Chapter 76

When people talked about the chronic problems of the Special Unit, they’d usually bring up things like the excessive discipline in certain divisions or the Commander-in-Chief’s habit of spamming announcements.

But one of the biggest issues was this:

We were always the ones handling the Gates everyone else avoided.

There were perks—like getting real combat experience faster than anyone else—but the downsides were just as clear. Not every battle actually contributed to one’s growth.

Take labyrinth-type Gates full of nothing but traps.

Or the ones where you had to clear endless waves of low-tier monsters—mind-numbing work that only became dangerous the moment your concentration slipped.

These weren’t the high-grade Gates guild raid parties entered to sharpen their skills.
They were high-grade dangerous Gates—the kind that became our regular battlegrounds.

So when we were offered the chance to attack Necropolis, it was—at least from the Special Unit’s perspective—an opportunity we could never pass up.

It was, after all, supposed to be the grand prize for this year’s Tower of Proof. Its value was beyond question.

Even setting aside the artifacts and mana stones inside, successfully clearing it would massively boost every operative’s ability.

No wonder even Seona was delighted, and even Ha Yeri—who hardly ever showed emotion—reacted with genuine excitement.

“Is that really… true?”

“Yes. I agreed to help Lady Baek-seon, but considering the scale of the Gate, I felt I couldn’t handle it alone.”

Of course, none of this had been pre-arranged.

Our deal had been simple: the two of us would attack the Gate together—she’d take the bodies of the demons inside, and I’d take the land.

But I knew Baek-seon well.

As long as she wasn’t inconvenienced, she didn’t care in the slightest how the Gate was cleared.

『Troublesome.』

『Please just make an exception this once. I’ll cover all lodging and meals during the raid.』

『I’m not cleaning up after other people.』

『Lruyeh-nim won’t have to lift a finger more than necessary. I promise.』

We exchanged a few short messages over the channel.

She was one of the few who knew my original strength.

After stroking the skull a few times, she gave a small nod.

『So I’m catering to your whims again? What a patriarchal man.』

“Lady Baek-seon, is… what Agent Sae Hayan just said—”

“It’s true. Do as you like.”

“My goodness…”

“But get preparations done immediately. The week I asked for updates is already over. We need to enter as soon as possible.”

And with that, as if no further words were needed, she gave us the Gate coordinates and vanished.

Once only the three of us remained in the meeting room, Seona clapped her hands first.

“Wow, Hayan! That’s amazing! Gates that are efficient and high-grade go for insanely high prices!”

“Is that so?”

“Yep! Big guilds spend hundreds of billions just in auction fees. So how did you get close to Lady Baek-seon?”

“We met in the Tower of Proof. Turns out we worked well together.”

Seona beamed.

Ha Yeri, in contrast, muttered with suspicion.

“I still don’t understand why she would ask you for help. Do you know the reason?”

“Well… maybe because I know black magic?”

“That should be the field she is more proficient in.”

Baek-seon wasn’t from the Black Tower, yet she had mastered black magic to a transcendent level.

There was no reason for her to need help from a Special Unit operative who’d only just reached Middle Level.

I had to shut this down before the questions dug too deep.

I slipped out of my chair and dropped to the floor, crawling at a speed reminiscent of a gecko caught hiding in a wardrobe.

My target: the wooden footstool Ha Yeri always used.

I rammed it with my skull—the height matched me perfectly—and she yelped, instantly raising her knee.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

“No reward?”

“Reward?”

“Thanks to me, Division 3 gets to participate in the Special-class Necropolis raid.”

Ha Yeri was weak to logical arguments.

As someone who operated strictly on merit and discipline, she wouldn’t be able to simply ignore that.

Even after considering the temporary power gap and increased security costs while Division 3 was away, this was still a massive gain.

Mages would line up to transfer to Division 3 just for the chance to observe Baek-seon’s magic up close.

“…You alter the lobby elevator design without permission, show no remorse, and now demand a reward?”

“If you count the value of the mana stones and artifacts inside, you could reinstall the elevator every month for ten years and still profit.”

“Your brain only works like this during nonsense. The only reward you’re getting is this.”

“Oh my, Yeri—?”

Squish, squish.

Maybe she’d built up too much resentment from all my pranks.

Instead of giving her usual cool-headed judgment, Ha Yeri simply put her foot down—directly onto my face.

She always wore traditional-modern hybrid clothing with embroidered Korean socks, even in the office. Through the thin ramie fabric, I could make out the small curve of her little toe.

“Y-Yeri, that’s too much…!”

“Hayan started this. The Commander knows nothing.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you act this emotional…”

“Of course. I’m human too. And there’s no better way to pay back the humiliation I’ve endured than returning it twice as hard.”

Her intent was clear—this was humiliation, pure and simple.

Not that it affected me the way she imagined.

Sure, I licked Yoo Se-byeol’s feet, regularly collected her shoes and socks, and even took interest in yogurt lids—but that was all for the sake of my Outer God.

For the sake of gathering Star Scar.

Other people’s bodies meant nothing to me unless they housed a Star Scar. Her attempt at humiliation was nothing more than… mildly annoying.

But because Ha Yeri was small, the impact somehow felt disproportionately strong.

『But how disappointing. If you wanted to humiliate me, you needed far more professionalism than this!』

『Scaredscaredscaredscared.』

My body had learned how to get stepped on without pain long before it learned to walk properly in the orphanage.

Even my childhood friend, who probably held the world record for “most hits landed on me,” eventually started looking tired of it and stopped grinding their heel into me.

At this point, any gentle, strength-controlled kick just felt like being petted.

