Chapter 581

Whump! BOOM!

A whip of fire lashed the ground. Piled snow melted, and yeti blood boiled. Kim Hwajong’s voice came through his clenched teeth as if he were chewing the words before spitting them out.

“Song Cheonwoo, you fucking bastard…”

The old butler’s wide-open eyes were fixed on the spot where someone had been lying only seconds ago.

If this was how it was going to end—if that bastard was going to meet a death like this—Hwajong should have killed him with his own hands. But Song Cheonwoo had summoned the last of some unknown strength, thrown himself into the deep crevasse, and met the death he had chosen for himself.

It was too good an end for a traitor. Worse still…

“We’ve lost an important witness. I’m sorry, Young Master.”

“No.”

Choi Minwoo shook his head at Kim Hwajong’s sigh-like murmur. His gaze remained fixed on the crevasse whose depth could not be estimated.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Butler Kim. I should have been more careful.”

Victory dulled vigilance. Perhaps all the more so after a fight that had been anything but easy. Choi poured the potion—still more than three-quarters full—over himself.

Hiss.

The sound of flesh burning filled the air as his wounds began to close little by little. Feeling a faint pain, he continued.

“Song Cheonwoo must have thought this was the only way to save his family.”

“…”

“I understand his situation, but… he must have been more desperate than we realized.”

Kim Hwajong muttered roughly, “Damn fool. There wasn’t even any guarantee this would save his family. Why do it?”

“He must have been that afraid. People cling to hope even in despair, don’t they?”

Choi answered quietly and took his eyes off the crevasse. He could not tell exactly how deep it was, but the drop had to be hundreds of meters.¹ Song had already been at death’s door. His chances of surviving the fall were close to zero.

“We should call the Guild members. No—it would be faster to have the Guild House send people.”

After more than twenty years together, Kim Hwajong knew at once what he meant.

“You want to recover his body?”

“I don’t know if we can, but we have to try. Song Cheonwoo is still Ares Guild’s European regional branch director.”

Death would not erase his position. If they could prove even half of what had happened here, the repercussions would reach beyond the impregnable fortress that was Ares Guild and shake Go Jun himself.

“Attempted murder, murder-for-hire—whatever the charge, it will stain even Ares Guild’s Vice Guild Master. Especially now.”

A fortress built through decades of effort did not crumble easily. But Go Jun was different. Choi Minwoo intended to use every bit of power at his disposal to unseat him as lord of that fortress.

“We’re going to be busier than ever. Both of us.”

Kim Hwajong smiled with pride.

“I’ve been waiting for this day.”

“I’m glad. That you’re always at my side.”

“Then put me to work before I get any older, Young Master. We’ll make that bastard Go Jun regret doing this.”

“That’s the plan.”

Choi nodded and walked away from the crevasse. Whether from his fierce fight with Song or the blood he had lost, exhaustion swept through him and made every step heavy.

Then, as his consciousness gradually grew hazy and he retraced the path he had taken, Choi Minwoo came to an abrupt stop.

Splash.

Muddy water mixed with snow and blood sprayed around him. Kim Hwajong, who had been following behind him, asked in confusion,

“Young Master?”

Choi Minwoo did not answer. He silently stared down at his foot, half-submerged in a puddle of murky water, then suddenly muttered,

“Regret.”

“Yes?”

“You said we’d make Go Jun regret doing this.”

“I did. Is there a problem…?”

“We left out why. Why did Go Jun do it?”

Choi looked at the puddle. A single step had splashed the water and sent ripples across it. Why, then, had Go Jun sent Song Cheonwoo, a member of Ares Guild, to assassinate him?

Because Song was powerful? Because he was a traitor?

Neither.

It’s a trap.

The thought struck like lightning. Choi began to tremble.

Not from the shock of his realization, and certainly not from exhaustion.

No. His body was not the only thing that had been trembling from the beginning.

Rumble…

Fresh ripples spread across the puddle as it was settling, and a heap of snow that had yet to melt collapsed. The ground was shaking. Terrified yetis cried out across the trembling mountain.

At the center of it all came a tremendous rumble.

Crack—RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

Choi and Kim Hwajong turned together. The ground split in a spiderweb of cracks, thin fractures running back toward the darkness behind them.

Crack! Crack-crack-crack!

The crevasse.

An enormous darkness whose end could not be seen opened its jaws. Darkness poured from the widening gap.

Darkness—no. Immense magical power shook the mountain and tore through space-time.

SHWAAAA!

And the two men saw what lay beyond the split in space: a boundless blue sky and buildings.

The world they had lived in. The world they were meant to go on living in.

“…Monster Wave.”

Two worlds that touched but should never have been connected had become linked. A roar announcing the beginning of the disaster reverberated in every direction.

—GRAAAAAAAH!

Facing the abyss as it finally revealed itself, Kim Hwajong stepped in front of his young master, his gaze darker than ever.

Step.

A snowstorm swept around them. Blackened by magical power, it was no longer white—or beautiful.

“Team Leader, how about a drink?”

A team member came over with a soju² bottle and an easy grin. The Team Leader answered curtly.

“No, asshole.”

