The Queen rose from her seat without hesitation once she'd said what she needed to say.
Not a trace of regret showed on her face beneath the living, breathing crown of branches on her head.
"If you have anything to convey, do so through the otherworlder interpreter. I have a mountain of overdue work maintaining the forest's barrier, so I'll be taking my leave."
Leaving only that one-sided notification, the Queen vanished beyond the vine door.
I stared at the closed door with indifferent eyes before clicking my tongue briefly.
I understood the Queen's position kept her busy, but summoning people only to leave abruptly seemed rather rude.
Left behind in the massive guest chamber were only the dazed S-Rank Hunters from South Korea and a Korean interpreter in a worn modern suit.
The most important thing now was how to process this massive amount of information crammed into our heads.
"You all heard that. What do you think?"
I asked, swinging my dangling feet from where I was buried in the chair.
Park So-jin in her red coat was the first to react.
"Is this even something we can handle on our own?"
Overloaded by the flood of information, she lay sprawled in her seat, staring blankly at the ceiling as she muttered.
Her usual fiery energy was nowhere to be seen—she looked like burnt-out ashes.
"Hey. Kid. Got any bright ideas?"
"What brilliant plan would I have? All I know is how to smash heads."
At my answer, Baek Ho-yeong clicked his tongue and started bouncing his leg.
Ji-hwan hyung was silently fiddling with his sword hilt, organizing his thoughts.
When he handled his sword that seriously, it meant the situation was truly a mess.
The old man had his eyes closed, lost in thought, and I glanced at Seo Ji-hun, who could see more than others with his emotion-reading ability.
"There was no deception or mental manipulation in the Elven Queen's words. The bizarre monster visions she showed us are highly likely to be something actually invading this world."
While everyone sat in silence, the interpreter who'd been watching us nervously from the corner couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up urgently.
"E-excuse me! What Her Majesty the Queen said earlier... are those terrible monsters really overrunning Earth? Is Korea safe right now?"
His voice trembled slightly.
Having been isolated in this otherworld for three years without knowing his family's safety, it was understandable he'd be frantic.
"Don't worry, interpreter. Korea's running much better than most major powers."
At my casually reassuring words, the interpreter's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.
I leaned forward slightly toward him as he exhaled in relief.
"We'll fill you in on our side's information later, so first tell us in detail what you've experienced in this world. When and how you ended up here, what you've been doing."
At my request, the interpreter moistened his dry lips and began recalling memories from three years ago.
"I was on my way home from work. Right in the middle of Gangnam. Suddenly the sky tore open, and with a roar like the world collapsing, the surrounding roads and buildings were sucked whole into the void."
The first day of the Gate Shock, when dimensional rifts struck the city center.
"I thought I was going to die. I was swept up in a fierce storm and lost consciousness... When I came to, I was sprawled in the middle of this massive forest."
He shuddered.
"Everything around me was panic. Elven search parties appeared among people screaming for help. They bound us instantly and dragged us away."
"Did they force you into labor there?"
When Park So-jin asked sharply, the interpreter shook his head vigorously.
"No. The elves explained the World Tree's divine revelation to us. It was an oracle saying to take in these poor souls caught in dimensional collapse. They gave us a wide area of land on the forest's outskirts where we could stay, and provided food and survival skills."
"So they restricted your residential area under the pretext of protection. I suppose you never got to go outside the forest."
At Seo Ji-hun's sharp observation, the interpreter nodded bitterly.
"That's right. We're weak beings with no mana at all. They said leaving the barrier the elves set up would be suicide. So we don't know in detail how the Empire or beastkin outside this forest are fighting, or what exactly those bizarre monsters look like."
Unfortunately, they too were merely frogs in a well.
The elves had thoroughly confined the Earth refugee population to controlled zones, cutting off all but minimal information while playing protector. I let out a small laugh at how this matched the tropes from Earth's fantasy novels.
"Well, farming in a protected zone beats getting chewed up by beasts a hundred times over."
