Alchemy is Correct

“Hmm…”
A woman sitting in her office was looking down at a report placed on her desk with a serious expression.
A man standing beside her, looking down at her, spoke up.
“You know it too. This is a golden opportunity.”
“I know…”
Her guild’s situation wasn’t entirely good.
An eternal second-place guild, far behind South Korea’s number one guild.
It was true that they fell short compared to Cheonhwa Guild, which boasted a long history.
No matter how much they tried, there existed a gap that couldn’t be overcome.
The gap between Cheonhwa Guild and Cheongwol Guild was that kind of thing.
But…
‘If we can succeed with this…’
One of the dimensional gates managed by Cheongwol Guild was the D-rank gate, the Forest of Dark Night.
However, according to the report, there was a dimensional gate that had appeared around the Forest of Dark Night, and measurements of its magical power indicated it was at least S-rank, even with just simple measurements.
In other words,
‘Not an ordinary subspace, but an entirely different dimension…’
The Guild Master of Cheongwol Guild.
Seol Wolhwa nervously swallowed.
Throughout human history, S-rank dimensional gates had rarely appeared.
S-rank gates had occurred exactly twice in human history.
The first was a dimensional gate that brought about a disease said to have driven medieval humanity to the brink of extinction.
It was a calamity with a different level of transmission and fatality rate, killing countless humans and bringing them to the verge of extinction.
The second dimensional gate brought alien species from a destroyed dimension.
They once invaded Earth and waged a world war over land.
That was World War I.
Both of these dimensional gates left such large footprints in human history that an S-rank dimensional gate, just by its very existence, was an enormous event.
If this were made public, there would surely be chaos.
But…
‘If we make it known… it will all be for nothing…’
It was clear that this fact should be reported, but if they did, Cheonhwa Guild wouldn’t just sit by and watch.
They would certainly try to use their authority to get a piece of this S-rank dimensional gate.
No, they might even try to take it away completely.
If that happened, it would be impossible for them to ever surpass Cheonhwa Guild.
“Do you intend to be content living under Cheonhwa Guild for the rest of your life, Guild Master?”
“That’s… not the case.”
Cheonhwa Guild had crossed the line.
The evil deeds of Cheonhwa Group were circulating as scandals despite their best efforts to hide them.
Wolhwa, who knew better than anyone about the disgustingly rotten insides of Cheonhwa Group, absolutely could not lose.
“Hearing you say that gives me confidence.”
Right.
Continuing to worry here wouldn’t change anything.
It would be stupid to back down just because of uncertainty when such a perfect opportunity to turn things around had presented itself.
“You know we could die going in there, right, Sunchul?”
Seol Wolhwa asked the man with a playful smile.
However, the man called Sunchul answered with a smirk.
“That’s what being a hunter is all about. There might be a mission to protect humanity now, but originally we were more like treasure hunters seeking a windfall. And by the way, I’m not Sunchul, I’m Gangchul. Are you really doing this even in a serious atmosphere?”
Wolhwa chuckled as she watched Gangchul grumbling about not joking with his name.
“Fine. As you said, for now, we’ll keep this dimensional gate a secret. Even though it’s estimated to have appeared quite a while ago, nothing has happened so far… Although it’s worrying, we can’t just sit back and watch since it’s an S-rank gate.”
In the end, they would have to enter the gate and close it directly.
If it had been a typically dangerous dimension, a disaster should have occurred as soon as it opened.
But the fact that not only had no disaster occurred, but everything remained normal, meant that it wasn’t that dangerous.
It was an opportunity to close the dimensional gate without sacrifice and possibly obtain good artifacts or byproducts from inside.
Normally, it would be right to inform the world and discuss countermeasures together, but the essence of a guild is that of hunters.
They are hunters.
It was a necessary choice to defeat Cheonhwa Group.
‘I must come back with something…’
Seol Wolhwa bit her lip.
As long as a dimensional gate remains open, one can go back and forth as much as needed.
For now, they would just check what was beyond and come back.
“Gangchul.”
“Okay.”
At Wolhwa’s call, Gangchul took out his phone.
Soon, all the high-ranking officials of Cheongwol Guild were summoned for an emergency meeting.
.
.
.
“Damn it, I thought I could finally rest, and now I’m being called in on the weekend!”
