Hide It
My eyes were fixed on Seon-woo's status window.
It was a pretty straightforward status window. But that wasn't the point. The important parts were that Seon-woo's level was 9 and that he had the job of Archer. There was only one thing that meant.
"You... you're a hunter?"
A hunter, plain and simple. Since becoming a gate owner, I'd met plenty of people, but Seon-woo was the first one whose status window I could see. It had to be related to him being a hunter.
"So you really became a gate owner, huh?"
I hesitated for a moment at his question, then nodded. This guy might act carefree, but when it counted, he was dead serious. If he was asking with that kind of certainty, it meant he was sure.
To be honest, I'd been wondering when to tell him.
"Yeah."
"Knew it. So how'd you figure out I'm a hunter?"
"'Cause I can see your status window."
"You have the Observation skill?"
"Yep."
"Impressive. Even among gate owners, not many have that skill."
First I'd heard of that. Not much was known about what skills gate owners got in the first place.
"So, what kind of gate is it?"
"A small island. Doesn't look like you can get off it easily, and there aren't any other landmasses or islands nearby."
"Sounds like it won't make much money."
"Bingo."
"So what're you planning to do with it?"
"Planning? Honestly, nothing much."
"That's pretty on-brand for you."
Seon-woo gave a wry smile.
"By the way, where'd you learn archery?"
"Learn? I picked it up myself to survive."
"To survive? Who was trying to kill you?"
He took a deep drag from his cigarette, exhaled slowly, and spoke.
"Gates aren't all fantasy and beauty like people think since they don't know much about 'em. The one I went into? Even worse."
"Monsters?"
"Yeah, there were monsters. But people are scarier. You ever think about how lucky we are to live within the law?"
I nodded. Born and raised inside the bounds of law, I'd never really appreciated it. The military was probably the closest thing— a place where normal societal rules got tossed aside. Not completely, but it was a whole different world.
"What gate did you go into?"
"Nothing special. Just your typical one—resources, monsters, lots of people going in."
Yeah, those existed. Gates where you paid an "entry fee" or "tax" to get in. Sounded like that's where he'd gone.
"And?"
"Let's just say I learned the truth behind those gate disappearance cases."
Gate disappearances. People vanishing inside gates. It happened all the time. Like he said, public authority meant nothing in there. Strength became power, and those with power could do terrifying things. Easy to imagine, and probably close to the truth.
"You're not surprised, huh?"
"Why would I be? Didn't happen to me."
"True to form. You know, if it weren't for Hoya going missing, I'd have pegged you for a psychopath."
Being calm meant not having wild mood swings. And some calm people had psychopathic traits. Not all psychopaths were killers—antisocial personality disorder didn't always mean criminal. Anyway, he'd suspected I might be one. Made sense; I didn't show much emotion.
"What's your point?"
"You gonna reveal your gate?"
"Not really planning to."
He laughed at that.
"Smart move. If the resources aren't great, just keep it to yourself."
"You call me out here just to say that?"
"Don't come by anymore. Just order over the phone from now on."
"You want me to hide the gate."
"Exactly. Once word gets out, the flies will swarm."
"My gate's shit now?"
"Don't argue. They won't kill you outright, but they'll grab your family hostage and force you to open it."
I hadn't thought of that. Threats to me? Whatever. But family as leverage? That was a problem.
"Get stronger. Problem solved."
"I told you, it's a small island. Not some monster land—there's a limit to how strong I can get there."
"Maybe you're right."
He nodded. Most gates connected to continents. An island like mine was rare, statistically speaking.
"Probably."
"Then secrecy's the way. Go camping this weekend or something."
"That much camouflage?"
"Yeah. Nobody suspects you now, but you never know."
He had a point. Buying all that camping gear and never using it? Suspicious.
"One more thing."
"Shoot."
"Where do you rank among hunters?"
His level was higher than mine, but stats were lower. That Keen Eyesight was probably archer-specific.
"Me? Pretty decent. Top hunters are around level 20, from what I hear. Only folks with Observation can check, but there's some American machine that measures levels too. Anyway, level 9 puts me mid-tier. Highest known is early 20s."
"Known" meant plenty unknown. Gates were a new frontier.
Pioneers didn't broadcast info back in the day. They'd exploit it first.
"Not as impressive as I thought."
"You idiot. You haven't seen real hunter fights."
"Maybe. Just going by levels."
"You think hitting level 9 is easy?"
My level was 8. Mostly thanks to Hoya hand-feeding me the experience, but we were only one level apart, and my stats were higher overall. Probably from the island's ingredients.
"Don't tell me you ate some stat-boosting food or potion?"
"If that existed, it'd be huge news. There are energizing meats or plants sometimes. Why, you find something?"
"Am I a bum?"
"Am I? Gates mean scavenging and eating whatever. If it feels good, you hunt or gather more and sell it. Some even farm edible, effective stuff. But those are mostly gate owners or their families."
"'Cause they might get banned anytime?"
"Yep. Waste to develop a farm if the owner locks you out. Hunters just hunt, gather what they can carry, and pay the owner a cut as tax."
Gate owners were top dogs, bottom line.
"No taxes to the government?"
"Didn't know? Official gate owners are tax-exempt. But they gotta give the state some access perks."
Made sense how gates worked. If valuable, owners could partner with the state—new resources for them, benefits for owners. Access was up to the owner; couldn't force it. Threats had limits, so better to play nice.
"That's if they team up with the state. Usually, corps or crime syndicates target owners. To me, they're all the same."
State, corps, criminals—all after money. Gates meant profit.
"Another question."
"Yeah?"
"No people living inside? Non-Earthlings, I mean."
"Otherworlders?"
"Yeah."
"Haven't heard of any, but probably. Civilizations' traces pop up sometimes."
Civilization traces. My island didn't have any. Safety—especially family's—needed thought.
"So I just hide it for now?"
"Pretty much. Even a dense guy like me sniffed it out."
"Your Keen Eyesight stat's throwing that off, though."
"Tch, Observation users."
"Anyway, thanks for the advice. Once my gate's sorted, I'll invite you."
"Cool, I'm curious. So you're just gonna chill in there?"
"Small island—what else? Oh, went fishing. New fish, tasted killer."
"Whoa, nice. Let's fish together next time."
"Sure."
I wrapped up with Seon-woo, grabbed the modified bow he'd tuned and the extra recurve, and headed home. Then straight through the gate.
Something was waiting to greet me inside.