“Get off! Get off! Get off!”
We got off the buses in a site enclosed by construction-style barricades.
“Trainees who are ready, proceed inside!”
Before us stood an oval Gate, as if space itself had been violently torn open.
[Pumpkin Forest (C-Rank)]
The Status Window Ring vibrated faintly like a smartphone before projecting a hologram into my vision.
“It’s... it’s a real Gate.”
“What if we die the moment we enter?”
“Anyone want to move with us?”
The Awakened eyed one another warily.
I looked at the Gate, stroking the hilt of my estoc.
“At last.”
There were real Orcs, Goblins, and Jack-o'-Lanterns inside.
My heart pounded uncontrollably, with a sliver of fear and excitement filling everything else.
As an athlete, I had taken pride in fencing as a sport while wielding a blade.
But there was still a competitive urge inside me—a desire to wield my strength to my heart’s content—that I had not been able to fully vent, even against Kim Kang-o.
“Trainee Number 213, Jeong Jae-ha, entering.”
I drew my estoc and walked toward the Gate.
“I-I’m going in too, sir! Please let me go with you!”
Just then, Lee Hae-il hurried after me and came to my side.
“You want to come with me?”
I looked down at her curly bangs.
I recalled what she had shown over the past two weeks.
“...”
There were many secrets about her I did not know, but Lee Hae-il was a diligent and passionate swordswoman.
“Then put the safety on that gun and sling it behind your back. Draw your sabre.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll watch ahead, so keep an eye on our flanks.”
“But, sir, can’t we use our guns until a Jack-o'-Lantern appears?”
“Want to go separately?”
“Should I just throw the gun away?”
If she wanted to share both my danger and my glory, she was qualified to accompany me.
“Fencer Jeong is going in.”
“Should we go too?”
“Hey, damn it. Let’s go now. We have to go eventually, and we’re better off next to Fencer Jeong.”
The other trainees came rushing after us as well.
“I will not refuse anyone who joins us. But there is one condition. Until I give the word, none of you are to so much as touch your guns.”
I accepted them all, making only that point clear.
I enjoyed swords. I did not enjoy danger.
Being surrounded by dozens of Orcs and Goblins was something I would rather avoid.
“Let’s go.”
I stepped into the Gate.
My vision darkened, and the Status Window Ring vibrated.
[Pumpkin Forest (C-Rank)]
[This Gate has been registered. Loading minimap data.]
[Tutorial Quest: Secure a ‘Jack-o'-Lantern Sapling.’]
[Quest Notification: Move to Zone 3.]
A stream of holograms appeared along one side of my vision.
“A lot of things are popping up.”
“A minimap? Oh! There’s a map!”
The Awakened turned their heads this way and that as they read the holographic messages.
[Minimap]
I, too, looked at the square window hovering in the upper-right corner of my vision.
It was the map Hong Si-yu had shown us earlier.
The cross-shaped map was divided into green, yellow, and red zones, with my position marked by a blue indicator.
Just as I finished taking in our location—
“Wow!”
—we found ourselves standing inside Pumpkin Forest.
A cool forest filled with dim mist.
According to the map, we were in the green zone on the outermost edge of Zone 1.
“Ooh!”
“It’s a real Gate.”
“This is incredible.”
“Let’s hurry! If we’re too late, the saplings might all be taken!”
“We’re not going to run into a pack of Orc bastards, are we?”
Groups of Awakened poured in behind us as well.
With guns and blades in hand, they headed toward the yellow zone, their eyes gleaming with fear and vigilance.
“Let me say this once more.”
I moved immediately as well.
Seeing that every Awakened had their gun out, I did not think there was any benefit to lingering near the entrance.
“Do not touch your firearms unless I permit it.”
***
Hong Si-yu had expected roughly thirty percent of the model-prisoner Awakened to die in this Tutorial.
‘Gangsters, of all people.’
People often assumed criminals would make excellent fighters in wartime, but history had proven that penal units had abysmal effectiveness.
‘I never liked this program in the first place. No matter how desperately Hunters are needed, giving Awakening Drugs to people like them is a waste. Unless it’s someone like Fencer Jeong. Who the hell drafted this policy?’
The people who fought well were ordinary people who trained diligently and cooperated with their comrades, not thugs who did whatever they pleased.
RATATATAT!
[AAAAARGH!]
[AAAGH!]
[Mom!]
And now, ten minutes after the Tutorial had begun—
“Tsk.”
Hong Si-yu felt the need to revise her estimate.
‘Not thirty percent. Half of them are going to die.’
Despite having been shown footage of Ironblood Guild’s failed raid, the trainees were repeating the same mistake.
