Chapter 48
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Han Guild's Catastrophe
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Yang Jeong-hyun jumped in shock and cried out.
The person Lee Ru-ri and Choi Si-jin had caught and laid down was none other than Han Ho.
Han Ho appeared to have lost consciousness.
The fact that an S-rank tanker had been beaten this badly meant that this gate raid had ended in failure as well.
"Chairman... then what about the people inside?"
Lee Ru-ri urgently asked one of the other guild members who had emerged with them.
The man, who seemed to have the clearest head among them, opened his mouth with effort.
"The survivors... we're the last ones."
"N-No way..."
Han Ho was quickly loaded into an ambulance that had just arrived.
Yang Jeong-hyun noticed that Lee Ru-ri's condition was off and instructed Choi Si-jin to take her to the lab and stay there.
Choi Si-jin put the dazed Lee Ru-ri in the car and hurried to Yang Jeong-hyun's lab.
Even after arriving at the lab, he kept checking on her state.
"Ru-ri, are you okay?"
"Si-jin, what happens now to the people still inside...?"
"It'd be best to form a follow-up team right away for body retrieval... but with the guild master unconscious, I think Director Han will make a cooperation request first before stepping in."
"I clearly told them it wasn't time yet..."
"We all tried to stop them. It was their choice. You don't need to blame yourself, Ru-ri."
Choi Si-jin soothed the self-blaming Lee Ru-ri as they waited for the others to return.
'What Han Guild encountered... wasn't Teba. I should have stopped them more forcefully. I should have properly warned them that something even stronger than Teba could appear...'
Lee Ru-ri blamed herself for not properly sharing what she had learned, failing to prevent the sacrifice.
She gulped down the hot coffee Choi Si-jin handed her and thought.
I need to properly inform as many people as possible about everything I know.
Are you okay?
Han Seung-woo rushed into the lab and checked on Lee Ru-ri's condition.
"Director, Ru-ri keeps blaming herself. Please talk to her."
"Ru-ri?"
"Ah, Seung-woo. How are the Chairman and Vice Chairman?"
Han Seung-woo hesitated to answer Lee Ru-ri's question.
"Seung-woo's here."
Yang Jeong-hyun was entering the lab with Ham Dae-hee.
"Yes."
"We handled the gate entrance."
"Sis, what about the follow-up team?"
"The Chairman needs to give orders, but there's no word yet. Seung-woo, how's Gyeol? Did you see the Chairman?"
"Both Chairman Han and Gyeol are unconscious. The Chairman has every bone in his body twisted. Gyeol... won't avoid paralysis in his lower body."
"Oh my god..."
A brief silence fell.
Ham Dae-hee, who had opened the status window to check the Hunter Bulletin Board, spoke up amid the heavy atmosphere.
"The casualties are pretty severe. About twenty people still inside the gate now, and everyone thinks they're all dead."
At Ham Dae-hee's words, Lee Ru-ri dropped the cup she had been holding with difficulty.
"Ru-ri, you okay? You spilled it all over your leg! The coffee's still hot! Dae-hee, get some ice!"
Han Seung-woo quickly wiped the coffee spilled on Lee Ru-ri's thigh and placed an ice pack from Ham Dae-hee on her leg.
"I'm fine. It wasn't that hot."
"I'll escort you to your room."
"Yeah, that'd be best."
Yang Jeong-hyun pushed the two of them along.
Han Seung-woo took Lee Ru-ri to the guest room.
Lee Ru-ri stopped Han Seung-woo as he was about to leave the room.
"Seung-woo."
"Yes."
"I should tell you everything."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything I know."
"That could be dangerous."
"If I had warned them properly... I could have prevented this sacrifice."
"No. Even if you had warned them, they would have gone anyway."
"But..."
"Did you forget Keres's words? That we have no choice but to grow stronger."
"No..."
"You know I'm a really rational person, right?"
"Of course."
"I've thought about it a ton, but no matter how I look at it, it feels like the two of us were chosen."
"Pfft."
Lee Ru-ri burst out laughing at how awkwardly the cautious words came out of Han Seung-woo's mouth.
"Ah, sorry. It's just been so long since I heard fate-chosen destiny talk like that..."
"Someone else said something like that to you too, huh?"
"Yeah? I can't quite place it, but it feels familiar... Where did I hear that?"
Han Seung-woo quietly watched the pensive Lee Ru-ri.
He felt relieved inwardly seeing her mood lighten a bit.
Just then, a message arrived for Han Seung-woo. It was word that Chairman Han had woken up.
Han Seung-woo hurried back to the hospital, and Lee Ru-ri went into her room and immediately showered.
She glanced around the empty room before flopping onto the sofa, lost in thought.
'I didn't think there'd only be one like Teba, but seeing an S-rank tanker wrecked like that... It's a little scary. Hmm, since no one's around, maybe I can summon Residual Shadow?'
Residual Shadow appeared before her in an instant.
The black-armored figure in the sleekly furnished guest room looked so out of place that Lee Ru-ri burst into loud laughter for a moment.
Residual Shadow tilted its head in confusion, not understanding why.
"Sorry for summoning you just to... Puhahaha! You're just too funny! Hahaha!"
