[The next day, in a large auditorium in Sejong City. Official government event venue.]
S-Rank Hunter, Cosplay Maid Declares the Conquest of Jeju Island.
– C-Can you buff Elaine a little?
Although her voice was somewhat overshadowed by her embarrassment as she spoke, the weight of her words was anything but light.
She declared her intent to conquer the S-Rank Tower in Jeju Island.
A Tower that had never been cleared before, along with others.
The Hunters applauded the declaration.
But not without some mixed feelings.
“Is she planning to challenge it solo again?”
“Who knows? Maybe she’ll let us join her if we cosplay too.”
Seated in the auditorium, the Hunters exchanged bitter smiles.
Though each of them was an A-Rank Hunter, far more popular than celebrities within their respective regions, the emergence of the Cosplay Maid had begun to overshadow their renown and recognition.
“Just yesterday at the market, a vendor asked me why I wasn’t clearing the D-Rank Tower.”
“What? We’re A-Rank. Why would we clear a D-Rank Tower? That’s for the new Awakened who got their powers from the million awakenings to train and build experience.”
“Exactly. But if we did clear it, they’d say we’re just hogging all the medals and awards.”
It might have seemed like a minor complaint, but people were bound to feel unsettled when they lost privileges they had grown used to.
“Where the hell was she hiding all this time, and why did she suddenly pop up to make our lives difficult?”
“Hey, at least be glad. If it weren’t for her, we would’ve been forced to conquer the S-Rank Tower.”
“Do you even know why we’ve been called here?”
“Huh?”
“All the A-Ranks here? We’re heading to Jeju tomorrow.”
“…Huh?”
And when someone else’s hard work led to their increased workload, the reaction was almost always the same.
“Damn it. Why is the Cosplay Maid so enthusiastic?”
That unspoken sentiment—the blame placed on someone else for their suffering.
Like soldiers hearing, “You should follow his example and work harder” about an overly diligent comrade, the A-Rank Hunters sat gloomily in their seats.
“We should just—”
“Shh.”
However, they weren’t foolish enough to voice their complaints openly, especially not in front of those seated in the front row, the equivalent of a VIP section.
“The S-Ranks seem irritated. Let’s drop it.”
“They probably heard us anyway.”
“Even if they did, they won’t say anything. We’re all raiding together soon.”
“And if they do?”
“We’re all adults here. What are they going to do? Lecture us? Whatever, I’ll shut up.”
Most A-Rank Hunters had no choice but to be mindful of the three S-Ranks sitting in the front row, aside from the one still a student.
“Still, isn’t this unreasonable? Telling us to risk our lives like this? I mean, we have before, but there’s a limit—”
“The President is entering.”
The secretary, clad in a black suit, announced the entrance of the President.
Some Hunters instinctively tried to rise but quickly sat back down.
Even in this era of Hunters, even in a hall filled with S-Ranks and A-Ranks, respect for the head of state remained intact.
Only Ironblood stood up and applauded enthusiastically, while the others gave reluctant, half-hearted claps from their seats.
“Ahem. Everyone.”
The President took the podium, his discomfort evident as he began to speak.
“As of today, the 23 Hunters gathered here will form a party to clear the S-Rank Tower in Jeju. Led by Ironblood—”
“Why us?”
An A-Rank Hunter raised his hand and interrupted.
“A-Ranks clear A-Rank Towers. S-Ranks clear S-Rank Towers. That’s the safety rule we’ve always followed, isn’t it?”
“Please allow the President to finish—”
“You’re the ones who told us before not to overstep, that we might die if we tried S-Rank Towers. But now that a foreigner wants to clear it, suddenly it’s urgent, and you’re forcing us in?”
“Watch your tone.”
“Did I say anything untrue?”
The A-Rank Hunter’s open dissatisfaction was bound to be controversial, but the other Hunters neither corrected him nor tried to stop him.
“So—”
“So, are you refusing?”
Ironblood rose from her seat and turned toward the A-Rank Hunter.
“Shouldn’t we act now, rather than later?”
“Then why not wait two weeks? Why rush in recklessly now?”
“…”
“This isn’t some MMORPG raid where we rush a boss for an achievement. Lives are at stake. Shouldn’t we be careful and approach this systematically?”
“You’re crossing the line.”
“Are you recording this? Going to air another ‘Hunter Kim’s Rude Remarks’ segment for 24 hours until I apologize again? Go ahead. But if you force me into this, I won’t do it. I can’t do it.”
Despite the A-Rank Hunter’s rather aggressive stance, even Ironblood did not immediately silence him.
“A tank is only a tank if they can withstand enemy attacks. In Jeju, we’d just get one-shot. How am I supposed to tank that? Huh?”
He was the strongest tank among the A-Ranks.
“You put my name in the raid list without asking me, and now you expect me to just say, ‘Yes, sir’ and walk into my death? Huh?”
“Enough—”
“Brother.”
