Chapter 37: The Gate (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 37: The Gate (2)
Choi Hyena’s childhood was by no means a happy one.
Despite being born the eldest daughter of the prestigious Seongbuk Choi magic family, she had to say goodbye to her mother at the tender age of two.
Choi Hyena’s father, Choi Taehyun, repeatedly collapsed in fits of wailing before his wife’s body.
Her mother, Choi Yeonju, had always been frail.
She was constantly suffering from minor illnesses, and doctors had said she wouldn't live long.
Nevertheless, driven by the sole desire to bear her beloved husband’s child, Choi Yeonju defied everyone’s opposition and became pregnant with Hyena.
Ten months later, when she safely gave birth to Hyena, the couple was as happy as if they had gained the whole world.
But perhaps the heavens would not permit such happiness.
Immediately after childbirth, Choi Yeonju’s health deteriorated uncontrollably.
No matter how much money they poured into elixirs or how many skilled priests they hired, her illness only spiraled endlessly toward the worst.
Not long after, Choi Taehyun lost his wife, and Choi Hyena lost her mother.
After burying his wife in the cold earth, Choi Taehyun seemed to give up on being a father. He began to wander away from home, leaving the still-young Hyena behind.
Hyena had no way of knowing what he was doing outside.
Even on the rare occasions he returned home, he never once glanced at his daughter.
Thirsty for her parents’ love, Hyena couldn't help but be disheartened by her only parent’s cold indifference.
The small wound that formed then grew larger with each passing day.
Neglected by her parents, it was only natural that Choi Hyena was raised by her grandparents and the family’s servants.
Though she hadn't received a single affectionate word or touch from her parents since she was very young, Hyena still loved her father.
Her grandparents told her that he was only acting this way because his heart was in pain.
She firmly believed that if she waited patiently, her father’s wounds would one day heal, and he would embrace her warmly with a bright smile.
However, among all the expressions of Choi Taehyun that remained in Hyena’s memory, not a single one was a smile.
Perhaps there had been smiles when she was a newborn, but all that was left now were tragic faces—crying, despairing, and enraged.
Time passed without Choi Taehyun’s return, and before she knew it, Hyena turned eight.
And then summer arrived.
That summer was exceptionally hot and gloomy.
A series of incidents had caused severe casualties, so the news was always filled with grim reports, and a melancholic atmosphere constantly hung over the streets.
It was a summer where only the undertakers, flooded with work, could smile.
One night during that summer, a heavy monsoon rain poured down relentlessly, as if a hole had been punched in the sky.
The sound of the rain silenced the cicadas and crickets. Or perhaps their cries were simply drowned out.
In the dead of night, Hyena woke up with the urge to use the bathroom and walked down the empty hallway.
Still half-asleep, she wrinkled her nose at a strange stench she had never smelled before.
Then, something damp touched her feet.
CRACKLE—
A timely bolt of lightning momentarily illuminated the dark hallway.
And Hyena witnessed an unbelievable sight.
“Aack!”
The servants she had been close to were brutally murdered, their bodies strewn across the hallway. And standing over their corpses, looking down at her, was her ‘father.’
“My dear Hyena…”
As his face, stained with blood, and his hands, smeared with bits of flesh she didn't want to identify, reached for her, Hyena instinctively stumbled backward.
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
“My daughter, Daddy’s here to get you.”
Hyena trembled at his crazed eyes, unable to fathom his thoughts or the emotions swirling within them.
This was not the father she had so eagerly awaited.
Of course, it was impossible for a terrified, trembling little girl to escape from Choi Taehyun.
Just as his grotesque hand was about to helplessly seize her, one step away from a critical moment…
“Hyena!”
Her grandmother, Choi Young-ok, appeared, wreathed in crimson flames.
“You bastard! How dare you set your filthy foot in this place!”
Hyena was taken aback by the fury twisting Choi Young-ok’s face, an expression she had never seen before.
At the same time, she felt a sense of relief.
As far as she knew, her grandmother was incredibly strong.
“Tsk, a meddling old fox.”
Faced with the appearance of Choi Young-ok, a 5th Circle mage at the time, and the sound of people rushing over from a distance, Choi Taehyun had no choice but to flee.
“Hyena, your father will come for you again one day.”
Leaving behind a single sentence that would become her curse, Choi Taehyun vanished.
The casualties that day were limited to two unfortunate servants, but Hyena could never forget the memory.
The sight of the servants, lying bloodied and broken.
