Jeong Woo-yeon of the Myth Guild looked at his watch.
“Five hours…….”
That was how long it had been since the Special Division’s strange rookie entered the Gate.
An A-rank or higher Gate.
Under normal circumstances—
“…….”
The probability of the Special Division rookie and the Yuseong twins returning alive from that place was practically zero.
No matter how much the Special Division’s A-rank Hunters possessed strength beyond ordinary A-rank standards, there were clear limits to what a single Hunter could do.
Especially in a rescue operation like this one.
‘Combat might be one thing, but tracking, stealth….’
Clearing a Gate required more than one or two specialized skills.
There was a reason even low-rank Gates were normally cleared by teams of three or four.
‘These people are insane.’
The expressions of the Korea Hunter Association’s Special Division seemed to prove Jeong Woo-yeon’s conclusion.
Their faces were steeped in anxiety and stained with impatience.
There was one thing he could not understand, however.
While the Special Division rookie was inside the Gate, those remaining outside had investigated how only that rookie had been able to enter.
‘What the hell do they mean when they say the Gate seemed afraid?’
It was unbelievable enough that an Anomalous Gate could have an exception to its entry conditions.
But now the investigation had somehow concluded that the Gate appeared to have become frightened and opened a path for him.
They had all clearly lost their minds.
“How much longer until the entry conditions are lifted?”
Jeong Woo-yeon asked the Hunters investigating the Gate.
“Thirty minutes!”
The entry restriction that had originally required thirty-six hours had been shortened dramatically.
It was all thanks to Yuseong’s enormous financial power.
They were pouring Mana Stones into the Gate to forcibly lower its Anomaly Concentration.
It was something unimaginable under ordinary circumstances, but Yuseong had simply crushed the problem with money.
“That quickly?”
Even so, reducing thirty-six hours to five and a half was far beyond common sense.
When Jeong Woo-yeon asked in disbelief, the investigator answered with an equally bewildered expression.
“…Ever since that Special Division Hunter entered, the Gate’s mana level has been collapsing.”
“……!”
“Thanks to that, we should be able to enter even sooner.”
‘What the hell is that man?’
Jeong Woo-yeon felt a slight curiosity toward the Special Division rookie, but soon shook his head.
‘Well, I suppose it does not matter. He is probably dead by now anyway…….’
What a shame.
A Special Division Hunter had to be an extraordinary talent, yet he was going to die like this.
While Jeong Woo-yeon was lost in his own thoughts—
“…Ji-woong.”
“Yes, Director.”
“That would not happen, right?”
The Special Division Hunters were speaking quietly while hiding their unease.
“…There is no way.”
They knew Kim Si-hyeon could not handle mana.
But that did not mean he was not a Hunter.
The reaction he had shown during the test.
That overwhelming Killing Intent.
Which meant what they were worried about now was not whether Kim Si-hyeon was alive.
“He would not… kill the kids or anything, right?”
“…….”
What they were worried about was whether the Slaughterer, Kim Si-hyeon, would bring the twins back ‘safely.’
“An arm or a leg can probably be restored with an Elixir, right?”
“So you think he might cut off an arm or a leg and bring them back?”
“Should we have done a personality assessment…?”
“We should. He is an Association Hunter. Actually, do they not have to do that during Hunter registration anyway?”
“…Right?”
“When Hunter Kim Si-hyeon comes back, you should ask him, Director. Tell him we need to do a personality assessment.”
Park Min-ho gave Choi Ji-woong a quiet sidelong glance.
“You could beat me to death and I still could not do it.”
“…Let us not do it.”
That was when it happened.
“……! That!”
Choi Tae-woo, who had been chain-smoking anxiously, pointed at the Gate and shouted.
“Is that not a clear reaction?!”
The Gate was rippling unstably.
“It really is……!”
“H-how……?!”
Everyone ran toward the Gate in shock.
The Hunters attached to the Gate, who had been working to remove the entry conditions, confirmed it.
“It is a clear! The Boss Monster of the A-rank or higher Gate has been confirmed eliminated! The Gate has been cleared!”
The announcement rang out.
