Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Snow was falling.

Before I knew it, winter had settled into every corner of the scenery around me.

About fifteen days left.

I stepped into the yard and drew in a lungful of cold air.

In the distance, the Yeonwoo Guild members assigned to my security detail for the day waved at me.

I lazily walked over, and one of the guards quickly closed the distance before handing me a document envelope.

"What's this?"

"Mm, I'm not sure either. I was told someone claiming to be your family left it with Yeonwoo Guild."

"My family?"

The guard glanced at my expression before adding,

"Yes. I heard it was a young man. ...If there's a problem, we can blacklist him from now on."

"Ah, no. It's fine. Thank you for bringing it to me."

If a young man had shown up claiming to be family, it had to be my older brother.

My brother has something he wants to give me?

I'd thought my family might contact me sooner or later.

My name had been appearing online practically every other day.

Getting my Hunter license.

<Pilgrim>.

The <Gate of Heaven>.

And now the Yeonwoo Guild departure ceremony.

Every time I did anything outside, the media put my name in another headline.

But I expected my parents to contact me, not my brother....

My brother wasn't the kind of person who would reach out first after I'd cut ties with the family over something ordinary.

Which meant this wasn't ordinary.

Did something happen to our parents?

Or to him?

I frowned without thinking.

Then I remembered the guard standing in front of me and forced my expression to relax.

I thanked him and returned to the workshop.

Focus on what's in front of me first.

I won't have room to look elsewhere until Yeonwoo Guild returns safely.

I idly rubbed the document envelope in my hand and made myself a promise.

I'd open it after I saw Yeonwoo Guild return safely and after everything with the Association was settled.

I forced my focus back to the unfinished sculpture in front of me.

"At most, about a week left."

The Gate Emergence Forecasting Device was large and mechanically complex, so refining the details had taken a fair amount of time.

Still, I'd worked steadily.

Completion was in sight.

Tok, tok, tok!

Unlike my itemized tools, the stone itself was ordinary Earth material and relatively fragile, so I had to be careful with every hammer strike.

Especially now that I'd already removed all the large sections and was gradually refining the smaller details.

Tok! Tok-tok.

Pieces of stone fell around my feet.

Pale dust rose and settled again and again.

The sculpture and me.

In the quiet of winter, time inside the workshop moved both quickly and slowly.

[24 : - : - HOURS UNTIL MASSIVE SUDDEN-TYPE ASSAULT GATE BREAK]

Every television channel had placed a countdown in one corner of the screen.

Dramas and variety shows were canceled.

One terrestrial channel had switched to special news coverage all day.

The broadcast showed citizens evacuating from the region expected to be affected if the massive Gate broke.

"Residents in the projected damage zone are currently gathering at evacuation shelters as a precaution against a possible Break from this massive Sudden-Type Assault Gate."

The screen split.

Now a live camera showed the Gate itself.

Purple, blue, and green swirled together across the strange surface.

A reporter's voice came through the speakers, unable to completely hide its tremble.

"This is reporter Yoo Ho-eun at the scene. Tomorrow will mark the seventy-fifth day since Yeonwoo Guild entered the Gate alone...."

Beep.

I switched channels.

This time, a special program showed ruined city streets from the early days of the Gate Crisis.

The narrator tried to maintain a neutral tone.

Even so, there was an unmistakable hint of blame toward Yeonwoo Guild for insisting on a solo clear.

Beep.

On a channel openly aligned with the Association, self-proclaimed experts and politicians sat around pretending to debate while practically competing over who could criticize Yeonwoo Guild harder.

Beep.

One of the few remaining variety programs had jumped on the topic through citizen interviews.

Every person on screen seemed to fall into one of two extreme camps.

Those defending Yeonwoo Guild.

And those condemning it.

It was almost as though no other kind of person existed.

More eyes gathered.

More people added their opinions.

And the entire country seemed to boil.

I slowly stroked Chaeri's forehead before suddenly standing.

I left the television on the channel that was at least somewhat favorable toward Yeonwoo Guild.

Then I threw open the door.

"Everyone! Come inside. Let's wait for good news together."

The guards who had been trying and failing to hide their anxiety immediately poured into the house.

"Thank you for your consideration, Artist Do."

