Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty - Chapter 45

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 45

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Death Priest.

Even in the Tower, where quite a few factions had appeared, it was a name I'd never heard before.

Just in case, I combed through every bit of information inside and outside the Tower Escape game...

But I couldn't find any faction or being called the Death Priest.

Yet they had sent me a gift.

'Was this Death Priest... a faction outside the Tower rather than inside it?'

That explained why I couldn't find anything in the Tower.

Come to think of it, I got my dagger from a hunter's corpse, not a monster.

'Are there weird bastards outside the Tower too?'

I'd thought the Goblin Merchants were about as strange as it got.

Suddenly, I felt deeply uneasy.

Tap. Tap.

I searched the delivery box and wooden box thoroughly...

But there was no letter or anything.

The mask inside the wooden box was all there was.

It was a thin, white mask.

There wasn't even the faintest expression or pattern on it.

'Putting this on won't kill me, right?'

It was definitely a high-grade artifact...

But it felt very different from the ominous magic power coming from the dagger.

[Death Priest’s Mask: Death can take any face.]

Even after using Appraisal again, its detailed effects didn't appear.

Every Death Priest artifact had strange descriptions.

They weren't intuitively clear at all.

It even felt like the Appraisal skill was treating them differently.

'More importantly, how did they know my address? What the hell are these people?'

This was an apartment building exclusively for Hunter Association members, so maybe they could have figured out the general address somehow.

But they shouldn't have known the exact floor.

Then again, I ordered deliveries too. Maybe it was that easy?

Korean citizens' personal information probably wasn't that private.

"Ah, I don't know. I should get some rest first."

I carefully stored the mask in the storage room, then quickly went to bed.

"Ugh..."

The bed was unnecessarily wide and soft.

Every time I returned from the Tower, I felt it justified its price better than any other piece of furniture in this house.

Not that I'd bought it with my own money.

I slept soundly and didn't wake up until just before noon the next day.

After showering, I was considering what to have for breakfast when Yuki knocked on my front door.

"Oh. Yuki."

"Good morning, Benefactor!"

I'd only just noticed.

Did she still call me Benefactor whenever we were alone?

It was a little embarrassing.

Yuki paid no attention to my reaction and entered with a line of clones following behind her.

Just as she'd said yesterday, each clone wore different clothes.

"I heard there's a nice brunch cafe nearby. Would you like to go together?"

Was she naturally assuming we'd spend our day off together?

She even knew about brunch cafes.

She was adapting to life in Korea too well.

As the team leader, that reassured me a lot.

"Ah, but which outfit do you like best?"

"They're all pretty... but if I had to pick one, I like that one best."

Honestly, I hadn't really looked at the clothes. I picked Yuki's real body.

Wouldn't she put the outfit she felt most confident in on herself?

Then Yuki dismissed her clones.

Whoosh!

The clothes the clones had been wearing fell to the floor.

So they'd really been wearing them.

I'd thought they were only copying appearances like usual.

Yuki summoned her clones again and had them collect the clothes.

Then she headed straight for the large trash can in the corner of the living room.

"Yuki. That's not a laundry basket. It's a trash can."

"I know."

Was she going to throw away everything I hadn't picked?

She was making me panic first thing in the morning again.

I barely managed to stop her by changing the subject.

"By the way, what did you spend the money from selling your gold on? Do you like shopping for clothes?"

"Ah! Would you like to come over and take a look?"

Her face brightened as she took me down to the floor below.

Each household occupied an entire floor, so there was quite a lot of space to use freely...

Yuki had turned one room into a dressing room.

Everywhere I looked, there were wardrobes, clothing racks, and display shelves.

"Do you like it?"

"Wow, it's like you moved an entire store in here."

"There's only one size, though. I imported that section directly from Japan."

Seeing it arranged like this, it looked pretty cool.

I should learn how to spend money too.

Yuki had received around thirty percent of the proceeds from selling the gold we'd earned during the first clear of the eighth floor.

I'd wanted to give her half, but she refused until the end.

For reference, the Hunter Association would separately compensate us for all the money spent buying technology from the shop.

They said that price was absurdly cheap for such advanced technology.

