Several people wearing black masks entered the Gate side by side.
Once inside, they looked around.
“Brother Sangpil. I’ve got a bit of a... bad feeling about this one.”
The man at the front, who had been glancing around, grew irritated at his familiar underling’s words.
“Damn it, don’t jinx us. Yunseong, don’t start that shit right off the bat. If you’ve got time to talk about feelings, use it to search properly. He’s only F-rank, and they said he’s a soldier who hasn’t been awakened for long.”
“Yes, yes.”
As the two bickered, they recalled the job they had received in a hurry just a few hours ago.
‘Ten billion won to get rid of one soldier.’
Ten billion had been placed on the head of a man named Yu Sinhyeok.
A full ten billion.
“It’s ten billion, so everyone keep your heads on straight.”
Everyone nodded.
They were hitmen and mercenaries who operated in the black market.
Their main business was disposing of people inside Gates.
Rustle.
Soon after, someone came through the portal.
The mercenaries glanced back over their shoulders.
“Suuup, haa. This is the perfect place to kill that son of a bitch.”
Persona Guild Master Kim Mincheol breathed in the air of the Gate.
“Client, shall we start right away?”
The masked Lee Sangpil looked at him and asked.
Kim Mincheol twitched his hideously scarred cheek and smiled faintly.
At the sight, the mercenaries all flinched at once.
“Go. Tear him to shreds and bring him to me.”
Kim Mincheol wore an unsettling smile as he stroked his cheek.
“Sinhyeok, Yu Sinhyeok~ Your big brother’s here. We’ve got to go another round!”
As the mercenaries began moving, they muttered while watching their client reveal his madness.
“Brother, isn’t that guy way too far gone? I’m worried things might get complicated for no reason.”
“What’s there to worry about? We just go in, slit his throat, and leave nice and easy. At most, it’s one newly awakened soldier grunt and two bratty soldier kids.”
Mercenary Lee Sangpil pulled two hand axes from his waist and gripped them tight.
“Let’s all finish this quick and get out, yeah?”
“Yeah~”
Since he was the strongest and most experienced among them, everyone nodded and followed him.
“That’s it.”
Lee Sangpil pointed at the old castle and spoke.
“They say mimics and plant-type monsters are disguised inside. Be careful not to become some dumbass who gets eaten and dies.”
Everyone snickered.
Lee Sangpil checked the time they had entered and said,
“They said the inside is complicated. Even if those guys went anywhere, they’ll be on the first floor. Let’s get in fast, hit them from behind, and get out.”
Everyone nodded.
They opened a side door of the old castle and checked inside.
A narrow corridor stretched out before them.
“From here on, run on your own judgment. Everyone, be careful.”
Dozens of people lightly nodded and entered one by one.
They intended to temporarily pair off with those they got along with.
“Brother, let’s go together.”
“Sure. But did you bring your poison?”
“Come on, they said he was a newbie, so I only brought paralysis poison. Poison prices went up again lately. Sigh.”
“This field’s a red ocean now, too. There aren’t many guys left we can just tap lightly. They’re all B-rank, A-rank—why the hell are they so high? Tch.”
“Exactly. Meanwhile some of us have levels crawling along the floor. Seriously.”
The two talked about their stagnant levels, and about their own realms and strength that had remained at a standstill for years.
Walking side by side, Yunseong stopped for a moment and peeked around.
“Brother, looks like someone went ahead of us. Let’s open one of these doors.”
“Let’s go right. Is it just a room?”
When they opened the door on the right, another corridor appeared.
“Fuck, what kind of house is built like a maze?”
“Brother, looks like we’ll be running in circles a lot today.”
“Yeah. So much for clocking out on time.”
The two trudged down the corridor side by side.
They exchanged idle chatter and talked about the soldier who had to be somewhere in this old castle.
“Because of that one guy, the other two are going to croak with him.”
“Right? This is why you’ve got to keep the right people around you. What did those two do wrong? Tch.”
As Lee Sangpil walked down the corridor, he discovered a painting.
“Doesn’t that look pretty decent? If we sell it, it might fetch a bit.”
Yunseong looked at it with a sour expression.
“How much could it be worth? You’re really going to bother taking it?”
“Hey, you get rich by gathering every little coin. If you keep picking up stuff like this, it adds up nicely.”
Lee Sangpil laughed and reached out, but the painting inside the frame distorted.
“Hm?”
The moment the tip of his finger touched the frame, the painting split wide open and hideous teeth sprang out.
“Oh, shit!”
