Right, it was clear that the rookie was seeing things due to being overworked. The idea of Lee Sa-young coming to a place like this was absurd. It was likely that he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't discern reality. There was no other explanation for such madness.
Yang Hye-jin looked at the rookie with pity. She thought of giving him a ginseng juice to revive him when they returned to the management office. Then she recited Lee Sa-young's profile in her head.
Lee Sa-young, who was dethroned from the top spot by J, a sudden newcomer or imposter, but had held the number one position for six years. Notable for… 'Ignoring most requests from the Awakened Management Bureau and the Rift Management Bureau.'
Since Yang Hye-jin started working at the Rift Management Bureau, Lee Sa-young had never responded to a support request. The B-grade hunter standing next to her seemed to share her thoughts as he laughed.
"Hey, why would Lee Sa-young come here? You must have seen it wrong."
"No, really, it's Lee Sa-young…"
"I've heard that more people have been dressing up in techwear with gas masks lately because of those public service ads. Could it be one of those posers?"
"That's possible."
"Right? I get chills just from seeing those ads."
As they laughed off the absurd joke, something that everyone was familiar with abruptly froze the cheerful atmosphere— a lazy voice.
"Are you here to perform a ritual… in front of the rift?"
"…"
"It looked like a family gathering."
The voice was too familiar, as it was one they regularly heard on weekend entertainment shows. Yang Hye-jin slowly turned her head. A figure in a black gas mask nonchalantly crossed the restricted line they had set up.
With such a build, wearing black techwear, a sarcastic tone, and a chillingly low voice, there was only one person it could be.
The B-grade hunter, sweating since hearing the voice, started making a cross shape with a safety bar, looking like he was trying to exorcize a demon. Yang Hye-jin dropped her cigarette. She quickly regained her composure and stamped it out with her foot.
In the midst of the confusion, everyone had the same thought in their minds.
'Why is this guy here?'
A grade 5 rift wasn't an easy one, but it also didn't require an S-grade hunter. They had requested support knowing he wouldn't come, so his actual arrival was baffling, akin to winning the lottery with a ticket bought just for fun.
Standing tall in front of the rift, Lee Sa-young tilted his head.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you going in?"
Yang Hye-jin swallowed hard and cautiously asked.
"Are you here for support?"
"Yeah."
"…What for?"
He nodded toward the swirling rift entrance.
"To get rid of this."
But why would the current number two come here for a mere grade 5 rift… Yang Hye-jin quickly gave up on getting a proper answer. Time was of the essence, and there was no time to argue with Lee Sa-young.
"Support staff from the Awakened Management Bureau are also on their way. Perhaps you should wait a bit and enter together…"
"I don't need them."
"What?"
Through the lenses of his gas mask, he glanced at the rookie, the B-grade hunter, and Yang Hye-jin in turn.
"Just take care of the survivors."
Before they could stop him, he strode into the rift. After the rift swallowed Lee Sa-young, the rookie looked between the rift and Yang Hye-jin, stomping his feet anxiously.
"Sen… Senior, what should we do?"
"Hah…"
Yang Hye-jin tossed her yellow safety helmet aside and ruffled her hair.
"What else? We need to follow him right away…"
"What? Oh, yes!"
"Lee Sa-young will handle the rift boss, so we focus on identifying and rescuing survivors. Move!"
"Yes, understood!"
"And… Rookie!"
"Yes?"
The rookie perked up. Yang Hye-jin, donning a thick bulletproof vest instead of her high-visibility jacket, pointed to the supply truck with her thumb.
"Bring more gas masks than the number of people, and grab all the antidotes and items with detox effects."
"Why…?"
Was there a monster using poison inside the rift? The rookie looked at Yang Hye-jin with a puzzled expression. She clicked her tongue and hurriedly motioned.
"If you don't want to die from Lee Sa-young's poison, hurry up!"
***
While the Rift Management Bureau hunters frantically rummaged through the supply truck, Lee Sa-young, the very reason for their rush, moved leisurely. Though he seemed ready to charge at the rift boss any moment, he paused to inspect a purple ivy vine wrapped around a tree.
After a few minutes, something round and black popped out of his shadow. It was the head of Seo Min-gi, wearing sunglasses.
"Guild Leader."
Seo Min-gi, who lived by hiding in shadows, could only hide in others' shadows. Unable to enter the rift alone, he had waited for Lee Sa-young to arrive. After his head bobbed up and down for a moment, Seo Min-gi crawled out of the shadow and stood on two feet.
Lee Sa-young spoke.
"It's quiet."
"Yes, indeed."
Usually, upon entering a rift, you'd make eye contact with monsters wandering about as if it were their backyard. But this rift had been eerily silent from the moment they stepped in, as if there were no living beings at all. Seo Min-gi pushed his sunglasses up and folded his arms behind his back.
Lee Sa-young picked up a red feather from the ground. It was glossy and free of dust. Seo Min-gi, after confirming the feather by lowering his sunglasses slightly, quickly muttered.
