I'm Fine and You

"Eek.."

Hmm. I'm screwed. It won't budge at all. Why did I do that?

The scene rewinds about 30 minutes.

ㅡㅡㅡ

With those words, I concentrated a storm of mana at my fingertips.

Whoooosh— Clank— Rattle—

I could feel the armors' confusion radiating off them. In fact, from the moment they first spotted me, they'd been blatantly on guard—nothing like the civilians I'd sent out first. They must've sensed my overwhelming mana, incomparable to those people.

But they clearly hadn't expected a storm like this; they just panicked and tried to back away.

Honestly, I was pissed. There'd been over ten people at the cafe when I saw them, but even spreading my senses throughout the entire dungeon interior, the only survivors were the four I'd saved. That meant everyone else had fallen to these things.

It stung a little, knowing I'd been too late for everyone except those four I'd barely managed to rescue. If I'd been even a bit slower, those four would've been mixed in with the rest.

Rumble rumble—

Anyway. I'd instilled plenty of fear in them personally, so now it was time to wipe them out.

BOOM—!!!! Clank— Scraaaape—!!!

The sound of metal tearing apart echoed as a massive mana storm erupted. It sucked in all the surrounding armors along with chunks of the temple's stone.

Screeeeech— KABOOOM—!!!

A chilling metallic screech rang out, and the massive storm—which would've made it impossible to even open my eyes without my transformation—began to die down.

No life signs. No monster reactions. A few chunks from the particularly large armor monsters occasionally bounced my way.

I wondered what rank these armors were, out of curiosity. Not that it mattered anyway.

Now, I was the only living thing left in this dungeon.

Shaaa—

I slowly released my transformation and descended to the ground.

"Ugh, that was tiring."

It wasn't really that exhausting, though. More like the ache in your legs after a long run, or that slight shortness of breath... you know? For me, it seemed like keeping my divine powers active too long brought on those kinds of symptoms. Nothing serious—just post-workout soreness, basically.

Anyway, I stretched my limbs out, pulling them up and down.

Hmm. Feels refreshing. Guess people really do need to exercise more. I'll have to work out regularly from now on.

With that thought, I turned to leave.

"...Huh?"

..But a problem arose.

The rift I'd detected with my third wing, the Power of Insight—the one that should've appeared after wiping out all the monsters, aka the gate exit... I'd located it, poured my mana into it to forcibly activate it, and evacuated the civilians as quickly as possible. All good so far.

"..It's gone..?"

For some reason, the rift had vanished without a trace.

"Wha.. why'd it disappear? Huh? How am I supposed to get out now... huh?"

Rumble rumble..

And to make matters worse, probably due to the aftermath of my first wing, the Power of Judgment, the temple started collapsing.

..More precisely, the temple structure and the cave it was supporting collapsed together.

CRASH—!!

"Eeeeek—?!?!"

.

.

.

"Sigh. Now what?"

But I didn't feel any real sense of crisis. Why do you think I go around calling myself God's proxy? Because I've got the power to back it up.

'That aside, today's incident is probably gonna make the news again.'

'I'll just clean up these rubble bits and head out..'

"Ugh.."

Hah, seriously.. I think this every time, but it's so cringey. My limbs feel like they'll shrivel up into dry, twisted twigs any second, completely drained of moisture.

"How do I stay sane enough to spout that edgy chuuni crap in transformation mode??"

No, really, I was curious. At this point, was transformed me and normal me basically different people? Split personality territory.

'Maybe I should just try it right now?'

"Urgh.."

But my body was pinned under a pile of rocks and couldn't move.

Come to think of it, I'd forgotten about my current situation.

"Hah.. what a mess."

Fortunately, my pre-transformation body seemed tougher than your average awakener. I mean, a normal one wouldn't be chilling this calmly in a spot like this, right?

"No injuries or anything.."

Thinking about it, this was pretty dangerous for a regular awakener. Exit gone, dungeon collapsed, buried under debris.. Huh, am I actually in danger too?

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pondered a bit.

