”

Go Gyeol pointed to the most expensive silk pajamas displayed in the store and continued.

“The broadcast starting in 5 days is a reality lifestyle show that goes beyond just a survival log. Catching monsters is important, sure. But between a Hunter looking like a beggar and a Hunter showing off their good looks, which one do you think will get more attention?”

“……You calculating bastard.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Now, let’s go buy Kwon Do-geun’s facial packs. They say if his skin breaks out, it’ll be a critical hit when he tries to return.”

Although two carts were already full with the luxurious lists the party members had written, Go Gyeol’s shopping didn’t stop. He headed with familiar steps toward the daily necessities section, specifically the area where detergents and insecticides were displayed.

“Hey, Go Gyeol. Why that too….”

Before Lee Seong-ha could even finish his sentence, Go Gyeol began ruthlessly loading the most powerful industrial-grade detergents, bug repellent sprays, citric acid, vinegar, and large-capacity bleach into the cart.

“Hey, are you seriously going to work as a cleaning service or something? Or are you planning to scrub the floors once we get into the Tower? Why are you buying so much bleach!”

“It’ll all be useful later.”

“Useful for what! Give me an explanation!”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it now. Just keep loading.”

Go Gyeol cut off Lee Seong-ha’s protest sharply and filled the cart to the brim. The clerk, seeing the mountain of items piled up at the checkout counter, looked at them with a horrified expression, but Go Gyeol handed over the corporate card with a blank face.

As soon as they finished paying, Go Gyeol avoided prying eyes and headed to a secluded spot. Then, he reached out into the air and tucked the cleaning supplies and luxury pajamas they had just bought into his sub-space, one by one. Watching the items get sucked into the darkness, Lee Seong-ha clicked his tongue.

“That space ability is seriously a cheat code. I’m jealous, you scammer.”

Once the cleanup was done, Go Gyeol sat on a bench and took out his smartphone. Then, he unhesitatingly launched a delivery app.

“Huh? Why delivery? Are we eating before we go in?”

“No.”

Go Gyeol’s fingers moved dazzlingly.

100 chickens, 100 pizzas, 100 sets of large jokbal (pig’s trotters), 500 hamburger sets……. He began ordering whatever he could find from famous restaurants in downtown Seoul, regardless of the type of food. Following that, dozens of bottles of large-capacity carbonated drinks and coffee of various kinds were added to the cart.

Lee Seong-ha, who was peeking at the order history from the side, had his eyes pop out.

“Hey! Are you crazy? What are you going to do ordering all this here! It’s all going to get cold and soggy!”

“Seong-ha, time barely flows in my sub-space. The freshness is perfectly maintained.”

Go Gyeol replied as he nonchalantly pressed the payment button.

“And you seem to have forgotten, once we enter the Tower, we can’t come back out until we clear the 10th floor. Are you going to cook meals there? Or are you going to grill monster meat?”

“……Ah.”

“When others are struggling by chewing on preserved rations, we’ll be showing a relaxed image. Can’t you imagine how that will look on the broadcast?”

Lee Seong-ha pictured the scene in his head for a moment. Other Hunters, covered in blood and dust, looking at them with envious eyes, and viewers from all over the world being shocked and hitting the ‘like’ button at their elegant meal.

“……You’re either a true genius or a true devil. One of the two is certain.”

“It could be both. Now, we have to wait here until the delivery arrives. I left a note asking them to pack it well so the smell of chicken doesn’t leak out, so don’t worry.”

Returning to the office, Go Gyeol put down the shopping bags and scanned the room.

The party members, whom he thought would have already left, were sprawled out like corpses all over the sofa and floor.

Go Gyeol sighed and shook them awake one by one, as they were half-asleep. Helping them to the parking lot and putting them into cars to send them home was more laborious than he had thought.

Among them, the one he was most concerned about was Kwon Do-geun. His identity, which was embroiled in a terrible scandal, was still top secret.

If he were to go to his own home, there might be a big problem if he were discovered by reporters or the general public who were lying in wait, so it was better to hide his identity until he could establish a foothold in the Tower.

“Lee Seong-ha, take Kwon Do-geun-ssi and go straight to Kang Hoon’s house.”

“Not sending him home?”

“There were a few viewer reactions mentioning whether it was Kwon Do-geun. Just in case, it’s better for him to hide at Kang Hoon’s house until we enter the Tower.”

