Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Even after reaching the Eighth Floor,

Baek Cheon-myeong was still breaking records.

His definition of "taking a long time" was clearly broken.

Still.

The clear time had increased.

And the higher they climbed,

the more that time would probably continue increasing.

That makes me nervous while he's gone.

Come to think of it,

there were about two days left until Ha-min could raise another corpse from Grave Mountain.

Having another person like Baek Cheon-myeong around might become troublesome.

But Baek Cheon-myeong always placed Kang Ha-min's safety first.

Surely the next corpse he raised would be the same.

I should seriously consider it.

Meanwhile,

Baek Cheon-myeong opened the door and returned.

"Good work."

"I merely had to use slightly more effort."

Kang Ha-min immediately checked the reward.

He had cleared an Eighth Floor whose difficulty had increased dramatically.

Surely this reward would be more special than the previous ones.

[Eighth Floor clear reward obtained.]

[You have obtained a Citizen Summon Ticket.]

Huh?

What was this?

This time,

Ha-min genuinely had no idea what the reward meant.

A physical reward appeared in his hand.

It was a single ticket.

"Is that the reward this time?"

Even Baek Cheon-myeong seemed interested.

"Ah, yes. It says it's a Citizen Summon Ticket."

"Master truly obtains nothing but strange things."

Whose fault was that?

Wasn't it because Baek Cheon-myeong had pushed the Tower all the way to Hell difficulty?

Ha-min couldn't bring himself to say that,

so he remained silent.

"It is a ticket that can summon a creature from the Tower."

"W, what?"

Summon a monster?

That was possible?

"Many gods exist within the Tower. You already know that they watch Hunters, correct?"

"Ah, yes. They show up every day."

There were so many of them that Ha-min still couldn't remember every god's name.

Other Hunters considered themselves lucky if even one god took interest in them.

Kang Ha-min had so many watching him that it was becoming stressful.

"The gods create various creatures within the Tower."

"They are called monsters, but their appearances can take almost any form."

"Then this Citizen Summon Ticket..."

"It means you can create one of the living beings the gods would normally create inside the Tower, according to what you imagine."

Kang Ha-min's mouth fell open.

Wasn't that basically creating life?

"I'll warn you beforehand. A creature summoned this way cannot climb the Tower."

"I wasn't planning on making it climb the Tower."

"Then it is honestly not very useful."

"At most, it will serve as a bodyguard in reality."

Wasn't that only useless by the standards of Baek Cheon-myeong, a man obsessed with climbing the Tower?

To Kang Ha-min,

this sounded incredible.

It was basically giving an ordinary Hunter a summon.

"Should we use it now?"

"Do so."

There was no reason to hesitate.

Ha-min always felt better when he immediately used whatever could be used.

He entered the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest with Baek Cheon-myeong.

The air here was always pleasant.

Just entering the forest made him feel better.

"So anything I imagine can appear?"

"More precisely, something deeply engraved within Master's mind will appear."

"It will probably become a servant capable of helping with whatever Master needs in the future."

There was always the chance something enormous would appear.

Ha-min decided to use it carefully.

[Would you like to use the Citizen Summon Ticket?]

[YES / NO]

There was no need to think any longer.

He selected YES.

The Citizen Summon Ticket burned away in blue flames.

At the same time,

pure white light gathered directly in front of him.

What would appear?

So far,

every strange reward Ha-min received had turned out to be a jackpot.

He couldn't hide his excitement as he waited.

Pop!

Something suddenly dropped in front of him.

"Woof!"

The moment it saw Kang Ha-min,

it barked.

It was a completely harmless bark.

A round, flat face.

Large black eyes.

Soft, fluffy fur around a short muzzle.

Two drooping brown ears.

"...A Shih Tzu?"

There was a Shih Tzu.

Kang Ha-min stared in confusion.

It said it would summon a citizen.

Why had a Shih Tzu appeared?

Don't tell me the being engraved deepest in my heart was...

A Shih Tzu?

Ha-min stared blankly at the dog.

The Shih Tzu looked around.

Then it discovered its own tail.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

It began spinning in circles and barking furiously at its own tail.

It looked unbelievably stupid.

Kang Ha-min covered his eyes.

Kang Ha-min,

your entire life really is a Shih Tzu.

"...Hmm?"

While Kang Ha-min fell into despair,

Baek Cheon-myeong stared closely at the dog.

He pulled another strange one.

Kang Ha-min didn't seem to notice,

but this Shih Tzu was far from ordinary.

The Tower could create almost anything.

That meant judging a creature only by its appearance was foolish.

The Shih Tzu noticed Baek Cheon-myeong staring and stopped spinning.

It looked up at him.

Its tail began wagging rapidly.

Baek Cheon-myeong raised a hand and gently patted its head.

That alone made the Shih Tzu look as though it had received everything it ever wanted.

"Not bad."

"If this body is ever absent, protect Master well."

"Woof! Woof!"

That should be enough to entrust Ha-min to it occasionally.

Unlike the despairing Kang Ha-min,

Baek Cheon-myeong looked very satisfied.

Leaving the Shih Tzu to run around,

Ha-min checked his level.

