A red line, cutting across the horizon, sliced Su-ho’s view in half.
In the process, the Mega Parasite was also perfectly split in two, marking its end.
[ Mega Parasite has been defeated. ]
[ The Gate has been cleared. ]
[ The MVP of the Gate clear is 'An Su-ho'. ]
[ MVP designation grants additional experience points. ]
[ MVP designation grants 1 bonus stat. ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ All stats have increased by 1. ]
[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]
The system notifications flooded in.
Su-ho’s lips curled upward as he read them.
These were notifications that the previous conquerors would never have seen.
Unlike those who had been forcibly removed, Su-ho had completed the hidden condition by defeating the boss monster and proudly claimed the MVP title.
And that wasn't all.
[ Your level has reached 100. ]
[ Congratulations on achieving a great feat! The system rewards you with 5 bonus stats. ]
[ You have reached a significant milestone. ]
[ Class quest is now active. ]
[ Trait quest is now active. ]
[ The first unlocking condition for the third power of Dragon's Blood has been met. ]
[ The first unlocking condition for Vampire's Blood has been met. ]
The system continued to chime with additional notifications.
Thanks to reaching level 100, Su-ho couldn’t hide his smile as he reviewed the sudden influx of alerts.
"Finally, a rank 1 level," he thought.
It was remarkably fast compared to his previous life.
Su-ho opened his status window and began distributing his stats.
[ An Su-ho ]
– Lv: 100
– Class: Healer
– Traits: <New Blood>, <Heracles Candidate>
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– Strength (O): 26
– Vitality (O): 2
– Mana (R): 70
– Sensitivity (R): 62
– Bonus Stats: 0
He invested all of his bonus stats into Mana.
He closed the status window, satisfied, noticing the quest activation marks next to the class and trait categories.
Su-ho’s gaze shifted to the now-dead Mega Parasite's corpse.
He summoned Guiyeong Spear and embedded it into the carcass.
[ Guiyeong Spear reacts to the Mega Parasite's shadow. ]
[ Guiyeong Spear absorbs the Mega Parasite’s shadow. ]
The shadow feeding was now complete.
Su-ho then turned his attention to the now-split Mega Worm's interior, which had once been a wall.
"Hmm."
Had the Mega Parasite been too reckless, hiding the pain of the cut?
When it had been pierced by the Blood Sword earlier, it had screamed in agony. But now, no cries could be heard, not even the sounds of gastric acid waves.
Su-ho moved closer to examine the cut surface.
"Cleanly sliced."
The cut was smooth, as if it had been done in one swift motion.
Su-ho looked beyond the cross-section and saw the strange landscape that lay beyond.
Beyond the cut.
It wasn’t the external part of the Mega Worm.
What lay beyond was another set of internal organs, sprawling in every direction.
And it wasn’t just that.
The severed intestines began to wriggle, regenerating not long after the cut.
This was why, in a gate themed around internal organs, no one could simply destroy the insides and escape.
"Of course, if someone foolishly tries a power game approach, they might force their way out..."
But no intelligent player would make such a reckless move.
First, no one knew what lay outside this gate, and if they failed to gain recognition for clearing it, all they'd accomplish was wasting their energy and potentially destroying the entire gate.
Just then, Guiyeong Spear completed its feeding.
[ Guiyeong Spear is enhanced. ]
[ Guiyeong Spear has completely absorbed the Mega Parasite’s shadow. ]
After the third-level ritual was unlocked recently, the enhancement was only minor, with no major changes.
However, something more valuable was left behind at the site of absorption.
That was the Mega Parasite's carcass.
Su-ho recalled Guiyeong Spear and retrieved a material item from his inventory.
He held up none other than the monster lion’s claw.
"Nothing better for piercing this tough exterior than this."
Of course, with techniques like Cloud Slash or Steel Cutter, he could easily slice through.
But now, Su-ho was focused on loot gathering.
If he had swung a large sword recklessly, the inside of the Mega Parasite could have been damaged, ruining the loot.
Thus, when gathering loot, it was important to proceed like an archaeologist carefully excavating ruins.
With this in mind, Su-ho gently sliced the Mega Parasite’s body with the monster lion's claw. The skin, which had resisted even the Blood Sword, parted as easily as silk.
Su-ho began to tear the creature’s body apart with the claw.
Soon, he started to methodically rummage through its insides.
Before long, he had collected some excellent loot.
The first item was a magic stone.
"Indeed, a boss monster's magic stone is on a whole different level."
A magic stone from a rank 1 boss monster, even if small, started at an S rank.
Even if one had a lot of money, there was no reason not to take it.
From S-rank magic stones onward, they weren’t just for profit but valuable material items.
Next, he secured the monster’s heart.
"Parasite-type monsters have regeneration abilities beyond those of trolls."
It also had a special regenerative ability called "Meal Regeneration," which heals through consumption.
But the most important loot had not yet appeared.
After carefully examining the creature’s body, Su-ho finally found what he had been searching for.
It was a black jewel, about the size of a melon, which Su-ho quickly checked.
[ Unhatched Mega Parasite Egg ]
An unhatched Mega Parasite egg.
