Just then, the door burst open and Nayeon-entered.
“Gru! Were you doing okay by yourself? You missed your big sister, right? I’m sorry. I tried to come quickly, but they told me to hear the measurement results before leaving, really!”
She hugged Gru and rubbed their cheeks together fervently as she poured out her complaints.
“Sistew~ Gru missed you, but I held it in and was good aww by mysewf…….”
“Aww, my Gru…….”
Gru hugged Nayeon back, sniffling as she rubbed her face against hers.
For a while, they had a tearful reunion as if they were sisters meeting for the first time in years, when Nayeon suddenly whipped her head around.
“But who is that over there?”
“Hunter Shin Nayeon. I am Jin Siwon, team leader of the Management Bureau’s Special Investigation Team 1. I am truly sorry for today.”
He paused for a moment to choose his words before speaking.
“I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Nayeon shook her head, a little impressed by the other’s fluent Korean.
“No, I didn’t even catch a glimpse of the monster. They said some amazing something-or-other team leader handled it…… By any chance, was that you?”
“Ah, yes. I believe that was me.”
Jin Siwon laughed, “Haha,” his face reddening.
“But Hunter-nim, did you come to the Center for a remeasurement?”
“No, not me.”
Nayeon gestured with her eyes toward Gru, who was taking out a red ginseng-flavored candy and chewing it.
Gru blinked while holding the candy in her mouth. Her cheek bulged roundly with the candy inside.
‘Hwongsam flavor…… It’s weird but addictive.’
“Ah, then…… Is this cute little friend the Awakened?”
“Yes. That’s why we came to register.”
“I see…….”
A grayish light flickered across Jin Siwon’s eyes beyond his glasses.
*
Bad premonitions tended to come true.
Jurim, who had discovered Gru and Jin Siwon through the CCTV using the skill ‘Internal Interference,’ let out a sigh.
This is troublesome. He slowly tilted his head. Of all people, it had to be a human from the Management Bureau.
‘I can’t just kill a Management Bureau official, either.’
Of course, killing him would make for a perfect cover-up, but if he needlessly caught the attention of an investigative agency, things could escalate into an even bigger headache.
‘I suppose being too outstanding is also a problem.’
It was a method he wanted to avoid using if at all possible, but he had no choice.
Jurim bit the end of his glove with his teeth.
As his long hand slipped out, his chest thumped heavily.
Thump!
[The Ruler of the Frozen Land of the 99th Floor awakens.]
Mana poured out all at once, and a golden gleam settled in his eyes.
In an instant, a land of ice rose like an illusion.
Upon the pale, frozen earth stood nothing but a majestic throne.
The ruler, who sat upon that throne of permafrost as if bored, lightly raised an index finger.
[Activating the skill ‘Walpurgis Night.’]
‘Walpurgis Night’ was the power of the 99th Floor’s master; Jurim could use all the powers possessed by the masters from the 1st to the 99th floor of the Tower.
Jurim placed his left hand against the Center’s wall. Using extrasensory perception to gauge the Center’s size, he seized the entire Center as his domain.
[Activating the 96th Floor’s skill, ‘Silent Orpheus’.]
Clack!
In an instant, all mana flow in the vicinity stopped as if a switch had been flipped.
As if Jurim putting his glove and left hand into his pocket was a signal, the Center, which had returned to normalcy, began falling into chaos once more.
“Ms. Huijeong, Measurement Room 5 is dead!”
As everything using magic stones came to a halt, staff members tapped at the dead devices. Some of them hurriedly came outside to report the situation.
“What? Room 5 too? Room 4 isn’t working either! What is going on?”
In an instant, staff members turned pale and ran about everywhere.
“No, I’m not a non-Awakened, my skill suddenly won’t activate! This is frustrating, really!”
Among those who had come to register as Awakened, lamentations flew back and forth.
Jurim crossed the corridor that had become a scene of chaos with an indifferent face.
Within his domain, no one would be able to activate their skills.
