The door lock chimed with a cheerful mechanical sound.
The heavy door opened and I stepped into the penthouse.
A tense atmosphere hung in the living room.
My family sat in a row on the sofa, staring blankly into space.
"I'm home."
Before my dry greeting could even finish—
—Crash bang!
The three people on the sofa sprang up like springs.
Mom, who rushed over first, grabbed both my cheeks.
"Let me see, let me see! Is my baby hurt anywhere?"
My cheeks were mercilessly squished between her hands.
My lips puffed out like a fish-shaped pastry.
I mumbled with my cheeks pressed in.
"Momf, I'm fwine."
"Hold still! I need to check if you're hurt anywhere!"
Still gripping my cheeks, Mom turned my head this way and that, searching for scratches.
Dad grabbed both my arms and ran his hands up and down.
He checked meticulously, almost kneading them, to see if any bones were broken or joints dislocated.
"Lift your leg. Is your ankle okay? You're not bleeding?"
"Dad, I didn't even break a sweat."
Ha-eun went straight behind me and flipped up my training jacket.
Cold air touched my bare skin.
My sister, running her hand down my back, let out a relieved breath.
"Fortunately, no injuries."
"Put my shirt down."
Irritation surged, but I obediently gave up resisting.
I endured a full-body scan for over 10 minutes standing at the front door.
A thorough inspection from head to toe was completed.
Only then did Mom finally let go of my cheeks with a deep sigh.
"Thank goodness. Really not a single injury."
"I promised I'd come back without a speck of dust on me."
I roughly brushed off my wrinkled clothes.
This damn household treats me like a toddler left by the water's edge even when I come back from saving the world.
"Phew. The inspection's finally over, right?"
I gestured toward my family with my chin.
Looking at the clock, it was 7 PM.
"Let's go eat. We'll be late for the Korean beef omakase reservation."
Only then did my family's stiff expressions gradually relax.
* * * * *
Gangnam's finest Korean beef omakase restaurant.
VVIP private room.
Korean beef with gorgeous marbling cooked over premium charcoal.
I picked up a juicy rib eye and put it in my mouth.
The meat melted on my tongue before I could even chew.
"This is it."
I let out a quiet exclamation.
I went on that annoying business trip to protect this peaceful infrastructure and luxury.
Dad kept piling well-cooked rib eye onto my plate.
"Tae-ho, eat plenty. You worked hard catching monsters."
"Dad, you eat some too. I'm full."
"I'm fine. Just watching my son eat fills me up."
Ha-eun was already massacring meat at a speed where her chopsticks were invisible.
The kid with oil all over her mouth glanced at the menu.
"Oppa, can I order one more truffle beef tartare?"
"Yeah. Order whatever you want."
I tossed my unlimited black card onto the table.
Mom smiled while tilting her wine glass.
"So, you got what the government promised for sure, right?"
"Of course."
I nodded while swallowing meat.
"The Kang Tae-ho Special Protection Act passed at this morning's cabinet meeting. Media, politicians—all banned from approaching within 1km of our house. Using my name to invite me to annoying events is also completely prohibited. And permanent tax exemption."
"Oh my goodness."
"Now our house is a legally perfect inviolable zone. Relax and chew your beef."
As the meal was ending, the manager in a suit came in personally and bowed 90 degrees respectfully.
"Was the meal to your liking, Hunter? The bill has already been paid in full by the Presidential Secretariat."
Quick on the uptake.
Compared to the special law, it's pocket change, but saving on the meal isn't bad.
I stood up with a toothpick in my mouth.
A perfect end to the workday.
* * * * *
I returned home.
After finishing a warm shower, I threw on a loose short-sleeved T-shirt.
It was a shirt my sister had discarded, and the hem hung down to my knees, fluttering like a dress.
I tossed something at Ha-eun's head as she lay on the living room sofa scrolling through shorts on her tablet.
"Ow! What!"
Ha-eun rubbed her forehead irritably.
What fell onto her stomach was an old talisman.
"The trip's over, so take it back. It's cumbersome carrying it in my pocket."
Ha-eun picked up the talisman and threw it back at me.
The talisman hit my solar plexus and dropped to the floor.
"Forget it. Oppa, just keep it."
"Why? It worked great. Not a speck of dust on me."
"How do we know when the country will dump work on you again? Stick it deep in your wallet."
Ha-eun replied curtly and fixed her gaze back on the tablet.
The tips of her ears were flushed red.
Annoying kid.
I picked up the talisman from the floor.
Taking the talisman, I entered my room.
Sitting on the bed, I rummaged through my pockets.
Along with the talisman, I pulled out the red orb I'd picked up from the ashes earlier.
About the size of a ping-pong ball.
The surface was smooth as a mirror, and inside, crimson liquid rippled as if breathing.
The room's temperature seemed to rise several degrees, becoming stuffy.
"Creepy thing."
The wavelength was too alien to be debris from a Gate mutant.
Purely refined, eerily clear and hot energy.
And the legendary Bulgasari.
My thoughts spiraled, but I quickly grew tired of it.
I opened a drawer, shoved the orb and talisman inside, and shut it.
Whether Gates collapsed on the other side of the Earth or not, my work for today was perfectly done.
I collapsed onto the bed.
I fell into deep sleep.
* * * * *
Beijing, China. National Security Ministry underground bunker.
A top-security conference room built to withstand nuclear war.
Heavy silence pressed down on the space.
A video played frame by frame on repeat on the massive screen.
Footage of the border subjugation captured by satellite camera.
A small girl with silver hair shot up into the ashen sky.
She brought both hands together in front of her chest, in a bizarre pose as if drawing an invisible bowstring.
