Break Time Interrupted by the Hell Train
The Hunter Management Bureau was in utter chaos, if only for a moment.
Baek Moon-seong and Kim Chun-gyu, scrambling around in a panic, nearly fainted at the sudden appearance of a [Quasi-Constellation Grade] dungeon gate without any warning.
Compared to Cartibes being [Legendary Grade], this was utterly absurd. And yet,
Not long after, it wasn't resolved—it had vanished.
This was the first time ever. Gates disappearing like that.
"Wh-what the hell."
This was research material.
From the very existence of something called Quasi-Constellation Grade to begin with. And why it vanished.
It was probably going to be a long-lasting mystery, or an incident deeply tied to the opening of the Hell Gate.
Due to the shock, all the high-rankers stationed in Korea had rushed to Jeju Island, and they'd even sent emails to the Unregistered.
Soon, a reply came from the Unregistered.
"!!!"
The Unregistered had resolved this crisis.
In response to massive sponsorships and desperate pleas for an explanation, they received two messages:
1. No method works against an opponent of higher stature.
2. Like Holy Relics, you need to match the 'stature' to see meaningful effects.
What if a Quasi-Constellation Grade rampaged without any countermeasures?
The Republic of Korea had no such weapons, except for the Sa-in Sword of Execution.
Well, except for one—the Unregistered, who had made the previous Quasi-Constellation Grade vanish through some utterly incomprehensible method.
"This is a problem the world needs to focus on."
As always, gate difficulties rose gradually. It felt almost like a natural phenomenon, scaling with the average hunter level across humanity.
"There's no guarantee another Quasi-Constellation Grade won't appear."
It was humanity's problem.
The world had now launched operations to enter the gates themselves.
Having confirmed that Holy Relics extracted and absorbed souls, dragging things out was the height of stupidity.
• United States
"Hoo!"
The US TOP 1 through 5 formed a team and entered.
They rarely mobilized to this extent, even considering global security. The nation felt that much pressure about entering the gate interior.
World Rank 1, Jayden Hawk, pulled seven cards from his deck and turned the surroundings into a wasteland.
The other rankers unleashed their full power, pouring everything into firepower.
"They didn't properly explain that this wouldn't be easy."
Jayden's expression soured more and more.
Cheon Seung-hyuk's briefing had been too concise.
If it had been me, I could've spun it into a full Tolkien novel with all sorts of flowery language. But,
They were America.
No massive entity like the Unregistered, but each was a superpower's hero.
• China
"Raaagh!"
China's Rank 1, Seon-gwang, erupted with majestic fiery light from his entire body. The gate's red mist was pushed back in all directions by its weight.
He brought 20 high-rankers with him.
They needed to resolve this quickly to consider other nations' issues.
• Japan
Ultra-high-grade gates now only opened one at a time. Right after the authentic Jackal Mask was disrupted into a sanctuary by Yoon So-i,
The fake one in Fukuoka no longer stirred up the atmosphere.
But too many people had already died.
Its influence could be felt even here, inside the gate for obtaining the [Reverse Cross].
"Kyaaack!"
"Yuki!"
Just now, one high-ranker had lost their life.
'The energy inside is overwhelmingly strong.'Japan was a hunter powerhouse. Other nations with similar forces managed to fight without casualties or at least retreat from investigation lines, but
'This level makes even scouting impossible!'The difficulty was on another level entirely.
The red mist pressing in from all sides was incomparably denser.
Clearly, the Holy Relic had absorbed a massive number of souls from Fukuoka and across Japan.
No other powerhouse had as many casualties as Japan. It was no wonder the Holy Relic had grown stronger.
"Japan can do this!!!"
Sato Kenji unleashed his realm, drawn up to the Yamata no Orochi's limit, to its extreme.
They couldn't request aid from other countries.
It wasn't pride. It was the law.
The World Hunter Alliance's high-ranker support agreement had no clause for 'internal' gate clearances. No one had ever attempted it before.
