Chapter 23
Ha Min-jae, who was walking alongside him on that open path, carefully opened his mouth.
"The gate information is exactly as written in the report I submitted earlier. If you... haven't checked it, I'll explain it to you."
"It's alright, I've understood everything."
"Ah, yes. I understand."
As if the business was finished, Ha Min-jae stopped speaking and quietly halted his steps.
Naturally left alone, Lee Seong-jun's gaze met the gate emitting an ominous aura.
Having achieved considerable growth over the past week, he didn't think it would be difficult.
However, the inside of the gate is a place where unknown dangers could be lurking.
As it's a place where a moment's mistake could cost one's life, one should never be overconfident.
"Whew..."
He draws out concentration to bring his body to its best condition.
It wasn't easy, but having done it countless times before, he could manage somehow.
As he exhaled the breath he had deeply inhaled, an appropriate tension tightened his languid muscles.
A contented smile spread across Lee Seong-jun's face as he clenched and unclenched his palms.
'Excellent.'
The right amount of tension, neither too much nor too little.
'It's the best condition.'
Finally, it was the moment when Lee Seong-jun finished preparing to enter the gate.
Ha Min-jae waved his hand from behind and greeted him.
"I wish you good luck."
Instead of answering, Lee Seong-jun nodded and stepped into the gate, gradually disappearing.
"Although Hunter Lee Seong-jun has entered, safety hasn't been completely secured yet, so please maintain vigilance without letting your guard down."
It was when Ha Min-jae was about to return to his position, uttering formal words as usual.
"...?"
The red energy flow emitted by the gate gradually changed to blue.
'The color of the energy flow is changing?'
Something was wrong.
Ha Min-jae urgently shouted.
"No...! Stop!"
Before those words could even finish.
Woong-!
Along with the resonant sound, the gate's energy flow swelled up in an instant, swallowing Lee Seong-jun's figure.
"Wh-what?!"
Ha Min-jae, with eyes wide open, rushed urgently to the gate entrance.
The soldiers guarding the vicinity followed him with hurried steps.
However, they couldn't enter the inside of the gate.
An invisible barrier formed at the gate entrance was not allowing anyone's entry.
"Wh... what?!"
To humanity, the space called a gate was still an unknown realm.
They can't accurately predict when and what variables might occur.
It meant that things incomprehensible to human knowledge, like now, could happen.
The soldiers guarding the vicinity looked at Ha Min-jae with half-dazed expressions.
"Hu-Hunter, the gate has turned blue!"
Like a vast ocean, the entire color of the gate had changed to blue.
Ha Min-jae hurriedly took out the smartphone tucked in his breast pocket and pressed the call button.
Ring-ring-! Ring-ring-!
'Pick up, please pick up quickly!'
Perhaps his desperate prayer was answered?
It was around when the second dial tone was sounding.
A relaxed voice was heard from the other end of the receiver.
-Oh, why? Did something happen?
"Team leader! It's turned into a Frenzy Gate! The gate that Hunter Lee Seong-jun entered..."
-What?!
Han Seok-gyu's agitated voice is heard consecutively over the smartphone.
-A, A Frenzy Gate?!
Ha Min-jae's gaze turns towards the blue energy flow filling his vision.
As he was seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't deny it.
"Yes, it's definitely a Frenzy Gate."
* * *
After receiving the news that Lee Seong-jun had entered a Frenzy Gate.
The first thing Cho Kang-hyun, who rushed to the D-rank gate located in Gangseo-gu, encountered was Han Seok-gyu's shadowed face.
"I'm sorry..."
"Haa... Let's talk later."
Cho Kang-hyun, sighing, passed by Han Seok-gyu and moved towards the gate.
Eventually, as he faced the blue-dyed gate up close, Cho Kang-hyun's face hardened.
'Of all things, a Frenzy Gate...'
When ranking normal gates, the amount of magical power flowing out is used as the standard.
It meant the sum of the magical power values that all the monsters inside the gate unconsciously emit.
However, there were no ordinary monsters inside a Frenzy Gate.
'Only one, just a boss monster.'
In other words, the amount of magical power measured when ranking the gate is measured from just one, the boss monster.
Compared to the originally assigned gate rank, the difficulty of conquest inevitably increases exponentially.
Of course, if it were simply that the internal monsters were strong, it wouldn't be a big problem.
One could just run away or receive external support.
But unfortunately, Frenzy Gates had the characteristic of sealing the gate entrance upon entry.
Although he knew it in his head, hoping against hope, Cho Kang-hyun carefully raised his hand to touch the gate entrance.
'As expected, it's blocked.'
At the sensation felt at his fingertips, a curse involuntarily flowed from Cho Kang-hyun's mouth.
"Damn it..."
It couldn't be helped because until now, there were only two known conditions for removing the barrier.
First, when the entered hunter defeats the boss monster alone.
And second, when all the hunters inside die.
Naturally, Cho Kang-hyun's brow furrowed.
