NOVEL NEXT #040
#040
As soon as Yoon Pa-ran realized this fact, his heart turned cold. He reflexively checked for Dan Joo-hyuk’s presence beside him.
It was just as the monster was trying to stuff the strange stone and flesh into its mouth at once.
The chills he felt were now unbearable. So violently that it made him nauseous.
“Hey.”
Not knowing exactly what kind of premonition he was feeling, Yoon Pa-ran urgently sought out Dan Joo-hyuk.
“Speak.”
Sensing that the emotion in that voice was unusual, Dan Joo-hyuk approached with long strides.
“We need to kill that thing right now. Quickly!”
They had to act immediately. That stone fragment absolutely must not enter the boss monster.
His heart raced at the judgment that even he found difficult to understand. He was incredibly anxious, knowing that even if he ran, he wouldn’t make it in time.
His back became damp with cold sweat as his heart pounded from the ominous feeling.
“Hmm.”
Though finding Yoon Pa-ran’s sudden behavior strange, Dan Joo-hyuk unconsciously sprang forward.
Even as he took a big run-up, he didn’t understand why he had moved instantly at the other’s single word.
But soon, Dan Joo-hyuk’s face also hardened slightly. As he got closer to the boss monster, he felt a strange sensation.
The monster’s unique death energy was suddenly surging.
“…”
It was a clear anomaly. Without even realizing how interesting this was, Dan Joo-hyuk swung his sword widely. It was the reflexive response of a living being, rebelling against things that move even when dead.
He unconsciously poured all the power he had just absorbed into the sword.
Gruk…!
The D-rank boss monster fell in one strike, almost pathetically.
However, until its dying moment, it didn’t let go of what it held in its front paws. The tenacious greed felt in that action seemed terribly ominous to Yoon Pa-ran.
The sound of black blood slowly being absorbed into the grass was horrifyingly audible.
“Why suddenly…”
Dan Joo-hyuk, who was about to ask Yoon Pa-ran why he had acted strangely, stopped mid-sentence. Then he tilted his head oddly.
His gaze was fixed on the ground where the monster had fallen.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
No monsters detected inside.
He sensed Yoon Pa-ran hurriedly following from behind. The status window also appeared, announcing that the gate conquest had been successfully completed.
Nevertheless, Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t take his eyes off what he had just discovered.
Naturally, Yoon Pa-ran’s gaze also turned there.
“What… is this…”
As he approached, Yoon Pa-ran realized that he hadn’t been mistaken earlier.
What the monster had been eating until now was someone’s arm with clothing fragments and a watch attached.
“Damn…”
“…”
Next to it lay the stone fragment that had been catching Yoon Pa-ran’s eye from earlier. The blood-soaked stone piece was only about the size of a palm.
It meant it was too small and ordinary in shape to be spotted from afar.
“What’s that that you’re so concerned about?”
As Yoon Pa-ran stared blankly at it, holding his breath, Dan Joo-hyuk asked. He seemed quite puzzled that Yoon Pa-ran was focusing on such a thing rather than the human-looking body parts.
“…I don’t know either.”
But Yoon Pa-ran had nothing he could say. He couldn’t understand what that thing was or why it made him so anxious.
Recalling the sensation he felt earlier made him feel sick again. Feeling his stomach twist, Yoon Pa-ran unconsciously covered his mouth.
“Is that so?”
After observing Yoon Pa-ran for a while, Dan Joo-hyuk suddenly bent down. Then, without hesitation, he picked up the stone fragment with his hand.
It was an incredibly dangerous action. If that was an unidentified item, who knew what kind of curse might be on it.
Even if Dan Joo-hyuk was S-rank.
“Hey! That’s dangerous…!”
Yoon Pa-ran, turning pale, shouted urgently. At that, Dan Joo-hyuk’s expression changed subtly as he held the stone fragment.
Seeing that made Yoon Pa-ran even more anxious.
“What? Is it okay?”
“Hmm…”
Dan Joo-hyuk looked down blankly at Yoon Pa-ran shouting beside him.
He found it quite unexpected that Yoon Pa-ran was acting as if he was worried. Looking at Yoon Pa-ran’s pale face with an indecipherable gaze, he soon turned his attention back to the stone fragment.
The identity of the stone fragment was unexpected.
[Purified Fragment]
Looking at the status window, there was no curse on this.
However, there were only bizarre phrases that would have been simpler if there had been a curse.
“See for yourself.”
“What?”
Judging there was no danger, Dan Joo-hyuk handed it to Yoon Pa-ran. Despite his extremely uneasy expression, Yoon Pa-ran took it without resistance.
Does he really know what this is, and is he taking it so carelessly?
He had such a pale face earlier as if he had sensed something.
