“Could this place be… something like a boss room?”
“Boss room? That’s a good name. Should we start calling it that from now on?”
“Huh? A name? What do you usually call it?”
“It differs depending on the guild or party, but we don’t usually call it a boss room. Ah, I call it the ‘Last Stop.’ As in, once we take care of this, we get to go home.”
“We call it the ‘Final Round.’ Like, final round, really final round, really really final round.”
“It sounds like you’re talking about a game raid.”
At Wonwoo’s words, Hyeonil shrugged his shoulders.
“When I sometimes watch raid guide videos for reporting, it does feel like I’m watching a game video. It feels unrealistic, I guess.”
Well, if you want to get technical, my ability is unrealistic to begin with. With that, Hyeonil added no further words and started walking.
The stone chamber the three of them faced was so magnificent that it couldn't be taken in at a single glance, a stark contrast to the narrow path they had walked so far.
The room, made of a dark, granite-like stone rather than marble, was so dark that at first glance, one might mistake it for being inside a cave.
“Since you mentioned a raid, it feels like a dungeon. Considering the clay soldiers I saw earlier, it seems like there might be a tomb… Surely, it’s not that the clay soldiers will come pouring out again, right?”
“Hey, no way. Well, even if they do pour out again, it’s fine. We’ll just receive Wonwoo’s guiding and sweep them all away.”
“Saying you’ll sweep away a place like a tomb with water makes me feel like I’m committing a sin….”
Wonwoo shivered at the thought that the clay soldiers might appear in his dreams, charging at him shouting, ‘How dare you invade our home!’
“Oh, a tomb…. If it’s a tomb, I wonder if there’ll be artifacts. That would be nice.”
Jinho explained to Wonwoo that in tombs like this, items imbued with special energy, like an Esper’s ability, often appear, which can fetch a large reward.
“And with luck, there are cases where even ordinary people can use those items. Though usually, only Espers can use them.”
“Ah. I’ve seen that on the news.”
Gloves that, even when worn by an ordinary person, could generate lightning as if an Esper was using their ability.
As soon as that item came out of a gate raided by the Black Star Guild, it became a hot topic not only on the news but everywhere. It was a pair of gloves worn by a bipedal, wolf-like monster, and it was an item with such outstanding ability that many Espers from the Black Star Guild suffered severe injuries while fighting that monster.
Although the gloves burned up in an accident during the process of testing their performance, there were rumors that if they had been put up for auction, they would have sold for an astronomical price, making tens of billions of won seem like a small amount.
“If an item like that comes out, it would be nice if Wonwoo hyung took it.”
“Ah, good idea. Since I was dispatched in a way that I’m hiring you two, if that item appears, I can buy it and give it to Wonwoo as a gift along with the dispatch fee.”
“No, no. Wouldn't it look better if I bought it for him? Hyeonil-ssi has to give us a dispatch fee. If you give something more on top of the dispatch fee, it could get noisy with talk of gift taxes and what not….”
“Hmm. I’ve given away more than one or two things like that. There are plenty of ways to get around the law…. Ah, wait, this is being recorded right now. Yep, yep, watch my words. Let’s think about it when the time comes.”
Hyeonil hummed a tune and snapped his fingers. Thanks to Wonwoo’s guiding, Hyeonil, who could now start a fire with just a tiny bit of powder, used his ability as if to show off, slowly crushing a walnut-sized ruby bit by bit.
Of course, thanks to that, the dark stone chamber brightened, and Jinho and Wonwoo, without stopping him, subtly pushed Hyeonil to the very front.
“I wonder what kind of monster it is.”
“Um, are you sure there’s a boss monster here?”
“Yes, hyung. With about a 90% probability. Usually, in entry-type gates, there’s a monster in a final room like this. Once you defeat that monster, you go out through the exit that appears, and that’s the end.”
“Don’t worry. It’s a B-rank gate, right? A B-rank gate can be cleared by a single S-rank alone. And right now, next to Guide, there are two S-ranks.”
…For someone to say that, didn't we almost get crushed to death by dozens of clay soldiers just a moment ago? As Wonwoo thought that and was about to look around again, the system’s alarm sound caught him.
-Bbirong bbirong!
-900m ahead, the boss of this gate is present!
