“The Gate where this cohort's Tutorial will take place, Pumpkin Forest, has an Overall Assessment of C-Rank.”
Once I returned to my seat, Hong Si-yu began her full explanation.
“In the past, before strategies for each Demon Beast had been established, Ironblood Guild won the Gate at auction for mining purposes. However, after its raid team was annihilated, the Gate was transferred to the Gate Management Ministry.”
The Awakened murmured with every word she spoke.
“A-annihilated?”
“Overall Assessment C-Rank? We are Hunters who are only just debuting. How are we supposed to clear that?”
“Ironblood is a top-five Guild. What are we supposed to do in a place where Ironblood's raid team was wiped out?”
Lee Hae-il looked dispirited too.
“Maybe they are opening a free soup kitchen for Demon Beasts?”
“How do you even think of something like that?”
Her deflated voice made me laugh despite myself.
“Focus.”
As though she meant to pour oil onto the Awakened's unrest, Hong Si-yu played a video.
Combat footage from Ironblood Guild began playing on the screen at the front.
[Recording]
‘Go!’
‘Push them back!’
‘Ironblood! Ironblood! Ironblood!’
True to its name, Ironblood Guild's Hunters were armed with enormous quantities of heavy equipment.
They wore thick exoskeleton armor like something from a science-fiction movie and carried M134 miniguns and K6 heavy machine guns weighing dozens of kilograms as though they were light.
RATATATATATAT!
The firepower pouring from those muzzles at around a thousand rounds per minute looked powerful enough to mow down hundreds of Demon Beasts in mere seconds.
‘Those are Orcs!’
‘Fire!’
‘I-it will not fire!’
‘Aaargh!’
‘Jack-o'-Lanterns!’
That grand martial force collapsed in less than ten minutes.
Whenever the muzzles spat fire, the Jack-o'-Lanterns filling Pumpkin Forest flared to life.
Once their thermal and kinetic energy had been stolen, bullets that should have pierced concrete walls could not even fly several dozen meters before dropping to the ground.
‘Screee! Screee!’
‘More are coming!’
‘It is the gunshots! The gunshots are bringing them in!’
Orcs and Goblins, having heard the gunfire, came swarming in like packs of dogs.
‘Rally up!’
Ironblood's Hunters gathered back-to-back, fixed bayonets to their guns, and drew cold weapons.
‘Jack-o'-Lantern?’
The Jack-o'-Lanterns approached the gathered Hunters.
Their pumpkin-like mouths opened wide.
‘Pumpkin Scattershot……!’
BOOOOM!
Red-burning fragments swept through them like claymore shrapnel.
It was the Jack-o'-Lanterns releasing the thermal energy they had charged.
The tightly grouped Ironblood Hunters were all thrown to the floor.
Goblins holding daggers rushed toward the bodies of the fallen Ironblood Hunters.
The video ended there.
“…….”
The Awakened did not murmur.
They merely curled up and trembled like frightened mice.
Lee Hae-il, seated beside me, looked at me anxiously.
“H-Hyung. This is not a free soup kitchen. It is a house-call service, a catered buffet. We are all going to die smelling Orc breath.”
I did not think so.
“Probably not.”
“No, you saw it just now! Even powerful Awakened who fired miniguns one-handed were wiped out! Hyung might survive somehow, but we will really die.”
I looked at the wavering eyes of my disciple, who had been diligent and passionate for only two weeks, and quietly spoke.
“They might have survived if they had not fired the miniguns.”
“Pardon?”
“Do you not understand?”
Just as I was about to explain, Hong Si-yu continued.
“As you saw, Pumpkin Forest is a forest filled with Jack-o'-Lanterns. You would be wise to use the issued firearms only in a limited fashion.”
It was what I had been about to say.
“The Orcs and Goblins of Pumpkin Forest travel in groups of around a dozen. If you can swiftly eliminate a group of only a dozen with the cold weapons you have trained with so far, you can move on without further combat.”
From what I could see, the moment someone fired even one shot in that forest, they fell into a nightmarish cycle.
