Chapter 140: Hell Gate? I’ve Been There Before, How About You? (1)

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A red bus stopped with the sound from its air compression brake in front of Celeste who stood blankly as she tucked her hand in her pocket. She only woke up from her daze after the bus driver shouted towards her through the opened door.

“Miss foreign student, are you not going to get in?”

“……”

Celeste blinked several times before getting on the bus with a transportation card in her hand.

As she sat down on an empty seat, she plugged a wireless earphone to her ears and looked out of the window. She could see the traces of winter outside, snow had piled up along the street and frozen the ground. 

“Hey, look over there. It's Celeste.”

"Heok.. Really? Should I get an autograph?”

“What if she doesn’t like it? I think she wants some silence…”

Even though Celeste's earphones had a noise cancelling function, she could still hear the whispers around her thanks to her superhuman body. It could be said that it was one of many downsides of having awakened with a body strengthening ability.

Celeste had also become a celebrity. It was due to the incident two months ago. Videos of her fighting against Bang Ho-win spread across YTube and surprised all the body-strengthening superhumans.

[B rank superhuman, Celeste VS SSS rank Bang Ho-win from Murim!]

The video showed how Celeste blocked Bang Ho-win's attack three times as the entrance of the Great Rift became smaller before being blown away by Bang Ho-win’s fourth attack.

As Celeste remembered that fight, she could only be thankful that she only suffered a few broken bones. She was also aware that she could only do so because Bang Ho-win was exhausted.

However, the public didn’t care about it at all. The only thing they cared about was the fact that a B rank superhuman fought against an SSS rank without being intimidated. Even more so when she was outstanding enough to withstand three attacks from the said SSS rank.

The public also praised her action that prevented a terrifying existence such as Bang Ho-win from coming back to the society.

As a result, Celeste's fame skyrocketed.

Then everyone became aware that Celeste’s body strengthening ability was special. It was different from what others had. They also become aware that she also possessed an excellent swordsmanship that could deal with an S rank even with a stat of a B rank.

In this world, there were many superhumans who lived in hiding. In particular, most of them were those who possessed body strengthening ability. They chose to live as normal people because they were aware that with talent alone, they could only become around E~D rank.

What if Celeste taught them her technique? Not only that, what if she taught her skills to an S rank body strengthening superhuman who is already strong to begin with?

There will be another explosive sensation different from martial arts and magic.

Then, a month ago, when she finally reached A rank, she received countless love calls from national corporations, guilds, and governments. 

But Celeste rejected all of the offers.

‘Until I die, I will remain in Another League.'

She declared it to the public.

Many people were confused and questioned her stance. However, for Celeste, it was a natural course of action. Another League had helped her take revenge against Bang Ho-win who had cut her father’s right arm. They trained her hard until she achieved her dream of cutting Bang Ho-win’s right arm and threw it to another world.

[Day 78 after Hunter Yoo Seodam disappeared…. Will he ever return?]

[Will he ever come back from beyond the rift?]

[‘It is impossible to return from crack’, opinions of the Anomaly Association divided.]

Celeste frowned at the article on her smartphone.

Yoo Seodam, who declared that he would come back soon, had not come back for more than two months. Those who knew Yoo Seodam were also increasingly concerned as he had yet to return. It was unusual for him to disappear for so long since he would usually return after 1 or 2 weeks.

‘Where are you……’

Celeste mumbled to herself as she stared blankly out of the window.

* * *

Celeste wasn't the only one who was waiting for him.

“Whitey. He is still alive, right?”

In the guild master room of Another League which was occupied by Yekaterina, Taylor asked as she lay listlessly on the sofa.

“If Seodam-nim dies, I will die too. So, stop asking and please go back to your work. And… Isn’t it time for your departure?” 

“Oh, is it the time already?”

Taylor looked at her watch. She grumbled inwardly about how time moved slowly without Yoo Seodam yet time to work comes rather quickly. 

Three months had passed since she last saw him. After his disappearance, Taylor visited Yekaterina every day because she was the only person who was spiritually connected to Yoo Seodam.

Not only Celeste, Taylor and Yekaterina,

-Did anything happen today?

“Did you call me to check whether I'm alive or dead?”

-No way…. I’m just glad that you look healthy.

“Can't you see these dark circles? I think I'm going to die soon because I'm so tired…”

-I will make some supplements and send it to you.

“I will be happy if you do that.”

Seol Jungyeon was also waiting for him. And since she also knew about Yekaterina's soul, she kept calling her every day.

