Chapter 50

My mouth fell open at the sight before me.

Amid the hot, humid air, wetlands stretched endlessly through dense forest.

“This is a D-rank Gate…”

I knew higher-ranked Gates contained larger spaces. I just hadn’t expected the difference to be this extreme.

“Big, isn’t it?”

I forgot all about being angry and answered.

“Yeah. Big enough to be daunting.”

“This is about average. Once you reach B-rank Gates, you even have to hire a separate guide.”

“…Feels like we need one now.”

“We’ll be fine today.”

Team Leader Choi pulled out a laminated sheet and showed it to me.

“What’s that?”

“A map. They gave it to me when the rights were transferred.”

A map. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost—

“Wait. What did you just say?”

“I said it was a map.”

“No, not that. What you said after that.”

“You mean the transfer of rights?”

Yeah, you. That.

“What does that mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

Team Leader Choi spoke as if it were no big deal.

“This Gate is mine.”

“What?”

“More precisely, I hold the exclusive rights to it.”

Maybe it was the wetlands. Sweat beaded on my palms, and my throat went bone-dry.

I swallowed a dry gulp.

Exclusive rights to a Gate?

In Korea, Gates were national property.

Since the Great Cataclysm, Magic Gems had become a core energy source, and Gates were essentially diamond mines that never ran dry. Yet this guy held the exclusive rights to one.

Who the hell is he?

I knew he was some rich family’s young master, but I hadn’t realized he was this rich.

“Let’s get moving.”

Team Leader Choi strode ahead. His back looked dazzling.

Ah, that golden radiance. The scent of untouchable wealth.

I’ll bury my bones in your Guild.

I swore it then and there.

The wetlands were a maze.

Without a capable guide like Team Leader Choi, I would have wandered for a long time. How long had we been walking when—

• Keeiik.

The cry grew clearer as I drew up my internal energy.

A monster had appeared.

At least twenty.

According to Team Leader Choi’s explanation on the way here, the monsters in this Gate were swamp Lizardmen.

They lived in several colonies under a single tribe, and this seemed to be one of them.

“This is the small colony closest to the entrance. There should be about twenty, so let’s take them out quickly and move on.”

Team Leader Choi hacked through the vines as he advanced. He was usually a pretty-faced young master, but once actual combat began, he was no joke. Watching him barrel forward like an eight-ton¹ truck with a broken steering wheel, I could practically smell the machismo.

He’s fucking cool.

I felt like we could sweep aside not just thirty Lizardmen, but a hundred, as long as Team Leader Choi was with me.

Now I understood why people got high-level players to carry them in online games.

“Keiik!”

Maybe that was why I didn’t feel particularly nervous when I came face-to-face with Lizardmen for the first time.

Mostly, I was fascinated to see monsters I’d only ever encountered in photos and videos.

“Oh, they’re big.”

Even the smallest of the twenty stood a head taller than me.

They were at least two meters² tall, with lean muscles and thick tails that made them look even larger.

Still not as big as the Hobgoblin Great Warrior I fought yesterday, though.

These hideous basketball prospects didn’t seem too happy to see us.

• Keiik!

• Keet! Keet!

Dozens of harpoons flashed in their hands. I watched them approach from the front, spreading out to surround us.

“No archers.”

“Swamp Lizardmen mostly use harpoons. They might throw them, so be careful.”

“Yep.”

As expected of a lizard expert. He even stood there with his arms casually folded.

“Keiik!”

They had closed to within twenty meters.³ I grinned at Team Leader Choi.

“These guys have no fear.”

“That’s a Lizardman trait. They’re reckless, and they prefer a head-on fight.”

“Aha.”

In the meantime, the distance shrank to ten meters.⁴ Team Leader Choi’s folded arms were starting to bother me.

“I think it’s about time we started fighting.”

“Guess we should.”

“…Ah. Right. We should.”

Whoosh!

Then three or four harpoons tore through the air. If I’d still been an F-rank Hunter, my life would have flashed before my eyes. Now I just swung my spear and batted them aside.

Clang, clang, clang!

That was when I noticed something strange.

• Kieeeik!

• Keet! Keiik!

What’s wrong with them?

Their eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, and they shrieked wildly. This went beyond hostility. It was practically hatred.

As I stood there bewildered, Team Leader Choi casually remarked,

“It’s because of your equipment.”

Equipment? What did my equipment—

Ah.

