So it had come to that in the end. Yuli Orloff's plan to block the Gate with a barrier was dangerous from the very conception. And for good reason — it was an S-rank Gate. Both Hunters and Gates classified as S-rank meant they were unmeasurable. Unmeasurable. That is, there was no way of knowing what might come out or what events might unfold inside. And yet Yuli had overestimated her own power, and that folly had produced devastating results. Jin-Woo's expression grew heavy. He had heard from Chairman Ko Geon-Hee about what the Japanese Hunters had been planning to do on Jeju Island. He hadn't been able to uncover their final objective, but they had ultimately carried out their operation. The Korean Hunters — even without the giant ants — would have been lucky to make it out alive if it weren't for Jin-Woo. And despite pulling that stunt, the chairman of the Japanese Hunter's Association had reportedly visited Korea and threatened Chairman Ko Geon-Hee.
'Even death would be too light a punishment.'
But that was only about the upper echelons of the Japanese Hunter's Association and the top-ranked Hunters who had been involved in their scheming. The ordinary Japanese citizens bore no guilt. While old historical grievances still lingered, ignorance was not a sin serious enough to warrant death. However. The Dungeon Break that had occurred in the heart of the city — the orcs emerging from the Gate alone had killed nearly half the students. And if an S-rank Gate opened in the center of a metropolis of over thirteen million people? The惨 was as plain as day. And that outcome was partly of their own making.
'If Goto Ryuji and the other top Japanese Hunters had still been alive, the result might have been different.'
Goto had been strong. Strong enough to pose a threat to Jin-Woo in a split second. When Goto's attack had grazed narrowly past his eyes, even Jin-Woo had felt a chill. And that wasn't all. The Japanese Hunters' corpses found on Jeju Island had all been exceptional talents — each one surpassing Korea's own S-rank Hunters. While he couldn't judge their combat skill, the mana remaining in their bodies told the tale. He had given up on turning innocent people into undead, but these Hunters were so outstanding he would have wanted them as Shadow Soldiers.
'Considering what they were about to do, making them into Shadow Soldiers would have been letting them off easy!'
He had only learned the truth much later. Anyway, when Hunters that powerful had been wiped out all at once, there was no way they could have had any capacity left to deal with an S-rank Gate appearing in their own country. In the end, this disaster was not a calamity called down from the heavens — it was a man-made catastrophe born of human greed.
"Sung Hunter?"
Cha Hae-In called out to Jin-Woo in a worried voice. Jin-Woo was still gripping her wrist.
"Sorry. I was just... lost in thought for a moment." "Oh."
Jin-Woo let go of her hand. But the reason Cha Hae-In had called him wasn't because of his grip on her wrist — it was because his expression had suddenly darkened. Did he have family or relatives in Japan? That question briefly flashed through her mind. Not yet knowing what sinister plot the Japanese Hunter's Association had hatched, she had written this off as a simple — no, not simple, but a horrific — accident. What had happened to Japan? That first question had been answered. So Jin-Woo asked about the second thing he was curious about.
"How did all of you get here?"
Cha Hae-In, Choi Jong-In, Woo Jin-Cheol, and even Son Gi-Hoon and his team whom he had encountered while fighting the fangs. A whole crowd of upper-ranked Hunters from two seemingly unrelated groups — the Hunters Guild and the Surveillance Division — had gathered. Woo Jin-Cheol, who had been checking his subordinates' injuries, stepped forward and spoke.
"We received a report and came. Then we learned that Hunter Sung Jin-Woo had entered the Gate, and seeing the mana seeping out of it..."
Jin-Woo turned to look at him. Woo Jin-Cheol's face was taut — perhaps because of the sheer number of casualties.
"We determined our strength alone wouldn't be enough, so we requested assistance from the Hunters Guild, who had been preparing a raid nearby."
Emergency Assistance Request. It was the most powerful authority the Association could extend to a Guild. The Hunters wouldn't have been able to refuse. So many people had come to help him, and in the process, unavoidable sacrifices had been made. Jin-Woo's chest ached. While he remained silent, Woo Jin-Cheol asked cautiously.
"May I ask one thing as well?" "Yes?" "How did Hunter Sung Jin-Woo know there was a double dungeon inside this Gate?"
