14. 이중 게이트
14. Double Gate
As Ga-eun and I took our seats, the staff member began counting the number of passengers.
Besides Ga-eun and Chae Ju-ah, there were three other people on the bus.
There were two men and one woman.
They were a truly colorful bunch in every way.
“Come on, you should’ve initiated yesterday.”
“How was I supposed to initiate? I was on a burst damage build.”
“You were the only one on the team who could initiate—why did you go for burst damage?”
“If you needed a tank that badly, you should’ve built tank gear yourself.”
“You’re telling the ADC to build tank gear?”
The two guys seemed to know each other.
It was a back-and-forth of “You were wrong” and “I was right.”
Sitting side by side, they were having a very heated debate.
And the other girl seemed to be a Japanese exchange student.
“So, Ga-eun-ssang? Ga-eun-ppippi? Which do you prefer?”
“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Then I’ll call you Ga-eun-chan. You can call me Haruka, or Haru-chan.”
“Ah, yes. Ms. Haruka.”
“Not Ms. Haruka—Haru-chan.”
But now, the gyaru.
Still, she looked quite ordinary.
Since she wasn’t wearing the heavy makeup or dyed hair typical of a gyaru, she actually looked just like a Korean girl as long as she kept her mouth shut.
Though you could tell she was Japanese because of the occasional awkward accent.
No, actually, you didn’t even need that to know she was Japanese right away.
After all, her way of speaking was so blatantly gyaru-like.
Unless you were blind, it would have been harder not to notice.
No, even if you were blind, as long as you could hear, anyone would know she was a gyaru.
What if you were blind and couldn’t hear either?
Helen Keller, maybe?
Anyway.
“Ga-eun, what’s that little bird on your shoulder?”
“Oh, my summoned creature… I think?”
“Huh? Why the question mark?”
“It’s a summoned creature.”
Haruka’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me perched on Ga-eun’s shoulder.
That was thanks to me having released my invisibility spell as we left the lecture hall earlier.
“It’s sooooo cute. It makes me want to raise one myself.”
“Unfortunately, I only have one.”
“Aww. I guess so?”
Haruka looked at me with a disappointed expression.
Maybe it was because everyone on the bus was a hunter.
They were all such unique individuals.
It was about an hour into our bus ride.
The moving scenery outside the window came to a halt, and the bus pulled over deep in the mountains, surrounded by lush trees.
“Alright, juniors, wake up. We’re here.”
Chae Ju-ah’s booming voice filled the bus.
“Mr. Wren, wake up.”
[“Huh? Slurp, are we here already?”]
“Yes, everyone’s getting off now.”
Haaaaaam, are we here already?
It would’ve been fine if we’d arrived a little later. Like, about three hours later?
But since we’re already here, there’s nothing I can do about it.
I got up, quickly wiping the drool around my beak with my wings.
[“Bapsae, wake up.”]
“Ah, yes. You’re not leaving anything behind, are you?”
[“I didn’t bring anything in the first place.”]
“That’s a relief.”
Is this really a relief?
A small doubt crossed my mind, but I let it go.
====================
After getting off the bus, we followed closely behind Chae Joo-ah.
We eventually arrived at a building.
It was a neat, modern building that didn’t quite fit in with the surrounding landscape of nothing but trees.
As we approached the building, a man rushed out from inside to greet us.
Judging by the magical energy emanating from him, he appeared to be a Hunter.
“Hunter Chae Ju-ah, you’ve arrived. I received your message.”
“Yeah, got it. The kids behind me are students today.”
“Yes, sir. Hunter Chae Ju-ah and four others confirmed.”
“Thanks. But could you do me a little more favor?”
“Yes, of course.”
The man who greeted us treated Chae Joo-ah with the utmost respect.
His words and actions were full of energy and enthusiasm.
“Alright then, I’ll help verify the students’ identities.”
After a quick ID check, we were able to enter the building.
The interior of the building had a very research-oriented atmosphere.
There seemed to be far more people who looked like researchers than typical Hunters.
“Chae Ju-ah! I have a question!”
“A question? What is it?”
“What kind of place is this?”
It was while we were walking through the building behind Chae Joo-ah.
Haruka, the Japanese exchange student with the gothic-lolita style, raised her hand and asked the question.
