Chapter 18
“What an unbelievable record! The fastest clear of the Tower’s 73rd floor!”
“Is it true that you didn’t use even a single elixir to break through the cursed zone?”
“Ms. Kuroaki! Just a few words, please!”
A barrage of camera flashes and microphones descended upon Sonya.
The reporters had come looking for her the moment she broke the fastest-clear record for the 73rd floor.
The previous record had been set a year ago by the Hero, Yusera.
Any reporter who failed to cover the fact that Sonya had broken the record of the strongest Hunter in Taepyeong City—the Hero—would have to be insane.
Amid the praise of her guild members and the other officials, Sonya lightly waved her hand, doing her best to hide how exhausted she was.
“I was simply lucky. I happened to obtain an item perfectly suited to clearing the floor. I’ll give an official interview through the guild later.”
“Ms. Sonya! Just a little longer!”
“Ms. Kuroaki, please give us a brief interview!”
“Could this finally be enough to change the rankings in the top tier…?”
Leaving the barrage of questions behind, she escaped to the Hunter waiting room, collapsed onto a sofa, and let out a long breath.
Psssh—!
When Sonya removed the purification mask meant to cleanse the miasma on the 73rd floor, black wolf ears sprang upright from her head with the sound of escaping air.
It had been unbearably stuffy.
They claimed it was for clearing the floor, but a mask designed to cover the ears attached to her head?
“Even if it’s a mask made specifically for beastfolk, this is still a problem.”
No matter how well she could hear through the mask, having her ears sealed up like this made it difficult to assess what was happening around her.
That was especially true for a wolfkin like Sonya, who sensed the presence of her surroundings through the movement of the air.
The minor issues with equipment like this were one of the reasons she had found clearing the 73rd floor so troublesome.
Sonya loosened the tie of the black suit that was her trademark and sighed as she turned on her smartphone.
The moment she turned it on, the internet was already plastered with stories about her.
Sonya had already been a popular star, but breaking the fastest-clear record for the 73rd floor had a completely different impact.
She had broken the fastest records for not only the 72nd floor, but the 73rd floor as well.
People were even saying that she had evolved to the point where she could threaten the Hero’s ironclad hold on first place in the rankings.
-This is insane. She cleared the 73rd floor without elixirs? And within a day of entering? Is Kuroaki Sonya now the strongest of the Seven Heroes? Isn’t she stronger than the Hero?
-The Hero is still stronger. Yusera is challenging the 80th floor right now.
-The Hero did set all the fastest records for the floors above that, too.
-But wasn’t the 73rd floor the worst possible field for a wolfkin like Sonya? If she set the fastest record there, there’s no reason she couldn’t break the record on the next floor, either.
-Kuroaki is definitely in top form right now.
-Doesn’t this record put her at 21 fastest-clear records?
-└ You wolf simps, if we’re talking records, Hero noona has 33 clear records. If we’re talking first clears, it isn’t even a contest. Quit jerking off over records.
-└ The Light Cultist’s back again. Why come to a Sonya article just to stir shit?
-Kuroaki noona, I’m dying!!
-└ The wolf simps are making a huge fuss.
Posts praising her.
Normally, she would have avoided even looking at posts like these.
The public’s expectations, cheers, and praise directed at her.
To Sonya, they had always felt like a burden.
The pressure to be perfect.
The weight of having to improve herself to live up to everyone’s expectations.
The expectations that drove her to push herself to her limits were so overwhelming that she would usually hurriedly close even comment sections filled with praise.
But today was different.
A gentle smile spread across Sonya’s lips as she read the comments.
She even let out a small laugh while watching her fans wage fierce keyboard battles, but then her gaze suddenly shifted to her own hands.
The part-timer’s hands that had held hers to transfer the World Tree pollen to her.
The touch of those rough yet gentle hands.
Who would dare even imagine it?
Imagining holding Kuroaki Sonya’s hand.
She was everyone’s hero, their ideal.
The kind of star people clamored to photograph and lined up to get autographs from.
But the part-timer hadn’t looked at her as a star.
He had looked genuinely as though he had no idea who she was.
Did he not read the news or newspapers?
It had been surprising—and fun—that he didn’t know her.
And it was comfortable.
The fact that she didn’t have to worry about social propriety or appearances.
It made her feel at ease.
-I figured touching it directly might be more effective.
-If shaking it off doesn’t make it fall, rubbing it onto you is another way to transfer it.
As she recalled that situation, she felt, without realizing it, the sensation of him holding her hand again and clenched her fist.
