A World Without Mana, and the Rift That Began
The air filling the top floor of the Hunter Association's special deep-measurement chamber was taut as thin ice, the kind of atmosphere where it felt like flesh would be torn away the moment anyone moved.
Go Yeona, who had grabbed Yushin's right arm with both hands as if ready to snap it off, pressed her full, springy C-cup chest against him even more forcefully and glared furiously at Kang Yoora, Korea's S-rank hunter.
"Try laying even a single finger on our oppa and I'll smash the Association, the S-ranks, all of it, you ice witch!"
Kang Yoora—the living legend of the Association, the Ice Empress of absolute zero—didn't so much as blink at the murderous threat.
She lifted her slender, captivating eyebrows by the barest fraction and hung a cold, blade-sharp, calculating smile at the corner of her lips.
"I had no intention of laying a hand on him at the moment? Merely observing an extraordinary man who piques my interest hardly violates the Association's laws."
At Yoora's coolly intellectual remark, the fingertips of Yeona's trembling hand violently flared the mana of an A-rank saintess.
If things were left as they were, the Hunter Association's top-floor measurement chamber looked set to be shattered to pieces by the collision of two peerless beauties' mana.
Yushin swiftly wrapped his arms around Yeona's shoulders and wedged himself between their gazes.
"Okay, okay, let's both leave it here. Madam Chairwoman, since the official rank assessment has been postponed, we'll be taking our leave. Let's go, Yeona."
"Tch…… Meh-rong!"
Yeona stuck her tongue out at Kang Yoora, then immediately buried her face in Yushin's chest and whined through her nose.
"Then today we're not going to the main house, oppa. You're spending the whole day with me at our place on a cozy bed date…… got it?"
Her lips smiled playfully, but the hands wrapped around Yushin's waist and arm carried a vicious obsession—a refusal, absolute, to ever hand her oppa over to another female.
Kang Yoora watched the scene with calm eyes, then gave a composed nod.
"I'll withdraw for today. Next time…… let us meet again somewhere quieter, where the two of us can be alone, Hunter Go Yushin."
In her frosty blue eyes already glimmered the persistence of a dominant woman who had calculated the plans for their next meeting to perfection.
Yushin offered a brief bow.
"Yes. Let's hope it's not another suffocating setup like this one."
The moment the heavy isolation wall of the measurement chamber opened and they stepped out of the Association headquarters, the murderous pressure that had been crushing Yushin's spine finally released.
……Whew. Survived. That was genuinely like walking on thin ice.
The reality of tangled factions—his family, the Hunter Association, the S-rank Ice Empress, and his obsessively possessive sister—was an asura field that bled far worse than the blood-soaked battlefields of the Abyss.
Having barely soothed Yeona—who had wanted to drag him back to the main house—and sent her back to her training camp to secure some personal time, Yushin slipped quietly into the back of an alley, steadied his breathing, and gathered his resolve.
Right. The complicated real-world problems are settled for now, so let's cross to the next dimension. This time, to cool my head and rest at once, why not visit Earth through a resort slot?
[ Considering your accumulated mental fatigue, Master, this is an exceptionally excellent and wise choice. ]
At Yurang-i's enthusiastic recommendation, Yushin pulled up the dimension slot window floating in the air.
▸ Registered Dimensions
Slot 1: Abyss (E-rank)
Slot 2: Empty
▸ List of New Dimensions Available for Travel
Arhen (Difficulty: E)
Gomba Company (Difficulty: S)
Glaives (Difficulty: B)
Harma (C-rank → B-rank)
Earth (Difficulty: F)
▸ New Feature: Return to Original World — ACTIVATED
Without hesitation, Yushin lightly tapped the Earth (F-rank) icon with his fingertip.
[ Initiating dimension travel sequence. ]
[ Target coordinates: Parallel world, modern-day Earth (F-rank). ]
[ WARNING. This dimension is a mana-free natural environment where mana, Gates, and monsters do not exist at all. ]
Vzhzzht!
Space folded like paper and gently enfolded Yushin's entire body.
As the noise of the real-world city receded into the far distance and pitch-black darkness flooded his vision, the physical senses that had governed Yushin's whole body were once more eerily rearranged.
Shuuuuwk.
The crushing weight of dimensional transit vanished as if it had never been, and the quality of the air seeping deep into his lungs changed entirely.
Not the blood-red demonic energy of the Abyss, nor the refined mana of Korea—but the smell of car exhaust and thick asphalt, and the peaceful murmur of countless ordinary people.
