Chapter 43: Offense is Defense!(4)

The aggressive fire started by Min-hyuk didn’t just spread to the hunters on floors 10 through 15.

The hunters on floors one through nine were the same.

— Urgently buying basic weapon sets!

— Buying basic armor only!

— Looking for Wooden Dragon Armor for Floor 3 and below.

— Is there a wooden shield for Floor 1? I need it urgently!

Starting with the news of an F-rank hunter rising to C-rank, and posts claiming hunters achieved skill evolution through growth on floors one through nine, an atmosphere of “let’s just try it” began to form.

Skill evolution was practically guaranteed just by following the path Min-hyuk had paved, even if only clumsily.

As if refusing to lose to the hunters on floors one through nine, those on floors 10 through 19 also chose to take another step forward like Min-hyuk.

**[Hunter Certificate (Floor 12) — Skill Rank: B]**

Floor 12 S-rank clear.

— It’s verified! You guys can do it too!

A verification post appeared showing an S-rank clear achieved with only a B-rank skill.

People were amazed to see an S-rank clear—not even an A-rank—but a tremendous amount of effort was hidden behind it.

— To be honest, before Min-hyuk reached Floor 10, he spent a lot of time grinding on floors one through nine, consuming all the remaining elixirs and inner cores to build his foundation.

I even bought Floor 10-tier equipment just in case.

The conclusion was that it was the result of persistent grinding and unsparing investment.

While it was the result of spending a fortune, the important thing was that it was possible.

Furthermore, the result of spending that money wasn’t entirely bad.

— I’m the one who posted the S-rank clear verification earlier.

When I went to the base camp, they gave me a ticket.

It looks like a ticket to buy a hidden weapon.

It’s not free, but it’s much cheaper than the auction house.

Plus, base camp weapons all have a basic option that prevents a decrease in clear rate for the Floor 10 range!

I’m uploading the weapon verification too.

**[Base Camp Smith’s Radiant Greatsword — Rare]**

**[View Detailed Information — Expand]**

Hunternet was buzzing once again, as if a bomb had gone off, at the news that hidden weapons could be obtained at the base camp.

— Is this for real?

— No one else has gotten it yet.

— Looking at how the S-rank clear is real, maybe the condition is an S-rank clear?

— Seems like it.

— Wow… if that’s true, there’ll be a lot of people grinding until they get an S-rank clear.

— Probably. If you look at that option, it’s three times more expensive on the exchange.

— There are some cheaper ones, but even those are nearly twice as expensive.

However, as another hunter achieved an S-rank clear, the existence of hidden weapon purchase tickets was proven to be true.

Starting with that, hunters who had already finished their daily clear didn’t leave the tower but instead began roaming the base camp to gather information.

Perhaps because of that?

Min-hyuk felt once again that nothing was more formidable than collective intelligence.

**[Summary of Base Camp Benefits Based on Clear Rate]**

— S-rank clear: Get a hidden weapon trade ticket. 50% discount.

— A-rank or lower: Point system. Get a hidden weapon trade ticket upon reaching 100 points.

— If contribution points are above a certain level, they seem to give a 20% discount coupon for the entire shop.

— Supplying materials to the base camp also counts toward contribution points.

Someone posted a summary of the scattered information on Hunternet.

In truth, Min-hyuk could have announced it officially, but he left it alone.

Finding these things out one by one was part of the fun.

Moreover, there were still various hidden features in the base camp that could provide minor benefits.

He intended to let them find those for themselves as well.

“It’s no fun if I tell them everything.”

Even in games, wasn’t there a certain joy in discovering things yourself?

The reason people flocked to new games was the pleasure of being the first to find and explore things.

If all the strategies were out and you just followed them, the fun would be halved.

Therefore, he planned to keep the hidden elements—which would only increase as the base camp developed—unrevealed so people could find them on their own.

“Still, a lot has changed.”

Min-hyuk looked at the changed atmosphere of the lower-floor hunters with a satisfied expression.

