Chapter 96: Vacation (2)

Chapter 96: Vacation (2)

If Spiritualists were an occupation shunned by the public, they could have cut down the number of Gates they planned to visit. After all, they would only need to target Gates located in deep forests, hidden from human eyes, or cemeteries crawling with undead.

But as it happened, Spiritualists were actually welcomed by people. Even though they dealt with "spirits," they enabled the living to speak again with the dead they had lost, albeit briefly.

"That's why there are a lot of Gates that we need to visit," Kim Ki-Rok explained.

"How many?" Kim Ji-Hee asked.

"To start with, I plan on visiting all the Gates that have appeared in this country," Kim Ki-Rok said ambitiously.

Kim Ji-Hee frowned. "Mister."

"Hm?"

"If you work overtime, you'll die."

Kim Ki-Rok burst into laughter as he bent down and picked up the little bear. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be working any overtime. Think of it more like a vacation. We'll just travel from Gate to Gate without fighting monsters, then come back to the hotel and relax."

Reassured by this, Kim Ji-Hee changed the subject. "Mister, where are we having lunch?"

"Hmmm... Shall we find a good restaurant somewhere nearby?" he suggested as the elevator doors opened.

Kim Ki-Rok and Ji-Hee were staying at the Il-Sung Hotel. Thanks to the arrangements made by the Il-Sung Group chairman, Cha Min-Sung, they could use a special underground VIP parking lot, letting them come and go unnoticed by the press.

"Shall we go?"

"Yeees!"

Kim Ki-Rok carefully secured her in the passenger's seat, fastened her seatbelt, then started the car and stepped on the accelerator.

***

Their sole reason for visiting the various Gates was to find the spirit of a deceased Spiritualist, one that still retained some degree of consciousness. The first Gate they visited led to a beautiful forest.

"So preeetty!"

"Right? It really is beautiful," Kim Ki-Rok agreed.

In his earlier Attempts, he had carefully leveled up step by step, but in the later Attempts, when he'd accumulated plenty of experience, he'd used all sorts of tricks to level up more quickly. It had been a while since he had tackled a Gate rated for Level 20 or below.

"Mister."

"Yeah?"

"What kind of scary monsters appear here?"

Kim Ki-Rok paused as he recalled, "Ah... the ones that appear in this place aren't really all that bad. Maybe goblins at most?"

"Those are scary," Kim Ji-Hee insisted.

"They only look frightening. Their level is too low for them to be truly dangerous. By instinct, they'll probably realize we're way stronger than them and stay away."

"Are we scary?"

"To goblins that are Level 20 or under? Definitely."

Their levels were two, maybe three times higher than the local monsters, so it was unlikely they'd end up clashing with any goblins.

Carrying her in his arms, Kim Ki-Rok walked onward at a measured pace.

"So, feel anything?" Kim Ki-Rok eventually asked.

"Yeeees."

"How many are there?"

"Just one!" Kim Ji-Hee replied, pointing toward their two o'clock. A spirit was wandering above the ground.

As they headed in that direction, Kim Ki-Rok carefully avoided the tree branches to keep them from brushing against her. They eventually made their way into a clearing, where voices suddenly rang out from afar.

"Ah, it's Ji-Hee!"

"The Crazy Bastard is here as well!"

Some Hunters had been resting after dispatching three goblins but sprang up after recognizing them.

"I-it's an honor to meet you!" A woman, presumably their party leader, got to her feet and greeted them with a slight bow.

"Greetings," Kim Ki-Rok replied with a polite smile.

"Hello!" said Ji-Hee, bending at the waist in a little bow.

"Kyaaah! This is crazy! She really is that cute!" A female Hunter armed with a bow smacked the shoulder of her teammate, a male Hunter, in excitement.

Even as Kim Ki-Rok kept up that friendly smile, he invoked Discernment under his breath. Scanning the group, he confirmed their names, affiliations, skills, and any sealed abilities. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be awakened criminals or have anything suspicious about them.