Very few people knew about that, but… The problem is that those who knew always bothered Yekaterina day and night.

However, because Yekaterina understood their feelings, she couldn't blame them.

“Oh by the way, Lord. Didn’t you say that you're attending the Hunter's Meeting today?”

-Yes, that’s right.

Seol Jungyeon was the Lord of Murim, so she was very sensitive about Murim's public image. Therefore, as the Lord, she tried to participate in official meetings as often as possible. The Hunter's Meeting was also an important event for Yoo Seodam, so she couldn't miss it.

“We also sent Taylor unnie from our side.”

-Is that so?

Seol Jungyeon and Taylor Nine. They know each other very well.

From what Yekaterina knew, Seol Jungyeon was wary of Taylor because of how close she is with Yoo Seodam. So, when she remembered about it, she hurriedly opened her mouth before things got awkward between them.

“Ah, I suddenly got an urgent call. I think I have to go to work.”

-I'm sorry for taking your time when you are busy. Let's end the call now.

"Okay, please take care. Make sure you get ready, too, Taylor unnie.”

"Fyuuhh… Fuck. Let me look Yoo Seodam’s picture one more time. "

When a hunter from a certain guild attends the Hunter's Meeting, it means they hold a considerable influence with them. Since Taylor knew the significance of this event, she had decided to attend the Hunter's Meeting, which she had never attended before, for Another League.

Of course Yoo seodam was also invited to the meeting, since he always had the opportunity to attend as the representative of F rank hunters. However, he was always absent because he knew well what would happen if he went there with an F rank status, and this year he couldn't attend because he was not on Earth.

"Whew…. This bastard, when he comes back, I oughta….. Then Whitey, this Unnie will go okay? so watch the house well.”

"Okay. Please take care of yourself.”

So, when Taylor headed to Indonesia, where the Hunter's Meeting will be held, Yekaterina switched on her laptop and the tablet next to her computer and started working.

She recently hired quite a few full-time employees who were good at their work, but she didn't think about reducing her own work at all.

In the building next to the guild hideout’s main building, scholars from all over the world were escorted by the spirits. They would discuss about magic while in the building on the other side. C rank swordsmen or higher were receiving swordsmanship training from Ha Sun-young, and finally, the engineers and craftsmen were busy developing a new dispenser that combines mana (essence) and energy (ether) at the workshop.

It was Yekaterina who was in charge of them, so she couldn't sleep even when she was tired. And that was not an issue because she had her energy charger, Yoo Seodam.

‘Seodam-nim… When will you return…….’

For her, it was fun to work every single day even when blood dripped from her nose or when she felt like she was going to die because she was too tired. It was thrilling to see the growth of ‘Another League’ which she had built.

However, in the end, she was someone that could not live without Yoo Seodam. With an ordinary life, 6 months was the maximum amount of time she could live without Yoo Seodam. However, she was too overwhelmed these few months, and even though he had been away for less than three months, she was already exhausted and on the brink of collapsing.

Her head was spinning with dizziness, and even in the midst of it, she was still wrestling with her work.

‘Ugh…. My head…'

Yekaterina tried to endure the headache with her finger still pouncing on the keyboard.

"Ah!"

Then, suddenly, a familiar sensation ran through her body. It was the ‘soul connection phenomenon’. A phenomenon that she felt whenever Yoo Seodam returned to Earth.

‘Seodam-nim……!’

He’s back. Yekaterina was sure of it.

* * *

Hunter's Meeting was an event where various hunters from F rank to SS rank gathered to discuss about the current hunter industry. It was held often, at the fastest one year or at the latest 4 year.

The venue and the topic of the discussion were also different every year. The last meeting in China and Korea passed silently without any significant content. While in another meeting, the occasional hot topic about whether a specific guild could monopolize the gate and dungeon in a specific area was discussed.

Someone said that the guild should be able to monopolize by paying a certain fee to the government where the dungeon and the gate existed, and some said that if the local monopoly culture intensifies, the gap between the rich and the poor would eventually widen, which will spoil the image of the hunter industry.

The one who presented the former argument was a hunter who worked in the guild industry, while the presenter of the argument was a hunter who worked as an individual.

Fortunately, thanks to the latter being a SS rank solo hunter with the nickname ‘Cheong’, the guild monopoly idea was dismissed with excellent votes.

The Hunter's Meeting was being transmitted all over the world through live broadcasting. Thanks to this, there were some hunters who came to the meeting and got criticized for making mistakes and ultimately retired.

