By Zephyria Yes, the newbie must have been hallucinating due to excessive workload. Lee Sa-young coming to a place like this? There’s no way, right? He must be weak in spirit and unable to distinguish things properly. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d say such crazy things.
Hye-jin looked at the newbie with pity. She thought she should feed him some balloon flower juice when they returned to the Management Bureau. And she recited Lee Sa-young’s profile in her head.
Lee Sa-young, a strongman who maintained the number one spot for six years, though he was suddenly robbed of it by someone who may or may not be J himself. A special note would be… ‘Mostly ignores requests from the Awakened Management Bureau and the Rift Management Bureau’?
Since Yang Hye-jin started working at the Rift Management Bureau, Lee Sa-young had never responded to a support request even once. The B-rank Hunter next to her seemed to think the same, laughing heartily.
“Come on, why would Lee Sa-young come here? Didn’t you see wrong?”
“No, it’s really Lee Sa-young…”
“I heard there are a lot of concept-obsessed people wearing techwear and Gas masks after seeing the public service ad these days. Isn’t he just one of those guys?”
“That’s possible.”
“Right? I get goosebumps just watching that ad.”
They were having a not-so-helpful mood change with ridiculous jokes when the familiar, languid voice froze the cheerful atmosphere in an instant.
“Did you come to hold a memorial service…? In front of the Rift.”
“…….”
“It looked so harmonious, like a family gathering.”
It was a voice that was too familiar. It was a voice that could be heard regularly after the weekend entertainment program ended recently.
Yang Hye-jin slowly turned her head. A dark Gas mask was nonchalantly walking over, easily crossing the no-entry line that had been set up. That kind of physique, black techwear, sarcastic tone, low voice that gave you goosebumps just hearing it, and a Gas mask… there was only one!
The B-rank Hunter, who had been sweating bullets since hearing the voice, began to make a cross shape with the safety bar and shake it. It was like he was trying to exorcise an evil spirit. Yang Hye-jin also dropped the cigarette she was holding. Of course, she quickly came to her senses and put it out with her foot.
Amidst the chaos, only one thought came to everyone’s mind.
‘Why the hell is this crazy brat here?’
A level 5 Rift wasn’t an easy Rift, but it wasn’t so difficult that an S-rank was needed. Of course, they had requested support from this side as well, but they knew he wouldn’t come, so they were flustered when he actually did. To put it in perspective, it was like winning the lottery you bought for fun.
The Gas mask, who had already stood tall in front of the Rift entrance, tilted his head.
“What are you doing? Not going in?”
Yang Hye-jin, who swallowed hard, asked cautiously.
“Did you… come to support us?”
“Yeah.”
“…What for?”
“…….”
He gestured with his chin to the swaying Rift entrance.
“To get rid of this.”
So, I’m asking why the current number two is personally visiting a mere level 5 Rift… But Yang Hye-jin quickly gave up on getting an answer. There was no time to argue with Lee Sa-young in this urgent situation.
“The Awakened Management Bureau is also sending support personnel. It would be better to wait a bit and enter together…”
Lee Sa-young replied nonchalantly.
“Don’t need it.”
“Yes?”
The indifferent gaze beyond the Gas mask lens scanned the newbie, the B-rank Hunter, and Hye-jin in turn.
“Just take care of the survivors, you guys.”
He went into the Rift without giving them a chance to stop him. After the Rift swallowed Lee Sa-young, the newbie looked back and forth between the Rift and Hye-jin, stamping his feet.
“S-Senior… what do we do?”
“Haa….”
Hye-jin took off her yellow hard hat and ruffled her hair.
“What do you mean, what do we do? We have to follow him in right away…”
“Yes? Ah, yes!”
“The Master will be taken care of by Lee Sa-young, so don’t worry about it, and we’ll focus on identifying and rescuing survivors. Move it!”
“Yes, understood!”
“And… newbie!”
“Yes?”
The newbie perked up. Hye-jin took off her fluorescent vest, put on a thick bulletproof vest, and pointed to the supply truck with her thumb.
“Bring more Gas masks than the number of people, and bring all the Antidotes and items with detoxifying effects that you can find.”
“W-Why is that…?”
Is there a Monster that uses Poison in that Rift? The newbie looked at Hye-jin with a dazed expression. She clicked her tongue and gestured urgently.
“Hurry up if you don’t want to die from Lee Sa-young’s Poison!”
While the Rift Management Bureau Hunters were frantically ransacking the supply truck, Lee Sa-young, who had actually lit a fire under their butts, moved slowly. He had been acting like he was going to rush to the Master of the Rift right away, but he stopped in a quiet place to admire the purple ivy wrapped around a tree.
After a few minutes, a black, round thing popped out of his shadow. It was Min-gi Seo’s head, wearing sunglasses.
“Guild Master.”
Min-gi Seo, who made a living by manipulating shadows and using stealth, could only hide in other people’s shadows. That was why he couldn’t enter the Rift alone and waited for Lee Sa-young to arrive. Min-gi Seo’s head wiggled up and down for a moment before crawling out of the shadow and standing on two feet.
Sa-young opened his mouth.
“It’s quiet.”
“Yes, it is.”
In a typical Rift, you would make eye contact with Monsters loitering around like they were in their own backyard the moment you entered the entrance. But in this Rift, not a single Monster had been seen from the moment they entered until now. It was as if there wasn’t a single living being. Min-gi Seo slightly raised his sunglasses and put his hands behind his back.
