“The Hunter didn’t break it on purpose. He was just sparring with Sword Ghost and got a little too carried away.”
I smiled awkwardly, and the chat buzzed.
“-Uh…”
“-S-rank warm-ups hit different, huh?”
“-So that’s why you’re making the Hwarang guys work? LOL.”
“-LOL”
“Of course, this kind of thing should be done by subordinates. I can’t do it myself, right?”
It was only natural.
I was the owner of this tower—the employer.
They were the ones I paid with Tower Coins, fed, and raised.
Unlike other towers that slaughtered people, at least I was providing them with something.
“Besides, there’s nothing else for them to do in my tower besides construction.”
“-How does a tower have nothing to do but construction?”
“-Might as well just turn it into a full-blown construction site.”
“-Wouldn’t they rather just kill people? That sounds way too exhausting.”
“-They were literally cursing and fighting earlier.”
“That’s how you grow—by fighting.”
I nodded sagely, and the skeleton and Hwarang who had been brawling earlier gave me a thumbs-up.
‘…How did they even interpret that…?’
I just sighed and waved back.
“Anyway, that’s life here. I just started streaming because the Hunter left.”
I sprawled out on the wooden floor and laughed, broadcasting the scene live.
“-LOL.”
“-I’m so jealous.”
“-Being a monster seems like the best life.”
“-…I envy you.”
“…Don’t be. Living like this is actually kind of scary.”
Honestly, it was still a better life than my previous one, but it was definitely nerve-wracking.
Koreans had somewhat accepted my existence, but the rest of the world was a different story.
The international summit for top-ranked Hunters was coming up soon.
If Hunter Hanseong failed to persuade them, every country would scramble to raid my tower.
Even if I was SSS-rank, I had my limits.
American Hunters weren’t weak.
There were four people stronger than Hanseong himself.
Japan had one Hunter on par with him.
China had five Hunters even stronger than Hanseong.
‘…If they decide to raid my tower for the sake of world peace, Korea won’t be able to do anything about it.’
China and Japan were probably already on edge.
If my tower’s break occurred, monsters would flood out into the world.
And monsters didn’t care about national borders.
This was why underdeveloped countries formed strong alliances.
If one country fell, four or five neighboring nations would be dragged down with it.
So they worked together out of sheer necessity.
Their Hunter Association acted as a central control tower for all Hunters.
For these reasons, the international community must have been terrified of my unprecedented SSS-rank tower.
With all the powerful nations clustered together, if my tower broke, East Asia’s three major powers could collapse.
‘That would trigger a global economic crisis.’
So, yeah. I wasn’t just scared for no reason.
Of course, the chat didn’t really get it.
“-LOL, what does an SSS-rank have to be afraid of?”
“-Be real, don’t humans just look like bugs to you?”
“-If I were you, I’d have already walked out and said, ‘Kneel.’”
“…Come on, I couldn’t do that.”
They probably didn’t know I was just an F-rank with no guts in my previous life.
I still hadn’t fully grasped my newfound strength, so S-rank Hunters were terrifying to me.
I knew Hunter Hanseong was a good, clean guy.
But the others?
The ones getting released from prison one by one?
Hell no.
They scared the shit out of me.
The only reason I had the guts to film and expose them before was because the Hunter Surveillance Bureau was so powerful.
I knew they’d get arrested if I leaked anything.
I wasn’t brave—I was just doing it for the money.
The sheer amount of cash coming in gave me the illusion of courage.
Of course, that was also why I got murdered.
“Life as a monster is tough, too.”
I sighed.
The chat scoffed.
“-Dude, you talk like you’ve lived as a human before.”
“-LOL.”
“-You’re literally a landlord.”
After chuckling at my complaint, they shifted the conversation.
“-By the way, does your tower accept residents?”
“-Oh yeah, I’ve never seen a tower without residents before.”
“Residents?”
“-Yeah.”
“-I want to see beastfolk women.”
“-Please accept reptilian beastfolk!”
“-…Get out.”
“-Uh…”
In this context, “residents” referred to neutral beings that lived within towers.
Beastfolk were the most common example.
Nowadays, they had fully integrated into human society, but when they first appeared, it was utter chaos.
‘…People freaked out, thinking monsters had shown up even though there was no break.’
At first, they struggled with human society.
Wolf beastfolk got kicked out of their homes for howling all night.
Cat beastfolk got avoided because they kept knocking things over on purpose.
Things only settled down once the properly adjusted beastfolk started helping new ones adapt.