After a quick round of fan-meeting–like chatter, Kim Ki-Rok and Ji-Hee left the clearing. They continued deeper in and ran into Hunters fairly often.

"Uh... Ji-Hee?"

"Mm?"

"Is this the right direction?" Kim Ki-Rok asked with restrained skepticism.

"Yeees, this way."

Kim Ki-Rok felt as if they were meeting more Hunters than what was normal. The further they went in the direction indicated by Kim Ji-Hee, the more frequent the encounters. Nonetheless, the two pressed on until a cave suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Right here! There's a spirit in here!" she shouted excitedly.

Even without using Discernment, it was obvious. The presence of this cave meant it was likely the focal point for clearing this Gate.

"Ji-Hee. Could you call it out?"

Nodding her head, Kim Ji-Hee began releasing her mana. Immediately, something from deep within the cave flitted toward the entrance and stopped.

"Kieeehk?"

This was definitely a goblin.

"Hm? Is this the deceased spirit you detected?"

"This is it!"

"Well, I guess a spirit is a spirit," Kim Ki-Rok muttered with a shrug.

It was already clear that Kim Ji-Hee could sense spirits, but this experiment confirmed she could detect both humans and monsters.

***

Late that night, they returned to the hotel. The goblin's spirit hadn't come back with them. It had asked for rest, and as a Spiritualist, Kim Ji-Hee had honored it.

Kim Ki-Rok stroked his chin, looking a bit troubled. "Hmm... It seems that this will be a bit more difficult than I thought..."

His plan had relied on Kim Ji-Hee's ability to sense the presence of spirits. However, the problem was that her ability made no distinction between human and monster spirits. She might be able to locate them, but she wouldn't know what they were until contact was made. A wandering spirit was simply that—a spirit, regardless of who or what it belonged to.

He resigned with a sigh. "I guess we just have to rely on trial and error."

Kim Ji-Hee was now in her teddy-bear pajamas and fast asleep. After making sure she was comfortably tucked in, Kim Ki-Rok turned to his desk and picked up the spirit stone, infusing it with mana and releasing the dozens of spirits resting inside.

Kan Cho-Woo immediately addressed him with a concerned look, "Hm? What ever is the matter, Master Kim?"

The other spirits, however, were gazing fondly upon the dozing girl.

"Could I have everyone's attention?" Kim Ki-Rok said, drawing their attention. "As you all know, we're on the hunt for the spirit of a Spiritualist."

Kan Cho-Woo blinked in confusion before nodding. "That is correct. We are looking for a spirit that once belonged to a Spiritualist in order to ensure our Ji-Hee's growth."

"But it's turning out to be trickier than I expected, so I'd like to ask for your help."

"Our help?"

"Yes. From now on, I'm going to show you the names and photos of different Gates. I'd like you to see if you recognize them, figure out which dimension they connect to, and confirm if any humans actually lived there."

Kan Cho-Woo nodded. "So you want to narrow down the Gates based on our knowledge."

"Exactly. It never crossed my mind that Ji-Hee can also sense monster spirits. She can detect them all," he revealed with a sigh.

Kim Ki-Rok opened his tablet to browse the Gates listed on the Hunters Association's website, starting with the ones closest to their location. He read out each Gate's name, showing photos from inside along with the monsters that had appeared there.

"But it seems that there are quite a few forests or mountains that we've never even heard of before?" Kan Cho-Woo curiously noted.

"Your dimension wasn't the only dimension to connect to our world," Kim Ki-Rok explained.

"Hm? Is that so?"

"It's true. Starting next year, even you

Very rarely, a Gate would spawn mechanical monsters or even beasts resembling mythical folktales[1]. Their difficulty rating was so high that only a handful of Hunters dared enter, but from next year onward, people would grow more accustomed to the idea. In three years, their numbers would grow to match the number of Gates where Western fantasy-type monsters appeared.

"So, shall we keep going?" Kim Ki-Rok said, turning his attention back to the tablet.

