Chapter 28: Chapter 27
The chain still didn't break, but it was twisted as the chain had been broken a little.
"Hey! I think I just need to smash it a bit more! Wait!"
"Ugh, what an idiot…"
At Yoon Jae's words, Yi Joon muttered in a low voice as if he couldn't stop him. Yoon Jae pouted his lips and continued to smash the chain.
Who's stupid? He doesn't even recognize my writing!
Yoon Jae seemed to know who had locked these two. There was only one person in this school who harboured animosity towards the three of them.
Just how could he get caught up in such a sloppy scheme?
I know Jang Eui Yeol was a good person, but I don't know about Jung Yi Joon. There was no other way to explain that Jung Yi Joon was thickheaded.
"How can't you break something like this when you're gifted?"
"What? The building looks like it's going to collapse…"
"…What's that?"
"Huh?"
Yi Joon was angry at Yoon Jae's words but Eui Yeol's words quietened him. The two people inside kept wondering about it.
"What is it? What happened? Did a bug come out?"
"No, that's…"
Suddenly the air began to crack and a gap appeared from nowhere. However, unable to grasp the situation, the two just looked at each other with puzzled faces. Then suddenly, the gap widened and pulled Yi Joon with strong force as he screamed.
"Argh! What's this?"
"Yi Joon-ah!"
"What? What's wrong?"
Trying to save him, Eui Yeol quickly grabbed Yi Joon's arm, but the force was so strong that even Eui Yeol was dragged inside. When the two of them were completely dragged in, the screams stopped and neither of their voices could be heard anymore.
"Guys? Jung Yi Joon! Jang Eui Yeul!"
Surprised, Yoon Jae called their names, but there was no answer. Neither of them was someone to play such a joke, so Yoon Jae started smashing the chains faster.
After releasing the twisted chains, he opened the door, and what he saw in front of him was a floating gate in a torn shape with a subtle blue light radiating from it.
* * *
"This… why…"
I felt dizzy. After all, something that shouldn't exist here was right in front of my eyes.
"This doesn't make sense. Why did the gate appear now…?"
Gate. It was called a "gate" because it was connected to another dimension, but it was actually a distant space gate-like. To be more precise, it was the result of a collision between two dimensions and due to its destructive impact, the dimensional membrane that had been blocking the two was ruptured. It was natural for the gate to open since a person with abilities had appeared, but the problem was…
"The first gate appeared in Korea? This doesn't make sense…"
As far as I remember, the first gate appeared in Europe two years later. At that time, it happened to be the holiday season, so many tourists were caught up in the gate and there were numerous casualties and missing people.
But when there was darkness, there was also light. Thanks to that, the use of the gifted people, who were a pain to deal with, was decided, and the byproducts made of materials from within the gate turned into a huge source of money.
It was the beginning of the Hunter era.
"So… the gate wasn't supposed to appear here."
Strength left my legs and I stumbled. Tears welled up in my eyes due to the accumulated stress I am suffering from because of my helplessness. Just why is this appearing before me now?
"Ah… No way."
Is this all my fault? Of course, that didn't mean that my existence in this world is the reason behind all this.
It's just… If I wasn't possessed, and if the person who occupied this body was really Ki Yoon Jae…
"He wouldn't have known if there was a gate in the first place."
The building was so old that it was left unattended with only a remodeling plan. The gym in which the gate now appears was not just a warehouse on the ground, but actually one of the classrooms belonging to the old building.
If I hadn't had a conflict with Go In Hyuk, he wouldn't have locked the two here, and the gate would have been opened without anybody noticing. No one would've known it was open.
"It's all my fault."
It was definitely a butterfly effect1 caused by the fact that I'm possessed.
What should I do with this now? I had a guild, but it wasn't ready yet. There was no immediate goal, so I was just focusing on gathering gifted people and training them, but they were still not ready to be suddenly put into practice.
And I don't know the level of this gate…
It was a gate that didn't even appear in the original work. Since it was the first discovery, no gate rating has been released yet.
If it's a safe gate with 0 level, it's no problem. But who could guess what might happen if it is level 10?
…It would be my absolute end.