When he was climbing floors one through nine with flawless clears, there was only a slight atmosphere of challenge; they hadn’t shown such active and aggressive movements.

However, the combination of the videos Min-hyuk uploaded and the more numerous elements for growth had led to this.

“I think the growth trend has settled in.”

As he muttered this, Min-hyuk went outside at the sound of the doorbell.

“Manager?”

“What are you doing that you won’t even answer your phone?”

“Ah…”

Min-hyuk made sheepish face at Park Min-hye’s question and invited her inside.

“But what’s the matter?”

“Your family said you weren’t answering their calls either. They called me.”

“Ah…”

“I was worried you might have been injured since we haven’t heard from you after you cleared Floor 11.”

Min-hyuk nodded, acknowledging that it made sense, and looked at the system windows floating all around him.

“Could you ask the Director to bring the system sharing device?”

“Now?”

“Yes. I think it would be faster to show you than to explain.”

Nodding at Min-hyuk’s words, Min-hye hurriedly contacted the Director.

A short while later, the Director visited Min-hyuk’s house with several agents.

Devices, which were an expanded version of the Hunter Management Bureau’s registration system—displaying skill ranks and cleared floors if the hunter consented—began to be installed in Min-hyuk’s home.

“It’s installed.”

At the professional agent’s words, Min-hyuk gave a small nod.

When everyone except the Director and Park Min-hye tried to leave, Min-hyuk spoke with a smile.

“Watch it together. It’s quite interesting.”

At those words, the agents who were about to leave paused in their tracks.

Park Young-hwan glared at them, but Min-hyuk signaled to let them be and spoke toward the system with a smile.

“Share.”

**[Do you wish to share all information?]**

“Yeah.”

As soon as Min-hyuk answered, all the system windows he was seeing began to be shared with everyone else.

“…What on earth is this?”

Park Min-hye’s jaw dropped as she looked at the translucent windows surrounding Min-hyuk.

The others were the same.

In the center, a video of the Floor 10 base camp was playing, and next to it, countless pieces of information were listed.

On the far side, posts from Hunternet regarding the base camp were scrolling up.

“Looks like a game, right?”

“…”

Min-hyuk smiled, amused by Park Min-hye’s bewildered expression.

“I’ve been frantic because of this. Even if I focus on this all day, new things that need my attention keep popping up.”

At those words, Park Young-hwan asked cautiously, “The fact that you’re showing this to us means…”

“I’ll be sharing information with you from now on, so I was wondering if you could help manage the base camp with me.”

For now, a few clicks from him would suffice, but what if the base camp grew?

From that point on, the things he would have to worry about would increase exponentially.

Since he had decided to receive help from the Hunter Management Bureau, it would be better to receive it properly.

“We are grateful that you are sharing this, but…”

“That means my leverage will disappear, right?”

As Min-hyuk spoke with a smile, Park Young-hwan nodded with a heavy expression.

Information about the base camp itself could be used as a weapon.

He could demand massive amounts of money every time he handed over a piece of information.

However, Min-hyuk did not do that.

To show that it wasn’t because he was a pushover, he enlarged one small window.

“If you look here, you can already see people causing trouble.”

In the area Min-hyuk pointed to, there were many names highlighted in red.

These were all individuals identified by the base camp guards as being problematic.

The strange thing was that most of them were people who had flocked from other towers.

“Even though we filtered them before sending them…”

Park Young-hwan muttered, furrowing his brow.

To seize the opportunity, they had forcibly recruited rookie villains to prevent them from entering the Korean Tower.

But even that had its limits.

There were those on the ambiguous borderline who hadn’t been confirmed as villains.

Since the system didn’t provide information by default, it was impossible to know if a hunter was a villain unless the Hunter Management Bureau of each country confirmed it.

The Villain Alliance took advantage of this, using those on the ambiguous border for crimes.

Some didn’t even know they were being used for criminal activity.

