“Um, Hunter Kim… I’m sorry.
“What else?”
“Actually, I didn’t expect you to agree so easily, so… um…”
“Don’t you have the courage to go into the dungeon?”
“More precisely, I’m worried that I might beco an unnecessary burden inside the dungeon.”
“Ah.”
Nods.
Upon hearing that, Kim Goryeo nodded with complete understanding. After all, he had often wrestled with similar worries back when he was still F-rank.
“I’ve even acted like dead weight inside a dungeon myself!”
If he hadn’t been trapped with Jung Haseong, the [Minotaur] incident would have been an absolute disaster. But that was as far as his wandering thoughts went. True to his efficiency-focused nature, the alien imdiately got straight to the point.
“Don’t worry about that. I already ran the calculations in my head and decided it would be fine.”
“Calculations?”
“You coming along will definitely be more helpful.”
On the surface, it seed like a statent full of consideration. But soon, the shocking truth behind it was revealed.
“Given that the Turkey gate extracts emotions instead of ‘pain,’ there’s a pretty high chance it’s a scenario-type.”
The man with golden hair stretches his neck for a mont.
“And along the sa lines, if it’s scenario-based, the likelihood of harm to the raiders would be low. Then serious injury or death would be unlikely anyway, so I might as well take the Earthling as a sample and observe various outcos.”
The scher, who had been feeling apologetic toward the other party, had already gone sowhere—or at least, that was typical of an Alphauhn way of thinking. Kim Goryeo sincerely reflected on all the bluster he had displayed so far, but that didn’t an he would let the opportunity in front of him slip away. After all, there was no risk of harming the Earthling. He intended to turn the current crisis of repaying his debt into an opportunity.
“Besides, I haven’t really focused on this aspect before, so I’m a bit uncertain. I’ll carefully observe how Earth’s S-rank use a magic, and from now on, I’ll adjust my abilities to use them as unobtrusively as possible.”
To put it again, Kim Goryeo harbored a certain confidence within himself.
Immunity to all forms of ntal attacks occurring at the level of Earth’s mammals. And techniques such as nullification, which could cancel teleportation spells right from the activation stage.
He was the perfect nesis of the EX-rank threat that had thrown Türkiye into chaos, and a futuristic magical being capable of protecting his companions—at least a few of them—almost completely.
“Co to think of it, if Jung Haseong cos along, do I have to split the 5 billion the Turkish couple offered? Ah, honestly, I’d rather just keep that much for myself.”
With a few insignificant sentences, the alien ended his solitary daydream. Then they discussed the strategy beyond Korea.
***
Good. Now that the rough blueprint is complete, it’s ti to start earning so foreign currency.
“Ah, so this is that foreign land!”
Türkiye. Barely three years ago, it had been a travel destination so fraught with danger that the entire land was under an advisory, owing to the abnormally frequent appearance of Red Gates. Yet as ti passed, that streak of misfortune subsided, and as if turning calamity into blessing, the number of S-rank hunters grew. Now, that land has entered a age of stability…
“Let’s at least eat after getting so work done.”
Jung Haseong and I arrived. But unlike in Japan, there was no ti wasted greeting celebrities or exchanging pleasantries.
“The wage negotiations were already settled beforehand anyway.”
I had already taken advantage of Earth’s invention, the telephone, to make the necessary preparations. For now, the fifty billion won bounty offered by the parents of a certain foreign S-rank was secured entirely for myself.
“After all, I could’ve gone alone, but Jung Haseong insisted on tagging along to build experience. So he agreed without protest that the paynt would be calculated entirely in my favor.”
And as for the separate travel expenses I requested from the Turkish governnt, they amounted to a rather disappointing sum of about 1.5 billion won.
“Hmm.”
From what I heard, the governnt here had its own circumstances.
It’s said that Türkiye has a higher awakening rate among its citizens compared to other countries. But just before this could turn into an advantage for the nation as a whole, the hunters’ activities instead triggered a phenonon of inflation.
