Chapter 25: E-Grade Gate (2)

“B-But… Why were you… with that person…?”
“Ah. I happened to meet her at the soup restaurant Ayeon-ssi and I went to last time. I got a ride in Haneul-ssi’s car, and it was very comfortable.”
“… Rolls-Royce… Phantom… Fully loaded…”

But Yu Ayeon’s embrace was more cozy and comfortable than that car.

When I smelled Yu Ayeon’s sweet body scent and was embraced in her soft and squishy embrace, that was heaven.

I toned it down and said something along those lines, and Yu Ayeon blushed bright red and hugged me tightly from behind.

“I… I’ll do my best…!”

With Yu Ayeon fully charged with motivation, we headed to the meeting place.

Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan had already arrived in front of the gate.

“Oh, Suhyeon-ssi! Hello! Long time no see.”
“Yes. Long time no see. Have Hyena-ssi and Hyeonchan-ssi been well too?”
“Oh. Of course! The video we filmed with Suhyeon-ssi at that time has already reached 2 million views, so it’s the video with the highest number of views on our channel now. Ah, did you receive the money I deposited earlier?”
“Yes. I checked.”

A few days ago, I received about 1 million won from Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan as a concept similar to iTube appearance fee?

I thought it was a bit much, but Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan said that thanks to the video that became a hit, other videos on their channel were also getting attention, so they begged me to accept it and stuffed the money into my pocket.

“Ah, is this… the camera person…?”
“Ah, yes. This is my camera person, Yu Ayeon-ssi.”
“N-N-Nice… to meet you…”
“…? Yes! Nice to meet you. I’m D-rank hunter Park Hyena, and this friend here is my camera person and boyfriend, Jo Hyeonchan.”
“This friend, you b*tch… I’m Jo Hyeonchan. Nice to meet you.”
“… Yes, yes. Yes. N-Nice to meet you…”

… Hmm?

I introduced Yu Ayeon to Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan, but Yu Ayeon’s condition was a little strange.

Trembling and shaking pupils, a trembling lip, and a suddenly serious complexion.

It was a reaction similar to when she was mistaken for a groper on the subway that day.

I had talked with Yu Ayeon while drinking.

Now I know what kind of life Yu Ayeon has lived.

“Ayeon-ssi.”
“Yes, yes…? Ah. Suhyeon-ssi…”

Because of that.

Holding her hand tightly.

“It’s okay.”

I smiled faintly.

Through the body temperature of our touching hands, I let her know that I was by her side.

Just that seemed to have calmed Yu Ayeon down quite a bit, and her face returned to a much more relaxed state.

“… Are you feeling a little better?”
“… Yes. Thank you… so much…”
“It’s nothing. Tell me anytime if you’re having a hard time. I’m always by your side.”
“… Yes.”
“These people are good people too. They won’t… do things like other people.”

I said so and looked back at Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan.

“Ugh… My hands and feet…”
“… I’m so f*cking jealous…”

The contrast between Jo Hyeonchan, who was twisting his body, and Park Hyena, who was looking at us with a blushing face and a dazed look, was quite a sight.

Jo Hyeonchan, who came out of the atmosphere before Park Hyena, asked Yu Ayeon.

“But you’re the camera person, where did you leave your camera?”
“Ah. The camera…”

Yu Ayeon glanced at me.

I also looked at Yu Ayeon and smiled faintly.

“Our Ayeon-ssi is the camera.”
“…?”
“You’ll find out later. Shall we have a briefing before entering the gate?”

The E-rank gate we will enter this time was a gate where the E-rank monster Dire Wolf appears.

“Dire Wolves basically live in packs. Therefore, at least 3, and if you’re unlucky, up to 6 will appear in one wave. It’s E-rank, but there are no special traps or gimmicks inside the gate, but it’s quite large, so let’s take long breaks when we rest.”

“Okay. Let’s organize the party like last time? I’ll be in front, Ayeon-ssi and Hyeonchan-ssi in the center, and Hyena-ssi, please be in the back to prepare for attacks.”
“Will you be okay? It will be very different from the Goblin Gate… Ah. Right. You half beat up an Ogre? Then there will be no problem.”

“Huh? How did you know that?”
“We saw Suhyeon-ssi in person. There’s no way there are two people in the world with such an appearance. We recognized you as soon as we saw the video.”

Park Hyena and Jo Hyeonchan said that they watched the video that Yu Ayeon and I uploaded and immediately recognized that the main character of the video was me.

“How could you not tell us anything? Honestly, I thought you would tell us first!”
“It just happened that way.”
“I honestly felt a wall when I saw Suhyeon-ssi’s movements. You said you hadn’t awakened, so how is that movement possible… We weren’t very close at that time, so you just hid it, right?”
“Haha…”

I glossed over the explanation of my strength with vague words.

I didn’t feel like explaining in detail that I could exert strength without awakening a skill.

“The quality of the camera that filmed Suhyeon-ssi was also unbelievably good. Well, it might be because it’s outside the gate, not inside… But even considering that, it was really clear.”
“I was really surprised. I wondered how such camera movement and production were possible, even though it wasn’t a movie or commercial filming set.”

Yu Ayeon was happy and embarrassed by their unintentional compliments.

As I looked at Yu Ayeon with a happy expression, they seemed to have noticed something and asked me.

