Chapter 23

Chapter. 23

“I did it….”

Han Seol-ah dropped to the ground with a thud.

She had been pushed into a state of extreme concentration with death hanging over her head, so that level of exhaustion was only natural.

‘Whew. It worked.’

Even I was breaking into a cold sweat inside.

I still could not use Synchronization because of the aftereffects of casting Absolute Zero.

In other words, my body was still stuck with the miserable specs of an Awakening Failure.

If Han Seol-ah had slipped up and triggered a Mana storm?

I would have ended up as ground meat on the spot.

To prepare for a worst-case scenario like that, I had picked up an earring-type lifesaving Artifact from the Black Market…

but there had never been any guarantee that using it would let me walk away in one piece.

A lifesaving Artifact was not the same thing as invincibility.

Even if I activated it at the center of a Mana storm, at best it would probably only manage to salvage one tattered body.

If luck had gone against me, I might have had to leave an arm or a leg behind in the afterlife.

So if something could be spared, it should be spared as much as possible.

No, better yet, the best outcome was never needing to use it at all.

“Let us go back.”

“Yes!”

***

Inside the Mana Stone helicopter gliding through the air without noise.

Han Seol-ah kept glancing at me, carefully reading my expression.

She looked like she wanted to ask something, yet could not quite bring herself to speak.

I was just as curious as she was.

It would have been convenient if I could simply check the system messages myself, but unfortunately, when I was in the state of an Awakening Failure, I could not see system messages.

‘At least ten days… it feels like we should have gained that much.’

I could not ask first.

It would be a problem if I let it slip that I, the ‘Apostle’ who was supposed to know all and guide all, was helpless over something as simple as not being able to see a system message.

So I opened the conversation in a deliberately indifferent tone.

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

“Ah, I….”

Han Seol-ah hesitated before finally speaking.

“Did… did this really work?”

“What do you mean?”

“A system message did appear, but… the amount of time was much shorter than I expected.”

Oh?

Resting my chin on my hand with perfect composure, I answered her question with another.

“So it looked short to you.”

“What? Ah, yes…. Fifteen days still feels… far too little time to prepare for the next Break.”

Got it.

‘Fifteen days.’

I had expected ten.

But fifteen?

‘Jackpot.’

That was five more days than I had expected.

I barely managed to suppress the corners of my mouth from rising.

“It is enough.”

“Ah….”

“For me, it is more time than I need.”

***

The moment I arrived at the Appraisal Center, which was now practically being used as a forward command meeting room, I gave Han Seol-ah an order.

“Call the other two as well.”

“Ah, yes! I will contact them right away.”

While Han Seol-ah busily tapped away at her terminal, the door to the Appraisal Center opened.

Inside, a stranger was already waiting.

A woman in a neat suit, with sharp eyes.

“You have arrived.”

She was Chief Secretary Song, Min Ji-hee’s closest aide and the head of the Association’s secretary office.

The moment she saw me, she bowed politely.

“Apostle. The Association President and the Vice President will be arriving shortly. What would you like us to prepare for refreshments?”

“A glass of water is enough.”

“Understood.”

With efficient, economical movements, Chief Secretary Song set down a glass of water, then quietly withdrew through the rear door.

It was only a brief appearance, but her presence alone made it vividly clear that this place was one of the Association’s major strongholds.

A short while later.

Bang—the door flew open, and Jin Cheon-jin and Min Ji-hee hurried inside.

“You have worked hard.”

“This is a tremendous relief.”

The expressions on all three of their faces were… unmistakably more stable now.

Han Seol-ah’s face in particular shone with the satisfaction of someone who had truly accomplished something,

and Jin Cheon-jin and Min Ji-hee also plainly looked relieved that the countdown toward ruin tightening around their throats had, for the moment, been halted.

Was it because they had gained a slope they could lean against in the form of ‘me’?

Or because they had secured the practical benefit of fifteen extra days?

Either way, these expressions were far better than panic, despair, or outright resignation.

But

I had to douse them with cold water.

I turned my gaze toward Jin Cheon-jin with a face devoid of any smile.

“It is still not enough. Would you not agree?”

“…….”

Jin Cheon-jin’s smile gradually stiffened.

Min Ji-hee also set down her teacup and composed her expression.

The sense of relief that had hung in the room just moments before evaporated instantly, and the air in the meeting room sank heavy once again.

Looking only at the result,the Break, originally thirty days away, had effectively been reduced to fifteen.

