Encounter with the Unknown (1)
The next dawn, I got out of bed early and opened the window.
Beyond the black basalt wall, a tangerine orchard stretched out in every direction.
Not a bad view.
This place was Samda Resort.
A multi-purpose lodging facility managed by Hareubang.
Hareubang’s job was to keep out any villains who slipped over from the mainland and to make sure the guests stayed safe.
There was a nightclub downstairs, and apparently it was fairly popular among Jeju residents.
Of course, drugs were strictly forbidden.
If anyone got violent inside the club, they were thrown out on the spot and blacklisted so thoroughly they’d never be allowed anywhere near the place again.
It was a completely different operation from Gangnam’s Red Moon Club.
Even when a place is run by a villain, the atmosphere changes that much depending on the person in charge.
Hareubang had become a villain of his own free will to protect Jeju, and that somehow made him feel even more impressive.
“Ughhh…”
A voice came from behind me.
Bang Su-hwan and Lee Ji-jun were tossing in their beds, half-asleep and mumbling in their sleep.
They’d been drinking until late last night, so they were still in that dazed, miserable state where they weren’t fully awake or asleep.
There was something important to do today, though.
I threw on my clothes and left the room.
Ha Se-na had taken a separate room next door.
I walked down the long corridor and stopped in front of her door.
After knocking twice, Ha Se-na opened it and stepped out.
“Good morning.”
“Choi Yongki. You’re up early.”
Ha Se-na rubbed at her ear.
“I heard snoring all night. Who was it? Bang Su-hwan, right?”
“Bingo.”
It was an old resort, so the soundproofing was terrible.
“Ugh. That pig. He drank enough to drown himself yesterday.”
Ha Se-na stretched both arms overhead and let out a long yawn.
She was already dressed for exercise.
A short hoodie, leggings with shorts over them, and her hair pulled back tight in her usual ponytail.
“Where are you going?”
“For a run.”
Ha Se-na was known in the guild for her solid build and excellent stamina.
“Let me come with you.”
“You? I’m running twenty kilometers.”
I hadn’t neglected my training before coming to Jeju.
I’d punched the air a thousand times to imitate Judgment of the Superhuman.
And to get used to Speeder’s Infinite Acceleration, I’d kept up a steady regimen of marathon training with mana.
Forty-two kilometers would be easy enough.
Ha Se-na tilted her chin, expression cool.
“You sure about that?”
I answered with a light smile.
“Hah—huff…!”
Ha Se-na’s breathing grew ragged.
On the other hand, I kept picking up speed.
Before long, Ha Se-na fell behind.
“What’s the matter? We’ve got two kilometers left.”
As I ran without stopping and kept accelerating, Ha Se-na stared at me like she’d seen a ghost.
“...What the hell are you?”
What, me? A hero.
I almost said it out loud, but swallowed the words and found a suitable rock to sit on instead.
“Let’s take a break.”
Ha Se-na collapsed beside me, panting.
I took a bottle of water from my bag and handed it to her.
“Thanks.”
She swallowed a mouthful of the cold liquid, and her chest seemed to open up all at once.
In front of us, the endless horizon stretched out.
Wherever you went on Jeju, the emerald sea was always in sight.
Ha Se-na wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked out toward the water as well.
“Still the same, huh.”
It was the first day after we arrived on Jeju.
Yesterday had been spent enjoying the island’s nature, laughing and talking nonsense together.
Today, though, we had work to do.
Before we went after Quarter, we had to handle the job Ha Se-na had been asked to do by Hareubang.
Which meant it was about time I asked her.
About the bitter thing from her past.
Keeping my eyes on the horizon, I spoke.
“So. What happened?”
I listened carefully to the client’s story.
Ha Se-na stayed silent for a long moment before parting her lips.
“I’ve got a younger sister. Her name’s Ha Yubin. She’s super cute. Though lately she’s been a little bad at listening.”
I already knew that.
I’d first met Ha Se-na during the Dio Guild’s rookie test.
