CH 4

As I stood there, I couldn’t help but recall the vivid description from the novel that I had read.

[After clearing the 7th floor all by himself, Shin Soo-ha lay dead, his body torn apart by his own rampage. The only indication of how long he had survived was the timestamp on which he had cleared the floor.]

I clicked my tongue in frustration and glanced at my phone to check the time.

It was already 5:10, which meant that Shin Soo-ha had cleared the floor two hours earlier. I knew that time was running out, but if I hurried, I might still be able to purify him even in his unconscious state due to the rampage.

‘Quite the spectacle from day one,’ I grumbled as I got up from my seat.

“Ugh.”

My body was in so much pain from just a little running.

‘Seo Go-woon. This damned body.’

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll exercise,” I promised myself. “I’ll do whatever it takes to build my body.”

I knew that with my current physique, I wouldn’t even dream of joining a cradle strategy party. In fact, I might as well be caught by a passing monster and die screaming. For now, I needed to focus on saving the hunters that I could, while simultaneously working on building up my own body.

“First, I’ll change my clothes…”

Scanning the floor, I searched for the outfit I had been wearing while I was dragged by the poison toad. However, my mouth clamped shut as I took in the sight of the primary-colored clothes strewn around me. It was as if Seo Go-woon had a personal grudge against bright colors.

I stared at the clothes lying on the floor that looked like something even a beggar would reject. Eventually, I turned away from them and decided to explore Seo Go-woon’s wardrobe instead. However, upon opening the closet, I immediately closed it again.

‘Could there be… side effects to the healing potion?’ I rubbed my eyes and opened the door again, only to be greeted with an even more alarming sight.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. This is even worse.”

The wardrobe was filled with ostentatious clothing that was painful to look at. The bright primary colors and large luxury brand logos were enough to make me feel like a walking billboard.

“What kind of peacock taste is this? Why on earth does he have a T-shirt with fluorescent fur attached?” I clucked my tongue and searched until I found a navy-colored shirt tucked away in a corner.

“…This one is the least bad.”

It was devoid of any luxury brand logos and had a rather subdued color. The shirt was riddled with wrinkles, indicating that it had been neglected by its owner. Judging by the lack of a brand tag on its collar, the shirt appeared to be what Seo Go-woon had worn before buying luxury clothes, precisely before he started acting out against Seo Taeju.

“Okay, I’ve got the top… now for the bottom…” I rummaged through the drawers and found a pair of slacks tucked away in a corner. Unfortunately, all of Seo Go-woon’s hats had luxury brand logos on them, so I had no choice but to pick the most modest black hat available.

‘I’m definitely buying new clothes tomorrow,’ I thought to myself as I shuddered while changing. After grabbing my wallet and keys, I hailed a taxi and requested to be taken to the tower.

“Oh my, going to the tower means you’re a hunter, right? It’s my first time meeting a hunter. Can I have a handshake?”

Feeling slightly awkward, I shook his hand.

“Seems like I’m having a lucky day, meeting a hunter and all.”

“Ah, well, yeah.”

In this novel, hunters were held in high esteem, much like doctors or lawyers. Even elementary school students dreamed of becoming one, not only because there were few awakened individuals, but also because hunters who fought monsters displayed flashy skills and earned a lot of money.

Before long, we arrived at our destination.

“Here we are. Could you please wait for me here for a moment? You don’t have to turn off the meter,” I said as I stepped out of the taxi.

“Ah, you must be here to get your gear. It’s better for me if the meter stays on. I’ll park here and go have my dinner. Take care of your business.”

“Thank you,” I replied before stepping out of the taxi and gazing up at the tower. The structure was so tall that I couldn’t see the top, and it felt as though it was looking down on me.

[Climb]

As with most works of fiction, the tower had a compulsory setting that included penalties for those who couldn’t break through. In this case, monsters poured out from the uncleared floors, and even from the cradle, hunters had to contend with these creatures.

Like in most works, the tower had a compulsory setting, and there were penalties for those who couldn’t break through. The penalty set on this tower was monsters pouring out from the uncleared floors.

“Even from the cradle, monsters eventually poured out,” I recalled.

Since the tower would not stop sending out monsters until the corresponding floor was cleared, all hunters tried their best to clear the missions, regardless of the sacrifices made.

