The Scent of Choco
"Something's strange."
Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes.
"It's too quiet."
"...Sorry?"
"There's no way the mana out here could be this clean."
"You can sense that?"
"Would you quit treating me like an F-rank for one second?"
Ji-hoon released the concealment mode on the necklace hanging around his neck.
"Th-that's...!"
"Ahem. It's made from the feather of Poppi. He's family."
This guy might not look like much, but he's the King of the Griffins, you know.
"So it's true. An S-rank Gate's boss monster... no, esteemed family member..."
[Call me Lord Poppi, human!]
"Poppi says you should call him Lord Poppi."
"Gah—my apologies. Lord Poppi."
The sight of Baek Kang-hyun obediently falling in line was almost like watching a man play with a baby puppy. It wasn't genuine reverence so much as an uncle humoring a toddler. But even that was enough to satisfy Poppi, who spread his wings wide.
[Hyung-nim! I have brought that human to submission!]
"Yes, yes. Good job. Very good."
Still, this necklace is actually amazing.
He hadn't expected his mana detection to sharpen this much. The haze visible through the Golden Compass was appearing denser than before, and so was the mana energy he could feel.
"Sorry to bother you, Hunter Ji-hoon..."
"No."
"I haven't even asked yet?"
"If it's something you'd have to apologize for, you shouldn't ask it."
"I want to try on that necklace too!"
"No means no!"
[How dare a human covet the necklace made from My feathers! Hyung-nim! Defend it with your life!]
They were still squabbling back and forth when—
BEEP. BEEP.
A short signal burst rang out from Baek Kang-hyun's pocket. He moved in an instant, and when he checked the message, his face twisted.
"Hunter Ji-hoon. We need to go. Now."
"Huh? Why?"
"An S-rank Gate has appeared."
Weren't the variables supposed to happen in THIS gate?
"I don't fully understand it either. Thankfully it's not far from here—about fifteen minutes if we fly."
A gate fifteen minutes away. Monster stones of an utterly pristine concentration. And mana so clean it was suspicious.
"Branch Director, are there other places around here with mana this clean?"
"Not quite like this spot, but there are a few."
"Send some Bureau people to check those too."
Something similar had happened back in Hell.
Demon King Abel. That lunatic always did this kind of thing. He'd get bored and suggest a game of tag—then bait you with purified mana, and the moment you got close, he'd detonate monsters all around you.
Don't tell me...
Of course, a Gate and Hell were two different things. But what if this Gate was being built from inside Hell?
'Then that would explain why the Hell Farm kids are being sent through Gates.'
What the hell are you scheming in there, Abel?!
Ji-hoon cursed inwardly.
"Anyway—let's move!"
Just as Ji-hoon, Poppi, and Baek Kang-hyun were about to exit the Gate, an emergency disaster alert from the Hunter Association and the Awakening Management Bureau went out to every hunter inside the dungeon.
Arriving at the scene, Ji-hoon immediately checked the surrounding park and shops. Everyone had evacuated, and there appeared to be no casualties.
'A relief, I suppose. If you can call it that.'
Poppi turned to him.
[Hyung-nim, an S-rank Gate—doesn't that mean it's a dungeon like the one I came from?]
"That's right."
Which meant the Hell Farm kids might be inside. Poppi seemed to have realized the same thing, his eyes gleaming with eagerness.
Just as they tried to cross the Gate's control line—
"Hunter ID, please! Civilians must step back!"
She was a woman with a small frame and a short bob cut, but the voice booming out of her was enormous.
"I have my hunter license! And I'm a local resident!"
The woman took his license and let out a groan.
"Ah, F-rank is... difficult even as support personnel."
That's because the S-rank boss monster in there is my actual family! Not that he could say it—and had no intention of saying it. Instead, Ji-hoon pressed his two hands neatly together.
"Th-then I'll just stay somewhere nearby. My friends... I think they're in there."
"Come to think of it, if you're a local..."
The woman looked around with a sorrowful expression.
"Everyone's evacuated already. Please don't worry too much."
"Still, I can't help it... Can't I at least wait in the rear?"
"That's dangerous in its own way..."
[Keke, Hyung-nim! Your acting is absolutely top-class! There truly is nothing you can't do!]
