Huff, hah, huff, hah…… Clutching his fluttering heart and gasping for breath, Pyeonghwa heard a human voice from beside his head.
“Who are you?”
Pyeonghwa’s eyes snapped open. A man wrapped tightly from head to toe in black clothing was looking down at him.
It was a suspicious appearance where all he could see were deeply frowning eyes, but for now, he was moved by the fact that it was a person and not a monster.
A greeting slipped out of Pyeonghwa’s mouth without him realizing it.
“Ah, hello……?”
“I asked who you are.”
“Huh? I’m Noh Pyeonghwa.”
“Where did you come from?”
“Ah, from Myeonmok.”
“Myeonmok? Was there a guild like that?”
“It’s not a guild, it’s my neighborhood name. I came by taxi…….”
“…….”
The man raised his head and scanned the graffiti scribbled here and there on the walls. It was a last will he’d written quite diligently, but strangely, the surrounding air grew colder and colder.
Whoosh—with a single gesture, the man retrieved the dagger that had been deeply embedded in the wall. The emotion in the man’s eyes as he gripped the sharp dagger was annoyance and irritation.
Sensing that something had gone wrong, Pyeonghwa quickly stood up and knelt before him.
“Please spare me, ahjussi.”
“…….”
“No wait, hyung, please spare me.”
Suddenly, he recalled a news article about Gate thieves being rampant these days. While there had always been thieves stealing resources, this was the first time there were thieves who just closed Gates on their own.
Whether or not the man was that Gate thief, it was hard for someone wandering around at dawn wearing a black mask to not be a criminal.
Gate-related criminals could kill you without anyone outside knowing what happened inside the Gate, so if there was a problem, they’d just kill you outright…… Pyeonghwa clasped his hands together and looked up at him with the most pitiful face he could muster.
“I came to observe the Gate, but the slope was too steep. I was holding onto a tree when the dirt collapsed and I fell in. That! That’s the tree……!”
“Gate observation? Why would you do such a thing?”
“Ah, someone said if you receive Gate Waves, you can awaken.”
“Who said that?”
“A N*ver blog…….”
“Ha.”
For some reason, he seemed only more irritated. Pyeonghwa carefully watched his mood and pondered.
He was a late bloomer so he looked much younger than his peers, but the other person didn’t seem to feel any sympathy for a kid like him.
Then he had to offer something that would tempt a criminal. Should he offer all his assets? He did receive a lot of allowance, but from an adult’s perspective, it was pocket change.
Then there was only one thing left. In order to survive, Pyeonghwa had no choice but to appeal with his own body.
“If you just spare me, I’ll even remove my organs and give them to you— Aagh!”
With a thwack and stars appearing before his eyes, Pyeonghwa clutched the top of his head with both hands and collapsed face-first.
“Ugh, that fucking hurts…… Hyung, where are you going!”
While he was groaning in pain, the man swiftly passed by him.
Pyeonghwa jumped up and hurriedly followed behind him. Even if he was a criminal, he was the only person who could save him.
“Hyung, please. Please save me.”
“I did spare you.”
“You need to give me a Return Stone, ugh, just a bit slower… Hyung, your legs are too long!”
“Get lost. It feels like your stupidity is contagious.”
“I’m not that stupid. My IQ is high.”
“What kind of bastard who’s not stupid enters a Gate to try to awaken?”
“Entering was an accident though.”
“And what? You’ll remove your organs?”
“Ah, that’s because all I have is my body. Since there are two kidneys, it’s reasonably…….”
“Talking back, fuck.”
When the man cursed and raised his hand high, Pyeonghwa flinched as if frightened.
Since he was already small and curled up even smaller while trembling, the desire to punch him seemed to disappear.
The man, who was about to habitually run his raised hand through his hair, soon realized he was wearing a black hood and contorted his face.
“Ha…… How annoying.”
“I’m sorry…….”
“I’ll get you out, so wait here.”
“Here… by myself? Hyung, I really won’t run away. You saw me write my family’s names on the wall. Just give me one Return Stone and I’ll wait outside after I leave!”
“Don’t have one.”
“Huh?”
“I said I don’t have a Return Stone.”
Pyeonghwa blinked as if he couldn’t understand. Were there people who entered Gates without bringing a Return Stone? Then how was he going to get him out?
Ah, don’t tell me…….
“Are you that Gate thief, hyung? The one who closes Gates on his own…… Hup! I’m sorry. I won’t tell anyone.”
“One hour. If you want to live, stay put quietly.”
