Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 020
Chapter Title: The Black Gate
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The press conference by Park Sun-woo that had rocked the world into a frenzy was just three days ago.
His testimony had poured oil on the dying embers, narrowing the world's attention to just two burning questions.
Would Suwon truly become a sanctuary of a new era?
And today, who would make the cut on his talent recruitment list?
The promised day, noon.
The skies over Seoul, Republic of Korea, were crystal clear without a single cloud, but the air around the KBC Broadcasting Station in Yeouido hung heavier and more oppressively humid than the eve of any earthly storm.
Hundreds of broadcast vans emblazoned with network logos clogged the roads like a massive barricade, while police and military forces layered tight control lines between them.
Yet those lines looked precarious, like a balloon swollen with heat ready to burst at any moment.
At the center of that heat swirled a chaotic mix of reporters, YouTubers, and throngs of people clinging to the slimmest thread of hope.
"Everyone! The promised time is here at last! Right behind me, on the roof of the KBC Broadcasting Station—you'll see it open any moment now, the gate that Lee Jung-woo announced!"
Go Se-gu, clad in an expensive-looking bulletproof vest, shouted toward the state-of-the-art drone camera provided by the broadcast consortium.
His voice carried the seasoned poise of a trained broadcaster, laced with uncontainable excitement and a hint of fear.
As the camera panned over the crowd, faces of people gathered with their own desperate pleas flashed by.
A middle-aged man in worn work clothes, his expression bearing the weight of all the world's troubles—Park Sun-woo.
Behind him stood six colleagues in similar ragged attire, their faces set in grim determination.
These technicians, ignored by the world, had come here together, staking their last hope.
On the opposite side of the crowd, away from the noisy chaos, a lone woman leaned against the shade of a roadside tree, catching the eye.
Dressed in a neat black shirt.
Her ordinariness stood out as something alien amid the frenzied heat.
Even as she scanned the raucous surroundings, her strangely calm gaze fixed solely on the rooftop.
Beyond her, groups of Awakeners sporting crude emblems of their own making instead of major guild marks, an elderly man clutching a bag stuffed with tattered scrolls, and people staring vacantly at the roof with eyes that seemed to have nothing left to lose.
This place was the end of the line for despair—and the starting point for new hope.
Ding.
The moment the noon chime rang out precisely, every sound ceased as if by magic.
All held their breath, eyes locked on the KBC roof.
Right then, the space at the center of the rooftop began to shimmer like a heat haze.
From thin air emerged a jet-black, glossy obsidian frame, sleek as polished night, and within it filled like a massive mirror.
But it didn't reflect the surroundings.
Instead, its surface swirled with an unseen abyssal nebula, emanating an eerie, ominous glow.
It was a living filter crafted by Lee Jung-woo, weaving his core curse magic and dark sorcery with exquisite precision.
Not merely a gateway, but a colossal trap that judged entrants' malice and tested their worth.
Lee Jung-woo.
It was his voice, amplified through condensed mana on the rooftop, speaking directly only to the uninvited guests there.
The president watching from the Blue House swallowed dryly.
As he mulled over the meaning of "if you can manage it," the first applicant on the rooftop made their move.
In truth, the very first to act weren't the pure applicants.
They were elite agents from various nations, trained in mental fortitude.
Among those disguised as ordinary applicants to seize the chance,
a sharp-dressed white man strode confidently toward the gate, first foot forward.
The instant his foot crossed the threshold,
his face twisted in horror, body stiffening like a log.
He could only choke out a "Guhk..." like a strangled man, trembling violently.
Soon, dark red blood burst from his eyes, nose, and ears, staining his shirt in gruesome streaks.
The gate's magic delved into the intruder's deepest malice and impure intent, amplifying it hundreds-fold as fuel.
Now, that amplified force turned back as the deadliest weapon against his own mind.
Unable to take even one more step, he flew backward like struck by a massive hammer, crashing onto the rooftop and losing consciousness completely.
The woman in the black shirt, witnessing the horror, murmured unwittingly.
"Mental resonance amplification... a self-destruct setup. Vicious."
The waiting medical team and guild agents rushed over, but his condition was no mere faint.
His brain was temporarily shattered in a form of mental corruption they'd never seen.
Next came a prim-looking East Asian woman.
The moment she tried to cross, she froze in place.
No screams, no blood.
Her face drained pale as if beholding some otherworldly terror, she staggered back, then spun and fled screaming like a madwoman.
Two failures in a row.
No one dared approach the gate rashly now.
A heavy silence blanketed the rooftop, and all began to realize that Lee Jung-woo possessed not just raw power, but a viciously cunning intellect.
Right then, change stirred from the ground.
Park Sun-woo broke the silence.
He glanced back at his followers, nodded with resolute expression,
then pushed through the crowd toward the police line guarding the KBC entrance.
"Halt! You can't come any closer!"
Shield-bearing police blocked mechanically, but Park Sun-woo pressed on.
He said nothing.
Just walked step by step toward the line in stoic silence.
The on-site commander's face twisted in conflicted turmoil.
Orders from above were vague: for presumed unarmed applicants, avoid force and control the situation at all costs.
If shots rang out here, all blame would fall on him.
