Tearing the Gate Apart - Chapter 74

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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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Episode 74.
Ha Gyeong clicked the link Yu Seha had sent him.
What greeted him was a string of absurd posts.
Most of them said nearly the same thing.
[AI Strategy] Did you see that sparkle behind Ha Gyeong when he charged forward? That’s a Support Skill I wrote. It worked so perfectly that he literally spun around and gave me a thumbs up! Haha! Killed it.
―Wait, is this for real?
└Of course. It’s from a credible AI Strategy video.
└Wow! If he clears dungeons with the Immortal, isn’t he Top-Tier too?
└Looks like he’s an Awakened One active in the Bottomless Abyss, which is hot right now. But he seems kinda young.
└Awakened Ones don’t age normally anyway. He could be in his thirties for all we know.
└By the way, the Bottomless Abyss Merchandise this guy sells has great quality.
└Monster loot brought back from the Bottomless Abyss? How is he getting away with this?
“Hah.”
Ha Gyeong let out an involuntary laugh.
It was the kind of post that made your head spin at how ridiculous it was.
Obviously a scam, anyone could see that.
And yet, purchase inquiries were pouring in relentlessly.
Ha Gyeong showed the post to his team and spoke.
“You don’t think people are actually buying this, do you?”
“It’s hard to say. The video looks quite convincing, and there’s no real way to verify it.”
At Dae Hyeonja’s response, Ha Gyeong’s expression darkened.
Then Park Jeong Jin added his thoughts.
“When someone becomes famous, these parasites inevitably attach themselves. The person needs to step in and clean it up directly.”
“How?”
“Sue a few of them. Make examples. They’ll disappear like cockroaches.”
“If that’s the case…….”
Ha Gyeong’s smile became meaningful.
He didn’t think he needed to step in personally.
His capable subordinates would handle it on their own.
He immediately called someone.
Ring ring! Click!
“Jung Tae Won? Sorry to call so suddenly.”
―Not at all, Councilor. What’s the matter?
“Accounts selling my name on SNS have started popping up everywhere.”
―I was already dealing with those trolls from last time anyway. We can handle it all in one sweep.
“I’d appreciate it.”
―Leave it to me, Councilor.
“Right, then.”
Click.
Ha Gyeong hung up with a composed expression.
Then suddenly, he felt an intense gaze.
Looking around, his team members were staring at him with peculiar eyes.
Ha Gyeong couldn’t help but feel flustered.
“What’s with everyone all of a sudden?”
“Wow…… So this is what it means to be a Special Advisory Councilor. This is power, isn’t it?”
“No, what are you saying? You all have far more influence than me.”
That was only half true.
Park Jeong Jin had his Guild Master authority and legal team.
The Freelance Members who worked with them didn’t have that kind of reach.
Though of course, if money was no object, you could hire lawyers anytime.
As Ha Gyeong looked at them blankly, John nodded.
“Look, I’ve been watching you this whole time. Bro, you’re a real power player. You really know how to use the authority you’re given.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, so Ha Gyeong couldn’t really argue.
He shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“If you have it, might as well use it, right? Otherwise it’s just wasted.”
“Fair point.”
“We’ve shaken off the awkwardness. Shall we get going?”
At Ha Gyeong’s words, his team laughed and nodded.
For a small dungeon, the Strategy Team was just five people.
But the Guard Team had maximum members and skilled fighters at that.
The Bottomless Abyss was dangerous even in the field itself.
That was a rule they’d learned through trial and error.
If the Guard Team was weak, you’d get torn apart on the way back.
As they headed toward the dungeon.
Suddenly someone called out to Ha Gyeong.
“Hello there. Ha Gyeong?”
“Who…….”
“I’m Jeon Geon Woo from the Black Water Guild. We cleared dungeons together a few times early in the year.”
“Ah, you’re with the Black Water Guild.”
“Ha ha! Y-yes, that’s right.”
Honestly, Ha Gyeong didn’t recognize him at first.
So he assumed they didn’t cross paths often.
But suddenly a scene flashed through his mind.
‘I remember. One of the guild members complaining to the Black Water Guild’s Chief Administrator.’
