Chapter 114
The survivor was a man in his thirties.
He was one of the Hunters who had entered last, and judging by his appearance, he seed to have been assigned the role of ranger in the rescue team.
Inside the tunnel, he must have been guarding the surroundings from either the vanguard or the rear, in case of unforeseen danger.
That ant he would have been positioned either in the most dangerous spot, or the safest one.
Given that he had returned alive like this, it was clear he had been holding the rear as he moved.
“I-I saw it! A monster! The monster slaughtered everyone…!”
The survivor trembled uncontrollably.
His eyes darted through empty space, and instead of properly answering the Hunters’ questions, he kept muttering to himself.
“We have to get out of here right now! If we stay like this, everyone will be killed!”
Amid the chaotic atmosphere, Cha Yeri pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.
“Calm down. This is outside the barrier. There are more awakened beings here than monsters.”
Her words were effective.
They did not carry any particular aning, but among the sweat-soaked Hunters, soone as striking as Cha Yeri speaking to him was enough to calm anyone down.
Watching the survivor steady his breathing, Cha Yeri asked carefully.
“What exactly happened inside?”
“Everyone is dead. Everyone except …”
He had cald down, but unfortunately, he was still repeating the sa thing.
“Was it that monster you ntioned?”
“A m-monster… We could not resist at all. We were completely helpless.”
“If everyone was taken out, how did you manage to escape?”
Unlike the rambling survivor, Cha Yeri’s question was cold and precise.
The survivor suddenly clutched his head with both hands as he answered.
“I do not know. When I ca to, the monster was gone, and everyone else was already dead.”
“Then what did it look like? How did it attack? How did it move? Did it make any sounds, or have any distinctive features?”
“……”
The survivor silently cast his gaze toward the tunnel entrance.
His face looked as if he were recalling sothing.
Soon, he murmured,
“A dragon beneath the mountain… If my eyes did not deceive , it was a dragon.”
“……!”
A dragon.
At his words, the Hunters watching erupted into an uproar.
“A dragon? You are saying there is a dragon down there?”
“There is a dragon under the mountain? Do not talk nonsense! Why would a dragon be hiding under a mountain?”
“Exactly! Why would a dragon suddenly be in Gangwon-do?”
“If it really is a dragon, then that is perfect! Let us go hunt it right now! We can skin it for its scales, fangs, hide—everything!”
The general sentint was that the survivor was spouting absurd nonsense.
I agreed with the mood as well.
Dragons were one of the high-level species that had already been exterminated by Demonic Beings.
There was no way a dragon that did not even exist beyond the rifts would be in Gangwon-do.
Even if sothing was there, it would not be a dragon, but so inferior imitation.
“I am telling you it was real! There was a dragon living under the mountain! It killed them all! All of them…!”
The survivor, whom Cha Yeri had just cald, began showing signs of panic again.
The Hunters’ attention gradually shifted toward Cha Yeri, who was responsible for this operation.
If the survivor’s words were true, then entering the tunnel with the current manpower would be reckless. If he was trying to deceive them with so hidden agenda, a decision had to be made right here and now.
“Then first…”
Cha Yeri was fully aware of the situation she was in.
She had demonstrated keen judgnt many tis in the original story, so this was to be expected.
Her face was as cool and composed as ever, but I could tell she was under considerable strain.
At this rate, she might lose her authority before they even entered the tunnel.
I activated my Demonic Eye.
After briefly observing the survivor, I noticed sothing worth paying attention to.
A rigid leather pouch tied to the side of his right thigh.
Rangers usually carried functional items in such pouches, but for so reason, I could see multiple kinds of mana mixed together inside.
Judging by the purity of the mana and the colors of the light, they were clearly high-value accessory-type items.
For a mont, I considered binding the pouch and spilling its contents onto the ground, but instead, I discreetly took out my smartphone and conveyed the situation to Cha Yeri.
Perhaps she was already on edge, because when her phone vibrated, she looked noticeably startled as she checked it.
She glanced around, searching for my position, and when her eyes t mine at the back of the crowd, she narrowed them slightly.
Her gaze looked as though she were trying to grasp my intent.
Soon, she nodded once to herself and turned back to the survivor.
“Could you show the leather pouch tied to your right thigh?”
“W-Why all of a sudden…?”
“Checking personal belongings is a basic procedure. What is inside it?”
“…….”
The survivor’s face hardened with sudden wariness.
That reaction sparked suspicion among the surrounding Hunters as well.
“Hey, this is procedure.”
“That is right. You never know. He might be carrying an important clue without realizing it.”
“Since we are at it, take off your cloak too. It would be a problem if you were injured sowhere.”
Pressed by the atmosphere, the survivor fidgeted with his clothes.
But as if sothing bothered him, he hesitated, then suddenly shouted,
“Damn it! This is not the ti for this! If we just stand around like this, that thing will kill everyone!”
His outburst, however, was not very effective in the current situation.
In the end, one Hunter pushed through the crowd and slamd the survivor face-first to the ground.
