“If you even try to use a skill on Yoo-shin-ssi, you will die.”
“Where did you get the confidence that you could easily defeat me?”
Gong Tae-seong snorted and took a step back, preparing to take out a weapon from subspace. Even Lee Hye-yeon was nervous as she gave Park Seung-gi back her popcorn. The moment he tried to quickly dissuade Hyeon Gyu-ha, saying that In Yoo-shin was nothing.
“……!”
Hyeon Gyu-ha quickly wrapped In Yoo-shin with a force field. The next person to notice the strange incident was Gong Tae-seong. Lee Hye-yeon and Choi Jin-hyuk then raised puzzled looks.
The clear, clear sky was broken.
Darkness spread thickly and flowed down, as if ink had been poured through a crack in the broken sky. The group gathered in the corner of the playground, the people watching the famous hunters, and the people cleaning up after themselves were all swallowed up by the flowing darkness. It was a moment.
The flowing darkness reassembles the world it has devoured.
In the midst of the dizzying vertigo that felt like his soul was being mixed up in the upheaval of a world being reassembled, In Yoo-shin felt a strange sense of dazzle and deja vu.
Erosion Gate.
He knew this feeling.
A long quiet night. A full moon rising brightly. Vision stained with blood. A broken sky.
“……………Shin-ssi, Yoo-shin-ssi! Are you okay?”
"ah……………."
In Yoo-shin blinked a few times with his blank vision unable to form the image properly. His blurred vision gradually became clearer, and he was met with worried eyes.
In Yoo-shin was so familiar with the sight of himself reflected in the pretty amber eyes that he slightly bit his lower lip. If he doesn't get used to it, his heart will keep melting into something he shouldn't.
“It’s okay……………. Gasp!”
In Yoo-shin, who was trying to reply that it was okay, was shocked. There was no shadow on Hyeon Gyu-ha’s face.
“Gyu-ha-ssi, uh, uh, your face………………!"
"face? Ah, this must be Yoo-shin-ssi’s first time in the erosion gate. It’s always like that here.”
He showed him by gently shaking his hand. There was no shadow not only in his hands but also in Hyeon Gyu-ha's entire body. The fingers were clearly moving, and the brightness was enough to show a human figure, but the body had no shadows at all, creating an extremely bizarre scene.
When a 'natural' appearance is twisted to become 'unnatural', the human brain cannot easily accept it. Even though the person standing in front of you is a person, it gives you an eerie feeling as if you are seeing a ghost or ghost. When you make eye contact or speak, the muscles in your face clearly move together, but since there is no shading, it looks like a misfitted mass of polygons rather than a living person.
He glanced down and saw that his body was the same. He got goosebumps. He closed his eyes tightly and snuggled up to Hyeon Gyu-ha, and he ruffled In Yoo-shin's hair with satisfaction.
“I heard about the erosion gate, but now that I saw it in person, ugh…………….”
“I’ll see other scenes after I prepare my mind.”
At the same time, he gently hugged In Yoo-shin's waist.
Unlike Hyeon Gyu-ha, who casually built his own world inside the gate, the people involved were busy moving around.
“Mana and radiation levels are normal.”
After checking the numbers, Gong Tae-sung sighed as he threw the portable measuring instrument back into subspace.
“Lee Hye-yeon-ssi, did you have any guesses that an erosion gate would open here?”
“If I had, there wouldn’t have been a test today. Fortunately, the radiation is normal and the air is not difficult to breathe. The weather is a bit chilly, but it was fine.”
While the two were exploring the environment, Choi Jin-hyuk led about 40 people caught up in the gate.
In Yoo-shin calmed down his startled mind while listening to the anxious buzzing voice and slowly opened his eyes. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, it was a shocking sight that made him groan when he saw it in person.
The world was all black and white except for those without shade as if all colors had been removed. Moreover, this place is a sports center that was on the verge of being swept away by the gate.
In a world where color had disappeared, they stood on the ruins of decay in that moment when they were engulfed by the gate. The trees planted at the edge of the playground have died and become bare, the floor is warped, the cracked building has collapsed, and there is not a single common flying insect in sight.
A black and white world where no living creatures exist. This was the world after destruction.
What gave In Yoo-shin the creeps more than anything was that even though it was his first time being caught up in the erosion gate, he felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
'Am I mistaken because I seen a lot of information telling me to be careful about erosion gates?'
