Chapter 67: Scattered by the Storm

[<Hunter Board> WTF, what the hell is going on?]

An emergency cooperation request in the middle of the night?
The whole guild’s been turned upside down—absolute chaos.

And the assholes who were asleep aren’t answering their phones, so it’s a total mess LOL
Those of us who did get contacted are being hauled off while still half-confused—
Is this even real?

└Shouldn’t the country seriously create some kind of reserve hunter force or something?

└ The higher-ups already tried like hell, but the待遇, conditions, and salary of private guilds are on a whole other level—no applicants, total failure.

└ They’re desperately trying to put leashes on espers, but who the hell would sign up? LOL
└ Nothing but restrictions piled on restrictions.

└ That’s why they’re freaking out trying to keep a leash on Yoo Heero, right?
└ The Association President says he’s a civilian, but doesn’t he look scared shitless whenever Yoo Heero shows up? LOL

└ Did they find Sung Jiwoo?

└ I heard a rumor that those two went into that crazy gate together, all cozy-like.

└ LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO

└ Is this real life…?

*************

“We’ll go.”

The sudden late-night guild summons also hit Helios, the guild that Shin Yoonjae and Lee Hyerin belonged to. Amid the guild members openly showing their annoyance, only Lee Hyerin and Shin Yoonjae stepped forward to volunteer.

There was no need to wait. Any altruistic hunters willing to volunteer for something like this were already long gone. Guild Master Im Changwon let out a sigh.

“We’ll proceed with volunteers only. That’s all—dismissed.”

He waved his hand dismissively, sending the guild members away. Those who had dragged themselves here after the emergency call complained as they left, muttering about why they’d been summoned in the first place.

“Looks like it’s time for a purge.”

Up until now, expanding the guild had been his top priority to counter the dominance of the major system guilds. But now, that no longer seemed necessary. It was time to prune—keep only the core members.

“Hunter Lee Hyerin, Hunter Shin Yoonjae. May I ask why you volunteered?”

Im Changwon asked gently. Lee Hyerin replied with a worried expression.

“I think… my friends are in there.”

“Ah, Hunter Koo Minah?”

“Yes.”

“I heard there are unidentified companions as well. Judging by the circumstances…”

Im Changwon deliberately trailed off. Anyone who didn’t know those two would either not be Korean—or would have to be living under a rock.

“Yoo Heero. Sung Jiwoo.”

Lee Hyerin spoke the names as if they were completely familiar.

“They’re our friends too.”

“What?”

Im Changwon looked genuinely surprised at Shin Yoonjae’s follow-up. He knew about Yoonjae’s past with Yoo Heero from their time serving at the X-Gate, but having a connection to the rumored Sung Jiwoo was unexpected.

“Sung Jiwoo as well?”

Lee Hyerin hesitated briefly. The title Hunter didn’t sit quite right after Jiwoo’s name. She doubted he would have welcomed registering as a hunter.

At the same time, it was surprising that he’d entered a gate immediately after registering—though whether by choice or circumstance, she didn’t know.

“Yes. I’m actually closer to him than to Yoo Heero.”

“…That is surprising.”

“We’ve known each other since high school.”

Now it was clear why the two looked so resolute. If all three people inside the gate were their friends, there was no way they could ignore it.

“…Guess we can’t just send support and be done with it.”

Im Changwon sighed. In the worst case, they might have to prepare for a full gate subjugation.

Still, with that so-called national hero present, things probably wouldn’t escalate that far.

***********

The moment he learned the gate had gone berserk, Sung Jiwoo hurriedly attached one scout to each of the two. Yoo Heero received one he’d seen before—Tinkerbell. Constellation-like lights swirled around the three of them.

“It shows monster positions.”

Koo Minah startled as the lights rushed toward her, and Jiwoo explained quickly.

“What? You can do stuff like this too?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing special.”

Jiwoo answered vaguely, focusing with everything he had. He needed as much information as possible. Ever since entering the first dungeon, nothing had happened—too quiet.

“Let’s move.”

Yoo Heero spoke after surveying the dungeon for a while. Waiting longer wouldn’t change anything. Koo Minah nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Staying here just delays our escape.”

“…Alright.”

Since those two would be the ones directly engaging monsters, it made sense to follow their lead. Jiwoo took a deep breath and stepped forward.

The darkness slowly receded, revealing the dungeon.

Earthen walls surrounded the interior, with unfamiliar plants growing everywhere. If there was anything particularly notable, it was the sheer number of vines crawling across the walls. A damp, grassy smell filled the air.