“Ugh!”
Pinning the back of the survivor’s neck with his knee, the Hunter aid the handgun he was holding at the back of the man’s head.
“Talking too much only makes you look suspicious.”
The Hunter’s voice sounded strangely familiar.
His eyes were hidden beneath a cap, but it was not difficult to guess who he was.
The handgun aid at the survivor’s head belonged to Choi Suhyuk, a third-year Combat Division student who had dropped out at the end of the first sester.
Seeing Choi Suhyuk here was not particularly strange.
He needed money, and Hyeonseong had issued a contract that paid reliably. Secret requests like this one also guaranteed higher rates than usual.
Without an academy diploma, he could not enter a reputable Hunter guild, making this an ideal job for him.
In fact, even in the original story, Choi Suhyuk had built his reputation as a freelance rcenary before eventually running a successful Hunter guild of his own.
That was, of course, assuming this world even reached that future.
As an aside, I was secretly glad to see Choi Suhyuk here.
Having Cha Yeri, a main character, and Choi Suhyuk, soone close to a main character, ant the odds of facing lethal danger this ti were relatively low.
After subduing the survivor, Choi Suhyuk yanked at the leather pouch while pulling back the man’s cloak.
The leather strap snapped with a dull sound.
At the sa ti, the contents of the pouch spilled rcilessly onto the dirt.
A glance was enough to tell there were far too many accessory items for a freelance rcenary to be carrying.
“J-Jewels?”
“Those are expensive accessories, are they not? Does it make sense for a freelancer to be carrying so many?”
“Then what is this? Did he steal them? From where?”
“Where else? From the pockets of the companions who went into the tunnel with him.”
“You worthless piece of trash!”
As the contents were exposed, the Hunters erupted in fury.
No matter how lawless the world of freelance rcenaries might be, looting valuables without even recovering the bodies of one’s comrades was unforgivable.
…Well, it probably did happen, but getting caught brought nothing but trouble.
Cha Yeri stepped forward, suppressing the rising agitation.
“Where did you get these?”
“T-That is…”
When the survivor failed to answer, Cha Yeri coldly shook her head.
“I understand the circumstances well enough now. We cannot consider any of your statents reliable. Whether a dragon killed those people, or whether you killed them yourself.”
“I-I did not lie! There really was a dragon crawling around down there! And these… Yes! I was going to return them to their families! You do not seriously think I could retrieve bodies by myself from a dragon, do you?”
In an instant, Cha Yeri drew her MA6 and pulled the trigger.
The bullet grazed the bridge of the survivor’s nose as he lay pressed to the ground, then buried itself in the dirt.
“……!”
The heavy gunshot rang out without a suppressor.
Silence fell not only over the survivor, but over the surrounding Hunters as well.
That brief shot had made her skill obvious.
Even to my eyes, enhanced by the Demonic Eye, her movent was so sharp it looked like footage played back at increased speed.
Cha Yeri aid the gun at the survivor without expression.
“We will determine the truth of your words directly.”
“W-What?”
“We are going to enter the tunnel with you at the front.”
The mont she said she would put him in the lead, the survivor’s face went deathly pale.
“Y-You will regret this! I really did see a dragon! Do you think a dragon that has tasted blood would just sit quietly under a mountain? If you go into that tunnel like this, everyone will be wiped out!”
He vented his resentnt as if he were the victim.
When Choi Suhyuk twisted the gun pressed to the back of his head, the man finally shut his mouth.
“Would it not be better to eliminate the risk?” Choi Suhyuk asked.
Cha Yeri shook her head first.
“He is a ranger. In a confined space, it would be difficult for him to deal with other Hunters. As he claid earlier, he was likely attacked from the outside. That is probably why everyone else is unconscious, or perhaps already dead.”
“So ironically, he is the manpower we need most as first-tirs.”
“Yes. Since he will get a hole in his head the mont he tries to run, we can at least expect minimal cooperation.”
“Well, if that is your judgnt, it cannot be helped.”
Cha Yeri holstered her gun and shouted to the crowd.
“The drinking ends here! You have all seen the situation, so I will not bother explaining. We are moving up the schedule. The rescue team departs in one hour. Anyone I judge to be unfit to carry out the request by then will be left behind. And of course… there will be no paynt.”
The Hunters murmured among themselves.
However, none openly objected.
Until now, they had subtly looked down on Cha Yeri for being young and inexperienced, but the fact that she was Hyeonseong’s heir and the client remained unchanged.
Amid the Hunters dispersing to check their equipnt, I watched the survivor—still immobilized by the gun at the back of his head—with a suspicious gaze.
“So it is not a cliché…?”
If it were a cliché, he would have lured them into the tunnel to ambush them with his accomplices.
But the one doing the luring had looted his companions’ accessories…
Could there really be a dragon beneath the mountain?
Wait. Then how did that man escape from a dragon in the first place?
“……”
More importantly, what exactly was the avid reader thinking?
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