Crimson Lotus Guild headquarters rooftop.
I dispelled my Mana Field and landed silently on the ground.
On a bench in the rooftop garden, Park So-jin sat sipping a can of beer, her red coat draped loosely over her shoulders.
She spotted me and waved.
"You're here? My tiny hero."
"Should you be drinking beer on duty?"
"Guild Master's prerogative. No overtime pay, so I need at least this much to keep from going crazy."
So-jin tossed her empty can into the trash bin with a flick.
I followed her as she stood up and headed to the private elevator.
The floor buttons were too high for me.
So-jin smirked and pressed the top floor button where the Guild Master's office was located.
Irritation flared, but I kept it in check.
The elevator descended smoothly.
"So. Business, you said. What errand did that old man from the Association send you on?"
"Remember that old book you showed me last time? The one that was rotting and falling apart."
At my question, So-jin's expression instantly turned serious.
The playful air vanished, replaced by the cold face of an S-Rank Hunter.
"Yeah. The one I picked up from the Inmyeonjo nest."
"The Association research team came up with a hypothesis."
The elevator doors opened.
I continued explaining as we walked to the Guild Master's office.
The classification of Fantasy-type and Martial Arts-type monsters.
The unsettling speculation that they might contain crystallized energy called Inner Cores instead of Mana Stones.
I thoroughly concealed my direct experience absorbing an Inner Core at the training ground, packaging everything as merely the Association's hypothesis.
So-jin sat across from me on the office sofa and rubbed her face wearily.
"This is driving me crazy. Really."
So-jin groaned.
"If that's true, it means there are two completely different worldviews mixed together inside the Gates. And Inner Cores? Aren't those the miraculous elixirs from martial arts novels that make you stronger when you eat them?"
"It's just the Association's speculation. Nothing's confirmed yet."
"No. It fits together oddly well."
She muttered, pressing her forehead.
"Recently, among the dungeons our guild cleared, there were creatures that dropped bizarre talisman-like objects. It was already strange that beasts were using tools, but they didn't even drop Mana Stones, so we just cursed about getting nothing. I never thought it would connect like this."
So-jin sprang up from her seat.
She operated the tablet on her desk, then bundled dozens of security files and sent them to my email.
"Nothing to hide. I just sent you all the data on anomalous dungeons Crimson Lotus has cleared and the ecological records of mutant magical beasts."
"You're giving this up so easily? This must be pretty expensive information."
"Is money the issue? If Inner Cores or whatever become public knowledge, crazed Hunters will create a hellscape killing each other to get them."
So-jin's eyes gleamed sharply.
"Hurry and pass it to the Association research team so they can come up with countermeasures. I absolutely cannot watch the world my daughter is growing up in turn into a lawless zone full of bloodshed."
This is why Park So-jin is comfortable to deal with.
Quick situational judgment and someone who knows exactly what lines must be protected.
I stood up.
"I'll deliver it properly. Let's reschedule that meat promise soon."
"Yeah. You're going to shake down other guilds too, right?"
"I need to stop by a few more places."
I waved lightly and headed back toward the rooftop.
I cut across the night sky.
My next destination was a massive building located in the heart of northern Seoul.
The headquarters of Paradise, the giant guild that formed one of South Korea's two pillars alongside Crimson Lotus.
I released my Mana Field and landed on the rooftop helipad.
Before my toes even touched the ground—
—Swiiish.
The sound of air being sliced sharply.
An intensely sharp energy bursting from the darkness.
Not killing intent, but an overwhelming wave of force that instinctively made me draw up my mana.
A man with a tall, well-built frame walked out from the rooftop entrance.
Neatly slicked-back hair.
Sharp, handsome features in his early forties.
A man in a perfectly tailored suit.
Former national fencing representative. Current Paradise Guild Master.
S-Rank physical enhancement awakener and South Korea's greatest Sword Demon, Ryu Ji-hwan.
"Tae-ho."
Ji-hwan called my name in a low voice.
In his hand was the special alloy stick he always carried.
Not a simple cane, but a deceptive weapon that could transform into a thin, lethal blade at any moment.
"It's been a while, Ji-hwan hyung."
I greeted him indifferently.
During the early days of the Gate Shock, when the front lines broke and the metropolitan area faced destruction, he was one of the few comrades who had my back.
Not someone I joked around with casually like Park So-jin, but a man with whom I'd built solid trust through life-and-death situations.
Ji-hwan approached, lightly tapping his stick on the ground.
His gaze looking down at me held a trace of curiosity.
"You coming to me first without prior contact. What's going on? The Association isn't the type to use you as an errand boy."
Sharp.
He saw through the situation's oddness immediately.
"It's business involving national security. I need your guild's database."
I got straight to the point without hiding anything.
The conversation I'd had at the Association.
The anomalous classification of Fantasy and Martial Arts monsters.
