CHAPTER 106**

106 – Is This Really Okay?

Returning home after so long, even Jinwoo felt his body go limp.

No matter how comfortable a place was on the outside, he was always somewhat tense. All the more so since he’d just been touring nothing but dangerous locations.

'Let's see... I went outside the city with Chartia, stopped by Rona's world, and then went straight to the 3rd Floor.'

Looking back, it had been a grueling march. Not that he ever had any easy days, though.

As always, he reported his return to the Hunter Management Bureau to confirm his survival, then took a shower. No matter how tired he was, he was too grimy to just collapse into bed.

After a refreshing shower, Jinwoo dove straight into his bed. The soft mattress of his own bed was impossibly comfortable.

He didn't resist the wave of drowsiness and let his body sink into it. When Jinwoo finally woke up, he had slept for nearly 24 hours straight. He had spent an entire day sleeping.

Getting out of bed, Jinwoo woke his mind with some light stretching and checked his messages while preparing a simple meal.

As usual, there were many messages from various people. There was one from Ma Doo-sik, one from Chartia, and his inbox was still full of recruitment offers from different guilds.

'Are they still contacting me like this because I'm alone?'

There weren't many Hunters with Jinwoo's level of fame who remained unaffiliated with a guild. Naturally, he was a talent that various guilds would drool over.

Moreover, the fact that Ma Doo-sik had personally pushed for Jinwoo's S-class designation was known to anyone who needed to know. This included not only the top guilds but also intelligence agents from other countries.

Ma Doo-sik had never tried to hide the process; in fact, he had flaunted it. It was likely a proclamation to other nations. Something along the lines of, Kang Jinwoo is Seoul's S-class.

'A guild, huh.'

He hadn't been very interested before, but now he had even less inclination.

Why did Hunters join guilds in the first place? While there were administrative and legal matters, the Bureau provided enough support for those.

The core reason for joining a guild was, in the end, needing comrades. That was it.

The presence of allies was crucial when exploring the dangerous areas known as Gates to retrieve resources. But you couldn't form a new team every time, so people wanted a fixed, trustworthy team.

That was why they joined guilds, but it didn't really apply to the current Jinwoo.

'I have Kalesian, and besides, I can't take guild members to the Spirit Realm.'

Jinwoo's next destination was more or less set: the Spirit Realm, with Kalesian. He couldn't just take anyone to such a dangerous place.

To explore the Spirit Realm, even A-class was not enough. You needed to be at least S-class, and the only S-class Hunter in Seoul who could enter a Gate with him was Shin Do-woong.

Chartia and Ma Doo-sik had long since stopped exploring Gates for their own reasons.

'While I'm at it, should I contact Kalesian?'

Since they had come through the blue portal together, Kalesian must have returned yesterday as well.

Unlike him, Kalesian hadn't left the Gate since entering from New York, so he was probably in New York right now.

He made the call. After a few rings, it was answered.

— Hello? Jinwoo?

"Kal... Mahiri."

It was Mahiri's voice. There might be other people around, so Jinwoo didn't say Kalesian's name out loud.

— You've returned safely. Are you in Seoul?

"Yes. I'm home."

— You haven't forgotten our promise, have you?

How could he forget? It was a chance to raid a dragon's treasury.

"When would be a good time for me to visit?"

— Right now is a bit difficult. I'm still in New York. How about we both get some rest and meet in about a week?

A week. It was a suitable amount of time for a short break.

"Sounds good. I'll contact you again then."

— I'll be waiting.

They had already discussed the necessary details inside the Gate, so all that was needed was a simple confirmation.

Jinwoo was about to put his smartphone down after ending the call. But a thought suddenly came to him, and he searched his contacts again.

'Here it is.'

Kurenai Masato's phone number. When he received it, Kurenai had said he would almost never answer, but Jinwoo tried calling just in case.

The result was as expected. The line just kept ringing, but no one picked up.

Did he normally not answer calls, or had he not yet returned from the 3rd Floor?

'I wanted to ask if he really took the Lord of Light's divine object.'

If he didn't answer, there was nothing to be done. Jinwoo was the only person in the world who could see him, but it wasn't like he could go out and search for the man.

Around that time, the kimchi jjigae he had put on the stove began to bubble. Jinwoo's eyes lit up as he tossed his phone aside and set the table.

Spicy kimchi jjigae after such a long time. This wasn't a refreshing version, but a stimulating one, boiled with a ton of meat and seasoning.

With eyes shining brighter than they had in a long while, Jinwoo began his meal. It was only now that he truly felt like he was back home.

After diligently finishing off waffles with apple jam for dessert, Jinwoo went online to check the general mood.

He checked the news that had come out while he was away, any new issues, and the extent of the damage from the incident on the 3rd Floor.

Fortunately, it seemed there wasn't any major damage. Most of the trapped Hunters had returned safely, and since the incident occurred in a Gate and not on Earth, the damage hadn't spread.

'Pandemonium, on the other hand, is pretty much wrecked.'

The city on the 3rd Floor had completely collapsed, but frankly, no country would care about that.

If Seoul had collapsed like that, it would have been a terrible disaster, but no one mourns the fall of a city inside a Gate.

If anything, only the guilds that used Pandemonium as their base of operations would feel regretful.

'People are making more noise about how the 3rd Floor has changed.'

Since there was little damage, that topic wasn't a big deal. What was causing an uproar was the incident itself and the changes to the 3rd Floor.

More than half of the thirteen temples had collapsed. As a result, many of the altars on the 2nd Floor had become non-functional junk.

