Park Jongryeo finally arrived at the location of the second-rank A Gate.
He had his baseball cap pushed down low, and as a result, only a few passersby recognized him.
Though it is a bit weird for him to wear a cap in a black business suit.
The first thing he did was to seek out the mining team.
A few Hunters walked past him and sneaked a couple of glances, but they were all working for the Guild anyway and none of them paid him any great attention after that.
Eventually, he could see Bae Yoon-Suk in the distance – as well as the mining team around him.
Thump, thump!
His heart began beating faster.
Standing a little bit of distance away from them, he scanned the faces of each miner present.
‘Where is he…?’
He couldn’t see Sung Jin woo among them.
How should he say this? It felt like all of his energy was abandoning him at once.
‘Did he give up on being a miner?’
Why don’t I wait for another minute? He could have left the spot for only a moment and is coming back soon.
Three minutes more.
No, maybe five.
….And so, he waited for another 15 minutes, but Jin woo didn’t show up in the end.
“Fuu….”
After spitting out a long sigh, Jongryeo turned around to leave. But, only after taking a couple of steps, he turned around again and returned to his original spot.
He yanked his cap off and took in several deep breaths, before walking towards Bae Yoon-Suk. The gazes of the mining team members were directed to him now.
Thankfully, the stink wasn’t so bad, perhaps due to the ranks of Hunters in the mining team being low.
“Uh? Uhhh?”
Recognizing Jongryeo, Bae Yoon-Suk quickly ran over to him.
“Park Hunter-nim? What are you doing here?”
“Hi.”
Jongryeo shared a simple greeting with Bae Yoon-Suk and after making sure that no one was eavesdropping on him, he cautiously asked him a question.
“By any chance… Is there a Hunter named Sung Jin woo working for you?”
“Mister Sung?”
Hearing an unexpected name being mentioned out of the blue, Bae Yoon-Suk formed a surprised expression.
“If you’re looking for Mister Sung, he subbed for a porter’s job….”
“A porter?!”
Jongryeo gasped out in shock.
“Are you saying he actually went inside the Gate?!”
Bae Yoon-Suk nodded his head vigorously as if to show that he, too, couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, sir. That’s what happened.”
A Hunter volunteered as a porter and entered an A-rank dungeon? And he didn’t even have dozens of lives or anything, too.
‘What was he thinking?’
But, when Jongryeo thought about it, didn’t he find that man loitering around the boss room a couple of days ago with weapons in his hands? Indeed, he did not see wrong back then.
One more thing to be suspicious of, then.
Even though he ended up letting go of the Class Change event as a coincidence, when he really thought about it in detail, it was a rather strange thing for a Hunter with four years of experience getting lost inside a dungeon like that.
So he guessed that Jin woo was also involved with the system and he was right.
‘But what is he doing in an A-rank dungeon? I need to find out.’
He began thinking that he simply had to confirm what this Hunter named Sung Jin woo goal was. And in order to do so, he had to enter the dungeon.
Not only was he a member of the Hunters Association, but he was also in a Monitoring Division as well. No one would try to stop him if he wanted to enter a dungeon where the Hunters Guild was performing a raid.
“I’ll have to enter the Gate myself.”
Bae Yoon-Suk’s eyes went extra round.
“What? Was there some kind of an accident? Should we ask the Guild for additional personnel?”
“No, no need. It’s a personal matter. I just wanted to talk to him about something private, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Oh… I see.”
Jongryeo spun towards the Gate.
____________________
A black sedan stopped by the side of the road.
The man climbing out of the driver’s seat, kitted out in a pair of sunglasses and a black business suit, was none other than Woo Jinchul, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, of the Hunters Association.
Soon after his exit, three more men climbed out of the car from the passenger and rear seats. All of them were from the Monitoring Division as well.
“Chief, weren’t we on our way back to the Association?”
“I just wanted to confirm something, first.”
Woo Jinchul shifted his gaze over the Gate, some distance away.
‘An A-rank Gate still gives me the creeps every time I look at it.’
Woo Jinchul frowned deeply. If that giant hole opened up like a door and monsters trapped inside emerged outside…..
Just imagining that made him shudder.
‘However, why did that man apply to become a miner in such a horrifying place?’
Not only that, for two days in a row, too.
Even if Association President Go Gunhee hadn’t asked him, Woo Jinchul would have personally come here to find out, anyway.
‘Investigating behind his back is…. impossible.’
The man in question was an S-rank Awakened. A measly A-rank like him going undiscovered while secretly investigating an S-rank was, realistically speaking, an impossible dream.
