6 chapter - Rapid Corrosion Gate (3)

At the spot where I killed the boss, I cut down another twenty-eight gnolls.

Only nine remained.

"Yelp!"

One of them, the sharpest of the bunch, bolted without hesitation.

The moment one ran, the rest followed suit.

I still had plenty of mana, but I didn’t bother chasing them.

To be more precise, I couldn’t afford to.

"My body’s in shambles."

I was in such bad shape that collapsing at any moment wouldn’t be surprising. Without using a skill, even standing upright on both legs felt like a struggle.

"If only I had figured out how to use skills earlier… huh?"

Rumble.

The ground suddenly shook.

Trees swayed like they were dancing, and leaves rained down in waves.

"Guess it’s about time to leave."

An earthquake.

It was one of the clearest warning signs that Neil’s Boundary was beginning to contract.

Staying inside any longer was too dangerous.

"But I still need to grab that."

I didn’t have time to collect all the mana stones, but I had to take the boss gnoll’s.

Aside from its price, it was proof that I had successfully cleared this Gate.

"Emergency Gate requests come with double the payout."

If I submitted this mana stone as evidence, I’d get a sizable compensation.

Killing the boss was practically the same as conquering the Gate.

I pried open the boss gnoll’s chest to retrieve the mana stone, but my legs nearly gave out as I collapsed forward.

Barely managing to regain my focus, I grabbed the stone and used my sword as a crutch to stand.

"I’ve lost too much blood."

My vision blurred, and dizziness hit me in waves.

"Even my skills won’t hold out much longer."

Using a skill while already in this state was only making the aftereffects worse.

If I ran out of mana here, I might pass out entirely.

"I need to hurry."

Forcing my exhausted body to move, I staggered toward the Gate’s exit.

I had barely made it close to the Gate before things turned dire. Even as my mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, I grabbed the equipment I had left near the entrance and stumbled out.

"…Huh?"

It seemed that just stepping outside the Gate was my limit.

My vision blurred completely, and everything faded into darkness.

"There’s someone here!"

"Is this the person who went inside the Gate alone? Their condition looks..."

"We need to treat them immediately!"

I opened my eyes.

Above me, tree branches swayed against the sky.

Something soft brushed against my face—black hair.

A moment later, a gentle warmth pressed against my lips.

Then, a breath entered my mouth.

A rush of warmth spread throughout my entire body, bringing clarity to my hazy mind.

"What...?"

The woman pressing her lips against mine lifted her head and looked down at me.

She was wearing a white coat.

And she was stunning.

I stared in a daze, momentarily entranced.

Her radiant eyes gleamed brilliantly, pulling me in.

"Are you awake?"

I didn’t have the strength to respond, so I barely managed to nod.

"That was close. If I had arrived even a little later, it could have been really bad."

She smiled gently before continuing.

"Don’t worry too much. The worst is over. I’ll take care of your remaining injuries with what little energy I have left."

After saying that, she turned to the side and spoke.

"Excuse me, sir, could you carry him? We need to leave quickly. The corrosion has progressed significantly."

"Understood."

We weren’t alone.

A group of five or six people had gathered around me.

One of them, a well-built man, hoisted me onto his back and started moving.

As we distanced ourselves from the Gate, the familiar sight of asphalt roads came into view.

We had escaped the corroded area.

The moment we stepped outside, soldiers surrounded us, their rifles aimed in our direction.

No one opened fire. Instead, an officer spoke through a loudspeaker.

"[Please walk forward slowly.]"

We followed the voice, stepping out of the perimeter.

A soldier wearing the insignia of a captain greeted us.

"Are you the Hunters dispatched for support?"

"Yes, we are."

"You’ve done well. I’m Captain Kang Juncheol, currently in charge of this area."

After a brief exchange of formalities, he quickly got to the point.

"What’s the status of the Gate?"

"By the time we arrived, the corrosion had already progressed significantly... We heard this man entered alone to buy time."

Captain Kang Juncheol turned to look at me—bloodied, barely conscious, still slumped over the man carrying me.

He nodded.

"You don’t seem to be in any condition for a conversation. We should prioritize your treatment—"

"…I’m fine."

