Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Borrowed Gate
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"Hmm..."
Jeong-hyeon just kept staring at the person in front of him.
Of course, that person was staring back at Jeong-hyeon with a similarly blank expression.
"Hunter Han Jeong-hyeon."
"Yes, Chief Cha."
That person was none other than Cha Ye-rin.
As soon as Jeong-hyeon left the workshop, he sent a request to meet Chief Cha Ye-rin in the main building.
As a result, he was able to meet her in a room set up inside Investigation Division 3.
But after meeting and exchanging simple greetings, Jeong-hyeon said nothing.
In the end, Ye-rin shook her head as if conceding defeat and spoke first.
"If you wanted to meet, you should have spoken first."
"I don't really have anything to say."
As he replied like that, Jeong-hyeon inwardly cheered.
Hadn't he always been the one getting dragged around by Ye-rin until now?
This time, let her experience what it felt like to face someone inscrutable.
Seeing that even at such an absurd remark, Ye-rin just stared at him without retort, his conviction grew stronger.
That Cha Ye-rin was definitely flustered right now!
"Well, if you have nothing to say, I'll be going. Busy schedule."
"Stop, stop!"
Of course, when Ye-rin actually pushed her chair back and stood up as if to leave, he had to grab her in a panic.
"Didn't you just say you had nothing to say?"
"No... Can't a person even joke? Sit down for now."
Hmm.
Though Ye-rin shot him a look that said she'd seen it all, Jeong-hyeon succeeded in getting her to sit back down.
He had boldly played hard to get once, but in truth, he was the one with a favor to ask.
'No, but still, how could someone just up and leave like that?'
Honestly, he felt a bit hurt.
Last time, Min-seok had said that even if Ye-rin was acting cold for a while, she'd come around if he waited a bit.
But even after that, a whole month had passed, and though Jeong-hyeon had visited the association several times, he hadn't seen Ye-rin once.
Compared to how she used to practically follow him around, it was definitely different.
But he couldn't nitpick over every little thing.
It would just come off as clingy and childish.
In the end, Jeong-hyeon set aside all other talk and got straight to the point.
"Tsk, I was wondering if you could help me just once."
"With what?"
"Could you book a solo reservation for a Level 4 Gate, just once?"
It seemed she hadn't expected such a request.
Ye-rin tilted her head slightly.
For safety reasons, the association prohibited solo reservations even for regular gates below a certain party size.
That's why there were so many posts on Hunter Net looking to fill empty slots.
To enter a gate alone, one needed special approval from the association, so Jeong-hyeon had stopped by the workshop and hoped to get that approval too.
"But that's under the Gate Management Division, isn't it?"
The problem was that he was way off base.
Cha Ye-rin was the chief of Investigation Division 3.
However, special approvals for gate entry fell under the Gate Management Division.
It wasn't something he needed to ask Ye-rin specifically.
"No, to get special approval, you need a reason, right?"
"True."
"If I go to Management and say I'm S-Rank and need special approval for an experiment, will they buy it?"
"Hmm..."
Ye-rin seemed to ponder for a moment.
In fact, Jeong-hyeon's worry wasn't unfounded.
Association executives with access to the S-Rank list would know of his existence, but the staff handling special approvals naturally wouldn't.
That's why coming to Investigation Division 3, where they first recognized him, was quicker for asking.
"Why me?"
"What the..."
"I'm kidding. Does the gate type matter?"
Jeong-hyeon nearly spat out a curse at Ye-rin's innocently posed counterquestion.
Fortunately, she smiled brightly and corrected herself, or it would have been trouble.
'Now I could probably handle an A-Rank or so...'
He'd even gotten a new C-Rank synergy.
Moreover, compared to when he last saw Ye-rin, he was a completely different person now.
He probably wouldn't feel that wall-like gap with her anymore.
Of course, this was still just a heat-of-the-moment thought, and he'd absolutely pass on actually fighting her.
Even so, one punch lighter, Jeong-hyeon's heart felt much relieved.
From Min-seok's nuance before, Ye-rin seemed to have some history with S-Ranks.
That's probably why she'd acted cold upon learning he was S-Rank.
But the moment he called it a joke, she reverted to her old self.
"Yes. Type doesn't matter. Please pick one that doesn't inconvenience other hunters."
"I'll contact Management and schedule the earliest slot available. Then I'll let you know."
She certainly seemed much more at ease now.
Moreover, what followed was truly unexpected.
Even Jeong-hyeon was startled.
"I'm sorry for how I acted last time. I showed a lacking side due to personal circumstances. I meant to reach out, but things piled up."
"Yes?"
Was this person apologizing to me right now?
Chief Cha Ye-rin?
Sure, everyone apologizes or not, but he hadn't expected an apology from her, so the surprise was greater.
She even averted her gaze slightly when Jeong-hyeon looked at her in shock.
Savoring the pleasant surprise for a moment, Jeong-hyeon said.
"It's fine. I'm glad you're back to normal."
