Chapter 2
Host's Cheat Map.
It's a term for maps designed to favor the host in games. It's so well-known that people sometimes use it as a metaphor outside of games, too.
For instance, a vast national territory, enormous tracts of developable land, abundant natural resources, rivers stretching across the entire country, and so on…
A country with overwhelming advantages in every respect, incomparable to any other, was called a Host's Cheat Map.
Nowadays, there's one more thing people use this metaphor for.
<Korean Hunter Gallery>
───
[Title: Today's Host's Cheat Gate]
[Anonymous]
(Image of an enormous amount of mana crystals found in an F-rank gate in Pocheon)
Oh~ Korea-hyung again~!
Hyung found a mana crystal mine in an F-rank gate, yeah.
───
[Comments]
[Yet another ridiculous cheat gate has appeared]
ㄴ[Why on earth are mana crystals coming out of an F-rank gate?]
ㄴ[Wasn't that only theoretically possible?]
ㄴ[And yet, surprise~ It actually happened~?]
ㄴ[It's not like gates like this showing up in our country is anything new, lol?]
ㄴ[Small country with few buried resources, but its gates are packed]
ㄴ[Korea's Host's Cheat Gates are a time-honored tradition]
ㄴ[But this one's gone a bit too far]
ㄴ[A mine in a gate with a mere F-rank danger rating is a bit much, lol]
ㄴ[??? : Haha;; sry!]
Twenty years ago, the supernatural phenomenon known as 'gates' appeared out of nowhere.
These gates, passageways connected to other dimensions, were full of countless dangers that defied human understanding.
At one time, they were called world-ending disasters, to the point that every country threw everything it had into getting rid of them.
'Well, that's all ancient history now.'
As time passed, Hunters appeared, and humanity made tremendous advances through the byproducts discovered in gates.
Technology advanced to the point that even people who weren't Hunters could begin managing gates.
Of course, high-risk gates still required the strength of Hunters.
But some gates could be managed by trained personnel equipped with gear made from gate byproducts.
As a result, gates gradually came to be classified not merely as dangerous disasters, but as special resources that could bring great profits if handled properly.
'More accurately, I suppose they had to be.'
The difference in development between countries that specialized in managing gates and using their byproducts and those that destroyed them indiscriminately for being dangerous was like night and day.
And that was one of the reasons Kang Yul had gotten hooked on the profession of 'Hunter' at such a young age.
In the industries of the future, 'Hunters' would inevitably play a role.
To avoid falling behind the tide of the times, it was necessary to learn everything possible about Hunters as early as possible.
That's why.
So, after all this rambling, what I'm trying to say is….
───────────
[Web Message]
[Purchase History]
- Supernatural Phenomenon Detector - 999,999 won
- Hard hat - 39,000 won
- LED headlamp - 48,000 won
- Folding shovel - 32,000 won
- Mining pickaxe - 87,000 won
- Geological hammer - 61,000 won
- Logging axe - 74,000 won
- Gathering sickle - 36,000 won
- Stab-resistant workwear set - 298,000 won
- Hunter mask - 99,000 won
- First aid kit - 54,000 won
.
.
.
[Payment Approved]
Amount: 2,980,000 won
───────────
'...This is an investment. I absolutely mustn't begrudge the money.'
All of Kang Yul's savings were gone, leaving just 921 won in the bank account.
If Kang Yul didn't manage to bring anything useful back from the gate within a week, it would be straight out of the studio apartment and onto the street as a beggar!
Kang Yul stopped his hand from trembling as he read the bill and steeled himself.
Kang Yul pictured a future where the gate exploration succeeded and he could bathe in 50,000-won bills.
"Phew… Okay, I'm calm now."
Having recharged his spirits by picturing that happy future, Kang Yul looked at the blue gate rippling before him and thought.
'I'm freaking out now that I'm actually about to go in….'
It was only natural to hesitate, given that Kang Yul was putting into practice the second-leading cause of Hunter deaths: 'Dying while exploring a newly discovered gate.'
Especially alone, as a rookie who'd only awakened as a Hunter yesterday.
'...Still, I have to go in.'
Kang Yul would've liked to tell a veteran Hunter about this gate and enter with them, but the gate was far too valuable for that.
