Chapter 174 - Trial of Deception (1)
Cha Song-jin turned his gaze out the car window and pressed down hard on his pounding heart.
‘I did it, I really did it.’
Though he was on the way to the Gate in a car with Kang Yi-sin, he still couldn’t believe it.
That he had persuaded this man, and that this man had trusted him.
‘I thought he would resent me, saying it was all because of me.’
Instead, Kang Yi-sin told him that ‘this isn’t your fault’.
The moment he heard those words, Cha Song-jin gained the courage to voice the plans he had only formed in his head for the past two days.
He still didn’t know what possessed him to say all those things.
In fact, they were definitely not words someone like Cha Song-jin would say.
Getting involved in something dangerous to his life. And for someone else, not himself. That ‘someone’ wasn’t even Cha Song-jin’s friend or anything!
But Cha Song-jin didn’t dislike these people.
Yes, that’s the problem. Not disliking them. No, it wasn’t just not disliking them, he actually liked them very, very much.
At first, he hated even breathing the same air as these people, to the point where he whispered to himself every night that he would absolutely not mix with them. But somehow it had become like this.
He didn’t know when his thoughts had changed, but still…
Now he was genuinely worried about Han Seo-hyeon.
Since when had he stopped being annoying or scary, and just become a person named Han Seo-hyeon?
If he had to pinpoint it, wasn’t it from that time?
The day when twinkling stars dotted the black night sky. On the way to buy late night snacks with Kang Yi-sin while breathing in the cool night air.
Seeing Kang Yi-sin’s face as he carefully asked for consideration, for the first time Cha Song-jin thought, how enviable.
The thoughts that had been scratching at Cha Song-jin’s heart for a while had grown undeniably large.
Yes, it’s enviable. Truly enviable. How can they care for each other like that? Watching Kang Yi-sin’s face as he carefully talked about Han Seo-hyeon, saying all this kid’s flaws were his fault, Cha Song-jin felt ashamed.
And soon thought:
How fortunate Han Seo-hyeon is.
It’s difficult to think of someone you truly envy as ‘scary’. Though his heart still sank whenever he met his cold gaze, he saw other things more.
Han Seo-hyeon’s thoughtfulness in taking care of Weltschmerz while always grumbling, his sense of humor exchanging jokes with Kang Yi-sin even with a tired face.
And…
-If there’s nowhere to sit, just sit here. It’s safe here, and well, there’s some shade too.
His seemingly indifferent but kind side that cared for him stuck in a corner during every battle.
After peeling away one layer of prejudice about him being a terrible criminal, Han Seo-hyeon was just a good kid.
At least, Han Seo-hyeon within this Weltschmerz was that kind of child.
And that Han Seo-hyeon is alone in the Gate.
In that Gate that only showed terribly scratching memories.
‘I’ll save him. Yes, I have to go save him.’
Cha Song-jin’s hands were still trembling.
He was still afraid of everything inside the Gate, and worried whether he could really do this properly.
But those worries soon disappeared.
Seeing Kang Yi-sin driving the car with a face full of murderous intent while keeping his mouth shut, Cha Song-jin thought:
Maybe he had also come to rely on that sloppy boss, just like Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho.
* * *
While driving towards the Gate, Cha Song-jin said to me:
“Oh right, there’s something you should know in advance.”
“What is it?”
“The Gate we entered, it was definitely C-grade when we went in, right?”
Cha Song-jin swallowed hard and continued:
“But now it’s S-grade. So everyone’s in an uproar.”
“What?”
Certainly, until we entered, that Gate was a normal C-grade. Well, it turned out to be far from normal when we cracked it open, but at least that’s how it looked from the outside.
But suddenly the grade visible from outside changed?
“I heard a huge energy wave spread outside, and it completely changed to an S-grade Gate.”
“Where did you hear that?”
It’s only been two days since we entered that Gate, and it’s a Gate outside the wall. This kind of high-level information can never be found just by searching the internet.
“I overheard people talking at a pub. Don’t worry. I wore a different face.”
I was genuinely surprised at Cha Song-jin’s words.
“Why, why!”
“No, I just thought it was pretty impressive. How did you understand what they were saying? And how did you think to change your face…”
“The language, I roughly used a translator… Plus they kept talking about ‘Golden Day’ and ‘Asian’. I could understand even without knowing English because they talked so much. And I’ve seen things too, would I walk around with my bare face?”
How admirable! Admirable! I didn’t know Cha Song-jin had this side to him. Cha Song-jin who I thought only knew how to back away saying he was scared and afraid!
—He’s been wonderfully tainted.
At Ray’s harsh evaluation, I immediately said to Ray:
‘Why are you discouraging Cha Song-jin?’
—Why do you always discourage me? That guy can’t even hear my words to begin with?
Hmm, while listening to Ray’s nonsense, we had already arrived at our destination. Actually, the Gate I was aiming for wasn’t visible.
Why? Because people were crowded in front of it.
“Damn it.”
As Cha Song-jin said, the Gate we entered seems to have become the hottest topic here right now. I didn’t expect so many people to be swarming like this.
I immediately got out of the car and walked straight towards the Gate. I pushed away people blocking my path without hesitation.
A few people raised their voices at my rough shoving, but they all stepped back surprised at my fierce expression.
Reaching the front of the Gate like that.
