Ch.26Chapter 26 – Warmth

One day, the world became a battlefield.

There are no heroes in war. There are no protagonists in reality.

But the desperate war against demons, the reality stained with blood, needed heroes, needed protagonists.

And so humanity turned war into a show.

The media became the government’s most powerful promotional agency and media control institution. The media skillfully soothed or struck the public, guiding their thoughts in favorable directions. The government had been accustomed to taming the masses since before the Gates appeared. Nothing changed after the Gates. They simply gripped the media in their hands more tightly and thoroughly than before.

But the government did not rule the people with whips. Rather, they fed the public carrots until their bellies burst. To help them forget the desperate reality.

Entertainment programs flourished. The celebritization of Hunters was a key policy. Hunters appeared on various shows, blending into civilian lives.

This also served as a fable about Hunters. It transformed the image of the Hunter profession from a scary, dangerous “3D” job into an idolized, respectable position. Indeed, the policy’s effects exceeded expectations.

Civic groups calling for regulations on the dangers of Hunters and Awakened began to decrease, while Hunters in similar fields banded together to form various interest groups. Management companies and guilds launched to oversee Hunters like entertainment agencies, and various industries such as weapons and potions flourished.

With these positive effects, President Park Ju-gwan’s approval ratings rose as he implemented pro-Hunter policies. This, in turn, gave Park Ju-gwan more power to tighten his grip on the media. A cycle continued—whether virtuous or vicious was unclear. Regardless of the process, the outcome seemed positive from the perspective of stabilizing Korea’s chaos.

The Hunter Association was one group that viewed the results of this policy favorably. Satisfied with the achievements of the pro-Hunter policy, they willingly cooperated with the celebritization of Hunters.

Their first action was to classify Hunters by rank.

The Association divided Hunters into six ranks, from the lowest F-rank to the highest A-rank. The invention of a mana-measuring device by Professor Park Jeong-gwang, which could test an Awakened’s mana capacity, also influenced this development. The higher-ranked Hunters, who were fewer in number but more powerful, gained more fame and better treatment.

However, there were beings who shattered the common sense of a Hunter’s strength.

Some could clear S-rank Gates alone, others could protect entire cities by themselves, and some could slice the sky with a single sword. These individuals possessed strength that could not be measured by the existing six ranks.

The Association thought it inefficient to classify them in the same category as other Hunters. They could be used more valuably—whether for their own power or as symbols for Hunters.

A meeting was held among the upper echelons of the Hunter Association to discuss how to treat these Hunters. The conclusion was unanimous: to create a new rank for these superhumans worthy of being called the world’s strongest.

That day, seven S-rank Hunters were born.

***

“Damn, I thought you were in real trouble because of your voice.”

“Hehe, you play pranks on me all the time, and now you’re making a fuss.”

Yoo Seong-ha casually deflected Shin Jae-hyuk’s complaint. A playful smile lingered on her lips.

“Heave-ho!”

Shin Jae-hyuk and Yoo Seong-ha were moving stacks of books at the orphanage where they grew up. Both had books piled up to their faces, barely able to see ahead. A large shipment of books had arrived, ordered with collected donations to create a small library for the orphanage, but they were short-handed for organizing them, so Seong-ha had called Jae-hyuk for help.

Jae-hyuk, who had rushed over at full speed thinking Seong-ha was in danger, couldn’t hide his disappointment when he learned why she had called him.

“Still, don’t play such scary pranks. You know things are crazy these days because of the Gates.”

Jae-hyuk seriously scolded Seong-ha for her prank. She responded with narrowed eyes and a voice tinged with amusement.

“Were you worried about me? Our Jae-hyuk has grown up~”

Seong-ha stroked Jae-hyuk’s hair with a skilled touch, as if handling a child. His hair, disheveled from running in the wind, gradually became neat under her delicate grooming.

Jae-hyuk felt somehow embarrassed being treated like a kid by her and changed the subject.

“But was help so scarce that you had to make an emergency call to me?”

“Yeah… quite a few people quit after the Gate incident….”

A shadow briefly crossed her face. Come to think of it, Jae-hyuk couldn’t see some of the kitchen ladies and nuns he had known since childhood. He didn’t press further. He could roughly guess what had happened to them in this crazy world where monsters jumped out of thin air.

‘…I hope they went to a better place.’

Jae-hyuk silently prayed for their souls. Glancing at Seong-ha, he saw her face had darkened. Sweating nervously after accidentally stepping on a landmine by changing the subject, he spoke up.

