A heavy sigh came first through the smartphone speaker.
"Hey, Cheol-woo. Thanks for taking my call when you must be busy."
"Busy? Not at all. I saw your message earlier. You said you needed a training ground?"
At Cheol-woo’s question, Park Jun-seok hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Yeah... I am just looking for somewhere to loosen up, but it is not as easy as I thought."
"Did something happen? You do not sound very good."
At Cheol-woo’s sharp observation, Park Jun-seok cleared his throat a few times before eventually revealing what was going on.
"Well, I went into a low-grade raid not long ago and got hurt a bit."
"You were injured?"
"It was nothing serious. The formation collapsed on the tank side, and a goblin scratched up my leg a little. Treatment is all done. No problems with the bones or ligaments."
Bitterness lingered in Park Jun-seok’s voice. Cheol-woo could roughly guess why he was so desperate to find a training ground. For a low-tier hunter, an injury record did not end as a simple wound.
"If the treatment is finished, you need to get back to work."
"Right. But my practical sense has dropped a lot, so I feel burdened jumping straight back into a party."
"Even for an E-rank, it gets hard to find a party once an injury record remains."
"Exactly. Even parties short on people avoid hunters with injury histories. But if I force myself into a dangerous raid, I feel like I will get hurt again. So I need somewhere safe to rebuild the basics first..."
Park Jun-seok trailed off. As he said, the competition to enter public F-rank dungeons managed by the Association was terribly fierce. Even if one waited for a difficult turn and finally entered, other parties had often wiped out all the monsters already, making the trip a waste of time, let alone training.
"If my break stretches any longer like this, I might even lose confidence in maintaining my hunter qualification later. I heard you have been moving alone lately, so I contacted you wondering if you might know a gate where people do not gather."
As he listened to Park Jun-seok’s complaint, Cheol-woo leaned against the cave wall. Until very recently, he too had lived with the same worries while drifting from porter job to porter job.
The reality of low-tier hunters was that they could not join good parties, were saddled with dangerous work, and had to worry about their livelihood the moment they got injured. It was not that they wanted to hunt powerful monsters like everyone else. They only needed a safe place where they could check their own condition without minding others or competing with anyone.
"I understand the situation for now, Jun-seok hyung. I am outside right now, so I will see if I can think of a place and contact you again."
"All right. Sorry for asking for something difficult. I was just asking in case you knew somewhere, so do not worry too much about it."
"It is fine. I will contact you later."
After ending the call, Cheol-woo put the smartphone into his pocket. He began quickly weighing Park Jun-seok’s current condition against the cards he held.
At the same time, he fixed his gaze into the air. In response to his will, a translucent blue management window quietly appeared.
[Temporary Outsider Entry Pass]
-Status: Unused
Cheol-woo’s finger lightly tapped the air. When he opened the authority, a detailed function description appeared in a list.
[Only personnel designated by the owner can be granted an entry pass.]
[An entry pass holder can freely pass through the owner’s gate.]
[The entry permission time can be designated separately, and if the time is exceeded or the authority is revoked, the target will be forcibly processed as exiting to reality.]
Cheol-woo slowly read the guide text without missing a single word.
The Forced Exit function. That was the most important core feature. It meant that if an outsider acted unexpectedly inside the dungeon or tried to break away from control, Cheol-woo could immediately drive them out without using physical force.
‘The time can be designated, and authority can be revoked at my discretion.’
With this much, the system-level safety device was sufficient. However, separate from the system controlling things for him, Cheol-woo needed to clearly establish his own standards. The dungeon was no longer a simple hunting ground. It was his precious asset. Letting someone else enter was the same as sharing his business secret.
Cheol-woo sat down on the floor and took out his training notebook. Holding his pen, he began writing conditions one by one on a blank page.
First, the usable area would be limited to the outer zone where common goblins appeared. The boss room and the deeper area with rare minerals would be absolutely off-limits.
Second, I must accompany him. Solo action is completely prohibited.
Third, he must not ask about the gate’s source, and he must not leak internal information to anyone else.
‘Would this be enough?’
Cheol-woo looked at the three conditions written in the notebook and nodded. He had no intention of mentioning core secrets such as the abandoned mine’s ownership or the existence of the management window. It would be enough to explain it only as a private training gate he had happened to gain temporary usage rights to.
The problem was the person. Was he someone who would follow all these strict rules without complaint?
Cheol-woo recalled the times he had participated in raids with Park Jun-seok in the past.
Most low-tier hunters often took reckless risks because they were desperate for money. There were plenty of people who hid injuries to enter parties, or ran away to save themselves when monsters swarmed.
