Chapter 6: Strange Mutation (2)
You might wonder what a robot vacuum has to do with anything, but honestly, it’s quite accurate.
“Golems exist on Earth too! What an amazing discovery. Other sentient beings were using this convenient system as well!”
Golems were inseparable from the daily lives of my Alphauri kind.
The dirt dolls powered by mana performed countless roles.
Do the housework. Run errands. Construct buildings. Hold conversations. And even serve as soldiers used in unmanned warfare. My hometown was truly a nation built on the labor of golems.
“Even my major is [Golemology].”
I tilted my head leisurely in front of the golem.
“Aha~ Now I understand why there are no monsters here.”
Soon after, a small conclusion was reached.
Indeed, the most classic role of golems is as guards. And having guards means…
This is private property!
The owner of this land must have placed golems to prevent theft.
“Ugh, so I barged in without even knowing there was an owner at the gate?”
With the situation understood, I walked toward the golem while thinking.
“I’ve disturbed the guards, so sneaking out quietly is out of the question. First, I need to take care of that.”
The fallen hunter was looking at me with a gaze that said he couldn’t trust me.
I guess it makes sense since I seemed so relaxed in front of a giant monster. But I was used to situations like this.
“Oh, he’s an Earthling. So he probably wouldn’t have known this was private property. Could he be a petty thief instead of a hunter?”
I briefly ignored the fallen hunter and focused on the golem.
“What kind of idiot thief doesn’t even know how to control a golem?”
After getting close enough, I faced the golem and loosened my ankles slightly.
Why would I narrow the distance with that dangerous guard? It was to execute an emergency stop. All autonomous golems have a stop command for malfunction prevention.
– Kikikiki-
Usually, only the owner and the creator of the golem are familiar with the emergency stop for security, but I’m an expert in this field.
I could tell how to stop this clumsy model just by looking at it once.
“How the golem on Earth has a similar structure to the golems from my home planet… I’ll figure that out later.”
The input method for the emergency stop was simple.
The moment the golem swung its arm upon detecting an intruder, I swiftly stepped back to avoid the attack, as if I had prepared for this.
Then the golem’s arm slammed down on nothing but empty ground.
As the golem lifted its heavy arm again, I quickly commanded an emergency stop.
Thud, thud, thud.
I rapidly pounded the large jewel embedded in the golem’s hand, the mana recognition sensor.
Up, right, down, down.
If I apply pressure rhythmically to the defined direction of the buttons…
– Ziiiiing…
The large orb embedded in the golem’s head suddenly shone a bright red and then the massive body lurched forward.
Thud! The sound of the golem collapsing was clear evidence that my plan was working.
“Easy peasy!”
It wasn’t difficult at all. The emergency stop is literally a function that halts a critical malfunction.
“Achoo!”
As the golem fell, a cloud of dense dust rose from the cave floor.
But even after the golem went down, I didn’t let my guard down and proceeded with the next action.
“The emergency stop is just a temporary measure. If mana is supplied, it can jump back to life at any time.”
How do Earthlings stop a remote control when it goes rogue?
There are several methods, but personally, I think the most reliable one is to pull out the batteries.
Yes. I need to pull out the batteries.
“Ugh.”
I climbed atop the fallen golem and felt around the joints on its back.
Then, I inserted a finger into one of them, applying just the right amount of force to pull it.
Click!
“It’s stinging like hell doing this without proper tools. Ugh.”
After prying open part of the back, I could quickly wrap things up.
The golem’s core.
I yanked that sucker out.
– Krrrsssh!
The mana supply line tangled around the heart was roughly yanked out.
But it didn’t feel remarkable since I’d done it plenty of times before.
I just wanted to hurry and get out of this private property since I had disposed of the guard.
*
…Maybe I was getting a bit cocky because people were praising me.
Ahn Yoon-seung. He thought as his consciousness began to fade.
So much had happened during this time. He awakened unexpectedly during a Dungeon Break at the newbie MT.
To find out he had an awakening score of the precious A-Class, all sorts of major guilds had come flocking to scout him.
And he had formed a team with good older brothers and sisters, slowly gaining experience in clearing gates…
“Cough, ugh…”
Until now, he thought it was a well-earned result of his effort.
But it seemed that all of this was merely luck.
Everything felt so painfully hollow in an instant.
“Hic, ugh…”
This couldn’t be happening.
The phenomenon of sudden grade changes in gates had previously been revealed to be capped at a two-grade fluctuation.
Yet again, a gate threatening humanity was behaving erratically.
A creature appeared in the cave that A-Class Hunter alone couldn’t handle, and Ahn Yoon-seung’s team, which had been growing steadily, collapsed in an instant.
“Everyone said to trust me when things were dangerous… but it was all just lip service.”
The teammates who had respected him didn’t seem to actually care about being responsible for a rookie hunter at all.
In fact, that was being too kind.
Didn’t they all envy and belittle him for his sudden rise at such a young age?
“My parents always warned me to be careful while they were working…”
Ahn Yoon-seung, that A-Class hunter, eventually knelt on the ground.
All that was left was to wait for death.
But suddenly…
The golem’s movements stopped.
“Wow! Up close, @#!$#…”
“Ugh…?”
Ahn Yoon-seung raised his gaze at the voice of someone approaching him.
Someone was walking toward him, but sweat and blood covered his eyes, so he couldn’t see clearly. Ahn Yoon-seung squinted to try and discern the figure.
“This is totally &@#?%…”
Dizzy and unable to hear well, he could still make out the silhouette of a person.
A man dressed in a suit with a dry gaze.
“If I’m not mistaken…”
He had a strangely unique aura. No, it was more accurate to call it bizarre.
Because he seemed far too relaxed.