“Why aren’t you reacting? Did that actually hurt?”

When I didn’t respond at all, her heel pressing into my face grew cautious.

I accepted the warmth around my brow and said,

“No, I just thought if you stayed like this a bit longer, I could estimate Commander Ha Yeri’s body weight.”

“……!?”

“And not only that, but you have some structural imbalance as well. Since you’ve been swinging a greatsword with your right hand for years, your right trapezius is overly tense, and your pelvis is rotated left. If ignored, it could lead to scoliosis and reduced kidney function, so you’ll need correction.”

“Wh–What are you even…?!”

I made full use of my enhanced senses.

Judging the tension of her muscles and reverse-calculating her weight from the pressure on her foot, I even told her she needed postural correction.

“You can keep stepping on me like this. It’s completely fine.”

“You’re actually…!”

“If anything, I could be your personal footstool for life instead of relying on things like that.”

“……!”

Normally, this was the part where she couldn’t take it anymore and swung the greatsword beside her.

I was about to wrap up this farce with the usual ending when—

Seona, standing next to us, smiled brightly.

“Oh my, Yeri, your face is bright red.”

“…….”

“Hm?”

I twisted my head to look up at her—Seona was right.

Feet, flushed cheeks, and the silence swirling around the room.

Probably unrelated, but it reminded me of the expensive red-wine set I had splurged on once.

A moment later, Ha Yeri slowly lifted her foot and spoke quietly.

“Agent Sae Hayan…”

“Yes?”

“I know your nature is more harmless than you look and you don’t mean anything malicious, but you really shouldn’t say things like wanting to stay with a woman for life.”

I didn’t get scolded.

I walked out of her office without a single reprimand.

Even afterward, she didn’t summon me for anything, which honestly made me nervous.

While she didn’t discipline me personally, Ha Yeri immediately reorganized the unit’s deployment.

Exactly two days later—

All of Division 3 was assembled, ready to begin the assault on Necropolis.

Yoo Se-byeol didn’t seem happy about meeting Baek-seon again after the Tower of Proof incident, but the rest of the team looked pretty excited.

Even if it wasn’t uncommon to be called in for cleanup after an accident inside a gate, it was rare for a one-person guild to officially request our cooperation from the very start.

The Gate’s observed location wasn’t inside the city, so we had to take vehicles.

Inside the van, packed with eight of us…

My seniors surrounded me.

“Hayan, we heard. You’re the one who brought in this job?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You’re not even in the operations team, so how did you land a catch like this?”

“For real. The Ability Management Bureau staff said they were shocked.”

“It was all thanks to Baek-seon.”

THUD!

The van shook violently.

I noticed Yoo Se-byeol’s hands trembling slightly on the steering wheel.

A few perceptive veterans went quiet, but those still buzzing with curiosity grew even more excited at the mention of Baek-seon’s name.

“So, are you close to Baek-seon?”

“We just happened to meet and talk once.”

“Come on, no way. Why would someone like Baek-seon request gate support just because of you?”

“Don’t lie. There’s more, right? Something deeper?”

“Really, no. She only visited me once in the hospital…”

“Ugh…!”

SCREEEEECH!!

She slammed the brakes, and the van swerved left and right like it was dancing.

We barely avoided slamming into the guardrail on the curve.

If the squad hadn’t grabbed the overhead handles in time, we would’ve rolled straight down the cliff.

The moment everyone felt their lives flash before their eyes, the entire vehicle fell silent.

Just as we all exhaled in relief…

Alexei, who had quietly listened the whole time, spoke.

“Mm. Invite me to the wedding later.”

Two hours later, after feeling the mountain’s contour lines through our backsides, a massive ancient tree finally came into view.

Even with a Special-Grade Gate right in front of us, the only thing filling my mind wasn’t the incoming hell—it was the relief of still being alive.

“That must be it?”

“Looks like it.”

“Not a single animal sound. Yeah, you can feel something’s off even from here.”

A violet fissure was blasting upward like it was about to explode.

The longer it remained open, the higher the chance of collapse.

When a gate stayed open for too long, its stability plummeted—especially one not summoned by demons using a Dimensional Core. In this case, we were intruders through and through.

They knew outsiders were about to trespass into the Tomb of Eternity—the place they themselves never wished to return to. The more time passed, the tighter their internal defenses would become.

This was why Lruyeh had been in such a hurry.

Already waiting at the gate, she called me aside the moment she spotted me.

“I blocked the other guilds from entering for now. But I have no idea what’s going on inside.”

A faint worry clouded her otherwise calm eyes.

She didn’t overestimate the strength of Division 3.

『You promised, remember? That you wouldn’t create situations where I’d need to step in unnecessarily.』

『I did.』

『This isn’t a normal Special-Grade Gate. Inside are the bodies of vassals sworn to an Archduke. Elite warriors who once ruled the Demon Realm.』

Meaning: they only called it “Special-Grade” because classification stopped there. In reality, clearing it required two Transcendent-level Awakened.

Given that she knew I was hiding my true strength from everyone else, her concern was understandable.

『It’s fine. Let’s go in.』

I nodded calmly.

Once the squad got out of the van and finished prepping, Division 3 entered in formation.

Alexei, Kang Ha-neul, and Yoo Se-byeol.

Finally, Baek-seon and I entered last.

And the sight before us… was an utterly ruined fortress.

At the center should’ve been a massive temple engraved with the mark of Gamigin.

『See? I told you everything would be fine.』

As she stared, wide-eyed, at the structure—as if someone had smashed it with overwhelming force, folding it like a broken magic tower—I explained, simply and clearly, why I hadn’t been worried at all.