The moment I stepped through the Gate, my vision was flooded with orange light.
My body spun as though heaven and earth had been thrown together, and then the solid sensation of ground beneath both feet suddenly returned.
I can’t believe I’m inside one of these again…
This felt different from the Hunter Selection Assessment, where I had entered through the number tag serving as the medium.
Passing through an actual Gate and entering a Stage stirred emotions I hadn’t expected.
Especially since this one was a real-type Stage.
Ahead of me, the members of Class 1 who had already crossed through were gathered together, murmuring among themselves. As Class Rep, I had stayed behind to check that everyone entered safely and had therefore arrived last.
We stood inside a shabby wooden building.
A Gate identical to the one we had just passed through occupied the center of the empty room.
I pushed through the students and made my way to the front. Lee Seonggi stood near the entrance, watching us with a smile.
“Looks like everyone’s here, so shall we get moving? Stay close behind me. Feel free to look around, but try not to touch anything or speak to anyone.”
Before anyone could ask another question, Lee Seonggi opened the battered wooden door and stepped outside.
The fifty members of Hunter Class 1 followed him in a line.
It looked as though the rain had stopped only recently.
Dark clouds filled the gloomy sky, while tightly packed wooden buildings lined both sides of the street. When I stepped onto the unpaved road, sticky mud clung thickly to the soles of my shoes.
Not a single person cared about getting their shoes dirty.
Everyone was too busy staring around.
A crowd flowed through the street like a river.
Every one of them wore unfamiliar clothing and had strange, foreign features unlike anything the trainees had ever seen.
Pale, yellow, red, bumpy, pointed…
What the hell was this place?
Some of them weren’t even human!
The shock was written plainly across my classmates’ faces. Their mouths hung open as they whipped their heads from side to side, frantically taking in their surroundings.
From the rear, I watched the spectacle while keeping the entire formation within my field of view in case anyone wandered off.
So this is Paraku Village. It’s been a while…
To the others, this might have been their first encounter with another world.
To me, these streets were familiar.
There were several Gates in Korea connected to this village besides the one controlled by the Association. In my previous life, I had visited this place from time to time.
“Kim Daram. Kim Daram. Is all of this really real?”
Lee Hasol hurried over and clung close to me, looking utterly bewildered.
Even though we had studied this through audiovisual materials during class, it was hard to immediately accept another world when it was right in front of you.
“Yeah. We learned about it in class. This is another world linked to the System—what we call the Otherworld.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Look at that… That isn’t even human!”
This bastard had no intention of listening to my explanation.
In the direction Hasol was pointing, an elf with sharply pointed ears was walking past in a tattered cloak.
Apparently displeased at being pointed at, the elf clicked his tongue and turned his head away.
“Don’t point at people. You’ll start a fight.”
I pushed Hasol’s hand down.
Fortunately, not everyone was like him.
Remembering Lee Seonggi’s warning, the others suppressed their curiosity and limited themselves to rolling their eyes around nonstop.
We followed Lee Seonggi like a line of ducklings.
After walking for quite some time, we reached a properly paved road. Stone buildings gradually replaced the wooden structures lining the streets.
At last, we stopped in front of a three-story stone building that looked far grander than anything around it.
Two soldiers in steel armor stood guard at the entrance.
“I’m going inside to report our arrival. Everyone wait quietly here. Class Rep?”
“Yes?”
“Make sure no one causes any trouble.”
With that, Lee Seonggi disappeared inside.
The guards seemed to recognize him, because neither attempted to stop him.
The students remained where they were, staring blankly at the entrance through which he had vanished like ducklings that had lost their mother.
From what I could tell, Lee Seonggi was deliberately withholding detailed explanations.
In a sense, every moment here was already part of our practical training. His intention was probably to let us experience and understand things ourselves rather than spoon-feed us answers.
Of course, asking questions before experiencing something firsthand was also a perfectly effective way to learn.
Provided there was someone around who could answer them.
That was when Lee Hasol approached me.
Whenever he grew curious about something, I was usually the first person he asked.
Oh Heedong followed right behind him.
“Kim Daram, what exactly is going on here? You know, right?”
Hasol asked with absolute confidence.
Of course I knew.
But why did you assume I obviously would?
Rather than challenge his assumption, I decided to simply answer his question.
“This is Paraku Village, located in the central region of the Otherworld continent. We’ll probably be leaving soon to hunt monsters.”
“Then why did we stop here?”
Oh Heedong, who had been listening beside him, joined the conversation.
Several nearby students who had been whispering among themselves drifted closer.
“In a real-type Stage like this, our Awakened Levels and Trait Levels can increase, but we won’t receive additional reward chests. It doesn’t exactly replace those rewards, but Senior Lee Seonggi probably figured that if we were going to hunt monsters anyway, we should collect whatever compensation we can.”
“So?”
This time, it was Kwon Sua.
I looked at her and continued.
“That’s why we came here. This is Paraku Village’s central hall. Senior Lee Seonggi is going to meet the village chief and negotiate payment for hunting monsters. The monsters nearby are a threat to the village as well.”
“Ah! As expected of Kim Daram! There’s nothing you don’t know!”
Hasol exclaimed excitedly.
“Ooh…”
Admiring murmurs erupted from several directions.
Kwon Sua, however, stared at me suspiciously before asking another question.