Imagining tightly gripping the hand that held hers….
‘W-what am I thinking?’
I must be crazy.
Sonya shook her head, wiggling her fingers, which still seemed to retain a flushed warmth.
That was when.
Clack!
“Wow! Our Sonya, did you see the article? It’s caused a huge commotion!”
The waiting-room door opened, and a bright, cheerful voice rang out.
A woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes entered.
She wore lightly modified holy knight armor. She was one of the Seven Heroes—the ‘Hero,’ Yusera—whom the comments had just been comparing Sonya to.
One of the strongest Hunters in Taepyeong City.
The hero whom many considered the strongest Hunter according to the records.
Always giving everyone bright energy with her cheerful smile, she grinned and sat down beside Sonya.
“How did you find out?”
“Hmm? Balti told me.”
No sooner had she finished speaking.
Thud—.
A heavy sound reverberated through the waiting-room floor.
-You’re making quite a racket. I believe I told you to open the door gently, Hero.
A giant whose entire body was made of solid mineral.
He was Balthazar, one of the Seven Heroes—the ‘Fist King’—and every time his joints moved, they produced a heavy grinding sound.
When a golem over three meters tall entered, the atmosphere changed.
The characteristically emotionless eyes of the golem race turned toward Sonya.
-Congratulations. You set the fastest record.
“I just got lucky. It’ll be broken the moment the Fist King starts tackling the 73rd floor anyway, won’t it?”
-This unit is not completely immune to poison.
Thud!
He closed the waiting-room door and entered.
“You’re both probably busy, so what brings you here?”
“What do you mean, what brings us here? We obviously came to congratulate our strongest wolf lady!”
Yusera smiled sweetly and snuggled right up beside Sonya.
“Honestly, I had a hard time with the 73rd floor, too. I was practically living on elixirs because of the poison…. So when I heard you cleared it in two days, I came straight here because I wanted to know how. Have you become stronger than me now, Sonya?”
Just as Sonya was about to cough awkwardly at Yusera’s overreaction, the Fist King, who had his arms crossed, cut in.
-After examining the residual mana remaining in Kuroaki’s body, this unit detected a large amount of nature-aspected mana. Considering that she did not consume elixirs and that the types of nature-aspected mana and techniques capable of resisting miasma are limited, Kuroaki is presumed to have used World Tree pollen. Is that correct?
At that, Yusera’s eyes widened.
“What?! World Tree pollen? You used an item that’s become so rare that even elves can’t obtain it these days? You must have needed quite a lot to clear that floor. Where did you get it?”
Yusera grabbed Sonya by the shoulders and shook her vigorously.
Sonya shook her head as if dizzy and removed Yusera’s hands.
At Yusera’s question, the face of the convenience store part-timer immediately came to mind.
Would the two of them really believe her if she said that the World Tree pollen, now difficult even for elves to obtain, had come from the fingertips of a mere convenience store part-timer?
“…I just happened to meet a benefactor.”
Sonya dodged the question and cast a sidelong glance at Yusera.
Come to think of it, Yusera was the only ‘human’ among the Seven Heroes.
One of the very few humans in Taepyeong City.
If anyone, she might know.
What human males liked.
“Hey, Sera.”
“Hmm?”
“What kind of gift do humans like receiving?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
When Yusera tilted her head, Sonya subtly avoided her gaze and fiddled with her mask.
Her black tail swished anxiously.
“I mean, human males—men. I was wondering if there’s some kind of gift they especially like.”
Silence.
An odd silence descended over the waiting room.
Yusera’s eyes grew so wide they looked ready to pop out as she replayed the words Sonya had just uttered, and even the golem Fist King stopped moving and stared intently at Sonya.
“You don’t mean….”
Yusera’s mouth fell open, and she pointed at Sonya with a trembling hand.
“S-Sonya, are you… seeing someone?!”
“N-no!! It’s not like that!”
Flustered, Sonya shot to her feet and waved her hands frantically.
Her face turned bright red, and her ears and tail stood rigidly upright.
Dating.
It definitely wasn’t that.
It was just that.
“I just got help from him. I wanted to give him a thank-you gift, but I don’t know what he likes….”
If he had been wolfkin, it would have been easy.
She simply could have given him a chunk of meat, since that always made them happy.
But she knew nothing about humans.
After all, humans were rarer than dragons in Taepyeong City.
Despite Sonya’s excuse, Yusera and the Fist King were still visibly shocked.
If you asked which Hero among the Seven had the least personal interaction with others, Sonya was always one of the first names mentioned.