The young man sitting in the front, Blue Lightning, stood up.
“I’ll tank. Support me.”
“What?”
“I’m an evasion-based tank, but I can at least take two or three hits instead of just dying in one.”
“…”
“Let’s at least try. We can’t just sit here and let the Cosplay Maid do everything. Who knows? Maybe clearing an S-Rank Tower will make one of us awaken into an S-Rank.”
“I… I’m not sure about this…”
“No matter what that guy says, we’re Hunters. We can’t just sit back and let her do everything.”
“…”
“Then, if it doesn’t work out, we can rethink things at that time. If there’s anyone who doesn’t want to participate in the raid, try to talk to them and persuade them.”
Blue Lightning recited his prepared words like a script, forcing a smile as he addressed everyone.
“I’ll even cosplay as Lightning Man if I have to, so let’s clear this together.”
* * *
“This is disrespectful to cosplay.”
As we sipped on the drinks we had ordered after lunch, I let out a dry chuckle while watching Blue Lightning’s words spread across the internet.
“Right, Elaine?”
“I may not be the one cosplaying, but the way he’s treating my master’s suggestion as if he’s doing us a favor is rather unpleasant.”
Elaine sipped her smoothie and stared at Blue Lightning on the monitor with narrowed eyes.
“It’s admirable that he’s trying to show leadership in the absence of a leader, but he is not someone who possesses the qualities of a leader.”
“Then who is?”
“Someone like you, Master.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I have no interest in leading that kind of group.”
“Why? Because half of them are doing shady things behind the scenes?”
Drei pulled up a chair next to me and sat down.
Elaine frowned slightly, but Drei didn’t even glance at her, keeping her eyes fixed on the monitor.
“Are you trying to form a party with only good people?”
“That’s not it.”
As Drei suggested, a party couldn’t be made up of only good people.
Even in our own party, we weren’t all exactly righteous individuals.
Elaine aside, Drei was a former Black Agent.
And as for Kiharu… well, she once tried to destroy the world, so she was beyond discussion.
“As long as Hunters clear Towers well, what they do behind the scenes doesn’t really matter. At least, that’s what the general public thinks.”
Some A-Rank Hunters enjoyed their newfound fame by mingling with their devoted female fans after clearing an A-Rank Tower.
Others received “gifts” from local elites and businessmen.
Some even made secret agreements before attempting raids.
None of it particularly concerned me.
“Before I awakened, I used to wonder—why not just clear all the Towers? Forget about training newbies or farming experience—shouldn’t the priority be eliminating immediate threats to people’s lives?”
“For someone who thought that way, aren’t you being awfully laid-back now?”
Kiharu hopped onto my head, tilting her feline head in curiosity.
“You declared that you’d conquer the S-Rank Tower in Jeju in two weeks, yet all you’re doing is checking community reactions and playing games.”
“Games? This is the process of optimizing your specs. For other Hunters, it would be like training to increase their combat power.”
I pointed to the multi-window running busily on my screen.
“Thanks to Elaine’s buff, she’s now as strong as a top-meta character. We still have to clear her quest, though.”
Do it.
It worked.
Since Elaine had spoken directly, NPia had no choice but to update Elaine, the version I had Full Limit Broken and Fully Refined, to match the latest meta.
It wasn’t just a simple stat adjustment.
Whether it was some philosophical stance of the game developers or just an excuse, they had decided against a mere numerical tweak and instead implemented a reinforcement quest for Elaine—just this morning, in fact.
“Elaine, how does it feel? Do you notice the difference?”
“I can now use mana far more efficiently than before. The buffs are definitely noticeable.”
Elaine had gotten stronger.
This also meant that the game company’s influence couldn’t be ignored.
But as long as I acted like the game was irrelevant, that would be enough.
Cosplay was just a pure hobby.
If I maintained the illusion of being a concept player, no one would suspect that our abilities were actually tied to a game.
“And Kiharu, when did I ever say I was just waiting around?”
“Huh?”
“I will clear Jeju’s S-Rank Tower in two weeks. But…”
I opened my SNS.
“I never said I wouldn’t clear other Towers in the meantime, did I?”
“Wait… are you saying—?”
“Elaine, can you do one more cosplay?”
“If it is my Master’s command, I can wear any cosplay—even that of someone pretending to be Elaine.”
“Good. In that case…”
I pulled out a pre-prepared package.
“Master, isn’t that the one you told me not to open? …Could this be a surprise?”
“Yeah, a surprise. It’s nothing too dangerous.”
I opened the box.
“I had a hard time finding the right colors, but if we’re going to raid this place, we should dress appropriately, right?”
* * *
Bolt upright.
“A call at this hour…?”
President Luigi reached for the smartphone on his nightstand.
Blinking several times to adjust to the glare of the screen, he tried to focus.
“…?”
The message on the screen left him momentarily stunned.
“Request for transport ship support…? Immediate deployment…?”
Destination.
“…Dokdo?”
