Chapter 165 - Chapter 165 (1/2)

So, that's what happened in the end.

The plan to block up a Gate sounded quite dangerous from the moment Yuri Orlov came up with the idea. Besides, wasn't he trying to deal with a rank S Gate?

Didn't matter whether it was a Hunter or Gate, rank S denoted that something was impossible to evaluate.

"Impossible to evaluate" – meaning, no one knew exactly what would pop out from the Gate, nor what kind of events would happen next. Even then, Yuri Orlov greatly overestimated his strength. And, in the end, his stupidity led to a truly horrifying result.

Jin-Woo's expression became deeply complicated.

Association President Goh Gun-Hui had told him about what the Japanese Hunters were trying to do back in Jeju Island. It was unknown what their real goal was, but nevertheless, they commenced with their plan anyway.

If Jin-Woo didn't show up on time, it'd have been extremely difficult for the Korean Hunters to get out of there alive even if the mutated ant monster hadn't shown up.

And, even after trying something underhanded like that, the b*stard of the Japanese Association's President had the gall to visit South Korea to threaten Goh Gun-Hui.

'That man deserves to be punished, no doubt about that.'

However, that was the story only for the brain trust of the Japanese Association as well as the top-ranked Hunters who took part in the stinking scheme.

The innocent Japanese citizens not included in that story certainly didn't deserve this.

There might have been some unresolved historical 'feelings' between the two nations, but that wasn't a sin so grave that whole masses of people had to die because of it.

What's even worse, this particular dungeon break occurred in the middle of the city.

Just because of some Orcs that came out from a Gate within a school, nearly half of all the students there had lost their lives. However, what would happen if a rank S Gate opened up in the middle of a huge city with a population of over 13 million? Obviously, it'd lead to a truly gruesome end result.

Not to forget, this result was partially brought upon by themselves, as well.

'If Goto Ryuji and the other top Japanese Hunters were still alive, the end result could have been different.'

Goto Ryuji was strong. He was strong enough to endanger Jin-Woo for a moment back then. Even he felt greatly startled when the Japanese Hunter's attack barely missed his eye by a hair's breadth.

Would that be all?

Every single dead Japanese Hunter he found on Jeju Island was an exceptional individual that surpassed Korea's own rank S Hunters.

He might not have known their fighting styles, but at least, that's the impression he got after checking out the amount of magic energy still remaining on their corpses.

Back then, Jin-Woo didn't want to turn blameless humans into 'undead' so he gave up on them. But they were such exceptional Hunters that he was greatly tempted to turn them into Shadow Soldiers.

'Turning them into Shadow Soldiers would've been perfectly fine when I think about what they were trying to do, though!'

Too bad, he only got to learn the truth a long time after the fact, so there was nothing he could do about that.

In any case, such powerful Hunters got massacred in one go so it was only obvious that Japan simply lacked enough personnel to deal with a rank S Gate appearing within its borders.

In the end, this event wasn't a calamity engineered by the heavens, but something called upon by the greed of humans, instead. A man-made disaster, in other words.

"Seong Hunter-nim?"

Cha Hae-In worriedly called out to him. Even now, Jin-Woo was still holding her wrist.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking of something else just now."

"Ah."

Jin-Woo let go of her arm.

The reason why Cha Hae-In called out to him wasn't because of the wrist, but his complexion had darkened considerably out of the blue, that's why.

Did he have family members or relatives living in Japan? Such a question fleeted in and out of her mind, just then.

She still had no idea that the Japanese Hunter's Association had cooked up such a dastardly scheme. So, she thought of the events unfolding in Japan as merely an accident – no, more correctly, a horrifying incident, instead.

He got to solve his first question of what had happened to Japan. Jin-Woo asked the second thing he was curious about.

"What brought you guys over here, anyway?"

Currently, there were Cha Hae-In, Woo Jin-Cheol, and then, Sohn Ki-Hoon and his team members, who Jin-Woo met when fighting against Fangs, present here.

High-ranking Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the members from the Monitoring Division, the ones that didn't really seem to have a common reason to form a team, had gathered all around him.

