NOVEL NEXT Episode 33
Jeong Changgyu’s face, holding the spoon, was simply dumbfounded.
“You’re saying one of the hunters dispatched to the next gate will be the operator, so let’s go catch them together? How do you even know that?”
“Illegal gambling and match-fixing go hand in hand. If the operator is a real hunter, there’s a high chance they have an ability that can manipulate Exterminators at will.”
“But…”
Changgyu frowned and crossed his arms skeptically. I earnestly explained about ‘Play Ground’ and the negative deduction rate event limited to this weekend.
“So, when they hold an event like this, a ton of money will pour in, right? They’re planning to give the Exterminator title to an unpopular hunter to take advantage of that. The operators who know this have already placed their bets to sweep up all the winnings…”
Before I could finish spilling out my thoughts, completely immersed in the plan, Changgyu smacked my forehead with his clean spoon.
“Argh…”
For a moment, lightning flashed before my eyes, but I didn’t back down. I rubbed the spot where I was hit and continued my passionate speech.
“No, Senior Changgyu. Listen to me. I think if a gate opens this weekend…”
“Listen to what? Who do you think you are, some kind of detective?”
Smack!
Changgyu swung his spoon at my forehead again. It hurt even more than before because he hit the exact same spot, the bastard.
“Stop talking nonsense. Maeng Sun-woo, you just grill the dak-galbi. Kang Chagyeong, you idiot, did you do this on purpose?”
Changgyu grumpily pointed at the dak-galbi on the grill. Chagyeong, whose name was suddenly called out, blinked in confusion.
The bottom side touching the grill was already charred with seasoning, while the top side still looked like raw chicken.
Changgyu grumbled with an irritated face about why his juniors were all like this.
‘It would be hard to grill it this badly on purpose.’
When I silently extended my hand towards him, Chagyeong handed me the tongs with an awkward expression.
* * *
Back in the dorm, I was lying on the bed, checking my hypothesis. Hyun So-ra hadn’t returned yet.
It seems like using the senior card was a mistake. I’ll have to snoop around the gate somehow, but…
‘I wonder if it’s okay to go alone…’
As I was lost in thought, I heard a ‘beep’ sound of the lock being released from the closed door. Soon after, Hyun So-ra opened the doorknob with a tired face.
I quickly turned my head towards the door and pretended to greet her casually.
“You’re back? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, nothing unusual. Ah, I’m so tired.”
So-ra flopped onto the bed, barely managing to take off her coat, and mumbled.
“Sun-woo. Chan-yu said she’s going to Seoul Station in the morning, so the three of us should have breakfast…”
After leaving those last words like a final testament, So-ra fell silent for a while. Sensing something odd, I glanced towards her bed and saw that she had already fallen asleep.
At least wash your face before sleeping. After looking down at So-ra’s sleeping face for a moment, I turned off the ceiling light instead of waking her up.
I too lay down on the bed, still deep in thought.
This is tough, really tough.
My mind and body, exhausted from Changgyu’s scolding all evening, fell into a deep sleep not long after my head hit the pillow.
[SYSTEM:
* * *
After staring in confusion at the unfamiliar scene before me for a moment, I quickly grasped what Tito was depicting.
Tick, tack.
It was the sound of typing on a keyboard.
Sitting in front of the monitor, the only source of light in the dark room, was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties.
The man, whose long bangs seemed to have been left untrimmed for a while, irritably brushed them back as he continued his phone conversation.
“That’s what I’m saying. Didn’t you see the community? They gave an extra 5% to those who got it right. The betting money piling up now is no joke.”
The man anxiously clicked his mouse.
“Yeah, I’m going to Seoul Station tomorrow. I have a friend in Busan who agreed to help me get on a boat…”
The voice on the other end of the phone, wedged between the man’s shoulder and ear, wasn’t clearly audible.
“I said I’ll pay it back! I told you I’d pay you back first!!”
As soon as the call ended, the man angrily threw his smartphone onto the bed. Then, muttering small curses, he lit a cigarette.
The light emanating from the monitor displaying the ‘Play Ground’ site mixed with the cigarette smoke, reflecting brilliantly in the man’s eyes.
On the desk were several crumpled energy drink cans, a tower of convenience store lunch boxes, and a hunter ID card.
Before the scene ended, I tried to read the name on the ID card. In the last moment before my vision went dark, I caught the three characters of the name: ‘Park Sang-oh’.
* * *
With a groan, I woke up from my sleep. The time I checked had just passed 6 AM.
Park Sang-oh.
This was undoubtedly the name of the ‘Play Ground’ operator. After raising one eyebrow and being lost in thought for a moment, I immediately searched for Park Sang-oh on the internet.
All that came up was basic information like the hunter’s age, affiliated region, and unique skill. Of course, not all information about hunters would be publicly available on the internet for everyone to see.
Park Sang-oh, a C-rank hunter affiliated with the Seoul Gangnam branch. His unique skill was also C-rank,
Responsibility Transfer (C-rank): Allows up to 3 monsters to prioritize attacking a specific other person.
My eyes widened as I read the description of
However, it seemed that this hunter named Park Sang-oh hadn’t been very active in gates, as no helpful information came up when I searched his name on various search engines and ‘Hunter Masters’.
I closed my eyes and started to speculate about Park Sang-oh’s current psychological state.
