Chapter 163

Ju Ian Hunter and the Special Measures Gate(?) wrapped up in no time.

“From now on, I’ll eat it with you too.”

Ju Ian Hunter made that promise.

Only then did the three of us finally feel satisfied and end our siege(?).

“It’s my first time eating this much, but… hmm, the aftertaste is more than I expected…”

Ju Ian Hunter finally shared his honest impression.

“The aftertaste lingers like crazy, right?”

Even after brushing your teeth, that Special Measures taste sticks around for half a day, you know?

Ju Ian Hunter eventually nodded.

“Yes. It seems like it needs some improvement.”

We patted his apologetic back in unison for not noticing when he only had a little.

“From now on, eat a lot too, Ju Ian Hunter.”

There was that ‘I can’t die alone’ mentality of not wanting to suffer the bad taste by ourselves, but honestly, the reason we made Ju Ian Hunter down the Special Measures was something else.

We wanted him to take better care of his own body.

After all that rowdy pouring and drinking, night had already fallen.

A pitch-black night.

So Yeri Hunter, who had a habit of free hugs whenever she drank, had already pulled each of us into embraces four times over.

“Yaaawwwn.”

As So Yeri Hunter let out a massive yawn and stretched while hunting for her next victim(?),

“How about this instead?”

Ju Ian Hunter, right before becoming the fifth victim, handed her a cushion from the sofa to dodge her free hug.

Thanks to years of experience, he knew what happened if you let pre-sleep So Yeri Hunter hug you.

If you wanted to learn just how strong an S-rank support’s power really was, you could just let her embrace you fully.

“Sooo… sleeepy.”

So Yeri Hunter clutched the cushion tightly and flopped face-down onto the sofa.

I could see Ju Ian Hunter taking off his outer jacket and draping it over her.

“This world has booze that can get even S-ranks drunk?”

Just how strong is this stuff?

Alcohol strong enough to intoxicate S-ranks was classified as poison in Korea, and you had to go to a hunter-exclusive department store to get it.

But there was only one bottle of Dungeon Mountain Soju, right? So how potent was booze in this world?

“?”

I shook the bottle, but I couldn’t tell.

I was A-rank, but maybe because of my constitution, I didn’t get drunk easily.

So Yeri Hunter did get drunk easily, though…

I glanced back at So Yeri Hunter.

She was snoring soundly with a satisfied look on her face.

“……”

A chuckle escaped me.

Even if she passed out dead drunk, there was no need to worry.

She got drunk fast and sobered up just as quick.

She’d probably sleep like that for a few hours, wake up perfectly fine, and bellow “Round two!!!” with full energy.

It was just a shame we couldn’t go for round two in this world.

“The stars look great.”

I turned my gaze out the window.

Opening the window or door might break So Yeri Hunter’s soundproof barrier skill, so I was only looking outside through the glass.

Still, I could see everything. Stars were hard to spot in the middle of Seoul, but here they filled the sky like they were pouring down.

How long had it been since I’d just sat and watched the stars like this?

Since becoming a hunter, I’d seen more dungeon night skies than Earth’s, so it felt novel.

“……”

I shook the nearly empty bottle and raised an eyebrow for no reason.

As the lively atmosphere settled, all sorts of thoughts flooded in.

Of course, the biggest thing troubling me was this quest.

Clear it with stats higher than the Galaxy Server?

In other words, surpass my original self.

It didn’t seem impossible.

“……I’ll reach S-rank before heading out, right?”

But I couldn’t help feeling anxious all over again.

Looking at my status window now that I was A-rank, my stats had neatly adjusted downward.

Considering typical S-rank dealers had over 1.4 million stamina, I was already beyond S-rank level.

The issue was whether I could actually rank up to S.

—Thud.

I tossed and caught the now-empty bottle cleanly while thinking.

It would be possible.

‘You need to desperately want something for a rank-up.’

Shin Jae-heon had said that for rank-ups, you needed something you desperately desired.

At first, all I could think of was something like the Hunter Association President’s head, but now I knew clearly.

What I wanted.

I wanted power.

The power to protect everyone.

There was a saying in the hunter world: you could fool people, but not the system window.

That hit the nail on the head.

The system window knew the desire I hadn’t even realized.

That’s why, in this mansion dungeon too, it took my sword—the means to realize power—as my ‘most precious item.’

Power. The reason I wanted power.

The obvious reason that came to mind anew was just one.

To survive with everyone.

‘It says you can’t enter right now.’

‘Why? Why not?’

And because I never wanted to lose anyone again.

Ten years ago, the Gate Incident. The day I cleared my first gate and came out.

Even with my exhausted, injured body, I headed home instead of the hospital.

The problem was that Eunryeong Apartment entrance was blocked by some unknown force.

‘Why can’t I get in?’

A massive gate had formed in front of Eunryeong Apartment where I lived.

The yellow gate seemed like nothing now in hindsight.

The issue was that the sudden gate at Eunryeong High School, where Shin Jae-heon and I were, and the one at nearby Eunryeong Apartment had burst almost simultaneously.

