The all-knowing Player (Solo Leveling)

Red Gate (2)

"I'll introduce myself once again," Kim Chul announces. "I am the A-rank hunter Kim Chul. Now that we know this is a red gate, I'll take responsibility for your survival! But I'm not going to stand here and make promises I can't keep. We'll have to wait many months for a dungeon break to occur, so there's no guarantee all of us will be able to survive until then."

I clench my fist. I know what he's about to say. And his decision will cause the death of the majority of the hunters here. Worst is that he never asked for his party's opinion on the matter. Even Song Chi-Yul made everyone vote before heading into the double dungeon, despite the seemingly less dangerous situation and lower rank of the dungeon. But here, the weakest will be filtered out of the party and left to die. Had Kim Chul not taken such a cruel decision, Jin-Woo and I could have saved the whole attack force. 

"The minimum difficulty level of a red gate is B-rank. In a place as dangerous as this, it'll be difficult to manage all of you as a single unit, which is why I'm going to form a separate team to clear this dungeon with me. If we stay here, we'll either freeze to death or be ambushed by those ice creatures again. Even if nobody wants to join my team, I'll get out of here by clearing this dungeon by myself. Who's with me?"

Before the hunters can fight over who will follow the A-rank, I lift my hand. "I have an objection."

"You?" he scoffs. "You're an E-rank and you don't even belong to the White Tiger guild. What makes you think you have the right to object to my decisions?"

"And what gives you the right to decide the fate of this whole party? The fact that the guild gave you the authority for this raid just because you're an A-rank? Or your high rank, maybe? But just because you're strong doesn't mean that you're smart enough to make the right decisions. We're not talking about a normal raid in a C-rank gate. Here, people's lives are at risk. Shouldn't we let everyone decide what they want?"

"I mean, she's not wrong," I hear a hunter agree.

I offer him a thankful smile. "Besides, whatever my rank is, I still have far more experience than you. I'm used to risking my life in dungeons. I've been doing that for years, I know how it works. What about you? Isn't this your first raid? Your second, maybe? And whether I'm a member of the White Tiger Guild doesn't matter: I'm still part of this raid."

"Like you said, I was given the authority over the members of this party for the raid," he stubbornly misinterprets my words. "I have no reason to listen to your complaints."

"You want to leave some members of this party to die and won't even take criticism? Do you know no shame?"

"I don't have a choice! One day inside a red gate is equivalent to one hour in real time. If worse comes to worst, it'll take us months to defeat the boss. We may even have to wait just as long for the dungeon to break open. Under these circumstances, I can't afford to bring along any dead weight."

"Did you just call us 'dead weight'?" a C-rank hunter asks, offended.

"Don't be too upset. If you're still alive when we defeat the boss, you'll be able to make it out of here, too."

What a haughty dirtbag! How can he not value human life? How can he think that low ranked hunters don't deserve to get a chance to live?

"But still..." the hunter protests.

"Since you've decided to split the party in two groups, we'll do it that way: Kim Chul's group will hunt down the dungeon boss. Those who want to focus on their survival will go with Hee-Jin and me," Jin-Woo intervenes, taking my hand and squeezing in a comforting manner to calm me down. My anger instantly disappears. "What about that?"