Chapter 19: An Unexpected Guest (1)
There was someone standing in front of the gate where no one was supposed to be.
It was a man dressed in a black suit that looked stiflingly hot just to look at. The moment he spotted me, his face twisted in disgust.
"Who the hell are you, coming out of that illegal gate?"
That was exactly what I wanted to ask him. Who the hell are you to be standing here? Was he one of Seol Rokjin's underlings? As that thought crossed my mind and I tried to muster what little mana I had left—
I sensed presences behind the man.
The guy guarding the gate wasn't alone. And the instant I saw the person standing behind him, I froze in shock.
"Ishin?"
Jeong Hosan. What the hell are you doing here? I gaped in disbelief.
But there was someone who made my eyes bulge even more.
Crazy—why the hell is Red Dog here too!
Kim Myeong-cheol, the Fire Dog of the Red Dog Guild, was standing right next to Jeong Hosan.
What reason could those two possibly have for showing up here? If the man in front of me was also from Red Dog Guild, that meant three members of the mighty Red Dog Guild were guarding the entrance to this illegal gate.
A-grade physical enhancement ability user, 5-star hunter Jeong Hosan.
A-grade pyromancer, 7-star hunter Kim Myeong-cheol.
The guy in front looked like at least a 4- or 5-star himself, so there was no way in hell I could escape this place, dead or alive.
Damn it.
I rolled my eyes, scanning for options.
Getting caught coming out of an illegal gate—worst-case scenario.
"Is that guy your friend?"
Unlike my panic, Kim Myeong-cheol looked utterly relaxed. He pointed at me and asked, and Jeong Hosan nodded with a dazed expression.
"Secretary Hwang, grab that guy for now."
At those words, the man called Secretary Hwang immediately began gathering his mana. I bit my lip as I saw his pupils turn blue.
Could I shake off this Secretary Hwang and slip away from here?
"Hyungnim."
Jeong Hosan's words made Kim Myeong-cheol glance sideways, his face suddenly sheepish as he backpedaled.
"I mean, since he's Hosan's friend, let's treat him nicely and hear what happened. Maybe he was captured and forced into that illegal gate and just escaped."
Right then, a crowd of people came pouring out of the gate.
Kim Myeong-cheol and Jeong Hosan reacted first.
"Who are those people?"
Secretary Hwang also rolled his eyes in confusion at the sudden arrivals. No wonder—he'd be shocked too. Fifteen ragged, filthy, half-naked men had burst out at once.
As all eyes turned to them, I fiddled with the potion belt at my waist. I still had one smoke bomb left, at least.
If it had just been this Secretary Hwang guy, I might've used the smoke bomb.
But Kim Myeong-cheol was here. A pyromancer. Smoke bombs wouldn't work on him—he'd burn the smoke away in seconds.
I dropped my hand from my waist.
"Who are they?"
I clamped my mouth shut at Secretary Hwang's question. My silence ratcheted up the tension. His fingers twitched. The rings covering them melted and reformed into gauntlets.
Damn, magic tools. No wonder he was wearing so many rings. I gripped my dagger in response.
"Hey, Secretary Hwang. Why don't you invite the new friends over too? We can all sit down and hear what went down in there."
At Kim Myeong-cheol's order, Secretary Hwang let out a short sigh and nodded toward me—come over here. But I didn't budge.
Because getting into Kim Myeong-cheol's line of sight was way scarier than dealing with this guy.
"The master wants to talk. Come over."
But I still didn't move. Seeing me refuse again, Secretary Hwang said,
"If you keep this up, we'll have to escort you by force."
I saw Han Jo-hee start to say something, but I shook my head.
If she defended me now, it was all over. Sure, I hadn't done only bad things in that gate.
Yeah, I killed some people, but it was the only way to save the folks being exploited here. They'd understand that.
But they couldn't.
━Why not?
Because Seol Rokjin would find out about me.
━You really fear that guy.
There are plenty of other bad reasons too. I don't want to get caught if I can help it.
I didn't want to think about Seol Rokjin. Especially not here. As I changed the subject, Ray fell silent too.
━You can't get caught by these guys here, right?
Exactly.
So how could I just meekly walk over like Secretary Hwang wanted?
Seeing us at a standoff, Kim Myeong-cheol rubbed his temples with a headache and shouted,
"Why are you all acting like strangers? Hosan, why don't you bring your friend over?"
Secretary Hwang's face soured at Kim Myeong-cheol's words. His pride must've taken a hit.
"I'll escort him."
"No, Secretary Hwang—check inside the gate while you have time. It hasn't collapsed yet."
"Is that okay?"
