——————
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
——————
Chapter 42
A Hunter refers to an Awakened being who specializes in clearing Gates.
Naturally, Hunters were highly trained in dealing with the Monstrosities that emerged from Gates.
But when it came to human combat, many of them showed clear weaknesses.
After all, hunting a monster with its set patterns and counter-strategies was a completely different game from confronting a fellow human.
When facing humans, the arsenal expanded far beyond just brute strength: drugs, poison, sedatives, traps… the methods were endless.
And in this arena, Russia was widely recognized as one of the most skilled nations.
Russia’s government-issued radioactive black tea was infamous around the globe.
That was the level of subtlety and deniability they operated with. Even if a plan failed, it was hard to even tell something had been attempted.
Russia always planned for failure by preparing to cut off the tail sacrificing the pawns to protect the core.
The Russian Orthodox Church was no exception.
But this time...
‘The trail is way too obvious.’
The Investigation Captain from the Hunter Association tilted his head, confused.
The corpses affiliated with the Orthodox Church had links to the organization that were, frankly, sloppy.
They tried to cover it up, sure but not well.
Call logs and activity checks revealed their identities almost instantly.
"Maybe Russia’s running out of competent agents. They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel now.”
"Guess the Orthodox Church isn’t so scary anymore, huh?”
"Or maybe we’re just that good.”
"Haha! That’s probably it.”
The investigators beamed with pride at the results of their work.
Whatever reputation the Russian Orthodox Church had, this case proved that Korea’s Hunter Association was no pushover either.
Still, questions remained.
"Anyway… who did the killing?”
"Good question.”
To uncover the killer of the Church’s clergy, the Association, a government-affiliated agency, had mobilized professional profilers and forensic teams.
They’d even reviewed every nearby CCTV feed.
Yet it was as if the culprit had vanished into thin air or sunk into the earth.
No evidence, no clues, nothing.
This was the first time the Investigation Captain had ever encountered a crime scene this clean.
"Maybe a ghost did it.”
"What, like Jack the Ripper’s back or something?”
The investigators exchanged half-joking remarks, trying to shake off the mounting frustration.
That was when the elderly forensic lead, who’d been performing the autopsies, suddenly spoke up.
"It might really be Jack the Ripper.”
"Huh?”
"Have you ever heard of the Crime Pub Massacre?”
"Wasn’t that the 19th-century London gang that vanished mysteriously? Caused quite a stir, if I remember right.”
"That’s the one. That was the true beginning of the Jack the Ripper legend.”
Officially, the British government had only acknowledged five murders of prostitutes as the work of Jack the Ripper.
But those in the know were well aware
Jack’s first act wasn’t the prostitute killings.
It was the Crime Pub Massacre.
"It’s one of the famous unsolved cases recorded in Conan’s Casebook.”
"Why bring that up now...?”
"Because the feeling Conan described in that casebook... is exactly what I’m feeling right now.”
No evidence.
No trace.
A murder scene so unnervingly clean it gave you chills.
The only thing left behind was a single, rusted pair of scissors...
Today’s crime scene was disturbingly similar to the Crime Pub Massacre described in Conan Doyle’s casebook.
Down to the killing method itself.
It felt as if Jack the Ripper had crossed a hundred years of time to reappear in the present day.
"Captain, come on now. Jack the Ripper was a 19th-century man.”
"I know. I was just saying… the feeling was the same.”
The Forensic Captain let out a quiet chuckle.
After all, it made no sense to invoke a ghost from the Victorian era at a modern 21st-century crime scene.
He dismissed the shadow of that old ghost from his thoughts.
"That’s the end of it. Let’s start wrapping up.”
"Understood.”
And just like that, the deaths of the Russian Orthodox priests were marked as an unsolved case destined to remain forever cold.
To the media, it was merely reported as a drug-related mass death.
With public unrest already high due to the surge in Gates, they couldn’t afford to stir panic with news of a serial killing on top of everything else.
***
—Three days ago, eight Russian nationals were found dead in a residential area near Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. Authorities believe the cause was drug overdose and plan to expand their investigation.
“….”
Vanessa averted her gaze from the television news report.
In the living room, Choi Seojun was at his laptop, gently moving a fountain pen across his notes.
"Here, have some.”
"Ah, thank you.”
He sipped the coffee Jeanne handed him and returned to his analysis.
But his pen only hovered and never actually moved with purpose.
He was stuck. It was a theft case involving a relic, but without clues, he couldn’t get anywhere with his deduction.
"Would you like me to check it out myself?”
"I appreciate the offer… but it’s fine.”
Seojun shook his head in response to Vanessa’s suggestion.
"The people involved are from a mercenary group. You’d be more than capable of handling them, of course but still, we need to be cautious.”
He added the last part gently, not wanting her to feel rejected.
"This world is full of CCTV surveillance everywhere. Even a minor altercation is enough to get flagged. Not that you’d get caught, but… you never know.”
"Understood.”
Vanessa smiled faintly, touched by his concern.
—The estimated time of death for the eight Russians was around 11 p.m., three days ago…
She had decided not to tell Choi Seojun about the incident with the Orthodox Church.
If he found out, he’d undoubtedly worry.
And that was the last thing Vanessa wanted.
***
Among the various Gates, there are those that require specific attributes to enter.
The Gonjiam Gate was one of them.
A specialized Gate that only allowed Hunters with the Light attribute inside.
I didn’t have the Light attribute myself but with Jeanne by my side, I could enter.
Artifacts and traits tied to transcendent beings if they were connected to me also applied to my status.
