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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: An Unnamed Star
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Ha-ra started cursing all the gods she'd just been praying to, lumping them all together.
Regardless, people screamed and ran for the studio entrance.
“Do not run!”
Yoon Se-heon stood up from the anchor's desk and shouted, trying to calm everyone down. But it was no use.
[Gate Generation Alert]
[Guerrilla Gate generating in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul]
[An Unnamed Star is approaching you. Will you permit access? Y/N]
[Emergency Alert: Disaster Response Agency/ Gate alert today at 15:40 in Yeouido-dong (East Yeouido), Seoul. Please evacuate dangerous areas, refrain from going out, and take safety precautions.]
[Estimated Gate Rank: B]
[The difference in status between you and the Unnamed Star is significant. Access is forcibly granted.]
[Gate Type: Unpredictable]
System messages and safety alerts flooded her vision like crazy. There were unfamiliar messages too, but the first thing that caught Ha-ra's eye was the one stating the estimated gate rank was B.
B-Rank?!
Ha-ra's face went pale. At the same time, a *tzzzt* sound, like the air itself was tearing, made her ears ache. It was the rise in air pressure that occurred when a gate appeared.
“This is a major broadcasting station! How can a gate open here?!”
Through her ringing ears, she heard Yu-jeong scream.
Just then, the terrified FD next to Ha-ra shouted.
“Gasp! They said they were turning off the circuit breaker in the disaster prevention room for the drama set construction today!”
It was obvious. Someone must have pulled out the magic stone in the disaster prevention room along with it. Ha-ra stared at the FD, dumbfounded.
“That's a violation of the fire safety code…”
“Aargh! The drama department, those bastards!”
But the FD also spat out a curse and ran toward the entrance.
A tall man grabbed the dazed Ha-ra's shoulder.
“Hunter! Get to safety!”
Yoon Se-heon.
Ha-ra instinctively tried to shake the man off before realizing her mistake. He was right; this was no time to stand around.
Looking over at Yu-jeong, she saw her sprawled on the floor after trying to help another staff member.
“Hunter!”
Even now, space was tearing apart. The situation was chaotic.
*I have to get a grip.*
She might not look it, but she was a 10-year veteran civil servant at the Hunter Bureau. Even though she'd only managed magic stones for ten years, she had prepared countless times for a sudden gate breach.
Ha-ra calmly scanned her surroundings and shouted.
“Everyone, get down below the rift and stay still!”
The rift that formed when a gate opened had a tendency to rise upward. So, by ducking or lying flat, one could avoid getting swept into it.
The current rift was no different. It was swirling and rising. The only problem was its direction. The vortex was unfortunately stretching toward the crowded entrance.
Ha-ra ran to the studio entrance. She intended to personally grab and pull apart the people clamoring to get out, all bunched up in the narrow doorway.
But the lighting staff member Ha-ra grabbed shoved her away, shouting, "Get out of the way!" Ha-ra cried out and fell backward. In his panic, he didn't seem to recognize that she was a Hunter.
It was then.
“Get a hold of yourself!”
Yoon Se-heon, who had followed Ha-ra, grabbed the lighting staffer and forced him to the ground. It was only possible because he was twice Ha-ra's size.
“You have to avoid the rift!”
The staffer looked dumbfounded for a moment, but at Se-heon's words, he finally understood the situation and curled up on the floor.
Se-heon immediately turned back to Ha-ra.
“Should I do the same with the rest?”
Ha-ra belatedly realized he was asking her and nodded. Amidst the wildly blowing wind, Se-heon grabbed the people crowded at the entrance by the scruff of their necks and threw them to the floor.
*Wow…*
Ha-ra stared blankly for a moment at Yoon Se-heon in action. Inside the collapsing studio, the man's movements were swift as he evacuated people, helping them avoid the rift. It was as if he'd prepared for this kind of situation many times before.
“Ha-ra!”
At that moment, Yu-jeong called out to her. Ha-ra's head turned in that direction.
“Your bag is in the waiting room, right?”
“Oh, yes! But I have my gear with me!”
She was trying to get her gear ready in case she got swept into the gate. Even as an E-Rank Hunter, she at least had a weapon.
…a shabby one, but still.
[The Unnamed Star is flabbergasted by your equipment.]
