CHAPTER 05…………………………………
For a moment, I remembered a line from the novel.
[Shin Su-ha, who cleared the 7th floor alone, was found dead—his body torn apart by a rampage. The only indicator of how long he survived was the time he cleared the stage.]
I clicked my tongue and checked the time on my phone.
5:10 PM.
Shin Su-ha cleared the floor at 7 PM. If I hurried, I could still purify him even in a fainted, rampage-induced state.
‘Starting off way too flashy on day one.’
Grumbling, I stood up.
“Ugh.”
Just a little running and my body already felt like this?
Seo Go-un. This damn body.
“Starting tomorrow, I’m working out. I’ll fix this body no matter what.”
At this rate, I wouldn’t even survive a monster encounter on the street, let alone join a Cradle raid party. For now, I needed to focus on saving key hunters while rebuilding my body.
“First, I need to change clothes…”
While looking around for something wearable after being dragged by the poison toad, I fell silent.
Did this guy have a grudge against primary colors? Every piece of clothing on the floor was absurdly bright.
Even beggars wouldn’t wear this stuff.
I ignored the pile and opened Seo Go-un’s closet—then quickly closed it again.
‘Don’t tell me… does the healing potion have side effects?’
I rubbed my eyes and opened it again.
“Crazy bastard. It’s even worse in here.”
The closet was filled with flashy, over-the-top luxury clothes that were almost painful to look at.
Ignoring the rainbow-like colors, everything had huge brand logos slapped on it.
Wearing them would make you feel like a walking advertisement.
‘What is his taste—some kind of peacock? Why does he even own a neon feather shirt?’
I clicked my tongue and searched through the closet until I found something tucked away in the corner.
“…At least this is normal.”
A navy shirt with no logo and a simple design.
Unlike the neatly arranged luxury clothes, it was wrinkled—clearly something the owner had abandoned.
It looked like something he wore before becoming obsessed with luxury brands.
“Top’s fine… now bottoms…”
I pulled out slacks from a drawer and grabbed a plain black cap, the least flashy one I could find.
‘I’m definitely buying clothes tomorrow.’
After changing, I grabbed my wallet and keys and called a taxi.
“Take me to the Tower, please.”
“Oh! Going to the Tower? So you’re a Hunter? First time seeing one! Shake my hand, please!”
The driver enthusiastically held out his hand. I awkwardly shook it.
“Looks like I’m lucky today. Meeting a Hunter like this!”
“Ah… yes.”
In this world, Hunters were as admired as doctors or lawyers.
Most kids dreamed of becoming one.
Not just because they were rare awakeners, but because they earned a lot fighting monsters with flashy skills.
The driver kept talking nonstop as I half-listened.
“Alright, we’re here.”
“Could you wait here for a moment? You can keep the meter running.”
“Oh! Going to grab items, eh? That’s fine by me. I’ll park here and grab dinner. Take your time!”
“Thank you.”
I got out and looked up at the Tower.
It was enormous.
The Tower of God.
So tall it seemed to pierce the sky, overwhelming just to look at.
[Climb.]
Like most tower settings, it was forced progression—with penalties for failure.
Here, if a floor wasn’t cleared, monsters would pour out endlessly.
‘Just like the Cradle.’
Until a floor was cleared, monsters kept spawning. So Hunters cleared them at any cost.
Clearing progress was shared globally, so once one country cleared a floor, others didn’t need to—but ranking points still incentivized climbing.
Humans everywhere loved rankings.
‘Well… not important right now.’
If I lost time here and Shin Su-ha died, everything would be pointless.
I quickly entered the Tower.
The 1st-floor lobby was exactly as described: a gate and a hologram-like display.
It showed “7F” and a mission timer—but by now, it was already 7 PM.
The 7th-floor mission had already been cleared.
“Good. Just in time.”
I walked behind the display and felt along the wall.
“This should be it…”
Click.
Bricks shifted, revealing a hidden passage just large enough for one person.
“Here it is.”
Inside, faint light glowed from the floor.
“Found it—the elevator.”
Normally, Hunters had to climb from Floor 1 step by step. But this hidden elevator allowed instant travel to cleared floors.
