Chapter 8
Since that day, the world had been turned upside down.
The naïve cheers that had set the internet ablaze at first—“The Real Hunter Era Has Begun!”—lasted only a few days before turning into horrific screams.
TV news and smartphone alerts had been churning out one grim, terrible report after another, day after day.
Black holes appeared at random locations, and black mist spread from them. The damage caused by what people had come to call Gates was beginning to come into focus.
The Gates appeared out of nowhere, spread black mist, and swallowed up people nearby as though abducting them. Injuries were bad enough, but fatalities had begun as well.
Once people realized they could avoid being swallowed by the black mist simply by keeping their distance from Gates, monsters began appearing inside them instead.
If the monsters that appeared had been ordinary goblins, it wouldn’t have been much of a problem. Unfortunately, things didn’t unfold so hopefully.
Alongside ordinary goblins, evolved varieties far larger and stronger than them—hobgoblins and orcs—and even monsters more like wild beasts began appearing, and the casualties continued to mount.
On top of that, not all monsters were as weak as goblins. The news that monsters strong enough to require police and military forces to shoot them with pistols or rifles were beginning to appear only fueled people’s fear.
If things had continued this way, people would have lived in constant fear of the monsters emerging from Gates.
But.
[Breaking News] Some Gate Survivors Develop Superhuman Abilities! Is This the Arrival of the ‘Awakened’?
There wasn’t only despair.
People who had spent a long time exposed to the dense mana inside Gates—an extremely small number of them—had adapted to the mana accumulating in their bodies and begun to manifest what people called ‘superpowers.’
Videos of people using telekinesis, spewing flames and controlling them at will, or displaying enhanced physical abilities were making the news.
The world had begun calling these superhumans the Awakened, but…
“Awakening, my foot. It’s just mana adaptation.”
I leaned back on the sofa and clicked my tongue at the news. People were calling it awakening, but it was really a physical mutation caused by exposure to mana of such high density that mana channels were forcibly opened inside the body—a phenomenon known as mana adaptation.
That was why they could strengthen their bodies with mana or manifest a primitive form of magic that responded to their will.
The system wasn’t assigning them abilities. It was simply an entirely natural magical phenomenon.
But since people in this world knew nothing about mana, they were unaware of the truth and simply started treating them as Awakened.
The problem was that I, too, was one of those ‘survivors’—and a person who could wield mana.
Bzzzt—
The smartphone on the table vibrated briefly. The caller ID read ‘Unknown’.
The police had contacted me from time to time since then, and I’d blocked every number as soon as it came through. But eventually, the inevitable had happened.
[Hello, Ms. Kim Suyeon. I’m Team Leader Seo Jiyoon from the ‘Temporary Headquarters for Emergency Gate Response.’ Your contact information was officially transferred to us by the National Police Agency because you’re an important witness in the survivor rescue effort. I’d like to meet with you briefly and speak with you.]
I let out a long sigh and ruffled my bangs irritably. No matter how stubbornly I refused to meet, people from agencies like this would eventually show up at my front door in black suits. Whether it was a democracy or a monarchy, it was only natural for the authorities to reach out to whoever they needed, regardless of that person’s wishes.
But I had to make sure my family didn’t find out what I’d been up to.
Reluctantly, I suggested a quiet franchise café near my home and sent a reply.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In a secluded corner of the café where we’d agreed to meet, a woman in a neat black suit sat across from me.
With her hair neatly tied back and horn-rimmed glasses, she had a cold, sharp air about her. Perhaps they’d deliberately assigned a female agent, thinking a young student might feel pressured meeting a male agent. How thoughtful of them.
“Thank you for coming. I’m Seo Jiyoon.”
I took the business card Agent Seo held out with a perfunctory nod, then sipped the peach iced tea in front of me.
“Yes, well. But what did you want to talk to me about? I already told the police everything.”
“It’s about the way you handled things at the terminal Gate. We reviewed the police reports and cross-checked the accounts of all the survivors. You marked the exit with glow sticks in a pitch-dark cave without a single light source, then subdued the monsters with a plastic umbrella.”
