Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Spendthrift Necromancer (46)

Mayhem (2)

“You fucking lunatic! You pushed someone?”

Sword Phoenix Seo Yerim.

Her eyes went bloodshot as she charged toward Jo Pilwook.

When Kim Minwoo had been loitering near the Gate's formation point, she hadn't thought much of it.

She'd simply assumed he was insane.

But then an actual lunatic suddenly charged over and shoved someone into the Gate.

A high-rank Gate that was obviously at least B-rank.

And because this would be its first clear, the difficulty would spike sharply.

Even if it was B-rank, a party of at least fifteen would be required.

If it was A-rank?

A disaster.

The recommended raid size was thirty.

Meanwhile, Kim Minwoo?

Even being extremely generous, he was only somewhere near the upper end of E-rank.

There was a limit to how much talent could compensate.

This situation was far more hopeless than when he'd challenged the tomb at Level 1. She even doubted whether he could reach the midway zone.

“You fucking murderer!”

“N-No! What the hell are you talking about?! I was only trying to grab his shoulder! But something shoved me……!”

“Bullshit! Everyone here saw you charge over and shove him while huffing and puffing!”

Then she looked at the Gate entrance.

Brilliant light poured from it.

A Gate only fully activated and divided into separate sectors after its first clear succeeded.

Which meant.

The moment that light vanished, Kim Minwoo would be trapped inside until he cleared it.

She quickly looked around.

Everyone was flustered, but they had one thing in common.

Not one person was trying to enter the Gate to rescue him.

Naturally.

The rank hadn't even been determined yet.

Nobody had properly prepared to enter it.

Even with thorough preparation and a carefully selected raid, a clear wasn't guaranteed.

Jump in blindly?

It wouldn't be strange if everyone died.

And there was an even bigger problem.

Since they weren't in a party, entering now would count as an intrusion and place them in separate starting areas.

The odds of survival were already low.

There was no guarantee a rescuer wouldn't enter only to find his corpse already cold.‘……

Damn it!’Seo Yerim hesitated.

If this had happened before Kim Minwoo visited Sword Sea Pavilion, she would've abandoned any thought of rescuing him without a moment's hesitation.

Why would she risk her life for someone she didn't even like?

But now things were different.―That child Kim Minwoo will go very far. He's a true genius, a genius! Hoho!

Her grandfather had been laughing much more often lately.

His swordsmanship, stagnant for so long, had also begun advancing without end.

How shocked had she been when she heard he'd cleared an S-rank Gate in record time?

Infuriatingly, all of it was because of that bastard.‘If he dies…….’The Sword Immortal would be sad.

Very sad.

She smiled bitterly.

They said you never knew what tomorrow would bring.

She'd never imagined she'd willingly jump in to save Kim Minwoo.‘……

I've lost my damn mind!’Biting her lip, she looked at the instructors who had come with her.

“……

If I die, make sure there's tteokbokki on my memorial table!”

She turned and jumped into the Gate without hesitation.

“Huh?”

“Th-The Sword Phoenix jumped in!”

“Wh-What do we do?!”

The reporters urgently looked toward the surrounding guild members.

But no one stepped forward.

A successful rescue would earn enormous rewards, but only if you came back alive.

Everyone had only one life.

Besides.

Even if those two were wiped out, everyone else could still attempt the first clear afterward.

In the silence, the Gate's light slowly faded.* * *The appearance of a new Gate.

Since it happened only once every few months, or sometimes once every few years, public attention naturally focused on it.

Depending on what rank of Gate appeared, even a nation's power could shift dramatically.

Naturally, countless people were watching the breaking news.

