Chapter 7
I punched in the door lock’s passcode and opened the front door. The familiar air of home welcomed me.
“I’m home….”
Home. Home. Sweet home. The home I’d missed so much. There really is no place like home.
As soon as I stepped inside, all the exhaustion I’d been putting off came crashing down on me. The aftereffects of forcibly strengthening my body with mana had left my arms and legs aching with a prickling muscle pain, but once the tension eased, mental and physical exhaustion washed over me like a tidal wave.
Especially the musty smell from the goblin nest clinging to my clothes, and the traces of ash left behind by the goblin.
Could I even wash this puffer jacket in the washing machine at home? Hmm. The thought of tossing the rest of my clothes in the wash and taking a shower filled my mind.
I shoved the plastic umbrella into the umbrella stand by the front door, then, rising onto my toes, tried to slip through the living room—
“Oh, you’re back?”
My older brother lifted his head from where he was sprawled across the sofa, looking at his smartphone. What was he doing home?
Had he come back to our parents’ place for the first time in a while? Of all the times to run into him. I turned to hide the stains on my clothes as much as possible and gave him a casual nod.
“When did you get home? You said you were busy.”
“Just a little while ago. It’s the weekend, so I had some free time. Anyway, didn’t you say you were going to the Busan terminal today? Mom said you were going to check out the university.”
My heart sank.
“Huh? Oh, no. I didn’t go. I was at a café nearby.”
“Really? The internet’s going crazy right now. Apparently some weird black fog appeared at the Busan terminal and sucked a bunch of people in. The stories from the survivors who came out are wild.”
The smartphone he held out showed breaking news reports and posts from online communities. I looked at the screen, pretending I had no idea what was going on.
A news outlet’s interview with the police and several eyewitness accounts from survivors, shared by onlookers who’d been hanging around, had been neatly compiled.
[Title: Busan Terminal Gate Survivor Spills the Details.txt (Includes Police Statement)]
Summary: A pitch-black Gate appeared, and people nearby were swallowed up along with a black fog. Inside the Gate was a cramped, dark cave.
A monster that looked like a goblin came out of the cave, but apparently some girl wearing a mask beat it up and saved everyone.
Her weapon was a clear plastic umbrella from a convenience store, of all things;; The police tried to identify her, but she said she had to catch a bus and ran off. They chased after her to question her further, but she disappeared at some point.
“Look at this. They say she sliced up a monster with a plastic umbrella from a convenience store. Isn’t that totally made up? Did a whole bunch of people see things?”
“Ha, haha…. Yeah. Maybe they’re filming a movie. Or the monster was made of sponge.”
I broke out in a cold sweat and did my best to avoid his gaze. Of course, there were no security cameras inside the goblin nest, and I’d been wearing a mask outside it. Even if there was a video, I could just deny it.
But then my brother’s eyes narrowed as he scrolled down the screen.
His gaze moved back and forth between the “Witness Description” on his phone and the clothes I was wearing.
“But according to the survivors, it was a woman with long black hair wearing a black puffer coat and a white mask. Wait, isn’t that exactly what you wore when you went out today? And the build matches you perfectly.”
Here it comes. Drawing on my hard-won experience, I kept a poker face and replied shamelessly.
“Are you crazy? Mom bought this puffer coat from a home shopping channel. Go outside and take a look. There must be tens of thousands of clones who look like me. And do you think I’m the only person who bought an umbrella at a convenience store today?”
“But the forecast didn’t say it was going to rain today….”
“There was a sudden shower, so I bought one! You’re actually trusting a weather forecast with zero credibility? Anyway, it’s obviously just a coincidence.”
“Well, still, that’s a pretty big coincidence…. Wait, what’s all that black dust on your clothes?”
“Oh! Someone nearby must’ve shaken off a ton of dust when I went into the café, and it got on me. Anyway, I’m going to wash up, so don’t talk to me!”
Before he could question me any further, I bolted for the bathroom. I could hear my brother muttering suspiciously behind me, “But what kind of dust looks like a lump of charcoal….” I ended the conversation by clicking the bathroom door shut and locking it.
Seriously, why was that guy home on a day when so many annoying things had happened? Tsk.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I wiped down the puffer coat I’d been wearing with a wet wipe, tossed my clothes in the washing machine, and took a warm shower. Only then did I finally feel like I could breathe again.
I flopped face-down onto my bed and turned on my smartphone. Things were going much worse than I’d expected.
[Breaking News] Simultaneous “Black Fog” Incidents Across the Country! Mysterious Gates Appear!
[Emergency] Gate Alert! Keep a Safe Distance and Call the Police If You Spot a Gate!
[Special Report] Surge in Reports of Strange Creatures in Seoul, Daejeon, and Elsewhere! Police and Military on High Alert!
The goblins and Gates hadn’t appeared just for me. I’d thought the goblins seemed to be the same species I knew, and wondered if this had something to do with the person I used to be, back when I was a man…. Had I just been jumping to conclusions?
