21 chapter - D-Class Gate (7)

BZZZZZT.

The moment I stepped out holding the boss monster’s corpse, the Gate lost its glow and vanished without a trace.

That meant the raid was complete.

“Phew. You all did great out there.”

Dawn was already breaking.

Which meant the raid had taken nearly the entire day.

Fog and cliffs.

The combination of those two had multiplied the time it took to clear the Gate.

It was grueling, but we gained more than enough to make it worth it.

Financially, yes—but more than that, the team’s cohesion had made real progress.

“Boss, let’s be honest here. Not ‘you all’—it was just me and Soo-ah unnie who got worked to the bone. Seong Yohan over there didn’t do jack.”

“I-I treated Soo-ah, though!”

“Yeah? And who actually did the treating? That was all our Yuna! All you did was transfer the wound and sit there grinning like an idiot!”

“She wouldn’t have been able to treat her without my Trait—”

“And? Did you even kill a single monster? Huh? Did you personally land a kill on any of them?!”

…As you can see, the party had gotten very comfortable with each other.

“I told you, it’s my acrophobia! I couldn’t help it!”

“That damn acrophobia—give me a break.”

They were bonding… right?

I averted my gaze from Im Jin-sol stomping mercilessly on Seong Yohan’s foot and started looking around for the Bureau officer.

‘Where’d he go?’

Gate supervisors were supposed to stay on-site until the raid was complete.

‘There he is.’

He was curled up asleep in a corner.

Considering how unusually long this D-Class Gate took, I couldn’t really blame him.

I walked over and gently shook him awake.

“Excuse me. Time to wake up.”

“Mm?”

“The raid’s done.”

Still groggy, his expression was twisted with irritation.

Understandable.

A typical D-Class Gate could be cleared in half a day.

But we’d dragged this one out through the night, so of course we looked like a nuisance to him.

If he were an office worker, this would be the equivalent of unexpected overnight overtime plus a surprise shift. No one would be happy.

Then he glanced at the pile of monster corpses where the Gate had been and asked, practically picking a fight:

“What are all those?”

“Monster corpses.”

He pulled out his terminal and continued, still sounding completely fed up.

“You taking all of them?”

At that point, I couldn’t keep giving him the benefit of the doubt.

We were the ones who’d just spent hours busting our asses inside that hellhole while this guy napped safely outside.

I bit back the curses bubbling up my throat and answered:

“...Just the boss corpse and one standard body. The rest I plan to submit for documentation.”

“Documentation?”

“Yes. They’re monsters I’ve never seen before. I’m fairly certain this is the first discovery.”

He shot me a glare and responded with a sneer.

“You sure?”

“...There’s one relatively intact corpse over there. Could you verify it?”

All he had to do was use his terminal to scan it—the system would instantly confirm whether the species existed in the database or was a new discovery.

That’s why I asked.

But the bastard muttered under his breath:

“Fucking pain in the ass. Goddamn it.”

Loud enough for us to hear it, too.

That was the moment the last string of reason snapped—I almost swung my fist at him—

“Hey, are you out of your goddamn mind?”

Im Jin-sol’s voice snapped me back to my senses.

“Some low-level Bureau flunky out here looking to get himself killed? Go on, say that again. Say it again, asshole!”

“Jin-sol noona, please calm down!”

“Get off me, motherfucker!”

Watching someone else blow up on my behalf was… kind of refreshing. It cooled my head right down.

Hearing her rip into him like that was a bit of catharsis, honestly.

Just as I was thinking I should step in and stop her soon, the Bureau officer threw another grenade.

“Oh, give me a break. Acting all high and mighty over clearing a D-Class. Fucking mutts.”

“Fucking mutts.”

That was a common slur civilians used for Hunters.

Everyone froze at the sheer gall of it—except Im Jin-sol.

She silently notched an arrow to her bow.

“Aim.”

A glowing blue target appeared on the man’s forehead.

Seong Yohan jumped in front of him in a panic.

“P-please, calm down!”

And yet, the brave little government worker just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“Go ahead, shoot. Bet you don’t even have the guts, bitch.”

He had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.

“Let go! I said let me go!”

“I can’t!”

She squirmed violently in Yohan’s grip.

If Seong Yohan hadn’t been a high-endurance type, that arrow would’ve already been sticking out of someone’s skull.

I was angry at the Bureau punk, but seeing those two wrestle like that was honestly funny.

“I said let go, you son of a—!!”

THWACK.

“GUHH!”

Right to the groin.

‘Oof. That’s gotta hurt.’

But Seong Yohan didn’t go down.

“Move! I’ll kill you first, Seong Yohan!”

“Please don’t!!”

He clung to her like his life depended on it.

Then Hong Soo-ah calmly walked over to the Bureau guy and said:

“...Can I have the storage box key?”

“O-oh. Yeah, sure.”

He handed it over without resistance.

Maybe it was her utterly emotionless expression—he seemed to forget we were in the middle of a screaming match.

Everyone turned to stare at Soo-ah, and Jin-sol finally quieted down.

Soo-ah ignored us all, opened the storage box by the Gate, and took out her phone.

“...Unnie?”

Sounded like a family member.

Fair enough—after spending this long inside, anyone with family would have them worried sick.

I figured she was just calling to say she was okay—but her words caught us off guard.

“...The Bureau staff here is being incredibly rude.”

Hearing his name brought up, the guy pricked up his ears.

Soo-ah quietly kept going, speaking just loud enough to be heard.

“...He cursed at us and called us mutts.”

The Bureau guy scoffed and tried to laugh it off.

“What are you, a kid? Running off to tattle… If you don’t like it, go ahead and sue me.”

He said it loudly enough that Soo-ah would definitely hear.

