Chapter 119: Investigation

As everyone was startled by Ho cheol’s sudden action, Se-ah was the first to move.

She ran forward and grabbed his arm.

“Wait a second!”

Ho cheol turned around.

His expression clearly showed irritation—no, impatience.

“What.”

It was only because it was Se-ah who called him that he didn’t immediately shake her off or ignore her.

That’s how much of a hurry he was in.

It wasn’t just reckless bravado, though.

“Let’s talk while we move, okay?”

Even at a glance, the tower’s condition was far from normal.

Beyond being inverted, its supposedly straight walls were slightly warped, and its solid surface seemed to slowly melt.

If they are delayed, they might not even get to start the investigation.

To Ho cheol, the investigation team’s leisurely attitude was the odd thing.

Sure, the upside-down tower hinted at some risks, but worrying about every little thing would only hold them back.

Se-ah said seriously.

“An inversion field of that scale is too dangerous.”

“So we just sit back and watch? What about the investigation?”

The lone remaining hunter answered for her.

“We find and deal with the core.”

Ho cheol turned to look at the hunter.

“You’re going to find the core here?”

He glanced at the hunter, then scanned the surroundings broadly.

An open plain stretched endlessly to the horizon, the gate’s expanse immeasurable.

Within the visible few kilometers, there wasn’t a trace of anything resembling a gate core.

Looking back at the hunter, he asked again.

“You’re going to find the core here?”

The same words, but the first question was filled with doubt, while the second dripped with sarcasm.

“Did you hit your head coming through the gate or something?”

Despite Ho cheol’s mocking tone, the hunter remained calm.

“A core affecting the environment this much would be clearly exposed. With our equipment, we can backtrack its concentration and output to pinpoint its likely location.”

“Dealing with the core would eliminate the inversion field, then?”

“Exactly.”

Still skeptical, Ho cheol looked at Se-ah.

She nodded slightly.

Her agreement, confirming no exaggeration or lies in the hunter’s words, made Ho cheol drop his argument.

“Alright then.”

If there was a safer, more efficient method, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

He calculated something in his head for a moment before asking.

“So, you can wrap this up in 20 minutes, right?”

“It’ll take at least two hours…”

“…Seriously.”

Ho cheol snorted.

Even generously, 20 minutes was the limit.

Two hours?

That was absurdly incompetent.

“Two hours isn’t just about whether the tower holds up. It’s enough time for the villains to get what they want.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ho cheol finally understood why the hunter was being so rigid.

To him, the enemies were the gate’s unique environment and monsters.

But the investigation team’s ultimate goal wasn’t that simple.

“Why would villains pull such an insane stunt at their own stronghold? Obviously, to buy time—anything else?”

Why they needed time wasn’t clear.

But one thing was certain: they couldn’t let the villains get their way.

“This is a gate, and that’s a unique phenomenon within it. But our enemies right now aren’t the gate’s environment or monsters. It’s the villains.”

Even if the hunter’s priorities were logical, that only applied to standard gate-clearing tactics.

Villains were inherently irrational, and to face them, irrational choices were necessary.

At least here, no one was more experienced in dealing with villains than Ho cheol.

So he declared.

“We need to go in now.”

The hunter asked, incredulous.

“What’s your basis?”

“Pure instinct.”

“You’re casually citing the number one cause of rookie hunter deaths.”

If this were a hunter-only team, someone would’ve called him crazy.

Unfortunately, he was the only professional hunter here.

“Relying on gut to put the entire team at risk? Unacceptable.”

As they argued, time kept ticking.

Frustration and impatience were creeping up.

Ho cheol pulled his hand out of his pocket.

“And if I don’t accept that?”

As the tension escalated, Se-ah stepped in.

She raised both hands, pushing the two apart.

“You both know you’re not being rational, right? This guy’s new to gates, sure, but you’re experienced and still acting like this?”

Her tone was gentle, but her gaze toward the hunter was sharp.

Caught off guard, the hunter flinched and nodded slightly.

“My apologies. The inversion field is rare and dangerous, so I got a bit sensitive.”

Ho cheol let out a faint sigh.

“I got worked up for no reason too. Sorry.”

Though emotions had flared, the hunter’s apology was sincere enough to accept.

“I’m not completely clueless about gates, but compared to you, I’m a rookie. Your expert opinion is probably right. But we’re not just a gate investigation or clearing team. When it comes to villains, logical judgment gets you 70 out of 100. We need 120, 150.”

The tension eased slightly, but their opinions remained sharply opposed.

With no other choice, Se-ah mediated again.

“So what do we do? Split the team?”

“That’d be much better. I’m not here to force anyone to risk their lives.”

Normally, splitting a team due to disputes inside a gate was an absolute taboo.

In the hunter community, starting such a conflict could blacklist you from ever joining a team again.

But Ho cheol wasn’t a hunter or even a hero.

There was no real way to stop him from acting on his own.

Still, if he were alone, the hunter, as team leader, would never have let him go.

The problem was Se-ah, standing with her arms crossed beside him.

Even after retiring a decade ago, her network in the hunter community was still among the strongest.

Just a month ago, when she called for people in the community, countless hunters dropped everything to join her.

Crossing her openly was neither short- nor long-term beneficial.

The hunter set up his mechanical device on the ground.

“Then we’ll start tracking the core. The communicator probably won’t work well in the inversion field, but contact us if anything unusual happens.”

“Do what you want.”

Except for Ho cheol, the team agreed that finding the core was the priority, so they stood by the hunter.

