It's My First Time in a Gate-2
It's My First Time in a Gate-2
Early morning.
Kang Yeo-ryeong arrived at the mid-slope of Bukhansan by taxi.
The place Kang Yeo-ryeong arrived at was a restricted area for civilians.
It made sense, as there was a Gate here.
Gates are largely divided into two types.
Dungeon-type Gates and Open-type Gates.
Dungeon-type is exactly as the name suggests, a Gate with an environment like a dungeon in a game.
And Open-type Gates are ones where you can't enter, but monsters pour out after a certain amount of time.
Of course, if you dig into the details, there are further classifications.
Simply put, the Gate located on the mid-slope of Bukhansan was a Dungeon-type Gate.
And, in front of the Dungeon-type Gate, a total of four hunters were already positioned, waiting for Kang Yeo-ryeong.
Three hunters wearing armor made of monster hide.
They were each holding a sword, shield, spear, and staff.
The other one had neither armor to protect her body from monster attacks nor weapons needed to hunt monsters.
Instead, she was just carrying a load so heavy it made one wonder if a human could actually lift it.
"Hello, I'm Kang Yeo-ryeong."
Kang Yeo-ryeong approached the hunters in front of the Gate and said with a bright smile.
At Kang Yeo-ryeong's greeting, the expressions of the hunters, which had been 'How did a civilian get in here?', changed instantly.
After a moment of complaining about how the Korea Hunter Association couldn't even control access properly, as soon as they realized that the Kang Yeo-ryeong who approached them was the supporter who appeared on the Hunter Gallery—the "Royal" class who could heal and buff at the same time—they showed a fawning smile.
"Nice to meet you, I am Kang Baek-ho, the party leader of the Samsung Party."
A man wearing armor made of monster hide reinforced with steel, with a giant shield the size of his own torso strapped to his back, and a sharp sword at his waist, walked forward and said.
Samsung Party.
The name was quite unique.
It was hard not to think of a certain conglomerate that makes a name for itself globally.
Well, I could guess why they named it that.
The "Sam" in Samsung likely meant the three who appeared to be combatants.
And the "Sung" in Samsung was likely due to their greed to shine among hunters like stars shining brilliantly in the night sky.
Of course, whether the party name was Samsung or whatever, Kang Yeo-ryeong didn't care.
'Not that I need to care, though.'
Because I just came out to take a light look at what a Gate is today.
"You're a pure supporter?"
"That's right."
"Um... if you don't mind me asking, could you tell us the effects of your skills?"
Kang Baek-ho, still maintaining a fawning smile, asked cautiously.
Asking what unique traits or skills an opponent has is not rude.
However, going further and asking for detailed effects was a question implicitly forbidden among hunters.
Telling someone roughly what style of combat you can do and revealing all the cards you hold are slightly different feelings.
Even so, asking a question like this—was it because he thought Kang Yeo-ryeong had just become a hunter and wouldn't know such rules?
Or.
'Is it to completely erase any shred of doubt about me?'
Well, either way didn't matter.
So.
"My healing skill can treat limbs to the point where they can move again as long as it's treated within 3 minutes, even if they've been severed. My buff skill increases overall physical abilities."
"Whoa-! You can even reattach severed limbs?"
"Yes, that's right. However, please note that if it exceeds 3 minutes, even my skill cannot reattach them, so please keep that in mind."
"Understood."
At Kang Yeo-ryeong, who stated the effects of her skills without a care, the corners of Kang Baek-ho's mouth twitched.
At the same time, slimy and sinister malice leaked out from between his fawning smiles.
It wasn't just Kang Baek-ho.
The other two hunters, whom he introduced as his younger brothers, also couldn't hide their slimy and sinister malice.
They probably thought they hid it properly, but to Kang Yeo-ryeong's eyes, it was all visible.
Of course.
'They are children honest about their desires.'
Kang Yeo-ryeong just thought that about the malice of Kang Baek-ho and the other two hunters.
Kang Yeo-ryeong likes children who are honest about their desires.
Because it's cuter to honestly reveal one's desires like a child than to package and suppress one's desires as something else, pretending to be an adult for no reason.
A child should be like a child.
That was Kang Yeo-ryeong's thought.
"By the way, who is that... no, who is that person?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who had hesitated while trying to speak by the standards of a Mother, asked Kang Baek-ho by the standards of a hunter.
The person her straight-extended finger pointed at was a woman carrying luggage on her back that looked too big and heavy for an individual to handle.
A woman whose eyes were so dull and unfocused that one might wonder if something about her was broken.
Considering the load she was carrying on her back, it couldn't be dismissed as simply having good strength for a human woman.
In other words, Kang Yeo-ryeong's question was one that anyone who saw her for the first time would ask, and Kang Baek-ho said to Kang Yeo-ryeong's question with a voice full of ridicule.
"She's just a porter. Yeo-ryeong-nim, you don't need to pay her any mind."
A porter. A porter, huh.
As I chewed on the word "porter" that Kang Baek-ho spat out, memories from my days as a human added further explanation.
Porter.
They were people who did exactly what the name implied. And, porter is a job usually done by people who haven't awakened.
People who haven't even awakened, trying to earn money somehow.
So, they risk their lives to enter Gates, swallowing the contempt and jealousy of hunters, doing menial labor.
