Chapter 472: With All Due Respect (2)

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

And that wasn't the only thing to worry about.

'Since South Korea is already densely populated with mammals, it's 100% exposed to this disaster.'

At that moment, I thought this. The monsters that had appeared this time were floating at such a high altitude that you couldn't see them even if you craned your neck all the way back, so there was no way Earth's aircraft could operate normally. That meant that if I wanted to go protect my acquaintances in South Korea, there was really no option left except something like [Teleportation] magic—but...

'Oh my.'

I have no mana. There was no need to phase it any other way. I was cornered from every angle.

'My breathing is still fine. And these days, I've got [Midnight Gloves] set up with teleportation by default, so getting to Korea isn't completely impossible. But as for engaging in a battle... my remaining energy—'

But I guess even in the tiniest hole, sunlight manages to shine through.

'Huh!'

Starting with a single scream, finally some positive news also began to trickle in.

'The government just contacted us. Contact! So, apparently the gates appeared this time... share their entrances with each other... Sorry, but what does it mean to 'share entrances'?'

'Mimic City?'

'Right. Mimic City! Anyway, using that gate as an example makes it faster!'

The lair of the monster that appeared this time had the same arrival point no matter which country one entered from. The American hunters used the globally infamous [Mimic City] as an example, but even on this side, we could understand the current phenomenon just by referencing [the Ant Nest] we had entered not long ago.

But what I really want to call out at this point is this.

'What I'm wondering is... aren't there way too many monsters spilling out?'

Since I had just pushed myself to the limit, I didn't have the energy to babble pointlessly. So I quietly observed the situation, and fortunately, even without me jumping in, that particular issue had already become the topic of discussion.

'Wait, something's strange. According to the control center, that gate only appeared about ten minutes ago.'

'What?'

'Why are so many enemies already spilling out from a newly spawned gate?'

Honestly, even for a gate on the verge of a dungeon break, that number didn't make any sense. Looking at the live footage on TV, an enormous swarm of monsters was pouring out of the newly appeared blue portal, like a horde of moths.

'Seeing them swarming like that... it's kind of creepy, too.'

Things were different in many ways compared to the past. But if I were to use my intelligence as a creature living in the universe, then the interior of that dungeon is most likely...

'Was it already saturated from the moment it spawned? Then it's not really all that different from the [Nuckelavee] gate that had the egg sac!'

There must be far more enemies than what we can see with the naked eye. Come to think of it, you often see this phrase when sitting in the passenger seat of a car on Earth: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. The current situation had many similarities to that warning on a side mirror.

'...'

Anyway, being on foreign soil like this brings no advantage as an outsider. So, you see...

'I need a car...'

'Tea? Do you need a tea? Black tea? Or green tea?'

'No, Dann. That's not it—please, at least get a car ready...'

'What?'

'My part is done, so I need to return to my home country immediately! But, in this situation, there's no way a plane will take off, so I'm afraid I'll have to enter the angelic gateway here in the U.S.!'

I got straight to the point.

'Are you saying you're going to use that new type of gate to go back to Korea—right now?'

There was a minor translation error along the way, but in the end, it didn't interfere with conveying the intended meaning.

'Are you crazy?'

'Captain, why are you yelling like that?'

'It's because this person here is talking nonsense! A hunter whose mana is completely depleted is saying he's going to enter a dungeon again right now.'

'Oh, my goodness.'

'Moreover, a monster with neither known attributes nor traits is appearing... Ah, right. Come to think of it, you are an [Appraisal] user!'

For now, they strongly oppose it, but they'll realize soon enough. The United States is vast, and several new monster portals must have already appeared, so in the middle of such chaotic circumstances, how could they possibly keep a hunter who just wants to go home from leaving?

'A-rank monsters sometimes appear mixed even in even S-rank designated gates.'

I darted my eyes around, wide and alert. What ran through my mind was a worry only an alien mage could entertain.

'If the angel gate that just appeared really turns out to be S-rank in danger level... then the 'dragon' I reinstalled back in Korea will start moving.'