In other words, the risk of becoming a victim of the number-one cause of Hunter deaths—'getting into trouble after telling people around you that you'd awakened without knowing any better'—was simply too high.
So Kang Yul decided to summon up some courage and use the beginner's gate-exploration method seen on Hunter Gallery.
'A tip so good it even made it to a featured post.'
Kang Yul took out the Supernatural Phenomenon Detector bought at the Hunter Market for a third of his entire fortune.
There was no intention of going in just yet.
The plan was to put only the arm holding the detector through the entrance and check for danger nearby.
That way, even in the worst-case scenario, losing just one arm would be the end of it.
Of course, losing that one arm would be devastating right now… but it was still better than doing something as reckless as sticking a head in.
'Please, let there be nothing around the entrance…!'
Click-
With that, the Supernatural Phenomenon Detector was switched on.
Ripple-!
Only the arm holding the detector went into the gate, and the scan began.
According to the product description, the scan took about five minutes and could detect living things within a 1 km radius….
'Five minutes. I just have to hold on for five minutes.'
…There was no room in Kang Yul's head for rational thoughts like that right now.
All Kang Yul could think about was how he wished the five minutes would pass quickly and that his arm would still be attached when they did.
And then, after ten seconds… one minute… and five minutes that felt like an eternity.
Brrrr…!!!
The instant a vibration was felt in his hand, Kang Yul quickly pulled it back out.
The detector was glowing a soft green, as if indicating that there were no lifeforms nearby.
"Ha, haha… Getting in is no easy feat…"
Kang Yul hadn't even entered the gate yet, and his work clothes were already soaked with cold sweat.
Kang Yul wanted to change right away, but there were no spare clothes, and there'd be more sweating once inside the gate, so it was best to go in as he was.
The folding shovel was used to check that the ground beyond the gate was solid, in case there was a cliff or a swamp.
Only after finishing every check possible and gaining some confidence that it was safe did Kang Yul step through the gate.
Ripple-!
And so, with the sensation of crossing over something, the scenery beyond the gate came into view….
'...A cavern?'
It was too dark to see clearly, but a look around by the faint shaft of light coming down from above revealed that…
It was a fairly large cavern, surrounded on all sides by stone or dirt.
'A sealed space right from the start... I could've died if I'd made one wrong move.'
The information posts warned that if a gate's interior was underground or otherwise enclosed, toxic gas was likely to have accumulated inside.
Thank goodness for the Hunter mask. Without it, Kang Yul could've been done for without knowing what hit him.
'What place was this on the death rankings again…?'
Kang Yul couldn't remember exactly, but knew it was pretty high… Anyway.
The good news was that there didn't seem to be any harmful gas in the cavern.
If there had been, the Hunter mask would've blinked red to warn of the danger.
'Still, better not use a flame, just in case.'
Even without toxic gas, plenty of people had died from a lack of oxygen in enclosed spaces, so there was no harm in being careful.
Keeping possible dangers in mind, Kang Yul switched on the headlamp attached to the hard hat.
The faint light coming down from the ceiling wasn't enough to explore the place properly, so Kang Yul decided to use the headlamp.
Click-!
The instant the headlamp came on, Kang Yul could hardly believe his eyes.
That was because the place Kang Yul had thought was an underground cavern was actually….
'Inside a creature's stomach…?'
It was hard to believe, but the headlamp illuminated what looked like the bones of some enormous creature, exposed here and there across the ceiling and walls.
It looked as though some gigantic creature had died here, and soil and dust had piled up over countless years until the place became a cavern.
But there was something else even more astonishing.
'What's that…?'
As Kang Yul looked around the cavern, his gaze stopped where the faint shaft of light coming down from the ceiling fell.
In the barren cavern, a single small flower—the only living thing—was blooming there, but… something about the shape of its bud was strange….
'...A hamburger?'
Unless mistaken, the layers of orange, green, red, brown, and yellow looked just like a hamburger.
'Could this be…?'
ㄴ[So? What about the burger?]
ㄴ[Fake Monkey's Paw: I put it inside the gate, yeah]
…It really couldn't be, but.
This wasn't the burger the supernatural phenomenon had given him, was it…?