I sprawled face-down on the living room floor.
Flipping through the pages of a comic book absentmindedly.
My younger sister Kang Ha-eun sat heavily on my lower back, humming a tune.
My vicious natural enemy who enjoyed playing with dolls by braiding my silver hair into three strands.
I didn't bother shaking her off with force.
Resisting would only wear down my mental fortitude anyway.
The smartphone I'd tossed on the living room table rang loudly.
The caller ID displayed [Park So-jin (Crimson Lotus Guild Master)].
The S-Rank flame mage I'd met on the rooftop a few days ago.
"Hand me the phone."
Ha-eun picked up the smartphone and handed it to me while still gripping my hair.
I pressed the call button.
"What."
—Our tiny hero, you didn't forget the promise you made me a few days ago, did you?
"What promise."
—To come treat us to meat at the guild dinner! I just got back from clearing a B-Rank Gate with the kids today. Hurry up and get your butt over to our guild.
Through the receiver came So-jin Noona's voice, thick with exhaustion.
Only then did I recall our rooftop conversation.
Come to think of it, before we parted, she'd unilaterally informed me to come treat them to meat at the guild dinner.
"Ah, seriously annoying."
—Noona's mana is about to run dry from roasting those monster bastards today. Hurry up and bring that fat corporate card. Oh, and stop by my office first before you come. I've got something to show you.
"Fine. I'll go, I'll go."
I pressed the end call button.
I twisted my body to shake off Ha-eun sitting on my back.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me!"
"I'm going out. Meat shuttle duty."
I roughly combed through my half-braided hair with my hand.
Pulled a black cap down low over my head.
Too lazy to change clothes, I opened the veranda window in my baggy hoodie.
Lightly lifted my body and soared into the sky.
Destination: the heart of Gangnam.
The headquarters building of [Crimson Lotus], South Korea's top-tier fire-specialized guild.
I broke the sound barrier crossing through the city airspace.
Within minutes, I landed silently on the rooftop of a massive high-rise building.
Took the elevator down to the top floor, the guild master's exclusive level.
Ding—.
As soon as the doors opened, fierce-looking A-Rank guild members lined the corridor.
Muscular, burly men holding shields and greatswords.
The moment they saw the hooded girl stepping out of the elevator, they parted in perfect unison.
"Good day, Hunter Kang Tae-ho!"
A booming greeting echoed through the corridor.
I just nodded slightly and walked toward the guild master's office at the end of the hall.
The bizarre sight of warriors who slaughter monsters on the battlefield bowing to a child-sized Hunter.
I was so used to it now that I felt nothing.
I pushed open the guild master's office door casually.
Park So-jin was sprawled on the sofa, sucking on instant coffee.
The battle must have been rough—the hem of her red coat was charred black.
"You're here? Our expensive tiny hero is really hard to summon."
"What did you want to show me. Let's just go eat."
I plopped down on the opposite sofa.
So-jin Noona set down her paper coffee cup on the table.
Her expression wasn't the usual playful, cheeky auntie face.
Her features were rigidly set.
She pulled out a thick transparent ziplock bag from her coat and tossed it onto the table.
"Take a look at this."
Inside the plastic bag was something like bizarre trash.
An ashen lump barely maintaining its form.
I leaned closer and narrowed my eyes.
"...A book?"
An ancient tome made of leather and old parchment bound together.
Over 90% rotted and crumbling, impossible to make out any letters or even its shape.
"Yeah. It's a book. Not ordinary paper though, looks like parchment made from magical beast hide."
"So what. It's not the first time you've picked up junk from a Gate."
"You know where this came from? That B-Rank Gate we cleared today."
So-jin Noona pressed her brow as she continued.
"That Gate had a really fucked-up ecosystem. Only flying monsters swarming disgustingly, and those bastards' heads... they all had human faces."
Inmyeonjo.
Unpleasant monsters with beast intelligence that eerily cry with human voices.
I'd sliced through a few of those disgusting things on the northern front lines myself.
"So it was a nest-type Gate with inmyeonjo. But."
"But there was some cave below the cliff where the nest was. Our guys went in to farm Mana Stones, and deep inside the cave, this thing was sitting on top of some altar-like stone slab."
So-jin Noona tapped the plastic bag with her finger.
"Think about it logically. Inmyeonjo are beasts to the bone. They don't use tools and don't have the intelligence to leave writing. But deep inside a Gate crawling with only those beast bastards, there was a book preserved as if someone deliberately left it there?"
She was right.
Gate interiors are thoroughly closed ecosystems of magical beasts.
This was clearly a trace of a sapient being who created and left it with intent.
I silently reached my hand over the plastic bag.
Released a trace of mana to scan the book inside.
An alien wavelength caught on my fingertips.
It wasn't the rough, murky mana that ordinary monsters emit.
Very faint, but traces of refinement following a certain pattern.
An energy as if humans had processed and woven mana together.
My mind went cold.
Perhaps it wasn't just monsters living beyond the Gates.
Or maybe the 400,000 missing people who vanished during the Gate Shock three years ago were living inside.
What exactly exists beyond this world?