Right now, Park Sang-oh is on the verge of having his identity revealed.
Although he left a seemingly calm notice on the outside, his inner feelings must be completely different. He’s probably trembling in fear, feeling like he could be arrested at any moment.
I calmly recalled each scene I had seen during
It wasn’t long ago that more than ten monsters started pouring out of a single gate.
In the existing gates where only four or five monsters would appear at most, if Park Sang-oh had used
However, even if a gate opened this weekend, it didn’t seem like he would use that ability.
Feeling threatened by the tightening investigative net, Park Sang-oh appeared to be planning to flee with the criminal funds rather than manipulating the Exterminator as he had been doing.
At least my guess about the site operators planning to make a big score using this weekend’s event as bait was correct.
When I turned on the internet, I could find a news headline that read [Nowon-gu Gate Exterminated… Currently 14 Deaths Confirmed].
‘Hmm…’
As I was reading the article, I accessed ‘Play Ground’. The betting had already finished in line with the gate’s extermination.
My eyes narrowed as I read through the mountain of posts piled up on the free board.
[To be honest, I was on the fence]
But they really applied the negative deduction rate ㄷㄷ Loyalty to Play Boss
┗ Thank you Play Boss, we’re grateful Play Boss
┗ Ah… I’m so pissed I couldn’t bet because I was working night shift… ㅡㅡ
[Do you think a gate will open in Seoul tomorrow too?]
Please open! Let me eat too
┗ I don’t live in Seoul anyway, so no impact on me ㅋㅋㅋ
┗┗ I live in Seoul but I’m still praying for a gate to open
Despite the gate in Nowon-gu being exterminated relatively quickly, the number of disaster deaths had already exceeded 10. Including the number of missing persons, it was certain to be even higher.
Yet, seeing these despicable attitudes of hoping for gates to open for their own greed made me frown involuntarily.
They all need to be locked up to come to their senses.
During the
‘Wait a minute. Seoul Station…?’
I recalled what I had heard from Hyun So-ra last night. She definitely said that Lee Chan-yu was going to Seoul Station in the morning. It seemed she was planning to go back home a day late.
In my mind, I calculated the point of contact that Tito would create between Park Sang-oh and
When I talked with Kang Chagyeong before, I remembered him praising Lee Chan-yu. He said Chan-yu was so reliable it was hard to believe they were in the same year.
It was clear that Tito intended to use such a Chan-yu this time.
Lee Chan-yu was an A-rank hunter who had even awakened her materialization skill. She could even be a more reliable partner than Jeong Changgyu.
“Umm…”
Just as I finished my calculations and was about to leave the room, So-ra stirred, probably having heard the door.
“Sleep more, sleep more.”
I snuck out quietly, trying not to make any noise, and immediately knocked on Lee Chan-yu’s dorm room next door. However, there was no response from inside.
“So-ra. Chan-yu’s not in her room?”
“Huh… Chan-yu? Did she leave already?”
When I came back to our room and asked, So-ra answered while blinking her sleepy eyes.
“She left early, we were supposed to have breakfast together…”
After mumbling in a very sleepy voice, she fell back asleep. She had already left, which was a complete mishap.
I hurriedly finished washing up while thinking about how to follow Lee Chan-yu.
However, there was an unexpected obstacle. The fact that for a Haniyeong student to go out alone from the headquarters for even a few hours on the weekend, an outing pass was essential.
Because I suddenly applied for an outing pass on the morning of the day, I had to endure a terrible scolding from the dorm supervisor. The supervisor, reluctantly pulling out the outing pass, asked me:
“So, what’s the reason for your outing?”
Reason for outing?
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I gaped stupidly.
There was no way I could say, “To apprehend the operator of an illegal hunter gambling site.” In that brief moment, I desperately racked my brain.
“Uh, there’s a donut shop called ‘Sugar Engine’ at Seoul Station…”
“What?”
“‘Sugar Engine’ donuts… I want to eat them… But delivery guys can’t come into the headquarters, so I have no choice but to go buy them myself.”
At least it was true that a franchise of the donut chain ‘Sugar Engine’ had a store at Seoul Station.
“Whew, I guess it’s because it’s just before my period, I’m craving something sweet, haha.”
Thinking “what the hell,” I laughed with forced cheerfulness. The supervisor, laughing in disbelief, warned me to come back right after buying the donuts.
「Tito, nibbling on chocolate before starting work, impulsively adds the sentence ‘likes sweet things’ to ‘Maeng Sun-woo’s’ character settings.」
While I don’t particularly dislike sweet snacks, it’s certain that I don’t like them enough to go all the way to Seoul Station first thing in the morning to buy donuts.
‘A strange setting has been attached.’
In the end, it was past 7 AM when I could finally step outside the main gate. My deep breath scattered white in the cold morning air.
Fortunately, the distance between the headquarters and Seoul Station wasn’t too far. It was about a 30-minute walk.
After walking briskly for about 10 minutes, it suddenly occurred to me that I should make thorough preparations before a gate opens.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
I had to take all possible precautions because I didn’t know what might happen. This wasn’t an official practice situation, so I didn’t have any weapons with me. The only thing I had was a box cutter I had brought from my pencil case.
I had been burned once before, but in this situation, that was all I could rely on.
No matter what anyone says, it’s the highest-ranking skill I have right now.
After taking a calm deep breath, I muttered under my breath.
‘