Tokyo, Japan. Crisis Management Center.
The faces of high-ranking officials seated around the heavy oak table flushed red and pale in turn.
"We must request foreign assistance immediately! This is an Unmeasurable Rank gate that opened right in the heart of downtown Osaka. Our forces alone cannot handle it!"
"That's out of the question! The entire world is watching. If we bow our heads because we can't handle a single gate, do you have any idea what price we'll pay in future international relations?!"
A man leaning back at the end of the table watched the shouting match between principle and pragmatism with a look of disdain.
Kenji, an S-Rank Hunter affiliated with the Japan Hunter Association.
He propped both feet up on the table and spoke irritably.
"You're giving me a headache. We don't need foreign assistance. Our elite forces are more than enough to clear it."
"But Kenji-kun, if we fail, all of Osaka could be destroyed..."
"We won't fail. If you're that worried, just station the Self-Defense Forces as backup."
With that arrogant declaration, Kenji rose from his seat.
As if the conversation wasn't worth continuing, he roughly opened the conference room door and left. No one stopped him.
* * * * *
Downtown Osaka, in front of the Unmeasurable Rank gate.
Inside a massive dome-shaped barricade, hundreds of Japan's finest Hunters stood in formation, fully armed.
Kenji stepped onto the platform and gripped the microphone, his bloodshot eyes surveying the Hunters below.
"Today, we write a new chapter in history that Hunters around the world will look up to! There's no need to fear this little hole. Go in, sweep them all away, and prove our strength!"
Blind fervor filled the Hunters' eyes.
As soon as the speech ended, hundreds of Hunters led by Kenji threw themselves without hesitation into the bizarrely swirling blue rift.
The sensation of spatial distortion twisted their vision.
When Kenji opened his eyes, his expression froze instantly.
The landscape beyond the gate wasn't the hellish demon realm they'd expected.
Dense, lush vegetation bathed in sunlight, air thick with pure mana that seemed to cleanse the lungs.
And in the distance, the imposing sight of a World Tree so bizarrely massive it seemed to pierce the sky and reach into space.
"What the hell is..."
As Kenji cautiously advanced through the forest while maintaining vigilance, a chill ran down his spine.
Overwhelming presences were closing in from all directions—from the trees above, from beyond the undergrowth—surrounding them.
His beast-like instincts screamed danger.
"Everyone, prepare for combat!!"
The moment Kenji frantically drew his sword and roared, the forest's silence shattered.
* * * * *
I stood before my desk and slowly extended my arm toward empty space.
A technique from the martial arts manual translated from Crimson Lotus's ancient texts.
I was forcibly connecting the fragmented, broken trajectories using simulations in my head and my body's sensations.
A stance where I pivoted on my right foot, twisting my body and slashing an imaginary sword diagonally downward.
The footwork connecting to the next technique was missing here.
I tried forcibly twisting my body's center and extending my foot, but the flow of my muscles hit a wall, creating an odd sense of discord.
'Connecting it this way from this stance feels forced. My center of gravity just floats.'
I stopped the movement and stroked my chin, lost in thought.
The sensation when I manifested a flower petal by threading extremely fine mana through the tip of my pen.
In that fleeting moment, the mana filling my torso fluctuated ever so slightly, instinctively pointing toward the direction of the missing trajectory.
It felt like my body—undergoing full-body core transformation—was groping its way through the flow of martial arts on its own, rather than my mind.
—Creak.
Just as I was deeply immersed, the door opened without a knock.
"What's my puppy doing?"
Mom poked her head in, then suddenly started sniffing around the room.
"Oh my. Did you spray perfume in here? It smells amazing. It's like sweet, refreshing spring blossoms."
The lingering traces of mana that had scattered from the pen tip yesterday.
It seemed that fleeting manifestation alone had infused the room with a faint floral scent.
Inwardly impressed by the detailed physical phenomena that occurred when martial arts and mana combined, I relaxed my stance and replied casually.
"What is it? Something wrong?"
"I need to feed my son. The weather's nice today, so let's go out for lunch. What do you want to eat?"
"Hmm..."
Choosing a restaurant menu was always a hassle.
I thought of the safest, most reliable greasy food.
"Jajangmyeon."
"Okay? I'll order your favorite Kkanpunggi too. Get ready to go out."
Mom strode over, stuck both hands under my armpits, and hoisted me up.
With my feet dangling off the ground, unable to resist, I was dragged to the dressing room.
* * * * *
A high-end Chinese restaurant in Gangnam.
We sat across from each other at a round table in a private room, enjoying our meal.
I quickly swallowed the glossy jajangmyeon and stuffed crispy Kkanpunggi tossed in sweet and spicy sauce into my mouth.
This place really does have the best Kkanpunggi. Too bad they don't deliver.
As I patted my full stomach and left the restaurant after finishing the meal, my smartphone vibrated irritably in my pocket.
The caller was Director Choi from the government's Special Response Team.
