My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 38

========== CHAPTER 38 ==========

“Hwang Tae-ja! Hwang Tae-ja! Hwang Tae-ja!”

“Waaah! The Rank 1 did it! He really caught that monster all by himself!”

The hunters rushed toward Hwang Tae-ja to praise him, and the viewers beyond the screens went wild. Even Hwang Tae-ja himself was thrilled by the fact that his strike had landed several times more powerfully than expected, and he savored the victory with an arrogant smile.

“Wow. What a fucking asshole. He’s really pulling it off. Look at him puffing his chest out like he’s the one who killed it.”

“Keep up the act.”

“That’s why I’m whispering.”

As Go Gyeol shook his ear in disgust, Lee Seong-ha giggled and checked the massive amount of skill points that had come his way.

The amount of points was on a completely different level from when they first killed the goblins; he couldn’t help but smile, even if he didn’t want to.

Go Gyeol turned off his tablet, his lips curling up in satisfaction.

“We take the substance, he takes the glory. Isn’t that a win-win?”

Go Gyeol and his party members quietly sheathed their weapons and blended into the cheering crowd. The screen was still shining on the golden hero, and the true victors were finishing their growth toward the next floor faster than anyone else, hidden in the shadow of that glory.

Amidst the cheers, the intermediate platform leading to the 2nd floor revealed itself.

A strange space, filled entirely with pure white, just like the lobby. The 100 hunters, having just escaped the hellish cave, sat down on the floor as if by promise in that surreal silence. Rough breathing and pained groans could be heard from all around.

Go Gyeol scanned his party members while browsing the real-time broadcast metrics on his tablet.

“Is everyone hurt?”

“Ah, yes! I’m fine. Go Gyeol-hyung, look at this! The skill points we got are just insane, right?”

“Me too. I don’t know how the contribution was calculated, but my level has already gone up by three.”

Kang Hoon and Kwon Do-geun were too distracted by the transparent status windows floating before their eyes to give more than a vague answer. While Hwang Tae-ja was hogging the glory, their eyes were flashing with excitement as they confirmed the real benefits the system had spat out.

Beside them, Kang Ji-hyun was smoothing out her disheveled clothes and began braiding her messy hair over one shoulder. Then, she held out her hand toward Go Gyeol.

“Wet wipes.”

When Go Gyeol took a pack of wet wipes from his subspace and handed them to her, she meticulously wiped the dust off her face. Lee Seong-ha, who had been watching her intently, furrowed his brow and opened his mouth.

“Hey, Ji-hyeon-ah. Isn’t that hairstyle a bit much?”

“What? What is?”

“Do you not watch anime? You know, that hair braided to one side and draped over the front. It’s called a ‘death flag’ hairstyle. In cartoons, moms with that hairstyle always die early on. Why are you being so ominous?”

Kang Ji-hyun’s hand paused. She glared at Lee Seong-ha as if he were ridiculous.

“……Are you really going to spout that bullshit while wearing a priest’s robe? You talk about the Lord this and that, but is your head only filled with anime?”

“Bullshit? This is common knowledge in the industry! Don’t blame me if you get your throat slit by a monster as soon as we get to the 2nd floor.”

“You crazy bastard!”

Ji-hyeon snapped in anger and roughly unraveled her braided hair. Then, huffing, she tied her hair up high with the hair tie Go Gyeol had given her, creating a ponytail. Lee Seong-ha laughed, finding the sight funny, but then suddenly became conscious of the Eyeball Camera twitching above his head and quickly returned to a benevolent expression.

He slid over to Go Gyeol’s side and lowered his voice.

“Hey, Go Gyeol. I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious. Did you clear the 1st floor like this before the regression?”

Go Gyeol turned off his tablet and answered indifferently.

“No.”

“Then?”

“The 100 people who climbed the first Tower gave up more than half their lives to the King that appeared after killing the Golden Goblin.”

Lee Seong-ha’s eyes widened. Go Gyeol stared intently at Hwang Tae-ja, who was cleaning his greatsword in the center of the platform.

In his memories before the regression, the 1st floor was never a peaceful space like it was now. Back then, Hwang Tae-ja had also run wild with the same arrogance as he did now, killing the Golden Goblin.

As a result of that recklessness, more than half of the 100 Pioneers had to lie on the cold floor as corpses before even reaching this place.

Lee Seong-ha chewed on the weight of that number. The 1st floor, where 50 out of 100 people had died. But in this space right now, all 100 people had survived and were waiting for the next floor.

“50 lives, huh…….”

“It means it’s become that much easier for us to climb the Tower. The more pieces you have on the chessboard, the more options you have to play with.”

“But Go Gyeol, how did you know we shouldn’t kill that goblin bastard? Looking at the situation earlier, it looked like something we absolutely had to catch.”

Lee Seong-ha asked, brushing dirt off the hem of his priest’s robe. Go Gyeol flipped through the tablet screen and answered calmly.

“I saw the Japanese team’s strategy video before the regression. They aimed for the safest and most conservative strategy from the start. So, when the Golden Goblin appeared, they didn’t even think about taking the crown.”

