Chapter 5

Crunch, crunch.

“Is it good, Mimi?”

Crunch, crunch.

“Sorry your dinner’s late. You probably won’t believe me, but I seriously almost died today.”

Mimi, who had buried her face in her food bowl, lifted her head slightly and looked at me.

For some reason…

She looked like she didn’t believe me.

“I’m serious. Look at my knee. It’s still bleeding.”

Crunch, crunch.

“…Yeah, just enjoy your meal.”

Using the sound of Mimi eating as background noise, I took my phone out of my pocket.

Tap. Tap.

Even though I knew ordinary electronic devices stopped working inside a gate, I still tapped it a few times out of habit.

As expected…

Nothing.

I tossed the phone aside and picked up my laptop instead.

The first thing I opened was HunterTube, followed by a Hunter community forum.

Just as I expected, every discussion was about the unexpected Gates that had appeared a few hours earlier.

After reading several posts, my mouth fell open.

“That ridiculous gate appeared eleven times in Seoul alone…? And in capitals all over the world too? Maybe the world’s really coming to an end.”

As I scrolled through the posts, one thread stood out because of its enormous number of views and comments.

It had been posted anonymously.

[HOT! Looking for the Hero of the Mapo Gate]

The Mapo Gate…

That was the one I had been trapped in.

With a bad feeling, I clicked on the post.

Did you guys know only ONE person got sucked into the Mapo Gate??

I checked the other gates, and each one swallowed thousands of people.

Mapo only had one casualty because of this woman.

(Photo)

She suddenly drifted her bike across the intersection and started yelling that a gate was about to appear and that everyone should run.

I was like, “What nonsense is she talking about? LOL.”

Then a gate literally appeared exactly where she told everyone to run from.

Is that even possible?

Then she pushed an old lady who was crossing the street out of the way and got sucked into the gate instead.

The moment she disappeared into the gate, emergency alarms started going off everywhere.

Seriously…

It gave me goosebumps.

My trembling fingers zoomed in on the attached photo.

“Haha…”

“…That’s me.”

I was wearing exactly the same clothes I had on now.

“It’s really me…”

Quietly, I covered my mouth.

The thing I had feared most had happened.

Even if I could go back in time…

I would still make the same choice.

But…

Having everyone’s attention focused on me was terrifying.

It made me realize that I had personally destroyed my own peaceful, ordinary life.

The post’s views and comments were still increasing in real time.

LOL. She predicted a Gate? Seriously?

Gate prediction technology doesn’t even exist yet. LOL

I’m an employee at the Hunter Association. If that woman really predicted a Gate, we’d absolutely have to find her and bring her in.

I saw it too. She really acted like she knew exactly when the Gate would appear.

She deserves a civilian bravery award.

Gate prediction? Even Ed couldn’t do something like that. LOL

This smells like someone made the whole story up.

“Ahhh!”

I zoomed in on the picture as much as possible.

Thankfully…

My face wasn’t visible because I had been wearing a mask and a hat.

Still…

I couldn’t relax.

Too many people had seen me in person.

“What if the Hunter Association really finds me?”

“Will they interrogate me about how I predicted the Gate?”

“Will they perform horrible experiments on me to commercialize gate prediction…?”

“Please… anything but that…”

I clicked on the photo again.

This time…

A message appeared saying the post had been deleted.

“Whew… thank goodness.”

Assuming the original poster had deleted it, I let out a sigh of relief and closed the community site.

Then I opened the news.

“Huh?”

A headline on the front page immediately caught my attention.

It reported that Hunter Kang Jinseo had closed every Maze Gate in Seoul, including the one in Mapo.

“What happened?”

I knew Senior Jinseo had entered the same gate as me.

His mana was so powerful that I could recognize it even from far away.

It had always been like that back at the Hunter Academy.

His mana had been so immense and blazing hot that even when he simply entered the academy building, my skin would start tingling.

But…

The Gate Clear reward message had appeared for me.

Wait…

“Actually…”

“Wouldn’t this misunderstanding work out better for me?”

If the truth came out, people all over the world would probably mock me for claiming I’d awakened with ridiculous stats like sight, hearing, and smell.

It would have been much better if everyone believed Senior Jinseo had cleared the gate instead.

The forum post had already been deleted.

Hopefully…

Everyone would simply forget I existed.

Please…

“Still, Senior Jinseo is amazing.”

“Did he really clear all ten remaining Gates in Seoul by himself in such a short time?”

“This type of gate only needs one of them to be cleared. Once that happens, every gate closes. The same applies in every country.”

“What? I’ve never heard of a Gate like tha—”

…Wait.

Who am I talking to?

The shop was completely dark.

Only the eerie blue glow from my laptop illuminated the room.

…

And sitting beside me…

It was a black cat.

“W-What?!”

Startled, I instinctively grabbed the nearest flower vase and pointed it at Mimi…

Or rather…

At whatever was pretending to be Mimi.

“Y-You! What are you?!”

“A cat.”

