There was only one condition to enter the Tower. To tear the Tower entrance Ticket that was distributed once a day. Doing so would immediately transport you to the nearest Tower.
That was it. - How are party members formed when entering the Tower? The problem was that if people nearby tore their Tickets at the same time, they would enter together.
It was convenient, but it also had its share of headaches. - When entering, a party is formed for one minute with those closest to you, in order of proximity, and you enter the Tower. ㄴ Then what if someone intentionally hides nearby and tears a Ticket? ㄴ That person goes in too.
It wasn't like a game where you form a party and the party leader shouts, 'Alright everyone, let's enter! Have a good climb!' and everyone goes in together. In reality, this aspect had caused many problems.
Some people with ill intentions would maliciously interfere with others' attempts to clear the Tower. After all, there was no way of knowing what happened inside the Tower. - There are even cases where people with good items get targeted. In particular, there were more Hunters who specialized in targeting those with high bounties than one might think.
In any case, for these reasons, clearing the Tower was done in parties. They would try to fill the maximum number of people who could enter the Tower and attempt the clear from a safe space. - So join a good Guild! If you join a strange Guild, you might end up in another world instead of the Tower!
That was one of the reasons why people scrambled to join renowned Guilds. It went without saying, but such accidents could never dare to exist in the Comet Guild.
[You have entered the 1st floor of the Tower.]
All nine applicants, including Lee Ji-soo, were able to enter the 1st floor of the Tower without any particular issues. They were met with a forest lush with greenery. And the moment they faced that forest, the gazes of the remaining applicants, excluding Lee Ji-soo, changed.
They were the eyes of seasoned veterans. In truth, the applicants, having applied to the Comet Guild, all had at least one experience clearing the Tower in some form or another. Furthermore, the Comet Guild didn't bother to impose a rule on applicants stating, “We are only looking for truly natural rookies with no Tower experience!”
As always, the most outstanding talent that large corporations wanted were new hires with experience. In other words, it meant they all had some years under their belt.
“Everyone.”
Thus, one of the applicants, a very large man named Kim Hyun-jin, spoke up.
“Let’s all party up.”
He was suggesting they join forces.
“The test method is simple. We just have to hunt goblins. So it’s more advantageous to hunt them together.”
Lee Ji-soo didn't say anything in response to his words. Her role was only to watch, after all.
‘This is normal.’
Besides, the suggestion Kim Hyun-jin made was the most basic virtue a Hunter should have when clearing the Tower.
‘Survival is what matters most.’
When it came to clearing the Tower, the result didn't matter much. The most important thing was to increase the survival rate by even one percent, and the first step to achieving that was for the Hunters who entered to join hands.
It was a natural course of action in many ways, and the remaining Hunters willingly agreed to Kim Hyun-jin's words.
"Excuse me.”
However, one person was different.
"Where is that person?"
"That person?"
"No, I mean... the person who was asking those questions."
Park Jin-soo, he had disappeared. Park Jin-soo, he had slipped away as soon as he entered the Tower. It wasn't for any grand reason.
‘Let’s not cause any trouble.’
First of all, regardless of whether he passed or failed this test, Park Jin-soo didn't want to cause any unnecessary problems. And the surest way to not cause problems was to simply disappear from sight.
‘Looks like everyone else came well-prepared.’
Also, from what Park Jin-soo could see, the others, excluding himself, were skilled veterans who had sufficient experience and had studied up. On the other hand, Park Jin-soo, sorry to say, didn't know much about the Tower or Hunters.
After all, in a place like prison, especially for Park Jin-soo, it was nearly impossible to get information from the outside world. In any case, it would be difficult for the clueless Park Jin-soo to get good results by moving with people who knew what they were doing.
‘Well, it’s not like it’s going to be difficult.’
Of course, the biggest reason Park Jin-soo moved alone was because he was confident it wouldn't be particularly dangerous even if he did. It wasn't just vague confidence. For one, Park Jin-soo had experienced the Tower once before.
[A Return Mission has been issued.]
[Kill 44 goblins.]
