Costume Play
『Go enjoy it by yourself, Major Aoki.』
Renka cut off Major Aoki’s invitation to enter the gate together with a single sharp refusal. She couldn’t stand to be near the man for even a moment. Enter a gate with someone like him? The mere thought sent chills down her spine.
Renka glared at him and continued.
『Unfortunately, I’m busy preparing for school.』
『But the thought of entering the gate all alone in this remote place feels rather lonely.』
『If you’re truly that lonely, I could lend you my subordinate Takahiro.』
『…….』
Aoki maintained his gentle smile even under Renka’s piercing gaze. He turned his head, let out a soft chuckle, and spoke.
『Oh dear, it can’t be helped then. I thought this would be a fine chance to make some memories with the young lady…』
Surprisingly, Aoki did not press the matter further and withdrew. He picked up the military cap he had removed,
『Well then, I’ll take my leave. I shall see you again tomorrow or the day after in the morning.』
He bowed politely, placed the cap back on his head, turned on his heel, and left the mansion. Watching his retreating figure, Renka thought to herself.
Don’t ever come back, Major Aoki.
“Father, you’re heading out? When you’re not even fully recovered…”
“Recovered, my ass! A rickshaw man only needs two good legs! …And you, girl! Even if you don’t know any better, do you think it’s fine for me to just sit around the house? If I don’t work, how’s this house supposed to put food on the table!”
In truth, his injuries had healed long ago. From the start, he had only suffered surface bruises from being clubbed and kicked; there had been no internal damage or broken bones.
After lying in bed for the past several days, Ham Won-sam had grown restless. The inactivity brought anxiety, so he had kicked off the blankets and left the house.
The Shimazu people or whoever they were had covered the hospital bills and even given a small amount of compensation, but it wasn’t enough to live on forever.
In the end, a man still had to work.
“Take care.”
After seeing her father out through the gate, Ham Seoju sat on the edge of the wooden veranda, cupped her face in both hands, and thought.
How on earth did things come to this?
Her father pulled a rickshaw from dawn to dusk, but the earnings were barely enough to keep food on the table for the two of them. They rented out the empty rooms, yet there was almost no profit left after expenses.
Her family had not always been this poor.
When she was young, her father Ham Won-sam had earned a steady stream of money through some kind of work. She had lived comfortably enough to attend elementary school without lacking anything.
But four years ago—the year she graduated from elementary school and even passed the entrance exam for higher girls’ school (equivalent to today’s middle and high schools for girls)—her father’s criminal activities were exposed.
Fraudulent gambling that took advantage of his trivial skill to hide small objects inside a sub-space. That had been the secret behind Ham Won-sam’s income, and soon all the wealth he had accumulated was confiscated. That was how Ham Seoju’s chance at further education had slipped away.
“……”
Ham Seoju, who had been sitting blankly on the veranda, quietly went inside, pulled out a flat, worn paper box from beneath the chest of drawers, blew the dust off the lid, and opened it.
Inside lay a neatly folded white sailor uniform—the one she had bought after passing the higher girls’ school entrance exam. Although her hopes of attending the school had been shattered, she had never been able to throw away the uniform.
From time to time, when no one was around, she would secretly take it out and try it on.
Dressed in the black pleated skirt, white sailor blouse, and red ribbon, Ham Seoju crouched down and examined her reflection in a palm-sized hand mirror.
If only her education hadn’t been cut short back then, she would be wearing this very uniform right now, attending fourth year at higher girls’ school. She would be learning something new every day, surrounded by friends to laugh and chatter with.
Unlike now.
While she was staring into the mirror,
“Seoju! Seoju!”
the voice of the student boarder calling as he opened the gate reached her. Ham Seoju jumped in surprise.
Oh no!
She quickly wiped her eyes, stood up, and changed back into her usual ramie skirt and jeogori. She hastily crumpled the sailor uniform into the box, shoved it back under the chest, smoothed her messy hair, slid open the door, and spoke.
“What is it? Calling so suddenly!”
Her face burned as though she had been caught doing something shameful. She tried to hide it, standing at the doorway and looking down at the student boarder in the yard, when
the boarder, completely oblivious to her expression, asked bluntly.
