Chapter 36
Looking at it again, it was a damn fitting name. Five-colored strips of cloth fluttered from its crown like banners.
Serangdang? Sacred tree? I recalled it being some kind of Korean folk shrine.
Anyway, the gate was low-rank, but its curse rating was downright bizarre.
Paju could turn into Chernobyl in the blink of an eye. Terrifying stuff.
Ah.
I'd forgotten something important.
Overwhelmed by the massive presence of the Great Grandmother Tree.
Am I... alone?
Everyone had vanished.
Even my brother was gone.
I hurriedly scanned downward with my eyes.
The thread...
It's there!
My brother's thread existed, faint but present.
I looked up. The red thread stretched into the forest.
First things first, find brother.
I'd plan on the way. Time to dig up more memories about the Greenbelt Gate. Being here on-site would jog them loose, no doubt.
For now, rendezvous with brother. And let him know this gate couldn't be brute-forced.
That 'curse' wording bugs me.
What if I snapped a twig and got cursed? I'd have to tread carefully, even on leaves.
I stepped into the shadowed forest, where darkness pooled thick. Felt like a guts test.
"At least with you here, Hemo, I feel a bit better."
I pushed through the underbrush, parting grass with my hands.
How long had I walked?
A rustle from somewhere. I glanced around and fixed my gaze on one spot.
Through the scrub, a blue glow flickered like a lantern.
A person?
Could be the advance team.
The red thread hadn't thickened, so not my brother.
North Ocean Guild. Can't let them spot me.
I killed my presence and crept toward the light, belly-crawling almost prone.
And witnessed it.
"...!!"
A North Ocean Guild hunter stood dead center, surrounded by moths playing ring-around-the-rosie.
No—fairies clutching lanterns, spinning in perfect circles.
Why isn't he moving?
The hunter couldn't resist.
Tinkerbell-sized, but swarming like maggots.
That surreal scene had goosebumps rising when...
Kieeeek!
A guttural scream erupted from the hunter's mouth.
The fairies had set him ablaze.
Grinning innocently all the while.
Cognitive dissonance hit hard.
Their pure, childlike expressions clashed with the horror they'd wrought.
Uwaaaak!
C-grade, my ass!
The Association bastards!
Just like COEX Gate, they'd botched the rank assessment again!
Those fairies reek of A-grade power...!
Even weather forecasts don't flop twice in a row... do they?
Anyway.
"Kyarrurur, kyarrurur!"
Shadows stretched long beneath the levitating fairies.
As if their tiny shells were fake, and those sinister shadows their true form.
Whoosh!
Tinkerbells straight out of a fairy tale burned the hunter alive. Not content, they started singing.
Eheya diya, great granny.
Take the blood, take it quick.
Eheya turn and turn.
Blood flower blooms in that child's hand.
Calf calf, spin it round.
Pass on the smiling face.
Into granny's arms it goes.
Feet first into the earth.
Eheya, come on over.
The great granny calls.
Heart beneath the roots.
Wriggles, breathes, alive.
Gasp.
The eerie lyrics sent bile surging to my tongue.
Me, who'd stayed cool at Hangju Bridge.
Hah, hah.
Now screams battered my throat like a punching bag.
Back then it was just blatant goblins, but here the genre flipped on its head.
The info assaulting my eyes clashed wildly with my common sense!
Why fairies, all of a sudden?
"Those moth bastards... the worst... no, wait, no... from some point on, moths were nothing... The tree! Damn it, that fucking tree...!"
...Ah.
That's why the Greenbelt Gate survivor had rolled his eyes back, ranting 'moths, moths!'
I'd pictured actual moths.
They were Tinkerbells.
Fairies were supposed to be cute. These wore cute shells over monstrous cores.
Confession: I'm zero immune to horror genre.
Blood and guts? Fine anytime.
But not this.
Thump thump!
My heart hammered so hard my diaphragm and ribs ached.
"Huh?!"
Damn.
The creatures turned glowing eyes my way.
Sensed my presence.
Three flapped over, pink dust trailing from wings. Up to some trick with that powder.
Run.
I should.
But my feet were rooted.
Not metaphorically—literally.
Vine-like grass had snaked up my ankles.
Hemo extended a fin to clear it, but the mystery grass bound faster.