If they added an internal clearance clause, what more would Japan have to lose?
"Hraaagh!"
Since that wouldn't happen, he decided not to think about it.
• Russia
Ivan Mikhailov.
World Rank 1.
He entered the gate interior alone.
Japan had the most casualties, but Russia had suffered nearly as many from the nuclear meltdown.
But there was one reason Ivan Mikhailov could enter alone.
He was strong if he could rampage.
Weak if he couldn't.
That made him naturally Rank 1.
If you didn't acknowledge it, he'd make you.
Hundreds of monsters swarmed toward Ivan Mikhailov, who had entered alone.
But Ivan laughed heartily, ignoring them completely.
"Hahaha!"
The instant he did,
Tremendous light and heat erupted centered on Ivan,
And an explosion wiped everything away.
Noise beyond comprehension. The monsters vanished without even knowing what hit them.
There, in the distance, was the Holy Relic [Heart Scale].
"Hahaha!"
The area reduced to scorched earth.
This was what happened when Ivan Mikhailov got serious.
"Unregistered!!!!!!"
That someone fun and satisfying had finally appeared was, to Ivan, not a joke at all.
They were probably out there somewhere, pulling off some insane stunt to satisfy him.
Let's meet soon.
I'm waiting. Unregistered.
"Man, I've been waiting for this way too long......"
The name of it? [Break Time]!
How long had it been since the last one?
The world was handling the Holy Relics themselves, fighting like mad.
Reason for me to intervene? None at all.
No EXP, and Power Fragments couldn't be obtained inside gates anyway—that was half-confirmed. Why would I stick my neck into that terrifying place?
Lately, I'd been buried in research, development, and training.
Extracting energy from Ollie's two Power Fragments required quite some time in the related facilities, he'd said.
Aside from that, I'd developed new ammo like Shadowless Bullets and Dispel Bullets.
The one I'd pulled as a white bullet during the Cartibes fight. I'd make attribute ammo one or two at a time when I had spare moments.
Ollie, with only the Power Fragment extraction process left, finally caught his breath. He set up automatic monitoring for the Holy Relics' progress in the operations room and called it a day.
Jenny had provided mana and knowledge for Shadowless Bullet and barrier research, leaving her time free. She always sparkled with anticipation, waiting for my training orders.
Training? Great.
Research? The more, the better.
But could a person live like that forever?
Always researching (not me),
Running, jumping, rolling (never me).
Always devoted, giving up my life (nope).
Today's tasks were overflowing, but all done anyway, so
"Let's go!!!"
"Ooooh!" "Roger that."
Shelter upgrades.
[LV 20 = Surround Sound]
♪ ♬ ♪
Surround sound immersion, right? Anyway, killer music echoed from all directions, filling the entire shelter vibrantly.
"Ooooh!" "Whoa. Shelter's the best. Gotta admit."
My precious agents' reactions? Perfect.
But my welfare didn't end there.
[LV 35 = Home Theater (Display)]
Whoosh!
Now, on one entire wall of my spacious-to-the-point-of-emptiness one-room apartment, a display installed. A screen over 100 inches materialized—insanely huge.
"Kyaa!" "Hoooh."
Jenny jumped in surprise as the massive screen appeared before her eyes. Ollie was startled too but played it cool.
[LV 40 = Home Theater (Content)]
"Alright, pick something! We're chilling with a fun flick today!"
Today's break time.
[Movie Night].
"This is too good, too good, too good! Seriously amazing!"
Jenny was practically fainting,
"Hmm. FPS games on this wouldn't suck, yo."
Ollie, who'd won rock-paper-scissors, was already pondering choices.
"Pick something fun! Ollie!"
"ROGER!"
Beep. Beep.
In the meantime, Ollie—who'd hacked the Home Theater (Content)—lined up options to his taste.
【Horror】 【Occult】 【Mystery】
"Rejected."
I vetoed that myself.
