Breaking the suffocating silence, the first to speak was Park So-jin, Guild Master of Crimson Lotus.
"I refuse."
Her voice was firm and cold.
Arms crossed, she'd been glaring at the screen, but now she turned to fix Director Choi with an icy stare.
"We have no information about the environment inside the Gate, the exact scale and ecosystem of the enemy, or even the magic system they use. Not a single piece of reliable intel about this unknown territory. And you want us to throw our guild members—not to mention the nation's top forces gathered here—into that? We can't stake our citizens' blood as collateral just to save foreign Hunters."
Her criticism was perfectly accurate, and cold sweat poured down Director Choi's forehead like rain.
Leaning deep into my chair back, I added weight to her opinion.
"I agree."
The eyes of Director Choi and the other government agents snapped toward me in unison.
If I, their strongest deterrent, pulled out, this operation's success rate would hit rock bottom.
"Looking at that footage, those long-eared bastards handle mana completely differently from us. Didn't you see the Japanese Hunters' barriers get shredded like tissue paper? There's no reason to play mercenary on foreign soil against a pile of unknowns. One wrong move and it's the perfect environment to die a dog's death abroad."
At my indifferent response, Director Choi's face went white.
He desperately clutched his briefing materials, hands trembling as he shouted.
"C-compensation! If you hear the reward package Japan has offered, you'll surely change your minds!"
Growing frantic, Director Choi rattled off his words like machine-gun fire.
"They've promised priority mining rights for all A-Rank and above Gate byproducts occurring within Japanese territory for the next ten years! On top of that, every S-Rank Hunter participating in this rescue operation will receive 100 billion won per person, plus ownership of prime downtown buildings..."
It was an outrageous offer, as if they were selling their entire nation.
An astronomical sum that would make any major guild flip and pack their bags immediately.
Yet none of the S-Ranks in the briefing room showed any sign of wavering.
"I've already made more money than I can spend. What good are those scraps of paper if I get backstabbed and die in a deathtrap? It's not like I can take them to my grave."
Ryu Ji-hwan, leaning against the window, snorted derisively.
At that moment, Baek Ho-yeong—who'd been hunched over his beast-like frame—rose roughly from his seat.
—BANG!!
The thick wooden table shattered mercilessly under his single punch.
As wood fragments scattered in all directions, Baek Ho-yeong's eyes flashed with bestial light through his bushy beard, his voice a low growl.
"You'd drive your own citizens into a deathtrap for some rocks and paper scraps? Too disgusting to stomach. You think I crawled down from the Gangwon mountains to listen to this bullshit!"
Baek Ho-yeong spat out the words, then kicked open the briefing room door and stormed out without looking back.
His violent exit left Director Choi collapsing as if his legs had given out, while the government agents in the bunker turned ashen and fell silent.
Further discussion was pointless.
I rose from my seat, passed the shattered table, and headed outside.
The others turned their backs without hesitation, as if by agreement.
* * * * *
Blue House underground corridor.
Shaking off the stifling bunker air, I walked slowly.
Perhaps annoyed by the government's shallow tricks, everyone remained silent, only footsteps echoing on the marble floor.
Then Association President Park Jin-cheol, walking at the front, rubbed his stiff neck and spoke casually.
"Ugh, what a headache. The world's full of bastards shaving years off an old man's life."
The President stopped and turned to face us.
A faint smile lingered on his weary, wrinkled face.
"Still, it's rare for South Korea's top forces to gather in one place like this. Wouldn't it be a shame to just part ways? You're all hard to see these days—how about we grab some soju before heading out?"
At his suggestion, Park So-jin sighed softly, and Seo Ji-hun silently cleaned his glasses.
Near the bunker exit, by the elevator.
Baek Ho-yeong, who'd left first, was waiting for us, leaning crookedly against the wall.
He grinned and thrust his thick hand into the air.
"Sounds good! But let's make the side dish beef. I've had enough pork up in the mountains."
The tense atmosphere melted away like snow.
Silly laughter burst out from everyone at once.
* * * * *
A premium Korean beef restaurant in Jongno-gu.
Using the President's authority, we'd rented out the entire floor, and the restaurant filled with grilling smoke and boisterous toasts.
Premium rib-eye marbled like snowflakes sizzled on the charcoal grill.
"Hey there, our hero. You need to eat more meat. Your build looks the same every time I see you. Haven't you been eating properly lately?"
Baek Ho-yeong picked up a couple thick pieces of meat and tossed them onto my plate.
"I eat just fine, thanks. You eat plenty, sir. I heard you've been farming in the Gangwon mountains these days."
"Don't even get me started. B-Rank Gate remnants keep digging up my sweet potato field—it's driving me crazy. Just yesterday those bastards turned my carefully tended field into a wasteland, so I got so pissed I twisted all their necks with my bare hands before coming down here."
The Republic of Korea's strongest beast-type Awakened engaging in bare-handed combat with monsters to protect his sweet potato field—what a sight.
Baek Ho-yeong downed his soju in one gulp, laughed heartily, and pointed across at Seo Ji-hun.
