“The reason I’m able to move like this right now is because this person is from the Continent of As. Strictly speaking, they’re practically nonexistent in this world. You could say causality affects them less.”
Causality, huh. It seemed more complicated and tangled than expected.
“So basically, while inside that body, you can peek into their mind?”
“That’s right! I’ll be able to see fragments of their memories little by little.”
…No matter how much I looked at it, it was still a scene I couldn’t get used to.
Joel was a burly man.
Though his face was covered with freckles giving him a youthful appearance, the lively tone he used on Earth was quite a mismatch with the original Joel.
“Let’s head back first. The others will be worried.”
“Huh? Then what about me?”
“Don’t you have anywhere to hide?”
Earth seemed to ponder, then suddenly recalled something.
“There is a kind of hideout, but…”
“If we take you there… things are bound to get complicated.”
“That’s probably true.”
Roy was already troubled about how to explain this situation to Kim Chan and Lee Doha.
Both were sharp-minded guys.
Any lame excuse would only raise more suspicion.
At that moment, Earth solved Roy’s dilemma.
“Just say that you have a debt relationship with this person.”
“A debt relationship?”
“Yes! Debt is a sensitive subject, just like a troubled family background—hard to bring up straightforwardly.”
It was a plausible idea.
Both of them were kind-hearted enough not to dig deeper if Roy seemed troubled.
If you think about it, being in a debt relationship was true to some extent.
The difference was that what passed between them wasn’t money, but the lives of their comrades.
Roy had no intention of letting his comrades’ deaths be in vain.
“Let’s go down now.”
Some time had passed. Kim Chan and Lee Doha, who had left earlier at Roy’s request, were surely lurking nearby.
That was just the kind of people they were.
“This person… who exactly is he?”
“He’s someone I’m tied to through a debt relationship.”
Kim Chan’s eyes trembled mercilessly at the unexpected identity of Joel.
After Roy disappeared with the unfamiliar man, Kim Chan was restless, just as Roy had expected.
“Doha hyung, shouldn’t we chase after Roy right now?”
Hmmm!
***
After a brief moment of thought, Lee Doha nodded firmly, and they waited where Roy had disappeared.
Since Roy had gone up to the rooftop with the man, they focused their hearing in that direction.
“Ah, this isn’t good. Hyung, let’s just go up.”
Just as Kim Chan, squirming like a puppy with a full bladder, grabbed Lee Doha’s arm to move, Roy appeared with the orange-haired man.
“Shall we head into a nearby café to catch our breath?”
Having wrapped up the matter with Joel, Roy was thirsty.
Kim Chan and Lee Doha obediently followed Roy to the café seats.
***
After ordering drinks each and sitting down, Kim Chan’s eyes widened at Roy’s words.
“Hyung… what kind of life have you lived?”
Even if Lee Doha didn’t know, Kim Chan remembered exactly where Roy had come from at their first meeting. The question mark rating, summoning spirits of each element.
His dancing and singing skills improving exponentially with time.
Nothing about Roy was ordinary.
And now he had brought in a man he had never met before, declaring a debt relationship.
“That’s how it is now.”
Kim Chan seemed to believe Roy’s words, but Lee Doha strangely remained quiet.
Roy noticed Lee Doha’s sharp gaze fixed on Joel’s hand and slapped Joel’s thigh sharply.
“Why?”
Joel, who was sucking down his drink with a mouth full of ice in a daze, gave a helpless look.
“Put your hand in. Lee Doha is suspicious.”
Joel’s hand was obviously well-trained—a knight’s hand, calloused deeply from gripping a sword.
Lee Doha was also a swordsman.
Skilled as he was, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to deduce what kind of life Joel had lived just by looking at his hands.
“Anyway, let’s clear up the debt relationship properly soon. Let’s get going.”
Roy stood up first, sensing that staying in the same space would only fuel suspicion.
“Yeah. I believe you’ll tell us when the time comes.”
Lee Doha rose with Roy and dropped a heavy remark.
Kim Chan, glancing between them, quietly nodded as well.
The reaction Roy and Joel showed toward each other earlier was too unusual to be swept away by just the word “debt relationship.”
“Don’t worry.”
Roy also had no intention of hiding forever.
To stop the invasion of the Continent of As, he desperately needed their help.
An invisible bond of trust had already formed between the three.
Roy felt they had become as close as comrades who had fought wars together.
“I’ll wait, hyung.”
Only after Roy’s confident reply did Lee Doha crack a faint smile.
***
“The grand final mission!”
Lee Jian’s loud voice stirred the fifteen participants into suppressing their overflowing emotions.
‘Time feels slow and yet incredibly fast.’
Roy was one of them.
