Chapter 39
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: First Contract
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Choi Si-jin's words darkened the expressions of Yang Jeong-hyun and Han Seung-woo.
"How's the situation at Han Guild?"
"It's a total mess. Everyone's freaking out about how the chairman could go there himself."
"He's lost his mind worrying about his son. I get it, but shouldn't he have been more careful?"
"I think so too."
"I think Seung-woo needs to step in and sort things out."
"Exactly, Director. Everyone who entered the Inex Gate is high-rank, so it's complete chaos right now."
"What about the executives there?"
"About four A-Ranks are still holding out, they say."
Han Seung-woo pondered for a moment.
"Teacher, should we go there ourselves?"
"Go where?"
"Huh? Professor Kwon!"
Kwon Dong-nyeon approached the three chatting in the hospital lobby.
"What brings you to the hospital, and what's this nonsense about U.S. support?"
"Ah, Ru-ri got a bit hurt while clearing a gate. We were discussing U.S. support."
"Sending aid to those who split up the Association like it's recycling and only care about their own gains? It's pointless. Even if they help and things improve, we won't hear the end of it."
"But wouldn't successfully entering it have high research value on its own?"
"Why bother? It's not like Korea doesn't have Inex Gates. Didn't we say we'd start clearing one too?"
"Yes, we're planning to check Ru-ri's condition first and then proceed."
"Set a schedule and let me and Sang-chun know. What they can do, we can do too."
"Got it. But what brings you to the hospital?"
"To see my daughter."
"Ah, right, your daughter was here."
"Get back to work."
After flashing them a kindly smile, Kwon Dong-nyeon headed to his daughter. The three watched his back in silence for a long moment.
"Even though the Association approved long-term dispatch support for Professor Kwon as a condition, they say recovery is practically impossible."
"Yeah. She's just barely hanging on. But she's his only family, so he can't give up easily."
"I can hardly remember Eun-hwa's bright smile anymore."
"She was so beautiful."
The three reminisced about old times as they waited for Lee Ru-ri's examination to finish.
Kwon Dong-nyeon gazed through the glass at his daughter Kwon Eun-hwa, lying in the intensive care unit, for a long time.
15 years ago.
Right after the S-Rank gate incident where Han Yu, Yoo Il-won, and Baek I-an died, Kwon Eun-hwa was in a hit-and-run accident.
She needed multiple major surgeries.
Despite endless efforts, she never regained consciousness. And the perpetrator was still at large.
On a day when he was despairing over the mounting hospital bills piling up in Kwon Eun-hwa's name, Han Ho made him an offer.
—Travel around various countries overseas, gathering info on gate phenomena. Just submit a report once a week. Don't worry about Eun-hwa.
Ignoring the pleas of his friend Lee Sang-chun, Kwon Dong-nyeon left Korea solely for Kwon Eun-hwa's sake.
'It's time for me to make a decision. Not for my own greed, but what's truly best for Eun-hwa.'
Clenching his fist, Kwon Dong-nyeon stared at Kwon Eun-hwa a while longer before striding back to Lee Sang-chun's room.
"Ru-ri seems to be taking a while?"
Yang Jeong-hyun said, checking her watch.
"Here she comes."
"I'm fine!"
Lee Ru-ri grinned, her limbs wrapped tightly in bandages.
"I'll go talk to the doctor."
"Okay, Seung-woo, you go. Ru-ri, what do you want to drink?"
"Black tea for me!"
As Choi Si-jin went to order black tea, Yang Jeong-hyun whispered quietly.
"No issues with heading out for gate clears?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm really fine. Just some slices from a blade."
"Pfft, hahaha! With your body, you make it sound like you're chopping meat at a butcher shop!"
Yang Jeong-hyun clutched her stomach laughing.
By then, Choi Si-jin had returned with the tea, and Lee Ru-ri blew on it before taking a sip.
"Ru-ri, you're really going back to clear gates? If the director finds out..."
"Hm... What about the Inex Gate clear?"
"It depends on how the doctor reports it to the director."
"The doctor said my bones and organs are totally fine!"
"But... no one knows how the director will take that."
"They say forcing it could reopen the wounds."
Han Seung-woo, who had appeared at some point, sat beside Lee Ru-ri and spoke.
"Hey! He didn't say that to me!"
"You didn't ask."
"Oh..."
Yang Jeong-hyun and Choi Si-jin shot the pair a look that said, Of course.
"Inex Gate might be too much, but you need to keep clearing low-rank gates."
"Really?"
"Gate generation is speeding up. With re-examination schedules officially announced and clear rates dropping sharply, your killer clear speed is a huge help."
"It really is amazing. Soon she'll be smashing high-rank gates solo..."
Choi Si-jin chimed in excitedly.
But seeing Yang Jeong-hyun and Han Seung-woo's utterly unsurprised faces, he trailed off in embarrassment.
"Nah, I'm still a long way off! Everyone clears low-rank gates easily anyway!"
"No one takes ten minutes per E-Rank."
"Ha, hahaha! Right..."
"Anyway, let's all get moving."
At Han Seung-woo's words, everyone rose and headed to their posts.
'Contracts first.'
Feeling the urgency, Lee Ru-ri checked low-rank gate statuses and headed to the nearest one.
Quite a few gates had spawned while she was getting tested at the hospital.
