The interrogation room at Special Hunter Headquarters looked nothing like what Siul had expected.
There was neither a desk nor a chair.
There were no glass walls, shielding partitions, or anything else that could serve as concealment.
It was a silent, completely open space, like an empty auditorium.
The acoustics were so strong that even the faintest footsteps echoed with exaggerated force.
‘This feels less like an interrogation room… and more like an execution chamber.’
Siul’s eyes were filled with wariness as he surveyed his surroundings.
“You’re wondering what kind of interrogation room doesn’t even have a desk, right?”
Siul flinched and turned his head.
Kang Ho-cheol had approached right beside him with such ghostlike footsteps that Siul had not even noticed when he entered the interrogation room.
“We don’t need desks. We don’t conduct our investigations with paperwork.”
Kang Ho-cheol’s voice practically overflowed with murderous intent.
Judging from his expression and tone alone, he looked as though he were about to start torturing someone.
Then a disgusted voice cut in from behind them.
“Would you stop frightening our valuable witness for no reason?”
Baek Ga-hyeon reprimanded Kang Ho-cheol and straightened the file folder in her hands.
Kang Ho-cheol dropped his playful act and took a step back.
At the center of the interrogation room, Siul and Baek Ga-hyeon stood facing each other.
“Mr. Kim Siul, you exercised your right to remain silent the entire way here, didn’t you? Should I interpret that as meaning you have no intention of cooperating?”
Silence continued to hang between them.
However, Siul’s trembling fingers failed to hide his emotions.
‘They really are Special Hunters…. I’d only ever heard about them. I never thought I’d actually meet them….’
The Special Hunters were the strongest national force in the country, composed entirely of individuals with abilities at A-Rank or higher.
Most of them were said to conceal their identities, so the fact that people like them had revealed themselves to him so readily only filled Siul with fear.
‘It doesn’t mean they don’t care about revealing their identities because they’re planning to kill me anyway… right?’
Meanwhile, Baek Ga-hyeon carefully observed and recorded every tiny reaction Siul made.
“As for the Black Gate that appeared on the date we mentioned, we didn’t believe it at first either. The probability of a Black Gate appearing is extremely low, and there has never even been a confirmed case in Korea.”
Baek Ga-hyeon turned a page in the file and continued.
“However, after examining the faint traces of Mana remaining at the site where the rift occurred, we received confirmation from an overseas research institute that it was indeed a Black Gate.”
Siul’s shoulders twitched.
Baek Ga-hyeon showed him the message they had received from the overseas research institute.
<Probability of Black Gate Match: 99.9%>
Those words seemed unusually large in Siul’s eyes.
“The overseas research institute showed considerable interest as well. Black Gates themselves are extraordinarily rare, but more importantly, no one knows the secrets hidden inside them.”
As she spoke, Baek Ga-hyeon pulled a photograph from the file folder.
“At least, that was the case until we found a witness like you, Mr. Kim Siul.”
Siul unconsciously took a step backward.
The photograph she held was none other than a still captured from CCTV footage.
The image was blurry, but Siul immediately recognized the man in the photograph as himself.
“You are the only person who can reveal the secrets of the Black Gate to the world, Mr. Kim Siul. Once again, I sincerely ask for your cooperation.”
Baek Ga-hyeon bowed politely at the waist.
Even Kang Ho-cheol, who had been fooling around until moments ago, lowered his head from behind her.
Only then did Siul finally speak.
“What do you want from me?”
Siul asked in a dry voice, and Baek Ga-hyeon answered immediately, as though she had been waiting for the question.
“Tell us everything you saw inside the Black Gate that day.”
She did not appear to harbor even the slightest doubt that Siul had emerged from inside the Black Gate.
Siul instinctively realized that a half-hearted lie would never work here.
‘I can’t just bluff my way through this….’
Siul moved his lips, but he could only hesitate without managing to speak.
One slip of the tongue could cut his remaining lifespan in half in an instant.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give either of you that information.”
For a fleeting moment, a chill passed through Baek Ga-hyeon’s and Kang Ho-cheol’s eyes.
“It isn’t that I refuse to tell you. I can’t.”
Siul gave them the fullest answer he could without crossing the line.
Just as he had confessed, he could not reveal anything he had seen inside the Black Gate.
