WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 14: 014

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Morning.

After waking up, I slowly crawled out of bed.

A spicy scent drifted in from the living room.

'Kimchi stew for breakfast today, huh?'

Hot, savory soybean paste soup was the best, but spicy kimchi stew wasn't bad either.

I shuffled into the living room.

My older sister was cooking.

"You're up? Wait a minute. I'll set the table soon."

"Okay."

I nodded and drank a glass of cold water.

Then my older sister spoke.

"Oh, right. I convinced her. Hyeji's joining the party as a porter."

"Really?!"

I finally had an automatic item-pickup pet?

I wouldn't have to dig through piles of corpses anymore?

I could just click magic and cruise through the Tower?

I'm so happy!

"Thank you, Sis!!!"

"Hey! You're going to blow out my eardrums. Don't yell so early in the morning. You scared the life out of me."

"That's how thankful I am."

"I only did my best as your manager. Anyway... Hyeji agreed to join. She has one condition."

"A condition?"

Did she want a lot of money?

That wasn't a bad proposal. If money could keep my secret safe, I didn't mind paying plenty.

My profits were obviously going to grow exponentially anyway.

I could easily handle a reasonable expense.

But the condition my older sister mentioned wasn't something as trivial as money.

"She wants to stop the raid and leave the party immediately if it ever seems too dangerous."

"There won't be anything dangerous, though."

"You'll be climbing Floor 5 and above with only two people. Everyone else clears those floors with five people, but you're basically saying you'll clear them alone. Of course she'd be worried."

"Fair enough... If she doesn't know what I can do, she'll have no choice but to think it's dangerous."

Floor 5 of the Tower of Trials.

A floor where five-person party play was the standard.

We were going in with only two people, and one of us was a porter. In practice, I was saying I'd clear it alone.

It would be hard for anyone to think that was safe.

Still, I was curious.

How had my older sister managed to convince her?

An ordinary Hunter would never accept the insane proposal of clearing Floor 5 with only two people.

My older sister made an odd expression.

"The posts you made helped."

"My posts? You mean Hunter Gallery?"

"Yeah. When I told her everything you'd been posting was true, she was half-convinced. So I took the chance and persuaded her as hard as I could. I told her she could leave whenever she wanted, so she should at least try it once."

"Oh... So all my hard work posting on Hunter Gallery paid off. I should keep browsing it diligently."

"I keep telling you to spend less time online... Haah."

My older sister pouted and muttered something, but I was simply proud.

Hunter Gallery.

I'd only done it for fun.

Who knew those absurd posts would end up helping?

Everything had its use after all.

"Let's eat breakfast, then go straight to the Climber Branch and submit the paperwork. We need to lift the detention order before we can take her as a party member."

* * *

After breakfast, we headed to the Climber Branch.

I placed my hand on the crystal ball and exchanged my Points.

[Please specify the amount of Points to transfer to the ‘Republic of Korea’.]

"All of them."

[Transferring 354 Points to the ‘Republic of Korea’.]

"Hunter Baek Jiho. We have confirmed 354 Points. We will deposit 3.54 million won into your designated account. The Republic of Korea will remember your dedication."

The familiar farewell from a familiar civil servant.

I handed over the documents I'd brought.

"I want to form a party with a reserve Hunter. Please process this."

"Understood. I will accept the application for a temporary release from the reserve Hunter mobilization order. The detention order will be lifted within 24 hours."

The civil servant sent the documents by fax and looked at the computer screen for a moment.

Then they raised their head in surprise.

"Hm? It's already been processed. It seems the person in charge happened to be handling that matter. It would normally take about a day."

"It was processed already?"

"Yes. The release order will probably be issued immediately. The discharge procedure should be completed within 30 minutes."

"Oh..."

Lucky.

I thought we'd have to wait around a day, but the detention order was lifted right away.

If things went well, I might be able to form the party today.

As I was happily thinking that, the civil servant stared at the computer screen and scratched their head as if something seemed off.

"But why is the approver the vice minister of the Climber Management Department...? What? This isn't something that should be approved at the vice minister level, so why...?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all. But... Hunter, do you happen to know a high-ranking official... No. Never mind. Have a good day. The Republic of Korea will remember your dedication."

"...?"

The civil servant rambled, then firmly shut their mouth.

Know a high-ranking official? There was no way.

My older sister had graduated from Korea University, but we were still from a poor family.

There was no way we had connections to powerful people.

"Anyway, it's been processed, right? I'll be going now. Have a good day."

I walked out of the branch and got into my older sister's car.

