WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

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◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 3: Ate a Burger. Gained a Skill.

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[Title: First come, first served, one burger─]

[Yeah.]

─Giving you guys a chance to answer a question about burgers, yeah.

(A flower found in a gate that looks like a hamburger)

Found a flower that looks like a burger while exploring a gate.

Anyone know what this burger flower is?

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[Comments]

[You clickbaiting bastard.]

ㄴ[If you think about it, isn't that technically not wrong?]

ㄴ[??? : Hunter-bro, I said I was giving you the opportunity to answer a question about burgers, not giving you a burger.]

ㄴ[LOL, it's infuriating, but the post doesn't actually lie.]

ㄴ[Hearing that it's not wrong makes me even angrier.]

[But seriously, what kind of flower is that? I've never seen one before.]

ㄴ[The color scheme does make it look like a hamburger.]

ㄴ[Don't know. Try eating it?]

ㄴ[Hey, hey. Do you know what that thing growing in a gate is before you just eat it?]

ㄴ[Don't do that. Plenty of people have died after putting unknown things from gates in their mouths.]

ㄴ[People die from eating random mushrooms in the mountains, and you'd eat a gate plant?]

ㄴ[They're either an idiot or a total piece of trash trying to get someone killed.]

ㄴ[Sorry... I was joking...]

ㄴ[You think someone's life is a joke???]

ㄴ[(Trash must be removed meme)]

[That's obviously an AI-generated photo.]

ㄴ[No! I don't think it's AI-generated! My instincts as a botanist tell me that flower is real!]

ㄴ[OP! Which gate did you find it in? Please share the gate if you can! I really want to see it myself!]

ㄴ[What's with the serious response?]

ㄴ[Are you a Hunter?]

ㄴ[There aren't many Hunters who work with plants, though...]

ㄴ[Hey, hey. Try to identify them and you might disappear without a trace.]

ㄴ[(Hunter-bro runs away in a hurry meme)]

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.

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"Ultimately, nobody knows...."

Kang Yul muttered in disappointment as he put away his phone.

After finding the hamburger-like flower in the gate, he had continued exploring, but found nothing else of note.

He had come out of the gate to rest and made a question post to learn more about the flower, but it had not yielded much.

He had also skimmed through information compilation posts, but found nothing about a plant that looked like a hamburger.

'Should I really try eating it?'

Of course, he did not intend to eat it recklessly.

As the comments had said, Kang Yul knew well how dangerous it was to eat an unidentified plant.

Still, the reason he considered eating it was simple.

Kang Yul had awakened as a Hunter through a first-come, first-served hamburger post.

So, if that burger flower was also a supernatural phenomenon related to it, perhaps it would at least give him "something edible like a hamburger."

It was only a guess, so he planned to leave it as a last resort while looking for a better option.

But with no clues at all, Kang Yul was left with only two choices: "Eat the flower" or "Collect it and request an appraisal."

The problem was that eating it seemed more likely to work.

Kang Yul imagined himself collecting the flower and requesting an appraisal.

.

.

.

"So, Hunter. Which gate did you collect this plant from?"

"Ah, I collected it from my personal gate."

"Oh my! Such a precious slave... no, talent! We'll have to treat you with utmost care~!"

"What? What are you... Mmph...! Who are you people...?!"

[Oh no! Kang Yul was kidnapped by a group of Hunters!]

[Everything went dark before Kang Yul's eyes....]

[Bad Ending: Gate Slave Kang Yul]

.

.

.

'...Just imagining it is terrifying.'

Kang Yul thought as he rubbed the goosebumps on his arms.

No, this was not the way. He could not reveal the gate's existence to others yet.

It was not just because of the gate's value.

If researchers learned there was a Hunter who could summon a gate itself, Kang Yul's future could only be bleak.

'They'd put me through every horrible experiment too terrible to speak of....'

So after going in circles, the only choice left was, "Eat the flower."

'...Should I just leave it alone?'

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

If there was no suitable choice right now, then "just leave it alone" could be a choice as well.

'I needed to focus on exploration for a while anyway.'

There was nothing worth money inside the cavern right now.

So, he had planned to continue exploring by breaking through the walls to find a route outside, selling some of the bones exposed in the walls, or looking for ore buried somewhere.

The flower was not going to grow legs and run away. Another option might arise in the meantime, so there was nothing to lose.

'I'll leave it alone for now.'

Having sorted out his thoughts, Kang Yul put on the equipment he had taken off and stepped back into the gate.

He held a Hunter Market mining pickaxe in one hand, meant for breaking down the cavern walls.

But he had barely entered the gate when...

'What's with this? Why is it so limp...?'

Kang Yul's resolve did not even last a minute.

Because...

'Is it withering...?'

The flower that had alone brimmed with life deep inside the cavern was withering so rapidly that he could tell at a glance.

It was as if it were urging Kang Yul to choose whether to eat it or leave it alone.

'What the...'

Kang Yul froze at the sudden turn of events, but his body did not.

Before he knew it, he was sprinting toward the flower.

His mind did not understand the situation, but his body seemed to already know the answer.

By the time he came to his senses, Kang Yul had reached the withering flower.

Even then, his head held only one thought: Why...?

Yet his hand reached for the flower without hesitation.

And then, a moment later.

