S-Rank Gate
Seated in his workshop chair after work, Park Ha-jun ponders.
Promotion and tenure security.
Elevating the prestige of the math department.
Allowing his current researchers—and future students entering the department—to pursue pure mathematics without worrying about their futures...
To achieve all that, he needed to mathematically weave more circuits and reveal them to academia.
'I can't just settle for raking in gold...'
With that, Park Ha-jun grips his quill pen today as well, starting with an analysis of the commission [email].
It was from Hwayeong Guild. The Association had left the decision to his discretion, so there was no rush job from them.
To sum up the contents:
1. The S-rank gate—Mirror Labyrinth—contains 999 mirrors.
2. Attacks fly from every mirror, but only one has substance. You must find and shatter that one.
3. Shatter the real mirror, and repeat the process for the remaining 998... until every mirror is destroyed.
4. One way to identify the real one is to tank the mirror attacks directly and track the one with different damage.
5. Every 111th mirror shattered induces mental disruption on the raid team.
'...What insane difficulty.'
Now he understood why Hwayeong Guild had requested interception [Barrier] scrolls.
A gate where you endure countless attacks repeatedly to pinpoint the real one.
Worth calling S-rank...
He could only admire the hunters' mental fortitude for even attempting it.
'I could never be a hunter...'
Park Ha-jun clicked his tongue.
Still, requesting the gate details had been the right call.
He'd originally focused only on mana efficiency.
But according to the email, tweaking the [Barrier]'s operation itself seemed necessary.
Truth be told, he'd felt uneasy about taking 15% of the S-rank gate conquest reward...
If customizing the [Barrier] eased their burden far beyond expectations, he could accept it with a clear conscience.
'Make a scroll worth more than 15%...'
With that, he extracted keywords for the [Barrier]:
Defend against all attacks.
Among them, judge the strongest as the 'real' one. Reverse-trace its path and destroy the mirror with a [Mana Arrow].
And finally, ensure mana efficiency...
'...Is this even possible?'
It felt vague. But math rarely struck like lightning in one go.
You just mull it over alone.
'...I think I saw something related in a short paper.'
Sharing problems with colleague professors or researchers—that was the proper mathematician's way.
He'd planned to solve it alone, but the problem had grown convoluted. No helping it.
Around that time, Hwayeong Guild ran endless simulations, preparing for the S-rank gate.
"...Should we bring one more mage?"
Hwayeong's master, Seo Ji-ah, muttered with half-lidded eyes. She was exhausted. The strategy meeting had dragged on for six hours without a solid answer.
"asd123's Barrier will cover five B-rank tanks. But..."
A Barrier just blocked. It couldn't discern damage like an intelligent tank or judge the real threat.
In other words, while asd123's Barrier held off the mirror attacks, the raid team needed another way to find the real one.
The most promising: Mages' wide-area debuff—[Frost Wind]—to slow the attacks, then identify the least-affected as real.
Reasonable, since they didn't know what Park Ha-jun was cooking into the [Barrier].
They finalized the strategy and reorganized the raid accordingly:
Two B-rank archers to strike mirrors.
Two tanks for emergency aggro.
One healer for mental disruptions.
Six mages for [Frost Wind].
And Seo Ji-ah, the scroll user.
Now...
"...How about safely adding one more mage?"
Time to bridge simulation and reality gaps.
Simulations ignored emotional swings and such.
If even one mage flubbed condition management, disaster.
"But hiring another elite mage here cuts guild net profit too thin against the risk."
"..."
This commission was to hook asd123's interest for sure.
He replied promptly to Association requests but ignored Hwayeong's overtures.
Overpaying this time meant he couldn't brush off the next one easily.
"...It's fine. The commission gold to asd123 is an investment."
Rationalizing thus, Seo Ji-ah pushed the meeting till dawn, unaware it was pointless.
The next day.
Yeonhee University's science building third floor buzzed unusually in the math department lab.
"Professor! Adding collision volume to the covariance matrix from before..."
"Remodeling based on that matrix..."
"Waaah. I couldn't solve a single one... Guess I have no talent..."
...Odd interjections aside.
Park Ha-jun began concretizing the [Barrier] using his researchers' data.
First, set collision volume of attacks hitting the 'shield' as a variable.
Then distinguish hundreds of illusory mirror attacks from the one real.
Solutions were mathematically diverse, but...
Defining the Barrier as a plane, he'd exploit its properties fully.