‘It's dirty and annoying, really.'

Taylor chewed gum and sat in her seat with her legs crossed. In the room, the higher one's seat is, the higher their rank is. It was a show that thoroughly imitated the ‘class system’ and since the class system was correct, no one objected to it.

The number of people who could participate was also limited.

There were as many as 5 seats for the SS rank, 7 seats for the S rank, 10 seats for the A rank, and a total of 20 seats were allocated for the B,C,D,E and F ranks. However, there was a seat that really stood out from all of them, it was the F rank seat.

F rank only had 3 seats. The reason behind it was simply because there were very few F rank hunters in the world who had achieved the minimum condition for attending the Hunter's Meeting which is, they ‘must be a hunter with minimum experience of 10 year’.

And amongst all qualified F rank Hunter, the only one who had a normal body and could communicate properly without suffering from mental illness, was Yoo Seodam.

Although everyone in the world knows that Yoo Seodam was only F rank in name since his actual stats was higher than that, he was still an F rank in the end because he was still sticking to the rank without renewing it.

Taylor turned her head and looked at the stage higher than her seat.

Officials from the Hunter Association, the President of Indonesia, officials from the Anomaly Association, Politicians, including several Chinese, were gathered there.

Hunter's Meeting was originally only available to Hunters, but at some point, it became a place for businessmen and politicians to show their face.

And amidst those people, she could see a woman standing proudly without any care in the world.

It was Seol Jungyeon.

Even in the noisy and festive atmosphere, Taylor could feel Seol Jungyeon sitting coldly alone.

‘Well, seeing her like that…She’s definitely pretty.'

Taylor thought to herself.

The moment a superhuman achieved S rank, they would undergo a famous phenomenon that changes their appearance, such as becoming younger or more beautiful. Of course, not everyone becomes a beauty. The majority of cases were just getting better skin and younger appearance.

However, very occasionally… There were cases where those who were already beautiful became even more beautiful once they reached S rank. Taylor Nine and Seol Jungyeon were examples of such cases.

As Taylor looked around, she could see several people and several cameramen staring intently at Seol Jungyeon. She understood that they were enchanted by her beauty. Even Taylor herself couldn't help but look at her. Yes, it's all good up to there…

‘Why do you keep looking at me, you damn woman!'

As much as Taylor is wary of Seol Jungyeon, Seol Jungyeon is also wary about Taylor.

‘She’s Seodam's 17-year-old friend and colleague….'

Seol Jungyeon thought to herself as she looked at Taylor Nine.

While Seol Jungyeon and Taylor glanced at each other in silence, the chairman of the meeting finally appeared.

‘Huh?'

It was a face that Taylor knew so well. However, from what Taylor knew, he was not a hunter but an anomaly expert.

“I am Tae-oh, who will be the moderator today. Nice to meet you."

He stood in the middle of the stage, bowing his head to both sides, and greeted them. It was an act for the viewers, not the hunters.

The moment Taylor yawned because she was bored and sleepy, her eyes widened at the words of the moderator.

“Today’s topic is about ‘Hell Gate'. Recently, it was revealed that the Hell Gate is slightly expanding and there’s some opinion about closing it, so I would like to take this occasion to discuss it…”

Taylor was speechless since Hell Gate, a sensitive subject, was once again trying to rise to the surface.

‘Why?'

Seven years ago, after that day, they decided to not touch Hell gate ever again.

“Therefore, we invited ‘Yoo Haram’, a Specialist about Hell gate, the Lost Day Guild Master and an SS rank Hunter.”

Then, when Yoo Haram appeared as the so-called Specialist, Taylor’s face crumpled.

‘It’s not funny.’

Taylor understood that there’s no one who had been to Hell gate in this meeting, so Yoo Haram was certainly the best expert. He had sent his guild members to the inside of Hell gate, and some of them even returned alive and were able to uncover and investigate the inside more than anyone else.

After that day, seven years ago, Yoo Haram always attended as a specialist whenever there was an issue related to Hell Gate. However, for Taylor, it was nothing but nonsense.

Without knowing about what Taylor was thinking, Yoo Haram greeted the hunters with a very confident face before facing toward the camera.

“Nice to meet you. I am Yoo Haram.”

The discussion started.

“A specialist? Who? You?”

When Taylor questioned about his title as the ‘specialist’ the room instantly fell silent.

It happened only about three seconds after the discussion began.