The Pursuit Of Power

Sung Jin-Woo noticed that at the last second before the Gate fully sealed itself off, something entered after him. Turning around, he saw everyone else was standing up but one of the women on the team, a B-Rank had been knocked over and a familiar head of ashy-grey hair was lodged between her cleavage.

Yuuki was a little dazed after suddenly bursting with a speed he'd not reached before, his sense of balance was knocked into oblivion and he felt his head rush into something soft.

Suddenly, some people of the team yelled out three words that made Yuuki stand instantly.

"A RED GATE?!"

To the side of the people who yelled, Yuuki surveyed his immediate surroundings and saw the woman he had knocked over.

"Sorry about that, are you okay?" Extending his hand towards the woman who already had a crimson-tinged face, Yuuki apologized with a smile on his face and pulled her to her feet. Sensing for any wounds, Yuuki sighed in relief when there was nothing wrong.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think anyway...I'm Park Hee-Jin, n-nice to meet you."

"You can just call me Yuuki, nice to meet you too."

Whilst Yuuki interacted with Miss Hee-Jin, Jin-Woo talked with the girl next to him who Yuuki could see was an E-Rank Hunter.

Loudly speaking, the guy with a massive ham-ax introduced himself.

"I'll introduce myself once again, I am the A-Rank Hunter 'Kim-Chul' Now that we know this is a Red Gate, I'll take responsibility for your survival!"

Pausing for a moment, Kim-Chul waited before he continued.

"But, I will not be prem.a.t.u.r.e and claim that all of you will be able to return alive. We must wait countess months for the dungeon to open and there's no guarantee that we'll survive. A Red Gate's rank is at least B. In a dangerous place like this, it'll be difficult to manage a late number of people.

That's why I will form a separate team to clear the dungeon with me."

Upon saying this, he turned and spoke again in his dramatically loud voice.

"Who wishes to join me?" As he said this, people stepped forward but he rejected them saying that only the B-Ranks and higher could come. To tell them the seriousness of the situation, he spouted information that Yuuki knew was true from experience in a Red Gate.

"An hour outside is a day in here. Worst case scenario, countless months pass by before the boss is killed or the Dungeon is opened. In such a situation, I cannot bring any dead weight with me."

"Uhm excuse me." Getting Kim-Chul's attention, Miss Hee-Jin asked to switch sides and since a vacancy was available, a C-Ranker took it to replace the B-Rank Mage.

Yuuki turned around and realized that arrows had been shot towards the team whilst he had his head buried. At least one guy died and it seemed that Hee-Jin switched because she noticed that Jin-Woo saw the arrows that were shot right before Yuuki appeared and knocked her over.

---

Outside of the Red Gate stood three members of the White Tiger Guild. They were the Guild Master Baek Yoon-Ho, the Chief of the First Department of Management Joo Sung-Chan, and the Chief of the Second Department An Sang-Min. Right now, the Chiefs were filling in their Guild Master on what had occurred so far and on who was inside of the Gate.

"Thank goodness, Kim-Chul is also in there." Baek Yoon-Ho knew that Kim-Chul was somebody that could not be ignored even among the highly ranked Hunters. With him as the Raid Captain, he could command the B-Rank Hunters well enough to clear the Dungeon!

A car pulled up by the side as an arrogant voice was heard coming out.

"What happened here ay? I thought that this was meant to be a C-Rank Gate... Did it turn out to be an A-Rank Gate? Why is the precious Master of the White Tiger Guild here?" The arrogant voice belonged to a bulky man who wore expensive-looking clothing. By his side stood a man with slicked-back orange hair, Woo Jin-Chul who had come to Yuuki's home by himself.

"Hwang Dong-Su?!" Baek Yoon-Ho looked towards the man with a frown on his face and his forehead creased.

Why were they showing such reactions? It was because Hwang Dong-Su is the S-Rank Hunter of the American Guild, Scavenger's Guild.

"Long time no see, Baek Yoon-Ho."

"Why are you in Korea..."

"I stopped by to manage some business, but I didn't expect to see you here." Approaching them, he continued. "Korea sure is small."

"Just answer the question." Baek Yoon-Ho's hair glowed white and his pupils became slits. "Why is a man that should be in the United States back in Korea and doing business in the White Tiger Guild's area?" Menacingly spitting every word, Baek Yoon-Ho looked ferocious.