Also, the condition for this Return Mission was of a lower difficulty than last time.
‘And I have a proper weapon this time.’
Crucially, unlike the time he was thrown in empty-handed, Park Jin-soo now had items in his possession. First, he had sturdy armor. - Grade: Red - Requires Level 1 or higher - Attack Power: F - Durability: F - A good quality axe among those used by goblins. Seems decent enough.
And he had a very fine weapon, an axe with a small, thumbnail-sized red gem embedded in one spot on the blade. To feel a sense of crisis when given this many advantages? That would be even more ridiculous.
That was why.
Kkiik, kkiik!
The moment Park Jin-soo heard the sound of goblins, he approached in that direction without hesitation.
‘Ten of them.’
The moment he confirmed their number, Park Jin-soo immediately raised his axe and charged toward the group of goblins.
Kkieeeh!
The ten goblins were surprised by Park Jin-soo's appearance, but the moment they saw he was alone, they charged at him with swagger.
Crack!
And Park Jin-soo brought his axe down on the heads of the approaching goblins one by one.
[You have killed a goblin!]
The newly acquired axe split the goblins' heads as easily as watermelons. In an instant, he had killed nine goblins. So quickly that they couldn't even let out a scream.
Thwack!
But the last, tenth goblin, was struck in the shoulder, not the head. It went without saying, but it wasn't a mistake. Park Jin-soo had deliberately left one goblin alive.
After lodging the axe in its left shoulder, he kicked the goblin down, and just like that, he brought the axe down once more on the goblin's left ankle, near its Achilles tendon.
Stab! Kkieeeehh!
The goblin let out a scream. In that state, Park Jin-soo stared intently at the goblin.
Kkieeeh!
The goblin, screaming in agony before Park Jin-soo.
Kkiririri!
But at some point, the sound coming from the goblin's mouth changed, and hearing that sound, Park Jin-soo's eyes gleamed.
"Kkiririri."
Presently, Park Jin-soo mimicked the sound the goblin had just made with his own mouth. The goblin was startled by the sound. Seeing the goblin, Park Jin-soo spoke quietly.
"The goblin bastards last time were the same. Whenever they're in a dangerous situation, they always say, kkiririri, like this. Is this, by any chance, a call for help to those nearby? Or is it a plea to spare its life? A curse upon me, perhaps?"
Of course, the goblin couldn't understand Park Jin-soo's words. It could only feel it. That the human before its eyes was a very, very wrong existence.
Kkirrr, kkikki!
At the sight of the goblin muttering something, terrified by that fact, Park Jin-soo spoke calmly.
Kkiiii!
"Seeing how you guys run away without a second glance the moment your comrades get hit, it doesn't seem like a warning, like 'It's dangerous here, run!' Well, I guess I can find out from now on."
And with that, Park Jin-soo let go of the goblin, which was crawling on the ground, unable to walk. He looked at the goblin, which was staring at him with eyes full of terror, and spoke. His eyes held a coldness greater than ever before.
"Alright then, try asking for help from those nearby. I'll be waiting close by. Go on, call your comrades over."
Kkirrrr!
"Yes, just like that. Tell your friends. Tell them to come here and help you, to please save you."
A faint smile hung on Park Jin-soo's lips as he spoke those words. After entering the Tower, what Lee Ji-soo did was find a suitable place, settle down, and close her eyes. That was all.
She didn't follow the applicants or check on their status in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.
‘If they die, they die.’
In the first place, if they were fated to die there, they were fated to die at any time. There was no one who entered the Tower without that much resolve, and there was no reason to look after a Hunter who lacked that much resolve.
‘They’ll manage on their own. Against goblins, anyway.’
Besides, this batch of applicants were individuals who possessed more than the basics. To be precise, those who didn't possess the basics couldn't even take the test in the first place.
‘Except for that bastard.’
Of course, Park Jin-soo was an exception to all of that. He wasn't someone who had taken the test through normal means in the first place. He was a parachute hire, and one dropped from the very top at that, a man who had been in a solitary prison cell until just a few days ago.
