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Chapter 03
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang—!
[Gate Clear! Would you like to receive the clear reward?]
A hazy status window rose before the eyes of Kang Jinseo, who had solo-cleared an AA-rank Gate.
Because of his wide-area collapse skill, the monsters and the ruins of buildings had turned to dust and floated up into the air, obscuring his vision.
Jinseo frowned and checked the time on his wristwatch.
He used it to measure how long it took to clear a Gate.
4 hours 19 minutes.
Seeing a number that far exceeded his expected time, Jinseo roughly brushed back his hair, now turned gray from being covered in dust.
“I’m going to get an earful again.”
It felt as though the nagging of Association employee Ian could be heard all the way here.
‘How many times do I have to tell you not to smash perfectly fine walls to make your own path instead of following the one that’s already there?!’
And Jinseo would always give the same reply.
‘I just wish I had at least one teammate who’s good at finding their way.’
But everyone knew his wish would never come true.
His wide-area collapse skill possessed merciless attack power that applied to allies as well.
To begin with, how many Hunters in this world could withstand the attack of an S-rank Hunter?
‘Ugh! I swear that guy gets lost on purpose?!’
Ian had exploded in frustration like that, but Jinseo truly had no sense of direction.
Whenever he used his skill, the places where paths once existed would become barren empty lots, so he couldn’t get his bearings at all.
Just like today, covered head to toe in dust, Jinseo shoved himself into the Gate’s exit.
The moment the air of the city rushed into his lungs—
The frantic notification sounds ringing from his phone told him that something serious had happened.
[Catastrophe-class Maze Gate has appeared. All Hunters, please deploy immediately. Dongjak-gu, Mapo-gu, Songpa-gu…….]
He immediately ran to the nearest Gate in Mapo-gu, but just before entering, he came to an abrupt halt.
Because of a single word that belatedly came to mind.
‘Maze.’
If he got lost even in ordinary dungeons, just how many hours would he wander if he entered a Maze Gate?
“Haah…….”
A short sigh escaped his lips.
A faint tension spread across his otherwise expressionless face, yet without hesitation, he entered the Gate.
As he plummeted from the sky at high speed and landed with both feet atop a massive maze wall, a heavy “Koo-woong!” boom resounded.
“…….”
Inside the Gate, he felt a strange sense of dissonance.
An odd feeling he couldn’t even describe, despite having entered everything from low-rank to the highest-difficulty Gates.
It was clearly different from any Gate he had entered before.
“Don’t enter the maze! Protect as many civilians as possible from here!”
“Five charging-type monsters approaching from the front!”
“Healer! Over here!”
“Aaaah! Please save me!”
In the large open area, Hunters rushed about in order to protect the civilians who had fallen into the Gate.
Jinseo let out a short sigh.
For someone who always played solo due to his wide-area skill that didn’t distinguish between ally and enemy, a Gate filled with civilians imposed many restrictions.
If he used his skill, people would be swept away, and if he killed monsters one by one with his sword, he would surely get lost and be trapped in the maze.
Hoping that a capable Hunter who could find the exit in his stead had entered this Gate, Jinseo leapt down from the wall.
More than three hours had passed since the rank 1 Hunter entered the Gate, yet nothing had changed.
No—if anything, it had worsened.
Hunters whose stamina was drained were gradually being pushed back by monsters, and terrified civilians were blocking the Hunters’ paths.
Jinseo, who had been moving along the tops of the maze walls gathering lost civilians into the central clearing, clicked his tongue at the hopelessness of this Gate raid.
He was forcibly creating paths by smashing down maze walls at random, but damn it all, even the walls respawned (Respawn: revival, regeneration).
In the end, he had no choice but to return to the central clearing. If he himself got lost and trapped in the maze, there would be no one left to help the Hunters protecting the civilians there.
“Damn it……. The monsters are pushing in again…….”
“Aaaah! The barrier’s been breached here!”
“I’m out of mana……. I’m out of potions too!”
Even if he protected them all, there would eventually be a limit. If they couldn’t find the exit like this, they would be overwhelmed and die by the endlessly spawning monsters.
Now was the time to make a decision.
“…….”
Having finished his deliberation, he moved to the place farthest from the central clearing.
He intended to destroy the entire Gate with his wide-area collapse skill, leaving only the exit behind.
Of course, he had no confidence he could control the skill’s range enough to keep the central clearing from collapsing.
The more monsters and structures he destroyed, the more mana he absorbed from them, causing him to lose self-control—his fatal weakness.
“…….”
It was a dangerous act that could turn everyone except himself into dust……
But at the moment, he couldn’t think of a better method.
Jinseo stood still, drawing in a thin breath. The sensation at his fingertips was gradually dulling.
At that moment, the devastation caused by his mistake five years ago flashed through his mind. But he forced himself to ignore it. There was no other way.
Just as he was about to release the seal and unleash the dense mana within him to its maximum—
“……!”
