05. Deal with the Devil (12)

“The chief….”

Suddenly, I felt that I could do it.

The reason why my grades hit rock bottom after entering the academy is that I ended up giving up on all of my practical skills. My written grades weren’t that bad, but rather, I tend to maintain a high rank.

And my practical grades have risen by leaps and bounds since Professor Yurim personally checked the golden eggs this time, and my production skills improved further over the course of a few months. If I pay a little more attention to my notes, my opponent in the freshman application department is… There was only Yuna, whose skills had not yet been confirmed.

If Yuna is an unexpectedly strong person and takes the top spot with the first year support in this midterm exam, the second place still remains. If even the second seat is okay, the possibility seemed sufficient.

I finished my calculations and nodded my head calmly.

“Okay. I’ll try that at least once.”

At my confident remarks, Yoon Seo-hee sighed and admired, and Baek Ji-soo smiled faintly.

“Then, the only thing left is me and Yoon Seo-hee taking the top and bottom seats.”

“Eh.”

Yoon Seo-hee’s practical performance is overwhelming. She’s gotten stronger in a few months, so if it’s just her practical grades, well, will she ever catch up with her freshman year?

However, just as I ate up my practical skills and crawled at a failing grade even if I maintained my writing grades, no matter how high my practical grades are, I cannot aim for the top rank if my writing does not support the basics.

In other words, you have to study.

Realizing that fact, Yoon Seo-hee’s expression became as if she had chewed something.

“Ugh… I hate studying….”

“It’s okay. I’ll teach you two.”

“Umm, if that’s the case….”

I am strong in general subjects such as Guk Yeong-soo, and I would be well versed in the handwriting classes that only take combat. If only the basics are supported, Yoon Seo-hee’s high score is guaranteed. Because her practical score will hit the ceiling beyond comparison with other students.

Of course, there are still issues to address. It’s a much more important issue than anything like sexuality.

“Jisoo. It’s okay to go in, but what are you going to do after you go in? Attacking the tower is not that easy.”

There are as many as five pagodas rising in this narrow Korean land. And three of them were successful, and two towers still remain.

The Eldoras Tower in the southern part of the metropolitan area. And the Titan Tower in Gangwon-do.

Titan Tower located in the middle of the Taebaek Mountain Range Even so, there are various reasons why the Eldoras Tower, which is densely populated in the metropolitan area, has not been attacked so far, but the biggest reason among them is that the level of difficulty is fundamentally too high.

The Tower of Eldoras has a world view of a kingdom that has been destroyed by a mysterious plague. In accordance with the setting, the inside of the tower is infested with an infectious disease, and the higher you go, the more severe this plague becomes.

If you get sick, you will be stained with madness and lose your reason. To solve this, you need a healer job with mental stability or disease recovery skills. And since healers with such skills are extremely rare, it is difficult to find them even if you try to find them.

In a guild that lacks such a healer job group, the upper hunters have no choice but to endure the evil by increasing the body resistance by turning magic all over the body. It’s like having a debuff on at all times because you have to fight while paying attention to infectious diseases in a tower where mad soldiers and knights attack. The difficulty is bound to increase exponentially.

Many hunters failed to attack and never came back. Can the three students break this? No matter how much the regressor and the future adversary are caught, the chances are slim. Even one of them is a non-combat job that I want to be able to do for one person.

All I could think of was suicide. However, Baek Ji-soo shook his head slightly as if he knew my worries.

“I can solve the epidemic.”

“What?”

“And I know the shortcut. It’s a shortcut that goes directly to the boss room on the top floor.”

It was a shocking remark.

If Baek Ji-soo’s words are true, the difficulty of attacking the tower is half… No, it is reduced to less than half of half. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous, but… If only I could pass all sorts of junk mobs and head straight to the top boss without the risk of getting plagued.

If you defeat the boss on the top floor, you can attack the tower.

“Did you get that information from the future too?”

“Yes. As the apocalypse began, the full-fledged battle for the tower also began. Eldoras Tower… Later, I remember that the Human Alliance killed and reclaimed the owner of 10,000. Who took it from whom… I don’t remember very well.”

“Just having such information is enough income. Amazing.”

Even if it is incomplete information, Baek Ji-soo’s knowledge of the future is a really great weapon among our possessions. She would have been really helpless without her.

Being able to know in advance and prepare. It was a huge plus for us.

