The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 19

Ch 19: Korean Magic Tower （2）

‘Earthlings hardly perceive external mana. Heh, these primitive guys.’

If not now, when would I ever use my special skill?

I raised a finger to my lips, signaling to be quiet.

“Shhh.”

Of course, I didn’t intend to keep An Yunseung standing awkwardly for long.

“That’s enough.”

“What is?”

About 30 seconds later.

I took my hand off the wall and stared blankly at something.

“I found the way to the top floor.”

“No way, really? How? I don’t have a clue!”

An Yunseung jumped at those words.

But my gaze was still fixed on the elevator door. A sticker that read “Do not lean” caught my eye.

“Yunseung-a, before that, I have something to ask.”

Yunseung seemed flustered by the sudden question, but…

“I’m not sure if I understood the structure correctly. If you want to empty the inside of the elevator door, can you send the elevator to another floor?”

“Empty the inside of the door?”

“This is a vertical passage, right? It’s vertically open, and a box moves, isn’t it?”

“Ah, yes. Right? You know it well.”

The answer came back easily.

That was enough.

“Okay. Wait a moment.”

I immediately called the elevator.

And I went inside and pressed the button for a high floor.

At the end, I quickly slipped back out before the doors closed.

An Yunseung stared blankly as the floor numbers displayed in red changed.

“What are you doing now…”

At that moment. An enormous roar filled the empty hallway.

━Thump!!

“Heeok!”

It was because I kicked the elevator door with all my might with my left foot.

The door, weak to pushing impact, fell helplessly into the vertical passage, the bottom part collapsing.

An Yunseung was shocked by this.

But I looked down at the black space without any expression.

“Let’s go. Yunseung-a.”

“Uh, where to?”

This newbie A-rank hunter still hasn’t grasped the situation.

Is there a need to explain it at length? Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

“This floor is a gate connected to the upper floor. Jump!”

“Eeeek! Giryeo hyung!”

I willingly fell down the open elevator shaft.

A scream filled with fear followed, but I didn’t care. They’ll come on their own when they’re ready.

◈◈◈

“Oh~”

I fell down here, but when coming out, it’s horizontal.

I stumbled for a moment to adjust to the reversed direction, then regained my posture and looked around.

‘It’s directly connected to the representative’s office?’

This is the scene in Kim Giryeo’s mind.

A room with a large leather chair, commonly seen in movies and dramas.

“Huk! I’ve jumped off more dangerous cliffs inside gates, so why is this so scary?”

“Oh, you came?”

After waiting for a moment, An Yunseung also showed his face.

But then.

“You managed to come all the way here.”

From beyond the shiny executive chair, a voice flowed out.

“You are the first to pass through my maze. Moreover, it’s the fastest time. No, but it’s amazing. I never thought the hidden disaster escape route would be discovered. It’s not supposed to be used for this…”

A cheerful young woman’s voice.

Following that, we met the creator of this maze and an awakened one who supports a pillar of Korean society.

“But you can’t get away with just that.”

The leather chair turned halfway. The opponent revealed herself.

Her body proportions were good, so I almost mistook her for a tall person, but if you look closely, she’s a small woman in her 20s.

“From now on, I, Esther of the Magic Tower, will be your opponent!”

The representative of the Korean Magic Tower.

Her full name is Seo Esther.

She greeted us warmly, her drooping eyes crinkling into a smile.

‘Is this the maze creator? As I’ve heard, her personality seems quite unique.’

I looked at Esther with interested eyes.

However, it seemed I wasn’t the only one curious about the other party.

“An Yunseung hunter, by the way, what’s the name of the visitor over there?”

Esther was smiling thinly, staring intently at me.

“Instead of standing here, let’s all sit down first. Is coffee okay for a drink?”

Not to Yunseung, an A-rank hunter, but to me.

◈◈◈

Earthlings often decorate their hair extravagantly.

They perm their straight hair or change their fur to purple with harsh dyes.

I still don’t understand their aesthetic standards. But at least, the appearance of the person sitting in front of me felt good to look at.

Perhaps it’s because the visual information has been processed through Kim Giryeo’s brain.

“I’ll introduce myself. I’m Kim Giryeo. Nice to meet you.”

I looked at Esther’s wavy hair and offered a handshake. Then, Esther raised the corners of her mouth and said.

“You seem to be a capable appraiser.”

“Pardon?”

“You can’t get out of the tower’s maze with a mediocre analysis skill. I set the difficulty high. It’s just that you solved it too easily.”

Her smiling face was as affectionate as a contented cat.

“I really like people with skills. Let’s get along well, you and I, with our rare attributes.”

But wait a moment.

Why did Esther say something that grouped me with her here?

“Same rare attribute?”

When I asked back, not only Esther, who was shaking my hand, but even An Yunseung, who came with me, looked surprised.

It’s so hard to pretend to be an Earthling.

“Hmm? Well, of course… Awakened ones with analysis-type skills are rare, so you can be considered rare enough, can’t you? And I am━.”

Esther blinked her big eyes, explaining as if asking what the problem was.

Eventually, An Yunseung belatedly stepped in to sort out the situation.

