Chapter 459: Why Is This Here? (1)

Kim Jicheol’s expression stiffened after he let out a quiet laugh at Choi Kanghyuk’s belief that muscles could solve everything.

He suddenly spoke in an extremely serious tone.

“Um, Director Choi.”

“Yes. Member.”

“By any chance, besides the warm-up, are there also stretches for after exercise?”

It was not that he had suddenly become immersed in muscle supremacy as well.

“I think all my muscles have been torn apart, Director. If I do not loosen them up, I think I am going to suffer like hell tomorrow?”

It was the aftereffect of overclocking.

Once his excitement subsided, maddening pain surged through him.

Even now, he remained frozen in the position of having driven his spear into the Sandworm’s corpse.

“I do not think I can move at all right now. Can you loosen these muscles?”

He tried to pull out the spear, then gave up after 0.1 seconds.

Because he felt pain that seemed as though it would make him scream merely from moving a single finger.

Fortunately, there was no need to loosen his body with stretching right away.

“I-I will treat you now!”

Because among the hunters who had come with them was a recovery-type awakened person.

***

Only after receiving the minimum emergency treatment was Kim Jicheol finally able to pull out his spear.

“Ugh.”

“Everyone worked hard fighting, so let us finish by lightly loosening our bodies before we leave.”

And Choi Kanghyuk gladly conducted finishing stretches for Kim Jicheol.

But unexpectedly.

The atmosphere was completely different from when they had first warmed up.

“Hahaha. This is good.”

“Exercise really is good.”

The two hunters who had happened to join Choi Kanghyuk no longer looked down on him as a newbie.

Because they had witnessed a sight far too astonishing to dismiss.

And that evening.

An anonymous post appeared on the hunter community.

[Let me tell you about going to an A-rank gate with the Barbarian today]

- Fuck, of all days, a Sandworm popped out of the gate today. We brought an A-rank newbie tank, so I thought we were fucked, you know? Damn. But he was just a monster?

└ You mean the Sandworm was a monster?

└ No. The Barbarian just grabbed the Sandworm’s maw with his hands and held it open. It was so absurd that I could not even speak.

He had witnessed the unrealistic situation with his own two eyes.

It felt as though he had encountered the god of muscles.

└ I have been going to A-rank gates for two years, and I have never seen a tank like that. Seriously.

└ He did not even just endure it. Later, he straight-up picked up the Sandworm and threw it?

Testimonies about that astonishing sight continued.

Naturally, not everyone in the community believed those testimonies.

└ Did you mistake some worm for it? How could anyone throw that monster?

└ Fuck, lol. Maybe blocking it, but even S-rank hunters probably could not throw it?

└ Seriously, the other A-ranks will understand once they go with him too.

└ Did the Barbarian not reach A-rank in only three months?

└ From what I saw, S-rank is not far away either. Seriously.

Was it not said that excessive fans created haters?

As the praise continued, people who opposed it unconditionally also appeared.

└ Wow. You spent two years in A-rank, so I guess S-rank looks fucking easy to you.

└ Do you even know how many S-ranks there are in Korea?

└ Eight. Eight. And there is only one tank. Do you think every random nobody becomes S-rank?

└ Why is this bastard suddenly flying off the handle by himself? Are you an S-rank hunter or something?

└ Yeah. I am S-rank. Are you even really A-rank?

└ Want to prove it?

A full-scale keyboard battle over the Barbarian’s abilities continued in the community.

Testimonies kept pouring in from people who had experience entering gates with Choi Kanghyuk.

└ Barbarian Man was different even when he was C-rank. I was too embarrassed to say it, but he practically carried us. Yeah.

└ Damn. The Barbarian Man bus was sweet.

But because most of the testimonies came from lower-ranked hunters, many people dismissed them.

└ Are C-ranks and D-ranks even hunters?

└ The average level here is fucking low. Could everyone below B-rank just shut up?

└ The Barbarian is A-rank now too, so why exactly are you °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° still looking down on him?

└ A-rank bastards only got lucky with their awakening. They are full of morons.

A keyboard battle was raging in the community, but Choi Kanghyuk himself had no way of knowing any of this.

It was not only because he did not participate in online communities.

Because he was currently somewhere without internet access.

Choi Kanghyuk’s brow furrowed as he sat cross-legged inside the gate in the gym office and focused on qi circulation and regulated breathing.

'As expected. Something about this really is strange.'

The concentration of natural energy flowing through this gate was extremely dense.

To the point that it was no different from spiritual medicine being spread across the entire world.

At first, he had merely found it fascinating.

But as he continued working as a hunter, his thoughts gradually changed.

It was not only this gate.

Every gate was like that.

Natural energy denser and purer than that of Earth flowed through them.

However, among all the gates, this place was the most exceptional.

He had already visited dozens of gates.

Yet there had not been a single gate where natural energy flowed more densely than it did here.

And on top of that.

'The higher a gate’s rank, the denser and purer the natural energy flowing through it generally was.'

Because he had risen in order from D-rank, he could sense it more accurately.

Even the A-rank gate he had visited today contained energy comparable to Mount Song, where Shaolin was located.

And the energy flowing through this place was several times denser than even that A-rank gate.

While considering various possibilities, Choi Kanghyuk suddenly opened his eyes.

Immediately afterward, Choi Kanghyuk looked somewhere beyond the dark sky.

Four months had passed since the gate opened.

He had explored the gate in advance in preparation for an emergency.

However, there was exactly one place he had not yet properly examined.

The tall mountain located at the far end of the forest.

He had visited that mountain before, just in case, but he had not searched it thoroughly.

“Tsk. Mountain climbing is cardio, so I do not particularly feel like it, but there is no choice.”