I needed Floor 5 first—not Floor 7.
‘If I hadn’t found this, I’d be screwed.’
Before saving Shin Su-ha, I needed the purification item—and it was on Floor 5.
I stepped into the light.
A massive stone door appeared.
Just like in the novel.
Since Shin Su-ha hadn’t known about the elevator, he had already cleared Floor 5 on his way to Floor 7, leaving the gate open.
I stepped inside.
“Wow…”
The environment changed instantly.
Dense jungle, humid air, insect sounds.
It wasn’t decoration—it was a real biome shift.
Floor 5 was like a recreation of an ancient Mayan world.
“Feels like a time machine.”
I moved through the jungle ruins until I reached a Moai statue at a three-way junction.
“There it is.”
In the novel, Seo Tae-ju cleared Floor 5 first. Later Hunters passed through quickly and missed the purification item.
Only a later adventurer accidentally found it using a treasure-hunting skill.
And inside the Moai statue was the purification item.
“No need for that.”
I placed my hand on the statue.
“Decomposition.”
[Skill activated.]
[Success.]
[Item decomposed: sand, water, stone fragments, ??? egg]
The statue vanished, leaving sand—and a strange egg.
A white egg with brown specks.
[Passive ‘Truth’ activated.]
[??? Egg]
Description: Unknown egg. Has existed for centuries without hatching. Emits a faint warmth.
※ Additional hidden information available.
“So passive skills activate automatically…”
The system revealed unexpected information.
The missing word was obvious.
“Purification.”
This was the Purification Egg.
A hunter who held it would have corruption cleansed.
The warmth likely represented purification energy.
I picked it up.
No reaction—probably because I wasn’t corrupted.
Seo Go-un had never been a proper Hunter anyway.
Then—
Ding.
A message appeared.
[Rare item obtained. Passive skill ‘Diagnosis’ added.]
“Diagnosis?”
A new explanation popped up.
[Diagnosis: Allows detection of corruption levels.]
“Oh.”
A skill that reads corruption.
In the novel, the adventurer never gained a passive skill—only the egg.
So this must be due to Seo Go-un’s alchemy traits.
“Fine. Better than nothing.”
I rolled the egg in my hand and headed back.
Time to go to Floor 7.
The 7th floor was a desert.
Endless sand dunes and pyramid-like structures.
“Guess Hunters don’t need travel.”
Unlike Floor 5’s jungle sounds, here there was only wind.
I walked through the desert until I reached a pyramid entrance, where torn monster corpses lay scattered.
“No need to guess the direction.”
Following the trail of dead monsters, I advanced.
Eventually, I found a geometric-patterned door—clearly a boss room.
Inside—
A sphinx-like monster corpse.
And beside it, a man collapsed.
“…So that’s Shin Su-ha.”
He was unconscious. Fully corrupted.
[Diagnosis activated.]
[Shin Su-ha – Corruption: 98%]
“Not too late.”
I knelt beside him and placed the egg in his hand.
It slipped off.
I tried again. It fell again.
‘Damn it.’
I picked it up, then grabbed his hand and placed it properly.
[Corruption: 97%]
[Corruption: 95%]
…
‘Annoying.’
As I held his hand, I studied him.
Even as a side character, Shin Su-ha was famous in the story—always compared to others in strength and appearance.
Now I understood why.
Silver hair like melted metal thread.
Deep-set foreign eyes.
Sharp nose, soft lips—like a sculpture.
And his body—
Broad shoulders, thick thighs, dense muscle under a perfectly tailored suit.
“Damn… if I could’ve possessed anyone, it should’ve been him.”
I had trained consistently since deciding to become a detective.
Gym every day, even bonding with regulars.
But no matter what I did, I couldn’t build a body like this.
I poked his arm.
Rock hard.
“This is the body I should’ve had.”
I examined his muscles like a blueprint.
Deltoids, biceps, triceps, forearms.
Perfect.
“…Why did I end up in Seo Go-un’s body?”
“Mm…”
A faint groan escaped Shin Su-ha’s lips.
He was waking up.