She was holding her phone to her ear.

"Yeah, Hyeji. Your detention order was lifted? You can come out right away? Wow! We just submitted the documents, and they lifted it immediately? The timing must've been good."

My older sister was on the phone with Ms. Na Hyeji, my future porter.

It sounded like the detention order had been lifted right away, and she was leaving the dormitory.

Government workers in this country were really capable.

What fast and efficient work.

We really were a nation obsessed with getting things done fast.

"Then where should we meet? Should we come to your place? Ah. You'll come here? Okay, then. I'll give you the address."

Were they making plans to meet today since she had been released?

That made sense. It was best to enter the Tower as soon as possible.

Especially for Ms. Hyeji, a reserve Hunter. If she took even one day off from climbing, she'd be detained again.

It was important to establish a raid record as quickly as possible.

I nodded.

'Let's see what my porter looks like.'

I hoped she was pretty.

It was the humble wish of a twenty-seven-year-old who had never dated.

* * *

Na Hyeji.

A fifth-year inactive Hunter who had ultimately accepted the offer to become a porter.

After being released from detention and returning home, she gathered her equipment while muttering to herself.

"Small world. I can't believe that ‘Blue Dot’ was Jiye's little brother..."

She let out a hollow laugh.

"All those ridiculous posts were true? That's impossible. Haha..."

The Hunter Gallery user, ‘Blue Dot.’

For the past few days, Blue Dot had been an extremely active attention-seeking lunatic on Hunter Gallery.

The user posted climbing reports every day, and their content was deeply bizarre.

They claimed to have cleared a Tutorial difficulty above Hard.

They claimed to have killed dozens of Goblins on Floor 1, cleared Floor 2 in three hours, and slaughtered over a hundred Goblins on Floor 3.

They even claimed to have wiped out an entire Goblin village on Floor 4.

Blue Dot had consistently posted things that defied common sense.

Posts that were obviously lies to anyone who saw them.

Hyeji knew that user well.

In fact, she had been an old Hunter Gallery user for a long time.

Ever since five years ago, when she had just become a Hunter, she had occasionally visited Hunter Gallery to lurk.

Naturally, Blue Dot's attention-grabbing posts had caught her eye.

She had even left comments a few times.

└What's Extreme Lunatic Hell supposed to be? Did you just list every difficulty name that sounded vaguely believable? What a fucking joke.

At first, she criticized them.

└This guy's delusions are getting worse by the day. The monsters got scared and ran away? What kind of nonsense is that? LOL.

Then she criticized them again.

└This crazy attention-seeking bastard is still doing this shit.

And she criticized them again.

She couldn't help it.

The posts were obviously nothing more than lies, so that was the normal reaction.

'But... what if all of it was true?'

What if Blue Dot, Baek Jiye's little brother, had become the first person in history to clear a difficulty above Hard-rank?

What if that gave him strength beyond common sense?

'Then it all makes sense.'

Her friend Baek Jiye's proposal to clear Floor 5 with a two-person party, which was practically the same as suicide.

Her attempt to recruit Hyeji, an inactive Hunter, through their personal connection instead of choosing from the countless Easy-rank Hunters available.

It all had an explanation.

Still, Jiye seemed to be hiding something, and Hyeji feared for her life.

It was too early to be certain.

She rose from her seat and muttered,

"I'll find out once I enter the Tower."

* * *

Shortly after noon.

Na Hyeji came to our house.

"Hyeji! Come in! This is my little brother, Baek Jiho."

"Hello. I'm Baek Jiho."

"I'm Na Hyeji. Jiye has told me a lot about you."

I finally got to see the face of my future porter.

My impression was simple.

'She looks kind of gloomy.'

Huge glasses covered half her face.

Dark circles showed beneath them, and she wore a gloomy expression.

Her long hair hung down around her shoulders.

She was pretty if you looked closely, but she had this gloomy vibe... Not my type.

For the record, I had high standards.

'The lifelong-single curse. No dating experience, but ridiculously high standards.'

Still, I was allowed to have high standards.

I was an Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter.

I was going to become the best Hunter soon enough, so it was fine if I had high standards.

Still, something confused me.

"But aren't you a Hunter? Why are you wearing glasses...?"

Once someone became a Hunter, they received basic physical enhancement and gained excellent eyesight.

They could see perfectly well without stupid glasses.

So why was someone who had reached Floor 4 still wearing them?

Ms. Hyeji hesitated before answering.

"They don't have a prescription. I've worn glasses my whole life, but I feel embarrassed going around without them... So I wear them on purpose..."

