Move Complete
Morning sunlight seeped through the curtains.
"Ugh."
Maybe it was because I'd overeaten with sake until late. For some reason, opening my eyes today felt especially hard.
Poke, poke, poke, poke, poke.
I felt fingers stabbing here and there all over my body.
It used to be two—Momo and Kancho—but today I could feel three.
When I barely managed to open my eyes, I saw Ellia sitting beside Kancho and Momo.
"Oh, you're awake? It looked fun, so I joined in."
An elf a venerable 3,271 years older than me.
One of her innate traits was Primordial Curiosity, and apparently it didn't discriminate between fields.
"General Manager. General Manager. You have to wake up. Something weird's going on outside."
"Yeah! It's war! A whole war!"
"Huh? War?"
Momo and Kancho nodded with excited faces.
Now that I was paying attention, I could sense several presences in the living room.
Maybe Jin Yunho was here?
I groggily sat up and pressed down my bed-tousled hair.
Then I left the room.
The moment I stepped out, everyone's gaze swung toward me.
The heat of those stares made me stop walking.
And I finally understood why Momo had called it a war.
"Hello, Yu Jin-hyuk. I'd say it's been a while, but it's only been a day."
Why… is she here?
Jin Seo-hee, dressed in a pitch-black one-piece dress, greeted me with her arms folded.
Cheon Se-yeon glared at her with a face full of pure displeasure.
Between them, Jin Yunho and Min Yu-kyung were sweating buckets from the tension.
Still dazed, I awkwardly raised a hand in greeting.
I didn't know what was going on, but I should at least say hello.
"We came to help you move, but there was an uninvited guest already here."
"I'm the owner of this place. Who are you calling uninvited?"
Ignoring Se-yeon completely, Jin Seo-hee turned with a light spin.
"You packed everything already, right? Tell me where it is. My team will move it."
"Why would you move it? Team Leader Jin Yunho and I already said we'd help. You can go home. We even ate late-night snacks while making the moving plan."
"You've gotten childish, Se-yeon."
"Excuse me."
I had to step in before they clawed each other.
"There's only this one bag. I can carry it myself."
Everything else was in Momo's bag.
The new place was fully furnished, so I'd thrown out all my old furniture.
"Really? Then I'll wait downstairs. Say goodbye to Hunter Cheon Se-yeon."
"Who's saying goodbye to who."
Se-yeon bared her teeth at Jin Seo-hee as she left the apartment.
Watching them, Jin Yunho shrugged helplessly.
"Well, things worked out, didn't they? That unexpected dungeon transfer gave us trouble."
He checked his phone.
The moment we arrived at Se-yeon's place, a transfer alert had gone off.
A 52-floor rift had appeared near Bukhansan, and an emergency recall notice was issued.
Fortunately, a high-ranker—Cheon Se-yeon—was present, so she was immediately assigned.
"Sorry, Jin-hyuk. I wanted to help you move at a leisurely pace today."
"No, really. You treated me to expensive late-night food and drinks. That's more than enough."
"Whew… But seriously, how did Jin Seo-hee even get up here?"
Jin Yunho raised a careful hand.
Since he had to bring Se-yeon to Bukhansan anyway… he'd found a replacement to help me move.
"So you were the spy, Team Leader. Wait, hold on—your surname is Jin too? Don't tell me—"
"I wish, but sadly the Chinese characters are completely different. Anyway, let's go."
We got ready and headed for the elevator.
Thank you for everything, I silently told the officetel as the doors closed.
"Jin-hyuk, I see you climbed today too. After everything you just went through, I thought you'd rest for at least a day."
Jin Yunho had seen the update to the Hall of Honor while wrapping up the incident.
The moment he saw it, he clicked his tongue.
He'd seen countless Hunters, but none who climbed the Tower with such rabid determination.
At this point, it was less a climbing obsession and more… genuine love for the Tower.
"I'm still lacking. I have to keep climbing."
Yunho smiled.
Usually it was the government or the Hunter Bureau begging people to stop slacking off and climb the Tower.
But here was someone doing it on his own—hard not to like a Player like that.
"I'm asking just in case—but did you see any suspicious individuals on the New Caliho? Influencers, strangers you hadn't seen before, someone who wasn't there then suddenly appeared?"
The bizarre phenomena and testimonies at the scene…
To explain them, they needed a third party besides the original passengers.
Quietly moistening my lips, I put on my most innocent face.
"Hmm… Not really. I didn't see anyone strange."
"Is that so."
Yunho let out a long sigh and leaned back against the elevator wall.
His head already hurt thinking about how to write this report.
"And tomorrow and the day after, the Hall of Honor rankings might look a little strange."
"Huh? What does that mean…?"
"I earned a perk from clearing the 36th floor early this morning. A 30-40 Floor Compression Ticket."
Every one of their faces froze solid.
"Jin-hyuk… You're not planning to use that, are you?"
"I am. Why wouldn't I? I got it."