“Mimi.”

“Don’t give me that! What did you do to Mimi?!”

Lick…

The creature occupying Mimi’s body calmly licked one of its black paws before turning its yellow, slit-shaped eyes toward me.

“You named me Mimi because I kept saying ‘Meow,’ remember?”

“What the…!”

“A Mimic?!”

“Why is a mimic here?!”

“W-What’s the weakness of a mimic again…?”

Even though I’d graduated from the Hunter Academy years ago, I normally remembered everything as clearly as if I’d studied it yesterday.

But I was panicking so badly that I couldn’t remember anything.

“Do not compare me to some lowly mimic.”

“Then what are you?!”

“I’m your benefactor.”

The cat shifted its posture and started licking its side.

“Who do you think pulled you out of the maze and awakened your powers?”

“Hmph.”

“It was me.”

“So what…”

“You’re saying you’re the status window or something?”

“You could say that.”

I frowned deeply.

What on earth was I doing…

Having a conversation with a mimic?

I was just about to yell at it again and tell it to get out of Mimi’s body.

Then…

Something came to mind.

…

Two cat ears are attached to the top of my status window.

And this thing, claiming to be the status window…

Had exactly the same ears.

“…Come on.”

Even though I thought that was impossible…

My mouth spoke on its own.

“…Can you prove it?”

Ding!

Title Acquired: Incarnation of Distrust

Title Acquired: One Who Knows No Gratitude!

Seeing the flashing status window appear before me, I slowly lowered the flower vase.

“Then…”

“What happened to the real Mimi?”

After talking with it for quite a while…

I learned the shocking truth.

The Mimi I had fed and loved all these years…

Had always been this creature.

“…I feel like my entire world has just been denied.”

“You’ll live.”

“…Sigh.”

“So what exactly do you want from me?”

I sat there blankly, unable to do anything.

The cat I had cared for and grown attached to over the years…

Had actually been some mysterious being all along.

It left a bitter feeling that wouldn’t go away.

“Tsk.”

“Don’t belittle someone who just found out the only companion they cared about wasn’t even what they thought.”

“Fine.”

Only then did Mimi stop looking at me so coldly.

“So, to summarize…”

“You’ve been searching for someone worthy of inheriting your power.”

“And that person happened to be me?”

“Your years of volunteer work.”

“A respectable occupation.”

“A thorough understanding of Hunters.”

“And your willingness to sacrifice yourself for others.”

“Among other things.”

“…”

“Most importantly…”

“That dramatic little performance you put on at the intersection moved me.”

“Performance?”

“That was a noble sacrifice!”

“Anyway.”

“Now you’ll use my power to help other people.”

“What if I refuse?”

“You won’t.”

“You like helping people.”

“And besides…”

“Weren’t you always sad that you never awakened?”

“I was.”

“Because I couldn’t make money.”

“But honestly?”

“I’ve always hated Gates and Hunters.”

“Hmm?”

“If Gates had never appeared…”

“I wouldn’t have become an orphan.”

“I wouldn’t have developed this sensory disorder.”

“And I wouldn’t have spent my entire life suffering because every smell and every sound in the world hurts…”

I was speaking rapidly.

Then suddenly…

I stopped.

“…Huh?”

The entire world had become…

Quiet.

The irritating noise of cars driving past the shop…

The disgusting smell drifting over from the garbage dump across the street…

The glaring light from the street lamps…

None of it overwhelmed my senses anymore.

Even after taking handfuls of medication…

I’d never felt this peaceful.

I froze where I stood.

The silence surrounding me felt completely unfamiliar.

“It’s because you awakened.”

“You should know that Hunters can freely control their heightened senses.”

The strange smile on the cat’s face seemed to say…

“You can’t reject me now.”

“If you abandon my power…”

“You’ll spend the rest of your life back in that noisy hell.”

“…Hell.”

That wasn’t an exaggeration.

Without medication…

I’d never been able to endure even a single day.

“The medicine’s expensive too.”

“You’ve reached the point where you can barely keep your shop open because your sensitivity keeps getting worse.”

“…”

“You also want to pay back the money you owe Miss Nara as soon as possible.”

“But after paying for medicine and rent…”

“You barely have anything left.”

“You’ve even talked about it in your sleep.”

Everything the cat said…

Was true.

So I couldn’t argue.

Perhaps sensing that I was still hesitating…

Mimi continued.

“Oh.”

“I almost forgot something important.”

Quest Available!

Sell one bottle of oil made using the Absolute Senses skill. (0/1)

Reward:

• 1 Stat Point
• Sense Stat Skill Tree Unlocked
• 100 Coins

Swish!

The cat raised one paw and extended a single claw as if giving a lecture.

“You earn 100 Coins for every bottle of oil.”

“And 1,000 coins for every massage.”

“That’s the income your class and skills can generate.”

“…?”

“For reference…”

“100 Coins equals one million Korean won.”

The cat’s smug expression clearly said only one thing.

“There’s no way you can refuse now, right?“