Even if he gave in to some heroic impulse and decided to leave the truth behind before dying, it would be meaningless if his entire remaining lifespan vanished the moment he uttered the first word.
“There is some reason you cannot tell us, then?”
Fortunately, Baek Ga-hyeon understood what Siul meant.
“We had already anticipated something like this. The Mana concentration inside a Black Gate is generally at the SSS-Rank level. In a Dungeon like that, there is a high probability that you encountered a creature from the Demon Realm. Because of that, the government predicted that you may have been exposed to curse magic from a Demon Realm creature.”
Her deduction was astonishingly accurate.
For a moment, Siul was so moved that tears nearly sprang to his eyes.
Ever since he had been afflicted by the curse magic, he had been living through hell, unable to tell anyone about his situation.
Now that someone had finally appeared who understood what he was going through, emotion welled up inside him.
“You never reported the incident, so we were wondering whether that was your own choice or the result of circumstances beyond your control. Should we assume it was the latter?”
Siul did not answer, but his silence was answer enough.
“Very well. Then let’s move on to something else for now. Please answer only the questions you are capable of answering.”
Baek Ga-hyeon took a remote control from the inner pocket of her suit and pressed a button.
A screen appeared on the wall of the interrogation room.
‘That’s….’
It was footage from the raid Siul and Min Hyung-sik’s team had recently conducted in the Dungeon where Skeletons had appeared.
“In truth, we have been investigating you closely since this incident, Mr. Kim Siul. The government’s requests for you to clear Dungeons were also intended to study your unusual potential.”
A faint gasp escaped Siul as he watched the footage.
‘They’ve been digging through everything about me? Then have they been tailing me and following me around this entire time?’
Siul rubbed the goosebumps rising on his arms before suddenly freezing.
‘Wait. If they’ve been following me this entire time….’
Siul stiffly turned his neck toward Kang Ho-cheol.
The moment Kang Ho-cheol met Siul’s gaze, he gave him a broad, meaningful grin.
“The part about being something similar to a Special Hunter was entertaining.”
“…….”
Siul felt as though his lifespan might shorten from sheer embarrassment.
To think the Special Hunters had even witnessed that ridiculous lie about being something similar to a Special Hunter.
“Under normal circumstances, impersonating a Special Hunter is not something we can simply overlook. However, since you are currently under our protection, we’ll let it pass this once.”
Fortunately, Baek Ga-hyeon forgave Siul with little more than a warning.
Siul shrank his shoulders even further for no reason.
“After observing you, we discovered that your abilities do not match the rank registered with the Hunter Association. We also confirmed that you can use skills that should only become available at B-Rank. Is that related to the Black Gate?”
Baek Ga-hyeon asked the question sharply, but Siul kept his mouth shut.
“So it is related. You also appear to possess a rare Trait. Your side was completely torn open, yet your body returned to normal within a matter of seconds.”
Cold sweat trickled down the back of Siul’s neck.
‘They really did see everything….’
And yet, all that kept circling through his head was the part about being something similar to a Special Hunter.
“I’ve never seen healing that fast before. The rate at which your injuries recover is beyond anything I’ve seen from any Healer in Korea.”
Siul blinked blankly.
‘Ah… so they think it’s a healing ability, not immortality?’
In a way, that was the more realistic conclusion.
An ability that made someone absolutely incapable of dying was hardly the first hypothesis anyone would come up with.
‘I’m glad they didn’t see my head explode… That would’ve been pretty traumatizing for them.’
There was one more fortunate thing.
So far, no information-disclosure penalty had been triggered.
The investigation had progressed considerably, and they had discovered several abnormalities about him, yet his notified death date had not changed.
‘If you think about it, I haven’t shown them the Quest System directly, and they guessed wrong about my Trait, so this can’t really count as leaking information. I haven’t told them anything myself, either.’
For the moment, he could relax.
And he decided that this was where he needed to put a stop to the questioning.
“I can’t answer questions about my abilities. The more you ask, the more difficult my situation becomes.”
Siul asked them to stop questioning him.
If they continued broadening their deductions and somehow discovered the truth behind his ability and the Quest System, his lifespan really might be shortened.
“Understood. We won’t dig any further into your abilities, Mr. Kim Siul.”
Baek Ga-hyeon immediately accepted Siul’s request.
“Then….”
Baek Ga-hyeon scanned through the numerous questions in her file and fell into thought.