"It's nothing. Is there anyone here who doesn't want Yeonwoo Guild to come back safely?"

I looked at the living room, now packed with heads.

As the host, I went to bring out some simple snacks.

They were all things Seol Ga-hyeon had sent me by delivery.

She kept sending snacks from famous dessert cafés.

I didn't particularly enjoy sweets, so they'd been piling up for several days.

Once I laid them all out, the place finally looked like a house receiving guests.

I took a seat on the sofa again.

"...It'll work out, right?"

I turned at the weak voice beside me.

The guard who had spoken looked startled by his own words and smacked his mouth.

"Ah, I misspoke. Of course it'll work out. Sorry."

"No. I'm worried too, honestly. We can't help it. People important to us are all inside there."

I pointed toward the screen.

The Gate filled it again.

Time passed.

The image of the Gate shook slightly.

"Ah, our reporters on site are now withdrawing. The cameras will remain in place. TVD Broadcasting will stay with our viewers continuously until the Gate clear is confirmed."

Judging from the anchor's explanation, the reporters who had been waiting there the entire time were leaving after setting up unmanned cameras.

The countdown had reached one hour.

I could just barely see the phone screen of the guard sitting on the floor beside the sofa.

-Is this massive Gate seriously going to Break?

-What about the Hunters inside...? Shin Ha-gyeon and Kim Sang-hyeon got greedy and now innocent Hunters are gonna die for nothing.

-Shouldn't they be forced to compensate for the damage? Sue them as a nation or something.

-Are you all insane? Why did Yeonwoo Guild go in alone in the first place? Did everyone forget the articles saying there were no guilds available to cooperate?

The guard, reading a live chat under a YouTube news stream, calmly moved his fingers.

[These. damn. idiots. don't. know. shit. this. is. all. because. those. Association. bastards...]

I quickly turned my head away.

Let's pretend I didn't see that....

I would not ask how someone who looked about my age had ended up typing like a sixty-year-old internet warrior.

"Wait...! The Gate is moving! Viewers, the Gate is moving!"

I immediately looked up at the urgent voice.

The Gate on screen was violently rippling.

That could only mean one thing.

Something was coming out.

And there were still thirty minutes left until the predicted Break.

"U-Uwaaaaah!"

One person's scream-like cheer triggered everyone else.

People shot to their feet.

"Let's go to Yeonwoo Guild!"

At my words, someone who had clearly been waiting for exactly that moment pulled car keys from their pocket and raised them high.

"Everyone, follow me!"

"Let's go!"

"Ahhh! You wonderful bastards!"

The television, which nobody had thought to turn off, showed Yeonwoo Guild members stumbling out in terrible condition.

Hair matted with blood.

Torn combat gear.

Limping steps.

Hunters urgently pouring potions into their mouths as they emerged.

But every face was bright.

Until someone outside shouted that the cars were ready, I counted the people appearing on the screen.

One, two, three, four... thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five.

Three were being carried by their comrades.

But nobody was missing.

Even the ones being carried didn't seem mortally wounded.

They grimaced in pain, but quickly regained awareness and spoke with the people around them.

"We did it...."

The world's second solo clear of a massive Gate by a single guild.

South Korea's first.

Success.

My fist clenched on its own.

The anxiety that had been burning inside me felt as though someone had poured cold water over it.

"Artist Do! We're leaving!"

"Yes! I'm coming!"

Beep.

The television that had been running all day finally went dark.

"Hey. I'm still alive. Miss me?"

"You bastard...."

The moment I saw Eom Seok-hwan entering the guild lobby, I rushed over.

And that was the first thing he said.

Only then did the end of the raid truly feel real.

Grab.

Out of sheer relief, I hooked one arm tightly around his neck.

Eom Seok-hwan spoke as casually as ever.

"Still, with a body this big, I don't think I qualify as your kid."

"If you're making stupid jokes like that, you must be fine."

I released him immediately.

Eom Seok-hwan burst out laughing.

"By the way, when did you prepare that? It's amazing."

He pointed toward a huge banner hanging nearby.

[CONGRATULATIONS! SOUTH KOREA'S FIRST SOLO CLEAR OF A MASSIVE GATE!]

The banner covered almost an entire lobby wall.