“Hyung-nim, Esther-ssi is a curse attribute hunter, one of only a few in the world.”

“Really?”

Curse attribute!

Right. I saw it while searching about this company.

An awakened one with a curse attribute who hunts monsters using status ailments such as weakening or slowing.

That was Seo Esther.

‘This world has just begun generating mana. Surely, people who use complex techniques must be rare.’

I’m starting to get a sense of the scope of rare attributes.

I guess most of the Earthlings are awakened to simple magic like Jeong Haseong or Kang Changho, who can ignite fire and become stronger.

People who manifest defense and recovery magic like An Yunseung are fewer than that.

And people with special abilities like appraisal, curses, and brainwashing would be extremely rare.

“I understand. We are both rare attribute hunters.”

I immediately returned to the conversation.

“I’m sorry for not recognizing it right away. I’m a bit out of touch with the news…”

“Did you just lock yourself in a room and work? Oh my! I’ve been on TV so much lately.”

Esther shook her head and pretended to sulk as if she had seen someone who didn’t know she was a rare attribute for the first time in a while, but that was only for a moment.

“Well, if you’re a skilled appraiser like you, you must have been busy with a flood of requests, right?”

Esther relaxed her expression and met our gazes.

“Anyway, let’s put aside the socializing for a moment. That’s not your purpose, is it?”

Finally, the main point is coming.

“I just checked the email again. An Yunseung hunter, you said you have business with a certain gate owned by our Magic Tower, right?”

“Ah! Yes.”

An Yunseung nodded.

“That’s right. But to be precise, it’s not me who has business…”

He said this, and then slyly turned his eyes to me.

Well, it would be better for me to say this part.

“Actually, I’m the one who wants to enter the gate. Yunseung just made the appointment for me.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Because I’m such a low-rank awakened one, the staff wouldn’t respond to me.”

Esther, who had been listening to the story quietly, asked a question.

“What rank are you?”

I silently took out my hunter license and showed it.

Then, Esther reacted in a way that was perhaps natural, but a bit unfamiliar to me.

“Ah, F-rank?”

Esther didn’t have a shred of doubt that I was the lowest-rank hunter.

“Appraisers’ awakening values are all like that. Yours is especially low, though.”

I nodded vaguely at Esther’s words.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been questioned so much about whether I’m really an F-rank, but there was no problem.

After all, didn’t I pass through the tower’s maze that Esther presented?

“Hmm, so why do you want to enter this gate?”

“That is…”

“Just so you know, if you’re planning to collect resources, it’s going to be difficult. The materials that come from the trees here are not enough even for me.”

“I will absolutely not touch the side with the trees.”

However, it seems that things are not going to be so easy.

“Is the goal not the fruits? Even so, it’s difficult for me to give permission…”

Esther sat with her legs crossed and tapped her foot.

It was a somewhat arrogant posture, but no one dared to point out an S-rank.

“Is it not possible?”

“But that’s the thing, right? Our appraiser-ssi. I don’t know what guild you belong to, but you’re clearly someone from another guild~”

“….”

“You came with An Yunseung, so are you from Neo Sisters? Hmm, anyway.”

Tap.

Esther, who had been tapping her foot, put it on the floor and said with a strange smile.

“How much money does it take to monopolize a gate? I don’t want to do anything that benefits another guild for free with all the effort I put into getting this right.”

“That’s understandable.”

“So, if you want to enter the gate, instead of a hunter coming here directly like this.”

Esther’s words can be summarized as this.

“I’d like to have a talk between guilds. I would.”

Instead of you lower-level people, bring the company’s executives?

“And I don’t like haggling and testing the waters like this. Should I tell the guild in advance? It’s better to calculate the entrance fee conscientiously from the start.”

It seems she plans to receive a hefty price.

What valuable thing could she have hidden in a lower-level dungeon that’s at most D-rank to be so confident?

The reality is, they don’t even know half of the useful resources that are inside…

“Will it cost a lot of money, hyung?”

Yunseung was flustered at the mention of the entrance fee and rolled his eyes, but I calmly calmed him down.

“Esther hunter-nim.”

First, I need to correct the wrong parts.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t… belong to any guild?”

“Pardon?”

At those words, Esther’s eyes widened.

Not missing this opportunity, An Yunseung quickly added.

“Ah ah! That’s right! Giryeo hyung doesn’t even have his own team, let alone a guild! He always goes around alone!”

Saying it out loud makes it feel somewhat embarrassing.

“You’ve been calling me an appraiser since earlier… but to tell you the truth, I’ve never done that kind of work.”

He wasn’t an item appraiser.

Esther was in shock, but I didn’t stop explaining.

“The only person I know in the industry is An Yunseung.”

“Hyung-nim…!”

“Helping me won’t fill the pockets of another guild. This is a truly personal request.”

Not only that.

I never thought about entering a gate that someone else bought with their money for free in the first place.

‘Heh, should I bring up that part now?’

Of course, I’ve prepared for the entrance fee issue!

Now, I just needed to present this delicious reward to the representative.

But then. I paused what I was about to say.

Because Esther had been looking at me and swallowing hard since earlier.

‘Huh.’

What is it?

I haven’t even mentioned the mouth-watering story yet?