Without responding to Pyeonghwa’s words, the man threw the dagger at his waist, sheath and all. Pyeonghwa, who caught it awkwardly, examined the dagger from various angles.
From the handle to the sheath and blade, everything was pitch black. The purple gem embedded at the end of the handle held light beautifully. Judging by how it was the same size and shape as the one the man was holding, the two seemed to be a pair.
At a glance, it was an expensive and good item, but for Pyeonghwa, who wasn’t awakened, it was useless. If he met a monster, he’d die without being able to resist even once, so what good was a weapon…….
“Isn’t this a C-rank Gate?”
“D-rank.”
“Ah, it’s D-rank. But even if it’s D-rank, I’ll die if I get hit once.”
“So?”
“Don’t you have anything better than a weapon? An item with defensive options, or an invisibility cloak like in Ha*ry Potter…….”
“If you want, I’ll put you to sleep.”
The man showed his large fist to the chattering Pyeonghwa. Pyeonghwa was startled and stepped back. If he got hit by that fist, he felt like he’d fall asleep forever.
“……Hyung, you have to come back. You can’t die.”
Pyeonghwa gripped the dagger tightly and crouched against the wall. Since there was no proper place to hide, he planned to curl up his body as much as possible.
The man looked down at Pyeonghwa with a displeased gaze, then turned around sharply and strode away.
Pyeonghwa squeezed his eyes shut and began counting numbers in his head. One per second, if he counted to three thousand six hundred, that would be one hour.
‘Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty…… Ugh, I’m scared…….’
Whether from the cold or from fear, his body kept shivering.
Monsters wouldn’t suddenly appear, right? He could endure for about an hour, right? It’ll be okay. It’s okay…….
Just as he was trying to comfort himself and count numbers again, a faint monster cry brushed past his ear.
Kiiiii.
His entire body stiffened. It wasn’t a sound from nearby, but it wasn’t very far away either.
Pyeonghwa held his breath and looked around. There wasn’t even a monster’s shadow visible on the path blocked by high walls.
Kiiiik!
It was behind him. Pyeonghwa turned around. There was a monster beyond the wall.
Pyeonghwa awkwardly got up and moved to the opposite wall.
Kiiiiii.
Again, a monster’s cry was heard from behind. There was a monster beyond the opposite wall too.
He hurriedly moved away from the wall and stopped right in the middle of the path.
‘Crazy… was this path the only place without monsters?’
Thinking he was surrounded by monsters made his hair stand on end.
It was fortunate the walls were high. The monsters wouldn’t be able to come over to this side.
‘Can they… come over…?’
Ominous thoughts kept flooding in. Among monsters, there were flying monsters, and monsters that jumped high or dug tunnels. It wasn’t like there was only one type of monster in a single Gate either. Above all, if this place was really safe, wouldn’t that man from earlier not have needed to lend him a weapon…….
With the anxiety that the monsters beyond the walls might pop out at any moment, Pyeonghwa’s heart pounded as if it would jump out of his mouth.
“Ah, shiiiit…….”
Choking up, Pyeonghwa took one step in the direction the man had disappeared.
Two steps, three steps……, and soon he was running as if someone was chasing him from behind, thinking that no matter how fast the man’s stride was, he couldn’t have gone far yet.
‘I should’ve exercised instead of just gaming!’
He wasn’t even running for a few minutes, but he was already out of breath. Pyeonghwa regretted his past days of living with insufficient exercise.
“Huff, huff…….”
Before long, a three-way fork appeared. The right and center paths were empty, but on the leftmost path, something was sprawled out and wriggling.
Then it was the left. Pyeonghwa gritted his teeth and turned.
“Urgh, what the……!”
It was clearly a beast-type monster corpse, but it was sliced into pieces so he couldn’t even gauge its original form. The monster was still wriggling disgustingly even in its fragmented state. Between them, expensive magic stones were rolling around, but since it was a life-or-death situation, they didn’t catch his eye.
Pyeonghwa quickly scanned the cross-section of the cleanly cut monster corpse. Judging by how the blood was just flowing, it hadn’t been cut long ago. That meant he was getting closer to the man.
Pyeonghwa kicked away the monster corpses blocking the path ahead with his slipper-clad feet as he ran. It was disgusting, but he wasn’t afraid of dead things—only living ones were scary.
“Hyuuung……!”
Finally, he saw the man far ahead. The man lightly sliced up a monster with a single dagger and turned around.
He’d intended to stop, but he couldn’t control his trembling legs. Unintentionally, Pyeonghwa ended up tightly embracing the man’s waist.
