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Chapter 7
I clutched my head and cried out in despair.
“I awakened as an F-rank, and now you want me to go into a gate?! Isn’t that basically telling me to go die?!”
“Forget the points, I can’t do this!”
The shop? Important.
Bungeoppang? Great.
But my life was even more important. I had no desire to get trampled to death by monsters while trying to gather some weird herb.
“You don’t need to worry about that냥. You are under my blessing냥.”
Hanyang explained that the monsters inside the gate would perceive me as part of nature, like a rock or a patch of grass.
If I made loud noises or attacked them, they would sense something strange, but otherwise I should be fine.
“So as long as I stay quiet, I won’t die?”
“That’s right냥.”
“That is reassuring, but…”
There was another reason I hated the idea of entering a gate.
My parents had died in a gate accident.
‘More specifically, because the initial suppression failed.’
Nowadays, technology had advanced enough to predict when and where gates would appear. Hunters could even enter gates beforehand and eliminate dangers in advance.
But only a few years ago, it was normal for hunters to deal with gates after they had already opened.
And whenever a gate burst open, hundreds of casualties could occur.
‘My parents were victims of one of those incidents.’
A gate had suddenly appeared while they were returning home after closing the shop. Hunters were dispatched immediately, but the scale of the gate was larger than expected, and the initial suppression failed.
My mother and father died meaningless deaths at the hands of monsters there.
“…No matter how I think about it, entering a gate feels wrong.”
I bit my lip as vivid memories of my parents’ deaths resurfaced. Hanyang’s blessing reduced the danger, but fear was still fear.
Yet giving up the mission made the reward hard to ignore. Having points would really help.
“It’d be nice to get the points for the shop… Is there another way?”
“Don’t worry냥. Once the shop upgrades, the equipment naturally improves too냥.”
“Upgrade? You mean this?”
I checked the number remaining until the new menu unlock.
438 out of 500 left. I only needed to bake about fifty more bungeoppang to unlock a new menu.
“That’s right냥. So if you really don’t want to, you don’t need to force yourself into a gate just for points냥.”
“If you’re okay with it… can I think about this mission a little longer?”
“If you dislike it, there’s nothing I can force you to do냥.”
Hanyang rubbed against me as if trying to comfort me.
Maybe there was another way to solve Hunter Ria’s problem. After hesitating for a while, I closed the mission window.
Beeeeeeep—
A shrill ringing split through the silence.
A woman lying peacefully in bed frowned sharply, as though paper were crumpling.
Outside, cold winter rain drizzled endlessly.
“…3:07.”
After checking the clock, she sighed.
She had finally fallen asleep after tossing and turning for hours, yet only ten minutes had passed.
‘Ha… I’m exhausted.’
Her name was Ria Minogue, an A-rank high-level hunter—part of the top 5% of hunters in the world.
And she suffered from a horrifying awakening side effect: sensory overload.
After lying in bed for a long while, Ria finally got up.
Her head felt heavy, her eyes throbbed painfully.
She was exhausted enough to collapse, but the moment she closed her eyes, every sound around her tormented her and kept her awake.
“The rain just keeps coming…”
She stared blankly at the falling rain before changing clothes.
Sleep still wouldn’t come, and her mind felt hazy, like she was underwater. At times like this, moving her body felt better.
She packed her belongings out of habit, tied up her hair tightly, and stepped outside.
The cold dawn air carried the damp smell of rainwater.
“It feels just like the day I first awakened.”
Four years ago, when she first awakened, everyone’s expectations had focused on her. Even the Australian Prime Minister had personally visited her home to congratulate her.
Remembering that day, she let out a bitter smile.
‘What was the point? I couldn’t do anything inside the gate.’
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, she had frozen stiff like a block of wood during her first gate mission.
Inside that gate were hundreds of giant yellow spiders larger than adult men. They spat venomous webs and screeched horrifying cries.
‘Aaaah! Help me!’
‘G-get away! Stay back!’
No matter how many she cut down, the spiders kept charging at them.
She saw fellow hunters being bitten, chunks of flesh torn away, skin melting from poison.
Among them was a friend who had awakened alongside her.
‘R-Ria! Help me!’
When the monster approached, her terrified friend called out to her.
But Ria’s legs had stiffened like wax left to harden. She couldn’t move.
‘Come to think of it… I haven’t truly slept since then.’
Whenever she closed her eyes, she felt as though hundreds of spiders were crawling all over her body.
At the same time, she heard the agonized screams of her teammates in her ears. Her friend begging for help.
Even when she managed to drift into a light sleep, she always woke soon after, drenched in cold sweat.
Eventually, she decided on a new approach.
She would become strong enough that monsters no longer frightened her.
‘You’re really leaving?’
‘Yeah. I’ll definitely come back stronger.’
That determination was why she chose to leave Australia and come to Korea.
The friend who barely survived the gate came to see her off at the airport and hugged her tightly.
‘I’ll work hard here too, so if things get difficult, come back anytime!’
Ria nodded, but deep down, she swore she would never return until she became stronger.
Her goal was to surpass Korea’s S-rank hunter, Lee Hyunwoo.
Even if she couldn’t beat him because of the rank difference, she at least wanted to reach a similar level.
‘But instead of catching up, I feel like I’m just holding everyone back.’
Watching him from the sidelines, the power of an S-rank was terrifying.
Unbelievable reflexes. Fearlessly diving into swarms of monsters. Overwhelming strength.
She struggled desperately just to reach even a fraction of his ability, but he showed no interest in her at all.
