Caught

"Finally done."

Inside the quiet office, I finished sorting the signed documents from the ones still pending and kneaded the back of my stiff neck.

Buried under the avalanche of paperwork since this morning, I'd worked without a single break. My eyes were dry and stinging, and my neck ached dully with fatigue.

Part of me wanted to throw everything aside and rest for an entire day, but I couldn't afford the time.

I mean, if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I—the Guild Master—didn't work, how was the guild supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to function? If I'd wanted to do whatever I pleased, I should have stayed a jobless bum instead of becoming a Guild Master.

I reached for my tumbler to wet my throat, only to find it already drained dry at some point. So I pressed the bell on my desk.

Moments later, the door opened and a woman in office attire stepped inside.

"You called, Guild Master?"

"Yeah. Si-yeon, get me a strong coffee, please."

"You've already had two full tumblers. All that caffeine isn't good for you."

"Haha, who do you think I am? A little extra coffee isn't going to hurt me."

"Still. You know everyone's got their eyes on you and only you, right, Guild Master?"

"Ahh, fine, fine. Forget the coffee, then. Just a nice cup of tea will do."

"Yes~ right away, sir!"

My capable chief secretary, Si-yeon, picked up the tumbler and left the room. I decided to rest in my chair while she fetched the tea.

Swiiish~

I spun the chair around to look out the window. Beyond the glass stretched the cityscape of New Seoul, which had finally managed to look something like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whole again.

"A few years ago, I honestly thought the world was ending."

Ten years ago, Gates had appeared out of nowhere, spilling monsters across the earth.

Firearms and conventional weapons weren't entirely useless against them, but because Gates had a habit of manifesting in densely populated areas, the death toll was staggering.

Worse still, "not entirely useless" was all it amounted to—mid- and large-sized monsters routinely shrugged off modern weaponry, or possessed special abilities that rendered our arms useless altogether.

Because of that, the first two or three years after the Gates appeared were, quite literally, hell on earth. Even now, plenty of nations have yet to recover from the damage, and many more have collapsed and vanished entirely.

South Korea had restored Seoul, but several regions—including the whole of Gangwon Province—remained devastated to this day.

And me? I was a 1st-Generation Hunter, one of those who awakened within the first year of the Gates' arrival, in a world where the genre had flipped overnight.

"Back then, we really did fight for our lives."

The past ten years held more than I could ever put into words. Countless Gates and the endless variety of monsters that poured out of them. To survive, and beyond that, to protect people, I'd had to fight without pause.

Well—all of that was ancient history now. I'd gathered the hunters who'd fought beside me back then along with the newer generation of awakened ones, and founded this Baekya Guild, the guild that stood as the face of South Korea.

"Status Window."

Level 198. The highest in South Korea, and an overwhelming level that would place me among the top five in the entire world. Thanks to that, even setting my trait and skills aside, my physical abilities had surpassed anything you'd call human.

I was gazing at the status window, letting old memories wash over me, when Si-yeon came back in and set a fresh tumbler on my desk.

"Enjoy your tea, Guild Master~"

"Thanks, I will… Oh, right. Si-yeon, what level are you at now?"

"Me? Just hit 99."

"Wow, so one more level and you're an A-Rank Hunter, right? Forget being my secretary—I'll put you on the support team. How about running some gates?"

"No thanks. I'm perfectly happy with what I'm doing now. And I do run gates on my regular days off anyway, so it's all good."

"Aww, come on. Watching you is just painful for me."

"Really, it's fine. And honestly, Level 100 is right around the corner anyway. One more gate run on my next day off and I'll be there."

"Really? Well, if you ever need anything, just say the word. We're practically family, you know. Got it?"

"Hehe, yes, sir. I will."

Si-yeon smiled warmly—whether at my gesture of consideration, I couldn't say—and was just about to step out of the room when—

Beep— beep— beep—

The smartphone in her pocket flashed red and rang out.

"Yes, what is it?"