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I guess you could call it a research institute that studies all sorts of things related to Gates.”
“A research institute?”
“For now, yes. But actually, we do all kinds of things here.”
Chae Ju-ah stroked her chin, looking a bit perplexed.
It was certainly true that “Gates” was a field that was hard to define precisely.
If you research this, that comes up; if you research that, something else comes up.
Gates was a field where such research results were the norm.
That’s why, even here, while it was basically a research institute, it also served multiple roles.
“Do you think that makes sense now?”
“Yep, thanks!”
Haruka smiled brightly and nodded vigorously up and down.
She was such a lively person, brimming with energy.
It was after we’d walked through the building and gone through a few additional identity checks.
Right before our eyes was a shimmering gate.
Black heat haze rippled around the gate. Moreover, the deeper one went toward the center, the darker the bottomless black became.
“Ugh…”
“It looks kind of scary.”
“Yeah, yeah, it gives me a bad vibe.”
The students standing before the gate grimaced.
After all, the gate instinctively radiated a sense of danger.
As humans, it was only natural to react that way when looking at the gate.
“Still, there’s no need to be afraid.”
Chae Ju-ah spoke confidently as she looked at her juniors.
Somehow, a sword hilt had appeared at her waist.
It was a two-handed sword—essentially Chae Ju-ah’s trademark—with a golden guard and red cloth wrapped around the hilt.
[“Oh, is that the sword?”]
“I think so.”
[“I’ve seen that on YouTube.”]
That video where she wiped out all the monsters inside a gate teeming with them with just a few swings of her sword.
A blindingly intense red light had filled the gate.
It was such an incredible video that it was a staple of the Korean hunter legend compilation, always replaying whenever the Gald Cup took place.
Even to me, that was pretty amazing.
It was impressive enough to earn the recognition of a renowned archmage in this other world.
You should be proud.
“………. No, I’m not.”
[“Hey, hey, you don’t realize just how amazing I am, do you?”]
“No, I know very well.”
Ugh, if you’re going to lie, at least wet your lips first.
Ga-eun spat out the lie calmly, without so much as a flicker of emotion.
I glared at Ga-eun’s brazen face.
On top of that—I guess you could call it my own little act of revenge.
I pecked Ga-eun’s neck right in front of me with my beak.
“Ouch, that stings.”
[“That’s your punishment for underestimating the Grand Mage.”]
Well, it was a rather trivial punishment for something like that, but…
Watching Ga-eun wince made me feel like I’d restored a little bit of order to the world.
“Huh? What’s going on over there?”
“Oh, nothing. My summoned creature just seemed a little bored.”
“Hmm, it’s good for a summoned creature to be close to its master. But you were listening carefully to my explanation, right?”
“Of course. I remember it all.”
Oh dear, I’d better stop this.
Because we’d been bickering so much, we’d caught Chae Ju-ah’s attention.
“Ahem. Let me say this again: you have to be careful about even the smallest things before entering the Gate.”
Chae Ju-ah looked at the four students standing in a row in front of her.
“If you notice anything strange once you’re inside, let me know right away.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Sure, we will.”
“Hmm, well, that wraps up the explanation.”
Cha Joo-ah turned toward the gate and said,
“Let’s head in now.”
The closer they got to the gate, the more Cha Joo-ah’s figure faded into the distance.
But Cha Joo-ah didn’t stop; she kept walking toward the gate.
And just like that, the black gate completely swallowed Cha Joo-ah whole.
[“Let’s go, too.”]
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Ga-eun and I also followed Chae Ju-ah toward the gate.
==========
[Hunter Gallery]
[Repost] Breaking News: Double Gate Explodes During On-Site Training.
(Link to breaking news article)
(YouTube link for the breaking news article)
If you want to see it for yourself, go check it out.
I’ve posted the links.
3-line summary
A double gate exploded during today’s on-site gate training.
The exact rating is still unknown.
By the way, Chae Ju-ah is the supervisor for that training session.
[Comments]
- Seriously?
- Isn’t it okay since Chae Ju-ah went in?
N: We don’t know yet—the severity hasn’t been confirmed.
- What about the others who went in with her?
N: Won’t Chae Ju-ah figure something out?
N: It’ll be tough if there’s some weird twist.
==========