A small spark shot from her fingertips.
In that moment, the entire screen turned white and the endlessly replaying colossal magical beast was incinerated at the molecular level.
The temperature reading captured by the thermal camera just before the explosion displayed an unmeasurable error.
"This is insane."
The National Security Minister muttered while wiping cold sweat.
"That's not a Hunter's skill. She compressed and fired the heat equivalent of dozens of small tactical nukes into a single point. She's completely ignoring the laws of physics."
The faces of the leadership seated around the table turned ashen.
A military general slammed the table and stood up.
"We must secure this Kang Tae-ho! By any means necessary. Mobilize all diplomatic channels and persuade him with astronomical sums. If that doesn't work, deploy operatives to kidnap his family..."
"Shut your mouth!!!"
The President's chilling rebuke echoed through the bunker.
The President glared at the general with bloodshot eyes.
"Kidnap his family? Are you determined to erase this continent from the map?!"
The President's finger, pointing at Kang Tae-ho floating in the air on screen, trembled slightly.
"That thing is not some S-Rank Hunter. It's an uncontrollable, out-of-spec disaster beyond human common sense. The moment we cross him and push the tantrum button, that damned pillar of fire will strike Beijing!"
Cold water was thrown over the conference room.
The general sat down with a pale face.
No one could refute the President's words.
When the power gap is too overwhelming, even schemes or threats don't work.
The President roughly loosened his tie.
"From now on, fulfill every agreement with the Korean government to the penny without deviation. West Coast trade port absolute safety guarantee, rare earth mine exclusive mining rights, cash support—wire everything by tomorrow morning."
"But Comrade President. Those terms will be a fatal blow to our economy..."
"Shut up and send it! We must show that we keep our promises thoroughly."
Deep defeat permeated the President's voice.
"Build thoroughly friendly relations behind the scenes. Pour out money and resources as demanded, and humor him. When another major Gate opens on the continent later, we need to keep the connection to call that monster as a relief pitcher."
The President's gaze returned to the screen.
The silver-haired girl on screen was brushing dust off her clothes and disappearing leisurely.
"And Director of Defense Science Research."
"Yes, Comrade President."
"Start a secret project immediately tomorrow."
"What... project do you mean?"
"We must create one too. An artificial absolute force identical to that Kang Tae-ho, or at least one that can grab his ankle. Genetic manipulation, Mana Stone fusion—use any means necessary."
China's pride was being thoroughly trampled as the night passed.
* * * * *
The next morning.
At the living room dining table.
I was roughly mixing cereal with milk and scooping it up with a spoon.
The morning news blared loudly from the TV in the living room.
[Breaking news! Korea's hero, Hunter Kang Tae-ho, has perfectly succeeded in solo subjugating the colossal magical beast that appeared yesterday afternoon at the Chinese border!]
The anchor's excited voice filled the living room.
[With this, the groundbreaking compensation package promised by China has been immediately implemented. The blocked West Coast trade routes have been fully opened, and the government officially announced this morning that it has secured priority exclusive supply chains for rare earths and core import resources.]
[Soaring import prices are expected to stabilize perfectly starting today. Import-export containers that had stopped are beginning to move, and the KOSPI stock market is also skyrocketing, hitting the upper limit immediately upon opening!]
The news screen changed.
Behind the anchor's flushed voice, edited subjugation footage aired.
It was footage at an appropriate level that the government had agreed to broadcast with the National Intelligence Service to reassure citizens.
Scenes of me smashing the giant armored elephant's jaw and firing sparks from the air to create a massive explosion played in slow motion.
Netizens' real-time reactions scrolled up madly at the bottom of the screen.
—Insane ㄷㄷㄷ
—He's grabbing the nation's economy by the collar and saving it alone.
—Is that jumping from a transport plane? Without even a parachute??
—Please just let our hero rest ㅠㅠ
—But seriously how does that kind of destructive power come out?
"Munch munch."
I pointed at the TV screen with my chin while chewing cereal.
I shrugged my shoulders confidently toward my family seated at the table.
"See that? That video. I beat it completely one-sidedly. It was like chasing off a neighborhood mutt."
Mom slammed the kimchi stew pot down on the table and smacked my back.
"Ow."
"What mutt! Look at that pillar of fire shooting up and the monster the size of a house! Why are you so fearless?"
Mom's nagging pierced my ears.
"No, it really wasn't a big deal. I didn't even sweat."
Dad looked at the TV with a serious expression and backed Mom up.
"Even just watching on screen it looks so dangerous. What if you made even a small mistake jumping into those flames? No matter how strong you are, one moment of carelessness and you're gone."
"Why would I burn in flames I shot?"
Ha-eun slurped down the milk left in my cereal bowl and clicked her tongue.
"Oppa really has zero sense of danger. You're so tiny but your guts are huge. Looking at the screen, it was totally close."
My family's endless nagging bombardment.
After receiving a full-body scan inspection for over 10 minutes yesterday, they're starting again.
On the news, they're praising me as the hero who saved the world, but at our family table, I'm just treated like a reckless youngest daughter left by the water's edge.
"Sigh."
I let out a deep sigh.
Arguing would only make the nagging longer.
"Fine, fine. Next time I'll really just shoot fire from far away and run. I absolutely won't let my guard down."
I roughly nodded and put down my spoon as if resigned.
Listening to nagging is tiring, but I didn't entirely dislike those obvious worries.
I came back after smashing a steel beast's head to protect that ordinary, frustrating daily life.
I hopped onto the living room sofa and curled up.
Today I'm planning to roll around all day playing the newly released console game.
My comfortable unemployed life, perfectly secured.
A peace no one could disturb was beginning.
