The Death Walker's Seal

Chapter 9

"Father? It is me. I need you to investigate someone. Kim Baekho. Yes, he is a student at the academy. I want to know everything about him. Where he lives. Where he works. Who his family is. Everything."

She paused and listened to her father's response.

"Why? Because I think he might be connected to the Incident from two years ago. The one that killed 300 people. The one that was blamed on a rampaging monster. I think the monster was not a monster at all."

Another pause.

"Yes, I am sure. I saw his power today. It matches the descriptions from the survivors. Father, I think we found the Death Walker."

The next day, Baekho did not go to the academy. Instead, he spent the day preparing for the night's job.

He sharpened his knives. He checked his equipment. He ate a full meal, knowing it might be his last.

At 11:30 PM, he took the subway to the old port district. This area used to be busy with shipping and trade. But after the Gates started appearing, most companies moved their operations inland. Now the port was abandoned. Empty warehouses and rusted cranes stood like ghosts.

Baekho walked through the dark streets until he found Warehouse 17. The building was huge and old, with broken windows and peeling paint.

Outside the warehouse, three men waited. They wore dark clothes and had guns holstered at their sides. Not Hunters. Just regular criminals.

"You the kid who called?" one of them asked.

"Yes."

"You do not look like much. You sure you can handle a Grade B Gate?"

"I will manage."

"Your funeral." The man jerked his thumb at the warehouse. "The Gate is inside. You have two hours to clear it. If you are not back by then, we close the entrance and you are stuck inside forever. Understood?"

"Understood."

"The payment is 200 million won. But only if you bring back the core intact. If the core is damaged, no money."

"Fine."

"One more thing. There are other people inside."

Baekho frowned. "Other people?"

"Yeah. Some rich kids thought they could make easy money by clearing the Gate before us. They went in three hours ago. We have not heard from them since. They are probably dead by now."

"Why did you let them in?"

The man shrugged. "They paid the entrance f*e. We do not care what happens after that. Just bring back the core. Whether those kids live or die is not our problem."

Baekho felt a bad feeling in his stomach. "How many kids?"

"Four. Two boys, two girls. Why? Do you know them?"

"Maybe."

He walked into the warehouse. In the center of the empty space was the Gate. It was bigger than the ones he usually dealt with. The light coming from it was dark red, almost black.

A Grade B Gate. Maybe worse.

This was going to be bad.

But he had no choice. His sister needed the money.

Baekho took a deep breath and stepped into the Gate.

The world twisted. When his vision cleared, he was in a cave. But this cave was different from the spider forest. This cave was made of bones. Human bones. They formed the walls, the ceiling, even the floor.

And in the distance, he heard screaming.

The rich kids were still alive.

For now.

Baekho ran toward the screaming. His feet moved silently over the bone floor. The cave twisted and turned like a maze. Skulls stared at him from the walls with empty eye sockets.

He heard voices ahead. Young voices. Panicked.

"Get back! Get back!"

"We are trapped!"

"Someone help us!"

Baekho turned a corner and saw them. Four students huddled together in a small chamber. Around them circled three skeleton warriors. The skeletons wore ancient armor and carried rusted swords. Their bones clacked together as they moved.

The students were injured. A boy with glasses had blood running down his face. A girl with short hair held her arm like it was broken. The other two looked exhausted.

Baekho recognized one of them. Park Hwan from his academy team.

"Park Hwan!" Baekho called out.

Park Hwan turned around with wild eyes. "Baekho? What are you doing here?!"

"Same as you. Making bad decisions."

One of the skeletons noticed Baekho. It turned and charged at him with its sword raised high.

Baekho waited until the skeleton was close. Then he ducked under the swing and kicked the skeleton's leg bones. The bones shattered. The skeleton fell down.

While it was down, Baekho grabbed its skull and twisted. The skull came off. The whole skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones.

"How did you do that?!" the girl with short hair asked.

"Skeletons need their skulls to move," Baekho said. "Remove the skull, remove the problem."

The other two skeletons attacked together. Baekho rolled to the side and threw a knife. It hit one skeleton's spine. The skeleton froze, unable to move. Baekho ran to it and ripped the skull off.

The last skeleton tried to run away. Baekho chased it down and finished it quickly.

The chamber went quiet.

Park Hwan stared at him. "You just killed three Grade C monsters in less than a minute."

"They were only Grade C. Not that hard."

"For you maybe! We have been running from them for two hours!"

Baekho looked at the four students more carefully. They were all from rich families. He could tell by their expensive gear and clean faces. Well, the faces were not so clean anymore. Covered in dirt and blood.

"Who are your friends?" he asked Park Hwan.

"This is Jung Beom, Kwon Dahye, and Ryu Heewon." Park Hwan pointed at each one. Jung Beom was the boy with glasses. Kwon Dahye was the girl with the broken arm. Ryu Heewon was a tall girl with long black hair.

"Why are you all here?" Baekho asked.

"We thought we could clear this Gate and make some money," Jung Beom said. "The criminals outside said it was only Grade C. They lied."

"Obviously."

"What about you?" Ryu Heewon asked. "You are from the academy too, right? I saw you at the entrance test."

"Yes."

"So why are you here? This is an illegal Gate. Students are not supposed to come to places like this."

Baekho did not answer. He walked past them and looked deeper into the cave. "How far did you go?"

"Not far," Kwon Dahye said. "We ran into the skeletons almost immediately. We have been fighting them and running ever since."

"Did you see the Gate core?"

"No."

"Then it is deeper inside."

"We cannot go deeper!" Park Hwan said. "If there are skeleton warriors near the entrance, imagine what is waiting for us at the core!"

"You can stay here if you want. I am going forward."

"Wait!" Ryu Heewon grabbed his arm. "You cannot go alone. It is too dangerous."

"I have been in worse Gates."

"Liar. You have zero mana. How can someone with zero mana clear dangerous Gates?"

Baekho looked at her hand on his arm. "Let go."

Something in his eyes made her step back.

"Fine," she said. "Go get yourself killed. See if we care."

Baekho walked away. Behind him, the four students whispered to each other.

"Should we follow him?" Jung Beom asked.

"He seems to know what he is doing," Kwon Dahye said.

"But he is weird," Park Hwan said. "Really weird. I was on his team during the academy test. He did things that should be impossible."

"What kind of things?"