Gate Safety Briefing
F-class Gate.
Every country sets its own standards, but in South Korea an F-class Gate means a place where pathetic creatures like goblins, kobolds, and slimes pop out.
Monsters with the strength of lower-grade elementary school boys.
Even so, you can’t let your guard down because they roam in packs of three or four, sometimes as many as seven or eight.
The basic safety training you must complete before stepping into a gate like that.
Today Dolmaeng-i and I had come to the Association to receive it.
Even if we were entering under the company name, the safety education certificate was apparently mandatory.
“Yes. So gates are dangerous to enter alone. It’s much better to go in teams or parties.”
I figured Dolmaeng-i and I could handle an F-class Gate just fine.
I could run around drawing attention while Dolmaeng-i cleaned up.
“Next, you must learn basic navigation. If your exit signal detector breaks, you’ll have to find the way out using a map.”
The easiest way to locate the exit inside a gate is to pick up the radio signal broadcast by the Association’s beacon floating near the entrance.
That’s why they sell a palm-sized device that looks like a compass; it shows the direction of the exit from inside.
“We are offering this detector along with two spare batteries for the low price of two million won.”
What a bunch of crooks.
A simple electromagnetic detector and a couple of rechargeable batteries for two million won? Highway robbery.
So the entire navigation class had just been a sales pitch for some company’s product.
“Yes, thank you. Here it is. If it malfunctions, please contact the customer center listed on the back of the manual.”
What are we supposed to do if it breaks inside the gate? That’s the most useless after-sales service I’ve ever heard.
But honestly, everyone except me bought one.
It was a cheap-looking device with a plastic shell that probably cost ten thousand won to make, yet it was marketed as essential hunter equipment. I was honestly stunned.
“Miss, aren’t you buying one?”
“No. I don’t need it.”
“You shouldn’t risk getting lost. Why not just buy it?”
“I’m fine.”
“Tsk. Young lady doesn’t know how scary the world can be.”
See? The moment I said I wasn’t buying, he turned into a thug.
That’s why they sell junk like this. I, however, had a far more reliable method.
The gates of today constantly leak rich mana into the Earth, right?
That inevitably creates large flows, like jet streams or convection currents.
I just had to follow the end of that flow.
They said the training would finish in a single day, but it looked like they planned to keep hawking products until the very last minute.
“This product was manufactured by our Pungun Engineering…”
“Our armor is…”
“Backpacks are also very important…”
In the end, the only part that actually taught us about gates was the first two hours of the morning.
Everything after that belonged to the salesmen working on commission.
They tried every trick to sell us something.
But no matter how you looked at it, titanium and steel were still inadequate for people whose bodies had been strengthened by mana.
If I made and sold proper weapons and armor later, they’d probably fly off the shelves.
“Then we will now prepare the oath form.”
The long-awaited final segment was signing the waiver.
It stated that everything that happened inside the gate was entirely the entrant’s own responsibility.
There were so many gates, and patrolling their vast interiors with manpower was impossible.
So in the end they could only leave it to each person’s conscience. After repeating that point at length, they collected our signatures.
“So that’s why they keep saying to be careful about committing crimes inside.”
“Or form a party.”
“Huh?”
Was I popular or something?
During every break, I’d been asked for my name and number and invited to party up at least a few hundred times.
“How about it? Want to join our party? We’re with Baekdu. You know the Baekdu Group subsidiary, right? Big corporation. We have plenty of veteran hunters on staff.”
Yeah, yeah. I’d heard the rumors that they were just a playground for chaebol third-generation kids.
They called them hunters, but they were really just spoiled brats who strutted around gates under the protection of high-rank bodyguards.
“It’s safe and…”
I was going to listen politely and then decline, but the guy talked so much I had to cut him off.
“Sorry. Not interested.”
“What?”
“I said I’m not interested. I’ll be going with my own company.”
“You have a company? No way.”
Of course he’d think that. Right now the only companies were the ones created by the big corporations, and they all knew each other.
“You’ll regret it. Why don’t you stick with me?”
“You look weaker than me. Shouldn’t I be the one protecting you?”
“What?”
Hm? Why was he getting angry? Did I bruise his pride? I was only stating facts….
“I’m saying you don’t need to worry about me.”
“Hahaha. Little lady really doesn’t know how scary the world is, huh?”
As he spoke he tried to casually put his hand on my shoulder.
This individual is attempting physical contact without Ian-nim's consent.
Dolmaeng-i blocked the thug’s arm with a metallic clack.
“What the hell is this?”
“What is it…? Hm?”
What should I call it? My creation? Saying I made it would cause a fuss, especially after the silver bracelet incident. Maybe I should just say it’s a summon?
“My summon.”
“What? You have that kind of ability too?”
“It’s right here. Do you need to ask again?”
This guy seemed to be a bit slow. Kids these days really…
“Something this weak?”
I am currently operating in normal mode. Switching to combat mode may result in injury to the opponent, therefore please correct your statement.
I’ll have to give it a Mana Stone so it can talk properly.
Agreed. It would be preferable to have a means of directly expressing my own will.
Anyway, how should I deal with this guy?
“Looks like you took the subway here. Want me to give you a ride home? Ever ridden in a sports car?”
“Never have, and I’ll be taking the subway back too.”
My family was busy so I came by myself. Had he been watching me?
No matter where I went, I stood out.
From now on I’d have to cover up completely.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“What? You’re really just leaving? Stop playing hard to get and hang out with oppa.”
“Have a nice day~”
I really was about to leave without thinking much of it.
But then—
“What? Move.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“The training’s over, so I’m going home.”
“You can only leave if I say so.”
“I’ll report you to the Association.”