By the time I cleared the dungeon and returned, an hour had already passed since the apartment residents were sucked into the gate.

No one could enter a gate whose entrance had closed.

All we could do was hope someone from Eunryeong Apartment cleared it and came out.

‘……I-it’s shimmering strangely again!’

Back then, with no name for “gate,” we just called that rippling entrance a “strange phenomenon” or “weird thing.”

How long did I stand frozen in front of the Eunryeong Apartment gate?

Shin Jae-heon and I had to watch as the gate that swallowed the apartment rippled and moved again.

‘This is……’

I didn’t know what it meant back then.

That everyone inside had died, making it possible for a new hunter to enter.

……I only learned the truth after going in.

That day, both Shin Jae-heon and I lost our families.

Shin Jae-heon brushed it off, saying it was a family that only gave him cold shoulders anyway, but I clearly saw his hand trembling.

I had no mental capacity to comfort him then.

I was too busy taking care of myself, so I leaned on Shin Jae-heon, who seemed more put-together than me.

Saying I wanted to die. Wondering what the hell this was, overnight.

That it would all be a dream.

Shin Jae-heon must have been shocked too.

What I thought of then was still power.

‘If only I’d come out a little earlier……’

After it was revealed that only one hour after someone entered a gate could others enter.

No matter how much I regretted it to death, I couldn’t go back to the past.

If I hadn’t trembled so much in that mere A-rank dungeon, the Eunryeong Apartment residents wouldn’t have died.

Then I wouldn’t have lost my family.

Shin Jae-heon wouldn’t have lost his aunt who looked after him instead of his uncle who gave him grief.

I think that’s when I started craving power.

If only I’d been a little stronger. A little faster and stronger.

Those thoughts never left my head.

But this was an irreversible past. Something already gone.

“Sigh.”

I let out a sigh like it was nothing, but my mind didn’t clear.

Times like this called for some cool night air.

I debated opening the window, then glanced at So Yeri Hunter.

Snore, snore.

With the soundproof barrier maintainer deep asleep, opening the window risked breaking it.

—Thud.

In the end, I set the bottle down gently.

Then I beckoned to Shin Jae-heon, visible in the glass reflection.

“Hey, you.”

“?”

Ju Ian Hunter had gone ahead to fetch booze for So Yeri Hunter’s round two, to avoid her slumping like a deflated rabbit when it ran out at the start.

So the only ones left in the wide lobby were me and Shin Jae-heon.

“Me?”

Shin Jae-heon, realizing the situation, pointed at himself with a baffled look.

Yeah. You.

“Go grab one more bottle. Same as this.”

I tossed the bottle in my hand backward.

—Thud!

He caught it reflexively, then made a dumbfounded face as he spoke.

“This is insubordination, you know? Penalty-worthy. Got it?”

In other words, who are you to order the emperor around?

But that only worked when there were eyes on us.

I shrugged.

“System doesn’t care either?”

No penalty warning popping up?

At my words, Shin Jae-heon grumbled as he headed for the stairs.

He was matching my mood, even if he looked like that.

Since he’d straight-up refuse if he truly hated or found it annoying.

“……”

Suddenly thinking that made me bittersweet.

Because it felt like I was always leaning on him, from childhood to now.

……Maybe I should’ve gone get it myself.

I scratched my cheek pointlessly, but it was too late for that too.

“She looks deep in thought.”

Descending the basement stairs, Shin Jae-heon raised an eyebrow.

Shin Yuli’s drinking habit had always been like this.

She seemed to think she wasn’t drunk unless she blacked out, but not to him.

If she was different from usual, she was drunk—whether her film cut or not.

In that sense, Shin Yuli was drunk now. Lost in negative thoughts she’d normally push aside.

“If I bring more, will she sleep it off?”

He could match her tolerance at S-rank, but at A-rank now, he was unsure.

Unlike the downcast Shin Yuli, So Yeri Hunter had been hyped since the drinking started.

She tried a few unfamiliar drinks from this world, quickly found her favorites, and claimed several bottles.

‘These are all~ mine!’

She drank to her heart’s content with a happy smile.

‘I-is it okay to drink that much?’

Shin Jae-heon watching was a bit flustered. So Yeri Hunter got indignant.

‘Did you come from the Shinshian Church? Don’t block my pleasureee!’

Her voice already half-slurred.

The Shinshian Pope next to her, guilty only of drinking water, coughed in surprise.

“So Yeri Hunter’s gone fully native.”

I wondered if she’d stash some in her inventory because it tasted good.

How many bottles should she take?

She couldn’t come back to this world anyway… As Shin Jae-heon pondered, he narrowed his eyes.

“But where’d that Pope go?”

Didn’t he go for wine first earlier?

His steps toward the wine cellar quickened.

His habitually light, silent footsteps suddenly halted in front of the wine cellar.

“……?”

Inside the wine cellar was Ju Ian.

……In a form a bit different from what Shin Jae-heon expected.