Chapter 3

BOOOOOOM!

[Gate Cleared! Would you like to claim your clear rewards?

A faint status window appeared before Kang Jinseo after he solo-cleared the AA-rank Gate.

The debris from the monsters and ruined buildings had been reduced to dust by his large-scale collapse skill, filling the air and blocking his vision.

Jinseo narrowed his eyes and checked the time on his wristwatch.

He always used it to measure how long it took him to clear a gate.

4 hours 19 minutes.

Seeing that it had taken much longer than expected, he roughly brushed the dust from his gray-colored hair.

“I’ll get another lecture…”

He could practically hear association employee Ian scolding him already.

“How many times have I told you? Follow the existing paths instead of smashing through perfectly good walls to make your own!”

Jinseo always gave the same reply.

“I wish I had just one teammate who was good at finding directions.”

But everyone knew that wish would never come true.

His wide-area collapse skill was so overwhelmingly destructive that it affected allies as well.

After all, how many Hunters in the world could survive an S-rank Hunter’s attack?

“Ugh! I swear that guy gets lost on purpose!”

Ian often complained in frustration.

But Jinseo truly did have no sense of direction.

Every time he used his skill, the paths disappeared and turned into empty clearings, making it impossible for him to know where he was.

Just like always, covered head to toe in dust, Jinseo stepped through the gate exit.

The moment the fresh city air filled his lungs…

His phone began ringing nonstop.

The flood of emergency notifications immediately told him something serious had happened.

[Catastrophe-Class Maze Gate detected. All Hunters are ordered to mobilize immediately. Dongjak District, Mapo District, Songpa District…]

He immediately rushed toward the nearest gate in Mapo District.

But just before entering…

He suddenly stopped.

One word had finally caught up with him.

“Maze.”

If he got lost even in ordinary dungeons…

How many hours would he wander inside a maze gate?

“…Ha…”

A quiet sigh escaped him.

A trace of tension appeared on his usually expressionless face.

Even so…

He entered the gate without hesitation.

He dropped from the sky at incredible speed.

The instant both feet landed atop one of the giant maze walls—

BOOM!

The entire gate shook.

“…”

Something felt…

Wrong.

Even Jinseo, who had entered every type of Gate from the lowest rank to the highest difficulty, couldn’t describe it.

This gate felt fundamentally different from every other one he had ever entered.

“Don’t enter the maze! Stay here and protect the civilians!”

“Five charging-type monsters approaching from the front!”

“Healer! Over here!”

“Somebody save me!”

Inside the large central clearing, hunters ran around desperately trying to protect the civilians trapped inside the gate.

Jinseo let out another quiet sigh.

His area-of-effect skill didn’t distinguish friend from foe.

Since he had always fought alone, a gate packed with civilians placed countless restrictions on him.

If he used his skill, innocent people would be caught in it.

If he fought each monster one by one with his sword, he’d inevitably get lost in the maze himself.

Praying that a capable hunter who could locate the exit had already entered this gate…

Jinseo leaped down from the maze wall.

More than three hours had passed since Korea’s No. 1 hunter entered the gate.

Nothing had improved.

If anything…

The situation had become worse.

The exhausted hunters were slowly being overwhelmed by the monsters.

The terrified civilians blocked their movements, making it even harder to fight.

Jinseo continued running along the tops of the maze walls, gathering every lost civilian he found and guiding them back to the central clearing.

But no solution was in sight.

Clicking his tongue in frustration, he looked around.

He had repeatedly smashed maze walls apart to force open new paths.

But to make matters worse…

The walls respawned.

In the end, he had no choice but to keep returning to the central clearing.

If he himself became lost inside the maze, there would be no one left to help protect the civilians gathered there.

“Damn it… More monsters…”

“The barrier’s been broken!”

“I’m completely out of mana… We’ve run out of potions too!”

Even if he protected them all…

There would eventually be a limit.

If they couldn’t find the exit, the endlessly spawning monsters would eventually overwhelm and kill everyone.

It was time to make a decision.

“…”

After making up his mind, Jinseo headed to the area farthest from the central clearing.

He intended to destroy the entire gate with his Collapse skill…

Leaving only the exit behind.

Of course…

He had no confidence that he could control the skill precisely enough to avoid destroying the central clearing as well.

The more monsters and structures he destroyed…

The more mana he absorbed.

And absorbing too much mana caused him to lose control.

That was his greatest weakness.

“…”

There was a real possibility that everyone except himself would be reduced to dust.

It was an incredibly dangerous gamble.

But…

He couldn’t think of any better option.

Standing silently, Jinseo took a slow breath.

The feeling in his fingertips was gradually disappearing.

At that moment…

The tragedy caused by his mistake five years earlier flashed through his mind.

He forced himself to ignore it.

There was no other choice.

His sharp eyes narrowed as he prepared to release the seal on his power and unleash all the mana inside his body.