And Kim Minwoo being sucked into the Gate was broadcast without any filtering.―Breaking news! Kim Minwoo has been sucked into the newly formed Gate in Gyeonggi Province…….―Holy shit. What the hell did I just watch?―Fuck. Is that bastard insane? He just ran over and shoved him forward?―Was he paid by some foreign country? Like, kill the rookie for us.―Seriously looks like it. Something felt off the moment he came charging over like that;;―So who is he?―Looks like Jo Pilwook from Dorim Guild? Chairman's son, famous for being a complete fucking wastrel lololol―Oh, the guy who opened a NewTube channel and got flamed to hell?―Yeah. That's him. One of the Kim Minwoo knockoffs. Looks like there really was bad blood between them lololol―But why would he just shove him like that? Does he not have a brain? At least pretend it was an accident;;―Looks like rage just made him lose his mind? Doesn't seem like he thought at all.―Damn, Sword Phoenix's swearing is spicy as hell; Was she close with Kim Minwoo?―Probably just pissed because he shoved a person. That's straight-up attempted murder lololol―Can Kim Minwoo even come back alive from this? It's at least B-rank;;―;; Doesn't look good…… Even if his level's high, isn't he still only around E-rank?―Even if we call him D-rank…… damn, this is rough. He might not even reach the midway zone; This is completely different from his last challenge…….

Then.―Huh? Holy shit! Th-The Sword Phoenix went in!

Seo Yerim jumping into the Gate was broadcast as well.―What the fuck;;―We're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked―Please be B-rank please be B-rank please be B-rank please be B-rank please be B-rank please be B-rank―If it's B-rank, can they clear it?―No idea; Sword Phoenix is basically beyond A-rank, but even considering that, going in alone is insane;―Even Isabella doesn't solo Gates like that, fuck lolol Yeah, they're fucked lololol―She's not alone, though? Kim Minwoo's there too.―Bullshit, no; What help is some E-rank scrub supposed to be?―If it gets rated A-rank, they're just done. Both die for nothing. Absolutely no way they clear it…….―So if it's B-rank, there's at least a chance?―No idea; It's the first-clear state, so the difficulty rises. Can't say for sure. Still better than A…….―Aren't the guilds going in? They're seriously just ending it here?―Stop talking shit; You think they're going in to commit suicide?―Fine, forget the other guilds, what the hell is Dorim doing? They caused this mess and aren't cleaning it up?―Probably complicated; The Guild Master looks stunned. Seems like he never expected this either…….―Who the hell could predict a lunatic doing something like that? lololol―Either way, isn't Dorim responsible for failing to control its guild member? Boycott Dorim starting today.―For real. First, throw Jo Pilwook in prison for attempted murder, and Dorim needs to take responsibility too. Since they messed with Ilseong, they probably can't just bury this with money like usual lololol―Good. Always pissed me off how they bought their way out of everything. Scum like Jo Pilwook belongs in prison. Same goes for the chairman who keeps shielding him with money, yeah.―Anyway, Kim Minwoo said he'd show us something big soon, and he sure fucking did lolololThen.

The officials measuring the Gate's rank shouted loudly.

“Measurement complete! It's B-rank!”―According to the latest report, the Gate has been classified as B-rank. Our network has gathered experts to discuss the possibility of a successful clear…….

Watching the TV, Park Siwoo's jaw dropped.―And if you see some strange news, don't be too surprised.

Had this been the strange news Minwoo meant?

Then.

His phone rang.

“Yes, Chairman!”―Siwoo, did Minwoo tell you anything?

Chairman Kim asked urgently.

They'd held the press conference together only that morning, so he had probably called Siwoo out of desperation.

Scratching his cheek, Siwoo spoke carefully.

“……

Well, this is kind of…… I think Hyung may have planned it…….”―What? Planned it?!

“He said something strange earlier. Told me not to be too surprised if some weird news came out…….”―Damn…… Are you saying he set all this up to bring Dorim down and take the Gate? But how could he possibly know a Gate would appear?

“That's why I'm not certain either. He might have meant something completely different. But Hyung isn't an ordinary Awakened…… shouldn't we trust him?”

―……

True. Understood for now. Thanks. I'll hang up.

Siwoo lowered his phone and sighed.

“……

He had a plan, right?”