He immediately pulled back and split it in half with his hand axe.
Slash.
Red blood sprayed into the air, and the mimic disguised as a painting sagged onto the floor.
“Wow, Brother, you almost went straight to hell.”
“Whoa. Hey, Yunseong, what kind of mimic disguises itself as a painting?”
“Be careful, Brother. Pfft.”
At the involuntary laugh that slipped out, Sangpil grew awkward.
“Hey, I was just showing you, okay? So you’d be careful too.”
“Yes, Brother!”
“Tch.”
The two kept walking for a long while after that.
Two hours had passed since they started walking through the maze, and the two had fallen silent.
“Brother, why can’t we find them?”
“Yeah. Did they get lucky and make it upstairs?”
The two looked up.
“Haa, that soldier grunt is really making this annoying.”
“Seriously.”
“Let’s hurry up and go up too.”
* * *
“Hyung, it’s not that dangerous.”
“Right. They’re all about the same.”
Arin and Ichan stuck close behind Sinhyeok and spoke comfortably.
“It’s easy because I’m telling you everything. I’m telling you the path. I’m telling you about the disguised mimics. I’m telling you about the disguised plant monsters.”
The two smiled awkwardly.
“If I hadn’t been here, you would’ve lasted ten minutes... no, five minutes tops.”
Arin laughed and smacked Sinhyeok on the back.
“We came here because you were here, Mister. So this is why people make such a fuss about scouts.”
Ichan agreed with her.
“I didn’t know when I was going around with the others, but coming with you really makes me feel it. Radar’s important.”
Sinhyeok checked the fourth floor they had reached before he knew it and turned around.
“We’ve gone through the whole old castle. The core should be here, but I don’t see it.”
“Hyung, what if it isn’t here?”
At Ichan’s suspicion, Sinhyeok stepped closer to the window.
“Hyung, be careful. A mimic might bite you.”
Sinhyeok also cautiously tapped it.
Reassured when there was no reaction of anything springing out, he opened the window wide.
Leaning his upper body out, Sinhyeok used Mapping to search the entire old castle.
“I didn’t see any concentrated mana.”
“Mister, don’t we need to check somewhere else?”
“There’s only forest around us. This place has the strongest mana.”
As Sinhyeok placed his hand on the wall, a thought occurred to him.
Following that faint suspicion, he sent Mapping’s scout sphere high into the sky.
He looked down at the old castle from as broad a perspective as possible.
Arin and Ichan tilted their heads as Sinhyeok stayed silent and focused for a long while.
“Hyung?”
“Mister?”
Five minutes later, Sinhyeok came right back inside.
“Mm, I can roughly see the outline.”
He saw the bright expressions on the two faces, thinking he had discovered the core.
“Then let’s blow it up right away!”
“I’ll do that, so you two get out first. Here, each of you take one of these.”
Sinhyeok took out teleport scrolls one by one and handed them to the two.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“When I give the signal, tear them.”
The two, unable to understand what was going on, could only stare blankly at Sinhyeok’s back.
Meanwhile, Sinhyeok took out a sniper rifle and set it against the window.
‘The rats are loitering around the entrance.’
Since he had been searching around the portal, he could clearly see that someone was guarding that place.
“Hyung? At least explain.”
“Think of it as me cleaning up after a mess I made in the past. It’s dangerous, so stay outside. Once you’re out, find the major who guided us here.”
He adjusted the scope and aimed at the man visible beyond the forest.
Through the scope, he saw a man with a hideous scar remaining on his cheek.
When he took aim and placed his finger on the trigger, their eyes met.
The other man grinned.
“Good to see you, you bastard.”
Bang!
A blue flash cut across the forest.
Through the scope, the man flicked the bullet away with the back of his hand.
The flash bent at a bizarre angle and scattered.
Inside the scope, he smiled viciously and waved, as if responding to the greeting.
Then, laughing, he began running toward Sinhyeok.
“Fine. You’re not the kind of guy who’d die from that, are you? So hurry up and come, you bastard.”
Sinhyeok closed the window and spoke to the two standing blankly behind him.
“Remember, tear those in five minutes.”
He was about to leave through the door when the two grabbed both of Sinhyeok’s shoulders at the same time.
“Hyung! How can you just leave it at that?”
“Right! Explain in more detail!”
The two held onto him out of curiosity and a desire to know about Sinhyeok’s past.
Sinhyeok sighed.
“I’m busy, and you still want to hear it?”
The two nodded fiercely.
“Sigh. We don’t have time, so I’ll explain quickly.”
Nod, nod.
