Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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38. Emission-Type Gate (1)
“Ugh, this is exhausting.”
“Should we take a break?”
“Let’s rest for three minutes.”
The daily life of a diligent Hunter was nothing special—on days I didn’t enter a Gate, I trained. That was all there was to it.
And I was in a position where I had to work even harder than those diligent Hunters.
-Maintaining balance is crucial. Your growth at such an incredible pace is very positive, but you must keep in mind that it could destabilize your body’s equilibrium.
-You must always strive to utilize your enhanced physical abilities at 90% or higher.
This was Chun-bae’s advice, and I deeply agreed with it. Until now, I had grown overwhelmingly.
I could say there were no major difficulties in that process.
I had crushed obstacles with raw stats and easily overcome difficult challenges through the broken nature of the Subspace.
Of course, it felt good to have it easy. I planned to exploit it as much as possible going forward.
‘But I need to prepare regardless.’
I didn’t know how much longer this approach would work.
Hadn’t the predecessor who created Chun-bae and the one before him ultimately failed?
Just because my growth was faster than theirs didn’t mean I could afford to be careless.
I needed to work hard now to prepare for situations later that stats and the Subspace alone couldn’t overcome.
‘Physical adaptation seems like it’ll struggle to keep up with this growth rate.’
The growth rate was so fast it became a problem. My stats had increased far more than my enhanced body could adapt to.
In truth, my growth since the Gate incident ten years ago was unprecedented in speed.
‘Right now, the vanguard standard is roughly level 50.’
The highest-leveled Hunter in the world was level 60, and I believed Shin Chang, Korea’s finest, was in the high level 50s.
Meanwhile, I was level 22 less than two months after awakening.
I was gaining an average of at least two levels with each Gate I entered.
Unlike ordinary Hunters who prioritized safety, I continuously entered high-difficulty Gates without rest.
‘This pace won’t be maintained indefinitely, though….’
As levels increased, the experience requirements grew exponentially, so I wouldn’t be able to keep up this rate.
Still, even if I maintained a certain pace, wouldn’t I become the Hunter with the fastest level growth in the world? That’s why physical adaptation was essential.
“Oh, you’re already here?”
While I was resting with these thoughts, Seo Min-jae and Lee Shin-hee entered the Combat Arena.
Today’s training wasn’t just between me and Mister.
Now that Lee Shin-hee had joined the Guild, we formed a team of four, so training together was necessary.
‘I need to build team synergy.’
Originally, we had planned to build synergy before entering the level-restricted survival-type Gate.
But the Hunter Association had urgently requested it due to mana concentration issues, so we entered without that time.
“Since we were just sparring among ourselves, it’s really just individual training. There’s no need to take up someone else’s time here, right?”
“I was planning to do personal practice afterward. I’ll come earlier next time!”
Seo Min-jae answered cheerfully, and Mister waved a hand dismissively.
“Huh? No, there’s no need for that. Do whatever’s comfortable.”
“I’m more comfortable and happier being with you guys!”
“Sure? Then come along. It’s fine.”
There was no reason to stop him if he wanted to train together. Seo Min-jae suddenly turned his gaze toward Lee Shin-hee.
-You’ll be coming too, right?
That’s what his eyes seemed to say. Lee Shin-hee, meeting his gaze, wore an awkward expression.
“Ah, I have a separate place where I train.”
“I see….”
Seo Min-jae looked slightly disappointed. This guy clearly enjoyed that enthusiastic, energetic vibe, so it made sense.
Of course, the Dragon Guild was an organization that respected individual freedom. The guild master himself was overflowing with respect, wasn’t he?
“Hey, guild master. What are you doing?”
While I was thinking that, Mister called me out for slacking off.
Regardless of anyone else, Mister would have no exemptions from training going forward. I’d decided that as guild master.
* * *
The foundation of team coordination training was formation drills.
“Left flank! Troll appearing!”
It was a training exercise where we rapidly shifted our formation in response to encountering imaginary enemies.
It seemed trivial, but it was crucial. There was a reason it was called a fundamental technique. It connected to how we’d respond in chaotic situations later.