"It's a breast feather from a level 4 monster, the Red-breasted Pterosaur. They are ferocious, attacking anything in sight, whether human or other monsters, typically moving in packs of six or so. Judging by its condition, it seems to have fallen recently."
"Smart. You should handle the new recruit training next quarter."
"I'm sorry."
Feeling the sharp reprimand, Seo Min-gi shut his mouth. Lee Sa-young looked around after removing his gas mask.
When hunters move, they leave a distinctive scent. Whether it's their body odor, the residual scent from wielding weapons, the smell of monster blood, or the breath they exhale, or even… the scent of humans who fell to monsters. Lee Sa-young was especially adept at picking up such scents.
However, from the rift entrance to here, aside from the scent emitted by the rift's plants, there were no other scents in the rift.
'Not even a trace of blood.'
Despite being in the middle of the Red-breasted Pterosaur's territory, it was eerily quiet, suggesting that all the pterosaurs were dead. While monsters might have fought each other, such battles would leave traces.
"It's too clean."
"Do you think the rift master is a very strong entity that maintains strict control over the monsters, or someone has cleaned everything up?"
Some rifts were relatively quiet because the rift master managed the monsters well. But in such cases, the master's presence was immediately felt upon entry. This rift didn't feel like that.
"The latter."
Someone had killed all the monsters without leaving a trace.
Among those who were caught in this rift, the only one capable of that would be… Lee Sa-young thought of Cha Eui-jae, who had blocked his attack with a ladle and tore off his gas mask with bloodied hands. Yes, only Cha Eui-jae. Lee Sa-young started walking slowly.
"Seo Min-gi."
"Yes, Guild Leader."
"Where do you think my hyung would be?"
Hyung. It was a respectful term that seemed unfitting coming from Lee Sa-young. Seo Min-gi, surprised by the term, quickly composed himself after a cold stare and answered.
"Um… wouldn't he be hiding somewhere? He needs to conceal his power. There's no need to kill monsters and reveal his presence."
Seo Min-gi's opinion was plausible. Lee Sa-young's mind agreed with his reasoning. After all, Cha Eui-jae had strongly insisted on wanting to live quietly. Why would someone like that kill all the monsters? But the unnervingly quiet rift kept bothering him.
Suddenly, Lee Sa-young frowned. Come to think of it, although Cha Eui-jae had denied it, he had sold magic stones on the Tomato Market due to financial need.
'Could it be that he needed money…'
Had he killed all the monsters to collect their byproducts? That would explain the rift's suspiciously clean state. Lee Sa-young's delicate features contorted slightly as he clicked his tongue.
'Damn it, if he needed money, he could have said so.'
Cha Eui-jae was strange and suspicious. It was hard to understand what motivated him.
He claimed he wanted to live quietly but caused trouble here and there, and then suddenly accepted deals. Now, he had gotten caught in a rift but instead of staying put, he had wiped out all the monsters. It seemed he was born to attract chaos.
As they made their way through the blue reed field, they arrived at a clearing covered in grass. In the center of the clearing stood a dirt-covered life-size cutout of Lee Sa-Young and a broken office chair. Piled up in one corner were the bodies of dead pterodactyls, stacked like a tower. Seeing the cutout, Seo Min-gi was taken aback.
"Oh my god."
Lee Sa-Young approached the pile of pterodactyl corpses and picked up the one on top. The corpse was peculiarly clean, with no external injuries other than a twisted neck. He hadn't even plucked the feathers. Apparently, he wasn't after monster byproducts.
"What did you say earlier? He'd be hiding somewhere?"
"…"
Caught between the cardboard Lee Sa-Young and the real one, Seo Min-gi trembled in fear. How was he supposed to predict Cha Eui-Jae's movements when he kept defying expectations? Seo Min-gi, who operated strictly within the bounds of common sense, couldn't keep up with Cha Eui-Jae's actions. Lee Sa-Young tossed the pterodactyl aside and turned back to the cutout.
"When was this thing made?"
"Perhaps after the public service announcement aired? We'd need to ask the PR team for specifics."
"I'm not that curious…"
At Lee Sa-Young's gesture, Seo Min-gi understood and began searching the area. Meanwhile, Lee Sa-Young scrutinized the cutout. Judging by the dirt on its waist, it seemed to have been buried somewhere before someone unearthed it. Seo Min-gi, who had been surveying the surroundings, reported back.
"There are no footprints or any signs that someone passed through here."
"He didn't vanish into thin air or sink into the ground, right?"
"No, sir. It's possible he has skills to conceal his presence or traces."
"The more I know, the more entertaining it gets."
Lee Sa-Young, whose expression didn't look entertained in the least, felt a sudden burning sensation in his palm. He grimly removed his glove to inspect his hand.
The golden line, the mark of the contract inscribed with his blood, was charred black. Lee Sa-Young muttered coldly,
"What the hell is he up to, damn it."