Despite his words, his glass was already being raised ever so slightly. The team member grinned as if he knew everything and filled the empty glass.

Glug, glug, glug.

The Team Leader threw back the full glass in one gulp, then dipped a piece of flounder sashimi deep in the spicy-sweet sauce and swallowed it. The chewy bite lifted his mood a little.

“…Shit. At least it tastes good.”

“Right? This place is famous in the Hunter community.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Search for it and you’ll find plenty of reviews. People say it’s perfect for a drink after a raid.”

“Of course the drinks taste good to them. They finish a raid and pick up plenty of Magic Gems. They didn’t come away empty-handed like me.”

“…Oh, boy. Here he goes again.”

The Team Leader smacked his lips. If he belonged to a Guild, it would hardly matter whether a raid came to nothing. But he led a freelance Hunter team. That meant paying the daily wages of everyone laughing and chatting around him, even if the money had to come out of his own pocket.

Including this shameless bastard who had come over to him.

“You’re not mad, are you, Team Leader?”

“Forget it, punk. Pour me another.”

“Yes, sir.”

The team member snapped a salute and poured. The Team Leader gave a quiet laugh and looked out beyond the railing.

The raid had fallen through, but drinking while looking over the landscape, white from a recent snowfall, was not so bad.

Pyeongchang really does have nice scenery. The scenery, anyway.

That was probably why they had built so many ski resorts around here.

He kept emptying his glass as he took in the view. The crowds at the ski resort and the gondolas running nonstop up and down the mountain showed just how little sense those people had.

“Hey. Isn’t this funny?”

The team member looked up from the sashimi he had been devouring.

“What is?”

“There’s a Gate right up on that mountain, and magical power has risen by seven percent. They’re still out there doing this shit.”

Worse, when he came down and checked the news, he had learned that a Monster Wave had broken out in Busan. The Team Leader shook his head.

“Then again, when COVID broke out while I was a kid, there were idiots who still went skiing.”

“Melona?”³

“…Never mind. Just keep stuffing your face.”

He sighed and drained his glass. Thinking about what must be happening in Busan made his chest tighten.

“Uh—uh-oh! Oh, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

“What?”

“…Why is she doing that again?”

Everyone turned toward the outburst. A female Hunter in her twenties, who had been deep in thought for a while, was waving her smartphone wildly.

“Wow! No way! This is insane!”

The Team Leader looked at her with concern.

“Yeah. Seems like it.”

“No, not that! I told you earlier, didn’t I? I thought I recognized that masked, incredibly handsome guy up there!”

The Team Leader recalled the Hunters they had encountered, particularly the young man at the back.

“Yeah. Thanks to them, our raid was a bust.”

“But it’s him! Wow, that’s incredible. Kim Sohye, how did you spot him? Are your eyes really that good?”

“I’m about to lose my mind listening to you. Could you please tell me what you’re talking about?”

“Look! Right here!”

She thrust the phone in front of his face. He frowned, then saw the face on the screen and opened his eyes wide.

“What the hell? Is this for real? They do look alike, I guess…”

“I’m telling you, it’s him! You don’t trust me, Team Leader?”

“No.”

“Ah, damn it! This time I’m certain, so believe me! I’ve got an eye for this that I honed through thirty years of idol fandom!”

“You’re twenty-five. Was your father a fan too?”

“Anyway, I’m right! If I’m wrong, you don’t have to pay me today!”

A slave to capitalism had put her day’s wages on the line. Only then did the Team Leader start to believe her. He was curious, too.

If it’s true… why would someone that important come all the way here?

Beside a face handsome enough to belong to a celebrity, the phone displayed a short article.

Peace Guild Team Leader Choi Minwoo: “The Emergency Rescue Team Is for Everyone”

A big shot. A very big shot.

The Team Leader had not seen the masked man’s face clearly, but the calm eyes and distinctive air in the photograph did seem familiar.

If it really was him, the other Hunters must be Peace Guild members too.

Choi Minwoo had become famous enough recently that the Team Leader had heard about him several times. But even if only half of those stories were true, the man should have been too busy to breathe. Why would he lead his Guild members to a B-grade Gate in Pyeongchang?

Wait. Then that older man I saw on the way down…

Before he could finish the thought—

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

A tremendous vibration began to sweep through the area. For an instant, every sound fell silent, and everyone turned their heads in the same direction as if they had planned it.

The Team Leader noticed what was wrong first. He had already been looking there before the shaking began.

…That place…

The place he had climbed toward with such high hopes, only to come back down empty-handed.

The B-grade Gate known as Yeti’s Winter Range.

The next moment, what appeared in the Team Leader’s widened eyes was part of the mountain slowly collapsing, with pitch-black darkness settling over it. Amid the wreckage of collapsing gondolas and buildings, a dreadful roar shook him to his core.

—GRAAAAAAAH!

A Monster Wave.

And there were still people inside the Gate.

Overcome by suffocating terror, the Team Leader forced out a voice he had barely managed to squeeze together.

“Report it! Right now!”

A frightened question came back.

“W-where?”

“The Hunter Association, the Peace Guild, Jin Taekyung—anywhere! Right now!”