"I hear someone!"
Even as they closed in slow.
"The Great Grandmother Tree guided them to us!"
"Kyarrururur! I have a feeling we'll get some plump offerings today!"
Shit!
Couldn't draw Blood Mirror—numbness locked my hand.
Of all timings!
I'd just seen the fate of fairy prey.
Going mad here.
My nape prickled.
Kyarrur, kyarrur!
Laughter neared.
Those damn fairies. Back in the army, I'd freaked at Tinkerbell-sized moth monsters. Compared to these, they were snow-white angels.
Rustle.
Their breath hit my hiding bush.
Dying...
A gust swirled, shoving me backward.
Snap snap.
The vines hugging my shin tore free roughly. Legs freed instantly.
Whoosh!
"...!"
A sweat drop from my chin caught my eye. I'd retreated.
How?
Something yanked me back hard.
Realizing what it was, the scenery blurred past like a lie.
The hunting fairies tilted heads at my old spot. I'd vanished, speeding away.
Rustle!
Nearly 30 meters flown. Then my masked rescuer yanked off his mask.
"Phew!"
It was Jeong Hamin. He ditched the black mask, flashing bright teeth.
"That was close!"
"..."
No matter how I sliced it.
He'd let it get razor-thin before saving me.
"Glad you're safe, Seo Hunter."
"...Thanks."
"Wasn't fishing for thanks, but no problem!"
His blatant shamelessness left me awkward instead.
This traitor hunter, skin-deep honest, wagged a finger in warning.
"Gotta watch out. Saw that pink dust? It's like phobos—Fear via infrasound. One's no biggie, but a swarm pins even B-grades."
"You know your stuff. First time I'd seen those monsters."
Top guild vet's experience didn't fade.
"Haha!"
"...?"
What's funny?
A blueprint formed.
Teamed up with Jeong Hamin by chance. Thrilled at first human in this alien place.
But betrayed in the end, reduced to lab rat.
Traitor hunter.
Couldn't drop guard with this guy.
"Uh, over there."
"Yes?"
I pointed back the way we'd come. He turned, wondering.
In that gap, I slapped on the Surprise Texture Mask.
Mind at ease.
Hiding expressions aids mind control. Wearing it calms my tone too.
Freaking out was fine now. As long as voice didn't betray.
"Must've been nothing."
"Happens. You just escaped those moths! Thanks to me, Jeong Hamin! But weird? A pro like Seo Hunter getting crushed by phobos?"
"Wasn't phobos."
"Hm?"
I hiked my pant leg to peach bone, showing vine marks.
"Think I stepped on something."
"...Stepped? On what?"
Not shit.
Wanted to snap that.
Denying might make it real, choking words.
That look like I'm nuts is rude as hell!
Taking that from a traitor stung more.
But my Surprise Texture Mask faked calm. Gut eased, I said.
"You know Abyss Gates heavily reflect surroundings."
"Sure."
Common knowledge in future, hot research now.
Hunters half-believed. Figured environment vaguely mirrored inside.
Blind spot.
Future analyzed spawn sites first. Clues lay outside.
"Greenbelt Gate spawned in the DMZ."
"Yeah, whatever."
Abyss interiors mirrored spawn environs near-perfectly. Profoundly.
Survival rates low now, all about getting out alive.
Future made it basic fact.
Pre-entry surveys mandatory. Law-enforced.
Hunter success skyrocketed.
Before: suicide squads.
After: intel-driven clears.
I'd drip future scraps to ease this traitor's doubts.
Continued.
"What's buried in DMZ soil?"
"...Ah...!!"
I nodded.
"Landmines."
"But landmines blow you sky-high stepping off."
"Obvious."
"...?"
"No gunpowder detonations inside gates."
"Whoa..."
Jeong Hamin marveled.
"Seo Hunter, you're a genius. Thought that far in the moment?"
"That moment..."
"You said you stepped on a mine! Most'd be bawling, but you watched a total stranger burn!"
Ah, that.
Self-preservation first for him. Fairy campfires on humans? Not his concern.
I flexed mask muscles.
"Truly tragic what happened to him."
"...Tra...gic?"
"Yes."
"For real?"
"Yes."
"Uh..."
Jeong Hamin fumbled words.