WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Chapter 22
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The moment we emerged from Gwanghwamun Tower, welcome messages flooded my vision.
[Escape Complete]
[Transcendence skill level has increased to 3.]
[Complete Senses skill level has increased to 7.]
[Shadow Walking skill level has increased to 4.]
[Physical Technique skill level has increased to 5.]
Some skills had leveled up, while others hadn't.
It looked like almost all my skills had gained a little experience.
[Achievement Reward: Blood-Soaked Escape trait acquired.]
An achievement and a trait, huh.
I'd seen that pop up a few times before.
Checking the details, it seemed that killing a hunter temporarily increased my strength.
Come to think of it, I'd killed more hunters than monsters this time.
"All Alpha Team members have returned! Great work!"
"Hey, get the luggage already!"
The public servants who'd been loafing around near Gwanghwamun Tower suddenly got busy.
Usually, we headed straight for a bath and a meal after escaping the tower...
This time, the order would be a little different.
Team Leader Go Jiho had asked us.
"Should we settle up first?"
"I'm in."
Even after using up a bunch of stuff, this backpack had to weigh around fifty kilograms.
Physical Technique had made me stronger, but heavy was still heavy.
I couldn't imagine carrying this thing back and forth twice.
"Wow, how much is all this even worth...?"
The other team members didn't seem to have brought back this much loot very often, either.
Choi Ilhyuk had practically been luggage himself, so it made sense.
"We'll stop by the Inter-Floor Shop first, so reserve a restaurant. Beef."
"Yes, Team Leader."
Turning our backs on the public servants, we touched the tower.
"To the shop!"
Flash!
Only then could we properly settle everything.
"Buy all of this!"
First, we got rid of the loot from the second floor that might be worth even a little money.
Since it had belonged to criminal hunters, it probably wouldn't fetch much.
Just cheap firearms and a small amount of medical supplies.
"I'll offer 2,000 gold."
"Next, firearm parts."
"Oh... You've brought quite a lot."
The Goblin Merchant sounded impressed for once.
Go Jiho placed an order like he was used to this.
"If there are any 6.8mm MCX Spear parts, set them aside separately."
"There's one trigger group."
"Good. That'll save us some money."
Maybe because I'd complained about not being able to pierce body armor, he was planning to get me a new gun.
Go Jiho used a version that was practically a submachine gun...
Sang Hajun was a sniper, and Han Juwon was the machine gunner.
Kim Yuna and I were the only ones who used rifles.
"Then, excluding the parts you requested, the total purchase price will be... 20,000 gold."
"Wow! Just the firearm parts are worth that much?"
"That's right."
Kim Yuna was happy enough to jump in place.
It was only natural that things like triggers and bolt carrier groups were expensive.
There were also plenty of optics, so the price was bound to be high.
Hadn't selling just the relatively cheap parts, such as barrels, to the Interfloor Merchant brought in 2,000 gold?
Carrying all that heavy stuff down three whole floors had been worth it.
That brought the total revenue to 50,000 gold.
But we still had to settle the expenses.
"Kang Hyun and Yuna used Recovery Potions, right?"
"Yes. Kang Hyun drank both of them because of the backlash from his Transcendence skill..."
"Give us two Recovery Potions, and just the main parts for the two rifles we talked about earlier. How much?"
"Two Recovery Potions are 600 gold. Would you like sixteen-inch rifle barrels?"
"Thirteen-inch ones!"
Thanks to Complete Senses, I didn't have to worry about my shooting accuracy anyway.
Shorter was lighter and more convenient.
"Then the total comes to 2,000 gold."
The last time we'd bought body armor and ballistic helmets, it had cost 3,000 gold.
Even so, getting parts for two rifles still cost us a fair amount.
There was one thing that bothered me, though.
"Huh? These only have twenty-round magazines?"
"The rounds are so big and heavy. There are drum magazines too, but I wouldn't recommend them."
Go Jiho took a sample 6.8mm round from the merchant and handed it to me.
It was far bigger and heavier than a 5.56mm round.
It was practically on the level of a 7.62mm round.
"The ammunition weighs three times as much as 5.56. It's even heavier than 7.62."
"Three times? Why's there such a huge difference?"
"They're high-pressure rounds, so the bullets and casings are heavier too."
That would mean I could carry far less ammunition.
Had I been too quick to switch?
Still, it had been a shock to see those damn expensive 5.56mm armor-piercing rounds fail to penetrate body armor.
Apparently, fifty-round 7.62mm drum magazines were compatible...
But at this weight, I wondered if the spring could even push the rounds up properly.
Drum magazines already had a high failure-to-feed rate.
"I'll just use the twenty-round ones."
"Good call. So, how much is it?"