I had already recovered enough to speak.

"The monsters appearing inside are gnolls. Neil’s Boundary has started contracting."

"Then more of them will show up soon."

I reached into my coat and pulled out the boss gnoll’s mana stone, showing it to him.

"The boss has been taken care of. I also killed about fifty others, so you just need to finish the cleanup."

Captain Kang Juncheol’s eyes widened.

"You did that… alone?"

"I didn’t have time to harvest all the mana stones."

"That’s understandable. You’ve done more than enough. We’ll take care of the rest."

The remaining gnolls, now without a leader, would be easy for a well-equipped unit to wipe out.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"You can put me down now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I can walk on my own now."

I really was feeling much better.

As soon as I was set down, a government official approached.

"Hunter Choi Changshik."

Without warning, he bowed deeply.

"Thank you! If not for you, this would have turned into a disaster!"

I handed him the boss gnoll’s mana stone.

"Just make sure you file a proper report."

"Yes! Leave it to us!"

I took a moment to check my body.

The wounds I had received from the gnolls were completely healed.

But that wasn’t all.

The old scars from Choi Changshik’s final moments—the injuries that had lingered ever since I possessed his corpse—were gone.

Even the wounds that had been sealed by my red slime body had vanished entirely.

"With this level of healing..."

She had completely restored a near-dead person without breaking a sweat.

That meant she was at least B-Class, if not A-Class.

I glanced around, intending to thank her—but she was already gone.

I turned to the man who had carried me.

"Hey, that woman who saved me—"

"Oh, her? No idea. Where’d she go?"

"What?"

I frowned in confusion.

"Wasn’t she part of your group?"

"Huh? No, we just met her today. I finally get why Healers are so expensive. The way she healed those wounds was unreal..."

The government official, who had been listening, suddenly spoke up.

"Are you talking about the woman in the white coat?"

"Yeah. If she hadn’t been there, I probably would’ve died."

"Seriously?"

His face lit up with relief.

"That’s great news. We called her on a whim, hoping she’d come. Thank goodness she did."

So she was someone he knew.

"Where is she now? I haven’t even thanked her yet."

"She’s a very busy person. As soon as she got the call, she had to leave. I’ll make sure to pass on your thanks."

"Oh… you must be close to her?"

"Huh? Well, of course. She’s my wonderful wife."

It felt like someone had just smashed a hammer against the back of my head.

Now that he mentioned it, I vaguely recalled seeing the same thick ring on her finger earlier.

"W-Wife?"

"Yeah. I had to practically beg her to come here. She’s so busy I barely get to see her even a few times a week. Anyway, I’ll make sure to pass on your gratitude."

"...Please do."

For some reason, everything suddenly tasted bitter.

And then—

[Fire at will!]

BANG!

Gnolls started pouring out of the Gate.

"This situation only stabilized because Hunter Choi Changshik entered the Gate when he did. Without him, this could have been a catastrophe."

If I hadn’t gone inside, the gnolls would have emerged before the military had fully secured the perimeter. There would have been casualties, no doubt about it.

"You prevented that, Hunter Choi Changshik."

"…That actually feels kind of nice."

It was the first time since becoming a Hunter that I had felt something like this.

"Yeah… This is what being a Hunter should feel like."

The image of a Hunter that I had dreamed of, the kind of Hunter I had wanted to become—this was it.

**

Best Officetel, Room 302.

I was enjoying a peaceful break.

"Goddamn it!"

[Sorry, but I don’t think I can team up with you, Hunter Choi Changshik. There are just too many bad rumors going around on the community forums.]

I was being forced to take a vacation.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a single F-Class Hunter willing to team up with me.

"I should have joined that party when I had the chance."

The team I had met during the emergency support request…

My reputation was so terrible that even they refused to share their contact information, making up excuse after excuse when I asked.

"They saw me enter a deadly Gate alone and come back alive, and they still ran from me?"

I should have been treated like a hero.

And to be fair, the government officials and military had treated me like one.

"Choi Changshik, you bastard…"

Just what kind of shit had he pulled in the past to make Hunters avoid him like the plague?

At this point, it was becoming a serious problem.

"If this keeps up, there’s only one option left."