According to my memory, human Kang Yeo-ryeong had also worked as a porter once.
Back when I hadn't given up on the dream of awakening. Thinking that if I frequently encountered Gates, I might be able to awaken.
Of course, as soon as I faced the reality of being a porter, human Kang Yeo-ryeong quit being a porter right away.
However, there was one thing that bothered me.
"Don't ordinary people usually do porter work? But that person has mana, doesn't she?"
"Well, it's true that Normals usually do porter work."
Kang Baek-ho said, nodding at Kang Yeo-ryeong's question.
However, a word I was hearing for the first time appeared in Kang Baek-ho's words again.
Normal. What is that?
As soon as Kang Yeo-ryeong was curious, her memory explained "Normal."
After quietly listening to the explanation from her memory, Kang Yeo-ryeong nodded slightly and said to herself.
'I see. It was a word used to disparage ordinary people who haven't awakened.'
At the same time, it was also a word used by some hunters who felt a sense of superiority through the abilities gained through awakening.
A word used by hunters who don't treat people who haven't awakened as the same human beings.
The very fact that he spat out such a word without a care showed that Kang Baek-ho and his brothers were caught in a kind of supremacy.
But.
"That... no, that person isn't a Normal, is she?"
As Kang Yeo-ryeong also brought up the word "Normal" without a care, Kang Baek-ho's fawning smile deepened.
Did he mistake Kang Yeo-ryeong for being caught in a supremacist narcissism like them?
"Well, such guys do exist from time to time. Even though they received the choice of awakening, they are like vermin who can't do anything."
It wasn't just the smile that deepened.
The voice of Kang Baek-ho explaining to Kang Yeo-ryeong became much softer.
'These children seem to think I'm of the same kind as them.'
Well, as for Kang Yeo-ryeong, she didn't care what Kang Baek-ho thought.
She just looked at the child working as a porter with pitying eyes.
Even though she awakened, she can't do anything.
That statement was a roundabout way of saying she awakened but didn't gain any unique traits or unique skills.
At least she gained mana through awakening, so her basic physical abilities are superior to ordinary people who haven't awakened.
My memories from my human days added that they are often seen in jobs that basically overwork the body.
At the same time, with the meaningless remark that I had also seen them occasionally when I was wandering around doing manual labor because I needed money.
Really.
"She's a pitiful child."
"Still, since she gained mana through awakening, her physical abilities are good, so she's quite useful compared to other Normal porters."
"Is that so."
"That's right."
Mm-hmm. Of course.
Kang Baek-ho's other two brothers also nodded and agreed.
At the same time, Kang Baek-ho opened his mouth again.
"By the way, is it okay to enter the Gate like this?"
Aside from asking cautiously, the gaze that scanned Kang Yeo-ryeong up and down was filled with thick lust.
Kang Yeo-ryeong was wearing clothes that were popular a few years ago, commonly called "Dongtan housewife look."
Tight clothes that squeezed her body, revealing her body line as it was.
Furthermore, her voluptuous breasts were emphasized even more, making anyone, regardless of gender, look back at least once as they passed by.
Naturally, since it wasn't "equipment" made from monster byproducts, it might be dangerous if she entered the Gate like this.
But.
"You guys will protect me, right?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong said.
You guys are going to protect me, so why should I bother changing clothes?
At Kang Yeo-ryeong's words, which contained that meaning, Kang Baek-ho breathed out roughly and nodded.
Really, she's cute.
'A child who is honest about her desires.'
Of course, the fact that she had no equipment to speak of because she had just become a hunter yesterday also played a large part in the reason Kang Yeo-ryeong was entering the Gate like this.
Well, even so, the biggest reason is, naturally, because no monster in the Gate is a threat to her.
So.
"Shall we go in?"
As Kang Yeo-ryeong said, looking at the Gate with sparkling eyes, Kang Baek-ho and his two brothers grabbed their respective equipment, nodded, and moved.
The Gate located on the mid-slope of Bukhansan is a Dungeon-type Gate.
The name is Mansion of the Dead. The rank is C. The monsters that appear are undead, and the Gate type is persistent-type.
Persistent-type was a term for a Gate that is maintained indefinitely unless you hunt the boss monster.
The monsters inside the Gate also naturally refill like monsters in a game after a certain amount of time passes.
Of course, if left alone, a Gate Break occurs due to monsters increasing beyond the limit. And all the monsters inside the dungeon pour out onto Earth.
Therefore, the Korea Hunter Association often commissions hunters to clean persistent/dungeon-type Gates.
Kang Baek-ho received that request. And this time, he is entering with Kang Yeo-ryeong.
However, one couldn't even catch a glimpse of tension in their expressions as they entered the Gate.
It was natural.
The rank of the Gate, which is named Field of Beasts, is only C-rank, and his two brothers, including Kang Baek-ho, are all B-rank hunters.
Even though she just became a hunter yesterday, Kang Yeo-ryeong's rank is classified as A-rank, which is higher than that.
Only the porter filled her dull, unfocused eyes with a shred of fear, and moved following behind Kang Baek-ho, who had disappeared beyond the Gate.
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who watched until the very last moment as everyone disappeared beyond the Gate.
"Yes, that's right. Good luck comes to a pitiful child."
With words whose meaning could not be known, she disappeared beyond the Gate.