A natural question, to say the least. Choi Jong-In, the representative of the Hunters Guild, which had suffered enormous damage from this incident, was just as curious. How had he known that a C-rank Gate contained a double dungeon with a monster that defied all common sense waiting inside? The Hunters who had heard the story had all been bewildered. The cave trembled — DRRRRR — signaling the Gate would close soon, yet all eyes remained on Jin-Woo's answer.
"The Dungeon."
Jin-Woo told the truth.
"Called me." "...Called you?"
Woo Jin-Cheol, wearing an expression of disbelief, asked again.
"Yes. I received a message telling me to come here." "Can we see that message too?"
Jin-Woo shook his head. Then he pointed to his own temple with his index finger.
"It's a message that only appears inside my head."
No one had expected that answer, and everyone was struck dumb. Jin-Woo hadn't lied. He had simply concealed a few unnecessary details while delivering the essential truth. His confident expression overwhelmed the Hunters. Woo Jin-Cheol, who could claim to have known Jin-Woo the longest, slowly shook his head.
'A man... I simply cannot read with my common sense.'
The Dungeon called to him inside his head? Could it be that he was some kind of incarnation sent down to destroy every Dungeon in the world?
'What ridiculous thoughts...'
While Woo Jin-Cheol was laughing to himself on the inside, Jin-Woo silently passed by him. Jin-Woo stepped over the threshold and entered the interior. Cha Hae-In, flustered, called out to him.
"Sung Hunter! It's dangerous if you don't leave now!"
Jin-Woo turned at the sound of her worried voice and replied.
"I know."
How could he not? He had already passed through the long corridor twice on the way here. A distance that took an hour even at a Hunter's pace. There was no time to dawdle if he wanted to make it before the Gate closed. Besides. Jin-Woo's father had also gone missing inside a Gate. He had heard that his father, gravely injured, had stayed behind to carry his comrades out of the boss room one by one until he became trapped inside. No one was more aware of the dangers of a Dungeon than Jin-Woo. That was why his answer — that he knew it was dangerous — carried such conviction. But.
"I can't just leave behind the Hunters who rushed here for my sake."
The Hunters, who had been growing impatient, froze at those words. The dead inside were all their comrades. Not a single one of them wanted to leave anyone behind. But there was far too little time to carry them all out. Their stamina was nearly spent, and the bodies were buried under the rubble of the statues — they would have to be dug out from every corner. They had been about to turn back with tears in their eyes.
"I'll carry them out."
At Jin-Woo's single sentence, the Hunters shuddered as though an electric current had passed through them. No one argued that there was no time, that they needed to leave. They could only stare, dazed. Then Choi Jong-In, holding himself together, parted his lips in a feeble voice.
"Would you... let us ask for that?"
These were Guild members like family to him. If there was any way, he didn't want to leave them to rot in this cold corner of the cave. Jin-Woo nodded. And then he turned around. Thump, thump. His heart beat quietly.
'Let me feel it a bit more.'
Fundamentally, both hearts beat together. He had to concentrate intensely to distinguish the sound of the black heart. Jin-Woo gathered the mana flowing from the black heart into his fingertips.
'Was it like this?'
Jin-Woo mimicked the hand gesture of the Shadow Monarch he had seen in the video exactly. A hand raised upward, as though grasping something. He could definitely feel a powerful mana surging above his palm. He could do it. Jin-Woo felt a surge of strong conviction. He could locate the Hunters' corpses instantly by the position of their mana. Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed. Then, gazing into the silent interior, he spoke.
"Authority of the Ruler."
And then — DRDRRDR — the corpses buried under the statue fragments all rose into the air at once.
"Gasp!" "No way!"
The Hunters, who had been holding their breath while watching Jin-Woo, burst out in cries of astonishment. Putting aside that he had pinpointed the dead Hunters' locations in such a short time, he had lifted them all without even touching them. Was this some kind of superpower straight out of a movie? The levitating Hunters were carried outside through the doorway by invisible hands.
'How is this possible...' 'How can something like that exist?'
Just as ordinary people marveled at Hunters, the Hunters were stunned by Jin-Woo's ability. Choi Jong-In, who had considerable knowledge of mana, could not believe his own eyes.
'What kind of skill is that?'