"And this bookworm Ji-hun's been appraising antiques in Insadong lately? Quit being a Hunter and now you're living the easy life. Look at that oily face."
Through his thick horn-rimmed glasses, Seo Ji-hun's intelligent eyes gleamed as he quietly wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"I didn't quit—I simply returned to normal life now that peace has come to the world. Besides, appraising old ceramics and calligraphy is far better for my eye health than seeing through people's guts or monsters' disgusting weak points. At least old antiques don't harbor the nauseating ulterior motives of those suits we saw in the bunker earlier."
His pointed joke drew unanimous laughter.
Strip away the grand title of S-Rank Hunter, and we're all just ordinary people wanting to enjoy simple lives.
Comfortable banter possible only between those who'd rolled through the hell of battlefields together, fighting back-to-back.
For a while, pointless catch-up talk flowed as green soju bottles emptied ceaselessly.
As the meat on the grill ran low and alcohol pleasantly coursed through our veins, I carefully broached the topic.
"By the way, about the Osaka Gate."
The noisy table instantly fell silent as a tomb.
Everyone focused their attention, drinks in hand.
"Those things caught on camera. Could they really be elves like from comic books?"
It was a light question, but Seo Ji-hun pushed up his glasses and answered seriously.
"I only saw the body cam footage through a screen, so my appraisal ability didn't work perfectly... but one thing's certain: the shimmer surrounding their bodies had a completely different quality from the rough mana of monsters we know. A much purer power, closer to nature. Like creatures that breathe mana itself to live."
Park So-jin propped her chin and added.
"The fact they avoided killing bothers me too. Normal monsters would've slaughtered intruders on the spot. But they went to the trouble of capturing them alive? Keeping hundreds of people safely alive?"
The vast forest beyond the Gate. The source of mana. Heterogeneous sapient beings.
And the perfect otherworldly ecosystem they inhabited.
Just as questions began piling up—
"Ah, forget it! What's the point of us wracking our brains over that while drinking soju here?"
President Park Jin-cheol banged his empty soju glass on the table, clearing the air.
"We all collectively told them to go to hell, so what can the government do? We drew the line saying we won't go even with a knife to our throats. The Japanese started this mess—let them clean it up themselves. Let's stop worrying about it. Come on, glasses are empty! Fill 'em up!"
"The President's absolutely right! We have no obligation to clean up another country's mess! Let's drink!"
Baek Ho-yeong laughed heartily and poured liquor generously into empty glasses.
Thinking about it, he was right.
No reason to mortgage my precious daily life to a complicated puzzle.
I blew away the nagging feeling onto the grill and clinked glasses again, focusing on the meat before me.
* * * * *
Penthouse living room.
The moment I entered the password and opened the front door, thick meat smell and alcohol scent filled the air.
On the living room sofa, Mom sat clutching a cushion with a tense expression, watching TV.
The news anchor's voice on screen was urgent.
[The situation at the Unmeasurable Rank Gate that appeared in Osaka, Japan continues to deteriorate. With the fate of the elite Hunters who entered still unknown, the Japanese government is desperately requesting international support, but responses from other nations remain cold.]
In one corner of the screen, a red timer graphic blinked ominously.
Gate Break—when monsters pour into the real world after a Gate appears.
The remaining time of the safety grace period was counting down in real-time.
[If they fail to clear the Gate within that grace period, experts are issuing pessimistic forecasts that not only Osaka but the entire Japanese archipelago will suffer catastrophic damage.]
"Oh my... why is the world so turbulent again? How terrible."
Mom rubbed her chest and clicked her tongue.
As I walked into the living room, Mom's gaze turned toward me.
Deep anxiety flashed in her eyes simultaneously.
"My baby. You were called out because of that, weren't you?"
Mom sprang up from her seat and gripped my silver hair as if clutching it.
"You're not going there, are you? No matter how much the country pushes and begs, you absolutely cannot go there!"
Her usual gentle warmth was nowhere to be found.
A firm voice filled with extreme fear of losing her child.
I placed both hands over Mom's cold, trembling hand.
"I refused and came back."
"Really?"
"I cut them off cleanly. I told them I wouldn't go even if they gave me a hundred trillion won, so don't worry. Not just me—all the other S-Ranks said they couldn't go either. The government must have given up."
At my firm answer, the tension finally drained from Mom's stiff shoulders.
"Good. You did well. We're already struggling to protect our own country—why should you bleed for another nation's problems? You did well. Go wash up and sleep. You reek of alcohol."
Mom turned toward the kitchen with relief mixed with nagging.
I nodded lightly and headed to my room.
Closing the door, I carelessly tossed off my outer clothes and threw myself onto the bed.
I quietly closed my eyes in the darkness.
The Japanese government's desperate cries. Other nations' indifference.
And the shrinking grace period.
If everything followed its natural course, that Osaka Gate should lose form and burst open in a few days.
The beings lurking inside would trigger a Break and turn the urban downtown into a sea of blood—that was this world's law.
"It'll burst, probably."
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and muttered softly.
It was across the sea anyway.
Right now, the softness of my bedroom mattress was what mattered most.
