The First Step (1)
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The Association had a strict rule.
Solve the gate that suits your grade.
Technically, Class B hunters could resolve Class 9 gates alone. However, they normally just go alone for Class 7 or Class 8 gates, preferring to go with a party for Class 9.
Gates below Class 7 can be applied for through the mobile phone app, but for higher class gates, a hunter needs to go to the Association and personally apply.
Seung-ho told the reporters that he would only go for gates level 5 or lower, but the one closest to their house is a Class 8.
He was overqualified for it, so it was approved immediately.
He said goodbye to his mother and was held up for more than 10 minutes of continuous nagging before he was finally able to leave.
The gate was in the Gwanak Police station parking lot.
Upon stepping down from the taxi, Seung-ho approached the guard post. The guard held his hand up to stop him.
“What is it?” the guard asked.
“I came to handle the 8th-grade gate in the parking lot behind the police station.”
The guard looked at him, suspiciously and glanced at him from head to toe.
“Please wait a moment,” the guard said, before going inside the guard post.
Inside, his supervisor sat beside a warm electric stove. He was annoyed when the door opened, and the cold wind got it.
“Why!” the supervisor snapped.
“There’s a man outside saying he came to handle the gate… it’s a little strange.”
“Is it your first time seeing a hunter? Get his ID and let him in!”
“Would you please stand up and come with me to look at him? He’s like a crazy person.”
The supervisor frowned, but got up and went outside with the guard.
It was the middle of December. The winter breeze seemed to pierce their clothes, and his body, warmed by the stove, was quickly losing heat.
The supervisor quickly approached Seung-ho. As the guard told him, the man looked crazy.
The hunter was wearing jeans and a jacket. He didn’t have any weapons with him.
He only had a backpack, and it seemed too small to have anything of significance inside.
“Can you show me some identification?” the supervisor asked politely. “Please let me check the Hunter registration card.”
Seung-ho took his wallet out and handed him his ID and Hunter registration card.
The supervisor shouted in amazement as soon as he saw the IDs.
“Mr. Lee Seung-ho… Ah!!”
The guard standing behind tried to look at the IDs over his supervisor’s shoulder, but he did not see it because it was returned quickly.
“Here it is!”
“Can I go?”
“Of course, ah… Please close the gate as soon as possible.”
Normally, the supervisor says ‘take care’, or ‘come with caution’, but his eyes sparkled this time as they watched Seung-ho walk to the parking lot.
“Who is it?” the guard asked.
Supervisor Cho almost hit the back of the guard’s head but thought that without this guy, he wouldn’t have the chance to see Seung-ho’s face.
“Oh, you kid. Do you have no eyes? It’s Lee Seung-ho, Lee, Seung-ho.”
“Lee Seung-ho? THE Lee Seung-ho?”
“How come you didn’t recognize him?”
“… Well, he hasn’t appeared in an interview and made a big announcement just with his voice. Besides, I was told he looked young, but I never thought he looked younger than me.”
At the end of the guard’s words, the supervisor slapped the guard’s back.
“If you checked properly, I didn’t have to come out.”
“Sorry.”
Seung-ho passed the main building of the police station and went to the parking lot.
Upon reaching the gate’s entrance, he took out his gate gauge.
[1030]
It was close to the average grade 8 gauge.
The monsters coming out will be inferior, and it seems difficult to earn 10 million won with a single mana stone from this gate.
He moved inside.
Beyond the gate, there was a vast meadow of warm wind blowing through.
He took off his jacket in the warm weather and thought about what kind of monsters were in this meadow. He started walking over the flat hills.
Then he saw them. He was glad to see that they were Duckcows.
The look like herbivorous animals grazing, but if one looks closer, they were just pretending to eat.
They bait prey to approach them, and once close enough, they will use their long horns to pierce them or use their huge sizes to squash them.
Without proper information, these monsters could easily kill D-class or C-class hunters.
The Duckcows were pretending to be uninterested as Seung-ho walked to them.
Then, Seung-ho stopped just outside the attack range of the monsters.
As he simply stood there for a long time, the Duckcows began to show signs of anxiety.
Getting attacked by Duckcows’ giant horns in their anxious state was scary. Running away won’t work because it’s impossible to keep track of each of them in their numbers.