“Crazy…!”
“Crazy!!”
Jeong Woo-yeon and Park Min-ho cursed almost simultaneously.
“Wait. Not an escape… a clear?”
Jeong Woo-yeon muttered in astonishment.
The Gate’s clear reaction meant the situation had been resolved in a completely different way from what he had expected.
“He cleared it solo?”
That was what shocked Jeong Woo-yeon.
The man, who had seemed somewhat unusual but was still supposedly just a Special Division rookie, had solo-cleared an A-rank or higher Gate.
Even as an S-rank Hunter, Jeong Woo-yeon could not confidently guarantee that he could accomplish such a feat in such a short time.
Park Min-ho was equally shocked, but—
“If he cleared it instead of escaping, then do not tell me……?”
His surprise was different from Jeong Woo-yeon’s.
Similar thoughts flashed through the minds of the other Special Division Hunters.
‘No way.’
‘Right?’
‘He did not abandon the twins and clear the Gate by himself, did he?’
Even if it was Kim Si-hyeon, the Special Division members believed it should be impossible to clear the Gate alone while taking care of three injured people.
GULP.
Amid the tension, they saw figures walking out through the closing Gate.
“Haa!”
Park Min-ho exhaled.
The first person to emerge was none other than Yoo So-ha, the older of the Yuseong twins.
“Thank goodness! Thank goodness!”
Unable to hide his joy, Choi Tae-woo ran toward the twins.
“Thank goodness… thank goodness….”
Park Min-ho also let out the breath he had been holding in relief.
Fortunately, it seemed Kim Si-hyeon had not killed the twins.
Then Yoo Seong-ha appeared, carrying the Mercenary on his back.
And finally—
“Uh… wait.”
Something that should have been there was missing from the fingers reaching out of the Gate.
The Killing Intent suppression Items that had cost an entire year’s Special Division budget.
“Choi Ji-woong!”
“Yes!”
Park Min-ho was not the only one who noticed the anomaly.
The Special Division Hunters instantly stepped forward and began releasing mana.
While everyone else merely blinked in confusion, Kim Si-hyeon finally emerged into view.
At any moment now, the enormous Killing Intent that crushed everything around it would—
“Huh?”
Even after Kim Si-hyeon fully stepped out of the Gate, they could not feel any Killing Intent.
Kim Si-hyeon, whose clothes were not even damaged, stood before them with a perfectly calm expression.
“I will never forget this kindness.”
Choi Tae-woo sincerely expressed his gratitude to the Special Division.
“Please do not mention it. It was simply our duty.”
“I would also like to thank everyone from the Myth Guild.”
When Choi Tae-woo turned toward Jeong Woo-yeon, Jeong Woo-yeon gave an awkward expression.
“Huh? Ah. Yes. Well, we did not really do anything.”
After the safe rescue came the cleanup.
Off to one side, Kim Si-hyeon was surrounded by the Special Division Hunters.
Kim Si-hyeon sat on a folding fishing chair that one quick-footed Special Division Hunter had brought over, while the Hunters stood in front of him with their hands clasped behind their backs.
It was enough to make one wonder who the rookie actually was.
“…….”
The Special Division Hunters stared at Kim Si-hyeon with expressions that said they had many questions.
‘What happened to the Items?’
‘How did you clear it alone?’
‘Where did your Killing Intent go?’
But none of them dared to ask first.
They kept trying to push the task onto one another.
Then the Yuseong twins cautiously approached.
“May we speak with you for a moment?”
At Yoo So-ha’s question, Choi Ji-woong looked toward Kim Si-hyeon.
Kim Si-hyeon gave a small nod.
Permission.
The Special Division Hunters stepped back, and the twins approached.
“Thank you. For saving us. And for helping us awaken as well.”
“……?”
Why are they thanking me for awakening?
“Yuseong never forgets a debt.”
Yoo So-ha spoke boldly.
The sight was rather admirable.
“There is something I want to ask.”
As soon as I began, Yoo Seong-ha eagerly spoke up.
“Ask us anything! I can even tell you my bank account password.”
