Rescuing the Blue Eraser from the Depths
Rescue Operation (Help Requested) – Entry-Type Gate in Incheon's Yeonsu-gu. Incheon Yeonsu-gu, my heart's hometown of old Songdo, now killed off by new Songdo. An entry-type gate popped up there, and a help request went up on the gallery.
"At this point in time, there's no data on an entry-type gate in new Songdo..."
In other words, it was an incident that never really blew up and got buried.
An entry-type gate is exactly what it sounds like—a gate you can enter. Hunters who borrow game terms call them dungeons; they're abnormal special gates that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with persistent gates.
The environments inside entry-type gates vary wildly. Some turn into death zones from internal mana storms, while others hide monsters in the darkness for ambushes and assassinations.
Hunter-exclusive smartphones that let you communicate using mana inside gates. The post must've been written on one of those.
"The content ends with 'Location:'..."
Not even the actual location—just literally "Location:" and nothing else. No other info.
Whoever wrote it probably didn't have time to operate the phone properly or was in a situation where they couldn't.
A time-sensitive issue. The problem was...
Of all the gates to get a help request from, it hadn't even been registered in the gate information system yet.
"This is a big problem."
New Songdo is packed with people in every nook and cranny. Even gates that don't show up on radar get reported easily. But a lost gate—an undiscovered one?
Someone got caught in it before they could even report it, in a spot hard for human eyes to reach.
Lucky that the victim was a hunter, at least...
"And even that hunter can't properly transmit gate info right now."
As someone who had to save billions in the future,
I couldn't afford to waste emotions on every single person.
But.
When it's someone you've chatted with in the comments, and they're right there in a spot you can rush to, that's a whole different story.
He's the top contributor who drew aggro my way when he fought 220.71 Anon.
And the magic words that moved my heart.
Even a T-Rex would do the same.
To call yourself the "last resistance squad," you have to be able to save the people right in front of you, obviously.
I got ready to head out. From my monthly rental in Yeongjong to new Songdo—20 minutes even though it's right around the corner. Then indefinite time to find the gate once there.
A situation I'd been through countless times over the past five years.
Still no sign of the gate even running around on foot. This area's all neat blocks, looks small on the map but it's pretty big;;
Damn, what do we do? No follow-up posts since then.
The gallery was overflowing with talk about Blue Eraser's rescue request.
Rules ban mentioning specific people without context, but emergencies are exceptions.
I fidgeted my legs on the train. 20 minutes to cross a bridge?
Way too slow.
One transfer, then 8 more minutes, and I finally reached new Songdo.
The bustling outlet street welcomed me.
If they can't find it in a place swarming with people like this, it's safe to say no gate in the busy areas.
Narrowing candidates using the info that it evades radar and detection skills helps a lot.
Tall buildings blocking signals... none in Songdo, so exclude.
Underground? New Songdo's a meticulously planned city built on wasteland. Sewers and other underground spaces have detection radar too.
So then.
"The sea, maybe."
Mountains or sea—sea it is. No tall or rugged mountains nearby. Low hills are already being checked by other local hunters.
From my experience, sea had the highest odds in these conditions.
The ocean's a mana hellscape that scatters mana reflections, making detection tough.
"Tricky."
New Songdo borders a huge stretch of sea, of course.
Swimming or diving to search? No way.
"A bit tiring method, but no choice."
Conveniently, I had exactly one way.
Blue Eraser better bow three times to me for being a super-national-class telekinetic user. For real.
Click.
I paid for a shared kick scooter scattered on the nearby road.
Then I raced along new Songdo's coastline, blasting telekinesis into the sea.
Something I'd done a few times before regression to find sea gates.
Push the sea back with telekinetic physical force to counter mana scatter, or find anomalies in the telekinesis to locate the gate.
Normally, it required S-rank mana pools and tons of skills.
This time, I dialed it back.
Stretched telekinesis into thin, rice-grain-sized lines and fired them like threads into the sea.
Using points instead of surfaces for efficiency.
Even with top-tier control, it's tough against the ocean.
But.
"It's... working?"
Better than expected—the telekinesis obeyed perfectly.
Still early awakening, so my actual mana was just "huge compared to early awakening standards," not the monstrous post-regression amount.
If I'd thickened the lines for control, even I couldn't scan the whole beach.
But like this? Game changer.
Vroom!
Riding the electric scooter, I kept stabbing telekinetic lines into the sea.
Then.
"Telekinesis cut off?"
In the middle of a beach road without even a swimming area.
Something in the water nearby was blocking my telekinesis.
"Gate it is."
About 10 meters deep. The gate swallowed my telekinesis line.
I wrapped telekinesis around me, shoved the seawater aside, and dove toward the gate.
Can't swim? Don't ask. Freaking hell.
Shin Seung-hoon. Better known by his nickname, Blue Eraser.
An amateur free hunter not affiliated with any guild or association, the hobbyist type.
Building owner. Inherited a small, rundown building from his parents—just enough to get by.
He hunted purely to help people and get thanks.
Most mana stones and monster corpses went to the Hunter Association as donations.
That's how he casually enjoyed his powers, moderately satisfied.
Until a gate spawned under his old yacht, which he also used as a hobby.
The small yacht flipped in the vortex from the gate's spawn.
And got sucked into the gate's pull.
He had zero experience with entry-type gates.
Tried to send a rescue request via his hunter smartphone ASAP, but the sea gate messed with emergency comms.
Luckily, internet worked, albeit slowly. Switched the gallery app to data saver mode for speed and posted.
But then—ambush.
Dodging frantically, he couldn't even finish the post before sacrificing his smartphone.
Biggest light source in the gate—priority target.
Not one Gigant Centipede, but several.
He fled the ones lurking in earth and shadows, heading to a corner of the gate.
Sea gate, but not underwater—a cave.
Back against solid bedrock, relying on glowing moss light for his last stand.
'Ah, shoulda grinded more to raise my hunter rank...'
Regrets from his past life didn't help much.
His ice magic skill could barely protect himself. Nowhere near enough for multiple Gigant Centipedes.
Penetrating their tough exoskeletons required heavy focus, impossible now.
'Please, someone save me. Buddha, Allah, God, please... I'll do anything. Serve forever...!'
He bought time defensively as best he could, but mana nearly depleted, one arm bitten, paralysis poison spreading.
Shhhk!!!
Thud!
A small object zipped in fast, and three Gigant Centipedes hit the dirt simultaneously.
"Hey! You okay?"
His rescuer wasn't some burly hunter.
'Goddess...?'
No. A little girl.
Under her flapping hood from hastily ramping telekinesis, a super pretty, cute face flashed by.
But short. Like, really short.
Angel? Heaven?
She felt that out of place.
"Sigh, if you hadn't gotten paralysis poison, I wouldn't have shown myself. I used a ton of telekinesis getting here, y'know? Come on, hop on my back. Touch anywhere weird and I'll ditch you. Gotta kill the boss and GTFO quick."
Even her voice was cute little kid.
Grumbling with rough talk, she piggybacked Blue Eraser toward the gate exit.
From that day on.
A legend was born in Awakener Gallery: suspicious worship rituals had appeared.
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