DEB 5

“Excuse me… I just need to watch from the sidelines. I won’t do anything else, I swear!”

“Oh, why are young folks like you causing trouble? It’s forbidden. You’re not a hunter, so go back before I report you.”

“But… can’t I at least stay nearby?” 

“Absolutely not!”

The security guard’s voice rose. 

Realizing there was no use in arguing any further, Huiyun retreated while biting his lip and ruffled his hair.

This is driving me crazy.

It was fine to be curious, but Huiyun had forgotten the most crucial fact. 

Up until now, he had only dealt with ‘gate out’ phenomena and hadn’t considered the necessity of having a specific gate to ‘clear’ in order to proceed with the quest. 

And currently, most known gates were under the control of the bureau or guilds. So they required permits for access.

Of course, these permits were mostly given to freelance hunters hired by guilds that owned the rights to the gate, making it impossible for Huiyun, who wasn’t registered as a hunter, to obtain one.

In short, it was a dead end.

“How can I proceed with the quest without a gate to clear?”

Perhaps this was a clever manipulation by the system. 

Without being a hunter, there was no gate for me to clear, so why not awaken and go register as a hunter?

As the thought crossed his mind, Huiyun sighed. It seemed plausible, which was the problem. Was this quest really given with that intention?

All hunters, during the process of obtaining their hunter certification through the administration, cleared the lowest-ranked gates. 

So, if Huiyun wanted an opportunity to tackle a gate, awakening and taking the hunter registration exam was the only option.

With a dissatisfied gaze aimed at the system, which had reverted to automatic operation mode, Huiyun clenched his phone in his pocket.

In truth, it’s not like there’s no other way. He just wanted to avoid it.

“Well, if it’s my brother, he might know of a gate I could clear.”

Huiyun remembered that Huigang’s guild was ranked second in the country.

With that kind of guild, they might have allocated a low-level training gate for Huigang, a B-rank hunter. His finger hovered over the screen as he considered this. 

He knew that if he failed the quest, it would be utterly futile, but still, he felt an urge to contact Huigang.

What would he say if I told him? 

Initially, he’d probably protest and try to stop me from entering a gate. 

But if I tell him it’s the only way to treat mana sensitivity, he’d reluctantly agree. 

Of course, knowing Huigang’s personality, he wouldn’t just agree but would probably insist on going together. 

But even that would be another trouble entirely.

“I shouldn’t contact him… I really shouldn’t.”

Muttering like a nutjob, then Huiyun shook his head.

But still, showing his ability to his brother wouldn’t hurt, right?

However… Revealing his abilities would likely lead to questions about how he acquired them, and in doing so, it might become evident that he had occasionally collapsed because of these abilities. 

He didn’t have the courage to handle the aftermath, so he resolved to suppress his desire for help from his brother and pocketed the phone. 

That was the moment when he decided that until this situation was resolved, he had no choice but to keep searching for another gate to move to.

[The aftercare service for the savior is being executed.]

[Ongoing quest confirmed]

[The system intends to guide the user to an unidentified gate nearby. Will you accept?]

“An unidentified gate?”

The discouraged in Huiyun’s eyes suddenly shifted to curiosity.

An unidentified gate likely referred to a gate not reported to the bureau. 

Since it was unidentified, there was no way to know its grade until a relevant hunter arrived or it was directly entered.

But now wasn’t the time to hesitate.

Beggars can’t be chooser.

Having come this far after accepting the quest, Huiyun couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity to treat his mana sensitivity. 

After a brief hesitation, Huiyun reached out to the system window. 

As he pressed the accept button, for a moment, he felt a burning sensation in his eyes, and then a blue light flashed along the path ahead.

[Follow the indicated path.]

The system once again displayed an alert. Taking a deep breath, Huiyun, resigned to his fate, followed the blue line.

After exactly 20 minutes had passed, Huiyun regretted his choice.

“…I’m supposed to go up here?”

The insane blue line of the system was guiding Huiyun towards a mountain. It would be difficult to find an undeveloped mountain in this city, let alone near here.

Was it a zone created by the gate?

He had heard that the higher the grade of the gate, the higher the probability of terrain changes due to mana distortion. Even though it was in a corner of the city, the appearance of a mountain range emerging from nowhere couldn’t be explained by distortion alone, which made his palms sweat.

