'On Earth, do they just call anyone of the same species a "friend"?'
Still, my curiosity remained.
'Oh, right. He still thinks I'm some kind of Gisimche or something.'
Why had the parasitic entities of that universe triggered a [possession] event eight years after the Dungeon Shock? Or was the other party mistaking something that wasn't even a Gisimche for the creator of the Gates? Or could there be something else entirely...?
"Hmm."
The questions were endless, but there was no clear way to resolve any of them.
"Even when I threaten you, your expression doesn't change at all."
Unfortunately, Kang Changho seemed to share the same frustration.
The conversation continued for a little while longer. But after failing to extract any meaningful information even through that brief exchange, he reluctantly moved on to the next phase.
"Looking at you like this, it might actually be more convincing to say you were a government official after all."
And so, he began his untimely attempt at persuasion.
***
About five minutes had passed since then.
'Even if a possessed Gisimche is weakened, it's difficult to kill one without the proper strategy. No, come to think of it—if he's tortured a possessed body this much and it's still alive, then this bastard Kang Changho is pretty impressive too.'
While I was peacefully developing such thoughts in my head, reality was somewhat less peaceful.
Three more blue nails had been driven into my body.
There hadn't been any conversation in the meantime, but judging from the circumstances, Kang Changho seemed to have taken these additional measures simply to keep a potential threat under control.
'Phew.'
But never mind the fact that I'd suddenly been skewered with metal.
The real question was—what the hell was I supposed to do now?
"...Hunter Kang."
My speech came out half-slurred, distorted by the nails embedded in my body.
"But... Hunter-nim... how are you still alive after meeting the Gate creators...?"
I even went so far as to correct the terminology for Gisimche in an effort to communicate with the Earthling.
But the answer I received was utterly devastating.
"If I thought you'd obediently answer every question I asked, don't you think I'd be the one sitting over there instead? Would I really be standing here beside the workbench like this?"
"..."
"What I said earlier was just frustration talking. Those monsters can't even create a single proper gate, so I mentioned it in a fit of irritation. Don't read too much into it."
Even so, I had answered every one of his questions earnestly.
Yet after hearing all of those answers, Kang Changho's attitude remained unchanged.
Apologizing didn't work.
Trying to evoke sympathy was pointless.
At one point, I even begged Kang Changho to let me go, arguing that instead of doing this, the two of us should cooperate and find the actual creators of the Gates.
But Kang Changho merely replied that if I wasn't a monster and was truly just an ordinary person, then he had even less reason to consider me a comrade.
At that point, all I could feel was sheer disbelief.
'I'm starting to get angry.'
Frankly, I wanted nothing more than to tear Kang Changho apart with my bare hands.
But realistically, that was impossible.
In terms of magical power, the difference between us was like that between a raw egg and a boulder.
If we had both been high-ranking mages, things might have been different.
But with mana reserves equivalent to those of an F-rank, overcoming such an overwhelming disparity was nearly impossible.
I couldn't even kill a B-rank whenever I pleased.
That was precisely why I'd had to bluff in front of Seonwoo Yeon by falsifying the reading on the scale, just to maintain appearances.
'Damn it.'
Besides, blindly expecting outside help was asking too much...
The simple fact that Kang Changho had successfully carried out the kidnapping already made the missing steps obvious.
Before I was locked in this basement, Jung Haseong had been dealing with a Gate under government orders, while Seo Esther was at the Korean Wizard Tower.
But apparently, they had anticipated that Kang Changho's claws would reach Seonwoo Yeon, so they had redirected the curse sorcerer's attention toward her.
And that had ruined everything.
There were delays at every turn.
The studio apartment had collapsed in barely seven minutes. How could Esther, all the way in Guro-gu, possibly have reached the far side of Mapo-gu within that amount of time?
Unless she used a specialized transportation item like [White Bird], which could accelerate rapidly.
But at the time, the sky had been in chaos with heavy rain and violent winds, so even flying magical tools probably wouldn't have been much help.
'Now that I think about it, Kang Changho even factored in the weather.'
If you could infer one thing, you could infer ten.
Would someone who had prepared this kidnapping so thoroughly really have failed to prepare for being tracked afterward?
'Ha.'
I felt drained.
I sat there, stewing in my mounting irritation, and thought for a moment.
If I couldn't rely on anyone coming to help me, then perhaps...
Perhaps I should simply give up.
Let go of my pride while I still had some dignity left, before he broke me down any further.
