Chapter 122. The Unknown Hunter's Disappearance?
Chapter 122. The Unknown Hunter's Disappearance?
The gate hadn't been cleared. But it had closed.
In all the time since gates first appeared, nothing like this had ever happened.
"...Communications have been lost!"
"The gate..."
"Currently, Hunter Song Hoon and Hunter Laila... neither are responding."
All drone footage had cut off simultaneously, and Song Hoon's broadcast had also gone offline.
"What in the world...!"
The atmosphere in the command room sank heavily.
The taut thread of tension snapped in an instant. Sharp voices and panicked orders erupted from all sides.
Inside the command center, the multinational monitoring team was at a loss for words.
The people inside that gate were the pinnacle of hunters: Song Hoon and Laila.
And now, both had vanished simultaneously.
"C-countermeasures, we need..."
If someone falls into water, you pull them out.
If an entrance was blocked, you break through.
If a building collapses, you clear the rubble.
So what do you do when a gate simply disappears...?
"There isn't a single trace of a gate remaining?"
After a long silence following the general's words, an intelligence agent finally answered.
"Uh... as if it was never there to begin with..."
At that moment,
the only thing flickering on the command room's main screen was the crimson words: UNKNOWN : COMMUNICATION LOST.
And a silent dread crept through the highest-ranking leaders of the world.
---
Seoul, Blue House National Crisis Management Center.
An emergency meeting had been convened.
The Director of National Intelligence, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Blue House Senior Secretaries.
And at the center of it all, even the President.
"It's a complete communications blackout. We must classify the two Unknown Hunters as missing..."
The brief report instantly sank the mood.
These were the high-ranking officials at the nation's core.
Their minds began racing.
"This is insane... if those two are gone..."
"...They aren't just any S-rank Hunters. They are the single greatest reason the Republic of Korea can hold its head high before the entire world. The reason the United States, China, Japan—none of them dare act recklessly toward us..."
Then someone added quietly.
"China... If it's those bastards, they will definitely..."
"Retaliation for the Forbidden City will come."
Song Hoon had destroyed it personally.
Technically, he had destroyed it legally, calling it his own 'property'.
"Ultimately, the only reason they couldn't do anything about it was because those two existed."
"China will start running wild again. Absolutely."
They would fabricate any absurd pretext, applying economic pressure, launching diplomatic offensives, and starting media play.
Because that was China's way.
And signs of the Korean economy shifting were already visible.
"It's already being reflected in the stock market. KOSPI falling, the won weakening... and foreign capital was already beginning to pull out."
"Prepare a press conference... We must stake everything on the fact that they are still alive and will absolutely return."
Meanwhile, the internet was ablaze over the gate's disappearance.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: Aren't we totally fucked? ]
[ Content: (Clip of the stream cutting out) The gate just closed and vanished completely?
I mean, I doubt they're going anywhere to get killed, but how the hell do they come back from that? ]
↳ You could come back if you clear it.
↳ OP: But that's never happened where the gate completely disappeared before.
↳ Well, that's true...
Related posts were also slowly cropping up in Chinese communities.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: Now that the enforcer's gone, they're really acting up. ]
[ Content: (Translated community posts, translated news) What kind of bullshit is this 'Our chance has come' crap? lol And why are they shitting on the 'great nation' again? ]
↳ But knowing them, they probably really would do it.
↳ No idea what flimsy excuse they'll use to cause trouble this time.
The prevailing thought among people was that Song Hoon and Laila weren't dead.
The real question was whether they would be able to open the gate and come back.
---
And at that moment,
Inside the gate, a standoff was underway.
Short and sharp, words that seemed to tear through the air.
At those words, the man froze solid.
"Wh-what, Lord Hero... surely, even so, on a first meeting..."
"Ahem... Was I a bit too harsh?"
Without much thought, I took a few steps toward them.
─ Chaang!
Instantly, swords and spears were aimed sharply at me, full of wariness.
"Outsiders! Do not come any closer! The only reason you are not already bound is out of courtesy from Her Majesty the Queen!"
Courtesy?
Who exactly was being courteous to whom here...
"..."
Ignoring their warning, I approached the woman they called the Queen.
A man standing guard beside the Queen flashed his blade.
"Pay the price for ignoring my warning!"
He charged, aiming straight for my heart.