I hopped down from my seat. As my feet touched the floor after leaving the chair, my hoodie fluttered down past my knees.
"For now, our best move is to return to Earth and report the situation. This isn't something we'll solve by putting our heads together here."
At my firm declaration, Baek Ho-yeong scratched his head roughly.
"Then what about that monster subjugation the Queen requested? You saying we just take a quick look and run?"
"Not running—strategic withdrawal."
I looked up at Baek Ho-yeong and replied indifferently.
"As we just heard, this scale isn't something a few Hunters can solve by swinging swords and casting spells. This is a situation where one world and another are talking about forming allied forces. This is the realm of politics and diplomacy, not military force."
Ryu Ji-hwan crossed his arms and nodded.
"Tae-ho's right. This isn't a scale for an individual Hunter team to decide. This is a situation requiring negotiations between nations—no, between planets."
With his agreement, Park So-jin and Seo Ji-hun also indicated their consent without complaint.
Once opinions aligned, I immediately turned toward the interpreter.
"Go tell the Queen this: we heard her request, and we'll cross back to Earth, hold meetings with our top officials, then return."
"Ah... yes! Understood!"
The interpreter hurriedly left the guest chamber and ran toward the Queen's office space.
Before long, he returned accompanied by the captain elf who'd first guided us to this massive World Tree.
[Kyaaa! Where did you go! I missed you!]
A translucent emerald-colored airflow emerged from behind the captain elf's shoulder.
The wind spirit shot toward me like a bullet and stuck to my cheek, rubbing frantically.
[Mm~ Your mana smells so sweet! You're going to your world? Can't you take me too?!]
"No. You can't. Get off."
I waved my hand in disgust, peeling the spirit away.
As it clung persistently to my hair, whining, Ryu Ji-hwan pushed it away with the tip of his scabbard.
When the captain elf scolded the spirit sternly in incomprehensible Elvish, it finally pouted and backed off.
[Hmph! The captain says he'll guide you to that hole. Follow me!]
Listening to the spirit's real-time telepathic translation, we left the guest chamber.
The path past the World Tree's massive roots toward the forest's outskirts.
The captain elf escorted us to the Gate without fully lowering his guard.
Before the surface of the Permanent Gate rippling with dense blue mana.
The captain elf handed over a leather pouch.
As soon as I loosened the pouch's string, the crystal inside began floating up, emitting a strange blue light.
The blue crystal hovered and rotated gently above my palms.
I looked at the crystal with red eyes.
"A mana stone?"
Park So-jin leaned in curiously, but I didn't sense the turbid wavelength characteristic of mana stones.
The captain elf gave instructions to the spirit again.
[That's a communicator! When you cross back to this side, pour a little mana into that rock. Then we'll receive the signal and come meet you right away, so don't get shot by arrows in the wrong place—just wait quietly!]
"Pretty analog for a radio."
Muttering, I grabbed the floating crystal and stuffed it deep into my training suit pocket.
I nodded in farewell, then stepped without hesitation into the rippling blue curtain.
My vision inverted to white as space twisted.
The damp forest scent disappeared, replaced by the familiar stench of exhaust and dust stabbing my lungs.
The sensation of returning to reality through the Gate.
When the feeling under my feet changed from soft earth to hard concrete, I finally realized we'd returned to Earth.
The heart of Osaka's downtown, turned into ruins and chaos. And surrounding us, hundreds of Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel and barricades.
"They're out! The South Korean Hunters have returned!!"
Someone's ear-splitting radio transmission echoed.
Simultaneously, searchlights from broadcasting helicopters circling the sky all focused on us at once.
A blinding barrage of flashes and the clamor of murmuring people.
Blind relief and fervor toward humanity's strongest who'd returned alive from what they'd thought was a ticking time bomb shook the city center.
"Haah..."
"How... are we supposed to explain this."
At Ji-hwan hyung's lament-filled muttering beside me, instead of answering, I exhaled a heavy sigh and lowered my head.
For now, I just wanted to go home and sleep. A very long sleep.
