In the heart of Gangnam, the lobby of a luxury hotel wedding hall.
My reflection appeared in the glass windows of the hall's front.
The horrifying result of my mother's forceful dress-up game.
A pastel-toned dress made of the finest silk with frills attached.
On my feet were white Mary Jane shoes with heels.
The perfect guest outfit for a pampered youngest daughter of a wealthy family.
I brushed off the hem of my dress and swallowed a deep sigh.
I never imagined that coming to someone's wedding with a gift would cost me the dignity of a thirty-two-year-old man.
"Crazy. Kang Tae-ho. Did you really come looking like that?"
I turned my head at the familiar voice.
Standing in a corner of the lobby with gift envelopes were my middle school friends, Jae-hun and Chang-ho.
Their eyes were trembling like aspen leaves.
"Laugh and I'll punch a hole through your solar plexus. Just take the gift money."
I replied indifferently, pulling out a thick envelope from my inner pocket and tossing it over.
"No, dude. I know it's your mom's taste, but this is a bit... Keke. Hey, let me take just one picture. Strike a pose."
"Do you really want to die?"
When Jae-hun cheekily held up his smartphone camera, I flicked my finger and sent the phone flying into the air.
He shrieked and grabbed my dress hem.
"Oh no! Hero-nim! I'm sorry! I still have three months of installments left on that phone!"
Trivial and pointless chatter.
Talk about life, cursing workplace bosses.
Then, the groom-to-be who had been sweating while going back and forth between the bride's waiting room and the lobby approached us.
It was Jin-su, who had been timid and clumsy since middle school.
"Tae-ho, you came!"
"Congratulations on the wedding. Your bride is too good for you."
"Haha, everyone says that. Anyway, thanks. Having you here makes the whole venue feel secure."
He laughed and lightly patted my shoulder.
Then Jin-su's parents came out to the lobby, spotted me, and stopped in their tracks.
The big friend of their son who used to empty their ramen pot and sleep over during middle school.
"Oh my, you're really Tae-ho...? Goodness. I could hardly believe it every time I saw you on the news."
"Congratulations, sir and ma'am. I came to see Jin-su get married."
When I bowed my head in greeting, Jin's mother carefully approached and clasped my small hands in both of hers.
"Oh my, you must be so tired from saving the country, and you came all this way. Thank you. And you look so... yes, pretty in that skirt, our Tae-ho."
"......"
His father cleared his throat and looked away from the frilly dress.
A terrible wave of shame washed over me.
I swallowed a sigh inwardly.
Still, the warm welcome from elders I hadn't seen in a long time.
A heartwarming atmosphere.
I'd gotten my meal ticket, so now I just needed to watch the ceremony and raid the buffet for some yukhoe—that would make for a perfect weekend.
Just as I was thinking that and about to sink into the sofa—
—Eeeeeeeng!
Outside the wedding hall, a disaster siren wailed from the eight-lane intersection.
Simultaneously, a heavy wave shook all the glass windows in the lobby.
—Kwaaaaang!
The air outside split open, and a pitch-black hole of magic power tore open massively.
Judging by its size alone, it was a large Gate of at least A-Rank.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
"A, a Gate! Evacuate!"
"Save us!"
The peaceful lobby instantly turned into pandemonium.
Guests screamed and began running toward the emergency exits.
Wedding hall staff turned on evacuation announcements with pale faces.
"It's ruined... my wedding..."
Groom-to-be Jin-su collapsed onto the floor.
From the bride's waiting room, the bride in her pure white wedding dress ran out, embraced Jin-su, and burst into tears.
A once-in-a-lifetime day.
A celebration that cost tens of millions of won with countless people invited was being torn apart before a pitch-black hole from which beasts would crawl out.
I gazed indifferently out the window.
Police were setting up barricades and completely blocking off the road.
In the distance, I could see armored vehicles and helicopters from a major guild arriving with sirens blaring.
It would take at least three to four hours for them to form up and safely clear the Gate.
During that time, the roads would be paralyzed, and guests who hadn't arrived wouldn't be able to enter this venue.
Naturally, today's wedding would be canceled.
"Ah."
A short sigh escaped.
Irritation surged up sharply.
I had come all the way to the heart of Gangnam wearing this damn frilly dress.
And now I couldn't even eat, and my friend's wedding was ruined?
More importantly, if the wedding was postponed, I'd have to come here again later wearing this humiliating skirt.
That absolutely couldn't happen. My dignity wouldn't allow it.
I extended my mana detection toward the Gate.
I scanned the waves beyond the space.
It wasn't a wave-type where monsters would pour out irregularly.
"Hey. Everyone calm down and listen to me."
I spread a thin layer of mana beneath my feet and projected my voice throughout the hall.
The guests who had been fleeing in panic stopped dead in their tracks at my voice.
"Don't go outside, gather inside the lobby. That's not a wave where monsters pour out, so it's not dangerous. No need to evacuate."
After calming the crowd in one stroke, I tapped the shoulder of the groom-to-be sitting on the floor in a daze with my toe.
"Hey. Don't cry, just wait here for exactly three minutes. Keep the guests calm."
"Huh? Tae, Tae-ho? Where are you going..."