The Jack-o'-Lanterns that absorbed thermal energy awakened, and the Orcs and Goblins that heard the gunfire gathered in greater numbers.
From then on, it would become difficult without firearm power, but they could not fire guns because of the Jack-o'-Lanterns.
If they scattered to fight, the Orcs and Goblins would pick them off one by one. If they gathered together, Pumpkin Scattershot would sweep them away.
If there was one way to clear a place like this, it was to quickly eliminate groups while they were still only around a dozen, then keep moving.
“Of course, we will not ask you to clear it.”
Just as I reached that conclusion, Hong Si-yu changed the slide.
“Pumpkin Forest is managed in five zones. The closer you are to the center of the zones, the stronger the Demon Beasts. The closer you are to the edges, the weaker they are.”
A map appeared: three overlapping circles divided in four directions by a cross.
“You will enter Zone One, where the Gate is located, then pass through Zone Two or Zone Four and advance to Zone Three directly opposite.”
Everyone focused on the map.
“If you collect a Jack-o'-Lantern sapling that exists only in Zone Three and bring it back, you pass the Tutorial.”
Hong Si-yu pointed to the overlapping circles that formed rings.
“In every zone, the green outermost area has fewer Demon Beasts. However, it will take longer because you have to go around. By the time you return, other trainees who risked danger may have already uprooted every Jack-o'-Lantern sapling.”
The outer ring was green.
“The central area should be manageable even if there is some fighting. Ironblood failed in the past due to a lack of information, but I believe you can succeed.”
The middle ring was yellow.
“I recommend that you do not enter Zone Five, the central area. If you enter there, we cannot guarantee your safety regardless of your grades.”
The circle in the middle was red.
A low-resolution photograph appeared with it: an enormous pumpkin and a dragon crouched before it.
“What is that?”
“A boss. A Field Boss and a Gate Boss. If we break that pumpkin, the Gate will probably be cleared.”
“Anyway, I am never going there.”
Quiet voices flowed out from all around.
“Direct combat between trainees is strictly forbidden. Instructors wearing Concealment Fields will watch you from everywhere, and sensors will be attached to your firearms. If your muzzle is aimed at another trainee, it will automatically lock.”
After finishing her explanation, Hong Si-yu accepted questions.
“All right. After a question-and-answer session, we will equip ourselves and depart. Does anyone have questions?”
Countless hands rose.
“The trainee in front?”
“Can we move alone or as a group?”
“It does not matter. You may move alone, or all one thousand of you may move together. However, regardless of how many people you move with, you will not be particularly advantaged or disadvantaged. Next.”
“How many magazines can we receive?”
“You may take as many as you can carry. However, keep weight management in mind.”
“If we are attacked by Demon Beasts, the instructors will help us, correct?”
Someone among them asked that question.
“No.”
Hong Si-yu shook her head as though she had been waiting for it.
Her short red hair swayed cheerfully, as though representing her excitement.
“What?”
“Y-you will not help us?”
“Does this make any sense? That means we could really die?!”
“Insane!”
This time, murmurs truly spread.
“Fuck. We are fucked.”
Lee Hae-il's face turned pale.
I was not surprised.
“If you are the sort of person who would die here, you will not get into a major corporation or public institution. If you are the sort of person who would die despite having this information, you will die soon after entering any Guild.”
Hong Si-yu laughed refreshingly, as though she had wanted to say this for a long time.
I knew she would be like that.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean!”
“You want us all to die?!”
“Call a lawyer! This is a human-rights violation!”
Curses erupted everywhere, but she did not furrow her brow even once.
“Can a country really be like this?!”
Someone shouted with indignation.
“Yes. It can be.”
Hong Si-yu answered far too calmly.
“Right now, this country needs Hunters. So if you become a Hunter, you can obtain wealth. You can obtain honor. Even if you commit crimes, you do not go to prison.”
The tattooed pig thugs lowered their eyes all at once, as though remembering the flames from the first day.
