The Gates of Hell (2)

‘Park Minhyuk……?’

The person standing at the entrance of the Gate of Hell was unmistakably Park Minhyuk.

‘His eyes……’

One of his eyes, however, seemed to blaze with an intense sapphire hue. It was a blue flame, yet also the frigid gleam of ice.

How was Park Minhyuk standing perfectly fine when everyone else lay unconscious and scattered?

Even Lee Heejin herself was barely able to stand, her stats diminished and a suffocating dread tightening its grip. Yet, Park Minhyuk appeared far more at ease.

How could he possibly be like this?

And what was he doing, standing there alone?

She couldn’t fathom it, but one thing was clear: she had to stop him.

Finding another conscious person besides herself, she knew they had to move the unconscious individuals out of the dungeon as quickly as possible.

No, moving everyone out of the dungeon was an impossible feat. They needed to at least get them beyond the boss room.

Only then might she stand a chance of enduring.

There was no time to ponder how Park Minhyuk remained on his feet.

Honestly, the current situation was desperate enough that even a single extra hand would be invaluable. However, she wasn’t so devoid of conscience as to ask a novice Awakener to join the fight.

Therefore, while Park Minhyuk moved the others, she needed to recover even a fraction of her depleted magic and stamina.

There was no telling when or what enemy might burst forth from that Gate of Hell.

Having formulated such a plan in a mere flash, Lee Heejin dragged her impossibly heavy body forward, barely managing to part her lips.

“Minhyuk… Oppa……?”

The upward inflection at the end of her words likely stemmed from the growing doubt that, the closer she got, the more she questioned if this was truly the Park Minhyuk she knew.

At her call, Park Minhyuk’s gaze shifted toward Lee Heejin.

Meeting those hazy, flickering blue eyes, Lee Heejin could not advance further, freezing solid on the spot.

As their gazes met, a chilling sensation spread through her entire body.

Though Park Minhyuk’s eyes were fixed solely on hers, it felt as though they meticulously scoured every inch of her being.

For a fleeting moment, she even glimpsed a phantom image of herself, stripped bare, with every secret laid exposed.

Before those eyes, no lie, no deception, could ever hope to pass.

It was an instinctual realization.

After a brief moment, Park Minhyuk silently turned his head, his gaze once again fixed on the Gate of Hell.

Regaining her composure, Lee Heejin stopped her approach and began to observe him closely.

In Park Minhyuk’s hand was an iron sword, the same mass-produced, unremarkable weapon they had been issued just yesterday.

Yet, there was one striking difference: it vibrated at an astonishing speed in Park Minhyuk’s grip. In one light, it appeared to tremble with fear; in another, it seemed to thrum with extreme excitement.

‘A sword feeling excited… What a ridiculous thought.’

Shaking her head to dispel the notion, Lee Heejin refocused her attention.

Park Minhyuk was slowly raising his sword.

The strange thing was that there were no enemies to fight yet, and the Gate of Hell was still a considerable distance away.

He seemed to be taking a stance as if to slash something, but there was nothing to cut.

Could there be a situation more bizarre than this?

Disregarding Lee Heejin’s confusion, Park Minhyuk resolutely brought his sword down.

It was a simple diagonal slash, not even particularly fast, seemingly ordinary at first glance.

‘…Is he suddenly practicing swordsmanship?’

While Park Minhyuk had done many strange things, this particular act was utterly incomprehensible.

However, before such thoughts could even fully form, a shocking event unfolded mere seconds — no, less than a second — later.

Craaaash!

After a brief interval following Park Minhyuk’s swing, an immense roar echoed through the entire colossal cavern.

Simultaneously, the very air began to split into two, distorting and crumpling.

“Wh-what is that?”

Lee Heejin gasped, her mouth agape in an uncharacteristic display of shock.

It was a sight so impactful, so utterly surreal, that it defied belief.

The space that had split and crumpled was precisely where the Gate of Hell had stood. With each distortion, accompanied by a resounding crash, the Gate of Hell itself crumpled along with it.

After several more crumpling motions, the space finally tore apart with a ripping sound—Craaaack!—splitting into two distinct halves.

KWA-GA-GA-GA!

From the torn chasm, a pitch-black void, utterly impenetrable, appeared and began to pull everything in its vicinity into itself.

“Ugh……”

Though her stamina was nearing its end, the suction force was so powerful that it made Lee Heejin’s body sway.

An unknown red aura was sucked in, and even the shattered remnants of the Gate of Hell were completely devoured.

The bodies of the unconscious individuals were also heaving and being dragged forward, forcing Lee Heejin to physically pull those closest to the torn space away.

The wind swirled wildly, and Lee Heejin struggled to stop a person from being pulled in.

Then, at a certain moment, the wind that had been disorientingly swirling around her ears suddenly, deceptively, ceased.

She looked up to find the void neatly sealed as if nothing had ever happened. Not even a trace of the Gate of Hell or the red aura could be found.

It felt as if she had merely dreamt it all.

[The Gate of Hell has vanished.]

[Status effect ‘Fear’ has been lifted.]

[The aura of Hell dissipates.]

Yet, it was certainly not a dream.

Lee Heejin’s voice cut through the heavy silence, directed at Park Minhyuk.

“Minhyuk Oppa… no, Park Minhyuk.”

Park Minhyuk’s head slowly turned.

He was smiling.

“Who… are you?”

There was so much she wanted to know.

Had he perhaps known something like this would happen here and concealed his strength?

Which guild did he belong to?

What, exactly, was that just now?