Those who had accumulated contribution points for the vanished gods expressed considerable frustration, but it wasn't exactly what you'd call "damage." It's not like high contribution points earned you a salary.

With the 3rd Floor in this state, the place most Hunters were now focusing on was the 4th Floor.

'The 4th Floor... A lot of people will probably take this chance to move up.'

Now that the merits of the 3rd Floor had all but disappeared, Hunters had two options: go up to the 4th Floor or down to the 2nd Floor.

However, the 2nd Floor was also a place under the influence of the 13 Gods and had been directly hit by the aftermath of this incident.

In the case of the 2nd Floor, the appearance of undead monsters meant there was little direct profit from hunting. The main source of income there was magic items—items imbued with the power or curse of the 13 Gods.

But now, many of those items had become empty shells.

Even the helmet in Jinwoo's inventory, which had been cursed by the Sky God, was now just an old, rusty helmet with the curse gone.

With things as they were, few people would go down to the 2nd Floor. It wasn't exactly a pleasant environment, either.

He figured that those with even a little ambition left would aim for the 4th Floor, while Hunters in an ambiguous position might flock to the 1st Floor or even retire altogether.

That was the general atmosphere.

"It seems the backbone of the whole system got completely shattered."

Jinwoo smacked his lips. The 2nd and 3rd Floors had accommodated the majority of active Hunters, so with those two floors ruined, many Hunters seemed to be left in limbo.

The entire market might fluctuate and change. The supply from the 2nd and 3rd Floors would decrease significantly.

Conversely, the resources from those places would become rare and their value would rise, and more Hunters would jump in, aiming for that increased value.

That's how the world turns. It might be chaotic for a while, but it would eventually stabilize.

After checking the major issues, there was nothing left to do. Jinwoo sat blankly on the sofa and turned on the TV.

'So, what now?'

As he was mindlessly flipping through channels, the glass bead began to glow faintly again.

[The God of the Moonlight Forest is excited.]

Jinwoo gave a wry smile. Had she been waiting for this very moment?

Still, she had been quiet while he was busy, and she had continuously provided her blessing to help him during his fights.

Jinwoo turned on the animation he had been watching last time and watched it with the God of the Moonlight Forest. In the middle, he brought out popcorn and coke, and he even finished his dinner right there.

As night fell, the God of the Moonlight Forest seemed satisfied and departed, and Jinwoo let out a long stretch.

"The day went by faster than I thought."

He had thought that this rare, leisurely time after being so busy would pass slowly, but when he actually lived it, it flew by in the blink of an eye.

He wasn't complaining. He could feel the mental fatigue that had accumulated being washed away by a day like this.

But this time, his hands started to itch. Once the mental fatigue was gone, his body started acting up.

Jinwoo went out to the garden and drew the Nebula Sword, now sheathed in the Sky Sword's Scabbard where the Sky Sword used to be.

The sky was full of clouds, obscuring even the moonlight.

In the dead of night, where he could barely see what was in front of him, Jinwoo raised his sword and began to swing it slowly.

Not fast slashes like in a fight, but deliberately slow. He focused on slowing the speed down even further.

'This is actually harder.'

Slashing quickly is easy. If you distribute your strength properly and find the point where your movements are optimized, swinging fast isn't difficult.

On the contrary, cutting slowly was harder. And it was even more difficult if the sword moved so slowly that, to an observer, it looked almost stationary.

Jinwoo's sword, which was getting slower and slower, eventually looked as if it had stopped.

Just as the moon hidden by the clouds moves ever so slowly across the sky, Jinwoo's sword moved with similar slowness.

In the process, every muscle in his body had to be tensed without exception, and his concentration reached its peak. Naturally, all thoughts emptied from his mind, and the space was filled with the enlightenments he had gained from the battles he had fought so far.

'Rondar.'

The greatest of them all was, by far, Rondar. How many realizations and epiphanies had he gained from his battle with him?

'But it's not enough.'

It was true that he had gained a lot from the fight with Rondar. But that was merely the process of embodying what he had seen in his memories with his current physical body.

He had gotten somewhat used to it, but he was still far from the state he had witnessed in his memories.

— Hmph. You're finally somewhat decent to look at.

That was Rondar's assessment of their final battle, before he handed over the Nebula Sword and disappeared.

But in his memories, Rondar had never once won against his past self. He had never even come close to winning.

An opponent with such a vast difference in skill was now only saying he was "decent to look at."

It meant he still had a long way to go.

'If I go to the Spirit Realm.'

He might find the seeds of even more enlightenment. That was another reason he had decided to coax Kalesian into going to the Spirit Realm.

And he might hear news of the real Rondar, not just a phantom.

As he swung his sword with these thoughts, a black aura rippled around Jinwoo.

The energy of Erosion poured out from the sword and scabbard as if overflowing. It coiled around his arm, groped at his chest and side, and wrapped around his legs.

Looking at it, Jinwoo had a similar impression to when he had seen Rondar. The energy of Erosion wasn't awkward or clashing; it blended with him naturally.

Is this really okay?

...It was also true that he felt a little anxious.

The more he confronted the Monarchs, the more he recalled his past life's memories, the closer he got to Erosion.

Was this a good sign or a bad one... no, it couldn't be a good sign. That's why he felt anxious.

The night passed like that, and even after a week, Jinwoo couldn't find an answer.

And so, he boarded a plane bound for New Delhi.

This time, he was able to land safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport without any incidents.