TGGCH 10

Chapter – 10

Draw

Lee Tae-hyun’s failure was only natural.

Clearing a C-rank Gate, and doing it solo in just five hours?

‘That’s impossible!’

Success wasn’t even up for discussion. The general consensus was that simply surviving inside would already be considered lucky.

Both Lee Tae-hyun himself and Cheonseong Group must have known this fact.

‘Then what’s their real intention?’

The public began digging into the truth hidden behind Lee Tae-hyun’s actions.

“It can be seen as a show to gain sympathy,” a panelist on a talk show said.

“It’s Cheonseong cutting off their own tail. If he dies inside the Gate, they can just write it off as an accident,” a masked YouTuber spread rumors.

• My acquaintance works at Cheonseong, and apparently Lee Tae-hyun has lost his mind. They say he went in to die.

Someone on an anonymous community forum posted what might or might not be the truth.

• What are the chances Lee Tae-hyun clears it?

└ 0%. Absolutely impossible.

└ If he succeeds, I’ll buy 10 chickens and hand them out lololol

└ King Electronics assets are insane;;

No one held any expectations.

They couldn’t afford to.

Because that was the kind of person Lee Tae-hyun was.

Human scum, bottom-tier trash, a good-for-nothing, a coward who abandoned his comrades to die and ran away.

• Just drop dead inside the Gate already.

The world hated Lee Tae-hyun.

Everyone believed without a doubt that he would fail.

And then, today.

Tick!

A single record was engraved into the world.

4 hours, 51 minutes, and 29 seconds.

The time it took for Lee Tae-hyun to solo clear a C-rank Gate.

“…What the hell.”

Seong Ju-ah clicked her tongue as she stared at the record floating on the monitor.

The Daegu C-rank Gate.

Also known as the ‘Lee Tae-hyun C-rank Gate.’ She had investigated and organized the data multiple times, yet the numbers still felt absurd.

“Does this even make sense? Is this possible?”

It had been publicly known as a C-rank Gate, but the difficulty had risen midway through.

Even that alone was shocking enough to flip the entire country upside down.

‘The Gate’s difficulty definitely spiked.’

The Gate Lee Tae-hyun entered had jumped in difficulty during the raid.

In other words, he had cleared a Gate above C-rank in five hours and walked out on his own two feet completely fine.

The more she thought about it, the more unreal it seemed.

“This is driving me crazy…”

Her fingers paused on the keyboard as she suddenly glanced out the window.

People wandering the streets in small groups all had their eyes glued to their phones.

[Lee Tae-hyun, Daegu C-rank Gate Strategy]

[‘4 Hours 51 Minutes 29 Seconds’ New Solo C-rank Clear Record!]

[Is He Really F-rank? Hunter Association Issues Second Urgent Explanation]

[‘Reveal the Truth!’ Public Outcry Demands Release of Lee Tae-hyun’s Awakening Records]

Lee Tae-hyun’s Gate clear had only happened yesterday.

The issue was still scorching hot.

• Where’s the guy who said he’d buy chickens if Lee Tae-hyun succeeded yesterday lololololol

• How the hell did he do it????

• Yeah, I don’t believe the fabrication.

└ Ah lol it’s definitely fabricated lol Just make one artificial Gate and fake it lol

└ Artificial Gate lolololol

Wherever you looked, wherever you went, it was all about Lee Tae-hyun.

Most reactions were either doubt or pure confusion.

• Cheonseong has a lot of money, right? Didn’t they just give him expensive equipment and dope him up with good elixirs?

└ Can any F-rank Hunter clear a C-rank Gate in 5 hours just because they have good gear and elixirs?

└ The Dubai Prince is D-rank and it took his 5-man team 38 hours to clear a C-rank Gate. Does Cheonseong have more money than Dubai or something?

The Hunter Association’s emergency lights were flashing red once again.

Ever since getting entangled with Lee Tae-hyun, they hadn’t had a single peaceful day.

• Is Lee Tae-hyun really F-rank?!

• Y-yes… He should be…

• ‘Should be’? Answer clearly!

The staff member in charge of measuring awakening grades almost had to write an unfair report.

That is, until they immediately pulled up Lee Tae-hyun’s measurement data.

[Name: Lee Tae-hyun] 

[Potential: F]

An Awakened’s status window could only be viewed by the person themselves.

Therefore, for official records and to prevent grade forgery, every Awakened had to receive their grade once more through the ‘measuring device’ at the Hunter Association.

Lee Tae-hyun’s grade was F.

No matter how you looked at it, it was F.

‘The measuring device’s accuracy is 99.99%, right?’