He was looking at a monster that even A-Class Hunters couldn’t handle with an expressionless face.
The way he tilted his head leisurely made it look like he was studying the golem.
“Ugh…”
After that, Ahn Yoon-seung couldn’t remember much.
He was losing consciousness due to blood loss and extreme dizziness.
Fortunately, the time until he lost consciousness wasn’t long.
A loud sound that shook the earth soon woke him up.
Thud!
“…Huff!”
Ahn Yoon-seung, startled to find out he had lost consciousness, quickly gasped for air.
If he wanted to live, he had to snap out of it. With that thought, he opened his eyes wide, but…
The sight before him was shocking.
“Hwaah!”
The giant golem that had caused his team to collapse was trampled under the shoe of a man.
– Krrrsssh!
Kim Gi-ryeo immediately yanked the core out without hesitation.
The sight of the man in a black suit ripping apart the golem’s filthy heart with a cold expression was truly impressive.
“He… he’s ripping out the golem… barehanded?”
With no weapons, how could he so simply extract the enemy’s vital organ?
That mysterious figure had unilaterally killed the sturdy creature.
It was indeed astonishing.
That golem had been strong enough that even an A-Class Hunter couldn’t do anything against it.
Signs of the battle, blood, and wounds.
Not even the slightest flaw could be found in the opponent. While the A-Class had been unconscious, what had truly changed was that the golem’s lifeline had been severed.
“I can’t believe this.”
Ahn Yoon-seung swallowed involuntarily.
He could feel the man standing far away, looking down at him silently as he stood on the golem.
“Wait, why is there another hunter in a gate that the association blocked access to?”
At first, he thought it was a miracle that this man appeared. But as the situation calmed down, an increasing sense of unease arose.
This gate was indeed marked as prohibited for access while investigating the abnormal transition. Yet, another hunter had secretly entered?
“I shouldn’t be happy that I survived.”
Ahn Yoon-seung looked up at the approaching figure with a tense expression.
He thought that the most untrustworthy person in this world was the hunter he met inside the gate.
Especially since he was in a situation where he had sustained serious injuries while wearing expensive gear. Naturally, Kim Gi-ryeo’s intentions were doubted, and he felt scared.
“Don’t come any closer…!”
Thud.
The man, who had been advancing slowly, came to a stop at a step’s distance.
Honestly, Kim Gi-ryeo had a face that was easy to instill fear in others.
The fierce glare showing the whites of his eyes wasn’t the kind of expression one could casually regard as friendly.
“Are you okay?”
However, the words that flowed from the man’s mouth were unexpected.
“Should I help you?”
Kim Gi-ryeo extended his right hand toward Ahn Yoon-seung.
Though his attitude was dry, it was enough of an expression of goodwill.
*
At one point, this mysterious awakened being was feared.
But Ahn Yoon-seung soon let his guard down.
“Honestly, I just found out that entering here was forbidden.”
“Did you not see the yellow tape around?”
“Oh, dang it. So that was the marker.”
It turned out that this mysterious hunter had accidentally wandered into the cave.
In the end, he was neither involved in illegal activities nor a murderer hiding in the gate.
A sense of relief washed over him.
“I thought he was doing something strange because he was in a forbidden gate. Well, the tape could have been poorly stuck.”
Although Ahn Yoon-seung was still puzzled by how calm the man was after experiencing a mutated gate, he found a renewed sense of gratitude.
“Thank you so much for your help.”
“Yeah, sure.”
The reply returned was straightforward, but that was fine.
Ahn Yoon-seung felt fortunate to have been saved by the friendly hunter and continued down the path.
Soon, a faint blue light seeped through the end of the cave’s twisted path.
“We’re almost there. Is it really okay to just take me this far?”
“Cough, yes. As long as I can get a signal…”
Crossing through the discovered gate, he finally saw the familiar scenery of the hills.
“Could you help me lean against a tree? I can’t stand…”
Ahn Yoon-seung pointed to a tree as soon as he came out, and the man gladly obliged.
Of course, Ahn Yoon-seung’s call connected quickly without even a chance to ring.
– Yoon Seung-ah! Are you alive? I’ve already contacted the association and 119! People are on their way. Just wait a little longer!
The hunter guild he belonged to fired off chatter as soon as they got in touch, presumably from one of the teammates who had escaped with a last-ditch effort to explain the situation to the company. Hearing that help was on the way brought color back to Ahn Yoon-seung’s face.
“Did you hear that? Our guild’s people…”
However, Ahn Yoon-seung couldn’t finish his sentence.
His eyes widened. The hunter who had just been beside him was gone.
“Huh!”
He looked around, but there wasn’t even a trace. The hunter must have quietly slipped away while he was preoccupied with the call.
Had that hunter left without a word?
This fact was shocking to Yoon-seung in a different way.
“Wait, you didn’t even tell me your name!”
The mysterious hunter who had saved him hadn’t asked for anything in return from the start.
But that was only because he hadn’t brought it up first.
Honestly, he would have thought he had to offer a reward if he asked.
But now it seemed like he vanished without a trace as if he had anticipated that.
– Yoon Seung-ah. Hey, Ahn Yoon-seung! What’s going on?
Ahn Yoon-seung found no time to respond to the voice ringing from the phone speaker.
The hunter society is harsh.
In an industry where life and death hang in the balance, it was rare to receive help in a gate by mere chance.
Yet, the kind soul who saved him even rejected the reward so casually.
Feeling like he had encountered a hero that could be featured in the news, Ahn Yoon-seung let out a deflated sound and stared at his smartphone.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Kim Gi-ryeo had fled, fearing he’d be caught for trespassing and dragged by the hair.
“Director. Well, I have something to say…”
The following day, a single line appeared in the hunter category of the Seonhan Daily, an internet article.