However, because the points obtained when eliminating monsters from the tower were reflected in the hunter ranking system, hunters from all over the world steadily climbed the tower.

The obsession with rank was a commonality among all nations, but I couldn’t waste time sightseeing the tower and risk missing the opportunity to save Shin Soo-ha.

“Well… for now, this isn’t what’s important,” I thought, quickly moving inside the tower. The first-floor lobby had only the gate and a hologram-like electronic display, just as described in the novel.

“Fortunately, the timing was just right,” I breathed a sigh of relief upon discovering that the mission on the 7th floor had already been completed, as indicated by the blue electronic display.

I moved toward the wall behind the electronic display, determined to save Shin Soo-ha.

“I think it’s around here,” I said, looking around. With a click, the bricks stacked haphazardly against the wall started to move, revealing a small opening that widened enough for a person to enter.

“This must be it,” I said as I stepped into the dark space, a faint light emanating from the floor. “I found it, the elevator.”

It was common knowledge that hunters had to pass through the first floor of the tower, making it a lengthy process to reach specific floors. However, a hunter who had clashed with Seo Taeju accidentally stumbled upon an elevator mid-way through the novel. This elevator offered direct access to any cleared floor, making my journey significantly shorter. But the first place I needed to go wasn’t the 7th floor where Shin Soo-ha was located, but rather the 5th floor.

“I almost failed from the start if I hadn’t found it,” I muttered to myself.

Even if I managed to locate Shin Soo-ha quickly, I couldn’t save him with just my bare hands.

“First, I need to find something to purify his corruption level,” I reasoned. And that item was located on the 5th floor.

As I opened my eyes after shielding them from the sudden burst of light, I saw a massive stone door.

“Just like in the novel.”

Shin Soo-ha had cleared the 5th floor on his way to the 7th floor without knowing about the existence of the elevator, so the door was wide open. I stepped inside.

“It’s amazing,” I muttered, taking in the scenery. Unlike the outside, where there was only a door, dense grass, humid air, and the sounds of insects filled the space. It wasn’t just a decorated jungle café; it felt like the environment had truly transformed to embody the unique humid air and grassy scent of a jungle. The 5th floor resembled a dungeon that had been transported from the era of the Mayan civilization.

“It’s like a time machine.”

The dungeon was incredibly fascinating. “I wonder if all the other places are like this too?” I wondered aloud as I passed through the jungle and peculiar buildings. After walking for a while, I stumbled upon a cave-like place, and that’s when I saw it—a Moai statue embedded in the center of a crossroad.

“Here it is.”

The first to clear the 5th floor was the protagonist, Seo Taeju. After that, many hunters had passed through the 5th floor, but most of them hadn’t discovered the purification item, as their goal was a quick strategy. It was only mentioned in the latter part of the novel that an adventurer in a party had stumbled upon the item accidentally while using a treasure-finding skill. However, they had some difficulty retrieving the purification item from the Moai statue.

“I don’t need to do that.” I put my hand on the Moai statue and muttered, “Dismantle.”

The Moai statue disappeared, and a pile of sand appeared in its place along with wet watermarks. Inside the sand pile, there was an egg with a white surface and brown spots.

Description: An egg of unknown origin. The exact time of its birth is uncertain, but it has maintained its egg-like form for hundreds of years. A faint warmth emanates from it.

“Is the passive skill automatically activated?”

Thanks to the unintentional activation of the passive skill, I obtained unexpected information. Although it was marked with a question mark, I already knew the identity of this egg. The word that would replace the question mark was ‘Purification’, meaning it was an egg of purification. This egg was an item that would purify corruption level when held by a hunter.

‘The warm energy probably signifies purification.’

I picked up the egg of purification. Perhaps it was because the purification ability only activated for hunters with accumulated corruption, but I didn’t feel anything special from it.

‘Well, Seo Go-woon didn’t do anything like being a hunter, so he’s probably doesn’t have any corruption accumulated inside him.’

At that moment, a message appeared in front of me with a ding-dong sound.

“Diagnosis? What’s diagnosis?”

As I spoke, a description window for diagnosis appeared.

“Ah.”

It was a skill that allows me to check corruption levels. Although the adventurer in the novel did acquire the egg of purification, there was no mention of a passive skill is obtained. Since the adventurer didn’t acquire it, I can only guess that the skill might have arisen due to Seo Go-woon’s alchemy ability.

