Chapter 34

Jung Cheol-min, with eyes as wide as saucers, asked Suho.

“You’re… joking, right?”

“I’m not joking.”

Suho was utterly serious.

And why wouldn’t he be? He wasn’t lying.

Perhaps because of this?

Seeing Suho’s completely serious expression, Jung Cheol-min swallowed hard.

After a brief moment of silence, he asked.

“Wh… Why though?”

“Pardon?”

“No, I mean… how?”

“That’s a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…”

He sounded deeply disappointed.

Of course, he would be.

It wasn’t just any place—it was a sealed Gate.

Suho thought to himself.

‘Sealed Gates are all designated with S-rank difficulty. That’s why they’re called sealed Gates. It’s only natural he’d be curious if I claim to know the strategy to clear one.’

But I can’t tell him.

And I don’t have any obligation to.

There’s no law that says the strategy must be known to open a sealed Gate.

Of course, if he really wanted to, he could throw a tantrum, but Suho had already received the Chairman’s permission.

At this point, there was nothing Jung Cheol-min could do.

Moreover, it was Suho who claimed to know the strategy, the same Suho who had unexpectedly cleared the Tower of Trials, something no one thought was possible.

So, he had no choice but to believe him.

Suho added,

“The method I discovered is similar to how I approached the Tower of Trials. So, if you trust me and grant access to the Nameless Sword Gate, I’ll start there and then proceed to clear other sealed Gates in succession.”

“Other sealed Gates too?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…”

It was hard enough to believe that Suho knew the strategy for the Nameless Sword, but now he claimed he would clear other sealed Gates as well?

Jung Cheol-min’s mouth hung open without him realizing it.

And at the same time, he could feel it.

That Suho wasn’t bluffing.

Because of that, he couldn’t say anything further.

In his eyes, Suho was a tiger, and he was merely a dog.

How could a dog comprehend the mind of a tiger?

With a resigned sigh, Jung Cheol-min spoke.

“…Understood. I’ll contact you as soon as preparations are made.”

“Rather than that, let’s leave right away. I’m already prepared.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. The Nameless Sword is located in Gyeongju, right?”

“Well, yes… but… are you serious?”

“Yes. Don’t people say, ‘strike while the iron is hot’? I’d like to do it today.”

“Uh… wait a second.”

At Suho’s insistence, Jung Cheol-min moved aside to make a phone call.

After a short while, he returned with an awkward smile.

“I’ve received confirmation that it’s possible. Would you like to travel with us to Gyeongju?”

“No, I’ll go separately. There’s someone I need to bring with me. Ah, and I know the location of the sealed Gate, so you can just meet me at the entrance.”

“…Understood.”

With that concise response, Jung Cheol-min let out a dry chuckle as he prepared to depart.

 

***

 

“It’s coming into view.”

Vroom!

A car sped down the highway.

It was Jo Jin-hwi’s sedan.

After leaving the Association, Suho had immediately called Jo Jin-hwi and Bae Dong-hyuk, the Guild Master of Nexus.

The reason he called Bae Dong-hyuk was to inform him that he had secured the sealed Gate access, and he called Jo Jin-hwi to ask the journalist to accompany him.

And that’s how they ended up traveling together.

Originally, Suho had planned to take the train, but when Jo Jin-hwi offered the convenience of his sedan, he decided to join him.

It was better to move together than separately.

Not long after entering Gyeongju, Jo Jin-hwi’s car arrived at the entrance of the sealed Gate.

As expected, the military was managing the area, and the atmosphere was tense.

After completing the identity verification process and heading inside, the external appearance of the sealed Gate, which had been hidden by the Gate’s item effect, gradually came into view.

‘The Square is still the same.’

The Square.

It was a type of sealing structure built around a Gate portal, and it got its name because it was shaped like a perfect square.

The Square was constructed using ultra-strong alloys and iron to trap the monsters that occasionally emerged and to suppress the shock waves.

As Suho stepped out of the car, both Jung Cheol-min, who had arrived earlier, and the person in charge of the Nameless Sword Square approached him.

“You’ve arrived.”

“Ah, yes. You got here first.”

“I took the train. But, who is this person next to you…?”

At Jung Cheol-min’s question, Jo Jin-hwi handed over his business card and introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jo Jin-hwi, a journalist from PBS.”

“A journalist?”

Jung Cheol-min showed a slight hint of surprise, but Suho answered on his behalf.

“He won’t be releasing any articles right away, but I brought him along to take some photos of the scene. We’ll only be taking pictures after the strategy is complete. Will that be an issue?”

“Oh, no, there’s no problem with that. It’s not a particularly secretive place. I’m just surprised that you personally brought a journalist.”

“Thank you for allowing it. Oh, and by the way, it’s good to get acquainted with him. You’ll be seeing him often from now on.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

At that moment, the person in charge of the Square, Major Kim Jong-woo, introduced himself.

“I’m Major Kim Jong-woo, the person in charge of the Square.”

“So you’re the one in charge. I’m Ahn Suho.”

“It’s an honor to meet you. But… are you really planning to clear the Nameless Sword Gate alone, Hunter Ahn Suho?”