I had to target rookies—newly awakened Hunters who hadn’t heard of Choi Changshik’s reputation yet.

That was my only way forward.

But the problem was…

Ironically, the fewer years of experience an F-Class Hunter had, the more people wanted to team up with them.

"The longer someone stays F-Class, the less likely they are to awaken a Trait."

No matter how long an F-Class Hunter had been active, their experience was ultimately worthless.

Everything about F-Class Gates—the monsters, the strategies—was public knowledge. You could find all of it online.

"Meanwhile, newly awakened F-Class Hunters are like lottery tickets."

All it took was a single monster kill to trigger a Trait awakening.

Naturally, fresh F-Class Hunters were in high demand, and finding one before anyone else did was a fierce competition.

"I have to be fast."

I refreshed the recruitment page over and over, waiting for a new listing to appear.

Then—

[Hello, my name is Lee Yuna, and I’ve just awakened as an F-Class Hunter.]

"Gotcha!"

Without even reading the rest of her post, I copy-pasted a pre-written message and hit send.

Message Sent:

[Hello, I’m Choi Changshik, a D-Class Hunter preparing for my C-Class promotion exam. I was impressed by your outstanding potential and wanted to reach out. Our team is looking for talented individuals not only for F-Class Gate raids but also for future D-Class missions. We are fully committed to helping you unlock your Trait and ensuring your safety, treating you like family.]

Did it sound desperate?

Who cared? I would grovel if it meant she took the bait.

"Please, please, please… I swear I’ll do a good job."

A notification popped up.

[Looking forward to working with you!]

"She fell for it!"

I clenched my fist in triumph.

I quickly sent a follow-up message before she could change her mind.

Message Sent:

[I’d love to meet and discuss this in person. Would you be available today?]

[Yes, I’m free.]

[Great! Just send me an address, and I’ll head straight there.]

[Uh… Goyang-si, XXX-gu, XX-ro 36.]

[On my way now.]

I needed to meet her before she had the chance to hear about Choi Changshik’s reputation.

Jumping into my car, I drove straight to the location she provided.

I assumed we’d be meeting at a café nearby.

But when I arrived, there wasn’t a single café in sight.

Just a cluster of familiar-looking one-room apartments.

"What the hell?"

I parked in an empty spot and sent a message.

[I’m here. Is this Topsville?]

[Yes! I’ll be right down.]

A moment later, a woman in sweats and shoulder-length hair stepped out, scanning the area until our eyes met.

I froze.

"She looks just like her."

She looked exactly like the woman who had saved me.

If her hairstyle had been the same, I would have thought it was her.

I asked cautiously.

"Hunter Lee Yuna?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you."

She gave a polite nod before adding—

"Let’s go."

"…Huh?"

Before I even realized what was happening, I had followed her inside her apartment.

It was a tiny one-room unit, so small that the bed alone took up most of the space.

Yet, despite that, the atmosphere felt warmer than my own place.

Maybe it was because of the stuffed animals on her bed?

Yuna sat down and patted the spot beside her.

"Have a seat."

Sitting on the bed of a woman I had just met?

I panicked and quickly plopped down on the floor instead.

"I-I’ll sit here."

"This is the contract."

She took the document while I explained.

"I’m sure you’re most curious about the payment details. You’ll receive 250,000 won per successful F-Class Gate raid."

That was industry standard.

250,000 won per run.

Since F-Class Hunters couldn’t clear Gates every single day, the average monthly earnings were about 1.5 million won.

It might seem like a lot, but considering the risk of death, it was a joke.

And yet, so many Hunters stuck with it.

Because they clung to hope.

"They all believe that once they awaken a Trait, they’ll skyrocket to success."

Reality, however, was harsher than that.

Even among those who awakened a Trait, most never made it past D-Class.

There were countless reasons:

Their Trait had strict conditions for growth.

Their growth rate was too slow.

Their Trait hit a hard limit at a certain level.

"Making a living isn’t easy."

What kind of Trait would she have?

A blessing?

Or a curse?

"I’ll do it. I’ll sign."

With that, we finalized the party contract and registered our team on the Hunter app.

"See you at the next raid."

"Yeah. Take care."