Even when he wasn't a public hunter, if there was a bank robbery or something like that on his way, he would clean it up like he was throwing away trash.
Hyeon Gyu-ha shrugged.
"I only play solo. And my top priority is my master's safety."
"I don't like taking orders from that little brat, so just be the leader, Hye-yeon-ssi."
"You're not saying you're going to completely abandon civilians, are you?"
"Hm. That kind of annoying stuff isn't my responsibility."
Lee Hye-yeon, who was temporarily assigned as the leader, checked the strength.
About forty ordinary people and low-level Awakened people who were no different from ordinary people, and two S-class, two A-class, one C-class, and three D-class Hunters. There was no need to worry too much about how to operate them.
"The other Hunters, including Jin-hyeok and I, will protect the civilians here, so you two can explore the east and west respectively. Once the dungeon boss's location is known, let's split the team again. If you can catch it, you can just kill it."
"Who's East and who's West?"
"It's not important, so let's just play rock-paper-scissors."
"I'm from West. Since Yoo-shin's hometown is Kaesong, he’s from the West since long ago."
“……?”
When people made expressions like 'What are you talking about?', Yoo-shin carefully interpreted Hyeon Gyu-ha's words.
"I think it's because Kaesong is west of Seoul."
"It's not only Gyu-ha who says that, but you who understand it are also amazing."
"It's the affectionate bond between the Master and the pet."
"You keep your mouth shut. Anyway, have a safe trip."
Before Lee Hye-yeon could even finish her greeting, Gong Tae-seong walked briskly toward the main stadium on the east side of the playground, holding a knife in one hand.
"Are you going to follow Gyu-ha?"
"It's safest to be next to Gyu-ha-ssi."
"Yeah, even so...……………. Shouldn't we put away the pajamas?"
"Ah."
When In Yoo-shin blushed slightly and returned the hamster pajamas, he openly put them away in the subspace with a look of disappointment on his face.
"...……………I’ll go home and wear it.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha sullenly wiggled his little finger, and In Yoo-shin quickly hooked his little finger and stamped his seal. Only then did he smile brightly. His face, which didn’t have any shadows, was still strange, but he was surprised at how handsome he looked.
“Ah, wait. In Yoo-shin.”
Choi Jin-hyeok traced the tattoo of the artifact near his neck with his finger. The emblem-like tattoo of a noble family glowed, and at the same time, a blue-tinged mana gathered into a round shape at the tip of his finger. It was the size of a ping-pong ball.
“It’s poison. If you inject it with mana and throw it, it will explode, so use it when you’re in danger. Well, I don’t think it’ll be useful since Hyeon Gyu-ha is here.”
“Thank you!”
In Yoo-shin nodded in surprise. He was a man of few words, so he hadn’t really talked to him, so he was surprised and thankful that he had taken care of it separately.
Park Seung-gi, who was filming the surroundings while drooling, also shouted belatedly.
“If it’s dangerous, hide behind Hunter!”
In Yoo-shin followed Hyeon Gyu-ha to the west. He looked back before entering the main building.
In the colorless, dead world composed of only black and white, there were colorful, shadowless creatures gathered. The sight made his stomach churn with an instinctive sense of rejection, as if different dimensions had been forcibly twisted and sewn together.
A sky as white as a blank sheet of paper, without the sun, moon, stars, or clouds, was looking down at them.
“Be careful.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha supported In Yoo-shin, who almost fell over after tripping on the pavement blocks that had cracked and jutted out. The piece of pavement block that he had kicked fell into a deep crack like a crevasse. The crack was so deep that the tiles that had rolled down and fallen didn’t even make a sound when they hit the floor.
Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had him by his side, jumped over the cracked floor and arrived at the main building entrance in one go.
In Yoo-shin touched the exterior wall of the building that had been mint-colored until recently. Some of the rough, worn-out surface had crumbled. The incongruous scenery, as if the background had been edited to black and white, leaving only the apricot-colored hand, was unfamiliar.
The glass door at the entrance to the main building was shattered into pieces, and half of the stairs had collapsed. The smooth stair railing had peeled off its paint and was covered in dark red rust.
“It looks relatively sturdy, as if it wasn’t poorly constructed. There’s no need to worry about it collapsing.”
