What About the Other Gates?
After blocking the monster wave at the Jeju Gate, the celebrity hunters were greatly astonished by the power of our gate.
And I was greatly astonished by the levels of the celebrity hunters at the Jeju Gate.
Go Yeon-ju had the highest level among them.
"How on earth did you raise your levels? None of you seem like the fighting type at all."
"Well... through fishing."
"Pardon?"
"Fishing. For some reason, it counts as hunting and gives experience points."
She said she'd reached the mid-20s through fishing. No wonder Go Yeon-ju's Fishing skill was maxed out. I'd thought she was just a fishing enthusiast. But surprisingly, most of the other celebrities had high fishing levels too.
Curiously, my own Fishing level was at 5, but fishing didn't raise my level. In our gate, you had to hunt monsters to gain experience. Production activities leveled up skills, of course. But here, production activities raised your overall level. It was a fascinating place.
As far as I knew, this was a pretty rare case. I figured it was a decent gate overall.
Since it was a subordinate territory, our territory residents could operate here without restrictions and enjoy the same benefits. On the flip side, Jeju Gate hunters needed permission just to cross into our gate. A clear distinction, right?
For now, I was pleased that our elderly territory residents could level up more easily.
That's when one of the celebrities approached me hesitantly. She was famous enough that even I, who had zero interest in celebrities, knew her. A second-generation girl idol, the glamorous one in charge of the "cute-sexy" role. I'd liked her back when I was in the military.
"Um... Grand Lord?"
"It's Choi Si-woo."
"Oh, can I call you Si-woo? It's just... you have this aura."
From her perspective as a resident of a subordinate territory, facing the Grand Lord directly probably carried some weight.
"Sure. No need to call me Grand Lord here. I permit it."
"Thank you!"
"So, what's up?"
"Well..."
"Yes?"
"Could you... um, open the path to your gate for me?"
"That's not hard... but why?"
"This is really rude, but I do a lot of work in Seoul. And honestly, not just me—a lot of people here who were based in Jeju still work in Seoul. I heard that crossing your gate takes you straight to Seoul..."
So, she wanted to use our gate to travel conveniently between Seoul and Jeju.
"I know it's impolite."
"Kim Ji-hyun."
"Yes? I'm sorry. Such a rude request."
"No, go ahead. But I can't approve it every time, so I'll grant access to our gate's entrance... for one month based on this territory's time. I'd love to make it longer, but the system says that's the max."
Of course, the system said no such thing. It was my decision.
Kim Ji-hyun's face lit up.
I added to her, "Of course, as long as there are no issues, I'll renew it after a month. Sound good?"
"Y-yes, of course! It's only about an hour by plane from Jeju to Seoul, but surprisingly, that takes longer sometimes. And flights get canceled in bad weather here or in Seoul."
"It's fine. No need to explain. It's a subordinate territory anyway—we should provide that convenience."
"Thank you. Really, thank you."
Seeing Kim Ji-hyun's situation, the other celebrity hunters mustered their courage and approached me too.
As I watched them, I spoke up.
"I'm granting Go Yeon-ju authority to approve one-month passes. She'll handle permissions. But if even one person causes trouble, all permissions are revoked. Make sure you handle that properly."
I didn't just offer the carrot. Naturally, I showed the stick too—the reminder that it could swing at them anytime.
But they didn't seem too worried. They were just thrilled at the easier Seoul trips.
"And celebrity hunters."
"Yes!"
"From now on, hunt periodically in our territory. For gear, commission my sister Si-yeon over there. It won't be free, of course. Negotiate payment with her. Seon-woo here will assist your hunts and help develop combat skills. Don't think this monster wave was the last. It could happen again anytime. Prepare yourselves. This is your Grand Lord's first order."
The Grand Lord's command has been activated.
Territory residents and subordinate territory residents will follow the Grand Lord's command unless there is a special reason.
