Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Layered Gate - 1
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Her party members probably had a ton of questions they wanted to ask me.
But after that, no one tried to talk to me.
They must have figured the gate raid right in front of them took priority.
"You caught on quick. Thanks to you, we nipped it in the bud early. I appreciate it."
"No, thank you. I'm the one who's grateful you believed me."
I bowed my head lightly at Choi Geonwoo's praise.
It wasn't false modesty or empty words.
It was my honest feeling.
Because anyone could see that in that situation, listening to a twelve-year-old kid and doubting one of your own guild members wasn't easy.
No, it wasn't just hard.
It was downright foolish.
If Choi Geonwoo had been an ordinary person,
he would've dismissed my words as childish nonsense right there and kicked me out.
I'd said it knowing that risk.
But I hadn't expected things to work out this well.
"Why did you believe me, Uncle?"
"Uncle."
"...Huh?"
"I told you to call me Uncle."
Oh, right.
I'd forgotten.
Probably because we were in the middle of this dangerous Layered Gate mission.
My speech had slipped into something stiff without me noticing.
I was also a bit conscious of the other party members around us.
I was still aware of their eyes on us, but more than that, Uncle's slightly annoyed expression was bothering me, so I quickly corrected myself.
"Wh-why did you believe me, Uncle?"
"It's nothing much. The thing is, there'd been some quiet talk in the guild about that guy, Kang Jinhyuk, for a while."
"About him?"
Why was that?
Maybe it had something to do with what the party members had been whispering about earlier.
"...He was unaffiliated until suddenly joining Titan Guild?"
"You caught that, huh? Yeah. A hunter with that kind of talent floating around without a guild is extremely rare. Especially for someone who's not a newbie like you."
"I guess so?"
I'd heard there were a lot of benefits to joining a guild.
And guilds wanted top talent too.
So when a standout hunter appeared, they'd naturally get scouted.
"But for some reason, that guy shot up like a comet, then suddenly applied to our guild a few months ago."
"Just that?"
Not that I'm one to talk, but that didn't seem suspicious enough.
Maybe he'd just changed his mind.
"Yeah. From a normal perspective, it'd be a stretch to suspect him based on that alone. But get this—do you know when he applied?"
"No idea."
"It was the day after one of our key A-Rank hunters suddenly went missing."
"Ah...!"
I let out an exclamation of realization.
I see. The timing was too perfect.
A promising hunter applying right after losing a major asset.
They must've been desperate at the time.
The guild probably accepted without a second thought to fill the gap.
"We still haven't found the missing one, but if my guess is right, that was Yeohae Guild's doing too."
"So they created the vacancy on purpose, then pretended to fill it by planting a spy."
"Exactly. Jang Sehun's the type to pull that off. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he clawed his way to where he is with sneaky tricks like that."
This was the first time I'd seen Choi Geonwoo show his emotions so openly.
He must really despise the guy.
Even knowing it wasn't directed at me,
the killing intent from an S-Rank hunter was so intense that my body shuddered.
Uncle's eyes widened, and he hurriedly reined it in.
"...Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
"N-no, it's fine."
It wasn't fine at all, honestly.
But I forced a smile and waved it off. Uncle's face fell.
"Anyway, I had my reasons to be confident."
"So you suspected him from the start?"
"No, it wasn't full suspicion. If it was, I wouldn't have brought him on the Layered Gate raid team."
I see.
A tiny doubt, barely worth calling suspicion.
But the key I'd tossed him happened to unlock it perfectly, like a lock clicking open in his mind.
Lucky break.
"Mind if I ask you something in return?"
"Sure, go ahead."
I nodded, and Uncle glanced at me before speaking heavily.
"How did you know that guy was tied to Yeohae Guild? You couldn't have had any informants."
"Ah."
Right.
I hadn't told him I could see other people's status info yet.
Anyone else might hesitate a bit,
but this was Choi Geonwoo.
The man who'd trusted me twice now.