“Monster appearing from the rear during combat!”
After completing the formation drills, we held a meeting to share the skills each of us possessed.
It was to coordinate the distribution of skills and synchronize their usage.
“Once you cast the barrier, I’ll leap in immediately.”
Among the shared skills, we combined those with good synergy to pioneer an attack route unique to our team.
What I’d just suggested was my own idea.
We’d advance a barrier into the midst of enemies. While the barrier held, we’d attack and then leap back out.
In ordinary circumstances, we wouldn’t use it often, but it seemed effective against enemies that fell into chaos once their leader died.
-Boom!
“We could probably get closer, right?”
I also confirmed the effective range of the magic Seo Min-jae used. For instance, checking how far his fireball’s impact extended.
All parties with a mage did this. Since Seo Min-jae was a mage with newly learned spells, we needed to pay extra attention.
‘Hmm.’
Aside from that—was it because I’d checked Hunter Net yesterday? Observing Lee Shin-hee, I became convinced she really was from a chaebol family.
Even her previously introverted moments now felt somewhat exclusionary in retrospect.
I didn’t know much about chaebol life, but wouldn’t it be difficult to form normal human relationships?
The world had changed even more since the Gates opened, after all.
The way she’d taken out that pendant and gauged the atmosphere back then was the same.
I’d thought she was being cautious then, but maybe she just didn’t care about giving away E-rank items or so.
“Lee Shin-hee. There’s something I’d like to ask.”
So I decided to just ask during a brief rest period.
“Are you perhaps a chaebol heiress?”
“Pardon?”
Lee Shin-hee was taken aback. Seo Min-jae and Mister wore the same expression—as if thinking, “What nonsense is this?”
“I heard it somewhere and got curious. It might be a false rumor….”
“No, it’s true.”
Lee Shin-hee admitted it more calmly than I expected.
“Pardon?”
“What do you mean?”
Seo Min-jae and Uncle Chul-gi were more shocked by Lee Shin-hee’s answer than by my question.
I hadn’t asked for any particular reason.
“Is there anything you can’t do while hunting? Any precautions we should take?”
If normal hunting activities had restrictions, it would be awkward to work together.
I’d mentioned that I usually entered difficult Gates, but if she suddenly couldn’t, that would be a problem.
This Gate was difficult too, but I might have entered because an escape Secretary was provided.
Looking at how Park Seo-ung recommended her, she didn’t seem like that type of person, but I needed to confirm.
“There’s nothing like that. Just think of me as a normal Hunter.”
“Ah, it’s just that my Hunter Net comments kept getting deleted….”
Since she wasn’t exactly a normal Hunter, I pressed further. It would be annoying if her story changed later.
“Oh, did that happen again?”
Lee Shin-hee sighed.
“That’s because my contract has an information control clause. It’s for kidnapping prevention.”
“Kidnapping?”
“Why, there was that S-rank Healer kidnapped in the United States before.”
That’s right. Something like that did happen.
It was orchestrated by China. The pretext was healing a high-ranking politician’s illness, but it became quite a major incident.
I was a Gate orphan back then and didn’t know much, but apparently the United States scrambled fighter jets, mobilized aircraft carriers, and showed willingness to wage war.
So China ended it by releasing the Healer after treatment.
After that, an Awakened coup d’état occurred in China that overturned the regime. It was quite a significant event.
Now, as a result, the country has been split into dozens of provinces like the United States, and there’s a theory that America was behind it.
‘Though honestly, nobody really knows.’
In any case, Healer kidnappings happened fairly often. Especially for high-rank Healers.
Healers were extremely rare. Most of them went into medicine rather than the dangerous Hunter profession.
Of course, cases like China’s at the national level were uncommon.
Most often, the Awakened criminal organization called Übermenschen would kidnap Healers to deal with illegal Gates.
“My father and grandfather are particularly cautious… so when I made a contract with the Korean Hunter Association, a clause controlling my information was included.”
That was the moment I understood why the comments had been deleted.
“It’ll eventually be revealed, but it’s dangerous before I get stronger. That’s why I still travel with bodyguards.”