Hmm… Maybe I shouldn’t have fought where the survivors could see me. It would’ve been much easier to explain myself if I hadn’t.
A sharp gaze pierced me from behind Agent Seo’s glasses.
“Could you be one of the ‘Awakened’ who have been in the news recently?”
Ha. She was getting straight to the point. I swallowed a cynical laugh and did my best to put on an innocent, aggrieved expression.
“An Awakened? Me? Come on, that’s ridiculous. If I had superpowers, would I have been running around with an umbrella?”
“But stabbing a monster that’s attacking you with a five-thousand-won plastic umbrella is beyond the usual physical ability or courage…”
“That umbrella was sturdier than it looked! Ask the convenience store clerk. It actually made a pretty good weapon, you know?”
I clinked the ice in my iced tea as I continued.
“And those green monsters. People called them goblins, right? They looked disgusting, but they weren’t that strong. Maybe because they lived in dark caves, they couldn’t handle it when I shone a flashlight at them. Then I just jabbed them in the head with my umbrella, and they dropped one after another. I was just fighting for my life, with my eyes squeezed shut and swinging wildly.”
The agent’s brows drew together ever so slightly.
“According to the survivors’ accounts, your movements were by no means those of a beginner…”
“They must’ve been seeing things in the dark because they were so confused. I was desperate to survive, too. You know how people sometimes display superhuman strength in a fire? It was something like that.”
The fact that I’d lopped off the most dangerous one’s head—the hobgoblin’s—was my secret alone.
Who knew sending all the survivors outside before entering the boss room alone would result in such perfect information control? There were no security cameras or witnesses, so as long as I kept insisting I’d just been lucky, they had no way to prove otherwise.
Agent Seo was silent for a while at my shameless performance, then let out a small sigh.
“All right. Whether or not you’re Awakened, your ability to stay calm and make sound decisions is something our response team desperately needs right now. Would you consider working with us…?”
“I’m a freshman starting college next month.”
I delivered the decisive blow.
“My mom’s already set aside money for my tuition, since I’m going to college. If I told her I’d been called up by the government to go fight monsters, it would turn the whole house upside down. And surely you government officials wouldn’t send a student who’s practically a minor into a place that dangerous, would you?”
‘A minor, a student, and Mom.’ There was no better shield in Korean society. Agent Seo pressed her lips together, then finally nodded.
“I understand. It wouldn’t be right for the country to burden a young student. I’m sorry for making such an unreasonable request.”
She stood up, but left her business card on the table.
“But, Ms. Suyeon, there will be more Gates in the future. If you change your mind, or if something happens that you can’t handle, please contact me at this number anytime.”
After Agent Seo left, I stayed at the window seat and tossed the remaining ice from my iced tea into my mouth.
Crunch, crackle.
Outside the window, people hurried along the street.
An old man walking his dog. Teenagers passing by, laughing with their arms linked. Office workers heading to work with coffees in hand.
It was an utterly peaceful, ordinary day.
But I knew that if black mist suddenly welled up beneath someone’s feet, those peaceful smiles would turn into a blood-soaked hell in an instant.
I could just live comfortably, go to college, and pretend I didn’t know anything.
The mana stone in my pocket pressed heavily against my fingertips.
If I thoroughly concealed my experience and the way I wielded mana, I could live the rest of my life in comfort, without ever putting myself in danger.
But… Could I stand by with my eyes open and watch innocent people get torn apart and eaten by monsters within reach? Would the heart and memories of someone who had once risked everything to save the world let me enjoy this feeble, selfish peace?
No matter how much I wanted peace, could I really seek it while watching others be sacrificed?
I fiddled with the white business card Agent Seo had left behind.
“Ah… This is going to be such a pain.”
Though I grumbled aloud, my gaze lingered on the phone number printed on the card.
The mana within me had grown yet another handspan, swirling quietly yet fiercely, as if foreseeing the great storm that was about to arrive.
Amid it all, I could only continue to waver.