Residual Shadow waited patiently until Lee Ru-ri's laughter subsided.
She clutched her stomach laughing for a good while before finally calming down and gazing warmly at Residual Shadow.
"Keres can't come out here too... right?"
―Keres must guard that place.
"Yeah, figured. Can you ask Keres about the magic stones I got from the nameless ones?"
―Understood.
Residual Shadow vanished in a flash at Lee Ru-ri's request.
She grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped it open, and was about to take a sip when Residual Shadow returned.
―The magic stones can be useful to Little Master.
"Got it. Basically, check it out myself. They never make it easy, huh."
Lee Ru-ri flopped back onto the sofa with her beer.
"One more thing?"
―Understood.
"It'd be great if you could keep helping me outside gates too. Like, ask if there's a way you can hide your body outside gates, similar to my Stealth skill, so you can tag along."
―Understood.
Residual Shadow disappeared again.
Lee Ru-ri took a big swig of beer, savoring the bitter alcohol before swallowing.
"Kuh, bitter! Who knew I'd end up liking beer... Watching people die is still too hard."
She held her breath and chugged the rest.
"Haa."
She exhaled deeply and stretched out long on the sofa.
"It's weird how talk of choice and fate doesn't feel unfamiliar, and it's strange how these deaths of people I have nothing to do with weigh on me so much. I don't recall ever hearing anything like what Seung-woo said in my memories..."
She closed her eyes and sank into various thoughts.
―Being chosen means loneliness.
"Huh? What?"
A familiar voice brushed past her mind.
―You have to protect people. That's our job.
"What the hell is this..."
Lee Ru-ri was flustered.
The man's voice popping up disjointedly felt extremely familiar.
"It's a voice I've never heard, but it feels so familiar. What's going on? I can't forget anything, so is my memory failing?"
She bolted up and carefully retraced where the memory began.
She tried hard for quite a while, but it was no use.
She flopped back onto the sofa.
"Argh, no clue at all... Residual Shadow's taking longer this time."
Just as she felt Residual Shadow was returning a bit slower, it appeared.
"Is there a way?"
Lee Ru-ri jumped up from the sofa and asked.
But Residual Shadow didn't answer right away, standing there with its head tilted.
"What's wrong?"
―I don't know how to explain it in human words.
"So there is a way."
―A chant. Little Master must use the chant.
"A chant? You mean a skill?"
Lee Ru-ri opened her status window and checked her skill list.
"No skill that hides Residual Shadow's body."
―It can be obtained from a named one.
"Ah, so I need to meet a special-grade to get it."
Lee Ru-ri sprawled back on the sofa.
"It'd be nice to know where to find what. Oh, Residual Shadow. You know what the gate monsters have, right?"
―I can tell by looking directly. But I can't see named ones myself.
"Yeah, you couldn't attack either."
―Keres said named ones with different goals can be attacked.
"Huh? Really?"
―Yes.
Lee Ru-ri pondered for a moment.
"Different goals... probably the ones in the Inex Gate. Residual Shadow can attack them... This changes everything?"
She hurriedly got up from the sofa, tossed the beer can, and said to Residual Shadow.
"Residual Shadow, go back for now. I'll call you once I'm inside a gate."
―Understood.
She changed clothes and messaged Han Seung-woo that she'd go conquer a normal gate.
Han Seung-woo immediately replied that C-rank or higher was absolutely not allowed.
Lee Ru-ri smirked, closed the message window, and checked new gate statuses.
"None nearby. Gotta go a bit out. Three near Gimpo Airport... Plenty of low-grades around here, so gather mats first then hit a C-rank."
She took a waiting taxi at the headquarters entrance and headed toward Gimpo Airport.
'Let's do what I can right now.'
Lee Ru-ri reaffirmed her resolve while monitoring new gate statuses.
[Alert]
[! New Gate Generated <216>]
Curious about the situation, she opened the Hunter Bulletin Board and checked a recently posted article.
[Yangyang (B): Inex Gate wrecked Han and Light both. Can it even be cleared?]
I'm from Han. Several of the people sent to the hospital have died. Doesn't seem clearable.
With two top world guilds failing right now. What happens if it really can't be cleared?
As long as gate break is avoided, it's not a huge issue yet, right? The normal gates spawning super fast seems more serious.
'Wait, deaths even among those hospitalized?'
Lee Ru-ri hurriedly messaged Han Seung-woo.
[New Message]
[Han Seung-woo (S): Several hunters unconscious, but no additional deaths yet. Don't worry and go ahead.]
'Phew, relieved.'
She sighed in relief and looked around—Gimpo Airport was already in sight.
She got out of the taxi, sent a conquest permit request at the nearest low-grade gate, confirmed the arrived permit, and entered without delay.
"First, check skills eligible for level up."
She tapped the unconfirmed alert at the top of her status. A list of level-uppable skills unfolded.
[Current Available Points: 2]
"Key of Rest too. Forgot about it since no use. Should visit the gravekeeper sometime. Hmm, status ailments and buffs can't level up, only attacks. Most used are Extinction and Flower Rain. Bubble Bubble was good too. Extinction's already Lv 2, so Flower Rain and Bubble Bubble first."
She leveled up Flower Rain and Bubble Bubble.