A shabby theater.
A neat man in a suit stepped into a space where even the door was not properly attached.
He looked around the interior.
From the entrance to the stage, it was packed with masked mannequins.
Mannequins filled the audience seats to bursting, and even the stage was crowded with them like decorations.
“There are more than before.”
At the man’s single remark, the densely packed mannequins all snapped their heads toward him.
“What do you think? My adorable nightmares.”
The man sitting in the front row of the audience turned his head to look back.
His appearance was ghastly. Bullet holes that had pierced both cheeks sat there ominously.
“They’re awful. More importantly, what’s the matter?”
“Ah, he noticed. The bastards I subcontracted got wiped out.”
“How much has been exposed?”
“Probably everything? I’d say my name, and even the money line you were providing, have likely been exposed.”
“……”
The man who had entered the theater undid the button of his jacket and glared at the hideous-looking man.
“You do your job so very well.”
“Kekekeke, thank you for the praise, Your Association President!”
The moment the title “Association President” came from his mouth, the man grew furious.
“Are you that desperate to die? Shall I kill you right now?”
He rose from the audience seat and stared steadily at the Association President.
“What else can we do? There’s only one way now, isn’t there? We have to catch that bastard, at least. Catch him and take him hostage, so we can negotiate with that ignorant I Gangyeol, no?”
“……”
The Association President showed no emotion.
He merely stared at him in silence.
“What are you going to do, huh? Are we just going to sit back and watch like this?! Huh?!”
Watching him slowly fly into a fit, the Association President opened his mouth.
“Make sure of it. Either kill him, or bring him back without fail.”
At the permission that fell from the Association President’s lips, his expression brightened.
“Okay!”
The Association President turned around and headed for the theater exit.
“I’ll bring him back nice and proper, yeah!”
Before leaving, he gave him one warning.
“You only have one chance. You’ll have to target the final training.”
At the Association President’s advice, he shouted with an excited look.
“Give me some sacrifices! So I can play even more wildly! I’ll burst open a whole bunch of Gates for you!”
The Association President opened the creaking door and walked out.
“Sacrifices!”
“I’ll send them.”
Closing the theater door behind him, the Association President stepped outside.
After leaving the shabby theater, the Association President brushed off his clothes with an irritated hand.
Soon, a female secretary approached him.
With calm hands, she dusted off the Association President’s shoulders and said,
“Would that not be dangerous? Attention will gather. Everyone will take notice, will they not?”
The Association President gave a faint smile.
“Will they be able to see? I’m going to erase the entire Gate. Along with that one.”
* * *
Sinhyeok’s room.
The three of them, gathered there in a tight little group, were racking their brains as they chose a Gate.
“How about this one? It says the monsters are mostly orcs.”
Looking at the Gate Baek Arin had picked, Sinhyeok made an ambiguous expression.
“They said the higher the grade, the higher the score, didn’t they?”
“Yes, but if we can’t clear it and can’t recover the resources inside the Gate, it’ll all be for nothing. I’d rather not take unnecessary risks.”
Baek Arin spoke about the final practical evaluation in the eighth week.
“Points by grade, points based on whether the interior is completely cleared, and points based on how many types of recoverable resources inside the Gate we can identify.”
Sinhyeok repeated what he had heard earlier.
“So we have to consider all of that?”
“One more thing. Core points. If we find the core and close the Gate, it’s an automatic perfect score.”
She stared at Sinhyeok, her strong desire plainly showing.
“So this is practically made for us.”
“Yeah, it sure looks that way.”
Watching her reveal her ambition, Sinhyeok asked,
“What are you going to do with such a good score?”
“What else? If we get first place, we receive a recommendation letter. With that, we can choose which Awakened Forces unit to join.”
“Ah, you want to get ahead?”
At Sinhyeok’s words, she smiled bashfully and named the place she dreamed of.
“You need at least that much to get into Hongik.”
“You?”
Ichan, who had been listening quietly, picked a fight as soon as “Hongik” was mentioned.
She naturally drove her elbow into Ichan’s solar plexus.
“Urk!”
Ichan, struck cleanly, collapsed backward. She paid him no mind.
“It’s my dream, okay? Of course, someone already smashed one of my dreams.”
She stared fixedly at Sinhyeok. Sinhyeok made an aggrieved face and gesture.
“What did I do?!”
“Still, one of them is intact. I have to go to Hongik. If I could serve under Bomber I Gangyeol and Martial God Gim Hyeonsuk, it would really be like a dream.”