‘…He might even find me annoying.’
Everything was because she was weak.
Because she failed to protect her comrades.
Because she failed to earn her leader’s acknowledgment.
‘If I want to prove my worth, I need to work harder than this.’
Ignoring the splitting headache stabbing into her brain, she stepped into the freezing dawn air.
She never wanted to remain someone useless inside a gate again.
“A-are you saying Hunter Ria got injured?”
Several days later, I heard shocking news.
Ria Hunter had been seriously hurt inside a gate.
“They said she suddenly lost her balance during combat and staggered.”
“Oh no… I’m so worried.”
“They said it’s because of her awakening side effect. I had no idea it was this severe.”
Hunters who were apparently her fans sighed anxiously.
She had only staggered for a single moment.
But inside a gate, a single moment was enough to determine life or death.
Thankfully, the surrounding hunters noticed something was wrong and reacted quickly enough to prevent disaster, but it was still an extremely dangerous situation.
“Awakening side effect?”
“Yes. They said the biggest issue was accumulated fatigue from not getting proper sleep.”
“Ah…”
I bit my lip.
I remembered the time she staggered at my shop.
“I thought taste loss was the only side effect…”
“That’s just the basic one. Side effects vary from person to person.”
Ria Hunter’s side effect was sensory overload.
Her sharpened senses constantly kept her on edge.
‘And she’s been forcing herself through intense training every single day…’
The Ria Hunter I saw had been someone whose body was already screaming for rest.
“We’ll get going…”
Normally, the hunters who bought bungeoppang would brighten immediately, but today they merely chewed silently and shuffled away gloomily.
Seeing them like that made me feel depressed too.
“Your expression looks bad냥.”
“Knowing Hunter Ria got hurt… it’s bothering me.”
By now, I had baked all 500 bungeoppang, unlocked the new menu item—cream-filled bungeoppang—and completed the shop upgrade.
But I still hadn’t unlocked the special effect, leaving the slot empty.
In other words, I had kept postponing entering the gate, telling myself I’d find another solution.
“…Would things have been different if I had unlocked the special effect?”
That thought suddenly crossed my mind.
If I had bravely entered the gate and gathered the herb…
If I had created a bungeoppang with special effects…
Would she have avoided getting hurt?
“Don’t think like that냥. This is not your fault냥.”
“I know. I know that, but… I still ignored something I could have done.”
No matter how hard I tried not to think about it, it kept bothering me.
Especially whenever the words Special Effect Fusion Available flashed beside the cream-filled bungeoppang menu.
Eventually, the next day, when the recovered Ria Hunter visited my shop again, I finally made up my mind.
“Hunter! Are you feeling better?”
“So the rumors have already spread. I’m fine. I just lost concentration for a moment…”
But even as she spoke, exhaustion still lingered visibly on her face.
I’d heard she had received treatment from the Management Bureau, but apparently awakening side effects couldn’t be cured that way.
At this rate, I felt like something truly terrible might happen to her.
“Hunter… if, hypothetically speaking…”
Before handing her the bag of bungeoppang, I carefully spoke.
“How would you feel about a bungeoppang with a deep-sleep effect?”
“…A bungeoppang with a sleep effect?”
She stared at the bag in my hands.
As if asking whether I really meant this bungeoppang.
When I nodded, she quietly fell into thought.
“I’ve tried every possible method said to help insomnia. Items too, of course.”
After a pause, she slowly shook her head.
“…But none of them worked for me. So I don’t expect anything anymore.”
Though her tone was calm, I could tell how many times she had hoped for a solution only to end in disappointment.
I placed the bag into her hands and said,
“Would you be willing to trust one more time? I’ll prepare a special bungeoppang just for you.”
“With this bungeoppang?”
I nodded.
Ria Hunter clearly didn’t believe bungeoppang could suddenly gain such an effect.
But instead of arguing, she simply nodded.
“Well… alright. Thank you for saying that.”
After checking the time, she said she was late for training, gave a small bow, and left.
I stared in the direction she disappeared before speaking to Hanyang.
“Let’s enter the gate.”
“Really냥?”
“Yeah. I can’t just sit around doing nothing when there’s a possible solution.”
Gates were still terrifying.
But I decided to trust in Hanyang’s blessing.
If I entered quickly, quietly picked the herbs before attracting attention, and left immediately, it should be fine.
Tomorrow was the weekend too—perfect timing to temporarily close the shop.
“So if I click the Enter button, I’ll be transported directly into the gate?”
“That’s right냥. Same principle as moving to the shop냥.”
Thankfully, I wouldn’t need to ask anyone for help entering a gate, making it easier to move quietly.
Since I had no idea what kind of gate the Red Plains was, I prepared thoroughly at home first.
“Water packed. Snacks, emergency medicine…”
I even brought a hammer from home, though I had no idea whether it would actually help inside a gate.
Extra clothes, and even a sleeping bag in case I got stuck there longer than expected.
By the time I finished packing, it practically looked like I was preparing for an overseas trip.
Without my inventory skill, I probably would’ve needed an entire suitcase.
“This should be enough. Hanyang, are you ready?”
“I’m always ready냥!”
“Alright. Let’s go.”
I reopened the mission window I had hidden away and clicked the [Enter] button beside the gate.
Enter Gate ‘Red Plains’?
Yes / No
‘…Alright. Let’s do this.’
Holding Hanyang tightly in my arms, I clicked Yes.
And with the sensation of the ground collapsing beneath my feet—
My vision suddenly shifted.
