***
Kang Seon-hu walked straight toward Hong Eun-su, the YouTuber who was standing there awkwardly.
The moment Hong Eun-su saw his face, he remembered their encounter before entering the Otherworld.
'···That rookie bastard from earlier?'
It was definitely that shaggy-haired guy who'd been standing around looking clueless.
Judging by his backpack and clothing, he was clearly here to explore, but he hadn't seemed to have brought any of the equipment he actually needed.
Before Hong Eun-su could react—
THUD—!
'···?'
Even as the cloud of dust obscured his vision, Hong Eun-su couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
By the time he regained his senses, he was pinned against the ground, his cheek grinding into the dirt.
"···Urgh! W-what the hell? He's hitting me! This bastard is attacking me!"
Hong Eun-su struggled desperately, but he couldn't move so much as a finger.
'What kind of strength is this······?'
It felt as though an entire mountain was pressing down on him.
'What did I even do?'
'He doesn't know anything, so why is he doing this to me?'
He was convinced that Kang Seon-hu couldn't possibly know the circumstances behind what had happened.
That conviction only made his indignation and anger grow.
Scowling fiercely, he turned his head to glare at Kang Seon-hu.
"Do you even know who I work for? How dare you treat me like—"
And then their eyes met.
"Gasp······."
He couldn't say another word.
His anger vanished in an instant, and fear began filling the void it left behind.
Those simply couldn't be the eyes of a human being.
Without even realizing it, Hong Eun-su began protesting his innocence.
"W-why are you doing this to me?! What did I do wrong?! I'm a victim too! A-aaaaagh!"
CRACK—!
An excruciating, burning pain erupted from his shoulder.
It was pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced.
He didn't need to see the injury to know that his joint had been completely broken.
He looked up at Kang Seon-hu, his face a filthy mess of dirt and tears.
And when he saw that same incomprehensible expression, he realized something.
The man hadn't been listening to a single word he'd said.
From the very beginning, Kang Seon-hu hadn't regarded him as a human being.
To him, Hong Eun-su was merely an object.
Or perhaps something like a cow or a pig.
From that moment on, he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth.
He couldn't even scream recklessly anymore.
A scream was an act of announcing one's distress to the people around them and to the person threatening them.
If the other party didn't care, then screaming served absolutely no purpose.
At that moment, Kang Seon-hu's hand roughly plunged into his inner pocket.
He pulled something out and tossed it away without even examining it.
Plop.
The crushed fruit rolled across the ground and came to rest beside the mouth of the fallen Scaven Wolf leader.
And then—
"···Bark! Bark! GRAAAGH··· Bark!"
"Aaaaaagh!"
The wolf leader, which everyone had been certain was dead, suddenly began thrashing its entire body.
It was a postmortem spasm of an utterly incomprehensible magnitude.
And the squad leader was someone who had been trained to recognize that fruit.
"This is··· a fruit from the forest."
A fruit that secreted hormones capable of stimulating and attracting animals.
There was no possibility of it growing anywhere around here.
Moreover, there were clear signs that someone had deliberately crushed it.
And it had come from the YouTuber's pocket.
In that case?
The guards' gazes converged on Hong Eun-su, whose arms and legs began trembling uncontrollably.
***
"I'm sorry···."
Hong Eun-su offered no resistance.
He merely stood there awkwardly, his head hanging low.
The fruit had been scorched black with a flamethrower to neutralize its effects.
Holding the charred remains directly in front of Hong Eun-su's face, the guard squad leader began interrogating him.
"Why did you do something like this?"
"I···."
Hong Eun-su couldn't continue.
Kang Seon-hu, who had been watching from behind, finally spoke.
"He probably did it for a YouTube video."
"Pardon?"
The squad leader turned to look at him.
The inhuman, predatory gaze Kang Seon-hu had displayed earlier had disappeared.
In its place was the expression of someone detached from worldly affairs, someone who found the entire world a little tiresome.
"YouTubers make money from attracting attention, don't they? He started filming the moment we entered the Otherworld."
As the squad leader began to understand what had happened, anger filled his face.
"Are you telling me you did all this just to film one damned video······?"
"What are you talking about?! D-do you have any proof?!"
Hong Eun-su wasn't about to remain silent.
If that truth came to light, the severity of his crimes would escalate beyond anything he could control.
He had to prevent that at all costs.
"···?"
Kang Seon-hu was holding Hong Eun-su's camera.
The camera that had been recording everything.
"Evidence."
"When did you take that······?"
Hong Eun-su's lips began trembling.
***
What the hell is all this commotion the moment I arrive in the Otherworld?
The guard captain arrived belatedly, assessed the situation, and began dealing with the aftermath.
I'd thought my part in the incident was over at that point, but apparently that wasn't the case.
"If you don't mind, could you wait at the inn?"
"Pardon?"
"The guards will cover your travel expenses. If possible, we'd appreciate it if you could remain in the village for about an hour."
At the guard captain's request, I agreed to spend some time at the inn.
An hour wasn't much of an inconvenience, so I accepted without complaint.