“Mmm, would it? It would probably be pretty damn awful.”
At the blunt remark, she glared at Sinhyeok.
“Hmph! What would you know, mister!”
“……”
Sinhyeok’s mouth itched.
‘Should I tell them or not……?’
Come to think of it, he had not yet properly told the two about his past.
This girl only remembered meeting him in the past; it seemed she did not know where he had served.
“Anyway, if we’re choosing by those standards, I want to go here.”
The Gate Sinhyeok pointed at was a D-rank Gate.
Ichan and Arin read the Gate information, and their expressions darkened.
“This one’s a little… From the description, isn’t the grade wrong? It says everyone who went in died.”
===========================
Gate Name: Cursed Old Castle
Danger Grade: D-rank.
Hostile Entities Encountered: Mimics, plant-type monsters.
Special Notes: The interior is extremely complex. Disguised mimics and plant-type monsters lurk everywhere like traps, and the core has not yet been discovered.
Advisory: The civilian guilds and raid teams that attempted to clear it all died.
===========================
It was a case where攻略 had been suspended because people kept dying despite its grade.
Sinhyeok liked what he saw in the provided information.
“It looks perfect to me. The monsters are only mimics and plants at most.”
Ichan and Arin looked at Sinhyeok in confusion as he offered a completely different opinion after seeing the same thing.
“Hyung, don’t you see the part that says everyone died? Are your eyes going bad?”
“I see it.”
“Mister. We want to score well, not risk our lives.”
“I know.”
Sinhyeok looked at the two of them and said plainly,
“What’s my ability?”
“Nagging?”
“A hiiiigh-grade potion maker?”
“……”
At Sinhyeok’s silent glare, the two thought of something else.
“Ah! Radar!”
“That’s right. That.”
The two soon nodded in acceptance.
“Then, well.”
“In that case, I’ll trust you, mister.”
Only after choosing the Gate did Arin rise from her seat.
“Ugh~ Then I’ll go wash up. Good work. Have a nice weekend, everyone.”
After Arin left, only the exhausted Ichan and the perfectly fine Sinhyeok remained in the room.
“Then I’m going to sleep.”
Ichan grinned and flopped down onto the bed.
His face looked as though he had reached paradise.
“Hueh, it’s a bed. I’m so happy.”
Ichan rubbed himself against the bed, putting several days of sleeping outdoors behind him as he gave thanks for modern civilization.
“You should sleep too.”
“Mm~”
Soon, Ichan also conked out, and Sinhyeok quietly got up and turned off the light.
“Good night, hyung.”
“Yeah.”
They had been told there would be no evening roll call, so everyone fell asleep early.
The room with the lights off.
Beneath the window where faint moonlight seeped in, Sinhyeok turned the Gate over in his mind.
‘It’s suitable as a battlefield.’
The complex environment would be advantageous for placing additional traps everywhere and hiding.
“Come. I’ll make you have nightmares again.”
He waited to encounter once more the remnants of the past he had failed to finish.
“Huuuhnyam. Hnyanyam, don’t wanna stand night watch.”
At the sleep-talking beside him, Sinhyeok gave a faint laugh.
“You must have been tired.”
Knowing how arduous and exhausting clearing a Gate was, Sinhyeok quietly pulled the blanket up over him.
“You worked hard.”
As he watched him quietly, he remembered that he had dragged the two of them into his own danger.
‘I have to protect you two, at least. So you don’t get swept up in it.’
To do that, he planned to go obtain items that could be used for emergency escape.
‘I’ll have to go see that man again.’
He needed Lucien’s help. The help in question was such an expensive item that it was not easy to obtain on short notice.
“I should sleep too.”
* * *
Bbababbabam, bbabbabba.
At the alarm that rang without fail, both Sinhyeok and Ichan woke with frowns.
“Why do they play that?”
“Ugh, I hate hearing it.”
Grumbling side by side, they left the room.
Everyone else was shuffling out as well.
“Haaam.”
Yawns could be heard everywhere.
When they came out to the drill field, the senior instructor greeted them with a refreshed expression.
“Come on, you brats! You thought there’d be no morning roll call just because training was over, didn’t you?!”
“Please let us off just this once, sir!”
At the brave trainee’s words, the senior instructor gave a faint laugh.
“If you assemble on the drill field within one minute, I’ll think about it.”
At his shout, everyone’s eyes changed.
They all ran toward the drill field at once.
