Chapter 8

Kei and Fether are coming out from the Korean Hunters Association building when a Ford Mustang suddenly parked in front of them.

“Shimizu Fether?” The window opened revealing a beautiful girl. Fether nodded and she then went out of the car.

“Isn’t that the Beauty from the Top 3 guild?” The girl attracted the eyes of nearby passersby.

“I’m Eun Hana from the Holy Flames Guild, I’m here to give you an invitation to our guild. Of course, if you’re in a team then if your teammates don’t pass our requirements you have to leave them. If you join us, you’ll instantly gain access to any dungeons under our jurisdictions and you’ll get a monthly salary of three million won.” She then showed Fether a briefcase full of money.

Fether listened to this with a face void of any emotions, even when the girl showed him the stacks of money. “Sorry but please talk to my leader about this.” He then pointed at Kei.

“Mr. Kei, I would also like to invite you to our guild. We know your strength and we promise to put you in the same team as Mr. Fether.” Eun Hana was flustered when she saw that the money didn’t work on Fether and tried hard to persuade Kei.

“What’s the benefits of joining a guild?” Kei looked at Fether and asked him, but before he could answer, Eun Hana butted in and answered first.

“Guilds have the priority in entering Gates than unaffiliated teams and you will have an income even if you do nothing. But of course, if you just do nothing then we have the right to kick you out. Entering a Gate inside the jurisdiction of a guild is punishable by law and you will lose your Hunters License.”

Kei nodded and understood. “Then that means the guilds are monopolizing the Gates, right? Sounds to me like you’re the bad guys.” Kei tried to sound out her reactions.

Eun Hana looked at him meaningfully and rebutted. “That’s illegal, all qualified hunters are allowed to enter any Gate. Guilds are just the priority in their respective places.”

Fether added from the sides, “Yeah, and they also tax anything you get from the Gate.”

Eun Hana smiled wryly and said nothing. Kei fell in deep thought. ‘I feel like we’ll get tied down to this guild and we don’t have any freedom, and also, they’ll probably get any valuable stuff we get from the Gate. I kind of want to do whatever I want.’

As Kei was about to answer her, another car stopped in front of them, and out, comes another pretty woman. She ignored Eun Hana and just talked with Kei and Fether.

“Mr. Shimizu Fether? I would like to talk with you. I don’t think this place is good enough.” She spoke as she glanced at Eun Hana.

Eun Hana looked at her and just smiled. Kei saw this and felt scared. ‘God, this is a battlefield.’ He looked at Fether and wanted to get away from there.

“Ms. Shin Hye, I think it’s rude to interfere while I’m talking with these two people.” Eun Hana glared at Shin Hye while smiling.

‘Mayday, Mayday, the ship is slowly sinking.’ Kei slowly backed away, feeling the tense atmosphere he can almost see the sparks from their eyes.

“Now now, my captain will talk with the both of you in a proper place. How about in a café?” Fether tried to remedy the situation but unknowingly pushed Kei under the bus.

‘I hate you. I’ll get you for this.’ Kei glared at Fether but Fether thought that he was just thanking him. Fether smiled. ‘No need to thank me for this captain.’

…

Kei and company are inside a café talking over some tea and coffee.

“My guild is offering three million won of monthly salary, you get priority in entering our Gates, we hold 10% of the Gates in Korea, we are the top 3 Guild in Korea. And also, everything you get inside the Gate will be yours and we will pay you the market price if we want to get it or you want to sell it.” Eun Hana started first and laid down all her proposal and offers.

Shin Hye smiled and arrogantly said her offer. “I’ll double the salary that the Holy Flames Guild offers, we might not be one of the top 3 guilds in Korea but we ARE a fast-rising guild. If you’ve ever heard of the Meteor Powers Guild, then you also know that our guild leader is the Top 2 SS Ranker of Korea, it’s just time before we grow bigger than Holy Flames.” She confidently said her part and did her best to convince Kei and Fether. Eun Hana grew agitated and wanted to say something but Kei spoke first.

Kei nodded and said, “I don’t know what Meteor Powers or Holy Flames are or who is the top ranker in Korea is, but I understand your offers. Is it possible to think this over first?”

Eun Hana exhaled lightly, ‘This is good for us, I can ask the leader to add more offers.’ While Shin Hye knew that her lead was about to disappear. ‘This is not good. I need to push more.’

Shin Hye made one last push. “Mr. Fether, I know your goal is to spread the Water Blade School teachings, if you join us, I will make sure to help you with your goal. Our guild is popular in every part of Korea and joining us will bring your school into the light.”

“We can do that too.” Eun Hana knew that she was in a bad spot so she had to do this.

Shin Hye thought, ‘This meddling bitch.’

Fether’s eyes lit up for the first time in this talk, the money and the other offers didn’t make him budge at all but hearing that made him waver. He wanted to agree and the word ‘yes’ was on the edge of his tongue but in the end, he stopped, He then looked at Kei to ask him his opinion.

‘Tsk, it failed. Who the hell is this Kei that he trusts him so much?’ Shin Hye didn’t know that her thought was synchronous with Kei. ‘Why the hell does he trust me so much? I just beat him up… is he an M? He likes getting beaten up? Wait I don’t know how this works, I’m a guy beating him up, does he swing that way?’

