Chapter 12 : S Class Gate – Seocheon Flower Garden (1)

It didn’t take long to get to the Hunter Association.
Perhaps because only a few people had heard the news of the S-rank Gate opening yet, most people were busy admiring the flowers.

A few hours later.

Unfamiliar faces and some acquaintances began arriving at the Association.

Moving to the upper floor of the Association, the Temporary Strategy Compilation Department, I saw a familiar face.

It was Lee Yulha.
She resembled Lee Yeonah physically, but radiated a languid and distinctly annoyed aura.

“Yes. Everyone has arrived now. Then I’ll close the door and explain the situation. We’re busy, so please listen carefully.”

She briefly explained the Seocheon Flower Garden myth and the current Gate situation.

Seocheon Flower Garden.
*(TL Note: Seocheon Flower Garden (서천꽃밭) – “Western Heaven Flower Garden”, a paradise-like afterlife realm in Korean shamanistic myths, especially from Jeju Island.)*

A place frequently appearing in Korean myths.
It was said to be a myth mainly passed down in Jeju Island.

A place that was neither this world nor the afterlife.
A place known where Grandmother Samsin received flower seeds from the Jade Emperor and sowed them.
*(TL Note: Samsin Halmi (삼신할미) is the Korean triple goddess of childbirth and fate.)*

Seocheon Flower Garden is where flowers with all sorts of bizarre effects grow.

Perhaps because of that, the S-rank Gate that opened on Jeju had completely eroded the southernmost island of the Korean Peninsula.

That was Lee Yulha’s explanation.

“…Surprisingly few casualties for an S-rank.”

A-rank Hunter Baek Hyunwoo, who had rushed over after receiving the Association’s call, tilted his head.

He was a man with an ordinary smiling face, but phantasmal visions of red flames occasionally flickered in his hands.
He was a Hunter awakened with flame abilities.

“Ha. Few? At this rate, the already low birth rate will drop below 0.1!”

Another Hunter nearby retorted irritably, but Baek Hyunwoo shook his head.

“I know. This is also extremely serious. But… it’s S-rank, isn’t it? It’s strange. Everyone here should know, right? What an S-rank Gate is like.”

After a short silence, groans emerged from various places.

Most S-rank Gates had already been subjugated.
The remaining ones were either utterly impossible to subjugate, or cases where maintaining the status quo was judged better.

And only two S-rank Gates had ever opened on the Korean Peninsula.

One was the Seocheon Flower Garden Gate they were about to subjugate now…, and the other killed half of Seoul’s citizens at the time and temporarily carved Seoul out of the Korean Peninsula.

Due to that incident back then, most people had lost at least one family member.
That was why the Seoul Recapture Battle had been so desperate.

…Of course, I didn’t know much about it.
Since I returned only recently.

Honestly, this current setting was just uncomfortable.
Because the furtive glances bothered me.
My appearance wasn’t cultivated to look good for others, which felt slightly unsatisfactory.

This makes it seem like I’m chasing after men unnecessarily.

I still wasn’t sure if such a serious briefing was necessary.

As someone who could solve most things with a single Magic Bullet, I feared little unless the enemy was truly exceptional.

As I sat there listlessly for a moment, someone next to me expressed displeasure.

“…Please focus. I understand since you’re a Returnee, but.”

“…?”

Tilt.
I turned my head to look at the person who said that.
There was someone wearing a tank top that blatantly emphasized her chest.

…Feels a bit strange.

Do kids these days wear clothes like that outside?
So indecent.

I didn’t feel outright displeasure.
Rather, it felt more pitiable, or perhaps difficult to adapt to.

Well.
How insecure about her appearance must she be to dress like that while trying to attract men?

“…R-Right now. What did you-”

She trembled for some reason.

“Ah. Hunter Kim Haeun has the ability to read the surface psychology of living beings. It’s a bit faint, but please refrain from rude thoughts next to her.”

Ah.

So that’s her ability.

Wait.
Then she walks around wearing such perverted clothes while clearly knowing what others think of her?

“…Strategy. Please understand it as such. Hunter Agathe-nim.”

She bit her lip, sending me a steady gaze.
I apologized readily.
It was my rudeness, still unadapted to my changed homeland.

“Ah. Sorry. Miss Haeun.”

