Ambush in the Secret Realm

The Seoul skyline stretched beyond the building. “Is this place safe?” “As if. If the outside world is a disaster, this is hell.” Just as the Awakened chatting beside her had said, they stood in the heart of enemy territory.

Yuseong first surveyed the personnel who had entered the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Every one of them was an Awakened. Twenty people, not counting herself. A few carried guns. It was obvious the team had been thrown together in a desperate rush.

“Pigeon, any word on communications—” “It’s dead. This is almost certainly one of those pocket dimensions.” In other words, a dungeon.

“What the fuck? This isn’t what we agreed to! We came here to fight terrorists!” “That terrorist is the one who created the pocket dimension, so technically you’re not wrong.” An argument erupted between Pigeon and the Awakened. More precisely, the Awakened were one-sidedly pressing him.

Sniff. Sniff.

A sudden fishy stench hit her. Drawn by the smell, Yuseong walked forward until her feet carried her into the lobby.

“Ah.” A body lay there. Its neck had been sliced halfway through, and the blood that poured out had soaked the floor dark. Her knees locked. Still, this was not the first corpse she had seen. When she and the children cleared monsters, she had witnessed bodies half-devoured. If asked which sight was more intact, this one clearly was—but that only made the reality of a person’s death sink in deeper.

“I can’t sit down.” She picked up a nearby towel and gently covered the victim’s face and neck. It was all she could do. There was nothing more she could offer.

“Kim Yuseong.” Pigeon had come to her side without her noticing. After a brief glance at the victim, he handed her a single talisman. “It’s for communication. It may not work outside the pocket dimension, but inside here it should function without issue.”

“Are we splitting the team?” “Just a precaution. Here—this is Lee Han’s face.” The phone displayed a handsome man. Truthfully, even without the picture, the culprit had to be an Awakened not present among their group, so identification would not be difficult.

“Could I also see the face of someone named Inspector Cho Ha-yeon?” “Hmm. She should be the supply officer for the unit that handled the first assault. Just in case, I saved her personal data…”

“Danger!” Without warning, Yuseong kicked Pigeon 4 and hurled herself backward. Unable to react in time, he dropped the phone. The spot where he had stood—along with the phone and a chunk of the lobby—vanished in a clean, horrifying cut.

“Damn it! Enemy attack! Prepare—”

Slish!

A red line traced across the face of the Awakened who had drawn his weapon in warning. He was sliced in half. Brains and blood spilled out helplessly. That single death triggered pandemonium—screams of pain and terror filled the air as more wounds appeared.

Belatedly they circulated energy through their uniforms, wrapping themselves in protective qi. The first strike’s lethality was averted, but the attack continued. Wounds accumulated like clothes slowly soaked by drizzle.

Clang!

Among them, only Yuseong raised her sword in time to block the invisible slashes.

“Kim Yuseong! Can you actually see the attacks?!” “I’m reading them by instinct! The mana in the corridor is calm!” Pigeon 4 had no idea if she was telling the truth, but since she had saved him and was the only one reacting to the assault, he had no choice but to follow her lead.

“Everyone! Run for the corridor!” At Pigeon 4’s shout the Awakened sprinted toward it. A few glanced at their dead comrades, clenched their eyes shut, and ran.

“General, with this I win. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠You should really cultivate more refinement.” “I took the last round. We’re even.”

On the board where the match had already been decided, a grotesque figure assembled from crudely fitted chess pieces descended in humanoid form.

Vwoooom!

The colossal soldier, guided by Changcheon Amgui’s hand, swept across both victors and vanquished—everyone who had endured the horrific war—impartially dealing death.

“...”

Ha Dowol was so stunned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by the sight that words failed her. In the middle of this suffocating battle of wits, she could not believe the other party was casually pulling pranks that even a child would find childish.

“...She isn’t someone who will change just because I point it out.” “Yeah, I suppose this is how she’s always been. I never knew because she never appeared directly in the game.”

Ha Dowol recalled the game’s content and setting. More precisely, she remembered listening to the lore told like stories and laughing happily with her lover.

“Hey, hey. Do you know what the most fun thing about this game is?” “Well, the game itself is fun, obviously.”