With a swift movement, he thrust his sword forward.
─ Snatch!
I caught the flying sword with my bare hand.
"...What?"
His face filled with disbelief that his sword had been caught.
He tried to pull it free, but it wouldn't budge.
"Grrk...!"
His face began to turn beet red.
What's he gonna do if I didn’t let go?
I tightened my grip on the blade I held.
─ Screeeech...
The blade slowly, but unmistakably, bent.
Then I roughly tossed the bent sword aside.
"Courtesy? Don't you understand who's being courteous to whom here?"
I looked directly at the Queen, who was still staring at us arrogantly.
She was desperately trying to act composed, but her eyes were quivering slightly.
"If you're calling us Outsiders... then the simple solution would be to just open the gate and leave it open, wouldn't it?"
At my words, the Queen swallowed quietly.
It was so silent I could hear that tiny sound.
When I took one more step, the Queen finally opened her mouth.
"We, we too... were just trying to survive...!"
...Survival?
An involuntary scoff burst out of me.
"So smashing our boat to pieces like that was for survival?"
I answered with a voice laced with mockery.
She attacked first for survival?
"Unbelievable. And you call yourself a queen..."
At my scathing criticism, the Queen shrieked out a reply.
"We did not break that!"
In an instant, the flow of the air changed.
The eyes of the surrounding soldiers flickered slightly too.
'...There's something going on here.'
I narrowed my eyes quietly and stared at her.
A lie, or the truth?
Or... was there some other factor even the Queen didn't know about?
"Then open the gate. We'll walk out on our own two feet."
"..."
"After that, you can close the gate or do whatever you want. But if you attack us one more time... I'll come back and smash everything to pieces."
That wasn't a negotiation—it was an ultimatum.
If they didn't understand, I intended to pound it into their heads.
If we left and the gate closed?
Then they wouldn't be able to come out either.
A pretty simple situation.
"That..."
The Queen hemmed and hawed, averting her gaze.
How could this woman possibly be a queen...
I let out a sigh and pressed my forehead with my fingers.
'Really, this was so frustrating I could die...'
Just then, Laila, who had been standing quietly behind me, approached.
She smiled gently and stood before the Queen.
The distance between them was less than a meter.
"Your Majesty?"
She slowly extended her hand and began lightly playing with the Queen's hair.
A delicate touch, as if handling a doll.
Yet her tone was cold as ice.
"Do you find us so laughable because we're speaking nicely?"
'...'
The emotion called terror surfaced in the Queen's eyes as she looked at Laila.
"If... if you are speaking of the gate... the door connecting to the outside... th-then we did not close it!"
"?"
"?"
Laila and I both tilted our heads simultaneously.
"...No, what is this supposed to mean?"
"W-well, first... please, come inside, and I will explain in detail..."
Her voice had shrunk to a murmur, and she slightly bowed her head.
She looked like she was treading carefully, afraid of what we might do.
The Queen slowly turned around and began walking toward the castle.
'Hero, what if it's a trap?'
'What do you think? We just destroy everything.'
After exchanging a glance with Laila, I followed behind her without another word.
Honestly, even if it was a trap, I wasn't worried at all.
But surprisingly...
They didn't try anything.
The place they led us to was, unexpectedly, a luxurious and quiet reception room.
"In truth..."
The Queen sat down cautiously and began to speak.
"There is an entity that harbors malice toward us..."
At her words, I narrowed my eyes.
She continued.
"Some time ago, we accidentally discovered a passage connected to the outside... a gate, as you call it. So we tried to lure that entity out through it..."
Laila had her arms crossed, leaning back leisurely in her chair.
"So this entity you speak of was the one that attacked us?"
"O-of course... we had no intention of attacking you! We were only trying to chase it out; we didn't know what was outside!"
...Yeah.
Well, that was possible, I supposed.
When you have your own problems, you don't have time to worry about others, after all.
"Fine, I get that. So what about the gate?"
At those words, the Queen fell silent again.
Then, with visible hesitation, she spoke.
"Perhaps the entity I mentioned... closed it."
I rested my chin on my hand and stared at her silently.
"And?"
"Would it not also be possible... for the entity to open it again...?"
She gave an awkward smile.
And that casually delivered attitude of hers.
'Wow... I almost raised my hand just now...'