One of the seniors who’d been pushing Seo Jun Hyeok around.
There hadn’t been much contact in dungeons, but there was definitely a past grievance.
After wrapping up the greeting, Ha Gyeong felt a twinge of curiosity.
‘Used to be?’
If he was with the Black Water Guild, he’d still be with them.
Why would he use the past tense?
Ha Gyeong decided to ask directly.
“You’re not with the Black Water Guild anymore?”
“Right. Things just didn’t work out well. I’m working as a Freelance Member now.”
“I see.”
More than half of all Healers worked as Freelance Members.
There was high demand.
And if you wanted to hit multiple dungeons, it was more convenient that way.
But being in a guild didn’t necessarily prevent you from working freelance either.
Seo Jun Hyeok was proof of that.
There was absolutely no reason to leave one of the Big Four Guilds.
Ha Gyeong could read between the lines.
‘He lost the trust of his guild master and his colleagues.’
You could tell a lot from little details.
Just from the fact that he was complaining to the Chief Administrator, you could guess the rest.
He hadn’t backed down from his guild master Yun Chang Ho’s thundering rebuke, had he?
A textbook case of cowardice toward strength, aggression toward weakness.
Ha Gyeong decided to keep his distance.
‘Good thing he’s not on the Strategy Team. We probably won’t run into him much.’
But the Guard Team’s atmosphere felt odd.
Surprisingly, Jeon Geon Woo was receiving looks of admiration.
Apparently because he’d had a conversation with Ha Gyeong.
“So that’s why he said hello.”
Ha Gyeong muttered under his breath, and John, who was listening, spoke up.
“Bro.”
“What.”
“Want me to take care of him?”
“I’d love to, but we’re working. And I didn’t even organize this team.”
“The dude’s killing me. Isn’t he exactly like those SNS parasites selling your name?”
“I didn’t expect him to try it in real life, but yeah, it’s similar. Let’s just leave it. He hasn’t done anything seriously weird yet.”
Ha Gyeong calmed John down.
They couldn’t spoil the mood before they even started the strategy.
But then suddenly, the procession’s pace slowed dramatically.
Ha Gyeong stopped and asked the person ahead.
Crunch! Scrape!
“What’s wrong?”
“The path’s blocked. Let me take a look from here.”
“Thanks.”
Ha Gyeong poked his head through a gap in the protruding rocks.
Then he caught a glimpse of what lay ahead.
Remarkably, a massive structure had been built on the narrow path.
Something like a medieval fortress wall.
Ha Gyeong’s face contorted in disbelief.
“How the hell did they build something like that?”
At his question, the Guard Team member laughed awkwardly.
Of course this guy wouldn’t know.
He probably hadn’t seen anything like it in his life.
But then someone answered his question.
It was Dae Hyeonja, who’d rushed ahead to assess the situation and come back.
“Those must be the foreign Awakened Ones who made the news.”
“I suspected, but wow, it’s actually real.”
“Indeed.”
“Bad luck, blocking our path like this.”
Park Jeong Jin was friendly with Top-Tier Awakeners across the board.
And he had a reputation as a fairly moderate Guild Master.
You could say he was similar to Yun Chang Ho with his Diamond-Hard Walls.
But he wasn’t the type to let something this offensive slide.
Sure enough.
Loud voices carried from ahead.
It felt like a fight was about to break out.
Ha Gyeong immediately put his hand on his waist.
‘If it comes to it, I might have to cut someone.’
Lately, it had become a trend for Awakened Ones to flaunt their wealth.
Watching them made Ha Gyeong sigh involuntarily.
The Abyss was ruthless and dangerous.
It wasn’t some game world where you hunted while laughing and joking.
There came moments when you had to end another Awakened One’s life.
Ha Gyeong sensed an ill omen.
But right then, just as tension was ratcheting up.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Sudden vibrations began, and the ground shook.
The Abyss’s foundation was extremely unstable.
Sometimes it collapsed without warning, sometimes it rose unexpectedly.
Ha Gyeong immediately drew out a bundle of Cord Ropes.
“First, tie these around your waists.”
“Oh! Thank you!”
His team members were grateful.
