Chapter 4: Is This a Junk Shop?
I squinted at the massive silhouette looming far beyond the horizon.
The Tower.
Everything in sight felt unfamiliar, but that 'Tower' was uniquely unsettling.
According to Daon, the forge I had been staying in was also a part of the Tower.
A Hidden Stage: The Forge of the End.
If so, could the reason for my death be tied to that 'Tower' as well?
One question led to another, but I knew far too little to find any answers.
Should I go check it out?
I headed straight for the nearest Tower.
Distance-wise, it was roughly…
"Around thirty ri?"
Definitely not a short walk.
Even so, my footsteps felt light.
My steps, which left clear footprints in the snow, soon landed on rough dirt, then onto cold asphalt and pavement.
It was a modern street.
The road stretching between skyscrapers was packed with people.
Passersby, mostly middle-aged women, snuck glances at me and whispered to one another.
"Hey, look over there."
"Oh my. It looks like a little beastkin child. She's so cute…!"
"I know, right? She looks cold—are they filming something? I don't see any cameras, though."
"Oh, come on! Everyone knows camera crews drink invisibility potions while shooting nowadays!"
Countless other voices washed over me in waves—simultaneously, yet perfectly distinct.
The strange noises made the ears atop my head twitch erratically.
"Ngh…"
Was it because my senses were too sharp?
Even the things I didn't want to know came through so clearly.
A hot flush of embarrassment shot up my spine.
Avoiding the gazes of others, I quickened my pace.
* * *
The area near the Tower was a bustling market.
Dozens of stalls lined the street, each swarming with people checking out the goods on display.
"Whoa…"
Everything was fascinating.
My eyes darted around eagerly.
Soon, a particular stall caught my eye.
A vendor stood shouting behind a counter lined with dozens of bottles.
"Hmm…"
Vibrant red and blue liquids sloshed inside various glass bottles adorning the stall.
If my memory served me right, this was yet another thing I'd never seen before.
Returning to the world after so long, I found everything around me entirely alien.
"Wut is—ahem. What is this?"
Intrigued, I stepped up to the stall and asked the vendor.
The sensation of my voice vibrating through my vocal cords still felt awkward, making my words stumble.
The vendor looked down at me for a moment, then offered a bright smile.
"Ah, this is called a potion! When big mister Hunters get an ouchie in a fight, you just rub this on, and fresh skin grows right back!"
"…Aha."
Still, it wasn't like I had forgotten how to speak.
The vendor enthusiastically explained the potion's effects in a slow voice, complete with gestures.
According to Daon, Hunters were people who climbed the Tower to hunt monsters.
So these 'potions' were basically medicine.
Having roughly understood its purpose, I turned to leave, but the vendor smiled and waved at me.
He's… saying goodbye, right?
I awkwardly waved back before heading to the next stall.
A large sign hung overhead.
[JW Guild / Weapons & Consumables]
It was an exceptionally large stall.
I pushed through the packed crowd to inspect the items on display.
Rows of swords, shields, and smaller weapons like shurikens were laid out across the stall.
"Hmm…"
As I rested my chin in my hand and examined the stall, my brow involuntarily furrowed.
I didn't even need to touch them—I could tell just by looking.
Every single one was of atrocious quality.
Because the impurities hadn't been filtered properly, fine cracks filled the interior.
The misaligned grain made the metal look inherently unstable.
Dust kicked up as my tail thumped against the ground restlessly.
"Ah, so it's just a junk shop."
The thought that crossed my mind slipped out unintentionally.
"W-what did you say?"
"Hey, she's just a kid. What would a kid know?"
Two men in suits manning the stall scoffed at my remark in utter disbelief.
Their blatantly condescending tone stung my pride in a strange way.
Just as I was about to walk away, I turned back to look over the stall again.
A price tag on one of the daggers read 800.
If it's 800… does that mean 800 won?
If that was the case, it made total sense.
"Mmm… so that's why it's so cheap."
"Exactly. At 800,000 won, a D-rank dagger is pretty much the cheapest you'll find on the market."
"Eh?"
The fur on my tail puffed straight up at the other clerk's brazen response.
Has the value of Korean currency dropped that much...?
That didn't seem to be the case, though.
The cheapest potion earlier was only 50,000 won a bottle.
Tuning out the clerk babbling with a slimy smirk, I casually picked up the dagger.
"Hey, brat! Don't touch it if you're not going to buy it!"
"…No matter how I look at it, it's garbage."
I held the dagger in my left hand and hooked my right middle finger behind my thumb, coiling the tension tight.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing? Put it down right now!"
