Chapter 41

<This is the first visitor’s accompaniment. A summary of the gate information will be displayed.>

<You have pressed skip. The display will be canceled.>

As soon as they entered the gate, a dizzying system window popped up. Thinking “What kind of explanation is this?” Sa-yoon habitually pressed skip and opened his eyes as the light faded.

In the endlessly sprawling plain, a single intact car was placed. Sa-yoon, who got out of the car with the engine turned off after entering the gate, opened the rear door with a mischievous face.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?”

Geon-joo, whose hair had become disheveled due to the rough driving, raised his eyes. His fox-like demeanor was disappearing more and more, and he was acting like a raccoon dog.

“You look fine to me.”

He was perfectly unharmed, with no broken limbs. When Sa-yoon praised him for being commendable, saying he must have held tightly onto the seat belt as he had told him to, Geon-joo made an expression that suggested he had a lot to say. His pretty face was covered in dissatisfaction.

“What’s the big deal if your hair is a bit messy? It’s cute.”

He was still in his early twenties. It was the age when people were very conscious of their appearance, so while Sa-yoon fixed Geon-joo’s hair for him and complimented him, the man with an astonished expression got out of the car.

“You think that’s what this is about?”

“Isn’t it?”

“You know it’s not, so why are you trying to get on my nerves? Who enters a gate like this?”

“Why? We often enter like this.”

There must have been at least thirty cars rammed into gates. Sometimes, when the system told him to kidnap and kill someone without a trace, if he loaded them into a truck and threw them into a gate, there was no easier way to eliminate evidence.

Looking at Geon-joo as if he were a person behind the times for not knowing the convenience of gate disposal, probably because he hadn’t adapted to the Night Rats Guild yet, Geon-joo spoke in a lower voice than usual, sweeping his hair back.

“Didn’t you say we’d rest before going?”

“We did rest, in the car.”

“You said we’d rest at the guild.”

“Originally, when you join a guild, all the guild-owned cars are like homes and such.”

Sa-yoon spoke shamelessly. At his tone suggesting that everyone lived like this, Geon-joo swallowed a sigh, held his forehead, and let out a groan.

“What about the gate you said we were going to? You clearly said it was A-grade.”

“A-grade? You must have misheard. I clearly said it was S-grade.”

<The well-oiled tongue moves. Skill ‘Scam’ is activated.>

<The target’s distrust is high. The skill is disrupted.>

Tsk.

Sa-yoon, who had briefly rejoiced with an “Oh” at the skill activation, only to click his tongue in less than a second, turned his head and whistled at Geon-joo, who was giving him a look that seemed to say, “Guild Master, you’re spouting nonsense.” It was an action he took knowing that it was difficult to provoke someone in a similar context to the saying “You can’t spit on a smiling face” if you blatantly played dumb.

Indeed, bringing him in while he was in the car was the right answer.

If he had tried to drag him out and take him, even if it meant using a skill, Geon-joo would have tried to refuse to go.

Satisfied with the successful kidnapping, which he thought was foresight even in his own opinion, Sa-yoon noticed Geon-joo taking out a sword from his inventory.

“Even if you attack me with that, you’ll lose.”

“Says the thief accusing others. I took it out because I thought I should prepare now that we’re in the gate.”

“If that’s the case, never mind.”

Sa-yoon, who had been willing to gladly engage him if he had said he wanted to fight, shrugged his shoulders and also took out his weapon. A system notification window arrived belatedly.

<To clear the gate, you must achieve all of the following conditions.>

[Survive for 15 days 0/15]

[Secure a base 0/1]

[Seize a base 0/1]

[Handle monster waves 0/3]

[Defeat monsters 0/1,000]

[Achieve a perfect escape 0/100]

[Defeat boss-level monsters 0/3]

[Excavate a dungeon 0/1]

[Conquer a dungeon 0/1]

It had been a while since he had seen the clearing conditions. Looking at it again, it was an extremely difficult level that would make even a saint curse in anger. Geon-joo, who had checked the blue window that would make even a saint curse and leave, paused for a long moment before asking.

“Are S-grade gates usually this complicated?”

“Not all S-grade gates are like this, but the field is a bit extreme.”

“Field?”

“Its official name is ‘The Ruined World,’ but among the awakened, it’s called the field. As far as I know, there’s no gate as unique as this one.”

When Sa-yoon added that the field was the best in terms of uniqueness, Geon-joo, who had never experienced the field before, expressed his confusion as if he didn’t understand.

“Unique?”

“Why do you think this place is called ‘The Ruined World,’ pretty boy?”

“What’s with the sudden twenty questions?”

His tone was a bit sulky. Sa-yoon silently looked around.

Unfamiliar buildings had collapsed, and what appeared to be a laboratory had turned into ruins, either burned or worn down. It wasn’t much different from the scenery he had seen when he had come before.

“Since I skipped the explanation, you probably don’t know, but this place is literally a ‘ruined world.'”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a place that recreates a world that was invaded by monsters like us but failed to fend them off and was destroyed.”

It was a world that had actually existed.

According to the explanatory video shown by the system when first entering the ruined world, this place was a recreation of a world from another dimension.

Once upon a time, people had lived here, and those called the awakened had emerged to respond to the destruction brought by the invading monsters.

And they had failed.

In a way, this gate was like a warning from the system to the current human race on Earth.

If you don’t want to end up like this, you better conquer the gates properly.

Of course, it only applied to those who were commanded to be the “saviors.”