“So, um, didn’t you call Hong Ha-rin?”

Hong Ha-rin. She was an orphanage friend the same age as Jae-hyuk.

Ha-rin, Jae-hyuk, and Seong-ha grew up together at the orphanage, but because of her prickly personality, Jae-hyuk wasn’t particularly close with her. At most, they exchanged news through Seong-ha.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure what she did for a living now. When the Gate incident first occurred, he had considered calling to warn her directly, but figured Seong-ha would contact people around her, so he hadn’t bothered.

“Oh, Ha-rin? She’s busy working. She’s a civil servant, you know.”

“A civil servant? That kid?”

Jae-hyuk recalled Hong Ha-rin from middle school. She was smart enough to always rank first in school, but seemed indifferent to her own achievements, wearing a cold expression. She always wore her hair pulled back in a ponytail and had a consistently chilly demeanor, though she was surprisingly popular at school. She seemed completely uninterested in dating boys.

He tried to imagine that ice queen handling civil affairs. He couldn’t picture her smiling warmly while addressing residents’ complaints. It would be easier to imagine her as a tyrannical boss making employees work overtime with her perpetually cold face.

‘The image doesn’t fit at all…’

Seong-ha chuckled as she observed Jae-hyuk’s varied expressions of bewilderment. She inserted a book into the bookshelf while speaking.

“You didn’t know? I’m not sure exactly what she does, but it seems to be quite a high position. Looks like she makes good money. But she seems just as busy.”

“That’s really surprising news. I haven’t contacted her for years, so I guess her personality might have changed…”

“You should show more interest in Ha-rin. You’re orphanage mates after all; you should support each other.”

She gave Jae-hyuk a light scolding, glancing at him sideways. As they chatted pleasantly, most of the books had been neatly arranged on the shelves.

“Well, this side seems mostly organized. I’ll finish up here, why don’t you go see the children?”

“Oh, okay.”

Jae-hyuk left the cleanup to Seong-ha and went to see the orphanage children. They were sitting in groups around the TV, watching a broadcast.

“Hey kids, I’m here!”

“Oh, big bro! Just a minute, let us watch this first….”

The children responded halfheartedly to Jae-hyuk’s greeting before focusing back on the TV screen. It was unusual for the normally popular Jae-hyuk to be treated like a sack of rice; whatever program was airing must be quite entertaining.

Knowing it would be annoying to interrupt them during an enjoyable moment, Jae-hyuk quietly went behind the children to see what they were watching. It was an entertainment show called “A Hunter’s Day,” featuring a different Hunter as a guest each episode.

These days, entertainment programs featuring Hunters like celebrities were rapidly gaining popularity. Everyone was curious about the daily lives of these heroes who seemed to have stepped out of movies, using superpowers and hunting monsters.

This episode featured A-rank ice mage Yeo Dong-yeon. Since hell was so hot, most demons had low resistance to cold, making his abilities quite effective in Gates.

The broadcast showed footage of him fighting monsters while dispersing cold energy. It was a kind of profile video shown before the main broadcast, a highlight reel of his impressive career. Clever editing techniques removed the gruesome scenes from the bloody battles with demons, emphasizing only the spectacular moments.

“Wow… that’s sick.”

“So cool…”

“Amazing! I want to be an A-rank Hunter when I grow up!”

“I’ll be S-rank!”

The children expressed their admiration, revealing their adoration for Hunters. The sight of righteous Hunters defeating evil demons looked simply cool to them. Their eyes sparkled as they imagined themselves becoming like those Hunters.

“I’m going to defeat monsters too!”

At those words, memories from Jae-hyuk’s past life flashed through his mind. The boy soldier he greeted in the morning. The bell ringing in the citadel. The horde of demons approaching. The scent of blood filling his nostrils, and the unceasing madness. The corpses discovered in the evening. Eyes burst, limbs torn off, entrails devoured—

“No!”

Jae-hyuk shouted impulsively.

Startled by the loud voice, the children turned away from the TV to look at him. The child who had declared he would become an S-rank Hunter stared at him with a disgruntled expression.

“Why not? They make lots of money and are super popular.”

“Because it’s dangerous…”

“But if you become an S-rank Hunter, you’ll be stronger than anyone!”

