Chapter 19

Chapter 19

White light enveloped Sahyeon's group.

The light swelled as if to swallow them whole.

Their eyes shut on their own against the brightness.

And when they opened them again—

"Where is this....."

Jaeyun slowly looked around, blinking.

The hot, dry air had vanished in an instant.

"Ooh~ it's all white?"

Euno poked at the floor curiously.

A place enclosed by pure white walls.

Gyeol said in a bored tone.

"Was the Reward Zone always this dreary."

"Reward Zone?"

When Euno asked back, Gyeol chided him, asking whether he hadn't learned this in theory class.

Haeseong, who had been listening, answered in his place.

"Yes. It's the place where rewards are dispensed once a Gate is cleared."

An empty, vacant space.

The group stood there idly.

In the dead center sat a single large chest, all alone.

"Ah, that's the one?"

Euno let out a gasp of realization.

"Yes, the Reward Zone usually......"

Haeseong slowly rolled his eyes and continued.

"...Every existence inside the Gate, except for the field monsters, is moved here."

"......!"

Jaeyun's eyes widened.

Which meant......

Meanwhile, as Sahyeon swept his head left and right scanning the area, something unfamiliar entered his view past Jaeyun's shoulder.

He shifted his weight to one foot and tilted his head at a slant.

"That you?"

"?? What?"

Jaeyun, startled, twisted around, and the figure he'd been blocking came into view.

If all the beings inside the Gate had come here, then the mystery summoner had too.

"!!"

"......!"

Everyone's eyes converged on one spot.

"...A foreigner?"

Gyeol furrowed his brow.

When Jaeyun shuffled aside, the man came fully into view.

Yellow hair, eyes tinged faintly brown, a piercing in the end of one eyebrow.

"Looks insanely young?"

Euno blinked, dumbfounded.

He couldn't be more than twenty, generously speaking!

"No way. He's my age?!"

With that skill?!

Euno, unable to believe it, strode right up to the man.

The man's brow creased ever so slightly.

"Hey, Tae Euno! You don't even know what kind of guy he is, and you're walking up that fearlessly?!"

Gyeol tried to stop him, but Euno boldly marched over and stopped in front of the man.

"What kind of guy are you... huh? What's this now?"

Euno's gaze, scanning him up and down, stopped at the man's shoulder.

Something draped across his black jacket.

"...A sloth?"

"Huh?"

Startled, Haeseong narrowed his eyes and peered intently at the man's shoulder.

It was true.

A baby creature the size of a fist, shaped like a sloth.

Haeseong immediately used his skill.

"...A-rank again."

[Monster Information]

Name: Guardian Sloth

(GUARDIAN SLOTH)

Grade: A

Characteristics: A time-interference-attribute monster. Extremely slow in movement with low combat ability, but with a thick hide and a powerful grip......

The skill window shared with Sahyeon as well.

He checked the familiar line at the bottom.

[! S-rank Contract Summon]

"Two S-rank contracts?"

Sahyeon turned his gaze to the blond man.

Euno, examining the new summon.

The summon shrank back as if frightened.

Eeeek!

The summon let out a feeble cry.

"Geez, what a pathetic little cry."

Just as Euno chuckled and reached out a hand—

HUMMM—!

"!"

Euno's mouth, about to say something, opened slowly.

The hand Euno had been stretching forward also moved very slowly.

At an abnormally drawn-out speed.

"?!"

"What is that...!"

Amid his startled companions, Sahyeon watched with a detached air and spoke.

"So that's the skill."

The bullets that struck the boss's vital points while it was slowed.

"You— little— bas—tar—"

Euno's lips flapped slowly.

The blond youth watched Euno for a moment with flat, indifferent eyes, then lowered the finger Euno had been pointing at him.

"Pardon."

"?!"

"My little one's shy around strangers."

"U-Uh?!"

"He speaks Korean?"

At the familiar language that followed, Jaeyun and Gyeol were stunned.

Unmistakably the speech of a native Korean.

'I took him for some ignorant foreign hunter who didn't even know Korean hunter law, but......'

Sahyeon scrunched up one side of his face and turned to Haeseong as if to confirm.

"His status window?"

"...I can't read it."

Haeseong shook his head with a grave face.

Not showing up in the system window, and his status window unreadable too — that meant......

Sahyeon let out a hollow laugh and strode toward the man.

"......"

"......"

The two stood facing each other in silence.

Sahyeon looked down at the blond youth for a moment, then flicked his finger by Euno's ear.

"...Hurk! Cough, cough!!"

Euno coughed hard and regained his normal movement.

"Damn it all! What kind of skill is this now?!"

Leaving Euno to fume, Sahyeon asked quietly.

"Your hunter card?"

"......"

The man fell into thought for a moment, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fist, then answered in a light tone.

"Left it behind."

"...You left your hunter card behind??"

Haeseong couldn't hide his incredulity as he asked back.