Time to repay that trust and be honest.
"Can I borrow your ear for a sec?"
"...Sure."
Did he realize it was confidential?
He lowered his voice and bent down to bring his ear to me.
The height difference was insane—he was practically squatting.
Ugh, kinda annoying!
"One of my skills lets me see other people's info."
"Hard to believe. The effects you've shown so far are already insane."
I felt a little embarrassed at his gruff words,
but to build trust, I recited his status info aloud.
"Magic Power... right?"
"Yeah, spot on. It's real."
"Yeah. And in Kang Jinhyuk's info, it said 'Yeohae Guild' in red."
"I see. So even if it's not public, your skill picks it up. Ridiculous effect."
Uncle clicked his tongue and straightened up.
A whole building loomed back in front of me, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him again.
Too tall!
"You not mentioning it earlier—was that to make us suspect he might be a spy? Impressive. Hard to square with your usual airheaded act."
"Th-that's mean...!"
Airheaded?! Airheaded?!
What did I do?!
I'm smart all the time!
I just get extra smart in dungeons!
"Anyway, thanks again. For the help, and for trusting me enough to tell me all this."
"No problem. You trusted me too, Uncle."
"Call it even, then."
"Hehe, deal!"
Was it because I felt helpful?
Or because of Uncle's rough but kind hand on my head?
I answered with more energy than intended.
My voice was too loud, drawing stares from around us. Embarrassing.
Ugh.
I'm definitely at 100 Intelligence right now.
Why do I turn dumb at times like this?
I slipped behind Uncle to dodge the eyes.
Thankfully, he didn't mind and let me use him as a shield.
Braving the fierce winds of the snowy mountain,
we finally reached the entrance to Layer 2.
A massive frozen iron door stood there.
The moment we saw it, everyone gulped audibly.
Makes sense. Except for me and Kang Jinhyuk, everyone here had seen the hell of Layer 1.
Heading into Layer 2, which could be even worse, was scary.
[Would you like to enter the Stormy Snow Mountain Layer 2?]
Uncle placed his hand on the door as the representative,
and a message I'd never seen popped up in front of me.
Layered Gates give messages like this, huh.
I wonder if the others see it too.
Probably not.
"Alright, we're going in. Everyone, don't let your guard down for a second."
"Yes, sir!"
With Uncle's solemn voice, like a prayer,
the massive iron door creaked open to either side.
What appeared was a huge structure like a circular arena.
No spectator seats, though.
Just an endless expanse of ice field.
"Suspiciously quiet."
"Yeah, never seen a dungeon like this."
"Feels like something's gonna pop out."
The party members voiced their thoughts as we slowly moved to the center.
I kept scanning the surroundings the whole time.
Absorbing every tiny detail.
Nothing suspicious enough to raise my hackles right now.
"We can go a bit farther."
"Got it. Moving out."
At my words, Uncle directed the party.
Not just from the cold air—everyone's faces were frozen stiff as they stepped slowly.
That's when we spotted another iron door on the opposite side from our entrance.
Identical-looking.
Is that the way?
But something feels off.
Like it's luring us, pretending that's the exit...
"...! Everyone, fall back!"
The moment that thought hit me, a massive red circular mat appeared on the ground.
I yelled in shock, directing the party urgently.
They scattered left, right, or back in perfect order.
Boooom─!
The instant everyone cleared the red circle,
something huge flew in at the last second, smashing into the ground and sending ice shards flying everywhere.
"Kyaa?!"
"Wh-what the hell?!"
"Something came from the sky!"
Screams and curses erupted as the dust and steam cleared from the impact.
The creature that had crashed down slowly revealed itself.
- Grrrrowl...!
"What is that...?!"
"That's Layer 2's guardian?"
"Fuck, it's huge."
Just like someone's curse-laced assessment, it was enormous.
At least 6 meters tall.
Like a massive ice sculpture carved into a beast's shape.
The info that popped up confirmed this thing was our enemy.