LTTH C73

Chapter 73

Catastrophe?

While the Tower Master and Kassie were each occupied with their own matters, Hansol too had something he needed to take care of.

He had to visit the Association.

Even if he had stormed out last time as though he were cutting ties for good, level updates could only be processed through them. Hansol was still officially registered under the Korean Hunter Association.

If the Association had any sense left, they wouldn’t dare treat him the same way they had before. Hansol was now protected by the Tower Master and James—the owner of the Magic Tower and the world’s No. 1 Hunter. If they acted foolishly, they would end up exactly as they had last time: losing everything and gaining nothing.

His only concern was that the measurement device might once again display level 1.

Hansol’s level—and status—were no longer what they once were. If the device showed level 1 again, the Association would not let him walk out so easily this time. They would question the device, or worse, question him. Of course, even then, there was nothing they could actually do to him.

Steeling himself, Hansol walked deeper into the Association building. He had done nothing wrong. He needed to walk with confidence.

But confidence alone could not solve one particular problem.

Feeling uneasy, Hansol glanced behind him. A tall blond man trailed him closely. Hansol sighed.

“James, please keep some distance.”

“No.”

James closed the gap instantly, threw an arm over Hansol’s shoulder, and leaned in, bumping against him.

“You don’t need to stick this close.”

“This is all to show off our friendship.”

“What friendship?”

“Friendship!”

Why now? And who expressed friendship like this?

Hansol let out a hollow laugh. Friendship, he said—yet their appearance had nothing to do with friendship. If anything, they looked like a thug extorting money from a helpless civilian.

“If I look close to you, people will mess with you less. Isn’t that right, darling?”

Even without such theatrics, everyone already knew who Hansol was. More than that—they had all seen who stood beside him.

Last time, it wasn’t only the Tower Master the Association employees had witnessed. They had clearly seen James alongside him as well.

But explaining this to James was pointless. Hansol sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Please behave. Please.”

“Of course I will.”

Where did this confidence come from? Did he not realize how little faith his reassurance inspired?

It would’ve been better if the Tower Master had come instead.

Normally, the Tower Master served as James’s brakes. But today, he and Kassie apparently had endless matters to discuss, so with a peaceful smile and a “Have a safe trip,” he had pushed James onto Hansol.

A kindness Hansol absolutely did not want.

I’d rather have come alone.

Walking deeper into the building with this unpredictable human bomb beside him, Hansol silently prayed no strange switch would get flipped.

“This can’t be right…”

“What’s the matter?”

“P-Please wait a moment!”

Hansol had managed to enter the measurement room—with James. Originally, only Hansol was supposed to enter, but James had caused such a commotion at the door that the Association had eventually allowed him in. A result that made Hansol want to grab his own head.

The real problem, however, appeared when the employee operating the device stared at the screen, panicked, and fled into the back room.

“What? Darling, what level are you that he reacted like that?”

“…I’m not sure.”

Under James’s curious stare, Hansol looked away.

It couldn’t be that his level was too high to measure. He was 51—far higher than before, but nowhere near unmeasurable.

So it’s probably showing 1 again.

The suspicion solidified into certainty. This device couldn’t properly read his status page. No Association in the world could—they all used the same model.

What exactly was this system of his?

“S-Sorry!”

The employee returned, panting, bowing repeatedly. Beside him now stood a researcher in a white coat.

“Hello, Chae Hansol? We’ve met before.”

The researcher from when Hansol returned from England. He didn’t seem like someone important, but perhaps Hansol had underestimated him.

“Darling, who’s that? Someone you know?”

“No.”

Well—technically, they had met, but it was hardly worth mentioning.

“He seems to know you though?”

“It was nothing. We only crossed paths once.”

Even as Hansol brushed it off, the researcher smiled meaningfully.

“Last time, your level wasn’t that level either, was it?”

“…Who knows.”

“Fascinating.”

Gone was the cold indifference he had shown previously—now his gaze glittered with dangerous curiosity. Not kindness. The excitement in his eyes resembled someone who had found a promising new specimen.

“I never imagined there’d be someone whose level couldn’t be measured.”

The device surely displayed “1” again. But unlike last time, this researcher clearly didn’t believe it.

“For now, we’ll update your Hunter license to level 100.”

“…What?”

What did he just say?

“You came all the way here to update your level. But updating it to 1 again would make our Association look pathetic, wouldn’t it? And nobody would believe it anyway.”

In other words, they didn’t want to admit their device had failed—so they planned to arbitrarily classify him as level 100.

“For a Messiah, reaching that level wouldn’t take long anyway—as long as you don’t die somewhere.”

He laughed brightly. There was no trace of human compassion in him. To him, Hunters were simply people who went into gates and died.

“Watch your mouth.”

James growled, taking a step forward as though he would tackle the researcher right there. But the man didn’t flinch.

“You know as well as I do. The higher the gate rank, the higher the mortality rate.”

Ah. So that was the intention.

Now it was obvious why he’d chosen exactly level 100.

He wanted Hansol to enter a high-rank gate.

He wanted him to die.

A healer who wasn’t actually level 100 would be far more likely to die in a gate that required it. That was the outcome this man desired.

Baseless hostility. The researcher’s animosity was unmistakable.

Why?

Why did the Association go this far to crush him?

Wouldn’t it be far more beneficial to coax him into their hands rather than drive him away?

Before Hansol could even search for an answer, the smiling researcher vanished—like an erased drawing.

“Huh—!”

He hadn’t teleported. He had not run. Such movements were impossible here anyway.

Where he stood just moments before, a puddle of red spread across the floor—like rainwater after a storm.

Is he… dead?

Nobody moved. The staff member standing beside the researcher was drenched on one side—as if he’d been splashed head-to-toe in blood—but shock had stolen even his scream.

“Darling, get behind me!”

James was the first to react, shielding Hansol while unable to use his mana properly within the Association building. Even so, he stood firmly in front of him, becoming a wall.

Only then could Hansol see the situation clearly.

A monster.

A small-statured monster now stood where the researcher once had, droplets of blood dripping around its feet like splattering ink. How had such a tiny creature instantly reduced a grown man to a lump of flesh?

Before Hansol could even begin to understand, the creature moved.

“Kikik.”

With a strange, chittering laugh, it swung its tiny arm. The terrified Association employee’s torso and legs split apart in an instant.

A single casual gesture had produced results too horrific to comprehend.

In mere moments, two living humans were dead. Without warning. Without provocation. The monster had simply appeared, giggled, jumped about in glee at its handiwork—and then turned its gaze toward Hansol’s group.