Then—

“…!”

Not far away…

He sensed a familiar flow of mana.

“The exit?”

It was the exact magical energy that only a gate exit emitted.

Jinseo immediately turned his head.

With the eyesight of an S-rank hunter…

He spotted a woman limping toward a newly formed gate exit.

She was thin.

Her long brown hair was tied into a ponytail.

…

Why did her back seem so strangely familiar?

Tap… Tap…

The dirt and monster remains that had been floating in the air after being turned to dust by his skill suddenly fell back to the ground.

At that very moment…

A status window appeared before everyone inside the gate.

[Gate Cleared!]

At the same instant…

Jinseo sprinted toward the gate exit at full speed.

He had never heard of any Hunter in Korea possessing a search skill.

Yet this woman had found an exit that every Hunter inside the Gate had failed to locate.

There was no way she wasn’t a search-type hunter.

That meant she was either an unregistered Hunter…

A freelance hunter…

Or someone who had awakened only today.

No matter what…

He had to find her.

Not only would she become an invaluable asset to the nation…

He also intended to ask her to become his teammate.

Until the very moment the exit appeared…

He had never sensed either her presence or her mana.

That meant her rank had to be equal to his…

Or perhaps even higher.

“I have to catch up to her.”

The moment Jinseo rushed through the exit—

“Oh! It’s Hunter Kang Jinseo!”

“Hurry! Take pictures! The gate’s been cleared!”

“I knew Hunter Kang Jinseo would do it!”

The woman he had been searching for was nowhere to be seen.

Instead…

The area was crowded with civilians holding up their phones and reporters carrying cameras.

Only about twenty seconds had passed since she left through the exit.

Yet…

No one knew where she had gone.

10:10 p.m., February 19

Thousands of civilians poured out of Seoul’s Maze Gate.

It had taken only about four hours since Maze Gates had simultaneously appeared around the world.

Even countries that possessed hunters with search skills hadn’t found a single clue about clearing their gates.

Yet…

All eleven Maze Gates in Seoul had been cleared.

The news spread around the globe almost instantly.

The first person to emerge had been S-rank Hunter Kang Jinseo.

Inside the Korean Hunter Association…

And even the Presidential Office…

Phones rang nonstop while messages poured in so rapidly that normal work had become impossible.

Only minutes earlier, Chairman Maeng had looked like the world was ending.

Now…

He couldn’t stop smiling.

“Hahaha! Just as expected of our S-rank Hunter! You never disappoint! Who said you had no sense of direction, huh?”

The moment he heard Jinseo was returning to headquarters, Chairman Maeng couldn’t stay seated.

What a treasure! A golden treasure!

Countries around the world were practically begging.

“We’ll pay any amount! Just send Hunter Kang Jinseo to us!”

If Jinseo traveled from country to country clearing their gates…

Not only would the Korean Hunter Association’s prestige soar to unimaginable heights…

They’d earn more money than they could ever spend.

“But when is he getting here…?!”

“…I’m back.”

“Oh! Hunter Kang! Welcome back! You worked hard. Sit down first. I even prepared your favorite drink myself. Here, have this.”

Jinseo looked down at the glass of warm milk that had been pushed into his hand.

Steam rose gently from it.

His perfectly straight brows furrowed slightly.

He did like milk.

But he disliked the fact that Chairman Maeng knew that.

Without a word, he placed the glass back on the table.

“I’ll submit the Gate report after I’ve cleaned up.”

His cold voice echoed through the chairman’s office.

“No, no! The report can wait!”

“…Are you going to ask why the clear took so long? In case you haven’t heard, I…”

“Hunter Kang!”

Interrupting him, Chairman Maeng suddenly grabbed his scarred hand tightly.

His eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Don’t be surprised.”

“…?”

“The entire world is waiting for you! They said they’ll pay whatever you ask! They’ll even hand over national treasure-grade items if that’s what you want!”

“…?”

“You’re speechless! Hahaha! No wonder! Even proud countries like Germany and Russia…”

Jinseo gently pulled his hand free and frowned.

“Why are those countries waiting for me?”

“Why? Ah! I suppose you wouldn’t know. Maze gates have appeared not only in Seoul but also in capitals all over the world. But we’re the only country that’s cleared them! Every nation is demanding that we send Hunter Kang to their country first!”

Greed practically overflowed from Chairman Maeng’s eyes.

“The president will be here soon as well! He said your opinion would be respected, but personally I think we should ask Germany for one of their S-rank relics in return…”

“…Ha.”

A quiet sigh cut off the chairman’s excited rambling.

Jinseo raised his dark brown eyes and looked directly at him.

“I wasn’t the one who cleared the gate.”

“What? If it wasn’t you… then who cleared it…?”

The chairman’s office, which had been overflowing with excitement only moments earlier…

Fell completely silent.