27 chapter - Gangwon-do Gate (2)
Seong Yohan, hands on the steering wheel, turned to ask me.
"Boss, are we really gonna be able to clear two Gates in one day?"
"We’ll decide based on how things go."
We had to take down the first Gate first—then, depending on the team’s condition, I’d make the call.
‘Doing them back-to-back wouldn’t be too hard anyway.’
Our first raid, the foggy cliff, was brutal even among D-Ranks. Not because of the monsters, but the environment.
In comparison, regular D-Rank Gates? I could theoretically solo them.
Even back then, the combat itself hadn’t been the hard part.
‘No. Don’t get cocky. Gates are unpredictable.’
It’s rare in D-Ranks, but monsters that are immune to physical damage do pop up sometimes.
In those cases, we’d have no choice but to rely completely on Hong Soo-ah and her magic.
‘If that happens, we’ll absolutely need to rest.’
We’d have to restore Hong Soo-ah’s mana.
“I booked a pension nearby just in case. If back-to-back runs feel like too much, we crash there and go again in the morning.”
“That works.”
“Boss! But if everyone’s in good shape and we do both today, what happens to the pension?”
“We rest there and head home the next day.”
Im Jin-sol smiled, clearly in a good mood.
“This is fun. Kinda feels like a trip or something, Boss!”
We were riding in a twelve-seater Grand Starex.
Rented it just for this mission.
There were only five of us in the party, but between raid kits and personal gear, we had a lot to haul.
‘Wonder when the used cars will be available.’
I’d already placed an order with a dealer for a similar model.
They said they’d call the moment something good came up. No news yet, so I figured I’d just have to wait.
‘Rental prices are insane.’
Practically the same cost as the pension.
‘Without that double subsidy event, no way we’d come out here.’
This was exactly why Gates kept piling up—because no one came unless the money was good.
That’s probably why the government had to step in.
‘Gangwon-do… this area was under the Mountain Guild, right?’
Mountain Guild was a major one, just like Taeseong.
They’d been holding things down for a while, so something must’ve shifted.
And not in a good way.
“Oppa, look. Another military unit.”
“Yeah.”
Outside the window, a convoy of army trucks rolled by in formation.
Ever since we entered Gangwon-do on the expressway, we’d seen more and more soldiers.
‘That’s how bad it’s gotten.’
If they weren’t special forces trained for Gate combat, there were only two reasons regular soldiers got involved.
‘They’re either sealing off a Gate mid-corruption, or cleaning up after a region’s already been fully corrupted.’
I was frowning at the military trucks when—
SCREEEECH!!
“Uwaaaagh!”
“Kyaaaa!”
“!!!”
The car slammed to a sudden halt on the expressway.
“What the hell—!?”
I looked up.
A kangaroo was standing right in front of the car.
A D-Rank monster—Combat Rabbit.
‘A monster…!’
This thing’s kicks could kill.
BANG—!
Before I could move, a gunshot rang out, and the Combat Rabbit dropped to the ground.
As we sat there stunned, someone knocked on the window.
“Excuse me.”
A soldier stood there smiling politely, lieutenant insignia on his chest.
When we rolled the window down, he said,
“Sorry for the inconvenience. Please proceed using that lane.”
Soldiers from the trucks were already directing traffic with practiced efficiency.
We followed their guidance and pulled into the next lane.
“What the hell was that…” Im Jin-sol muttered.
I answered her.
“It means things are worse than we thought.”
Monsters roaming the expressway.
That meant the military had partially lost control of the Gates in Gangwon-do.
“That scared the crap out of me. I thought it’d be a deer or something, not a monster…”
“Nice driving. You handled that well.”
If we’d hit the Combat Rabbit with the car, the repair bill would’ve been insane.
All thanks to Seong Yohan.
‘Might as well make him the designated driver from now on.’
I’d toss him a bonus later for the trouble.
We exited the expressway and drove through mountain roads for a while before the navigation spoke up.
[You’ve arrived at your destination.]
The first Gate was halfway up Mount Bongbok.