[Kang Ha-min]

● Level: 35

● Class: Gravekeeper of a Ruined World

● Sub-Class: Heaven-Destroying Swordsman

● Rank: Mythic (神話)

■ Unique Skills: Enter Grave Mountain / Rise of the Dead (亡者起立) / Army of the Dead / Grave King's Aura (墓王氣勢) / NEW! Black Coffin Summon

■ Paths: Corpse Reconstruction / Soul Binding

He had finally reached Level 35.

Another new skill had appeared.

[Black Coffin Summon]

• Summons a black coffin that can block attacks or forcibly imprison an enemy.

• A target trapped inside the coffin has their senses cut off.

Another strange skill.

Since Kang Ha-min rarely fought directly,

his number of skills kept increasing without him fully understanding how to use them.

But then,

an interesting thought crossed his mind.

Hunters are allowed to carry weapons.

Normal people, however, would immediately be arrested for walking around with dangerous weapons.

Since Kang Ha-min wasn't officially registered as a Hunter,

carrying a weapon openly was impossible.

But with this...

It was worth testing.

"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, can I borrow that wooden sword for a moment?"

"Take it."

Baek Cheon-myeong could create wooden swords whenever he wanted,

so he handed it over without caring.

"Black Coffin Summon."

Something surged from Ha-min's shadow.

It was an enormous black coffin,

large enough to hold a person.

Creeeak.

The coffin opened.

Kang Ha-min placed the wooden sword inside.

Thud.

The lid closed.

The coffin sank back into the shadow.

"Black Coffin Summon."

He summoned it again.

Baek Cheon-myeong's wooden sword was still inside.

Kang Ha-min clenched his fist.

Success.

"With this, I don't have to worry about carrying a weapon anymore!"

"Hmm."

Baek Cheon-myeong stared at the coffin thoughtfully.

"Master, your sword isn't finished yet, so we still have time."

"Ah, yes. That's true."

While Kang Ha-min dismissed the coffin,

Baek Cheon-myeong picked up his phone.

By now,

he had become skilled at using it to search for things.

"What are you looking for?"

"Master created an army from monsters before, correct?"

Baek Cheon-myeong soon found information about a Dimensional Break that had appeared in Gyeonggi Province.

"What if we kill the monsters there, turn them into part of your army, and then store them inside the Black Coffin?"

"Ah!"

Kang Ha-min immediately understood.

Baek Cheon-myeong's idea was excellent.

"Let's go right now!"

Any additional safety measure was worth having.

The moment Kang Ha-min shouted,

the Shih Tzu jumped straight into his arms.

"Whine!"

Apparently,

it wanted to come too.

Come to think of it,

he still hadn't given the dog a name.

"Fine. You can come with us."

He would name it after they returned.

Ha-min stood while holding the Shih Tzu.

Then a sudden feeling of dread hit him.

"...Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, how are we getting there?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Baek Cheon-myeong tilted his chin as though Ha-min had asked something strange.

"We'll run."

Of course.

That was the only answer.

Kang Ha-min swallowed his tears.

His hair was going to be destroyed by the wind again today.

Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province,

located northeast of Seoul.

A Dimensional Break had occurred there.

[B Rank Dimensional Break]

[Mist Zone]

The interior was in complete chaos because the mist was so thick that nobody could see even a short distance ahead.

Traffic was naturally paralyzed.

The mist had even entered buildings,

making evacuation difficult.

The Dimensional Break itself wasn't especially high Rank.

But the environmental conditions made it extremely dangerous.

Even experienced Hunters were struggling.

If they focused on rescuing civilians,

the mist prevented them from finding people properly.

If they focused only on hunting monsters,

there was a risk civilians would be caught in the fighting.

It was the kind of Dimensional Break that gave even professional Hunters headaches.

"What are we supposed to do? The Dimensional Break and monster Ranks might be low, but this isn't something we can realistically handle."

"We need higher-Rank Hunters. Preferably someone with detection abilities too."

The B Rank Hunters were complaining to the government administrator who had gathered them.

Whenever a Dimensional Break appeared nearby,

Hunters received immediate mobilization orders.

Usually,

the Rank of the summoned Hunters matched the Rank of the Dimensional Break.

That was why every Hunter gathered here was B Rank.

But this particular Break was difficult for them to clear.

Nobody could figure out what to do.

The Hunters kept complaining.

Civilians trapped inside kept sending emergency rescue requests.

Ji Yong-hu,

a government administrator who had only started working this year,

felt like he was going insane.

"Ah, w, well, I did request support, but the higher-ups haven't really responded..."

Surrounded by complaining Hunters,

he kept sweating and sounding like he was about to cry.

In government work,

seniority often mattered more than ability.

And Ji Yong-hu was a brand-new employee.

He had almost no authority.

The Hunters immediately realized it.

"Either way, we're not going inside like this."

"You know Hunters have the right to refuse once the danger passes a certain level, right?"

"If you want us to go in, we need at least double the usual payment."

In the end,

being a Hunter was still a job people did to make a living.

And when someone's work constantly involved danger,

it wasn't surprising that many became obsessed with money.

Dimensional Break response payments ultimately came from government-approved contracts.

Depending on the danger,

Hunters could naturally demand more money.

"Uh, th, that's not under my authority..."

Ji Yong-hu was slowly being pressured by the Hunters.

Then,

Tap.

A man suddenly appeared without a sound,

his traditional robe fluttering behind him.

"This is the place."

Baek Cheon-myeong had arrived.

And beneath his shadow,

Uaaaaaaaaah.

Kang Ha-min was screaming.