They just didn’t mark it as 100% out of courtesy; it was safe to treat it as effectively 100%.

There had never been a single case where the grade from the measuring device differed from a Hunter’s actual limits.

“…At least not in South Korea.”

Seong Ju-ah rummaged through the thick stack of documents piled beside her.

[Measuring Device Error Cases]

After staying up all night investigating, the results showed that there had only been three cases worldwide where the measuring device’s grade did not match the Hunter’s actual limits.

Japan’s Sword Demon, Fujiwara Manabu. 

Russia’s Viktor, known as the strongest primate. 

And The Saintess, Veronica.

“……”

One might think it was quite a few, but considering the total number of Awakeners appearing across the globe, it was by no means a large number.

These irregulars shared one common trait:

They had all received grades lower than average, yet now stood at the very peak.

Anyone would swallow dryly when considering the influence these three exerted on the world.

‘If Lee Tae-hyun is the same kind of case…’

It was natural for her thoughts to reach that point.

However, Seong Ju-ah quickly shook off that expectation.

The Lee Tae-hyun she had seen with her own eyes was the very definition of a pathetic human being.

‘If he had that kind of skill, he wouldn’t have run away from a B-rank Gate.’

There was already an incident that completely disproved the theory.

The photo of Lee Tae-hyun crying and snotting as he fled the Gate was still used as a meme on the internet.

“There’s no chance he’s an irregular, right?”

Seong Ju-ah clicked her tongue and organized the materials.

“…Still, I’m curious.”

What exactly happened inside the Gate yesterday?

How did Lee Tae-hyun manage to clear it, and if he used any tricks, what were they?

And… just what was that Gate difficulty spike phenomenon?

How did Lee Tae-hyun respond to the situation and safely return?

‘I want to know.’

Seong Ju-ah felt a thirst she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

‘I’m dying of curiosity!’

A sharp, nerve-grating thirst called curiosity.

“Sunbae— I bought drinks.”

Right on time, Kim Su-hyeok entered the office carrying cups in both hands.

The contents were still the same: thick, dark iced Americano with three shots.

“Thanks.”

Seong Ju-ah took the cup and downed the coffee in one go.

Once you drink this much coffee, you stop tasting the bitterness.

She felt a strange sadness realizing her taste buds were probably destroyed when—

“What’s this? Su-hyeok, you look sharp today. Got a blind date or something?”

Seong Ju-ah asked with a sly, playful expression.

Kim Su-hyeok’s condition was different from yesterday.

Instead of the wrinkled shirt he had worn for days of overtime, he was now wearing a neatly ironed three-piece suit.

His previously greasy face was now smooth and clean.

Though his tired expression remained the same.

“Where would I find the time for a blind date… I had something to take care of, so I quickly washed up at a jjimjilbang on the way.”

[TL Note: jjimjilbang is a traditional Korean public bathhouse and wellness center.]

“So where exactly did you go?”

Kim Su-hyeok let out a deep sigh and answered.

At the same time, Seong Ju-ah’s eyes glinted slightly.

“…Oh ho?”

The corners of her mouth, which had been sipping coffee, curved upward.

It was a smile that somehow resembled a snake.

***

The moment he got home, he roughly washed up and collapsed onto the bed.

The long-awaited C-rank Gate clear.

There had been a small variable, but he successfully cleared it.

He was more exhausted and got hurt a bit more than expected, but overall everything went well.

‘But.’

Grempel’s final words still lingered in his mind.

‘Otherworlder. Do not… trust the Monarchs.’

“……”

Monarchs.

Hearing that word naturally brought a certain someone to mind.

The Iron Blood Lord.

The monster who destroyed Earth and drove humanity to extinction in his previous life.

Unless something changed, he would undoubtedly encounter that being again in this life.

‘Monarchs, plural.’

Did that mean there were several of them?

If so…

“…Forget it.”

Thinking about it wouldn’t change anything.

What he needed to focus on right now were the next steps he had to take.

He buried his exhausted body into the soft mattress.

“Ugh…”

He could drink a potion, but relying on them too much wasn’t good either.

It was also important to know how much rest was needed to fully recover his stamina.

He tossed and turned for a while before falling asleep.

“Guhhh…”

***

When he opened his eyes, the sun was high in the sky.

The time was 2 PM.

He had slept for nearly 18 hours straight.

He was briefly surprised at how long he had slept.

“Now that I think about it, I used Domain Art.”

Domain Art .

It was a technique he could learn after becoming a disciple of the Vermilion Bird Spirit Sect.

The stats mainly required were ‘Magic Power’ and ‘Wisdom.’