Considering everything this body has been through while living on Earth, there's no way I would have been lazy enough not to assemble a golem by now—even if it's only a prototype.

Rather, the real problem is that I let the 'dragon' loose! The newly applied cloaking function can't even be maintained for long because of capacity limits! And if a golem like that would fall into a vast dungeon...!

I had already finished rebuilding the golem called 'Dragon' with only a slight change to its outward appearance. And by 'slight,' I really meant the word literally. To be honest, I hadn't had enough time to make full preparations before leaving the country, so all I'd done was attach about four legs to its long, slender body as a bit of visual trickery.

'The golem is going to be discovered by Earthlings again. And this time, the media will whip things up, saying some bizarre ferret-shaped monster has appeared.'

The larger the gate, the more unpredictable variables there are.

'Please send me to Korea!'

Therefore, driven by the single-minded determination to retrieve the golem, I spoke even more urgently.

'My goodness.'

'How could there be such a patriot?'

'Such an unbreakable resolve. Isn't he even tired after taking a Soul Strike? I don't think I could go that far for a country—or for its honor...'

This remark ended up creating an unintended image, but was this really the time to worry about such a trivial misunderstanding?

'OK. Then I'll handle as much of the cleanup for the Sea Devil Gate as I can, so you—being Korean—get out of here for now.'

A few minutes later. At last, something close to official approval came out of the temporary camp.

The site's general manager, a former sports star, negotiated with the state agency to allow me access to a nearby passageway. Of course, I did not stay still during this time. I sent a text message to the Korean Hunter Association and asked them to do something, so it must have had an impact.

'Ugh.'

My tear ducts didn't so much as twitch. But inside, in my own way, I was crying.

'Honestly, what kind of hardship is this?'

I downed a [Mana Recovery Potion], pushing my body to the very edge of the limits I'd been saving up. One bottle was from the items I'd brought along in my item box, and the remaining few were hurriedly shared by the U.S. camp after they heard I was running low on mana.

'Why does this foreign-made potion taste so damn awful?'

Even so, the total amount it restored was like pouring a single cup of water onto a dried-up well. Still, I swallowed the potion while holding back my misery, bracing myself for the troubles that were sure to follow.

[ Even now, more than ten angels are emerging from the gate every second... ]

As you could tell just from the radio voices spilling out of Americans' cars, this incident was, in many ways, far from ordinary in scale.

'The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. This kind of sheer numbers attack just doesn't make sense logically.'

The space parasites that had been quiet for a while suddenly began creating impossibly complex feeding grounds one after another. Just as I'd faintly sensed inside the [Nuckelavee]'s dungeon, this was anything but a normal situation.

'No matter how much they'd been forcibly suppressed, it still doesn't make sense for things to spiral this far. It's like an entire species suddenly turned into binge eaters just because they missed a single meal....'

So, with that unresolved sense of unease weighing on my chest, I sank deep into thought.

***

At the same time.Korea.

[Flavor that adds happiness to everyday life. New fresh cream cheese released...]

The small screen of the phone changed from moment to moment.

One video streaming platform often ran mid-roll ads like this. A crude clip where actors dressed in cheap angel costumes did nothing more than pass around packaged cream cheese. It was an advertisement meant to boast that the company's product was so delicious it would be traded even in heaven.

[Buy it now.]

Swash.

But just as the person was watching the commercial with interest, they suddenly lifted their head. Something like a gnat seemed to flit past the edge of their vision, and they moved their eyes to check it.

'Mom.'

'Huh?'

'What's the name of the bird over there?'

And when the young Earthling looked up and asked the adult in front of them for advice, unfortunately, no normal answer came back.

'Mom doesn't really know bird names either...... but if it's visible from here, it's probably a magpie or a sparrow— huh? Huhh?!'

The fully grown adult stood there with their mouth hanging open, swallowing a scream. Something far too massive to be mistaken for a human—something with wings—had appeared in the street tree outside the house.

Swoosh—!

Moreover, at that very moment, a message like this arrived on citizens' phones as well.

[Gate Disaster Notification]

[A-rank new-type monster outdoor appearance alert.

✓ Color: white ✓ Size: 3m ✓ Human-like appearance

If you spot what appears to be an intoxicated person from a distance, do not approach and report immediately to the [Hunter Association].]

It was truly shocking news.

'Wow, they sure let us know fast!'

Compared to the harsh days of early dungeon shock, things have improved a lot—but if it still takes 10 to 20 minutes every single time just to detect a Blue Gate, does that progress really mean anything?

'Daughter, over here! Don't stick your head out onto the balcony—no matter what!'

Starting with a mother and daughter in a residential neighborhood, cities all across South Korea were instantly steeped in tension. Unidentified monsters were bursting out into urban areas at random—something that had become a rare sight ever since the hunting industry stabilized.

Flap, flap...

The newly appeared monster fortunately didn't seem very aggressive, but—it wasn't a situation where anyone could clap and rejoice while staring at a bomb that simply hadn't gone off yet.

[LIVE: Hunter information TV]

[Chat Window]

[The world's a total mess]

[What is that?]

[The human era is over... Everyone who didn't believe or pray to our guru@@ is going straight to hell, that's why this is happening.#@]

[Manager, permanently block that cut ad ^]

South Korea, just like any other country, quickly shared the news over the internet.

[Did everyone see the video of the gate spewing monsters like little bug larvae? Wow; this time it really seems like this is serious;;]

[During the Dungeon shock era, it's only natural that there are no quiet days. But why does Kim Giryeo keep going abroad at times like this?]

[slow mode]

[Let's not insult hunters by mentioning their real names. They're always busy protecting us.]

[So, where is Mr. Kim Giryeo right now??]

With monsters roaming just outside the window, some humans instinctively started blaming others. They instinctively diverted their focus elsewhere to ease their anxiety.

[That crazy guy went abroad, drinking American coffee while raiding else's dungeon.]

Starting with this one word, the chat room on the video streaming site was in an uproar.

[Kim Giryeo hates Korea- Kim Giryeo hates Korea- Kim Giryeo hates Korea-]

[What is the government even doing? They should order the S-ranks to return immediately.]

[These damn crows don't even remember that hunter just caught a new-type monster a few days ago, and they're already swarming to curse him again, wow.]

What followed were scoldings aimed at the blonde hunter. But the one people were cursing was only young in appearance; in reality, he had lived long enough to be a seasoned scholar. Such trivial matters were, of course, entirely manageable. Moreover, if Kim Giryeo realized he was being cursed on the internet, he might secretly think something like this.

From the start, that 'hunter' was right there in South Korea, so he might think, 'Why are people here worrying unnecessarily..?'

'Aaaahhh!'

'Everyone jump!'

'Hey! Didn't they say it won't attack as long as you don't get too close?'

'Ah, crazy! Someone's going to get killed filming a Shorts video!'

Soon, screams echoed from somewhere in the country. The place where the monstrous cries rang out was a restricted development area in the capital region, and at the same time, it was also the site where the nation's only angel gate had appeared.

'Aaaack!'

But something strange happened. Even though the monsters were still about 300 meters away from the gate, they suddenly charged toward the civilians as their targets—

Flash!

Fortunately, the horrifying charge of the monster horde was blocked by this person's ability. For just about 0.9 seconds, the field of vision went completely white and then returned. Suddenly, more than ten winged monsters fell from the air to the ground.

'The wings...'

Swoosh.

Every single one of the monsters looked like foolish mortals approaching the sun. Watching the pitifully incinerated enemies, it was impossible not to realize the identity of the newly appeared superhuman.

'Hunter Jeong Haseong!'

A superhuman returned the [White Bird] to the item box and without hesitation performed a free fall from the air. He was Korea's number one ranked hunter.

Author's Thoughts

Hi, from now on, I will update this novel 3 chapters/week. Thank you for all your support so far:)