“It’s an important matter, sis. If it’s an emergency summons, there must be a good reason.”
“Anyway, that girl Wolhwa… I wonder if she’s too obsessed with work.”
The man walking behind sighed and replied to the woman who was walking ahead, expressing her complaints.
The woman glared at her younger brother sharply, but soon snorted and walked into the room.
“Ah, Gangchul hyung! Long time no see!”
“Oh, Eunu, you came? As for Eunyoung… she seems quite angry.”
“Do I look like I’m not angry? Do you perhaps not know the term work-life balance? Let me rest a bit, okay?”
“I know… I know you’ve been working hard. You’ve had a lot of requests lately, right? I’m sorry about that. But this matter is really important.”
“If it doesn’t seem important to me at all, I’ll completely destroy that shield you finally completed and were bragging about. Watch yourself, mister.”
“W-wait, Wolhwa noona called us, so why are you getting mad at me?!”
Just as he was about to take out his shield in panic at the sight of Eunyoung threatening him with her spear.
“Stop fighting, everyone.”
A woman with silver-white hair and a pure appearance was glaring at the two with a dissatisfied expression.
“It’s very rare for Ms. Wolhwa to call an emergency meeting, especially giving separate instructions just to us. That must mean it’s an important matter, Ms. Eunyoung.”
Eunyoung frowned at the woman’s words but then sighed.
“Ah… fine, I get it… Anyway, this is why religious people are hard to deal with.”
“Sis, please.”
As she put away her spear and muttered with dissatisfaction, Eunu slapped his forehead.
“I apologize for my sister, Lucia.”
“It’s okay. I think she has every right to be upset. I heard she’s had almost no days off recently.”
“… As expected, only Lucia unnie understands me… I love you, unnie…!!”
“Didn’t you just call her a religious nut?!”
As Lucia watched the two with a chuckle, a woman walked up behind her.
“Everyone’s here.”
Everyone turned their heads at the voice of a woman with pale, moon-like light blue hair.
“Wolhwa noona.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no time to explain. I hope you’ll trust me and follow.”
They couldn’t guarantee there were no spies within the guild.
To avoid being discovered by them, this kind of summons was unavoidable.
“We’re going on an adventure now. Brace yourselves.”
This was after all preparations had been completed.
“Where are we heading?”
In response to Eunu’s question, Wolhwa smiled brightly.
“An S-rank dimensional gate.”
“What?”
Everyone froze in place at her quiet answer.
.
.
.
“What kind of crazy guild crosses an S-rank dimensional gate with such a small group?!”
“Don’t worry. We’ve checked multiple times that it’s safe, and we’re just crossing over briefly for reconnaissance.”
Moreover…
Wolhwa looked around at her guild members.
“It won’t be easy for this group to get into danger.”
The strength of South Korea’s second-ranked guild.
It was merely a difference in scale, but a lineup that absolutely wouldn’t lose to Cheonhwa Guild.
These were members who could at least survive wherever they went.
“This is absolutely necessary if we’re to surpass Cheonhwa Guild. I hope you’ll lend me your strength, Eunu.”
“Ugh… if noona puts it that way, I have no choice.”
“Please, Eunu.”
“Hah… alright.”
With those words, Eunu pulled out a staff from thin air.
Then he tapped it on the ground, and magical power spread throughout the forest.
“How is it?”
“Just a moment, let me look a bit more… huh?”
“Did you find something?”
“There’s what seems to be a cottage nearby. It’s very close.”
Dimensional gates are divided into two types.
One is the disaster-type dimensional gate.
It has no purpose.
It’s just a dimensional gate that appears when concentrated magical power tears through space to its limit.
Another form of dimensional gate existed.
In modern terms…
“It’s a quest-type dimensional gate.”
Quest-type dimensional gate.
In the case of quest-type gates, there was always a reason for them to open.
That is, if the problem that caused the dimensional gate to open is solved, the gate will close by itself.
Although the principle was still unknown, they could make guesses.
Since magical power basically responds greatly to emotions, it was speculated that it was formed by the intense will of something with a soul.
This was a fact confirmed through many years of experience.
There had been countless quest-type dimensional gates throughout history, but all dimensional gates had one thing in common.
That is, clues about how to satisfy the conditions often existed not too far away.
“Let’s go to that cottage for now.”
There will surely be clues in that cottage.