Chapter 19: Korean Magic Tower (2)
‘Earthlings can hardly perceive external mana. Hehe, these primitive folks.’
If not now, when will I get to use my special skills?
I raised my finger to my lips, signaling for quiet.
“Shh.”
Of course, I had no intention of keeping Ahn Yoon-seung standing awkwardly.
“Alright.”
“What is it?”
About 30 seconds later.
I removed my hand from the wall and looked around.
“I found the way to the top floor.”
“No way, really? How? I have no clue!”
Upon hearing that, Ahn Yoon-seung jumped up.
But my gaze was still fixed on the elevator doors. I noticed a sticker that said, “Do not lean.”
“Yoon Seung-ah, I have a question first.”
Yoon-seung seemed startled by the sudden question, but…
“I’m not sure if I understood the structure correctly. If I want to clear out the inside of the elevator, I just send it to another floor, right?”
“Clear out the inside?”
“It’s a vertical shaft, right? It’s a vertical hole with boxes moving, isn’t it?”
“Ah, yes. Right? You know what you’re talking about.”
The response came easily.
That was enough.
“Okay. Just wait a moment.”
I immediately called for the elevator.
Then I stepped inside and pressed the button for the higher floor.
Just before the doors closed, I hopped back out.
Ahn Yoon-seung stared blankly as the floor numbers changed to red.
“What are you doing….”
At that moment. An enormous bang echoed through the empty corridor.
– Bang!!!
“Ugh!”
That was because I had kicked the elevator door with all my might with my left foot.
The weak door crumpled at the bottom and fell into the vertical shaft with a crash.
Ahn Yoon-seung was appalled.
But I looked down into the black space without any expression.
“Let’s go, Yoon Seung-ah.”
“Uh, where to?”
This rookie A-Class Hunter still seemed to be grasping the situation.
Did I need to explain in detail? Sometimes action speaks louder than words.
“This floor is a gate that connects to the top. Jump!”
“Ahh! Gi-ryeo hyung!”
I willingly jumped down through the gaping elevator shaft.
A scream laced with fear followed, but I didn’t mind. She’d come when she was ready.
*
“Wow~”
I came in through the fall, but now it was horizontal as I exited.
I staggered a bit to adjust to the flipped direction, then regained my footing and surveyed the surroundings.
‘It’s directly connected to the representative’s office?’
A scene from Kim Gi-ryeo’s mind.
A room with a large leather chair, reminiscent of those commonly seen in movies or dramas.
“Ugh! I jumped off more dangerous cliffs inside the gate, but why is this so scary?”
“Oh, you’ve arrived?”
After waiting a moment, Ahn Yoon-seung soon showed his face.
But then.
“You’ve made it this far, impressively.”
Yoon, who I assumed was the creator, spoke from behind an executive chair.
“You are the first to pass through my maze. Additionally, the quickest. But wow, I didn’t expect my disaster evacuation route to be discovered. That wasn’t for moments like this…”
A cheerful young woman’s voice.
Next, we met the creator of the maze and an Awakened one who was a pillar of Korean society.
“But it’s all over now.”
The leather chair turned half a rotation. The opponent revealed herself.
With good proportions, one might mistake her for a tall person, but a closer look revealed a petite woman in her twenties.
“From now on, I, the Esther of the Magic Tower, will be your opponent!”
The representative of the Korean Magic Tower.
Her full name was Seo Esther.
She greeted us warmly, her droopy eyes lighting up with a smile.
‘Is this the maze creator? Her personality seems quite unique, just as I heard.’
I looked at Esther with curious eyes.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one intrigued.
“Ahn Yoon-seung Hunter, and what is the name of the guest there?”
Esther smiled thinly, gazing at me intently.
“Instead of standing around, why don’t we all sit down? Coffee is fine, right?”
Not Yoon-seung, an A-Class Hunter, but me.
*
Earthlings often style their hair flamboyantly.
They might perm their perfectly healthy hair or dye it a purplish color with strong dye.
I still don’t quite grasp their aesthetic standards, but the appearance of the person sitting in front of me seemed pleasant enough.
Perhaps my visual information had filtered through Kim Gi-ryeo’s brain once.
“I’ll introduce myself. My name is Kim Gi-ryeo. Nice to meet you.”
I offered my hand for a handshake while looking at Esther’s flowing hair. Esther raised the corners of her mouth and said,
“Are you an Appraiser with some talent?”
“Excuse me?”
“Inadequate analysis skills won’t cut it to get out of the tower’s maze. I made the difficulty quite high. You solved it too easily.”
Her smiling face was as charming as that of a well-fed cat.
“I really like skilled people. Let’s get along well, being of the same rare attribute.”
But wait.
Why did Esther group herself with me here?
“Same rare attribute?”
When I asked, both Esther and Ahn Yoon-seung had startled expressions.
It’s tough pretending to be an Earthling.
“Hmm? Well, of course…. Awakened with analysis-type skills are rare, so you could say you’re quite unique, right? And I—”
Esther blinked her big eyes, explaining as if questioning what the problem was.
Eventually, Ahn Yoon-seung stepped in late to clarify the situation.
“Hyung, Esther is a curse attribute Hunter, and there are only a few in the entire world.”
