Chapter 20
A new type of entity discovered!
This time, it's a puppy!
Well, this works out perfectly.
I've actually wanted a pet for a long time.
And Mom would be lonely all by herself without me.
Adopting a puppy sounds just right.
“Mom! I'm home! Mom! Mom?”
One precious day of leave: gone.
I happily used it to adopt a puppy, though.
“Huh?”
Why is nobody home?
It's 11:32 p.m. right now.
It's strange for Mom to be out at this hour.
“Boss? Aren't we leaving?”
“Oh, Kuku. Well... I can't find my mom.”
“Your mother? Hmm... Boss.”
“Yeah? What's wrong all of a sudden?”
“There's someone outside the house. They're not coming in, just loitering in front of the door.”
“....”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Kuku. Bring him in.”
“Yes.”
Clunk!
Kuku immediately kicked open the front door and dashed outside.
Kuku grabbed the man loitering in front of our house and dragged him inside.
“Aaaah! Aaaaaaah! Wait, please!!! S-save me!!!”
“Boss, I caught him. What should I do? Should I start by cutting off his fingers?”
“Whaaat!? No, we should ask who he is first! Why would you cut off his fingers?”
Are you crazy!? You can't just cut off his fingers without even knowing if he's a criminal!
“You heard the boss. She wants to know who you are. Answer properly. If you lie, I'll cut off your fingers one by one.”
“Kuku. Don't you just want to cut something?”
“....”
Why can't you answer me?!
You just want to torture someone!
No, this isn't the time for that. I need to find out who this guy is first!
“Who are you, and why are you loitering in front of someone else's house? You're acting suspicious. I'm already on edge, you know? Do you want to die or something?”
“N-no! I'm not suspicious! I'm Gu Gitae, from the Korean Tower Management Bureau! H-here's my employee ID!”
“The Tower Management Bureau? It's real? You didn't forge it?”
“I swear to heaven, it's real! I-I can even put you on the phone with the director!”
Why is a Tower Management Bureau employee loitering in front of our house?
Did these bastards get in bed with China or America and start plotting something?
I'm sure Hyeji delivered my letter.
And Popo and Kuku went to warn them not to mess with me, too.
No, more importantly, where the hell is my mom?
“I was waiting to meet you, Administrator!”
“Huh? Why?”
“Well, we had some things to tell you about your family... I've been waiting here for two days... But who are you? I understand the person wearing a mask is an associate of the Basement Administrator, but I haven't heard anything about a little girl...”
You asked who I am??!
You don't know who I am?
I'm the famous Basement Administrator!
The god of the Tower's restoration.
The Constellations' superstar.
The most famous Korean of the 21st century.
“It's me, the Basement Administrator.”
“Whaaaaaat!?”
I mean, when you react with that much shock, even I get a little awkward...
Is it really that shocking?
“B-but... I heard the Basement Administrator was a man... The profile showed a big, burly guy...”
“Right. That's me.”
“....?????”
What? What's with that look?
Can't you relax your face?
“Here. Take a good look.”
“This is...”
====
[Lost Item No. 0]
[Administrator Employee ID]
Proof of the Administrator's credentials!
The basement's absolute ruler! Amazing!
====
“Gaaasp!? I-is this real!? That's insane...! A Lost Item...!”
“Well? Do you believe me now?”
“I-I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Administrator! I respect you!”
There we go.
Look how quickly his attitude changed.
Just a moment ago, he was terrified of Kuku, and now he's overflowing with endless admiration and respect.
Is this the power of a major corporation?
I got a job at the Tower, and now even a Tower Management Bureau employee is bowing to me at a ninety-degree angle!
“Anyway, where's my mom? You said you came because of my family. Was she kidnapped? Because I'll tear the Bureau apart if she was.”
“N-no! That's not it! I heard your mother sent you a text message. Haven't you checked it yet?”
“Huh? A text? Oh...”
The basement is outside the service area, and there's no internet, so I wouldn't know if I got a text.
There's nothing to do down there except browse the gallery.
Even if someone contacts me, I basically have to come out of the Tower to check.
“Oh, there it is.”
====
[Mom]
Son~ Oh, I guess you're my daughter now?
Anyway, the people from the Management Bureau
said I had to move~~
So Mom left in a hurry~~~~
They said they'd send my things later, but
the amenities here are incredible~~~
Your mom's living the high life thanks to you, my child~
Thank you~~~ Love you, my baby~~♡
====
It's full of tildes, the trademark of the middle-aged and elderly.
Yep, this is definitely a text from my mom.
“Hello? Mom?”
-Yeah~ My girl, are you out now? You saw my text~!
“Yeah. Where are you?”