Being swept away alone was far worse than enduring together.
But the landslide stopped quickly.
And Ha Gyeong found himself facing an unexpected sight.
“They…… collapsed a mountain?”
Massive boulders had completely buried the gate.
The foreign Awakened Ones were standing on top of them.
Staring down arrogantly at Park Jeong Jin’s Strategy Team.
And they were making throat-cutting gestures with their hands.
Ha Gyeong couldn’t help but laugh dryly.
“What kind of crazy bastards are these?”
“Right? Bro. Want me to just go up there and slit their throats?”
“Honestly, I’d love to.”
As Ha Gyeong and John vented their frustration.
Park Jeong Jin soon gathered the team.
“I tried talking with them, but there was absolutely no common ground.”
“Because they’re foreign?”
“No. Actually, they speak Korean quite fluently. The problem was that there was no negotiation possible. They demanded a toll unconditionally.”
“How much?”
“Not money. They wanted an Artifact. Or a Dungeon Key would work too, they said.”
“……Insane.”
Ha Gyeong held back even harsher curses.
An Artifact held almost the value of life itself for an Awakened One.
Because they performed such incredible functions.
He suspected the real target was the latter anyway.
The Dungeon Key.
For Top-Tier and below, the drop rate was relatively high.
Either way, these were clearly unhinged lunatics.
Ha Gyeong stared at the collapsed boulder pile and spoke.
“We’ll have to turn back for now.”
“This is a path we broke open ourselves. This is really frustrating.”
The Abyss’s internal structure completely changes at irregular intervals.
Every time it does, Awakened Ones have to pioneer new routes.
Even if they can only be used for a few weeks, it’s still hard work.
Park Jeong Jin looked genuinely furious.
Then a voice called out from atop the collapsed rubble.
“You’ll try to find another way, naturally. But it won’t work. That path’s blocked too.”
Every head turned at once.
Standing there was the Awakened One who’d been talking with Park Jeong Jin.
A swarthy complexion and a prominent nose.
Deep-set eyes.
Impossible to determine nationality, but definitely not Korean.
He grinned nastily and continued.
“A Top-Tier Awakener who frequents the Bottomless Abyss, huh? So what? You think that changes anything?”
From the confident tone.
It seemed the thirty-or-so people weren’t the whole group.
Ha Gyeong felt a headache coming on.
‘If they keep collapsing terrain like this to block us, raw skill won’t matter.’
The boulders of the Abyss were incredibly hard.
The landslide debris towered over forty meters high.
Even an exceptional Awakened One couldn’t leap over it in a single bound.
He’d definitely get pelted while trying to climb and would fall.
They were truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
But right then.
Ha Gyeong pushed through the crowd and moved toward the back of the line.
John immediately followed.
“Where’re you going, Bro?”
“We can’t just take this. I’ll bind that bastard, and you help me drag him down.”
“You sure that’ll work?”
“We’ll have to try.”
Ha Gyeong stopped once he rounded the corner.
They’d be out of the enemy’s sight here.
He drew out a long Cord Rope and thickened the end.
Then he started spinning it in circles.
Like a cowboy.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the rotation reached its peak.
He stepped sideways and hurled it straight.
Whirrr! Whoooosh!
“Huh?!”
The pale cord shot out at tremendous speed and coiled around the foreign Awakened One.
The very one who’d been spouting nonsense this whole time.
Ha Gyeong threw his body forward and shouted.
“Pull!”
“Yaaaah!”
With John’s strength added, the man was yanked down in an instant.
If he’d just fallen normally, he’d definitely die.
So Ha Gyeong significantly reduced his speed.
With a perfectly-timed Dakgangcho Drop Kick.
Crack!
“Gack! Wh-what the hell is this?!”
“It’s a Dakgangcho Drop Kick, asshole.”
The foreign Awakened One sprawled across the ground.
Ha Gyeong turned to face his team and spoke.
“Stomp on him.”
Breaking Through the Gate
Author |
Morae Top
Publisher |
Samyang C&C
Publishing Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C — Dream Books
Address |
7F, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsaro114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260306112
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Contact |
[email protected]
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C — Dream Books.

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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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