Baek Ji-soo taught us the nature of the plague and the location of the secret passage step by step in a quiet voice. Top secret information nobody knows at this point. I kept all the information she told me clearly in her head.

At the end of the story, she opened her mouth with the expression that she suddenly remembered Yoon Seo-hee.

“But even if we attack the tower, what about the others in the meantime? There will be no hunters or 10,000 people who came in to attack.”

“Come to think of it….”

That problem also remained. According to Baek Ji-soo’s information, she said that Man Ye-ri infiltrated the inside of the tower and locked the entrance, although she did not know what method she used. In a situation where they cannot call in reinforcements from the outside and cannot even go out of the tower, the people inside will surely fall into a panic.

It is unknown whether Manma-ryun succeeded in attacking and massacred people, or whether he tried to attack leisurely after killing people. However, what is clear is that the forces of 10,000 people are extremely dangerous, and the situation in which they roam freely inside the tower is not very good for other hunters.

“Um….”

“Umm~”

Baek Ji-soo also kept his mouth shut, as if there was no proper way for this problem. We crossed our arms and put our heads together, but no plausible answer came.

“Should I be persuaded? It’s dangerous, so please don’t climb the tower and sit down on the lower floors….”

“Lee Jin-ah. We are only three students. Will you listen to us?”

“It must be hard, right? If so, should we do something about it?”

“No. It’s unknown whether we can defeat the boss on the top floor with our own power. We can’t waste power.”

“Then, if you enter the tower earlier than 10,000 and attack quickly….”

“If that happens, it will definitely become a social problem. Do you have the confidence to take care of that?”

That is also true. If Manma-ryun locked the tower’s door, he could make a justification for attacking the tower in order to survive.

But if nothing happens and three unqualified students attack the tower… That’s what a terrorist organization like Manma-ryun would do. Just because he has power, he is treated as a criminal who ignored all procedures and attacked the tower.

The act of turning all hunters, the government, the media, and the public into enemies in the country. Even the top hunters don’t follow the law for nothing. Korea is a country ruled by law. In the worst case, Cha Soo-hyeok and the Suseong Guild could move.

Baek Ji-soo opened his mouth with a cold expression that felt a sense of reality.

“Binary. There is no way to save everyone. Sometimes, just thinking about minimizing the damage can be overwhelming.”

Preventing Manma-Ryun from seizing the Eldoras Tower is the way to minimize the damage, and Baek Ji-soo has been saying that.

“… Is it.”

“Of course, I will do my best. We’ll try to convince them, and we’ll do our best to attack.”

However, Baek Ji-soo’s red eyes were just coldly sinking into his mouth as he spoke extremely realistic words.

“But they are hunters too. What does that mean… You know that too, right?”

“… ….”

Hunters risk their lives to climb the tower. He never knows when and where he will die suddenly. It is a fact that all Hunters are prepared for.

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Just like my parents did, and so do I.

“Yes.”

You can’t put people in danger even if you can save everyone. If Yoon Seo-hee or Baek Ji-su are in danger because of my complacency, I will not be able to forgive myself.

“Let’s think about what we can do for now.”

What I can do right now is to make a weapon to become stronger.

And I myself became stronger.

–

The somewhat serious story was sorted out and the two returned in time. When I returned home after meeting the two of them, it was already about the time I had put Kertatus to sleep.

24 Hours have already passed. I focused my consciousness inwardly.

“… ….”

I see.

“Hey. Are you awake?”

[…] ….]

In the past, it was difficult to tell if this guy was deliberately not talking or if he was really asleep, but now that I put him to sleep with the command right of the ring, I can tell the difference now.

I was asleep until just now, but now I’m definitely awake.

“How about waking up from a good night’s sleep? Have you cleared your head a bit?”

[This, this kid dares to… !]

My stomach is boiling, but what can I do? Right now, as Baek Ji-soo said, the initiative was with me.

It’s good to make weapons to get stronger, but in the end, who handles weapons was also important. I hate to admit it, but right now I am weak. Not only Yoon Seo-hee, but also Baek Ji-soo, who has become weak as soon as he gets weaker, can’t keep up.

I had to borrow someone else’s strength to follow them. Even if it’s the devil.

I smiled bleakly as I raised my hand with the magic stone ring on it.

“Let’s make a contract? Great. Instead, let me do what I want.”