Hunters were obligated to carry their hunter card.

It was an item that absolutely had to be on hand when entering a Gate or using abilities.

Violating this made one an immediate target for punishment.

Sahyeon rubbed his forehead and let out a breath of disbelief.

"Talking about a hunter card like he forgot his wallet."

"I left in such a hurry I forgot it."

The man said, sliding his hands into his jacket pockets.

A repeat offender, going by the nerve.

The corner of Sahyeon's mouth curved upward.

The man met Sahyeon's eyes boldly, then parted his lips.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to purchase the boss Core you just obtained. I'll pay handsomely."

The phrasing was courteous, but the intent was blatant.

Sahyeon answered without hesitation.

"And if I refuse?"

The man exhaled briefly.

A reaction as if he couldn't understand.

"Then there's nothing I can do."

The man murmured quietly.

And held the back of his hand out to the summon clinging to his shoulder.

The baby summon slowly stretched out its arm and wrapped itself around the man's hand.

The summon's bean-sized eyes turned toward Sahyeon.

Eeee—!

A peeping sort of cry.

At the same moment.

HUMMM—

A low droning hum rang inside Sahyeon's head.

A sensation like buffering.

In that instant.

The man lunged forward swiftly.

Sahyeon's gaze tracked the man's movement at a languid pace.

Just as the man was about to seize Sahyeon's arm.

"!"

Sahyeon grabbed the man's shoulder instead.

Before the man could process the situation—

THUD!

He was slammed flat onto the ground in an instant.

"......"

The man, subdued in a single move.

"The skill should've taken effect, though......"

The man muttered with a bewildered face.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't work on me."

Sahyeon answered calmly, pressing one foot down on the man's solar plexus.

The 'Guardian Sloth' skill that interfered with the target's nervous system.

This was one of the mental-type traits.

There was no way a skill from a baby A-rank summon would work on an S-rank hunter.

'Finally, someone who sparks a little curiosity.'

"Let's take this nice and slow."

He lowered his eyes coldly.

"......"

A crack ran across the man's previously composed face.

His body wouldn't budge an inch, no matter how hard Sahyeon was pressing down.

"Tch...... Why's the teacher the one who looks more like a villain?"

"E-Euno hyung......"

"Shut it, man, unless you want to get shaken down with him."

Amid the whispering students, Haeseong wet his bone-dry lips.

So I'm about to see Sahyeon the Interrogator in action......

He rubbed his sweat-beading palms on his pants, but nodded as if accepting it.

'Convenient environment for an interrogation, at least.'

There was only one way out of the Reward Zone of a Gate with a scorecard.

The person who'd earned the highest score during the Gate clear had to claim the reward.

With Sahyeon snagging the boss's Core at the last moment, he'd picked up an additional 100 points.

[Final Scoreboard]

Yeom Sahyeon — 311

??? — 65

.......

Sahyeon, in first place by a commanding margin.

In other words, the man couldn't leave until Sahyeon claimed the reward.

"......"

Golden eyes glaring fiercely at Sahyeon.

Sahyeon deployed his mental-control skill and gauged the man's strength.

'He's got an S-rank contract skill, so he's likely an S-rank Awakened.'

Given that he couldn't do a thing against Sahyeon's skill, he fell well short of his level.

"Let's start by confirming your identity."

The rest he could pry out step by step after leaving the Gate and clapping Mana Crystal cuffs on him.

As Sahyeon roughly organized his plan and reached toward the blond head—

The man looked up at Sahyeon's face with a resentful expression.

Sahyeon's irises, dyeing blood-red.

"......!"

The man, staring blankly at those eyes, slowly widened his own.

Then he bit down hard on his lip and abruptly clenched one fist tight.

What's he scheming.

Just as Sahyeon's brow twisted in question—

CLINK—!

A short shattering sound split the silence.

And then—

"What?! Where'd he go?!"

Euno cried out in confusion, whipping his head around.

The man, vanished into thin air without warning.

The group fell into chaos.

"Ha."

Sahyeon's face, staring at the now-empty space beneath his foot, twisted darkly.

"How the hell did he—!"

Haeseong, rushing over in a fluster, felt around the spot where the man had disappeared and examined it closely, then carefully picked something up.

"...Mr. Sahyeon, could this be......"

A Mana Crystal the size of a thumbnail.

"A Return Stone?"

The stone, drained of its original color, had a large crack running through it.

Jaeyun sucked in a breath.

"Aren't Return Stones... worth over a hundred million each?"

"What?! Whoa!?"

"That bastard's loaded, huh?"

Euno and Gyeol let out gasps in unison.

"A criminal punk like that......"

A vein bulged on Sahyeon's forehead.

Haeseong, biting his lip and reading the mood, carefully spoke up.

"...Um, Mr. Sahyeon. Let's get out of here for now. We need to sort out the situation."

"We do."

Once we're out, who should I shake down first......

The corner of Sahyeon's mouth curved up viciously.