As he hesitated, Park Sun-woo's group closed in right before him.
Finally, the commander sighed softly, murmuring low enough for only his deputy to hear.
"...Open a path."
It was tacit approval, a reluctant surrender.
The shield wall parted grudgingly, forming a narrow passage. Park Sun-woo's group passed through without a backward glance, entering the building.
Their action was the signal flare.
A few in the crowd began following suit.
Moments later, the rooftop elevator doors opened on the big screens, revealing Park Sun-woo first.
He strode past the fallen agents without hesitation toward the massive mirror gate.
All held their breath.
He crossed the threshold.
One step, two steps inside.
Nothing happened.
Like returning to his childhood home, the gate swallowed him smoothly without resistance.
His technician colleagues followed one by one, passing through unscathed.
Then the black-shirted woman approached the gate.
As she passed, she glanced at the first man collapsed in blood.
Awakeners, the elderly man, young women, and various others crossed in turn.
That day, fewer than thirty pierced the gate's filter to head to Necropolis.
As the last applicant—the black-shirted woman—vanished fully inside, the rooftop mirror rippled once like water's surface, then vanished without trace.
Left behind: collapsed spies, dazed agents, and Go Se-gu, lost in relaying it all.
Meanwhile, Park Sun-woo and his colleagues who passed through were momentarily speechless at the sight before them.
They'd arrived in the lobby of a clean, modern building smack in the heart of Necropolis.
White marble floors, bright lighting.
It evoked a well-built corporate training center or luxury hotel lobby.
"This is..."
As Park Sun-woo looked around in confusion, Belial emerged soundlessly from the shadows in one corner of the lobby.
His presence clashed starkly with the bright surroundings, exuding a chilling intimidation.
"Welcome."
Belial spoke in his signature soulless tone.
His empty sockets scanned each applicant one by one.
"From now on, as provisional citizens, you will learn the empire's systems here at the Imperial Talent Development Institute and prove your worth."
The place he indicated was the very building they'd entered—the renovated 103 Building apartments.
A flicker of subtle disappointment and unease crossed the applicants' faces at his words.
They'd come chasing sweet promises of pioneers and nobility, only to face the cold reality of "provisional citizens."
As if piercing their thoughts, a mocking red gleam lit Belial's empty sockets.
And he continued.
"Do not misunderstand. Your status is no mere commoner. You are the empire's first noble candidates and pioneers—summoned by His Majesty the Emperor and who passed his trial."
"From this moment, you gain the chance to bloom your potential using every resource the empire provides."
Belial paused, confirming hope rekindle in their eyes.
Then added in a chilling voice.
"Of course, whether you seize that chance to ascend as true nobility or remain mere candidates in name depends on the contributions you amass ahead. The empire shows no mercy to the incompetent."
"Remember this. This place is a land of opportunity to unleash your abilities—and a brutal proving ground for your worth."
His words made them sense they'd just stepped onto the starting line of vast opportunity and harsh reality.
"Your rooms are assigned. Follow me. First, you must change out of those rags."
Belial led them—faces mixed with anticipation and apprehension—toward the upper floors.
Their footsteps alone echoed coldly on the artificially silent marble corridor.
Soon, Belial halted before a long row of doors in one hallway.
No names or numbers marked them.
He nodded toward Park Sun-woo, the only familiar face.
"Park Sun-woo, as the first guest, take the end room."
To the rest, he said indifferently.
"The others... choose any empty room. The empire doesn't spoon-feed the trivial."
His voice was emotionless as machinery, yet they faintly sensed the empire's cold rule: choose for yourselves, bear your own responsibility.
"Each room has fresh clothes and basic toiletries. You have one hour to freshen up. Reconvene here in the lobby after."
With that, Belial melted back into the shadows.
As he vanished, the heavy pressure lifted, lightening the lobby air.
Only then could the applicants truly face each other.
Park Sun-woo spoke first.
"Uh... I'm Park Sun-woo. These are my colleagues I worked with. Tech the world ignored... but I hope it's useful here."
Emboldened, a man who seemed leader of a B-rank Awakener group stepped forward.
Distrust of the world mingled with faint hope on his face.
"Kang Tae-sik here. Just a lowly B-rank enhancer, but my combat skills? Top-notch. Here... we get judged purely on merit, no guild connections or background bullshit?"
His pragmatic question drew silence in the lobby.
Everyone shared the doubt.
Then the black-shirted woman from the corner stepped forward quietly.
Her voice matched her impression: calm and clear.
"Park Min-ah."
All eyes turned to her.
"I... can read people and situations a bit better than most."
A few tilted heads at her vague intro, but she continued.
"To answer Kang Tae-sik's question: in my view, the evaluation's already begun."
"The moment we passed through that gate."
Park Min-ah slowly scanned the lobby as she spoke.
"That being said it earlier: a place of opportunity and a proving ground. We're probably under unseen eyes right now, being judged."
A chilling tension rippled through the lobby again.
Just a guess, yet her words carried convincing weight.
They dimly realized these thirty-odd gathered weren't ragtag nobodies—each extraordinary, walking into the monster's maw on their own feet, driven by personal desperation and resolve.
Amid wariness and subtle solidarity toward each other, they dispersed to empty rooms.