Chapter 8: Human?
aekrang—the sixth S-Class hunter in Korea.
He was said to be a great ice mage who could turn Seoul into Alaska if he wanted to, and that was just one of the many rumours surrounding him.
The reason why Baekrang, the heart of the rumour of unknown origin, didn't appear in public was actually not as great of a reason as people thought.
'Is this the last one?'
After smashing the monsters that attacked him one after the other, Siwoo lightly flicked his index finger.
Clink!
Along with the body of the monster it was holding, the ice was crushed like shaved ice. Siwoo swallowed his nausea at the same time.
'… The smell.'
Siwoo looked away from the monster shards that were shattered along with the ice. He hurriedly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeves as if suddenly remembering to, then rummaged through his hood pocket and pulled out a thick mask.
It was true that he was the future leader of Korea's largest Wolf Guild and the sixth S-Class hunter.
However, he was uncomfortable with gates and monsters, and had no intention of doing hunter activities. No, rather, he hated it.
Siwoo, who was wearing his mask, discovered that his sleeve had been torn from the battle. The torn fabric felt uncomfortable, so if it continued like this, it would interfere with the battle.
He couldn't take his shirt off, so after thinking for a moment, Siwoo quickly rolled up his sleeve.
"…"
The scars on the surface of his arm were revealed. They were so severe that he doubted his eyes. The scars from punctures, burns, and sharp cuts were countless.
Siwoo was well aware of when and where the scars were obtained, and that one of them stretched over his arm, to his shoulder, and to his back.
The blue eyes staring at the dense scars sunk coldly.
'Can you carry 'Wolf' with this much?'
Siwoo, who was staring at his scar, lowered his sleeve again, as if blocking it. At that moment, he was about to take a step.
"Hm?"
Something glistened on his toes.
Siwoo, who was wearing his mask, bent his upper body and picked it up. It was a purple ore the size of a fist.
It was a stone that could be obtained by defeating the boss monster with the 'Gate Core'.
Bringing this back home would be proof that he had completed the tutorial.
After taking the core, Siwoo checked the cell phone in his back pocket. The current time was 7:58. Clearing the gate seemed to take about 30 minutes.
'If you include the time needed to take a taxi back to where Kim Gwanghyun is and to get to the cafe…'
It'd probably be around 8:30. Siwoo wouldn't be late. After wiping his hands and the screen of his cell phone clean with a white handkerchief, Siwoo turned around.
It was strange.
'The exit… Is it still closed?'
He had cleared all the monsters without leaving a single one. He also took the gate core. Siwoo stood still for a moment and began to think about the situation.
He didn't know what to do. Even with the experience and knowledge accumulated for more than ten years through practical training, Siwoo had never heard of such a case.
Maybe this was the unknown gate he'd only heard of?
'No. It was definitely green.'
A gate's difficulty level could be determined by the color of its opening. The data from the association stated that it was B-Class, and he clearly saw that the opening was green when he entered.
So, there was only one case left. The case where there were two bosses.
Sometimes there were monsters with two bodies, which happened in ways such as by splitting.
'I have no choice but to check.'
Siwoo eventually went back to the center of the gate.
A path of ice was laid down, indicating the direction he had been walking. Of course, there was nothing to be seen on it.
After walking through the passage, Siwoo continued walking along the inner wall.
Around the time when his blue eyes, which had sunk like a calm lake, were starting to get annoyed, he found a black opening that shook loudly in the deepest part of the gate.
It was a phenomenon that he had never seen before, but his instincts were telling him that the last monster was over there.
After hesitating for a while, Siwoo finally stepped in.
The opening shuddered violently as if it were rebelling for a moment, then dispersed in the air with a pulsating sound.
In an instant, a pitch-black darkness spread across his field of vision. Siwoo felt like he was drowning in ink.
As time passed and his vision brightened again, Siwoo found a pair of eyes looking at him.
[Lv. 30 'Red-Eyed Black Tiger' is charging towards you!]
'… Tiger?'
A giant black tiger was rushing towards him in a straight line.
Siwoo raised his hand at an angle.
As if snow had begun to fall, the tips of his dark blue hair slowly turned white. At the same time, as if a chill in the air was gathering, his fingertips also began to turn white.
In the blink of an eye, a sharp blade of ice formed along his hand.
Whoosh!
The beast-type monster was cut in two by the cool blade that swung without warning.
Siwoo frowned as he looked at the smoothly cut flesh.
'What the hell is this?'
The beast-type monster was different from the insect-type monsters he'd encountered so far. It was strange. A phenomenon he had never heard of before: a gate inside a gate.
Clack—
At that moment, the black tip of a shoe suddenly appeared among the scattered ice shards. He could feel the powerful energy approaching him.
Siwoo slowly looked up.
"… So you're the real boss."
Contrary to his unshaking voice, Siwoo's fingertips were trembling faintly. It was as if he had been suppressed by an invisible spirit.
But if he didn't get rid of it, he couldn't get out of here.
'It's okay. Because this'll be the last time.'
Siwoo, who was determined, raised his hand. The cool chill began to concentrate once again following the shape of his hand.
"… A boss?"
Standing tall, his hands stopped in mid-air.
Unbelievably, Siwoo heard Korean. The hair that had been dyed white returned to dark blue in an instant.
"…A woman?"
His sharp eyes turned round. Walking through the darkness, 'it' was revealed to have the form of a human woman.