Plop...

The moment Kang Yul's hand touched it, the hamburger-like flower bud fell limply.

"Ah!"

Only then did Kang Yul come to his senses and reflexively catch the falling bud.

As he watched the flower quickly wither in his hand, he thought:

'Ah... It would be a shame to throw it away like this....'

One second passed. Then two. Then five.

Kang Yul made his decision.

'...Let's eat it.'

Kang Yul tossed the flower into his mouth and crunched it up. He could have died, but he did not hesitate.

To gain great profit, one had to be willing to bear risks worthy of it.

That was the basic mindset of the Hunters Kang Yul admired.

Besides, this was not a reckless gamble with odds approaching zero.

There was definitely a good chance he would survive.

'Please, just don't let me die...!'

Of course, knowing that did not make him any less afraid.

As he chewed the flower, he could feel neither its taste nor texture. He simply moved his mouth like a machine.

How long had he chewed the flower while trembling in fear?

Ding!

[You have acquired the class skill "Gate Gallery."]

As if rewarding Kang Yul's efforts, a familiar sound rang out and a notification window appeared before his eyes.

But rather than rejoice, Kang Yul collapsed onto the ground and stared blankly at it.

The fact that he had just walked the line between life and death had drained all the strength from his body. He did not even have the energy to stand properly.

"Ha... haha...."

It was the third day since he had awakened as a Hunter.

"...I actually survived that."

Kang Yul had succeeded in his first gate exploration and taken his first step as a Hunter.

#####

The following morning, Kang Yul woke up, ate a simple meal, and prepared to enter the gate again.

Normally, he should have begun mining yesterday and checked the new skill he had acquired. But whether it was the aftereffects of gambling with his life or because dopamine had melted his brain...

The moment he left the gate, he had fallen asleep as though he had fainted, wasting a great deal of time.

'I want to take a full day off, but....'

The fact that he had only 921 won left in his bank account was enough to get Kang Yul out of bed.

He could not rest until he earned at least enough to pay this month's rent and put food on the table.

'...I need to live diligently.'

With his resolve renewed, Kang Yul entered the gate once more.

He looked around with his headlamp, but nothing had noticeably changed, so he decided to check his skill first.

Ding!

[Skill]: Gate Gallery

You can use the Gallery inside gates.

A Gallery ◈ icon will appear at the edge of your vision.

Touch the icon or focus your attention to use the Gallery.

※ Posts written by beings from other dimensions are marked with a * icon before the title.

'It really is a Gallery-related skill....'

He had guessed from the skill's name, but seeing confirmation that it really was that Gallery made him oddly troubled.

Kang Yul used the Gallery often, but he had never hoped to gain a skill related to it.

But that thought lasted only a moment.

'No, maybe this is only natural...?'

Kang Yul had awakened as a Hunter through the Gallery.

The burger flower was practically something he had obtained thanks to a Gallery comment as well.

What were the odds that he would find a hamburger-like flower the instant he entered a gate?

That flower was surely deeply connected to supernatural phenomena too.

So if they had originated from the same phenomenon, perhaps it was only natural that eating the flower had given him a Gallery-related skill.

'I guess this is better than a skill I couldn't use at all.'

So Kang Yul chose to think positively.

Being able to access the Gallery inside a gate might not sound like much, but in other words, he had gained a skill that let him communicate with the outside world in real time.

It meant he could overcome the restriction that Hunters inside gates could not communicate with the outside.

'Depending on the situation, this might be another skill people would try to kidnap me for.'

Most Hunters affiliated with the Hunter Management Bureau or corporations operated in teams, so such groups would surely need Hunters with skills like this.

If his gate earnings were not good later on, it might not be a bad idea to consider that line of work.

With that in mind...

'It said I just have to touch this...?'

To try out his new skill, Kang Yul touched the ◈ icon that had appeared at the edge of his vision.

A familiar Gallery window appeared before his eyes as he felt a small amount of mana drain away.

Ding!

<Hunter Gallery>

[Title: A gate has appeared near Nowon Station. Please be careful.]

[Title: Hunter-bro finished his workout for the day~!]

*[Title: Buying all rare minerals or supernatural byproducts. Barter OK.]

[Title: Do these fucking zombie bastards not sleep???]

[Title: Day 300 of a Hunter-bro who wants to awaken as a Hunter posting daily]

[Title: Hanyul Pharmaceuticals, you bastards, when are you making a hair-loss treatment!]

'It really is HuntGal...?'

It was truly the Hunter Gallery Kang Yul knew.

There were pointless posts that were no help at all, useful information posts, and even the post buying supernatural byproducts that had been regularly posted for years.

It was the same Hunter Gallery he always saw... but the moment Kang Yul noticed something, goosebumps rose all over his body.

*[Title: Buying all rare minerals or supernatural byproducts. Barter OK.]

The * icon before the title, which he had never seen before, caught his eye. Kang Yul turned to check the skill description floating beside the Gallery once more.

※ Posts written by beings from other dimensions are marked with a * icon before the title.

'...Didn't I first see that post three years ago?'

He remembered it because it was the first post he had seen when he first entered HuntGal.

And that meant...

'Something supernatural pretending to be human has been living among us for at least three years...?'

Maybe supernatural phenomena had been closer than I thought.

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