The idiot was thinking about a different universe but Eun Hana’s words brought him back to reality. “Seeing that you can’t decide, I’ll contact you at a later date.” She smiled and stood up, she then bowed before leaving.

Shin Hye seeing that he can’t persuade them also gave up. “I will also contact you at a later date, but please, don’t join a guild before then.” She showed them a charming smile and winked before leaving.

Kei saw them enter their respective cars and asked Fether. “What do you think?”

“Personally, I don’t really care about any of their offers, but the offer that they can help me with my goal tempts me.” Fether answered him.

Kei nodded and said, “I don’t really want to be tied up to a guild, seeing as I also have a goal to do and being tied up and having no freedom doesn’t just work well for me.”

Fether nodded and agreed. “If you don’t mind, what’s your goal?”

“I want to be the Pirate King. Wait that’s wrong, I want to be a Hokage, that’s also wrong. Be the magic emperor?” Kei answered him jokingly.

Fether looked at him weirdly. ‘The hell did this guy smoke?’

“I’m joking, to be honest, I don’t know what my goal really is. I was just tasked to do something and I think it’s a good goal for now.”

Fether understood and didn’t say anything. They just exited the building when the surroundings suddenly flashed and rumbled.

Cracks appeared in the air in front of them. The crack then expanded till it formed a massive hole where even a truck could fit through.

Civilians nearby were sucked and entered the Gate. The gravitational pull was strong enough to even bring cars inside.

Kei and Fether looked at each other and nodded. They jumped towards the Gate entering it. A minute later and the surrounding of the Gate were completely still and void of any soul. The alarm started ringing and warnings rang out throughout the city. Once the gravitational pull got weaker, military trucks carrying armored and suited people appeared.

3 groups of five people stood in front of the gate and were about to enter when a guy appeared in front of them and jumped inside.

“Who is that?!” The people were all shocked to see someone suddenly appear then jump in the portal, they panicked thinking that a civilian got pulled in.

“I think I know who it is, that is probably the rising star right now. Park Jin-Hae, the unique ability user.” A guy tried to explain who he saw.

“You mean the guy who entered A rank as soon as he awakened his ability?” Someone asked.

The guy who explained nodded.

“We can’t fall behind, let’s enter.”

…

As soon as Kei and Fether entered the Gate, the scenery changed drastically. From buildings and advanced technology, they entered a different world. What they saw there was a massive mountain. It was twice as tall as Mt. Everest and made humans feel insignificant before it. Trees as high as hundred meters covered the base of the mountain.

As soon as they returned to their sense, they looked at each other and nodded. “Kei, go left. I’ll take this. Go back after we get all the civilians, I sense a monster on top of that.” Fether pointed at the top of the mountain. They then rushed off on their own.

Kyaaa!

Kei heard the scream coming from his right and so immediately rushed towards it. What he saw there sent chills to his bones.

Goblins just a little smaller than humans were eating that exact human right now. Their green skin covered by the red blood and gore made Kei’s hair stand up on its ends.

“Kekeke, these taste good. No wonder everyone wants to enter the Mortal Realm, it’s a feast.” Goblins were talking while munching on gory meat.

A naked woman is being tied up on the side while the goblins danced around them, jumping left and right and clapping their hands. “It’s a woman, it’s a woman!”

Kei hid behind a tree and counted the enemy. There was a total of 9 goblins ahead of him.

‘Too many, got to thin them out.’ He stealthily moved behind a tree where the three goblins were happily eating while the other six were busy with the woman.

“Kekeke, the brain is mine.” A goblin suddenly cut open the head and went to grab the brain.

“How about your brain that’s mine?” Kei suddenly punched the head of the goblin immediately obliterating the upper half of the goblin.

Kei felt excited at his strength. ‘Ooohh I got stronger so I can probably manage 5 revolutions now.’

The blood and gore splashed to the other goblins and woke them up, they immediately went for their weapons and reacted to Kei.

But before a goblin could get his blade, Kei appeared in front of him and punched, “I don’t know how strong I am right now but Fether could probably kill you all in an instant so I got to show my strength as the captain.”

He absorbed the magic energy in the surroundings and felt that the energy here was a lot thicker than back on Earth. He forced the energy to his legs and his speed made him look like teleporting. Before the blood from the second kill could even reach the ground, all the goblins already died.

Hic hic

Kei slowly approached the woman and removed the rope tying her. She looked at him with eyes full of fear, as soon as she was free, she immediately backed up and covered herself. Kei removed his shirt revealing his well-built body and toned muscles that are usually covered by his clothes.

Her face was still one of fear and Kei realized that his face covered in blood doesn’t help so he frantically tried to clean his face with his hands that was also covered in blood.

Seeing him desperately try to clean his face in a comedic manner made the woman laugh. Kei presented his Hunter ID and helped her stand up.

“Did you see other people here?” Kei asked her to which she shook her head.

“As soon as I entered here all I saw was that guy and those monsters.” She pointed at the gory figure that was supposed to be a person and then at the corpse of the goblins.

“Stay here for a moment, you should be safe here.” Kei grabbed her and placed her on top of a branch.

“I’ll be back after surveying the area.” Kei then jumped and disappeared from her sight. She hugged herself on top of the tree and was scared of even looking past the other tree of fear of seeing another monster.

--End--