Yushin slowly opened his eyes.
A forest of glass skyscrapers soaring into the sky, and dazzlingly flashing neon shop signs.
The familiar smartphone in his hand.
On the surface it was an uncanny mirror image of the Seoul streets of the Korea he had lived in—but this was a parallel-world Earth where the laws flowing through the atmosphere were completely different.
……There really isn't a single trace of mana to be felt here.
[ Dimensional travel completed successfully. ]
[ Destination dimension: Parallel world, modern-day Earth (stable state). ]
[ NOTICE. In this dimension, your mana and unique authority will manifest as an absolute transcendental phenomenon that defies the natural laws. ]
Yushin lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.
Though the atmosphere held no mana whatsoever, the weighty C-rank mana settled deep in his dantian and the soul imprint of the Demon Sword Heukwol were alive and breathing, vivid and undiminished.
To the ordinary passersby around him, he looked like nothing more than a tall, handsome twenty-four-year-old regular guy—yet in this world, he was an unparalleled absolute superhuman whom no one could hope to oppose.
Yushin first stepped into a large PC bang in the heart of the busy district to gather precise information about this world.
The clicking of mice and clatter of keyboards, the aroma of instant ramen and coffee in the air—a scene of thoroughly peaceful, familiar everyday life.
Yushin took an open seat, powered on the computer, and began swiftly searching portal sites and historical databases.
The flow of history, the geography, the major events—it all matched his original Earth almost astonishingly closely.
The history of the Three Kingdoms period, the brilliant territorial expansions of King Gwanggaeto the Great, the twists and turns of the modern era—all of it remained exactly the same.
But there was one decisive difference.
This was a completely mana-free, peaceful society—no Gates, no magic beasts, no superhuman caste of hunters.
Moreover, it was an ordinary, quiet world where strict monogamy was enshrined in the constitution as a matter of law.
So this is what Earth looked like before the Gates opened…… peaceful like this.
The very moment Yushin, lost in deep nostalgia, was gazing at the monitor, the system fairy Yurang-i quietly spoke up.
[ Master, the information gathering is excellent, but to move freely in this world, official proof of identity is essential. ]
"An ID? I'm an illegal resident who isn't even registered in this world's national database, you know?"
[ Please rest assured. Using the system's unique authority, the national central administrative network has been perfectly synchronized and calibrated (hacked). ]
[ Temporary identity data generation complete. Please visit the nearest community service center to receive your Temporary Identity Confirmation Certificate. ]
"……'Synchronization,' she says. You just straight-up robbed a government network, didn't you? You're a genuinely terrifying system."
Yushin let out a wry laugh, left the PC bang, and made his way to the nearby community service center.
He pulled a number ticket, waited a short while, and took a seat at the counter, where a bespectacled middle-aged civil servant typed at the monitor for a moment before handing over a document with a friendly expression.
"Mr. Go Yushin, your lost-ID reissuance request has been processed normally. Until your resident registration card is issued, carrying this Temporary Identity Confirmation Certificate will allow you to complete all financial and administrative transactions."
"Thank you."
The moment he took the stamped document in hand, a clear system chime rang in Yushin's ears.
[ Synchronization rate with the current dimension increased. ]
[ Your existence stability in the Earth dimension has been perfectly locked in place. ]
As he walked out of the service center, the warm afternoon sunlight wrapped cozily around Yushin's shoulders.
A perfectly peaceful daily life—no magic-beast hunting reeking of blood, no life-or-death struggles, no secret machinations of political marriages.
It was the very moment he was savoring the feeling of a true vacation and heading toward the café district at the heart of the city.
Woooooong……!
"Huh……? Hey, look. Didn't something just flash over there in that alley?"
"What? Some kind of will-o'-the-wisp flaring up in broad daylight?"
Passersby muttered among themselves, pointing at the dark, narrow back alley between the buildings of the shopping district.
Yushin's dimensional senses bristled instinctively.
Dead center in the pure mana-free Earth where mana could never exist.
The air at the far end of that dark alley was warping ever so slightly like shards of a broken mirror, and from the torn boundary of dimensions, a chilly, sinister ripple of rifts was seeping out.
Yushin's eyes sharpened and darkened.
And here I came thinking it was a vacation spot…… looks like this world has no intention of letting me rest quietly either.
With both hands tucked into his pockets, Yushin began walking unhurriedly toward the invisible rift in the dimensions.