'The speed is insane. We need to find the cause.'
Unwanted worries flooded in.
But she quickly pulled herself together and stepped into the gate.
After entering the first gate, she opened her status window to check things over.
She'd raised favorability with quite a few monsters and gained skills accordingly, but aside from the ones she used repeatedly, there was little need for them.
"Regeneration Bone helped a lot against Keres, but I doubt I'll need it again. If hidden skills are special-grade only as described, no point wasting time on mid-to-low-rank monsters."
Reviewing her skill list and organizing her thoughts, Lee Ru-ri fixed her sharp gaze ahead.
"Right, focus on materials for hidden gate entry."
With that, she dove into the gate clear with fighting spirit.
Three hours later.
[New Message]
[Yang Jeong-hyun (B): Ru-ri, take it easy.]
About to enter the next gate, she got a message from Yang Jeong-hyun.
'She's watching.'
Lee Ru-ri replied that she'd cleared the area and would head to the lab.
Most of the low-rank gates Lee Ru-ri had cleared were now in post-clear cleanup.
'D-Ranks take a bit, so time to call Residual Image.'
She hurried into a gate.
"Residual Image."
Using her preset command phrase, she summoned Keres's residual image.
Soon, the sound of swift footsteps approached, and Keres's residual image appeared before her, kneeling on one knee and awaiting orders.
"No need to kneel. Stand up."
At her words, the residual image sprang to its feet.
"Aren't you Keres?"
—Not at the moment. Do you have a message for Lady Keres?
"No! Just curious. Hey, could you maybe help me take down monsters?"
The residual image tilted its head as if baffled.
"Why? Can't you?"
—I don't know what a 'monster' is. Could you issue the command again?
"Oh... Monsters are, well, those things up ahead..."
—Up ahead? Do you mean the nameless ones?
"Ah, yes."
—Then, you want me to kill all the nameless ones?
"Saying it like that makes me sound like a total villain... Anyway, yeah, that's right."
—Understood.
The residual image vanished in an instant.
"Where'd it go?"
She glanced around to see which way it went.
In the brief moment of looking side to side, it returned.
"Why?"
—All eliminated.
"Huh?"
Lee Ru-ri rushed into the gate interior.
"Whoa."
With the residual image trailing like a shadow, she collected loot and tears from the monster corpses it had dispatched.
"At this speed, gathering enough for multiple hidden gate runs is no problem. Residual Image, mind helping for three more hours?"
—I don't know what 'three hours' is. Could you command again?
"Ah, just help until I say stop."
—Understood.
To avoid chaos from exiting with the summoned residual image, Lee Ru-ri unsummoned it temporarily and headed to the next gate.
At that moment.
Yang Jeong-hyun, having finished re-examination prep, was leisurely monitoring Lee Ru-ri's gate clears.
She rubbed her eyes and double-checked the updated clear time for the last gate.
"Wait, D-Rank in 5 minutes? What? Was the gate rank mis-set? Gotta check the next one."
Lee Ru-ri knew Yang Jeong-hyun was tracking her clears in real-time, but she couldn't stop.
She needed to see the skill description with her own eyes to confirm she could contract and summon monsters.
She cleared D-Rank gates at F-Rank speed.
"For this one, enter the hidden gate and fill three training gates. Residual Image, follow me."
At her order, the residual image obediently followed into the hidden gate waiting room.
"Residual Image is a skill, so no restrictions, and with that insane attack power, 100 training gates would be a breeze."
Thus, Lee Ru-ri filled three training gates in short order with the residual image, then casually headed to the boss gate.
"Residual Image, can you attack named ones too?"
—I cannot attack named ones.
"Figured as much. Thanks for the hard work! If I can't one-shot here, I'll call you again."
—Understood.
Lee Ru-ri unsummoned the residual image and cautiously entered the boss gate.
Whoosh.
"This feels a bit too much. They have names, stuck in this darkness until someone comes..."
—Kuhahaha!
"Huh?"
A hearty laugh jolted her senses; she scanned around.
A vaguely familiar space.
"This place!"
Memories of arrows and blades flashed in her mind.
Instinctively hugging the wall and creeping along, no arrows or blades came.
"Since I came once, the traps don't trigger?"
The thought hit her; she dashed toward the laughter.
How far had she run?
—We meet again.
"Drayger."
—You've shed that pathetic weakling attitude.
"Kalikan?"
—Didn't you kill him?
"Oh..."
—Twas lonely because of it.
"Drayger, they say I can make contracts. With you too, right?"
—Well done. I've been waiting.
Hearing Drayger's reply, Lee Ru-ri began filling favorability with Aura of Submission to lift the contract limit.
10 million favorability took quite a while.
"Fighting you might've been quicker."
—Hahaha! Shall we then?
"Nah, just saying. I've gotten stronger, y'know? You're nothing now."
—Absurd.
Exchanging banter with Drayger nonstop while spamming Aura of Submission.
Cursed Drayger's favorability has increased by 10,000,000.
Total accumulated favorability: 10,000,000.
Summon contract restriction lifted.
"Drayger, ready?"
—Yes.
Lee Ru-ri slowly extended her hand toward Drayger.
She took a deep breath, then shouted the command phrase she'd decided on after much thought.
"Manifest!"