But not Se-ah.

As she casually followed Ho cheol, the hunter asked, puzzled.

“Why?”

She, of all people, should know the logical, correct choice.

He even felt a hint of betrayal.

Se-ah paused, then shrugged.

“I brought him here, so I’ve got to go with him.”

That was the surface reason.

“I’ve done some hero work too, and my instincts are telling me this takes priority.”

The hunter, momentarily speechless, muttered softly.

“You’ve changed.”

Se-ah looked surprised for a second before grinning playfully.

“Have I? Guess so.”

As the two headed toward the tower, another person broke from the team.

It was the green-clad hero who’d given Ho cheol her business card outside the gate.

She asked the hunter.

“Can I go with them?”

Another hero.

Was there something only heroes could see?

Thinking so, the hunter asked.

“Would you stay if I said no?”

“Not really.”

He nodded.

Why ask if she was going anyway?

She had a healing trait, but she wasn’t the only healer, and the association hunter on the core team had a superior healing trait.

“Thanks.”

The green-clad hero bowed politely and chased after Ho cheol and Se-ah.

“Hey! Wait! I’m coming too!”

* * *

Due to the inverted tower, they arrived not at the first floor but the top.

The silver lining was that gravity wasn’t fully reversed, so they didn’t have to walk on the ceiling and see everything upside down.

Scanning the area, Ho cheol furrowed his brow.

“This is…”

Heart, brain, lungs, blood—every bodily system tries to act against its owner’s will.

For an ordinary human, this environment alone would cause fatal physical damage.

Ho cheol clenched his fist tightly, forcing his heart to pump and his lungs to expand.

For someone as far from ordinary as him, it wasn’t a big issue.

He could overpower this level of resistance easily.

Se-ah and the tag-along external hero were fine too.

While they perfectly countered the physical effects, an unexpected problem arose.

“It feels way worse than before. Does the inversion field affect the mind too?”

“It varies, but it looks like it does here.”

He pressed his temples with his knuckles.

It was like throwing a stone into a calm lake, rippling his emotions.

The chaotic flow wasn’t just heightened joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.

“Not exactly pleasant.”

He was nearly immune to mental attack traits, but this was no attack—just a reversal of state, so even Ho cheol couldn’t escape its effects.

He asked Se-ah.

“You okay?”

“Controlling emotions in situations like this? Any decent hunter can do it.”

Unlike him, she was relaxed.

She turned to the green-clad hero.

“What about you?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

She scratched the back of her head, answering calmly.

“It actually feels calmer than usual, which is nice.”

“Huh. Okay.”

The green-clad hero’s personality at the headquarters was certainly intense.

Unlike Ho cheol, she didn’t usually restrain her emotions, so maybe the inversion field forced her to.

In the end, Ho cheol was the only one mentally on edge.

“Then it’s just me who needs to keep it together.”

Suppressing the surging unpleasant emotions, he muttered.

“Let’s hurry.”

Thanks to Ji-an’s intel, they all knew the stronghold’s internal structure.

Their first target was—

“The central system room?”

Se-ah unfolded a paper map, scanned the area, and pointed to a corridor.

“It’s on the 23rd floor. The stairs are over there.”

The tower’s central floor housed the main system room, controlling the stronghold’s operations.

As they descended the stairs, Ho cheol muttered in genuine surprise.

“Does it affect things physically this much?”

Stepping on the seemingly solid stairs felt like sinking into clay.

“Even the property of being solid gets reversed. Be careful. In denser areas, it could be like stepping in mayonnaise.”

At Se-ah’s explanation, they moved more cautiously.

They reached the 23rd floor’s system room without issue.

They tore open a thick, locked iron door and passed through a narrow, steel-reinforced corridor.

At the end, a door labeled “Missio” blocked their way. Hocheol grabbed the handle and pushed, but it was firmly locked.

As he scowled, about to break it—

“Try pulling.”

Following Se-ah’s advice, he pulled, and the door opened easily.

“Seriously.”

Even this had to be reversed?

Inside, the system room was a wreck.

The massive front monitor and dozens of lined-up computers were all smashed, not a single one intact.

Se-ah pressed the power button on the nearest computer.

“We need to check for anything salvageable. Oh, this one’s working!”

It seemed the villains’ hasty retreat left their cleanup incomplete.

Looking at the screen, Se-ah snapped her fingers.

“These bastards were running a deletion program!”

Thirty percent of the critical data was already gone.

If they’d delayed to deal with the core first, all the important information would’ve been long gone by the time they arrived.

She turned to the green-clad hero, who was fumbling nervously.

“Check the computers on the other side for any that power on! Ugh, I didn’t even bring the right tools!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

As the two busied themselves, Ho cheol asked.

“No fighting in here, right?”

“Obviously, what kind of question is that! Get out!”

“Then I’ll leave this to you two.”

Ho cheol turned back.

At the end of the corridor they’d just passed, someone stood.

The figure radiated clear hostility and murderous intent.

They definitely weren’t welcoming them as guests.

Ho cheol stepped toward the corridor first.

This is trouble, he muttered to himself.

The emotions he’d been suppressing were now raging uncontrollably, as if realizing there was no need to hold back.

At the academy, as a professor, he always restrained his emotions and dealt with villains or enemies professionally, even in fights.

That was the biggest difference between his current self and his villain days, or so he believed.

His fingers brushed his lips.

“Introductions.”

Right now, he was definitely—

“Shall I hear them after tearing off an arm or a leg?”

Grinning widely.

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