Pit of Malice Cleared

Zaug stole a chalice from the ruined temple, and not long after that we cut down even the Abyss Revenants that came charging in.

Just like that, a gate whose bottom we could never quite grasp was suddenly cleared.

"I believe it's because the medium serving as the core vanished, and there were no boss-class monsters left either."

I nodded at Ingrid's guess. What did I know? Even as a hunter with six years under my belt, I'd never seen a gate like this. Trusting the vast magical knowledge Ingrid carried made far more sense.

Hadn't even three hours passed since ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we went in? Subjectively, it felt like half a day.

"Doesn't feel like much of a win."

B-class mana stones ran about ten million won apiece, so one job had netted me a billion. And still the fatigue pressing on my shoulders only pulled a huge yawn out of me.

"Masteeeer! This maiden shall massage it for you!"

"Cease that shameless nonsense, magic-wielder."

"Hmph. And what of you, refusing even to show your devotion to Master?"

"What did you say?!"

While my two summons bickered, the chalice in my hand stopped spewing any more residual thoughts. Bashful little thing. I'd have to call it out again somewhere quiet.

"Pay us no mind."

"Ah—it's not that."

We still had to tidy up the site, didn't we? I'd obtained the Revenant crafting method. As for the Abyss Revenants' corpses… well, we'd killed already-dead things a second time, so I wasn't sure "corpses" was even the right word. Whatever they were, their remains needed collecting too. No telling how long the gate would hold. If there was anything worth taking, we were sweeping it all.

If I wanted overtime pay for work beyond regular hours, I had to put in the legwork myself.

"Is my Lord not a freelancer?"

This was exactly why I couldn't stand sharp-eyed summons.

"Pile them in one place."

"Understood. Knights of the Order—move with haste."

"Guuuuuh."

We'd destroyed twenty-three Abyss Revenants in all. Even emptying the Death Space completely wouldn't hold that many. I'd sort them before leaving the gate, then call a contractor afterward to haul them out.

"Master, rather than trouble yourself, why not summon your attendant?"

"President Baek is not an 'attendant.'"

Listen to this kid's mouth. You didn't go casually disrespecting a man already buried in cleanup work. After five years as an unaffiliated hunter, I knew exactly how much paperwork ate into your hands. President Baek had made my life so much easier. Calling someone that capable a servant? That was the kind of talk that got you smote by heaven.

"Hiiing."

We gathered nothing but the Abyss Revenants' remains by the entrance.

All right. Time to head out.

I pushed my right foot through and it slid in without resistance. The moment I relaxed and stepped through, my field of vision snapped and changed.

The alley where the gate had appeared. We were safely back in the original world.

"P-Park Minho Hunter?"

"And you are?"

A woman in a suit called my name with a startled look on her face.

"Ah, I'm so sorry! I'm with the Counter-Abnormal Bureau."

"Yes. A pleasure."

"How is—that gate…?"

"Cleared it."

"Hah—! You're incredible!"

I appreciated the praise. My mood, however, was not so great.

At least two hours had passed since the incident broke out. Given that an SSS grade had come up, it probably hadn't hit three—but a gate with a ninety-nine percent mana distribution had appeared, and they still hadn't even properly assembled a response team? If I'd sat inside waiting for these people, I'd have been a pile of bones by now.

"Two hours?!"

"Yes."

"That can't be. We didn't even pick up the mana anomaly signatures that usually accompany a gate's appearance."

Strange. I'd heard the Rift Bureau's mana-wave detection center had a ninety-nine percent accuracy rate. The higher the mana distribution—put another way, the closer a gate got to critical threshold—the stronger the dimensional-distortion mana anomalies became. Protocol was that the Rift Bureau contracted nearby guilds the moment those anomalies were spotted, and if the situation looked unmanageable, Counter-Abnormal Bureau hunters were dispatched immediately.

"The anomaly was only detected twenty minutes ago."

"That's a little odd."

I rubbed my chin with my right hand and shared the rest of what came to mind.

"Did you check the mana distribution, Assistant Manager?"

"Yes. It was eighty-two percent."

Huh. After carving through that many Revenants—and dropping twenty-three Abyss Revenants on top of it—the mana distribution had only fallen seventeen percent. If we'd just tried to hold out to the end, there'd have been no answer. Goosebumps prickled down my arms. Chilling.

"It was ninety-nine percent when I went in."

"If it was that high, the Rift Bureau should have caught it, right?"

"That's what's strange. So—"

"I'm so sorry! There must have been some kind of error!"

"I wasn't looking for an apology."

I meant it. I was, in name at least, a man in partnership with the Rift Bureau. Not fully under their roof, so call it more of a neighborly arrangement.

The bigger problem was the malice I'd felt steadily from the moment I stepped inside the gate. As if the whole thing had been a trap dug specifically to kill any hunter who entered. A vicious, calculated gate. For some reason, even the Rift Bureau's detection had been delayed, hadn't it?

"By the way—were there any witnesses?"

"Well, you see… between a car rollover and some brawl, apparently no one even came near this area."

Should I call it lucky that there were no civilian casualties?

"Does that not strike you as suspicious as well?"

"How could anyone control every person who decides to move around?"

I stopped thinking about it any further. This was exactly how conspiracy theories thrived, I supposed. Create a gate just to kill one guy and even manage the surroundings? Once you started suspecting that, there was no end to it.

"Additional personnel from the Counter-Abnormal Bureau are being dispatched. I'm sorry we're late."

"Ah—no, it's really fine."

Late detection of the mana anomaly could be chalked up as negligence. The fact that the area had been so noisy no witnesses even turned up? That was just rotten luck.

Assistant Manager Lee Seungmi had confirmed it as a B-class gate, requested additional hunters from the Bureau, and been standing by on-site.