Calls from the government on a day off were, without fail, troublesome matters.
I frowned and pressed the call button.
"Haah... What is it."
—Hunter Kang. I'm truly sorry. But right now, very urgently, there's somewhere you need to gather.
Director Choi's voice trembled on the other end.
This wasn't the usual fuss over a Gate Break or dungeon rampage.
A serious tension that seeped into the bones, directly tied to national security.
I stopped walking and turned to look at Mom.
She must have sensed the atmosphere of my call, watching me with a worried expression.
"Mom. I need to go somewhere for a bit."
"Work came up? Be careful. You just ate—don't overdo it before you've digested."
After putting Mom in a taxi first, I slipped into a deserted back alley.
I shot my body skyward.
My destination was the special bunker beneath the Blue House.
* * * * *
I passed through the thick steel door and entered the underground briefing room.
Already inside were all of South Korea's S-Rank Hunters—the pinnacle of the nation's military power, monsters beyond standard classification.
Hunter Association President Park Jin-cheol sat at the head of the table, pressing his brow.
Beside him, Crimson Lotus Guild Master Park So-jin stood with arms crossed, eyes sharp.
Paradise Guild Master Ryu Ji-hwan leaned against the window, casually chewing gum.
And two S-Ranks who usually stayed out of the spotlight.
Baek Ho-yeong, the apex of beast-types with a massive frame, shaggy beard, and the ability to transform into a werewolf.
Seo Ji-hun, owner of an Appraisal Eye that could see through the essence and weaknesses of objects from behind thick glasses.
Including me, all six of South Korea's S-Ranks gathered in one space for the first time since the Gate Shock.
I quietly took an empty seat.
Confirming my arrival, Director Choi stepped onto the platform with a pale face.
"Thank you all for gathering. The situation is so urgent that I'm late with greetings. I'll get straight to the point."
Director Choi pressed the remote, and footage played on the large screen on the wall.
"This morning, three hundred of Japan's elite Hunters entered an Unmeasurable Rank gate that appeared in Osaka. However, just one hour after entry, all communication was lost... The Japanese government immediately requested rescue of survivors and assistance from other nations."
The footage on screen was bodycam recordings barely recovered from the scene by a follow-up search team sent to find the lost advance party.
A vast, towering forest.
As the search team cautiously advanced, trajectories of light poured from all directions.
Arrows infused with mana.
The Japanese Hunters deployed shields and swung weapons, but their attacks were neutralized by invisible barriers.
Soon, unidentified beings poured down from the trees and undergrowth at unrealistic speeds.
The bodycam's focus shook as their forms came into sharp view.
Long, pointed ears, blonde hair glittering in sunlight, beautiful features far beyond human standards.
With minimal movement, they precisely pierced the limbs of Japanese Hunters and deployed strange magical formations to bind them.
"......"
Heavy silence descended on the briefing room.
The combat methods of the beings on screen weren't those of beasts.
Overwhelming suppression focused solely on incapacitation while avoiding fatal injuries.
They were dragging fallen Hunters away like luggage, issuing instructions in an unknown language.
The footage ended and the screen went black.
Association President Park Jin-cheol rubbed his face wearily and spoke heavily.
"A Fantasy World, then."
The dimensional connection hypothesis we'd discussed while examining the martial arts manual had become reality.
I muttered dryly, chin propped on my hand.
"Elves? Real elves with pointy ears popped out. This isn't a comic book."
Not monsters or beasts, but sapient beings from another dimension with advanced intelligence and civilization.
Having witnessed their overwhelming force on screen, Park So-jin frowned and glared at Director Choi.
"Don't tell me you're asking us to go into a place crawling with those monsters and rescue the Japanese Hunters?"
At Park So-jin's sharp question, all the S-Ranks' gazes focused on Director Choi at once.
Director Choi wiped cold sweat and hastily explained.
"Of course it's a dangerous mission! But as you saw in the footage, not a single person died. They clearly avoided killing and moved with the purpose of capturing alive."
Seo Ji-hun pushed up his glasses and added a calm analysis.
"Director Choi is correct. From what I could see, there was no killing intent in their attacks. They're closer to a highly trained capture squad. The probability that they're not a species that indiscriminately antagonizes humanity is high."
"So because there are survivors, you want to push our precious S-Rank forces into Japanese territory?"
Baek Ho-yeong interjected with a crooked smile.
Director Choi bowed deeply.
"The Japanese side has promised dramatic diplomatic concessions and astronomical compensation. Moreover... if they are friendly sapient beings, this rescue operation could become the first official diplomatic contact with an interdimensional civilization. Our government absolutely cannot let this initiative slip away."
A race to claim another dimension, disguised as a rescue operation.
I leaned back deeply in my chair.
"So you want us to raid someone else's front yard to rescue hostages?"
At my indifferent mutter, the atmosphere in the briefing room grew even heavier.
My plan to spend time peacefully researching martial arts techniques had been completely derailed by those damn long-eared aliens.
