Chapter 312. Evening
A few hours later. While the sun still shone brightly overhead, Giryeo temporarily moved near the restricted gate zone on OO Avenue in Seoul. As soone—Esther—had testified, the place was so chaotically covered and blocked off that it could easily be mistaken for a construction site.
‘So inside that massive partition... is the dungeon they occupied through illegal lobbying?’
However, no one—including Giryeo—could easily enter the area.
Dissemination of skill utilization thods. Research achievents related to strategy techniques, and so on.
Modern hunters were improving their overall hunting abilities even at this very mont, but A-rank gates still remained perilous sites. Moreover, yet with another beast that bites people having been discovered inside, it seed clear that rash action couldn't be taken for now.
Tak, tak, tak.
The man's shoe heel t the concrete steps.
Giryeo, the hunter was currently climbing the stairs of a nearby building alone, one that gave a clear view of the occupied gate. It was when he had reached about the seventh floor and opened a window in the corridor nearby.
Tiring.
A text ssage arrived.
[Sender: Seo Esther]
[Text: So, how is it? Now that you're up there, can you see anything?]
Before coming here, Giryeo had declared that he would observe the area using his sensory ability to see if there were any anomalies.
‘There’s a building so close you could practically reach out and touch it if you fell over. Perfect timing.’
He replied to Esther that he hadn’t started the task yet, then tucked his phone back into his pocket.
However, in truth, even the long-haired Earthling who had texted him wasn't exactly free on ti either. Seo Esther, the representative of the Tower Guild, had dragged her grandfather—who was a mber of the National Assembly—back to the Association President's office while soone else was climbing the apartnt stairs beside the gate.
S-rank hunters. In truth, their combat prowess is so high that they can overpower an ard terrorist group even barehanded. As a result, the Hunter Association headquarters was suddenly facing a more intense and dangerous atmosphere than even the fake construction site right outside.
According to Esther, she planned to imdiately proceed with the punishnt of the public officials responsible for the incident and the subsequent resolution of the situation—but only after confirming through an oath-bound inquiry that the new Association President was not involved in the matter.
“Hmm.”
To be honest, the alien could barely understand half of the legal procedures she had planned,
but given the capabilities she had shown so far, he decided to entrust the rest to her. That ant it was now ti for him to take on the tasks that only a great mage could handle.
Giryeo leaned his arm against the window fra and looked straight down below.
Wooooooong...
The gate in question was difficult to observe from ground level due to the illegal entrant wearing a bone mask having erected barriers. However, from this elevated vantage point, its surface was clearly visible.
To Earthlings, it would rely appear as a steadily shimring cluster of light—a passage to the “otherworld.”
“An A-rank gate, huh.”
The blond man, now quite accustod to the mammalian body structure, focused intently on the gate for a long while. Had he been an ordinary empath, activating such observational power from this distance would’ve required at least a full reserve of B-rank mana.
But he was a soul who had lived through the golden age of magic.
“Hmm...?”
Moreover, they are beings unilaterally favored by miracles, even more so than those who created that very passage.
‘Uhm?’
Kim Giryeo isn’t typically categorized as having large eyes. However, his mammalian body suddenly opened its eyelids wide as if it had seen sothing unbelievable.
‘No, damn it!’
New observational data had surfaced. Back when he was tracking the Rakshasa Temple, he had spent a great deal of ti analyzing the entrances to various dungeons.
‘What is this?’
Therefore, even though he had never seen it in his previous life, he had grasped the fundantal characteristics of the technique—and the conclusion he arrived at was shocking.
‘Why is that mana so suspiciously spread out? It looks like it’s about to open up like a box at any mont...!’
For example, like the perforation lines found on snack or household product packaging.
The gate occupied by the Beasts wasn’t just a simple hunting ground. To the mage’s intuition, the arrangent of its constituent elents felt fragile—like an object that would tear cleanly along a perforated line with just a single tap.
An unfolding other world.
‘It can’t be.’