That meant Jin Cheon-jin’s despair—that the Tower desired the destruction of the Republic of Korea—was still an ongoing reality.

“Do not mistake a mere delay in the date for the Quest being complete. My goal is, from beginning to end, the salvation of the Republic of Korea.”

“…Thank you for your mercy.”

Jin Cheon-jin lowered his head heavily.

Right.

They needed to keep at least this much tension.

“There is something the three of you are mistaken about.”

Strictly speaking, it was Jin Cheon-jin’s misunderstanding.

But Han Seol-ah, and likely Min Ji-hee as well, had probably fallen into the same error.

“The Tower does not desire the destruction of the Republic of Korea.”

“…Then why…?”

It was an understandable mistake.

To them, that was exactly what the Tower was.

Not something that could be cleared,

but an evil force that existed only to inflict trials and hasten ruin.

Wrong.

That was not how the Tower operated.

“It wants the Republic of Korea’s Tower to be cleared.”

You refuse to clear it?

Then die.

That was the Tower’s true stance.

If the Tower was not broken, ruin would come eventually.

The Tower would make sure of that.

But if the Tower was cleared?

…Then this entire process of destruction could be stopped for good.

“There is a way.”

I struck the table sharply as I spoke.

At a moment like this.

I had to appear more confident than anyone else on Earth.

I had to show them that much.

Controlling my breathing carefully, I continued.

“There are two keys.”

“We are listening.”

Min Ji-hee’s eyes flashed.

Like a beast stalking prey, she looked ready to chew up and swallow every single word that came out of my mouth without missing a thing.

Her gaze was so intense it was almost burdensome.

‘Wow… those eyes are terrifying.’

Maybe it was because she was such an intensely rational person, but her concentration was frightening.

“One is Resonant Entity Resonar.”

“…The boss that will appear in the next Break.”

“Yes. We will kill it.”

Resonar was… naturally, a monster I knew.

A boss monster you could summon and kill through Lost Honor’s ‘Otherworld Gate.’

That said, its patterns were such a complete nightmare that unless there was a very good reason, no one ever bothered hunting it.

Compared to subjugating Scathach, it was extremely difficult.

Compared to clearing the Tower’s 94th Floor, it became extremely easy.

The Tower really did fine-tune its difficulty in an exquisite way.

“What kind of… boss is it?”

Min Ji-hee asked carefully.

“Hmm? You do not know?”

“…….”

Wait, what?

The Monster Compendium was supposed to be published by the Hunter Association.

And they did not have information on Resonar in there?

“Why do you not know?”

“…I am sorry….”

“No, this is not something to apologize for. I am asking because I want to know the reason.”

Her face coloring slightly red, Min Ji-hee answered.

“Information on a boss making its first appearance in the Republic of Korea’s Tower does not exist in the Compendium.”

“Hmm.”

“The Break has not occurred yet. It has not even been witnessed, so there is no data.”

Ah.

I see.

To me, Resonar was a boss I had killed countless times in the game, so I had plenty of information.

Reality was different.

How could they know a creature that had not even appeared yet?

“Pandemonium does deal in information… but even they need at least a ‘name’ or a ‘photograph’ of the individual before they will sell anything.”

So that meant…

monsters whose existence was not even confirmed would never be registered in the Compendium.

‘Pandemonium….’

Just what kind of place was that, if they could obtain information on monsters?

“So… you truly do not know.”

“…Now that the individual name ‘Resonar’ has at least been confirmed, if we place a request with Pandemonium….”

“That will not do.”

Jin Cheon-jin cut in sharply.

“Apostle, Pandemonium demands something extremely precious as the price of information. Because of them, most of the Artifacts we possessed have already slipped into Pandemonium’s hands.”

“….”

“The problem is that the Republic of Korea no longer has anything left with which to pay for information. They took even the last of our Artifacts….”

Jin Cheon-jin’s gaze brushed past Min Ji-hee’s ear.

Without thinking, I followed his line of sight.

‘Huh. Min Ji-hee’s earring is gone.’

So that was the ‘price of information’?

‘…Wait.’

I remembered the earring-type lifesaving Artifact I had recently traded for at the Black Market and stuffed into my pocket.

When I had first seen it, I had thought it looked strangely familiar.

‘Could it be… Min Ji-hee’s?’

I had no idea why an Artifact that seemed to have passed into Pandemonium’s hands had ended up in the Black Market,

but things were turning strangely complicated.