That was why he decided to show up in the open like this.
Since he had a matter to attend to nearby anyway, he was thinking of greeting the youth while saying he was in the neighborhood, and then asking a couple of simple questions.
‘I hope he won’t find me strange or anything.’
Anyone would get curious about the circumstances if a Hunter, already pretty much confirmed to be an S-rank, chose to shovel the ground for some reason.
On top of this, wasn’t Sung Jin woo someone the Association President was paying close attention to? The Association President must’ve found this young man very much to his liking because he even focused all of his attention on everything Jin woo did.
‘No, I’m not the strange one here.’
It was obvious that you’d get curious, and it was only natural to ask.
While telling himself that, Woo Jinchul walked over to where the representative of the Hunters Guild was.
“I’m looking for your mining team.”
“Who…. are you?”
“I’m from the Association.”
The Guild employee confirmed Woo Jinchul’s identity and pointed in the direction of the waiting mining team.
“Please head over that way.”
“Thank you.”
Four Hunters from the Monitoring Division were now paying a visit to the mining team. As if he had received a heads-up already, Bae Yoon-Suk hurriedly ran to meet them halfway.
“Aigoo, what brings the Hunters from the Monitoring Division to this place?”
The members of the mining team had been relaxing until then overheard those words, and tension briefly flashed by in their eyes.
The oppressive pressure Hunters felt from the words ‘Monitoring Division’ was rather huge.
The people whose job was to arrest the Awakened that the normal laws couldn’t do anything about, they then either reformed the troublemakers or simply eliminated them. The ‘Monitoring Division’ was where those kinds of people worked for.
“What’s going on?”
“Hunters from the Monitoring Division are here.”
“Monitoring Division?”
“Something must’ve happened.”
Feeling curious now, the mining team members began flocking around Bae Yoon-Suk.
Woo Jinchul took his sunglasses off.
‘……’
He swept his gaze around the miners to locate Sung Jin woo, but in the end, he had to ask for that man’s whereabouts from Bae Yoon-Suk.
“Do you know by any chance where Sung Jin Woo Hunter-nim is?”
“I bloody knew it!”
Suddenly, a man jumped out from among the miners. It was Lee Sung-Gu, who had run into Jin woo’s shoulder yesterday.
Lee Sung-Gu passionately spat out his complaints, flying spittle accompanying his rapidly firing words.
“When that bastard looked at me and began grinning, I was terrified that he might eat me alive or something, you know! Uh-whew, it’s still so damn terrifying even when I think about it now….”
Woo Jinchul’s brows furrowed slightly.
‘Terrifying enough to eat a person….?’
Just what on earth was this man talking about?
Murmur, murmur…
The voices of the Hunters rose up higher and higher. Woo Jinchul ignored the background noise and asked Lee Sung-Gu.
“Did something happen?”
“Ah, well, that is….”
Lee Sung-Gu was about to answer him, but then, he rapidly realized that he was also at fault and quickly waved his hands around.
…
“Well, that isn’t really important, but the main thing is, his eyes were really scary, man.”
“….”
Woo Jinchul’s gaze shifted back to Bae Yoon-Suk.
“Where can I find Sung Jin Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Mister Sung is… He’s inside the Gate right now.”
Sung Jin Woo was inside the A-rank dungeon, where a raid was ongoing? Woo Jinchul’s eyes opened wider.
“Why did he enter the dungeon?”
“Well, the raid team’s porter hasn’t shown up today, you see. Nobody wanted to go in there, so Mister Sung volunteered as the porter.”
“….”
“But, it’s a bit weird, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
…
“Well, it’s nothing particular, but… Park Hunter-nim… no, I mean, Park Jongryeo Hunter-nim was also looking for Mister Sung, so he entered the Gate just now, you know? Isn’t it just too weird…?”
Bae Yoon-Suk spoke up and tilted his head.
Meanwhile, the mind of Woo Jinchul became a bit of a mess after hearing that.
‘Park Jongryeo was looking for Sung Jin Woo? Not only that, he even went after him into the dungeon, too?’
Just what was happening here?
He only stopped by to say hello to Sung Jin Woo, but now, it felt like something big was afoot here.
‘For the time being, I should head over to the Gate.’
That seemed to be the best choice he could make for the time being.
“We’ll stop by at the Gate, and leave afterward.”
“Oh, sure thing.”
Bae Yoon-Suk chuckled genially and nodded his head. Just as Woo Jinchul and his subordinates turned around to leave, Lee Sung-Gu quickly grabbed his arm.
