41 chapter - Swamp Zone (4)

It was a clean strike straight through the heart.

But unlike normal Lizardmen, the boss monster didn’t die even with its heart destroyed.

Crack!

The Lizardman Boss, clearly agitated, smashed through the ice and glared at Hong Soo-ah.

She looked momentarily flustered.

‘Does she not know much about Lizardmen?’

It was an expression unimaginable from the veteran she'd shown herself to be so far—but I still shouted out.

“Go for the head!”

-Krrwoooaaar!!

With its eyes rolled back, the monster sank beneath the surface of the water.

Crkcrkcrkcrack!

Hong Soo-ah instinctively sensed it was aiming for her, and summoned a thick ice floor beneath her feet.

But—

KWAANG!

The thing’s claws shattered the thick ice in a single blow.

Still, Hong Soo-ah wasn’t one to back down easily.

As if she had predicted it would appear like this, she activated her power.

Crkcrkcrkcrack!

Spikes burst up from the frozen surface—

Squelch! Squelch!

—impaling the Lizardman Boss’s body.

At the same time, its entire body began to freeze.

The moment it was completely immobilized—

Bang—!

Hong Soo-ah fired her gun.

Whack!

The bullet pierced the Lizardman’s head with deadly precision.

Seeing that, I shouted.

“Run!!”

With normal Lizardmen, a headshot with an arrow was enough to kill them instantly.

But boss-tier Lizardmen were different.

Whack!

Blood spurted from Hong Soo-ah like a fountain.

She had been hit by the boss monster’s claws.

Even while taking a bullet to the head, the monster had the brute strength to lash out with its claws.

“Soo-ah unnie!!!”

Lee Yuna, clinging to a shattered tree and floating on the water’s surface, screamed at the top of her lungs.

I watched as the critically injured Hong Soo-ah fell into the water—it looked like a scene in slow motion.

The situation was at its worst.

At this rate, we were all going to die.

That thought was just settling into my mind when—

Shwaaaah!

A pillar of water suddenly surged upward, gently cradling Hong Soo-ah.

Amazingly, the wounds on her body, wrapped in water, began to heal at a rapid pace.

Then the water surrounding her took the shape of a person—and soon, became one.

“You really are hopeless.”

A woman who both resembled and didn’t resemble Hong Soo-ah.

Her face looked familiar somehow.

But now she was looking at the Lizardman Boss with a terrifying glare.

She seemed like a completely different person from the one who had gently looked after Hong Soo-ah just seconds ago.

“A monster dares lay a hand on my little sister?”

Her bracelet glowed brightly.

In the next instant, a water column shot up around the Lizardman Boss, lifting its body into the air.

Suddenly bound by water pillars gripping its limbs, the creature twisted in confusion as it was hoisted skyward.

-Krwak?

But the water no longer responded to its will.

It was now under the command of a stronger queen.

The water pillars coiled like serpents around the Lizardman’s limbs—then tore them off.

-Kreeeeaaak!!

The Lizardman, now dismembered, screamed in terror.

But the queen showed no mercy.

The severing streams of water coiled around the monster’s neck next.

Thud.

Its decapitated corpse fell into the swamp, dyeing the area red.

“……”

The sheer difference in power was overwhelming.

Who the hell is this woman?

Then, for just a moment, our eyes met.

There was anger in her gaze as she looked at me.

‘…Did I do something wrong?’

Judging by how she treated Hong Soo-ah, she had to be the older sister from the Taeseong Guild. But her glare was full of rage toward me.

‘Well… fair.’

Hong Soo-ah had nearly died.

As the party leader, it was my responsibility—so it wasn’t unreasonable for her to be furious with me.

Shhhhk.

Then the water surrounding me shifted. And before I knew it, I was standing right in front of her.

She stood gracefully atop the water. I was submerged up to my neck.

I looked up at her.

Still holding my gaze, she finally opened her mouth.

“I think you owe me an explanation, Mr. Choi Changshik.”

Her voice was calm and cold, with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

The moment I saw that—I remembered.

‘Ah!’

She was the examiner who had grilled me during the C-Rank promotion interview.

‘She’s Hong Soo-ah’s sister?’

Only now did I begin to understand why she loathed me so much.

From the looks of it, she cared deeply about Hong Soo-ah—and I was wearing the skin of Choi Changshik, the scumbag who ruined her.

No wonder she hated me.

‘So that’s why Choi Changshik was blacklisted in the Hunter world… She’s probably the reason.’

She furrowed her brows and urged a reply.

“Why aren’t you answering? Did you not hear me?”

“...I’ll explain.”

After hearing the summary of the situation, she responded flatly.

“So to summarize, you’re saying you’ve committed an illegal act.”

“...Correct.”

“If the Bureau finds out about this, a disciplinary committee will convene. In the worst case, you may have to forfeit your Hunter license. I assume you acted with that level of resolve?”

It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I thought it was just an F-Rank Gate—it wasn’t supposed to turn into this mess.

‘And of all things, it had to be an abnormality Gate.’

I couldn’t even offer a proper excuse.

“…Unnie.”

Hong Soo-ah had regained consciousness.

“Soo-ah, are you okay?”

The woman who had just been pressing down on me vanished like smoke.

Now, she was checking Hong Soo-ah’s body with genuine concern.

“…I’m okay. But more importantly—just now.”

“Yeah?”

“…I think I heard something about giving up your Hunter license.”

She looked slightly flustered as she replied.

“It’s not definite. If a disciplinary committee is convened, they’ll decide then.”

“…Then I should give up my license too.”

“No, you—”

Hong Soo-ah interrupted her.

“I came here on my own, too.”

