CH 2

What was wrong with him? Was it because she had screamed and pointed her finger at him?

Seo-ah shuddered. “Ah, thank you for saving me. I’ll be off now!”

While she did not forget to thank her savior since she grew up in a region where politeness was paramount, she wanted to leave as soon as possible, so she headed straight for the gate.

“You, wait a minute…”

“What?” Seo-ah turned around as she was stepping into the exit.

And saw the monster behind Yoo Ji-an with its mouth wide open.

“There, behind you!”

The hunter stopped talking and whirled around.

“I’m sorry, I will be leaving first! Please come back alive!”

He was at the top of the domestic rankings, so he could take care of himself.

She hurriedly threw herself through the rippling blue gate. The last thing she saw was Yoo Ji-an pulling his Ruin Blade from the air.

***

Immediately after she got out, Seo-ah had been caught by an employee from the Hunters’ Guild and was only allowed to leave after answering a few questions.

After that, it had all been a blur.

She couldn’t remember how exactly she got home. As soon as she had entered her house, she collapsed out of fatigue, as heavy as cotton soaked in water.

Not only had she almost been killed by a monster, but she’d also overused her healing skills.

‘I really don’t have enough practice, even for an E-class with no experience.’

But that was no surprise.

[ Stats: Insignificant and cannot be displayed (Values below 1 are not displayed). Physical Strength: 3. Mental Strength: 10. ]

Now, Seo-ah struggled to avert her eyes from the shamefully small values. She turned to the other portion of the window.

[ If you don’t activate your capabilities as an S-class supporter within the given time period, you will die! (D-99) ]

She had even washed her face just to make sure it wasn’t just something in her eyes, but nothing changed.

[ Mission 1: Touch the Hunter ]

That too, was the same.

“I must be going crazy.” Seo-ah shook her head and lay flat on the bed again, opening her cellphone.

< Yoo Ji-an clears A-class gate alone! >

< A sudden gate in the middle of Seoul, is this okay as it is? >

< What are the countermeasures for these sudden gates that cause dozens of casualties? >

< (Reporter Kim’s in-depth report) Yoo Ji-an enters an A-class gate as if going for a walk. >

“I’m glad he got out safely,” she muttered, only now realizing that she’d been caught in such a high-level gate.

As a total novice, she hadn’t even noticed it before.

Seo-ah clicked on the top article.

[ After Luoran in China, this is the fifth time in the world for an A-class gate to be cleared alone… Isn’t that great? ]

She scrolled down to the comments.

[ Korea! The country with Yoo Ji-an! Don’t take us for fools again! ]

[ I’m so proud of our country! ]

[ He beat the gate that beats anyone and everyone? Yoo Ji-an, where’s your interview? ]

[ As usual, it’s the Sun Guild again. ]

[ Yoo Ji-an is always busy. Other hunters get interviewed, but I heard that the Sun Guild doesn’t let any reporters near him. ]

[ But he’s the fifth in the world, not just anyone. Come on! ]

[ Baek Eun-hee VS Yoo Ji-an, who will win? ]

[ Of course, it’s Yoo Ji-an. There’s a reason why he’s No. 1 in Korea. ]

[ Yoo Ji-an is better at close-range hunting but Baek Eun-hee wins at long-range. ]

[ Even if you increase the distance,  he can catch up in the tenth of a second! ]

[ I love you, Baek-eonnie! ]

It was the usual reaction in which praise and jealousy coexisted.

Seo-ah’s scrolling fingers suddenly stopped. She remembered something very important.

“…Oh, Geon-hoo!”

She’d been on her way to the hospital to visit her younger brother when she was sucked into the sudden gate.

“I’m crazy… How could I forget that?” She scrambled to leave the house.

***

Tick, tick, tick. Ring.

A blond-haired man very carefully opened the door and stuck his head in.

Han Seok-hyun, the leader of the top guild in Korea, crept inside the room.

To his surprise, Yoo Ji-an, who looked like he had just washed up, was already staring at him blankly.

“Uh, so… Are you okay?” he asked, keeping his distance.

Yoo Ji-an plopped down on the sofa. “Yeah.”

“Whew… I’m glad. You recovered quickly this time.” Still wary, Han Seok-hyun slowly sat across the hunter.

“I did.”

“You should have called for backup. To defeat an A-class boss alone… you must have used ‘Thunderstorm’.”

The toad monster he had encountered as soon as he first entered wasn’t actually the boss. It was not until he had slain about ten of those toads that the real battle began.

In general, in order to clear a single A-class gate, one or two S-class and many A-class hunters entered and launched an offensive. Normally, no matter how powerful one was, it was very difficult to clear high-level gates alone.

That was why Yoo Ji-an’s most recent endeavor went viral.

“I did,” Yoo Ji-an admitted readily.

“So… are you really okay?”

He thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know why.”

Considering all his abilities, it was not a stretch to say that he could be ranked first in the world. However, he had a fatal flaw.

The point was that after surpassing a certain level of power usage, it became more and more difficult to maintain one’s sanity. In particular, the skill ‘Thunderstorm’ was his ultimate skill, but when he used it, he entered a berserk state.

His attack power increased drastically at the expense of lowering his defenses.

Yoo Ji-an couldn’t use his ultimate skill in raids with party members because everything he saw became an enemy when he went berserk. Whenever he did use it when he cleared gates alone, he always had to elude reporters for the sake of all their safeties.

The berserk state fluctuated wildly, and it took at least three days for it to completely subside.

When he registered his rank, he only used around 70% of his abilities. Even in raids, he only used around a quarter of his power unless it was absolutely necessary.

Most of the time, that was enough.

This time, Yoo Ji-an dealt with the A-class boss alone and used ‘Thunderstorm’, but for some reason, he stabilized quickly in the aftermath.

But there was something even more surprising than that.

“That gate… was there in your previous life, wasn’t it? You knew that, right?”

“Yes, but it was created around 30 minutes earlier than I expected. If I had moved a little faster, there would have been no damage.”

Yoo Ji-an was now on his fourth life. He was a returner and only Han Seok-hyun and himself knew about it.

“That’s why lots of people got caught in it. Although… I think quite a lot of them survived, relatively speaking. There was a healer there, I think. So why did you go there alone?”

“I was looking for something.”

“Did you find it?”

Yoo Ji-an covered his forehead with a hand, seemingly suffering from a throbbing headache. As soon as he did, Han Seok-hyun shot up.

He sighed and lowered his hand. “No, I don’t think so.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I didn’t go berserk that time.”

Even if his power output was halved, it was the first time in all his lives that he didn’t go on a rampage after using ‘Thunderstorm’. He’d also found some evidence, but he didn’t want to explain just yet.

“Did that thing you’re looking for keep you from running wild? Hey, if you can’t find it…”

“It’s inevitable. I have to find her now,” Yoo Ji-an muttered.

Han Seok-hyun peered at him curiously. “Who?”

“One of the survivors. The last one to leave. Take her to me using whatever means possible.”

“Why? Did she take that item you want?”

“No… Maybe.”

Lips twitching, Han Seok-hyun teased, “Then why? Did you fall in love with her? Ah… this old man whose real age is over 60…”

Yoo Ji-an’s fingers twitched, causing Han Seok-hyun’s body to float. He had used ‘Telekinesis’.

“Hey! Let go of me, you punk! I’m your guild leader!”

After five seconds, he dropped to the ground, coughing.

“You can’t even take a joke! Why should I ask her to come?”

“I’ve seen her before. In a previous life.”

In the gate, to be exact.

And Yoo Ji-an couldn’t tell him any more details than that.