Red Gate
Red Gate
"Wow! Cake!"
A slice of cake was placed on the table.
'Want to Eat Shaved Ice', whom I met on the community forum.
I didn't know who she was, but living up to her handle, she had chosen a shaved ice cafe as our meeting place.
I had arrived first and was waiting, but then...
Want to Eat Shaved Ice: I'm sorry, something came up so I think I'll be a little late...
"A-um."
Wow! It's super delicious!
9-Circle Mage: KK, take your time.
Want to Eat Shaved Ice: I'm so sorry... You can order and eat first T_T
Originally, I intended to hold off until she arrived, but after hearing that it would take a while, I had just started ordering and eating first.
With every back-and-forth movement of the fork, the cake before my eyes gradually vanished, until it soon became what used to be a cake.
This body was neither hungry nor full. So I was trying everything I wanted to eat.
Now that the cake was finished, next was the shaved ice's turn.
"Waaah—"
A visual that made one feel cool just by looking at it. Taking a big spoonful, I put it into my mouth.
"Eeuu, cold!"
Frowning slightly at the brain-freezing sensation, I soon smiled again.
I felt the customer at the next table glancing at me with a fascinated look.
I briefly wondered why they were stealing glances like that, but figured who cares, and let it pass.
"Uuum, delicious!"
How much had I scooped up and eaten? Eventually, the shaved ice also began to show its bottom.
Umul-umul—
-Gkul-ggeok
I swallowed the fruit pulp. Following the cake, I had finished off all the shaved ice as well.
I felt the customer at the next table glancing at me once again. This time it was somehow a warm, cozy look, but I just ignored it.
"What should I eat next..."
With such thoughts, I turned my gaze out the window.
—U-u-ung
A blue space was swirling right in the middle of the street.
A Gate.
Indeed, it was a curious structure. A sort of portal, one might say. It seemed to forcibly link a space from another dimension with Earth.
Even having reached the realm of the 9th Circle, I couldn't fully comprehend it. It was a phenomenon that defied common sense to that extent.
Come to think of it, was the space I came from a Gate as well?
If one could only escape through such means, it made sense why I hadn't been able to escape for such a long time.
"I'm curious."
What form does the inside take? From what I've heard, every Gate's interior is different...
In front of the Gate, two Management Bureau employees were standing.
From the sounds coming from them, it was a C-grade Gate.
Even though a Gate had opened right in the middle of the street, people walked past without giving it a second thought.
The total amount of mana felt wasn't very large either, and a Gate of this level seemed to just be everyday life.
How long had I been staring blankly like that?
A group approached the Gate.
They were wearing rather unique attire, and judging by the mana felt from them, they seemed to be Hunters.
They exchanged a few words with the Management Bureau employees and then entered inside the Gate.
"I am curious, though..."
There were still many desserts left to eat, and there was also a person I had to wait for.
It's a pity, but let me save it for next time. If I ask the Management Bureau, they'll probably take me along at least once.
The moment I turned my head back and picked up the spoon again.
"Mm?"
A foreign reaction was felt from the Gate.
A feeling like repeating expansion and contraction?
Then it stopped expanding and began contracting to its limit, as if about to explode.
Something was happening.
And a very interesting-looking thing at that!
I originally intended not to go, but if it tempts me this much, there's no reason I can't go.
One of a mage's virtues is curiosity. And curiosity advances magic.
I am merely trying to satisfy that curiosity.
Ssi-ik—
Putting down the spoon I was holding, I pulled out the phone issued by the Management Bureau and left a message for Want to Eat Shaved Ice.
9-Circle Mage: I'm also stepping out for a moment to take care of something.
"Mmm."
Should I go openly, or should I go secretly?
As expected, going secretly would be better.
I feel sorry for the Management Bureau, but since I'm just going briefly and coming back, they'll understand. Probably.
『Teleport』
Along with a brief sense of floating, my field of vision inverted. When I opened my eyes, I was right in front of the Gate.
The controlling Management Bureau employee didn't seem to have noticed me yet.
"Hihit—"
I slipped right into the Gate just like that.
The employee who noticed too late shouted something, but it was already too late.
Too bad for you!
Around the same time, near the cafe.
"Huh? Isn't that a kid over there?"
"Why is a kid entering a Gate?"
The murmurs of passing pedestrians.
There was someone nearby observing the situation with sparkling eyes—Want to Eat Shaved Ice, disguised as a civilian.
It was S-class hunter, Yoo Seolhwa.
"......!"
'A young child entered a Gate?'
Even though she had specially cleared her schedule to meet the 9-Circle Mage, work got delayed, making her 30 minutes late.
