Is This How You Do It? (1)
The instant they stepped through the **Black Gate**, no matter what, they would inevitably give themselves away. Everyone entered the **Black Gate** in the same way, but the unique feeling of first-time intruders—scanning their surroundings or staring blankly at unfamiliar sensations—could never be hidden.
Had those intruders been spotted in a village that had formed inside a safe zone? And with what looked like guides beside them? That meant they were almost certainly brand-new beginners.
The bat-folk mixed with humans stared at them and swallowed hard.
Then they whispered in ultrasonic frequencies that only they could hear.
“Kihih, it seems like fresh beginners have arrived from Earth.”
“Even the guides look pathetic.”
“Just three? They’ll get lured in first, no question.”
“They haven’t hunted in a while, so they’re coming this time, right?”
“We have to eat and live too.”
“Kihih, good for them.”
The bat-folk were chatting when one of them suddenly noticed **Lee Do-hyun** looking their way. One tilted his head in confusion.
Humans could see this far? The odd sense of unease made one bat-folk, **Tsurak**, ask his comrades.
“Why is that human staring over here?”
“Humans?”
“Aigoo, Tsurak’s being too cautious.”
The other two had said the same, but the gaze they felt still made them uneasy. Still, they told themselves it was just a human and laughed it off.
“He’s turning his head again.”
“Some country bumpkin just gawking around.”
“No big deal.”
Tsurak nodded along with the others. He decided he must have been overthinking it, then watched the humans head inside the building with the rest.
“Anyway, we’re not taking those fools as our next prey. The moment they leave the safe zone, that’s when we strike.”
But when the humans emerged again, the guides were still trailing them, so the bat-folk’s expressions turned awkward.
Six in total.
Compared to that, only three bat-folk villains, including Tsurak.
Numerical inferiority forced them to frown.
“Hmm, the guides are sticking with them?”
“Can we even take them?”
“We could take them, of course. They’re just humans. But is there any point in us straining ourselves?”
Originally, hunting beginners was all about easy points. Facing six—even if they thought they could win—would mean unnecessary effort.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Tsurak’s got a point.”
The other two also agreed the moment Tsurak spoke.
They had finished hunting and returned, so they watched the group again.
“Just in case, we’ll keep watching.”
After all, there was a chance they could hunt without the guides one day.
Then.
To their surprise, the three guides left the dorm with something to do, and before long the three beginners stepped out beyond the safe zone.
Beginners, after all?
“Kihihih. Looks like they’re getting cocky after that hunt.”
“Stupid humans. Kihih.”
“Shall we start the hunt then?”
The three grinning bat-folk slipped into the darkness.
* * *
After the hunt, **Lee Do-hyun** and the guide party returned to the dorm. A short while later, **Lee Do-hyun** casually spoke to the guide party.
“Hah, that’s enough for today. After all, it’s not just today that’s special.”
The three guide party members beamed and nodded.
“Oh, then enjoy the rest of today.”
“We’ll back you up when you go hunting tomorrow.”
“Since this is your first time, don’t push yourselves too hard.”
All three were talents from Korea’s future, so they would have tensed up, but **Lee Do-hyun**’s words put them at ease.
After the three left for their own matters, **Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin** looked at **Lee Do-hyun** with something like disbelief.
They had seen **Lee Do-hyun** fight like a true battle maniac. In particular, **Ji Yu-chan** had fought him over fifty-three times at the training center—**Ji Yu-chan** had lost every single one.
Even so, **Hana Rin** knew **Lee Do-hyun**’s obsession with victory, his greed for magic, and his fiercely dedicated training. Seeing him slack off after only one day of hunting felt strange.
“Really slacking?”
“Surprising, isn’t it?”
**Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin** spoke, and **Lee Do-hyun** glared at them like they were crazy.
The two flinched when they met his eyes, so **Lee Do-hyun** smirked and said.
“You’re not seriously thinking I’m actually slacking off.”
No, that’s not the case.
With exactly that expression, **Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin** asked **Lee Do-hyun**.
“…Then?”
“You’re just going to leave?”
“Huhu, there’s bound to be something fun.”
The two looked anxious at his words, so **Lee Do-hyun** smiled and continued.
“The opponent is bat-folk, three in number. I don’t know which dimension, but they’re the villains who’ve been hunting Earth hunters all along.”
“……?”
“?????”
**Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin** stared at **Lee Do-hyun** with expressions that said they didn’t understand how he knew, but of course he offered no explanation.
Would explaining **Analysis** even be believable?
From his behavior so far, it would be, but that wasn’t the important part.
While looking at the two, **Lee Do-hyun** smiled and said.
“You thought I was easy to deal with, huh?”
At those words, **Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin**’s expressions immediately changed.
They couldn’t help but bristle at the “easy” comment.
After all, they were monsters of talent no one could rival except **Lee Do-hyun**. That fact had to make them feel irritated at being targeted by villains.