“Excuse me, Mister Hunter?”
Lee Sung-Gu had this expectant face for some reason as he hurriedly asked Woo Jinchul.
“That bastard, Sung Jin Woo, did he do something bad? Maybe, he’s killed someone? I mean, he looked like someone capable of that.”
Woo Jinchul frowned slightly again. He sort of could understand why Sung Jin Woo glared at this moron.
‘A fool who’d get blown away into the weeds if Sung Jin Woo snorts in front of him…..’
Still, there were too many eyes watching. As a Hunter working for the Association, he couldn’t carelessly display his irritation at a stranger.
This was why working for a public organization sometimes could get rather annoying. Woo Jinchul spat out a long sigh and did his best to sound as diplomatic as possible.
“You’ll find out when you take a look at tomorrow evening’s news broadcast.”
Perhaps that answered most of his own suspicions, Lee Sung-Gu raised his voice high as if he had correctly predicted this.
“I told you, didn’t I? I told you that man is too suspicious!”
“But, he didn’t look that way….”
“Right. And he worked so diligently, too.”
Not minding the lukewarm responses of his colleagues, Lee Sung-Gu went on about how great his discerning eyes were.
‘Tsk.’
Woo Jinchul stared at that man making a fool of himself, before taking his subordinates towards the Gate.
However….
Woo Jinchul instinctively stopped a few steps away from the Gate.
“Chief?”
The subordinates began staring in confusion at Woo Jinchul’s stiff face.
‘This… This can’t be. It makes no sense.’
Woo Jinchul quickly yanked his phone out. He then accessed the Association’s information hub and checked out the available info on the A-rank Gate the Hunters Guild was supposed to conquer today.
Woo Jinchul’s eyes widened in shock.
Why is the measured value of the magic energy so low?!
His head began rocking side to side automatically.
‘The measurement results are wrong.’
Not all A-rank Hunters were equal. For instance, Hunter Woo Jinchul was right near the top within the A-rank. And his instincts were telling him this: The measurement value was all wrong.
Woo Jinchul quickly issued an order to his subordinate next to him.
“Go get the magic energy measuring device.”
The subordinate immediately realised that his expression was solemn, and hurriedly ran to where their car was parked.
The miniature measuring device used by the Monitoring Division was a world apart in quality from the devices used by the regular Association employees. As befitting a device created from a top-grade magic crystal that cost over a billion Won, this piece of equipment very rarely threw up errors or mistakes in its results.
Bleep.
The result quickly came out.
‘I knew it….’
The displayed result showed a clear discrepancy to the previously measured value. If the Guild formed their raid team according to the measured value presented by the Association, then it’d definitely become a serious situation.
‘Well, with two S-rank Hunters inside, I’m sure nothing untoward would happen, but…’
But, when Woo Jinchul placed the measuring device on the ground and tried to stand back up…
But…
The Gate suddenly began vibrating.
The powerful gushing magic energy wave caused Woo Jinchul and his three subordinates, with far worse perceptions than him, to flinch grandly on the spot. They began trembling like leaves right away.
“S-Section Chief?!”
“What, what was that, sir??”
Woo Jinchul shifted his gaze to the youngest of the agents present, the kid’s complexion looking awfully pale now.
“You okay?”
“Y-yes, sir. I’m okay.”
The youngest agent cautiously stared at the back of his hand after making his reply. He could see goosebumps covering up his skin.
Woo Jinchul stood upright.
“We’re going inside.”
“Pardon me?”
“You want to go in there, sir?”
Woo Jinchul’s determination didn’t waver, even for a second.
“If you’re scared, it’s okay for you to back out.”
Only he knew that the measurement value was incorrect at this stage. It was his duty to inform the Hunters trapped inside. It was the duty of the Association’s agents to manage other Hunters, and to keep a close watch on them, but also to aid them in time of their needs.
“N-no, sir.”
“We’ll go with you.”
Woo Jinchul nodded his head in satisfaction.
“Junior. Stay behind and report the new measurement result back to the Association.”
“Yes. No, wait. Sir?”
“Can you do it?”
Woo Jinchul lightly tapped the youngest agent here on the shoulder, and the latter nodded his head with some difficulty.
“….Yes, sir. I understand.”
Woo Jinchul turned to look back at the Gate.
On top of its already nonsensically high magic energy emission, an even greater storm of magic power rushed out from the Gate just now.
‘What the hell is going on inside this Gate?’
With Woo Jinchul as the lead, the two agents of the Monitoring Division also threw themselves beyond the Gate’s surface.
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