If such a large-scale distortion had occurred, it would have been reported to the buraeu long ago. 

It couldn’t be because of the unidentified gate. 

Assuming it wasn’t due to the unidentified gate, he began to think that another gate had opened nearby and started moving.

His phone showed that it was 03:45 p.m.

With little time left until his brother returned and the nurse’s patience wore thin, he picked up his pace. After another 30 minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the gate indicated by the system.

The gate was conveniently located near the mountaintop. 

Wiping away the sweat streaming down his chin, Huiyun gazed at the gate he needed to conquer.

He had heard from his brother that reaching out to the gate would instantly suck people into the gate, like a black hole.

“It’s much bigger than I thought…”

Until now, even when solving gate-outs, he always observed the gates from a distance, so he didn’t realize the rift was this large. 

It was twice the height of a person.

He took slow, deep breaths to calm himself.

Don’t panic.

The system wouldn’t have brought him to a gate he couldn’t clear.

If the system had any conscience, that is. 

Besides, regardless of which grade the gate came out, as long as remnants his past life’s power remained, there was nothing he couldn’t clear.

Huiyun, after calming his breathing, slowly closed and opened his eyes. 

His calm gaze settled steadily. 

Having prepared himself, Huiyun reached out to the gate, and the black entrance rippled and swallowed the intruder.

“…It stinks.”

As the sensation of floating lightly faded, the first thing that struck Huiyun was the unbearable stench. 

He recoiled at the familiarity of it.

The smell of demons.

It wasn’t surprising, considering he had anticipated it.

It wasn’t just the smell of low or intermediate-level demons; the smell of high-level demons permeated the gate heavily. 

As Huiyun opened his eyes, the system window appeared, explaining the gate.

[High-Level Gate: Remnants of the Persian Duke’s Residence]

[Description: After the high-ranking demon, the Duke Persian, died in the Great War, remnants of the Persian Duke’s residence were summoned from underground due to an unknown distortion. Take the opportunity to exterminate the remnants of the Duke’s residence.]

[Caution: Be careful not to give off any signs of your presence! Otherwise, the remnants of the Duke’s residence will attack you!]

“…High-level?”

Huiyun murmured blankly as he stared at the huge mansion unfolding before his eyes. 

He thought he must have seen it wrong, but he hadn’t.

The system window clearly described this gate as a high-level gate.

Is this insane?

While the quest instructed to conquer gates of at least the lowest grade, the system led me to a high-level gate?

His head pounded as if someone had struck it with a mallet. 

It had been a long time since he felt such a profound sense of betrayal. 

Huiyun quickly turned around to find the exit. 

However, an invisible barrier blocked Huiyun, and a new alert window appeared.

[From high-level gates and above, the use of teleportation stones is prohibited. Conquer the gate to return!]

“What?”

Occasionally, he heard that there were gates where teleportation stones cannot be used, and even if you haven’t encountered monsters, you can’t leave. 

But he didn’t expect it to start from the high-level gates.

If I had known, I would have just called my brother!

If someone asked whether he wanted to clear a high-level gate, or fearing the repercussions and confessing the truth to his brother and clear a low-level gate, Huiyun would undoubtedly choose the latter without hesitation.

It was at that moment he took a step back and the system windows shook.

Squelch. 

“…?”

Suddenly, he stepped on something. 

It wasn’t the ground, nor was it a clump of grass.

 It was slightly squishy, enough to be called a slime, but quite firm. 

Huiyun lowered his head to confirm what he had stepped on and stifled a gasp. 

A silent scream was swallowed in his throat.

This is insane, really. Why would there be someone here?

What Huiyun stepped on was unmistakably a human being. 

Not a demon, but a human.

Judging by his attire, he were hunters. 

With his mouth agape in horror, Huiyun rolled his eyes in horror, then he spotted two other men sprawled on the ground and let out a bitter laugh.

That’s when it happened. 

Creakkk.

Sensing movement somewhere, Huiyun froze in fear as the doors of the massive mansion began to open. 

Startled by the sight of people and unprepared to fight monsters, Huiyun didn’t know what to do. 

He quickly glanced around, then decided to feign unconsciousness, hastily dropping to the ground amidst the others and closing his eyes.

I’ll just play dead for now and see what happens.