The sight of her father, who had killed them.
The unreadable look in her father’s eyes as he stared at her.
Even now, nearly thirteen years later, she could not erase the memory of that day.
“…Dad.”
The very young Choi Hyena clutched the small teddy bear her mother had left her and wept.
Her voice, which would never reach him, echoed emptily.
“Sorry, but I’m not your dad.”
“…Huh?”
A voice she should never have heard snapped Hyena’s eyes open. She found herself face-to-face with Kang Hyun-woo, so close their lips could touch at any moment.
Three seconds of silence passed.
“Kyaaaaaah!!!”
Inside the small tent, Choi Hyena’s scream echoed.
*
Amidst the blaring sirens of police cars and the murmuring crowd of onlookers, a man standing inside the area cordoned off by police tape threw his half-smoked cigarette to the ground.
“This is insane.”
An isolated gate had appeared at 19:49. A review of the CCTV footage showed two civilians being swallowed by it.
No, they weren't ordinary civilians.
Both were mages registered with the Magic Tower, and one of them was none other than Choi Hyena, the treasured daughter of the Seongbuk Choi family.
Because of this, the police high command was in an uproar over the appearance of Choi Young-ok, a 6th Circle mage from the Magic Tower, in the command center.
That’s right. The same Choi Young-ok known as that crazy fire mage.
No one dared to imagine what kind of rampage she would go on if her granddaughter didn't make it out safely.
Thanks to the higher-ups breathing down his neck to resolve the situation somehow, he, the lead investigator, had become a shrimp whose back was broken in a whale fight.
If Choi Hyena didn't come out of that gate safely, he would be the first one to lose his job.
Even after finishing a whole pack of cigarettes, Inspector Go Minseok’s head was throbbing.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Just then, a man who appeared to be from the World Hunter Association arrived on the scene like a savior.
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Yoo Seongbin, Team Leader of Special Gate Response Team 1.”
“Ah, you’ve arrived.”
“Yes, the traffic was terrible.”
Yoo Seongbin had to suppress a chuckle at Inspector Go Minseok’s excessively deferential posture.
Well, it wasn't that he didn't understand.
It was obvious that this man was going to take the fall for this whole mess.
“Um… Team Leader Yoo Seongbin?”
“Yes? What is it?”
“What are you planning to do now?”
Inspector Go Minseok was desperate.
He had three kids to feed, and his wife cooked three packs of Neoguri ramen at once.
If he lost his job now, his family’s future would be bleak.
“Well… we’ll have to wait.”
“…What?”
“There’s nothing we can do. We have to wait a week before we can go in and rescue them. Until then, this is the best we can do.”
If this was a problem that could be solved by a single team showing up, isolated gates wouldn't be called special gates in the first place.
Now, all they could do was pray.
They had no choice but to hope that the two mages inside would survive for a week.
“Team Leader, the analysis results are in.”
“They are? What’s the verdict?”
The expression on the face of the staff member who had been tasked with assessing the gate’s rank was not good.
“…It’s B-rank.”
*
Inside the narrow cave, a silence hung between Kang Hyun-woo and Choi Hyena.
“…This is so unfair.”
Kang Hyun-woo sat before the campfire, clutching his slightly reddened cheek, while Choi Hyena glanced at him uncomfortably.
“W-Well, who told you to… hold me… while you were naked…”
Choi Hyena had to cut herself off.
As humiliating as it was, she couldn't keep complaining about an act meant to save her life. There was still a sharp corner left on her conscience.
Moreover, after the image of Kang Hyun-woo’s back as he struggled through the snowfield carrying her came to mind, her guilt over slapping him the moment she woke up skyrocketed endlessly like a stock that had sprouted wings.
“Haa… I go out of my way to save your life, and you suddenly treat me like a sex offender and slap me…”
“…”
“Sigh, but what’s a commoner to do, expect an apology? I should be glad I didn’t get hit a few more times for being a beggar.”
His tone was infuriating, but she couldn't refute a single word he said.
Although the process had been lewd and humiliating, she had to admit that her attitude toward the person who had ultimately saved her life was improper.
Apologizing was the right thing to do, a hundred times over.
“I’m, I’m…!!”
But Choi Hyena had never apologized to anyone before.
Who would dare demand an apology from the sole heir of the Seongbuk Choi family?
Because of that, the simple words felt stuck in her throat.