Jae-hyuk was momentarily speechless. Being strong isn’t everything. He recalled his past self dying at Baal’s hands. Despite being such a powerful paladin, he was ultimately broken. He explained painfully with a strained voice:

“But even an S-rank Hunter might someday meet an opponent they can’t handle…”

“Then what should you do when you meet such an opponent?”

What should you do?

The childish question struck deep into Jae-hyuk’s heart. Though the intent behind the question was purely innocent, Jae-hyuk couldn’t take it at face value. The question boomeranged back, tearing at his heart.

Faced with a child’s naive question, he suddenly became acutely aware of his situation. Paladin of Eloah, guardian who must protect humanity, one of the 12 heroes bearing the fate of the world. Master Paladin, Longinus.

But at the same time, he was a 26-year-old South Korean man, Mr. B’s troubleshooter, Lee Yu-jin’s senior, Yoo Seong-ha’s brother, and a hikikomori who had spent more than half his youth shut in his room.

He became suddenly afraid.

What if he died while wandering through Gates trying to uncover what happened to Eden’s humanity? What about those he would leave behind?

When facing an overwhelmingly powerful enemy he couldn’t handle,

What should he do?

What should he do.

Jae-hyuk couldn’t answer in the end. He was already a failure who had died once, unable to overcome Baal. Confusion of identity and fear mixed turbidly like paint, muddling his thoughts.

When he remained silent without answering, the children quickly lost interest in him and turned back to the TV screen. A luxurious mansion, a beautiful wife, recognition from society. The TV showed the glamorous life of a Hunter. A wonderful life that any orphan living at the bottom of society would desperately desire.

***

“Jae-hyuk? Why are you standing there like that?”

Jae-hyuk snapped back to reality at the sound of his name. Seong-ha, having finished organizing the bookshelf, had returned to find him standing blankly. The broadcast had ended, and the children had gone outside to play.

“Oh, no… I just had something to think about.”

Jae-hyuk stammered his reply. He didn’t want her to discover his worries related to secrets he couldn’t share.

But she didn’t miss her brother’s hesitation—a brother she had looked after for over ten years.

“You’re troubled. What is it? Tell me.”

After a long silence, Jae-hyuk slowly opened his mouth. He was standing before Seong-ha, but his eyes were looking at the distant past. At himself dying before the most hateful demon.

“…What should I do if the most desperate moment in life comes, if I face a hardship that seems impossible to overcome, if I confront an opponent I can never defeat? What should I do then?”

Jae-hyuk’s voice was uncharacteristically gloomy and weak. Seong-ha didn’t question the strange query he had suddenly posed. She simply gazed calmly at her brother, who was trembling with fear like a frightened child, with eyes as serene as a lake.

She caressed Jae-hyuk’s cheek.

“Think of someone precious to you. Someone you need to protect. The reason you must overcome painful trials.”

He felt the soft skin on his cheek. A warmth that reassured him of her presence.

Jae-hyuk lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. He thought of Ortesia. The high elf called the Saint among the 12 heroes, his lover from his past life. A woman who loved poetry, God, and himself more than anyone.

It wasn’t simply because Seong-ha had told him to think of someone precious that he thought of her. Whenever he looked at Seong-ha, he always thought of Ortesia. Seong-ha exuded a similar atmosphere to Ortesia. Warm, embracing, nurturing gentleness. Both emanated that kind of sacred aura.

At the same time, Jae-hyuk felt an inexplicable guilt toward Ortesia whenever he saw Seong-ha. He himself didn’t know the source of this guilt. Was it lingering attachment to a past connection, regret for failing to protect her? Perhaps it was all of these things.

‘Something precious…’

Jae-hyuk mulled over her words. But the fact that his past self ultimately failed to protect anything still haunted him as an inescapable demon in his heart. Ancient emotions swirling from the abyss weighed down his soul. Carrying all that anxiety and fear, Jae-hyuk tried to object.

“But—”

“It’s okay.”

What did she mean by “it’s okay”?

Jae-hyuk raised his head to meet her eyes. Those amber eyes that seemed to see through his heart comforted him.

It was an awkward consolation. A sentence without reason, meaning, or context.

But that single phrase pierced through Jae-hyuk’s darkness and struck a chord in his heart.

Jae-hyuk covered her hand with his own. His hand trembled slightly. The clasped hands applied pressure to calm that trembling.

“It’s okay.”

There was warmth there. A precious person. Someone he needed to protect in his current life, not his past one.

The reason he needed to overcome painful trials was right there.

He stood there for a long time, looking at her.

Like a child who had collapsed in place and was crying.