Ji-hoon hurled a glare at Poppi.
Just then, hunters began gathering from every direction.
"Confirm that only B-rank and above have entered!"
The woman who'd been dealing with him shouted at the crowd of hunters. But—B-rank? At an S-rank Gate? Wasn't that asking for disaster?
"It can't be helped. There simply aren't enough high-rank hunters."
Baek Kang-hyun had appeared at his side, somehow having already assessed the situation.
"If you'd like to go in, I can arrange it for you."
His eyes swept over the hunters.
"Three of the five Great Guilds are already here, I see."
With that many spectators watching, no way an F-rank was getting in. The moment he crossed that line, the Bureau would be up in arms—an S-rank, he's been hiding an S-rank!
"I'll wait for now."
"Wise as always."
Just as the somewhat reassured Ji-hoon glanced toward the Gate's entrance—
"...Woo-jae?"
A familiar face stood at the front of the assembled hunters. A thick steel shield strapped to his back, he was listening gravely to a commander's orders.
'So he really is an A-rank tanker...'
While Ji-hoon gaped at Woo-jae, Poppi in his arms suddenly sniffed at the air.
[Hyung-nim. I smell something.]
"What kind of smell?"
Poppi's eyes widened, light flaring within them. In an instant, life surged back into his expression.
[This scent...! It's Choco! It's Choco, Hyung-nim!]
At Poppi's words, Ji-hoon drew mana up through the necklace. And then—
"...I'm sure of it."
[Hyung-nim!]
"He's in there."
While Ji-hoon was catching Choco's scent, Seon Woo-jae had every nerve strung tight at the commander's voice ringing out just before the Gate.
"The emergence tempo of S-rank Gates is highly abnormal."
He wasn't wrong. Over the past ten years, S-rank Gates could be counted on one hand. Yet here, twice—twice!—in just two days.
"Tanks must prioritize keeping the main damage dealers alive above all else! If the front line collapses, you'll be deployed immediately as the second backup line!"
Woo-jae's palms were already slick with sweat. This was the kind of combat situation he'd only ever known through drills and training exercises. And this was the real thing. Just standing there made him feel like every hair on his body was standing on end.
'Can I actually do this...?'
He was an eighteen-year-old fledgling, newly awakened as a hunter barely any time ago. No matter the grade, minors were limited to perimeter control or rear support at best.
But this Gate was different. According to the Association's briefing, high-grade tanks capable of withstanding a powerful boss's wide-area attacks were in critically short supply. So in the end, lacking in experience though he was, Woo-jae had been placed on the front line on the strength of a single A-rank rating.
'Seon Woo-jae. Don't be a coward. Remember why you became a hunter in the first place.'
He slapped his own cheeks hard. This was the opportunity. If he could truly demonstrate his ability in an S-rank Gate, it would become the perfect springboard—membership in one of the five Great Guilds, like Jin Seo-yoon's Orpheus, the moment he turned twenty.
"Hunter Seon Woo-jae! Focus!"
At the razor-sharp voice, Woo-jae's eyes snapped open.
Jung Hee-yeon. Team Leader of Team A, famous even within the Bureau for her surgical precision in field control.
"S-sorry, ma'am!"
Shrinking on the spot, Woo-jae nodded vigorously.
"Hunter Baek Kang-hyun will enter with the vanguard squad. The most important thing right now is his backup. When he needs a shield, an A-rank—you—must be standing in that position. Understood?"
"Yes! Understood!"
Woo-jae boomed his reply.
Meanwhile, at that very moment, Baek Kang-hyun was holding his phone to his ear.
—Is he with you?
It was the Commissioner.
"Yes. He's here."
—Is he going in with you?
"...No. Too many eyes around."
—Good. His existence must never be exposed. If the other guilds find out about that man...
"...They'll use him for human experimentation, or carve the monster flesh and bones right out of him. Something like that."
Tsk.
Those goddamn guild bastards.
At the Commissioner's mutter, Baek Kang-hyun glanced toward Ji-hoon.
"Don't worry. He probably declined for the same reason—too many eyes watching. I'm sure nothing will happe—huh?"