Even though he had already been briefed by Jung Cheol-min, Kim Jong-woo asked once again for confirmation.

It was understandable.

After all, the idea of clearing this place solo was hard to believe.

‘Of course, he’d be surprised. So many players have died here.’

According to Suho’s memory, the number of casualties in this place had already surpassed 200.

That’s why the Square sealing operation had been undertaken, and the Gate was designated with S-rank difficulty.

Suho spoke.

“Yes, I plan to clear it alone.”

“Uh… excuse me, but what’s your level?”

“Fifty-one.”

“Ah…”

Kim Jong-woo let out a soft sigh, but Suho spoke as if it was nothing.

“I understand what you’re worried about, Major, but nothing you fear will happen. Please trust me and wait.”

At those words, Kim Jong-woo glanced at Jung Cheol-min, who then nodded. Kim Jong-woo swallowed a sigh and spoke.

“Understood. Then we’ll be outside, praying for your success.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“The interior of the Square has been cleared. You can enter right away.”

They even tidied up in advance. Such thoughtful consideration.

Before entering the Square, Jo Jin-hwi asked.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Well, as long as nothing unexpected happens, I’ll be back within an hour.”

“Clearing a sealed Gate in just an hour…”

Anyone who heard that would think he was crazy.

But Jo Jin-hwi somehow believed him.

“Take care.”

“Yes, I will.”

After the brief farewell, Suho entered the Square through the entrance opened by the soldiers.

As soon as Suho entered the Square, the soldiers shouted.

“Sealing the entrance!”

At the same time, the entrance was securely sealed from the outside, and everyone began observing Suho through the cameras installed inside the Square.

As Suho looked around at the dimly glowing interior of the Square, he thought.

“They cleaned this place up nicely.”

There was still the scent of blood in the Square.

Since unchallenged Gates periodically spew out monsters, the military would sweep them away with heavy weaponry.

Of course, if the monsters were vulnerable to such weaponry, the military handled them, but if not, they received help from the Association or external guilds.

In that sense, the monsters of the Nameless Sword, classified as a sealed Gate, were manageable with conventional heavy arms.

Soon, Suho reached the far end of the Square, where the entrance portal to the Nameless Sword shimmered with light.

“It’s been a while, here too.”

Suho had been here before.

To be exact, seven times.

The first time he came, he barely escaped with his life after failing to defeat the boss monster inside the Nameless Sword.

The Nameless Sword was a Gate you could exit without killing the boss monster.

So, Suho, determined to defeat the boss monster, underwent grueling training after that.

But he failed five more times, tasting defeat a total of six times.

Still, Suho never gave up.

And finally, on his seventh attempt, with the spirit of “fall seven times, rise eight,” he managed to clear the Nameless Sword.

“This Gate holds great meaning for me in many ways.”

Because of that, Suho knew the strategy for this Gate better than anyone.

Everyone else had failed, but after seven attempts, he had succeeded.

The moment Suho stepped into the Gate:

 

 

 

 

Anyone could enter, but only one person at a time. This was why the difficulty increased exponentially.

Suho’s vision flickered.

 

***

 

“He’s in.”

“Hah… will he be okay?”

“At this point, we can only trust him.”

In the Square’s control room.

There, Jung Cheol-min, Kim Jong-woo, and Jo Jin-hwi were all staring tensely at the camera feed.

Then, a flash of light indicated that Suho had entered the Gate.

Right after Suho disappeared, Kim Jong-woo, still looking worried, spoke.

“No matter how I think about it… I’m still concerned. This place can’t be cleared just by having high stats or a high level.”

“That’s true. After all, the Sword Emperor resides inside the Nameless Sword Gate.”

“And isn’t Hunter Ahn Suho a healer?”

“That won’t matter.”

It wasn’t Jo Jin-hwi who answered Kim Jong-woo’s concern but rather Jung Cheol-min.

“Why wouldn’t it matter?”

“In my opinion, Hunter Ahn Suho is a healer in name only.”

“A healer in name only?”

“Yes. In all my years watching players… no, in all of humanity, I’ve never seen anyone wield a sword as well as Hunter Ahn Suho.”

At those words, Kim Jong-woo furrowed his brow.

“…Are you serious?”

“I was there to observe Hunter Ahn Suho’s practical exam during the Hunter test. Of course, as a healer, he had to take the healer-specific practical test, but the way he passed the exam was by killing all the monsters with a sword.”

Jo Jin-hwi, startled, asked again.

“What? Isn’t the healer practical exam about protecting patients and dying with them if necessary? The healer test is supposed to assess self-sacrifice, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. But Hunter Ahn Suho took a different approach to protecting his patient. Instead of dying alongside the patient, he focused on protecting them until the end. So, he picked up a sword nearby and killed all the orcs that appeared in the test.”

“That’s insane…”

It was a story no one had heard before.

After all, all that was publicly known was that Suho had graduated at the top of his batch in the test.

And so, Jung Cheol-min thought to himself.

‘I don’t know what strategy Hunter Ahn Suho has up his sleeve, but maybe… just maybe… the Sword Emperor might fall this time.’

With that thought, the three men looked at the screen with renewed focus.