“… Could it be that Ayeon-ssi filmed that video? Really?”
“Huhuh. Ayeon-ssi. Ayeon-ssi filmed it. People are asking.”
“Haueuu…”

Click!

When I poked Yu Ayeon’s side, who was embarrassed and couldn’t say anything, she trembled and her photography skill was activated.

“Wow. What kind of skill is this…”
“Hey. Why didn’t you awaken something like this instead of some sword-wielding skill.”
“What are you saying…”

To Yu Ayeon, who lived an ordinary life, this skill was a nuisance that caused misunderstandings, but to them, who mainly deal with videos and photos, Yu Ayeon’s skill was a treasure itself.

As they looked at Yu Ayeon with drool dripping, I hugged Yu Ayeon tightly.

“Don’t target my Ayeon-ssi. Ayeon-ssi is mine. Right?”
“Suhyeon-ssiii… Now… Stop… I… I’m so embarrassed… I think I’m going to die…”

Click! Click! Click!

Yu Ayeon’s skill was activated one after another and captured me.

“… Did Ayeon-ssi… save the country in her past life…?”
“If I met a man like me, wouldn’t you have succeeded quite a bit?”
“… Huh. Not saved the country, but sold the countreeeeeee…!”
“This kid really doesn’t know what to say.”

Park Hyena’s scream, who was pinched in the side by Jo Hyeonchan, echoed.

“Today! The person you guys call ‘the man from the shelter’! Suhyeon-ssi has appeared in the video again!”

I filmed the intro of the iTube video to be uploaded to Park Hyena’s channel.

Not inside the gate, but outside.

“Because if we go inside the gate, the image quality will be ruined, so I thought it would be better to film it in advance. I felt like I couldn’t show off that precious appearance enough in the last video.”

Certainly, at that time, we only filmed inside the gate, so only the appearance captured by the degraded camera was shown.

Even so, the reaction was hot.

“Suhyeon-ssi, aren’t you going to film an intro?”
“… Do I have to do that?”

Honestly, I felt a little awkward every time Park Hyena recited the intro lines.

I don’t know if it doesn’t stick to my mouth. I should say it’s awkward.

“Hmm… There’s no need to include it? But I’m a gate raid iTuber. I do it to explain what we’re going to do in this gate in advance.”

After hearing Park Hyena’s answer, I asked Yu Ayeon for her opinion.

“Ayeon-ssi. Shall we include an intro too?”
“Uh… When Suhyeon-ssi wants to do it… do it… When you don’t want to do it… I don’t think you have to… don’t you think…?”
“Hmm… Then we’ll have to do it someday, so let’s do it this time. Ah. Where should I look and greet?”
“You can look anywhere and do it… I can capture all of Suhyeon-ssi’s appearance…”
“Hmm… Then…”

I didn’t say anything, I just smiled at the air and waved my hand.

I couldn’t do more than this.

Yu Ayeon, who was checking the video recorded in her head, blushed and approached me, stiff like a toy soldier, and grabbed my shoulder.

“… Next time… Don’t look anywhere… Please… look at me…”
“Huh? You said earlier that I could look anywhere…”
“Ah, anyway…! Please… Please… Definitely…! Look at me…! Okay…?! I-I don’t have any other ulterior motives… Absolutely, absolutely not…! I-It’s just that it comes out better that way…!”
“Uh… Yes. But Ayeon-ssi, you’re having a nosebleed…”

After calming down Yu Ayeon, who was excited for some reason to the point of having a nosebleed, we finished filming the intro and entered the gate.

As soon as we stepped inside the gate, the surrounding scenery changed instantly.

Overall, it was similar to the goblin cave I saw last time, but there were unidentifiable pieces of flesh, bones, and excrement scattered throughout the cave.

“Hieeek…!”
“…”

Yu Ayeon and the others were tense at the eerie scenery, but I was rather relaxed.

When I inhaled the faint scent of blood and stench, I felt the familiar smell of the battlefield.

With a much lighter step, I felt the mana in my body.

And I slowly, very slowly, activated the core.

The mana that flowed out very slowly through the core created an invisible puddle on the floor.

If it’s a puddle of this size… It can only illuminate about 5km at most.

If I had done this with the tiny amount of mana I had a few days ago, my mana would have been depleted in an instant.

But now that my mana has increased quite a bit through a week of cultivation, I could do this, even if only once.

I stepped on the puddle of mana.

At that moment, ripples formed in the puddle of mana that was stagnant on the floor.

The mana that spread far along the flow of the ripples detected the positions of the enemies like a radar.

My old colleagues used to call this technique Mana Detection.

“Dire Wolf packs detected at 800m, 2700m, and 4900m ahead. There are 4, 3, and 5 of them in each pack.”
“…? Yes?”
“What are you suddenly saying…”

When I announced the location of the monsters walking ahead, the people behind me expressed their doubts.

It was natural, because the monsters were so far away that they couldn’t even be seen in the dark cave.

“Even for Suhyeon-ssi, this is… But we’re just at the entrance, so let’s check as we go in?”

Of course, they didn’t believe me.

Usually, this technique is not easily used even by those who have awakened a detection-only skill.

But who am I?

A hero who struggled desperately to survive for 10 years on the battlefield.

After moving exactly 800m.

“Grrrrrr!”
“Grrrraaak!”
“No, no, crazy, is this really possible? Really?”

We encountered four Dire Wolves.