Chapter 31

“Well, look at you. This bastard’s got it made.”

I slowly opened my eyes to a familiar face.

“Did you come here for a picnic? Sleeping in a Gate?”

I must have dozed off. I answered with a shameless look.

“I wasn’t sleeping. Who says I was?”

“Wipe the drool off your mouth before you start lying.”

“Slurp.”

“Oh, you little—”

He shook a fist at me, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. I rubbed my stiff neck.

“Ugh, I’m tired.”

“Did you meet a woman yesterday? Why are you nodding off like a sick chicken even in the middle of a raid?”

“When would I have time to meet a woman? You know my situation.”

“True enough.”

We’d been through thick and thin together for five years, ever since our first battle. He knew me as well as I knew him.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“What do you think? Money.”

“Money? Don’t tell me you’re moonlighting.”

His voice dropped low. I looked past his shoulder at the team members resting nearby and nodded.

“Well, well. This bastard gets a little experience under his belt and starts lining his own pockets. And he’s the vice team leader, no less.”

“Raids have been scarce lately, and I’m strapped. Really strapped. You’ve done it yourself, hyung, so don’t give me that.”

Hunters with professional licenses were legally barred from second jobs. Even a D-rank probably wouldn’t have to live like this, but F-ranks like us had no choice. That was why the Guild looked the other way even when they knew.

“True, but… be careful. If someone files a complaint with the Management Agency, you’ll have a real headache on your hands.”

“It’s a trustworthy place. They pay cash the same day, so there’s no problem. You think I’d do it if it weren’t safe?”

“Really?”

Judging by his face, he was tempted.

“Do you need money too, hyung?”

“I’ve got three kids. I’d need an oil well to blow in the yard.”

He poured it out with sad eyes. I’d already heard this routine dozens of times. After venting about the misery of raising kids, the rising price of formula, and the shamelessness of merchants, he patted my shoulder.

“Don’t get married.”

“I won’t.”

More precisely, I couldn’t.

I had no woman and no money. My life’s goal was to buy a house in a safe zone within five years, so deep down I envied him.

A spouse I loved, and children. A happy family. I had no idea when I’d ever have something like that.

“Marriage is a swamp.”

For all that talk, he had a reputation as a devoted husband and a good father. I knew how he sometimes took out his family photos and smiled fondly at them.

“It sucks your whole life in. By the time you come to your senses, you’re buried up to your chest and can barely breathe.”

“…”

Maybe I’d been wrong about him.

“So don’t just work. Take breaks. Dating, hobbies—stuff like that’s good for you.”

“I don’t know. I still need the money.”

I scratched my head as I answered. He looked at me with pity.

“I saw you sleeping earlier. You were even breaking out in a cold sweat. Keep that up and you’ll drop dead from overwork.”

“Was I?”

Now that he mentioned it, my back was damp with cold sweat. I must have had a bad dream…

Can’t remember.

Probably just some stupid dream anyway.

A Gate.

These days it was how Hunters like me made a living, but its true nature was an invasion route for the Demon Realm’s army.

When Demon King Asmodeus fell, his mighty army was routed with him. Yet even decades later, the Gates remained.

“Defensive formation!”

At his command, three Hunters bearing huge tower shields blocked the front. In a narrow cave, that alone was enough to soak most attacks.

Clang! Clang-clang!

“Giiiiik!”

About twenty goblins hurled poison needles, axes, and spears, but every one of them bounced off those big, beautiful tower shields.

“Archers!”

The tanks blocked every attack from the front while the archers rained arrows from the rear. We pressed forward and took down about half the goblins, drawing panicked shrieks from the rest.

“Gyaaaah!”

“Kieek!”

He gave the next order at just the right moment.

“Attack formation!”

The tanks dropped their tower shields and burst forward at the same time. I was faster.

“Hah!”

I swung my iron spear in a wide arc. Green blood burst through the air, and the front rank broke apart. I plunged into the gap, stabbing and slashing at anything within reach, and their entire formation collapsed.

“Charge!”

The damage dealers and tanks joined in, and the goblin pack became a heap of corpses in the blink of an eye.

“Pretty easy today, huh?”

“Honestly, the vice team leader did half the work. He was flying around out there. When did he get that good…? Shh. The Team Leader’s pissed.”

The people chatting shut their mouths the moment he appeared.

“Hey, Jin Taekyung!”

That made me jump.

I’d been staring blankly, lost in thought, and I startled as I answered.

“What?”

