Chapter 41

The association did not grant permission for Seonghyun’s raid.

Despite some hope, as the secretary had indicated, the permission was not granted.

“Hmm… Does this mean we can only go to the open gates from now on?”

Inhwan asked Seonghyun in a disheartened voice.

Under normal circumstances, they would have been heading to their assigned gate by now, but since the permission was not granted, they were spending their time at the academy.

“We have no choice. But let’s wait since they said they’d arrange something.”

Just as Seonghyun spoke encouragingly, a call came in from the association.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Kim Hunter?”

It was the secretary’s voice, as cool as usual.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“The vice president has arranged a separate location for you.”

The location had been arranged much faster than Seonghyun expected.

“Oh, really? Where is it?”

“I will let you know when you arrive.”

“Alright, understood.”

The expressions on Seonghyun’s face before and after the call were slightly different, prompting Inhwan and Sang-yeon to ask.

“What is it? Who was it?”

“The association?”

“Yes. They said the place is ready, and they’ll let us know when we get to the association.”

Inhwan and Sang-yeon also showed relief that the location had been prepared much faster than anticipated.

“But… what about Hayeon and Sung-wook? There’s no need for a five-person raid team now, right?”

“True, we don’t really need five people.”

Inhwan and Sang-yeon seemed to prefer training just the three of them.

“Still, we’ve already discussed it, and since the other two would have to come after their academy classes are over, it should be fine. It might even add a new dimension to our routine training.”

“If Seonghyun thinks it’s okay, then I guess it’s fine.”

“It doesn’t sound bad when you put it that way.”

“Shall we head to the association now?”

The three of them immediately made their way to the association, where the secretary was waiting to greet them at the entrance.

“Please follow me.”

They followed the secretary into the building, heading in a different direction than usual.

To a somewhat secluded area. They turned a corner and there was an elevator.

“An elevator here…”

The secretary entered the elevator and pressed the button for the only floor available, and soon the machine started moving downward.

“May I ask where this leads?”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Seonghyun asked first, and the secretary stared at the elevator doors as she responded.

“You’ll see once we get there.”

The elevator seemed to travel a surprisingly long distance for there being only one floor, and finally, it stopped and the doors began to open.

The inside was still dark, not yet illuminated, but the elevator’s light revealed a portion of the room that looked quite alien and odd.

“Then…”

The secretary pressed a switch right next to the elevator, and the lights turned on.

“What is this…?”

“As you can see.”

With the lights on, the inside felt even more alien than what had been glimpsed in the dim light.

Strange machines like nothing they had seen before.

“What in the world is this…”

“This place isn’t in use currently, but I thought it might be the most suitable for Mr. Kim Hunter and the others.”

The secretary began to tinker with various components of the machines, and soon, with a clattering sound, the machines began to glow.

“To put it simply, this is a place where you can engage in virtual combat.”

“Virtual… combat?”

The secretary seemed to ponder how best to explain and then decided that showing them would be quicker. She approached the machine that had just started to emit light.

“If you do this…”

After pressing several buttons and a brief wait, a familiar form of a monster appeared in front of them.

It was a monster from one of the least dangerous open gates.

At first glance, the monster, which looked somewhat like a puppy, stared at Seonghyun.

“Although these are merely illusions of monsters or demons…”

The secretary waved her hand through the monster, and her hand passed right through it, scattering in the air.

“If you wear this bracelet.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the secretary put on a bracelet, and suddenly the previously oblivious monster started barking furiously, as if it had just noticed her presence.

Of course, it fell weakly with a single strike from the secretary.

“You can fight monsters like this.”

“Wow… is this some kind of high-tech thing?”

Inhwan asked, his eyes lighting up, and the secretary nodded slightly.

“It’s not… exactly cutting-edge, but the technology is certainly state-of-the-art.”

However, there was one puzzling aspect.

Despite the sophistication and advancement of the technology, the secretary had mentioned that this place was no longer in use.

“…Seems you have a question.”

Noticing his curiosity, the secretary continued with a brief explanation.

“When we first introduced this technology, we were ecstatic. We thought it would dramatically enhance the stature of South Korea.”

A hint of regret lingered in her eyes.

“But there was one unforeseen problem.”

The secretary removed the bracelet and summoned the puppy-like monster again.

As before, the monster paced around, and she put on the bracelet again.

“There’s no issue up to this point.”

The secretary attempted to remove the bracelet again.

But she couldn’t.

“With the monster summoned, you can’t remove the bracelet.”

“You can’t remove the bracelet…”

After quickly dispatching the barking puppy-like monster, she removed the bracelet and looked at the machine’s screen.

“The types of monsters this machine can summon are very diverse. It can summon the lowest grade of monster, as you saw, but according to the current settings, it can summon monsters up to a Level 2 gate.”

“Ah…”

He didn’t need to hear the rest to guess.

Presumably, a higher-grade monster had been summoned, and they had been unable to remove the bracelet.