“Oho, are you that desperate?”
“Yes!”
At the simultaneous shout, Master Sergeant I Junho fell silent for a moment, thinking.
In that maddening silence, everyone stared only at his mouth.
At last, his mouth opened, and he announced to everyone,
“Okay. The battalion commander also asked me to go easy, so head back in. Morning roll call is over.”
“Waaah!”
Everyone ran off in high spirits.
Watching their backs, the senior instructor tossed a bomb at them.
“But isn’t next week practical evaluation week? I don’t think this is the time to be resting.”
Everyone’s running steps flinched.
At the sight, Master Sergeant I Junho laughed and said,
“Kheup, well, have yourselves a fun weekend.”
Everyone looked at the senior instructor with resentful eyes.
After teasing the kids to his heart’s content, he left with a laugh.
“Ugh, what’s wrong with him?”
Looking at him teasing the kids, Sinhyeok tossed out a remark.
“What’s the big deal? You can all breeze through it easily anyway, right?”
At Sinhyeok’s casual words, every trainee’s gaze focused on him.
Sinhyeok stared back at them calmly.
“What, am I wrong? Aaah~ You can’t?”
Crack.
He had cast an area-wide taunt.
With their eyes blazing, everyone gnashed their teeth.
“Ha! What did he say?!”
“Mister! Just you wait!”
“Old man, go quietly to the back room, booooo!”
“Kheuheuheup.”
Seeing the people his taunt had struck, Sinhyeok wore a blissful expression.
“Ah, this is the taste. I really do need those kids. Sweet, so sweet.”
After teasing them to his heart’s content, dopamine surged through him.
Arin and Ichan witnessed a truly nasty breed among nasty people.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Hyung, seriously, live kindly.”
“Hey! Who’s kinder than me?”
The two shook their heads. Sinhyeok laughed and moved first.
Seeing that he was not heading to the cafeteria, Ichan called out,
“Hyung, where are you going?”
“To meet Instructor Lucien. I’m not eating breakfast, so you two go ahead.”
Sinhyeok went straight to Lucien’s room.
“Haaam.”
Lucien, dressed in pajamas, opened the door.
“What is it? At this early hour.”
“I just came to ask one thing.”
Sinhyeok lowered himself as much as possible and bowed obsequiously.
At this strange behavior, Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“Hm. Come in first.”
Slipping through the opening, Sinhyeok spoke carefully to Lucien.
“Could I get just two teleport scrolls?”
“I do have them. However, those are quite—no, very expensive items.”
At the mention of price, Sinhyeok bowed eagerly and rubbed his hands together.
“Hehehe. Still, considering the bond we’ve built up, could you put it on my tab?”
At the word “tab,” Lucien’s expression turned fierce.
“To ask a mage of the Smith Magic Tower for credit. What nonsense. The foremost principle of our Magic Tower is this.”
He spoke firmly.
“No credit. Payment in advance, without exception.”
“Ah.”
Sinhyeok was a little disappointed by his firm attitude.
“But an advance payment has already come in, so I’ll give them to you.”
“What? Wh-who paid?”
Lucien said with a calm face,
“I Gangyeol, that man. He paid in advance. He contacted me urgently yesterday. He said to take good care of you, and to give you other things too if necessary.”
That man had already called.
“Ah, is that so. I didn’t know.”
Lucien smiled brightly and handed over the items.
“So here are the teleport scrolls. Do you know how to use them?”
“I know roughly. I’ve used them a few times.”
He carefully tucked the rolled scrolls into his clothes. Lucien, just in case, gave a warning.
“With the mana built into those scrolls, you cannot leap across a severed space.”
“You mean they can only be used inside a Gate?”
He nodded.
“If you intend to use it to escape, make sure you mark the coordinates in front of the portal beforehand, move there, and then immediately cross through the portal again. Do not forget.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
Sinhyeok checked the scroll carefully, then left Lucien’s room.
Lucien looked at him, somehow grim and resolute, and said,
“Please, be careful out there.”
“Yes, sir! I’ll come back in one piece.”
In Sinhyeok’s eyes, he saw a strange sense of relief.
It was the relief of having found an outlet for his anger.
“I hope I get to see you again unharmed.”
* * *
‘This should be enough.’
Having finished his preparations to some extent, Sinhyeok waited for the final practical evaluation of week eight, which was soon to come.
“There’s roughly thirty-six hours left.”
“Until what, hyung?”