The first floor of the inn was arranged like a cafeteria where customers could drink alcohol, eat meals, or enjoy tea.
As soon as I sat down, an employee approached.
"What would you like?"
"······."
The employee was dressed in medieval clothing.
And it wasn't merely some cheap cosplay.
The outfit looked like something genuinely worn during that era.
"···A cup of coffee, please."
"That'll be 20,000 won. Payment is made afterward, and we only accept cash, so please keep that in mind."
The base camp, which modern humans had constructed to deceive the inhabitants of the Otherworld, had apparently committed its entire village to the concept.
"Twenty thousand won for coffee? That's insane."
I ordered without complaint since the guards were paying for it, but the prices were beyond anything I'd imagined.
I could understand why, though.
It was probably the same reason a cup of instant noodles could cost ten thousand won at the top of a mountain.
I picked up my phone.
<Out of Coverage Area>
Perhaps it was only natural, but communication between the Otherworld and Earth was impossible.
Without the necessary infrastructure, it was inevitable that investigation and development would encounter difficulties.
While I sat there observing my surroundings, the guard captain entered.
"Good afternoon."
He offered his hand for a handshake before taking a seat across from me.
"What happened to that bastard?"
"We escorted him back through the dimensional gate and handed him over to the police. We're essentially a local militia responsible only for maintaining security here, so we don't have the authority to handle criminals ourselves."
His face, covered with sparse patches of facial hair, was thoroughly worn down by exhaustion.
He was relatively young for someone holding the position of captain, yet he looked considerably older than his actual age.
"Are there many people like him?"
"It happens quite often. South Korean law doesn't extend all the way here, you see. Until last year, there were even quite a few cases where prosecution was dropped because there were no legal grounds for punishment."
Sounds like a massive headache.
One look at the deep dark circles beneath his eyes was enough to understand how difficult his job must be.
Well, that answered all my questions about the YouTuber···.
"Why did you ask me to wait?"
"According to regulations, everyone involved in an incident must be questioned. But since it's really just a formality, we usually have a brief conversation and let them go. There was no need to drag you all the way to the guard post, which is why I asked you to wait at the inn."
"I see. Then could I ask you for a favor?"
"A favor? Of course. You helped us prevent a major disaster, after all. If it's something within my power."
"It's nothing much. I'd just like one of the fangs from the Scaven Wolf I killed earlier."
"Ah······."
A subtle smile appeared on the guard captain's face.
"Those are worth quite a bit, aren't they? I know something about that myself. Normally, we're supposed to collect them and put them through the disposal procedure, but I have the authority to handle minor matters like this. I'll arrange for you to receive three or four."
Uh, that wasn't what I had in mind···.
"Thanks to you, we resolved the situation without any further problems. I think this is the least we should do."
There was no particular reason to refuse something he was offering, so I simply nodded.
The branch from an Otherworld tree that I'd brought with me in the first place.
The small pieces of red fruit I'd collected a little earlier.
And a Scaven Wolf's fang.
That makes three different samples, doesn't it?
There was no longer any need to travel all the way to the Bermuda Forest.
I spent some time chatting with the guard captain about various things.
Eventually, I decided to remain in the village for a while and return that evening.
I had no further reason to stay in the Otherworld, but I didn't feel any particular need to head back immediately either.
Looking around, I could see people moving about busily.
Some were eating a quick meal with enormous piles of luggage beside them.
At another table, several people were already thoroughly drunk in broad daylight, their faces flushed red as they talked among themselves.
"······."
"It's a little strange, isn't it? Getting completely drunk in the middle of the day."
"It's not something you see very often."
"We sell soju and beer too, but alcohol made exclusively in the Otherworld is considered a local specialty. Quite a few heavy drinkers come all the way here just to try it."
"A local specialty?"
"There's a fruit called Hay Fruit. It grows in the nearby wasteland and looks something like a desert strawberry. They make liquor from it··· and apparently, it's incredibly strong."
'I personally can't understand coming all the way here just to drink that stuff.'
He shook his head as he said it.
I turned my attention back to the people around us.
Before entering the Otherworld, I'd been a little worried that returning might stir up some trauma.
But the place was so full of human activity that those feelings hadn't surfaced at all.
If anything, I found the atmosphere strangely comforting.
"I'm surprised there are so many people here."
"Is this your first time in the Otherworld?"
"It's my first time in this village."
The guard captain thought about my response for a moment before arriving at his own conclusion.
'He must have been living abroad.'
"Plenty of people come here for leisure, but there are also many who come for work. I feel sorry for those people."
"Sorry for them?"
"There are plenty who come here of their own free will, like Pathfinders and Hounds. But most are employees of companies operating in the Otherworld. Essentially, they're being dispatched to a remote posting."
"A remote posting, huh."
Having already heard about Cha So-hee's circumstances, I had a fairly good idea of what he meant.
Just then, I heard an argument coming from the tavern counter.
"What do you mean he hasn't come back for three days?"
A woman was confronting the employee behind the counter, looking thoroughly distressed.