What sort of curse magic could have been placed on this witness that made him so cautious with every word?
What answers could they possibly obtain from him?
What questions would allow them to infer the secrets of the Black Gate?
For that brief period, Baek Ga-hyeon tried to find the best possible approach.
Then, at last, she asked an unexpected question that completely changed the atmosphere of the interrogation room.
“What is your dream, Mr. Kim Siul?”
Siul’s eyebrow crooked upward.
“…Pardon?”
“I asked what your dream is. Your ultimate goal, Mr. Kim Siul.”
It was an abstract question, perhaps even a romantic one.
Siul was caught off guard by the unexpected question, but soon answered.
“I want to live a long, healthy life.”
Kang Ho-cheol, who had been listening to their conversation from behind them, sighed.
‘That isn’t the kind of answer she wanted to hear, Witness.’
Just as Kang Ho-cheol was growing frustrated, Siul added something else.
“And I want to clear an SSS-Rank Dungeon.”
Baek Ga-hyeon and Kang Ho-cheol flinched, their eyes widening in surprise.
‘SSS-Rank…?’
‘Did I hear him correctly?’
They doubted their own ears.
Even the two of them, both S-Rank Special Hunters, did not dare entertain the idea of clearing an SSS-Rank Dungeon.
There were only seven such Dungeons in the entire world, and their difficulty was so extreme that there had never been a proper successful clear.
‘For an SSS-Rank Dungeon raid, simply returning alive has been the greatest achievement so far. Even the best Hunters in the world can barely escape with their lives, and he wants to clear one?’
Those were not words that should ever have come from the mouth of a rookie Hunter officially registered as D-Rank.
And yet, judging from his expression, it was clear that Siul meant every word.
The determination to accomplish it no matter what was plainly visible in his unwavering eyes.
“Interesting.”
Kang Ho-cheol raised the corner of his mouth.
“That dream is probably related to the Black Gate, isn’t it?”
Kang Ho-cheol loudly joined the interrogation and walked toward Siul.
Seeing Kang Ho-cheol suddenly become so enthusiastic, Baek Ga-hyeon narrowed her eyes.
‘Here he goes again.’
Kang Ho-cheol was one of the senior Special Hunters.
He had a particular fondness for juniors with grand ambitions.
That was because he supported the development of Korea’s Hunter community, and the progress of the world itself, more passionately than anyone.
Naturally, someone like Siul, who claimed that his goal was to clear an SSS-Rank Dungeon, could not help but pique Kang Ho-cheol’s interest.
“Seeing as you can’t answer, I suppose it really is connected to the Black Gate.”
Kang Ho-cheol smiled as he stared at the silent Siul.
“You have a big dream, but your current abilities seem rather lacking by comparison. Even so, do you truly intend to challenge an SSS-Rank Dungeon?”
Feeling as though Kang Ho-cheol were mocking him, Siul lifted his chin with an irritated expression.
“I’m lacking right now, of course. That’s why I’m running raids without taking any breaks. Even the time I’m wasting here because you’re holding me feels precious.”
As Siul pushed back with a firm tone, Kang Ho-cheol laughed even more heartily.
“Oh, my apologies. It seems we’ve been interfering with your training.”
“Senior? I’ll just handle the investigation….”
Sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere, Baek Ga-hyeon tried to separate the two of them.
However, Kang Ho-cheol raised a hand, signaling for her to wait, and continued speaking to Siul.
“What a problem. Until we uncover the secrets of the Black Gate, we’re in a position where we’ll have to keep investigating you. That will interfere with your training, so could we ask for your understanding?”
Siul furrowed his brow and shook his head.
“I cooperated today, but you can’t keep dragging me in here every day. That would clearly be a violation of my human rights.”
It was a remarkably bold statement to make while standing before a Special Hunter.
Even that, however, seemed to please Kang Ho-cheol.
“Good. Then let me make you an offer. You need to grow stronger, so you’ll have to encounter all kinds of Dungeons and enemies, correct? On the other hand, we need to investigate you, so we need to keep you close.”
Kang Ho-cheol declared that there was a way to solve both problems at once, then brought a hand down on Siul’s shoulder with a firm THUMP!
“Become a Special Hunter. You’ll be able to grow much stronger, much faster than you can now. I’ll help you.”