Chapter 138
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“Ah, hello!”
The sudden visit of the Hunting Team 5 members.
Seeing them, Yoon Ji-ah, who was spacing out for a moment, soon came to her senses and greeted them.
Even though they were colleagues I was with just two months ago, they are senior-level people to her who is just taking the entrance exam for the <Judgement of Fire>.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Shin Yuna.”
…Even Shin Yu-na, who is still a newbie in that team.
While Park Jin-woo and Yoon Ji-ha were slowly exchanging greetings with the Hunting Team 5 members, I spoke to team leader Kwon Oh-jun, whom I was meeting after a long time.
“You came earlier than I expected?”
“Early? I was late by 30 minutes because I was checking the equipment.”
“Was it Shin Yu-na again?”
“What can I say. Sigh. She’s the successor I personally chose, but she’s quite a handful.”
Even as he said that, Kwon Oh-jun’s face was full of pride.
It was an expression that showed he was quite proud of Shin Yu-na’s growth.
Shin Yu-na was a new clan member of Hunting Team 5, and a B-grae Holder I had a match with when I first joined <Judgement of Fire> to test my skills.
She was the successor ambitiously chosen by Kwon Oh-jun when he got promoted to an A-grade Holder and team leader, and a promising talent in the close-combat field.
Personally, she was a senior who greatly helped me adapt to my intern life.
‘…Even though I somehow lost touch with her later…’
Of course, because of that, I did feel somewhat closer to Shin Yu-na.
So if I had to pick the teammate I was closest with in Hunting Team 5, it was undoubtedly Shin Yu-na.
I heard she recently proved her skills and got promoted to a B-grade Holder.
The fastest among her peers who entered as C-grade.
The struggling and agonizing figure I saw during the ‘Forest Covered by Snakes’ strategy was now nowhere to be found.
“Holder Lee Soo-mi, Holder Kim Seong-cheol, Holder Choi Dong-wook… all the B-grade members came?”
Looking over the members, all of ‘Hunting Team 5 B-grade’ were here.
The familiar members I spent two months with were gathered in one place.
Kwon Oh-jun nodded his head and answered.
“Yes. This dispatch is considered quite important within the clan. It’s a kind of inspection and investigation, and the fact that a hunting team was dispatched shows the clan’s interest.”
“That’s true.”
The hunting teams were literally hunting teams.
Outside-barrier fields, dungeons, and other special missions.
Most of their duties focused on hunting monsters, so it was quite unusual for a hunting team to be dispatched on an investigation like this.
“I heard you rejected the clan’s official invitation?”
Kwon Oh-jun asked with a mischievous smile.
“Invitation? What…”
“I’m talking about the offer to officially join Judgement of Fire. Everyone wants to get into the number one clan so badly, so why did you reject it?”
“Ah, that…”
About to answer right away, I changed the subject when I saw his face, wanting to joke around.
“Now, Judgement of Fire isn’t the number one clan. There’s Royal and Raging Sword as well. More precisely, they are the three major clans.”
“What? This punk… So are you going to another clan instead?”
“Haha. Just kidding, kidding. I just thought it was too early to decide, so I postponed my answer. I still don’t really know what clan I want to join or what work I want to do, and I still have over two years left at the academy.”
Just because I say I want to join <Judgement of Fire> now doesn’t mean I can become a clan member right away.
I’m still a first-year, with two years left until graduation.
Unless it was a special recruitment by Kang Juyeon, I wouldn’t be able to drop out and join the clan, and forcibly doing so didn’t seem like it would greatly benefit my career.
“Tsk. Then it can’t be helped. Among the new clan member applicants these days, there’s no one like you, Do Jae-hyun.”
“I also enjoyed working with Hunting Team 5.”
“You sure know how to talk.”
Kwon Oh-jun laughed once while hitting my shoulder, then clapped towards the team members and circle members.
“Alright, let’s get going now that you’re all familiar with each other’s faces. It takes quite some time to go through departure procedures.”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
Since the [Warp Gate] was at the airport, the departure procedures for Holders were also conducted within the airport.
The process was similar to taking a plane.
Baggage check, passport and ID verification, customs declaration, etc…
You go through most of the regular procedures for going abroad.
However, unlike the general baggage check for prohibited items, the purpose of a Holder’s baggage check was mainly to detect illegal items.
“Please present your Holder license.”
Holders have to present their Holder license to go through the [Warp Gate] and depart from the country.
While individually Holders are special ability users, from the national perspective they can become human weapons.
Therefore, Holders are always watched by the association and government when moving domestically or internationally.
The Holder license was for that verification.
Originally, you had to be issued an ‘International Holder License’, but Korea was one of the globally recognized Holder powers, so the domestic license itself was proof of trust.