He sensed a familiar flow of mana not too far away.
‘The exit?’
It was the distinct mana flow that could only be felt from a Gate’s exit. Jinseo quickly turned his head.
With the keen eyesight of an S-rank Hunter, he caught sight of a woman limping as she ran toward the newly formed Gate exit.
A slender woman with long brown straight hair tied up in one bundle.
……Was it just his imagination that her silhouette looked familiar?
Tudukuduk.
The dirt and monster remains that had turned to dust due to his ability and were floating in the air instantly fell to the ground.
At that moment.
A status window appeared before the eyes of everyone inside the Gate.
[Gate Clear!]
At the same time, Jinseo dashed toward the Gate exit at top speed.
He had never heard of a Hunter in Korea possessing a detection skill. But she was a woman who had found an exit that none of the Hunters inside the Gate had been able to locate. There was no way she didn’t have a detection skill.
If so, she must be either an unregistered Hunter or a freelance Hunter. Or perhaps she had just awakened today.
No matter what, he had to find the woman with that rare skill.
Not only would she be a great help to the nation, but he also intended to ask her to become a teammate to raid Gates with him.
Until the very moment the exit was created, Jinseo had never once sensed the woman’s presence or mana, meaning she was either the same rank as him or even higher.
‘I have to catch her somehow.’
The instant Jinseo stepped out through the exit—
“Oh! It’s Hunter Kang Jinseo!”
“Film it! Film it! The Gate’s been cleared!”
“As expected, Hunter Kang Jinseo did it!”
The woman he was looking for was nowhere to be seen; only civilians thrusting out their phones and reporters holding cameras crowded the area.
Barely twenty seconds had passed since the woman exited.
Yet no one knew where she had gone.
February 19th, 10:10 p.m.
Thousands of civilians poured out from the Maze Gate exit in Seoul.
It was achieved roughly four hours after Maze Gates had appeared around the world.
Even countries possessing Hunters with detection skills had been groaning, unable to find even a clue to clear their Gates—yet all eleven Gates in Seoul had been cleared.
The first to emerge from the exit was S-rank Hunter Kang Jinseo. News of him spread swiftly across the globe.
The Korean Hunter Association and the Presidential Office were unable to carry out normal operations due to the nonstop ringing phones and flooding messages.
Chairman Maeng, who had looked miserable just minutes earlier, now couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.
“Kuhahaha! As expected of our S-rank Hunter! Never fails to meet expectations! Who called him directionally challenged, huh?”
Upon hearing that Kang Jinseo was returning to headquarters, Chairman Maeng couldn’t sit still on the sofa.
A blessing! A golden blessing!
The whole world is clamoring, saying they’ll hand over billions if we just send them Hunter Kang Jinseo!
If we send Jinseo to clear Gates in other countries one by one?
Not only would the status of the Korean Hunter Association soar to the heavens, we could pile up money all the way into space.
“But when on earth is he arriv—!”
“……I’m late.”
“Oh! O-Oh! Hunter Kang! My goodness! You’ve worked hard, truly. Have a seat first. I even personally prepared the drink you like. Here, drink this first.”
Jinseo looked down at the glass of milk suddenly thrust into his hand. Steam was rising from it.
His neatly shaped eyebrows creased slightly.
It was true that he liked milk, but it displeased him that Chairman Maeng knew that fact.
Jinseo promptly set the glass back down on the table.
“I’ll submit the Gate report immediately after washing up.”
His cold, subdued voice echoed quietly through the chairman’s office.
“No, no! The report can wait!”
“……Were you going to ask why the raid took longer? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I—”
“Hunter Kang!”
Chairman Maeng cut him off and firmly grabbed his scarred hand.
His eyes were gleaming like never before.
“Don’t be surprised.”
“……?”
“The whole world is waiting for you! They said they’ll give you however much money you want and even hand over whatever national treasure item you desire!”
“……?”
“You’re speechless from shock! Hahaha! No wonder! Even those prideful countries like Germany and Russia—!”
Jinseo gently pulled his hand free from the chairman’s grasp, his brows knitting slightly.
“Why are those countries waiting for me?”
“Why else? Ah! Hunter Kang might not know. The Maze Gate that appeared in Seoul has also appeared in capitals around the world. But we’re the only ones who’ve cleared it! So everyone’s in an uproar, asking us to send Hunter Kang to their country first!”
Greed overflowed from Chairman Maeng’s eyes.
“The President will be arriving shortly! He’s decided to respect Hunter Kang’s opinion, but if you ask me, in return we should receive Germany’s S-rank relic—”
Ha.
It was Jinseo’s low sigh that cut off Chairman Maeng’s lively voice.
His deeply sunken brown eyes stared straight at the chairman.
“I was not the one who cleared the Gate.”
“What? If not Hunter Kang, then who cleared the Gate……?”
In the chairman’s office, which had been buzzing with intense excitement, silence fell in an instant.
