“Strange. The signal is going through, but I can’t reach them.”
“Is that so?”
In the novel world, the technology to utilize Gate byproducts hadn’t been developed, so there had been no way to communicate with separated party members from inside a Gate. That meant whenever you got split up inside a Gate, you had no choice but to wander around searching for each other — and it seemed that was exactly what they’d have to do here too.
“The Gate’s interior is large, but if we look, we should find traces of Alpha-1 Team. Let’s track those.”
“Yes. But… you speak as though you’ve been inside a Gate many times before.”
“…That’s what we learned in training.”
Yujin, who had been issuing directions to Han Yugyeong out of sheer habit, caught himself and added the cover. Fortunately, Han Yugyeong didn’t seem particularly suspicious and gave a nod. Yujin quietly exhaled in relief.
Phew. I need to be more careful.
A Guide who had supposedly never been anywhere near a Gate acting like he knew everything could draw unnecessary suspicion. All he wanted was to live a long, quiet, low-profile life. He would absolutely not go charging ahead like someone who needed the spotlight — he would stay in the back, keep his head down, and let others take the lead. Yujin made that vow to himself again and again.
Alpha-2 Team moved forward and began tracking. They advanced with Yujin and Yu Haneul positioned in the center, scanning their surroundings in every direction. The bare wasteland, without so much as a single blade of grass, gave off a bleak and desolate atmosphere.
Wide open on all sides — they’ll probably attack from underground.
With Gates as familiar as they were to Yujin, he could infer what type of monsters to expect just by reading the terrain. In the wasteland Gate he’d entered before, mole-shaped monsters had come attacking from below. While the rest of the group watched the sky and the ground above, Yujin quietly slid his gaze downward, drawing on the memory of that time.
Crack, creak.
“……!”
Just then, the parched earth split with a sharp groan. Yujin was the first to notice and shouted.
“Look at the ground here! Down!”
“Oh——!”
The Alpha-2 Team Espers’ eyes dropped all at once. Simultaneously, the earth underfoot caved in. Han Yugyeong immediately reached out with her hand.
“Ngh!”
Her ability dealt with the earth. Thanks to that, the collapsing ground was restored in time, and the group hastily retreated from the spot. But unless they eliminated the monsters, the attacks would come again.
“Esper Han Yugyeong, don’t block the ground — attack when the monsters get close. Have the Esper with wind ability lift everyone into the air.”
“Understood.”
Yujin gave orders out of habit once again, but the urgency of the situation meant no one stopped to question it. Soon the ground where they had retreated began to heave again. The Alpha-2 Team Esper with wind ability lifted the group into the air, and the moment the ground caved in, they rained down attacks.
“Grrr!”
“Grrk!”
The mole-shaped monsters couldn’t reach the group suspended in the air and were cut down helplessly one after another. A few leapt upward like springs, but Han Yugyeong used her ability to drive them straight into the ground. The situation was resolved quickly.
Alpha-1 Team drew extra attention simply because it was made up entirely of S-rank Espers — but Alpha-2 Team was also composed of high-rank Espers. Han Yugyeong, the Team Leader, was S-rank herself, and the other members were all A-rank with plenty of Gate experience, so even in an S-rank Gate, it seemed they could hold their own for a while.
“Thank you, Team Leader Kwon. Your guidance helped us handle that well.”
“What? Ah, no……”
Han Yugyeong came over and dipped her head as she said it. Yujin looked at her steady, upright face with a flustered expression.
If she reported to the Center that he’d been giving combat directions, things would get complicated. Yujin had no desire to stand out inside this Gate. He would have far preferred to be Guiding diligently outside the Gate rather than getting dragged into the middle of a firefight like this. The way the world worked, the more capable you looked, the more you got used.
“Team Leader Han would have thought of that response on your own. You would have done exactly the same without me saying anything.”
“But your read on that moment was really impressive.”
“Wow, hearing that from the Team Leader of an Esper team — I don’t know where to put myself. Ha ha.”
Yujin laughed and waved it off with a slightly exaggerated gesture. Han Yugyeong looked like she was about to say more, but the ground gave another tremor beneath them and her expression sharpened as she went on guard.
“Let’s move and fight at the same time. If we stay in one place, we’ll just keep drawing more monsters.”
“Yes.”
The fighting continued all the way across the wasteland. As time went on, the Espers grew exhausted. Having Guides meant they weren’t getting hurt, but the monsters in an S-rank Gate grew progressively stronger and the strain mounted. If they didn’t find Alpha-1 Team and link up with them soon, the situation would only get worse.
“Fortunately, we just found traces of Alpha-1 Team, but……”
“What’s their position?”