It displayed Shin Ha-gyeon, Kim Sang-hyeon, and the faces of every team leader who had entered the Gate.

And so the members who didn't get their faces printed wouldn't feel left out, every team member's full name had been carefully written beneath their leader.

"I don't know. I got here after hearing the news, and it was already hanging."

Maybe Eom Seok-hwan understood exactly what the employees making that banner must have felt.

He didn't say anything else.

He only smiled.

Then a group of guild members who had been lingering behind us suddenly approached.

"Um, Artist Do. We wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?"

"Yes. Thanks to the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and Durandal you made, everyone returned alive even though we entered alone."

"You can't say it was entirely because of the weapons...."

"No! When we clear massive Gates while cooperating with other guilds, we usually still suffer one or two casualties. This time we were on our own and racing against the clock. If the results were this good, how could it not be because our weapons changed?"

"Ah... I'm glad."

That really was reassuring to hear.

But the guild members didn't give me even a moment to sink into the feeling.

"Ah! There's someone who can prove what I'm saying. He's lying in the treatment room right now.... He spent the entire trip out of the Gate praising you. If you go see him, he'll probably jump straight out of bed and forget he's injured."

Only then did I realize the guild member's real goal.

He wanted me to visit his injured colleague.

Still, he didn't seem to be lying.

There was no obvious reason he'd drag the crafter who made his superiors' weapons to an injured colleague otherwise.

Eom Seok-hwan seemed to know exactly who he was talking about.

He encouraged me to go.

"You'll probably feel pretty proud too. Don't worry, he's not trying to pull some trick to get an item out of you."

"Team Leader! What do you mean, pull a trick? What do you take my pure feelings for?"

"I'm defending you, aren't I?"

Their exaggerated bickering continued as we headed toward Yeonwoo Guild's treatment center.

Before leaving, I told the guard who had followed me to let the guild master know I'd visit his office later.

"Hey! Look who I brought!"

The guild member dramatically pulled aside the curtain around one of the hospital beds.

At the same time, Eom Seok-hwan leaned close and whispered very quietly.

"He's like this because one of his teammates almost died right in front of him. I think the tension still hasn't worn off. Cut him some slack."

"There's nothing to forgive. I wasn't thinking anything bad. Don't worry."

"Good."

I looked at Eom Seok-hwan's relieved smile before approaching the bed.

The two people inside had apparently been exchanging insults.

They both turned toward me.

The guild member lying in the bed really did jerk upward as though he'd forgotten he was hurt.

"Whoa, stay down. You'll reopen your wounds."

I pointed with my eyes toward his left arm and left leg, both suspended from the ceiling.

Only then did he settle back into position.

He swallowed hard.

I looked at him curiously.

Then he suddenly shouted,

"Thank you so much! You saved my life!"

"You were the ones who entered the Gate. Why does everyone keep thanking me?"

"No. If it weren't for the stacked buffs from the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, it wouldn't have ended with injuries to my left arm and leg. My body would've been split in half."

"...What?"

Split in half...?

According to him, it happened in the latter half of the Gate.

A chaotic melee had broken out.

There had been even more monsters than in an ordinary massive Gate.

And among the overwhelming numbers were dangerous enemies mixed in throughout, creating several severe crises.

That was when the Green Dragon Crescent Blade had truly shown its value.

"Thanks to it, we endured all the way to the end even while getting attacked by huge numbers of monsters. Hahaha."

The guild member laughed lightly and shrugged.

Then he grabbed his left arm and groaned.

"The fact that the Green Dragon Crescent Blade's buffs stacked was especially huge. Normally, that attack would've cut me in half. Thankfully, it ended with injuries to my left arm and leg. Who do you think created the luck that made that possible?"

I remembered the Green Dragon Crescent Blade's buff again.

So... he survived because of the reduced chance of suffering a fatal injury?

I already knew items could produce remarkable effects.

Especially the items containing Stories that I made.

But hearing this directly from someone who had survived because of one was different.

Something like that was actually possible.

Still....

Seeing a person tell me that something I'd made had saved his life left me with a strange feeling.

I had never thought about this side of weapon-making at all.

It felt somewhat similar to seeing people emotionally healed by my sculptures.

In the end, more than an hour passed before I finally made my way up to the guild master's office.

"Have you been well?"