“Compared to what we feared…”

“It’s pretty normal.”

Jiwoo commented, and Minah agreed. For all the noisy buildup, the dungeon seemed rather ordinary.

As the three approached the wall—

Flash!

The lights flared, announcing a monster’s presence. They quickly scanned their surroundings, but aside from the narrow paths stretching left and right, there was nothing but walls.

Then—

Whiiip!

A long, tentacle-like vine shot out at incredible speed. Thanks to instinctive reactions, no one was caught or injured. Jiwoo ducked, Minah leapt back, and Yoo Heero sliced the vine with his shadow.

The severed ends fell to the ground with a dull thud, and the vine quickly retreated.

“This thing itself is the monster?”

Jiwoo frowned. The massive vine—its start and end impossible to discern—looked troublesome. The tentacles whipping out from within were hard to predict and harder to counter.

A wide-area attack would be most effective.

“Hold on.”

Jiwoo dropped to one knee, pulled the others behind him, and cast a debuff toward the wall. A wave of light surged forward, and the green vines dried up into a brittle yellow.

Now was the chance.

Yoo Heero extended his shadow and cleaved the withered vines apart. Leaves crumbled away, revealing clusters of vine bases embedded in the stone wall. Jiwoo rapidly mapped their positions in his head—but the vines regenerated even faster, reclaiming the wall.

“f*ck, why does it regenerate so fast?”

The way they slithered across the wall like snakes was downright disgusting. Minah shuddered and quickly pulled out a capsule from her bag.

“I’ll handle this one.”

She had planned to let her divine beast rest after days of dungeon crawling, but this couldn’t be helped.

“It hasn’t fully recovered yet, so it might not be at full strength.”

A fluffy white creature burst out—its eyes, nose, and mouth hidden beneath thick fur. From afar, it looked like a ball of white fluff.

“You had something like this?”

“It likes plants.”

True to her words, the divine beast charged the wall and began ferociously devouring the vines.

“…Wow.”

Jiwoo muttered awkwardly.

“It really… eats well.”

—Cough! Gaaahk!

Suddenly, the divine beast began gagging violently, vomiting half-digested vines mixed with stomach acid. Something writhed among the mess.

Soon, it even started coughing up blood.

“It’s poison. Of all things… Normally it could detox this much, but it was poisoned in the last dungeon and hasn’t recovered yet.”

Minah quickly dismissed the divine beast, gasping for breath. The toll on her abilities was obvious.

The vine coated in acid slowly moved. Its wide-open maw was lined with dense, tooth-like protrusions. Judging by its confidence, it looked capable of swallowing prey several times its own size.

If it could knock down a weakened divine beast with poison, a human bitten by it would be dead on the spot.

“That one needs to go first.”

Minah said firmly. Jiwoo fully agreed.

—Sssshaaak!

The plant lunged at Jiwoo like a venomous snake.

—Thud!

It was cleaved cleanly in two.

Yoo Heero.

“Got some nerve.”

His voice was cold and vicious.

“Trying to touch someone right in front of me.”

“…Uh. Yeah. Thanks.”

Jiwoo swallowed the rest of his words and settled for a brief thanks. Minah looked away, pretending not to hear.

“Ahem. I’ll apply the debuff again—watch the monster core carefully.”

Jiwoo activated the debuff once more. Light rippled like waves. Amid the withering vines, something glinted.

“Found it. That flower.”

A tiny purple flower hidden among the vines. It reflected light for just an instant. Without Jiwoo, they might have spent hours searching. Who would’ve guessed the core was the pistil of a flower no bigger than a fingernail?

The moment Minah spoke, Yoo Heero tore out the flower’s stem.

WOOOOOOONG!

A violent wind erupted as if it had been waiting.

Sand and debris blasted through the air. Jiwoo squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them—

Darkness.

“What the hell? Why is this happening? Yoo Heero! Koo Minah—are you there?!”

He shouted, but the storm swallowed his voice. He couldn’t even hear himself. His clothes flapped violently.

“Damn it! Where did you go?! Can you hear me?!”

He desperately called out, conjuring light to illuminate his surroundings—but the two people who should’ve been beside him were gone.

Jiwoo’s face drained of color.

“Where… am I?”

It looked like a pitch-black cave—or the ruins of a collapsed temple. He slowly blinked at the eerie sight.

“Yoo Heero…!”

He called again, trying to deny reality.

Only an empty echo answered him.

“….”

The moss-covered stone and chilling atmosphere felt like ruins abandoned a thousand years ago. Not knowing which direction was right, Jiwoo decided to move anyway.

He had to find them.