Even the possibility of Inner Cores existing.
Throughout my explanation, Ji-hwan's expressionless face gradually hardened.
"...So you're saying Paradise should hand over all raid logs of unusual dungeons and magical beast dissection data to the Association for free."
"That's right."
Ji-hwan stared into empty space with cold eyes.
"That Association President, he's quite skilled. Requesting guild secrets but sending you instead of an administrative order. He knows very well I can't coldly refuse Kang Tae-ho's request."
"Sorry for meeting after so long and starting with such an annoying demand, hyung."
It was a genuine apology.
Extracting information using comradeship as collateral didn't suit my temperament either.
But Ji-hwan soon sighed deeply and shook his head.
"No. If it's enough to mobilize you, the ripple effects of that hypothesis must be unimaginably huge. You're not someone who'd be deployed for mere administrative errands."
He raised his stick and pointed toward the rooftop entrance.
"Understood. I'll encrypt and send all relevant data to the Association server by tomorrow morning. Keep Paradise's name confidential with the Association until my instructions come down. The political tightrope walking would be exhausting."
"Got it. Thanks."
"Go on. Let's have drinks sometime later, the three of us with So-jin."
A brief, dry farewell.
Ji-hwan turned and disappeared into the building.
Flawless, efficient work.
I checked the time. It was well past midnight.
"Ah, I'm tired."
The remaining major guilds were mediocre places without S-Ranks.
No need to knock on doors at dawn.
Today's labor ended here.
I lifted off and flew toward the penthouse.
* * * * *
The next day.
Afternoon sunlight poured over Seoul's sky.
Having rested well yesterday, today was time to handle the remaining scraps.
Three major guilds centered around A-Ranks, lacking S-Ranks.
I made the rounds to their headquarters in sequence.
The approach differed from yesterday.
No polite requests.
"Open the door."
The first guild's lobby.
Floating in midair, I unleashed my mana's waves without suppression.
Suffocating, overwhelming pressure.
Security guards and A-Rank Hunters flattened against the floor, breaking into cold sweats.
"K-Kang Tae-ho Hunter-nim! Wh-what brings you here!"
I matched eye level with the Guild Master who came running out frantically, as if grabbing him by the collar.
"Send all anomalous dungeon data from the past year to the Association. Everything, including magical beast ecology reports. You have one hour."
"Yes! I'll transmit it immediately!"
No need for explanations.
Before overwhelming force, complex paperwork and justifications are luxuries.
The time it took to extort(?) data from three guilds: a mere 40 minutes.
All missions complete.
Rooftop of an abandoned high-rise on the city outskirts.
I sat on the railing and pulled out my smartphone.
I called the old man.
—Oh, Tae-ho!
"The data from Crimson Lotus and Paradise should have gone through. I just shook down three more places and forced them to send everything. Check it."
—Confirmed! A massive amount of data just flooded into the server! With this many samples, the research team should produce meaningful results within a week. You really worked hard. Thanks to you.
"Send me the briefing materials when the results come in. I'm hanging up."
I ended the call with a tap.
Sitting on the rooftop railing, I dangled my legs lightly in the air.
Cool autumn wind swept through my silver hair.
Below my feet, Seoul's dense forest of buildings and roads packed with cars spread out.
Peaceful daily life.
The endlessly turning gears working invisibly to maintain that peace.
I rested my chin on my hand and looked up at the sky.
A clear sky with no visible rifts.
But beyond that surface, terrible unknowns still lurked.
'What exactly are Gates?'
Western fantasy. Eastern martial arts.
Spaces where ecosystems that existed only in human imagination burst forth with physical form.
Mana Stones and Inner Cores.
'And what is the System?'
The damn System that forcibly remodeled my body into this 140cm magical girl form, claiming to save humanity.
What connection does that System have with the world beyond the Gates?
Why did it grant only me this overwhelming, deformed mana optimization?
The chain of thoughts continued endlessly.
My head tangled into complexity.
"Haah."
I exhaled a deep, long sigh.
Complex contemplation doesn't suit my nature.
Universal truths won't just drop down even if I tear my hair out here.
Whatever the truth is.
Whether there are gods, demons, or dimensional rulers beyond the Gates.
"If they invade my front yard, I'll just smash their heads. That's all."
A simple, clear conclusion.
That's what I do best, and the only way to live in this exhausting world.
What I want to protect isn't humanity's future or grand truths.
Just my mother's kimchi stew on the dinner table and a childish game with my sibling.
Only that damp, comfortable daily life.
I sprang up from my seat.
I let all complex thoughts scatter in the wind.
"I should ask for grilled pork belly for dinner tonight."
A faint smile spread across my lips.
I lightly kicked off, and mana's repulsive force pushed my body upward.
Cutting through the city sky, I flew toward my most comfortable penthouse.
Another exhausting but perfect day was drawing to a close.