Kim Minwoo was far, far stronger than the public imagined.

Even if the Gate was B-rank, he might be capable of clearing it.

And hadn't the Sword Phoenix joined him too?

One thing at least seemed certain.

Dorim, Korea's second-ranked conglomerate.

That company was truly fucked.* * *[Entering B-rank Gate, ‘Murim’!][You were the first to enter the Gate!][You have acquired the title, ‘One Who Took the First Step’!][Difficulty changes to B+, ‘War of the Stars’!]―Coo.

“Aww, my baby. Good job, good job.”

After entering the Gate.

He vigorously stroked Snowy's head after it followed him inside.‘Went exactly as expected.’Dorim would clear this Gate.

Jo Pilwook was also on the raid roster. An A-rank Achievement Awakened in the Level 300 range.

Someone like him couldn't possibly be excluded from the raid.‘Knew he'd come.’Kim Minwoo knew Jo Pilwook very well.

This guy was a genuine piece-of-shit wastrel.

Compared to him, Kim Minwoo had been the mild version.

And they happened to have bad blood between them.

Did anyone need a crystal ball to know a bastard like Jo Pilwook would blame some innocent person?

Sure enough.

True to his hotheaded nature, he'd charged over first.

And he'd reached out with a hand packed with enough strength to crush Minwoo's shoulder.‘Goodbye.’Jo Pilwook would probably feel wronged, but he'd never be able to explain it.

Snowy's concealment was strong enough to slip through Ilseong's main-residence security system and follow Minwoo all the way into a Hidden Gate.

Even the enlightened Sword Immortal couldn't detect it.

So to everyone watching, it would obviously look as though Jo Pilwook, seething with resentment, had shoved him in.‘He was trying to crush someone else's shoulder.’He had to be prepared to get his own skull split in return.‘He can't cover this up at his level.’Not only Jo Pilwook, but Dorim itself would probably descend into chaos.

If you raised your child badly, the parent should pay the price.

It was obvious Dorim was about to get hammered.

Take the Gate.

Trip a competitor.

Two birds with one stone.

Then.[Warning!][One outsider is currently present inside the Gate!]‘……?’He tilted his head.

Someone intruded here?‘An Assassin? No.’Gate-rank measuring equipment.

High-performance devices that checked a Gate's mana density to determine its rank.

By design, they detected mana use almost instantly.

That included an Assassin's Stealth, since it also used mana.

Even an S-rank Assassin couldn't evade those devices.‘You'd need Snowy's level of concealment to do it reliably.’And someone had come to assassinate him at a place where guilds and every television network were watching?

While the measuring equipment was running?

Insane.

If they'd tried, they would've been discovered before entering, dogpiled by the guilds, and arrested.

No guild would simply stand there watching some random bastard slip into a Gate.‘Then someone came to rescue me.’That was possible.

But…….

“Only one person?”

Before the Gate's rank had even been determined?

He was very curious who had attempted such an original form of suicide.‘Jo Pilwook isn't it.’He hadn't been sucked in after body-checking Minwoo.

He'd stopped dead.

And there was no way a wastrel like that would risk his life to follow him in.‘Who is it?’He had no idea.

Kim Minwoo looked around.

The interior of an antique room.‘This looks like a wuxia-type stage.’The Gate's name said as much.

Murim.‘Nothing strange about that.’Starting from C-rank, weird Gates appeared from time to time.

Cyberpunk, Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, all sorts of yokai-themed Gates appeared.

Murim wasn't anything special by comparison.‘I should probably look for whoever came in…….’Since this was the first clear, the difficulty had changed.

He had no idea how wide the stage was.

The distance to the midway zone was generally similar, but if the stage itself was huge, they could still be quite far apart.

Moving around before even understanding the situation would be dangerous.

“……

Well, if we're lucky, we'll run into each other.”

First, he needed to determine exactly where he was and what the Gate's objective was.

Kim Minwoo stood.

Time to begin the clear.