The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Chapter 122

“The person who went in before? Someone you know?”

“Yeah.”

The boy nodded, his lips trembling slightly before he spoke slowly and carefully, enunciating each word.

“I need to find them. Even if it’s just their body.”

“Oh no…. Are you sure it was a Rift? If it’s a Rift, there shouldn’t be any bodies left behind.”

“It could’ve been a dungeon.”

“This is tricky….” 

“They said it would take a long time. Is there anything else you know?”

Baewonwoo rubbed the back of his neck, a little flustered. Still, this was an opportunity. If he asked the right questions, he might find a clue about the boy’s connections. So, he cautiously asked.

“Was it a civilian caught in the Rift? Or a Hunter you knew?”

“……”

The boy fell silent. Baewonwoo pursed his lips and gave a frustrated look.

“Hey, I’m not asking for my own sake. I’m asking to help you, you know.”

“…A Hunter.”

“A Hunter? There’s no way a Hunter wouldn’t come back from a Rift… unless… no, wait.”

When a Rift collapses, everyone inside gets ejected at the entrance—bodies included. Hunters often joked that Rifts spit out anything foreign. It was a rule that had held since the day Rifts first appeared, and no one had doubted it. It was part of the system’s laws.

But there was one exception.

“The West Sea Rift.”

The West Sea Rift was different. Everything about it. Normally, a Rift’s entrance remains open until its master is killed, but in the case of the West Sea Rift, the entrance vanished shortly after J and the Hunters entered, as if it had been waiting for that moment.

When the entrance disappeared, the chaotic energy threatening to swallow the West Sea receded and eventually vanished completely, leaving behind a massive void in the ocean. None of the people who had entered the Rift were expelled—not even their bodies.

Rescue teams were deployed by ship and helicopter, but they were met with disappointment. Someone had said it:

‘It completely defied the system’s laws.’

The boy, resting his chin on his knees, asked quietly.

“The West Sea Rift?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. A Rift that appeared over the West Sea about a year ago. It’s gone now, though.”

“Who went in there?”

“Who? Hunters, I guess? I don’t know all of them. They entered in three separate teams, but one person I’m sure about—J. Our country’s hero.”

“……”

The boy’s eyes darkened, though Baewonwoo didn’t notice. He was too busy trying to recall details.

“But that Rift… it collapsed.”

The boy suddenly asked urgently.

“Is there any way to enter a collapsed Rift?”

“What? Well…”

The West Sea Rift had broken all the rules. When it collapsed, no exit was observed, and there were no signs of the changes that usually occur when the Rift’s master is defeated. It simply ceased to exist.

‘That’s why there was so much debate about whether the people inside were alive or dead….’

There had been arguments for months—should they send rescue teams or not? Were the Hunters inside still alive, or had they died long ago? It wasn’t until two months after the Rift’s collapse that they officially declared J and the others dead. Baewonwoo scratched his head, frowning. Entering a collapsed Rift was impossible—that’s what “collapsed” meant.

But if the West Sea Rift had truly defied the system’s laws, could it be different?

Of course, that was just speculation. Saying too much might give the boy false hope. But before he could think it through, the boy pressed him again.

“Isn’t there really no way?”

“Well… normally, no.”

Sometimes, a small lie was necessary to keep someone going.

Baewonwoo looked at the boy with a sympathetic gaze. The boy had a much more handsome face than his younger brother, but he also had a worse attitude. Still, they were about the same age, and thinking of his brother softened Baewonwoo’s heart. Hesitantly, he spoke.

“…The West Sea Rift did have some strange aspects.”

“What kind?”

“Hmm, do you know the difference between a dungeon and a Rift?”

“No.”

“Let me explain. It’s basic knowledge for Hunters, so it’ll help you later.”

Baewonwoo picked up a sturdy branch and found a patch of ground where the grass wasn’t too thick. He gestured for the boy to come down, and the boy silently leapt from the tree, approaching him. Baewonwoo quickly pulled up some weeds and drew two circles on the dirt, labeling one “Dungeon” and the other “Rift.”

“Dungeons and Rifts both appear out of nowhere, and inside, you’ll find strange ecosystems, worlds, and monsters. But there’s a big difference. A dungeon can be left alone, but a Rift has to be destroyed.”

“Why?”

“If left unchecked, a Rift destroys everything around it. Hmm… how can I explain this simply? Oh, right.”

Baewonwoo drew a small triangular house next to the first circle.

“A dungeon is like a house. The monsters live peacefully inside, but over time, their numbers grow. When the house becomes overcrowded, they can’t stand it anymore, and they burst out. That’s what we call a dungeon break.”