But Park Jun-seok was different. When the party leader gave the order to retreat, he knew how to pull back without lingering regret. Even among trash who tried to steal the porter’s share during settlement, he had been someone who took a portion from his own share and looked after the porter.
‘At the very least, he is not the kind of person who would stab me in the back.’
More than anything, right now, his combat power was not intact because of his injury. Even if an unexpected situation occurred, Cheol-woo could suppress him with his newly fitted equipment and recovery potions.
There was no one more suitable as a test subject. He decided to think about compensation or byproduct distribution later. For this test, his top priority was verifying how the entry pass system worked in reality and whether Forced Exit happened without side effects.
Cheol-woo stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes. There was no reason to hesitate.
He took out his smartphone again and called Park Jun-seok. The moment the ringtone began, the other man answered.
"Hey, Cheol-woo. Did you already look into it?"
"Yes. As it happens, there is one decent place."
"Really? Where is it? Is the competition bad?"
Park Jun-seok’s voice was filled with excitement. Cheol-woo continued in a calm tone.
"There is no competition at all. It is a gate operated completely privately. You will not run into anyone, and the monsters are at a suitable level for training."
"A private gate? There is a place like that? Is it like a guild-exclusive training ground?"
"I cannot explain the detailed source. I was lucky enough to receive temporary permission to use it."
When Cheol-woo drew the line, silence flowed for a moment from the other side of the phone. Park Jun-seok was fairly quick-witted. In the hunter world, being told not to ask about a source was the same as being warned not to pry.
"Ah, right. Sorry. I asked something unnecessary."
"But there are conditions. While you train there, I must accompany you. And you must not leave the area I designate. Approaching dangerous zones or acting alone is forbidden."
"That is only natural. If I am borrowing someone else’s gate, how could I go around however I want? I will do exactly as you say."
"Lastly, you must never talk about this place outside. The moment it leaks, your usage permission ends immediately."
Cheol-woo’s voice was much firmer than usual. He knew well that if he let things slide clumsily just because the other person was a close hyung, it would become difficult to control later.
Park Jun-seok, too, removed the humor from his voice when he sensed Cheol-woo’s serious attitude and answered.
"Do not worry. You know better than anyone that I can keep my mouth shut. I have never spread a bad rumor even since your porter days."
"I know. That is why I contacted you first."
A faint smile spread across Cheol-woo’s lips. Acceptance of the conditions had gone much more smoothly than expected.
"Then I will see you tomorrow. Let us meet around ten in the morning at a café near the Association. We will discuss the remaining details there, and I will show you the place right away."
"Got it. I will buy you a meal or something, so do not be late. Seriously, thank you, Cheol-woo."
The call ended, and the screen darkened.
Cheol-woo set down the smartphone and opened the management window again.
Under the [Temporary Outsider Entry Pass] menu, a blank field for entering the target’s name was blinking.
‘I can issue it after I meet him tomorrow and confirm everything properly.’
Preparations to welcome the first user were complete.
Cheol-woo moved toward the dungeon exit. Letting another person into this quiet abandoned mine, where he had been coming and going alone for so long, stirred a strange tension in him.
It was the first step toward fully controlling and utilizing his dungeon.
The safety devices were thorough, and the other party was trustworthy.
All that remained was to meet him in person tomorrow and confirm the system’s flawless operation with his own eyes.
Cheol-woo stepped out through the gate and stretched lightly. The musty smell of earth clinging to him from the abandoned mine scattered into the night air.
The next morning.
A quiet franchise café a few blocks away from the Association building.
When Cheol-woo opened the door and entered ten minutes before the appointed time, Park Jun-seok was already seated by the window. He was fiddling with the coffee cup on the table and staring blankly outside.
"You are here early."
Cheol-woo greeted him as he pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down. Park Jun-seok flinched in surprise and turned his head.
"Oh, you are here. Sit. I ordered coffee in advance."
On the table were two cups of Americano, still giving off steam. Cheol-woo took a sip of coffee and quickly looked over Jun-seok’s condition.
His face looked slightly gaunt, and his right leg was stretched out a little under the table. Even if it did not seem to interfere with daily life, it clearly looked difficult for him to keep up with the irregular movements of monsters.
"How is your leg? You do not have any trouble walking, right?"
"Ah, this? It is just a little stiff. I can run and roll, but when I try to give it force suddenly like before, I am always a beat late. That is why I am trying to bring my senses back."
Park Jun-seok answered awkwardly while rubbing his leg. Cheol-woo deliberately nodded.
"You remember all the conditions I told you yesterday, correct?"
"Of course. Do not ask about the source, accompany you, no solo action, and keep it secret. Right?"
