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Chapter 15
“Hold on.”
Even through the ear-splitting sound of the helicopter propellers, sunbae’s voice came through clearly.
Holding one hand out to me, he calmly told me to wrap my arms around his neck.
I squeezed my eyes shut after seeing the dizzying height beyond the door.
If I didn’t cling to Jinseo sunbae now, I would have to jump down from this height myself. Because of the emergency situation room’s limited conditions, the helicopter couldn’t land on the ground.
Everyone aboard the helicopter was a Hunter, and they said jumping from this height was nothing to them… I couldn’t bring myself to be a burden.
Every time I hesitated over something like this, I thought about how people trapped inside the Gate might lose their lives. That made even this fear feel like a luxury.
“Keep your eyes closed.”
As I awkwardly wrapped my trembling arms around his neck, a low voice rang by my ear.
It was a flat, monotone voice without much inflection, yet there was an inexplicable sense of stability within it.
The descent happened in an instant.
After a brief pain, like my organs dropping with a thud, I was able to safely set both feet on the ground.
“Waaaaah!”
I hurriedly slipped out of his arms and moved behind Ian.
It was because I was overwhelmed by the enormous crowd cheering.
Camera flashes went off nonstop. It was hard to even open my eyes properly, yet sunbae walked forward as if it were nothing.
So this is the world he sees.
How heavy must the burden be that rests on those broad shoulders?
“From now on, you must never take off your glasses or mask.”
Amid my unfamiliar thoughts, Ian’s voice reached me.
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
The black horn-rimmed glasses I was wearing were actually an A-grade disguise item made by Enchanter Shin Sohee.
It was decided that there would be nothing good about my identity being exposed.
To people now, I supposedly looked like a completely different ‘man’ from my original self.
“You…!”
Of course, there were exceptions.
If the other party was an S-rank Hunter or higher, the item’s disguise skill wouldn’t work.
Nara unnie, an S-rank Healer, looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
Even though I was wearing a mask on top of the item out of caution, she seemed to recognize me at a glance.
However, knowing I was using a disguise item, she didn’t approach me recklessly.
‘Sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance, unnie.’
When I subtly signaled to her with my eyes, unnie let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair.
I’d probably be subjected to an enormous scolding later.
“Hyung, what’s wrong?”
Because I was focused on Nara unnie, I didn’t realize Jinseo sunbae had stopped walking.
When Ian approached Jinseo, who was staring intently at one spot, and whispered, he soon shook his head and started walking again.
Where his gaze had landed was a temporary tent with the Korean flag hanging on it.
‘What is it.’
As we were heading to the waiting area we’d been guided to—
“Ahh!”
Someone’s hand quickly grabbed me.
“Nara un—!”
“Shh.”
Unnie dragged me into the temporary tent where she was staying.
Seeing her with both hands on her hips and her brows furrowed, she looked properly angry.
“Why you’re here, what those glasses are, and why you’re registered as an A-rank Healer—summarize it.”
“That is…”
“I’ll hear excuses later.”
“If I really summarize it, I awakened. I’m in the Healer line, but I can also make items like an Enchanter. The mist I gave you too…”
“No, no. Wait, wait!”
As expected, Nara unnie was shocked.
She looked like she didn’t even know what she had just heard.
“You awakened? Bitna, you? Huh? Did I hear that right?”
“That’s right. I’m still getting used to it.”
When I said it with a faint smile, unnie stared at me blankly.
“Awakened…? No, but what does you awakening have to do with being here?!”
“If I summarize that too, my ability is helpful to Kang Jinseo sunbae, so…”
I deliberately didn’t bring up the contract or mana addiction treatment since it would take too long to explain.
As soon as she heard that, unnie let out a sigh as if she might collapse at any moment.
“What in the world is this… Seriously… Congratulations on awakening, but… you shouldn’t be coming to somewhere this dangerous! I’m going to go argue with Kang Jinseo.”
“Unnie, I’m fine.”
In truth, the one who made me come here wasn’t sunbae, but the status window. More precisely, the status window in the form of a black cat.
“…Huh?”
At that moment, a black cat with sleek fur slipped into the tent. Familiar yellow eyes and a plump tail…
“Kkamiya!”
Unnie recognized the cat.
“Is it your cat, unnie?”
“No? It’s been wandering around here, so I’ve been feeding it.”
“Myaa.”
Was it my imagination? Tilting my head, I became certain when I saw the cat staring straight at me as it meowed.
That’s Mimi.
“Unnie, I want to hold the cat too.”
Just like she had done to me earlier, I quickly snatched Mimi and hid around the corner outside a tent.
“Why are you here….”
“To check the Gate’s condition.”
“The quest…”
“To see you as well, and to test your aptitude.”