However, instead of being anxious, Seung-ho felt excited as he saw the herd get alert.
Suddenly, he threw magical explosions in the form of bullets which swept the Duckcows off their feet!
Every leg hit by the explosions was broken, and heavy bodies began crashing to the ground. The Duckcows screamed and moaned in pain.
Seung-ho then approached the noisy herd and touched one of the Duckcows’ head. He infused magic power in his hand, and the monster’s brain melted into soup in an instant.
He thought he could just crush the monster’s chest to take out the mana stone, but like a civilized person, he needs to use a tool.
He brought a jackknife out of his backpack and infused it with magic power.
Blood spurted as he stabbed it in the corpse. He had to be quick before the bodies get too stiff due to rigor mortis.
He began slaughtering each one, not concerned about the blood spurting all around him.
That was exhausting, Seung-ho thought as he walked out of the gate and into the police station.
He asked the guards for the bathroom and went inside to wash himself off. He was covered in blood from head to toe.
Nobody wanted to say a word to him. People avoided him, seeing the blood. He managed to wash his face and arms off, but his pants were still completely covered.
He caught a taxi on the highway. The driver didn’t know how to react to the smell of blood flowing from his body, but Seung-ho pretended not to notice it himself and took out his phone casually.
He browsed through the official app of the Association, checking job postings.
-Experienced in the 9th gate 12 times, 8th grade 4 times. Up to level 8, familiar with all the features of monsters. Class D.
-Professional 8-level porter. You can upgrade to Class C soon. At least 20 times experience in 8th grade required.
-At Gaon-Nuri Guild, high-level gatekeepers needed.
Seung-ho, browsed for a long time before he decided to quit the app and call Min-jong instead.
“Min-jong.”
“Yes, did you go to the gate today?”
“Uh, yes, the 8th grade one behind the Gwanak Police Station. I need you to write something.”
“What?” there was suspicion in Min-jong’s voice over the phone.
“I need a porter, write me a job posting and post it.”
“What are the conditions you want?”
“I’m going to the gates Class 7 or lower, I need a slaughter person, having a private vehicle is better, can sell by-products…”
Seung-ho spoke as he thought, counting off his fingers one-by-one, but Min-jong stopped him.
“Brother!”
“Why?”
“Are you Yangachi? Why are your conditions too many?!”
“What are you talking about? I’ll pay well for that. I’ll hire two people, and 400,000 a day for each and 25% by-product sales. What do you think?”
* * *
Drax observed the cloudy sky beyond the window without any expression while Khan finished reading all the reports.
He bit his tongue, looking at Drax, who is not even shaken.
“Why do you want me to kill the reporter?” Khan blurted out.
Drax remained standing with his back turned, without an answer. Instead, he just said a single word.
“Go.”
Khan clenched his fist as he looked at Drax’s back, who ignored his question and spoke without even turning his head to look at him.
He will never forget how Drax looked as he helped Khan to escape his father’s violence. He has never forgotten how he picked him up and asked him to dream the same dream.
They dreamed of having the world’s best guild.
After closing the last gate, everyone praised Drax, but Drax changed.
Khan couldn’t help himself and began to scream.
“I worked for you for 20 years! I killed when you ask me to kill; if you ask me to kidnap, I kidnapped!! There’s probably a reason for everything you’re instructing, and I’ve waited, thinking that someday you’ll share them with me! I have waited patiently and patiently for 20 years… I respected you more than my father and loved you more than my mother… But it’s over.”
His words gradually faded. After the last word, he bowed deeply towards Drax, who still hasn’t turned around.
A cold silence filled the room.
As Khan carefully twisted the doorknob, he asked one more question.
“Drax, are you going to let me leave like this?”
Only then did Drax turned around to look at him.
“What do you mean?” Drax asked.
“I meant what I said.”
“Go.” Drax turned his back once more.
Khan sighed and went out of the door without looking back.
He wandered the streets without any aim.
At each step he took, he imagined Drax grabbing him from behind and explaining everything to him, but he knew that his imagination would never come true.
His legs stopped in front of a store.
His reflection on the glass stared back at him.
He touched the face reflected.
It was the face of someone who had just left his father and his mother…