The Gate spewing out ominous magic power while dyed black looked completely different from the Gate I entered just two days ago.
To be honest, it’s so completely different that I could believe the Gate I entered had disappeared and a different Gate had appeared in the same place, no, that would make more sense.
But I was certain that the Gate right in front of me was the same Gate I had entered.
—That is…
‘It’s Seo-hyeon’s magic power.’
I could immediately recognize whose magic power was flowing out of the Gate.
Han Seo-hyeon is in here.
I clenched my fists.
It wasn’t a good sign that he was releasing magic power to the extent of changing the magic power flowing outside the Gate.
‘Seo-hyeon can operate the most magic power among us.’
He originally had a vast amount of magic power in his body, but especially after obtaining Yebrica’s Mana Stone, he became able to use an enormous amount of magic power.
If that bastard is using all that magic power…
‘Damn it.’
What on earth is happening in there?
[Hey! You can’t approach carelessly!]
Ignoring the person speaking behind me, I quickly scanned the faces of the people in front of the Gate.
Except for one person, I didn’t recognize any of them. Fortunately, I only needed that one person.
[So no matter how great a mercenary group, it’s just C-grade…]
I didn’t care about the greedy agency blabbering on like that.
[Norman.]
I went straight to my agency.
[Huuk!]
Norman stumbled backwards with a dumbfounded expression after confirming my face.
At that reaction, the gazes of the people standing around all turned towards me and Norman.
[Wh-why are you doing this?]
Even at those words grabbing Norman from the side and asking, Norman couldn’t answer. His gaze was still fixed on my face.
[Who are these people?]
At my question, Norman looked at me with a scrunched face. It was a face wanting to confirm if what he was seeing was really real, not an illusion or ghost. I grabbed Norman’s forearm.
[Yes, it’s real. It’s really me.]
Norman glanced at the people around and whispered in my ear:
[How on earth did you get out of there?]
[That’s not what’s important right now. Why are so many people crowded around my Gate?]
Norman hardened his face at my words.
[That Gate belongs to Golden Day, right? At least while I’m alive. Isn’t that right?]
As I said, that Gate was our mercenary group’s. Unless our mercenary group failed the conquest, in other words, died.
Norman muttered with a pale face:
[Oh, my goodness.]
[So tell everyone to get lost from here.]
[W-wait a moment. There was an explosive energy reaction from the Gate after your mercenary group entered. What I handed over to you was a C-grade Gate, but that’s an S-grade Gate.]
Norman who whispered like that rolled his eyes and added:
[I don’t know how you got out, but entering there now is suicide.]
[I don’t care about that. So that Gate is mine, right?]
I scrunched my face fiercely and grabbed Norman’s collar. Norman who ended up with his forehead against mine flailed his body. After throwing Norman’s body away, I shouted to everyone:
[This Gate belongs to our Golden Day mercenary group. So get lost.]
[A mere C-grade mercenary group is going to enter an S-grade Gate? That’s reckless.]
[Whether it’s reckless or whatever. This Gate is ours. So it’s best to give up on touching this Gate until we all die.]
At my words, the agencies laughed emptily as if finding it ridiculous, but no one could deny my words.
I carefully examined the faces of those laughing at my words and warned them with my eyes.
I need to nail it down clearly.
Han Seo-hyeon is inside.
If these people interfere and cause any problems in rescuing Han Seo-hyeon…
‘I’ll kill them all.’
I turned my gaze back to Norman.
[Take responsibility and make sure no one can enter.]
While fixing Norman’s crumpled collar because of me, I whispered to Norman:
[You’re my agency, right? So don’t let anyone in until I die. Right, one week. If I don’t return in one week, transfer ownership. But until then, it’s ours.]
After patting Norman’s shoulder, I signaled Cha Song-jin with my eyes. Following my eye signal, Cha Song-jin who was stuck in a corner carefully moved his feet.
So slow.
I walked forward and grabbed Cha Song-jin’s wrist. And headed towards the Gate without hesitation.
And after exhaling once, I entered inside.
It’s time to go rescue our first.
* * *
The two people entered the Gate without giving time to stop them.
“Huh…”
The agencies who were about to form a conquest team to conquer the S-grade Gate could only have blank expressions like dogs that lost the chickens they were chasing.
And people’s gazes focused on Norman.
“Who on earth were those people just now?”
“G-Golden Day mercenary group.”
“Those guys entered here two days ago, right? I thought they’d be dead by now…”
Norman was also just as confused.
“Won’t they die soon? They entered an S-grade Gate with just two people…”
“But look at that temper. He said not to let anyone in for a week.”
“My goodness, what is all this about.”
Even Norman who had to clean up this situation was just staring at the Gate with a blank expression.
And Eddie, who had been watching this whole situation, burst into laughter among the people who had fallen into bewilderment.
“Hahaha, they’ve got more guts than they look.”
Eddie rolled his eyes while sucking on a lollipop.
‘They’re definitely not ordinary guys.’
Logically, the possibility of them, a mere C-grade mercenary company, conquering an S-grade Gate and coming out is infinitely close to 0. There are only two of them. It’s a difficult task even if both people were 7-star grade hunters.
But why?
“I feel like they’ll definitely come out.”
Eddie’s eyes shone.
“Then should I camp out here until then?”
Because he wanted to be the first to greet that person when they conquer the Gate and come out.