Chapter 17: The Red Gate’s Betrayal

That bleak dawn, as the world felt desolate, Han Dokyeom had used his skill, , while exchanging greetings with the laborers at the pier, their designated meeting place. He had something specific to find.

In the process, he inadvertently scanned all the laborers’ skills, unearthing several astonishing ones. They were like hidden pearls. These were skills so remarkable that it was baffling how their wielders had manifested as low-ranked Hunters.

For instance, there was the foreman, currently taking the lead and clashing with Instructor Lee Sanghyeon.

“What kind of scoundrels are you?! Fine, go ahead and mess things up yourselves today! This isn’t the first or second time you’ve tried to ruin things, but are the workers your slaves?! Hey, what are you all doing?! Get your gear and move!”

The foreman spat, turning his back with a formidable air. The other workers, who had been idly watching the show, hastily began to stir at his words. But that was as far as they got.

The instant the foreman took a step, an unforeseen anomaly struck without warning.

Crack! Riiiiip!

“!”

A grotesque, grating sound erupted from the Gate, scratching at their ears. Every eye immediately snapped towards it. The area around the Gate, which had been emitting an icy blue light, began to contort as if being violently twisted by an unseen hand. The warping of the dimensional space created a vast, abyssal darkness, reminiscent of a black hole.

“Why is the Gate…?”

Splash! Splatter!

Immediately after, the waters around the pier began to churn violently, sending fierce sprays into the air. The foreman, who had been grabbing his shovel with a menacing fervor, stared silently at the ground beneath his feet. Beneath the buoys, dark fish thrashed and slammed against each other, as if a netted school had gone wild.

The fish, which had been splashing in the water, rapidly grew in size. From croakers to marlins, and then, in an instant, to the colossal size of great white sharks.

They were mutated fish species, transformed by the Gate’s influence.

“Aaaargh…!!”

Upon seeing the hideous mutated fish, everyone recoiled from the seawater, retreating en masse towards the center. Only two rocking boats remained precariously afloat amidst the colossal creatures.

Instructor Lee Sanghyeon, amidst the terrified crowd, quickly scanned his surroundings with an anxious gaze. His own face was just as ashen, darkened by the sudden turn of events. Sweating profusely, Lee Sanghyeon’s eyes darted as he frantically weighed the lives of the people against his own, and the gravity of the situation.

Just as he finished assessing the situation, a crimson light shimmered upon the surface of the sea. It was light emanating from the Gate.

The people gasped, collapsing as if their very foundations had crumbled beneath them. At the end of their helpless, hollow gazes, a crimson glow now pulsed where the blue light had been moments before. A colossal, blood-red maw, gaping like a serpent’s jaws.

It was a Red Gate.

This was the terrifying Gate, known to be rated at a minimum of SS-class. Only three Red Gates had ever appeared in Korea, and of those, only the Gate Break incident at Busan Station two years prior had been successfully contained.

That containment had been the result of immense sacrifice, achieved by mobilizing countless Hunters. The red light signified precisely that.

Yet now, it flickered before their very eyes, exhaling an icy chill. And it was here, on this open sea, with nowhere to escape.

It was then that Lee Sanghyeon swiftly emerged from among the petrified, unmoving people.

“It seems there was an error in the Gate’s classification.”

With a composure that surpassed everyone else’s, Lee Sanghyeon spoke, his gaze fixed on the boats. The bewildered eyes of the people fixated on his back. Perhaps, as an A-class Hunter, he could find a way out of this predicament.

With that glimmer of hope, the people slowly began to calm. However, Lee Sanghyeon repaid their expectations with betrayal.

“I will go to shore immediately and contact the guild. I’ll return as quickly as possible. Just wait, and our Guild Master and A-class Hunters will arrive soon!”

What he chose was escape. Indeed, from his position as an instructor, he had a duty to ensure the safety of the trainees.

In that brief moment, he must have weighed the lives of the laborers against those of the trainees. Consequently, he would have deemed the lives of the guild’s prospective Hunters—the trainees—more valuable than the laborers, who could always be replaced. Ultimately, his choice favored the Sahyeon Guild trainees, whose lives would minimize his personal culpability.

“No, what are you saying…?”

“We can’t get a signal here, making a rescue request difficult. So, perhaps it’s safer for you all to remain here. Even if you were to take a boat, it could be capsized by the mutated fish’s attacks. That’s why I’m saying I’ll lead our guild members and return.”

“What absurd nonsense is that bastard spouting now?! What pathetic excuse is this…!”

“It seems you’ve all forgotten, but Hunter Ju Uiryeong is present here.”

