Suji stared blankly at the door of the 81st floor, which reflected her image like a mirror.

She looked pitiful even to her own eyes.

In the mirror was the figure of the hunter ‘Daphne’.

Blood was splattered messily on her exposed skin, like her hands and face, and signs of toxicity were visible, despite her long purple hair tied up in a single tight ponytail reaching her waist.

Although she had deflected or absorbed most of the damage, the traces of fierce battle remained intact.

The cloth parts of her attire were tattered, the outer armor was torn to shreds, and scratches covered various parts of her body.

And what about her companions behind her?

None of the comrades who had climbed the tower with her were in good shape. Those with severe injuries to their arms or legs were considered better off; they were all in a mess, just barely alive.

She felt foolish for thinking she should take a peek at the 81st floor if they cleared the 80th floor.

“I don’t know why I’m doing this.”

Once she said it out loud, she really felt that way.

Of course, it’s good if the tower is conquered. Of course, it’s good to contribute to humanity. Of course, it’s good to work hard… Everyone living in the A.W. (* post-Wave generation) thinks that way.

The government’s slogan itself is ‘Let’s all run together towards the end of this era’.

So, she had always thought only positively about it.

Because her mother did too. Because her mother sacrificed her life in the tower. Because if she didn’t think that the battle and death that took her mother away from her were honorable, she felt like she would go crazy.

Until now, she hadn’t paid much attention to things like the gazes directed at her.

But today, suddenly everything felt futile.

‘…This is stupid.’

While others are busy lining their own pockets, even diverting her supplies meant for conquering the tower.

No matter how much the apocalyptic era had arrived, there was no such thing as all of humanity coming together as one due to the fear of the monsters pouring out. Even in the midst of this, people seek their own interests.

Suji took out the pad she had kept in her inventory and skimmed through the latest posts on the Hunter bulletin board.

Daphne-nim is going to conquer the 80th floor today!

Usually no exposure, but today her thighs are slightly visible?

└What are you saying about a real person? Reported to the admin.

└Ah, you’re being too uptight

└Please provide photos

└Isn’t it up to us to bring our own protractors? Daphne is an adult now, we can say such things.

└Isn’t Daphne dressed like that because she wants us to appreciate her?

└The senior’s words are correct] [Title: I heard that when Daphne’s party gathers, they use honorifics with Daphne

〈List of Hunter Information for Tower Conquest Party〉

Elaine SS-rank Hunter (23)

Saint AAA-rank Hunter (29)

Peace S-rank Hunter (31)

Look at their ages.

Isn’t it funny? Daphne is only 19, but grown adults are bowing to her?

She’s just a high school graduate.

└If you flatter her a bit, she’ll clear the tower for us. It’s beneficial, you idiot.

└Everyone hates going into the tower, but Daphne is young and full of energy, so she goes for us. We just need to watch and reap the benefits.

└Honestly, she lacks some finesse due to her youth. If it were me, I wouldn’t work that hard.

└You ungrateful fools, don’t you know how thankful we should be to God-phne? Watch your words.

└222 Everyone, watch your words; Are you crazy? Instead of talking nonsense on your keyboard, why don’t you go and try clearing the tower yourself?

└Even if I don’t clear it, Daphne will do it for us, right?] [Title: I heard Daphne’s party is going to the tower again today, will they clear the 80th floor?

Praise God-phne

I heard that thanks to God-phne, the Korean buff is so good that immigration applications have increased, and it’s not a joke, it’s real.

When she cleared the 75th floor, we even got seasonal gold. I wonder what we’ll get this time.

└I hope the strength stat gets buffed.

└222

└333

└Speed buff is the best.

└This is it

└I hope we get another Korean dungeon break count reduction buff. Government workers are having such a hard timeㅠㅠ

└That’s good too. When this buff appeared at the 70th floor, the perception that Korea is safe definitely increased.

└But aren’t we being too shameless in just asking for things?

└We didn’t push her to clear it, right? God-phne will do it anyway, can’t we even make predictions? Oversensitive tsk tsk]

Suji blankly read through the posts appearing on the pad.

She usually tried her best not to visit the bulletin board often, and at the top-tier level, the information obtained through the Hunter bulletin board was useless anyway.

Even if she happened to skim through the posts, she hadn’t paid attention to posts like these until now.