Aside from work-related interviews, she barely engaged in any outside activities.
A human who had managed to catch Sonya’s interest.
And from what they had heard, that human man seemed to be the person who had given Sonya the World Tree pollen.
‘There was a human in Taepyeong City powerful enough to give someone World Tree pollen?’
Curiosity about the person Sonya had feelings for began to bloom in Yusera’s mind.
But she would put that aside for the moment.
Sonya, the person involved, seemed to dislike the subject.
“Hmm, something a human man likes…. It’s been a long time since I met one, so my memory’s fuzzy. If I had to recommend something….”
Sonya listened intently with her ears perked up.
It was nice to see her like this for once.
Meanwhile, the person in question, Kim Min-cheol, was.
“What a fucking pain in the ass these Hunter nuisances are. Seriously.”
Being tormented by a troublesome customer.
***
Beware troublesome Hunter customers.
It was something the convenience store gallery users had emphasized time and again.
Honestly, it hadn’t really hit home.
Because I’d never seen one.
But I think I get it now.
Why everyone hated them so much.
“Sir! This isn’t a coin! Heeey!”
A villain had slipped an unidentified silver coin among a pile of 500-won coins while paying, then disappeared as if fleeing the scene.
Since he was a Hunter and couldn’t be chased on ordinary human legs, I gave up.
“Just put it on my guild’s tab! I said put it on the tab!”
“If you keep acting this unreasonable….”
“Tsk! Do you know what guild I belong to?”
A villain claiming to be an executive of some guild and making a scene, insisting that I put the purchase on credit.
This one was at least easy to resolve since I could call the police.
At least people can communicate, right?
But the truly difficult nuisance was another matter.
“Oh, my baby doesn’t bite people~. It’s okay.”
A tamer nuisance had come in carrying a large magical beast cat without even a leash.
The cat-mom nuisance even left the leopard-sized magical beast cat to make a mess of the displays.
“Oh my, what energy! Did you want to play?”
“Excuse me, ma’am? You’ll have to pay for the damaged goods….”
“Oh my, are you really making a fuss over my baby playing? It was just playing around a little!”
……
That ‘playing’ tore open the snack bags on the display, ma’am.
I called the police again.
I was about to add a word or two, but.
-Grrrr.
I felt the cat beast would bite me if I did.
The golem police officer who arrived subdued her and Cat Mom in an instant, preventing further damage.
“Cat moms in Taepyeong City are way too violent.”
It was the first time I’d been more afraid of the cat than the cat mom.
I’d heard that many Hunters had been mentally frayed by the aftermath of failing to clear the 67th floor.
I never thought the fallout would reach the convenience store, too.
“Those people wouldn’t dare make a peep while the manager was here….”
Being human is miserable.
If I’d been a little stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.
“Should I take up boxing or something?”
I quickly abandoned the thought when I realized that even if I trained under the world champion, I still wouldn’t be able to beat that magical beast cat.
Sometimes it pays to grasp reality quickly.
While checking the cash register balance, I let out a short sigh at the unidentified silver coin the nuisance had mixed in with the others.
“I guess I’ll have to make up the difference with my own money.”
All I could do was develop the habit of checking everything carefully before ringing it up.
I opened my wallet, replaced the 500-won coin in the register, and stuffed the remaining silver coin into my pocket.
If I took it to the black market or a pawnshop later, they’d pay more than 500 won for it.
For now, I decided to console myself with that.
Just as fatigue began to wash over me after dealing with a string of minor nuisances.
Jingle.
Someone entered the store with the cheerful sound of the bell.
It was a familiar face.
“Welco—oh, you’re here.”
She was wearing familiar work clothes dusted with dirt, with a cap pulled low over her head.
It was Ms. Friella, the elf construction worker who had given me the World Tree branch.
“Hello, Min-cheol.”
Her expression lighter than usual, she approached the counter.
“You seem to be in a particularly good mood today. Did something happen?”
At my question, Friella chuckled and leaned her basket against the counter.
“It’s payday today.”
“Oh, congratulations. You finally got paid.”
“I’m treating today.”
“Huh?”
“You bought the Elven Chips for me last time and even threw in a few leftover boxed meals. Elves never forget a kindness.”
A fragrant grassy scent wafted from her.
“I’ll treat my hard-working part-timer to something refreshing! Pick anything you want!”
Maybe it was because of all the troublemakers I’d dealt with today.
Her words were more reassuring than I could have imagined.
“Then may I take you up on that?”
“Of course!”