Jurim passed them by with an unhurried gait, as if everything was none of his concern.
Just then, he saw Jin Siwon hurriedly moving his feet from the opposite side.
He was being led by a staff member and hurriedly running somewhere due to the Center’s abnormal phenomena.
Jin Siwon, surprised to discover Jurim, gave an awkward silent bow, and Jurim nodded his head once before turning his gaze away.
Just then, Gru and Nayeon were coming out of the waiting room.
“Guild Mawster!”
Gru, having spotted Jurim, opened her eyes wide and came running toward him.
What made her so happy that she came scampering over like a puppy.
Without even realizing that his own lips were curving, he bent one knee to receive Gru.
“Han Geuru, were you being good?”
“Yeth!”
“And you finished registering?”
“Yeth! Nayeon unnie watched over me, and they said Gru is F-rank!”
“Good for you. What’s that in your mouth?”
“Hwongsam candy.”
“…….”
Gru moved the candy to the other side of her mouth and spoke as if hesitant.
“The tathte…… It’th pwofound.”
……Of course it would be.
“You shouldn’t take and eat anything from strangers. Ptooey.”
Jurim cupped his hand by the child’s lips.
At that, Gru covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head back and forth.
“Hurry.”
“Hnng.”
When Gru reluctantly spat out the candy, Jurim briefly clenched and unclenched his fist. The red ginseng candy turned to powder and vanished.
Gru wiped Jurim’s hand with her own sleeve, her face crumpling as if she were about to cry.
He smiled lightly and tried to pat Gru’s head with that same hand, but the child shrieked and backed away in shock.
“Let’s go.”
As Jurim rose, Nayeon quietly sidled up to him.
“Guild Master, it seems there’s another commotion at the Center.”
“Is that so.”
He replied listlessly as he moved. When Gru reached out her arm to hold his hand, Jurim took out his left hand and let her take it.
Feeling the warmth from their clasped hands, Gru alternated looking at both of Jurim’s hands.
‘The glove, it’s gone?!’
Is this bad?!
As she met Jurim’s eyes in a fluster, he pressed his index finger to his lips with a “Shh.”
Shh! Gru mimed zipping her lips shut.
She felt like an agent dispatched on a secret mission.
‘The Guild Master…… is up to something.’
Ba-dump, ba-dump.
Gru pretended to be nonchalant and gripped Jurim’s hand even tighter.
Tick-tock. As time continued to pass and the commotion intensified, cold sweat dripped from Jurim’s temple.
Chapter 3: 99th Floor
Having arrived home, Gru watched with a surprised face as Jurim strode straight to the center of the living room.
Before she knew it, his shirt was soaked through with sweat.
“Guild Mawster……?”
Could he be sick somewhere? Gru approached him with quick steps.
Jurim’s face was pale, and rough breathing sounds wheezed from him.
At his ominous countenance, her heart began to pound.
Now was not the time to keep secrets.
She had to ask for help. But from whom?
Gru trembled as she took out her kids’ phone.
“1, 1, 9……!”
As she pressed the number keys hard, Jurim snatched the phone away.
“……I’m fine, so.”
He staggered and leaned his body against the sofa back.
“Gru, you go to your room—”
Before he could finish speaking, his body tottered unsteadily.
“—and stay inside.”
As Jurim’s body collapsed to the floor, Gru froze, her face turning ashen. Her heart plummeted.
At the same time, with a beep, the door lock disengaged and the door opened.
“Guild Master!”
It was Yun Seojun.
*
“Don’t worry, little Gru. The Guild Master is just sleeping.”
Gru, who had been kneeling by the head of the bed where Jurim lay, raised her head. The child kept her lips tightly shut as tears plopped down from her large eyes.
“Oh dear.” Yun Seojun wiped away her tears away with a troubled expression.
“*Sob* He’s thweeping? *Sniff, sniff!*”
“Little Gru, you know that there used to be a ‘Tower,’ right?”