Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Well, at this point, the behavior of C-Rank Hunters whose only experience was picking herbs was as predictable as sunrise. Either their legs gave out and they collapsed from overwhelming fear, or they ran for their lives with all their might.

Fortunately, most people chose the latter. But unfortunately, Kim Sujin, the C-Rank Hunter now collapsed beside me, seemed to be the former.

“Run, now!!”

Hunter Yoon Juyeong shouted urgently and charged toward the unidentified monster that had taken out two hunters in an instant. But Hunter Kim Sujin still couldn’t control her trembling legs.

She seemed to know rationally that she had to get up and run right away, trying several times to lift herself up, but she wasn’t getting anywhere. Hunter Kim Sujin was now crying as if she might stop breathing at any moment, hitting her own legs.

“Please, huu, huuuh, please, pleeease move…!!”

Wailing loudly, not caring at all about making a scene, just wanting to live, despairing at her legs that wouldn’t obey her will even though she wanted to live, crying like that.

So I moved.

I immediately hoisted Hunter Kim Sujin onto my back. Suddenly lifted up, Hunter Kim Sujin trembled as if having a seizure.

“Stay still.”

I whispered quietly to Hunter Kim Sujin to avoid wasting unnecessary energy. Fortunately, she seemed to understand my words right away and stopped saying anything, pressing her body tightly against my back.

For just a moment, I glanced at where Hunter Yoon Juyeong was, then immediately started running toward the dungeon gate. At least as a so-called Awakened, running while carrying someone was easier than before awakening.

Hunter Kim Sujin had her face buried in my shoulder, letting out muffled sobs with hiccups. I inwardly guessed that Hunter Kim Sujin probably wouldn’t be able to continue as a hunter after this, all while keeping my legs moving.

The roar of battle from behind me grew distant, and far ahead, a faint bluish light rippled hazily.

The dungeon gate. The exit from this sudden nightmare.

“Hngh, huuuh, hic, Seo, Seohee… huu, huuuh, tha, thank, thank you…”

“We’re almost there, so don’t cry like you’re dying. And it’s only because I’d have bad dreams if someone I knew died, so you don’t need to thank me that much. There.”

Even if we were from different teams, we were both C-Rank Hunters with overlapping activity areas, and I’d met her many times before. If I’d just run away alone and left her behind, I’d probably have nightmares every night from guilt.

As soon as Sujin got off my back, she stumbled awkwardly toward the gate. Then she paused, stopped for a moment, and carefully turned around.

“Seo, Seohee… why aren’t you coming?”

“I’m going too. But go ahead first, Sujin. Hurry. We need someone to get out quickly and report the situation inside.”

“B, but Seohee…”

“There, it’s fine, just go quickly.”

I half-forced Sujin toward the gate.

Even with her body halfway squeezed into the gate, Sujin desperately called my name, but I deliberately ignored her.

Honestly, I wanted to jump through the gate right this instant too, but…

‘The gate’s passage limit is full.’

Unfortunately, this bluish passageway used to enter and exit dungeons had its own restrictions.

First, more than ten people couldn’t pass through the gate at once. Second, only a set number of people could use it within a given time.

‘That Administrator really made nothing but a bunch of damn annoying rules.’

The brown-haired woman, the so-called ‘Administrator’ suspected to be the cause of all this sudden situation humanity found itself in… she was someone who pissed people off from start to finish.

First, she’d released monster parades all over the world claiming to raise the difficulty, and then right after, she announced this shitty gate usage limit, saying, ‘But I’m merciful, so I’ve set some restrictions so the content doesn’t get consumed too quickly.’

I let out a sigh I couldn’t hold back and immediately scanned the surrounding terrain. Since it had come to this, I planned to hide somewhere secluded and endure until the gate’s limit reset.

And just then, there was a huge rock that looked perfect for one person to hide behind. Figuring that if I squeezed into a crevice in the rock, no one would find me, I headed straight for it without hesitation.

But unfortunately, I was the kind of person who never saw anything go smoothly in life.

*Crunch.*

From behind me, I heard a sound like someone stepping on a twig. Still, for all the good it did me as a so-called Hunter, I spun around on reflex and looked toward the noise. Off in the distance, about five meters away, that thing was standing there.

Red Chimera.

The one Hunter Yoon Juyeong was supposed to be dealing with.

“Ah.”

The thing pulled something from behind its back — whether it was a tentacle or an arm, I couldn’t tell. I knew in an instant that it was the weapon that had killed Lee Uijeong and that C-Rank Hunter whose name I never even learned.