To Sa-yoon, who possessed the true evil nature of humanity, this gate was a place that showed the future of the world he had to lead, like an example.

Although he didn’t particularly feel like destroying it.

He had never entered the field and vowed to turn Earth into this state. Even though he had deliberately caused gate saturation or killed high-level awakened individuals because the system had put a damn compulsory enforcement on him, he had never practiced wanting Earth to be destroyed.

Then, around the time he started to think, “Who cares if this damn world is destroyed or not?” he had obtained the status window. It was the most thrilling moment since he had awakened and found a way to escape from the system, but it would be troublesome if Earth were destroyed.

If it were to be destroyed, it should at least happen after I die.

While he was thinking to himself, Geon-joo, who seemed to be pondering his words for a moment, made a face that suggested he had finished understanding. Sa-yoon continued his explanation.

“Seeing is believing, so you’ll understand what I meant when the gate is activated. Monsters ranging from E-grade to S-grade will appear everywhere, threatening your life, and unless you secure a safe zone called a ‘base,’ you’ll constantly be exposed to danger. Even if you secure a base, it doesn’t mean you’ll be completely safe. From then on, you’ll have to fight against two entities.”

“Two entities?”

“Monsters and humans.”

“It’s getting a bit difficult to understand. What do you mean by humans?”

Geon-joo frowned at the mention of humans. It seemed like he took it as a joke to tease him, so Sa-yoon calmly explained. He thought skipping the explanatory video was the root of the problem.

“I told you, it’s a ‘world.’ It means we’re not the only ones here.”

“…”

“The field recreates even the people who lived in the ruined world.”

The memory of when he first entered the field vividly resurfaced. When he was exhausted and dying from the monsters, he had barely found a base and chosen to hide there, but within two days of finding stability in the base, unfamiliar people had stormed in. At first, he had greeted them, thinking they were people who had come to help without knowing better, only to be ambushed and killed. When he was revived, he couldn’t feel more betrayed.

Even he was quite a pushover back then. If it weren’t for the system, he might have died within two days of being thrown into the world of the awakened, that’s how insignificant his skills were.

“Thinking about it now, it might have been better that way.”

“What’s with the sudden monologue?”

Geon-joo responded sullenly to the muttered words he had unintentionally said while explaining and getting lost in his memories. Sa-yoon replied casually.

“You start to have a lot of monologues when you become an S-grade.”

He did it so often that he even gained a skill. A useless ‘Monologue’ skill.

“Anyway, the conclusion is that even if you secure a base, you won’t be at ease. Not only do you have to keep the people of this world in check to prevent them from taking it away, but you also have to endure the monster waves that come every two days. However, you can’t not do it. From a common-sense perspective, a base is safer than being outside, and it’s included in the clearing conditions. It’ll be tough in many ways, so be prepared in advance.”

“Isn’t that something you should tell me before entering?”

“Would you have followed me obediently if I had told you?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

Sa-yoon had his own reasons. Still, he was kindly explaining it now, wasn’t he? When he tried to justify it, Geon-joo’s head tilted at an angle.

“I’ll grudgingly thank you for the explanation, but didn’t you say we were going to a low-level A-grade gate earlier?”

“I must have said it was a difficult S-grade gate.”

“How can every word out of your mouth be a lie…?”

It was a reaction that seemed to be somewhere between admiration and contempt. Familiar with the expression, Sa-yoon checked the remaining clearing conditions.

He had to explain about the dungeon as well, but if he talked about it now, it seemed like his pretty boy would throw a fit, saying he wanted to go back immediately, so he decided to delay the order. It wasn’t too late to explain the dungeon later.

Above all, there was no time now.

Feeling a faint tremor shaking the ground, Sa-yoon grabbed Geon-joo’s wrist.

“It’s coming.”

A system notification sound, “ding,” followed his low voice.

<‘The Ruined World’ will be activated.>

With that window, the subtle tremor became noticeably more intense. Finally, the world shook enough to make his whole body tremble.

Rumble rumble―.

On the shaking ground, as if the world was about to turn upside down, Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed.

“If you don’t want to die, stick close to me.”

“Is this place dangerous enough for you to bring me here?”

“The more dangerous it is, the faster the growth. Just try dying forty-two times. You’ll reach A-grade in no time.”

Even at this moment, he was appealing to how great the field was for growth, and another notification window popped up.

<Activation is complete. We wish the player good luck.>

The message wishing good luck, which commonly appeared when entering an S-grade gate, signaled the start of the real adventure.

Sa-yoon, whose original luck stat was F- due to the system’s trickery, responded by telling it to go to hell, then pulled Geon-joo’s arm and embraced him in his arms.

Ahhhhh!

Ignoring the startled Geon-joo, as soon as he embraced him, the ground he was standing on surged up without warning. Clumps of soil flowed down like sand, revealing the maw of a huge monster.

It was an S-grade monster, the Earth Dragon.

Sa-yoon, who had anticipated its attack to some extent due to his years of experience in the field, leaped up with Geon-joo and swung his long sword.

The sharp energy flowing from the sword collided with the monster’s teeth.

―Roarrr!

The Earth Dragon roared. Sa-yoon, feeling his hair stand on end for the first time in a long while, raised the corners of his mouth and rejoiced.

“What a nice welcome.”

It was time to have a proper fight after only dealing with weaklings.

It was the beginning of a happy field life with his pretty boy, which would last at least a month.