This strange phenomenon known as “Gates” had erupted across the country—no, across the world. As a result, the major online communities were on the verge of exploding.
[Title: The Real Hunter Era Has Finally Begun???]
─ I just yelled “Awaken!” in my living room lol
└ So did you awaken?
└ Mom called me a lunatic and smacked me on the back ㅠㅠ
[Title: Ugh, the system is so unfair. Why give us monsters but no status window?]
─ Exactly;; I’ve been yelling “Status window!” and “Inventory!” like crazy, but nothing’s showing up. Give me my skills!
└ Is this what hunter fiction is? When are the Awakened showing up ㅠㅠ I want to become Awakened too ㅠㅠ
I scrolled down and snorted. Hmm.
“A status window? They’ve been reading way too many web novels.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those web novels or comics.
A status window, a level-up system, or any other convenient bonus…. Probably none of that existed in this world.
It would’ve been great if something like that existed. It would’ve been even better if I’d gotten some kind of bonus for being transported to another world. If I had, I wouldn’t have needed to struggle so desperately when I first ended up there.
The people making a fuss online about the beginning of the hunter era would learn the brutal truth once they saw a monster bite someone’s throat out right in front of them.
I wish this reality were a web novel. Then, even if monsters appeared and Gates opened, the newly Awakened would take care of them. Then I could live a peaceful life without any annoying hassles.
As I scrolled through the real-time trending posts, I spotted the comments on that “Busan terminal story” my brother had mentioned. People’s fantasies about the faceless hero were already spiraling out of control.
─ You’re saying someone smashed a monster’s head with a plastic umbrella? Make up a better story lol
└ There are survivor testimonies and a police investigation. You think it’s fake?
─ A puffer coat and a mask? That’s so cool ㄷㄷ Is she the “Terminal Stealth Swordmaster”?
─ Using a convenience store umbrella as a weapon seriously reeks of a hardcore veteran, I tell you. She’s definitely the protagonist who was reincarnated in another world and came back.
─ According to the eyewitness accounts, she was a woman with long black hair, and apparently you could tell she was beautiful even with a mask on.
└ What if she just looks good because of the mask?
└ Like hell.
“Aaaah!”
I pulled the blanket over my head and kicked wildly. Stealth Swordmaster? What the hell was that supposed to be?!
That cringey nickname practically reeked of middle-school syndrome, and embarrassment washed over me. Thank goodness I was wearing a mask! If I hadn’t put it on without thinking to keep out the stench of the nest, my face might’ve spread all over the internet. I might have had to flee overseas instead of going to college!
Bzzzz—
Just then, several text messages arrived from an unknown number.
[Are you student Kim Suyeon? This is Officer Park, who was at the terminal today. The survivors you helped today, along with some reporters, are asking very insistently for your contact information. They say they absolutely want to thank you and interview you. Would it be all right if I gave them your number?]
I pressed a hand to my throbbing forehead. The survivors had been hovering around me so much that apparently they’d ended up going to the police station and pestering them for my number. And now there were reporters, too.
Still, it was a relief that this officer hadn’t forgotten his duty and passed along my number without permission. That was the one small mercy in all this.
And of course, my answer was already decided.
[Absolutely not. If you give them my number, I’ll file a complaint right away. This is a nuisance, so don’t contact me again. It’s not like I did anything special.]
Sent. Then I blocked the number right away.
I wanted nothing to do with meeting them in person. If I appeared in the news even once or got tangled up with people, my peaceful everyday life would be completely ruined. I’d wanted a quiet life, so how had things ended up like this overnight?
I tossed my smartphone onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
In the quiet room, the blue mana stones I’d taken from my pocket and set on the desk glowed faintly. Inside me, the pool of mana had clearly grown since morning, circulating quietly through my body.
Gates appearing across the world. A cruel reality with no status windows. People making a fuss. A flood of messages. And my mana, clearly growing stronger.
“My peaceful college life…. Looks like it’s ruined before it even began.”
A deep sigh escaped me.
If I’d just been an ordinary person who knew nothing, I would’ve been scared and waited quietly for the rescue team. Why had I crawled back into that stinking nest and started swinging an umbrella?
If I’d just closed my eyes and ignored it to make things easier for myself, my brother wouldn’t have gotten suspicious, and the police wouldn’t have contacted me.
But.
‘Officer! Don’t you yell at that girl! She’s the one who saved us!’
‘That’s right! If it weren’t for her, we’d all have died in that monster’s lair!’
The hoarse voices of the middle-aged woman and man who’d stood up for me, blocking the police even as they trembled on unsteady legs just outside the Gate, having only just escaped the dungeon, echoed in my ears.
“Still….”
I slowly closed my eyes and let out a tiny chuckle.
“At least nobody died. I’m glad about that.”
It had been an unbearably exhausting and annoying day, but one I didn’t regret at all. And so, it drew to a close.