30 chapter - Gangwon-do Gate (5)
Lee Beopseong, having successfully infiltrated the Gate, was quickly thrown into confusion by the howling blizzard.
He’d assumed it would be a typical forest- or cave-type Gate.
For someone who hadn’t brought any cold-weather gear, the conditions were harsh enough to be life-threatening.
‘Shit. Should I get out?’
He hastily used his endoscope camera to check outside the Gate.
The Gate manager hadn’t returned yet.
At the moment, he could escape without any problems.
‘But…’
If he gave up now, there was no guarantee he’d get another chance like this.
Even this opportunity had only come from exhausting every last bit of authority he’d had before getting fired to dig up information on Choi Changshik’s party.
‘There’s no guarantee there’ll be a next time.’
Lee Beopseong hardened his resolve.
‘Let’s do this.’
His original plan had been to lie in wait near the Gate and launch a surprise attack.
The moment just before the party returned from clearing the Gate was the easiest time to catch them off guard.
But in weather like this, he’d freeze to death long before they came back.
So Lee Beopseong made a quick change of plans.
‘I’ll strike while they’re busy hunting monsters.’
And with only a thin robe on, he began climbing the snowy mountain, braving the raging blizzard.
**
“Aaaaagh! How long do we have to keep walking through this goddamn blizzard?!”
Im Jin-sol was losing it.
Understandably so—hours had already passed since they’d started wandering through the snowstorm.
They were weighed down by cold-weather gear, and the blizzard showed no signs of stopping. Even just moving forward burned through their stamina.
“Boss! Are you sure you really saw that Snow Leopard? Does it even exist?!”
Since its first appearance, the Snow Leopard hadn’t shown itself again.
‘Smart bastard.’
Its earlier appearance had likely been solely to trap us with hallucinations.
‘Now that that didn’t work, it’s playing hide-and-seek.’
The monster knew it too.
The longer we wandered through the blizzard, the more exhausted we would become.
‘If we hadn’t had cold-weather gear, we’d all be dead from hypothermia by now.’
Except for Hong Soo-ah, who had natural resistance to cold thanks to her Trait, the rest of us would’ve been wiped out.
“Hey? What’s that?”
Then Im Jin-sol spotted something.
“Clothes?”
A brown something was fluttering in the wind, scattered on the snow.
We walked up for a closer look and couldn’t help but tilt our heads.
“Wait… a person?”
What we’d thought was clothing turned out to be someone collapsed in the snow.
“But why would there be a person here?”
I turned to Hong Soo-ah.
“Is making something like this part of the Snow Leopard’s abilities?”
She shook her head.
“Everyone stand back. I’ll check it myself. Yuna—hand.”
“Yep, here.”
I took Lee Yuna’s hand and that familiar warm light enveloped my whole body.
It was just in case this was one of the Snow Leopard’s traps.
With that safeguard, I cautiously approached the figure.
‘It really is a person.’
I gently shook his body.
“Hey. Hey, can you hear me?”
No response.
I checked for a pulse to confirm he was alive—and felt a faint heartbeat.
‘Still alive.’
I turned him over to check if he was breathing—and saw a familiar face.
‘…This guy?’
It was that rude Gate manager we’d met during the Giant-Beaked Crow raid.
‘What the hell is he doing here?’
His breathing was barely there.
He was on the verge of death.
‘Let’s focus on keeping him alive for now.’
I pulled an emergency heat pack from my backpack and pressed it to his body, then began chest compressions.
“Ghhh… uhh…”
Thanks to the quick first aid, I hadn’t missed the golden hour.
He regained consciousness.
“Hey. Can you hear me?”
He flinched when he saw me and then mumbled,
“What… happened to me…?”
“You collapsed in the snow. What I want to know is—how did you even get in here? You’re the same Gate manager who was on that apartment rooftop, right?”
The man didn’t answer.
‘What the hell…?’
His eyes glinted with pure bloodlust.
I felt something was off and lowered my gaze—just in time to spot the gun in his right hand.
“…Die, you bastard!”
BANG—!
“!!”
The bullet struck my side.
If I’d dodged even a moment later, it would’ve gone through my heart.