“I see.”
“I bet Chul-gi and Han Hye have separate security details too?”
“Huh? Us?”
I suddenly wondered what she meant.
“You don’t know? The Association probably assigned security to you. A Dragon Knight with a Red Dragon and an S+-rank Space Mage—they’d naturally protect you from the early stages of Awakening given your value.”
I hadn’t really felt anything like that though?
No. My spatial awareness is currently 30 meters. If a high-level thief observed from a distance, I might not have detected them.
“It’s standard for all high-grade prospects. I’m not sure about those under protection, but there are definitely many kidnapping cases abroad.”
True enough. After the Gate incident, few nations maintained public order. Our country ranked among the best.
The Übermenschen, an infamously criminal organization of Awakened individuals worldwide, kidnapped not only healers but also promising Awakened as well.
I wasn’t hiding information about the Subspace without reason. I still draw attention, but I can’t reveal anything about the artifacts from that other world.
Realizing I was being protected without my knowledge felt somewhat unsettling. I could have been kidnapped.
‘Insane bastards. They all deserve to die.’
They weren’t like some comic book villain organization with world-ending goals. Just criminals who had gained power through Awakening.
They were using the strength born from the Gate incident for evil purposes.
According to them, Awakened individuals were a new humanity, superhumans—they preached Awakened supremacy.
But seeing them kidnap fellow Awakened showed it was all hollow.
They infiltrated nations destroyed by the Gate incident, seized control of militaries and governments, and clustered together, making them difficult to apprehend.
‘I need to grow stronger quickly.’
The solution was simple. I just needed to become strong enough that even if such criminals appeared, they wouldn’t pose a problem.
Honestly, I could hide in the Subspace, but Chul-gi can’t.
“Anyway, as I said, you really don’t need to worry. I never planned to hide it from the team members anyway. It’s just awkward to bring up…”
“Right. Suddenly saying ‘I’m a conglomerate heiress’ would be strange too.”
At my words, Lee Shin-hee let out an embarrassed laugh.
* * *
“Then let’s begin our first Guild meeting.”
After finishing all our training, we settled into the small conference room prepared at the Training Facility.
Though we were only four members, our team composition was well-balanced, and this meeting would determine our future direction.
“As our new member Shin-hee surely knows, the Dragon Guild is still a mid-to-lower-tier Guild.”
Guild rankings were determined by the Hunter Association’s internal evaluation. The evaluation criteria were straightforward.
It wasn’t based on raw Guild strength. Points were awarded for defending against Outbreak-type Gates and clearing Gates.
Since Outbreak-type Gates didn’t occur frequently, Gate clearing typically served as the primary evaluation factor.
Even for Gates of the same level, scores varied depending on the Hunter Association’s difficulty assessment standards.
‘Only the Association knows the details.’
Guild scores couldn’t be verified from outside. The Dragon Guild remained mid-to-lower-tier.
Though we had cleared a level-restricted survival-type Gate this time, that alone didn’t carry much weight.
We lacked the absolute number of Gate clearances. Some Guilds cleared dozens of safe, low-experience Gates.
Because we focused on difficult Gates, we managed to climb to mid-to-lower-tier in such a short time.
“As you all can imagine, we plan to continue focusing on difficult Gates.”
Naturally, higher-level Gates received higher evaluation scores from the Guild. To overcome the incomparable difference in clearance numbers, we had to target those.
Therefore, our goal was clearing high-difficulty Gates.
We’d earn more points and achieve faster growth. In other words, we’d compete on quality over quantity.
As Lee Shin-hee and Seo Min-jae had anticipated, they nodded in agreement.
“Does anyone object?”
“No one does.”
It was a formality, but a necessary one. With our overall direction set, there were still several matters to discuss.
“Regarding the distribution of Gate subjugation rewards, I’m thinking of dividing the magic stones equally, but distributing items to whoever is most suited for them. Would that be acceptable?”
At my words, Lee Shin-hee tilted her head with a puzzled expression and raised her hand.
“Is there a particular reason you’d do it that way?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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