# Chapter 7.
Confusion
Gates were often called dungeons. Why a “system” suddenly appeared on Earth, how gates popped up like mushrooms, or where monsters that had never been discovered even as fossils in Earth’s history emerged from—nothing had been clarified yet.
What was certain, however, was that the inside of gates wasn’t Earth’s environment, and the monsters within weren’t of this world either.
The monsters cleared out through extermination didn’t reproduce but simply reappeared inside on their own. Their mechanics differed slightly from what games would call respawning.
Gates that were opened arbitrarily and left neglected for too long caused monsters to backflow.
About twenty years ago, the government, struggling with management difficulties, finally reached its limit and handed over gate management to corporations.
Once money became involved, gates were neatly managed through capital power, and hunters who had belonged to the government were largely absorbed into private companies.
Plant-type Level 4 Gate.
As soon as Lee Hwan entered, he deliberately stepped on a plant stem and blocked the incoming seeds and poisonous thorns with a flat space. Shield—that’s what Taesung and Lee Hwan simply called it.
Today’s goal was to check his body condition and abilities, and to conduct his own training. After roughly blocking one wave of attacks, Lee Hwan repeatedly stepped on stems and roots, his eyes gleaming brightly.
*Crack*-
The bursting seeds spun as they flew toward him. Despite their trajectory changing, the attack grazed Lee Hwan more closely than expected.
“Damn it.”
His body wasn’t moving as flexibly as it had just before the regression. Even though his mind knew the twisted trajectory, his body should have dodged automatically, but now his head knew but his body couldn’t keep up.
As stems and vines flew wildly above his head, Lee Hwan almost danced in response.
Still, lower plant-types were simple, and he was experienced in handling them. Lee Hwan dried up various stems with spatial control, surrounded himself with a cool, moisture-filled barrier, and then threw a lit butane gas canister without hesitation.
Several thorny stems struck the flying canister.
*BOOM*-!
The ground shook momentarily. Unlike the stems that were merely scorched here and there, the thoroughly dried core was engulfed in flames and turned to ash.
This gate was short and low-level, but it was a space that could only be easily conquered if hunters in charge of tanking, dealing, and support all fulfilled their roles. That’s why Lee Hwan had specifically requested this gate—to find out if he could skillfully handle various roles as he had in the past.
The conclusion was that his seven-years-younger self was quite lacking.
First off, his body flexibility and core strength were severely insufficient. His ability handling also had numerous shortcomings. Attacks that should have been deflected far away kept grazing him because they didn’t unfold as quickly or as intended.
Additionally, precise manipulation was difficult, so he designated excessively large spaces when targeting the core. Without his original equipment, he had to make do with butane gas canisters, but he wasn’t satisfied with this either.
Still, knowledge remained in his head, so with each dodge, his body screamed but gradually adapted.
Lee Hwan could recite the solution methods for monsters here with his eyes closed. So he deliberately used various methods like cutting stems with a knife or reversely deflecting seeds flying like bullets with spatial designation to enhance his ability and body control.
Whether for abilities or physical movement, it was all the same if you didn’t want to die. His arms and legs, which had been resisting and unable to keep up, were now flying around swiftly.
Lee Hwan came out of the gate only around sunset. Kang Dongha was still there, either having gone somewhere and returned, or having been monitoring him the whole time.
A pair of eyes slowly scanned Lee Hwan. While speaking casually as if they were close, he openly monitored and evaluated Lee Hwan.
“Your nose is bleeding.”
As Dongha pointed out, bright red blood was dripping steadily without Lee Hwan noticing.
His head felt slightly dizzy, and it seemed blood would pour out for a while, but Lee Hwan pretended nothing was wrong and instead put strength in his legs.
He shouldn’t show doubts about his abilities. Besides, Kang Dongha still thought he was an ice-type awakened one.
“Find me more short gates like this.”
He didn’t mind looking impatient. Lee Hwan wanted to regain his pre-regression abilities as much as possible.
Taesung had already gained recognition for his abilities by this time and stood in a different position from Lee Hwan. Setting aside needing abilities for future events… Lee Hwan hoped that at least he wouldn’t be looked down upon before revealing himself as a friend.
Moreover, on that day, the sunglasses guy was confident he could catch Lee Hwan even without flames. Taesung had clearly seen that Lee Hwan was an awakened one, yet he readily put away the fire at that statement.
That’s how easy Lee Hwan had appeared to capture. A human who somehow climbed up to his house and awkwardly fumbled around.
The cloth pressing his nose began to form a round red stain. Lee Hwan hurried his steps without saying anything more to Kang Dongha. He headed straight home without taking time to examine his stiff body.
He needed rest. He needed stability. And unlike before the regression, there was…
No one here to take care of him.