“……I can’t just stand by.”
“Of course I can’t.”
“So let’s go.”
Seeing **Lee Do-hyun** smile as if everything had gone exactly as planned, **Hana Rin** and **Ji Yu-chan** shook their heads in unison.
They had sent the guide party away while claiming to be resting, but he had a plan up his sleeve.
“……So you were the ones who sent the Association hunters.”
“……To make them look like a group so they wouldn’t attack us?”
“Of course.”
To deceive the enemy you had to deceive your allies. **Hana Rin** and **Ji Yu-chan** felt their heads throbbing, but at the same time.
“Looks like it’ll be fun.”
“We’ll make them pay for underestimating us.”
Since they were all human, the two spoke with the same cold smile as **Lee Do-hyun**.
**Lee Do-hyun** nodded, having known that would be their reaction.
Then.
“I’ll give the signal, so jump in when you see it. I’ll roughly outline the strategy.”
**Lee Do-hyun** listed the approximate strategies his **Analysis** had shown him—strategies that weren’t in his head. **Ji Yu-chan** and **Hana Rin** nodded along and fleshed out the tactics.
It was a decent plan, so the three decided to follow **Lee Do-hyun**’s strategy and exited the Association dorm building together.
The moment they left the safe zone and entered the field where monsters spawned, the prey that had bitten the bait began to move.
**Lee Do-hyun** identified them and said.
“Caught.”
* * *
Even among the many dimensions, **Ulksha** had no choice but to experience chaos after the **Black Gate** appeared.
After losing points and watching major facilities destroyed by monsters that emerged from the **Black Gate**, they began training hunters and sending them through.
The main race of **Ulksha** were the bat-folk called **Kshara**. They could quickly adapt because their superior physical abilities and ultrasonic waves, as well as sound waves and stealth, far exceeded those of humans.
Now, after eighty years, **Ulksha** could finally claim to have escaped the weak dimension.
However, there were always those who eventually fell behind. **Tsurak**, **Bhar**, and **Ix** were among them.
Inside the **Black Gate** they were called villains, but they were the same as wolves that hunted weak hunters to gain points.
They had no intention of climbing to E-grade and simply lived off scraps, hunting hunters now and then to fill their point quota.
On top of that.
“Hunting weaklings is thrilling.”
“Why don’t you get it? It’s so fun.”
“Kihih, that’s what I’m saying.”
How could anyone forget the joy of tormenting the weak? That was why they moved in secret, teasing their targets—the most thrilling moment.
For that reason again, **Tsurak**’s group watched the three foolish humans leaving the hunter Association building and grinned while conversing in ultrasonic waves.
“Getting cocky?”
“Just humans, after all.”
“They’re leaving the safe zone. Let’s chase.”
“Good, kihih!”
The three watched **Lee Do-hyun** and the others leave the safe zone, satisfied, and followed.
Before long, they entered a wide wasteland-like field where the presence of the monsters called “monsters” was still absent, leaving the three puzzled.
“Hmm, no monsters.”
“They’ll have to keep going forward to meet the monsters?”
“Should we just attack first?”
Their usual tactic was to hunt monsters and target tired hunters, but these were new hunters.
Their skills were still lacking, and even without being tired they would be easy to deal with. **Ix** said that, and the other two laughed in agreement.
“After all, they’re fresh off the gate.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Kihih, then I’ll take the woman. I love the way she screams when she’s ripped apart.”
“Kihih, what a twisted hobby. Then I’ll take the handsome male human. I can’t wait to see that arrogant look on his face shatter.”
“Hmm, then I’ll take the last one? He feels a bit… off.”
Tsurak spoke while looking slightly uneasy, but suddenly someone else asked.
“I’m the one who feels off? Why?”
“Why? Because that guy was the first to see us…… Wait. Who’s that?”
They had been conversing in ultrasonic waves, yet suddenly an unknown ultrasonic voice cut in. It was the first time they had heard such a wavelength, so the three startled and looked bewildered.
The moment the three turned their heads, the trio who had been walking separately had disappeared—vanished without a trace—and in their place **Ji Yu-chan** had drawn his sword and infused mana, while **Hana Rin** was already casting magic from far behind.
Lastly, **Lee Do-hyun** smiled faintly and stood before the last **Tsurak**, addressing the three in ultrasonic waves.
“Hey, is this how you use ultrasonic waves? I’ve never tried it before, so I’m not sure.”
Seeing **Lee Do-hyun** emit ultrasonic waves of a wavelength that was far too natural despite his “first time,” the bat-folk finally realized the situation was a trap.
They couldn’t understand how he could use ultrasonic waves, but right now was not the time to think about it.
They had to escape. But when they realized, it was already too late. Immediately after, **Hana Rin**’s intermediate magic poured down on them.
Fwoooosh—