His tightly clenched fists trembled slightly until his knuckles turned white.
‘That was lucky.’
Roy scanned the faces of Kim Chan, Lee Doha, and the others he had bonded with here.
Noticing his gaze, Lee Hajun smiled brightly and raised his right hand.
‘…Not much time left.’
When he first fell into this world, everything was chaotic, and the path ahead was shrouded in a hazy fog.
With a single determination to return to the Continent of As, he accepted Earth’s proposal.
Agreeing to join the Hunter Idol Survival Program was a strange proposal, but looking back now, it was a decision blessed by fate.
“From now on, you will enter the dungeon and must obtain the gems attached to each other’s bodies!”
No sooner had Lee Jian finished speaking than the staff approached the participants and pinned gem-shaped brooches all over their bodies.
“As this is the final mission, the top eight will be decided based on the number of gem brooches obtained and overall combat ability!”
Thanks to special investment from the production team, the remaining participants were now all in the 300-level range.
Veteran hunters say that the real leveling begins at 300.
That’s because gaining each level past 300 is far more difficult than before.
‘Power Window’
[Name: Hwang Roy]
[Age: 22]
[Occupation: Spirit Summoner]
[Summon 1: Mulkiber]
[Summon 2: Aqua]
[Summon 3: Solum]
[Summon 4: Spiritus]
[Level: 300]
[Rank: ?]
[Physical Ability: ?]
[Mana: ?]
Roy fixed his gaze on the Power Window and took a deep breath.
The number 300 was impressive, but his heart swelled even more knowing he now had four summons.
‘Now it’s time to meet my old comrades again.’
Roy’s eyes sank deeply.
According to what Joel told him, many of his comrades had been publicly executed by Kairus, but some had somehow survived and wandered the continent.
“Just a little more patience.”
Thinking of his little sister’s bright smile, Roy squeezed his eyes shut.
“Everyone, please stand in front of the dungeon entrance!”
A gate leading to the dungeon where the final mission would take place was installed on the island.
As the participants’ levels had risen, the dungeon itself was so difficult that most hunters were barred from entry.
“Are you all curious? The location of the final mission is!”
Tension flickered across the participants’ faces.
The gate shimmered with a sticky blackness that gave off an ominous feeling.
It was just the right size for a grown man to walk through one by one.
“The Witch’s Gorge!”
It was somewhat expected but far more difficult than imagined.
“This is bad.”
Kim Jaemin’s complexion turned pale the moment the production team announced the Witch’s Gorge.
Though he had been lucky enough to make it to the final mission, Jaemin was the only one among them with Hunter Rank B.
Ranks were not just letters.
Even hunters of the same level varied drastically in combat ability depending on their rank.
“Fighting A-rank opponents is already tough, but there are several S-rank ones here…”
Moreover, monsters inhabiting the Witch’s Gorge were notoriously difficult to face.
“To prepare for any accidents, Hunter Kim Hanbom and members of the Roa Guild will enter the dungeon alongside you!”
Only after Lee Jian’s words did some color return to Kim Jaemin’s face.
“Right. They wouldn’t let a participant die during the mission.”
With that thought, his courage seemed to return.
“You have 24 hours to complete the mission! Participants who lose all three gem brooches will be immediately expelled from the dungeon!”
The participants touched the gems on their bodies. The surface of the gems, shimmering with a mysterious black sheen, had their names engraved in relief.
The mission would start the moment they entered. One by one, they would enter the dungeon now!
“Please!”
Following the staff’s guidance, the participants lined up before the portal.
Staff members with filming equipment and Roa Guild hunters including Kim Hanbom entered the dungeon first.
“Phew.”
Kim Chan was the first to step into the dungeon.
His previously timid face was hardened today, and his eyes blazed fiercely.
His silver armor inlaid with a red gem sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight.
“Beep!” (A dungeon! This is so exciting!)
Roy’s turn was last. Because participants were sent in one by one with intervals, it took quite a while.
Ber, perched on Roy’s head, flapped his short wings excitedly and let out a joyful cry.
“Por.” (Stay alert. This is a competition.)
Aqua, displeased by Ber’s attitude, wagged her tail and sharpened her gaze.
Right now, Aqua’s mind held only one thought: to make sure Roy came in first.
“Everyone, take care of yourselves.”
Roy petted the heads of his spirits one by one before stepping through the portal.
Passing through the portal felt like plunging dozens of meters down from the sky.
{Hero! Fighting!}
Earth cheered Roy in his mind. Since entering Joel’s body, Earth was enjoying human life in the human world.
Their minds were connected, so communication was no problem.
“The fog… it’s really thick.”
Putting aside the gut-wrenching sensation, Roy finally felt his feet touch solid ground.
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