Ch.68Chapter 68 – Reminiscence (1)

Kwak Tae-woo is unemployed.

If he had any blood relatives, his miserable life might have been somewhat better, but having grown up in an orphanage without anyone to care for him, Kwak Tae-woo was thrown into the cold society as soon as he turned 20.

There weren’t many jobs willing to hire someone with low education who had barely graduated high school. In fact, there were almost none. His life consisted of barely scraping by with convenience store part-time jobs, getting fired after making big mistakes, and repeating the cycle. Most of the time, he was unemployed. A pathetic man who relied on government support to eat each day, waiting for death without any dreams.

However, the end comes equally to the unemployed as well.

On a summer day, returning from buying beer at a convenience store, Kwak Tae-woo witnessed a strange phenomenon. A black sphere suddenly appeared in midair, and green monsters poured out of it like a swarm of cockroaches.

“What the hell? Is this a dream? Damn, if I’d known it was a dream, I would’ve bought everything I wanted at the convenience store without worrying about my bank balance…”

Kwak Tae-woo wasn’t bright. His crisis management skills were equally poor. Rather than moving his legs when the green creatures approached him, he just stared blankly at them, mentally checking out from reality.

In a disaster where even highly educated people were dying like flies, it seemed impossible for such a dimwit to survive. And that would have been the case.

If there hadn’t been a police station nearby.

“Haha, of course this must be a dream… Such an unrealistic thing couldn’t possibly happen otherwise…”

On the day the first gate opened in this world, the day hell’s invasion began, Kwak Tae-woo’s survival was merely luck. By chance, there was a very brave police officer at the nearby station; by chance, she was carrying a gun at that time; and by chance, she too was heading to the convenience store.

“Nothing beats beer after work… Huh? —Watch out!”

Quite by chance, she spotted a monster about to pounce on a man, and thanks to that, Kwak Tae-woo was able to survive.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Ahhh! Ah! Blood! Disgusting! Wait, this isn’t a dream…?”

“—Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

With the gunshots, a savior appeared.

The savior’s name was Cha Eun-kyung.

***

Kwak Tae-woo was someone who understood gratitude. Having had his life saved by Cha Eun-kyung, he decided to dedicate his life to helping her.

Until the first gate incident settled down, Kwak Tae-woo followed Cha Eun-kyung around, fighting monsters and rescuing people. It wasn’t as difficult as he’d expected, mainly because Cha Eun-kyung handled most of the monsters with incredible physical abilities that seemed impossible for an ordinary police officer.

When Kwak Tae-woo asked how she could fight so well, she explained that she had “awakened” right after saving him. Cha Eun-kyung talked about seeing some system window in the air and receiving skills that made her good with a blade—nonsense that even Kwak Tae-woo, who had witnessed monsters appearing out of thin air, found hard to believe.

A few days later, when Kwak Tae-woo also awakened while fighting an imp and could see the system window, he finally understood what she had been talking about.

***

“Now that I’ve awakened, I can fight like Cha Eun-kyung!”

After awakening, Kwak Tae-woo followed Cha Eun-kyung and became a police officer.

With Kwak Tae-woo’s qualifications, becoming a civil servant would have been impossible, but the severe police shortage after the gate incident made the impossible possible. The number of police officers had plummeted from fighting monsters, and with the job now labeled as dangerous “3D” work, applicants had drastically decreased. The police were desperate enough to take help from anyone—and if that help came from an awakened person, all the better.

Kwak Tae-woo was assigned to field operations with Cha Eun-kyung. Coincidentally, his awakened skill was the same type as hers—an ability that enhanced blade techniques—which allowed them to be placed in the same unit.

The two were tasked with maintaining public safety in the city: dealing with monsters that had sneaked into the city, arresting awakened criminals, and so on. Through this process, Kwak Tae-woo and Cha Eun-kyung leveled up and improved their combat abilities.

Later, when a special ability response unit—or “Special Unit” for short—was established within the police organization, the two were transferred to this new department.

Cha Eun-kyung, having witnessed countless civilians die due to the military’s delayed response on the day the gate opened, developed a conviction that to save innocent lives, she needed to strengthen herself and take direct action. She volunteered for the Special Unit, which specialized in incidents involving awakened individuals and monsters, believing it would help her level up faster. Kwak Tae-woo followed her into the Special Unit.

In the Special Unit, the two were mainly responsible for eliminating monsters that escaped from gates, subduing awakened criminals, evacuating citizens during gate outbreaks, and sometimes directly clearing gates.