An erosion gate is literally a gate that erodes reality. Unlike other gates that create an illusion of a disconnected world inside, the Erosion Gate devours and reassembles reality, constituting the end of the world.
It was a horror beyond imagination to have the daily life he had been accustomed to living up until now infringed upon and thrown into the apocalypse. That wasn't all. There was a high possibility that the world after destruction would be an environment in which humans could not survive.
Sometimes normal floors boiled with lava, people were exposed to radiation and died from radiation exposure even if they cleared the gate, and it was also a world dominated by high temperatures exceeding tens of degrees or cold temperatures below zero.
He was very lucky that the air was not difficult to breathe in this rather chilly temperature.
“Isn’t it cold?”
“It’s a little chilly, but it’s bearable.”
“Still, I feel sad if you catch a cold.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha took out a thin jumper from subspace. He was grateful when he gave it to me, but he was skeptical. It wasn't Hyeon Gyu-ha's size, but it was the perfect size for his body.
“Did you buy this for me to wear?”
“The last time I raided a dungeon, I felt bad for not being considerate of Yoo-shin.”
He took out various things from subspace. Winter clothes, summer clothes, pajamas, as well as game consoles, board games, books, cubes, and other miscellaneous items that are good for killing time were floating in front of In Yoo-shin's eyes.
“I also bought panties with hamsters as cute as me.”
“I-it’s okay if you don’t show that!”
“Um, how about these hamster pajamas instead? The only design I liked was for kids, so I ordered it separately and paired it with Yoo-shin in a set of couple pajamas.”
What he was holding in his hand was a fluffy pajama with a hamster face drawn on the hood and cute ears sticking out. It also has a tail attached to its butt. Hyeon Gyu-ha's hamster was even winking cutely.
'Uh, what...…………….Do I need to change?'
Just before he unwittingly unzipped his pajamas, where the top and bottom were connected as one, Lee Hye-yeon looked dumbfounded.
“It’s all yours, so no matter how much you covet it, I won’t give it to you.
“Have you set up a home inside the gate?”
That’s right. This is a normal reaction. It seems like he has been having a hard time thinking normally as he has been influenced by Hyeon Gyu-ha.
“You idiot……………….”
“I really hate it.”
Gong Tae-seong and Choi Jin-hyuk also showed the reactions of normal people by saying one word at a time.
Because the skill that erased his presence was broken, his companions who were also caught up in the gate looked blankly at Hyeon Gyu-ha and whispered. As if majoring in gate studies wasn't enough, Park Seung-gi, who was completing his master's and doctoral studies, was filming the inside of the gate with curiosity.
In any case, even inside the gate, Hyeon Gyu-ha's calm words and actions helped people who were almost in panic regain their composure.
“Let’s put that idiot aside for now………………. Does anyone have any food?"
Gong Tae-seong looked around and asked, but no one answered. It wasn't the question he was expecting either.
“Even if it’s drinking water, the only bottled water a couple of people are holding is the money, so I guess I’ll have to clear it quickly. As for the area, let’s see. Who has navigation skills?”
“I have it.”
In today's test, one C-class hunter who was observed as a safety management officer raised his hand. After taking a walk around the playground, he explained, rubbing his bloodshot eyes in a moment.
“This is the entire sports center, including the basement, and part of the road. The only ones caught by the gate are the people here.”
“Is it at least positive that the area is small and that they are the only ones responsible for the inconvenience?”
"Is it really positive that they are the only ones who have a small area and are cumbersome?"
Those who huddled together at the chilly voice and were shaking were startled.
"So, who is going to be the leader of this improvised team? For your information, if I were the leader, I would maximize efficiency in a short period of time."
There was no one here who did not understand the meaning of neglecting the safety of non-Hunters and prioritizing Dungeon Clear.
The erosion gate did not have a dungeon brake, but it was impossible to enter or support it from the outside. The best strategy was to clear it in a short period of time, unless you knew how the environment within the gate would change rapidly and even food and drinking water were prepared in advance.
The eyes of people who were afraid were on Hyeon Gyu-ha.
HM: I wouldn’t have realized that there wasn’t a shadow under me at first sight.
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Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader:
This chapter is unedited. and I've not been able to get in contact with the editor. So, if anyone likes to join as the editor, please check out our discord server. The release of this novel will be irregular due to some issues in real life as well. The chapters of TGITG and MYBIAH are prepared so we shouldn't have issues with that.
HM: I’m getting second hand embarrassment. Is there no one who returned after their training and wanted to use the locker room…. And saw this lol?
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