“Departure procedures complete. Holder Do Jae-hyun is booked for the 11 a.m. international warp gate to Tokyo. The departure floor is 3F, gate number E-3. Thank you for using Incheon International Airport’s Warp Gate service today.”
The airport employee politely greeted me and handed me the ticket.
I headed towards the location written on the ticket.
The other team members swiftly grabbed their luggage and followed.
In fact, the only difference was the transportation changing from planes to [Warp Gates], so this was no different from a normal overseas departure procedure.
Once all the team members gathered, Kwon Oh-jun relayed the information.
“When we arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, we’ll immediately move to Nagoya through the domestic warp gate.”
“Nagoya?”
“Yes. More precisely, we’ll use the warp gate near Nagoya Station’s Sakae area. We’ll depart right away without waiting, so gather as soon as you arrive.”
While this investigation was a collaboration with <Judgement of Fire>, the area we wanted to investigate was under <Judgement of Fire>’s jurisdiction.
We couldn’t just go wherever we wanted.
So until we reached our destination, following Kwon Oh-jun and Hunting Team 5’s command was the norm.
“Understood.”
“Okay. See you all in Japan after personal preparations.”
And so, we headed to Japan.
For me, since coming to this world.
It was my first time setting foot in another country.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Ugh, I feel sick.”
“Whoa… International warp gates are seriously no joke.”
After arriving in Tokyo and immediately crossing over to Nagoya in one breath, we took a short break in front of the gate.
International transfers via [Warp Gates] was on a different dimension than domestic transfers.
Just the transfer consumed a tremendous amount of magic, and the twisted magic damaged the body, causing extreme nausea.
My whole body felt disgusting and stuffy.
It was incomparable to car sickness or seasickness. My stomach churned violently.
“Not tired?”
Seeing Kang Juyeon looking fine, I asked.
“…A little.”
She only seemed a bit fatigued, with barely any change in expression.
As expected of Kang Juyeon.
Amazing poker face.
No one was even paying attention, yet she was doing her utmost to stay in control of herself.
To think she got that angry last time…
You never truly know someone.
After resting for about 10 minutes.
Our team headed out of the [Warp Gate] interior space.
The location of the [Warp Gate] was Sakae Station in Nagoya.
It was a subway station in the lower parts of Nagoya.
While leaving the station, I asked Kwon Oh-jun while looking around the interior.
“It feels kind of shabby, doesn’t it?”
“Because it’s a subway station. If we go further down towards the harbor, there’s a downtown area.”
Sakae Station didn’t have many people and gave off a gloomy vibe.
Once we exited the station, that feeling intensified.
Old, worn-down buildings and shopping districts everywhere.
It felt like I was in a small neighborhood in Seoul rather than Japan.
“The welcome party is here.”
Kwon Oh-jun spoke as we exited the station and looked around for a bit.
I turned my head in the direction he pointed…
And saw a man waiting to welcome us.
With shaggy hair and brownish-gold dyed hair.
For some reason, familiar…
A typical Japanese face.
-Judgement of Fire clan, Anti-Villain Circle. Welcome to Nagoya!
And he held up a banner with that message.
‘Wait, aren’t those kinds of things usually at the airport?’
Seeing him holding that alone outside a quiet subway station felt absurd.
He approached us with a cheerful smile.
“Long time no see. Kwon Oh-jun!”
“Nice to meet you. Mr Shimizu. It’s been about 6 months since we last met. Thank you for today as well.”
“Leave it to me.”
Fluent Korean flowed out of him.
Was he Korean-Japanese?
His pronunciation was so accurate and clean.
The man called Shimizu also shook my hand.
“Nice to meet you. I am Shimizu Kenzo, a senior clan member of the <Man’s Term> clan. I’ve heard a lot about you, Do Jae-hyun.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Do Jae-hyun from Seoul Holder Academy…”
About to naturally return the greeting, I paused and asked back in surprise.
“Your name is… how do you spell it?”
“It’s Shimizu Kenzo. You can call me…”
“No, no. I don’t think we need to shorten it.”
I felt like I had heard something I shouldn’t have.
I quickly changed the subject to talk about work.
“Team leader Kwon Oh-jun told me the gist. You’ll let us directly inspect the clan tower interior?”
Shimizu nodded at my words.
“Yes. Our Man’s Term clan and Korea’s Judgement of Fire clan have maintained a 5-year trade cooperation relationship, regularly conducting transparent inspections on trade items and processes. Today is the same. I can open the clan tower to you two anytime if you wish. Shall we go right away?”
I glanced at Kwon Oh-jun to ask his intention.
But he signaled me shortly with his chin.
Having worked in his team for two months, I understood this signal well.
It meant to do as I saw fit.
I nodded and looked back at Shimizu.
“Please guide us right away.”
“Understood.”
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