“So this was the place that served as the pri example of economic shifts caused by hunters…”
Well, anyway, I’m in a fair bit of effort, but it seems the minimum pay we’ll be guaranteed is only about that much. Then again, if I tried to drain another country’s treasury too aggressively, it’d only end up raising taxes on innocent citizens.
Taxes. Taxes. Taxes.
Just then, a sudden surge of empathy welled up in my chest, nearly bringing protective tears to my eyes. And at last, Jung Haseong and I stood before the very EX-rank Gate that had been making headlines across countless newspapers.
“Have you checked all your equipnt?”
“A hundred tis over.”
This ant all that was left was to begin the attack.
Even though we ca by jet, several more hours have already passed. What if the first raider, that S-rank, has already starved to death by now?
On top of that, there was even a fellow earthling inside who needed rescuing. So, without hesitation, we stepped into the gate.
As expected of a feeding trap built by a grotesque gourmand entity, this place, though an ever-open passage, had the peculiar trait of sucking in any living being that brushed against it.
Co to think of it, wasn’t the gate’s final na decided as a question—[Are You Happy!?]
“Every ti, the gate managent organizations of each country really have it tough. For , the most botherso task has always been giving newly discovered creatures their scientific nas.”
A few seconds later, before the white light enveloping my body even faded, I snapped my eyelids open. It was to survey my surroundings as quickly as possible.
“Hmm.”
But the mont I stepped into the space of this otherworld, what struck imdiately was—
“This isn’t a scenario gate.”
It’s astonishing. Up until now, ever since boarding the plane to Turkey, I had only imagined that this place might take that form.
“It’s a place that extracts emotions for pain, yet it has no narrative.”
This place differed from Korea’s [Fairy Kingdom] in its very structure. Ordinary monstrous insects usually prepare elaborate performances to evoke peculiar emotions. But here, it simply observed the hearts of those who entered and crudely replicated scenes that would stimulate their happiness—a so-called shortcut approach.
“In a way, could even these fragnted situations qualify as a scenario-type gate? I’m not so sure.”
It’s an ambiguous feeding box in every sense.
Anyway, I arrived inside the EX-rank gate, where the mix of elents was almost overwhelming. And yet, I still didn’t know the exact thod to clear it.
“Hoho.”
A spell to repel hallucinations. A spell to repel brainwashing.
Since this is an Alphauhn soul, it’s naturally immune, but I also set up a solid protective barrier for the fellow expedition mber who ca along. So, there was nothing to worry about.
“ntal effects can get complicated to handle once they take hold, even for . Especially things like the [Knight’s Oath], which require the subject’s consent. On Earth, the best approach is to prevent them in advance.”
I’ve brought enough insecticide to deal with these mind parasites called Gisimche. What is there to fear, then?
“Jung Haseong!”
I quickly turned my head, intending to handle things efficiently. Since I had already granted the hero’s wish, I had called him along to truly operate as a team from this point on.
But sothing unusual caught my eye. Normally, at this point, the fellow hunter who had entered alongside should have been standing right next to —
***
A mont later, a very warm hue filled my vision.
“This is it… the Turkey maze that even S-rank hunters couldn’t escape.”
The mont Jung Haseong entered the dungeon, this scene imdiately ca into his view. A window that shone so brightly it made him think of heavenly sunlight, and neatly, gently fluttering curtains. If he turned his head just a little, he could even spot a bed that looked so soft he wanted to lie down on it right away.
Contrary to its reputation as a dungeon, the place looked remarkably like a cozy family ho.
“Huh? Where on earth did Hunter Kim Goryeo go…?”
But that wasn’t the problem right now. Jung Haseong, who had entered the dungeon, realized that soone who should have been there was missing. In this mysterious, house-like room, he was the only one present. However, even as he considered going out to search for the missing fellow adventurers, his mind was continuously flooded with new information at this very mont.