Until now, the alien had often referred to the activity of the Gisimche as a “feeding box.” However, to the rulers of Earth, that phrasing always sounded a bit... puzzling.
A box. Why had the Alphauri kept calling a space that wasn’t even remotely rectangular... a box?
And it was around this point that the truth was finally revealed. In reality, the Gisimche that appeared from Alphauri carried out their feeding activities quite normally in open environnts—not by forcibly partitioning space through such loud and luminous gateways.
‘I really didn’t expect this. I guess it felt uncomfortable continually eating with a straw like that?’
The Gisimche were originally beings that directly devoured the surface of any planet they settled on. In what had once been soone else’s peaceful ho, they would manifest horrific landscapes born of their own twisted creativity. In the process, the native inhabitants’ land would be eroded, displaced, and ultimately swept away.
Additionally, when Gisimche occupies a space, the boundary surface is usually cut into a square, box-like shape—hence the term “box” beca established. Co to think of it, many dungeon rooms, including the Tower of the Hundred People, are often square-shaped. Maybe they instinctively prefer certain geotric shapes, like bees do, but does that really matter right now?
‘Oh my god.’
Flutter.
The Archmage, upon realizing the truth, hastily pulled out his phone.
This dungeon was suspected to be the first original feeding box to appear on Earth. Based on the pattern observed so far with those “straws,” the dungeon break likely serves as the trigger for its unsealing.
‘It’s a good thing I definitely learned how to issue tickets from Seonwoo Yeon last ti. How much is a flight to Jeju Island these days?’
The problem, however, lay in the very nature of the feeding box just described. When Gisimche’s spatial magic activates properly, the previous landscape is completely overwritten by the new one.
To put it simply...
The apartnt the appraiser is standing in. The large supermarket visible across the street. The luxury cars worth hundreds of millions of won parked on the street. And even the sewage and water facilities buried underground, perhaps everything.
‘It could be ground away by the aftermath of erosion.’
Because Alphauri is a massive planet with a much larger volu than Earth, their territorial invasions were relatively less severe. But if a box were to unfold in a densely populated city like Seoul, it would cause all sorts of problems.
‘Even if the area is small, the damage will be imnse.’
Honestly, why do the mammals living here insist on crowding together like this? Is it because their bodies are small or sothing? Wouldn’t it be better if they built mobile hos like the mature forms on Alphauri, so they could move when necessary?
Giryeo muttered incomprehensible things to himself in the language of alien creatures as he scrolled through his phone screen.
[Search Flights: GMP Seoul -> CJU Jeju]
But even after realizing how dangerous this site was, he still couldn’t bring himself to tap the paynt button.
‘The curse sorcerer went so far as to ask for help personally—if I back out now, it’ll definitely leave a bad impression.’
In fact, it’s not just for this reason anymore.
‘But even if I take the curse, what do I gain by avoiding it alone here?’
He was lost in thought.
‘Beasts that usually appeared in Europe suddenly bribed their way into occupying a specific dungeon—could that really be just a coincidence?’
Soon, the man’s small amount of magic power sharply shifted its formation.
‘It’s hard to see it any other way. It only makes sense if we assu those bastards also noticed the dungeon’s unique nature in advance.’
Not even in Korea. But S-rank criminals who seized a gate so rare that even looking worldwide, you’d barely find another like it. Given the circumstances, it’s highly likely that all three of those fake Beasts are foreigners. Because in this small land called South Korea, all the top-tier ones have already erged.
‘Ugh, and on top of that, I even had to personally deal with one of them...’
But to leave behind the danger factor of the beasts and run away.
Esther too.
Jung Haseong too.
They aren’t the kind of followers who would ignore the threat to Seoul and retreat just because he warns them. So, by the ti this situation ends, couldn’t they be dead from so kind of threat?
‘This is unsettling. If I draw upon my past life’s experiences, this clearly ans the Beasts have backing.’
Of course, it’s not like an F-rank born talent would make a huge difference in the odds. Still, his feet wouldn’t move.
