Osaka Gate Temporary Control Base.
The moment the briefing room door opened, a roar of beasts poured out.
—Flash! Flash! Flash!
Hundreds of flashes exploded with enough force to tear through retinas.
Microphones thrust in from all directions.
Camera shutter sounds hammered at eardrums.
So noisy.
I just want to finish this quickly, go home, and lie down.
I slouched into the chair on the platform.
My feet didn't reach the floor and dangled in the air.
I lightly tapped the microphone head with my finger.
—Thud! Screech!
A sharp, speaker-ripping screech.
The noise in the hall instantly died as if doused with cold water.
"I'll answer all questions to the best of my knowledge."
At my dry voice, the reporters' eyes gleamed with greed.
"But take turns, one at a time. If you shout, I'm cutting the mic."
An American reporter in the front row shot up, shaking his panel as if to break it.
"We heard the otherworld is on the brink of destruction! How dire is the situation?!"
Dire.
The chubby cheeks of the missing persons who'd been gorging on organic fruit in the Elven Forest flashed through my mind.
"No. It's very peaceful. Little elf kids are playing in the dirt in the plaza."
"What? B-but we heard unknown monsters are invading..."
"The Allied Forces over there are handling it just fine."
The hall stirred.
It wasn't the sensational answer they wanted.
The reporters' expressions instantly soured.
This time, a British reporter snatched the microphone.
"Then why on earth did they beg Earth for an alliance? Is the defense line about to break?!"
"Apparently monster blood contaminates the soil when it splashes on the ground."
"What?"
"So they can't farm, which creates a food problem."
"Food... you say?"
"Yes. And they have roughly 50 to 100 years left until destruction."
"100 years?!"
"They have long lifespans, so their sense of time is a bit different."
Deflated sighs circulated through the briefing room.
Then a French reporter in the back urgently raised his hand high.
"Will there be civilian exchanges with otherworldly sapient beings? For instance, international marriages with elves or immigration policies?"
The moment the question came out, the briefing room's atmosphere turned strangely excited.
The reporters' eyes were full of impure curiosity.
I looked down at them indifferently, as if they were pathetic.
"No."
I cut them off cleanly.
"What? But if the two worlds formed an alliance, naturally..."
"You've watched too many fantasy movies."
I clicked my tongue briefly into the microphone.
"That place is a neighborhood where people shoot arrows and cast magic. If you want to go there for an international marriage and become monster food, be my guest."
The face of the reporter who'd asked the question turned bright red at my fact violence.
"Any more questions?"
Silence.
The reporters became mute as honey-fed mutes, unable to find any more sensational story material.
I stood up from my seat.
"That's all. I'm clocking out."
I turned around without hesitation.
The reporters had no grounds to hold me back any longer.
The waiting room behind the briefing room.
I closed the door.
The noisy clamor was perfectly blocked out.
I threw my upper body onto the chair as if lying down.
Extreme fatigue climbed up my spine.
"You've become quite the smooth operator."
The old man was grinning at the doorway.
"From now on, I won't have to hold the mic."
"Don't say such horrible things. I can't do that twice."
"The Hunters are having a celebratory dinner later. Want to join?"
"Why would I go there? Looking to get indigestion?"
Those were the foreign Hunters who'd been crushed by my mana and slammed their heads into the floor in the conference room earlier.
I'd established discipline brutally—would meat go down their throats in front of me?
If I join, I'll just kill the mood.
"Really? Well, they'd probably piss themselves and collapse anyway."
The old man chuckled and waved his hand.
"Good work. Go home and rest."
The waiting room door opened again.
It was Park So-jin and Ryu Ji-hwan.
Both had dark circles under their eyes.
"Kid. Got a flight? Let's go together."
"Noona, aren't you drinking? Everyone's going to the dinner."
Park So-jin snorted as if it was absurd.
"What booze. I need to hurry and see my daughter's face."
Ji-hwan hyung standing beside her also nodded vigorously without a word.
Alliance, diplomacy, whatever—everyone was on the verge of battery death.
I got up from my seat.
"I've got a car ready. Let's head straight to the airport."
Inside the top-class sedan provided by the Japanese side.
Suffocating silence flowed.
Osaka's dazzling night view passed by indifferently outside the window.
As soon as we arrived at the airport, we boarded the waiting private jet.
I threw myself onto the plush leather seat.
"Because of this damn otherworld, I'm going to be visiting Japan like it's the neighborhood supermarket."
I tossed out casually while unwrapping the sandwich from the in-flight meal.
"Tell me about it. When things calm down, I should come back with my kid for a trip."
So-jin noona laughed emptily while looking out the window.
Ji-hwan hyung, flipping through a magazine beside her, also nodded slightly.
"This world is bloody busy every day. This kind of peace feels unfamiliar."
A stillness weighed down by fatigue.
The plane kicked off the runway and soared into the night sky.
* * * * *
Incheon Airport.
Past midnight.
The arrival gate opened.
"Mom!"
