At the time when the internet was buzzing with talk about Suji, or rather Daphne, the Daphne-dedicated employee of the Crisis Management Support Division was sighing repeatedly while monitoring the posts.

“What on earth is going on?”

Doesn’t each floor of the tower double in difficulty and give 2-3 times more gold?

Plus, rare items drop too.

God-phne swept up all the first-time rewards for each floor.

Wouldn’t she have enough money to buy ten buildings?

Must be nice.

I wish I could earn money that quickly too.

└Why? Jealous?

└It’s life-threatening compensation; why don’t you go try it?

└Ten buildings? It’s probably more. But even if they gave me that money, I couldn’t live like that. Too scary.

└Honestly, if she earned that much when young, she wouldn’t need to work anymore.

└Whoa. Is God-phne really retired now?

└└Damn, that actually makes sense

└└;;; Chills. There are S-rank hunters who suddenly retire sometimes. Didn’t the American S-rank hunter Noah suddenly announce retirement and disappear, and Creusa about 10 years ago too?

└└Creusa… had a reason. Must have been a big shock when Peneios, who always cleared towers with her, died. They always posted hunter logs together. Even matched their hunter names from the same myth.

└└└Isn’t Peneios Daphne’s mom?

└└└└Yes, that’s right]

Hunter name, Creusa. Real name Kim Yeonju was clicking the mouse repeatedly while reading the posts, then closed her eyes.

‘Seeing my name suddenly dragged out even though I retired more than 10 years ago, Suji must have been away for quite a while.’

After the first Wave, the Gate Stabilization Department was established under the Crisis Management Support Division.

Under it, the Hunter Training Unit and Hunter Response Unit were created, and Suji was both the best product of the Hunter Training Unit and the top hunter of the Hunter Response Unit.

As a result, Suji’s dedicated manager was chosen from among those who had formed a good relationship of trust with her, and that was Yeonju.

Yeonju had been like a godmother to Suji even before she entered the Hunter Training Unit, and after that, she was her homeroom teacher. Above all, Suji had a special fondness for her mother’s old colleagues.

Also, Yeonju was the one who had managed to keep Suji, who had been running too hard focusing only on work, somewhat well-managed and living like a normal person.

Yeonju frowned, thinking there was no more information to be gained from the posts.

“I’ve just wasted time checking these posts for too long. Suji isn’t even answering calls… Should I really go see her in person?”

Muttering to herself, she swept her long gray hair to one side, crossed her legs, and changed the window on the screen.

The various hunter-related boards disappeared, and several real-time moving graphs filled the screen.

The vital signs received through the chip implanted in Suji’s arm were all normal.

Indeed, nothing serious had happened.

As the absence of the SSS-rank hunter extended beyond a month, the government, unable to sit idle any longer, urged to confirm Daphne’s well-being.

If such an order hadn’t come down, Yeonju would have just left Suji alone longer.

Although she didn’t know the details, if Suji had decided to take a break, Yeonju wanted to support and cheer her on. Suji deserved to rest.

But if she had to go find her, she needed to know why Suji had decided to rest.

‘There’s no way she would disappear like this without any reason.’

Instead of contacting Suji immediately, Yeonju first reached out to Suji’s team members.

− I don’t know where to start. The team’s business is for the team leader to handle, so please ask the team leader.

− I don’t know either. Daphne isn’t the type to rest this long. I go to sleep every day with my equipment ready in case Daphne says let’s go to the tower tomorrow. Please ask Creusa to find out.

The initial contacts with Elaine and Peace didn’t yield any plausible answers.

Elaine outright refused to answer, while Peace dodged the question like a slippery eel.

Yeonju understood. She knew how tight-knit team members become when clearing gates or towers together. And how important it is to show such respectful attitude towards a team leader younger than oneself.

That’s why she didn’t press for more information and took a step back.

Lastly, Yeonju contacted Saint.