“Mine would be Technique .”

Because his Magic Power and Wisdom stats had been integrated into Technique (技).

‘Did using Domain Art beyond my current level consume a lot of mental strength?’

The Eve  he had unfolded was an intermediate-level Domain Art.

Originally, it was something his stats shouldn’t even be able to imitate, but he had self-taught it by interpreting Domain Art in his own way.

In simple terms, he learned it through a loophole.

He preserved the unique ability of Domain Art while lowering other functions to minimize the recoil.

For example, the Eve he used during the battle against Grempel.

Instead of the heavy burden of ‘shutting down all senses except within the domain,’ he kept the core ability of Eve itself.

In conclusion, the Eve he used was roughly a degraded version of the original.

“Even then, I could only maintain it for about three seconds with my base stats.”

And afterward, it had consumed an enormous amount of mental strength.

In this Gate, Body  was the most important stat, so he had focused on training it.

‘But I need to raise the other stats quickly too.’

That didn’t mean the other stats weren’t important.

To turn all the techniques he possessed into proper ‘Skills,’ he needed to steadily pay attention to the other stats as well.

“Now that I think about it, ‘that’ should be discovered soon.”

If he could properly obtain it, he wouldn’t have to worry about Technique (技) for a while.

…Anyway.

“I almost forgot the most important thing.”

Suppressing the grin leaking from his lips, Lee Tae-hyun opened his subspace bracelet.

「Mad Blood Ring (S)」

▷ A ring condensed with ferocious power. It bestows upon the user an inexhaustible river of blood and glory. Be careful not to be consumed by madness.

▷ Special Effects 

① Berserk: Upon entering battle, gain ‘Berserk’ stacks. Attack power increases by 5% per stack. At 30 stacks, enter <Frenzy>.

A black ring embedded with a red gem.

This was the artifact that had driven the Solion Guild Master into a frenzy.

Berserk was a powerful special effect that came with an equally severe price.

As stacks accumulated, rationality faded, behavior became violent, and the line between ally and enemy blurred.

The higher the ‘Resistance’ stat, the more stacks one could endure.

“How many can I handle right now?”

His Mind (心) stat, which integrated Resistance and Luck, was still 10.

The higher this rose, the more efficient this ring would become.

In theory, he could use it up to 29 stacks—just before <Frenzy>—which meant a 145% increase in attack power!

Kya, what a jackpot. A real jackpot.

“Still, I’ll put it away for now.”

He would probably need Mind (心) around 30 to use it safely.

After storing the ring in his subspace, he took out the next reward.

「C-rank Skill Book」

▷ Acquire one imprinted C-rank skill. Disappears upon use.

▷ Imprinted Skill: Five Senses Amplification ©

「Low-grade Random Box」

「Azure Key Fragment (1/3)」

▷ A key fragment of unknown material and grade. When all pieces are collected, it is likely to become a key that unlocks something.

▷ Special Effect 

① Attraction: The fragment attracts other fragments. The difficulty of obtaining the other fragments decreases slightly.

A C-rank skill book, a Low-grade Random Box, and one azure-colored key fragment.

“A key?”

He would probably only know what it was used for once he collected all the pieces.

Thanks to the ‘Attraction’ effect, he would likely be able to gather them all soon.

Next was the skill book.

“Five Senses Amplification, huh…”

It was literally a skill that maximized the five senses and sharpened perception.

“Too bad.”

It was indeed disappointing compared to other C-rank skills.

Still, a skill book was a skill book. A skill was a skill.

Having something was far better than having nothing.

[C-rank Skill Book has been used.]

[Acquiring the imprinted skill.]

[You have obtained the skill ‘Five Senses Amplification ©’.]

Next was the 「Low-grade Random Box」.

The moment he activated it, a familiar cube appeared on his palm.

‘Will it give me another Skill Grade Upgrade Ticket this time?’

While waiting for the box to open without high expectations—

[A being who felt  has intervened in the ‘Random Box’ .]

[Causality  activated!]

[ being  causality.]

Crackle crackle crackle!

[The reward has been successfully adjusted.]

A suspicious, glitch-filled message appeared.

“…Huh? What is this…”

Before he could even understand the noisy, bug-like window,

Ziiiiiiing!

An overwhelming burst of light began pouring out from inside the box.

Brilliant golden light stabbed into his optic nerves.

“Uwaaack! My eyes!”

Wasn’t the it way too different from the first time he opened one…?!

He squinted and watched the box open.

[Amazing Luck! You have broken through an extremely low probability!]

[The highest-tier reward is given!]

Highest-tier reward?