Chapter 329: 41. Sinking Paradise

News | New Gate Appears, Identity Still ‘Inside a Maze’.

At around 6 a.m. today, a new Gate occurred in Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do. What type of Gate it is has not yet been revealed, and the clear is being carried out under the lead of the Special Response Team.

The expected Gate rank is D-rank, and currently, residents within a 500-meter radius of the Gate are being evacuated.

It was just some mediocre article with no particular comments attached. Even so, the reason this article stood out was because of the location.

Among the Dungeons that would occur from now on, there were three ‘trauma’ Dungeons in total. Among them, excluding the Dungeon that was treated with weight, the one that was only mentioned in passing yet had a tricky difficulty was precisely... the ‘Sinking Paradise’ Dungeon that would appear around the end of this year.

I checked the Gate location from the article exactly and frowned.

‘It’s the same place.’

In the same place, with such a short gap, Gates appeared twice?

Generally, the accepted theory was that a Gate would not occur in a place where one had appeared once for at least 1 year. On top of that, even this was, in truth, only called 1 year in words; it was fair to say that Gates almost never appeared there.

So there were joking reactions like this too.

Comments

-Now housing prices here will go back up fuck

Because safety was guaranteed.

‘Hmm....’

I did not think I had remembered wrong. Because rather than that, another possibility came into view.

‘Did they not clear the Gate properly?’

By nature, a trauma Dungeon was basically a Dungeon that caused misconceptions and optical illusions. There was no way one could think clearly in a Dungeon that dragged out a person’s trauma.

So, something like an error occurring in that process.

I considered the possibility for a while, then threw the phone onto the table. Since it was not something I could check right away anyway.

‘Anyway, Joo Seowon’s recorder....’

When I took out the recorder and checked it properly, its shape was smooth, so it did not seem like an object that could usually be opened and viewed right away.

‘Should I just dispose of it?’

Or did I have to listen and see what had been recorded from where to where? I tried fiddling with the recorder to find a button, then gave up and put it back inside my clothes.

‘I’m tired.’

Maybe because I had strangely overdone it since morning, my body felt a bit heavy. It was probably also because I was wearing a mana restraint.

I comfortably lay down long on Im Haekyung’s sofa. Well, it would take quite a while for them to come, so it would be fine even if I slept.

I did not know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes at the noise, Im Haekyung was standing beside the sofa, a jacket draped over one arm, looking down at me.

‘What?’

When they confirmed that I had woken up, the bastard asked as if dumbfounded.

“You slept?”

“Yes....”

“What I meant was that there was no need to stay at my house, and you could just find the mana restraint and go to your house, but not only are you still wearing the Association Chairman’s mana restraint that you stole, you were even sleeping outright.”

Hm? What kind of absurd nonsense was this again?

I rubbed down my face and asked back.

“Isn’t your mana restraint in handcuff form, Guild master? I can’t even drive wearing that, so are you telling me to take public transportation home?”

Of course, it was a distance I could walk, but whether I took the bus while wearing handcuffs or walked, it was obvious I would look like a crazy bastard either way.

“You could just put it on one hand.”

“Then does it suddenly become like a bracelet?”

“Let’s eat.”

Im Haekyung ignored my words and lifted the bag in their hand.

“What do you usually eat?”

“I eat meals. Why?”

“Seeing your refrigerator, it looked like you needed to disinfect it once.”

“Ah.”

At my words, Im Haekyung frowned.

“Why do you keep... poking around everywhere?”

“Do you not clean your refrigerator?”

“I do.”

If that was what cleaning was, did that mean they just ate expired food? As expected, S-ranks were different, and many things were really different. As I looked at the bastard in wonder, Im Haekyung spoke in a firm voice.

“It is not that.”

“Yes.”

How do they know what I was thinking?

“Can you perhaps read thoughts too?”

Im Haekyung ignored my words and went to the dining table, then took out lunch boxes.

‘It’s been a long time since the two of us ate together.’

When was the last time we ate? I searched my memory, then remembered the time when I had called Im Haekyung and Sung Uijae to one place.

“Guild master.”

“What?”

Im Haekyung, who had been about to eat, paused and answered.

“Why is your relationship with Hunter Sung bad?”

“I told you, it is not bad.”

“It looked bad?”

“Is that so? Then Hunter Sung must not like me very much. I do not have any particular resentment. He is not someone I will run into often anyway.”

“He is coming tomorrow.”

“Hunter Sung?”

“Yes.”

Im Haekyung would probably attend tomorrow too, so they would one hundred percent run into each other. Did they not think much of that?

“Even if he comes... there will almost never be a reason for us to be in the same place.”

“So why is your relationship bad?”

“I told you, it is not bad. Do not keep making my answer go in circles.”