Lee Seong-ha nodded as if he understood and helped the groggy Kwon Do-geun into the back seat of the car. Go Gyeol, who had even sent Kang Hoon off in that car, let out a breath mixed with tension as he watched the back of the departing car.

Left alone after seeing everyone off, it was dawn. Go Gyeol drove his car away from the sleepless city center. The car drove along a dark road on the outskirts of Seoul where there were fewer people.

A place where even streetlights stood sparsely, and darkness lay thick. Go Gyeol arrived in an eerie neighborhood where unlit farmhouses could be seen sporadically beyond vast fields, and he parked his car in a secluded vacant lot.

He stepped into a narrow alley where shadows were cast long, with familiar strides. Passing between crumbling walls, he reached the end of the alley, where an old wooden door appeared, looking as if it had taken the full brunt of the passage of time.

Go Gyeol stood in front of the door, scanned his surroundings for a moment, then raised his hand and knocked.

Tok, tok-tok- tok, tok.

As the knocking with its unique rhythm stopped, he felt someone’s gaze from beyond the crack in the door. Go Gyeol murmured in a low voice.

“Shadows linger where the sun never sets.”

A moment of silence passed, and soon, with a chilling creak- sound, the heavy wooden door opened inward.

What poured out from the crack in the door was a world completely different from the stillness outside. The pungent smell of strange spices, blue-tinted lighting, and people exchanging goods with their eyes gleaming behind masks. It was a massive black market hidden beneath the darkness of Seoul.

Thick smoke and the fishy smell of iron wafted through the crack in the door.

Go Gyeol paused for a moment and stood still, taking in the scene. The scenery of that black market, which he had frequented through countless sleepless nights before his regression, was unfolding vividly before his eyes.

The secretive bargaining of masked merchants, the subtle vibrations emitted by mysterious magic tools. Everything was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. Because even this air and humidity were exactly the same, he felt confused about whether he had truly regressed or if all of this was just a terribly long dream.

‘…It’s the same.’

Go Gyeol suppressed a strange nostalgia that pricked at a corner of his heart and steeled himself. Now was not the time to be lost in sentiment. He pulled his hood down low and moved quickly, navigating the familiar, maze-like alley.

After turning through the alley three or four times, the surrounding noise died down, and only the dull sound of hammering echoed against the walls. Finally, the old blacksmith sign came into view. Go Gyeol pushed open the heavy iron door without hesitation.

Kwareureung-

As the massive iron door opened, the heat from inside washed over Go Gyeol’s face. In that place where the flames of the furnace flickered, sitting in the very center was not a human.

Long, pointed ears, and a noble aura that couldn’t be hidden even after experiencing the ravages of time. It was an elf, puffing out smoke leisurely with a long-stemmed pipe in his mouth.

When dungeons first appeared, humanity marveled at the otherworldly beings who had crossed over through the passages. As legendary elves, dwarves, and beastmen appeared in reality, the world cheered as if they had discovered a new continent. Humanity tried to embrace them, and the otherworldly beings also sought to coexist by sharing their technology and magic.

However, the peace did not last long. It was because jealousy, the ugly nature of humans, reared its head.

They who never aged, the magical talent that humans could never reach even if they devoted their whole lives, and the beautiful appearance that evoked inferiority just by looking at it. As time passed, all those exceptional traits became objects of jealousy rather than wonder to humans.

In the end, humanity began to ostracize them, and the otherworldly beings were driven out of the flashy city centers and had to hide in dark black markets like this or ghettos on the outskirts.

The elf, the owner of the blacksmith shop, narrowed his eyes and looked at the customer who had entered. His eyes, reflecting from behind the thick cigarette smoke, were coldly chilled.

“…It’s rare for a human to come looking for this place at this hour.”

The elf muttered in a low voice while tapping his long-stemmed pipe.

Go Gyeol, as if accustomed to it, pulled up an old chair in front of the furnace and took a seat opposite the elf. Through the acrid cigarette smoke that stung his nose, Go Gyeol opened his mouth.

“I’m here because I have an order.”

The elf didn’t even look at Go Gyeol, took a puff from the pipe in his mouth, and then exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“An order? As you can see, I’ve got a lot of backlog. Even if you left it with me now, it would take at least 6 months. Just go back, human.”

It was a blunt rejection, delivered as if he were annoyed. It was a kind of turning away of a customer, common for human patrons. But Go Gyeol didn’t budge and let out a short sigh.

“Cut the crap. With the atmosphere in this alley right now, there’s no way you’re backed up with 6 months of orders.”