Woo Jin-Cheol finished checking up on the injuries of his subordinates and took a step forward to clarify the situation.

"Actually, we came here first after receiving a report from this location. But then, we learned that you had entered the Gate, and the magic energy leaking out from the dungeon itself was so great that...."

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Chief of the Monitoring Division. Perhaps the number of casualties had been far too great, Woo Jin-Cheol's expression was really stiff right now.

"We thought that our strengths would not be adequate enough so I requested for assistance from the Hunters Guild that had been getting ready for a raid nearby."

The right to request assistance in emergencies. It was the highest form of authority the Association possessed over the Guilds. Even the Hunters Guild wouldn't have been able to reject the request.

Many had come to aid him, and in the process, many unfortunate sacrifices had to be made. Jin-Woo felt his heart begin to ache.

As the youth grew quieter in contemplation, Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously raised a question.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know that you'd find the dual dungeon in this particular Gate, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

That was a very pertinent question to ask.

As the Chairperson of the Hunters Guild, which had suffered huge losses today, Choi Jong-In was deeply curious about this, as well.

How did Seong Jin-Woo know that there was a dual dungeon hiding within a rank C Gate, and that a monster capable of exceeding everyone's imagination was waiting for him there?

Hunters who had heard of this before coming here were all feeling quite puzzled from this unanswered question.

Rumble....

The cavern they were in trembled. The Gate sent them the signal that it'd close not too long from now, yet the attention of these Hunters were solely focused on Jin-Woo's answer.

"The dungeon...."

Jin-Woo decided to be as honest as he could be.

"...It summoned me here."

".....Wait, it summoned you here?"

Woo Jin-Cheol asked back, his expression showing his disbelief.

"Yes. I received a message telling me to come here."

"Can we view that message, as well?"

Jin-Woo shook his head. Then, he pointed to his temple with his finger.

"I'm sorry. It was a message that appeared in my head."

The answer nobody expected to hear rendered everyone utterly speechless.

Jin-Woo didn't lie here, though. It was just that he chose to omit a few other unnecessary details and simply delivered the core of the truth, that was all.

His straightforward expression of hiding nothing managed to overpower other Hunters.

Woo Jin-Cheol could legitimately claim that he knew Jin-Woo the longest out of this group. Even then, he had no choice but throw up the white flag with a shake of his head.

'He's... not someone I can read with my common sense.'

The dungeon summoned him through his head?

Could this youth be some kind of an incarnation of a godly being sent to this world so he could smash apart all the dungeons that appear here?

'Why am I even thinking of such nonsense....?'

Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly gave a wry chuckle. While he was doing that, Jin-Woo soundlessly brushed past him.

He walked past the broken doorway and re-entered the chamber. Cha Hae-In panicked and called out to him in a hurry.

"Hunter Seong?? If we don't leave right now, it could get dangerous!"

Jin-Woo turned around after hearing her worried voice and made his reply.

"I know."

How could he not know of the dangers?

Jin-Woo had walked on this lengthy passageway to get here twice already. It was almost an hour's distance even with the walking speed of Hunters. If they wished to get out of here before the Gate closed, they certainly couldn't tarry any longer.

Not only that, Jin-Woo's own old man went missing inside a Gate, too.

He heard that his dad, despite getting grievously injured, still managed to carry out his comrades from the boss chamber one by one before he himself got left behind as the Gate closed.

There was no one out there who understood the dangers of a dungeon better than Jin-Woo. That was why his reply of "I know" was filled with his conviction. Even then....

"I can't leave behind the Hunters who came running for my sake, now can I?"

Hunters getting anxious to leave all froze up in their spots after hearing his words. Every single one of those who lost their lives inside that chamber was a comrade to them. If possible, they didn't want to leave anyone behind.

However, there simply wasn't enough time to take all the deceased with them. Not only were these Hunters far too exhausted, but trying to locate the remains buried under the debris of the stone statues would mean they had to search through all corners of the chamber, as well.

And that was why they turned around to leave with bitter tears in their eyes, but now....

"I'm taking them back with me."

One sentence from Jin-Woo and the Hunters began shuddering as if a bolt of electricity was travelling within their bodies.