“Really?”
Curse attribute!
Right. I had seen that while researching this company.
Awakened who hunts monsters using status ailments like weakening or slowing.
That was Seo Esther.
‘This world has just started generating mana; indeed, there must be few who employ complex spells.’
I was beginning to grasp the category of rare attributes.
Most Earthlings likely awakened simple magic that ignites fire and empowers them, like Jeong Ha-seong or Kang Chang-ho.
Those who possessed defensive or healing magic like Ahn Yoon-seung would be fewer still.
And special abilities like emotions, curses, and mind control would belong to an extremely small number.
“I understand now. We’re both rare attribute Hunters.”
I quickly returned to the conversation.
“I’m sorry for not recognizing it right away. I tend to be a bit out of the loop…”
“Have you been holed up working all this time? My goodness! I’ve been on broadcasts so much lately.”
Esther acted as if she hadn’t seen someone unaware of her rare attribute in a long time, shaking her head in mock disappointment but that didn’t last long.
“Well, with a capable Appraiser like you, requests must have been piling up, huh?”
Esther relaxed her expression and matched her gaze with us.
“Anyway, let’s pause the socializing for now. Your goal isn’t this, right?”
Finally, the main topic emerged.
“I checked the email again. Ahn Yoon-seung Hunter, you mentioned you had business regarding a certain gate we own at the Magic Tower?”
“Ah! Yes.”
Ahn Yoon-seung nodded his head.
“Exactly. But to be precise, it’s not that I have business, but…”
As he said that, he subtly turned his gaze toward me.
Well, I guess it’s better if I say this part.
“Actually, I’m the one who wants to enter the gate. Yoon-seung just set up the appointment for me.”
“Oh, really?”
“I’m just a low-ranking Awakened, so the staff wouldn’t attend to me.”
After quietly listening to the conversation, Esther asked a question.
“What rank are you?”
I silently pulled out my Hunter ID.
As a result, Esther displayed a reaction that was somewhat expected yet a bit unfamiliar to me.
“Aha, F-Class?”
Esther seemed not even to harbor any doubt about my being a lowest-tier Hunter.
“Appraisers’ Awakening Levels are all like this, of course. You’re particularly low, though.”
I nodded vaguely at Esther’s words.
Having been questioned so often about whether I was really F-Class, it felt a bit awkward, but it was not a problem.
After all, wasn’t I the one who had passed through the maze suggested by Esther?
“So then, why do you want to enter this gate?”
“That is…”
“By the way, if it’s to collect, that’s a no-go. The materials from the trees here are barely enough for me.”
“I won’t touch the area with the trees at all.”
However, it seemed that things wouldn’t be that straightforward.
“Aren’t you after the fruits? Even so, it would be difficult to grant permission from my position…”
Esther crossed her legs and began tapping her foot.
Though her posture was somewhat arrogant, no one dared to question an S-Class.
“Is it impossible?”
“But don’t you see? Our Appraiser. I’m not sure where you belong, but it’s clear that you’re from someone else’s guild~”
“….”
“Since you came with Ahn Yoon-seung, is it Neo Sisters? Hmm, anyway.”
Tap.
Having set her foot down, Esther wore a peculiar smile and said,
“How much money does it take to monopolize a gate? It’s hard-earned profit after such trouble, so I don’t want to feed someone else’s guild for free.”
“Of course not.”
“So if you want to enter the gate, it’s not Hunter just coming directly to ask.”
Esther’s words boiled down to this.
“I’d like to talk about it guild to guild. I want to see the actual decision-makers in your company.”
You mean you want the managers, not the likes of us?
“And I’m not fond of negotiations. Do you want me to inform the guild in advance? It’s better to calculate the admission fee fairly from the start.”
It seemed she’d expect a hefty price.
How valuable could something be hidden in a mere D-Class lower dungeon to be so confidently demanding?
In reality, those inside would hardly know even a fraction of the useful resources…
“Is a lot of money needed, hyung?”
Seeing that she wanted admission fees, Yoon-seung looked flustered, but I calmly reassured him.
“Esther Hunter-nim.”
First off, I should correct what she got wrong.
“Sorry, but I’m not affiliated with any guild…”
“Excuse me?”
At that, Esther’s eyes widened.
Not letting the moment slip by, Ahn Yoon-seung quickly added,
“Ah! That’s right! Gi-ryeo hyung doesn’t even have a guild! He always goes around alone!”
Saying it out loud felt somehow embarrassing.
“I’ve been called an Appraiser since earlier, but to be honest, I’ve never even done that kind of work.”
You mean I’m not an item appraiser?
Esther looked shocked, but I didn’t stop explaining.
“The only person I know in the industry is Ahn Yoon-seung.”
“Hyung…!”
“There’s no way the pockets of another guild fill because I’m asking for help. This is truly a personal request.”
And that’s not all.
I never had any intention of entering a gate bought with someone else’s money for free.
‘Hehe, should I finally bring that up?’
I had naturally prepared for the admission fee issue!
Now, I merely needed to suggest that delicious reward to the representative.
But then, I paused mid-sentence.
Esther kept glancing in this direction, gulping nervously.
‘Oh.’
What was that?
I hadn’t even mentioned the tempting story yet?