“Mother, Father. I guess I’ll be following you now, off to wherever it is you’re doing….”

Feeling the shadow of death right in front of me, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and squeezed my eyes shut.

If I was going to die anyway, at least let it not hurt. Let me die before I even feel the pain. I vaguely wished for that as I closed my eyes.

Then I heard a sharp sound like something tearing through the air, followed by the sound of flesh being pierced.

And unfortunately for me, that sound didn’t come from my body.

I’ve always been weak to genuinely good people. By “good people,” I mean the kind who, for example, see a child crying on the street and ask what’s wrong, or who think of others before themselves in the face of immediate danger.

What I’m saying is, I’m the kind of person who, when I see someone showing their goodness — whether on a big scale or a small one — just goes completely soft and can’t help myself.

That’s why I helped Hunter Jimin, who works herself to the bone every day to pay for her younger sibling’s rare disease treatment. And why I helped Hunter Kim Sujin, who, when I first started out as a Hunter, handed me a piece of chocolate and told me to relax.

And that’s also why, right now, I’m hiding in a rock crevice, holding in my arms a man who took an attack meant for me just to save someone he’s barely exchanged five words with in his entire life.

“Hey, Hunter Yoon Juyeong, are you alive? Please, just tell me you’re alive. If you’re dead, I swear I won’t forgive you.”

I’m going crazy. Why in the world would someone who’s a natural-born B-Rank throw themselves into this kind of mess just to save one C-Rank Hunter?

No, forget that — why would you use your own body as a shield for someone you’ve only met a handful of times in your life?

Honestly, even if I had died back there, no one would have blamed him.

From the way things were going, it looked like that red dragon-head… no, that Red Chimera’s rank had been upgraded from what it originally was, which was already enough for a B-Rank Hunter to handle solo.

Just the fact that he held that thing off to save someone else was already worthy of praise.

“Yoon Juyeong, say something. No, you don’t have to talk — just make a sound, okay? Anything. Like ‘ah’ or ‘uh.’”

“Ugh….”

“Good, you’re alive. Yeah, thank you for being alive, you crazy bastard. And you even managed to cast a stealth skill in the middle of all that? Do you have nine lives or something? Why would you… no, I’m getting confused, so I’m rambling.”

For now, I’m pulling out every potion I had in my inventory and pouring them over Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s abdomen, but I have no idea if it’s doing any good.

Honestly, what kind of high-grade potion would a C-Rank Hunter be carrying? Of course they’re all cheap stuff. These are the kind of potions normally used to treat a scratch that’s bleeding a little too much, so I don’t even know if they’ll work on a wound like Yoon Juyeong’s that’s been completely pierced through.

“Hey, please don’t die. I’ll drag you somewhere and hide you somehow. So just stay alive until the gate’s limit resets. If you can do that, I’ll definitely save you.”

Honestly, even now, my brutally honest survival instinct is screaming at me to just abandon Hunter Yoon Juyeong. But even when a person has fallen to rock bottom, there are still lines you don’t cross, aren’t there?

With that in mind, I pulled Yoon Juyeong a little closer to me and opened the cap on a new potion bottle. This is the fifth one… I don’t know if it’ll work.

“The red salamander is….”

The Red Chimera was still pacing around nearby. After it pierced Hunter Yoon Juyeong, who had charged in to save me, it had approached us as if to finish the job… but.

Whether he’s some kind of saint or what, even with his abdomen torn open, Hunter Yoon Juyeong used all his remaining strength to cast a stealth skill on me, so the thing can’t find us.

Actually, to be precise, it can’t find *me*… but it seems Yoon Juyeong’s stealth skill is B-Rank or higher, so it also covers anyone in contact with the target.

“I’m really going crazy.”

Even thinking about it again, it’s insane.

“Oh dear. This guy.”

I never thought I’d see a Hunter, of all people, be this full of self-sacrifice. Usually, Hunters are the type whose identity is built on keeping their heads held high and proud.

Letting out a groan I couldn’t hold back, I opened another new potion bottle. I’d already used up the fifth potion.

Pouring the sixth potion bottle directly over Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s abdomen, I kept my eyes on the surroundings, on guard for whether the Red Chimera might approach this way.

For now, what I really wanted was to keep hiding in this rock crevice and wait for the Red Chimera to pass by… but reality didn’t seem interested in following my wishes.

That red salamander bastard was clearly circling this area with a definite purpose.