Chapter 9
Rrrrrrr—!
Rrrrrrr—!
Rrrrrrr—!
Rumble…!
Two days had already passed since Kang Yul holed up in the Gate and focused on mining.
He kept at it, hoping something would turn up soon, like the amber last time, but so far he had nothing to show for it.
"Phew…! It's hot, so hot!"
Only two days remained before he had to help with the Bureau's work.
He needed to find something today and raise the money to buy Hunter gear, but Kang Yul decided not to let himself get impatient.
After all…
Wriggle—
"The Worm's here."
Kang Yul wasn't alone anymore.
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It feels deep affection for you.
: It thinks it will help you.
"I'd be grateful if you helped me again today."
For the past two days, Kang Yul had always mined alongside the Worm.
The Worm wasn't mining itself. It could, but it would be far too inefficient.
There was a limit to how much a finger-sized Worm could eat at once, after all.
So Kang Yul had it do something else.
It ate the dirt piled up on the ground and cleared it away.
Chrrk— chrrk— chrrk— chrrk—
It might not have seemed like much, but that alone was a huge help to Kang Yul.
Kang Yul mined, and the Worm ate the dirt.
And while the Worm ate, Kang Yul installed supports to keep the tunnel from collapsing.
They'd only eliminated the step of clearing away the dirt, but the efficiency of their work had noticeably improved.
'Maybe it's because I'm not working alone? Somehow, this feels easier than before.'
Thanks to this, Kang Yul's mining time had doubled.
He used to get exhausted after about four hours a day, but now he could easily last eight.
Whenever he got hungry, he could just grab a handful of dirt nearby and shovel it into his mouth to tide himself over.
'This ability to eat dirt is surprisingly handy.'
It was nice to save on food, but how to put it… eating dirt seemed to give him a burst of energy.
It felt like it eased his fatigue a little.
'Well, it probably has more to do with cutting out one step of the process.'
Anyway, he kept mining, eating dirt, and taking short breaks while the overheated rock drill cooled down.
Once his break was over, he went back to mining, and repeated the cycle.
Wriggle—!!!
"What's wrong, Worm?"
The Worm hurried over, wriggling at an incredible speed. It tapped Kang Yul's shoe as if it had something to tell him, then…
It looked toward a spot slightly off from the direction Kang Yul had been mining.
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It says it can smell tasty soil in that direction.
: It wants to eat tasty soil.
"There's tasty soil in this direction?"
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It feels deep affection for you!
"Is that what you mean…?"
Kang Yul picked up the still-hot rock drill and began mining in the direction the Worm had indicated.
He wasn't sure what the Worm meant by tasty soil, but if it tasted different from the dirt they were eating now, that meant the geological layer was changing.
He couldn't help hoping he might find some new minerals worth money nearby.
Rrrrrrr—!
Kang Yul dug into the wall and installed supports.
Chrrk— chrrk— chrrk— chrrk—
The Worm ate the dirt and helped him along.
Rrrrrrr—!
Rrrrrrr—!
Rrrrr… KrrrRRR—!!!
It was the twelfth hour since he had started mining.
At last, the sound of the rock drill striking the rock began to change.
!
Wriggle—!
As if by mutual agreement, Kang Yul and the Worm glanced at each other, then cautiously approached the wall.
On the other side was a layer completely different from the ones they'd encountered so far, jet-black as if soaked in ink.
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It feels happy to have found tasty soil!
: It wants to eat tasty soil.
"This is soil…?"
Kang Yul didn't want to rain on the Worm's parade, but he didn't think that black layer was soil.
At first glance it might have looked like black earth, but if he dug in just a little further…
KrrrRRR—!
Glint—!
…a glossy, deep-black surface like glass appeared.
Kang Yul ran his fingertips over the smooth, glass-like black layer and thought.
"Is this… coal?"
Wriggle—?
﹝Special Features﹞
: It feels deep affection for you?
"No, I wasn't criticizing you. I was just wondering if you could eat this too, since it isn't soil."
Well, judging by how it had happily chewed through the amber, the Worm probably didn't eat only dirt.
Given its nickname, the Mountain-Eating Worm, maybe it was an omnivore.
He was just curious whether coal fell under the Worm's definition of tasty soil.
'But if it's an omnivore, why won't it eat the bone in the cavern?'
That had happened yesterday.
Just in case, Kang Yul pointed to the bone in the cavern and asked the Worm if it would eat it, but…
Wriggle…
﹝Special Features﹞
: It thinks that isn't tasty soil.
: …….
The Worm refused to eat the bone.
But rather than seeming like it didn't want to eat it, its refusal felt more like it shouldn't eat it.
'What on earth is that bone…?'
Kang Yul wondered what the bone was, but before long he gave up trying to figure it out.
There were truths in this world that were better left undiscovered.
And in Kang Yul's eyes, if even the Worm was wary of eating that bone, it had to be one of them.