In that instant—
FLASH—
"A griffin...?"
And then—
WHOOOOOSH—!
A streak of light shot past. It was Poppi, returned to his true form—and riding on the griffin's back, Ji-hoon.
"I'm going in first!"
"Wh-wha—Commissioner, I'll have to call you back."
—What's going on?
"Hunter Lee Ji-hoon just entered the Gate."
—Out of nowhere!?
Baek Kang-hyun replayed the image of Ji-hoon rushing past him right before the crossing. He had looked desperate about something. If so, then surely—
"...I believe he sensed family."
—What? Family? You didn't evacuate civilians? Stop spouting nonsense and give me the situa—
Click.
Baek Kang-hyun hung up and shouted.
"He's going to go berserk in there! Deploy as soon as you're ready!"
FWOOSH—
Baek Kang-hyun's new form vanished in a burst of light. At the same time—
"H-Hunter Baek Kang-hyun!?"
The supervisor's eyes went round as saucers.
"He just... went in alone?"
A beat of silence.
And then—
"ALL STANDBY SQUADS! INTO THE GATE, NOW! HUNTER BAEK KANG-HYUN HAS GONE IN ALONE! BACKUP! BAAAACKUPPP!!!!!"
The control line collapsed in an instant.
CHAAARGE—
The hunters, Woo-jae included, surged into the Gate all at once.
Inside the Gate, Ji-hoon and Poppi stared, slack-jawed, at the ice structures filling their vision.
"It's beautiful."
[It is beautiful, Hyung-nim.]
Granted, he'd never properly seen a work of art in his life. But even so, these looked like crafts that anyone, absolutely anyone, would call exquisite.
And then—
"God, it's cold."
A snow mountain, a white blizzard raging in every direction. The savage wind cut exposed skin until it shivered.
"Must be nice. All that fur."
[Hehe. I, Poppi, King of the Griffins, ward off the cold with my luscious plumage! Though I could block it with mana anyway, so it hardly matters.]
At those words, Ji-hoon tried drawing up his own mana. But the cold wouldn't yield.
'Is it a lack of control skill, or just the F-rank cap?'
Heaving a small sigh, Ji-hoon glared at Poppi.
"Fine. I'll just pluck your feath—"
Eep—! Just as Poppi cowered in terror and Ji-hoon reached out with both hands to grab him—
GRUMBLE-RUMBLE, RUMMMBLE—
The ground began to shake. And a surge of mana washed over them.
"...Choco. It's you, isn't it."
Ji-hoon threw his hand up high.
"CHO! CO! YAAAAAA!!!!!"
No response. Again!
"CHO! CO! YAAAAAA!!!!!"
This time the echo rolled across the entire snow mountain.
The rumbling stopped.
"Did you hear me?"
In that case, one more time!
"CHO!!!!! CO!!!!! YAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"
And then, from far away, a voice drifted back to them.
[Sniff, sniff sniff, sniff... That smell... that voice...]
Beyond the distant snowfields, a face peeked up—
the youngest of the family who'd endured Hell's own life together with him at the Hell Farm. The Giant Bear, Choco.
[Poppi-hyung-nim...? And—could it be...?]
Tears welled up, brimming in the Giant Bear's enormous eyes.
[Is that really... you, Hyung-nim...?]
"That's right, it's Choco's Hyung-nim!!! Lee Ji-hoon is HERE!!!!!"
Moved to tears, Choco was about to charge toward them when—
CRAK-KLE—
Behind Choco's head, red electricity crackled—lightning that seemed to tear flesh apart.
"Choco?"
[H-Hyung-nim, r-run... away... now... ah...]
[Hyung-nim, something's wrong. Get on, quickly!]
Ji-hoon scrambled onto Poppi's back. Choco's eyes wavered—his feelings for Ji-hoon churning together with some madness that had been forced into him. And then, at last—
Choco's gaze turned blood-red.
CRACK-BOOM—
In the same instant, Choco snapped a giant pine tree with an arm that had to be three meters long and hurled it.
WHOOOOSH—!
"Are you kidding me—over THERE?!"
The place where other hunters were crossing the Gate. The hunters' temporary supply camp. A massive pine from the snow mountain came flying straight toward it.