It was a blow to his pride. I wondered how Han Sang-ah’s senior would react to that statement.
"Y-Yeah, that’s true."
Huh, he caved immediately. Han Sang-ah turned her gaze back to me.
"Since my senior doesn’t seem to like you, I’d like to team up with you."
"Why?"
I asked, and Kim Minjae responded in a calm voice.
"You’re stronger than me, so I want to watch and learn."
"You’re practically painting gold on my face with praise."
Han Sang-ah replied to my comment.
"Gold melts at 1064 degrees. If you paint your face with gold, you’d die before feeling embarrassed."
"Can’t get anything through you huh."
No doubt about it, this woman was strange. Anyway, she wants to switch teams huh.
Rather than sticking with that senior who still looked annoyed with me, it seemed better to go with Han Sang-ah, even if she was a bit strange.
At the very least, she didn’t seem hostile.
"If it’s possible to change teams, I’d like to do that too."
Han Sang-ah nodded at my words.
"I’ll take care of it right now."
After she said that, she went somewhere and came back shortly after.
"I’m in group 8 now."
"Hey… aren’t you going to ask for my opinion at all?"
At the senior’s cautious question, Han Sang-ah responded.
"There are three people affected by the team change: Yoo Chan-seok, me, and you, senior. Two out of three agreed. If there’s a reason to reject this, please share it."
I see. So she was looking for the majority vote.
"...No, I guess not."
"Then it’s settled. Senior, you’re moving to group 3."
Just like that, the team changed, and Han Sang-ah naturally took a seat next to me.
"Do you know how to use a sword?"
I didn’t answer. Instead, I tapped my spear. Han Sang-ah listened to the sound and made a thoughtful noise before speaking.
"Judging by the sound, it’s pretty sturdy. But that doesn’t really answer my question, does it?"
I closed my eyes for a moment before replying.
"My main weapon is a spear."
"Yeah, I know. Your fight with Lee Se-eun was amazing. I couldn’t take my eyes off it."
The conversation felt like it was going nowhere. Just as I was about to say something else, someone stepped up to the podium, thanked us, and repeated the same briefing we had already heard.
— That’s all. We have high expectations for you all. I wish you success and a safe return.
After that, we stood and left the auditorium, boarded boats by group, and headed for Gyodong Island.
"Quite a sight."
As we approached, a chilly energy filled the air. Once the island came into view, tension spread across everyone's faces.
Some people even looked afraid, probably less experienced hunters.
"You don’t seem scared."
That was Han Sang-ah’s comment.
I had seen far too much to be scared by something like this. I had witnessed man-made hell, natural hell, and even literal hell.
"It’s just a gloomy island."
No way this place was getting developed into a tourist attraction. That was all I thought.
"We’ll land in 10 minutes."
When the boat operator announced the time, everyone hurried to get ready. Some prayed, some checked their weapons or tightened their armor straps.
Hunters lived face-to-face with death, whether their own or their enemies’. Even if it was superstition, if it helped someone feel at ease, then who could mock it?
"We’ve arrived."
We landed on the southern end of Gyodong Island. A half-collapsed pension stood desolately abandoned. A loose door creaked in the wind.
"What are you all doing? Get off the boat already."
I told the others in my group and jumped off the boat. Hunters who had been staring blankly at the eerie scene came to their senses and followed.
As soon as we disembarked, the boat sped off without a backward glance.
12:17 PM. I checked the time on my smartphone and looked to the side.
"What ability do you use?"
I asked a man who had been standing dazed. He snapped out of it and replied.
"I use fire."
"What’s your most reliable technique and how long does it take to use when you’re in peak condition?"
"Uh… fireball. Takes about 30 seconds to cast?"
I nearly frowned at that. About 30 seconds? It’s either 30 seconds or it isn’t. Should I ask if he wants to get hit for roughly 30 seconds?
After hearing his answer, Han Sang-ah spoke up.
"I’m…"
"I know about you. Your sheathing time is 0.57 seconds, 7.7 seconds to prepare, and 0.13 seconds to unsheathe and swing."
At my words, Han Sang-ah blinked and asked,
"How did you know that? Was there a stopwatch behind me? I don't even know those numbers exactly."
"Even if I told you how, you wouldn’t be able to do it."
Ambient mana vibrated at regular intervals, unlike stored mana. If you used that, it was like carrying around a precise timer.
But once you start storing mana in your body, ambient mana feels too faint, making it impossible to perceive the vibrations.
Han Sang-ah fell silent at my explanation.
"If you have nothing else to say, I’ll continue."