[Brother Yeong-min!]
[Run! Run, you bastards!]
Trainee Number 125, Ju Yeong-min, appeared on the monitor.
He was an Awakened who had served in the Marines, only to receive a dishonorable discharge for barracks violence before going to prison for violence again at a hometown association gathering.
[Fuuck!]
Separate from his violent nature, he had been considered a promising prospect due to his proficiency with both a great blade and firearms.
Yet he was now fleeing wildly from a pack of Goblins and Orcs.
He had charged in boldly and cut down over a dozen Goblins like a storm, but he had been pushed back by the Orcs.
RATATATAT!
In the end, he fired his gun to bring down an Orc, awakening the Jack-o'-Lanterns.
[More are coming! Four Orcs! And the Goblins... there are too many to count!]
[This won’t work. Su-ho!]
[Yes?]
[You hold them off!]
[Agh!]
Then Ju Yeong-min swung his great blade into the ankle of the teammate running alongside him, sending him crashing to the ground.
“Wow. That bastard is completely unusable.”
“Should we toss him into an underground mine or something?”
“I’ve decided. We won’t use him on raid teams for now.”
The scouts clicked their tongues.
“What did I tell you? They’re weak and cowardly.”
Su Seong-min, the scout from Saetbyeol, smiled casually and shrugged.
“Lee Chae-yoon, Jeong Ho-min, Yang Hyeok. What does it matter if they got a little farther? They’re all the same bastards. If they did that outside a Gate, it would be a crime in itself.”
She took the mouse from Hong Si-yu’s hand and began pulling up other screens on the sixteen-way monitor.
“How are we supposed to bring people like that in? No matter how short-handed we are, there has to be a minimum cutoff.”
The other scouts looked back and forth between Su Seong-min and Hong Si-yu.
“Give us some incentives.”
Su Seong-min grinned.
“Extend their unpaid service—their internship period—and grant us the right to deploy them to overseas Gates. Let us send them into Closure-designated Black Gates too.”
Hong Si-yu was certain Su Seong-min had wanted this from the beginning.
‘That part doesn’t matter to me.’
What did it matter what happened to those criminal bastards?
‘It’s not like I came here because I wanted to.’
But the feeling of being led around by Su Seong-min was thoroughly unpleasant.
“They’re all weak and cowardly?”
“You’re not going to deny it, are you?”
“Watch until the end before you start talking.”
Hong Si-yu took the mouse back from Su Seong-min.
Then she enlarged the monitor showing Jeong Jae-ha.
***
We continued moving without stopping.
[Entering the yellow zone of Zone 1.]
Hong Si-yu had said that the Demon Beasts in Pumpkin Forest traveled in groups of a dozen or so.
As long as we dealt with each group before another could join them, then kept moving, we could clear the Gate safely.
About ten minutes after we began walking—
“Sir! They’re coming!”
Lee Hae-il pointed to the side.
“Wooooo!”
Demon Beasts appeared from our flank.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
A giant well over two meters tall charged at us as fast as a fencer’s flèche.
[Orc (E-Rank)]
The Status Window hologram displayed its classification and rank.
The Demon Beast’s appearance possessed a viciousness that words alone could not convey.
Its gray-green forearms were as thick as a bodybuilder’s torso, its pig-like mouth reeked like food waste, and it wielded a horse-slaying sword with an unnaturally sharp edge.
“Kiiik! Kiik!”
[Goblin (F-Rank)]
Dozens of Goblins followed behind the Orcs, each the size of an elementary-school child, with long ears, pointed noses, and daggers in their hands.
Orcs and Goblins, two closely related species, were collectively known as Greenskins.
Along with Jack-o'-Lanterns, they were among the most common Demon Beasts.
I had killed recreated specimens made by Hunter Ji In-hwi’s Golems dozens of times, but this was my first time facing the real thing.
Would I be able to have a good time?
Anticipation swelled inside me like flame.
“Everyone, stay calm! Take your hands off your guns!”
I turned, leveling my estoc.
“I’ll handle the Orcs, so-”
I intended to kill the Orcs and leave the Goblins to the other Awakened.
“Orcs!”
“AAAAAGH!”
“Fuck! Die!”
RATATATAT!
But before I could say another word, the Awakened on the flank pulled their triggers.
“Let’s reduce their numbers first! Fencer Jeong, you should fire too, at least until the guns stop working!”
Jang Yeong-jun, one of the men who used to follow Kim Kang-o around, shouted for me to fire as well.
“What?”
I wondered whether there was something wrong with my eyes or with their heads.
