The End of the Exchange Meeting
Hiyori came down the stairs.
The Hosaka children, including the youngest Rito, gasped and shrank back, stumbling over themselves.
They had each been beaten up by Hiyori at least once in their childhood.
The memory was so intense that it remained as trauma even now, as adults.
But Head Bodyguard Uryu was different.
'So that's the famous Tiger of Kansai.'
He simply waited in place for Hiyori to approach.
"U-Uryu! Let's back off for now. We really don't know what she'll do!"
"Right! You could really die! It might not end with just a few hits!"
The Hosaka children whined like puppies that needed to relieve themselves, but Uryu stood firm.
"It's fine. I'll handle it. That's why I'm here."
Showing a moment of composure, Uryu didn't retreat; instead, he began ascending the stairs.
In the past, Uryu would have feared Hiyori too.
After all, Japan's official 7th rank wasn't a position just anyone could attain.
But now, circumstances were different.
'Do you think this Uryu would be afraid of a sick tiger?'
Matsuna Hiyori, who had vanished overnight.
The government and the Player Hunter Agency, unable to wait any longer, had called for her, but Hiyori did not respond.
To be precise, the entire Matsuna family had fallen silent.
After that, strange rumors began to circulate.
That Hiyori had fallen victim to a family curse she couldn't overcome.
It was a rumor circulated only among the upper echelons, so it didn't leak to public opinion.
However, the families participating in the exchange meeting had tentatively reached a conclusion.
The tiger was sick. So sick that they might never see the tiger at an exchange meeting again.
Hosaka Rena was also able to act all the more arrogantly, playing the tiger, precisely because she knew this.
Hiyori and Uryu stopped, with one stair step remaining between them.
Uryu bowed his head first.
"Good evening, Miss Hiyori. I am Uryu, Head of Security serving Chairman Hosaka Shudo."
Hiyori gave a slight nod.
She did not offer a greeting in return.
Because this late-night visit itself was already terribly unpleasant.
"I would like to request permission for the Hosaka family to rejoin the exchange meeting. If that is not possible, I would at least like to meet the family head. I wish to convey Chairman Shudo's message."
"Denied. And Dad is asleep, so tell me."
Uryu let out a small, derisive laugh.
To think she would charge in so recklessly, unable to distinguish between what's possible and what's not.
It seemed the Matsuna family had pampered her too much.
"Young lady. This is a matter between the chairman of a corporation and—"
"You'll die."
"Pardon?"
"I said, make that condescending face one more time in front of me, and you die."
Hiyori's face had already turned icy cold.
Uryu, who flinched for a moment, steadied his mind again.
It's fine.
That's a sick tiger.
"My apologies if I've offended you."
"Whatever. As you heard earlier, rejoining is impossible according to the rules. Go back. If you're so determined to get in, even if it means breaking the rules..."
Hiyori pointed her chin toward the stairs below.
The single remaining step between her and Uryu.
"Come up."
A sharp tension hung in the air at the main entrance.
Uryu took a low, measured breath.
It would be wise to back down here, but he felt a desire.
This was an opportunity.
Forget the Runner—this was a perfect chance to prove that Hiyori, the pride of the Matsuna, was indeed sick.
He decided to issue a final ultimatum without actually stepping up.
"Let me say once more—"
THWACK!!!!
The eyes of the Hosaka children below went wide.
It happened in an instant.
Just as Hiyori's left arm swung in a wide arc, Uryu simply vanished.
Rito trembled as he slowly turned his head.
Head Bodyguard Uryu had been sent flying into the opposite forest, broke several trees, and was now smashed into the ground.
From his lack of response, he seemed either dead or completely knocked out.
"I told you. One more condescending look, and you die."
Hiyori smiled as she rotated her fist a couple of times.
Her strength had returned.
And completely, at that.
"Hey, Hosaka runt."
"Y-Yes!"
"Take that and get lost. And tell your grandfather. We'll be sending the Hosaka family the bill for the broken trees, so tell him to wait."
Perhaps because they were stammering and couldn't answer.
An annoyed Hiyori clicked her tongue.
"I'll give you 10 seconds. Take him and go. One."
"Q-Quick, move!"
Rito and his brothers ran into the forest.
Sure enough, Uryu was foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back.
Even seeing it with their own eyes, they couldn't believe it.
As the head of security for a major corporation, he possessed formidable combat power. Yet he was taken down in one hit.
They couldn't begin to gauge just how strong she was.
VROOOOM!!
Not long after, the Hosaka family hastily retrieved Uryu and disappeared.
Sighing deeply at their pathetic display, Hiyori climbed the stairs.
If it weren't for Jin-hyeok, if she hadn't been freed from the curse, she would have had to back down.
Against such weaklings.
"Ah."
Come to think of it, she had forgotten to tell Jin-hyeok.
"I should ask him to be friends."
A joyful smile spread across her lips.
Matsuna Hiyori, age 22.
She had made up her mind.
For the first time in her life, she would take the initiative to ask someone to be her friend.
Right before properly going to bed.
[You have cleared the 55th floor of the Tower of Despair!]
[Time taken: 27 seconds. You have earned an SSS+ grade!]