“They didn’t take the crown?”

“Yeah. They just let it run away. Thanks to that, they passed through very quietly, without even a single vibration in the cave, let alone a King.”

At those words, Lee Seong-ha clicked his tongue in admiration.

“Wow, is it because they’re the kingdom of games? Their grasp of the system is incredible.”

Kang Hoon, who was checking his status window nearby, heard that andted in, looking offended.

“Hey, hyung-nim. But the king of games is our country! Look at how many Rank 1s we have!”

Then Lee Seong-ha smirked and lightly pushed Kang Hoon’s head.

“Kid, I said kingdom, not king. It means they specialize in those kinds of tricks and manual organization.”

“That’s the same thing….”

While Kang Hoon pouted, Lee Seong-ha turned back to Go Gyeol and asked.

“Then what about the other countries? Did they all make it through safely like us or Japan?”

Instead of answering, Go Gyeol turned the tablet to show Lee Seong-ha. The screen was displaying the flags of the countries that had cleared, along with the number of currently surviving hunters in real-time.

The figures were devastating.

Even major powers like the US, UK, and France had lost anywhere from 10 to over 30 elite hunters on the 1st floor.

But among them, one flag stood out in particular.

“……China? What’s up with them? Why are there so many missing?”

Next to the Chinese flag that Lee Seong-ha pointed to, the number 50 was clearly stamped. It meant that half of the starting personnel had evaporated on the 1st floor.

Lee Seong-ha tilted his head, surprised that China, which was said to have an overwhelming talent pool due to its large population, had suffered the biggest blow.

“Why did so many people die here? Weren’t they supposed to be the strongest in terms of power?”

At that question, Go Gyeol laughed lowly.

“It’s because that’s a country that screams about the ‘Martial World’.”

“The Martial World?”

“They all think they’re the best. They’re busy showing off their individual martial arts rather than cooperating, and when a crisis comes, they try to survive by using each other as shields. In the end, when the King appeared, their command structure completely collapsed, and they were wiped out while trying to save their own skins.”

Go Gyeol took back the tablet and looked at the door to the 2nd floor with cold eyes.

“Those who are used to stepping on others to get ahead don’t understand the basic law of the Tower: you have to keep others alive for you to survive. In the end, that number is their conclusion.”

Lee Seong-ha clicked his tongue, and Kang Hoon shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. The fact that those who were said to be the strongest had lost half their numbers due to ego battles reminded them anew of the coldness of the Tower.

Meanwhile, Kwon Do-geun, who had finished distributing his stat points, gave a subtle nod toward Go Gyeol. In the center of the platform, Hwang Tae-ja was giving a grand speech under flashy lights amidst the hunters cheering for him.

“Boss, shouldn’t we join them? Even if it’s just for now, our country’s #1 is setting the mood, so it might be better for our public image to at least show our faces….”

Go Gyeol looked indifferently at Hwang Tae-ja, who was showing off his heroic figure and shouting about humanity’s victory, and shook his head.

“Forget it. If you have time to listen to such cringey speeches, it’s better to rest. We’ll be auto-moved to the 2nd floor soon.”

Go Gyeol took out high-concentration fatigue recovery potions from his bag, along with simple sandwiches and snacks like chocolate from his subspace, and handed them to his party members. At the appearance of the unexpected high-quality snacks, Kang Hoon’s eyes lit up as he took a big bite of a sandwich.

“Wow, this is delicious…. But hyung, does the Tower usually have rest areas on every floor? It’s more relaxed than I thought.”

“No.”

Go Gyeol denied it flatly.

“This time, it’s a kind of bonus the Tower gives because it’s the first clear on the 1st floor. From the next floor on, it’s common to be thrown to the next floor immediately after catching the boss. Rest while you can.”

The expressions of the party members, who had been chewing their food, tightened again at Go Gyeol’s warning. At that moment, Kang Ji-hyun, who had been wiping her hands with a wet wipe, glared at Go Gyeol with sharp eyes and asked.

“So, what kind of floor is the next one? You must know everything with that foresight or whatever it is.”

Go Gyeol stared at Kang Ji-hyun instead of answering. His gaze was so deep and calm that Kang Ji-hyun felt a chill run down her spine for a moment. It was as if something terribly ominous, and at the same time, terribly familiar, was contained within Go Gyeol’s eyes.

Kang Ji-hyun looked puzzled, then suddenly read the subtle pity lingering in Go Gyeol’s eyes. Then, as if realizing something, she scrunched up her face in disgust.

“No way… right? Tell me it’s not.”

Go Gyeol nodded slowly without a word.

“……Crazy, I hate this!”

The moment Kang Ji-hyun screamed, the pure white background of the platform began to ripple as if covered in static.

[Notification: The 100 Pioneers of the Republic of Korea Sector, beginning entry to the 2nd floor.]

The Tower’s dry, mechanical voice rang in their eardrums. The sensation under their feet vanished, and a foul stench and damp air pierced their noses in an instant. As Kang Ji-hyun’s complexion turned ashen, the 100 hunters fell into the heart of a new hell.