However, as a member of the Seongbuk Choi family, she had been taught that repaying a debt of gratitude was a basic human duty. She steeled her resolve to offer a sincere apology.
No, she only resolved to.
“I’m, I’m… I’m sorry, you crazy pervert!! But still, stripping a woman and holding her?!”
“Yeah, your boobs were awesome.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
Letting out a shrill scream, Choi Hyena lunged at Kang Hyun-woo, but there was no way she could win against him in a physical fight.
Instead, she was easily caught and trapped in his arms.
“Again, again…!! You crazy pervert!! Let me go, won’t you?!”
Kang Hyun-woo was not about to forgive such petty resistance.
He pulled her closer, suppressing her struggles with an indifferent expression.
“Don’t act up and collapse again. Next time, I’ll just leave you outside.”
“…J-Just let me go.”
“Why? Scared I’ll touch your boobs again?”
“…Again?”
In that moment, Kang Hyun-woo knew he’d slipped up.
“You… while I was sleeping, just how many times did you…!!”
Kang Hyun-woo silently averted his gaze and released her.
Seeing this, Choi Hyena wanted nothing more than to rip out every last strand of the damn pervert’s hair, but she restrained herself with superhuman patience.
It was the last shred of respect she had for the man who saved her life.
“…Anyway, this tent, and the blanket… where did you get all this?”
“It’s a secret.”
He had no intention of telling Choi Hyena, who wasn't even a match, about the app.
Choi Hyena didn't seem to want to press the issue either, turning her head away with a huff.
It was unexpected.
Mages were all crazy about curiosity, so he thought someone with her personality would pester him relentlessly.
It was surprisingly novel to see her show this minimum level of courtesy. Not that they were on formal terms anymore.
‘Still, she was talking strangely in her sleep earlier.’
The sight of the Choi Hyena crying and calling for her dad had been a shock.
He thought she was as strong-willed as Cheon Yeo-hwa.
But he could understand.
Seeing her face drenched in a cold sweat, as if she’d been tormented by a vicious nightmare rather than a simple dream, he felt a strange sense of kinship.
When I was young, I often woke up screaming from dreams where my parents appeared.
Each time, a nun would stay by my side all night, comforting and reassuring me until I could fall asleep peacefully.
I was so grateful for that back then.
Come to think of it, I had planned to visit the nun once I returned to Earth, but it seems I had forgotten.
He vowed to visit her as soon as he escaped this place.
‘Guess it’s time to eat.’
He wasn't sure of the exact time, but he could feel that it was morning outside.
He had dozed off for a bit while holding Hyena, and his frantic run through the snow yesterday had left him quite hungry.
He calculated how many more days he could last with the food left in his inventory.
Hmm, even with five more people, a week should be no problem.
“You’re going to eat, right?”
“I’m not eating!”
What a temper.
Was she still mad about what I said about her boobs?
Well, he couldn't force someone to eat if they didn't want to, so he decided to prepare only his own meal.
This morning’s menu was seafood ramen.
He tossed the small crabs he’d bought on clearance at the supermarket into the boiling water along with the ramen seasoning and noodles.
Even with the lid on, the appetizing smell of ramen quickly filled the cave.
Aside from that, he grew worried about their future plans.
‘…First, I need to figure out what kind of magical beasts live in this gate.’
If he had his way, he’d just wait out the week in the cave and then escape, but he knew things wouldn't be that easy.
Even if the gate boss stayed put to guard its core, if a mid-boss level beast showed up, this place would be nothing more than a small prison with no room to retreat.
The right thing to do was to at least scout the surrounding area.
If only he knew the gate’s rank, he wouldn't have to worry so much.
Growl—
“Hm?”
Just as his mind was getting cluttered with complicated thoughts, a familiar sound drew his attention to Choi Hyena, who was sitting with her back to him.
He couldn't see her face, but her earlobes, as red as her hair, seemed to speak for her expression.
“Hungry?”
“…Whatever.”
“Stop being stubborn and come eat.”
If she fainted from hunger later, he’d be the one carrying her again.
And that would seriously tempt him to just leave her behind.
“So come and eat.”
“…”
Shuffling over to the pot like a little worm, Choi Hyena’s face was, as expected, red enough to burst.
“…But where are the chopsticks?”
“Before that, I think we need to sort out what we call each other.”
“What…?”
Looking at Choi Hyena, he was suddenly reminded of what happened at the blind date.
How dare she ruin my precious first time?
“Try calling me ‘darling’.”