* * *
The nightmares gradually subsided. After two weeks of constantly waking up screaming on the verge of death, he now woke up slapping either Kang Taesung or Kang Dongha across the face.
Nevertheless, the moment of the final battle remained as a kind of PTSD, tensing Lee Hwan every time he woke up.
Opening his eyes wide and catching his breath, Lee Hwan could see all the hair on his arms standing on end. For a brief moment before his mind returned, he wondered if this moment might be a dream, but then he slowly regulated his breathing and returned to reality after seeing the EX-class skill still remaining in his skill window.
The dream was where Kang Taesung was by his side; reality was where he didn’t remember Lee Hwan. There was something oddly irritating about that distinction.
By now, Lee Hwan had gone through two more gates. Due to his urgency, he kept demanding gates from Kang Dongha, who warned him that this pace was problematic.
“You’re insane, aren’t you?”
“And also… I’d like you to get me a weapon.”
“You’re insane, aren’t you?”
Originally, Lee Hwan hadn’t needed special weapons since Taesung handled the cleanup. However, now that he was going through gates alone, he couldn’t keep carrying butane gas canisters or construction hammers forever.
Butane gas took up too much space, and just carrying a sledgehammer made him look like a psychopath.
Carrying both on the way to a gate made him feel like some deranged murderer from somewhere, which felt strange and uncomfortable.
The equipment Lee Hwan used in the past was a gun-type weapon that fired small bombs like bullets. The miniaturization and stability of the ammunition were reinforced using dungeon byproducts.
Naturally, each round cost quite a bit, but the Naru Group wouldn’t have any trouble supporting such ammunition costs.
It had an awkwardly complex name mixing English and Korean, so hunters simply called it “Stone-Boom.”
Some said it was called that because the early model’s ammunition looked like pebbles, while others claimed that because the early model’s operation was complicated, “stone-heads” who mishandled it would have their heads go “boom”…
Lee Hwan honestly didn’t believe either story and just fucking laughed when he heard them.
The Stone-Boom was somewhat unique equipment. When fired, the ammunition traveled slower compared to bullets, but its firepower was extraordinary, ensuring critical hits upon explosion.
Therefore, rather than being recognized as a firearm, it was more like a launcher that fired small bombs at an insane speed, and fortunately, everything about this equipment perfectly matched Lee Hwan’s style.
Since it wasn’t that fast, it was extremely good for controlling with spatial manipulation. When others used it, it was a weapon inferior to guns, but when combined with Lee Hwan’s abilities, it showed a different aspect.
In his hands, the small bombs didn’t just move in straight lines. They curved toward targets, sometimes dropping suddenly or bending in their trajectory, moving as if they had life. Sometimes they even flew at crazy speeds like real bullets before exploding.
Lee Hwan would lightly control the ammunition by twisting or curving its trajectory. This was possible thanks to the kinetic energy already fully loaded in the ammunition.
Perhaps because dungeon byproducts were used, uniquely, telekinesis hardly affected the ammunition itself. Therefore, only Lee Hwan used it that way.
Before the regression, the Stone-Boom’s manufacturer had even promised to produce a new product named after Lee Hwan, anticipating considerable promotional effects.
However, during the initial monster wave, the factory and headquarters building collapsed and exploded, leaving not even an arm fragment of the CEO and executives.
‘There wasn’t even time to search through the corpses…’
Well, despite having such a well-suited weapon, Lee Hwan didn’t use it that often later on. It was because its efficiency was inferior to Taesung using his abilities. That was natural.
‘Stay still and let Kang Taesung deliver the finishing blow to monsters vs. Me struggling to use my abilities’
Unless one loved the exhaustion that came from using abilities extensively, the former was easier and more comfortable.
He and that guy had really worked well together… It was an incredibly missed combination in many ways.
“The ammunition costs a bit. Instead, you can take all the monster byproducts, so get me one.”
Honestly, given Lee Hwan’s pace of going through gates, the value of the byproducts would be at least double the cost of the equipment and ammunition.
However, Kang Dongha was the type who needed some additional compensation to move. After all, the initial reason he ran individual hunters was probably money.
Money was an essential element for power, status, and living a happy life regardless of time or place. Lee Hwan didn’t intend to blame Kang Dongha. If only he hadn’t messed with the gates, Lee Hwan would have overlooked whatever he did.
“If I push any further, it’s beyond Team 3’s jurisdiction.”
Kang Dongha shook his head. Setting aside the weapon issue, the way his eyebrows shot up regarding gates clearly showed he was in a difficult position.
If he was showing this much reluctance, there wasn’t much point in pressing further. All he could do was wait. Lee Hwan sighed and docilely backed down.
“If three gates are all you can get, there might be something wrong with your abilities…”
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