“So stake your lives on becoming Hunters.”
I thought I understood what Hong Si-yu felt as she spoke those words.
It was the demand of someone who had gained wealth and honor at the risk of her life.
Lee Hae-il let out a breath full of tension.
“This is hardcore.”
I breathed in, full of excitement.
“And it is good.”
“Pardon?!”
“It is good, is it not?”
“Hyung really is an eccentric.”
Challenges were enjoyable by nature.
Especially when someone who had already completed that challenge stood before you. And even more so when the tool you loved most was used in that challenge.
“If you want exceptional results, you have no choice but to live exceptionally.”
I rolled the Status Window Ring on my hand.
+
[Name: (Temporary User)]
[Awakened Ability: Physical Enhancement]
[Unique Skill: Lunge, Retreat, Advance, Balestra, Parry Sixte Riposte, Flèche……]
+
Honestly.
I was confident.
***
The Awakened from model-inmate backgrounds boarded dozens of large forty-five-seat buses and traveled to Pumpkin Forest.
We were armed with sensor-equipped MP5 submachine guns, tactical black combat uniforms, and our own cold weapons.
Swish.
Jeong Jae-ha pulled back the curtain and looked outside.
[Proceed with Seoul Recapture! Preserve Capital Region Assets!]
[Murim Guild Is Hiring Porters.]
[A World Where You Can Become a Hunter Too, Samjeong Psionic 2.0]
[Compensate Disabled Veterans!]
His expression took on color.
‘Those will be words he is seeing for the first time.’
Colorful banners and electronic signs were filled with phrases unfamiliar to him.
On one side of the street were homeless people, while on the other, people wearing headbands were protesting.
Across from them, smartly dressed men and women laughed as they enjoyed dates, while an advertisement featuring an unknown Ranker flashed on a huge screen.
It was an ordinary South Korea of the Hunter era.
Meanwhile, Hong Si-yu went ahead to the situation room near the Gate and watched the trainees.
Footage transmitted from Ji In-hwi's tiny observation Golems filled an eight-panel screen.
Creeeak.
The situation room door opened, and a group entered.
“You came early?”
“You are here?”
“Thanks for last time. We saved five people this time.”
“Five? All of ours died.”
“Did you not take more than ten people? Do not burn through them so carelessly. Even if they are fucking awful, they are all resources.”
Most of them wore stylish suits, though some wore military or police uniforms.
Regardless of their actual ages, they all appeared to be in their mid-twenties. Soft mana light flowed from their vividly colored hair and eyes.
Overflowing vitality had returned their biological clocks to the peak of the human body, while overflowing mana had changed the colors of their hair and pupils.
In other words, they were South Korea's Hunters.
“When does it staaart?”
“There must be a law somewhere saying that a huge man in his thirties wearing a military uniform cannot speak like that.”
“If you find any decent rookies, tip us off, meow. Lots and lots and lots!”
“Meow my ass. Someone give that magical girl some catnip.”
Hong Si-yu, Section Chief of the Awakened Association's Special Cooperation Bureau Policy Coordination Division, casually welcomed scouts from Guilds, the government, and major corporations.
Most of them were comrades who had survived fierce struggles in isolated Seoul during the early days of the Gate Opening Incident.
“I will say it in advance: we are passing. We will not take any rookies this time. So do not worry about us and take them freely.”
“Why?”
“The last cohort was too low-level. Does it make sense for a Hunter to abandon their comrades and run away? The few usable ones all went to major corporations.”
“…….”
“The report on Rehabilitation Hunters even reached our chairman. He said Si-yu lost all her sense after leaving the Guild. He said she was sending out people who would have been burned to death in the past as rookie Hunters.”
That was why, even when a scout from her former workplace, Saetbyeol Guild, criticized her, she did not breathe fire.
“Anyway, Saetbyeol will not take anyone unless they are skilled enough to truly shake the chairman's heart.”
Honestly.
This time, it was a little funny.
“Do whatever you want. But.”
“But?”
“Whether you take him or not will not be up to you.”