WOOOOOM!
A burning pain surged through me—but then quickly faded.
Lee Yuna’s ability was already at work.
CRACK!
I grabbed the bastard’s wrist and twisted it viciously.
“GAAAAAGH!”
He screamed and thrashed in agony.
But with strength no better than a civilian’s, there was no way he could break free from me.
He must’ve Awakened, or he wouldn’t have been able to enter the Gate—but the fact that he couldn’t resist at all meant he was definitely an F-Rank.
‘A gun, huh?’
Now it made sense.
Why he was here.
A gun was a weapon that could kill even Hunters—especially if enhanced for Gate use.
The fact he’d brought it inside meant it had been treated with a mana stone.
Even the cheapest models ran over ten million won—no way he bought it just for fun.
“…Tch.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
This guy had come all the way here just for revenge.
‘All this… over a stupid argument?’
I couldn’t understand it—but the reality of the situation explained everything.
This asshole had really come to kill me.
I asked him,
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“Gaaaagh! Let go of me, you Hunter dog! You f**king bastard, I said let go!”
I picked up the gun from the ground and aimed it at the back of his head.
“Talk. Why did you attack me?”
Only then did he grit his teeth and answer.
“Because I lost my job because of you assholes. My life’s f**king over! What, you thought I’d just sit back and take it?!”
“What?”
This was the first I’d heard of any of this.
Out of sheer confusion, I asked,
“Why do you think you got fired /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ because of us? Ever consider it was your own shitty attitude?”
“Bullshit!”
His face twisted in rage as he shouted.
“Don’t play dumb, you f**ker! You asked the Taeseong Guild to get rid of me, didn’t you? You think I can’t figure that much out?!”
Taeseong Guild.
I did know that Soo-ah’s older sister was affiliated with Taeseong.
And that she had the clout to bring even the most arrogant Gate managers to their knees with a single phone call.
What I hadn’t known was that her personality was the polar opposite of Soo-ah’s.
‘She’s… colder than I thought.’
To think she’d go so far as to get someone fired over something so petty.
It was strange enough that she’d managed to get a public official fired at all—but what really struck me was how vicious she must be to pursue payback that thoroughly.
‘Now it makes sense.’
Choi Changshik might’ve been trash, but he hadn’t done anything to get blacklisted from the Hunter community.
But if he pissed off the younger sister of a Taeseong Guild executive—well, that changed things.
‘So that’s why it was so damn hard to find party members.’
I’d thought it was unfair, but there was a reason for everything.
I was in the middle of piecing it all together when—
“Captain! Get down!”
The moment I heard Hong Soo-ah’s voice, I threw myself to the side.
WHISH!
“Gghh…!”
Right then, an icicle burst up through Lee Beopseong’s body.
It pierced the exact spot I’d been occupying just a second earlier.
“It’s here!”
Right behind me, a leopard with fur as white as snow was glaring straight at me.
The gunshot. The scent of blood.
It clearly thought we were disorganized and vulnerable.
It must’ve decided this was the best chance to strike and revealed itself.
‘So it’s been trailing us all along!’
No wonder we hadn’t seen it.
Like a seasoned hunter, it had simply been waiting for the right moment.
It looked like it was trying to make direct eye contact, so I played along. I stared straight into its eyes—and grinned.
“It’s not gonna work on me.”
As long as Lee Yuna’s power was active, I wouldn’t be falling into any illusions.
The moment the thing faltered in confusion—
CRACKCRACKCRACK!
Dozens of ice spikes erupted from the snow, impaling the monster’s body.
It was Hong Soo-ah’s magic, lying in wait.
In an instant, the creature looked like a frozen pincushion, twitching faintly.
‘Is it over?’
Judging by the sheer power, it could’ve rivaled a B-Rank Hunter.
Magic-type Hunters could be devastating when the environment suited them.
And yet—
Shrrrk…
I felt something wasn’t right—and instinctively hit the ground.
CRASHHHH!
The ice spikes that had pierced its body exploded, sending shards flying in every direction.
Several tore through my cold-weather gear; some embedded themselves in my flesh.
WOOOOM!