‘I don’t want Jung Haseong, whom I’ve spent months raising with care, to die.’
As always, this damn attachnt is the problem.
‘Even Esther, who always pays attention to my clothes, despite being an Earthling, would be another regrettable mammal if she died.’
If he hadn’t been born with magic in the first place, or if his talent was just a bit lacking compared to other mages, at least the stress would have been less.
‘If many residents of the capital suddenly die, Ahn Yoonseong and Seonwoo Yeon will be sad. If you think about it, it ans the top competitors in this capitalist society are decreasing. I don’t know why, but they’ve always been like that...’
The alien sorcerer reincarnated on Earth could no longer bring himself to simply run away when faced with situations like this.
On top of that, a situation like this might even be a kind of opportunity. That is—if he takes into account the mid-level mana test results he’d been keeping an eye on all along. No, perhaps... it’s only when he’s thrown into situations like this that he can truly...
“Hmm.”
But explaining that it’s a feeding box goes far beyond the scope of Earth, so it’s a bit tricky. In the end, the danger of that gate can only be brushed off as “it just doesn’t feel right” based on intuition. On top of that, there are still three S-rank bastards camping inside. So what are we supposed to do about this moving forward?
Tiring.
It was around the ti the man was lost in thought.
[Sender: Seo Esther]
A follow-up ssage arrived from Esther. She had safely finished discussions with the Association president, and from now on, with the help of the governnt, she planned to attempt a gate reclamation alongside a few elite mbers from various guilds. It was an A-rank dungeon that had long since passed the expected break point. Leaving sothing like that in the hands of thugs was far too dangerous—so now they were saying they’d force the Beasts out, even if it ant sending in manpower.
‘It’d be even better if I could clear the gate at the sa ti.’
Since the otherworld’s nature is that the space is discarded once the raid is complete, there won’t be any further infestation. He fully agreed with Esther’s plan to drive out the beasts.
However, he didn’t have the confidence to step into that den of monsters himself, so he slowly began scheming.
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Was it thanks to racking his brain with all his might? His now fully ward-up mind quickly ca up with a seemingly plausible thod that could actually work in this situation.
‘Now that I think about it.’
Looking back, this past year had been full of turmoil, constantly getting caught up in one incident after another—but even so, there was at least one thing he had gained through it all.
‘I have manpower that can be used in this difficult situation.’
S-rank hunter, Kang Changho.
For a brief mont, the image of that superpowered individual flashed through his mind.
The outsider of the Korean hunting industry had previously spoken to the victim, who was sitting in the hospital.
‘From now on, whenever Hunter Kim Giryeo is in need, I will lend my help—no matter what kind of task it is, just once...’
And this current task of cooperatively attacking the formidable beings occupying the A-rank gate... if he had to weigh possibility versus impossibility, it would be worth the effort.
‘Kang Changho did betray in 3 seconds at the Kagoshima Gate, but that was only because it was soone else’s problem far away. If he gets hit by the Beasts’ preemptive strike as soon as he enters, he’ll have no choice but to react.’
He paused to think. The help of an S-rank Hunter usually ca at an enormous cost.
But when it ca to the promise Kang Changho had made—he didn’t feel the need to hold back on using it.
‘If I believe this too much, I’ll only lose out.’
As for that third S-rank hunter—given their personality, there was honesty no guarantee they’d fulfill their obligation sincerely...
‘What can I expect from a mammal who’d swear a knight’s oath, then turn around and stab you in the back the mont things didn’t feel right?’
In that case, rather than entrusting them with sothing truly important or urgent, it might be better to assign them to a task like this—sothing more preventative.
‘Should I make a quick call?’
Giryeo operated his phone, then imdiately made a call to a number saved in his contacts.
“Hmm?”
The signal took too long, and for a mont he thought the other person was out.
Tuk.
The dial tone cut off, and through the speaker, the soft sound of wind quietly drifted in.
“......”
What followed was that subtle, distinct pause—the kind that happens when the other person picks up the receiver.
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