Magic Monopoly: Reborn as the Sole Magic Tower Master-Chapter 224: Episode

I grabbed my laptop and left the café as well.

After getting so worked up, my focus was shot. My concentration had been at its peak just a little while ago, but businesspeople were such a nuisance...

—Tower Master. Look ahead!

“Huh?”

I stopped walking.

The ghost girl who had passed through the wall and vanished earlier was now sitting on a chair, swinging her legs.

“Hey! Wait a second!”

The moment she saw my face, she turned and slipped back through the wall. I quickly activated Deva’s Eye.

’Ea! Plot the shortest route past that wall!’

—Understood. I will mark it with a blue line on the floor.

I gathered mana in my legs and sprinted toward the point Ea had marked. People on the street jumped in surprise and scrambled out of my way.

—Tower Master. The target keeps moving by passing through walls.

’I’m not losing her this time.’

I pushed myself faster and broke into a full-on sprint.

Beyond the wall, I could see the hem of the girl’s clothes. Panting for breath, I closed the distance.

“What on earth are you...! Huh?”

The girl wasn’t running anymore.

She stood quietly in place while a woman crouched in front of her, gently stroking her hair.

And that woman was someone I knew all too well.

“Huh? What the...?”

She looked over at me, her face lighting up as she shouted.

“Hey! Fancy running into you here!”

It was Han Yoonjeong, my friend and the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Instead of her usual overwhelming golden hunter suit, she was wearing jeans and a simple beige knit sweater.

Since the World Guild evaluation was tomorrow, I had more or less expected that she, as the head of the Gravekeepers, would be at the Alliance headquarters.

I just hadn’t expected to bump into her here.

Pointing at the girl, I asked, “You can see her?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? Of course I can see her.”

I scratched my head. ’So she’s not a ghost?’

“I don’t know what you’ve misunderstood this time, but say hello. She might end up being your senior someday.”

“Senior?”

Han Yoonjeong chuckled.

“This kid is the guild master of Mexico’s World Guild, the Ghost Corps.”

My mind went blank for a moment. This little kid was the head of one of only five World Guilds in existence?

The person I knew had been tall, with a mustache...

“The guy everyone thinks is the guild master is just an executive. A figurehead, basically. All the real authority belongs to Marie.”

“So Marie is her name.”

She shot me a quick sideways glance, then slipped back through the wall and vanished again.

“I don’t think she likes me very much.”

“Don’t worry about it. Kids are just shy around strangers.”

Han Yoonjeong stood up.

“Anyway, running into you like this is perfect! I was just about to go looking for you.”

“Hm?”

She waved a white paper bag from side to side.

“Want to grab a drink? It’s been a while.”

* * *

I stepped into my hotel room. As I was hanging up my training shirt, I heard Han Yoonjeong’s voice behind me.

“Hey, this door doesn’t lock!”

“Just close it. I’ll take care of it.”

’Still hopeless with anything mechanical, I see.’

Anyway, what snacks had she brought? I set the bag she had brought on the table and took out the contents.

There were beer cans, fish and chips, and fried chicken.

Then her voice came from the bathroom this time.

“Hey! What’s this bidet button? It’s in French, I can’t read it!”

“Did becoming a Pharaoh send your IQ back to the Bronze Age?”

“Wanna die, you little punk?!”

While she was in the bathroom, I set the beers and snacks out on the table.

The smell of freshly fried chicken hit my nose. It was the kind of smell that made your appetite roar to life.

“Ugh, I’m starving. Let’s eat! Let’s eat!”

She hurried over and plopped down in the seat across from me.

Seeing Pharaoh Han Yoonjeong in casual clothes felt a little strange, but in a good way. Above all, even in a knit sweater, there was no hiding her curves.

As she tore open the fish and chips, she suddenly shot me a sharp glare.

“There he goes again. Do you ever meet someone without ogling their body?”

“I was looking proudly, not sneaking.”

“Drop dead, will you?”

She kicked her legs toward me in a flurry. I leaned my head back to dodge and muttered, “Ugh, the smell. Go wash your feet.”

“I just washed them!”

When she made as if to throw a beer can at me, I snickered, snatched it from her hand, and popped it open.

“I didn’t think I’d be drinking this early in the morning.”

“So what? Better than drinking the night before the meeting.”

“That’s true.”

We clinked our cans together and downed a long gulp.

Swiss beer, apparently. The can had a picture of the Alps on it, and it tasted great.

“Haah! That hits the spot.”

After chugging her beer, Han Yoonjeong’s shoulders bounced with satisfaction.

“Hey, you already made a splash, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard you took down Nightwalker and got certified as Rank 2. The rumor spread like wildfire. Everyone here is talking about you.”

She lifted her can high.

“To Kim Yusin’s promotion to certified Rank 2!”

I let out a small laugh and clinked my can against hers.

After a cold drink, I immediately craved something crispy. Without another word, we focused on demolishing the chicken. Swiss-style fried chicken was surprisingly decent.

“Hey, don’t you have something to say to me?”

Out of nowhere, she shifted the mood. Feeling a twinge of guilt, I gave an awkward smile.

“About hiding the Tower?”

“Yeah, you little shit! How could you not tell me of all people? And you call yourself my friend?”

“I really am sorry for keeping it from you.”

I apologized honestly.

“But once we decided to make it classified, I figured we had to stick to it. If you start making exceptions—telling this person but not that person, whispering it to some people in secret—then in my experience, it always blows up in your face sooner or later.”

The corners of her mouth curled into a sly grin.

“Ah, now I remember. This is what you wanted to work on together back when we were at the Academy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I was planning to bring you into the Tower.”

She giggled and shook her head.

“Good thing I turned you down. How was I supposed to stand bowing and scraping to you as my boss?”