He had given the Tower of Despair a light climb.
A simple floor where you just had to hunt monsters within a set area.
The monsters had set traps everywhere and staged a siege, but on this side, there was overwhelming firepower and Kkancho, the trap expert.
The result was the monsters disappearing without even lasting 30 seconds.
He didn't level up, but gained a substantial amount of experience and a ton of poison-related byproducts.
"Granny! You can't take it all!"
Momo stood in front of Elia, who was taking the byproducts out one after another.
"We need to sell this and buy something delicious!"
"Hey, you little chubby. Why would I take all this? It's to make potions for you guys."
"Make potions with poison?"
"The one you had last time was also made from poison. Poison is dangerous, but used well, it can become a health tonic, you know?"
"So that's why it always tastes bad! Momo doesn't want to drink poison medicine!"
"Oh, you're so young. Things that are good for the body are usually bitter. Now, move those pudgy little hands away."
Momo plopped down with a tearful face at the merciless plundering.
It seemed he'd have to buy her something tasty tomorrow.
"Whew! Another good haul of ingredients today."
Elia wiped the sweat from her brow.
She was beaming, having acquired a lot of alchemy materials.
Finally getting up, Momo busily packed the bundles into Flicks's bag.
"Then, let's go."
Jin-hyeok reached his hand toward the entry button.
His body was weary, but he couldn't sleep yet.
There was one left.
[Entering the 8th floor of the Tower of Myth.]
How much time had passed since the entry message appeared?
The sound of thunder reached his ears.
The sound was so loud it made his ears sting.
"Momo's scared of thunder!"
"What's so scary about that flashy thing, nyang? It won't fall here anyway, nyang."
They say words have power.
A moment later, a lightning bolt struck nearby.
Sent flying by the impact—WHOOSH!—was Kkancho.
"Kkanchooooooo!"
Not long after, Kkancho reappeared, accompanied by the smell of burning hair.
"Whew. That was close, nyang."
Jin-hyeok patted Kkancho, who was sighing in relief.
The fur on his back was completely singed off.
He'd have to ask Elia to make some hair growth tonic.
He slowly looked around.
It was a strange place.
A plain where lightning struck incessantly, even though there were no particular storm clouds.
Moreover, the system was unhelpful again today.
It gave no clue about what to do here, or where to go in this vast plain.
In that case, he had no choice but to find his own way.
He took the Yodel Compass from his inventory.
After placing the piece of Raven's sword hilt on it, the Yodel Compass began to react.
A moment later, the needle finally fixed in place, specifying a direction.
"Whew. What a relief."
Jin-hyeok brushed his chest in relief.
Before entering the tower, at the shrine, Jin-hyeok had already tried placing the fragment on the compass.
The directional needle hadn't moved even a single millimeter.
It meant there was nothing related to Raven outside the tower.
If it hadn't reacted on this floor, he would have had to climb to the next floor again, with no guarantee.
[Basic Stellar Alchemy]
Jin-hyeok reached out his hand and used alchemy.
He had been learning bits and pieces from Elia whenever he had time.
A bright light flashed, and a small piece of rubber appeared in Jin-hyeok's hand.
"Elia. Can you make this bigger? In the shape of an umbrella."
The plain was still swept by torrents of lightning.
Crossing this place without any protection was impossible.
"There should be something extracted from a rubber tree, I think."
After rummaging through her bag for a while, Elia pulled out a bottle filled to the brim with a brown liquid.
Equipping the Stellar Gauntlet, Elia placed the bottle on the transmutation circle.
As the circle began to move, light poured forth, incomparable to before.
"Ta-da!"
Elia spread her hands wide open.
Immediately followed by Kkancho's scolding.
"Ta-da what, ta-da, nyang? What kind of granny goes 'ta-da,' nyang? And what's an umbrella, nyang? You were told to make an umbrella, but you made some flimsy, floppy leaf, nyang!"
"You can't make a sturdy umbrella like that just from rubber, nyang! You'd need to mix in something harder, but we'd have to find it in the workshop, and that's annoying."
"What do you mean you're already annoyed, nyang! You should live diligently, nyang!"
"I've already lived for 3,271 years, you know?"
"Oh."
The reason seemed plausible, as Kkancho shut his mouth.
Jin-hyeok roughly lifted the created rubber umbrella.
"Seira, you hold this part here. You're the heaviest."
"Fine."
"Dark, you hold it here with me."
Together with Dark, he lifted his hands to support the cascading leaf part.
"What about Momo?! Where should Momo hold?!"
"Momo, just stick close to the side and follow."
"Okay!"
After making sure the short Momo and Kkancho stuck close, he started walking following the compass.
It had been a long time since he'd held his hands up like this since the punishment lines in elementary school.
KWAANG!
It was inconvenient to use, but its defensive effect was certain.
Despite several lightning strikes, the rubber leaf held firm.
After walking for a long time through the rain of lightning, a towering hill came into view ahead.
"Huh."
He let out a low exclamation.
Seeing it up close, he could tell.
What was falling now wasn't just dry lightning from a clear sky.
To be more precise, all this lightning was flowing from a single location.
He became certain.
The Thunder Sword, Raven, was here.
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T/N:
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