'The odds are too slim.'
If it's the amount of magical power measured as a D-rank gate, a C+ rank monster would appear. Moreover, considering the characteristic of being a boss monster, at least a B-rank hunter would need to step up to hunt safely.
Although Returnee Lee Seong-jun had grown rapidly over a week by monopolizing Red Goblins, on average, it takes 3 years at the shortest and 6 years at the longest to become a B+ rank hunter.
There was ridiculously insufficient time to reach B+ rank yet.
'Even considering the steep growth rate so far... C rank is the limit.'
A fight between a C+ rank boss monster and a C rank hunter, it's fair to say there's no chance of winning unless a miracle happens.
Cho Kang-hyun, whose face was darkening, urgently shook his head.
'No, no, let's believe.'
It was too early to give up.
Returnee Lee Seong-jun had shown things that could be called miracles, breaking numerous records so far.
'There's nothing that changes by falling into despair.'
Rather, do what I can do now.
'Let's find a way to support Returnee Lee Seong-jun before the worst situation strikes.'
Cho Kang-hyun's mind, having pulled himself together, starts to spin busily.
About 5 minutes passed like that?
Cho Kang-hyun's eyes suddenly lit up.
'Wouldn't Olivia, the magician called the highest authority in gate studies, know another way to open a Frenzy Gate?'
However, contrary to the thought that came to mind, he couldn't immediately request help.
Unfortunately, Olivia had been completely missing since last year.
'Don't give up, if we think about it, there must be other ways.'
Behind Cho Kang-hyun, who was lost in thought, a man with a large build approached and spoke.
"Our Team Leader Cho Kang-hyun, always working hard."
Cho Kang-hyun's eyes momentarily widened as he turned his head.
It was a natural reaction.
The man in front of him was someone he never thought would come here.
"Director... sir?"
"Why are you surprised? It's related to a returnee, so I, as the director, can't just stay cooped up in the office."
It could certainly be considered a reasonable statement.
But the person saying it was wrong.
The man standing in front of him now, Director Kim Dong-jun, was someone who could be said to have rarely shown his face on-site until now.
Moreover, even those few times were all because of orders from the Association President or Vice President, done reluctantly.
Yet such a person voluntarily showed up on-site.
'Why on earth?'
Fortunately, the question didn't last long.
"I hear that of all people, Returnee Lee Seong-jun entered this Frenzy Gate? It's really unfortunate, to lose such an excellent talent like this."
Contrary to his words, Cho Kang-hyun's brow furrowed at Kim Dong-jun's expression, which was slightly curved into a smile.
'Really... what a stupid man.'
It wasn't the time to think only about simple office politics.
'Returnee Lee Seong-jun is a talent with the potential to reach SSS rank.'
In other words, he was someone who could maintain the Association's position even among large guilds and alliances.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the future of the Hunter Association was at stake.
Yet Kim Dong-jun was smiling, thinking only about his own gain, about gaining an advantage in office politics.
Anger rises to the top of his head at Kim Dong-jun's foolish actions.
Normally, he would have raised his voice and fought.
But now wasn't the time to waste time on someone like Kim Dong-jun.
It was time to find a way to help Returnee Lee Seong-jun as quickly as possible.
"...I need to find a way to help Returnee Lee Seong-jun, so I'll be going first."
Cho Kang-hyun, who had been looking at Kim Dong-jun with a cold gaze, immediately turned his back and took a step.
Kim Dong-jun, watching Cho Kang-hyun's back gradually receding, shouted in a loud voice.
"I'm not sure if there's a way, but do your best for now! Fighting, our Team Leader Cho Kang-hyun!"
In fact, he wanted to burst into laughter right away and fully savor this joy.
But there were too many people around to express it openly.
In the end, Kim Dong-jun suppressed the smile trying to escape and savored the joy welling up in his heart.
'Finally, finally, is my life starting to bloom?'
Perhaps because he had lived a difficult life, walking a path of hardship?
Heaven had given him unexpected luck.
'Once he entered the Frenzy Gate, that Lee Seong-jun is finished too.'
He still hadn't figured out exactly how he had deceived so many people.
But no matter how skilled he was, he couldn't deceive monsters.
It meant that Lee Seong-jun's true colors, which he had been hiding through fraudulent acts, would be revealed, and he would meet a terrible death inside the Frenzy Gate.
'Cho Kang-hyun, who was in charge of Lee Seong-jun, won't be able to avoid responsibility for this incident either.'
No, he would make sure he couldn't avoid it.
Of course, as Association employees are also classified as public officials, they couldn't be easily cut off.
However, it wouldn't be difficult to drive him out to the provinces.
It meant he could get rid of Cho Kang-hyun, who had been picking fights at every turn, from his sight.
'Lee Seong-jun, I thought you were just an annoying troublemaker, but now I see you were quite a grateful guy!'
Kim Dong-jun barely suppressed the laughter that kept trying to escape.