I was surprised inwardly but didn't show it. And I was satisfied that the explanation lacked words like "obey" or "submission." If it had said the residents would obey my commands, issuing orders in the future would feel awkward.
After all, I had modern knowledge and a modern mindset. Just as I recoiled at hypnosis, forcing absolute obedience through my commands would feel off-putting.
"Right. Without the Grand Lord's knights this time, we'd be done for."
"Exactly. We're hunters, after all. And let's use this chance to pivot to action star roles."
"Oh? That's genius? If we level up that way, we could make a killer movie."
Oh? That's genius? A movie with an all-hunter cast would be insane. Our gate was great for skill development—maybe make a film with those skills? Nah, not my field. Seeing them take my order positively eased my mind.
"Mind if I stop by your place for a sec, Go Yeon-ju?"
"Huh? Suddenly?"
"Isn't it right outside the gate here?"
Gates for homeowners appeared in their homes. So no misunderstanding—I meant exiting the Jeju Gate to check out Jeju itself. Purrr.
"Purrr? Can cats even make that sound?"
Hoya gave me a pitiful look. Her eyes held layers of meaning, but I ignored it. There were reasons I needed to exit to Jeju via here.
"Oh, right. This way then."
"Sure."
I followed Go Yeon-ju's lead toward the gate. Spotting Si-yeon and Seon-woo surrounded by celebrities, I called out.
"Si-yeon, you know how to make the gear, right?"
"Don't go full power?"
"Yeah, like 10% infusion should do."
"Hmm. But Pink sister's?"
Whack! I wanted to smack her. Why'd she switch from Iron Man fan to sentai hero geek?
"P-Pink gets special treatment, obviously?"
"Right? You think so too, oppa?"
"W-well, sure."
"Got it."
"And Seon-woo, plan their hunts well and go with Kar-dok."
"Don't worry. Hunter Kim Seon-woo will give it his all."
"Good. Love the enthusiasm."
"Of course! All those years as your friend were for today."
"Same here. Is Si-yeon outside now?"
At my words, Seon-woo grabbed my arm.
"What're you doing?"
"I'll forgive you if you rejoin the invincible solo squad."
"You bastard. Some friend."
"That's why we're friends, isn't it?"
"Shut up!"
"Alright. Gotta head out with Go Yeon-ju. Good luck."
"Damn it!"
Seon-woo's face twisted like he ate shit, and I felt at peace.
The gate at Go Yeon-ju's house was in the living room. Nice spot. Ours was in my bedroom, after all.
"Th-the place is messy, right?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Huh?"
"Kidding."
"You scared me."
"Looked like it. Mind if I use the internet real quick?"
"Sure, over there."
"Thanks."
Go Yeon-ju turned on a vacuum and started cleaning vigorously. The place wasn't messy. Total joke.
I hopped online to check the outside world. Did other gates face troll-level waves too? If so, owners would've abandoned them.
The portal site showed breaking news. A quarter of Korea's gates had vanished. Meaning three-quarters survived the waves.
I checked the gate owners' community—Kim Mi-young had tipped me off when registering. I'd been a lurker till now.
It was chaos in there. Highest-level monster was orcs, it seemed. No one else got trolls or guardian-class minotaurs like us. Jeju Gate was the outlier.
Maybe our intervention with me and the orc knights escalated the wave. Gates with orcs barely held, and others praised that owner.
I nodded. To average folks, that was huge. No mocking their levels.
Then one guy shared an interesting tidbit: regular monster clears meant no wave for him. Another proactive gate like ours.
Others praised him. Fun fact: he had Observation, like the island-terrain gate owner.
Someone asked:
Then the Observation owner replied:
I paused at that comment. Then, closing the browser, I spotted an amusing folder on the desktop.
"Go Yeon-ju, just to check—this 'BluntAgenda' folder, I shouldn't open it, right?"
"Hey!"
I witnessed Go Yeon-ju's freakout for the first time. Of course, I didn't touch the folder.