'Even 3D attacks become a point upon hitting the shield...'
Projective geometry.
Parallel lines in 3D project to a single vanishing point on a 2D plane. Park Ha-jun treated it as data.
Per the Mirror Labyrinth clear mechanic—track the unique damage attack—only one differed.
Thus, from a projective view, only one trajectory formed a vanishing point in the wrong spot.
'Identify the real one that way...'
Complex math and geometry sorted in his mind, but the goal was simple:
Spot the real, reverse-trace, shatter with [Mana Arrow].
With the circuit framework complete, he discussed refinements with Kim Ah-hyun.
Two days later.
Hwayeong Guild's raid stood before the S-rank gate in Vietnam.
Before entry, Seo Ji-ah scanned the scroll with a worried face.
Output Form: Area Deployment
Impact Absorption: —
Defense: —
Mana Cost: 33,800 + α
Creator: asd123
asd123 delivered on time; Hwayeong Guild bought for 500 million gold.
Seo Ji-ah swallowed hard reviewing it.
As the Association president said—uniquely blank specs.
No clue how to use from the scroll alone.
But asd123 kindly sent instructions.
She liked the concise, clear style.
But one part puzzled her.
'...Why?'
Some restriction? She shook her head after brief thought.
'Barrier blocks attacks, so 5 minutes is no big deal...'
She relayed to the raid, final-checked strategy, and entered under Vietnam Awakener Association control.
...
The raid first faced an endless corridor. Ornate, shrouded in subtle darkness.
Mirrors lined both sides.
Clang!
Tanks shielded swords from mirrors; six clattered down.
"...Any?"
Seo Ji-ah asked—meaning the unique-damage attack.
The tank shook his wrist. "Doesn't seem so."
"Push through then. Mirrors cluster in the Mirror Room."
Tank nodded, hunkered with shield forward.
Mages and archers eyed mirrors warily during cautious advance.
Few mirrors en route to Mirror Room, so no major threats.
This gate's true hell was mental: finding the real amid hundreds of attacks without cracking.
Hence 'labyrinth'. Far deadlier psychologically than physically.
Especially with mental disruptions every 111 mirrors.
Even skilled hunters crumbled from lack of grit—not rare.
But physical danger wasn't negligible.
Mirror Room—stadium-sized.
Over 900 mirrors reflected the 12 raiders.
Clangclangclang...
Archers and mages culled most; tanks gritted through remnants.
Hundreds of swords piled on the floor.
"...Hold just a bit. Need the center."
Seo Ji-ah pulled the scroll apologetically. As barrier specialist, useless here save evacuation.
"Head there."
She pointed—the piled swords pixelated away.
Then 900+ mirrors unleashed anew. Each a C-rank monster blow.
Clangclangclang...
Far worse than the corridor; no blind spots now.
Grazes drew blood. Despair crept in—this was just the start.
They'd hold now, but in 10? 30 minutes? Would it end in minutes? Shattering 999 felt eternal...
Yet they reached center without faltering.
"...Using it now."
Seo Ji-ah activated without delay.
That instant—
Whoosh.
The Barrier from Vaski's Earthfall day—the Association president's—appeared.
Piled swords vanished; new volley poured.
But—
Thuk. Thuk. Thuk...
They stuck powerless to the Barrier membrane. Hundreds impaled, held fast.
"Yes..."
Raiders exhaled in relief.
At least we won't die.
Can hunt the real more aggressively...
Per asd123's mail, they stayed put five minutes. Raiders eyed Seo Ji-ah puzzled.
She was too.
'...No reason to stand still.'
Why? Shattering all would take ages; why waste time?
But after another volley, she realized.
This Barrier wasn't intercepting.
They'd requested interception to aid real-targeting.
'...Communication mix-up?'
Whatever. Blocking was enough; maintenance was easy.
As she shrugged it off, her mana ticked down faintly.
Screee—!
A [Mana Arrow] from nowhere rocketed at a mirror.
Then—
Crash!
Mirror shattered. It was the real one.
"...?"
"Who?"
"You?"
"I didn't do anything..."
No raid mage cast [Mana Arrow]. Who then?
As they panicked—
Screee. Crash!
Another shattered. Seo Ji-ah muttered.
"...The Barrier?"
Absurd, but if true...
Raid's job: Find reals in corridors if [Barrier] misses.
'...That's it?'
This notorious S-rank falls like this? Seo Ji-ah clutched the scroll, dazed.