She looked somewhat dissatisfied but said no more and turned her head towards Lee Yulha.
As if something was more important than personal feelings.

Lee Yulha cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention again, and began the briefing.

“Alright. First, I’ll explain the process of getting to Seocheon Flower Garden. Hunter Agathe-nim probably didn’t give it much thought. Since that gun of yours can likely solve most things.”

I flinched slightly.
It was true.

“It’s fine. You can continue staying like that, there won’t be any major problems for now. Anyway, not everyone here needs to know the entire plan. That’s our job.
Ah. Some of you might have questions. Why we are raiding an S-rank with such a small number of personnel.”

Baek Hyunwoo, wearing a smiling face like a poker mask, asked Lee Yulha.

“Hmm~. Is it perhaps that? Lack of manpower? China also had an S-rank Gate open recently, right? Butterfly Dream, was it? Looked it up, it seemed insane.”
*(TL Note: ‘Butterfly Dream’ (호접몽) refers to the famous Daoist parable from Zhuangzi.)*

“That’s part of it, but primarily no. It’s a similar case to the recently subjugated Bulimmunja. Reaching the Gate itself is part of the subjugation process.
Coincidentally… we have Hunter Agathe here, who subjugated Bulimmunja.”

People’s gazes instantly focused on me.
Disbelief and surprise flickered across their faces.

“The Special Task Force supposedly handled it… So it was a smokescreen after all.”

“Huh. That thing’s gone? …What the. Why does everyone know except me? Was I the only one who didn’t know?”

“…Uh. Hunter Agathe-nim? Can I call you Unni?”

I ignored the last comment from the vulgar hunter.

The path of maintaining fidelity is arduous.
Getting close to such a loose woman would corrupt me.

“Ah. Of course, this is currently confidential, so please be careful outside. Anyway, the important point is that Seocheon Flower Garden cannot be accessed through normal means. It’s not even showing up on GPS currently.”

“Perhaps. Is it a place one goes to by dying?”

Someone asked with a tense voice.
Lee Yulha affirmed his words.

“Correct. Seocheon Flower Garden is neither this world nor the afterlife, but it is a place the living cannot go. For the living to go there, several procedures must be followed.”

-Beep.

Lee Yulha displayed a presentation on the screen.
A basic format with a high-saturation solid color background.
Words written carelessly in a Myeongjo font.
*(TL Note: Myeongjo is a common Korean serif typeface, similar to Times New Roman.)*

…It looked slightly unreliable, but Lee Yulha shamelessly pointed at the screen with a stick and recited the explanation.

“Alright. Look here. What does it look like?”

“…There’s nothing there?”

Lee Yulha ignored that comment.

“It’s milk-colored. If you look closely, the brightness is slightly different. And next to it is yellow, then red. Beyond that is Seocheon Flower Garden.”

Adding a gradient effect to a flower-shaped graphic doesn’t make it look like a flower.

Apparently, Yulha was weak in this area.
Or maybe just lazy.

Still, the explanation was clear.

Pass through milky water reaching the shins, cross yellow water rising to the back, and finally overcome a great river of red water reaching the neck, only then can one reach Seocheon Flower Garden.

Few Hunters could endure the process, hence the need for a small elite team.

“For reference, the Association President has already gone to Jeju Island. As the Flower Inspector, he doesn’t have many restrictions. Returnees have difficulty dealing with the Gates they came from, so he’s barely managing to block the entrance.”

A fact made anew.
Association President Saradoryeong is one of only two S-rank Hunters in Korea.

If not for the certainty of the President’s participation, more than half of the people here wouldn’t have attended.
An S-rank Hunter was that kind of existence.

“Once you reach Seocheon Flower Garden, you must drive out the master of the flower garden, Grandmother Samsin. For reference, you must absolutely not kill her. We’ll discuss the details when we get there.
Anyway… after chasing out the master of Seocheon Flower Garden, you just need to burn or destroy all the flowers, and that’s it. Simple, right?”

It wasn’t simple at all.

I also realized I couldn’t handle it alone.
Even if I somehow managed to threaten and chase away Grandmother Samsin, destroying the flowers would take a lot of time.

And during that time, the S-rank Gate would kill tens of millions.

I raised my hand and asked Yulha.