A sharp child's voice cutting through the quiet waiting area.
A small kid came running like a shot from far away.
So-jin noona's daughter, Ha-yoon.
Behind her stood her husband with a big bouquet of flowers, wearing a good-natured smile.
"Oh, my baby! Did you miss Mommy?"
So-jin noona scooped Ha-yoon up.
Life instantly returned to her face, which had been worn down by fatigue.
After exchanging a light eye greeting with her husband, she turned to look at me.
"Unnie!"
Ha-yoon, nestled in So-jin noona's arms, pouted her lips at me.
Unnie.
I don't even have the energy to object anymore.
"Why don't you come play at our house?"
"...I was busy."
"Liar! I know you went to Japan and only ate yummy food!"
Ha-yoon grabbed my finger tightly and hung on.
"Come to our house soon and play with me. Okay?"
I want to go home and lie down quickly.
My extreme fatigue and the child's unwavering gaze clashed tensely in midair.
This is a fight I can't win.
Eventually, I let out a short sigh and held out my pinky finger.
"Fine. I'll come."
"Really? You promise? For sure!"
Only after hooking fingers and stamping thumbs was I finally released from captivity.
"Kid, good work. Let's grab a meal sometime soon."
So-jin noona approached.
She suddenly grabbed and pulled my cheek.
"Ow, stop."
I roughly swatted away her fiddling hand and nodded.
Ji-hwan hyung also raised his hand lightly in a bow.
Each of us got into the waiting Association vehicles.
Finally, in front of my house.
My finger trembled slightly as I pressed the door lock.
The door opened.
The familiar smell of a lived-in home.
"Oh my, our Tae-ho's here?"
Mom, who'd been watching TV on the living room sofa, jumped up.
"Did you eat?"
Food.
That one word made my stomach churn reflexively.
The nightmare at the dinner table right before leaving for Osaka.
Beef, grilled eel, abalone.
Plus the second raid of fruit piled up like a mountain.
I recalled my mother's blind affection as she'd stuffed food into me until my stomach was about to burst.
If I show any weakness here, who knows what mountain range of ingredients will be laid out on the table.
"Yes. I ate a ton."
"Really? You're not hungry? Should Mom grill some meat?"
"No. I ate so much over there my stomach's about to burst."
I quickly put up a wall while taking off my outer clothes.
Mom glanced at my stomach and only then smacked her lips regretfully.
Dad, who'd been watching the news beside her, pushed up his glasses.
"You worked hard on that big job. I saw on the news it was quite a scene."
"I just did a briefing and came back."
"You must be tired, so go in and rest."
"Yes. I'm home."
When I'm this tired, this kind of indifferent greeting is the best.
I was about to toss my bag in the corner of the sofa and head to my room when—
"Oh, you're back? Our hero?"
Ha-eun, who'd been lying on the floor tapping her smartphone, just turned her head slightly.
"I'm back."
Then Ha-eun sprang up like a released spring.
"Hey! So what about the elves?"
Her eyes flashed.
"Did you take pictures? Are they really pretty? Like high elves and stuff?"
Eyes full of anticipation.
The eyes of a predator spotting prey.
My brain circuits stopped for a moment.
Disciplining the Awakened.
Discussing destruction with the Queen.
Forming an alliance.
Demolishing the reporters' question bombardment.
"Pictures."
The short word popped out of my mouth.
My head went completely blank.
"Hey, don't tell me..."
Ha-eun's eyebrows twitched.
"I forgot."
Heavy silence descended on the living room.
Ha-eun's expression instantly soured.
"Ugh, seriously! Do you carry your phone just for show? You saw those pretty elves and didn't take a single picture?!"
"Smartphones don't work there."
I made up an excuse half-heartedly because it was annoying.
"No, even if data doesn't work, the basic camera does! You should've taken some!"
"I was busy to death forming an alliance and having meetings—was I supposed to line up elves and make them do a V-sign while saying 'kimchi~'?"
"Yes! You should have! You said elves were everywhere!"
She flailed her legs while lying face-down on the sofa, whining.
"Couldn't you at least get friendly and get their Byulstar accounts or something? Don't you know body language?"
I let out an empty laugh at the absurdity.
"That place doesn't have Byulstar. If they don't like you, you get an arrow in the forehead."
"Ugh, what's the point of being Earth's strongest if you can't even show me one picture of a pretty elf. You really have zero sense!"
Her hand grabbed a fluffy cushion on the sofa.
"Go back tomorrow right now and take some! If you don't, I'm unplugging the Wi-Fi router in your room!"
—Whoosh!
I lightly twisted my body to dodge the cotton cushion flying at my back.
"I'll take some later."
"Liar! Open your gallery right now! You're hiding them to look at alone, aren't you?!"
Ignoring the ear-bleeding whining, I quickly hid in my room.
I shut the door firmly.
I threw myself spread-eagle onto the bed.
Pictures, my ass.
Fatigue crushed my entire body.
My eyelids grew heavy.
Off the clock.
