Chapter 44: The One Who Reaches Into the Dark

In extreme situations, humans were said to surpass their limits. As the shimmering barrier neared its end, everyone simultaneously squeezed out the last of their awakened powers. It was chaos.

Screeeech! Kkgiik!

With no strategy left, the reckless attacks rained down. The mole-rat monster writhed, thrashing in agony. At last, the protective barrier dissolved into scattering light.

“Please… just die! Please!”

Someone’s desperate plea rang out. Power surged again from those who heard it. In the meantime, Yoo Hee-ro glided swiftly through the water toward the cliff wall. Feeling around with his hands, he found protruding ledges and began climbing upward.

He burst above the waterline with a practiced motion. Fresh air filled his lungs. Around him, the mole creatures had hidden themselves in crevices, keeping watch. Their devolved eyes couldn’t perceive what was actually happening.

Their superior was in danger, yet fear kept them from jumping in.

So they weren’t loyal after all.

What drove them wasn’t loyalty, but fear — a flimsy thing. Once the main monster was killed and its core destroyed, the remaining moles would dig away and flee the dungeon entirely.

Yoo Hee-ro slipped into the hollow where the mole-rat had crouched. The interior had partially collapsed, but there was still room to enter. He moved lightly, without hesitation.

Reaching the innermost part, he spotted a rusty metal plug embedded in the wall — a circular hunk of iron with a protruding handle, so corroded it barely resembled one.

Splash!

A column of water erupted somewhere outside the hole. Whatever was happening, the fight was nearing its end.

Yoo Hee-ro grabbed the handle and pulled with all his strength. The metal, buried nearly a meter deep, began inching outward.

Rumble… Rrrrnnn…

The ground trembled violently, as if trying to stop him. He could easily be buried alive if the cavern collapsed. Even so, he gripped the handle again and tore it free.

BOOM!

With an explosive sound, the plug burst open.

Shwaaaah—

Somewhere, the current changed direction.

Bang! BOOM!

Even Lee Hye-rin’s final blasts of power echoed faintly from afar. Yoo Hee-ro leapt through the opening and looked down from the cliffside. The sight was breathtaking. Like a whirlpool channel, groundwater was rushing out in spiraling torrents.

People broke the surface one by one. The monster, exposed as the water drained, was ravaged from head to toe. Blood streamed from the forehead where the core was embedded.

It’s nearly over.

Everyone was exhausted beyond reason. They no longer knew if this was the living world or the afterlife. Someone collapsed with a heavy thud.

Yoo Hee-ro took a deep breath and uncoiled his whip. His shadow darted across the ground, leaping toward the creature. It slid from his feet, up his body, over his shoulders—solidifying into a sharp form that drove cleanly into the monster’s core.

Screeeeeech!

The scream was unbearable. Some covered their ears and fell to the ground. Yoo Hee-ro ignored the noise, crushed the core, and tore the fragments out one by one. When he wrenched out the final piece along with attached flesh, the monster lost its strength and collapsed.

Thud.

All that remained beneath their feet were shallow puddles.

Drip… drip…

Water poured from their drenched clothes. They looked like drowned rats from head to toe.

“W-We… survived, right?”

Someone asked blankly. Another responded, equally dazed:

“Seems like it…?”

Yoo Hee-ro jumped down from the cliff and pointed behind the group.

“The exit is that way.”

Everyone turned, then immediately sprinted toward it in a panic.

“…Thanks. Seriously. We’d have died without you.”

“My pleasure.”

Yoo Hee-ro smiled softly at Lee Hye-rin’s gratitude. Things had gotten messy thanks to one annoying bug, but overall, the outcome wasn’t too bad. No one had died. Well… except Park Joon-soo, who looked like he was one breath away.

“You too. Must’ve been rough, giving us air.”

So that explained how they lasted underwater so long — Shin Yoon-jae had used his ability to give them oxygen.

Smart guy, Yoo Hee-ro thought. Not on Seong Ji-woo’s level, of course, but impressive.

“I want to say ‘don’t mention it’ like you, Hee-ro… but honestly? I’m f***ing exhausted.”

Shin Yoon-jae waved a hand, and wind instantly dried all three of their clothes.

“Thanks for saving us. If Ji-woo saw how well you turned out, he’d be proud.”

“Oh, right. We only survived because of the pendant he gave us.”

Yoo Hee-ro smiled faintly. Even in his absence, that person was still saving him. Yoo Hee-ro walked toward the corpse. Lee Hye-rin frowned.

“What are you doing? Collecting the core?”

The shattered core was worthless, but that wasn’t what Yoo Hee-ro sought. He nudged aside mud and gravel with his foot as the drained ground revealed debris.

Thud.

A swollen, rotting lump of flesh rolled out. Even in death, the person had held something tightly in his fist — trusting the pendant so much he never let go.

Yoo Hee-ro pried open the stiff fingers with a firm kick and retrieved the pendant buried inside. He washed it with bottled water, then poured disinfectant over it.

“…”

The rotten smell finally faded.

Crunch.

He stepped on the pathetic remains that dared touch something sacred, then tucked the pendant into the chest pocket of his combat suit.

“Finished? You’ve got a strong stomach. I don’t even want to go near that thing…”

Lee Hye-rin said, looking away. No one mentioned Yoo Ho-bin’s death. And after that moment, no one ever would. Everyone silently acted as though he had never existed.

***********

Later…

As expected, only Goo Min-a, Lee Hye-rin, and Shin Yoon-jae chose to move on to the next dungeon. The other three immediately requested to return. But even those three had only three months left before their term ended.

“You’re going deeper, right? You’ve got around a year left…?”

At her question, Yoo Hee-ro hesitated. He had entered the Gate to find Seong Ji-woo. To follow the traces he left behind and conquer the Gate together.

But now he knew Ji-woo wasn’t here. His purpose had to change.

“No. I’m going back.”

“What? Why? You didn’t come here to become a hunter?”

Both Lee Hye-rin and Shin Yoon-jae were shocked. Anyone would be — even veteran teams who survived two years in this brutal Gate fell apart mentally, yet Yoo Hee-ro not only endured, he excelled. His adaptability, judgment, and instincts proved he was built for the Gates.

And he reached this far in one year, when it took others two.

So this is what an S-rank really is… it’s not even something to feel inferior about. It’s just a different species.

Shin Yoon-jae remembered all the A-rank hopefuls who mocked S-ranks, saying they were just “lucky.” Now he knew how stupid those comments were. Ordinary people like them could never compare.

Bzzzz. Beep! Beep! Beep!

A drone flew overhead. Their long-awaited supply drop. Yoo Hee-ro stepped back instinctively — he always received only the government-standard supplies, never personal ones. But this was a sleek, black private drone.

“Whose is that?”

“Huh… Hee-ro, I think it’s yours.”

The drone stopped directly in front of him.

“That can’t be right.”

There was no one in his life who would send him anything. No family, no guardian, nothing. Lee Hye-rin tilted her head suspiciously and opened the bag hanging beneath the drone.

Inside was a letter and a small box.

[Sender: Seong Ji-woo
Address: Pilgrimage General Goods Shop]

[Recipient: Yoo Hee-ro
Address: X-Gate]

It wasn’t a mistake. Lee Hye-rin shook the envelope.

“It really is yours.”