“…The stamp, copying.”
“I thought it was a good method. Don’t humans traditionally make promises that way?”
Was this how unnie felt when looking at me?
My insides felt so frustrated they might flip over, but since I had nothing to say, only a sigh escaped.
“Let me ask one thing.”
“They’re looking for you. Speak quickly.”
“Do I absolutely have to enter the Gate? I hired a part-timer so I wouldn’t have to do dangerous work.”
“There’s something I want to experiment with.”
“What does that mean?”
At that moment, I heard footsteps approaching.
“Yebin 씨!”
When I turned my head briefly at the voice calling for me and then looked back, Mimi was already gone.
“…Did it run away?”
“Entering the Gate.”
Kang Jinseo and five Korean Healers gathered important information that the Tokyo Gate induced hypothermia due to its low temperature and water-attribute terrain. After adjusting their clothing and items accordingly, they dropped into the maze Gate along with relief supplies.
“My god…”
“What is this…”
The moment we entered the Gate, we could only stand there with our mouths open, staring around.
It was an overwhelming sight.
As if time had stopped, towering waves were frozen in hook-like shapes.
If the maze I had fallen into before had walls like common wooden fences, then the Tokyo Gate meant walls made of waves.
The blue wave walls were so high you had to tilt your head back to see their ends. Even more shocking was the fact that inside those wave walls, fish-shaped monsters wriggled, watching humans for a chance to strike.
The moment someone entered the maze to find the exit, those monsters would surely burst out and attack.
It was a Gate several times more difficult than the Seoul Mapo-gu Gate.
No wonder everyone was stuck in the central plaza, unable to move.
“Jinseo hyung? Jinseo hyung!?”
A familiar voice rang out.
When we turned toward the sound, a man with bright red dyed hair came running while waving his hand energetically.
For some reason, the man was shirtless. Because of that, my eyes were naturally drawn to his solid upper body muscles.
Running over cheerfully with a bright, puppy-like smile, this man was Korea’s rising rookie Hunter, Oh Hyeongtaek.
“Oh, Hunter!”
Seeing Oh Hyeongtaek appear unexpectedly unharmed, people let out sighs of relief.
Those who had been anxious about possibly losing one of Korea’s few S-rank Hunters now smiled brightly. The Japanese Hunters who had entered with him were the same.
If an S-rank Hunter from Korea who had come to support a Japanese Gate were to die, the aftershock would be unimaginably enormous.
“I seriously, seriously didn’t expect hyung to come support! Wow, seeing you abroad makes it even nicer!”
“The situation?”
“As you can see! Even S-rank Hunters can’t move! We can’t dry our bodies, so it’s freaking cold!”
“The maze?”
“Ah, that thing’s insane. When you enter the maze, those fish bastards rush at you like crazy. And if you don’t run within the time limit, those waves swallow people!”
Hearing Hyeongtaek’s explanation, it seemed slightly different from Korea’s Gate.
Instead of the maze moving periodically, there was a time limit to pass through each alley.
When someone asked if that meant an S-rank could protect Hunter Oori, who had a detection skill, and pass through the maze walls, Hyeongtaek shook his head.
“They say the skill won’t activate. I can’t just run around this huge place like a madman by myself, so this is how it turned out.”
Hunter Oori lowered her head deeply. She could sense that the gazes directed at her weren’t kind.
“Ah, it’s okay, noona! Daijoubu! Sometimes things like that just happen in life.”
Hyeongtaek laughed heartily and thumped Hunter Oori’s shoulder hard. Each time, she was pushed back weakly.
After grasping the situation, Jinseo drew the sword from his waist.
“The Healers stay here. I’ll enter alone.”
“Huh, hyung. Then what about me?”
“Not needed.”
At the cold rejection, Hyeongtaek shouted that he was perfectly fine and should go along.
Contrary to his confident attitude, his lips were already blue from the cold.
Clicking his tongue, sunbae took off his waterproof outer jacket and tossed it at Hyeongtaek’s face.
“Oh, thanks.”
Without the slightest hesitation, sunbae turned his back and headed toward the maze. In one hand, he held his weapon; in the other, my bottle of oil.
The once noisy plaza fell silent in an instant.
Behind his steady footsteps, the desperate wishes of the people clung.
“Hyung! It’s not too late! If you’re scared, I’ll help! Those fish are crazy strong!”
Hyeongtaek shouted playfully at sunbae, who had suddenly stopped walking.
He must have thought sunbae stopped out of fear.
But I didn’t agree.
Because in the expression of sunbae, who turned back briefly to look at me, there wasn’t even a trace of fear.
Rather, he brushed back his fallen bangs and let out a low chuckle.
The neatly revealed teeth and the pleasing curve of his eyes remained in my memory for a strangely long time.