Instead of answering, I turned around.
The wedding hall's automatic doors opened, and I walked toward the middle of the controlled intersection.
"This is a restricted civilian area! Step back... Huk! Ka, Kang Tae-ho Hunter-nim?!"
The police who had been setting up the police line split left and right in shock.
The guild master of the major guild who had just gotten out of the armored vehicle and was pulling out weapons rushed over urgently.
"Hero-nim! Our elite forces will safely clear it within three hours..."
"Move. I'm busy."
I waved my hand dismissively, cutting off his words.
And before the guild members could stop me, I slipped right into the rippling black portal.
My vision inverted.
The acrid smell of sulfur. Barren land where red lava bubbled up.
"Damn, I'm sweating. If this outfit gets smelly, Mom will smack my back."
I muttered irritably and raised my head.
In the center of the land, a wyvern the size of a mountain was coiled up.
A monster with explosive red scales covering its entire body, flashing ferocious eyes.
—Kraaaaaaaaah!!!
The wyvern that spotted me roared ear-splittingly and spread its wings.
Lava splattered as an overwhelming A-Rank magic wave vibrated.
"Shut up. I need to eat at the buffet."
I raised my right index finger into the air.
The surrounding air twisted bizarrely and made a scream-like bursting sound.
—Wiiiiiiing!!
Pure mana that gathered while tearing through the atmosphere was sucked into my fingertip and compressed.
A red sphere the size of a ping-pong ball.
But within that stingy size was packed an insane mass as if an entire mountain range had been stuffed inside.
Gravity within a 10-meter radius around the sphere reversed, and the red rocks on the ground floated into the air as if in zero gravity.
I flicked the red sphere at my fingertip with my thumb.
—Kwaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
The moment the sphere traced its trajectory, all space in front vanished.
The solid explosive scales, the bubbling earth, the roar that had been pounding my ears.
The place swept by mana evaporated without a trace.
The wyvern couldn't even let out a scream before its upper body was completely erased.
Only the red Mana Stone embedded in the boss's chest was an exception.
It was the result of reading the Mana Stone's location with mana detection at the instant of firing the sphere and twisting the trajectory to carve around it.
The brilliant Mana Stone falling from the empty air.
I extended telekinesis and pulled the Mana Stone into my hand.
An A-Rank Mana Stone that would fetch billions of won if sold at the market.
As I pocketed the Mana Stone, the Gate space that had lost its boss began to crumble and collapse.
—Crackle!
The black portal shattered, revealing Gangnam's clear sky.
The intersection outside.
The major guild members who had been setting up shields, chanting buff spells, and forming battle lines looked back and forth between the clear sky that appeared in the air and me with their mouths hanging open.
It was a clear in three minutes after entering the Gate.
A broadcast station helicopter was zooming its camera in on me.
I brushed the dust off my clothes and gestured with my chin toward the dumbfounded guild master.
"I cleared it all, so remove the barricades and restore the road."
"Pardon...? Ah, yes! Yes sir!"
After giving the order, I walked back into the wedding hall lobby.
The guests who had been in a panic state just moments ago parted left and right to make way.
In their eyes was a mixture of awe and fear.
I approached the dazed groom-to-be, Jin-su.
I tossed the red Mana Stone into the lap of the guy sitting on the floor.
"Tae, Tae-ho? What's this... The, the Gate...?"
"Cleanup's done. And this. Extra gift money."
"Huh...? Crazy! Isn't this an A-Rank Mana Stone?! Dude! This is way too expensive! It's worth billions! Take it back!"
He hurriedly tried to return the Mana Stone.
I waved my hand dismissively and pushed his hand away.
"What are friends for? Sell it and pay off your newlywed home loan. Once the guild guys outside finish cleaning up the road, all the late guests will come in, so go calm down your bride. Her makeup's all smeared."
"Tae-ho..."
His eyes reddened.
He looked ready to embrace me and sob at any moment.
I recoiled and stepped back.
"Don't get all mushy and just start the ceremony. I'm going to eat yukhoe."
I turned around cleanly and headed to the banquet hall.
A short while later.
The control line outside was lifted, even the late guests arrived, and the ceremony proceeded safely.
Under the brilliant pin lights, I clapped as my friend walked with his bride, grinning like an idiot.
And now.
At a round table in a corner of the banquet hall.
I was munching away at a plate of frozen yukhoe piled up like a mountain.
"Dude, Kang Tae-ho. That was seriously awesome just now. Want a beer?"
"Hey, there's too much foam. Pour it properly."
Jae-hun and Chang-ho sitting across from me filled my glass with beer in admiration.
My body was a 140cm girl in a dress, and I'd just destroyed a national disaster in three minutes.
But these guys treated me like the friend they used to go to PC cafes with in middle school.
I downed the cold beer in one gulp.
The fizzy tingle of carbonation sliding down my throat.
A perfect defensive victory that meant I wouldn't have to wear this humiliating guest outfit again.
And the sweet, savory taste of buffet yukhoe.
My friend's wedding, which had almost become a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy, was wrapping up noisily and pleasantly like this.
It was a terribly languid and peaceful weekend afternoon.
