LTTH C65

Chapter 65

“Do you even know where to look? If the creature you first saw appeared only that day, then tracking it down would be nearly impossible.”

Kassie’s blunt words drew from Hansol a small, resigned nod.

Yes, to search blindly with nothing but a name from that day was nearly hopeless. Yet he could not abandon it.

That was why Hansol continued to grind his way through Gates, even when his level refused to rise. Survival was part of the reason, of course, but his true motive had always been to uncover even the faintest clue about what he had witnessed then.

Still, the “Gate” never revealed its bottom. The greatest scholars of the world each swore they would find its end, but like an onion, new layers only peeled away each year.

So the clue must exist—something no one had yet discovered. That was what Hansol sought.

“Of course, it makes sense to believe the first site of its appearance might hold the key.”

Hansol agreed. Criminals, after all, often returned to the scene of their crimes.

“Have you found anything at all so far?”

“…Nothing yet.”

Five years. In that not-so-long career as a hunter, Hansol had combed through countless Gates, yet not a single fragment of evidence pointed to that being. Perhaps it was the fault of the low-ranked Gates he could enter—or perhaps he had simply failed to notice.

Hansol believed the former. The creature he sought would never show itself in such places.

“It’s like searching for a needle in the desert, Hansol.”

Kassie shook his head, skepticism etched across his features.

“There are already more Gates worldwide than can be counted. Add to them the new ones, the fixed ones, the Breaks… even a lifetime wouldn’t suffice.”

Every year, dozens of new Gates appeared and vanished. Some disappeared because they were cleared, others because they collapsed in Breaks.

But countless Gates remained utterly out of reach to someone of Hansol’s rank. That very impossibility was what kept him from giving up.

Now that my level is finally rising, I’ll be able to enter more. I can’t stop here.

And for that, he needed to return to Korea.

Only there could his rank be officially updated, only through the Korean Hunter Association could he enter new Gates.

“Hansol, why don’t I search with you?”

“…You, Kassie?”

The thought of a mage of Kassie’s caliber helping him should have been a comfort. But how?

“What if I went to Korea with you?”

“…What?”

The proposal landed so abruptly that Hansol’s voice cracked out of tune.

Wait—was leaving this nightmare England actually possible?

Kassie’s words sounded as though he might actually be able to escape. Had he stayed here when he could have fled? …Why?

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I meant I could use the coordinates stored in the item you brought. With enough mana, I could open the way. It would take a lot, but… nothing I can’t manage.”

Even with Kassie’s hurried clarification, Hansol’s suspicion lingered. Normally, a mage of Kassie’s standing would remember at least a few safe coordinates. And such coordinates were usually state-managed, ensuring safety.

So to claim he had been trapped here simply for lack of coordinates rang hollow.

“When the Breaks began, the transport circles collapsed. Every stored coordinate was wiped out. I couldn’t use the ones I’d memorized either.”

Kassie’s voice carried a bitter edge.

“They sealed them deliberately. Too many people were fleeing to safer countries.”

“Ah.”

Of course. Inter-country teleportation required mutual consent. Just as when Hansol had traveled to America—the receiving country had to open its circle.

Yes, coordinates could be entered manually, but without certainty of the landing point, one might well fall in the midst of a monster’s nest. A fate no better than England’s Gate Breaks.

“Fortunately, the inter-country circles were restored recently. But the stored coordinates… those were gone.”

So the thing Kassie had mentioned earlier had already been rebuilt.

“I’ll admit, I thought it pointless, so I’d left it aside. But after meeting you, Hansol, I realized—I want to live.”

He gave a faint smile, raising the pocket watch he had once seized from Hansol, as if catching light in the air.

“And here—this is yours again.”

It looked unchanged from when he had taken it, but now pulsed faintly in Kassie’s hand.

“In about three days it’ll be fully recharged. I even added a safeguard. Only you can use it now. Anyone else who tries will get a little shock.”

“A little shock…?”

“Yes. Just a little.”

Kassie smiled as if expecting praise, but Hansol’s face darkened. To receive it back was one thing—but this was no gift.

“In someone without magical resistance, it might be more than a little shock. But it won’t kill them. Probably.”

“…Ha. Thank you.”

That’s not “a little” at all!

Hansol took the pocket watch from Kassie with trembling hands. He could no longer return it to the Association, not when an unwitting touch might kill someone outright. He had no wish to become an accessory to murder by “negligence.”

I’ll have to be careful. No one else can touch this, ever.

The watch gleamed faintly in his hand, already full of mana. He could return to Korea now. But not alone.

He had to find the two who had fallen. Either he would go to them, or bring them here.

Most likely, he would have to go. But how? Tentatively, he asked:

“Kassie. Is there any way to reach the other Britain?”

“…Ah. You mean the two people who came with you.”

“Yes.”

Kassie fell silent, considering. The food they had ordered was set before them, steaming and fragrant, yet none of them reached for it—not even Isaac.

“In short—no. There isn’t.”

“…Truly?”

Kassie, of all people, claimed it was impossible? Hansol could not help but doubt.

“Yes, truly. That Britain and this Britain are different, yet the same. Reality is divided, but the system sees them as one. And the system, most likely, regards the original Britain as the true one.”

He drained his foaming mug before continuing.

“Think of it—everyone who traveled here ended up in the original Britain, not this one.”

“…So even if there were a way to reach it, you wouldn’t let me go?”

“Exactly.”

“…Because I might not come back?”

The original Britain would still be the ruin it had been—Gate Breaks rampant, hunters gone, monsters swarming. A healer’s body would not last seconds there.

“That too. But more than that… what if your coming here was a glitch? What if you return to the original Britain and from then on, can only go there? What if this place is closed to you forever, like those two?”

His words tumbled out in a rush, Kassie’s hands clenching tight, his lashes trembling.

“What terrifies me is not that you might die there. It’s that I might never see you here again.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Kassie steadied himself, his eyes full of unease as they searched Hansol’s.