Following Lee Sanghyeon’s gaze, everyone’s eyes fixed on Ju Uiryeong. Ju Uiryeong, his lips pressed tight, glared at Lee Sanghyeon with undisguised contempt.

“Mr. Ju Uiryeong, why don’t you tell them yourself? With your abilities, can’t you instantly teleport everyone here to safety? In fact, our guild Hunters would be at a disadvantage. All of you simply need to escape safely from here using Hunter Ju Uiryeong’s power. As for the boats, we, the guild Hunters, will take them, conceding that much.”

Lee Sanghyeon’s eyes gleamed with cunning. He cautiously backed away, shuffling towards the boats. Ju Uiryeong, glaring at Lee Sanghyeon as if to rebuke him, finally parted his bitten lips.

“…Yes, the maximum number of people I can teleport is twenty. And once I use it, I can’t use it again for an hour. As Mr. Lee Sanghyeon said, I’d probably only be able to teleport the laborers.”

“See? We’re voluntarily offering to sacrifice ourselves, so is that really the look you should be giving us? We’re willing to take a risk to help you, but if you condemn us like this, we’ll lose any desire to assist. I just wish you’d understand our pure intention to help. Now that you do, let’s move quickly.”

Lee Sanghyeon gestured sharply towards the boats with his chin, looking at the guild trainees. The trainees, who had been hesitantly observing the situation, glanced at the laborers for a moment before squeezing their eyes shut and boarding the rocking boats. The laborers stared blankly at them, as if watching a raft drift away.

Sacrifice? Concession? Those were truly laughable words.

There was a clear fallacy in Lee Sanghyeon’s statements. While it might be true that Ju Uiryeong possessed a skill to teleport the laborers, the situation and location were far from ideal.

This was, after all, a Red Gate. In front of a Red Gate, where mutated currents flowed, skill activation was often disrupted by lingering interference, preventing normal casting. The odds were fifty-fifty; it was purely a matter of luck.

Could Lee Sanghyeon, having received guild training, truly have been unaware of this? No, he likely knew it even better than Ju Uiryeong.

It was precisely for this reason that Lee Sanghyeon had prioritized his own safety, choosing the boats as an alternative. He couldn’t be certain if Ju Uiryeong’s skill would properly activate.

Lee Sanghyeon’s retreating figure, as he hastily led the trainees onto the boats, appeared utterly despicable. The two boats, each carrying their full capacity of fifteen, soon sped away from the Red Gate.

The sky, once so clear, was now shrouded in gloom. Gusts of wind howled from somewhere, and the gentle ocean currents shifted course.

Towering waves crashed around them, while the mutated fish writhed beneath the surface. No one dared to speak. Even the foreman sat with a look of utter despair, his shoulders slumped.

Everyone had probably vaguely realized it. The fact that Ju Uiryeong’s skill had only a fifty-fifty chance of saving them.

“…Foreman, what do we do now…?”

The youngest of the laborers approached, shaking the foreman’s arm. The foreman replied, running a hand over his face.

“…What do you mean, ‘what do we do’? We either wait for that traitorous bastard to bring other Hunters, or… we have no choice but to put our faith in Hunter Ju Uiryeong.”

Only then did the anxious gazes of the people shift towards Ju Uiryeong. Like someone bracing for a crucial moment, Ju Uiryeong had his eyes fixed on the ground, his fists clenched, as he steadily drew breath.

That self-soothing action ceased when he reached a decision. Backlit by the Red Gate, his face was cast in shadow, and the people, their expressions like those abandoned in the heart of a storm, looked up at Ju Uiryeong.

“Everyone. Just for a moment… just for a brief moment, would you please listen to me?”

Ju Uiryeong met the gaze of the laborers one by one. His eyes seemed to pause on Han Dokyeom for a moment, but he merely blinked his fluttering eyelashes a few times, as if surprised.

It was unclear whether he didn’t recognize Han Dokyeom or simply chose to overlook it.

Finally, the words everyone had hoped not to hear flowed from Ju Uiryeong’s lips.

“I have something to tell you all.”

Somewhere, a flashing light was born and vanished. The humid air, heavy with the promise of a storm, could be smelled. Beneath the makeshift pier, repulsive creatures still swarmed.

It was a regrettable truth, but someone would die here today. And that victim was one of the people sitting beside Han Dokyeom.

Originally, the Gate mutation was supposed to appear only after Instructor Lee Sanghyeon and the trainees, having escaped by boat, entered the Blue Gate. That is, around 8 AM, the originally scheduled time, after the attack team arrived, swiftly concluded their meeting, and proceeded into the Gate.