She had been so busy taking care of the team she had formed, and the frontlines of the battlefield were too intense to allow for attention to other things.

But today, she felt strangely conflicted.

Even though she knew that most of the posts were praising her, irritating posts kept catching her eye.

It’s really strange.

‘…I’ve never thought like this before. Today, I feel a bit… empty.’

Then, a moment later, as if someone who had suddenly thought of something they wanted to eat, she casually suggested a meal menu to her team members.

“Let’s rest a bit instead of looking at the 81st floor.”

The team members exchanged glances, a bit surprised at Suji’s first declaration of rest, who had been working like a workaholic solely for the purpose of conquering the tower.

Feeling that something was not quite right, Peace cautiously asked back.

“How long shall we rest?”

Suji turned to Peace with a playful smile.

“How about we rest for about 10 years?”

Hunter name, Daphne. Her real name, Seo Suji, spent the next week holed up in her room, playing and eating.

It wasn’t just talk; she literally did nothing but play and eat.

‘The food of the mortal world is amazing.’

Suji enjoyed pizza topped with plenty of toppings and carbonated drinks in turn, screaming with delight.

Although the inventory could hold all sorts of things, food could only be stored if it was manufactured in standard sizes and vacuum-packed.

Moreover, since they didn’t carry cooking utensils in the tower, it was even more difficult to expect warm, cooked food.

Most of the food she had consumed so far was mainly hunter-specific meal replacements or potions to improve her stats while satisfying hunger.

Moreover, although Daphne was born with top-tier talent, she didn’t rest on her laurels but trained and honed herself more than anyone else, becoming an SSS-rank Hunter.

She often slept in hunter-exclusive accommodations set up on the 1st, 10th, and 20th floors of the tower or inside gates, and it was almost routine to eat there as well.

This was the first time since Suji received her hunter ability awakening assessment that she had done nothing and sprawled at home for a whole week.

Knock knock.

“Yes, come in.”

Suji turned around, sitting with her feet up on the desk.

Through the door crack, her father and the sister brought by her stepmother were looking at her.

“What’s the matter?”

Her father cautiously began.

“Suji. Is something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“You always said you were too busy to come home, but now you haven’t left the house for a week. We’re just curious.”

Suji smiled brightly.

Hunters of A-rank and above can change their appearance. Even if not drastically different from their original appearance, changing hair color or eye color and wearing equipment that covers the face makes it difficult even for acquaintances to recognize them.

This was a device that allowed hunters to protect their normal lives. Their real names were also strictly concealed.

Suji was the same.

Since graduating from the academy tutorial and deciding on the hunter name ‘Daphne’, she had a completely different appearance when active as a hunter compared to her usual self.

Thanks to this, none of her family members knew that she was Daphne.

There was a reason she didn’t tell her father.

Her father was too fragile to bear all the facts.

Her father, who had divorced her mother when Suji was young, even applied for mental erasure during the divorce.

It seems he couldn’t bear the fact that someone he knew was exposed to danger every time he heard news about Hunter Penaeus.

Her father only remembered her mother as an ordinary person, not a hunter.

Without clearly understanding why he had divorced, he hurried into remarriage as if escaping. Suji was satisfied that her father accepted her as his child.

She tried to accept and acknowledge her father as her dad solely because he was the man her mother had loved, but that was the extent of their relationship.

When you graduate from Hunter Academy, you’re given the right to wield weapons and are considered an adult in terms of civil and criminal law.

That special system, limited only to hunters, was created to hold them responsible for their own actions.

In most cases, it was impossible to graduate while still a minor anyway.

In any case, thanks to these systems, Suji was able to hide the fact that she was Daphne from her father while engaging in hunter activities.

So the only information her family knew was that Suji was a hunter and that her income as a hunter wasn’t too bad.

They seemed to estimate that her income was good, judging from the fact that the items Suji used at home, such as phones and pads, changed frequently and were always top-of-the-line products.

Of course, if she wanted to hide it completely, she could, but she didn’t bother to do so.

“I’m just resting a bit. Why, Dad?”

Her father looked hesitant, then spoke as if someone had poked him in the side, with an expression that said he had no choice.

“Do you have some money?”

It was something she had heard several times before.

Guessing what was coming next, Suji unconsciously gave a bitter smile.