Chapter 42: The Secret of the Double Gate

“Of course, even after hearing that, Juju didn’t bat an eye.

“If I just stay by the lakeside doing nothing, I can’t use the information I have.”

“What information?”

“I happen to know where the Gate core is.”

“…What?”

Colonel Shan looked at Juju as if doubting he had heard correctly. The other soldiers’ gazes also turned toward Juju. Even under all those stares, Juju remained completely calm.

“Although I don’t know the exact location, so I think I’ll need to go with you. Ah, but the direction is east.”

“…”

Juju himself had said he was a Guide, essentially no different from an ordinary person. But now he suddenly claimed to know the location of the Gate core. What was he talking about? Was he just lying because he wanted to tag along?

Juju stared straight back at Colonel Shan, who was looking at him with deep suspicion. It wasn’t only Shan. Most of the espers looked doubtful.

Only Lieutenant Colonel Miles, who had already heard Juju’s explanation earlier, was smiling faintly.

“Juju. This is a Gate. Jokes aren’t allowed.”

“It’s not a joke. A double Gate, specifically the Mirror Maze. I’ve closed that Gate more than ten times.”

As the commander of the operation, that statement sounded incredibly tempting.

It meant a chance to minimize casualties and return safely to base.

Of course, it came with the risk of bringing Juju through the dangerous Gate, but even that seemed like a small price for such a promising outcome.

After freezing for a moment, Colonel Shan glanced at Maximilian, who looked utterly bewildered, then strode toward Juju.

With a simple wave of his hand, he separated the surrounding soldiers from them.

“Explain in detail.”

“Well…”

Juju began calmly explaining the Gate known as the Mirror Maze.

Among the many double Gates, the Mirror Maze always had its core in the east.

The reason was simple.

Because the end of the maze was in the east.

The Mirror Maze was extremely sensitive, almost like a temperamental person.

If the core was destroyed before the maze fully formed, or if the espers ignored solving the maze and instead broke the walls searching for the core, the Gate would propose a new challenge suited to the espers connected to it.

That was the second Gate.

In that second Gate, espers would fight monsters while searching for the core. Normally, however, finding the core in that situation was nearly impossible, unless you had information.

The reason was simple.

There was only one place where the core could spawn.

And the second Gate in a double Gate shared the exact same spawn location.

Therefore, when someone fell into the Mirror Maze, the easiest method to close it was:

First, find the eastern exit, destroy the Gate core there, and close the Gate.

Second, a slightly more troublesome method: enter the second Gate, eliminate monsters while moving eastward, then dig underground once you reach the appropriate location and destroy the core at the end of the maze.

Some espers who didn’t want to wander endlessly through the maze preferred the second method.

After all, if you killed monsters while moving east and eventually dug underground, the core would inevitably appear.

“Not a bad idea.”

Lieutenant Colonel Miles nodded in agreement. If it were him, he would also rather kill monsters than try to escape a twisting maze.

Colonel Shan, however, looked at Juju with complicated eyes.

If they could destroy the core this quickly, maybe he didn’t need to kill Second Lieutenant Maximilian after all.

He had expected to spend a long time inside the Gate…

“Since the exact location changes slightly each time, it’ll probably be easiest if I accompany you to find the trace of the core. Besides, I also have the ability to detect Gate cores.”

“…What did you just say, Juju?”

Seeing both Colonel Shan and Lieutenant Colonel Miles stare at him in shock, Juju blinked innocently.

“I can only sense something like ‘the core is around here.’ I don’t know the exact location.”

“Do all Guides have that ability?”

Colonel Shan asked so quickly it almost sounded urgent.

“It’s something you can train. Guides learn it by entering Gates repeatedly. Unlike espers, Guides don’t really have much else to do.”

Juju answered awkwardly.

It was like a sixth sense.

Just as people who often encounter danger can instinctively sense when danger is approaching, Guides developed a similar sense.

In this case, instead of detecting danger, they sensed the vibration of the core.

Juju believed that Guides developed such senses in order to help their espers.

After thinking silently for a while, Colonel Shan turned to Juju.

“Juju. How many Gates have you closed?”

‘Ah, finally asking.’

For some reason, excitement began creeping up from the tips of his toes.

Even though the timing was unexpected, having someone acknowledge your abilities was always exhilarating.

After all, no matter how much Juju insisted he was capable, Colonel Shan had never closed a Gate with a Guide before. Everything Juju said might have sounded absurd.

Maybe that was why Shan had prevented Juju from volunteering for Gate suppression missions.

Only now, inside the Gate itself, when they were actually discussing how to close it, was Shan beginning to feel Juju’s capability firsthand.

‘That’s how it should be.’

Juju was an S-class Guide.

He grinned.

“Didn’t I say I’ve closed the Mirror Maze more than ten times? If we include other Gates… well, I’ve never counted exactly, but it should be at least over five hundred, Colonel.”

****

The moment Colonel Shan allowed him to join the scouting mission, Juju initially tried to position himself behind Shan, but then suddenly changed his mind.

Instead, he blended in among the other soldiers.

Seeing that, both Colonel Shan and Lieutenant Colonel Miles realized something.

Mac still didn’t know Juju’s true identity.

That was right.

To Mac, Juju still had to appear as just another soldier, an esper.

After some thought, Colonel Shan decided to reveal Juju’s ability to the soldiers.

“Lee Juju has the ability to detect Gate cores. Prioritize his protection.”

Just as he had explained to the colonel, Juju also explained the location of the core to the soldiers.

Mac stared at Juju with wide eyes.

And understandably so, because Juju’s words were correct.

Mac had spent a very long time searching for the Gate core. He was confident he had practically searched the entire interior of the Gate.

Yet he had never even seen the slightest trace of the core.

He had even slaughtered monsters randomly just in case, but it hadn’t helped.

The idea that the core was buried underground was something only an experienced explorer might imagine.

Mac had heard that explorers sometimes entered Gates that failed to disappear after closure attempts and excavated them.

If double Gates became common, perhaps espers would need to bring explorers along as well.

But this double Gate was a type he had never seen before.

And this man had only recently entered the Gate.

So how did he know the core was buried underground?

Pure suspicion began to grow in Mac’s mind.

At that moment, Juju turned his head and looked at him.

As if he had expected Mac to be staring.

Startled, Mac tried to shift his gaze away, but Juju smiled and asked:

“Mac, were there any other monsters?”

“Ah, do you mean the turrets?”

“Not the turrets. Hmm… for example.”

Juju smiled faintly.

“Zombies?”

“No. There were no monsters like that.”

“Really?”

Juju tilted his head slightly, still smiling.

‘This damn Mirror Maze.’

The farther they walked, the heavier the damp air became, soaked with humidity that made their entire bodies feel sluggish.

No matter how he thought about it, this was the type of Gate that had been extremely troublesome during his old simulations.

He clearly remembered that the key was destroying the core buried underground, but he had forgotten most of the intermediate steps.

That was why reviewing your training was important. Haha.

Still, after transferring to the so-called “greenbelt” position, he hadn’t entered Gates anymore.

And since he had already been an S-class Guide, he didn’t need to study for further promotion.

Even so, as he concentrated, pieces of information slowly returned to him.

There was still something he hadn’t told the others.

The most troublesome part of a double Gate was that the core generated when the espers first entered did not disappear.

When the advance team had entered, a core must have been created.

So what had happened to it?