Cardio carried the risk of muscle loss, but he still needed to examine the mountain.

Above all, he had no schedule tomorrow.

He did not need to visit the Association for rehabilitation treatment, nor did he need to go clear a gate.

Therefore, he intended to spend the entire day tomorrow searching that mountain.

Energy far denser than that of an A-rank gate flowed through this place.

That meant this place might perhaps be an S-rank gate.

It might even be ranked higher than that.

'Or it might simply be a strange gate with nothing inside.'

He hoped it was the latter.

If it was S-rank. Or even higher. It would be dangerous even for Choi Kanghyuk.

Even the Sandworm today would have been no small struggle if he had tried to kill it alone.

Even so, he needed to check first.

'I cannot leave it alone merely because it is useful to me and then let civilians die. Of course not.'

As a member of the righteous faction and someone from Shaolin, he could not permit himself to do such a thing.

Though when dealing with villains, he had no issue with deceiving them, falsely accusing them, or threatening them.

***

The next morning.

Choi Kanghyuk entered the gate wearing his leather pants.

On his back, he carried emergency food. In other words, a backpack filled with protein.

'Mountain climbing is also exercise, so I need to make sure I bring enough protein.'

Once Choi Kanghyuk finished preparing, he immediately unfolded the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps.

Boom! Boom!

Along with noises like exploding shells, his body rapidly advanced.

Toward the mountain visible in the distance.

He ran for a long time, practically destroying the forest.

After running for around an hour, he reached the foot of the mountain.

“Hoo.”

After steadying his breathing, Choi Kanghyuk immediately sat cross-legged.

After unfolding the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps for an entire hour, his dantian had become completely empty.

He had recovered internal energy through dynamic cultivation while running, but he had consumed more than he restored.

Only after refilling his dantian through qi circulation did he stand up again.

And then the real mountain climbing began.

It was an exhausting journey.

Because his goal was not simply to reach the summit.

He had to search the entire tall mountain.

There might be something he had overlooked before.

He passed between towering trees and crossed paths along rock faces.

Whenever he saw water, he opened his backpack and replenished his protein.

After wandering around the mountain for more than half a day, Choi Kanghyuk’s entire body was drenched in sweat.

“Haa.”

Choi Kanghyuk let out a light sigh and raised his head.

Before he knew it, the sky was turning orange.

'I started at dawn, but the sun is already about to set.'

He had already been wandering around the mountain for more than 10 hours.

However, he had not found anything in particular.

'I think I have checked enough by now.......'

Should he return like this?

Then Choi Kanghyuk shook his head.

“Tsk. Let us check only that place before leaving.”

There was still one place he had not examined.

Choi Kanghyuk trudged forward.

Before long, he arrived slightly below the mountain’s summit.

It was roughly two-thirds of the way up.

There was a sheer cliff there.

The only place he had not examined.

He had passed it by because he doubted there could be anything in such a place.

But now he had examined everywhere else.

Leaving only this place unchecked made him feel strangely uneasy.

“Right. Climbing is exercise too. Of course.”

It was an excellent exercise for developing muscular strength. In particular, was there any better exercise for improving the forearms or grip strength?

Running his positive exercise circuit, Choi Kanghyuk descended the cliff.

He glanced downward.

The ground was visible far below.

'Would my body endure it if I fell?'

If he could withstand it, it seemed as though it would be quite good training for the Jade Vajra Art.

The thought tempted him, but exploration came first.

After moving across the cliff for a long time using both hands and feet.

“Hmm?”

Choi Kanghyuk sensed something with his energy perception. An extremely faint energy.

An energy so concealed that he could not sense it at all from far away.

Choi Kanghyuk gladly moved toward the place where he felt the energy.

That faint energy was coming from roughly the middle of the cliff.

But unexpectedly.

Even when he came close, there was nothing in particular to see.

“What is this?”

While hanging from the wall, Choi Kanghyuk stepped toward the point where he sensed the energy.

“Huh?”

Amazingly, his foot passed through it.

To the eye, it appeared to be part of the cliff.

But his foot touched nothing.

“Could it be?”

Choi Kanghyuk moved his arms and brought his body closer.

Then he pushed both legs completely inside.

This time, both legs passed through the cliff and entered the interior.

Choi Kanghyuk felt a sense of déjà vu.

Even when he had lived as Mujin, he had experienced a similar situation.

“A formation?”

He gave his body momentum, then launched himself as though springing forward.

Choi Kanghyuk’s body slipped straight through the surface of the wall.

Once he entered, a hollow laugh escaped him.

“Wow. There was a place like this?”

An enormous cave lay there.

A cave spacious enough for more than a dozen people to pass through without difficulty.

Choi Kanghyuk cautiously walked deeper into the cave.

'It looks like a place some expert from a previous generation hid.'

Fortuitous encounters were hidden in places like this.

Fortuitous encounters where one obtained spiritual medicine and secret manuals left behind by an expert of a previous generation.

But that was merely something that happened in the martial world.

Who would have imagined there would be a place like this inside a gate?

After advancing for a long time while examining the cave’s interior. A massive door appeared.

A massive door covered in various unidentified patterns.

And in front of that door. An enormous bronze statue stood.

“There is even a gatekeeper?”

Had it heard Choi Kanghyuk’s words?

A red light ignited in the eyes of the motionless bronze statue.

Immediately afterward, the bronze statue drew a heavy-looking hammer and shield with a harsh metallic noise.

Creeeeeeak.

However, Choi Kanghyuk’s gaze was directed not at the steel golem, but behind it.

“The entrance is concealed by a formation, and there is a gatekeeper protecting the inside.”

It seemed there really was something beyond that enormous door.