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It wants to eat tasty soil!
"Ah, sorry. I'll give you some now."
KrrrRRR—!
Kang Yul came to his senses at the Worm's urging and chipped off a suitable amount of coal with the rock drill, setting it down in front of the Worm.
He also put some in the box and made a trade with the Favor Merchant.
He figured coal might be worth more than dirt.
A little while later,
Kang Yul waited as he and the Worm tasted the freshly mined coal.
"So coal tastes like cinnamon…? Wait, I can eat minerals too? Is that okay?"
Wriggle—!
﹝Special Features﹞
: It thinks this is tasty soil!
"Hmm… Well, I'm already eating dirt, so I guess eating a bit of mineral won't change anything."
Click—!
"Ah, the note's here."
After receiving the usual white note confirming that the deposit had gone through, Kang Yul left the Gate and checked his smartphone.
And Kang Yul was sure.
[HT Bank] 3,000,000 won deposited (Depositor: Favor Merchant) Balance: 4,305,921 won
"Th-three million won at once?!!"
At last, his time had come.
######
A psychologist once said.
To reach a world-class level of expertise in a particular field, it takes at least ten years.
Of course, spending ten years at it any old way wouldn't make everyone an expert.
It took that much time spent in intense focus and repeated practice.
Naturally, this tendency became even more pronounced in professions where competition or a single mistake could cost you your life.
By now, one profession had become the prime example of this.
The profession of dealing with supernatural phenomena.
More specifically, Hunters, whose job was to confront, manage, and investigate supernatural phenomena firsthand.
"Team Leader Myo, that guy seems to have come empty-handed. He's got no sense of danger. He won't last long in the Hunter business."
"…"
"On the other hand, what's with that guy wearing so much? Mental corruption is the biggest danger at Suraksan Gate, so he clearly hasn't seen the Hunter Gallery information. He won't last long either."
"…"
It's been twenty years since supernatural phenomena appeared in the world.
Twenty years was plenty of time for an industry to grow stagnant, and among those old hands, one saying had been passed down.
'You may not be able to tell who'll survive for a long time, but it's easy to spot who's about to die.'
They said that if you worked in this field for long enough, you couldn't help but learn to recognize it.
That was only natural in an industry where it wasn't unusual to see someone you met yesterday as a corpse today.
If you were unlucky, you'd be reduced to an unrecognizable chunk of meat. If you were even less lucky, no one would find your body at all.
That was why the longer a Hunter had been active, the more sensitive they became to death.
They didn't judge their relationships by rational standards like personality or appearance.
They cared about only one thing in a relationship.
Whether someone could stubbornly survive or not. That was all.
"Hey, Team Leader Myo. Am I the only one with a mouth here? Say something, will you?"
"…"
"You taciturn bitch. We've known each other for years, and you can't say a single word? Say something!"
"Words."
"Crazy bitch. You better die after me, okay?"
That was why veteran Hunters sometimes kept in touch even with people whose personalities didn't quite mesh with theirs.
Someone who wasn't about to die.
Someone who could survive for a long time and exchange information with them.
Someone whose familiar face was a welcome sight after they ran into each other again for the first time in ages.
Someone they could chat with about trivial things whenever they met.
That was enough.
"If you die before me, I'll make sure your corpse doesn't rest. I'll put you to work until I die."
"Yes. Please do."
"Ugh… You're no fun. What am I supposed to talk about with a haughty cat like you?"
Of course, there came a time when even that wasn't enough.
For veteran Hunters who had a few screws loose after years in the field, everyday life was nothing but tedious.
In the end, that could become the reason they kept on living without being able to give up the Hunter life.
"I want to get into the Gate already, but these rookie Hunter brats are slacking off, making their senior wait… Ah, I'm annoyed. Should I just turn them all into corpses and go in?"
"…"
"…Hey, Team Leader Myo. Say something, you bitch. I'm really about to cause trouble."
"Words."
"Ha, you sly cat. Fine, let's see who dies first today!"
Crash—!
"T-Team Leaders! If you fight here, we'll all die!"
"Aaaagh! Help! Please! Somebody help!"
Most Hunters considered old hands in the industry could be assumed to have no money worries for the rest of their lives.
In theory, since they could retire right then and live without any trouble, the right thing to do was avoid Gates where they could lose their lives at any moment and enjoy the rest of their days.
Yes, in 'theory,' that is.
"Team Leader Oh! Please calm down! There are rookie Hunters below too!"
"Let go of me, you bastards! You all want to die?"
"Aaaagh! Team Leader Myo! Please say something!"
"Words."
Veteran Hunters had usually traveled far too long a road.
By the time they came to their senses and looked back, they might already have stepped outside the bounds of humanity.
Or, without realizing it, they might have gone too far to turn back and become 'something that wasn't human.'