Want to Eat Shaved Ice: I'm sorry, something came up so I think I'll be a little late...
She had sent an apologizing message and rushed over in a hurry, but...
Upon arriving, what she heard was that a young child had entered the Gate.
Her deliberation was swift.
She was about to open the community forum immediately to send another message...
9-Circle Mage: I'm also stepping out for a moment to take care of something.
"They left?"
So they weren't waiting.
With a slight sense of relief, she left a message.
Want to Eat Shaved Ice: Something truly urgent came up for me suddenly... I'm so sorry.
Want to Eat Shaved Ice: I think we'll have to schedule it for another day or reschedule... I have no face T_T
Would this be enough?
A subtle lingering regret remained, but now was not the time for that.
She put away her phone and walked toward the two employees guarding the Gate. As her pace quickened, the force loaded into her toes increased as well.
"Uh, uh, you can't come over here!"
Looking at the employees trying to stop her, she pulled down the sunglasses and mask she was wearing.
"I am Yoo Seolhwa of the White Night Guild."
"Eh?"
Before they could ask back, Yoo Seolhwa had already thrown herself into the Gate.
"No! W-Wait a minute! There's a problem with the Gate right now—"
Too late. The Gate had already swallowed her.
"Ah..."
At the exact moment Yoo Seolhwa threw herself into the Gate.
Jeong Seah, who was near the cafe, was going out of her mind.
"Haa... Where on earth did she go..."
Where did Tia go, who was eating dessert in the cafe just a moment ago?
It was in an instant. Quite literally, she vanished in an instant.
Simply fast speed?
No, it wasn't a problem of that dimension.
In the first place, the cafe door was closed, and to leave, she would have had to smash something to get out.
Jeong Seah pressed her communicator while holding her temple.
Jijik—
- This is Team 2 Leader Kang Jihwan. Please speak.
"What about Tia-nim?"
- We are searching as well, but... she's nowhere to be seen even after scouring the surroundings. At this point, it's at the level of teleportation, isn't it?
"Huuu..."
Field Response Unit Department Head Jeong Seah.
As the sole S-class hunter belonging to the Management Bureau and the one called by the moniker Star Spear...
Right now, she was placed in the worst situation since working at the Management Bureau.
She lost track of the Gate Boss she was tightly marking. On top of that, she couldn't even grasp a clue as to where she had moved.
Just as her brow was narrowing over how to handle this matter...
The communication connected once again. This time it was a different channel.
Jijik—
- This is Team 2 Leader Lee Suhyeok. Department Head-nim, do you have a moment?
What else is happening...
- Regarding the C-grade Gate that opened right beside us.
"Yeah."
- That... the grade is strange. We just checked, but the numerical reading that was C-grade jumped to high-tier A-grade.
"What? Does that make any sense?"
- We also thought it was a measurement error and double-checked just now... but it isn't. It actually suddenly changed.
"Don't tell me."
- Yes, it seems to be a Red Gate.
Red Gate.
An extremely rare phenomenon where a Gate mutates for some reason.
Once entered, until the clear is complete, no one can come out.
The connection between the inside and outside is completely severed, and support and rescue are impossible—quite literally a hell.
- What's even more of a problem is— the employee controlling the Gate said they saw a young child entering the Gate.
She opened the rear door of the car and pulled out a spear that was on the back seat.
The suddenly occurred Red Gate, and the whereabouts of the disappeared Gate Boss.
If a young child entered the Gate as they said...
"It's Tia-nim."
- Yes... circumstantial evidence suggests so.
Just how is the situation developing?
As a stroke of luck amid misfortune, the Red Gate and the missing Gate Boss had all gathered in one place.
Then solving it all at once will suffice.
- And just now, Hunter Yoo Seolhwa of the White Night Guild was also confirmed to have entered the same Gate. It's said she stated her identity and jumped right in...
"Yoo Seolhwa?"
Why is that name suddenly coming up here?
No. Let's not think about it.
Focus only on the current situation.
If S-class Hunter Yoo Seolhwa went in, at least that's a relief.
Jeong Seah briefly took a breath and switched her radio transmission.
"All teams, standby."
- Standby... you mean?
"Control the Gate perimeter and prepare so you can enter at any time."
Her gaze turned toward the Gate darkened.
"I will enter the Gate alone."
While it was utter chaos outside like that.
Inside the Red Gate.
"Ooh!"
The moment she stepped inside, what unfolded before Tia's eyes was...
"It's a castle!"
A spire towering as if to pierce the sky, and flags with unfamiliar crests fluttering above it.
It was the kind of castle that would only appear in a fantasy world.