‘Wait a minute.’
The floor tiles were a slightly faded, light sandy color, and the walls were covered with sky-blue wallpaper patterned with clouds—sothing parents would likely have chosen for a child. He was certain he had seen this scene before in the past.
“This is my room.”
This was the living space he had once lived in.
‘On top of that, it was the room he had used when he was very young—so long ago that he had nearly forgotten about it until just now.’
But for now, it was nothing more than a vague sense of “This sohow feels like my room.” Jung Haseong, with a puzzled expression, could not bring himself to be certain.
What made him especially uncertain was the mirror. In this room, there was a wall mirror, and on one corner of it were several stickers—one of them being an ambulance character from a children’s cartoon. Seeing that sticker stuck so plainly on the mirror, Jung Haseong still couldn’t bring himself to reach a conclusion.
“There was a sticker like this in my childhood room?”
But just as he was unsettled by the sudden appearance of sothing so familiar, an even more chilling situation unfolded.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice ca from the side. But in truth, even before the sound reached his ears, Jung Haseong had already sensed that sothing was wrong. That was because, in this space, a familiar floral stimulus had also appeared—not the scent of natural flowers, but the fragrance of a refined synthetic perfu, the kind that seed crafted with painstaking care by renowned perfurs. And as far as Jung Haseong knew, there was only one person who used such a fragrance.
“Son.”
It was at that mont that he began to understand why the survival rate of this dungeon was 0%. With a thought, of course, it couldn’t be, Jung Haseong cautiously turned his head. But in the place he looked, there appeared, without fail a trap that was nearly the worst possible.
“Our prince! What are you doing there alone?”
An elder human suddenly revealed herself from one side of the room. The mont Jung Haseong caught sight of the person’s shadow, he could only let out a hollow laugh. After all, the last ti he had seen this person, she had been in a shabby state, her hair completely white from failing to dye the creeping gray strands.
‘My hair has gone grayer than Mom’s now.’
What appeared before his eyes boasted a healthy head of black hair—looking at least ten years younger.
“Well, it’s so obvious you’re a monster.”
But perhaps, in a way, it was better this way—it left no room for confusion. The gray-haired hunter prepares to use a fla skill at any mont. At the sa ti, he raises his brain.
‘Slap my own cheek. Take physical damage. And the most accurate and safest thod: quickly take dicine.’
Even before those instructions had fully co to mind, he was already moving his arm—reaching into his item box to pull out a status ailnt recovery potion.
“Gulp.”
Of course, the counterasures he had recalled earlier would be useless against a perfect hallucination, like in a lucid dream. But so far, no such powerful status ailnt had ever been reported—and honestly, if one did get caught in sothing like that, there’d be no way out anyway.
“Will this be enough?”
Jung Haseong carried out the safety protocol with a speed almost like a reflex, then observed the situation. Since there was a chance that the illusion could actually be one of his companions who had entered with him, he couldn’t afford to attack recklessly.
“Son.”
He waited a mont for the dicine to take effect. At this point, an even more absurd incident occurred.
“Did you have a hard ti getting ho from school today? Let’s sit down and eat. Eat.”
“Huh?”
“Honestly, even though I told you to hang out with your friends and even gave you so cards, you’re always just going to the convenience store…”
“Oh, my.”
“Did you eat instant noodles again today? I know they’re tasty, but skipping school als and eating only that is absolutely not allowed.”
It was the sa conversation he had heard countless tis since childhood, popping up once again.
‘Are these phenona being created based on my mories?’
At this point, the hunter’s instinct kicked in, but for now, he decided to put that aside.
‘By the way, when is this potion supposed to take effect? I need to go find Hunter Kim quickly.’