She had always supplied Dowol with fascinating tales of the fantasy world this way. She was the one who had introduced games into Dowol’s life of martial discipline.

“Wrong! It’s that the setting is insanely good compared to the story.” “Really? I thought the story itself was decent.” “It’s too good, that’s why. It feels like throwing lobster and caviar into instant ramen.” “I understand the comparison, but now I kind of want to try it.” “It would probably be delicious. You’re coming to the raid at ten, right?”

It had been fun back then. She should not have pressured her. She should have carried everything herself.

Once the sweet aftertaste of those joyful memories faded, the bitterness of the choices she had been forced to make rose in Ha Dowol’s heart.

I want to meet her, but…

She had to endure. Their relationship was already over. Meeting again would only rekindle lingering feelings. She had to focus on the painting. She had to focus on this contest.

She shook off the distracting thoughts. Colder. Darker. She sharpened herself into a blade keen enough to kill everything in her path for the sake of the painting.

“Still, there’s one thing I want to ask.” “Tsk. All you can do is wait, so you’ve gotten talkative. What is it?”

Ha Dowol felt irritated by Gangcheol, who kept disturbing her concentration, yet the information he occasionally leaked was tempting enough that she could not completely ignore him.

“Where do you think we came from?” “...”

Neither Ha Dowol nor the rest of humanity could answer. Glorious Land had been a game, yet these beings were now real. And so the question arose: what exactly had that game been?

“True, that question’s a little too difficult. I’ll change it, then. What do you think I am?” “Gangcheol. An imugi that failed to become a dragon. A yokai.”

That was the extent of the information humanity currently possessed about the enemy before their eyes. Yet as her certainty about the game blurred, Ha Dowol could no longer assert it with confidence.

“Lady Dowol. About this…”

At that moment Pigeon 1 approached her urgently. Fearing their conversation might expose a weakness, she held the talisman like a fan to cover her mouth. Pigeon 1 cleverly leaned in close.

“Has the VIP been hit?” Many people qualified as VIP, but the most important was the president. Since Dohwa was sleeping inside the house where she had deployed her full defensive formation, there was no need to worry.

“The VIP is currently in the provinces. More urgent is that the people caught in the terror attack have begun exhibiting abnormal behavior.”

The words that followed from Pigeon 1’s mouth were more than enough to shake her composure.

“Thank you.”

After the storm passed, the party that had somehow reached an office tucked in the corner of the third floor took a moment to reorganize. The Awakened who received Yuseong’s healing stared at their completely restored wounds and thanked her sincerely. They even expressed gratitude for being saved from the trap.

“But how did you detect it?” “I’m not entirely sure myself… but I think it’s related to my build.” “Build?”

The Awakened looked puzzled. In his mind, Yuseong was… “What exactly is your class?” “Warrior.” “...You’re an elf? And you just used healing?”

“Well, that’s just me luckily being able to use an elf’s basic skill. Anyway, even with buffs, an elf warrior dies if they get grazed in endgame raids. So I invested everything into sixth sense and reflexes.” “Evasion and parrying? Then what about damage…?”

“Counterattack damage works out pretty well. Plus, it’s got that romantic feel, doesn’t it?”

The Awakened realized Yuseong was the type who genuinely enjoyed playing the game. Ironically, that very choice had allowed her to react first in the critical moment.

“Everyone, over here for a moment.” Pigeon 4 called the Awakened toward the window. “Is the core of the sorcery in that direction?” “It only lets us see outside. But you must look.”

The shaman felt a flicker of disappointment that it was not what he expected, yet since a government agent had called them, he assumed it must be serious. However—

“Wh-what is this?”

The scene beyond the window exceeded everyone’s expectations, including the shaman’s. Every human caught in the terror attack sat cross-legged, deep in meditation.

“Hey, Mr. Public Servant. Why are they like that?” “...I don’t know. But it’s not good for us.”

BOOM!

The door shook violently. They had placed a simple defensive spell on it as a precaution, yet even that barrier trembled.

“We counterattack immediately!”

The shaman’s fierce incantation unleashed firepower that blew the door and wall away entirely. As the smoke cleared, shikigami wielding suppression batons stormed through the breach.