The clerk yelled in horror, but my finger was already prepared to flick.
I lined up my shot against the side of the dagger, right at the spot where the metal grain twisted into its messiest knot.
Ting!
The moment my finger made contact, an unpleasant crack echoed from the dagger.
It shattered like brittle ice, sending a shower of fragments all over the floor.
A useless hilt was all that remained in my hand.
"…Uh."
The loud chatter around the stall fell silent.
The clerks' faces flushed redder than the potions down the street, only to drain pale a moment later.
"Mmm… see? It really is garbage."
Feeling a bit awkward, I dusted off my hand and casually tossed the lone hilt onto the floor.
"T-this crazy fox brat…! Hey! Do you have any idea how much that costs?!"
Of course I knew.
He had just said it was 800,000 won.
Is he stupid…?
The suited man contorted his face in fury and lunged across the counter to snag me.
Twisting my body with practiced ease, I slipped seamlessly into the crowd.
"Overpriced trash anyway."
"Stop right there!"
"Catch her!"
The shouts echoed from behind, but I was already light on my feet, making a swift getaway.
Tippy-tap, tippy-tap.
* * *
The meeting room of the Korean Hunter Association was busier than ever.
Seunghoon Kim, the Chairman of the Hunter Association, let out a deep sigh while seated at the head of the table.
"Are you certain there are no anomalies in the re-examination results?"
"Yes, absolutely."
The protagonist of the meeting was the D-rank Awakened, Daon Lee.
She was a Hunter who went missing on the 4th floor of the Tower for a month before miraculously returning.
Seunghoon accepted two documents handed over by an association executive.
One document held her Awakening stats from about three months ago.
The other recorded her stats from the recently conducted re-examination.
Both indicated an unchanged D-rank.
"So you're saying a D-rank Hunter who Awakened just three months ago returned from being missing and instantly shattered every record in the highest difficulty Tower?"
At Seunghoon's question, everyone in the meeting room hung their heads.
The Hunter Association's primary reason for existing was to keep Awakened individuals under control.
The rank system—stretching from E-rank all the way to S-rank—measured a Hunter's power while serving as a national safety net to track the threat they posed.
Only through systematic management could the association keep them in check—whether by offering special privileges or enforcing strict boundaries.
And yet a D-rank Hunter at the bottom of the hierarchy was actively obliterating global records.
"Sigh…"
For a strict rule-follower like Seunghoon, this was a complete breakdown of protocol.
"…There are no changes to her mana levels or her skills."
"Then how on earth does a Hunter who spent two months struggling on the third floor on easy difficulty pull off records like this?"
Amid the silence that fell over the meeting room, a woman in full uniform stood up from her seat.
"I am Chief Soohyeon Han of the Appraisal Management Department. May I speak?"
"Go ahead."
Soohyeon tapped on the tablet in her hand.
Moments later, a blurry video of Daon stepping out of the Tower began playing on the central holographic display.
"This is footage from the day Hunter Daon reappeared after going missing for a month."
Soohyeon paused the video and drew a large circle around the sword held by Daon.
"Comparing footage from before and after her disappearance, the only thing that changed is that weapon in Hunter Daon's hand. It isn't even listed in the Hunter Association's database of Crafting-type Awakened."
"Is this something that can be explained by just a single weapon?"
Seunghoon's question was not a reprimand.
Rather, it was out of pure curiosity.
It had been ten years since the Tower first appeared without warning.
In all those years, special equipment had been nothing more than a tool to withstand a Hunter's power.
"Um… according to the data, Hunter Daon Lee's physical stats and total mana capacity are indeed D-rank."
The Head of Rank Management, who had been holding his breath, seized the opportunity to chime in.
"Breaking the records of S-rank Hunters around the world with just a single weapon…"
Though it was a hard-to-believe hypothesis, the word 'opportunity' flashed through Seunghoon's mind.
If they could get their hands on equipment like that in large quantities… it was only a matter of time before Korea became the world's leading Hunter nation.
"Have you attempted to appraise the weapon?"
"We couldn't because Hunter Daon refused."
"Then how did she get her hands on that weapon?"
"…It is currently under investigation."
Ultimately, it meant they knew absolutely nothing at the moment.
"Sigh…"
Seunghoon rubbed his tired face and swept his hair back.
"Chief Han, can you send me this video separately?"
"Yes, I will transmit it right away."
"…Let's wrap up today's meeting here."
While the crowd filed out of the meeting room, Seunghoon's gaze remained glued to the holographic footage.
More specifically, the blood-red curved blade in Daon's grip.
Even through the blurry recording, the weapon radiated a cold, unearthly presence.
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