We parked as close as we could, grabbed the raid kits, and headed to the Gate.
Standing guard at the entrance was a man in hiking gear, waving us over.
“You must be Hunter Choi Changshik?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m Kang Byungseok, in charge of this D-Rank Gate. Pleasure to meet you.”
I’d guessed he was from the Bureau, but I didn’t expect it to be true.
When I looked at him curiously, he laughed and explained.
“Haha. Sorry I’m not in a suit. But once you start chasing Gates up mountains, formalwear just doesn’t cut it anymore.”
“Ah, I see.”
“The interior’s a forest. Temperature’s pleasant, environment’s stable. Monsters are gnolls. I checked it myself.”
That caught me off guard.
“You checked it yourself?”
“Yep. Believe it or not, I’ve got a D-Rank Hunter license. Just scouted the entrance and came back out.”
I glanced down at his gear.
If he’d gone inside, then that meant all his clothing had to be Hunter-certified equipment.
Almost reading my mind, he added,
“Ah—don’t get the wrong idea. These are just normal clothes. No way I can afford Hunter gear on a civil servant’s paycheck.”
“Then…?”
“I went in unarmed! Hah!”
Even if it was just the entrance, walking into a Gate with no gear?
This guy wasn’t normal.
‘And if he saw the monsters himself, that means he ran into them.’
Running into gnolls with zero equipment? Even a D-Rank Hunter could’ve died.
Still, thanks to his work, things were going to be much smoother for us.
“Thank you.”
“Just doing my job as the Gate supervisor.”
Compared to the utter mess of the last guy, he was a world apart.
“I’m the one who should be grateful. You Hunters are doing all the hard work. My job is to support you however I can.”
Even his mindset was different.
“Then we’ll be in your care.”
With his farewell, we stepped into the Gate.
“Whoa.”
Lee Yuna came in behind me, gazing upward in awe.
“Look, Oppa. There’s really a sky inside.”
“That surprises you?”
Still staring up, she replied,
“It’s beautiful.”
Once Hong Soo-ah was inside and the full team accounted for, I started the briefing.
“Gnolls aren’t bad. Just like we discussed yesterday, I’ll handle all the hunting. Your job is to protect Yuna.”
“Boss!”
Im Jin-sol had her hand raised.
I nodded.
“Go ahead.”
“This is all to help Yuna’s Trait recognize us, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But… even so, is she really gonna be in danger while we’re fighting gnolls? You’ll be there too.”
I chuckled.
“Feeling confident, huh?”
“Hehe. Honestly? Gnolls aren’t that tough.”
She wasn’t wrong. Most people knew how to deal with them.
Which meant—if we just followed the basic safety rules, hunting gnolls shouldn’t pose any real danger.
“We’ll see soon enough.”
We found a spot near the Gate to use as a base camp, unloaded the raid kits and gear, and headed out as a group.
Not long after, we spotted a pack of gnolls wandering nearby.
In a small voice, Lee Yuna asked,
“Oppa, are we really not doing anything at all?”
I answered as I applied the eye drops to my right eye.
“Just sit and watch.”
The moment the mana began to circulate through my body, power surged from head to toe.
‘Good.’
Activating my skill, I grabbed a single sword and sprinted toward the gnoll pack.
“Kyeng! Kyeng!”
They’d already noticed us, it seemed.
The moment I charged, they started barking aggressively.
But that was the extent of their resistance.
Within less than a minute, every last gnoll had fallen.
They didn’t even get a chance to run.
The gap between them and me was just that wide—utterly overwhelming.
“See, Boss? You’re wiping the floor with them. We didn’t have to lift a finger. How are we even supposed to test Yuna’s Trait like this?”
“Quit worrying and just harvest the mana stones.”
Gnoll corpses weren’t worth much beyond that.
Some people did go after the leather, but skinning them wasn’t easy, and the payout wasn’t worth the effort.
“Wait, Boss, but when you’re dealing with gnolls, aren’t you supposed to skip the mana stone collection and relocate fast after each fight…?”