Min-hyuk spoke with a bitter smile to the seemingly shocked Park Young-hwan.

“I’ll watch them a bit longer and then take measures to expel them all… but it was difficult to judge on my own.”

“I’m sorry. We should have…”

“No. Deciding based on population count was a good move.”

As he said that, he showed them another window.

He had told the hunters from other countries that they could focus on floors one through nine, but in truth, to enter floors one through nine of the Korean Tower through the base camp, they had to complete quests.

**[Special Quest: Retrieve 20 Bomb Fruits from Floor 6]**

**[Failure: Entry restricted for 3 days]**

Quests like these were given.

Every time they repeated a clear, a special quest was inevitably given, and that alone made it easy to supply materials to the fledgling base camp.

On top of that, they needed base camp currency to try the base camp’s equipment or food, so they had to sell the materials they brought from their repeated clears to the base camp.

“We aren’t short on materials, and thanks to that, we’ve been able to stably supply elixir-grade dishes, buff dishes, and basic equipment. I expect this trend to continue stably for a while.”

Everything had its pros and cons.

It was the best choice in terms of filling the base camp’s storehouse, which had been empty for a week, and raising the clear rate as much as possible for the remaining three days.

However, it was time to filter out the troublemakers.

“I plan to focus on climbing for a while.”

The base camp was important, but maintaining flawless clears was more important.

If he could continue to ascend with flawless clears on every floor, benefits incomparable to the current ones would pour in.

To the current Min-hyuk, nothing was more important than this.

Whether his sincerity reached him or not, Park Young-hwan bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.

“We will do our best to help.”

“Since we’re making this public, let’s ask the World Association for help too.”

“Understood. Then, if you have time, could we look into the base camp a bit more?”

“Go ahead.”

When he spoke as if it didn’t matter, Park Young-hwan gestured to the agents.

Then, the agents prepared to turn off the devices and collect them.

“You can do it here, but…”

“This is your home. How could we do that? Let’s go to the conference room. I’ll contact the World Association on the way.”

At those words, Min-hyuk looked at the agents with an apologetic expression.

It was a pointless errand where they had to pack up after only a few minutes, but the agents said it was fine, saying they got to see something great thanks to him.

“Give it to me. It’s because of me, so I’ll help.”

Saying that, he tucked one of the devices under his arm and got into the elevator.

As soon as he left the tower and entered the Hunter Management Bureau, reporters flocked to Min-hyuk.

Seeing that a barrage of questions was about to pour in, Min-hyuk spoke first.

“I have something to reveal through the Hunter Management Bureau. I’ll do separate interviews after that’s made public. I’m a bit busy right now.”

After asking for their understanding and heading up first, the Hunter Management Bureau agents followed behind him.

“Isn’t that a system window sharing device?”

“That thing?”

“Yeah. He really must have confirmed something.”

“Is it related to Floor 10?”

While the reporters were buzzing, Min-hyuk took the elevator to the top floor and entered the meeting hall.

Perhaps because they had already been contacted, the World Association President and the directors of the countries that had sent temporary immigrants to the Korean Tower were already seated.

“I’m sorry for repeatedly calling you while you’re busy. Since we don’t have much time, shall we start by sharing?”

At Min-hyuk’s words, William nodded vigorously with an excited expression.

Then, Min-hyuk’s system window was shared.

Since everyone was wearing special glasses equipped with AI, the information was being automatically translated into their own languages.

“As you can see, some problems have arisen. I’d like to sort things out as much as possible before clearing the next floor… would that be possible?”

At those words, the Hunter Management Directors of each country nodded frantically.

Then, William, who had been watching quietly, let out a hollow laugh.

— Ho-ho…

It was because he saw his past self in the look in Min-hyuk’s eyes.

To William, who remembered the look in his own eyes when he was crazy about climbing the tower, Min-hyuk’s eyes seemed to be saying, ‘I’ll expel anyone who interferes with my climb!’