Back then, she’d told Lee Ji-jun this:
“There was a kindergarten where the monster ran off to, and that’s where my little sister went. If it hadn’t been for you, things might’ve gotten much worse.”
It had been her way of thanking him for taking down Cerberus.
Ha Se-na went on.
“And I had an older brother too.”
Past tense.
Meaning he was gone now.
In a world where Gates burst open and monsters appeared, losing someone precious was common enough.
I’d lost my own younger brother to a villain in my previous life, after all.
“When I was young, I was a bit of a brat. My mom and dad used to scold me, but my brother would take my hand and drag me all over Jeju. We climbed mountains, scaled cliffs, even sneaked into an amusement park that had already shut down…”
A faint smile touched Ha Se-na’s lips as she recalled the past.
“My brother wanted to be a ranger, so he used to say we were going on adventures every day. Back then, everything was fun and exciting to me.”
At the end of the horizon, a red glow slowly began to rise.
“One day, we explored a cave. We used it as our hideout and filled it with candy and my favorite fairy tales. It was a secret place only my brother and I knew about. We even had a separate box there. We called it our treasure chest.”
Ha Se-na’s expression darkened little by little.
“That’s when the monster showed up. My brother fought it instead of me so I could get away, and he pushed me out of the cave. The next day, he was found dead…”
Before I’d noticed it, tears were streaming down Ha Se-na’s cheeks.
“After that, Jeju felt like a nightmare to me. I kept thinking about my brother, and I could hardly breathe. The day I left for Seoul, I swore I’d never come back for the rest of my life, but…”
Ha Se-na turned her head and looked at me.
Our eyes met—hers wet and shining.
“Somehow, I ended up coming back after all.”
What was the best thing about becoming a hero?
The double life?
The money?
The fame?
No.
It was being able to take care of the people around me first.
Listening to Ha Se-na, I made up my mind.
I would definitely help her deal with her trauma.
“I want to go to the cave and recover the treasure chest with the memories of my brother in it.”
I patted her on the shoulder and said, “Fine. We’ll go there together.”
“...Yeah.”
We looked straight ahead.
The sun rose beyond the sea’s horizon.
“A reason’s a nice thing to have, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is.”
“Huh? You’re crying and laughing at the same time. If you cry and laugh at once, that means…”
“Tch. You really are an old man.”
Ha Se-na muttered that with both cheeks still flushed.
“Being here does make home feel kind of nice.”
That afternoon, three people gathered in front of the resort.
“Boss! Departure preparations are complete.”
Bang Su-hwan shouted in a booming voice.
He wore a mountaineering hat and had a huge backpack slung over his shoulders.
Lee Ji-jun was staying behind at the resort to get information about Quarter from Hareubang.
The ones setting out were me, Bang Su-hwan, and—
“You pig. Where do you think you’re going on a trip? Why did you pack so much stuff?”
the only woman in the group, Ha Se-na.
“Aw, come on, noona. We can’t go hungry out there. I’ve even packed plenty of chocolate bars, so don’t worry!”
Bang Su-hwan’s ridiculous tone made Ha Se-na snort with laughter.
“Why do you talk like that? Did you come here from North Korea?”
Ha Se-na looked far more relaxed than she had earlier.
We loaded the luggage into the trunk, got into the van, and I took the wheel.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, sir!”
We drove for a long while until we reached our destination.
At the entrance stood a rusted sign.
Manjanggul.
A lava tube cave in Gujwa-eup, Jeju City.
One of the longest caves in the world, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and designated a Natural Monument of South Korea.
Next to the sign, a warning was written in red letters.
Warning. Multiple monsters have been sighted inside the cave. Do not enter under any circumstances.
Shinsoo territory. Access is prohibited.
Ha Se-na faltered.
“You’re really going in there?”
“What kind of hunter is afraid of monsters?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
It wasn’t just about the monsters inside Manjanggul.
If it were only that, Ha Se-na or Hareubang would’ve gone in already.
The final line of the warning had been added for a reason.
— Shinsoo sighting area. Approach forbidden.
Some monsters were friendly to humans, like Haechi.