“Can you lend me some clothes?”
“Pardon?”
Clothes? What clothes?
Since the only clothes on her mind until a moment ago had been the girls’ sailor uniform, she suddenly pictured the student boarder wearing one.
“Eek! How embarrassing!”
She covered her face, but on second thought, of course that wasn’t what he meant. When she lowered her hands, the boarder was looking at her with an expression that said, Why is she acting like that?
Ham Seoju’s ears burned, but she quickly straightened up and asked again.
“Wh-what kind of clothes?”
“Can I borrow some of your father’s work clothes? The ones he wears when he pulls the rickshaw. He has spares, right?”
“Well… he does, but…”
The student boarder was looking for Ham Won-sam’s clothes.
“Why?”
“Um. Well. There’s something I need it for at school… I might get the clothes dirty. If they get ruined, I’ll buy new ones. Actually, I’ll pay for them right now. Here.”
He pressed a ten-yen bill into Ham Seoju’s small hand. Though she had no idea what it was for, she handed over the clothes her father had worn the day before yesterday—the ones she had set aside to wash.
The student boarder went into his room, changed into them, came back out with dirt water smeared on his face, a towel tied tightly around his messy hair, and left through the gate with a bright grin.
“……?”
Ham Seoju sat back down on the veranda and muttered toward the gate where the boarder had disappeared.
“What kind of school makes students do rickshaw work these days…?”
Perfect!
After parting ways with the rest of the squad, I ran straight back to the boarding house and borrowed rickshaw puller Ham Won-sam’s clothes.
I somehow convinced a clearly suspicious Ham Seoju to lend them to me. After smearing my face with dirty water, tying a towel around my disheveled hair, and putting on the shabby outfit, I looked exactly like a genuine rickshaw puller.
Dressed like this, I couldn’t bring myself to take a bus or taxi, so I walked briskly for over thirty minutes and arrived once more at the gate that had opened outside Dongsomun.
Good.
I swallowed hard, adopted an awkward, slouched posture, and approached the gate. The Oriental Development Company employee checking hunter licenses stopped me.
『What’s this? You a porter?』
I bowed obsequiously to the Dongcheok employee.
『Yes, yes, sir. The hunter I serve sent me on an errand and I just came back.』
『What’s that?』
『Uh, this is the errand my hunter sent me on! He forgot his sword, so he told me to bring it… Yes, yes.』
In my hand was the school sword I had secretly taken when leaving class earlier.
『Go on in.』
Permission was granted with shocking ease. It actually worked…!
Having received entry approval, I stepped toward the gate. I took one step toward the surface that shimmered with indescribable colors.
It’s been quite a while since I felt this sensation.
This was the first gate I had entered since awakening in this body. The brief feeling of my insides churning passed in an instant, and I found myself standing in another space.
At the same time, the distinctly alien air hit me. Beyond the gate, in this other world, there was something that seemed at first glance like any place on Earth yet was unmistakably different. I opened my eyes.
This… is quite large in scale.
What spread before me was a vast volcanic cave dungeon. Right in front were several tents.
Just like outside, this side also had a base camp—or rather an outpost—surrounded by a fence and made up of a few tents.
The Dongcheok employee sitting at the table right in front of the gate noticed me and called out.
『Hey! You a porter?』
I answered with an awkward half-bow.
『Yes, yes! I came on an errand for the hunter who’s here! To deliver this sword—』
『Whatever, it’s fine! The inspector outside must have let you through. Just do your job!』
The employee sat back down, lost interest in me, and started reading a book again. Truly, no one paid the slightest attention to a mere Joseon porter.
Hmm. Where should I head first?
Looking around, there were two exits leading out of the fence, centered around the main barracks. I was about to head left when the employee called me again from behind.
『Hey! You there!』
Now what?
Hiding my unease behind a smile, I approached saying 「Yes, yes.」 The employee asked in a sarcastic, mocking tone.
『Is your master a Japanese hunter or a Joseon hunter?』
『Well… I followed a Japanese hunter, sir.』
I had no idea why he was asking, but my instincts told me claiming to follow a Japanese hunter would be better, so I answered accordingly.