Lizardman Hunter’s Leather Set. Lizardman Slayer’s Harpoon.

Shit. Just look at those names.

If I were a Lizardman, I’d throw harpoons too.

Come to think of it, they only threw them at me.

With their people’s mortal enemy standing right in front of them, they were treating Team Leader Choi like he was invisible.

At this rate, I was going to be the only one they attacked—

No, wait.

“Did you plan this?”

“Plan what?”

“You dressed me in this so I’d pull aggro while you mopped them up. That was your strategy all along, wasn’t it?”

“I swear it wasn’t.”

Team Leader Choi’s face turned serious as he added,

“I’m going to stand back and do nothing.”

“What?”

“You’ll pull the aggro and handle the raid. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

What the hell kind of bullshit is that?

“So… you want me to fight them alone?”

“Yes.”

“While you stand there with your arms folded and watch?”

“I’ll unfold my arms.”

“No, for fuck’s sake…”

“Harpoons incoming.”

Whoosh!

Harpoons flew as green scales flashed from every direction and the Lizardmen charged.

Team Leader Choi sprang back and shouted with heroic gravity,

“You got this!”

Was this guy completely insane?

I wanted to run over and grab him by the collar, but harpoons were already flying at me from every direction.

Clang!

• Keiik!

“You bastards.”

Grinding my teeth, I drew up my Qi Sense. Soon, twenty spears sprang up over their heads.

System

Lv. 40 Lizardman Tribesman

Level 40, huh?

I tightened my grip on my spear.

“You’re all dead.”

Ding.

System

• Damage dealt to this monster increases by 10% due to the effect of Lizardman Hunter’s Leather Set.

• Damage dealt to this monster increases by 20% due to the effect of Lizardman Slayer’s Harpoon.

• All Lizardmen in this Gate are hostile toward you. They will never stop until they have avenged this grudge!

At the same time, the Lizardman Slayer’s Harpoon traced a heavy arc. The forms of the Jin Family’s Spear Technique, now at Seven Stars,⁵ poured toward them.

Crunch!

• Keiik…

The yellow reptilian eyes slowly closed.

The green wetlands were soaked with the corpses and blood of the ones already dead. Not a single Lizardman was left standing.

Ding.

System

• Level Up!

• Level Up!

Leaving the cheerful System notifications behind, I turned around.

Team Leader Choi was leaning against a tree. He’d said he would unfold his arms, but there he was with them folded again. That made me twice as pissed.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Team Leader Choi silently stared at me, then tossed something over.

A small drink bottle filled with red liquid. A potion that restored depleted Stamina.

“So first you make me sick, then you give me medicine?”

“You look rather healthy for a sick man. You don’t have so much as a scratch.”

…That actually sounded plausible. I almost let myself be convinced.

While I hesitated, Team Leader Choi spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t stop there. He even bowed at the waist.

It was such a formal apology that I was left with nothing to say. My anger eased, but I still wanted to know why he had done it.

“Why did you do that?”

“I needed to see what you could do.”

“Just for that?”

“It’s important to me. I need to know how you move, how many enemies you can handle, and how far we can go together.”

“So you just slipped out alone while it was crawling with monsters?”

“If I hadn’t trusted you, I wouldn’t have done it.”

I had to admit, praise felt pretty good coming from someone as capable as him.

More importantly, I didn’t get hurt, and I leveled up twice.

Trying not to sound too eager, I asked,

“So what’s the verdict?”

“Hmm.”

Team Leader Choi studied me with that peculiar look of his. At last, he spoke.

“I still don’t know.”

“What?”

“Which is why…”

Team Leader Choi pulled something out and tossed it to me.

It was a long, opaque cylinder. Liquid sloshed inside when I shook it.

“What’s this, a potion?”

“There’s a button on the bottom, right? Press it.”

Does that open it?

I tilted my head and pressed the button.

Click.

The front of the cylinder sprang wide open.

The problem was—

Fwoooosh—

Boom!

Whatever had been inside shot up like a firework and burst in midair. The pink liquid exploded outward, spreading over a wide area.

“Huh?”

What is that?

As I stared blankly, Team Leader Choi’s voice slipped into my ear.

“Pheromones.”

“Pheromones? Like perfume?”

“Something like that.”

“…?”

“They were extracted from female Lizardmen.”

The instant he finished speaking, I felt a tremor from somewhere.