Either way, it was a disgustingly complicated and horrifying problem.
"Why are you showing this to me. Just toss it to the Association research team."
I leaned back against the backrest, feigning ignorance.
I didn't mention that I'd sensed the alien wavelength.
"Because you've raided the most Gates on the front lines for two years. Thought you might've seen something similar."
"Nope. I was too busy smashing beast bastards' heads to pick up ancient texts like that."
I cut off the answer dryly.
Better to do the headache-inducing thinking later, lying on my bed alone.
Right now, I was hungry.
"If that's all, let's hurry up and eat. The guild members are starving to death."
"Geez, you wouldn't bleed a drop even if stabbed."
So-jin Noona clicked her tongue and shoved the bag with the book into the safe.
The tension released, she stretched and stood up.
The serious expression from moments ago vanished, replaced by the tired face of an office worker before quitting time.
"Hey. You're really treating us to two-plus grade Korean beef today, right? Noona's mana ran dry and my stomach's stuck to my spine."
"Don't worry about my wallet and swipe away. I've got nowhere to spend the pension the government deposits every month anyway."
I stood up and walked toward the door.
So-jin Noona tried to sling her arm over my shoulder but failed due to the height difference.
Instead, she pressed down the brim of my cap.
"Let's go, our sponsor! Kids! Hunter Kang Tae-ho's treating us to beef today!"
She flung open the door and shouted down the corridor.
—Woooooh!
A thunderous cheer erupted as if the building would collapse.
Hunters with gangster-like builds clapped and cheered in front of me.
Terribly burdensome and exhausting gazes.
I pulled my cap down low and reluctantly moved forward.
Gangnam's finest Korean beef restaurant.
The Crimson Lotus Guild's dinner party, having reserved the entire establishment, was absolute chaos.
"Big Bro Tae-ho! I mean, Hero! The meat here is all cooked! Please have a piece!"
A buzz-cut, hulking tank carefully placed meat on my plate with scissors and tongs as if handling a sacred object.
Premium chuck flap tail with marbling like snowflakes.
I sat at the head seat in the room, just moving my chopsticks.
The chair was high, so my feet dangled in the air as usual.
"Yeah. Good work. You guys eat too."
At my indifferent words, the burly men clinked their soju glasses as if moved.
An S-Rank Hunter who tears apart monsters, munching meat in a young girl's body—this gap.
An incomprehensible preference, but the premium beef others grilled for me was delicious, so I obediently accepted it.
In the seat next to me, So-jin Noona was downing soju like water.
She emptied three glasses in a row without any side dishes, then let out a deep sigh.
"Haah... I'm dying, seriously."
"Why are you chugging straight soju instead of eating meat. You'll ruin your stomach."
"Hey, feeding my five-year-old daughter is ten times harder than smashing monster heads. Yesterday she wailed from morning because she didn't want to go to daycare—I almost threw a fireball."
The lament of a typical K-working mom.
Even the witch who turns monsters to ash with flame storms on the battlefield was just a tired mom before childcare.
"Your husband's a stay-at-home dad, right. Just leave it to him."
"What power does my husband have. Our daughter's going through toddler puberty lately and won't listen to anyone but me. I'm going crazy."
She grumbled, tapping the grill with her chopsticks.
"Oh, right! There's this cartoon our daughter's obsessed with lately? Something about magical girls. But she saw you flying in the air on the news and keeps insisting you're a real magical girl and begging me to let her meet you just once."
The beef I was chewing got stuck in my throat.
I coughed and hastily gulped down water.
"What nonsense. To a thirty-two-year-old man."
"To a five-year-old's eyes, you're a perfect match, you know? Come to our house later and wave a magic wand just once. Huh? Tiny hero, it's Noona's wish."
"No. I'm cutting ties."
I refused flatly.
The hero who saved Earth waving a magic wand in front of a five-year-old?
I'd rather dive naked into the middle of a monster wave.
"Geez, stingy brat. Just eat your meat."
So-jin Noona piled grilled mushrooms and meat generously on my rice bowl.
A personality that grumbles but carefully looks after those around her.
This is why guild members follow her blindly.
The noisy clamor of the restaurant.
The smell of strong soju mixed with the sweet, greasy scent of Korean beef filled the air.
Guild members, drunk on alcohol, either boasted about their battlefield exploits or exchanged trivial gossip.
This noisy, warm everyday life.
I quietly sipped my cider and took in this peaceful scene.
Suddenly, the old book I'd seen in the guild master's office earlier came to mind.
Over 90% rotted and crumbling, the ancient text containing a sapient being's mana.
Where exactly did the book in the inmyeonjo nest come from?
The beef juice remaining in my mouth turned strangely bitter.
An ominous plot thread brushed past a corner of my chest.
But it wasn't something I had to shoulder right now.
"Hey! Order 20 more servings of chuck flap tail over there! Our sponsor's money is rotting away!"
So-jin Noona's booming shout echoed through the restaurant.
I thought of the corporate card in my pocket.
Silently picked up a well-cooked piece of meat and pushed it into my mouth.
For now, set aside the headache-inducing thoughts and first chew and swallow this everyday life before me.
