I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over - Chapter 22

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 22: Got the Reward for Free. Received a New Proposal.

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The morning after he discovered the tree roots in the Gate.

Kang Yul entered the Gate carrying a bowl of milk mixed with a little dirt, coal, and iron.

Wiggle!

[Special Characteristics]

: It feels deep affection for you!

"Good morning, Worm. Did you sleep well yesterday?"

Wiggle!

[Special Characteristics]

: It feels deep affection for you!

"Good. I'm glad you slept well. Now, let's have breakfast."

After feeding the energetic Worm three sacks of dirt first thing in the morning, Kang Yul crunched away at his special cereal while considering how to spend the day.

'Should I take a break from mining today?'

Considering he would be called in for a Management Bureau mission that evening, he needed to conserve his stamina.

He would only be playing a support role, but there was no harm in being careful in case something unexpected happened.

The more careful one was with matters involving supernatural phenomena, the better.

'Then... Ah, should I handle the things I've been putting off because they were annoying?'

If he merely rested, he would either sleep or browse Hunter Gallery. That felt like a bit of a waste of time.

Since he was resting anyway, Kang Yul decided he might as well make it meaningful. He began handling the things he had to do but had postponed because they were not urgent.

At that moment.

"Now, if I enter this..."

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〖BurgerLover〗

[Gallery Log] [Messages (0)] [Notifications]

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"...There."

Kang Yul did not forget to verify his Gallery account with the records from the Suraksan erosion investigation.

The only real differences between a verified account and an anonymous one were that the former had completed Hunter verification and could send messages. But to Kang Yul, that difference was enormous.

'The Friendly Merchant never replies to comments.'

Well, he understood why.

Anyone could leave a comment, so there was a high chance they were an ordinary person. Even if they were a Hunter, someone unable to verify their account might have a shady reason for it.

It was only natural to respond exclusively to messages sent by verified users who had passed a minimum level of screening.

I would have responded the same way if I were the Friendly Merchant.

'Anyway, I sent them a photo of the tree roots, and I've finished everything I put off.'

[Current Time: 9:51 PM]

'I should head to the Management Bureau soon.'

With roughly an hour remaining until the mission began, Kang Yul packed useful items into the mystic artifact bundle Kim Chaeryeong had given him and headed for Nowon Station, where the bureau was located.

He had planned to take the subway as usual, but...

❗Train service has been temporarily suspended due to facility inspections and construction.❗

"What? The subway isn't running?"

He did not know the exact reason, but the notice meant he had no choice but to take a taxi.

After more than fifty minutes in the cab, he arrived at the Nowon Branch of the Hunter Management Bureau.

"This traffic is seriously ridiculous..."

With the subway shut down, the roads were packed, and the trip took longer than expected.

Grumbling that he had wasted time and paid twice as much for the taxi, Kang Yul got out, thinking his luck was terrible today.

Then, at that moment.

"Welcome, Hunter Kang Yul."

At the sudden voice, he turned to see Team Leader Myo walking out from the entrance of the Management Bureau building.

"Why are you here, Team Leader Myo...?"

It was too perfect to be a coincidence.

But Team Leader Myo was in far too high a position to be standing at the entrance waiting for him.

When Kang Yul stared at her with a baffled expression that practically asked, 'Why exactly are you here...?' she said,

"Hunter Kang Yul. Change into these clothes first."

"Pardon?"

Team Leader Myo abruptly held out a suit, then pushed Kang Yul into a nearby restroom and told him to change.

Even when he looked at her for an explanation, she only repeated, "There is no time," and told him to get changed.

'What kind of support work requires changing clothes?'

Still unsure what was going on, he emerged in a suit that fit him unnervingly well. Even from its feel alone, he could tell it was expensive.

"..."

Team Leader Myo stared at Kang Yul in his suit with an inscrutable look. Then she said, "Your tie is crooked," and adjusted it herself.

At that moment, Kang Yul...

"???"

...could not think at all.

More precisely, his brain had stopped because of Team Leader Myo's suddenly kind behavior.

All sorts of guesses about what she could possibly be intending flashed through his head and overloaded it.

Regardless of what Kang Yul was thinking, however...

"Then I will brief you on today's operation."

With her usual expressionless face, Team Leader Myo continued fixing his tie as she began the briefing.

"Indiscriminate disappearances targeting office workers are currently occurring on subways throughout Seoul. Hunter Kang Yul, your task will be to determine the conditions under which people disappear."

"...What?"

The warmth that had filled Kang Yul's head instantly cooled.

After all...

'This doesn't seem like a problem I should be involved in...'

The fact that they had not yet identified the disappearance conditions meant they did not even know how to enter the Gate.