『Ha? What an idiot! Can’t you even read the characters? If you followed a Japanese hunter, you go right. Left is the Senjin hunter area.』
Now that he mentioned it, each exit indeed had signs reading 「Japanese」 and 「Senjin.」
They discriminate even in a place like this.
It was common knowledge among hunters that even inside a single dungeon the environment was not uniform. Terrain and monster distribution differed by sector, and so did the potential gains.
That was why, even in the twenty-first century, territorial disputes between guilds often broke out the moment a gate appeared.
And now the areas were completely divided between Japanese and Joseon hunters, beyond mere guild lines.
It was obvious that on the very first day the gate formed, these Dongcheok bastards had done a quick survey of the area and assigned the profitable hunting grounds to Japanese hunters while giving the worthless ones to Joseon hunters.
It was blatant discrimination, but for me—playing the part of a porter following a Japanese hunter—it made no difference.
So the right side is the Japanese sector. The sweeter spot.
『Thank you, thank you kindly!』
I bowed deeply to the employee and exited through the right gate.
Once I left the fence of the base camp, the harsh volcanic cave terrain was finally revealed.
The interior of the rock cave, as if carved from black stone, contained both enormous caverns and narrow passages. There were countless branching paths, uphill slopes, and downhill slopes. Lava flowed like streams in various places.
It felt exactly like the lava caves that appear when you dig endlessly downward with a pickaxe in some sandbox game.
Where are the monsters?
After going deep enough into the cave, I squatted on the floor and examined the molted skins and droppings stuck to the stone. From the traces, I estimated C-to D-class mid-tier arthropod magic beasts. Just the right grade. However…
How long would it take to track them down one by one?
Following traces to locate the beasts was one method, but it took too much time.
Mana sense.
Mana sense was essentially a form of sonar. Just as a submarine’s sonar detects faint sound waves to locate enemies, mana sense picks up the faint mana emitted by magic beasts.
However, my mana sense level was only E. Even putting it generously, it was not high. I could detect nearby beasts, but searching this vast, complicated cave system would take forever.
But a submarine doesn’t only listen to sounds coming from the enemy.
A submarine’s sonar doesn’t merely receive external waves passively. It can also emit active pings and detect enemies through the echoes.
The same could be done with mana.
Although my current mana sense level and mana capacity were both poor, thanks to the know-how from my previous life, I was confident in my skill at handling and operating mana.
Beep—!
I released the concentrated mana all at once toward the front.
Also known as the mana wave echo method.
The large burst of mana collided with the cave walls, traveled far, and returned. The resulting large mana noise could be detected even by my weak mana sense.
Of course, this was a dangerous method to use in real combat. It was no different from shouting “I’m right here!!!!” to every monster inside the gate.
But that had been my intention from the start.
Before long, the sound of scraping legs on stone reached me, and a group of pale arthropods emerged from the darkness. They had been drawn by my mana wave aggro.
Monsters the size of large dogs, shaped like a cross between a mantis and a termite. In the twenty-first century they had been called “Termita”—arthropod-type magic beasts. In current terminology…
Who cares?
I poured as much Ganggi as I could into the school sword and swung once at the first Termita that charged me.
Whoosh!
Its leg was severed cleanly and it slid across the floor. Another one immediately thrust its blade-like limb at me.
I dodged lightly, stabbed the sword into its head, then spun and sliced through the waist of the one aiming for my side. Blue bodily fluid sprayed out and soaked my face.
This is it!
Yes, this is exactly it!
My heart pounded. Was I truly a born hunter even after being reborn?
Yet despite how easily I was cutting them down, this was already pushing the limits of my current body. Every time I sliced through a carapace, the wrist holding the stainless-steel sword grew sore.
Even though they were mere trash mobs between C and D-class, with this frail body they were by no means easy opponents. A single graze would be critical, and I had to pour every ounce of strength into my awakening ability just to cut their shells.
Still, this was a dangerous situation I could still handle.
An inexperienced hunter would have been in real mortal danger, but I already knew these monsters’ patterns by heart. If it truly became too dangerous, I could stop and escape at any time.
“Getting a bit tired now! But I’m not finished yet!”
My disheveled hair, the tightly tied towel, the face smeared with dirty water, and the shabby clothes borrowed from rickshaw puller Ham Won-sam were gradually becoming stained with the beasts’ blue blood.