‘To think we have to use a madman like that.’
Naturally, Lee Ji-soo was not pleased with Park Jin-soo's existence.
‘Even if the situation is this bad.’
But what was even more displeasing was that the situation for the Comet Guild, and by extension, South Korea, was so dire that Chief Secretary Kim Jeong-bin had to step in like that.
‘We might see some ugly things after the next presidential election.’
The reason was none other than the presidential election scheduled for two months from now, in March. Hunters had become inextricably linked with politics, and depending on the election results, there was a high possibility that a massive storm would hit the Korean Guilds. In particular, there was even talk of several large Guilds or big-shot Hunters immigrating.
At a time when every single skilled Hunter was truly crucial. Of course, she didn't for a moment think that Park Jin-soo would be that person. It made no sense in the first place.
A single Hunter, a psychopathic serial killer at that, saving South Korea? Not a chance.
‘Fail. I'm going to fail him no matter what.’
Therefore, Lee Ji-soo planned to use even the slightest flaw as a pretext to fail Park Jin-soo in the test. That was her reason for being here. No one knows what happens in the Tower, and for that reason, her word as the Supervisor was the final answer.
It was then.
Fwoooom!
With a powerful sound, a streak of flame shot high into the sky.
‘They set it off.’
Seeing the sound and the flame, Lee Ji-soo moved quickly. Like a flash. Fast enough to run 100 meters in 8 seconds.
As she did, she drew a single dagger from the sheath hanging at her waist. Its sharpness was on a different level from what the applicants had been holding earlier. Furthermore, a yellow gem was embedded in the center of the dagger.
The symbol of a Yellow Grade item! That was the reason Lee Ji-soo had entered the 1st floor without a hint of worry, despite any threats or risks. On the 1st floor, there was virtually no Hunter who could threaten her!
That was why, since reaching a certain level of skill, Lee Ji-soo had never felt a sense of tension on the 1st floor of the Tower. She was confident she wouldn't be particularly nervous even if she were surrounded by hundreds of goblins. Confident that she wouldn't show any emotion in most situations.
‘What is this?’
However, that same Lee Ji-soo couldn't help but become more tense than ever before the moment she reached the place where the flames had shot up, where the Flame Gem had been set off.
"S-Supervisor."
The eight applicants were trembling.
"Th-this is..."
Before them was a mountain of goblin corpses piled up like a hill. It wasn't a matter of a few dozen.
‘About a hundred of them.’
It was a mountain built from a three-digit number of corpses. Of course, a hundred goblin corpses in itself wasn't surprising. If anything, goblin corpses were a constant sight here on the 1st floor.
Wasn't the test itself to hunt 200 goblins each? The problem was that piling up corpses like this was on a completely different dimension from simply making corpses. It was something no Hunter in their right mind would ever do, or should ever do.
Furthermore, it was an act that not just a Hunter, but any human with common sense, couldn't even imagine.
‘Park Jin-soo.’
It went without saying, but there was only one person here capable of such a thing. So, there was no question. Lee Ji-soo, who knew Park Jin-soo's record, didn't think too deeply about why he would do something like this.
‘As expected of that crazy bastard.’
There was nothing more foolish than asking a madman who had killed dozens of people, "Why did you do it?"
‘I have to catch that bastard right now.’
Moreover, leaving such a madman here, in the Tower, was also a foolish act. Lee Ji-soo prepared to move.
"O-over there."
One of the applicants spoke to her.
"What is it?"
"Th-there's not just one."
"What?"
"Th-there are more of these goblin mountains."
"What did you say?"
The moment she heard that, Lee Ji-soo immediately went to the place the applicant had mentioned, and there, she saw another mountain made of identical goblin corpses. The moment she saw the second mountain of goblin corpses, Lee Ji-soo thought she had to catch Park Jin-soo right away.
But the moment she saw the third mountain of goblin corpses was different. From that point on, Lee Ji-soo no longer thought about catching Park Jin-soo immediately.
“Everyone, exit.”