"Yeah, go ahead."
I gauged the others’ abilities through questions and then spoke firmly.
"We need to scout two regions over the course of a week."
We had brought a week’s worth of supplies. The next step was choosing a place to stay.
"We’ll set up at Hwagaesa and use it as our base."
As I spoke, one of the people spoke up in a complaining tone.
"Why should we follow your lead?"
"It takes a regular person about 30 minutes to hike to the summit of Hwagyesan."
We could cover that trail in no time.
"The summit’s only 259.6 meters high, but from Hwagaesa you can see Eumnae-ri, and from the summit, Gyodong-myeon is visible."
I kept my words going without resting.
"Unless Hwagaesa is destroyed or there’s an Erosion Core nearby, we can use the old temple as our lodging."
It was a small temple, but it could house seven people easily.
The guy stayed silent. He probably wanted to say, why should we follow some rookie on his first mission? But instead, he said something else.
"There are plenty of nearby places we can use. Do we really need to go far? If we unnecessarily climb a mountain, we could get surrounded."
What, like Ma Su dying of thirst in the mountains?
"There’s seven of us, and we’re not fighting thousands of enemies."
How could we even get surrounded on a mountain? At least give me a logical reason to disagree.
"Anyway, I don’t want to blindly follow a rookie."
Experience? He really dared to bring that up in front of me.
I shrugged at his stubbornness. Fine, do what you want then. I have no plans to drag anyone along unwillingly anyway.
"What about the rest of you?"
Four sided with the guy who objected. With me were Han Sang-ah and the fire guy I questioned earlier.
"If something happens, use this to contact me."
"What about you?"
I turned to the man.
"Can your fire ability work as a light source?"
"Yeah, that’s easy."
That was all I needed to hear. I handed them flares and pistols we took from the boat.
"Probably won’t need them though."
In the end, only the three of us remained as a group. And what was that guy’s name again?
Right, Kim Minjae.
"Hunter Kim Minjae, why’d you choose to come with us?"
When I asked, he hesitated a moment before answering.
"You two are rookies, right? I was worried about leaving two beginners alone."
So he thought he’d come along to help. He’s a nice guy.
"Thanks for your concern."
Han Sang-ah also thanked him. The amount of mana stored in both of them was about the same.
I wasn’t sure if their skills were equal, but Han Sang-ah would probably have the edge.
We packed our gear and headed to Hwagaesa, delaying any scouting.
Along the way, we spotted a group of small goblin-like creatures.
Bat-headed little things sat around a fire, with crude spears and bows nearby.
"There aren’t too many of them."
Twenty-two. I’ll say it again, twenty-two. I turned to Kim Minjae.
"Please initiate the attack."
He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and gathered flame from his stored mana.
‘He said it takes about 30 seconds to charge his attack, I thought that was long, but…’
With this much power, the fireball should be powerful. I recalculated our plan.
"Let’s focus on protecting Hunter Kim Minjae."
"Why?"
"When facing a group, it’s most efficient if he takes the lead."
It would be a waste of energy for us to handle groups of enemies.
"I’m ready."
Then, the fireball flew toward the bat-headed goblins who were peacefully warming themselves. It took exactly 23.1 seconds to form.
I knew it wouldn’t be 30. The fireball exploded on impact. Six died instantly, three more were injured.
"Hunter Kim Minjae, keep them coming please. We’ll buy you time. Signal before you fire."
With his power and mana, he could cast a few more without strain. I tapped Han Sang-ah’s back.
"I’m going in. Cover him."
"I thought you were buying time?"
"Yeah, by creating distance, not just standing around."
If monsters reached Kim Minjae, it’d all be for nothing. Buying time also meant keeping him safe.
"You guard him. I’ll keep them busy."
I grabbed my spear and charged. The creatures, startled by the explosion, turned to me.
"Kiieeee!"
They screeched as they grabbed their weapons.
"Is that your greeting? Then I’ll return that. Kiieeee!"
I didn’t have to kill them. Just keep them occupied for Kim Minjae to finish the job.
He attacks, I stall, Han Sang-ah defends.
Simple roles, maximum efficiency. I cared about efficiency in combat.
Group projects where one person does all the work? That wasn’t teamwork.
Time passed. Kim Minjae fired another fireball.
"Now!"
I leapt back just in time. Boom. Another explosion.
Now the goblins fixated on Kim Minjae.
"Whoosh, whoosh."
Nope. I swung my spear like a stick to block them. A couple managed to get past me.
But of course, Han Sang-ah wasn’t idle. The bastards were taken care of by her.