“As expected, a hunter is only a hunter when he’s hunting!”
In the dark cave lit by the red glow of lava, a rickshaw puller danced with his sword, slaughtering magic beasts.
“Truth be told, is there any law that says a student can’t hunt just because he’s a student?”
The rickshaw puller shouted as he cut down the beasts.
“Studying is important, sure! But to become a hunter, isn’t real combat even more important? Am I wrong? Hmm?”
This rickshaw puller is way too strong!
Caught up in the excitement, I kept shouting and continued the hunt. Pale insect legs and body parts piled up around me. Before long, dozens of Termita had been completely wiped out.
Whew…
I recovered my mana using the mana stones from the dead beasts, sat on a rock, drank the water I had brought, and caught my breath.
I tried raising my mana. It wasn’t immediately reflected in the status window, but it felt as though my Ganggi had grown slightly stronger. At this rate, I would likely rise from E to D-class by tomorrow or the day after.
Low levels rose quickly to begin with, and I had essentially controlled and defeated monsters that should have been too much for my current level, so rapid growth was only natural.
While I was resting, voices came from the cave passage leading into the cavern.
『Whoa, look over here!』
『Incredible! Some amazing guy must have passed through…!』
『But look! The mana stones are still here?』
It sounded like Japanese hunters who had stumbled upon the pile of corpses and were exclaiming in surprise.
Crap!
I quickly hid. It would be bad if they discovered a Joseon porter had been hunting alone without his master.
Well… time to head back.
Today’s harvest was enough. It was a shame I couldn’t collect the remaining mana stones, but my goal had been growth through hunting, and that goal had been thoroughly achieved.
The clothes I wore were now completely stained blue with the beasts’ blood. I felt sorry for Ham Won-sam, but I could always buy him several new sets with my father’s money.
I slipped away quietly, returned to the base camp, used the excuse of another errand for a Japanese hunter on the Dongcheok employee, and exited the gate.
By the time I emerged, night had fallen and the sky sparkled with stars. I took a deep breath of the refreshing night air, returned to the boarding house, washed my face, changed clothes, and lay down.
It looked like I would sleep very well tonight.
The gate that had formed outside Dongsomun—.
The outpost of the Oriental Development Company established inside it.
The Dongcheok employee on duty, who had been dozing at his guide post, lifted his head at the sound of footsteps coming through the gate.
What emerged was a tall man.
However, the clothes worn by the man with the somehow chilling aura were not the usual hunter attire but a military uniform—and that of an officer. The Dongcheok employee approached cautiously.
『Ah, um… What brings a military gentleman here?』
『I am Major Aoki.』
『Pardon?』
The employee was momentarily stunned by the non-sequitur, then responded according to procedure.
『Um, are you a Japanese hunter? Then please proceed to the right…』
『I am Major Aoki Hisaburo. You should have received instructions.』
『…Ah! I-I’m terribly sorry!』
The employee, who had finally remembered, hurriedly entered the tent. Soon a short, middle-aged man wearing glasses emerged.
『Major Aoki!』
The bespectacled man bowed deeply and extended his hand.
『The chairman has spoken of you often! And to come help us in person like this… Ah! I am Director Kimitsu of the Dongcheok Gate Development Department!』
『Director Kimitsu. You’ve been working hard.』
『Yes, yes!』
Aoki did not take the offered hand. He glanced around the base camp and asked.
『So, which way should I go?』
『Please go to the left. That is the Joseon sector!』
『Hmm.』
Aoki, still looking at the left exit, asked again.
『The clothing?』
『Of course we have prepared it in advance. Please change here!』
『…But, Director. It won’t smell, will it?』
『Of course not! They are all brand new, yet they are definitely the sort of clothes and equipment that Joseon hunters would wear. It will be flawless.』
『Thank you. Though it pains me to remove the uniform His Majesty graciously bestowed upon me…』
When Aoki removed his coat, Director Kimitsu immediately took it and handed it to a subordinate. Accepting the new clothes, Aoki continued while still gazing beyond the left exit.
『If I don’t disguise myself, the quick-witted Senjin will run away or hide the moment they notice.』