“Yulha. But, can’t someone like me, who can turn into a spiritual form, just go there directly?”

Strictly speaking, being neither dead nor alive, it seemed possible.

“…Do you want the gates of Hell to open? Forget it. Unless you are a child under 15, the underworld will snatch you midway. Ah, and there’s something additional I need to mention.”

Then, the Association President’s secretary, Bari, stepped forward.

Usually, she wore business attire with an intellectual vibe, but today she wore a Hanbok, exuding a wistful atmosphere.
*(TL Note: Hanbok is traditional Korean clothing.)*

“The core of this raid is Bari-nim. Without the narrative flow led by Baridegi, the living cannot reach Seocheon Flower Garden no matter how closely the strategy is followed. If any anomaly occurs, please prioritize protecting Bari-nim.”
*(TL Note: Baridegi (also known as Princess Bari) is a key figure in Korean shamanistic myths, known for journeying to the underworld to obtain life-saving water/flowers for her parents. Bari’s name and role directly evoke this myth.)*

Come to think of it, the name was familiar.
Just as I was about to ask, Baek Hyunwoo asked Lee Yulha first.

“Ha. Haha. This is quite surprising. Did she perhaps turn herself into *the* Baridegi from the stories? Just to raid one Gate?”

Bari smiled faintly and nodded.

“To close such a colossal gate, isn’t that level of sacrifice necessary?”

Amidst the briefly solemn atmosphere, Lee Yulha clapped her hands sharply.

“Alright. Let’s take a break here. We leave immediately tomorrow, so you should get some sleep beforehand. Later, you’ll have to endure by forcefully taking drugs, so get some deep sleep quickly. Ah, and Hunter Agathe-nim, please come this way for a moment.”

Lee Yulha said this and pulled my arm.

***

“…Agathe. This is an offer only for you. Coincidentally, there’s one spot left in the myth. The Jacheongbi myth, if you informally change your name…”
*(TL Note: Jacheongbi is another goddess from Jeju mythology, known for agriculture and sometimes for journeys related to the afterlife or magical items.)*

Lee Yulha’s voice as she said this was somewhat bleak.
It felt strangely mechanical, as if reciting something.

I cut her off and refused.

“No. My name is Agathe.”

I have no intention of changing it.
If only to honor him.

But…

-No.

Yulha’s trembling arm caught my eye.
She looked at me with bloodshot eyes.

“Not chaning it. Never.”

Though I had become desensitized to others, the emotion she felt was so palpable.
Even I could easily recognize it.

She was jealous of me.

Lee Yulha roughly dragged a chair over, plopped down onto it, and muttered.

“…I don’t know why the President entrusted such an important mission to me. Did he think I was tight-lipped? Heh. It was the right judgment in the end, so I can’t even complain.”

The sound of sobbing was heard.
A few tears fell from the eyes of the woman who had consistently maintained a languid and annoyed expression.

“There’s a scene that consistently appears in myths featuring Seocheon Flower Garden. It seems it was once famous, but now it’s a Class-1 classified document.”

Her arms hung limp.
A story laden with anguish flowed from Lee Yulha’s lips.

“In Seocheon Flower Garden. There is a flower that can save people. It’s called the Honsali Flower. Seems our ancestors all thought alike. There isn’t a single myth featuring Seocheon Flower Garden where it doesn’t appear. Damn it all.”
*(TL Note: Honsali Flower (혼살이꽃) likely translates to ‘Soul-Living Flower’ or ‘Flower that Makes Souls Live’.)*

“Save. Dead, people.”

“Yes! Hah. It’s a flower that saves people. Such a goddamn thing exists in the world, apparently! Haha. Look at the state of this world.”

It felt like my breath stopped.
I couldn’t quite comprehend the words I heard.

Saving the dead.
That couldn’t possibly be.

“You. I heard your lover died. Since you’re a capable person. You probably need it more than people like us. If you follow that myth, you should be able to obtain it naturally.
And, please close the door and leave. I’m begging you.”

Before I could even fathom the pain contained in her words, I was pushed out the door as if chased away.
For a fleeting moment, it seemed like a phantasm of a purple flower passed behind Lee Yulha’s head.

And I stood before the door for a long time, feeling dazed.

Understanding.

Didn’t come easily.