Everyone was excited that they had successfully pushed back the monsters. The faces of those recovering from the healer's simple treatment were full of laughter and joy.
"Hah, I'm so glad," Min Ah-rin, who came to see the guild members' condition with the healer team, said with a deep sigh of relief.
"There were so many.. I was really scared."
"Has the gate been ranked yet?"
"I don't know yet… I think it's going to be S-grade."
It was S-grade. I saw Cheon Sa-yeon talking with Park Geon-ho from afar.
Six days had passed since I entered the gate. The destination, where the exit was expected to be, was also quite close.
'It's almost time for the boss to appear.'
It was the boss that dropped SS-grade items, so of course, it must be SS-grade.
I looked at the guild members who gathered around and made a bonfire. I didn't think everyone could have imagined that an SS-grade boss would appear. If I had known the truth, I wouldn't be making a bonfire leisurely.
Cheon Sa-yeon, you bastard… it seems you won't talk about the boss until the very end.
'How the hell did Cheon Sa-yeon find out that this gate is SS-grade?'
According to the novel, Cheon Sa-yeon stole the gate from Ha Tae-heon and obtained SS-class items.
Which wasn't helpful. It would've been nice to know what kind of monster the boss was.
I was lucky today, but I can't expect to be lucky when dealing with the SS-grade boss. Cheon Sa-yeon would be fine since he was the same grade as the boss, but it was obvious that other members would not even be able to stand properly.
'In the end, there is no other way than to leave it to Cheon Sa-yeon himself.'
If it was Cheon Sa-yeon, he alone would probably be enough. I remembered Cheon Sa-yeon's moves while he was dealing with the mid-boss monster.
"..."
I quickly looked around at the thought. I couldn't see Cheon Sa-yeon, who had just been with Park Geon-ho before.
I was too lazy to look around, but it was quite important to move on. Min Ah-rin grabbed my wrist as I was about to move to find Cheon Sa-yeon.
"Let's go together, Yi-gyeol-ssi!"
"Pardon?"
"Everyone wants to say hi to Yi-gyeol-ssi. Come on!"
"Oh, uh…"
It was an unexpected development. People greeted me warmly as I was dragged by Min Ah-rin with a bewildered expression.
"Oh! The one who was held by the Master!"
"Wow, that's right! Hello~ My name is Kim Ji-hoon from the close-range team."
I smiled awkwardly and grabbed the hand that suddenly stretched out to me. "Nice to meet you."
"What is your name?"
"His name is Yi-gyeol-ssi. Han Yi-gyeol-ssi!"
"Han Yi-gyeol-ssi, take this. It's warm porridge."
"Th-thank you…"
In an instant, a bowl of warm porridge was placed on my hand. Min Ah-rin also kidnapped Kim Woo-jin, who was idling around me, after sitting me in an empty seat. Kim Woo-jin, who was brought over without being given a moment to refuse, had a strange look on his face as he received a bowl of porridge.
"Oh, I'm starving! Now I'll live for a little longer."
"You almost had your neck ripped out by a monster but you're just hungry?"
"Hey, why are you talking about monsters now? Making our food taste worse!"
"I admit it looked really creepy. Was it the northern type? The monsters that appeared last. I almost threw up when I saw it."
"Stop it!" he shouted as he wrinkled his face.
Everyone burst into laughter. While I was staring blankly at the scene, Kim Woo-jin tapped my shoulder.
"Why aren't you eating?"
"Oh? Ah."
Then I lowered my gaze and looked at the porridge in the bowl. It was a common vegetable porridge, but the savoury smell made me hungry because of the situation. I carefully scooped out a spoonful and put it in my mouth.
"By the way, umm… Han Yi-gyeol-ssi?"
"Yes?"
"Are you really independent? The team leader said that you were."
"Right! I thought you were a guild member, but I was very surprised to hear that you were independent."
"You have good skills, so why are you independent? A-rank, right?"
"Your ability is wind, right?"
"That's right. The team leader and the master just floated in the air."
"Amazing. That takes a lot of energy, doesn't it?"
"Then is it easy to fly?"
Numerous questions came from all over the place. I was perplexed by this situation I had never encountered before, so I was covered in a cold sweat. No, was it even okay for news that I was independent to spread like this?
I looked around for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, I'm independent…"
"Urk, are you really independent?"
"What a shame! Come join our guild!"
"Wait, then, which department should you go to? Assistant position?"
"Still, he's an A-rank with an elemental ability, so it's a waste for him to only assist."
"Then, wouldn't it be okay if he went with the team leader? When I poked him earlier, it seemed like he was coveting Han Yi-gyeol-ssi."
…what? Who did what?
"Team Leader Park, he goes crazy (눈 돌아가잖아) when he finds an ability user he likes. It happens a lot."
"He was already complaining about the lack of people in the team. Once we leave the gate, wouldn't he just follow Han Yi-gyeol-ssi around?"
"Mmh. Exactly… there's a big possibility."
I forced myself into the terrible conversation with a smile. "Haha, I don't see the team leader with that kind of personality…"
"That's just the way he looks."
"His face looks fine. But inside, he's such a nutcase."
"Team Leader Park is famous. I'm only telling Han Yi-gyeol-ssi, but if Team Leader Park asks you to come to his team, you should refuse. It's a real hell of a place."
"Just the team? The Special Operations Division itself is a den of crazy people!"
"Still, Team Leader Park is the worst. The last time I ran into his team in the hallway, they were all covered in blood and laughing hard. It was creepy… yeesh!"