"Yes. There is one more thing to add."
Cheol-woo took out the training notebook he had written in yesterday from his bag and placed it on the table.
"As a rule, all byproducts obtained from monsters hunted inside the gate belong to me. Since you are hunting for training purposes, I want to make that clear."
Park Jun-seok’s eyes widened.
"Hey, why are you saying something so obvious that seriously? I am already grateful that you are letting me use someone else’s hunting ground for free, so why would I covet anything that comes from there? I am barely in shape to gather a few mana stones anyway."
"Still, rules are rules. I worked as a porter for a long time, so I know this well. Once money gets involved, people can change in an instant."
At Cheol-woo’s calm words, Park Jun-seok silently nodded. He too had seen people draw blades over small change more than once in the hunter world. Rather, drawing a clear line from the beginning made both sides more comfortable.
"Understood. You take all the byproducts. I really only need to fight monsters and recover my sense for combat."
"Good. Then let us leave right away. It is about twenty minutes from here by car."
Cheol-woo drank the rest of his coffee in one gulp and stood up. Park Jun-seok hurriedly gathered his bag and followed behind him.
The two of them left the crowded downtown area near the Association and drove toward the outer roads.
As he held the steering wheel, Cheol-woo watched Park Jun-seok through the rearview mirror and quietly ran a simulation in his head.
He planned to issue the entry pass right in front of the gate. He would first let Jun-seok experience being repelled when someone without permission touched the gate, then naturally stage the process of granting permission and entering.
The bright scenery of the city gradually changed into old factory districts and low wooded hills. After driving for a while, the car finally stopped in an empty lot at the foot of a deserted mountain.
"We are here. Please get out."
Park Jun-seok opened the car door, stepped out, and looked around. Behind an overgrown abandoned warehouse site, nothing remained in the place where the official gate had once stood.
"Is this... not the site of that goblin abandoned mine that was decided to be closed before?"
Park Jun-seok narrowed his eyes as he recognized the location and asked.
"The location is correct. But now, it is a private training area outside Association management. As you know, I am not taking questions."
When Cheol-woo cut him off firmly, Park Jun-seok pressed his mouth shut.
After confirming that there was no one around, Cheol-woo lightly stirred the air with his fingertips. The air rippled, and a small blue gate appeared.
Park Jun-seok’s eyes widened, but as if remembering their agreement, he did not ask anything further.
"You go in first, hyung. If you can enter, good. If not, there is nothing I can do either."
At Cheol-woo’s instruction, Park Jun-seok approached the gate with a skeptical expression. The moment he reached out toward the rippling curtain.
Flash!
With a weak wave of mana, Park Jun-seok’s hand was repelled.
"Huh? What is this? It says entry denied."
The flustered Park Jun-seok tried to push his body in again, but the gate shoved him away like a solid wall. It was clear that in its current state, no one except Cheol-woo, the dungeon’s owner, could enter.
Cheol-woo swallowed a smile as he watched.
"Wait. I will try releasing the permission."
Cheol-woo fixed his gaze into the air behind Park Jun-seok’s back.
[Temporary Outsider Entry Pass]
-Target Designation: Park Jun-seok
-Entry Permission Time: 4 hours
-Area Restriction: Applicable
[Would you like to issue the entry pass?]
‘Issue.’
When Cheol-woo gave the command inwardly, a soft light flowed from the management window, scattered into small particles, and seeped into Park Jun-seok’s body. Of course, it was a sight invisible to Park Jun-seok, who was an ordinary hunter.
"Now, try entering again."
"Will it work? It repelled me earlier."
Park Jun-seok hesitantly brought his hand to the gate again. This time, as if it had been a lie, his fingertips slipped into the curtain.
"Huh? I can enter!"
The startled Park Jun-seok pushed his body forward, and his figure completely disappeared beyond the gate.
Only after confirming that he had entered safely did Cheol-woo slowly move.
When he passed through the curtain, the familiar musty smell of earth and the cool air inside the dungeon filled his lungs.
Park Jun-seok, who was standing blankly near the entrance, looked around and opened his mouth wide.
"Wow, I thought all the monsters here had been cleared out. Those things wandering over there are all goblins, right?"
At the end of his gaze, several goblins could be seen wandering through the darkness with red eyes flashing. It was a relaxed and quiet environment unimaginable in a public dungeon managed by the Association.
"I told you, did I not? It is the perfect environment for training."
Cheol-woo lightly tapped the sword at his waist and stepped forward.
"Now, let us go warm up. I will watch you properly from behind."
Park Jun-seok swallowed and adjusted the shield strapped to him. The sound of the two men’s footsteps began to echo through the quiet abandoned mine.