The question ‘Who are you?’ encompassed all these mysteries.

Park Minhyuk’s answer to Lee Heejin’s question was remarkably concise.

His eyes, slowly regaining their original color, turned to Lee Heejin.

His hand slowly rose, stopping before his broadly grinning mouth, and his index finger pressed against his lips.

It was a signal to be quiet.

Did this mean he wouldn’t answer her question?

Did it mean she wasn’t even worthy of an answer?

Feeling a flicker of indignation, Lee Heejin was about to speak again, but then—

“Ugh…”

Groans and rustling sounds came from around them.

The unconscious Awakeners, with the mist cleared and the Gate of Hell gone, were one by one beginning to stir awake.

Lee Heejin glanced around once, then her gaze returned to Park Minhyuk.

“If people wake up……”

Lee Heejin could not finish her sentence.

Park Minhyuk, without waiting for her to finish, simply collapsed to the floor with a thud.

“……”

She almost genuinely mistook it for him actually passing out.

If not for the playful smile on his face as he fell, his acting was so convincing it would have seemed he had truly collapsed from exhaustion.

‘Well, he’s been hiding this level of skill all this time, so…’

Beyond Park Minhyuk, who was feigning unconsciousness, she saw people one by one beginning to regain consciousness.

It seemed Park Minhyuk intended to simply bury the incredible events that had transpired here.

Was he unwilling to reveal his true identity…?

She didn’t know for sure, but Lee Heejin’s situation was similar.

Her guild, Mu-myeong, was, unexpectedly, one with many adversaries.

Being identified as the one who destroyed that mysterious portal would undoubtedly lead to a significant headache and considerable trouble.

‘Just get out of this place……!’

Once they were out of here, she would immediately rush to Park Minhyuk and unleash all the questions brimming within her.

Lee Heejin shot Park Minhyuk a fleeting glare, then relaxed her body and slumped to the ground, collapsing into a prone position.

****

‘…It actually worked?’

The moment the message about the Gate of Hell opening appeared, the Witch’s Eye activated.

Thanks to it, I could vaguely perceive it.

An immense, countless, writhing hostility beyond the gate.

This had to be stopped here, no matter what.

Otherwise, I felt the damage would become uncontrollable.

‘How dare I, of all people, stop this?’

The hint for that came when the Gate of Hell opened.

The sight of the void tearing apart.

Others were horrified, but to me, it was a rather familiar scene.

It was similar to the way the Emperor’s Sword Art, when unleashed, would cleave space itself.

Of course, my Emperor’s Sword Art was so immature that it was closer to forcibly suppressing space rather than truly cleaving it.

Nonetheless, I swung it with the mindset of ‘let’s just try it,’ and the result was as you can see.

[The Gate of Hell has vanished.]

[You have achieved the first hell-related achievement, ‘Annihilation of the Gate of Hell.’]

[The ‘Hidden Shop’ has been opened due to the first achievement.]

[This video will be uploaded to the Hall of Fame.]

[Would you like to disclose your personal information?]

I couldn’t stop the corners of my lips from curving upward.

I did it.

Perhaps knowing this fact alone had been a surprisingly heavy burden.

Considering how good I felt about somehow stopping the first invasion.

If I could keep doing this, couldn’t I prevent invasions altogether?

That thought lingered for a moment, but despite everything, the situation wouldn’t turn out so optimistically.

Grandpa Cheongeom could also use the Emperor’s Sword Art.

And he did it far more concisely and cleanly than I could.

Yet, his world was still destroyed.

If it were the kind of thing that someone like me could stop, then Grandpa or other Transcendents would have been able to protect their worlds as well.

“Minhyuk Oppa… no, Park Minhyuk.”

At a familiar voice, I slowly turned my head.

It wasn’t intentional; my body genuinely had no strength left.

I was in a state where a single skill consumed all my internal energy.

If even one monster had popped out of the Gate of Hell, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

“Who are you?”

Lee Heejin was staring at me with a look that screamed curiosity.

Her expression was so amusing that I let out a soft chuckle, then quickly snapped back to reality.

Ah, right. She was here.

How should I explain this?

It was certainly a situation ripe for misunderstanding.

In an unprecedented crisis where even the Association’s experienced Awakeners had all fainted, I was not only standing perfectly fine but had also annihilated a mysterious gate.

Yet, I couldn’t think of anything to say.

I was just as surprised when people suddenly collapsed.

If not for my ‘Endless Talent’ trait and ‘Cool-headed Reason,’ I would have been startled and screamed right then and there.

Given that, what could I say to convince her?

‘…I’ll just tell her later.’

I intended to brush her off like that, but the moment I saw Lee Heejin’s expression, my mind changed.

Her face was a mix of desperate curiosity, urging me to speak quickly, overlaid with a confused expression that showed she couldn’t bring herself to rush me and didn’t know where or how to begin.

How could I possibly ignore that expression?

With a look that debated whether to tell her or not, I made a ‘be quiet’ gesture.

As expected, Lee Heejin made a bewildered face, then glanced around.

I was about to smile again at her reaction, but then my strength abruptly gave out, and I slumped to the ground, collapsing onto my back.

As I closed my eyes, a pleasant drowsiness washed over me.

‘Come to think of it, the Hidden Shop was supposed to open earlier. What’s that?’

And unwittingly, I was going to be in the Hall of Fame again. How should I handle that in the future?

Was this truly the only Gate of Hell?

Various thoughts chased each other, appearing and disappearing in an endless chain.

“……”

With the sound of someone else collapsing, I drifted into a light sleep.