"Oh my gosh. I heard that they also went to the Middle East gate—is that true?"
"They went last month. I heard they cleared it in four days and four nights."
"Wooow, the Middle East is really bad and the inside of the gate is unstable. It's crazy. If it were me, I would never go in."
I smiled and kept the conversation going back and forth deeply in my mind. If Park Geon-ho offered me a job as they said, I would run away without looking back. I thought only Cheon Sa-yeon was crazy, but Park Geon-ho was also weird.
So we all ate and drank and chatted until late at night. Kim Woo-jin, who had been vigilant about the surroundings, was also munching on snacks like he calmed down, and Min Ah-rin talked with the healer team about something and smiled brightly.
In the middle of the dark desert, the faces of the people lit by the warm bonfire were at ease as if they had come on a trip. Seeing that, I smiled a little too.
'A day or so will be fine.'
Looking at the situation, I tried to talk a little bit about the gate with Cheon Sa-yeon and share some rating information with them. But the atmosphere wasn't right to broach such a subject.
Well, I guess we needed this much rest to be able to survive. After a long time, I also stuck to my seat with a relaxed mind.
* * *
Through hazy consciousness, I could smell burning wood. Blearily, I could see that the fire had been extinguished and only smoke could be seen. I could hear my body cracking when I lifted my bowed head.
After I slept with my back roughly lying on piled up luggage, my physical condition was not good. I stretched out my rumpled body and walked to where others were gathering.
"Good morning."
"Yi-gyeol-ssi."
Min Ah-rin, who was standing wrapped in her blanket, looked at me. The air in the early morning, when the deep blue light had subsided, was somehow cool.
"…what's wrong?"
I could see the guild members whispering about something. Min Ah-rin, with a complicated expression, answered my question after lowering her voice.
"That… It seems that the monster corpses have disappeared."
"The monster corpses?"
"Yes. The monsters we killed yesterday. We couldn't deal with them properly because there were too many and they were too large… but they completely disappeared."
Yesterday, I turned my attention to the location where the monster corpses were scattered. As Min Ah-rin said, the place was empty. As if the corpses didn't exist from the start.
"The corpses had never disappeared before."
"I don't feel good about this. Not one or two, but many of them disappeared at once."
"Who was awake in the morning?"
"Me. But nothing really happened. It was so quiet… I just realized that they were gone."
"Fuckin' hell, I'm scared enough to die."
As the commotion grew, Kim Woo-jin came to my side. His brow was wrinkled and his slightly bloodshot eyes looked quite tired.
"You'd better explain it to the team leader first."
"I will."
At my words, a man nodded his head with a serious expression. Last night, he was a guild member of the close-range team who introduced himself as Kim Ji-hoon.
"Where is Team Leader Park?"
"He was with the Master over there… ah?"
The woman who was explaining to Kim Ji-hoon suddenly stopped all her actions and stood tall. Her surprised face gradually contorted into dismay.
"What? What is it?"
"N-no, I… my body…"
Sarararak.
The sound of flowing fine sand was heard. The woman, who was standing still, gradually began to be buried in the sand. Kim Ji-hoon must have seen the same thing as me, so he quickly grabbed the woman's arm.
"Wh-what!"
"Why is the sand…!"
"Get out of there quickly!"
Kim Ji-hoon pulled her with force, but the woman didn't even budge. The woman, who was sucked into the sand up to her thighs in an instant, cried out with her pale face, "I—I don't know. I can't… I can't move!"
"Damn it! What the hell!"
"Is there a monster or something? Find out right now!"
The woman's body was constantly dragged into the sand. I quickly lifted my spirits. I waved my hand to sweep all the sand away.
"Why…"
My ability did not activate. No, my ability didn't work against the sand.
"My ability doesn't work!"
"Mine either!"
"Damn it, why! Why are our abilities…!"
I once again tried using my ability to lift the woman, but it didn't work either. Panicked shouts from the guild members who tried to use their abilities like me to save the woman came from all over the place.
"Ugh, uh… I'm scared…"
The woman who was submerged up to her neck trembled with tears. Despite the efforts of those around her to get her out, the woman completely disappeared into the sand.
A terribly heavy silence sank. The face of the missing woman looked familiar. She was the one who smiled and handed me a bowl of porridge yesterday.
"We—we have to get out of here right now…"
"Ah—aaaaargh!"
Looking back at the scream that pierced my ear, I saw another guild member whose calf was buried in the sand just like the woman before. I took a deep breath.
"N-no!"
"Damn it, I can't move!"
"I—I don't want this…! I don't want this!"
There were screams everywhere. Kim Ji-hoon, who was kneeling with an empty face, also began to sink slowly. Unknowingly, I grabbed onto the arms of Kim Woo-jin and Min Ah-rin, who were standing next to me. My hands trembled beyond control.
"…it's alright. I'll lift you up into the air…"
I tried to be as calm as possible. I tried using my abilities right away.
"…Yi-gyeol—Yi-gyeol-ssi."
I could hear Min Ah-rin's shaky voice.
Ah.
I couldn't.
I shut my eyes tight and opened them. Slowly, I turned my head to look at Min Ah-rin.
Min Ah-rin's body was gradually sinking downward.
"..."
My hand was shaky, but I tried to ignore it and used my ability. But the wind only stayed in my hand and could not reach Min Ah-rin.
Min Ah-rin, who was watching my actions blankly, bit her trembling lips and closed her eyes. Tears dripped down her cheeks.