Ha-ra flinched as she hastily took out her equipment. It was because of the message that had appeared before her eyes. This thing she'd been seeing for a while now, could it be…
*CRASH!*
But a boom mic that fell and shattered right next to her cut off her train of thought.
“What's next!”
Standing among the people on the floor, Yoon Se-heon yelled at Ha-ra. Her eyes widened. Oh, that…
“Look out!”
*RUMBLE…*
[Gate Generation Complete]
It was instantaneous. The rift that tore open behind Yoon Se-heon's head swallowed him. Without a second thought, Ha-ra reached out her hand. The man's eyes widened as he was sucked into the rift.
*Ah, I'm screwed.*
Amidst the ear-splitting high pressure, Ha-ra barely managed to clutch what her fingertips touched. The man's collar.
And that was the last thing she knew.
With a *tzzzzzt* sound, darkness fell.
“Ha-ra!”
Only Yu-jeong's empty cry, left behind, echoed in the air.
＊ ＊ ＊
The world's first gate opened in Thailand in 1986.
When the first gate opened, it was utter chaos. But soon, 'Awakened' individuals with abilities surpassing modern humans appeared.
Before long, the Awakened figured out how to conquer the gates. Gates connected to dungeons, and those dungeons would only disappear once their magic core was destroyed.
Typically, monsters appeared in dungeons to protect the magic core, and their strength corresponded to the dungeon's rank.
No one knew why or how gates appeared all over the Earth. The 'System' remained consistently silent on the matter.
Information about gates and dungeons was mostly shared with all of humanity. This was because no one knew when or where a gate might appear and pose a threat. Therefore, even non-Hunters were well-informed about gates and dungeons.
However, not many people have actually been inside a dungeon.
This was also true for Ha-ra, an Awakened herself.
[The Unnamed Star scoffs.]
[It wonders why they tie you down with the title of 'civil servant' but don't teach you any practical combat.]
*Rumble…*
A sound of vibration came from all around. Ha-ra furrowed her brow, then shot up with a grunt.
“Ugh, so loud!”
She was planning to stay passed out, but these damn system messages were too noisy.
[The sound for system messages is currently disabled.]
“Who said anything about the sound being loud!”
What kind of bad manners was it to flash dozens of messages in front of a passed-out person? Ha-ra yelled at the empty air. Then, in the next moment, she shut her mouth.
“Whoa.”
She was surrounded by a forest. It was only then that Ha-ra clearly realized where she was.
A dungeon. One she had entered through a suddenly opened gate.
[Dungeon]
Rank: B
Party Limit: None
Environment Classification: Forest, Swamp, Field
Monster Type: Insect, Herbivore, Carnivore…
Quests: Normal (1), Hidden (0), Side (0)
[View Quest Information? Y/N]
Information about the dungeon flowed in instantly through system messages. It seemed to be a forest-type dungeon.
It was a silver lining in a dark cloud. If she had been unlucky enough to fall into an underwater dungeon, she would have drowned without even having the time to pass out.
Ha-ra looked to her side.
A sigh escaped her lips.
“Haaah…”
It was just as she expected. The man from her last memory was lying unconscious next to her.
Yoon Se-heon.
Her last memory was of reaching out to save him as he fell into the rift. And as expected, it seemed the two of them were alone.
“This is crazy…”
The situation was simple. Yoon Se-heon had been evacuating people in Ha-ra's stead when he got swept into the gate.
Ha-ra had tried to save him and gotten swept in as well.
And this was a B-Rank gate. Kang Ha-ra was E-Rank. Yoon Se-heon was… tall, well-built, and seemed to work out, but he was a civilian.
It seemed she was screwed.
That was the conclusion Kang Ha-ra reached after careful consideration.
Ha-ra blankly muttered the opening line of an SF novel she'd recently read, which had been adapted into a movie.
[The Unnamed Star is viewing user 'Kang Ha-ra's' information.]
[The Unnamed Star is flabbergasted by Kang Ha-ra's rank.]
Ha-ra's eyes shot open. Right, that thing that had been bothering her!
*No way…*
System messages. A window invisible to the unawakened, but familiar to the Awakened.
However, the messages that had been appearing before Ha-ra's eyes were not the usual black system messages she was used to seeing.
Messages that not just any Awakened could see.
As far as Ha-ra knew, they were likely messages from a Constellation.