For reference, even Jung Haseong, who had always been a light eater since his school days, had his soul food. Kim Goryeo knew there was missing rice and bright yellow rolled olets were among them. And yet, when he followed the voice of his “fake family” telling him to eat and glanced around, he was surprised to see that the very dishes he had just thought of had appeared in a corner of the room.
‘That table definitely wasn’t there just a mont ago.’
Now it was getting a little ridiculous. A dungeon that suddenly showed steaming hot stew in front of him—this EX-rank gate, whatever its purpose, was unmatched when it ca to bewildering humans.
“And in a dungeon, of all places.”
But Jung Haseong didn’t move a muscle even when he saw the familiar table. He didn’t sit down or pick up a spoon, nor did he consider sharing a al once more with his mother, whom he had recently only seen lying in a hospital bed.
‘In our house, we always bought kimchi when I was little. So there was never any homade touch to it…’
A stew like that was sothing he could easily make himself anyway. So Jung Haseong naturally activated his magic as effortlessly as breathing, preparing to incinerate the illusion created by the monster’s nest at any mont.
‘It’s been a while since I drank the potion, but everything still looks the sa.’
But he didn’t actually feel confident attacking what seed the most fake in this place. Does this an he hasn’t fully honed his ntal strength?
‘Then the thod this dungeon uses isn’t a status ailnt of hallucination, but rather…’
Jung Haseong fell into several trains of thought. He had the dungeon not accounted for the adventurer refused to sit at the table? Whatever it was, sothing in the room differed in a subtle way. It was the fact that the father of his mother at the table with perfect dyed hair was like the luminous lantern of a tale. The role of that illusion was clearly to trap him—the human adventurer—right there.
But it was strange. Even though Jung Haseong had noticed all the technical details, for so reason he couldn’t eliminate the fakes before him, nor could he simply ignore them—so he spent a brief mont caught in between.
“Mom, the way she was when she was healthy…”
Co to think of it, when the boss monster called [Doppelgänger] first appeared, there had been so discussion about it in the hunter community.
‘There was a poll circulating, asking what people would do if a monster appeared that mimicked the appearance of soone close to them.’
The hunter with black hair wore a faint, shallow expression.
‘I’m sure that mont I am live, it. ‘As long as it’s definitely not the person themselves, I’d hunt it imdiately.’
So this is how different ideals and reality can be. But right now, there was no way left to hesitate. No matter how warily the welco welcod him, this was still a dungeon. In short, it was the lair of a monster that could harm humans.
“Don’t rush in. Really—please, just don’t rush in.”
Jung Haseong began to move, gripping his sword tightly. He opened a nearby door and stepped outside, greeted by endless wilderness that confird he was still in a dungeon. In such a situation, he knew that the best course of action would normally be to destroy any creature that was undoubtedly fake. Still, he tried to rationalize his current behavior by recalling an EX-rank example where hordes of fairies had been reported. The bait—the figure of his mother sitting at the table—could be just as strong as those fairies, he reasoned. That was why he didn’t dare touch it recklessly…
‘Hey! By the way, doesn’t that thing seem to be following wherever I move?’
But just as he was about to be thrown off by the illusion’s movent…
“It’s here. It’s here!”
Could this also be an auditory hallucination created by the gate? The sound that followed was so unmistakably familiar that it was hard to doubt. It was none other than the voice of Kim Goryeo, who had entered the dungeon with him.
“Huh? And what’s all this commotion? Hey, Jung Ha-seong, these are all fakes, so get rid of them imdiately.”
“Ah!”
But there was no need to prove his identity in such a heartless manner.
Next appeared a man with golden hair—Kim Goryeo. The S-rank hunter imdiately activated his main attribute upon discovering the situation. In just a few seconds, the very wave that had once subrged an entire dungeon was observed deep sweeping away Jung Haseong’s mories.
“My, my room.”
“What are you talking about? Your apartnt doesn’t have such childish interiors.”
It was a scene where the isolated structures, like a dream, collapsed into ruin in a futile manner.
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