Most of their work involved arresting awakened individuals who committed heinous crimes using skills or artifacts amid the chaotic public order. Through this process, Kwak Tae-woo gained access to information about various criminals. The more dangerous the criminal with powerful skills or artifacts, the more deeply their profiles were etched into his memory…

***

“Cha Eun-kyung. Here, water.”

“Oh, thanks.”

After easily clearing a C-rank gate that had appeared in a residential area, Cha Eun-kyung and Kwak Tae-woo were taking a break. Cha Eun-kyung gulped down the cold water with a pensive expression. Worried that she might have been injured during the battle, Kwak Tae-woo asked:

“What’s wrong? You’ve been distracted. Are you still bothered by that failed case from before?”

Kwak Tae-woo remembered how uneasy she had been after failing to uncover some suspicious secret of the Black Death Cult about a month ago. Trying to reassure her, he said:

“We investigated all the way to Incheon Port and found nothing, right? It’s probably nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm… No, it’s not just that. A younger friend I know has been looking really down lately. He was always a low-energy hikikomori, but his depression seems worse than usual. It’s like he’s having an existential crisis, like a kid who just found out Santa doesn’t exist.”

“A younger friend?”

“Ah, you wouldn’t know him. He’s something like an informant. I asked for his help with the Black Death Cult case, but he refused. He sounded so lifeless that I couldn’t push him further. If he had helped, we definitely could have uncovered the cult’s secrets…”

Cha Eun-kyung clicked her tongue regretfully.

“Sigh, whatever. What’s the point of worrying? The case is already closed as unresolved.”

She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, then changed the subject.

“By the way, you leveled up, right? Your movements suddenly became more fluid during the boss fight.”

“You noticed that in the middle of that chaos? Your observation skills are impressive.”

“So you must be level 220 now? You’re officially a C-rank hunter. Congratulations!”

“It’s nothing… You’re already a B-rank hunter approaching A-rank. Compared to you, I’m just a drop in the bucket.”

While saying this, Kwak Tae-woo couldn’t bring himself to simply compliment her. Beneath his congratulatory words lay envy, and beneath that envy lay jealousy.

Though both had skills that improved weapon proficiency—clearly the same type of ability—there was a significant gap in their growth. Whether it was due to differences in the basic performance of their skills, their mindsets, or both, the cause of the gap was unknown.

Kwak Tae-woo devoted even his rest time to training to keep up with her, but the difference in growth rate was obvious. This fact made him anxious. She was getting further away.

Kwak Tae-woo had mixed feelings. He was happy for his benefactor’s growth. With her increased strength, she could save more lives and make the world a better place again.

‘But…’

Kwak Tae-woo had built a strong bond following Cha Eun-kyung. A friendship that transcended gender and age. They quickly became best friends and the best hunter partners because he had never met someone he connected with so well. He wanted this relationship to last forever.

However, as she grew stronger and the gap between them widened, he feared he would no longer be able to fight alongside her. She would fight stronger enemies with stronger comrades, and he would be left behind without even a chance to join them—this ominous premonition tormented Kwak Tae-woo.

‘I want to fight by her side. But I’m too weak. Even today, she saved me from danger four times in just a C-rank gate… I’ll have to reduce my sleep to three hours and increase my training.’

Unaware of Kwak Tae-woo’s thoughts, Cha Eun-kyung heartily patted his back.

“That’s right, you’ve got a long way to go to catch up to me! Keep working hard!”

As they were returning to the police station, exchanging such casual banter, the radio crackled with harsh static. Inside the police car, Cha Eun-kyung grumbled:

“Oh come on, we just finished a job. More overtime? They really need to increase police personnel somehow…”

“Surely… if the higher-ups have any conscience, they wouldn’t dump more work on us.”

“The Special Unit was hastily created by the president for show to boost approval ratings, with barely any support, yet they dump all the dangerous work on us.”

“We just handled that C-rank gate that another unit couldn’t deal with. They should be thanking us, not giving us more work.”

Unfortunately, Kwak Tae-woo’s prediction was wrong. An urgent voice came through the radio—a direct order from central headquarters:

-E-emergency situation! All available combat personnel hearing this transmission, deploy to Incheon immediately! Right now! Thirteen gates have simultaneously opened in Incheon!

***

On the rooftop of a high-rise building in Incheon, overlooking the devastated city, a grotesque scene was unfolding. A man hanging upside down, bleeding profusely.

“Father, Father-! Why have you forsaken me-!”

The man, impaled on a lightning rod as if crucified upside down, cried out. After shouting for his god until his voice gave out, he coughed up blood violently, as if turning his lungs inside out. Then he began to laugh, madly yet sorrowfully.