I had a flashback of the first day of my possession. I remember when my life flashed before my eyes as death cornered me from all directions.
My body shook so much that I lost control over it. Right now, I had only one singular choice, and it was to ignore the gate.
But, what about the main character?
In the original work, there was no threat of getting caught up in the gate until the main character awakened at the age of 20.
It could be known by looking at his lines as he first entered the gate.
As he entered the generally safe Level 2 gate, he exclaimed, "So this is what the inside of a gate looks like."
It's not just the main character… What about Jung Yi Joon?
Jung Yi Joon was gifted and strong, but he didn't know anything about the gate. After being sucked in, he might be disconcerted after finding out that the entrance had disappeared. He could also have been seriously injured… or killed while aimlessly wandering, not knowing how to come out.
Should I ignore it and just take care of my own safety?
Jung Yi Joon was very bad-tempered, but not to the point of being unbearable. Besides, he was a fool who didn't hesitate to take care of me while continuously swearing.
Would I be able to ignore whatever happens to him? And besides, what guaranteed that no matter what happened to the main character, the person that lead the story, there would be no change in the future?!
"Haa…"
I turned my back to the gym. All signals were disturbed due to the power emitted by the gate, making it impossible to use communication devices.
There were times when I knew the location of the gate in advance. I didn't know if it's a good or bad thing, but this time, there were no people passing by the old building, so I couldn't know in advance, and two victims were sucked in.
I took my phone out of my pocket where it slipped a bit. After confirming that normal calls were working, I pressed a familiar number.
– Yes, Yoon Jae.
"Listen. It's a very urgent situation."
I called Ki Hyun Joo and explained the general situation to her. I said that the air was suddenly torn and two people were sucked into it.
"So gather the guild members with high training scores, arm them tightly and send them to Sungwoon's old building."
– Okay. An hour… No, I'll send it within 30 minutes.
"Great. And also, I won't be able to contact you anymore."
– What? How come… wait.. Don't tell me you're planning on going there, are you?
Ki Hyun Joo was absolutely against it and told me to stay here because she would go right away, but I ended the call as it was.
There was no one here who knew better than me.
So they need me.
I wondered if I, an ungifted person, went in for no reason and turned into a burden, but…
But it's better than nothing.
I shoved my phone into my pocket and walked to the gym.
I then crossed the gate.
***
"This shit…"
"What the hell is this place?" Yi Joon muttered as he looked at the scarlet sky.
It was a strange place where the air suddenly split and sucked him in. Apparently, he was in a school building in the city centre, and when he came to his senses, there were trees around him, which were large, spacious, and full of leaves like rainforests.
It was neither hot nor cold. The spring and autumn clothes he was wearing were not too cumbersome.
"Where are… we?"
"I also don't know."
He spoke unevenly to Eui Yeol, who asked while standing blankly like him.
Yi Joon felt a little sorry for him.
Eui Yeol was only dragged in because he grabbed him as he was sucked into the air.
The crack they came through while they were both falling disappeared and only the two of them remained.
He took his phone out of his pocket, but the sign of the phone's departure was still on.
The only thing he could believe in in such helpless situations was his strength.
Seeing his strength coming out properly with his fingertips, Yi Joon decided to move and find the exit.
"Hey, let's go."
"Oh, where are you going? Wouldn't it be safer to just stay here?"
"Don't we need to find the exit? Stay here if you want. I'll look for it by myself. "
Eui Yeol thought that Yi Joon's words seemed to be right, so if he left him here and tried to find the exit alone… However, before agreeing to that, Eui Yeol suddenly changed his attitude.
"I don't think I should stay here alone."
"You look stupid, are you scared?"
As Yi Joon was teasing Eui Yeol, a person suddenly popped out of the air.
"Ugh!"
"…Yoon Jae-ya!"
"Hey! Why are you here… you stupid bastard!"
"I-it hurts…"
It was Yoon Jae who fell from the air. Yi Joon was looking at him with a puzzled face, and after grasping the situation, he blew his top.
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Footnotes
The butterfly effect means that minute changes or small events lead to tremendous consequences that are not expected in the future, just like the butterfly's small wings could cause major changes in the weather.
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