-I'm at an apartment called Cheongdam The Demian Noblesse Central Sky Park. It's amazing here! You've got to come see it. There's a view of the Han River, and a security team you can call any time, twenty-four hours a day. The apartment basement has a swimming pool, hot springs, and all kinds of facilities. The community center connects to the subway and a department store, so you can get anywhere in ten minutes! Isn't that amazing? They even furnished the place, so I don't need to buy anything new. Oh, right. There's a personal driver and a housekeeper who comes to clean about twice a week.
Stop. Stop!!!
Too much information at once is overwhelming!
“Yeah, Mom. I get it. I'm glad you're doing well. I'm kind of busy right now, so I'll hang up.”
-Oh, sure~ Your mom's really living the high life thanks to you! Go, Cheonwoo~~
“Yeah. Love you. Bye.”
Click.
Phew. If I'd let her go on, she would've kept talking for an hour or two.
If I hadn't interrupted, I would've had to talk to Mom until my ears started bleeding.
But seriously, where exactly is The Demian Noblesse Central Sky Park?
That's an apartment name longer than a European noble's title!
Why are all Korean apartment names like this?
This needs to be fixed, too.
How can an apartment name be more than sixteen characters long?
Even a magic spell wouldn't be this long.
“I think I understand the situation, more or less. But why did my mom suddenly move?”
“Well, as you know, Administrator, several countries are targeting you. And there was an incident where your name was leaked...”
Could someone identify our home just from my name?
Of course they could.
Like the shrine maiden from Japan.
And the saintess from the Western world.
Climbers with prophecy or oracle skills are experts at digging up secrets.
So, expecting Mom to be targeted, the Tower Management Bureau moved her out in advance.
It seems they've put her in a top-tier facility and are keeping a close eye on her.
......What!
They're actually doing their jobs well!?
Is this really the corrupt Tower Management Bureau I know?
The same Bureau that was always leaking Hunters' personal information
and acting like a spineless coward around the advanced Tower nations?
I kept sending entities to bombard them with complaints, and now they've become incredibly competent!
Ah, even the Tower Management Bureau has been restored to order.
“Your friend Lee Hyeji's family also finished moving just yesterday. We've also arranged intensive care and personal protection for climber Lee Hyeji.”
“Oh, nice, nice. Please look after Mr. Nadim, too. He just became my underling.”
“Of course. We've already reached out to him, and if Mr. Nadim's family wishes to become Korean citizens, we'll help with that as well, Administrator.”
“Wow. What's going on? Why are you so good at your jobs? You're not really the Management Bureau, are you?”
“We are the Management Bureau.”
Hyeji must've been unable to come home lately because she was climbing the Tower alone, all the way up to Floor 20.
That explains why I heard from her so late.
It seems they've already started looking after Mr. Nadim, too.
I'm not used to how immediate and fast their response is!
The Korean Tower Management Bureau is completely focused on me, huh?
I like it.
“By the way, is foreign interference really that bad?”
“Yes... The situation isn't good. In particular, it seems an anti-basement faction led by Seekers with close ties to the Constellations is making moves to enter Korea. The authorities are on alert, but they haven't been able to stop every Hunter with a concealment skill from sneaking into the country. That's why we prioritized protecting your family.”
An anti-basement faction trying to get rid of the basement!?
A group of people who hate the basement that much...!
That's terrifying.
I have no idea how much they hate the basement. I'm breaking out in a cold sweat.
“...All right, I understand. Get the car ready.”
“Yes. We'll go straight to see your mother...”
“No? We're going to Ansan.”
“What? Ansan? All of a sudden, at this hour?”
Yeah. I have to adopt a puppy.
It's already pretty late.
Our puppy's sick.
If we want to get to a 24-hour animal hospital quickly, we need to go to Ansan right now.
“Danwon-gu, Ansan. We need to go to that abandoned motel. Right now.”
“I-I understand. I'll call the security team immediately. But I can assure you, Administrator, your information won't be leaked to the outside.”
“No, no. Just drive me there yourself.”
“What? But the security team...”
“Even if the whole security team showed up, they couldn't beat that one.”
“....Ah.”
“It'd be a waste of manpower and time. Just check things out quickly, then let's go. I want to leave right now. I have a bad feeling about this.”
You can't even beat one Red Mask. What kind of security are you talking about!
If there's real danger, I can just end my leave and run back to the basement.
More than anything, I don't want too many people seeing what I really look like!
It's embarrassing...
“Understood. Let's leave right away.”
I got into a black sedan.
Then we headed straight for Danwon-gu, Ansan.
******
An abandoned motel somewhere in Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.
The sound of a dog whimpering came from inside the long-abandoned building.
Someone entered the building, heading toward the source of the noise.
He struck the ground with his monk's staff, cutting off every sound that might escape outside, then began chanting a Buddhist incantation at the two evil spirits in the motel's basement.
“Ghk...!”
“Whimper...”