“Well……”
“……”
Han Yugyeong answered in silence and pointed ahead. To their surprise, at the point where the wasteland ended, a lush green forest spread out before them. It was a surreal sight, like stumbling upon an oasis in the middle of a desert.
“The environment has shifted so abruptly — it seems like we’ll need to retrack the trail.”
“Hmm.”
So caught up in beating back the mole-shaped monsters, Yujin hadn’t even noticed when the scenery had changed. He gave the Espers a wave of radiant Guiding and calmly took in their surroundings. The rest of the group, however, seemed to be struggling to adjust to the unfamiliar situation.
“The environment just changed out of nowhere inside the Gate? Hasn’t that ever happened before?”
“They said a Gate opened at the same time as another — what if something’s gone wrong?”
“……”
Two Espers receiving radiant Guiding ahead of Yujin were murmuring to each other. He listened and quietly thought to himself.
This is going to become a common occurrence going forward.
Multi-layer Gates didn’t simply mean multiple Gates opening at once. Gates that opened in the same period interfered with each other. Right now it was just the scenery shifting abruptly — but later, multiple Gates would partially merge with one another. That was what made them increasingly difficult to clear.
This was the first Double Gate to appear, so it probably wouldn’t be that hard to suppress. It would simply be the environment of the A-rank Gate that Lee Siyun had entered alone partially overlapping with this one. Yujin surveyed the surroundings calmly.
This place also feels somehow familiar.
Forests were a fairly common backdrop in Gates. But something felt off in a way he couldn’t quite name. The trees with their absurdly oversized leaves looked like the sort of dense, sweltering vegetation you’d find in a tropical rainforest.
“Ugh, the tree——!”
“Get back!”
While they were walking through the forest, creeping tree roots suddenly attacked. The Espers immediately positioned themselves around Yujin and Yu Haneul and engaged. This forest seemed to be the habitat of plant-type monsters.
“Guide Yu Haneul, are you all right?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
Yujin had been watching the Espers fight and turned to Yu Haneul beside him. His face had gone pale. A Guide’s stamina was inevitably lower than an Esper’s. On top of that, Guides hadn’t been deployed into Gates in quite some time.
“Are you all right, Team Leader?”
Yu Haneul asked in a tired voice. Yujin shrugged. It was tough, but fortunately his natural constitution was better than most.
“Well, it’s manageable……”
He had started to answer without thinking when a chill prickled through him. On instinct, he grabbed Yu Haneul and pulled him sharply into his arms. Then he dropped low and rolled across the ground.
“Ugh——!”
“Grrrr……”
The spot where Yujin and Yu Haneul had been standing was gouged deep into the earth. Vertically slit yellow pupils fixed on Yujin with cold, relentless focus. Meeting those eyes made his skin crawl.
It had been hanging from the tree the whole time, waiting for its shot?
A long, serpentine monster immediately launched another attack. Yujin thrust his hand out. A defensive item could probably hold off a few strikes.
Thwack!
“Are you all right?”
“Ah……”
But before he could use it, Han Yugyeong used her ability to drive the entire tree the monster had been clinging to straight into a pit in the ground. The monster that had been thrashing inside went quiet shortly after. Yujin exhaled in relief.
“Phew — thank you.”
“Not at all. We should have been watching over the Guides more carefully. I’m sorry.”
“The monster moved so fast.”
The fighting went on for some time. Plant-type monsters swarming everywhere, wielding even individual leaves as weapons. After cutting down that many monsters, the surroundings felt almost eerily quiet. It was impressive they’d held their own with this group this long.
“U-um, Team Leader……”
“Ah.”
Right — he had grabbed Yu Haneul and rolled across the ground with him. Belatedly remembering he was still there, Yujin loosened the arm he’d been holding him with. He’d grabbed him on pure reflex and hadn’t even thought to let go.
“Sorry. I did it without thinking——”
“Not at all. Thank you for saving me.”
Yu Haneul’s face had gone faintly red. Yujin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and got to his feet. Things like this just happened inside Gates.
“I think we should rest here for a bit before moving on.”
“Let’s do that.”
The Espers were worn out from the sustained fighting. Yujin wove in radiant Guiding here and there between the lulls. The color gradually returned to the Espers’ faces.
We need to find Alpha-1 Team soon.
The environment had changed, but with Han Yugyeong here, they’d find them quickly once they picked up the trail again. Yujin watched her scanning the area and leaned back against a tree. The rough texture against his back made him pause, and he turned to look.
“This……”
Long, distinct marks were etched into the tree — as though someone had left them there deliberately. The moment Yujin saw them, his eyes began to tremble.
A familiar landscape. Familiar monsters. And now marks left behind once upon a time. Everything was identical. Identical to the Gate he had entered in the novel world.
The moment that realization hit him, Yujin’s hands — which had started to shake — balled slowly into tight fists.