Adding a scoop of horror to my life, which was horror enough? Utterly brain-dead decision, worthy of condemnation.
Ollie shuddered at my coldness and suggested another film instead.
"Eh... fine, whatever. This'll do."
"What's this, Captain?"
A recent fantasy hit—about going to the afterlife for judgment on heaven or hell. Really fun stuff.
"Eh?"
Not sure if it'd suit Jenny's taste, but Ollie won rock-paper-scissors, so Olympic decision this time.
Via [LV 30 = Furniture Arrangement], I set up a massive sofa. Big enough for us three to lie down at a 'safe distance from me.'
"Let's go."
"ROGER!"
And so the movie started.
.
.
.
The protagonist dies in the present world.
Guided by three grim reapers, suddenly enters an abandoned subway station.
Just a normal station, but it's 4 AM.
Way past last train time. But,
A train actually pulls into the station.
In the dead of night, a train with bizarre coloring suddenly barrels in.
"Heeeck!"
Jenny was already spooked, tumbling over. She unconsciously clung to me.
"Eek! Sorry! I broke Rule #1 'Don't come close'! Truly sorry!"
I knew agents had [Mutual Damage Ignore] set. Recent ally joins had shown how effective it was.
We just kept distance for caution's sake.
"It's fine, let's watch the movie!"
"Yes! Sorry...!"
I glanced at Ollie to check if he was okay, and
"......"
He was covering his eyes.
If you're that scared, why suggest horror earlier?
Then,
[WARNING] [WARNING] [WARNING]
"!!!"
This wasn't from the movie.
It was the 'alert' from the operations room notifying us.
Sound alerts only triggered for one thing.
The villain (♠) in Fukuoka had moved.
"Let's check it out!"
"Yes!" "ROGER!"
We paused the movie and headed to the operations room.
The villain—i.e., the spy chip (♠)—was blinking in Fukuoka.
"What is it?"
Not moving separately, just flickering.
Seemed like setting it to alert for even the tiniest thing caused this.
"Still creepy as hell blinking like that, so I'll monitor it, yo! Haha!"
He insisted it wasn't because the movie scared him.
Then Jenny suddenly declared, 'As an agent, with a mission now, I must check this!'—not because the movie was scary.
...Next time, healing movies only.
Then,
"Huh."
"Eh?" "What?"
The villain's position suddenly vanished.
Ollie scoured Fukuoka and the surrounding area to track where it went.
Nothing.
"Did the chip explode? Ah, that'd suck big time for me."
Ollie's face darkened sharply.
"Hm. A guy who's held up till now suddenly pops? Maybe the villain's dead."
My take: not the chip, the villain died.
I knew Japanese hunters had entered the Fukuoka gate interior. A high-ranker might've taken him out.
"Wait, no."
Not that either. Thinking about it, Fukuoka had two ultra-high-grade gates originally.
The one Japanese rankers entered was next to the ♠-marked gate. The one where MARK-67 found the Reverse Cross.
"Didn't they say after finding the authentic Jackal Mask, only one ultra-high-grade gate remained open?"
"Yep, correct, yo. Oh!"
Right.
The ultra-high-grade gate influenced by the Jackal Mask vanished, but the ♠ had been confirmed blinking there until just now.
But now gone.
"Huh?"
Then Ollie pointed to one spot.
Incheon, Republic of Korea.
"Incheon Station?"
Villain (♠) confirmed at the subway, Incheon Station.
Simultaneously, the spy chip's signal status changed to [Excellent]. It had been on the verge of cutting out before.
"This good enough for monitoring, Ollie?"
"Yep! Totally!"
Ollie immediately tethered to the spy chip.
The screen glitched briefly, then flash! Image appeared.
The villain stood before the subway waiting line.
Incheon Station was empty of people.
It was past the last train.
"......?"
The villain muttered alone.
Seemed like a prayer.
Then,
"!!!"
A pitch-black train pulled in.