“……”

“I knew it was a C-Rank Gate. But instead of reporting it, I entered alone. I deserve the same punishment.”

Her sister fell silent for a moment—then replied.

“Alright.”

She turned to me with a tired look and said:

“…The three of you had dinner together last night.”

“…Sorry?”

I couldn’t tell if she was talking to herself or to me.

But she went on speaking calmly.

“Then a Gate formed in the room, and before any of you could react, you were sucked in by accident. Accidents like that happen.”

“……”

“We tried to report and escape right away, but the exit was too high. You were trapped inside and survived until I came to rescue you. Understood?”

I blankly replied:

“You think they’ll believe that?”

“There’s no ‘think’ about it. We have proof. We’ll take the Lizardman’s head and a few corpses with us. Gather what you need and get ready to leave. I’ll clean up.”

She turned to go—but then came back again.

“You have something to say…?”

She held out her hand and answered quietly.

“I’m Hong Yura.”

“Ah, I’m Choi Changshik.”

“Please take care of my sister.”

Her eyes still burned with fury as she said it.

If anything happened to Hong Soo-ah, I’d probably die at this woman’s hands.

Just like that Lizardman Boss with its limbs torn off.

No joke. For real.

“…Understood.”

**

An A-Rank Hunter’s power was terrifying.

She wiped out the remaining Lizardmen in the Gate in no time.

What normally took ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ several days in a C-Rank Gate was finished in just a few hours.

Even if the environment perfectly matched her ability, clearing a C-Rank Gate solo was no small feat.

If she had been a combat-type Hunter, it might’ve made more sense—but Hong Yura’s main ability was healing.

She was a support-class healer.

To put it simply—a healer had just solo-cleared an entire Gate.

‘Lee Yechan, Hong Yura… All A-Rank Hunters are monsters.’

When we exited the Gate, the entrance—originally barely big enough for one person—had grown large enough to fill the entire living room.

Just as Lee Yuna predicted, it had been an abnormal Gate that didn’t follow normal patterns.

“Abnormal Gates that change in size do appear occasionally. But most of the time, you can prevent accidents just by checking the interior beforehand. Be more careful next time.”

“…Yes.”

Yuna bowed her head.

It was that hard to apply what you learned in books to real-life situations.

Not that I was any better, either.

Ignorance wasn’t a crime—but in this world, the price of ignorance could be your life.

“The Bureau will be sending someone soon. They’re one of ours—just stick to the story we rehearsed.”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Hong Yura.”

She turned toward me with a slightly annoyed look.

She made no effort to hide her disdain.

“What.”

I bowed toward her and said:

“Thank you for saving us.”

She stared at me coldly for a while—then finally spoke.

“If anything happens to my sister, I won’t forgive you. Got it?”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

Still staring at me like I wasn’t worth trusting, she said nothing more.

But then Hong Soo-ah spoke.

“…Unnie, you should go now.”

Seeing how visibly disappointed she looked, I felt a little bad for her.

Hong Yura let out a deep sigh and spoke quietly.

“…I’ll be going now.”

She walked away, looking oddly lonely. The three of us were left behind.

Lee Yuna asked carefully:

“Um, unnie… aren’t you leaving?”

“…I have to be questioned.”

“Ah…”

About thirty minutes later, someone from the Bureau arrived—and accepted our statements without suspicion.

“You’ve had a tough time.”

Even while repeating the story Hong Yura told us, I had my doubts.

Would this really work?

But the man trusted us without question.

It was a moment that made me realize just how powerful the Taeseong Guild really was.

They were probably well-connected politically, too.

That’s the only way such bold manipulation would be possible.

‘It’s like getting a glimpse of the rotten side of society…’

But I wasn’t in a position to report it—I was now a direct beneficiary of that system.

“Please… take care of this.”

“Of course!”

With the handoff of the corpses complete, our questioning ended, and we all agreed to head home.

“Get home safe, oppa. Soo-ah unnie too.”

“You too. Go get some rest. The F-Rank Gate we had scheduled is canceled.”

“Hm… I’m fine though.”

“I’m tired.”

“Oh. Well, can’t be helped. Go to bed!”

“Go on now.”

“Okaay!”

I was seriously exhausted.

Unlike Yuna, who had napped in a tree, I stayed alert the entire night.

All I wanted was to shower and pass out in bed.

Beep beep beep. Click.

I unlocked the door and opened it—only for Hong Soo-ah to walk in ahead of me.

“…Huh?”

I stared blankly at her, confused, and she said:

“…I feel gross. I’m gonna shower.”

“If that’s the case, maybe use Yuna’s—”

But she went straight into the bathroom without letting me finish.

This was definitely my house—but it didn’t feel like it.

Then she came back out, still in the same clothes.

“…Hey, leader.”

“Hm?”

“...Do you have something I can change into?”

I thought about sending her over to Yuna’s anyway—but held back.

She didn’t say a word around other party members, but with me alone, she at least talked a little.

That meant she was comfortable around me.

“Wait here.”

I grabbed a T-shirt and some shorts.

They’d be a bit big on her, but it couldn’t be helped. I didn’t have any women’s clothes.

“…Thank you.”

She disappeared into the bathroom again. I heard the sound of running water.

I laid down on the floor in the living room.

‘God, I’m tired.’

Two days ago, it was the Orcs that kept me up. Last night, it was the Lizardmen.

Two all-nighters in a row.

And I’d been using skills constantly throughout.

The moment I lay down, exhaustion hit me like a wave.

‘Just… a quick nap…’

Shwaaaa…

The sound of the shower inside was like a lullaby.

This must be what they call white noise.

Even that started to fade away.

And like that—I drifted off to sleep.