“That means, you can actually get hurt by these virtual monsters.”

“Correct. If there is no risk of injury, can it really be called training? It would merely be moving your body. This bracelet serves to blur the boundary between you and the virtual monster.”

“Why haven’t you modified the machine? If it’s such a critical issue…”

The secretary placed the bracelet back in its original spot and explained.

“We tried. But forcibly connecting the virtual and the real, and not severing that connection while the monster still exists, taking off the bracelet would cause severe neurological shock.”

“So, why recommend this place to us?”

Inhwan, who had been listening quietly, asked with a serious look.

“Surely you’re not using us as lab rats…”

“Lab rats? No, not at all. However…”

The secretary hesitated for a moment before responding.

“It might sound irresponsible, but we believed that the only person who could handle this fatal flaw is Mr. Kim Hunter.”

“Ah, healing…”

Inhwan’s face showed realization.

If you must deal with the monster before you can remove the bracelet,

then Seonghyun, capable of handling unexpected situations, was indeed almost the only person suitable for this.

“Operating the machine requires a significant amount of crystals, but the association has agreed to bear all those costs. All Mr. Kim Hunter and the others need to do is engage in these virtual battles and strengthen themselves.”

The secretary handed over a container holding the bracelets as she spoke.

“The bracelets are prepared for exactly five members of the raid team, which matches the conditions you wanted. If you tell me the names of the other members you wish to include, I’ll make arrangements for them to come here.”

“Thank you. The other two are Lee Hayeon and Kang Sung-wook.”

“Lee… Hayeon?”

The secretary’s expression momentarily changed at the mention of Lee Hayeon’s name.

“Yes, is there a problem…?”

“Oh, no, not at all. It just sounded familiar. I will proceed as mentioned. From today, this place is available for Mr. Kim Hunter and his party to use freely, whenever they want.”

After instructing on how to use the machine, the secretary cautioned them not to tamper with other machines and bowed slightly before leaving the room via the elevator she had arrived in.

“Seonghyun! What should we start with? Level 4 gate monsters? Or… Level 3?”

“Are you out of your mind? We haven’t even adapted to what’s here and you want to summon strong monsters already?”

“Tch, what a scaredy-cat.”

“W-What? Scaredy-cat?”

Inhwan and Sang-yeon were back to their bickering, and Seonghyun, now accustomed to their antics, didn’t respond further and checked the list of summonable monsters.

“Let’s just warm up lightly first, like Sang-yeon said.”

“See? It’s not like rushing into a fire. Everything has its steps.”

“Tch…”

Following the secretary’s instructions, they operated the machine, and the puppy-like monster appeared again.

“Let’s try to adapt first.”

Instead of killing the monster outright, they dodged its attacks and moved around for a while. The machine seemed much more sophisticated than they had anticipated.

“It feels just like the real thing?”

“It seems so.”

As Inhwan and Sang-yeon noted, it didn’t feel like they were not dealing with reality at all.

“It’s like… rather than connecting us to these virtual monsters, it’s as if it pulls the monsters into reality.”

There was no sense of disconnection from reality, making this place, excluding the flaws the secretary mentioned, a superior training ground compared to actual gates—flaws that could potentially be mitigated by Seonghyun’s abilities.

“Now that we’ve warmed up a bit… should we summon a Level 4 gate monster?”

“Finally…!”

“Sounds good.”

Inhwan and Sang-yeon seemed more fired up by competitive spirit than fear.

“Since Hayeon and Sung-wook will take some time to get here, let’s take it slow.”

Seonghyun promptly summoned a monster from a Level 4 gate.

The creature, resembling what they often called orcs, was clad in armor and wielded a sophisticated weapon.

Seonghyun, of course, and also Inhwan and Sang-yeon, who had until now maintained a casual demeanor, now stared intently at the massive monster.

“It’s much bigger than the goblin chieftain we faced before.”

The monster, not yet aware of their presence as they hadn’t put on the bracelets, looked around confusedly. In the silence, the sound of someone swallowing nervously acted as a signal, and all three simultaneously put on their bracelets.

No further instructions were needed.

Having previously coordinated against both monsters and humans, the trio knew exactly where to position themselves and what roles to fulfill without needing to communicate verbally.

“…”

They scratched their heads as they looked at each other, as if they had encountered an entirely unexpected situation.

“It’s not set weaker than the real thing, is it…?”

“No, there wasn’t supposed to be anything like that.”

They had dealt with the monster far too easily than expected.

Seonghyun, who did not have any prior experience facing a Level 4 gate monster from his memories, had been somewhat nervous, but it turned out that each could have handled one monster on their own without any trouble.

“Should we… try summoning a Level 3 monster?”

Inhwan seemed overflowing with confidence.

“Let’s wait for the others to arrive before trying that. For now, let’s each take on a Level 4 monster individually.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

As Seonghyun suggested, the three spent their time facing off against individual Level 4 gate monsters until the others arrived.