After deducting 5,000 gold in various expenses from the original 50,000, we had 45,000 left.
Then another 20,000 gold went to the Hunter Association.
"Twenty-five thousand... That's 5,000 gold each."
"If it goes like this every time, we'll be rich in no time."
Five thousand gold was going straight into my hands, and for a moment, I couldn't speak.
Could I really spend this however I wanted?
Sang Hajun spoke with a hint of concern.
"Kang Hyun, spend it carefully. Even if someone offers to buy it, don't sell it too easily. You won't have to worry about money from now on."
"Huh? Why?"
"The 20,000 gold we're giving the Association isn't free. It's how the Association buys the gold we brought back. The payment should come through around tomorrow."
"Got it."
So that was how it worked.
Being a hunter was thoroughly performance-based.
I hadn't earned much gold during my first escape, so I hadn't known.
If I'd sold the artifacts, I would've made a fortune, but I hadn't wanted to part with them.
"Let's hurry up, wash up, and get something to eat. I'm dying."
Come to think of it, we hadn't been able to bathe at the Inter-Floor Shop this time.
The escape itself had taken much less time, though.
"Ahhh..."
After quickly washing up, we headed straight to a barbecue restaurant.
The team naturally ordered alcohol.
When I tried not to drink, Han Juwon, the machine gunner, snickered.
"What, are you quitting drinking?"
"The last time I drank, I woke up on the seventh floor."
"You didn't hate it, though. That means you should drink even more now."
"... Huh?"
"If you drink now, you can't enter again because of the re-entry waiting period anyway."
Oh?
Now that he mentioned it, that was true.
I couldn't enter the tower again for a month anyway, right?
So it was fine to drink for now.
Go Jiho slapped my back.
"Good. Mix Kang Hyun a soju-beer cocktail!"
"Coming right up!"
"... I'll just have one drink."
That was what I said, but...
Naturally, the moment I took a sip, I realized it.
Ah, today was a lost cause.
It was way too good. I couldn't stop now.
Alcohol after physical work really was on another level.
"Ahh... Juwon, how are you so good at mixing these?"
"That's how I got into Alpha Team."
Kim Yuna, who joined us soon after, looked startled.
"You got Kang Hyun drinking? I want some too!"
"Ever since he joined, our exploration speed's been completely different. He just sweeps the area once, and scouting is over."
"Kang Hyun, you're in trouble. The Team Leader is never letting you go now."
"Of course I'm not letting him go. Here, have some boneless short rib."
"Thank you for the food."
Hunter-related news played nonstop on a smartphone connected to a power bank.
There was no sound, but it had subtitles.
The company dinner had a pretty freewheeling atmosphere.
[Japanese government draws up an emergency budget due to insufficient gold reserves...]
[World's first EX-rank hunter remains unidentified...]
[Breaking: Australian monster containment line breached. Interception operation fails...]
[Successful development of a new drug based on tower potions announced. K-pharmaceutical revolution expected...]
Before, I would've just let news like that pass by.
Now, I paid attention without even trying.
By the way, it still hadn't been revealed that I was EX-rank?
More than a month and a few days had already passed.
The fact that I was EX-rank was being handled as classified information...
Still, Choi Ilhyuk, who had escaped with us, knew.
"That's surprising."
"What's surprising?"
"I thought Choi Ilhyuk, after getting kicked out of Alpha Team, would've blabbed about it ages ago."
Kim Yuna snickered at my honest answer.
"You expect him to tell people that the guy who got him kicked out is ridiculously talented? I didn't think you were like that, Kang Hyun. You're a bad man."
"Ah, does it come across that way?"
Thinking about it, it probably would be hard for him to say it himself.
"And... Choi Ilhyuk has to find another job eventually, right? Unless he's going overseas, leaking classified information would be a bad idea."
"True."
Brrring!
"Hm?"
Go Jiho, who had been grilling the meat, saw his phone ringing, frowned, and went outside.
That was unusual.
Normally, he would've ignored calls from the Association during a company dinner.
The other team members seemed to feel the same way.
"Who could it be? Family?"
"No. He was sending photos to his family earlier."
"Three servings each of sirloin and boneless short rib, please!"
He returned after a long phone call with a smile on his face.
"I heard some good news."
"What is it?"
"A contact in the U.S. Special Forces told me that America has given up on clearing the eighth floor."
"What?"
The eighth floor.
The newly unlocked area after I'd escaped the seventh floor without possessing any skills.
Naturally, we were all very interested.
That didn't mean we had any intention of entering first, of course.
"They've been making a big fuss for weeks. They put together the best possible team, four S-ranks and one A-rank, and said they were going in. Their supplies were no joke, either."
"Then why did they suddenly give up?"
