The Struggles of the #1 Rank - Chapter 32
The only place where the treasure chest might be was the path where Yeon-joo was.
But they had to consider another possibility.
What if there was no treasure chest there either?
None of the places where the team had gathered so far contained a treasure chest. What were the chances that one would be where Yeon-joo was?
“Is there even a treasure chest here?”
Chan-hee asked, his face full of irritation. Jae-rim extracted a magic stone from the monster Chan-hee had killed and handed it to Joo-ah.
Caught off guard, Joo-ah accepted it and glanced at Chan-hee, who was standing in front of her.
Looking incredulous, he spoke to Jae-rim.
“Why are you giving her the magic stone from a monster I killed?”
“You don’t take B-rank magic stones anyway.”
“Yeah, but why give it to her?”
“It’s better to give it to someone who needs it than throw it away.”
Joo-ah carefully watched Chan-hee’s displeased expression as she used the magic stone.
【Defense has increased by 4.】
【Defense has increased by 4.】
【Defense has increased by 4.】
Chan-hee stared at her as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Didn’t you hear me complaining to Shin Jae-rim just now?”
Joo-ah answered matter-of-factly.
“I did.”
“And you still used the magic stones without asking me?”
“I’ve already used them. I can’t spit them back out.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. You heard me saying I didn’t like it, so why are you shamelessly using the magic stones right in front of me?”
Joo-ah answered with a mischievous grin.
Jae-rim looked up at the timer in the sky and spoke.
“There’s not much time left. We need to solve the quest quickly.”
As he started walking, Chan-hee sighed and followed at a leisurely pace.
“The first quest is unusually complicated today.”
Quests on the lower floors were usually designed to be fairly easy. Problems tended to become more complicated as Hunters climbed higher.
Yet this quest was structured in a rather complicated way.
It was probably the Storyteller’s prank on the new repeat visitor.
“Did a monster appear when you tried to cross into another path, too, Hunter Yoo Chan-hee?”
At Joo-ah’s gentle question, he glanced at her.
“Yeah, it did.”
“It feels like the Tower is deliberately preventing us from meeting each other.”
Joo-ah muttered in a disinterested voice.
Was the treasure chest they were supposed to find really an ordinary chest containing treasure, as everyone would expect?
No matter how much they searched, they couldn’t find any trace of one.
“Perhaps…”
Jae-rim suddenly stopped in place, his expression turning serious.
“Perhaps the treasure chest we’re supposed to find means something else.”
Chan-hee was the one who offered a more specific answer.
“Like getting all the team members together?”
Joo-ah raised her head and checked the timer.
02:59
About three minutes remained.
Chan-hee pulled a massive longsword from his inventory.
It was the Dragon Sword, a weapon only SS-rank Hunters could wield.
As its name suggested, the sword possessed immense power resembling that of the legendary dragon.
With a swift swing of the blade, Chan-hee brought down the towering hedge formed by the trees in a single strike.
At the same time, the trees collapsed in a heap, revealing the shape of a monster beneath them.
It was on a completely different level from the one they had fought earlier.
Its enormous body blocked their entire field of vision, and an overwhelming sense of pressure washed over them.
Level: B+-rank
Attribute: Wind
Special Skill: Thorny Vines
Special Notes: Appears to be a monster from the Gate on Floor 300 of the Third Tower.
Feeling threatened, the monster expanded its mana and temporarily increased its rank.
Chan-hee clicked his tongue, looking annoyed.
“I’ll handle this one. You two hurry up and find Choi Yeon-joo.”
He rushed toward the monster as he spoke.
Jae-rim and Joo-ah hurried to move on. However, another monster of the same kind sprang out from between the trees ahead.
One minute remained.
As Joo-ah watched Jae-rim engage the monster, she scanned her surroundings.
Then she spotted blue ice crystals scattering in the path across from her.
Joo-ah looked at the timer floating in the sky and dashed forward.
00:29
She pulled a mid-grade longsword from her inventory.
【Anonymous Constellation asks whether you look desperate and suggests borrowing its power.】
Joo-ah curled her lips into a smooth smile and quickened her pace.
“I shouldn’t waste your power over something this trivial.”
00:10
Thorny vines slid across the ground, trying to grab her ankles, but Joo-ah’s longsword moved faster.