"There are wandering spirits of the deceased patients inside. Floors above the third are extremely dangerous. I recommend staying below that level if possible.”
The bishop overseeing the Gonjiam Gate, a member of the Cathedral Church, warned me sternly.
"Whatever you do, do not enter Room 406.”
"What’s in Room 406?”
"A high school girl who died due to medical malpractice. Her spirit… has turned into a demon.”
The bishop emphasized the warning, practically begging me to stay away from that room.
‘So I have to go in, then.’
To me, it sounded less like a warning and more like a challenge.
The higher the difficulty, the higher the chance of a reward like unlocking a new ‘slot.’
And besides, I had Jeanne. That alone gave me all the confidence I needed.
"Whatever you do, don’t use the elevator.”
"Understood.”
So I’ll definitely take the elevator.
I carefully filed away every one of the bishop’s warnings as I stepped into the Gonjiam Gate.
[You are now entering the Gonjiam Gate.]
A cold, eerie hospital hallway stretched out before me.
— Kya-ha-ha…
White-robed spirits floated through the corridors.
They were Specters, the same undead I’d seen even at the Vatican.
Only difference was, they wore hospital gowns and had long black hair.
The Vatican ones had brown hair, if I remembered correctly.
‘Looks like ghosts have regional variants, too.’
I summoned Jeanne and Vanessa.
"So this is the Gonjiam Gate.”
"Yes. We need to make it up to the fourth floor.”
Jeanne quietly folded her hands in prayer.
Fwoosh.
—KYAAAAH!
As the stigmata glowed, the Specters in the corridor instantly found peace and vanished.
She didn’t even need to raise her banner.
‘…She’s getting stronger every time, isn’t she?’
I clicked my tongue at how effortlessly she’d purified the hall, then continued forward.
At the end of the corridor was the elevator the bishop had warned me about its doors already wide open.
"Let’s ride.”
The moment we stepped inside, the doors shut as if they had been waiting for us. The elevator began to ascend.
Ding–
[4th Floor]
It stopped precisely at the fourth floor.
‘So that’s why he said not to take it.’
They’d warned that higher floors were more dangerous and this thing just took us straight to the top.
No wonder they suggested using the stairs.
"Grrruuhhh…”
No sooner had the doors begun to open than a rotten zombie arm shot inside.
Slice—
In an instant, the arm was severed cleanly and dropped to the floor.
"Grrruuhhh…”
Beyond the open doors was a hallway packed with zombies.
"Would you mind stepping back for a moment?”
"Yes.”
In Vanessa’s hand gleamed a pair of golden scissors.
It was her strike that had sliced off the zombie’s arm just moments ago.
Fwoosh!
As divine power surged through the corridor, the dark aura clinging to the zombies peeled away and vanished.
Then Vanessa dashed forward.
What followed was a full-blown action sequence.
Whoosh!
A zombie swung a butcher knife, but Vanessa ducked low and slashed horizontally with her scissors.
Slice.
The zombie’s head fell cleanly from its neck.
The next one lunged with a baseball bat.
Vanessa leapt off the bat mid-swing and delivered a fierce kick to the zombie’s skull.
Thud!
Suddenly, a fire hydrant came flying at her.
Vanessa twisted her body like a spinning top, narrowly dodging it.
Golf clubs, emergency carts, syringes and improvised weapons came hurling from every direction, but none of them could touch her.
She ran along the walls, parried attacks, dodged, struck, stabbed
Her movements were almost divine.
Slice slice slice slice
A storm of scissor slashes echoed through the hallway.
With every snip, another zombie dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
Thud.
The final zombie collapsed, and silence reclaimed the corridor.
"It’s over.”
"Mm. Well done.”
I strolled down the now-calm hall and opened the door to Room 406.
There, lying on a hospital bed, was a frail ghost clinging to a doll, murmuring in a trembling voice:
"I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”
"Lady Jeanne.”
"Yes.”
Flick flick
[You have conquered the Gonjiam Gate.]
[Clear Rank: SSS]
Only three more Gates stood between me and the next Slot reward.
***
After exiting the Gate, I tilted my head curiously at the doll Jeanne was holding.
It was the one that the ghost girl in Room 406 had been clutching.
"Why’d you bring that out?”
"You’re always working so hard to earn money, Seojun. I didn’t want to just stand around doing nothing. I thought maybe this could help.”
Wasn’t I the one mostly standing around, though…?
But then
"Help, huh?”
"Yes.”
Suddenly
Fwoosh.
Jeanne’s divine power wrapped around the doll for a moment… and then disappeared.
"Please check it.”
"Check wha... ?”
I took the doll from Jeanne with a puzzled look… then froze mid-sentence.
My eyes widened.
“…Huh?”
It was pristine.
Not just clean on the surface.
It was the absence of something else.
The doll that had once been tainted with thick, vile energy was now completely free of it.
‘It’s… gone?’
Some cursed items used by monsters can be immensely powerful artifact-level magical tools.
But they’re usually discarded or destroyed, since they’re considered worthless… or even dangerous.
Anything used by a monster for long enough becomes contaminated.
—Mana Contamination.
But this doll… no trace of that contamination remained.
All I could sense was pure, untainted mana.
‘Did Jeanne just purify it?’
She looked up at me carefully.
"Do you think it’s… worth something?”
"Of course it is. This is huge.”
I clasped Jeanne’s hands with a bright grin.
"You’re amazing, Jeanne. Really.”
The nervous tension melted from her face, replaced by a radiant smile.
——————
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
——————