And so…
Those veteran Hunters couldn't help but react more sensitively than anyone to other aberrant beings of the same kind as themselves.
"Fine! I'll turn all of you into corpses and make you parade around naked… Hmm…? Hey, what's that?"
"I don't know."
The two team leaders, who had looked ready to fight at any moment, turned their heads at the same time and looked in one direction.
At the end of their gaze, an unremarkable-looking man was opening the auditorium door and stepping inside.
"Hey, black cat. Do you know anything? Nowon-gu is your territory."
"No. This is the first time I've seen that being."
"You didn't know about someone like that walking around in broad daylight?"
"That's right."
"What a thing to brag about, bitch."
Even while they talked, neither team leader took her eyes off the man who had entered through the door.
He showed his Hunter license at the entrance and received a name tag that read [Kang Yul].
He pinned the name tag to his chest and sat in the assigned seat.
Then he awkwardly kept his distance, watching the rookie Hunters around him without managing to join their conversation.
He looked every bit like an ordinary rookie Hunter, but…
The two team leaders didn't take their eyes off him for even a moment.
"He's pretending to be human…?"
"Quite naturally."
"Exactly. If I didn't know, I'd think he was human. What on earth is he?"
Having stepped beyond the bounds of humanity, they instinctively knew.
The man wearing the name tag [Kang Yul] was no ordinary Hunter.
He was something that had crossed the line long ago—and then gone far beyond it, becoming 'something that wasn't human.'
"The mana density in his body feels at least B… no, A?"
"Either way, it's not a mana density a rookie Hunter could have."
The two team leaders analyzed him with sharp eyes.
Perhaps he was deliberately concealing it, but the amount of mana he had was extremely faint.
Still, its density was so unusual that any experienced Hunter would notice it at once.
"Was he trapped in an A-rank Gate for ten years? What kind of density is that?"
"That may really be the case."
The two team leaders clicked their tongues and glared at him. They couldn't help it.
A Hunter's internal mana density grew stronger depending on how dangerous the Gates they'd survived in were and how long they'd survived in them.
And that was directly tied to how strong the Hunter was.
After all, high mana density was practically proof that the Hunter had survived a dangerous Gate.
Like the rings in a tree.
But not many Hunters knew about this.
Most Hunters and ordinary people couldn't sense the difference in mana.
So they couldn't detect its density either, and judged strength by the amount of mana they could roughly gauge.
That was why, among veteran Hunters, anyone with a lot of mana but negligible density was considered a talentless husk.
There were ways to increase your mana with drugs or by-products, but density wasn't something you could raise that way.
"So what are we going to do? If we mess with him for nothing, we might be the ones fucked."
"Do you think we'd lose?"
"You fucking bitch, are you provoking me at a time like this?"
"Answer the question."
"…"
Team Leader Oh stared silently at the being sitting in the auditorium.
There was an inexplicable fear in her eyes, even she wasn't sure why.
"Honestly, I can't say I'm confident we'd win. The density is one thing, but… how should I put it? He feels fundamentally dangerous. I don't know why, but I feel like if we mess with him, we'll be royally fucked."
"Is your skill warning you, Team Leader Oh?"
"No, my skill's quiet. That's what makes me more uneasy. The fact that it considers someone like that 'quiet' is unnatural."
Then Team Leader Myo closed her eyes, saying only, "Understood."
A moment later, her bright yellow eyes flashed, and she spoke again.
"I agree with Team Leader Oh. So we'll leave that being alone."
"Are you sure? I can pretend I didn't see him since this isn't my jurisdiction, but you've got a lot to be responsible for."
"Do we have another option?"
"What about calling the Association president or getting help from a corporation…?"
"Do you think that would give us a chance?"
"Uh…"
Team Leader Oh turned and looked down into the auditorium.
Before long, she shook her head, her face pale, and said,
"…No, I have an even stronger feeling we'd be royally fucked. Irreversibly, for real."
"I feel the same."
Team Leader Myo shifted her gaze toward that being.
The man wearing the [Kang Yul] name tag was looking around, seemingly fascinated by everything.
"For now, we have no choice but to trust that he's acting favorably toward humans."
"True, there are plenty of guys obsessed with roleplaying and hiding their identities. If he's that type, he'll keep acting like a rookie unless we provoke him."
Don't provoke the man playing [Kang Yul].
The two team leaders settled on letting him keep up the act of a rookie Hunter who had only recently awakened.
"Oh, by the way, who's going to escort that guy?"
"Would you take care of it?"
"Would I? He's in your jurisdiction, so you handle him."
"Understood."
Thus, the two veteran Hunters representing Seoul's boroughs concluded that the rookie Hunter named [Kang Yul] was 'something resembling a human.'
At that moment, Kang Yul was…
'I want to hurry up and finish this so I can get back to mining. When is this going to end…?'
Completely unaware of all this.
He was eager to get back to mining the new resource the Worm had found for him the day before yesterday.