Suddenly, Dan Joo-hyuk became a bit curious. Why did those phrases written in the contract affect Yoon Pa-ran’s behavior so much?
Yoon Pa-ran’s anxious gaze stared into space for a while. It was easy to guess that the same status window that had appeared to him had likely popped up.
“Huh…?”
But soon he made a dumbfounded sound and looked down at his palm.
Dan Joo-hyuk also lowered his gaze and saw something unexpected. The stone fragment, which had been intact until just now, was crumbling into powder.
“What, what’s going on.”
“…”
The startled Yoon Pa-ran frantically shook it off. Then even the remaining powder disappeared into thin air as if melting away.
The existence of the perfectly erased stone fragment could no longer be proven elsewhere.
“What on earth is this…?”
Yoon Pa-ran muttered in a low voice with a bewildered expression. Though it didn’t seem like he was expecting an answer, Dan Joo-hyuk inadvertently opened his mouth.
“I’m curious about what that was too, but there’s something more important.”
“Something more important…?”
Ever since meeting Yoon Pa-ran, anomalies had been continuing.
Despite the evidence piling up ominously, Dan Joo-hyuk just smiled.
Because this situation was quite enjoyable to him.
“Who do you think brought this here?”
“…”
At Dan Joo-hyuk’s voice tinged with amusement, Yoon Pa-ran felt goosebumps all over his body again.
There should have been only two people in this gate now: Dan Joo-hyuk and Yoon Pa-ran. However, both that strange stone fragment and the clearly human-looking corpse pointed to only one thing.
Someone was artificially tampering with the interior of the gate.
❖ ❖ ❖
“…”
The two returned to the entrance of the gate right away. They checked just in case, but the temporary closure device installed at the gate entrance was intact.
Gates originally fall into a temporary closed state only when the appropriate number of people enter. However, gates couldn’t always be filled to capacity with the appropriate number of people.
That’s why this temporary closure device was invented. Even if the appropriate number wasn’t reached, installing this wave generator at the entrance prevented hunters from entering further.
This device had made great contributions to reducing crimes targeting hunters. It ensured that no one could attack from behind when hunters were exhausted from facing monsters.
“The device is fine.”
“Yeah.”
This meant that no new hunters had entered after the two of them came in. It seemed someone had entered the gate a step ahead of them.
Then was the dead body indeed that of a hunter?
However, Yoon Pa-ran recalled the clothing of the corpse, which was unlike that of a hunter. His expression instantly became serious.
“What’s wrong?”
At that moment, Dan Joo-hyuk abruptly asked. He even slightly bent down to look at Yoon Pa-ran’s face, as if intending to make eye contact.
Yoon Pa-ran found that attention uncomfortable. Especially the question of “what’s wrong” was strange. Wasn’t this already a sufficiently serious situation?
“What do you mean, what’s wrong?”
“It’s not like you’re seeing a dead person for the first time, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Dan Joo-hyuk’s question strangely left Yoon Pa-ran at a loss for words. While there was nothing to say when asked like that, Dan Joo-hyuk’s thinking indeed had its peculiarities.
Moreover, the reason Yoon Pa-ran was serious now was different.
The watch on the corpse’s wrist seemed oddly familiar.
Earlier, he had been too preoccupied with the unsettling stone fragment to think about it. But now, reflecting calmly, he was bothered by the feeling that he had seen that watch somewhere before.
It wouldn’t be common for hunters to wear ordinary watches in gates, so where could he have seen it?
“Hmm.”
Dan Joo-hyuk narrowed his eyes as if something was suspicious. Though he felt pressured, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t open his mouth since the information wasn’t certain.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Eventually, as if giving up, Dan Joo-hyuk spoke brightly. His attitude of waiting for Yoon Pa-ran to go out first was strangely noticeable.
With a strangely heavy heart, Yoon Pa-ran headed outside.
The bright daylight hurt his eyes.
The waiting government official greeted the two.
“Good work, both of you.”
“…”
“Don’t close this gate, keep it open. Don’t enter, let’s wait at the entrance.”
“Pardon? Keep this gate open?”
The official looked puzzled at Dan Joo-hyuk’s low command. It seemed strange to maintain just a D-rank gate.
This conversation is going to drag on.
Just as Yoon Pa-ran, suddenly feeling fatigued, unconsciously rubbed the corner of his mouth, it happened.
“Just a moment.”
“Y-yes!”
Interrupting the official, Dan Joo-hyuk grabbed Yoon Pa-ran’s arm.
“Come here.”
“Huh?”
Being particularly weak at that moment, Yoon Pa-ran was dragged along by Dan Joo-hyuk like a paper doll. Though he didn’t feel good about it, he remained silent for now, thinking there might be something serious to discuss.
He led Yoon Pa-ran to a sidewalk paving block. Then he pushed the person and said,
“Sit here.”