IH Ch 44

Chapter 44

 

“Ugh…”

 

A hunter emerged looking half-dead, clamping a hand over his mouth as he hurried toward a secluded corner. Standing before a tree, he hunched over and began vomiting—and one by one, the other hunters followed suit. What’s going on with them? Just then, An Yuna spotted the staggering figure of Seowon, an A-rank hunter, and headed his way.

 

“What’s wrong? What happened in there?”

 

But the Guildmaster went in with them. With him there, surely nothing could’ve gone wrong. As she gave him a puzzled look, Seowon clamped his mouth shut as if fighting something rising in his throat, then closed his eyes. After taking a few steadying breaths, he looked at An Yuna.

 

“Nothing much happened. The gate exploration itself went pretty smoothly…”

 

Muttering weakly, Seowon shut his mouth again, as though his stomach was churning.

 

As soon as word reached them that a gate had opened in the area managed by the Jae-i Guild, a team of hunters was immediately assembled for deployment. Seowon, who was selected as the team leader, was in the middle of checking gear when strange news arrived—the Guildmaster would be joining them.

 

Though the newly formed gate was A-rank, it wasn’t beyond what Seowon and his team could handle. Still, with the S-rank Guildmaster accompanying them, they figured it would be resolved more quickly, which they took as a good thing. But just how naive that thinking had been became immediately apparent the moment they stepped inside.

 

The gate’s environment featured mud, fine dust, and oppressive heat—a nightmarish combination designed to maximize sensory discomfort. The monsters that appeared were desert centipedes, pythons, and giant flies.

 

Even with years of experience facing all kinds of monsters as hunters, it had been a while since they’d encountered one so heavily insect-focused. While all of them were enemies to be taken down, dealing with bugs blown up to hundreds of times their normal size was no simple task. It was even more difficult with one hunter in particular, who had an intense aversion to insects.

 

“Ugh! That cockroach is bigger than me!!”

 

To be accurate, it wasn’t a cockroach.

 

“Gah! It’s a centipede! Look at all those hairs—ugh!!”

 

Every creature had visible eyes, and the needle-like hairs scraping along the ground with every wriggle were enough to make one’s skin crawl. Still, most were forcing themselves to look with dulled eyes, avoiding drawing attention to the details.

 

“Aaahh! A silverfish just flew at me—!”

 

This time, no one could hold back any longer.

 

Even though everyone hated it, they were enduring. Why the unnecessary commotion? Just as someone was about to tell the noisy hunter to shut up, he was sent flying by a powerful kick and landed face-first in the mud.

 

“…”

 

At first, they thought it was an enemy attack—but it wasn’t.

 

Where the hunter had been standing, the Guildmaster now stood, one foot extended. His expression was openly sour and irritated as he spoke.

 

“Noisy.”

 

“…”

 

Right. They weren’t the only ones who had entered. Realizing again that the Guildmaster was there with them, the other hunters quickly straightened their posture. The noisy one did the same. No matter how terrifying the bugs were, nothing was scarier than the Guildmaster.

 

The hunter who’d crawled out of the mud hastily wiped his face and began to stand, but then a voice stopped him.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

 

Flinching, the hunter turned around, completely intimidated.

 

Golden-blond hair and vivid red eyes. The striking features harmonized perfectly with his well-proportioned physique. Caught in awe for a moment, forgetting this was the Guildmaster, the hunter stared blankly as he opened his mouth.

 

“You hate and fear those things that much?”

 

“N-no, it’s not that… I mean, yes…”

 

He tried to deny it, but it was no use after displaying such pathetic behavior. With a voice barely above a whisper, the hunter replied, keeping an eye on the Guildmaster, who narrowed his eyes.

 

“Is that so? Then we’ll just have to train you until you’re not scared anymore.”

 

It was a statement that opened the gates of hell.

 

“He used an item that slows down time inside the gate, so for us, it was three nights and four days in there. The Guildmaster stood next to the gate’s core and used special skills to keep summoning monsters to attack us. We nearly died. Of course, I doubt he really intended to kill us, but… it was five times harder than our usual quarterly hell training at the guild. Now I can sense a monster’s location just by the sound of its wings, even with my eyes closed.”

 

The same held true for the others. Especially the one who had caused this mess—by the time the Guildmaster’s grueling training neared its end, he no longer flinched at the sight of insects. He would charge at them faster than anyone else and pummel them with his bare fists. That alone was proof his insect phobia had been completely cured. If anything, he might’ve developed an entirely new kind of insect aversion, Seowon thought, keeping his lips tightly shut.