“Who told you to go off on your own? Are you a tank? Did you forget the attack order? And you still call yourself the vice team leader?”

“That’s not—”

“If you’re going to act like this, transfer teams. You’re putting everyone else in danger too.”

I looked at his grim face and sighed.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that. They just… suddenly didn’t seem like a big deal. I must have lost it for a second.”

It was a strange feeling. The moment I saw the pack of goblins, I’d thought I could wipe them out by myself.

No, it hadn’t been a thought.

It had been certainty.

“You…”

He swallowed the rest of his words. We’d had each other’s backs for five years now, and this was the first time I’d ever pulled something like this.

“Don’t do it again. If you’re having a hard time, tell me.”

I watched him walk away after patting my shoulder. For some reason, a spot in my chest throbbed.

Should I see a doctor?

But before long I wasn’t even thinking about the pain.

“Magic Gem!”

“Got one!”

“Another!”

“It dropped! It dropped! It dropped!”

“Mom! Hayeon!”

Ah, that last shout was mine. His face was flushed too as he muttered.

“Hey, what is all this…?”

Twenty Magic Gems, large and small, lay neatly on the floor.

Magic Gems. They looked like red pebbles, but they were called the flower of the Gate. These lumps of mana that monsters carried were high-dimensional energy, and the most valuable byproduct a monster had.

“At this rate, each one’s got to be worth over a million won.”

That came from the Team Leader, an E-rank Hunter who’d lasted ten years in this business. People’s eyes went slack at the intoxicating sight.

“Is it normally like this?”

At the new recruit’s question, everyone shook their heads vigorously.

“Absolutely not.”

In an F-rank Gate the average was one or two, and even with incredible luck you wouldn’t hit five.

I was busy doing the math.

At least twenty million from the Magic Gems alone, another five million from the byproducts and Equipment. Add all the various allowances and…

Fuck. How much is this?

It was the biggest jackpot I’d hit since becoming a Hunter.

And the raid wasn’t even over yet.

“How far have we come?”

“Almost there. Turn right and the boss zone’s just ahead.”

The words boss zone made everyone’s eyes light up.

It went without saying, but a boss zone had a boss. A boss monster was the strongest monster in that Gate—and the one with the most expensive byproducts, Equipment, and Magic Gems.

What if we take down the boss monster too?

A literal jackpot. A once-in-a-lifetime chance for an F-rank Hunter.

Everyone was smiling brightly at the thought when he spoke.

“Wait. Let me think.”

What the hell was he talking about?

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Every monster we’ve run into has been an ordinary goblin. This many Magic Gems? Something’s off.”

He sighed. Excitement still hadn’t left his flushed face, but there was conflict on it too.

“I know how you feel. I do… but we’ve already grabbed a fortune. Let’s be satisfied with this much and go back.”

Satisfied?

Here? After coming this far, turn back?

I looked at the other team members. Some had been in sync for two or three years; some were new. But they all had the same look I did.

“I’m against—”

My breath caught.

Damn it. The chest pain again.

I tried to keep talking, but no voice came out. Now my ears were ringing too.

What is this?

The pain and the ringing got worse and worse. I dropped to my knees, gasping.

Someone. Please, help me.

I grabbed someone’s pant leg and clung to it.

It was him. The man who’d looked after me like a brother, like a father, for the past five years.

Hyung. Please save me.

He looked down at me with an indifferent gaze.

“Me? Save you, after you ran away and left everyone behind?”

What?

“I wanted to live too.”

I forgot the pain and stared at him. Clothes and skin melted away, and bone showed through. Everyone except me had become skeletons, sprawled across the ground.

Ah. That’s right.

They were all dead.

That day two years ago. In the boss zone I had insisted we enter, they had all died.

I was the only one who survived.

I floundered, buried in the memories. I remembered the ominous darkness that had settled over the boss zone, the foul smell, the damp floor, and that thing’s enormous wings.

Bodies ripped to shreds in midair. Screams of terror. People running.

You fucking bastard!

But even the Skill I’d poured everything into hadn’t been enough to kill it. As I waited for death, he pulled me to my feet.

Taekyung!

Hyung, I’m sorry. It was all my fault.

If it hadn’t been for me. If I hadn’t gotten greedy, everyone could have lived. They could have gone home to their families.

I wailed like a child, and he forced a smile.

How is that your fault? Look at this kid, now you’re even playing Team Leader.

The massive body drifted through the cave. Stalactites rained down, and the last member of the team let out a death cry. In the darkness, its red eyes turned toward us.