But she didn’t even glance his way—just nodded into the phone.

“...Yeah. ...Right. ...That’s what I thought.”

Then, quietly:

“...Thanks, unnie.”

The call ended.

And the Bureau guy just kept going.

“You want me to write up the raid as a failure? I’ll put it like this: ‘Hunter team failed to return for over 18 hours, presumed dead.’ How’s that sound?”

Just as we were all wondering how to deal with this raging lunatic—

RING RING.

The Bureau agent’s phone started ringing.

Looking confused, he picked it up.

“...Director?”

“Hey, you crazy motherfucker!!”

A voice exploded through the phone—an older man, practically frothing at the mouth.

“Uh, y-yes?”

“What the hell were you thinking going after a Taeseong Guild Hunter?! You got a death wish or something?!”

“...Excuse me?”

The man’s expression started to rot right off his face.

“T-That can’t be right. These people aren’t from Taeseong Guild…”

“I just got a call from one of their team leaders, you moron! What the fuck am I doing taking calls like this at ass o’clock in the morning?! Can’t you do your job right?!”

“A T-Taeseong Guild team leader…?”

“If you wanna die, go do it on your own time! But if you don’t get your ass over there and apologize properly, you’re fucking done!”

“...Director? Sir?”

But the call had already ended.

The Bureau agent’s trembling eyes turned to face us.

Im Jin-sol stood watching him with one leg cocked, that sleazy little grin on her face.

“Hey, mister. Don’t you have something you wanna say to us?”

The guy fidgeted, gauging the mood—then bowed fast, a full 90-degree folder-bow.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you were affiliated with the Taeseong Guild—I’ve committed an unforgivable offense!”

“Hmm? Can’t hear you. Say it louder?”

“M-my deepest apologies!!”

His pathetic cries echoed over and over across the rooftop.

After that, everything moved like a well-oiled machine.

The man who’d been dragging his feet earlier was suddenly lightning-fast, efficiently handling every task without complaint.

So he wasn’t incompetent after all.

‘You wouldn’t even get hired by the Bureau if you were actually useless.’

While we waited for the transport company to arrive to collect the monster corpses and mana stones, we found ourselves facing a surprisingly big dilemma.

“I’m telling you, Steelbeak is the perfect name. You gotta highlight the most dangerous feature or people won’t take it seriously.”

“Noona, didn’t the party leader say he saw the fog coming out of its wings?”

“Yeah, but not all of them have that ability, right? Isn’t that true, Boss?”

We were trying to decide on an official name for the monster.

It was customary for the first discoverer to name new monsters—and you were supposed to include a defining feature in the name.

“Jin-sol’s right. The fog’s not as dangerous as the beak—we should focus on that.”

The fog-generating ability wasn’t that big of a threat by itself.

What really mattered when fighting these things was that monstrous beak.

That’s when Lee Yuna, who’d been quietly listening in, chimed in.

“Well, their feathers are black… How about Great-Beak Crow?”

Great-Beak Crow.

Just hearing it gave a clear mental picture of the monster’s appearance.

“Nice. Let’s go with that.”

“Wait, Boss! Most people try to sneak their initials into the name or something—”

“It’s fine. Great-Beak Crow is good enough.”

I just wanted to get home and crash as soon as possible.

“We’re done here for today. Good work, everyone.”

**

Just like before, Hong Soo-ah rode back with me in my car.

Unlike before, though, the silence between us didn’t feel quite as awkward.

It was early morning, so the roads were completely empty. We got to her place in no time.

“You did good today. See you next time.”

I meant it as a polite cue to get out now that we’d arrived, but Soo-ah didn’t move. She just sat there, staring out the window.

I frowned and asked,

“You’re not going in?”

She slowly turned her head to face me, eyes locking with mine.

“...Why?”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘why’? You go home, then I get to go home and rest too.”

She shook her head slowly, then asked again.

“Why did you risk ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) your life to save me?”

“I told you at the time.”

“I can’t accept that.”

She pressed me, voice calm and clear.

“You could’ve left me there. It was an unexplored Gate. Even if a teammate died during the raid, it wouldn’t have been a major blemish. But you still risked your life—when you could’ve died—to save me.”

Honestly, even I thought it didn’t make sense.

“From your perspective—this version of you with no memories—we’ve only met three times. I’m basically a stranger. Hell, I even told you I was going to kill you. How many people would throw themselves off a cliff to save someone like that?”

She wouldn’t understand.

Because I didn’t understand it myself.

The real me—the one who spent three long years as an F-Class Hunter named Park Jihoon—would never have done something like that.

‘Why did I jump back then?’

It wasn’t calculated.

It wasn’t logic. It was instinct.

While I was still grappling with the question, Soo-ah asked softly,

“...Aren’t you afraid of dying?”

Death.

I knew exactly what it meant.

Death was fucking meaningless. It was terrifying, brutal, painful, and empty.

“Of course I’m scared. Who the hell isn’t afraid of dying?”

It was an experience I never wanted to repeat.

And that’s despite having a Trait tied to death itself.

“If I’m being honest, I didn’t really think about it at the time.”

“...Huh?”

“My body just moved, you know? In that moment, it just felt like… that’s what I had to do.”

“...‘Had to do’?”

“Yeah. When I saw that rope snap, all I could think was that I had to save you. There wasn’t time for anything else.”

“...”

She stared at me, dazed.

After a long moment, she finally unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door.

“...I’m going.”

“Ah? Oh, yeah. Get home safe.”

“...Can I call you ‘Captain’?”

“Captain?”

Why not?

Call me whatever you want.

“Go ahead.”

“...Thanks for the ride, Captain.”

She ran into the building like she was fleeing the scene.