***
About 5 minutes ago.
After leaving the hut, Eunha was wandering around the gate as usual. The fifth monster she was looking for was still nowhere to be seen.
'… I've walked around in vain again today.'
She lost the strength in her shoulders. Then, without thinking, her feet staggered as she stepped forward.
'Damn it.'
Eunha managed to regain her balance and touched her forehead. The floor was obviously still, but her brain shook as if a great earthquake had occurred.
Her condition was at its worst these days, and it worsened day by day.
Was it malnutrition? Maybe there was a limit to how much she could satisfy her hunger with tiger meat.
Eunha didn't know how many days she'd been locked up in the gate, but it wasn't just for a few days or weeks. It was understandable that her body was complaining, as she hadn't eaten properly for a long period of time.
If that wasn't the case, it may have been because of her exhaustion from continuous battle. Since Eunha had been struggling to find the last Named monster these days, she hadn't been able to rest properly.
In any case, the red sign of her health was not a happy one for Eunha.
[Lv. 30 'Red-Eyed Black Tiger' is watching you.]
It seemed that there was still one monster left. Guys who weren't even worth a fist seemed to be more irritating today. Annoyed, Eunha was about to swing her parasol.
[Lv. 30 'Red-Eyed Black Tiger' is terrified! It attempts to escape.]
Again, the monster started to run away.
Eunha sighed softly. She didn't really feel like chasing after the monster.
In her heart, she wanted to ignore it, but she couldn't. No matter how bad a monster it is, if you don't completely eliminate it, you'd be in trouble.
It was at that moment when Eunha, who pressed her temple firmly, turned around to chase the beast.
[Warning! System corruption detected. External interference is suspected.]
[Forcibly resetting the gate.]
[ – – – Loading – – – ]
[Warning! An unknown error has occurred.]
A dark red warning window popped up in front of Eunha.
'All of a sudden, what—'
A loud siren began to sound.
[System Error = 21387 ݥׄڮ귏𮢚ͩ⭯iv?P⣌헀ʥ𩨒E?𲆾ƚ9œv\?]
[System Error = 21388 ]eоh?ޢť˝ǖ黦iް̢IֺᡜMȒ暧1褀�z,ϡ.]
[System Error = 21387 ڛЛ?Dž뽍ҦߟـꮈҠ簐ǥ�站թұ＝5璕?]
[System Error = 21388 犰PL"ҽߐĶ#?缥ᷞٮaɾ݈܌⡄㭃t৺űȀW3р]
The earthquake hit Eunha so strongly that it made her whole body shake.
When the ground shook in the midst of a severe headache, Eunha lost her mind.
Eunha managed to center herself and quickly scanned her surroundings. Cracks were forming on the inner wall of the gate.
Ding.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' senses an unfamiliar presence and tightens its jaw.]
"So you're the real boss."
Holding her parasol in her hand and preparing for battle, Eunha suddenly froze on the spot.
"… A boss?"
If she wasn't mistaken, what Eunha had just heard was a man's voice.
A human.
So in this gate, there were humans and not only monsters. Eunha was soon able to face the blue pupils that were staring at her. They were full of hostility.
"Are you a human?"
Mumbling in disbelief, Eunha seemed surprised.
Her heart started beating loudly. She wasn't sure if it had been months or years since she had encountered something that wasn't a monster.
Eunha took a step closer to him with an overwhelming feeling. Then, the person frowned without mercy. It was as if Eunha gave off an unbearable stench.
"Let's talk for a moment—"
"There is nothing to talk about with a monster."
Swish!
A sharp-edged icicle drew a thin red line on Eunha's cheek and brutally nailed itself to the wall behind it.
His ice-cold eyes were full of hostility.
Siwoo quickly analyzed the opponent. The long hair that went down to her waist was as black as ebony, and her bloodless skin was as pale as a corpse. Red blood dripped down around her lips, which weren't even red, but purple.
A suspiciously glamorous black dress.
A black parasol with roses.
Shimmering flames that wrapped around her body like a living snake.
No matter how much Korean she spoke and how much she looked like a young woman, this was a gate. An uninhabitable gate.
Siwoo's judgment that she wasn't human was natural.
Whoosh!
Loaded like bullets, icicles rushed towards her with the speed of lightning bolts. As if they were about to end with a single blow, the icicles defied the resistance of the air and struck in a straight line.
Siwoo didn't want her to stay here anymore. There was the disgusting smell of monster blood, and the adrenaline that spread throughout his body was unpleasant due to the prolonged battle.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
After that, Siwoo continued to attack endlessly…
Was it because of his mood? His attacks never seemed to hit.
'This… This is a B-Class gate?'
It couldn't be.
The ease gradually disappeared from Siwoo's face. But he couldn't back down from here.
Ding.
[Activating the power 'Dog's Teeth'.]
A yellow message window appeared in front of Siwoo, although Eunha couldn't see it.
Pshhh—!
The ice fragments surrounding Siwoo took the shape of a beast's sharp fangs.
Eunha knew instinctively. The person genuinely intended to kill her.
'I can't help it then.'
Eunha's eyes, which had only been focused on evasion, changed sharply. There was no way she could sit down and have a peaceful conversation.
From the looks of it, the opponent was also an Awakened with unique abilities. In other words, he seemed to be a hunter. Then…
'As long as I don't kill him.'
With determination, Eunha leaped into the air in a soft arc.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone