Solo leveling vol 7, p.5
Solo Leveling, Vol. 7, page 5
……
If he poked it, would he penetrate the surface or would he get sucked in like with a red gate? It was possible he’d be able to take care of it before the dungeon break occurred. Expectantly, Jinwoo placed his hand on the gate’s membrane.
Huh?
He had never experienced anything like this in his time as a hunter. The black membrane was as hard as a wall and prevented Jinwoo’s hand from going through the gate.
If this was some ordinary wall, I could break through, but……
He pushed against the wall with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge.
Knock, knock.
Jinwoo pursed his lips as he knocked on the membrane.
Something’s different.
He hadn’t heard of a gate that an awakened being couldn’t go through. Since this gate was unlike any other, would the inhabitants also differ from the usual magic beasts?
Whatever they are……
Jinwoo had family and friends he needed to protect, so he had no intention of letting whatever was in there anywhere near them. He had increased stats and intrepid soldiers on his side.
“““Raaaaaah!”””
His army roared in response.
Ba-dump.
Jinwoo felt a mix of unease and excitement. He’d never felt this way before. He’d always assumed that there was a reason why he had been chosen as the Player and granted this power by the system. Maybe it was to deal with this.
I’m being silly……
Jinwoo laughed at how emotional he’d suddenly gotten and took his hand off the gate.
At that moment, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. The phone call was one he’d been waiting for from the Hunter’s Association of Japan.
“Hello? Hunter Sung?”
“Yes, this is he.”
“My apologies, but it’s hard to hear you. Should I call back another time?”
Jinwoo smirked at the buildings below him. At this distance, they looked like tiny toy blocks. “No, that’s fine. I’m somewhere high up. Is this about my request?”
“Oh, yes. I scanned all of Japan via satellite just now, but……”
Uncharacteristically, the representative from the Hunter’s Association of Japan seemed to be at a loss for words. Had something bad also happened in Japan?
Jinwoo never would’ve guessed what the representative said next.
“There is no gate. Not a single new gate has spawned in Japan.”
……!
After defeating the giants, Jinwoo had spent most of his time raiding dungeons in Japan, so this hit him like a bolt out of the blue. “Not one?”
“Yes, that’s right. I contacted hunter-related organizations in other countries in case this was an isolated case, and I discovered that……”
The representative hesitated, then continued, clearly vexed.
“Ever since that gate appeared over Seoul, all others have disappeared.”
It had been three hours since the appearance of the monolithic gate. What were the odds of every single gate in the world vanishing during that three-hour window?
……That can’t be a coincidence.
Stunned, Jinwoo wordlessly stared at the black mass above him.
The representative cautiously probed him.
“Um…… Excuse me, but may I ask why you wanted me to locate the highest-rank gate we had?”
“……” Jinwoo didn’t know how to answer that. How could he explain that he wanted to try out Thomas’s gift of 1,500 attack power before this gate opened?
“Even if tomorrow the world would go to pieces, someone still has to plant an apple tree, you know?”
“Oh…… Apple trees. I see. Such a great saying.”
Jinwoo was about to hang up after giving his vague answer, but the representative had something to get off his chest.
“Um, Hunter Sung?”
“Yes?”
The representative faltered as if embarrassed, then confessed.
“I was never a fan of Korea. As you know, those ants from Jeju Island were a real headache for the Hunter’s Association of Japan for the past few years. As a Japanese person and an employee of the association, I didn’t hold Korea in the highest regard.”
Jinwoo quietly listened to what the man had to say.
“However, it was you who changed my mind. Korea saved us. I am truly grateful to both you and your country.”
The representative began to sob.
“From the bottom of my heart, I hope that Korea doesn’t go through the horrors we experienced.”
Giants crushing humans underfoot, cities burning, screams echoing, and the never-ending despair. It hadn’t been long since that waking nightmare, and the representative had experienced it firsthand. No one should ever have to go through that.
Jinwoo replied softly, “That won’t happen.”
That wasn’t a promise but a declaration. He had consistently pushed himself in the pursuit of leveling up for this very reason, and it was time to show the fruits of his labor.
The employee chuckled at his answer.
“Ha-ha! I never thought I’d ever be jealous of Korea, but I envy them for having you, Hunter Sung.”
“No need to butter me up. I’ve got nothing else going on besides hunting magic beasts, so I’ll keep visiting Japan as long as magic beasts show up there.”
“Whoops, you got me. I can’t slip anything by you, can I? And here I was, trying to score some points with you.”
The representative was thankful that Jinwoo had lightened the mood with banter, and he bid the Korean a sincere farewell.
“Please keep in touch.”
“I will.”
Jinwoo tucked his phone back in his pocket, then inspected the gate before him. It was eerily quiet like the calm before a storm.
If the time line for a dungeon break hasn’t changed……
There were about six days left. Jinwoo’s eyes shone in the dark of the night.
“……Let’s head down.”
“Kreeee!”
With a flap of his huge wings, Kaisel began his descent.
The public also noticed the change the next day. Gates had disappeared, and no new ones had spawned after the monolithic gate appeared in the skies above Seoul. No one knew if this was good or bad, but there were those who welcomed the news, including President Woo and the Hunter’s Association of Korea.
After apprehensively listening to the report, Jinchul came to a decision. “Let’s summon all the hunters in Korea to Seoul.”
“Sir? That’s too risky.”
“If there’s an undetected gate and a dungeon break happens, then……”
“How about summoning half of the hunters and leaving the rest where they are?”
As he continued to receive opposition, Jinchul slammed his hand on the conference room table.
Bam!
Everyone cowered at the display of rage by such a high-ranking hunter.
Jinchul bared his teeth. “Do you think we have the luxury to take what ifs into account?”
Everyone in the meeting room fell silent as Jinchul waved a hand toward the outside of the room and bellowed at them. “This is an unprecedented situation. Even if we pour every resource into stopping this fucking thing, there’s still no guarantee we’ll win!”
He looked around the room. “I’ll take full responsibility for any damage that occurs in other areas, whether that means giving up everything I own or laying down my life to fight.”
After this clear display of his resolution, no one dared argue with him.
Leaders have been known to kill their own squadmates in a dungeon if they didn’t fall in line during life-and-death situations, as insubordination could lead to an entire squad’s demise. It would be a crime outside of a dungeon, but dungeons followed different rules. Raids were wars with people’s lives on the line, not playtime. And now, war was about to break out not inside of a dungeon but on their own turf. Time was of the essence, and Jinchul wasn’t a slipshod hunter who would waste precious seconds hearing out the opposition.
“Summon all our hunters to Seoul immediately. Do not excuse anyone who is able to fight.”
Under Jinchul’s orders, every single Korean hunter converged in Seoul.
It was a rather unusual sight. The roads of Seoul were congested because of the citizens leaving the city and the hunters coming in to protect it. At the Hunter’s Association’s and government’s urging, residents in the areas directly under the hovering gate were evacuating to avoid the inevitable destruction.
As they watched the evacuation on TV, Jinwoo turned to his mom. “Shouldn’t you and Jinah go somewhere else, too?”
“Our neighborhood isn’t in the evacuation zone.”
It appeared Kyunghye had no plans to leave Seoul. Their run-down apartment building was on the outskirts of the city, so the magic beasts would have to get past the defensive line of hunters to reach them. That would mean that Jinwoo would have failed on the front line. Kyunghye had faith that the flames of this crisis would never get far enough to reach them.
Jinwoo returned her smile and dropped the matter.
Kyunghye and Jinwoo were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, around the coffee table, while Jinah sat on the couch hugging her knees. She looked down at her brother.
“You don’t have to go?”
They’d put out an official call for hunters, but Jinwoo was already based in Seoul, so it didn’t apply to him.
“That’s only for the hunters coming from outside of Seoul. They need to report to the association once they arrive.”
“Oh.” Jinah nodded as she accepted a plate of apple slices from her mother.
Truthfully, Jinwoo was feeling jittery about staying put and doing nothing at this time. He wanted to level up, but there were no magic beasts, and he hadn’t received any more keys to instance dungeons since he got rid of the Architect. Jinwoo’s family may have been happy that he was spending more time at home, but the man himself was itching to train.
Should I skip the daily quest and go to the penalty zone?
While it was enticing, it wasn’t necessarily a good idea. Like the gate in the sky, he also had no idea what monster would await him in the penalty zone.
The risk may be low, but……
There was a one-in-a-million chance that it could put him out of commission. No need to go out of his way to take another risk at this very moment. And so he dismissed the idea. He’d have to find another way to test Kamish’s Wrath, but what?
Jinwoo was deep in thought when footage of the Hunter’s Association building on TV caught his eye.
Now, there’s an idea.
Jinwoo’s eyes sparkled, and he couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face.
Riiing, riiing!
The other party picked up quickly, as he always had.
“Yes, Hunter Sung. This is Jinchul Woo.”
“I should call you President Woo now, shouldn’t I?”
Jinchul gave an embarrassed laugh.
“You can call me whatever you like. I’m in over my head, so it still feels rather awkward to be called president.”
After their brief greeting, the amusement faded from Jinchul’s voice.
“Did something happen? I can’t help but be worried that you’re contacting me out of the blue.”
With the association currently in crisis mode, Jinchul had been keeping his ear to the ground, so of course a sudden phone call from the nation’s most influential hunter would put him on edge.
“It’s nothing serious, but……”
Jinchul gulped nervously.
“Not serious” by Hunter’s Sung’s standards could mean a disaster by ours. Heck, the odds of it being an emergency are higher the more nonchalant he is.
Jinchul attempted to calm his nerves and listen attentively during Jinwoo’s brief pause…but it truly was nothing serious.
“May I use the association gym?”
Despite his busy schedule, Jinchul personally escorted Jinwoo to the Hunter’s Association’s gymnasium.
“As you can see……this is the current state of it.”
Jinwoo frowned. He had wanted to use the gym as a quiet place away from prying eyes, but it was already packed to the brim with hunters.
Seeing the weapons in their hands, Jinwoo belatedly recalled the association’s stockpile in the storage of the gym. “Are you providing weapons to the hunters who don’t have proper gear?”
“Yes. After all, President Go had prepared them for a time like this.”
Jinwoo nodded. This was what he wanted to show those who had criticized the Hunter’s Association for wasting money on weapons that the association seemed to be hoarding.
The tension was palpable as the hunters donned their borrowed equipment. At that moment, a heavyset hunter made eye contact with Jinwoo while struggling to get his arm into a piece of mana-coated armor.
“Huh?” In his shock at seeing the world’s greatest hunter right before his eyes, he blurted out, “Hunter Jinwoo Sung?”
“What?”
“Hunter Sung is here?”
The hunters looked over their shoulders, and sure enough, there stood Jinwoo next to the president of the Hunter’s Association, watching them.
A hush fell inside the gym, and the air grew heavy. The man before their very eyes was at the top of their field, and his overwhelming presence wasn’t something that could be conveyed through TV screens. Their hearts began to pound as they set their eyes on the best of the best.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!
The hunters grew excited. Some shot him envious looks while others gazed upon him with admiration.
It finally sank in why Jinchul had called him here to talk instead of explaining the situation on the phone. The hunters gathered here were low-rank hunters who couldn’t afford expensive gear. Being suddenly summoned here must’ve been mentally taxing for them, so the new president of the Hunter’s Association wanted to embolden them by introducing them to their strongest ally.
Based on the lively look in their eyes, the plan had worked. Jinchul had led the Surveillance Team for a long time, and the quick-witted thinking that came from his experience brought a smile to Jinwoo’s face.
Jinchul sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as Jinwoo caught on to him. “So, Hunter Sung, why did you need the gym?”
Jinwoo summoned an item from his inventory while pretending to take it out of his pocket. “I’m going to use this.”
Jinchul cocked his head at the seed the size of a plum in Jinwoo’s hand. “And……what is this?”
“If you plant this in the ground, a magic beast resembling a tree will spawn. There is something I need to try out on a magic beast.”
“Did you say a magic beast would grow?” Jinchul’s eyes widened as Jinwoo nodded.
A tree-type magic beast had spat out this seed as it let loose a dying screech. If the seed wasn’t destroyed, another magic beast would grow out of it. Tree-type magic beasts had a high defense and formidable stamina, so it was inefficient to hunt them again and again. Jinwoo had destroyed all the seeds except the one expelled by the dungeon boss, keeping it in his inventory just in case he saw an opportunity to use it. Because their skin was tough to cut through, as if they had iron armor on, Jinwoo had named these magic beasts Ironclad Trees.
It’ll be the perfect guinea pig to test out my new daggers.
The problem was……
“People will panic if they see this magic beast, especially in these times.” Jinchul spoke with concern.
Jinwoo agreed. “That’s why I need somewhere private, quiet, and durable……”
No one outside the Hunter’s Association could access the gym, and it was reinforced to allow hunters to train without worry. Jinwoo turned back toward the other hunters. Many of them gripped their association-issued weapons tightly as they peeked at him, finding encouragement at the sight of him.
“But since it’s like this……” Jinwoo clicked his tongue, disappointed.
He could go to an uninhabited area of Japan, but it was too far to fly there for that sole purpose, and he didn’t want to waste the Shadow Exchange skill. Who knew what might happen during the two hours he was over there?
Jinwoo was about to leave when Jinchul made up his mind. “Okay.”
“Pardon me?”
“I will clear this afternoon’s schedule and make the gym available to you. Considering how much you’ve done for us, you couldn’t even call it special treatment.”
The late President Go had gone so far as to amend laws for Jinwoo, saying that they couldn’t ask a hunter of Jinwoo’s caliber to put his life on the line for them if they weren’t willing to do at least that for his sake. The least Jinchul could do as President Go’s successor was let Jinwoo borrow the gym.
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
Jinchul had to grin at Jinwoo’s concern. “I may not look it, but I’m the person in charge of this organization. I’m the one who decides whether the gym is open or closed.”
He then clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention before calling out, “Who’s in charge of the gym?”
“Me, sir!”
As Jinwoo watched the staffer hastily make his way toward them, he realized that whether one was qualified for it or not, securing a higher position was the way to go.
Thomas watched the Seoul streets congested with cars evacuating the city from his hotel room window in a luxury hotel.
Laura approached him from behind with her packed suitcase. “Will you stay here, sir?”
“Yeah.” Thomas tapped the window, pointing at the gate. “How could I leave with that big, beautiful thing there?”
“It’s certainly huge, but beautiful……?” Laura was used to Thomas’s eccentricities, but she was taken aback that he would call something so ominous and grotesque beautiful.
Thomas turned around to look at the perplexed manager.
“That which makes my heart race is beautiful.” He put his hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. Ever since he’d laid eyes on the gate, his heart had continued to pound loudly. “That fire-breathing dragon, this humongous gate, Hunter Sung’s power…… They’re all beautiful to me.”