“Yoo Seong-ha, do not joke with Hunter Kim Si-hyeon.”
“I am serious.”
“Please ask, Hunter.”
There was something I had wondered about throughout the rescue.
“You two do not look that stupid.”
At my words, the Special Division’s gazes snapped toward us.
So did those of the paramedics caring for the newly rescued twins and the Yuseong employees.
“Come on, everyone. Let us move over there!”
Choi Ji-woong hurriedly led them away and created some distance.
“I think I know what you want to ask.”
Yoo So-ha seemed to understand what I meant.
“You want to know why we did something like this, right?”
That was correct.
Immature children sometimes acted recklessly out of youthful impulse.
If not that, they did desperate things after being cornered.
But this world had not been destroyed by Zombies.
It was a world where people did not need to risk their lives for a single can of food.
And these two were children of a chaebol family, or so I had heard.
In a capitalist society, they were in a position where they could obtain practically anything merely by reaching out for it.
“Our mother died because of a Gate Break.”
Ah.
“We already took revenge. Every Monster connected to our mother’s death was wiped out.”
Yoo So-ha smiled bitterly.
“But… I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to become a Hunter, hunt Monsters, and protect people. So no one else would become a victim like our mother. This year was our last chance. I promised Dad that if I could not awaken before becoming an adult, I would start taking business-management lessons.”
So that was it.
I rose from my seat.
At my sudden movement, Yoo So-ha and Yoo Seong-ha stepped backward.
“I misjudged you.”
“Pardon?”
“You really are stupid.”
“……!”
Not only Yoo So-ha but Yoo Seong-ha also looked shocked.
“What… do you mean?”
“Do you not understand that your revenge almost created another victim?”
My gaze turned toward the C-rank Mercenary, who was still unconscious.
Only then did Yoo So-ha and Yoo Seong-ha realize what I meant.
Their faces reddened with shame.
“If you die, it is over.”
I walked past the two of them.
Even then, Yoo So-ha and Yoo Seong-ha remained rooted to the spot.
“Revenge without strength is nothing more than self-harm.”
Revenge.
It had been common in my world as well.
People who could not endure the pain of losing someone and wanted to burn themselves away in the process.
That was merely another form of self-harm.
“…What… what would you know…?”
Yoo So-ha stared at me with wide eyes.
Tears welled in them.
“Someone as strong as you would never understand what it feels like to lose the person most precious to you!”
Everyone’s attention turned toward us.
“Do you know how painful every single day is?”
“Yoo So-ha, stop.”
Even though Yoo Seong-ha tried to restrain her, Yoo So-ha continued bitterly.
“Every night, in my dreams….”
DRIP.
At last, a tear fell.
“I see my mother being torn apart by Monsters… Do you know what that feels like…?”
“I do.”
“……!”
Yoo So-ha’s eyes widened even further at my quiet answer.
How could I not?
‘I went through the same thing.’
Had I been any different in the past?
After losing my entire family to Zombies, I hunted them out of revenge and nearly died more times than I could count.
No.
It was not only in the past.
‘Even now, I have sworn that I would do anything if it meant killing Plague, the bastard who turned my world into that.’
WHOOOOM.
The moment I thought of Plague, the flow of the air stopped.
The gazes already directed anxiously toward me swelled with enough tension to burst.
I forced Plague from my mind and spoke to the twins.
“At least.”
You are different from me.
Unlike me, who lost everything—
my father, my mother, and even my younger sister, who could not overcome her fear.
“At least you still have family left.”
They had each other.
They also had a father who would do anything to save them, and Choi Tae-woo, a man who had been willing to become a Sacrifice for their sake.
“Do not die and leave those people behind.”
I walked past them.
Yoo Han-seok, Chairman of Yuseong.
He was the man who had taken Yuseong from barely remaining within the top thirty corporations in the business world to the number-one position.
He had reached this point through overwhelming charisma and cold-blooded judgment.
His nickname was Ironblood.
“You two….”
But even Yoo Han-seok was different at home.
“What the hell were you thinking, doing something like that?!”
The twins flinched before Yoo Han-seok, who was shouting after losing his composure.