“Puhuhu. We already sent people to turn off the CCTV and clear out the Association staff. It’s just us here~”
The thug and his three friends were giggling like idiots. It reminded me of the thugs I’d seen in prison not long ago.
“Ugh. This is annoying.”
“W-what?”
“You look disgusting and it’s ruining my mood. Get out of the way. I decided to live quietly, you know.”
“I went easy on you because you’re pretty, and now you’re acting up?”
Dad? Grandpa? I clearly told you, right? This guy had crossed the line.
How shall I proceed?
Haa… It really is hard to live nicely…
I didn’t want to end up at the police station again.
“Ah?”
“What! You bitch! It’s too late!”
“Not that. Is there really no one else here? Not even CCTV?”
“That’s right. There’s no one to help you!”
Agh, his breath stank. Why did he keep getting so close?
“Perfect~”
“What? Are you crazy? You’ll only learn after you’ve been through something big?”
“Dolmaeng-i, take care of them.”
Understood. Switching to combat mode. 5… 4…
Anyway, these guys kept saying no one would know, right?
No witnesses meant a perfect crime!
“Huh? What is that thing? Why is it doing that?”
“Hey! Look next to her, that thing’s weird!”
“What are you doing! Stop right now!”
3… 2… 1… 0
And if I didn’t touch them myself, there wouldn’t be any fingerprints, right?
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Gweeeh—!”
“Kuhk—!”
It really was nothing. Rich kids who collapsed after one hit.
Did they never train? How could they all fall after a single strike?
Since it had only been active for a short time, I wouldn’t have to carry Dolmaeng-i home.
Shall we return?
“Yeah. Please take good care of me on the way home too~”
Naturally.
These guys were worse than a rock. Who did they think they were, acting all high and mighty?
“Uuuuugh…”
“Someone… help…”
“Ambulance… police, hurry…”
I should get out of here before any annoying problems popped up.
They themselves had said there was no evidence, so it should be fine, right?
That’s what I thought at the time….
…
When I took the subway home, a familiar blue-and-white vehicle was parked in front of the house.
“Ah… fuck.”
I ended up swearing again, something that had been rare in both my past and current lives.
Haa… Police cars again…
This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
Those thug bastards. They said there was no evidence!
“Ian? What did you do outside today?”
“Nothing? I don’t know.”
“Hmm…”
Mom asked, so I just said I didn’t know.
But thinking back on the situation, there really hadn’t been any direct evidence.
Dolmaeng-i was the one who hit them, after all.
“Why are there suddenly so many cars?”
“I didn’t hear anything about an event.”
The bewildered police officers.
Multiple sedans had surrounded the police cars.
That one was Grandpa? Second uncle? And the one in the back was third uncle—hadn’t he been on a business trip to Busan?
This felt ominous. Very ominous…
I hoped no one had ended up in the hospital…
…
“There’s no way our child would do that!”
“That’s right! Evidence! Let’s see the evidence!”
As expected, it was hard to tell whether this was the police station or our living room.
Because we were family, the detectives couldn’t just kick the relatives out.
Five lawyers had shown up.
Grandpa, the uncles, and Mom had each called one.
“Haa…”
“Ian! Don’t worry! Uncle will take care of everything! They dared to bother our sweet Ian! I’ll make them eat prison food!”
Uncle… please… there’s no evidence at all…
Just as I thought, there wasn’t much evidence. It seemed they had reported it to the police just to pressure us by dragging us in for questioning.
“Isn’t this abuse of public power when you act like this without evidence? We—”
They had brought a lawyer too, but he was sweating. Five of ours had shown up, after all.
Plus Grandpa and my uncles were all big, intimidating men. Sometimes I wondered about their past careers.
“Sir, please let’s settle this matter here…”
The lawyers were pressuring five-on-one, the police were being pressured five-on-one by the adults…
They say the one with the loudest voice wins in this country. That was exactly what was happening.
“It seems there was some misunderstanding. I can’t believe such a gentle and well-behaved young lady would hit someone.”
Hard to believe, huh…
Yes. I did hit them.
Indirectly.
I couldn’t possibly say that out loud.
“For now, they claim the robot did it… Perhaps?”
“Yes. It went with this child beside me.”
“Hmm? With a robot this small?”
“Right? They said the other side were all Awakened… This little guy beat up four people? Must have hurt a lot…”
My only job was to play dumb no matter what.
“No! You crazy—! That robot glowed blue and flew around!”
“Hmm? At that size, it would fall over if you just kicked it, right?”
“They’re acting right now!”
Having heard what I said, the other side started raising their voices instead.
“Officer? Aren’t those rich kids?”
“They are, aren’t they?”
“I’ve seen on the news lately that they do a lot of drugs. Maybe they were hallucinating?”
“Hm?”
I just threw it out there hoping they’d settle on hallucinations, recalling a recent news story about drugs.
“Drugs?”
Their eyes suddenly widened and they zeroed in on the word “drugs”?
I’d told them to focus on the hallucinations?
“D-drugs?! Who said that!”
The guys on the other side started stuttering like crazy when they heard.
Wait… no way? Really?
After that, the atmosphere inside the station completely changed.
“For now we’re requesting a voluntary test.”
“Voluntary? So we don’t have to?”
“Yes, that’s correct. However, we will be requesting a warrant, so you will be tested anyway. It’s only a matter of a few hours or a day. And if charges are filed later, refusing the test can lead to additional criminal penalties.”
“Huk.”
What was going on? Something else was happening?
Those guys really were on drugs!
After that their situation got busy, so we simply went home.
The mood was that I had caused another incident, so I couldn’t even mention going to a gate. I stayed home for about three days.
“The world really is ending… It was actually drugs?”
I kept stepping backward and stepped on something…
Anyway, I’d been grounded long enough, right?
I should be allowed to go to a gate now.