The light surrounding my body began to fade.
Lee Yuna’s power was nearly depleted.
I raised my head—and saw the thing trying to flee in a panic.
“Don’t let it escape!”
Hong Soo-ah’s ambush had definitely hit it hard.
It was terrified.
“Target!”
At Im Jin-sol’s shout, a glowing blue bullseye on the monster’s body exploded as her arrow flew through it.
The arrow didn’t physically strike—it passed clean through—but the mana-formed target popped on impact, making the creature stagger again.
‘It’s working!’
Even if her arrows didn’t deal damage, her skill itself could.
‘Just a little more…!’
But the bastard was still trying to run.
If we let it go, it’d vanish again until we collapsed from exhaustion in the snowstorm.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Driven by urgency, I threw myself at the creature.
“Huh?”
And both of us froze in shock.
I’d caught it.
I was physically holding onto the Snow Leopard—a spirit-type monster that shouldn’t be touchable by normal means.
My hand should’ve phased right through its body, but right now, I had a fistful of fur clutched tight.
‘Only mana-based attacks should be able to connect with it…’
WOOOM.
Suddenly, I noticed the faint light still wrapped around my body.
The healing aura from Yuna, now weakened after tending to my gunshot wound and other injuries.
“Ah—!”
That light was composed of mana, too.
That’s why I could touch the spirit-type creature.
Realizing I could hurt it, I reflexively threw a punch—landing a clean shot to its jaw.
The Snow Leopard let out a shocked screech and flailed violently.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?”
My grin must’ve pissed it off—its expression twisted in rage as it glared at me.
And then—
CracklecrackleCRACK!
Ice energy radiated from its body, freezing everything in a wide radius.
It was trying to freeze the whole area solid.
‘Like hell you will.’
I scraped up some blood from my body and shoved it into my eye.
WOOOM!
Power surged through me like a flood, and I launched myself at the bastard.
Spinning in midair, I brought my heel down straight onto the Snow Leopard’s skull.
CRACK!
Its body froze solid, and the fracture that started at its head spread down to its neck—until it shattered completely.
At the same time, the blizzard ceased.
WOOOM.
Right on cue, the light surrounding my body faded away.
My leg, caught in the final burst of its power, was frozen stiff.
‘I’ll need to ask Yuna for another round.’
But first, I had to thaw my leg.
“Boss! What happened? That thing’s dead, right? You got it?!”
The first to rush over was Im Jin-sol, shouting hysterically.
She glanced at the corpse—impaled on an icicle—and tilted her head.
“Huh? Isn’t this…?”
“That’s exactly who you think it is.”
Once I explained who the man was and how this happened, Jin-sol exploded.
“Fucking bastard!”
She actually looked ready to shoot the corpse with an arrow right then and there, so I stopped her.
“Calm down. He’s already dead.”
Clicking her tongue, she muttered,
“Pfft. What a dumbass.”
Blinded by revenge and willing to throw away his life for it—an absolute idiot.
“But Boss.”
“What? You want to bury him?”
She was looking at the body with a strangely sympathetic expression, so I thought maybe she was going to suggest a simple burial out of pity.
“Nope. I mean, the guy’s wearing all Hunter gear. We should loot it. Bet it’ll sell for a decent price.”
“……”
Im Jin-sol was even more shameless than me.
“We’d be wasting it if we left it here in the Gate. That stuff’s all money!”
Without hesitation, she started rummaging through the man’s belongings.
“Ooh, Boss! He’s got an endoscope camera too. These are expensive.”
Eventually, she even stripped off the torn, bloodstained robe—looking fully satisfied with herself.
Standing in front of the now-naked corpse, she clasped her hands together and said,
“Thanks for the meal.”
It was hard to tell if she was mourning or mocking him.
Most likely the latter.
I looked down at the stripped body and made a decision.
‘Sorry, but this is your grave.’
Dragging his corpse out of the Gate would only complicate things.
He’d clearly come here to kill us and erase the evidence. He must’ve entered without telling anyone.
In that case, there was no problem.
If we left him here, his body would vanish along with the Gate, and society would list him as missing.
‘Call it karma.’