Jin Cheon-jin gritted his teeth.

“They will probably demand Seol-ah this time.”

“…Seriously?”

Han Seol-ah jolted in shock.

“Yes. Those snakes once demanded through Kim Min-seok that we hand you over in exchange for them killing the Frost Dragon.”

“How dare those bastards…!”

Bang!

Min Ji-hee slammed a hand down on the table in fury.

The cool rationality she usually displayed was nowhere to be seen; only killing intent remained.

“C-calm yourself, Vice President.”

“…….”

At Jin Cheon-jin’s attempt to stop her, Min Ji-hee steadied the rough breath that had been heaving through her.

“Hoo….”

She brushed her disheveled bangs back and put on her cold mask once more.

“Yes. My apologies.”

Her shift in composure was so fast it almost made the anger she had shown a moment ago seem like an act.

It was enough to send chills down my spine.

“We will have to negotiate with something else.”

“Mm….”

“Without obtaining a strategy for Resonar, we cannot establish a subjugation operation. We need to know what kind of boss it is.”

At that point, I quietly raised a hand.

All three of them, who had been keeping an eye on my every move, immediately fell silent.

“That will not be necessary.”

“…Apostle.”

“Because I already know.”

Absolute certainty.

The boss that would appear this time was the very same Resonar I knew.

The name Resonar itself was not exactly common,

and when you considered the full title it came with—Wondrous Echo - Resonant Entity Resonar—it became even more certain.

It was definitely the Resonar from Lost Honor.

“I will prepare the method for clearing Resonar.”

“Apostle…!”

All three pairs of eyes sparkled brightly.

Han Seol-ah’s… were lovely.

Min Ji-hee’s always sparkled when she activated her ability.

…But seeing that older man Jin Cheon-jin doing the same thing was hard on my stomach.

“What can we do to assist you?”

“There are three things I need.”

***

“That is all. You understand?”

“Yes. I understand. However….”

She had understood the outline of the operation perfectly.

What roles the Hunters, Han Seol-ah, Jin Cheon-jin, and Min Ji-hee herself were to take, and how they were to proceed….

But there was one thing she still could not understand.

‘Why?’

“However?”

“…It is nothing. We will do exactly as you command.”

“Good. Then we will meet here again in three days.”

With those parting words, the Apostle turned and sauntered away.

Jin Cheon-jin stared blankly at the closed door for a moment, then shuffled forward in a daze, utterly at a loss.

Like a drowning man clutching at straws, he called out to Min Ji-hee.

“…Dear.”

“Ah, Association President.”

“Please explain it to me. I did not understand a single word of what all that meant.”

“Ah… so you do not know.”

“I told you, I do not.”

“Pft.”

“…?”

A laugh escaped Min Ji-hee before she could stop it.

Was it because her mind was so consumed with thoughts of the Apostle?

At some point, she had even begun imitating his cryptic way of speaking.

“Ah, I am sorry. You remember the three things, do you not?”

“Yes. First, keep the general mobilization order in place. Second, gather the Tankers separately in one location and keep them ready to deploy at any time. And the third was….”

“Prepare one ‘top-of-the-line latest-model Hunter Watch, with the best performance available, capable of preserving even past records perfectly and processing calculations quickly.’”

“That is right.”

Min Ji-hee began analyzing them one by one.

“The first and second are tactical arrangements, so they are not difficult to understand. The problem is the third.”

“Yes. That was the one I could not make sense of either.”

Jin Cheon-jin tilted his head.

“A Hunter Watch is a common enough item, is it not? One could simply hand him a cheap standard-issue model from the Association warehouse, and that would be that. Yet he specifically singled out the specifications.”

A Hunter Watch.

It was a bracelet-like terminal Hunters wore on their wrists, fitted with a small panel.

It could be linked to a Hunter’s bank account for convenient payments at convenience stores or equipment shops, and in emergencies it allowed quick communication with allies—a kind of ‘miniature smartphone.’

To ordinary Hunters, that was all a Watch meant.

An accessory that offered convenience in daily life more than combat support.

But the specifications the Apostle had requested could never be satisfied by one of those mass-produced standard models.

“The Apostle asked for ‘perfectly preserved records of the past.’”

Min Ji-hee’s eyes sharpened.

“Normally, the system logs in a Watch are merely volatile memory. Because of storage limitations, they are automatically deleted after a few days, or vanish the moment the user presses the confirm button. But what the Apostle asked for was ‘permanent preservation.’”

