RAAGOAT 02

Chapter 2

I went against my brother’s advice and took the bus.
It wasn’t to save money. Did I look like I was blinded by money just because I regressed?
‘I need time to think.’
I had leaped a whopping ten years into the past.
At this point, I couldn’t even remember where I lived or my home address.
This is insane.
But my chest felt unsettled; my emotions were overwhelming me.
One more thing.
‘If the past holds true, my brother will meet his fate in two days.’
Should I call and tell him now? Not to go to the B-rank gate in two days. If I say there are agents from various factions there, maybe he’d be persuaded…
“…No way.”
To do that, I’d have too much to explain.
‘I’m a regressor, brother—that one line might explain it, but I myself couldn’t even accept it yet, so I had no confidence in persuading anyone else.
‘Let’s keep quiet about this part for now.’
The alcohol was hitting me, making me dizzy. Trying to piece the situation together on top of that made me feel nauseous.
I deliberately fixed my gaze far out the window. Watching the solitary Namsan Tower, I thought.
‘Come to think of it…’
Before I died, I heard some voice.
What did it say?
It felt like it would be a crucial clue.
“Should I try it?”
I took a deep breath and whispered low.
“Status Window.”
Eyes gathered on me.
“…Stat Window.”
“……”
“……”
My face flushed.
“I must be going crazy.”
“They say gates drive people mad.”
Damn it!
While people were whispering about me—
Crash!
A loud noise, followed by an impact.
Including mine, the passengers’ center of gravity lurched forward. The sudden stop caused people to fall and chaos ensued.
“Driver! What kind of driving is that—”
The shouting man’s complexion gradually paled. He too had grasped the situation through the driver’s window.
“A g-gate!”
“A gate? You mean a gate?!”
The impact of those three letters was immense. As if by agreement, everyone pressed their foreheads against the windows.
I quietly did the same beside the other passengers. Perhaps because I had just regressed? A strange calm settled in my chest.
“I-It’s real.”
Anxiety hit the bus window along with their breath.
Sure enough, an elliptical maw had opened over there.
‘An Abyss Gate.’
But it’s okay if we hold on.
Everyone was panicking now, but hunters nearby would arrive soon.
‘Damn.’
There’s a problem.
Actually, three of them.
The first is our isolated location.
‘Of all places, right while crossing the bridge.’
A bridge offers no escape in both directions. It’s the perfect location for a bottleneck.
And to make it hopeless, gates had spawned in pairs, front and back. That’s the second.
All the problems mentioned so far were nothing compared to the last one.
“…Mom, the gate’s color is red…”
That’s right.
The gate, which should originally be jade-colored, is blood-red.
‘Gate Break.’
That thing, oozing ominousness from its name alone. The signs are abnormal from the start.
My memory is hazy. I think I glimpsed it in an online article.

[Gate Break at Haengju Bridge on August 17th (details omitted)]