Se-yeon flinched in shock while Yunho let out a dark groan.
"You've been setting such unbelievable records that it's hard to say this, but… honestly, I really don't recommend using a compression ticket."
"Same here. Did you look up the Tower forums? I've never seen anyone end well after using one."
He understood they weren't just fearmongering.
Before going to sleep, he'd searched the forums himself.
— If you wanna die fast, go ahead and use it!
— I compressed two floors and instantly hit the escape button. Monsters were insane.
— Consider yourself lucky if they only get stronger. Sometimes random monsters appear and kill you before you can even escape, apparently.
"Yeah, the comments were pretty savage."
"How many floors are you planning to compress?"
"Four. 37, 38, 39, 40."
"What—eeeEEH?!"
All three shouted at once.
Even compressing two floors was brutal—four was madness.
Stronger monsters were one thing, but unknown named bosses could appear, which was far worse.
Without information, you might die before you could even hit escape, just like those comments said.
"We'd celebrate your fast progression under normal circumstances, but… maybe think about the compression ticket a bit more?"
"Yeah. It's way too dangerous. I mean, you're already going so fast…"
Ding!
Before Se-yeon could finish, the elevator arrived.
Jin Yunho's phone buzzed nonstop—more urgent calls telling him to hurry to Bukhansan.
"You should go. You're busy."
"No—ah… Jin-hyuk! When I get back from Bukhansan, let's talk again. The compression ticket is seriously dangerous!"
"Please assess the risk more carefully before deciding. Don't use it rashly! Promise me!"
Even as they got farther away, they shouted.
Jin-hyuk simply waved with a bright smile.
Their concern was appreciated, but pointless.
He was going to use it. No matter what.
"So clingy till the end."
Jin Seo-hee shook her head as she rolled down the window.
"I sent my staff back since you said you barely had luggage. Get in. Give me the address."
"Yes. Then I'll trouble you."
"What trouble? I owe you plenty."
I got into the eye-catching sports car.
Let's go.
To my sweet new home!
Arriving at the new officetel, the unpacking was quick—it was barely anything.
While I swapped the positions of the desk and dining table—
"For someone living alone, you're setting up like you feed a whole family. Your friends must visit often."
"I just like eating with space."
I dusted my hands and stretched my back.
A wide, clean, luxurious marble dining table.
Looking at it… I suddenly felt sentimental.
It felt like just yesterday Seira, Kancho, and I huddled in a semi-basement eating fried chicken together.
And now here I was—with a place like this, and a table like this.
Once again, I felt I'd done well becoming a Player.
From the sofa, Seo-hee sipped her tea and spoke.
"About what we discussed earlier—I identified the dead Vesta guys."
Of course. Genex really was something.
They'd been blasted into pieces, but they still figured out their identities.
"The one who called my grandfather wasn't Vesta. Just a broker who connected them to the contractor."
"Then we need to catch him to find the contractor."
"Yeah. It won't take long. Uncle Cha Myung-joon went out himself. Even before his Awakening, he was a master at tracking people."
Head of Security, Cha Myung-joon.
We'd met during that lunch.
His first impression was impossible to forget—pure intimidation.
After finishing her tea, Seo-hee stood.
"I'll head out first. I have work."
"Sorry. I couldn't even treat you to a meal. Thanks for the ride."
"It's just down the street. But keep that meal coupon saved. I'll use it later."
"Of course—something delicious next time!"
She smiled and nodded.
When we first met, she'd been ice-cold.
But since the New Caliho incident, she smiled far more often.
"Oh, and… I didn't tell my grandfather what I saw on the New Caliho. That you froze the sea, that the explosion was you—none of it. Not like he'd believe me anyway. And honestly, I don't even understand how you did it."
"Thank you. For thinking of me."
"You don't need to thank me. It's… just my personal greed."
I blinked, confused, but she didn't seem willing to elaborate.
"See you next time."
She stepped out with a faint smile.
Of course she couldn't say it out loud.
That she simply wanted one secret—just one—shared only between her and Jin-hyuk.
Something no one else knew.
'I'm being childish.'
She had felt a strange sense of superiority in front of Se-yeon earlier because of it.
Which only made it feel even more childish.
'Oh well.'
Her grandfather Jin Tae-gon always told her:
Live at the age you are.
A bit late, but maybe she was finally taking that advice.
And once she was gone—
Jin-hyuk summoned his friends.
"Come on, get unpacking."
"Got it! This is my room!!"
"No! Momo's room!"
"You little ones lack manners. The elder always chooses first."
While they dashed around noisily—
Jin-hyuk opened his inventory and used the compression ticket.
[30th-Floor Interval Compression Ticket activated.
Select the floors to combine.]
The list for floors 37 through 40 appeared.
Without even a second's hesitation, he selected them all.
[Compressing 4 floors into one!]
[Special Extra Floor: Tower of Despair – Floor 40-4 has appeared!]
Jin-hyuk stretched with satisfaction and smiled.
Time to go.
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T/N:
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