NOVEL NEXT #102
#102
“What’s up with this guy again?”
“Were you fighting with Hunter Yoon Pa-ran again? Everyone was looking awkward, so I came to check.”
“No.”
Dan Joo-hyuk’s answer was quick. However, his intense aura remained, causing Kim Sin-cheol to click his tongue and reply.
“Then tone down that aura, you idiot. You’ll collapse before even entering the gate.”
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t respond and shifted his gaze into the distance. Towards Yoon Pa-ran, who had already moved to the area with the ranged attackers.
Kim Sin-cheol couldn’t help but think that the gaze seemed oddly persistent.
It seems they must have had another argument before he intervened.
“Alright. I’m going back to my position.”
As if he had only come to stop them, Kim Sin-cheol turned around.
After a moment of hesitation, Dan Joo-hyuk quietly asked Kim Sin-cheol.
“Any new information?”
Though the question was brief, Kim Sin-cheol seemed to understand immediately and shook his head slightly. Then he promptly returned to his original position.
It meant Kim Sin-cheol didn’t have any new information either.
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk’s eyes narrowed. For about three weeks, since he told Yoon Pa-ran he would look into the orphanage matter, he had been continuously gathering information.
He had been busy with the Russian gate in between, but even considering that, the lack of progress was unexpected. More precisely, he had found suspicious points but no decisive evidence.
It was easy to discover that Kim Tae-jun had invested in land near the orphanage under a false name. However, the problem was that this wasn’t the only area where Kim Tae-jun had invested in such a manner near Yoon Pa-ran’s orphanage.
He wasn’t even planning anything with the invested land. If there had been visible money movements, it could have been used as a pretext to bring things to the surface.
So Kim Tae-jun’s actions were merely the typical behavior of a corrupt politician. Oddly enough, he was just sitting on the land he had acquired.
Nothing unusual was found in the fact that the orphanage hadn’t received support funds for two years. The related documents were quite plausibly constructed, and particularly, there was no evidence that the civil servant who executed it was under external pressure. So at first glance, it just seemed like bad luck.
The same went for the discussion about the safety special zone. Recently, there had been frequent moves to designate safety special zones. Strangely enough, Kim Tae-jun had even allowed an area promoted by a political rival congressman to become a safety special zone. This was despite having invested in land under a false name in the rejected candidate sites as well.
Whether he was planning to use it as a means of attack by tying it to corruption later was unknown, but considering his typically greedy political moves, this was an unusual action.
The area where Yoon Pa-ran’s orphanage was located was also being discussed as a target for a safety special zone. However, due to Kim Tae-jun’s actions, it became unclear exactly what he was aiming for.
“…”
Perhaps because of this, something kept nagging at a corner of Dan Joo-hyuk’s mind.
He had intended to inform Yoon Pa-ran if even a small lead emerged, but he had the dirty feeling that one piece of the puzzle was missing.
“Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk, we’re departing soon.”
As he followed the civil servant who came to call him, Dan Joo-hyuk instinctively turned his gaze again.
As if glued, his eyes automatically found and stuck to Yoon Pa-ran. Among the gathered ranged attackers, Yoon Pa-ran was again unable to blend in, standing a step apart.
“…”
Among the people wearing similar tunics, Yoon Pa-ran stood out brilliantly.
Dressed in white and with a calm face, he looked almost as noble as if he had truly become a priest. His face, gazing intently at the ground lost in thought, exuded an unapproachable aura.
His gaze kept absent-mindedly scanning every inch of Yoon Pa-ran. While the constant glow was probably due to the effect of the S-grade item, it was undeniable that those clothes suited Yoon Pa-ran perfectly.
Perhaps because it was such an obvious fact, it wasn’t just Dan Joo-hyuk’s eyes that were drawn to Yoon Pa-ran. Today, there were quite a few glances directed at Yoon Pa-ran, regardless of gender.
Especially the gaze of Park Jung-hoon, which had been irritating from earlier.
“I look forward to working with you again, Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk.”
“…”
The guy standing slightly ahead in formation kept glancing at Yoon Pa-ran. Despite so many gazes being directed at him, Yoon Pa-ran remained indifferent, his expression impassive.
Being quite dense in this aspect, Yoon Pa-ran probably hadn’t noticed.
Knowing this, Dan Joo-hyuk was still gripped by a strange impatience. He felt a thirst, wondering if Yoon Pa-ran would meet the eyes of any of those looking at him.
“We’re entering.”
Even as he led the prepared attack team towards the gate, all of Dan Joo-hyuk’s attention was focused behind him. Yoon Pa-ran, who had always been in the position of a close-range attacker, felt unusually distant today.
Whether it was due to the queasiness from passing through the gate, this fact didn’t sit well with him.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Phew, it’s hot.”
“Good work everyone. Use the water sparingly!”
Six hours after entering the gate. One round of intense battle had ended.