We'd also agreed to receive royalties once the technology was actually commercialized.

I didn't really know what that meant, though.

After some thought, I brought her back upstairs and showed her the mask.

"What do you think of this?"

"Hmm. It's stylish. It was delivered to you?"

"Yeah. I don't even know who sent it. Even the Appraisal skill doesn't show the details..."

"Should I try having a clone wear it?"

Yuki made an unexpected suggestion.

Come to think of it, her Clone Technique could use equipment too.

It really was an all-purpose skill.

"But if it harms you..."

"That won't happen. It's only a clone."

She snatched the mask from me and immediately put it on a clone.

"Hm?"

Something seemed to be wrong.

The clone couldn't properly use the artifact...

But it wasn't a complete loss.

"Ah, I think I know what it is."

"What? You couldn't even use it properly."

"The energy coming from this mask feels very familiar. It's strangely similar to a clone. I think it's probably an artifact for disguising yourself."

"A disguise?"

[Death Priest’s Mask: Death can take any face.]

I see.

Could it borrow someone else's face?

It felt like an artifact made entirely for assassination.

Wear the Death Priest’s Mask to sneak in, stab someone with the dagger, and there probably wouldn't even be a corpse left.

'... That makes even less sense. Why did they send me something like this?'

No matter how I looked at it, it wasn't the kind of artifact that harmed its wearer.

I put the mask away and left the apartment with Yuki.

If I thought about it for too long, she'd start worrying for no reason.

"Let's go get brunch. But who should we invite..."

Since we were going anyway, it wouldn't hurt to add someone else.

The truth was, I wanted to avoid being alone with Yuki whenever possible.

Go Jiho and Han Juwon were probably spending time with their families right now.

Sang Hajun would prefer lying around at home alone.

That left Kim Yuna.

Just as I was about to contact her, Yuki grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Ah, I asked Yuna in advance. She said she just wants to relax alone today."

"You already asked? That was fast."

Women were thorough about things like this.

Genuinely impressed, I left the apartment.

Yuki and I took a leisurely walk to the cafe.

It really was close.

The place looked expensive at a glance.

We ordered a few unfamiliar menu items and sat down...

There were several other hunters nearby.

I'd gotten experienced enough by now that I could recognize them at a glance.

Out of habit, I scrolled through my messenger app.

"They've started producing a prototype dimensional energy reactor."

"I hope it goes well."

"... Yuki. You don't hate me too much now, right?"

"You've been asking that way too often lately."

Yuki snickered.

Of course I was bothered by what happened in the Mini Dungeon, Prison of Bonds.

"I had a hard time controlling my emotions back then too."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I kept thinking only about the things I hated about you, Benefactor..."

Was that how it worked?

Our conversation naturally turned toward dungeons.

"Do you think it's impossible to clear the Prison of Bonds Mini Dungeon alone?"

"I don't think so. You could open both handles at the same time by yourself."

"Oh, right?"

"Though hunters who suffer from self-loathing might have an advantage..."

"Will the ninth floor have restrictions like the eighth floor?"

The two of us were having a fairly good time eating and chatting when I saw a crowd gathering outside the window.

At first, I thought there might be some kind of event going on...

But it wasn't the kind of event I'd imagined.

The hunters around us began getting angry one by one.

"Ah, those bastards came again."

"What's going on?"

"There's this group called the Tower Friends Association. A group that loves the Tower's friends. They're a monster protection organization."

"What? Are they crazy?"

"..."

Yuki and I exchanged silent looks for a moment.

Korea was so safe that all kinds of lunatics could show up.

"Why are they making a scene here of all places?"

"There are a lot of hunters living around here. It's a wealthy neighborhood too, so it's a good place to get attention."

"True. If they made noise in a genuinely rough neighborhood, they'd get beaten up."

We decided to leave.

"Yuki, where should we go next?"

"I heard there are a lot of pop-up stores up ahead."

"Oh, sounds good."

Her answers came out right away, as if she'd prepared them in advance.

She was easy to hang out with.

Then one of the middle-aged women outside, who'd been holding a picket sign and shouting, grabbed me.