Sa-young picked up a red feather that had fallen on the ground. The feather was glossy without a speck of dust. Min-gi Seo slightly lowered his sunglasses to check the feather and quickly muttered.
“It’s a chest feather from a level 4 Monster, the Red-Breasted Pterosaur. They have a fierce temperament and will attack anyone they see, whether it’s a person or another Monster, like an Adelie penguin. They are characterized by traveling in a company of six or so. Judging by the condition, it seems like it recently fell out.”
“You’re smart. I’ll leave the new recruit training for the next quarter to you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Min-gi Seo, who felt the sharp thorns, shut his mouth. Lee Sa-young, who took off his Gas mask, looked around.
When a Hunter moves, a unique smell remains. Whether it’s their body odor, the lingering scent left when they wield their weapon, the smell of Monster blood, the scent felt in their breath, or… the smell of a human who has been attacked by a Monster. Lee Sa-young was especially good at smelling those smells.
However, while moving from the entrance of the Rift to this place, there was strangely no smell left in the Rift, except for what the plants inside the Rift were emitting.
‘Not even the common smell of blood.’
The fact that it was so quiet even though they had entered the heart of the Red-Breasted Pterosaur’s habitat meant that all the Pterosaurs were dead. There was a possibility that the Monsters fought each other, but if there had been a battle between Monsters, there wouldn’t be no traces like this.
“It’s too clean.”
“The Master of this Rift is a very powerful guy, so the Monsters are well-disciplined, or someone cleaned them all up. Which one do you think it is?”
It wasn’t uncommon for the Master of the Rift to manage the Monsters, making the Rift relatively quiet. However, in such cases, the Master’s power was so strong that you could sense the Master’s presence the moment you entered the Rift. But this Rift didn’t feel like that.
“The latter.”
Someone killed all the Monsters without leaving a trace.
The only person among those caught up in this Rift who could do that… Sa-young recalled Eui-jae, who blocked his attack with a ladle and tore off his Gas mask with his blood-soaked hands. Yes, it’s only Cha Eui-jae. Sa-young slowly started walking.
“Seo Min-gi.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
“Where do you think Hyung is?”
Hyung. It was a polite title that was hard to believe came from Lee Sa-young’s mouth. Min-gi Seo, who doubted his ears, came to his senses only after receiving a cold gaze and answered.
“Um… wouldn’t he be hiding somewhere? Because he has to hide his power. There’s no need to reveal his existence by catching Monsters.”
Seo Min-gi’s opinion was valid. Sa-young also agreed with his opinion in his head. Didn’t Cha Eui-jae himself strongly insist that he wanted to live quietly? There’s no way such a person would have killed all the Monsters.
However, the strangely quiet interior of the Rift continued to bother him.
Suddenly, Sa-young hardened his expression. Come to think of it, he denied it, but Cha Eui-jae needed money and was going to sell Mana Stones. At Tomato Market.
‘Could it be that he didn’t have money….’
Did he kill them all to collect Monster byproducts? If so, the state of this Rift, which was as if it had been cleaned with a vacuum cleaner, was understandable. Sa-young’s delicate facial lines frowned and he lightly clicked his tongue.
‘Damn it, if you need money, just say so.’
Cha Eui-jae is strange and suspicious. He couldn’t figure out what kind of behavioral principles he was operating on.
He said he wanted to live quietly, but he kept causing accidents, and then he suddenly accepted the deal. This time, he got caught up in the Rift, but instead of staying still, he went out of his way to wipe out the Monsters. It seemed like he was a human who inherently attracted storms.
After walking through the blue reed field, what appeared was a grassy clearing. In the center of the clearing was a life-size cardboard cutout of Lee Sa-young covered in dirt and a broken office chair, and in one corner, dead Pterosaurs were stacked like a tower. Min-gi Seo, who made eye contact with the cardboard cutout rather than the Pterosaur corpses, was horrified.
“Oh, my God.”
Sa-young approached the pile of Pterosaur corpses and picked up the one on top. It was an unusually clean corpse. The only external injury was the trace of its neck being twisted. He didn’t even pluck the feathers. He thought he was after Monster byproducts, but it didn’t seem like that either.
“What did you say just now… that he’d be hiding somewhere?”
“…….”
Min-gi Seo trembled in fear, caught between the paper Lee Sa-young and the real Lee Sa-young. No, what was he supposed to do if Cha Eui-jae was breaking expectations and wandering around! He was a criminal who moved based on extremely common sense, so he couldn’t dare to follow Cha Eui-jae’s movements.
Sa-young carelessly threw the Pterosaur and turned towards the cardboard cutout.
“When did you make something like this?”
“Wasn’t it after the public service ad was aired? I think you’ll have to ask the PR team for the exact details.”
“I’m not that curious….”
When Sa-young flicked his hand, Min-gi Seo understood well and turned to start searching the surroundings. Meanwhile, Sa-young stared intently at the cardboard cutout. Judging by the fact that it was covered in dirt up to its waist, it seemed like someone had taken it out after it had been buried somewhere. Min-gi Seo, who had approached him, reported.
“There are no footprints or traces of anyone passing by in the vicinity.”
“He wouldn’t have soared into the sky or disappeared into the ground, would he?”
“Yes. He may have a skill to hide his presence or traces.”
“The more I know, the more interesting it gets.”
It was then that he replied with a face that didn’t look interesting at all. His palm began to throb as if it were burning. He took off his glove with a hardened face and checked his hand.
The place where he cut his palm and intertwined the blood, the proof of the contract, the golden line… was burning black. Sa-young coldly muttered.
“What the hell are you doing, damn it.”