To Enjoy a Dream

What is the most important thing to enjoy a dream?

The answer is "living reality to the fullest."

In the end, dreams are constructed from the materials of what we see, hear, and feel in "reality." While indirect experiences like videos, audio, and novels are incredibly important, meeting people often and having diverse experiences is just as crucial.

That was why I joined an extreme sports club back in college.

It was the perfect place to seek experiences far removed from daily life. There was no need to even explain how different the vividness of a "falling dream" was before and after I actually experienced skydiving.

I originally wanted to try wingsuit flying too, but even for me, that was pushing it.

Anyway, I built a diverse network of contacts through that club. Extreme sports clubs naturally attract eccentrics—specifically, highly social eccentrics—so somehow, I ended up being treated as one of them.

Well, the club president back then claimed I was the biggest weirdo of them all, but that was purely a misunderstanding.

He just didn't understand lucid dreaming.

Anyway, thanks to the connections I made back then, I had kept in touch with the people from the club... and as it happened, the former president reached out to me today.

The experience of stepping into an untouched magical realm. The experience of seeing monsters with my own eyes—creatures with a presence entirely different from normal animals.

This was a golden opportunity to gather such experiences.

The club president probably hooked me up because he knew how thirsty I was for these "unique experiences."

Even if it's a cleared gate, they said hidden monsters can still pop out.

Even if the goal was exploration, a few hunters would be guarding us anyway. They would easily handle any small, lingering monsters. So, if anything, I actually hoped a monster would jump out during the expedition. That would make my dreams about monsters so much more vivid.

The "Demon King" in my recent dream wasn't bad, but... it was a bit of a letdown. A skeleton? Seriously?

This was all due to a lack of experience.

If I had richer experiences with monsters, I could have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠created something far more grotesque, powerful, sinister, and ominous. But because the most sinister enemy I could conceptualize without being too abstract was the undead, the Demon King ended up as a skeleton.

Well, it was scary enough, so I guess it didn't matter.

After all, skeletons naturally evoke the primal fear of death. That kind of imagery only makes the dream world more robust.

Ah, and I'm a porter this time too.

A porter. In my dreams, I used all sorts of "shortcuts" to make my life as a porter easier. Warding off bugs, pulling out necessary luggage on the spot—I managed it all by bending the dream to my will. But relying too much on shortcuts wasn't good.

To cut back on those boring tricks, I needed to gain plenty of real experience from this part-time job.

As for the things I need to prepare...

Alright. Let's see what it's like to be a real-life porter.

"Wow, Haneul. What brings you here? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I never expected you to volunteer for a resource gate escort."

"...It's a gate that was just cleared. Since I was the one who cleared it, I'd have bad dreams if a monster suddenly appeared and hurt the porters."

"Bad dreams?"

"Yes."

"Well, it's great for me. An S-Class hunter volunteering for a job that barely pays anything. If any civilians got hurt, we'd have to deal with hearings and all sorts of annoying bureaucracy."

I gave a half-hearted response to the Resource Team leader, who was expressing his gratitude with a playful grin.

In truth, my reason for volunteering wasn't anything grand. It was simply because "porter" was the title I used for him in my dreams. If I heard that a porter had died in a gate I cleared, I wouldn't be able to sleep in peace.

Why had I become so obsessed with that dream?

Even if I was the Hero in my past life, that was strictly in the past. Right now, I wasn't the Hero; I was Han Haneul, an S-Class hunter. In fact, if I didn't actively try to remember, I couldn't even recall his face clearly.

And yet, I found myself desperately attaching meaning to those memories.

The past me was so different from who I am now.

I wasn't a very emotional person.

I had been that way since childhood, and it only worsened after I awakened as the Ice Witch. The icy mana flowing through my heart froze my soul, numbing the emotions that should have felt joy or sorrow.

But the "Hero" in my dreams was different.

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠laughed easily, was honest with her feelings, and experienced joy and sorrow with intense clarity. Those emotions bled directly into me as I remembered the dreams. It was a rush of overwhelming feeling that I hadn't felt in so long—or perhaps, had never felt before in my entire life.

Now that I knew what those emotions felt like, I could never go back to the numb state of ignorance. I was like someone addicted to alcohol or drugs... Addiction. Yes. I was addicted to the version of myself that was the Hero.

That was why I still clung to the remnants of my past life, playing the part of the Hero even now.

"Hello, Hunter Han Haneul. Haha. It's an absolute honor to work with an S-Class hunter. I never expected to see you in the Resource Team."

"...Yes."

"First, our team members will enter. Once the recording and sample collection are finished, we'll send in the porters. Hunter Han Haneul, while the team is gathering resource samples and recording data, your job is to guard them from any monster attacks."

"Then who will guard the porters?"

"Pardon? Oh, won't the other guild hunters handle that?"

This was slightly unexpected.

I had volunteered thinking I would be directly escorting the porters, but I was only assigned to guard the guild staff. Well, not that it made a huge difference.

It was all for my own self-satisfaction anyway.

If an S-Class hunter requested a change in guard duty, they would surely accommodate me, but I didn't want to go that far.

"Confirmed. I understand."

"Haha! Having Hunter Han Haneul here is so reassuring. With an S-Class hunter standing guard, there won't be any issues unless we get a sudden Gate Mutation."

"...Yes."

It was an unspoken rule in the hunter industry to never voice such ominous possibilities.

This Resource Team employee was clearly a civilian. I was about to say something, but decided against it, not wanting to seem ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠overly nosy.

If he ran his mouth like that in front of a short-tempered hunter, he'd learn a painful lesson soon enough.

"Well then, let's begin the exploration."

"Argh!"

"Kyaaaah!"

This is exactly why you shouldn't say such ominous things.

A Gate Mutation. A phenomenon where a cleared and stabilized gate becomes unstable again due to the influence of surrounding mana, spawning monsters once more. When this happens, the gate's rank fluctuates wildly, transforming it into an entirely different type of gate. It was an extremely rare occurrence, but...

It always seemed to happen right when people let their guard down.

Fortunately, because an S-Class hunter like myself was present, none of the Resource Team staff were injured. I immediately erected a wall of ice magic and eliminated the surrounding monsters.

"Th-thank you, Hunter! If it weren't for you..."

"Just escape quickly. I'll clear a path for you."

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

"And where are the porters?"

"Th-they should be gathering materials starting from the areas where we finished sampling... so they're that way."

Since they were already on their way out after finishing the sampling, the Resource Team staff were not very far from the gate's entrance. I constructed a massive path leading to the exit, flanked by barriers of ice. It wasn't exceptionally sturdy, but it would buy them enough time to escape.

The Resource Team staff fled rapidly down the newly formed path.

Han Haneul watched them go for a brief moment before heading deeper inside, where the porters would be trapped.

...I feel uneasy.

Anxiety gripped me. I was so anxious that I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt this way. It was just like in my dreams. My heart pounded, and my very soul was in turmoil.

Why?

Was it simply because I was projecting "that dream" onto this situation?

I need to hurry.

Please, let me not be too late.