“Ha, haha, hahaha…. Why did you… Even after reading the sage’s prophecy, I tried so hard to deny it…”

His tone was despondent, as if he still couldn’t believe what he had seen. God remained silent to his servant’s cries, as always. The light gradually faded from his eyes, which had once shone with intelligent vitality.

“If prayers offered from the place closest to heaven cannot reach heaven, who will answer the prayers from the ground?”

The paladin muttered in despair from the middle of a pool of blood.

“…Does this mean there is no hope for humans, for this world?”

With each word uttered, the golden light that had been gently emanating from his body began to darken. The aura, which had initially flickered only at the edges, gradually blackened to the core, eventually emitting an ominous crimson-black light.

“If that is truly so, Lord-“

When he spoke his final sentence, the paladin was no longer there.

“…Not my will, but yours be done…”

What remained was merely a fallen one whose spirit had been broken.

***

“Goddammit!!! Why are these imps endless! What the hell is the military doing-!”

Slashing through the horde of imps that surged like floodwaters, Kwak Tae-woo screamed in desperation. From about two meters away, Cha Eun-kyung, who had gained a moment’s respite thanks to a barrage of bullets from behind, answered while frantically swinging her blade:

“Could they all have been devoured by the boss? I can see missiles exploding occasionally, but the boss seems to recover from everything!”

At her words, Kwak Tae-woo looked at the distant high-rise building—or rather, at the boss that was devouring the hundred-story building with a grotesque mouth protruding from its belly.

“Where the hell did that monster Belial come from?! It looks hundreds of times stronger than any S-rank boss we’ve seen before!”

That terrifying boss, which could devour any object and convert it into its own power, had already consumed dozens of fighter jets and eleven A-rank hunters without suffering even a scratch. While all human efforts had only managed to buy time, the battle had continued day and night for three days.

Kwak Tae-woo and Cha Eun-kyung, who had rushed to the gate outbreak scene in Incheon immediately after hearing the radio transmission, had been fighting imps pouring out from thirteen gates for three days with barely any rest.

“How many gates are left now-?”

“I heard on the broadcast earlier that nine are left!”

“So shit, we’ve only closed four out of thirteen in three days, which means we have to keep doing this for… over two weeks?”

“Not two weeks, but one week! How can you get the math wrong even in this situation, blockhead!”

Another police officer fighting nearby teased Kwak Tae-woo by his nickname. As they tried to keep their spirits up with such trivial banter while continuing the grueling fight, the hunters suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air. Engine noise, followed by a sonic boom.

“Hey, hey, that sound!”

“Fighter jets! Air support has arrived!”

Dozens of fighter jets flying above the city began indiscriminate bombing of the urban area. Though civilians might get caught in the crossfire, the ground was already mostly overrun by demons, so there was neither the luxury nor the need for such concerns.

Fire and flames struck the ground like divine judgment, burning the demonic army. Some fighter jets concentrated their firepower into the gates. Their desperate efforts bore fruit. Three more gates closed at intervals of about twenty minutes.

“Only six more to go!”

The hunters cheered at this tremendous progress. With only six gates remaining, the monster supply would be cut off. They might even be able to defeat the boss by concentrating their dispersed forces and firepower on it. Hope was in sight…

And this progress provoked Belial. Engrossed in its meal, Belial brought out its weapon to avoid having its pleasant dining time interrupted—a whip that could be brought into this world by sacrificing 6,009 corpses.

A burning whip split into six hundred and sixty-six strands tore through the air. Ten fighter jets in its path exploded simultaneously. After Belial flicked its wrist a few more times, there were no more flying objects in the sky.

BOOM!!!

“Huh?”

“……”

The hunters were speechless. Debris from the fighter jets rained down from the sky. Someone broke the silence with a scream:

“W-wait! Someone jumped out of the plane!”

Kwak Tae-woo, who had been watching the falling plane, shouted:

“A survivor! We need to rescue-?!”

Cha Eun-kyung urgently stopped Kwak Tae-woo from rushing out:

“No! It’s too far! Besides, if you leave now, our formation will collapse and imps will infiltrate the building! Civilians will be in danger!”

“Damn it, so we just have to stand by and watch-?”

RUMBLE!!!

An untimely thunder sound interrupted their argument.

“Thunder in this weather…?”

Soon after, the hunters realized they wouldn’t need to just stand by and watch.

CRASH! BOOM!

The thunder wouldn’t stop. Dark clouds gathered in the sky at an abnormal speed. The storm clouds swirled around a beam of light.

“Storm of…”

The hunters recognized that technique and knew who would be at the end of that beam of light. Someone murmured, looking at the person falling from the sky:

“Kim Jae-min…!”

As those words ended, a flash of light burst forth.