That meant nobody caught in the Gate had escaped yet, or that too few had escaped for them to identify its irregularities properly.

It was likely still in the early exploration stage, before the Management Bureau had even established a proper manual for it...

'...No. I can't do this.'

If something went wrong, this mission was dangerous enough that he could be processed as missing without even leaving behind a body.

No matter how determined Kang Yul was to act like Rude-but-Capable Kang Yul, there was a limit.

As a rookie Hunter whose true identity had to remain hidden, Kang Yul had to refuse no matter what. While he considered how best to turn it down...

"If you successfully complete this mission, I will grant you one wish within the limits of my authority."

Team Leader Myo suddenly dangled a lure before him.

A sweet, extremely tempting lure.

Unable to overcome his curiosity, Kang Yul tapped at the bait as he asked,

"Um... Could you give me a mountain as a reward?"

"That would be excessive."

"True. Then... Ah, could you give me permission to buy a mountain owned by the state?"

Team Leader Myo's response was...

"It depends on the mountain, but it is possible for mountains that have become uninhabitable due to erosion. Suraksan is a representative example."

...more than enough to make Kang Yul snap up the tempting bait.

"Marshmallow Mountain?!"

"It is Suraksan, not Marshmallow Mountain."

"No, that isn't the important part! Are you really saying you'll sell me Suraksan once I finish this mission?"

"That is correct."

With his dream of owning a home within reach, Kang Yul briefly weighed his life against a house.

In the end, he accepted Team Leader Myo's offer, deciding that Hunters were all about high return, high risk.

Lately, he had begun to think he might be happy mining for the rest of his life and living quietly. Yet Kang Yul was a Hunter to the bone.

#####

Right after accepting Team Leader Myo's offer, we walked for around ten minutes toward Exit 1 of Nowon Station.

Then...

❗Train service has been temporarily suspended due to facility inspections and construction.❗

This place, too, was blocked by a sign telling people to turn back because subway service was suspended.

We naturally walked past it and entered the deserted station.

Then, at that moment.

Ripple!

As Kang Yul looked around at the now somewhat familiar sensation of crossing something, he spotted a pair of fist-sized guardian totems placed to one side of the subway entrance.

"Are those guardian totems creating the barrier?"

"That is correct. They are a type of temporary barrier used by the Management Bureau. They repel people and seal evil things."

"Seal evil things..."

Wondering, 'How much would something like this cost...?' Kang Yul gave the totems a quick look before noticing Team Leader Myo had gone far ahead. He hurried to close the distance.

After walking for some time, we climbed two more flights of stairs and arrived at the platform.

"That is where the last missing person vanished."

Kang Yul followed where Team Leader Myo pointed and spotted the number 3-3 written on the floor.

"According to the CCTV footage, they disappeared as though they were sucked into another space the moment they boarded the train."

According to her explanation, the person's family had reported them missing after they failed to go to work that day or return home.

Then, the following day...

"They were found as a mutilated corpse at the Chungmuro Station Lost and Found Center. This phenomenon is currently occurring throughout Seoul."

"Hm... This is obviously a rule-type Gate."

The reason Kang Yul was certain was simple.

Rule-type Gates were the most common type of Gate, and they were also the kind that inflicted the greatest damage on humanity.

Gates that could only be entered by satisfying certain conditions, and could only be exited by fulfilling certain conditions as well.

Then, upon satisfying those conditions and returning, one received rewards that could only be obtained within that Gate.

That was the basic principle of a rule-type Gate.

'So if you solve all the rules, there aren't many Gates easier to manage than these, but...'

...the problem was when the rules had not been solved.

As he had just heard, rule-type Gates had the trait of taking people away as long as they met the conditions, regardless of their will.

That was why people on the Gallery jokingly called them kidnapping-type Gates.

For that reason, the standard response upon discovering a rule-type Gate was to seal off the area and take the time to clear it.

But Kang Yul was certain that approach would not work this time.

'The range is too big.'

First, a supernatural phenomenon covering all of Seoul was such an absurd scale that sealing it off was practically impossible.

And because it occurred in the subway, where there was a heavy flow of people, it was impossible to take the time to clear it slowly.

If they did, civic groups would certainly rise up, shouting, "The Management Bureau is standing by while people die!"

If they tried to explain themselves by sending Hunters in to be chewed up, the Hunters would surely beat them up instead.

'The Management Bureau must be sweating bullets.'

He now understood why Team Leader Myo had dangled such a tempting lure before Kang Yul and practically begged him for help.

It was too dangerous to deploy Hunters recklessly, but citizens would cause an uproar if they did nothing.

They needed to quickly gather whatever information they could, resolve the situation early, or distribute a manual to reduce the damage.