That arrogant bastard. Taekyung, you go first.

Hyung. Cheonsu hyung!

My chest hurt. Pain rolled in hard enough to blank my vision. It felt like I had swallowed lava, like everything inside me was burning away. The ringing in my ears turned into a monster’s roar.

Kyaaaaau!

“Hyung—!”

I woke with the scream.

But it wasn’t a Gate. There were no monsters, and no team members.

Someone stood up at the window, where sunlight poured in.

“Did you dream about my lord? He’ll be pleased if I tell him.”

Coldness dripped from his face.

Wipeng, Jin Wikyung’s right-hand man.

Seeing him drove home that I was still inside the game.

“Are you all right?”

“No. It was a nightmare.”

“Then I’ll leave that part out when I tell him.”

“Suit yourself.”

My whole body was soaked in sweat. Through the gaps in the bandages wound tight around me, I could see flesh raised with blood scabs.

“How long was I out?”

“You were unconscious for five days. Your condition was so critical that the Medicine King Hall Leader concluded you wouldn’t last the day.”

“Really?”

“Yes. When my lord heard that, he went berserk. If I hadn’t stopped him, he would have beaten the Medicine King Hall Leader to death.”

“Ah.”

I remembered the old man from the meeting a few days ago, the one who had threatened to shove a giant needle into the White Tiger Hall Leader’s anus.

So he really had been chanting for me to die.

“Did anything else happen?”

“A great deal happened. Among it, there’s good news and even better news. Which would you like to hear first?”

“The good news.”

“First, the reconnaissance squad and the survivors of the Sakju Branch returned safely. Two of them suffered fairly serious injuries, but their lives are not in danger.”

Survivors.

The word made my heart sink.

Number Seven.

I remembered his face as he gasped out his last breath, a dagger in his throat and another between his brows. Twenty at most. Far too young to lose his life.

“Are you thinking of the dead?”

“The body—did they recover the body?”

“We recovered it properly and held a funeral for him. He was an orphan with no one in the world, so there were no surviving relatives.”

“…”

“May I say something?”

Wipeng didn’t wait for an answer. He took a step toward me and went on.

“Third Young Master, do not turn your subordinate’s death into a dog’s death.”

“What does that…”

“Martial artists are not beings meant to be protected. They are people who fight their enemies and prove themselves. He died facing an enemy too strong to do anything about, but that was not mere death—it was death in battle.”

The idea that dying on a battlefield made it an honorable death was the biggest load of bullshit ever.

There was no such thing as an honorable death. Even now, I could vividly hear the screams of my comrades who had died two years ago. I could still see Number Seven’s wide-open eyes as he breathed his last.

“The fact that he died hasn’t changed.”

“There are people who cling to facts that will never change. I won’t say who.”

“…”

“Do you regret it?”

“Of course.”

“Then live his share as well.”

Wipeng continued in a gentler voice than I had ever heard from him.

“I’m not telling you to forget the dead. Bury them in your heart and carve them into your mind. Use that regret as a foothold and soar to the place they dreamed of reaching. That is the path you must take, Young Master.”

The path I must take…

Just hearing those words made something in my chest lurch. I turned them over for a while, then let out a sudden laugh.

“Damn. I’ll break my legs before I get there.”

“It will take a lifetime.”

“If I devote my whole life to it, can I make it there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how far my own path goes, so how could I know yours?”

“What’s at the end of your path, Great Hero Wipeng?”

“Number One Under Heaven.”

A joke?

No. Wipeng was more serious and resolute than ever.

“That’s a hard one.”

“Because it’s a dream.”

He was right. Dreams were always hard to reach.

Even more so if you were carrying the dreams of those you had lost.

“Great Hero Wipeng. May I ask you one thing?”

“Anything.”

“That guy. What was his name?”

“His name was…”

The moment Wipeng opened his lips, a cold winter wind shook the window.

Whoooosh.

Beyond the chilly sound of the wind, I heard Number Seven’s name.

“That’s a cool name.”

“I heard he chose it himself. His dream was just as big.”

“What was it?”

“Number One of All Time.”

“…”

“You’re going to have a hard time.”

“Yeah. This is ridiculous.”

A laugh slipped out. Only then did I feel the weight lift from my heart.

It was all thanks to Wipeng.

“You’re finally back to your old self.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Wipeng gave a slight nod and spoke.

“Now, there’s still the even better news.”

Ah. Right.

Good news and even better news.

Brimming with anticipation, I waited for him to continue.