Even if the building were to collapse, Hyeon Gyu-ha would be safe. In Yoo-shin carefully climbed the stairs, holding onto his sleeve.
The outside where the sun didn’t rise and the inside where there was no light source were the same brightness. Feet that didn’t even leave a shadow walked down the dark hallway. The elevator was half-open and stopped on the first floor. He pressed the button just in case, but there was no response at all.
“Did the gate erode the moment the elevator reached the first floor and the door was about to open?”
“It could have been the moment the door was about to close.”
There was a building guide posted next to the central staircase. The film was peeling and damaged here and there, but it wasn’t hard to see. It was a building with one basement floor and three floors above ground.
Just in case, while In Yoo-shin was taking pictures with his phone, Hyeon Gyu-ha tapped the guide map with the back of his hand.
“We can look at the basement first, and then look around on the way up. Is that okay?”
The tips of his fingers that were stroking his nodding hair were soft.
Fortunately, the stairs leading down to the basement were not badly damaged. Hyeon Gyu-ha clicked his tongue as he walked down the stairs briskly and looked around, bending over the railing.
“The basement is ruined.”
In Yoo-shin followed along quietly and peeked his head out from the side. Black water, like spilled ink, was sloshing at the bottom of the stairs.
“I think it’s flooded. But surprisingly, the water is dark, but it looks really clean.”
It was as clear as first-class water. Water is the most essential thing for survival. If it’s urgent, wouldn’t it be okay to draw this water and drink it? Hyeon Gyu-ha shook his head as if he had read his thoughts.
“You shouldn’t drink it. It looks like normal water on the outside, but it could have been contaminated or mutated somehow. There might be a boss mob underground, so let’s look around first.”
There was a parking lot and a machine room underground. Hyeon Gyu-ha, holding In Yoo-shin, went down to the flooded underground while floating in the air and carefully explored the surroundings as he finished explaining.
“What do you think causes the world to end?”
“Nuclear war? Environmental pollution? Or maybe a meteorite hit like when the dinosaurs went extinct……………….”
“There could be many cases, as Yoo-shin-ssi said. An ice age could have started, zombies could have appeared, it could have been the misdeeds of a mad great wizard, or it could have been swept away by a flood.”
“You’re saying that we shouldn’t drink the water because we don’t know why the world inside the gate was destroyed?”
“That’s smart.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had a somewhat pleased smile on his face, left the machine room and slowly flew through the parking lot.
“If there was long-term profitability like other gates, there might be research to find out the cause of destruction, but the Erosion Gate is a one-time dungeon. If you’re lucky, you’ll die immediately, but if you’re unlucky, you might turn into something like a demon.”
“Instant death is lucky……………….”
“Since you came in without any protective gear, you’ll have to undergo various tests after clearing the gate. But at least it seems like there’s no zombie virus in the air.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s eyes narrowed as he said that.
“I’ll gladly be bitten by you even if you become a zombie, Master. I’d rather be happy.”
“……………… I’ll be careful not to become a zombie.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha stretched out his arm at the same time as the hazy waves spread across the calm water like a lake deep in the mountains.
The black mist that seemed to be rising in the distance burst with a bang, unable to withstand the pressure of the air pressing down on it. The pitch-black water greedily sucked in the remains of the haze’s remnants, and then became quiet again.
“Is that a demon beast?”
“They are roughly called demon beasts, but they are a bit different. They don’t have a crystal stone. They don’t even have a decent body.”
Even after killing more than ten more demons, the dungeon boss did not show up. The two left the underground and came up to the surface. Even though they spent quite a bit of time looking around the wide underground, the scenery inside the building was still bleak and unchanging.
They first looked around the information desk in the center. The computer that was using electricity was turned off, but the laptop that was using the battery was still running.
They lightly pressed the keyboard of the laptop with their fingers. It seemed as if letters were being typed into the black and white input window of the business program, but soon one of the keys that they had touched turned to dust and scattered.
“The durability has weakened a lot.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“…….”
Hyeon Gyu-ha was generally kind to him and gave him detailed explanations, except for a few secrets he kept hidden. That’s why this time, even though it was a casual question, the answer was strangely late.
In Yoo-shin’s eyes, which raised their heads in surprise, were filled with surprise.
------
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.
Comentarios