At first, Saint also hesitated to answer, but when Yeonju gently coaxed and soothed, saying she was worried about Daphne, he poured out his frustration at the end of the call.

− She’s usually a generous person, but this time it seems like she got a really harsh reality check. It’s embarrassing to even talk about. Isn’t this all because of those scammers!

“Scammers?”

Yeonju urged for a more detailed answer into the terminal on her wrist.

Saint, having let out his words once, seemed unable to calm down even after reconsidering, and shouted in his youthful voice.

− I’m in charge of supplies, and can you believe it! I can’t even face Daphne because of this incident! Is it acceptable business practice to scam tower climbers with goods? Huh? It’s really infuriating.

“They scammed with goods? Did you confirm the product names?”

− Ah, I did check. But Creusa, you know how it is. Potions and such items often have similar names, and sometimes even items of different grades have the same name. And since we buy in such large quantities, they probably thought we wouldn’t use all of it and wouldn’t get caught.

“…Did you report it?”

− Of course I did, we even know who it is. But… it seems difficult to catch them right away.

“…Why?”

Yeonju asked in surprise.

Although Saint and the other team members receive less attention due to Daphne being their famous hunter team leader, they were clearly top-tier themselves.

If they were to immigrate to another country, they would undoubtedly rank within the top 3 there.

To play tricks on them, and with items used for climbing towers no less?

If they wanted to respond with force, they could break a wrist or two without anyone around saying a word.

Saint sighed deeply, seemingly frustrated as well.

− They fled overseas. Actually, these are expensive items that pretty much only people like us would buy, so the profits must be quite substantial. Enough for a big score and run.

After the gates opened, national boundaries became even more distinct.

Before, one only had to follow the laws, customs, and morals of their own country, but now the gates one can access clearly depend on their nationality, and even the benefits and buffs one can receive differ based on each country’s tower clearing progress.

It’s not an era where immigrating to another country is easy, so if they fled overseas, it means they had meticulously prepared in advance.

Yeonju, with a stiff face, comforted Saint on the other end of the terminal.

“It’s fortunate that it just passed as a mishap. If you had realized the items were wrong while clearing a floor, it could have been a life-threatening issue, right? You should have contacted me when something like this happened.”

− Daphne isn’t the type to let something like this slide… She’ll probably handle it herself when she starts activities again. But now she’s not contacting us at all, so we don’t know where she is or what she’s doing…

Yeonju quickly interjected.

What would be impossible for Suji to handle herself? But no matter how she thought about it, it felt very suspicious.

“Leave it to me. I’ll take care of this.”

− …Is it possible to catch someone who’s fled overseas?

“Please check if this is the first time this has happened. It’ll be troublesome, but could you also double-check the items received from the supplier?”

Saint agreed and ended the call.

Yeonju pressed her forehead, then got up from her seat with a light smile.

Her face, which had remained gentle until she left the Hunter Response Unit building, had hardened by the time she entered the Gate Stabilization Department headquarters.

“If you’ve dared to pluck the nose hairs of a lion that doesn’t sleep, you should know that life is no practice run.”

As Yeonju, or rather Creusa, entered the Gate Stabilization Department headquarters, other employees uniformly saluted and stepped back.

Although she had retired as a hunter now, it was a kind of courtesy for her past service, having worked as an S-rank hunter leading the frontier of tower exploration for the country.

“Where are you headed?”

A security guard who rushed to the elevator pressed the button for her and asked.

His voice sounded as if even standing near her was painful, due to the energy leaking out uncontrolled because of her anger.

“To the top floor.”

It was a place where she usually had no reason to go, where the executives’ conference room was located.

Despite Yeonju’s sudden visit, the director of the Gate Stabilization Department, ‘Knight’, real name Park Seunghwan, didn’t seem surprised at all. Rather, as if he had been waiting, he put aside the book he had been reading and greeted her.

Like Yeonju, Seunghwan didn’t look his age at all. Both were just entering their 50s, but their eyes were so sharp it was hard to believe they were retired hunters from the front lines.