Ichan, who was beside him, asked quietly.
“The time remaining.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I’m going to train. Don’t look for me.”
At the words that his brother was going to train, Ichan sprang to his feet.
“Huh? What?!”
He hurried outside and shouted at Sinhyeok’s back as he walked away alone.
“Why! Hyung! They say you die if you suddenly start doing things you never used to do!”
“That little Lee…”
Sinhyeok wondered if he should go back right then and twist him up for the nonsense coming from behind him.
“Shut up.”
Ichan watched intently, as if checking whether he was serious.
“You’re really going?”
“Yeah!”
When Sinhyeok appeared at the training ground, the other trainees flinched.
“Mister, are you going to train?”
“Whoa, this is my first time seeing that mister train.”
“He must be serious! This is bad!”
Everyone began murmuring. Sinhyeok stared at them with an incredulous expression.
“I awakened, so of course I can train. What’s with you all?”
They all shook their heads, but soon realized their own situation and caught fire.
“Wait, even that mister is working that hard at his age!”
“Right!”
Somehow, he had ignited their passion in a different direction.
“They’re really needling me, huh?”
Sinhyeok soon let out a faint laugh and began training the skill he was most familiar with.
‘Mapping.’
As he tried to take a potion out of his inventory, mana flowed on its own.
“Hm?”
[Beginning Mapping.]
The mana that emerged outside crystallized and popped up into the air.
“Oh.”
‘Is this the effect of the Mana Heart?’
The Mana Heart newly embedded in his heart flowed steadily and pumped mana even without him consciously doing anything.
‘Thanks to that, the mana inside my body hardly stiffens.’
That did not mean his damned constitution had gone anywhere, though.
“Then faster.”
Sinhyeok closed his eyes and focused. To return to the way he had been in active duty.
[More than 6 hours have passed since Mapping was activated.]
[Excessive use of mana may cause severe exhaustion and pose a risk to life.]
‘Yeah.’
He quietly took a blue potion out of his inventory and drank it. Mana filled his body abundantly.
[Due to using Mapping to its limits, its level has increased.]
[Mapping has risen to level 5.]
[From now on, Mapping’s search speed will increase.]
“Phew.”
Before he knew it, sweat was pouring from his entire body.
When he opened his eyes, it was dark around him.
“Hyung, aren’t you going to eat?”
At the familiar voice, Sinhyeok answered without looking back.
“No. You eat first, and tell the instructor in advance that I’ll be training here all night.”
“Huh? Uh, okay. Huh?”
Ichan felt a severe sense of distance from this unfamiliar sight.
“Hyung is acting weird.”
Even after he went to eat and came back, Sinhyeok was still in the same place.
Even when he came out right before evening roll call, he was still the same.
Even when the instructor on duty occasionally came to check on him, he remained the same.
“Heh, what got into him?”
[More than 24 hours have passed since Mapping was activated.]
[Due to operating Mapping beyond its limits, the skill’s level has increased.]
[Mapping has risen to level 10.]
[Mapping’s search spheres have increased to 2, and from now on, Mapping can be shared.]
Only then did Sinhyeok open his eyes. When he looked around, everyone was watching him.
“What?”
“Mister, are you alive?”
“Yeah.”
He tried to get up as if nothing was wrong, but his body tilted to the side.
“Huh?”
Thud.
[You have experienced mana operation at its limit more than 10 times.]
[The level of Mana Heart has increased.]
[Your mana limit has greatly increased.]
Arin and Ichan approached Sinhyeok’s face and asked,
“Are you alive?”
“Hyung, you’re dead, right?”
“I’m still alive.”
Seeing him answer calmly while collapsed on the ground, the two of them were dumbfounded.
Arin helped Sinhyeok up and said,
“You’re going to die at this rate. Rest properly until tomorrow, all right?”
“Even if you didn’t tell me, I think I’d have to.”
As she took Sinhyeok to his room, she asked,
“Why did you do this?”
Lying on the bed, Sinhyeok smiled and said,
“I wanted to get myself a little on edge again, like back when I was active.”
At his absurd answer, she laughed and asked,
“So did you become like you were back then?”
“Urgh, no.”
Sinhyeok stretched his stiff legs.
“You can’t ignore age.”
She forced herself to hold back her laughter and left the room. Sinhyeok slowly stretched and loosened up his body.
“I’m still better than I was then.”
He slowly warmed up his body and waited for tomorrow, which was now close at hand.
‘See you soon, you bastard.’