Gate Breaks aren’t common. A gate is a ‘one-way passage.’ Only one side could cross dimensions.
Usually, from the gate’s perspective, hunters are the intruders. Gate Break is the opposite. Creatures from the other world inversely invade Earth.
An extremely rare phenomenon.
It happens maybe once or twice a year.
‘Does this make sense…?’
A double Gate Break right after boarding a bus?
Trying to find fault is pointless, as me regressing makes no sense to begin with, leaving me speechless.
Right after regressing, I’m about to become goblin food. This is dizzying.
‘Get a grip.’
Soon.
Kugugugugugugu!!
The gate trembled. The bus shook. The dangling handholds randomly struck people’s heads.
“Gyaaaaah!”
“O-outside!”
Limb-like appendages stretched from the undulating ellipse. The limbs were either weirdly emaciated or grotesquely plump.
Goblins and Orcs.
The Haengju Bridge’s entry and exit were instantly overrun. People fled from the cars near the gates.
Towards the bus we were on.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
“Let us in! Let us in!”
Screams pounded the bus door. The bus driver trembled in terror. The passengers paled and even slumped down. The green tide was sweeping over cars like fallen leaves, approaching.
Gulp.
I bit my lower lip hard.
‘Like this, we’ll just die pointlessly.’
After all the trouble of regressing, am I going to waste it like this?
I swept my gaze around the bus. My eyes locked onto one spot. An emergency escape hammer.
That’s it.
I pushed through the panicked people and grabbed it.
An man felt my presence and looked up. He was having a fit.
“W-what are you doing!”
“What do you mean? We have to get out!”
“Why go outside!”
“Listen up, everyone!”
I raised my voice.
“If we stay here, we’ll all meet a gruesome end anyway. But going through the door is blocked by people. Damn it.”
My tongue got tangled.
The hammer tried to slip from my sweaty hand. I clenched it tight and shouted.
“Anyway! Everyone, get out, now!”
“If we do that—”
“Will staying on the bus save everyone? If hunters don’t come, we might have to jump into the water anyway!”
I meant it seriously.
Being submerged inside a car is certain death, but jumping in with just your body dramatically increases survival odds. The chance of hunters being nearby is slim, and their identity is unknown. Whatever happens, we must create an escape route.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
Items scattered on the floor bounced rhythmically. Goblins and orcs, eyes gleaming, charged.
“If you won’t go out, at least I will.”
“……”
Just as I was about to strike a spot with the hammer, about half the passengers quickly gathered behind me.
“Let’s go together.”
I nodded. Then swung the hammer with all my might.
Thwack!
A spiderweb-like crack spread. It wasn’t enough to break in one go.
I was taken aback. For all my trials and tribulations, I was someone who had transformed from a weakling to a moderately strong person.
‘Right.’
This is crazy.
I regressed.
Did I sell my levels too?
“I’m going insane, really.”
Not only couldn’t I bring my perks, but they even took the strength I had. While I was grumbling internally, a rough hand intruded into my view.
“Let me see it for a sec.”
It was the man who had been arguing with the driver.
“I’ve got thick bones from construction sites! Quick!”
The trust in his red face was convincing. Without another word, I handed over the hammer.
Crash!
It shattered in one blow. Too strong for an ordinary person’s strength.
I asked the man outright as he cleared the glass fragments from the window frame with the hammer.
“Are you an Awakened?”
“Yeah.”
The man replied with trembling lips.
“But why the construction site?”
“D-rank.”
I understood.
“You’re an Awakened too?”
“Yes.”
“Your grade is… probably similar to mine, right?”
I’m sorry.
It’s one grade lower, E (F)-grade.
“Let’s get down first.”
“Let’s do that.”
The man hopped off the bus like a squirrel jumping a fence. I got down with a slightly more awkward posture. Following us, passengers helped each other and trailed behind.
Thud thud thud thud!
The back of my neck stiffened. Shifting my gaze, I saw the green tide surging like a tsunami.
Chwiik! Chwiiik!
The ultra-low-frequency roars they emitted made everyone’s limbs stiffen, without exception.
Kkeureuk
The goblin running as the vanguard kicked off the road surface and approached. The D-rank man swung the hammer.
Clang!
Green blood spurted like a water gun from the crushed temple.
However, even with its head smashed, the goblin stubbornly threw a dagger. Astonishing vitality.
Whirly!
The dagger tracing a parabolic arc surged.
Towards me.
The man, who had been wiping filth from around his eyes, let out a dumbfounded sound.
“Huh? Be careful-.”
Stab!
“…Huh?”
A familiar yet chilling sensation.
I looked down. A small rod was sticking out of my thigh.
A knife…
A knife again.
Strength drained from my body.
Drip, drip.
Red dots stained the ground. A sticky viscosity clung to my fingertips brought to my philtrum.
“N-Nose bleed…?”
Dragging my unfocused gaze, I collapsed.
‘This is strange.’
One knife hit, and my strength just drains…
Looking closely, the blade was smeared with green sap.
Poison.
Specifically, goblin blood.
Their blood has a paralyzing effect.
Who would have thought they’d smear their own blood on their knives? Truly living up to the epithet of cunning beasts.
“Hey, hey!”
The man supported my back and helped me up.
“Snap out of it, snap out of it!”
Ugh, ugh.”
My luck is just rotten.
Right after regressing, I’m about to die.
“Haa, haa.”
I lay on the road surface. I felt the rough, gritty texture and chill of the asphalt on my back.
“On one, two, three, I’ll pull it out!”
“My… leg.”
“Three!”
Phew!
“Ugh!”
No sign of the bleeding stopping from the wound. The man tore his shirtfront to make a pressure bandage.
“Those green dwarf bastards! What the hell did they do to their knives…”
The effect was minimal.
Meanwhile, jade-green monsters swarmed around us. Blades flashed, blood spattered.
Nearby people floundered, then hooked their legs over the railing. They intended to jump off the bridge.
It’s a scene of chaos.
It had also been part of our daily lives since gates appeared.
Ah. It’s truly futile.
At a moment when only self-deprecation came out—
Swoosh!
A single streak of light split the night sky. People traced an arc with their eyes as if they’d seen a comet.
Soon, the light descended to the ground.
“Wow.”
An exclamation was warranted.
As the light’s afterglow faded, a human figure revealed itself. The scene was somewhat divine.
A hunter.
Presumably a hunter surpassing B-rank, people rejoiced at his appearance.
“It’s a hunter!”
The hunter scanned the crowd. He clicked his tongue.
“What’s this. Couldn’t you have not come?”
“…Huh?”
“Whatever. Everyone, just find somewhere to hide.”
“Here! Look here!”
The man waved at him. The coldly indifferent gaze turned towards us.
“There’s an injured person here! We need a potion first!”
“man, do you know how much potions cost?”
“Is that important right now? A person is dying!”
The hunter twisted his lips.
“If luck is on his side, he’ll live. Anyway, I don’t have potions to spare. Consider it building immunity or something.”
“This guy, seriously!”
Without further ado, the hunter drew his sword. With bleary eyes, I watched the drawing motion. The blade was a curved, wavy sword.
That bastard.
The guy who killed me and my brother.
He was rotten to the core even ten years ago.
“You… son of a bitch…”
As I reached out my fingertips, his figure shot out like lightning. I opened and closed my hand, trying to grab what couldn’t be caught.
He moved insolently, as if trampling over me, butchering the beasts. Despite his trashy personality, his skill is the real deal.
But.
Something wondrous happened immediately after. A red thread flowed from my index finger. It was a thread woven from blood.
“What are you doing?! Stay still!”
The man voice softened and blurred. The gradually slowing time stopped. The red thread, drawing a rough waveform, straightened into a line.