“Everything seems to be happening. But… it’s better than not having it,” I muttered as I rolled the egg of purification in my hand and headed back to the entrance instead of the exit.

Then, I went to the 7th floor through the secret elevator. Upon entering the widely-opened 7th-floor dungeon, I saw a new landscape different from the 5th floor. An endless desert and pyramids in the shape of polyhedral.

If I had to compare, it reminded me of the deserts of Egypt.

“Hunters don’t really need to travel the world, huh.”

Unlike the 5th floor where I heard the sound of bugs, the 7th floor was silent except for the sound of the wind blowing through the sand.

‘I always wanted to go on an overseas trip at least once, but I never thought I’d come here like this.’

Chuckling to myself, I walked through the sinking sand. Eventually, the desert ended, and I found myself in front of a pyramid with two monsters standing guard.

“What is this, Hansel and Gretel?”

There was no need to worry about how to find Shin Soo-ha. Just by looking at the dead monsters, I could tell which way he had gone. I walked for a while, admiring the lizards, spiders, cacti, and even unidentifiable monsters. Finally, a door with geometric patterns came into view. It looked like a boss room door to anyone, so I cautiously pushed my body through.

In the center of the semi-circular boss room, beside the corpse of a Sphinx-like boss, a single person was lying unconscious.

“…This must be Shin Soo-ha. Is he unconscious?”

Shin Soo-ha was already heavily corrupted.

‘Still, just in case.’

There was a chance he wasn’t fully unconscious, so I approached Shin Soo-ha with muffled footsteps. Unlike other hunters who wore combat uniforms made of by-products, the man who always insisted on wearing a suit was now lying with his eyes closed, wearing a clean suit as if he had never fought.

“He’s not sleeping, is he?”

As I got closer to Shin Soo-ha, who looked like he was asleep, a ding-dong sound rang out, and a message window appeared.

“It seems I’m not too late,” I said as I kneeled beside him and placed the Purification Egg in his hand. However, due to his unconscious state, his hand couldn’t grip the egg, causing it to slip and roll away. I tried again, but the egg slipped from his grasp once more.

‘Tsk. How annoying.’

Picking up the constantly falling egg, I placed it back in Shin Soo-ha’s hand and then held his hand firmly.

“This is troublesome.”

As our hands clasped and the corruption level continued to drop, I looked at Shin Soo-ha with a slight grimace on my face. Although he had never made a proper appearance as an extra, he was the character I was most curious about after Seo Taeju, the protagonist.

“He’s good-looking, but compared to Shin Soo-ha, he’s a bit…” I trailed off, unable to finish my thought.

Even after his death, Shin Soo-ha’s name was always brought up in comparison to other hunters when it came to strength and appearance. I wondered just how good-looking he must have been, but as soon as I saw his face, I finally understood.

His hair was like pure silver, his deep-set eyes foreign-looking, his chiseled nose like a sculpture, and his lips as plump as cherries. Although his body was generally thick, his jawline was sharp enough to cut through a veil, causing me to let out an involuntary sigh of admiration.

“Seo Taeju is good-looking too, but there’s something different about Shin Soo-ha.”

But what I envied about Shin Soo-ha wasn’t his good-looking face, but his body. His broad shoulders and thick thighs were perfectly proportioned. Even though he was wearing a suit, his body was clearly full of muscles due to the tight fit.

“If I have to possess someone, I’ll choose this guy.”

Ever since I made the decision to become a detective, I never missed a single workout session. In fact, I had even formed close relationships with some of the elderly people who frequented the gym, which was situated right next to the police station. Despite my consistent efforts, my natural physique prevented me from developing muscles as massive as those of Shin Soo-ha, despite having some well-defined lean muscles.

“He can’t be a balloon, right?” I muttered, feeling envious. I couldn’t help but poke Shin Soo-ha’s arm with my finger to test its authenticity. To my surprise, my finger didn’t even leave a dent on his arm.

“I knew it, it had to be this body,” I confirmed, examining his muscles. His triceps, biceps, brachialis, and forearm muscles were all in the ideal shape that I had been striving for.

“…Why did I have to possess someone like Seo Go-woon?”

“Argh…”

Just as I was admiring Shin Soo-ha’s flawless musculature, he began to stir and groaned in pain, slowly regaining consciousness.