"I'm Kim Myeong-cheol."
That was enough. A 7-star pyromancer with such a cheat-level talent that people said he was practically at 8-star entry level. He could take everyone here in seconds.
At Kim Myeong-cheol's words, Secretary Hwang headed into the gate with a reluctant look.
Secretary Hwang was gone from in front of me, but I still saw no escape route. If anything, without him blocking the view between me and Kim Myeong-cheol, it was even scarier.
Kim Myeong-cheol looked at me and said,
"I'll bring that friend over myself."
I'm dead, I thought.
Then Jeong Hosan spoke up.
"Hold on—can I talk to him first?"
"You?"
"Yes."
Kim Myeong-cheol nodded. He didn't seem worried I'd do anything to Jeong Hosan.
"Fine. Then I'll chat with those poor victims. Hey, folks over there—come on over? I'm Kim Myeong-cheol from Red Dog. I won't hurt you, promise."
Flashing a friendly smile, he beckoned the people behind me. As if anyone here wouldn't know who he was without the intro.
They glanced at me hesitantly before slowly shuffling toward him.
I shot Han Jo-hee a look. Say whatever—just nothing that screws me over.
Damn it.
And in the meantime, Jeong Hosan reached me.
He looked intimidating as hell. His pale brown eyes glared at me.
"Kang Ishin. Is that you?"
"Whoa, Hosan. Long time no see. Didn't expect to run into you here."
I tossed out a casual line. How nice it would be if we could just exchange pleasantries and move on.
"Yeah, I really didn't expect this."
I heard Jeong Hosan's teeth grind.
"When I heard you'd gone missing and took a mining job at an illegal gate, all I could think was worry for you."
My jaw dropped at that. Dodging his calls had snowballed into all this? I felt wronged.
"But now? I don't know anymore. What the hell did you do in there? What's all that blood?"
He scowled at my hands as he said it.
"It's not mine."
━Isn't that just digging a deeper hole?
Yeah. Seeing Jeong Hosan's eyes darken, I realized I'd hit the wrong button.
"Kang Ishin, you really... "
Jeong Hosan trailed off, his eyes widening as if he'd spotted something off.
"Where's your recognition tag?"
Oh crap. I rubbed my bare neck and grinned awkwardly.
"Tore it off. It was uncomfortable."
Noticing Kim Myeong-cheol not far away, Jeong Hosan's voice dropped low.
"You serious?"
He looked like he wanted to grab my collar right then. Fair enough—removing a recognition tag was a massive crime. Could be treated worse than murder. And since I'd killed too, it was aggravated as hell.
Hopefully Kim Myeong-cheol wouldn't overhear and come grab me?
━Don't worry. He's not moving his mana at all.
Maybe out of consideration for Jeong Hosan. Kim Myeong-cheol wasn't eavesdropping.
Opportunity.
"Jeong Hosan. One favor."
I swallowed hard and met his eyes.
"Help me escape from here."
"What?"
Please. Save me just this once. What are friends for? Without you, I'm totally screwed.
Reading my desperate gaze, his eyes wavered.
"What the hell did you do?"
"Something that'll screw me if I get caught?"
"You."
His face turned deadly serious.
I grabbed his arm and pleaded.
"Hosan, I don't wanna go to prison. You know how brutal the Awakener prisons are."
I grinned, but it was sincere. Awakener prisons treated you worse than animals—mana-sealing shackles on entry, 24/7 surveillance.
And life sentences.
━You're seriously begging your friend for a one-time pass? You think that'll get you out?
Ray sounded incredulous.
Yeah, it'd be nonsense to anyone else. No friend would help you escape in this situation, no matter how close.
And Jeong Hosan was ridiculously righteous. He couldn't overlook injustice.
But he'd die for me. To him, I was his only family.
So he'd let me off once. Just this once.
━No friend would let you go without hearing the details. What an idiot would do that?
Squeezing his eyes shut then open under my pleading stare, Jeong Hosan said,
"Time. I can't stall long."
Yes!
━And here he is. The idiot.
I nodded at Jeong Hosan and bolted past him.
Finally realizing what was up, Kim Myeong-cheol's eyes bulged and his mouth fell open.
"Sorry, hyungnim."
Kim Myeong-cheol exhaled, staring at Jeong Hosan blocking his path.
"Hosan, you really gonna do this?"
He wanted to shove past and grab the suspicious guy for answers, but his ability was fire.
He didn't want to burn the kid he cared about. Bare-handed? No way he could win.
In the end, he had to let the escapee go.
"Sorry."
Seeing the kid's twisted face, unable to even meet his eyes, drained his anger.