 

Even with just that summary, An Yuna was speechless at the clear indication of how much they had suffered. Three nights and four days in there using a time-manipulating item. To the outside, it might look like sheer abuse and torment, but…

 

“So? Did you awaken any new skills from it?”

 

At those words, Seowon’s previously exhausted eyes sparkled. As if he had never been drained in the first place, he perked up and grinned broadly.

 

“Sure did. Not just me—others too.”

 

Even if new skills weren’t awakened, intense training like this often enhanced existing ones, sharpening their precision or upgrading their level. This time, most of the hunters had that experience.

 

The guild’s quarterly “hell training” was carried out for this very reason. But thanks to the Guildmaster’s involvement, the results far surpassed anything they’d achieved before. Excited, Seowon wanted to tell her all about his new skill right away—but he couldn’t. The gate crackled again with static, and moments later, the Guildmaster emerged.

 

Unlike the others who were completely worn out and slumped over, Hwang Jae-i looked no different than he had going in. His detached demeanor made it seem more like he had taken a stroll around the neighborhood than gone through a gate. It was the same face they always saw, yet somehow… different, An Yuna muttered under her breath.

 

“He doesn’t even look tired.”

 

“Exactly. Something good must’ve happened to him. He was even more amazing than usual today—he practically flew.”

 

There was no need to rave about the prowess of an S-rank, but even so, today’s Guildmaster had been on another level. From Seowon’s perspective, his movements were lighter, his skill usage more varied, and he seemed to be actually enjoying himself while pushing them to the brink. It might sound strange, but the gist of it was that the Guildmaster was in excellent condition today.

 

When he suddenly announced he was going into the gate, they’d wondered what had gotten into him. But maybe he just happened to be in a good mood. Even the grumpiest people have a few good days out of 365, after all.

 

Just then, a strange sound came from behind them. Turning to look, they saw people standing there holding large cameras.

 

“What the hell is that?”

 

Sometimes, after a gate exploration, media would show up for interviews—usually as part of a promotional campaign. But the Jae-i Guild, which didn’t shoot commercials or endorse products, had little to do with such things.

 

What were they doing here? As they stood there puzzled, the group suddenly rushed forward.

 

“Guildmaster Hwang Jae-i!”

 

“Block them!”

 

The attack came unexpectedly, and the hunters reacted half a beat too late. Still, being quicker than average, they immediately surrounded the Guildmaster. An Yuna was among them.

 

Reaching him first with a stern look, she snapped her eyes wide.

 

“Just get in the car. Don’t go lashing out for no reason…!”

 

These people had shown up uninvited, and if they weren’t treated properly, they’d write some twisted article. The best course of action in this situation was to get the Guildmaster into the vehicle as quickly as possible. But the reporters were relentless this time.

 

“Guildmaster Hwang Jae-i! How was today’s gate exploration? Are you still planning not to release the gate’s exclusive rights? Each gate has different attributes, and even just sharing information on potential rare mana stones or items could significantly help research efforts!”

 

This was exactly why the Jae-i Guild didn’t need corporate sponsorship.

 

Hwang Jae-i held exclusive rights to gates that occurred within the area his guild managed. So after the exploration, he could profit handsomely from all the by-products that emerged—and it was profitable enough that he didn’t need to rely on anyone.

 

Ordinarily, the large corporations would handle processing, selling, and dealing with everything that came out of the gate post-exploration. The entire industry relied on gates to turn a profit. Though this was known to be lucrative, it was also troublesome, so a mutually beneficial system had developed: guilds handled exploration, and corporations, through subcontracted institutions, handled everything after. But that system had been completely shattered by Hwang Jae-i.

 

The media’s constant attacks on Hwang Jae-i weren’t solely due to his attitude. For big corporations, his actions threatened their very means of profit.

 

The reporter was hitting precisely that nerve—a bold one, or perhaps a clueless rookie.

 

Anyone familiar with the situation would’ve known exactly how Hwang Jae-i would respond to such a question. As expected, his face grew cold and expressionless, like a mask had fallen over it. Realizing this was about to turn bad, An Yuna quickly retrieved a black long umbrella from her inventory and popped it open. Holding it up like a shield in front of the Guildmaster, she urgently spoke.

 

“Don’t listen to that nonsense. Our exploration is complete—we’re withdrawing now.”