“Tsk, what a waste. I could have worked you to the bone.”

“Die.”

We burst out laughing and clinked our cans again. The atmosphere at the table was great from the very start.

* * *

“Mm.”

Hong Yeon was following the directions she had written down in the memo app on her phone. Her hands were full of gift sets.

She, too, had just cleared the Antarctic Catastrophe that very day and stopped by the Global Alliance headquarters in Switzerland.

For defeating the catastrophic disasters in both Africa and Antarctica, she had just been granted her certified Rank 2 hunter license.

After entering the hotel, she got into the elevator and pressed a button. The two men already inside flinched in surprise and plastered themselves against the wall.

’H-Hong Yeon? That’s her, right?’

’Damn, wow. It’s almost unfair how pretty she is.’

Watching her quietly stare at the floor numbers as they rose, the two men felt their hearts pounding.

’I want to talk to her!’

How many chances like this did you get in a lifetime? Maybe they were in a daze, but for some reason, courage welled up.

“E-Excuse me...!”

She paused, looking at them questioningly.

Hong Yeon turned, her red-toned hair swishing.

The moment they met her signature cool expression, the two of them felt their hearts stop all over again.

“H-hunter Hong Yeon, right?”

“I’m a huge fan! Congratulations on your promotion to Rank 2!”

She dipped her head slightly and murmured, “Thank you.” Their faces turned beet red.

“Ahem, ahem. We’re hunters from the global guild Guardian. Th-This afternoon there’s a p-party where hunters from all over the world are gathering, and, i-if it’s not too rude, we were wondering if you might... come with—”

His friend jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow, muttering, “Your voice is shaking like crazy, you idiot.” His own voice was trembling just as badly.

Hong Yeon looked them straight in the eye.

“I’m sorry. I already have plans.”

She bowed politely as she declined, then stepped out as the elevator chimed and the doors opened.

“Haaah.”

Their legs gave out and both men collapsed to the floor at the same time.

They hadn’t even expected a celebrity of her stature to show up. They mentally toasted the courage they’d managed to wring out.

The two of them stared blankly at her retreating back until the elevator doors closed.

They were left speechless.

She arrived on the 17th floor. All she had to do now was find Room 1705.

This time, the expressionless mask on her face slowly began to heat up.

“Haah.”

Before coming here, she had stopped by to see her older sister, Hong Yul.

After the two sisters had gone wild for a while in the joy of reunion, the moment passed, and Hong Yul started scolding her the instant she saw the gift sets her little sister had brought.

“Why’d you buy all this?”

“I’m going to thank him. It felt wrong to show up empty-handed.”

“No, no. That’s not the issue. The problem is what’s in the gift. Do you think he’s short on money? Short on anything? There are other ways you can make an impression, you know!”

“Other ways?”

Hong Yeon pressed a hand to her forehead.

Her adorable little sister, who had been raised like a hothouse flower, cherished like gold and jade, was utterly clueless when it came to this sort of thing.

“No matter how much time passes, the classics always work! Back in my day, we had all kinds of stuff—handmade socks, knitwear, homemade chocolates, ah, damn, scarves, that kind of thing! Those are full of sincerity, so they’re touching!”

“Isn’t that the kind of present you give a boyfriend?”

“Huh, you two aren’t dating?”

“Yul!”

Watching her little sister shriek in flustered embarrassment, Hong Yul could only shake her head.

“Yeah, yeah. I know it’s not my place to meddle in your love life, but if you’ve got even a tiny bit of interest in Yusin, you’d better hurry up. His stock price has gone through the roof. A certified Rank 2 in his early twenties, the Tower Master, and the hotshot CEO of a startup on top of that. You really think the girls around him are just going to sit on their hands? Huh?”

Remembering yesterday’s conversation, Hong Yeon let out a long sigh.

From top to bottom, it had been a complete disaster of a talk. She regretted having listened to it at all.

Her steps toward Room 1705 felt incredibly heavy. The closer she got to the door, the more her nerves spiked.

’Calm down. You’re just going to thank him. Thank you for saving my sister. That’s all.’

By the time she finally stood in front of Room 1705, her heart was pounding like crazy.

She was torn.

’Maybe I really should have called first. I hate this outfit. Maybe I should just drop the gift and run. Isn’t a skirt too much in this weather? I should have just worn my usual clothes. My sister’s sense of style is the worst. Maybe I should just go back. Right. I never even came to Switzerland. No, wait, they probably already took pictures of my Rank 2 promotion and ran articles. Should I call the reporter right now? Should I swap out the gift? If I start learning to knit a scarf this minute, can I finish one by the end of the day?’

She forced herself to stop thinking and let out a deep breath.

’Don’t be an idiot. Just go in, look him in the eye, and thank him sincerely.’

And later, over the phone...

“Mwahahahaha!”

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

She could hear a woman laughing on the other side of the door to 1705. She was sure this was Yusin’s room.

For a woman’s voice to be coming from his room at this hour...

She felt like her heart was riding an elevator down an endless shaft into some underground bunker.

’Right. Someone that successful, it would be weirder if he didn’t date.’

Her rational mind accepted it with resignation, but her body trembled anyway.

It should have been the perfect moment to feel crushed and small, but instead, some other emotion surged up inside her, hot and sharp.

She didn’t even know what she was thinking.

She simply opened the door and walked in.

The door was unlocked. ’To hell with manners—I have to see it with my own eyes...’

“What the...?”

“Huh?”

What she saw was Yusin and Pharaoh Han Yoonjeong sitting at the table, having a drink.

Of course, there was nothing remotely obscene going on, nothing like the scenes that had flashed through her mind.

Feeling her cheeks burn, Hong Yeon stammered and bowed her head.

“H-hello...”

* * *