I'd been completely caught.

"Excuse me! You're a famous hunter, right?"

"Huh."

It felt a little wrong to deny being a famous hunter here.

I was the leader of Alpha Team, one of Korea's representative teams.

And the world's first EX-rank hunter.

"You've got the right person."

"Benefactor, what are you doing..."

Yuki flared up and tried to step in...

But the protesters were faster.

The woman forced a microphone into my hand and asked, "How can you kill even small, young monsters without mercy?"

"Huh? Ah... that?"

It was definitely difficult.

Young monsters were small and fast, making them hard to aim at.

But they were relatively less durable.

"You can use lightweight weapons or grenades."

"No! That's not what I was asking!"

The woman and the protesters burst out in irritation.

I guess they didn't like my answer.

Still, grenades had to be used sparingly.

"How can you do something so cruel?"

Only then did I realize something was strange.

"... They shoot guns at us, though?"

"Hey! Stop saying idiotic things to hunters!"

The hunters who had been watching in the cafe came out as if cheering me on.

But the woman was strong.

"There must be monsters that don't shoot guns! Cuter ones!"

"... Cute monsters? Are the scorpions on the second floor kind of cute?"

I seriously asked Yuki, and she replied with a sigh.

"Depending on your perspective, they might be."

"I'm talking about monsters that appear outside the Tower!"

When I looked closely at the banners they were waving...

They were covered with pictures of relatively appealing-looking monsters, like foxes and small animals.

So monsters like those appeared overseas too?

Korea's barrier was maintained so well that no monsters appeared here at all, so I hadn't known.

"I've never hunted a monster outside the Tower."

After I answered honestly, the protesters finally seemed satisfied.

"Right? There's no need to kill them outside the Tower too, is there?"

"Well... as long as they don't come all the way to Korea. But what are you planning to do instead of killing monsters?"

"That's a good question. Our Tower Friends Association is working to get permits to keep small, harmless monsters..."

Permits to keep them?

They wanted to raise monsters as pets?

What an ambitious goal.

I was sincerely impressed.

"So you're going to put leashes and muzzles on monsters and take them for walks?"

"That's right. We call them monsters now, but they could become humanity's new companions..."

"You'll tame them with treats, demand affection from them, and starve them if they don't listen?"

"... What?"

Why were they so surprised?

Wasn't that what pets were?

"You'll lock them in narrow cages, cut their vocal cords, neuter them... and abandon them if you get tired of them."

Wouldn't it be more merciful to kill them cleanly?

These people were ruthless despite how they looked.

Hunters should learn a thing or two from them.

"Wow, that's impressive. I really hope humanity can use monsters as slaves one day."

"Not slaves, pets!"

"Ah, right. Pets. That was the premise. Sorry."

I exchanged warm farewells with them and left.

The hunters filming videos behind us applauded as if they were satisfied too.

After checking her smartphone, Yuki said, "As expected... they're pet importers. It seems some people hoping to get government subsidies are involved too."

"Really?"

I'd heard that dog strollers sold better than baby strollers these days.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones making money from monsters.

"Everyone's working so hard... We should work hard too."

"Just as expected of our team leader."

Yuki snickered, and then the Hunter Association's R&D department contacted me.

I'd briefly spoken with them about the Tower Radio before...

But this was the first time they'd called me directly.

When I answered, an excited researcher said, [Hunter! We've successfully produced a prototype according to the blueprint you brought us! Infinite dimensional energy is now in our hands!]

"Oh, nice. But what do we do with it now?"

[We boil water and turn turbines.]

Ah, I see.

In the end, it was basically the same thing.

I decided to visit later and see it for myself, then went around the pop-up stores with Yuki.

A familiar kind of news report was playing near the section displaying the stores' prototype products.

It seemed pretty serious, since quite a few people had gathered in front of it.

[The largest monster ever to appear, which emerged in Vladivostok, still has no determined method of subjugation...]

"What? It was in Vladivostok? That's pretty close to Korea, isn't it?"

Looking at a map, it really was close.

Russia was so huge that I'd thought it was practically a story from another world.

Then the screen showed the gigantic monster.