The hunters gathered in small groups on the ground, making a commotion. They maintained a defensive formation as it wasn’t yet a safe zone.
“…”
At the very back of this formation, Yoon Pa-ran stood alone, looking down at his hands. His brows were slightly furrowed, as if something wasn’t to his liking.
Hiding his power was more difficult than he had thought.
He had thought he was used to living while moderately concealing his abilities, but it wasn’t so. Maybe because his abilities had become too high with the S-grade item, acting like an ordinary B-grade hunter was somewhat burdensome.
And it was a bit frustrating.
These were things he hadn’t felt when entering gates alone with Dan Joo-hyuk. Being in a situation where he could show all his power felt quite liberating.
It was more comfortable when it was just the two of us.
Despite having lived the life of an attack team member since becoming a hunter, feeling this way after spending just about a month with only Dan Joo-hyuk was truly ridiculous.
“Of all things, we got stuck with a volcanic terrain.”
“We should have frozen water to bring, damn it.”
“It would have melted quickly anyway.”
The hunters continued to murmur about the harsh environment inside the gate. Yoon Pa-ran understood, as volcanic terrain was one of the most challenging even among A-grade gates.
“…”
However, unlike the other hunters, Yoon Pa-ran’s body felt remarkably fresh. His expression was quite subtle as he checked his refreshingly clean body condition.
This was all thanks to the [For a Sacred Life S] skill, which he had only thought of as ridiculous before.
This skill purified everything, including blood splatters from combat and his own sweat. He had felt it in other gates too, but coming into such an extreme terrain made its effects even more noticeable.
“Huh…”
They say there’s no bad skill in the world, and this was an unexpected function.
Of course, he had no intention of telling Dan Joo-hyuk about this. Who knows what he might do using this as an excuse.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps because his body felt so fresh, he didn’t really feel the fatigue from the battle either. Judging that they wouldn’t rest here for long anyway, Yoon Pa-ran looked around.
The volcanic terrain had an overwhelmingly unique shape among gate interiors.
Usually, the inside of a gate was flat, and the general strategy was to move forward while dealing with various obstacles. However, in volcanic terrain, after breaking through narrow caves that barely allowed the attack team to maintain formation, a massive cavity appeared.
Surrounding this enormous cavity that could swallow an entire village whole, a long, spiral path wound along the walls. Although it was an earthen path without railings, it was very wide at the beginning, enough to fight without difficulty.
And in the center of this cavity, excluding the path, hot lava seethed.
In other words, it was like climbing up the inside wall of a giant volcano’s crater from the bottom.
“Ah.”
Having finally found what he was looking for, Yoon Pa-ran strode towards a wall on one side.
The attack team hadn’t yet reached the cavity with the lava. In the ceiling corner of this place that looked like a secret passage, stones with unknown patterns were neatly embedded in an orderly fashion.
These stones were said to continue onto the path in the lava-filled cavity later. All of this was information provided by Dan Joo-hyuk.
Could these possibly be the medium?
Thinking of a medium, stones or minerals came to mind first. Whether this was a hint from the status window or his own thought was still ambiguous.
So Yoon Pa-ran had been observing anything that looked unusual inside the gate. In the process, if he found something that looked like [■■■ Fragment], he could deal with it first.
As he was closely examining the stones within reach, he sensed someone approaching and turned his head.
“Interesting patterns.”
The one who approached was none other than Park Jung-hoon.
“Are you interested in Gate Studies?”
He asked something unexpected as soon as he arrived. Not knowing exactly what Gate Studies was, Yoon Pa-ran gave a vague answer.
“Not really.”
“Ah, I see. Then you must be looking for blessing fragments. I’ve heard that sometimes pieces that fall off these walls can become items.”
“Really…?”
This time, Park Jung-hoon unexpectedly shared some high-quality information. Now slightly interested, Yoon Pa-ran’s expression softened as he made eye contact with him.
However, for some reason, Park Jung-hoon couldn’t maintain proper eye contact with Yoon Pa-ran and lowered his gaze to the floor. Looking down as well, there were indeed a few fallen stone fragments on the ground.
I see, so that’s why he showed me an example. I should pay more attention from now on.
The price of blessing fragments was only increasing day by day. Yoon Pa-ran’s expression brightened as he discovered a good side job tip and lifted his head.
This time, he caught sight of Dan Joo-hyuk standing in the distance.
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk was leaning crookedly against a wall, having come here at some point. His gaze was directed this way.
He wore his usual smirking smile, but somehow he didn’t look particularly happy. Was it because of the heat in this volcanic terrain?
Dan Joo-hyuk’s displeased gaze briefly shifted to Park Jung-hoon before returning to Yoon Pa-ran.
As their eyes met again, Yoon Pa-ran suddenly realized.
Ah. Does he want me to try to get some information from Park Jung-hoon?