"I'd like to ask something as well. Did that lousy Hunter enter your White Tiger Guild? What were you thinking of recruiting him?" Seeing the look of confusion on the Guild Master's face, he spoke again. "I'm talking about that E-Rank Kid." Bloodl.u.s.t was penetrating through his control when he thought of Sung Jin-Woo.

"E-Rank? Who are you talking about?"

Shooting a smirk as though Baek Yoon-Ho was putting up a facade, he spoke again.

"Sung Jin-Woo, who has entered the Gate."

---

Walking behind the group led by Kim-Chul: Yuuki, Jin-Woo, Hee-Jin, and the girl that was with Jin-Woo conversed as they trodded forward in the tundra that Yuuki had already adapted to once before.

"How are you so calm for recruits?" Sung Jin-Woo asked Hee-Jin.

"The first lesson we've been taught is 'Anything can happen inside the Dungeon.' Especially, Hunter Kim-Chul has received special coaching as he is destined to join the White Tiger's main attack force.

Suddenly stopping ahead of them, Kim-Chul's group decided to follow the path and Yuuki's group entered the forest. Wishing each other good luck, they set out on their way.

Slowly walking to the right of Jin-Woo, Yuuki felt a little nostalgia at the kinda familiar tundra.

Hee-Jin looked between Jin-Woo and Yuuki and nodded her head as she concluded, 'nope, Yuuki is more handsome without a doubt.' Almost face-palming for thinking such a way about someone younger than her, Hee-Jin breathed out the embarrassment she felt mentally.

---

"Idiots." Kim-Chul stood looking towards the forest as something caught his attention.

Pointing towards a marking of claws on the tree bark, Kim-Chul pointed out that the forest was Ice Bear territory.

"Cos of those two E-Ranks, all those innocent people are about to die." Both Yuuki and Jin-Woo decided to enter the forest especially after discovering the markings, Yuuki was rather excited that he would be able to tame something new hopefully after Yuuki was filled in on the Ice Elves or their true monstrous name, Ice Hyakki, he decided together with Jin-Woo that the forest was a safer area for them

"Prepare for battle!" He yelled to his team and faced the Ice Bears.

Ferociously dealing with each of them, almost the entire pack was taken down entirely by himself.

---

"Wait! We cannot go any further." Speaking in an urgent voice, Hee-Jin got both Yuuki and Jin-Woo's attention.

"Why?" Speaking simultaneously, they looked at each other before looking back at Hee-Jin.

"Can't you see? This area is covered with Ice Bear territory markings! This entire forest is Ice Bear territory! We must turn back now! Before the monsters arrive!" Hearing her words, Jin-Woo turned to Yuuki and nodded at him.

"So you're saying that this area is full of Ice Bears."

'What did I say something wrong?' Thinking that she was wrong, she mentally questioned herself.

"Yes. S-so we should turn back."

"That's why we are going into the forest, hear me out. Ice Bears are gonna be the only thing we need to deal with, and Ice Bears are more reasonable then Ice Elves."

"Anyway, aren't you guys cold with that clothing? Everyone put these on." Moving his hand in the air, he used what could only be identified as Spacial Magic by the others and removed multiple fur coats.

Of course, that was not the only reason why Hee-Jin's brilliant emerald eyes widened. Jin-Woo took out multiple items, a trait of Spatial Magic was that it was limited to only one or two items usually.

Yuuki refused a fur coat as he showcased the frightening warmth that emanated from his body in the cold. Even though he wore simple clothing, Yuuki was perfectly fine in the cold because of [ Rebirth ] and [ Vitality ] combined to resist the penetrative frost.

"Don't ask me any questions and don't demand anything from me." Silencing them before they had the chance to ask questions, Yuuki knew that his Inventory was similar but why the hell would Jin-Woo store large fur coats in there? There was something else at hand here.

Yuuki's thoughts were disrupted by the appearance of an Ice Bear. Jin-Woo also turned to face it and as he spoke about how only he would handle the Hunting, Yuuki had already become a blur and had smashed the Ice Bear's skull into pieces.

"Ooopsie." Laughing, Yuuki turned to face the others incredulous looks as Hee-Jin's mouth opened wide enough to put a tennis ball inside.