“Class Rep, how do you know all that? The village’s name, the fact that this building is the central hall, and that Senior Lee Seonggi is meeting the village chief—none of that was ever mentioned in class. You’re talking like someone who’s been here many times before.”
It was a reasonable question.
Kwon Sua stared directly at me, demanding an answer.
Over her shoulder, I could feel Sa Jeil’s sharp gaze as he eavesdropped on the conversation.
These ungrateful little brats.
I went to the trouble of explaining everything, and instead of thanking me, they demanded to know how I knew.
This senior’s heart was deeply wounded.
Still, I wasn’t stingy with answers.
I also happened to have a convenient excuse.
“I’m the Class Rep.”
Kwon Sua stared at me in dumbfounded disbelief.
So what if you’re the Class Rep?
Did Senior Lee Seonggi tell you beforehand?
Or was there some advance notice about today’s Stage that only the Class Rep received?
Naturally, neither was true.
But how Kwon Sua interpreted my answer was her problem.
“N-No… You are the Class Rep, but… that doesn’t…”
Kwon Sua stammered, unable to find a proper rebuttal.
Just then, Lee Hasol cut in.
“Exactly! The Class Rep knows everything! If any of you are curious about something, just ask Kim Daram!”
Hasol confidently addressed the gathered members of Hunter Class 1.
The others nodded as though they agreed.
He really was dependable at times like this.
Their response probably wasn’t solely because of Hasol’s words.
Little by little, I had been establishing my presence within the class.
Rumors had already spread that Sa Jeil had formally challenged me using his Trait on our first night in the dormitory and ended up battered beyond recognition.
In an atmosphere where everyone was beginning to accept my broad knowledge as natural, only Kwon Sua and Sa Jeil continued to watch me with complicated expressions.
I gave the two of them a pleasant smile.
A short while later, Lee Seonggi emerged and led us inside.
He guided us into a large space resembling an auditorium. Inside, foreign-looking people with Western features sat behind stalls displaying various goods.
Lee Seonggi gestured toward them.
“Our destination is fairly far away. We’ll need various supplies along the way, so purchase whatever you think you’ll need here.”
Judging by my classmates’ expressions, they had countless questions.
Oh Heedong raised his hand and asked the most important one.
“We don’t have any money.”
He was right.
We had no money.
The others didn’t even know what currency was used here.
Lee Seonggi gave a simple answer.
“Choose what you need, then write your name down for the seller. We’ve agreed to settle the bill after we return.”
Then he folded his arms and leaned against the wall.
Despite his friendly appearance, our senior clearly still had no intention of explaining anything in detail.
Admittedly, lessons learned through direct experience tended to remain with you longer.
The place Lee Seonggi had brought us to was a village-operated store established for Awakened visitors.
Because of its location, Paraku Village was frequently visited by inexperienced Awakened. The village paid them to hunt monsters, then offset those expenses by selling them locally produced supplies.
The arrangement also benefited Awakened with little Otherworld experience, since they could easily obtain all the basic necessities for their stay in one place.
Naturally, the other students knew none of this.
They simply stood around awkwardly.
No one volunteered to go first.
It was understandable.
Walking up to unfamiliar Otherworlders who stared at us with pale faces and gleaming blue eyes, starting a conversation, and choosing goods from their stalls was hardly an inviting prospect.
“We have plenty of time, so take a slow look around. Surely you can manage something as simple as buying your own supplies.”
Lee Seonggi subtly prodded their pride.
Even then, no one stepped forward with confidence.
Taking the initiative as the representative of a group was harder than it appeared.
Naturally, everyone’s gaze shifted toward me.
If someone had to go first, the atmosphere said it should be the Class Rep.
Lee Seonggi also watched me with interest.
I shrugged and walked toward a stall in the corner of the hall.
A thin net, intricately woven from fine silver thread, lay neatly folded there.
I picked it up and spread it open.
It was sturdy insect netting made from a type of silver thread found only in the Otherworld.
Lee Seonggi’s destination was almost certainly the monster gathering grounds closest to Paraku Village.
And “fairly far” was an understatement.
It would take three full days of walking to reach it.
Sleeping outdoors was unavoidable.
For a comfortable camp, insect netting was essential.
The insects of the Otherworld were incomparable to those on Earth in both size and aggression.
As I examined the netting, the silver-haired woman who owned the stall spoke.
“ΟΠΡΣΤΥ ΦΧΨΩαβγδ?”
I answered without hesitation.
“ηθικλμνξοπ ρστυφχψωЁ!”
She held out a notebook and pen.
I accepted them and wrote my name in the notebook.
The silver-haired woman smiled brightly and handed me two sheets of insect netting.
I accepted them and placed them inside my System Pouch.
When I turned around after completing the transaction, everyone was staring at me in shock.
Even Lee Seonggi had lost his usual relaxed smile. He watched me without managing to conceal his surprise.
Lee Hasol hurried over.
“Whoa, Kim Daram! What was that? You can speak their language too?”
Live as a poor Hunter for twenty years, and you’ll learn it whether you want to or not.
Naturally, I couldn’t tell him the truth.
I came up with a suitable excuse.
“Oh… that. I learned it as my second foreign language in high school…”
Kwon Sua’s and Sa Jeil’s faces immediately twisted.
…Was that one a little too much?