But most of them killed people indiscriminately.
And if it’s a Shinsoo...
It was a step above Apocalypse-class.
Even hunters couldn’t take one lightly.
Fortunately, the monster inside Manjanggul was hiding deep underground, curled up and keeping still.
Apparently, it hadn’t shown any notable activity in decades.
According to the experts, as long as it wasn’t disturbed from the outside, it wouldn’t pose any danger to humanity.
Bang Su-hwan swallowed hard.
“So this is basically like poking a sleeping lion in the whiskers.”
I stretched lightly and said, “You’re not too late. You can still turn back. There’s no need to drag everyone into danger for nothing.”
It wasn’t empty talk.
A Shinsoo was not the kind of opponent you could afford to underestimate.
It might even be more dangerous than Quarter.
With a serious look, I said, “We might not make it back alive.”
Being a hunter meant living with death at your side.
This was Ha Se-na’s mission, but I had steeled myself even more firmly than usual.
Bang Su-hwan said nothing and just started walking.
Silently, he took the silver Kite Shield out of the trunk.
“It’s my job to help the boss come back alive.”
Ha Se-na tucked her healer’s wand under her arm as well.
Then she said with solemn determination, “If we’re going to die, we die together.”
Hah. A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
“That line doesn’t suit you at all, Ha Se-na.”
“Shut up.”
Embarrassed, she reddened and strode ahead.
The cave entrance radiated an ominous presence, like the gaping maw of a monster.
My own thoughts weren’t all that different.
Saving everyone—that was the hero’s duty.
I slung Heoksikdo across my back and moved forward.
“Kieeek!!”
A bat-type monster screeched and lunged at us.
Those creatures with their pale pupils and flapping wings were called Night Shade.
Their specialty was sucking the blood of animals and launching sonic attacks through ultrahigh-frequency sound.
After I swung Heoksikdo a few times, their wings were sliced away and the bats crashed to the ground.
“Hup!”
Bang Su-hwan slammed the tip of the Kite Shield down on a bat’s neck.
“Kieeek!”
The bat gave a final shriek and went limp.
Ha Se-na channeled mana into the wand in her hand.
The wand flashed, and the invisible earplugs around our ears vanished.
Ha Se-na looked at me and Bang Su-hwan.
“Your eardrums are still okay, right?”
Night Shade were only Collapse-class, so they weren’t particularly difficult to handle.
Still, their shrill screaming had been enough to make me wince at first.
Thanks to the earplugs Ha Se-na created, though, we blocked the ultrasonic attacks with ease.
Bang Su-hwan shot her a thumbs-up.
“Wow. Your skills keep getting better every day, noona. That noise canceling was insane.”
“Your snoring was louder than that all night, you pig.”
“I don’t snore.”
“Yeah, you do.”
I left the two of them bickering behind and took the lead.
So far, so good.
Compared to the team’s overall level, this was overkill.
That is, until the boss shows up.
That was when a chill ran down my spine.
Is that killing intent?
No.
Something even greater than killing intent sliced through the air.
“Stop.”
I raised a hand and shouted, but I was too late.
“Kraaaah!!!”
Sand rained down from the ceiling.
It was such a thunderous roar that the entire cave shook with it.
“Damn it!”
Bang Su-hwan and Ha Se-na, along with me, instinctively covered our ears and crouched down.
Slowly, I lifted my head.
Deep inside the cave, I could feel a massive surge of mana.
The distance was considerable.
We would probably have to go another hour deeper before we reached it.
And yet the roar itself felt so vivid that it was as if some wild beast were breathing right in front of us.
We had only heard its cry.
Even so, Ha Se-na and Bang Su-hwan were trembling from head to toe.
So it’s come out.
Jeju’s Shinsoo, the one that made Manjanggul its home.
A world-class monster.
An unknown existence that humans had no right to touch.
“A dragon.”
I used Heoksikdo like a cane to push myself up.
“Keep your head clear.”
Hunters were a profession born to fight monsters.
And dragons were no exception.
“We’re going hunting.”