Among tower residents, about 60% were beastfolk.
But not all residents were beastfolk.
For instance, there were also the highly rare Spiritfolk.
They claimed to come from the Spirit Realm and were incredibly friendly toward humans.
Unlike beastfolk, they were welcomed from the start.
Their striking beauty made them easy to accept, and their spirit magic helped humans adapt to towers.
Beastfolk taught humans how to fight monsters.
Spiritfolk taught humans how to use magic and develop technology.
Roughly 60% of tower residents were beastfolk, 30% were spiritfolk, and the remaining 10% included Dragonkin and Dwarves—though they were so rare, most people never even saw them.
“…I guess it’s about time I recruited some residents.”
“-Are you holding interviews again today?”
“-Do towers actually interview their residents?”
“-Wait, do all towers do this? Do monsters and residents have to apply to live there?”
“-Getting a life allowance just for being a monster… wild.”
“-…So that’s why monsters sometimes end up with a couple of Tower Coins here and there….”
“Sorry.”
“-What are you sorry for? If we don’t kill the monsters, they’ll come out and kill us instead.”
“Whoa, whoa~ No need to fight, everyone.”
People were curious if other towers operated like mine.
My answer?
‘…I don’t know, don’t ask me.’
I really had no clue.
How would I know?
I used to be human too.
Sure, my tower seemed a little special, but I wasn’t sure exactly how.
From the way people kept asking if I was originally from a tower, it did seem like my situation was unique.
“…I’m not sure if other towers work like this.”
The chat seemed to accept that.
It made sense—if even a monster like me didn’t know, there was no point in pressing further.
“-If other towers are like this, that’d actually be kind of nice. Feels more humane, lol.”
“-Yeah, pretty human-like.”
“-Never trust anyone but a gumiho!”
Just in case my viewers started trusting other towers, I figured I should clarify.
“That’s right. My tower is special, so don’t trust anyone else but me.”
“Most towers are probably hostile toward humans.”
“-???”
“-Understood!”
“-A super beautiful monster who cares about humans!”
“-Ohoho, come here~”
“…Don’t be creepy.”
“-Eek?!”
“-Gasp.”
“-Who was that? Bring them here as a sacrifice for the tower!”
“-Look at those scary eyes.”
“-Terrifying…”
Ah, whoops.
Some gross comment popped up, and I instinctively scowled.
I quickly adjusted my expression and tried to act normal again.
“Ahem… Sorry about that. Did I scare you?”
“-Yeah…”
“-A little.”
“-Not as much as before, but still a bit….”
“-Please always smile.”
“-Smile~”
“I’ll… try my best.”
I stood up from the floor, brushing off my skirt.
I had something to do.
“Should I pay the residents too?”
I wanted to make my tower a livelier place.
***
I headed to the backyard so I wouldn’t get in the way of the skeletons and Hwarang warriors working on construction.
There was a minor incident where Sword Ghost accidentally flashed my underwear on camera while doing laundry, forcing me to cut the stream for a moment.
But it wasn’t a huge issue.
“…Ahem, s-sorry, I panicked.”
“-White.”
“Get out.”
I immediately banned the pervert and resumed the stream.
It was time to take suggestions for new residents.
Beastfolk, spirits—anything was fine, except dwarves.
I was not letting a bunch of sweaty old men into my tower.
“Alright, time to vote! What kind of residents should we accept?”
I already had a good idea of how this would go.
There was no way my chaos-loving viewers would pass up this opportunity.
“-Dwarves! Let’s go!”
“-I wanna smell dwarf sweat, lol.”
“-LMAO, Dwarves!”
“-Got scammed buying gear? Don’t be a sucker! Make your own with Dwarves!”
“-HAHAHAHA.”
“-Never seen a dwarf before, kinda wanna see one, lol.”
“-Ooh, let’s go for that peak sweaty smell—Dwarves!”
Gotcha.
Time to remind them who they’re dealing with.
“Alright, all of you— banned ~”
“-???”
“-What?!”
“-But you said we could vote! You said we could vote?!”
“If you’re stronger than me, then sure, you can mess around with the votes.”
I smirked.
Finally, a serious vote began.
If anyone still voted for dwarves, I’d at least acknowledge their guts.
“-Beastfolk.”
“-Spirits.”
“-Spirits!”
“-Beastfolk~”
“-Dragons!”
“Dragons are monsters. Who’s this guy?”
There were some weird outliers, but in the end, the votes were in.
“…Spirits won by a landslide?”
Looked like I just found myself a magic teacher.