“We’re staying right here.”
When raiding gnolls, mana stone harvesting came later.
Only once their numbers were sufficiently reduced did you start collecting from the corpses.
That was the standard procedure.
“...Huh?”
“We’re harvesting all the stones right here.”
But I had no intention of following the standard procedure.
Realizing what I meant, Im Jin-sol went pale.
“No way. You’re not seriously planning to lure the gnolls in with the scent of blood and wipe them all out at once, are you? That’s just… brainless.”
“That’s exactly it. We need to clear this fast if we want to finish the next Gate today too.”
Im Jin-sol raised her voice.
“That’s insane, Boss! Even for you, taking on all those gnolls at once is suicide!”
“She’s right, Party Leader. It’s way too dangerous,” Seong Yohan added.
Hong Soo-ah just stared at me, unreadable, offering no opinion.
Lee Yuna, meanwhile, was firmly in my corner.
“Everyone, calm down and just listen for a second. I really don’t think it’s that dangerous. Didn’t Oppa just take out a whole gnoll group by himself?”
“Yuna, you don’t get it! You’ve never dealt with them before! Once those things group up—!”
But before we could hash it out, guests arrived.
Drawn by the scent of blood, more gnolls showed up.
Twice as many as the last batch.
‘Here we go.’
I grabbed my sword again, and the gnoll pack appeared—only to be wiped out just as quickly.
“Kyageng!”
Wiping off the gnoll blood and flesh coating my blade, I returned to the group. Their expressions had… shifted.
“…Didn’t know Boss fought like that.”
“You really had a plan all along, huh?”
We’d fought gnolls before.
Back then, without knowing how to use skills properly, it had been a nightmare.
Now, things were different.
With a massive physical gap between us, the concept of teamwork was pointless.
Even if gnolls sacrificed themselves to block my attacks, it didn’t stop me. It didn’t slow me down.
All it did was get them sliced in two.
‘And now, when I’m using the skill, even their teeth don’t bite in properly.’
I’d confirmed it in the last fight.
One of them managed to lunge and bite my thigh—after using its buddy as a springboard.
But all it did was rip my pants a little. Its teeth hadn’t pierced skin.
Just a scratch, really.
“Jin-sol, you might be right. You probably won’t get much of a chance to step in. But stay sharp anyway. If ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) a different group shows up while I’m not here…”
“Yes, Boss!”
“If that happens, just hang on for a bit. I’ll take care of things and come save you—won’t take more than a minute.”
I cleared two more groups after that.
Then, for a while, nothing. No new gnolls.
‘Did we already take out everything nearby?’
No way.
Considering the Gate’s size and the usual gnoll population, there was no chance we were done.
‘Do we need to move?’
Just as I seriously considered relocating…
They showed up.
“B-Boss. This is still safe, right…?”
Up until now, gnolls had come in groups of maybe a dozen at most.
This time? There were dozens.
And that was just the visible ones. Counting those hidden behind trees or brush, it easily exceeded a hundred.
‘That one’s the reason.’
Striding in from the front—an alpha gnoll. Their leader.
He’d sniffed out the blood and rallied the whole force.
“Yuna, hand.”
“Yes, Oppa.”
Bzzzzzzmmm.
A light enveloped my body. I turned to Im Jin-sol.
“How long can you hold out without me?”
“With this many? We won’t last even a minute!”
Her answer was firm.
“Yeah?”
I sliced my thumb and raised it to my right eye.
Pure, undiluted blood.
Energy surged through every cell in my body.
“Then I’ll be back in thirty seconds. Just hold on.”
I charged—straight for the alpha gnoll, who stood there grinning arrogantly.
My legs exploded with power, closing the distance instantly.
Slice—!
Took his head clean off in one stroke.
“Kking?”
“Keng?”
The gnolls panicked as their leader collapsed.
One of them let out a sharp bark.
“Keng! Keng!”
Sounded like an order to attack me.
They rushed in all at once.
‘Perfect.’
Which made it easier to cut them all down—took less than twenty seconds.