"They were going to gather as much information as possible and enter this morning... but there was a restriction they never expected."
A carry weight limit.
And it was incredibly strict.
Strict enough that it was hard to bring even the essentials.
To enter the eighth floor, they had to leave most of their equipment and supplies behind.
"So the whole operation was canceled. Their plan completely fell apart."
"What kind of restriction is that?"
"Couldn't they just bring gold?"
I really was a crafty bastard.
The second I heard about the restriction, I started looking for a loophole.
Go Jiho shook his head.
"The eighth floor is standalone... I think every exit is a Direct Exit. That means we can't use the Interfloor Merchant."
"Then bringing gold would be useless too."
"Why did they only find out such important information now?"
Even if people were ordered not to enter the eighth floor...
Wouldn't someone have tried it?
Like accidentally entering while drunk, as I had...
"New hunters can't enter the eighth floor at all."
"Ah..."
In many ways, it was completely different from the existing floors.
Still, clearing the eighth floor itself would probably only be a matter of time.
The higher the floor, the more dramatically the quality of the loot increased.
Treasures humanity had never imagined could come pouring out.
Our expedition's main farming had effectively ended on the fifth floor.
And if every exit was a Direct Exit, that made it even more appealing.
"Still, we won't be entering for a while. Oh, right. We're all heading down to Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province soon, so be prepared."
"Huh? What's in Hwaseong?"
"After hearing what Kang Hyun said last time, I requested a training ground. They recreated the tower's terrain as closely as possible."
So they had used map data from Tower Escape.
From what I'd heard, Special Forces units trained like this by building training grounds like sets.
For every operation, too.
"Of course, the third and seventh floors were impossible."
"The third floor is a small city, and the seventh floor is a whole major city..."
The set itself had been built at a reduced scale.
But the interiors of important buildings were said to be full scale.
Kim Yuna showed more enthusiasm than expected.
"Perfect. We can shoot there, right? Kang Hyun and I should go down a day early and film a video."
"Ah, what kind of video?"
"We have to film a review of the gun you got as a gift this time!"
Oh, right.
As an active hunter team, we could legally shoot firearms and even film videos.
Of course, we'd have to pass the Association's censorship first.
Still, we could create content that was quite rare in Korea.
"Will it pass censorship?"
"We're Alpha Team. It'll be fine."
Kim Yuna sounded extremely confident.
"Why do you think you got that gun as a gift?"
"Huh? W-Well, because I'm a foreign hunter affiliated with Korea?"
"More precisely, it's because you're in Alpha Team. We're the best among the Hunter Association's First-Tier Teams."
As it turned out, hunter teams had rankings too.
Alpha Team, Gamma Team, Bravo Team, and similar teams were First-Tier Teams.
They received the Hunter Association's full support and were mobilized first in emergencies.
They also made the most clearing attempts.
Next came Second-Tier Teams like Red, Yellow, and Green.
It seemed they named those teams after colors.
They fell somewhat behind Alpha Team in rank, skill, and experience.
But even being at that level made them proper hunter teams.
"What about third-tier teams?"
"They don't bother separating anything below that. They're basically treated like civilians."
"Ah..."
Like the hunter who'd stolen Escape Life's girlfriend.
Someone with enough experience to have cleared the first or second floor once.
I followed the team through a second and third round before barely making it back to the hotel.
The next morning, I habitually went to work at the Hunter Association.
Even though I was on leave until tomorrow, I had nothing else to do.
Besides, the employee buffet here was pretty good.
While eating alone, I checked my video channel...
It was full of comments that had piled up over the past few days.
I even saw several familiar usernames.
My viewers had increased a lot after the joint stream last time.
[walker: Can you even upload training videos like this? He must not know anything because he's new...]
[Escape5SecondsBefore: What would he know? He only got into Alpha Team through luck.]
[Yuki: YoupeoplemustrespectKangHyunKangHyunescapedthetoweralonewithoutdecentgearandledallthemtotheexitandatthesametime...]
[Mage Judge: Ah, here we go again.]
[Fog Lake Swim Club: If you're going to use paid shills, at least make it less obvious. Maybe those companies are low quality these days.]
Who the hell was this Yuki person?
Whenever they saw even the slightest comment they didn't like, they immediately left a massive reply.
Were they determined to ruin someone else's channel?
As I frowned deeply...
The Association employees suddenly began rushing around.
"Emergency! All medical team personnel, to Gwanghwamun!"
"Uh... Did something happen?"
"Beta Team has returned, but only the Team Leader came back!"
"W-What? The Team Leader came back alone..."
Even First-Tier Teams didn't seem to be invincible.
Breaking out in a cold sweat, I finished breakfast and headed for the training ground.
Footnotes:
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