An ability he had never heard of in his life. Seeing Jin-Woo's power, he realized he had been gravely mistaken. When he had first seen the angel statue, he had thought that if it was 'something like that,' of course it could defeat Jin-Woo. But that thought was wrong. It had been a misjudgment. What monster could possibly stand against a Hunter who used that kind of power so casually? Without realizing it, Choi Jong-In shook his head.
'Impossible...'
The truth was, the moment Jin-Woo had opened his eyes, the angel statue had been eliminated in an instant. All he could feel was admiration for Jin-Woo's ability. After carefully moving the Hunters, who had turned into cold corpses, to one place, Jin-Woo summoned his Shadow Soldiers. The prohibition only applied inside the temple, so he could call forth his soldiers outside the doorway. The Shadow Soldiers appeared before the speechless Hunters and gently lifted the dead into their arms. While everyone stood watching Jin-Woo, at a loss for words, Jin-Woo spoke.
"Let's move."
Just then, as if it had been waiting, the Dungeon shuddered once more. The Hunters nodded. The Shadow Soldiers followed closely behind as the Hunters set off. Jin-Woo watched them from the very back, then turned to look at Cha Hae-In, who still hadn't moved. Her wounds had healed completely, but she looked exhausted.
'Can't be helped.'
The angel statue was the very creature Jin-Woo himself had struggled to bring down. She had been holding it off alone, so of course she would be drained. He approached her and asked.
"Shall I support you?"
Cha Hae-In offered a faint smile and shook her head. He grabbed her wrist again. She gazed up at him quietly. Jin-Woo spoke softly, wanting to put her at ease.
"Let's go together."
She nodded. Downcast over her fallen comrades, Cha Hae-In nodded silently.
* * *
The Hunters emerged from the Gate. Up until that point, the crowd gathered outside had not grasped the scale of the incident. But upon seeing the dead Hunters cradled in the arms of the Shadow Soldiers, they realized something terrible had happened.
"Oh my God..." "Is that... all of them?"
The faces of the Courage Guild member who had reported the incident and the Association staff woman waiting on standby turned ashen. The number of dead was staggering. Weren't these all elite Hunters from across the country? The Hunters from both the Hunters Guild and the Surveillance Division were all classified as top-tier. After the first group had filtered out, Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In were the last to set foot on the ground simultaneously. Much time had passed and it was already dark outside. Reporter Kim, who had remained at the scene, widened her eyes. Even the two S-rank Hunters bore clear marks of battle on their bodies and clothes. Dried blood, torn fabric, disheveled hair. Setting aside the still beautiful Cha Hae-In, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo looked like he had single-handedly fought a war.
'This is it... This is exactly it.'
Reporter Kim raised her camera with trembling hands. The reason she had become a reporter was to capture scenes just like this. To let the world know that while everyone's eyes were on Japan, there were those here in this unseen corner who had risked their lives to fight for everyone. Nearly twenty top-ranked Hunters had died. If a Gate like this had opened, the scale of devastation would have been unimaginable. Their sacrifice had averted a disaster. But without her, would anyone ever have known about their battle? This was exactly the kind of story she had been circling around the Association all this time to find. Click, click. So moved that tears glistened in her eyes, she kept taking photographs. As soon as he stepped out of the Gate, Woo Jin-Cheol's legs gave out and he collapsed. Jin-Woo approached him.
"...Hunter Sung Jin-Woo."
Jin-Woo stopped Woo Jin-Cheol from trying to stand. He gestured with his chin toward Reporter Kim.
"Is it okay for her to keep photographing me like that?"
Woo Jin-Cheol gave a thin smile.
"A personal interview with you, Sung Hunter, would be impossible, but as you experienced during the Jeju raid, we cannot prevent the story itself from being reported."
Jin-Woo nodded. If a photo of him in this battered state made the papers, his mother would worry again. A twinge of unease crept in, but he couldn't forcibly stop the reporter. A reporter was simply doing her job. And. There was also a quiet hope that someone would know about the Hunters who had fought and died here to prevent a disaster that might never have happened. A gentle breeze blew. Carried on it came the distant wail of ambulance sirens.
The next day. While every newspaper in the country ran the Japanese Dungeon Break on its front page, only one paper covered the double Gate incident that had occurred in Korea. That newspaper sold more copies than any other that day.