Whoosh!
The sharp blade cut through the grass and sliced straight through the tall hedge.
Yeon-joo, who was fighting another monster on the other side of the path, turned toward Joo-ah with a surprised expression.
“Hunter Seo Joo-ah?”
【Quest ‘Find the Treasure Chest’ completed!】
【You have received a Train Ticket as a reward.】
【You can find the Train Ticket in your Item Box.】
A system window appeared in the air, and the maze forest vanished.
The dark interior of the Tower came into view.
The Storyteller, who hadn’t appeared for a while, emerged again. A faint interest glimmered in its red eyes as it looked at Joo-ah.
“So the treasure chest meant getting all the team members together?”
While they waited for the train, Yeon-joo listened to Jae-rim explain the quest and spoke in disbelief.
“No wonder we couldn’t find it, no matter how much we searched…”
After muttering to herself for a moment, she turned to Joo-ah.
“Hunter Seo Joo-ah, you really came through for us. If you hadn’t found me in time, we’d have been trapped in that maze.”
Yeon-joo patted Joo-ah on the shoulder approvingly.
Jae-rim sighed and brushed his fallen hair back with one hand.
“We were too careless because it was a low-level Tower. We need to pay closer attention to the quests from the next floor onward.”
Chan-hee, who had been leaning against a pillar, chuckled softly.
“It’s not that we were careless. The quest was just more difficult than usual. That happens sometimes, doesn’t it? When the Storyteller comes across an interesting opponent.”
As he spoke, he pointed his chin toward Joo-ah.
“I guess it found a D-rank Hunter more interesting than expected.”
Joo-ah stared at him silently, and Chan-hee’s eyes curved playfully.
“I have no idea what it found interesting about someone with that level, though.”
At his naturally provocative tone, Joo-ah frowned.
She was about to retort when a voice from beside her made her close her mouth. Yeon-joo pointed toward something and said,
“The train’s coming.”
Just as she said, a whistle sounded from the tracks on the opposite side, and the train soon arrived.
The team members checked their tickets in their Item Boxes and headed toward the train.
Joo-ah also glanced at the Train Ticket she had received as a quest reward.
Carriages stretched endlessly into the distance. A dry breeze brushed against her hair.
With an indifferent expression, Joo-ah quietly waited for the train to stop. The carriage directly behind the locomotive had already passed by.
The trains in the Tower had special-class carriages. They were Carriage No. 1 at the very front and Carriage No. 13 at the rear.
The Train Tickets didn’t specify individual seats. Hunters had no choice but to watch carefully and see where the train doors opened.
Special-Class Carriage No. 1 opened when the boss was defeated. Monsters couldn’t enter the special-class carriages.
Whether Special-Class Carriage No. 13 opened was random. Hunters who obtained a Special Train Ticket could travel in a special-class carriage. However, most had to climb the Tower in ordinary carriages alongside monsters.
The train gradually began to slow down.
“D-rank.”
Chan-hee, standing beside her, called out.
When Joo-ah turned around, he held something out to her.
“What’s this?”
“A hair tie.”
He pointed at her hair and continued.
“Tie it up if you need to.”
Her hair was hanging loose down her back. She had left behind the hair tie she’d used to mark her location in the maze forest.
The one Chan-hee gave her had a small yellow ribbon attached to it. It was quite different from the simple black hair tie she usually wore.
She asked with a meaningful expression,
“Why does Hunter Yoo Chan-hee have a woman’s hair tie?”
He answered with an unconcerned expression.
“How should I know? It was in my pocket.”
It was probably something one of the women he had been seeing had slipped into his pocket. Perhaps she had done it in the hope of seeing him again, using the hair tie as an excuse.
As Joo-ah stared uneasily at the hair tie in her hand, Chan-hee spoke casually.
“If you don’t want it, forget it. I was going to throw it away. I just thought you might need it.”
As he spoke, his lips curved into a smooth smile.
“Well, I do prefer your hair down, though.”
Joo-ah used the hair tie to neatly gather the hair that had fallen over her shoulders and tie it into a single ponytail.
Chan-hee let out a hollow laugh, as though he’d expected that response.
“Not that you’re my type or anything.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets and began walking away at a leisurely pace.
By then, the train had come to a complete stop.
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