Had I somehow failed to say anything to them?
I was fairly sure I had told them not to fire their guns at least two or three times.
“Did you watch that footage of a failed raid by firing your guns through your damn nostrils?!”
But nothing changed before my eyes.
RATAT! RATAT!
The MP5 submachine guns spat fire.
Over a dozen Goblins tumbled to the ground.
The Orcs, too, let out howls as they covered their faces with both arms.
Relief spread across the face of the Awakened who had once been a gang executive.
“Huh?”
That relief did not last even a second.
CLICK, CLICK!
The submachine guns that had been spitting fire fell silent with the sound of jammed rounds.
Even bullets fired from the other guns failed to travel more than a dozen meters before dropping like BB pellets.
“What?”
“Why won’t it fire?”
“Did it break?”
WHOOSH!
Orange flames burned in the eyes, nose, and mouth of a Jack-o'-Lantern clinging to a tree in the distance.
[“Heh, hahahahaha!”]
With that dreadful laughter, the flickering flames rapidly grew in intensity.
WHOOOOOSH!
At last, the fully awakened Jack-o'-Lantern descended as if tearing itself free from the thorn tree.
Countless thorny vine tentacles dangled beneath it, then tangled together to form four arms and two legs as it rose.
“Ah....”
The gang-affiliated Awakened’s face went pale.
We had been taught this over and over.
Jack-o'-Lanterns could absorb the heat generated by firearms.
No one could fire a gun in this area now.
“Grrrr!”
An Orc raised its horse-slaying sword and charged.
“Fuck!”
The gangster tried to block with the gun in his hands, but the Orc’s blade snapped the weapon like a reed before coming down on his head.
“Huh?”
THUNK!
His head split like firewood, and he was cleaved from the crown of his head to his groin.
Something bright red and wet mixed with something stark white and dry as it streamed down.
“AAAAAGH!”
“W-what?!”
“Fuck! Brother Jin-woo!”
Only seconds had passed since the Orcs had appeared.
The Awakened fell into panic and stumbled about in confusion.
Several of them threw away both their guns and swords and fled the way they had come.
Before I could even get angry at the men who had worsened the situation, I too was shocked and tense.
Athlete or whatever, there were not many chances to watch someone get split in half.
“Move aside.”
Still, I straightened my shoulders.
I pushed through the confused Awakened and stepped before the Orc.
I had been a professional because I could step onto the piste and smile even when I was shocked, tense, and afraid. And I was a Hunter because I had learned that showing my back to a Demon Beast was even more dangerous.
“Sir! Are you out of your mind?!”
Lee Hae-il called out to me in a voice full of concern and tried to grab my arm.
“Just watch carefully. I taught you this too.”
“Sir! Fuck, no. Please—”
“Showing your back is more dangerous.”
I easily slipped free.
“Grrrr!”
The Orc warrior turned its head toward me.
The savage killing intent in its eyes made my heart tighten.
Thump, thump!
I remembered the moment I entered my first competition.
“Good!”
I laughed to ease my tension.
“Come at me.”
The Orc warrior took a step toward me with its bloodstained horse-slaying sword raised.
I took a step toward it as well, leveling my estoc.
Given the situation, we skipped both the greeting and the salute.
There was no referee, and no question of whether we were ready.
“Get out of there!”
“I-I’m giving up!”
But between the shoulders of those fleeing toward me, I saw a path.
A path two meters wide and fourteen meters long.
The piste.
A massive challenger stood at the other end, but beyond it awaited brilliant victory and noble glory.
“Graaah!”
The challenger rushed in with footsteps that seemed to shake the ground.
It raised its horse-slaying sword as though it meant to split me diagonally in two.
I could feel the challenger’s strength in the rope-like muscles and tendons bulging beneath its skin.
But only a movement refined enough to overcome strength could be called technique.
“Parry Neuvième Riposte.”
The ninth defensive position, blocking the shoulder and neck before counterattacking.
Filled with anticipation at whether my technique would work against a real monster, I swung my estoc.
[Temporary User Jeong Jae-ha’s Unique Skill]
[Parry Neuvième Riposte]
A holographic string of text appeared at the edge of my vision.
SHIIIIING!
Just as when I had performed Lunge earlier, one or two repetitions out of a hundred or a thousand would sometimes carry perfect timing.
That timing enveloped my body now.
SKRRRRAAAPE!
I deflected the descending horse-slaying sword diagonally.
Sparks flew along my estoc.
The resilient steel bent as if it would snap, yet did not break.
I guided the horse-slaying sword past my shoulder, then drove my estoc toward the Orc warrior’s neck.
THUNK!