The idea of dying with dignity didn't sound so terrible.
If Korea's fourth S-rank hunter were to die after leaving Esther nothing but a message saying, "Kang Changho came to see me," then the kidnapper would find it almost impossible to continue operating normally in Korea afterward.
"Hmm."
But then again, what was the point of revenge after I was already dead?
The so-called emergency escape function embedded in this body—technically designated as "soul separation"—was really nothing more than a glorified self-destruct button.
And frankly...
That didn't feel quite right either.
"Uhm?"
Just as all manner of thoughts began flooding through my mind—
Tuk, tuk.
I lowered my head beneath the restraints of the magical tool.
My sharpened senses had detected a disturbance.
'This is...'
Even that blue-haired superhuman—an S-rank hunter born with the ability to wield mana, and equipped with the additional sensory organ known as the Dragon's Eye—didn't seem to have noticed it yet.
'Gate?'
Something was being born.
I focused every sense I had and observed the floor.
Unlike before, now that I had acquired the Dragon's lungs, the flow became vividly apparent to my heightened senses—far more distinctly than during the incident on the top floor of the Korean Wizard Tower.
'That's right.'
And considering the condition my body was currently in...
What an extraordinarily well-timed coincidence.
"Hey, Kim..."
It was just as the other person was about to call someone's name for the first time in a while.
I opened my mouth as well.
But what came pouring out wasn't a sound.
It was liquid.
"...!"
Blood.
So much blood suddenly burst from the kidnapping victim's mouth that it streamed down his throat.
"What are you doing?"
A slow-moving current of magical energy, similar to the one I'd sensed during the White Labyrinth incident, was rising from beneath the ground.
The moment I recognized it, I instinctively switched off my pain-immunity system as though reaching for a lifeline.
Immediately, it felt as though a red-hot blade had been thrust into my insides and was scorching them from within.
"You're bleeding."
As the symptoms probably made obvious, I was deliberately inflicting an injury that resembled the retaliation of a certain sea creature.
The side effect of the spy coral had nothing whatsoever to do with the expiration of the [Guardian] effect.
This internal bleeding wasn't caused by a natural time limit.
Nor was it the genuine effect of any item.
Looking back, my life had been nothing but one long succession of misfortunes.
After enduring that much absurdity in my previous life, I'd thought things might improve this time around.
Yet immediately after reincarnating, I'd found myself trapped in an F-rank body.
I'd been targeted by primitive sorcerers.
I'd been kidnapped three times.
"Are you perhaps trying to bite your tongue and kill yourself?"
But at last—
My chance had come.
How could anyone remain unlucky for their entire life?
As though proving that even misfortune eventually had to balance itself out, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had finally fallen into my lap.
So I vomited blood onto the floor, perfectly imitating the side effects of the Sacred Tree.
At the very least, this act was my way of sending them a message.
The prey you're looking for is right here.
"...?"
Right here, on this very patch of land, lies the delicious nourishment of living creatures—
Their hearts.
If I lured them earnestly enough, perhaps the Gisimche adjusting the trap's position would respond.
"From the inside...?"
As the captured alien began displaying strange symptoms, Kang Changho approached.
He seized the prey by the upper jaw as though he meant to wrench it open and inspected the inside of its mouth.
But when the bleeding proved to be coming from deep within the digestive tract, a hint of confusion entered Kang Changho's voice.
Only for a moment.
"...!?"
Soon, a new trap was complete.
And that trap began extending itself precisely toward the creature it had detected.
***
...When I opened my eyes again, a familiar white space stretched out before me.
'It worked.'
The traps used by those alien invaders didn't waste energy transporting unnecessary inorganic matter.
'An EX-rank, huh.'
During the transfer into this space, the kidnapping victim had naturally been freed from the restraints.
I lightly stretched the arms that had stiffened from being bound by the magical tool and looked around.
'Not A-rank. Not S-rank either. With this kind of EX-rank, my strategy will inevitably be faster. Since he got dragged in too, all I have to do from here is escape before Kang Changho does!'
At first, that was exactly what I thought.
But the moment my eyes finished adjusting and I properly took in my surroundings—
"...!"
The visual organs on Kim Giryeo's face caught sight of the stone monument standing along one side of the room.
By then, my entire plan had already changed.
"Wait, no. This isn't about escaping..."
This was something from the distant past.
'Alright, then. You b*stard Kang Changho—this time, I'll kill you with the Gate's gimmick!'
Because I had already experienced a box exactly like this one before.
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