In any case, seeking out Ye-rin specifically had paid off.
He'd taken plenty of hits until now, but they couldn't stay awkward forever.
The special approval could have been handled by going to Min-seok or Gate Management somehow, but confirming Ye-rin's mood required seeing her in person.
Whatever her S-Rank issue was, hearing it or not didn't matter much.
Plus, he was confident their relationship would sort itself out eventually.
He hadn't told anyone yet, but he was S-Rank, after all?
He stood up lightly.
"Then I'll be going."
"Next time, let's grab a meal together."
And in a completely ordinary way, as if suggesting a casual lunch next time, Ye-rin replied—but the content was far from ordinary.
As Jeong-hyeon's expression stiffened slightly, Ye-rin smiled and added.
"Isn't it soon?"
"Soon... yeah, haha. Depends on how you look at it."
He brushed it off vaguely and slipped out of the office.
Truth be told, after clearing a Level 5 mission gate, what was there to fear about a Level 6? But it still felt premature.
Especially with Ye-rin in the party.
Human hearts are fickle—he'd just inwardly hoped Ye-rin's mood had thawed, but when she suggested hunting together, he felt resistance.
***
- Tomorrow's Level 4 Red Goblin Gate is open. Want to go in?
The next day, Ye-rin's text came sooner than expected.
Like when she'd slotted him into Dan Jong-woo's party before, she apparently had more pull over raid schedules than he'd thought.
Anyway, with new armor and mace ready, Jeong-hyeon wanted to hop into any gate ASAP, so he agreed immediately.
The only downside: to avoid booked times, he'd have to head out at dawn.
But once he rubbed his sleepy eyes and entered the gate.
After facing off against a wave of Red Goblins, Jeong-hyeon's mind was utter chaos.
'?'
Was it okay for things to be this easy?
His thoughts were so jumbled he couldn't even tell what he was thinking.
But what could he do?
It perfectly mirrored his current state of mind.
"Kieeek!"
Upon entering the gate, the first thing Jeong-hyeon encountered was five Red Goblins.
With red skin as their name suggested, they were considerably larger than regular goblins and let out ferocious cries.
They even wielded high-quality weapons.
Red Goblins were tricky monsters in Level 4 gates.
They had better builds, gear, and aggression than most goblin types.
Of course, compared individually, they were no match for Jeong-hyeon, who could handle even average Level 5 monsters solo.
That's why he'd sought special approval to enter alone—to face slightly easier Level 4 mobs and freely test what he wanted.
But that was only for 1v1 or party vs. party.
Due to goblin swarming nature, the numbers clashing at once made it far tougher solo.
Obviously, fighting ten Red Goblins was harder than one Kraken Boar.
So at first, Jeong-hyeon planned to play it safe.
Thin the herd with Throwing Skill first, then test close combat.
He also aimed to freely test magic he'd held back on due to party eyes.
That was certainly the plan at the start.
That is, until he wiped all five Red Goblins in under three minutes.
'Am I... kind of a cheat character?'
He couldn't help but think it.
The attribute-specific bonuses from Magic Enchantment synergies.
He hadn't known what they meant at first.
Jeong-hyeon had just experimentally imbued Black with fire attribute and hurled it hard.
Plus, since vital hits were instant kills regardless, he'd deliberately aimed for the shoulder, away from vitals.
But then,
Boom-
This damn Black lodged in the goblin's shoulder and exploded?
Jeong-hyeon was startled at first.
He wondered if the artifact Black was incompatible with Magic Enchantment and had detonated.
But Black returned to his right hand intact, without a single scratch.
Only then did Jeong-hyeon grasp what "attribute-specific bonus" meant.
A dagger was still a dagger, even flickering with flames.
He hadn't even imagined an explosion, so while the goblins shrieked in panic.
Jeong-hyeon imbued lightning this time and threw Black again.
Zap-
Luckily(?), the lightning stayed true to its name.
No explosion or lightning from the sky.
It was just too true to its name.
The lightning magic in Black didn't just zap the hit goblin—it chain-bounced to the two on either side, electrocuting them.
Result: direct hit instant death, the other two stunned.
'This is insane.'
In the end, only one remained unscathed.
Even its body was intact, but its soul had long fled.
No wonder—with one dagger hit, one goblin's shoulder and half its chest vaporized.
Three electrocuted into twitching wrecks, combat ineffective.
To goblin intelligence, it was like back-to-back natural disasters.
The last intact Red Goblin couldn't even resist properly before meeting its end under Jeong-hyeon's mace.
He wanted to test enchanting the mace too, but even he thought that'd be excessive, so he skipped it.
Red Goblins overflowed in the gate anyway—no need to obsess.
"...Should've borrowed a Level 5."
Just swapping his rarely used E-Rank Stealth for C-Rank Magic Enchantment had effects far beyond expectations.
Jeong-hyeon felt uneasy.
The Level 4 gate he'd begged Ye-rin for special approval to borrow suddenly felt woefully inadequate to test his abilities.