In order to hatch the egg, sufficient nutrition must be supplied, and the egg will absorb nutrition from its surroundings in response to life energy.
Su-ho smiled after reading the item description.
An unhatched Mega Parasite egg.
It wasn’t just any egg, but one from a giant parasite.
"Depending on how it’s used, it could be a deadly curse or a terror weapon."
Su-ho carefully placed it into his inventory.
He hadn’t come specifically for this, but he knew very well what it could be used for.
That was enough.
Having finished the loot gathering, Su-ho finally turned toward the portal leading out.
***
Outside the Sealed Gate.
How long had it been?
Su-ho, who had said he’d be back soon, took longer than expected, and just as everyone was about to drift off to sleep from waiting, the news finally came in.
“Oh, oh!”
“The Gate line is down!”
“The Gate has been cleared!”
The soldiers on duty were the first to report the news about the gate being cleared.
“Yesss!!”
Director Lim Yeon-hyun was particularly overjoyed.
Seeing this, Jo Jin-hwi quickly grabbed his camera and captured the moment.
Then, smiling, he asked, “Is the fact that the Gate was cleared really that exciting to you?”
“Oh, of course! How can you even ask that?” Director Lim responded with a chuckle.
“Hmm, honestly, it looks to me like you're more happy about finally being able to escape here,” Jo Jin-hwi teased.
“Well, that’s not entirely wrong...” Director Lim hesitated. “Wait, can you not write that exactly as you just said?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll just be an article about ‘a soldier celebrating the successful clearing of the Sealed Gate’ or something like that.”
“Well, thank goodness for that.”
The two of them then headed toward the gate entrance to wait for Su-ho, and after finishing the follow-up shots with Jo Jin-hwi, they were able to leave the Sealed Zone.
Jo Jin-hwi casually headed for the driver’s seat and spoke.
“I’ll drive on the way back.”
“No, I’ll drive. You can interview me while we’re at it and save some time.”
“Is that so? But if you’re tired, we can do the interview later.”
“I’m fine, it’s not that tiring.”
“Ah, I see, the pro’s stamina... Alright then, let’s begin the interview. First off, how was the inside of the Gate? I heard that there are parasite creatures crawling around and waves of gastric acid that feel like sulfuric acid. How did you clear it this time?”
Su-ho smiled naturally and started to explain how he had blended the methods used by previous conquerors with his own hidden tactics, without directly mentioning that it was a hidden strategy.
Since the Mountain Swamp Gate had never been cleared in the current timeline, he couldn't just say that he used a hidden method.
“Of course, Su-ho, so what came out of the Mega Parasite?” Jo Jin-hwi asked.
“From the Mega Parasite...” Su-ho began to answer but suddenly stopped.
He thought for a moment before speaking to Jo Jin-hwi.
“Journalist.”
“Yes?”
“How about preparing a special feature article this time?”
“A special article?” Jo Jin-hwi’s eyes gleamed at the word.
He quickly flipped to a new page in his notebook and grabbed his pen.
“What kind of special article do you have in mind?”
“A special article about the compensation for Gate-clearing civil servant hunters.”
“Compensation for Gate-clearing... Wait, are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
As expected, Jo Jin-hwi, the expert on player-related journalism, picked up on it immediately.
Su-ho nodded and continued, “As you know, in our country, civil servant hunters have almost no rights over the Gates they clear. Unless the items are forcibly acquired by the system, everything they find inside the Gate must be returned to the state.”
“Right, and this compensation system only exists in our country, isn’t that so?”
“Why do you think that is?”
“It seems like it’s a problem created by people who don’t understand the industry, making laws about awakened individuals here.”
“Exactly. And because of these outdated, unreasonable laws, the popularity of national hunters has hit rock bottom. While the role of a hunter is noble and created for the benefit of humanity, where else can you find people as dedicated as national hunters?”
“True. All hunters deserve better treatment, but national hunters should at least receive the same respect as the military... But this country has always treated patriots like dirt. It’s the same with soldiers and firefighters.”
“That’s why I want to sketch out the blueprint for correcting this injustice.”
Jo Jin-hwi chuckled lightly at Su-ho’s words.
“You’re actually telling me this early this time?”
“I can’t handle everything on my own for this one. I need your help.”
“Haha, something like this requires concrete examples and comparison data, so it’ll be a lot of work. But don’t worry, you can count on me. Though... you’re planning to make a big reveal of it later, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll combine it with other issues and drop it all at once. That way, people will actually pay attention.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure to have a solid blueprint ready by then. And what about the Mountain Swamp Gate you just cleared?”
“I’ll share the details as soon as I get the approval.”
“Alright. Thanks to this, I’ll be quite busy for a while. If you want, I can even expand the special article. I can already see a lot of details I can work with, like including interviews with national hunters who couldn’t even get proper compensation and were forced to retire due to injuries.”
As expected, Jo Jin-hwi was thorough.
Su-ho laughed and replied, “Then I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”
“Of course, always happy to help.”
Vroom!
With that, Su-ho and Jo Jin-hwi headed straight for the Great Hunter Association.