The spirits conferred among themselves as they examined the photos of various terrains and monsters from Seoul to Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, then Gyeongsang and Jeolla. Finally, they got to Chungcheong Province.

"Hm?" Kan Cho-Woo made an inquisitive noise.

At the sound of this low murmur, Kim Ki-Rok and the other spirits all turned to face him.

"Do you recognize this place?" Kim Ki-Rok asked hopefully.

"Hm, it's hard to say. Even if it is the place I'm thinking of, what would a Spiritualist be doing there—ah, come to think of it... There really were Spiritualists there!" Kan Cho-Woo shouted with clarity.

Kim Ki-Rok closely examined the information on the Gate. Its difficulty ranged roughly from Level 15 to 40. The realm was a dark, charred forest, as if a great fire had ravaged the area. The listed monsters were all animal-type, and presumably due to the fire, their numbers were said to be extremely low.

Kim Ki-Rok narrowed his eyes.From what he could recall, this Gate was eventually cleared after a Break had occurred.

Although the monster population was small, a Gate was a Gate, and the Hunters Association had attempted a normal raid. However, even after hunting down every monster, the Gate never closed. In the end, the authorities had given up and let the Break occur in order to clear it.

"So you do recognize where this is?" Kim Ki-Rok checked.

"I know where it is," Kan Cho-Woo confirmed. "Most of the high-ranking members of the Tower of Wizards were aware of this place's significance."

Judging by their reactions, however, it was clear the other spirits were only hearing it for the first time.

"So what's so important about this place?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"The elves," Kan Cho-Woo said with a grave nod.

"Those forest-dwelling demi-humans?"

"Yes. That place used to be one of their villages, before it was eventually destroyed by the Black Wizards. Back then, humans and elves never really got along. The humans' conquest of nature during their wars damaged the forests, so elves developed a deep hostility toward them. Still, they didn't hate all humans. Some individuals, certain groups, they considered friends."

"So the Tower of Wizards was among those friends," Kim Ki-Rok surmised.

"Indeed. However, given how the elves' beauty and spirit magic often stir human greed, that fact was never publicly declared. So the elves only interacted with certain humans, or with a handful of groups. Of course, circumstances now are far beyond whether they like humans or not."

Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "Because of the rise of the Black Wizard clans, plus rampant monsters..."

"And also... demons."

"Aha!" Kim Ki-Rok said, the realization dawning on his face.

Kan Cho-Woo blinked in surprise. "Hm? You already knew about them?"

"I had my suspicions, but nothing concrete. Most of the higher-ranking Gates contain mana contaminated by demonic influences or clues that suggest demonic involvement."

"So that's the case." Kan Cho-Woo nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, once the Black Wizards attacked, the monsters went berserk, and the demons emerged, the elves realized their own power wasn't enough. So they decided to ally with humankind."

"So this village we're looking at..."

"Was the catalyst that pushed the elves to cooperate with humans. It's a place that fell to the Black Wizards, demons, and monsters alike."

After quietly observing the photos for a few moments, Kim Ki-Rok began speaking once more, "Sir Kan Cho-Woo. Is the story of this elven village commonly known by the people living in your dimension?"

Kan Cho-Woo shook his head. "It should be relatively unknown. After losing hundreds of their kin, the elves only shared the truth with those they called friends. And it's such a tragic history that they rarely speak of it willingly."

Kim Ki-Rok already knew that the elves were fighting alongside human kingdoms against the Black Wizards, monsters, and demons, but the existence of this hidden tragedy was new to him. If Ji-Hee's growth had been delayed even slightly, if he hadn't reached the Fortress of Living Armor earlier than in previous Attempts, and if he hadn't met Kancho, this particular secret might have never come to light.

Kim Ki-Rok slowly turned his head and said nothing, his eyes resting on the peacefully slumbering bear.

1. This is referring to monsters like the dokkaebi of Korea or the yokai of Japan. ☜