Gates are basically separate dimensions, like pocket universes disconnected from Earth... or so I'd heard.

And the dimensional gate connecting that space to Earth is the gate itself..

'..Hmm.'

And that gate had vanished.

I couldn't even search for it with all these massive rubble piles pinning me down...

"..Am I actually in deep shit?"

Only then did the gravity of the situation hit me.

Cold sweat started trickling as thoughts like 'Am I really in danger?' crept in. I got a little anxious.

I probably wouldn't die just sitting here, but still.. feeling zero crisis in a situation like this was kinda weird.

Hmm..

"Wait, but can't I just go straight home?"

It was a pure, innocent question.

If the dungeon's a separate dimension, isn't my house basically the same? A simple hunch like that.

And..

Shaaa—

"Whoa, it actually worked."

I returned home covered in dust.

ㅡㅡㅡ

ㅡㅡㅡ

ㅡㅡㅡ

Gates don't close arbitrarily. This is a universal property observed in gates worldwide.

Not only closing, but entering or even scanning their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠interiors is incredibly difficult.

It's been over 10 years since scientists and researchers worldwide banded together to finally invent the mana interferometer.

Naturally, that decade saw endless studies and experiments on gates and mana.

Amid countless papers and theories on the enigmatic "gate" phenomenon, one principle stood undisputed and universally accepted: "Gates never close if there's a person inside."

To be precise, if there's a living person inside.

Awakener or civilian, adult or child, man or woman, sick or healthy—it didn't matter. As long as they were alive, the gate wouldn't close.

Tampering with a mana interferometer or blasting skills around it changed nothing.

Yet this gate had closed.

With someone still inside.

"Team leader, the gate closing means.."

"I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know."

The unprecedented gate outbreak in the heart of Seoul.

Not just its rank, but the monsters inside—dozens of unprecedented Living Armors.

And that wasn't even the end. Survivor testimonies revealed a massive one that seemed to command the horde, making it a definite S+ rank gate.

Gate ranks follow the awakener system: from highest S-rank down to lowest C-rank.

A rare few exceed S-rank mana levels and are designated S+ rank.

And this was right in the urban heart of the capital, fully equipped with mana interference stabilizers.

A gate appearing there was shocking enough, but an S+ rank? And then a mysterious self-proclaimed "God's Proxy" rescued ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people from inside, only for the gate to close without her emerging.

'Did she hold off the monsters inside and die? But then why did the gate close..?'

Gates don't close from lack of people. Unchecked gates only grow larger at the entrance.

To forcibly close one this fresh would've required at least two S-rank mana mages.

Yet it closed.

Even if the boss died or monsters were wiped out, gates don't close under normal circumstances.

Mirinae's mind spun amid these impossibilities defying all common sense.

"Team leader, check this out."

"What is it."

Mirinae glanced at the tablet Seha handed her. It showed a graph logging the gate's mana wave readings up to moments ago.

"..."

At the initial outbreak, mana levels were quiet.

A bit later, a slight uptick—likely monsters starting to move inside.

'Most deaths probably happened around then.'

People always suffer the heaviest losses when off-guard at the start. Mirinae's judgment seemed spot-on.

'..What the hell is this?'

Moving past the early phase to mid-graph, mana suddenly skyrocketed like it was piercing the heavens. If this were her stock chart, she'd quit the bureau tomorrow and live off it forever—that steep.

"What is this?"

"Weird, right?"

It didn't end there. The sharply risen graph refused to drop, then jittered oddly right before closure and vanished abruptly.

Unprecedented readings nowhere in records.

"..I'll report this myself. Something's off."

"Knew you'd say that."

"You handle cleanup and aftermath. I need to report now."

"Yeees."

Mirinae activated one of her skills, [Skate], amid Seha's drawling reply. A simple skill reducing leg friction for speed, but unbeatable for travel—low effort, high speed.

'What the hell am I supposed to tell the higher-ups..'

Her mind was a tangled mess, like the hair she'd endlessly ruffled in front of that gate.