"..."

What a strange person.

Other people paid money for laser eye surgery.

Yet she had perfectly good eyesight and still chose to wear glasses.

Anyway.

I calmly evaluated Na Hyeji.

Her dragging way of speaking, her timid movements, her gloomy eyes, and even her awkward expression.

Overall, she seemed fearful and weak-hearted.

The depressed atmosphere was an extra bonus.

I was worried.

'Can someone like this really be my porter?'

The job required picking up loot among horrific piles of corpses and getting both hands covered in blood.

She didn't seem suited for it.

Well, I'd find out after giving her a try.

"We can introduce ourselves properly later... Shall we go to the Tower now?"

"Y-yes. If it seems dangerous, we'll return right away, correct...?"

"Of course. Don't worry."

I held out my hand, and Ms. Hyeji took it.

I spoke quietly.

"Enter the Tower."

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 5)]

[Na Hyeji (Republic of Korea: Floor 5)]

[Please select the floor you wish to enter.]

"Floor 5."

[Entering Tower Floor 5.]

Flaaash!

A bright sphere of light enveloped us.

* * *

The light faded.

I slowly looked around.

The first thing I saw was a long, dark corridor.

Groups of around ten Goblins were stationed here and there deeper inside the corridor.

I recalled the information about Floor 5.

'Floor 5 is basically a push map.'

Its structure was similar to Floor 3 overall.

There was a long, straight corridor, and if you followed it all the way through, there was an Escape Portal at the end.

The difference was that the corridor was much wider and longer than the one on Floor 3.

The monsters occupied it in groups at regular intervals.

Some groups even included a few Goblin Warriors.

Unlike Floor 3, which could be cleared by sprinting at full speed from the beginning, Floor 5 required you to defeat the Goblin groups blocking the way one after another and force your way forward.

Most Goblin groups had around five to ten members.

Some of them included Goblin Warriors.

That was why party play was essential on Floor 5.

Even a Normal Hunter couldn't face ten Goblins alone.

'Of course, I can clear it easily by myself.'

Wasn't that why I had brought only a porter as my party member?

I turned to look at Ms. Hyeji standing beside me.

Since she was the porter, she had a huge bag slung over her back.

Her expression was stiff, as if she was nervous.

"Ms. Hyeji. Are you ready?"

"Y-yes...!"

"You can speak more casually. You're my sister's friend, and you're much older than me."

"...‘Much older’? We're only two years apart. ‘Much’ older?"

"Ah."

Twenty-nine.

The age when women were especially sensitive.

It seemed like I'd pressed some kind of trigger.

I hurriedly changed the subject.

"Now that we're in the Tower, I guess it's time to tell you my secret."

"...Your secret. Is that the reason behind all those unbelievable achievements you posted about on the gallery?"

"Yes. Watch closely."

I nodded, raised my staff, and prepared my magic.

-Vwoooooong!

Blue Motes arranged themselves in the air, scattering a brilliant blue radiance.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Multiple Fireballs rose above my staff and began circling overhead.

The light pouring from the Fireballs brightly illuminated the dark corridor.

"Uh, uh...?!"

Na Hyeji stared at me with wide, shocked eyes.

Looking at her, I spoke quietly.

"I'm a Wizard Hunter. Probably the only one."

"What is this...?!"

Leaving the shocked Hyeji behind me, I pointed my staff forward.

"Fire."

-Screeeeeech!

The Fireballs shot through the darkness.

They slammed directly into the center of the Goblin group waiting ahead.

Then.

-Kwaaaang!

A deafening explosion rang through the corridor.

Around ten Goblins were torn apart and blown to pieces.

Chunks of flesh and organs scattered everywhere, while blood rained down and soaked the walls and floor.

At that horrific sight,

"...My God."

Na Hyeji looked stunned.

I spoke to her calmly.

"Ms. Hyeji, you're the porter. Your job is to collect the loot from that pile of corpses."

"Ah...?"

At my words, Ms. Hyeji cautiously looked toward the pile of corpses.

There, amid a sea of blood filled with torn limbs, scattered organs, and chunks of flesh, she could see loot such as Goblin daggers and bows.

Naturally, they were completely covered in blood and bits of organs.

Her job was to pick them up one by one.

"Eek...?!"

Na Hyeji's face turned pale.

An evil smile naturally formed on my lips.

'Heh heh. My hands won't get bloody anymore.'

My porter would work by digging through the piles of corpses for me.

I'd just click magic and reap the rewards.

The perfect raid had begun.

Footnotes:

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