Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang jumped into Heaven Lake, heading toward the abyss within the water with no bottom or end in sight.

“Where…?”

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a cave. However, it wasn’t dark and damp like the cave from before.

Flicker.

Rather, it was a space filled with fluttering flames. A scorching heat enveloped the party. It was a world starkly contrasting with the outside, which was a frozen wasteland. It was a cave full of heated stones, as if—

[You have entered the instant gate, Seal.]

He had just been thinking that it was a gate, but Jeong In-Chang was still confused. He asked, “A gate within a gate…?”

He had been told that North Korea and Mainland China had been turned into a gate all the way up to the front lines. Then, that would mean that this was another gate that had formed inside the gate they were in. This type of gate was called an instant gate. Lee Jun-Kyeong was already familiar with the term as it had been widely spread later in the future, but Jeong In-Chang was not. The man with the greatsword stood, seemingly confused by the notification he had heard.

“What is it now? What about an instant gate…?” he mumbled.

However, more so than the confusion about the term, he seemed even more confused by the sudden change in temperature.

“Whew… What sort of back and forth is this, hot, then cold… it’s not like I’m something that is supposed to be quenched.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked around and said to Jeong In-Chang. “Let’s consider it as quenching, then. Doesn’t tempering make something stronger?”

Jeong In-Chang heard another notification...