"I had no idea you were fighting alone in there. I'm truly sorry!"

"Not at all. It's not as if you knew."

If she'd come alone, she would have become a Revenant's meal. Or stood by as a spectator sucking her thumb.

【Wouldn't you say this humble servant was of more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠use than either of you fine ladies?】

"Scram!"

"A thief dares lift his head?"

Both summons barked at Zaug's remark.

"Eek!"

"Ah—my summons are just talking among themselves. Please don't mind them."

Only the three of us could hear Zaug's thoughts. From the outside, this picture was perfect for getting called a lunatic—did they not realize that?

Still, it was a relief someone from the Counter-Abnormal Bureau was already here.

"Would you mind handling the site cleanup?"

"Ah—yes, of course!"

Heheheh. One less job. The thought of calling a contractor and babysitting the disposal myself had been dizzying.

"I'd like the bodies gathered near the entrance sent to my workshop."

"Yes, sir!"

I covered the rest of the cleanup details, then yawned. Ugh. Sleepy. With the tension gone, my eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. I'd been swinging a hammer in the workshop, then worked straight through a sudden mutant gate without a break.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"No debrief or anything?"

"You look exhausted—please go rest! You're Ranger Number One, so the Bureau will contact you separately!"

Oh. Flexibility from a civil servant. That was a rare commodity.

Hwaaaaawn. I was tired. Time to get some sleep.

"Master, lean on this maiden's shoulder."

"You mean to support someone with that scrawny frame? My Lord, leave it to me."

No thank you. Treating me like a patient. Strictly speaking, wasn't Sir Isra the patient here—the one whose arm and chest had been crushed?

With that pointless thought in my head, I trudged back toward my studio apartment.

After Minho left the scene, roughly two minutes passed before the hunters dispatched from the Counter-Abnormal Bureau arrived at the gate.

"Jeon Hyeyeon, Chief of Counter-Abnormal Bureau First Division."

"Assistant Manager Lee Seungmi, Fifth Division!"

"Status?"

"Well… it's over."

Lee Seungmi summarized her exchange with Minho and delivered the report.

"Hunter Park again?"

"He looked far too exhausted, so I sent him off under my own authority. I'm sorry."

"No. You did well. He's family outside the Rift Bureau—we're supposed to cut him that much slack."

Jeon Hyeyeon slowly turned over what she'd just heard.

"Assistant Manager Lee. When you arrived, the mana distribution was eighty-two percent, correct?"

"Yes."

"And Hunter Park said it was ninety-nine."

"That's right."

"But the Bureau never detected it."

A chill ran down the back of her neck. This incident had not been an ordinary gate appearance.

"Well, machines aren't perfect either. All right, noted."

"I'll include it in the report as well."

"Ah—don't worry about it. Now that I'm here, my side will write the report."

Lee Seungmi's eyes lit up. It was only because Minho hadn't made an issue of the situation. If a guild-affiliated hunter had gone through this, they would have blown up and started talking lawsuits. She was already in a position where filing a report meant fretting over a written apology—and now Chief Jeon was saying she'd cover for her. The relief settled over her at once.

"Assistant Manager Lee, help with securing the perimeter."

"Understood."

As Lee Seungmi headed toward the main road, the First Division hunters murmured among themselves.

What's gotten into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠our chief?

Maybe the sun's going to rise in the west tomorrow.

You think she's just managing her image with the other divisions?

Jeon Hyeyeon's fiery temper was famous inside the department. It wasn't that Assistant Manager Lee had handled herself incorrectly. Following the manual—standing by at a gate that had entered critical risk and waiting for support—wasn't wrong. But if it hadn't been Minho, sticking to that manual would have nearly produced massive casualties. And the person who usually shouted about showing some flexibility in situations like this was none other than Jeon Hyeyeon herself.

"I can hear all of that, you know."

"Chief. Shall we head in?"

"Whew. At least all we have to do is clean up. That's a relief."

"I thought we were screwed when the night call came in—doesn't feel that way now, does it?"

The First Division hunters rubbed their palms together and stepped into the gate.

"Huh."

"What is this…"

The faces of people who'd been joking just moments before went stiff. Anyone who saw the scene inside the gate would have done the same.

Corpses carpeted the base of the hill. The fallen Revenants numbered in the thousands, give or take. And that wasn't all. Gathered off to one side were more than twenty Abyss Revenants—monsters that could wield imperfect Aura. Classified under the B-class category, but in practice they should have been ranked A-minus. Powerhouses.

Enemies on this scale. Could one person face them alone?

If the goal was pure survival, keeping on the move and holding out would be possible.

But cutting down twenty Abyss Revenants and a thousand-unit swarm of Revenants? That was another matter entirely.

The emotion flickering in the First Division hunters' eyes was pure shock. Fight this many? Not a C-class hunter—even an A-class would have struggled to walk away alive. The hunter Director Jeong Seungil had acknowledged. The rumors calling him the next SS-class were no exaggeration at all.

"Ch-Chief."

"I could probably manage holding out, and that's about it."

It wasn't a question of strong or weak. A-class hunters were still creatures of blood and flesh. Stamina, mana, and willpower all had limits. Slaughtering thousands of monsters in under a few hours? Even Jeon Hyeyeon wasn't sure she could do it.

This isn't the time to stand around being amazed.

She wanted to inspect the site further, but she held herself back. The report mattered more.

"I'll leave the field analysis to you."

"You're peeling off first, Chief?"

"I need to report to the Director. You handle it."

"Take care, ma'am. Loyalty, loyalty!"

A secret she couldn't share with the First Division hunters. Behind this incident stood the Society. The fact that they were targeting Minho. She had to get that to Director Jeong Seungil as fast as possible.