Chapter 67: #24 We've Come to Clear the Gates (1)
“Yeah, gates.”
Our primary goal was to smash the bad guys in this country and secure plenty of funds to save the world.
But to do that, we needed to boost our strength first—and nothing leveled you up faster than tackling gates.
In fact, the more gates you cleared, the more your mana grew, and sometimes the system even handed out “clearance rewards” like that.
The problem was...
“But most gates already have raid teams assigned, right?”
Just as Han Seohyun said, every gate in the country had an owner.
“Yeah, it’s not easy for a bunch of nobodies like us to snag one.”
Over 85% of gates were detected by gate sensors before they even popped up, then divvied out to guilds or private raid teams based on contracts.
And even if a gate slipped past the sensors, it went straight to auction the moment it appeared and got sold off. For villains like us who couldn’t show our faces in official circles, finding a gate to raid was the real hurdle.
“Or are you thinking of hijacking one?”
Gate hijacking—what Han Seohyun meant—was a classic villain crime.
Blending into a public auction gate pretending to be a normal raid team, or slaughtering the guards outside, slipping in just before the official team started, and wiping them out to steal the gate.
Both totally illegal, of course.
“Nah, can’t kill innocent raid teams.”
“Phew.”
Sure, we were the kind of scum who killed people and robbed auctions, but we didn’t harm just anyone.
No intention of screwing over folks just trying to live in this messed-up world.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Hmm, you’re right—domestic gates are pretty much off-limits. But what about overseas?”
Unlike Korea, where sensors were everywhere and population density made management tight, other countries had tons of abandoned gates.
“Another overseas trip?”
Han Seohyun looked horrified at my words. He clearly remembered getting seasick bad last time.
“Don’t worry, I got you a proper ID this time. We’re flying.”
His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. Guy really hated boats.
“Where to?”
“Australia.”
Australia had one of the lowest population densities in the world. Great for living before gates, but a nightmare now.
Low density meant fewer people to spot gates when they appeared. Naturally, most Australian gates went unmanaged.
Ones in city centers or discovered early got handled quick, but out in the sparsely populated outskirts? They often sat until they gate broke.
Australia, never populous to begin with, couldn’t handle the flood of gates and break monsters across its massive land.
Now, 70% of its territory was overrun by monsters from those breaks.
“Hunters can enter with zero restrictions.”
“No way.”
“Yeah. Criminal or not, they welcome anyone raiding gates. 6-star hunters can get a private jet if they apply ahead.”
That’s why we picked Australia as our destination.
Just as I expected, immigration was a breeze—no real screening at all. They just wanted someone, anyone, to reclaim their infested land from monsters and gates.
The airport we landed at was eerily quiet.
“It’s really quiet here.”
“Australia’s rep isn’t great internationally right now.”
With half its land swallowed by gates, things were bad. Most territory lost. Any decent hunter wouldn’t come here.
Unless you had “unavoidable reasons” like us and couldn’t pass strict checks elsewhere, no point.
We registered as members of a mercenary group called Arc. I was the captain, obviously. The other two were grunts.
Even with just three of us, the official greeted us with a beaming smile.
I was the only one who spoke English.