“Okay.”

“Hunters step in before the house bursts. They’re like janitors, cleaning up before things get out of hand. But some houses have treasure fountains, constantly overflowing with precious gems that keep refilling. In those cases, we take some of the treasure and keep the house around for a long time.”

“That’s stealing.”

“No, no, it’s just compensation for our hard work.”

“……”

The boy gave him a look of disbelief. Baewonwoo continued confidently, drawing lines outside the house to show an explosion.

“But some houses don’t have treasure. Instead, they have something like a giant cockroach inside. Those houses? We get rid of them.”

“…I see.”

“Good. Now, a Rift is different. It’s not a house—it’s more like a hole.”

“A hole?”

The boy frowned, and Baewonwoo used the stick to draw a large circle, shading it in with diagonal lines.

“Yeah, not a real entrance. More like a crack in the wall. Some people say it’s a tear into another world, but I don’t know anything about that kind of stuff.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Baewonwoo ignored it and continued.

“If it were just a simple hole, it wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s more like a vacuum, sucking everything in around it. Some Rifts, like Gates, constantly spew out monsters, but that’s another story. Right now, we’re talking about vacuum-like Rifts.”

“Okay.”

“If we leave it alone, everything around it turns into a wasteland. So, we aim to destroy the Rift as quickly as possible to minimize damage. There’s nothing to gain from a Rift.”

“How do you destroy it?”

“To destroy a Rift, you have to kill its master and shatter the Rift Core. Once the core is destroyed, everyone inside gets expelled—even the dead bodies. That’s why I said it’s impossible for someone not to come out.”

“……”

“But….”

Baewonwoo drew a large circle and labeled it “West Sea.” Next to it, he wrote a question mark.

“The West Sea Rift was strange. As soon as J entered, the entrance disappeared, and then the entire Rift collapsed not long after. Completely out of the blue. No one inside was expelled….”

“……”

“That’s why people said it defied the system’s laws. It was something entirely different. From the very start, it was abnormal. No other Rift had ever grown so rapidly while sucking in everything around it.”

The boy stared at the rough sketch in the dirt, his fingers twitching slightly. After a moment, he slowly spoke.

“What if… it didn’t collapse completely?”

“Huh?”

“You said it defied the system’s laws. That Rift.”

The boy’s speech was becoming clearer. In the faint early morning light, with mist hanging in the air and dew settling on the grass, there was a strange intensity in the boy’s violet eyes. Some emotion, difficult to define, flickered across his face. He stepped forward, standing over the dirt drawing. His lips moved slightly.

“I could meet the system myself and find out.”

“……”

“Would the system really leave something that broke its own rules… untouched?”

“……”

“No… I don’t think so.”

A small smile began to form on his face. The boy snatched the branch from Baewonwoo’s hand and jabbed it into the circle. The sound of insects went silent.

“It must have swept it away because it was a nuisance.”

“The system could’ve destroyed it, right?”

“No….”

The boy looked up at the sky. Dawn was breaking, and the horizon was slowly turning orange. In the middle of the sky, a black void seemed to ripple. The boy murmured.

“If the system wanted to destroy it, it would’ve done so the moment it first appeared.”

“……”

“It’s still out there, somewhere. We just can’t see it….”

It sounded insane, even to Baewonwoo. But the boy….

“I just feel like that’s the truth.”

Finally, the boy turned his head and looked at Baewonwoo. His violet eyes, framed by long lashes, narrowed slightly.

“Help me.”

Then, without waiting for a response, he spun around and started walking. Baewonwoo hurriedly followed.

“Well, yeah, sure, I can help. But help

 you with what?”

“With a lot of things.”

“What exactly are you planning to do?”

The boy stopped.

“I’m going to make a map for the lost.”

“What?”

“…You’re a bit slow on the uptake….”

The boy’s feet began moving again. His voice, filled with that strange intensity, drifted ahead of Baewonwoo.

“I’m going to find the West Sea Rift and reopen it.”

“What? But….”

Even if, by some miracle, the West Sea Rift hadn’t completely collapsed, would anyone inside still be alive? What if they managed to reopen it only to find corpses? Or worse, nothing at all? Baewonwoo hesitated, but before he could voice his concerns, the boy cut him off.

“They’re not dead.”

The sky was turning a deep crimson. Somewhere, a breeze stirred. The boy’s long hair, now reaching his neck, fluttered slightly, carrying a faint, sweet scent.

“They can’t be dead.”

The boy muttered the words through clenched teeth.

“They promised.”