한국어|English

← # The Last Survivor of the S-Rank Gate I don't know how much time has passed. In the endless darkness, I had lost all sense of time. Days blended into nights, and nights stretched into what felt like eternities. The only thing I could be certain of was the cold stone beneath me and the weight of despair pressing down on my chest. My name is Kang Tae-oh. I'm a hunter—or at least, I was. Three months ago, an S-rank gate appeared in Seoul. The hunters' association mobilized all available S-rank hunters to clear it. I was among them, confident in my abilities. We were the strongest. We were invincible. We were fools. The gate was different from anything we'd encountered before. The monsters inside were beyond our comprehension. One by one, my comrades fell. I watched them die—watched their bodies crumble to dust as the creatures tore through our ranks like we were nothing. In the end, only I remained. I don't remember how I survived. Perhaps it was luck. Perhaps it was cowardice—I had hidden while the others fought. The guilt of that possibility gnawed at me more than any monster's claws ever could. Now I was trapped in this darkness, in what I assumed was the deepest part of the gate. The monsters didn't come anymore. Maybe they had forgotten about me. Maybe they were waiting for me to die on my own. I was dying. Slowly, but surely. My supplies had run out days ago. My mana was depleted. My body was covered in wounds that wouldn't heal. Every breath felt like drawing glass into my lungs. This was how it would end. Not in glorious battle, but alone in the dark, forgotten by the world above. I closed my eyes and waited for death to take me. Then, something changed. A sound echoed through the darkness—a sound like shattering glass. My eyes snapped open. Light. There was light. A crack appeared in the stone wall before me, and through it poured a brilliance so intense it burned my eyes. I shielded my face with my arm, squinting against the glare. "Is anyone there?" A voice. A human voice. I tried to respond, but my throat was too dry. Only a hoarse croak emerged. "There! I see someone!" Footsteps. Multiple people. Hunters, judging by the aura of mana I could sense. "My God," one of them breathed. "How long has he been down here?" Hands reached for me—gentle hands, careful not to aggravate my injuries. I was lifted, cradled like a child. The light grew brighter, and I felt warmth on my skin for the first time in what felt like forever. "Stay with us," a woman's voice said. "You're going to be okay. You're safe now." Safe. The word seemed foreign, almost meaningless. But as consciousness began to slip away, I held onto it like a lifeline. I was alive. Against all odds, I had survived. And as darkness claimed me once more—a different kind of darkness, the merciful darkness of sleep—I wondered what awaited me in the world above. The world that had left me behind.

Chapter 5

🔒

Chapters from #4 onward require a free account.

Log in to continue