Chapter 48: Seon-woo's Secret
After finishing what was less a five-week vacation and more an intense training session, several incidents had cropped up.
"So, you're saying our house is gone?"
My father's words. This was the biggest issue. Not the house where I lived, but the nice place where my parents resided.
"Why our house?"
My mother asked, and Father replied.
"Well... it was an earthquake, apparently."
Yes, an earthquake had struck. While our family was inside the gate, a typhoon had hit, followed by torrential rains. Not just our parents' house, but the entire neighborhood had been ravaged by the quake.
Could this really be pure coincidence? It was something worth investigating.
"Fortunately, we had insurance. We even had a rider for natural disasters."
Mother sighed in relief at the mention of insurance. Still, something felt off to me.
When I'd left and returned, I hadn't heard about any typhoon. Then suddenly a typhoon hits, weakens the ground, and boom—an earthquake? All within a week? How often does that happen in our country?
That suspicion hit me first. But with no casualties and the whole neighborhood affected, not just our house, there wasn't much to say.
"Forced to end our rural life prematurely."
Exactly. The family had no choice but to return to the original house where we'd all lived before. This was the major event, followed by the emergence of certain monsters.
Finally, some organization meant to control these situations had failed. But they weren't particularly powerful monsters.
Goblins, like the ones that appeared in Gangneung a week ago. The problem was that they'd occupied an entire region. And it wasn't in our country—it was Japan.
Maybe it was their love for analog ways, or perhaps something they couldn't fully control. The key issue was that the goblin-overrun area was Fukushima, site of the nuclear incident.
That probably delayed the news and made intervention difficult.
"Japan's in a mess again."
"Yeah, seems like it."
"So you think someone targeted our house and caused this?"
"That's ambiguous too. To pull off something on that scale, you'd need a grand archmage or equivalent. But that's not very realistic."
"True enough."
Causing an earthquake in my parents' area artificially seemed implausible. Who would target them that way, and what would they gain? It felt contrived.
If someone were after my parents or Si-yeon, they'd have checked if we were there. But we were all inside the gate. And the quake didn't strike suddenly—there was ample time to evacuate—so calling it deliberate was a stretch.
"Still, I should go check once. See how the neighbors are, and handle Si-yeon's school stuff."
"Yeah, go ahead."
With that, my parents took Si-yeon and headed to Gapyeong. Rebuilding and moving back seemed unlikely. My original house was the family's old place anyway, so no big issue there. For now, they'd probably live at my place with the gate.
Parents and Si-yeon left, leaving just Seon-woo.
"What a mess is this?"
"Tell me about it."
"I've networked with hunters from a few gates, but no one could orchestrate something like this artificially. You're probably the highest-level hunter right now. Though, like you said, maybe not."
The difference between gate owners and hunters was freedom and authority, not raw power—they were comparable.
"Hmm, but I often feel like I'm not the top level."
"Could be. If so, it'd be in the US, not here. Or maybe China, where they churn out people. Why would they target you, though?"
"Good point."
There was zero reason to target my parents. Even if someone suspected me as a gate owner, they'd come after me, not hit my family out of nowhere. Pinning it on some faction felt off.
"How can someone be this unlucky yet this lucky?"
Seon-woo grimaced at my words.
"What bullshit is that?"
"House collapses in an earthquake—bad luck. But the whole family happens to be here, so property damage only, no other harm?"
"Bad luck that's good luck. Perfect summary. Heh."
"You saw Fukushima, right?"
"Yeah, that place is something else."
"Maybe it's the terrain? Radiation?"
"What about Chernobyl then?"
"Who knows what's there."
I'd heard Chernobyl was worse than Fukushima, still fully quarantined. Honestly, I wasn't that interested, so details escaped me. But if monsters appeared there too, could they contain it? Doubtful.
Japan hyped Fukushima as safe, but failing to handle mere goblins was simple.
"No one wants to go in. Meanwhile, the goblins multiply like crazy."
"Why'd they appear there in the first place?"
"Dunno. Maybe a gate opened inside, owner died?"
"Doesn't the gate vanish if the owner dies?"
"That's the assumption. Who knows for sure? The gate guardians are such thugs—why would they spill all the info?"
Seon-woo showed clear disgust for whatever organization handled gates and such.
"Hey, time to ask for real. What happened in there to make you hate gates so much?"
It felt like the right moment.
"Sigh, fine. Didn't want to, but guess I have to sometime. So, I became a hunter two years ago. Friend asked for help on a job—turned out to be a gate. And then..."
Seon-woo had stumbled into a gate accidentally, then lived as a hunter. He'd promoted his dad's camping gear while hunting, and early on, everyone was weak, so no issues.
"Then some folks started pushing ahead. An accident happened. Started as a petty argument, escalated to a fight. Casualties followed."
Casualties. That was the crux.
"What was the gate owner doing?"
"That bastard's a psycho."
"What?"
"Psychopath. He enjoyed watching us fight. Gate owners are immune to our attacks anyway. He churned out more hunters, squeezing out quiet groups like ours who just hunted and gathered."
"Wouldn't he have stripped your access?"
"Wanted to. But the government was involved, and we paid taxes. Condition: no spilling internals to outsiders."
"They can enforce that?"
"Yeah. That's why I was shocked when you figured out I'm a hunter."
Seon-woo was my one true friend. Hiding his hunter status didn't bother me—maybe my Calmness skill at work. Just curious. He had no other friends either. Why hide it?
I hadn't pried before, figuring he had reasons. Seemed I was right.
"So, things blew up there?"
"Our team was ten strong. Now four survivors, including me."
His bright personality hid it well.
"Want me to avenge them?"
"Heh, same line as my buddy."
"What?"
"Had a close bro. As he was dying, I asked, 'Want revenge?' Know what he said?"
"What?"
"'Don't waste time on that. Live happily.'"
Live happily? Without revenge?
"Possible?"
"Thought not. Yelled at him to quit talking nonsense. But time passed, and I lived on. Kinda happily."
Time—or life—might work that way. You keep going. Smiles and joys come eventually.
"So, no revenge thoughts now?"
"Am I a saint? I'd kill them all if I could."
"Heh."
He hadn't forgotten—just postponed. Seon-woo was now a powerhouse hunter. Even hordes of average ones couldn't touch him. Five weeks scavenging had boosted his stats hugely. Outside my family, no one could match him.
"The one I want dead most is the gate owner. He thrived on the chaos. Total psychopath."
"Aren't I one too?"
He flinched.
"Look at you, brutally honest."
Too honest.
"I'd still be your friend, psychopath or not."
"Thanks, man. Where's that gate?"
"Jongno."
"Jongno?"
"Yeah, old Sewoon Sangga area."
"Owner there?"
"Nah, employee. Turns out he was the gate owner. Now the shop's his."
Gate value dwarfed the shop's. Couldn't remove the gate, so the psycho ex-employee took over.
"If territory war ever hits, I'll handle him first."
He bit down hard.
"You're the best friend ever."
"Psychopath and all?"
"..."
"No answer?"
"My friend is great! Praise the lord!"
"Then compose a hundred lord-praise hymns by tomorrow."
"You punk!"
"Anyway, let's plan for your family. Need reliable folks in our gate, beef up security."
"Got it."
"And your team."
"Yeah."
"All wiped out there?"
"Yep."
"Let's meet them later. Surviving untainted among psychos means they're solid."
Two years sane amid madness, surviving. Good villager material?
"Yeah, I'll ask."
"No pressure."
"Obviously."
Seon-woo headed home after. I prepped for work. Time to wrap up company loose ends.