At the sound of his chanting, the two evil spirits writhed as if convulsing in pain.
At last, the one shaped like a dog foamed at the mouth and collapsed, completely unconscious.
“You... How do you know that spell...?”
“Oh-ho. You can endure this. You have the strongest presence of any I've encountered lately.”
“Ugh... Stop...!”
It was impossible to capture the basement's horrors with a fragile human body.
Even a top-ranked Hunter who roamed Floor 50 couldn't so much as scratch an entity.
Their very species operated on a different scale.
You couldn't solve the problem by approaching it as though you were killing a living creature.
Therefore, humans needed specialized techniques and methods to capture the supernatural.
And this man had climbed the Tower, acquired those techniques and methods, and returned to the world outside.
An exorcist, a class specialized in hunting and capturing the supernatural.
Some Constellations secretly created them to eliminate or recruit entities outside the Tower.
Their numbers were extremely small, and the world knew little about their existence.
Unless the exorcists themselves revealed information, finding out anything about them was nearly impossible.
“Om somani somani hum batak sabaha. Disappear, you evil thing.”
When the man began chanting the mantra again, the entity that had been trying to grab and twist his neck took two steps back.
“Ugh...”
“You've eaten quite a lot of humans.”
“It was for survival... We had no choice... We ate to stay alive, too... And we tried to avoid harming people as much as possible... We only chose those who deserved to die...”
“You presume to weigh human sins and choose your victims as you please? That's a hypocritical and vile excuse. And it's undeniable that you need to eat people to survive. Your very existence is an offense against virtue. Stop struggling and disappear forever.”
“By that logic... aren't the criminals who kidnapped and brutally murdered people here the ones who deserve to die!?”
“Silence, you abomination!”
It tried to fight back, but...
Its opponent knew how to take down entities.
If this had been the Tower's basement, things would have been different.
Sadly, this was the basement storeroom of an abandoned motel.
“Why... Why don't we even have the right to survive?”
“You ask the obvious? Because you were wrong from the moment you were born.”
“What...?”
“I mean your very existence is the problem. You were beings who should never have been born.”
Was that really true?
Was their very birth truly the problem?
When they opened their eyes, they were in the basement.
They'd devoted their entire lives to guarding and protecting the basement, raising young entities, and living in service to it.
But when they opened their eyes again, they'd been cast out of the Tower without so much as a word of warning.
Countless siblings had wandered in hunger and thirst, suffering until they died.
And so they found a way to survive: eating the souls of living humans.
It wasn't as if they wanted to eat people.
It was a desperate struggle to stay alive.
They hid for the rest of their lives so they wouldn't be discovered.
They barely managed to find and devour only sinful humans.
They lived in hiding, lower than beggars and deeper underground.
If anyone was to be punished for their sins,
shouldn't the ones who cast them out of the Tower, when they'd been living perfectly well, be held accountable?
“We... Why are we...”
Grief welled up inside her.
Now they were saying even their birth had been a mistake.
She didn't want to admit it,
but his words sounded true.
They sounded like the real truth, and that made her sad.
“O sinful, fleeting thing. Stop causing harm and disappear forever. Worthless being, be erased.”
The Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost tried to brace herself for the blow that was coming,
but the Three-Eyed Dog behind her was sure to die.
She lamented that, once again, she'd failed to protect someone.
And at that very moment...
“Who the hell gave you the right to decide my employee's worth?! I'm the only one who gets to evaluate their performance, you damn bald-headed monk!”
A shaft of light spilled into the dark basement of the abandoned motel, accompanied by a vulgar curse.
The exorcist was stunned.
A being that was neither clearly human nor supernatural.
Someone who stood between this world and the next.
A person standing on the boundary between the basement and the surface.
“What in the world are you... Are you really human!?”
“Mr. Gitae! That guy's eyes are weird!! Shoot him, quick! He's definitely a threat to the basement!”
“What!? Uh... R-really, shoot him...?”
“What are you waiting for? Shoot! That's a climber who hunts entities! If we don't, we'll all die!”
“Ah...!”
Bang-!!!
Bang-!!!
The first shot was a blank.
The second one was live ammunition.
“Gaaah!!!”
With two gunshots, the exorcist clutched his side and slumped to the ground.
No matter how good they were at hunting the supernatural, they were still human.
The exorcist, specialized in hunting supernatural beings, was utterly helpless against a gun.
Exorcists beat supernatural beings.
Supernatural beings beat guns.
And guns beat exorcists—a rock-paper-scissors cycle of counters!
It was rock-paper-scissors, plain and simple!
“Phew. See? I protect my employees! And Popo, don't hang your head! You're this month's outstanding employee.”
“Miss...!”
“The boss is so cool!”
Gu Gitae had fired the gun,
but the Basement Administrator got all the praise.