Wonwoo unknowingly held his breath and almost let out a gasp. The system, which had always sent messages in a phone messenger format, this time sent a voice message through the communicator Wonwoo was wearing.
With a stiff, mechanical, unfamiliar voice that sounded like it was coming from a subway announcement, Wonwoo somehow managed to hide his flustered expression and fiddled with his earphones and ear microphone.
-900 meters ahead, an unusual energy is detected. The system wishes for user Wonwoo’s safety.
-The following guidance is provided for user Wonwoo’s guiding. User Wonwoo, please listen carefully to this voice message and act accordingly.
-Before facing the boss, please strengthen the Esper’s abilities through sufficient gui-gui-gui-guiding….
-This voice message can be checked again through SYSTEM Talk’s messenger.
-We support user Wonwoo's successful guiding and gate raiding.
Before Wonwoo could even ponder the system's voice message, Jinho said, ‘Just a moment, Wonwoo hyung,’ and stepped in front of Wonwoo.
Not just the system, but Jinho too had felt an unusual energy.
For him or Hyeonil, who had received guiding, the monster of a B-rank gate couldn't possibly be a threat. But Wonwoo, who was no different from an ordinary person, was another story. In a situation with zero information, not knowing where the monster might pop out from or what kind of attack it might launch, there was absolutely nothing wrong with being cautious.
“Wonwoo hyung, first is safety, and second is safety too. Got it?”
Before Wonwoo could answer Jinho’s words, the gate energy detection device that Yonghyun had given him vibrated with a shudder. The vibration was strong enough for Jinho, who was standing close to protect Wonwoo, to feel it.
And as if on cue with the end of the vibration, flames ignited on the torches that were attached to the stone chamber wall, barely visible. As the torches lit up one by one, something that had been hidden in the darkness was revealed.
-…To think all my subordinates were swept away in a flood, I thought the wrath of the Yellow River had surged forth, but it was the work of intruders.
A strange voice, not human, but so dry and withered it sounded as if breath was leaking out with a hissing sound. And along with it, the angry neigh of a horse was heard. Then came the dull clop-clop of horse hooves.
With glaring eyebrows, upturned eyes, and a beard that reached down to its chest, a stone statue appeared, riding a stone horse so enormous that the three of them couldn't take it all in at once even looking up.
-My precious soldiers, who were about to go to war, were lost so meaninglessly…!
As the statue raised its arm, the stone horse reared up on its hind legs. With the horse’s rearing, the ground rumbled two or three times. A heavy vibration, on a different level from the stomping of the clay soldiers from before, echoed.
“War… you say. Where are you going to….”
“Wonwoo, don’t try to listen to every word the monster says. Half of it, no, most of it is just useless, unsubstantial talk, more worthless than a monster’s cry.”
“That’s right. For now, our goal is to defeat that stone statue monster.”
Hyeonil answered Wonwoo's question lightly. When even Jinho agreed, Wonwoo said no more. It seemed there was something he didn’t know, something only those who raid gates knew about. Or perhaps it was really nothing, just as the two of them said.
In time with the stone horse’s stomping, Jinho clenched his fists. He lowered his body and bent his knees, ready to extend his fist and strike down the statue at any moment.
After confirming that Hyeonil was taking out an emerald from his case, Jinho sent the two of them a look that said he was going to jump out and punch that statue.
Hyeonil nodded, and Wonwoo also clenched his fist and swallowed nervously. Just as Jinho was preparing to jump out.
-Ha… ha…. To have our army’s flag fly in the world beyond the gate… that was all of our dreams…!
***
“Section Chief…nim. Did you hear that?”
“Yes. I heard.”
Yonghyun, who had refrained from communicating in case it caused confusion for the three, especially Wonwoo, tried to contact Wonwoo as soon as he heard the statue’s words. But no matter how many times he tried to communicate, all that came back was a signal mixed with static.
The world beyond the gate. As soon as those words came from the statue, all the Bureau staff watching froze on the spot.
“A monster… and a monster from an entry-type gate at that. But it mentions the word ‘gate’ and that there is a world beyond it….”
“Please refrain from excessive speculation, Assistant Manager Lee Mihee. It could be a highly intelligent monster that can perceive the existence of gates itself.”
However, at the words that followed, Yonghyun realized that what Lee Mihee had said was not excessive speculation.
-Kkeuheul…. This is different from what you promised me, Stardust…!
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