The employee seemed equally flustered.
"He was definitely supposed to return last week! And you're telling me he still isn't here today?"
"I-I'm sorry, but there's really nothing I can do about that."
The inn's counter employee looked just as troubled by the situation.
The guard captain watched the exchange with a sorrowful expression.
"···Another Hound has gone missing."
"Missing? A Hound?"
"Simply put, Hounds are independent explorers who track down items from the Otherworld. This one went to the Western Barrier to supply some Aria poisonous herbs··· He set out expecting to make a day trip, but no one's heard from him for three days."
He shook his head.
"It's an unfortunate situation. Even the government barely gets involved when someone dies in the Otherworld. After all, they chose to take the risk themselves······."
"······."
"People's lives are at stake, yet somehow the atmosphere surrounding these incidents has become so casual. Personally, I can't understand it. Why does the country, and why do people themselves, treat human lives so carelessly···?"
I fell into thought.
I hadn't heard much about the situation, but···.
There were enough clues to make a few deductions.
"West is that way from here, right?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes. That's correct."
"From what I can see, that's wasteland territory. If you're talking about Aria poisonous herbs··· you mean that grass that grows in the wasteland? There are symbiotic ants living around it, and there's a chance that lizards that feed primarily on those ants are roaming nearby."
"Pardon?"
"You said he's been missing for three days?"
"Ah, yes."
"If possible, get an iron rod right now and head into the western wasteland. Go to wherever those Aria poisonous herbs grow."
"······."
The sorrowful expression on the guard captain's face suddenly turned serious.
It seemed he'd remembered what I'd demonstrated earlier.
"Search the higher ground around that area carefully. You should find a place where several pits are clustered together. Poke the rod into them and check."
"If we do that··· will we find something?"
"There should be a spot where the rod sinks straight in. Dig there, and you should be able to find the missing man. If it's only been three days, it probably isn't too late."
"······."
"Whatever you do, don't go alone. Take at least five people with you. And take these."
I handed the guard captain the firecrackers I had left over.
"No matter how ferocious the animals of the Otherworld are, most of them value their own lives above everything else. If they sense an unfamiliar threat, they won't charge in recklessly. Set these off if you need to defend yourselves."
The guard captain stared at me for a moment.
Then, as though he'd finished weighing his options, he abruptly rose from his seat.
"Please excuse me for a moment."
***
Quite a lot seemed to have happened while I was leisurely wandering around the village.
True to their name, the guards' jurisdiction extended only as far as the inside of the village fences.
That meant they needed to obtain numerous permissions and submit reports before setting out.
And that evening, a person covered in dirt was carried back on a stretcher.
"Seok-hyeon!"
Judging by the way the woman who'd been arguing at the counter earlier ran toward him, sobbing uncontrollably, he must have been the missing man.
The guard captain approached me.
He looked incredibly happy, yet his expression was also strangely complicated.
"Looks like everything worked out."
"Yes···. Really, truly, we did exactly what you told us, and we were able to find him without much difficulty."
He looked directly at my face.
Ironically, there was a sense of awe mixed into that complicated expression.
"···Who exactly are you?"
"Pardon?"
"At first, I thought you were a Hound."
"A Hound?"
"That's what I assumed after watching you subdue those Scaven Wolves. I didn't know our country had a Hound of that caliber, but··· I couldn't think of any other explanation."
Apparently, Hounds were at least regarded as skilled individuals in the Otherworld.
··Though from my perspective, I couldn't understand how people like that had failed to prepare for the man-eating lizards living around those poisonous herbs.
"But Hounds are people who won't lift a finger unless there's money to be made. They wouldn't even open their mouths just to save someone's life."
I was beginning to understand why they'd been given a name with such negative connotations.
So, if Pathfinders were guides who operated in the Otherworld, Hounds were essentially mercenaries who operated there.
"Besides, I've never even heard of a Hound capable of making deductions like yours from hearing about a single situation."
Feeling somewhat awkward, I merely nodded a few times.
There wasn't much I could say.
I certainly didn't want to launch into some long-winded explanation about how 'I was actually stranded in the Otherworld and only recently managed to return~.'
I had no desire to attract public attention.
"Um, excuse me. Are you the Hound who gave them that advice?"
The woman from earlier approached me.
I nodded.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
She repeatedly bowed at the waist, expressing her gratitude over and over.
And all I'd done was mutter a few sentences, almost as though I were talking to myself.
In truth, ever since I'd entered the Otherworld, ever since I'd seen so many people risking their lives to embark on expeditions, a certain thought had been circling through my mind.
Ever since the gates leading to the Otherworld had opened, the world seemed to have become a place overflowing with new opportunities.
But opportunities always came burdened with risks and dangers even greater than themselves.
There were jobs that absolutely had to be done by someone.
Jobs so grueling that assigning them to employees had practically become a popular tactic for encouraging resignations.
Yet from my perspective, most of those jobs were remarkably easy and straightforward.
If something absolutely needed to be done, and other people found it difficult while I found it easy···.
Then that meant it was a way to earn money without much difficulty.