But they lacked the skilled personnel to do so, which was why the opportunity had fallen to Kang Yul.

'If this goes well, I might be able to squeeze more out of them.'

Of course, that depended on whether he could solve it. Still, Kang Yul had something to rely on, so he confidently spoke to Team Leader Myo.

"Could you share the information you've found so far?"

"We are currently drafting a confidential document on this supernatural phenomenon. I will share the link and grant you viewing permission."

When Kang Yul opened the link she sent, a confidential draft document opened in the Hunter Gallery Information Archive.

It was packed with raw information, with important details missing here and there and vague speculation running rampant.

The contents were added and deleted in real time, while analyses and rebuttals flew back and forth incessantly in the comments.

'They're working hard.'

Kang Yul quickly read through it as if giving it a once-over.

Whether the information was true or false was not for him to judge.

Once he stuffed the information into his head...

Ding!

[You have discovered a great deal of information on the Commuter Express Train.]

[Exploration Rate greatly increases.]

[Detailed Gate information is partially revealed.]

...his skill made a cheerful sound and fact-checked it all on its own.

'Skills really are overpowered.'

Anyway, Kang Yul read through the information his skill had organized, marveling, 'Wow, Gates like this exist too?' Then, like copying answers onto a test paper, he began writing the information into the Hunter Gallery archive.

"Team Leader Myo. Will this be enough?"

He pointed to his smartphone as though telling Team Leader Myo to check the document.

With a puzzled look that seemed to say, 'Already...?' Team Leader Myo checked it.

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[Gate: Commuter Express Train]

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■ Classification

ㆍFixed-type Gate

ㆍRule-type Gate

■ Overview

A supernatural phenomenon that occurs at a low probability on express trains operating during commuting hours.

When an office worker who fulfills the conditions boards an express train, the real train line disappears, and they enter a train with eight stations that do not exist in reality.

The train stops at each station at roughly ten-minute intervals, and passengers must get off correctly before it reaches the final station.

■ Entry Conditions

ㆍMust be an office worker.

ㆍMust be on the way to work.

ㆍMust board an express train.

※ An express train is a train that passes certain stations and stops only at major stations.

※ Short-term trains temporarily operated for a specific purpose are also considered express trains.

■ Phenomenon

ㆍAll real stations disappear immediately upon entering the Gate.

ㆍOnly eight stations that do not exist in reality are displayed on the route map.

ㆍThe train stops at each station at roughly ten-minute intervals.

ㆍThe moment passengers see a station name, they feel an indescribable impulse.

ㆍThe impulse takes the form of, "I have to get off at that station," and grows stronger the closer they get to the final station.

※ Please verify the following information through direct Gate exploration.

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ㄴ What is this? Which Hunter wrote this information?

ㄴ They suddenly posted information this detailed? Isn't it fake?

ㄴ At this point, didn't they enter and come back out themselves?

ㄴ I told you idiots! I said express trains were part of the conditions!

ㄴ We do not know that for certain.

ㄴ We need to verify whether this information is true.

ㄴ Hunters, please do not recklessly enter the Gate just to verify this information.

ㄴ A Hunter with a clone skill will enter as soon as possible, so please wait a moment.

ㄴ So who wrote this, anyway?

ㄴ Don't know which district you're with, but want to come to Mapo? We'll treat you well.

ㄴ Me too, me too! If you come to Gangnam, I'll treat you really well~!

ㄴ No, come to Guro. I'll give you everything you want.

ㄴ Surely talent like this should come to Jung District, should they not?

ㄴ What? Why is Nowon the only district not commenting?

ㄴ Ah? So you're a Nowon District Hunter, is that it?

ㄴ Ah, haha, you're dead, haha.

ㄴ Let the kidnapping begin~!

After checking the updated information, Team Leader Myo raised her head to look at Kang Yul with eyes full of shock, as though she were looking at a monster.

"Ah, right. Team Leader Myo. I happened to find out more than just the entry conditions, so I wrote that down too. There'll be extra payment for this, right?"

When Kang Yul shamelessly asked for additional compensation, Team Leader Myo stared at him for a long while as though she could not believe him.

But only for a moment.

"Hunter Kang Yul. I have a proposal for you."

As if she had suddenly thought of something good, Team Leader Myo's tail stood upright as she made him an offer.

"If you grant my request, I will give you Suraksan for free."

"What?! Marshmallow Mountain, for free?!"

For a moment, Kang Yul was thrilled by the thought that his dream of owning a home was almost within grasp.

But his face could not help turning cold at Team Leader Myo's next words.

After all...

"If you help explore the Commuter Express Train Gate, I will give you Suraksan for free."

"What? You want me to walk into that Gate on my own...?"

What kind of nonsense was that?