<You open your eyes to ‘Blessing of the True Bloodline: Lineage’.>

The thread connected me and the bastard.
Why?
As soon as I muttered inwardly, a memory passed by.
I don’t know why, but that moment when I bit into his carotid artery as if I were there.

<Han Bi-yeol begins hunting beasts.>

Lines of text consecutively appeared before my eyes.
‘Han Bi-yeol.’
The three letters of my archenemy’s name, living up to its meaning.

<However, as the ‘Blood Communion’ is still shallow, the output value is adjusted down to 12.9%.>

‘What?’
Strength surged into my fading focus. Sensing the anomaly, the man also flinched.
“W-what, what is this.”
The blood flowing from the goblin corpses Han Bi-Yeol slaughtered moved. Forming a stream, it crawled along the cracks in the asphalt.

<Han Bi-yeol gains 937 experience points.>
Thump!
<Han Bi-yeol gains 821 experience points.>
Thump!
<Han Bi-yeol gains 764 experience points.>
Thump!

The blood simultaneously soaked into my body.
Hey! Hey! Come on!”
My back arched like a bow. The sensation of red particles racing through my blood vessels was vividly felt.
“Hey! Hey! Snap out of it!”
The man grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth. In my swaying vision, a sentence formed.

<The Subordinate (乙) Han Bi-yeol offers a portion of the acquired experience points.>

Was it a coincidence?
“…!!”
The bastard slaughtering the beasts quickly turned his head.
With the same face I saw in my last moments of my previous life.

<The Superior (甲)Seowonseok’s level has risen!>

He turned deathly pale.
Next.