“Then that means….”

“Yes. A Watch with the performance to browse every log ever distributed across the entire world, from ten years ago when the Hunter era began up to the present, without missing a single entry.”

“A device with such insane specifications….”

“…Amazingly enough, one does exist. Just one.”

Min Ji-hee swallowed.

“A project I have been developing in absolute secrecy. ‘Snow White.’”

A chill ran down Min Ji-hee’s spine.

That meant the Apostle already knew of a classified project whose prototype had not even been revealed yet.

“But… why would he need that of all things? What use would a high-performance calculation device or records from ten years ago be in killing Resonar right now?”

“…….”

At Jin Cheon-jin’s question, Min Ji-hee fell silent for a moment.

A demand that went beyond the level of a simple convenience device, into something transcendent.

The puzzle pieces in her mind rapidly began to fall into place.

The lack of information on Resonar.

Pandemonium’s monopoly on information.

And the Apostle’s demand for ‘all records of the past.’

“…Pandemonium.”

“Mm?”

“What was the reason Pandemonium could monopolize information and sell it at such outrageous prices? Because they had been accumulating every system log since the moment the Tower first opened.”

“R-right.”

“I believe the Apostle intends to seize Pandemonium’s entire library in one stroke.”

Min Ji-hee’s voice, full of certainty, rang through the meeting room.

“He intends to analyze past data himself and derive future strategies without relying on Pandemonium…. He means to change the entire paradigm of information. That is what I believe.”

“Huh….”

Jin Cheon-jin’s mouth fell open.

‘Resolving the Break is going to lead to a reorganization of the world’s information order?’

The intentions of one so elevated seemed to run deeper than ordinary people could ever hope to fathom.

“…We need to prepare it immediately.”

“Yes. I will contact the lab. Even if they have to work through the night, they will have to complete it.”

Outwardly, Min Ji-hee answered with utter certainty.

But deep inside her mind, a cold suspicion stirred.

‘…Can this really be all of it?’

If not, then how far ahead was he truly seeing?

Min Ji-hee swallowed the rest of the thought.

***

“No way they are going to give me some cheap standard-issue model like the one Cheol-su uses, right?”

A Hunter Watch.

I definitely needed one.

Today had driven that truth into my bones. With Synchronization turned off, I could not even check system messages.

And that was maddening.

Still, I did not want some cheap standard-issue model like the one Cheol-su used.

I had seen Cheol-su snap at that thing countless times, grumbling, ‘Ugh, this piece of junk! It is lagging again!’

“The latest and the best. For an early adopter like me, that is essential.”

In truth, it was a matter of survival.

Miss even one message, and I could die.

But even more important than that was…

the eternal truth that when buying electronics, you had to buy the most expensive one. And the best one.

It was the same with keyboards, with mice, and with every other electronic device.

The moment you compromised and bought something cheap, you were doomed to fall into the infinite cycle of regret, thinking every time you used it, ‘Ah, I should have just paid more and bought the expensive one back then…!’

The wisest way to avoid paying twice?

Go straight for the final boss from the very start.

That came from experience.

“La la.”

In a good mood, I returned home.

“Heh heh heh….”

The moment I opened the door, the monitor that was already switched on greeted me.

A reward window was displayed on the screen.

[Would you like to complete the Quest and claim the reward?]

[1. Yes] [2. No]

It was the reward prompt I had refused earlier.

This time, it was the same answer.

‘Are you insane? As if I would claim it here.’

I decisively pressed ‘No.’

Ding!

Then, as if the system had updated, a new message appeared.

My heart pounding, I checked the newly displayed message.

[Hidden Quest: Destruction Deferred has been completed]

“That is it!”

The condition had been fulfilled.

The system had finally recognized my accomplishment not as a simple subjugation, but as ‘salvation.’

The reward list followed.

[Reward]

[Corridor of Constellations - ‘Achievement’ Unlocked]

[Possession Ticket]

That part was the same as before.

But beneath it, a newly added line appeared.

The ‘real thing’ I had been waiting for so desperately was shining with a radiant light.

[Corridor of Constellations - ‘Compendium’ Unlocked] (new!)

“Yes… this is it.”

A sharp thrill ran down my spine.

If I had given in to temptation and greedily claimed only the subjugation reward, this line would never have appeared.

A perfect victory created by my patience and my information.

“This is who I am.”

Now then!

Let us check it out!