He briefly, very concisely explained the past.
How he had been forcibly discharged.
How his family had essentially died.
How, after his discharge, he had lived like a ruined man.
“Ah...”
“A-Ajeossi.”
Sinhyeok roughly checked the time that had passed, then tore the scrolls the two were holding blankly in their hands.
Riiip.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
The two were enveloped in blue mana, and a small magic circle was drawn on the floor.
“If you heard enough, then go. Don’t butt in for no reason.”
A moment later, the two vanished.
Sinhyeok used the scout sphere to confirm that the two had been transported properly.
“They got there fine. They’ll get out on their own.”
He withdrew the scout sphere from the portal.
[Mapping’s scout sphere count has been changed to 1.]
“Shall I go and really enjoy myself now~?”
With a deep murderous intent on his face, Sinhyeok moved into the maze of the old castle he had finished grasping.
* * *
“No!”
“Mister!”
The two who appeared in front of the portal hurriedly called for Sinhyeok, but the teleportation had already ended.
Arin and Ichan stared at the old castle with blank expressions.
“Hyung’s life is really...”
“There’s a reason our mister’s so worn down.”
The two looked at each other at the same time.
Ichan spoke first.
“You leaving?”
“Obviously nope.”
As if they had planned it, they turned their backs on the portal exit and strode forward boldly.
“Go.”
“Okay.”
For the first time, the two were of one mind.
Arin and Ichan carried a quiet anger.
“Trash not even worth dealing with...”
“Needs to be torn apart and thrown away.”
As Ichan was about to head back to the old castle, he suddenly remembered how complicated the inside had been and asked,
“But do you remember the way?”
“You? I told you to call me noona every time.”
“Don’t want to.”
Whoosh.
When she raised her fist, Ichan flinched.
“It’s a little iffy.”
“I don’t remember all of it either.”
Standing before the old castle, the two ran into an unexpected obstacle.
Arin pushed Ichan from behind.
“You go in first.”
“Ah, why! You go first! Your body’s tougher!”
“Boy first.”
“Don’t make me laugh! It’s supposed to be ladies first for things like this.”
The two shoved each other.
In the end, unable to reach an agreement, she held out her fist.
When Ichan saw her fist, he flinched and backed away.
“Don’t even think about saying we’ll decide with fists. I’ll curse you with a wraith.”
“Scissors.”
At the familiar sound, Ichan hurriedly thrust out his fist.
Grin.
She looked at Ichan’s hand and smiled. At the same time, Ichan’s face turned deathly pale.
“Damn it.”
With a reluctant expression, Ichan stepped forward first.
“Now then, please go ahead!”
Arin stood proudly behind Ichan’s back.
“We should lend a hand too.”
* * *
“Brother Sangpil, are you sure this is the right way? We were here earlier too.”
Two killer mercenaries were wandering through the maze of the old castle.
“Aaaah, this is seriously fucked. Why the hell did those soldier bastards come here?”
Killer mercenary Lee Sangpil was dumbfounded by the ridiculous difficulty of this maze.
Yunseong, who followed Sangpil, looked up and said,
“At this rate, we’re going to lose ten billion. Brother, we’re only on the second floor.”
“I know. I wonder how far the others got.”
The two checked the path again and moved to try a route they hadn’t taken.
“Let’s go again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Just as they were about to move, they heard a strange sound.
Bang!
At the familiar sound echoing through the old castle, the two pricked up their ears.
Sangpil pointed in that direction first.
“It came from there!”
“Yes, sir!”
The two hurriedly ran.
They blindly pushed through the complicated paths, following the sound.
“You soldier bastard! Come on out.”
Sangpil and Yunseong, who had been about to shout in excitement, shut their mouths.
A single corpse lay alone on the floor.
The corpse lying there had frozen to death.
“Fuck, it’s hot as hell, and this guy froze solid.”
Naturally, the frozen corpse was not Sinhyeok, but one of the masked hitmen.
“Brother. This guy’s dead.”
“I can see that. Shit, looks like he’s not ordinary after all.”
The two grew tense and guarded their surroundings closely.
Bang, bang!
At the sound of gunshots heard again, the two approached cautiously with tense expressions.
As expected, there were only two corpses lying there.
This time, one was scorched by fire, and the other had been thoroughly fried by lightning.
“Damn it. What the hell is going on?”
Sangpil felt a chill as he looked at the two corpses left on the floor and the blatant “lololol” scrawled on the wall.
“That crazy bastard.”
That laugh seemed to be warning him.
You’re next.