“Did you use Mental Domination on Hunter Sung?”

“I did a few times.”

Hmm, was that why he disliked them?

“In a Dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“Can that not happen?”

“I did it a few times outside too. Maybe because his rank is high, he noticed well.”

“Aha.”

That was enough to dislike them, wasn’t it? I might be fine because I was in a position of using Mental Domination very properly, but Sung Uijae was a bastard who worked hard to protect freedom, so of course he would dislike being subjected to it.

On top of that, he already had some aversion toward S-rank abilities, so even more so.

‘When I first met him, the thing he took me to the auction and won was a nullification ring too.’

I frowned slightly at the memory that had come to mind after a long time, then first took Im Haekyung’s side.

“As you live, you can use Mental Domination. If you are not caught, it is not especially an inhumane method either, and if he is S-rank, then even if he gets hit with a bit of Mental Domination, it will not strain his body.”

“I do not use it carelessly either. As I told you, I think human rights... are important.”

“Wow, what human rights does an S-rank Hunter have? They should just think it is what it is even if their mind gets poked hard. Hunter Sung is fucking narrow-minded.”

“Jehyun, I am also an S-rank Hunter.”

“Yes.”

Anyway, I had thought they would at most buy lunch boxes from a convenience store, but it was admirable that they had bought restaurant lunch boxes. I continued eating and asked.

“But are you sending me home wearing handcuffs?”

“Yes, take them and use them well... and return them without a scratch. Since you are resting tomorrow anyway, go to the Hunter market and buy one restraint in a different form.”

“Yes.”

“Do not cause trouble.”

“You do not really think of me as a dog bastard, do you?”

At that, Im Haekyung let out a bright laugh, haha. When I smiled back at them, the bastard abruptly hardened their expression and answered.

“Jehyun, you are human while acting worse than a dog, so how could I think of you as a dog....”

This one is insulting me.

I remembered what Im Haekyung had said earlier in the Association Chairman’s office.

“But did you really raise a dog?”

“It was not me, my parents raised it.”

“Even now?”

If it was a dog they had raised when they were a teenager, would it be dead by now? I tried imagining a scene of Im Haekyung with a dog, then soon quit. At that, the bastard answered in an indifferent voice.

“I would not know after the abandonment.”

“You abandoned the dog?”

“No, me.”

“Aha.”

I picked up a side dish and ate it, then gave praise.

“Seeing as they did not abandon the dog, your parents were very responsible.”

“.......”

Im Haekyung looked at me as if dumbfounded. Well, Im Haekyung had volunteered to leave that house, and if they raised the dog well, that was enough.

After finishing the meal like that, Im Haekyung took off the bracelet on my wrist, replaced it with handcuffs, and gave me a warning.

“I will drive you home, so stay a little quiet tomorrow.”

“Can I go to the Hunter market you operate, Guild master? The Night Market.”

“Yes. That would be better, rather.... Go only there. Mana restraints should probably be scattered everywhere.”

“Yes.”

Maybe because the handcuffs were doubled on one hand, the weight was considerable. I shook my wrist lightly and answered with peace of mind.

“Just trust me.”

***

The next day.

Today too, the morning was noisy with the Hunter event. Im Haekyung, who belatedly checked the interview, called me from the morning and argued, but from my perspective, there was something unfair about it.

‘I did not say anything that was not true?’

‘Jehyun, I feel like I am going to get a headache that did not exist because of you.’

‘Let’s not think of it too negatively. We’re close, aren’t we. Whether boyfriend or friend, they mean something similar anyway.’

‘How is that a similar meaning?’

In any case, Im Haekyung went out to the event venue because time was getting close... and I was in a state of having left Im Haekyung behind and gone out to carry out an appointment.

Of course, one minor problem had overlapped.

‘The appointment time is a bit.’

Because I had made double appointments, I had planned to carry out the next one immediately after one ended, but the problem was that one appointment ended later than expected.

Sung Uijae was about to walk toward me, then paused and looked at Jin Haedo, who was sitting in front of me.

“Hunter Seo, haven’t we had something like this happen before too?”

“Ah, it is a little different. This person is about to leave now.”

“.......”

While Jin Haedo looked at Sung Uijae with interested eyes, I displayed social skills and introduced the two of them.

“Say hello. This is Sung Uijae, an Australian national S-rank Hunter.”

“.......”

“And this side is just a cult leader.”

However, neither Sung Uijae nor Jin Haedo particularly greeted each other.

‘With social skills this poor.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly and sent Jin Haedo back.

“Then Jin Haedo, you may leave now. Thank you very much for sharing truly good words today.”

“.......”

“.......”

“Ah, Hunter Sung, please sit.”