It was the ground. The ground was rumbling.

Team Leader Choi kindly added,

“They’re extremely potent.”

You bastard…

“Team Leader Three.”

Those were the first words the half-gray, middle-aged man had spoken in an hour. Kim Sangshik, who had spent all that time waiting while the Guild Master chain-smoked, answered immediately.

“Yes, Guild Master.”

“Curious, aren’t you? Figured I called you in first thing this morning to raise hell?”

“Ah, no, sir.”

The Sopung Guild Master smiled good-naturedly.

“You’re right.”

“What?”

“I called you to raise hell.”

“…”

“Do you know where I went today?”

The Guild Master exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke.

“The Guild Alliance breakfast meeting.”

Small and midsize Guilds were businesses too. In every region, Guild Masters held meetings to socialize and strengthen their alliances. Today had been one of those occasions.

“I went there on an empty stomach, and just as I was finally about to take a bite, that Sangdong Guild Master bastard told me something interesting. He said the C-rank who awakened recently had been one of our Guild members until a few days ago.”

“…Guild Master, that’s—”

The Guild Master raised a hand, cutting Kim Sangshik off.

“I thought it was bullshit. The Sangdong Guild Master might be a rude bastard, but he’s not the type to make up stories. Especially not at an alliance meeting.”

“I-I’ll look into it again!”

“Team Leader Three? No. No need.”

The Guild Master flung a crumpled bundle of papers across the room.

“I already looked into it myself.”

Kim Sangshik recognized the crumpled papers for what they were: someone’s personal file.

He recognized the name on it too.

“Jin Taekyung. Team Leader Three knows that name too, right?”

Fuck.

Kim Sangshik squeezed his eyes shut as the Guild Master tapped the ash from his cigarette.

“I know how you feel, Team Leader Three. You’re a founding member of the Guild, after all. You’re allowed to fire one bottom-tier Hunter you don’t like. Stick your beloved son in the vacancy. Right?”

“Yes. Yes, sir.”

“But the F-rank loach you treated like dirt and kicked out turned into a dragon and came back, huh? I even made a point of telling you to recruit him, but if you told the truth I’d obviously raise hell. You’d get a reputation for having dog eyes that can’t even recognize someone. So you filed a false report, right?”

Sizzle.

The Guild Master crushed out his cigarette. As the embers scattered, the last of his patience vanished with them.

“Team Leader Three. No, Sangshik. Have we been together about twenty years?”

Kim Sangshik answered uneasily.

“Twenty-one years, Guild Master.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“…Yes, hyung.”⁶

“Good. That sounds much better. Keep calling me that from now on.”

“What?”

“I’ve carried you for twenty-one years. I’ve done more than enough. I’ll speak to the rest of Team Three separately, so you’re leaving the Guild as of today.”

“H-hyung.”⁶

“Shut your mouth, leave quietly, and I won’t block your path. Once you’re out, do whatever you want.”

The Guild Master’s voice was packed with tightly suppressed fury.

Kim Sangshik realized he had no other choice.

Leave? Leave the Guild?

He had spent more than twenty years at this job. And now he was being told to leave over something like this. Cast aside without a second thought.

Fuck…

He clenched his teeth and walked out of the office.

One last blow came after him.

“Hey, HR. Process two terminations today. Kim Sangshik and Kim Sangho.”

For the next few days, Sopung Guild was in an uproar over the rare event of a father and son being forced out at the same time.

Along with that, the latest news about the bottom-tier Hunter who had recently left became the hottest topic in the Guild.

“They say he’s C-rank now. Reawakening.”

“Oh my, Mr. Taekyung? The Taekyung I know?”

“That’s what I’m telling you. He hit the jackpot. Apparently Kim Sangshik went to recruit him without even realizing who he was and got flat-out rejected.”

“He found every excuse he could to fire him, and now he’s reaping what he sowed. I heard Team Leader Kim’s been going around claiming he was wrongfully dismissed and badmouthing the Guild Master.”

“He still hasn’t come to his senses. Man, I’m jealous, though. When will I ever get to live a life like that?”

“Honestly, Taekyung deserves it. He worked so hard that luck finally found him.”

“Deserves it, my ass. Then are the rest of us all just living it up? It’s luck. All luck.”

Half envy and half jealousy, the conversations always ended with the same question.

“Where is Mr. Taekyung now, and what’s he doing?”