"…Understood. I'll inform the Guild Master right away."

Hanging up, Si-yeon turned to face me.

"Guild Master."

"I heard it too. I'm leaving immediately—get the helicopter ready."

"Right away, sir."

While Si-yeon relayed the call elsewhere, I walked toward the steel door at the side of the Guild Master's office. When I looked at the scanner set into the center of the bare wall, my irises were recognized and the wall slid open in both directions.

Between the parted walls, my personal armament awaited: a single spear, and a shield.

Anyone else might think two items was hardly an arsenal, but it was more than enough.

Armed and ready, I headed for the rooftop with Si-yeon in tow. When the Guild Master's private elevator delivered us to the top of the building, guild members were already there waiting: the Rapid Response Team.

That was the standing duty in which at least one of the guild's teams took turns each week, prepared for exactly this kind of emergency. And this week's Rapid Response Team was the Baekho Team—famed even within our guild for their sheer speed.

The moment I stepped onto the rooftop, the Baekho Team's leader sauntered over with a sly grin.

"Guild Master, you've been skipping out on gate duty lately. Military discipline slipping, is it?"

"Discipline, my foot. We're not soldiers. And it's you lot who are too fast, if you ask me."

"Hehehe, with gate incidents, speed is everything, no? Alright, let's move out!"

With Si-yeon and the Baekho Team aboard, we lifted off. The helicopter rose into the sky and sped toward the scene.

The state-of-the-art helicopter, patched over with every latest technology, soon arrived near the Gate Outbreak site.

"This is…"

"It's already begun."

Outside the helicopter, monsters were surging like an incoming tide, met by hunters from the Association and from the smaller and mid-sized guilds.

"Gu-cheol, I can leave this to you, right?"

"Hehehe, what do you take me for? Worry not, sir! I take it you'll head straight for the gate itself?"

"That's the plan."

"Then I've got faith in you. Alright, boys!!"

""""""YES, SIR!!"""""

"Move out!"

Clunk—

Before the helicopter even touched down, its door slid open in midair, and the Baekho Team—without so much as a parachute between them—leapt into the air below. Last of all came their leader, Kang Gu-cheol.

"When we're done here, we're going to the sauna together, first time in ages!!"

"Deal! So don't you get hurt!"

"You think these things could hurt me?!"

Yahooo—!!

With Kang Gu-cheol's final leap, the helicopter door closed again. Far below, I could see the Baekho Team—landing however each of them pleased—already driving the monsters back in an instant.

"Lizardmen, huh."

The monsters that had poured out of this outbreak appeared to be Lizardmen, along with the insect-type monsters they commanded. I briefly gauged the mana they carried—the Baekho Team should handle them just fine.

"Let's hurry as well."

At my word, the pilot banked and headed for the heart of the outbreak—the gate itself, the maw spewing out monsters. And just behind our helicopter, another appeared, emblazoned with a familiar logo.

"That's a broadcast station logo. Should we warn them off?"

"No, leave them be. Engaging them would only invite a headache."

Hyenas, the lot of them, chasing nothing but exclusives. Poke at them and they'd inevitably start squawking about the public's right to know. There was nothing they could do to stop us, but I wanted no part of the hassle. They risked their lives doing that job too—might as well let them film.

We soon arrived above the gate. It swirled crimson, as if announcing that the rampage was in full swing.

"Si-yeon, want to come with me?"

"M-me?"

"Yeah, you said Level 100 was right around the corner. Why not level up on this?"

"N-no way! Going with you means freezing half to death, you know!"

"Haha, is that so? Then I suppose I'm going alone."

The helicopter door opened again, and the wind rushed in. I caught the necklace with the red gemstone as it whipped about in the fierce gust, and tucked it safely inside my shirt.

"Off I go, then."

"Yes, sir. I'll come pick you up the moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it's over."

"Right, this won't take long. Stay put."

Before launching out, I raised my hand into the air.

The frost-laden mana flowing from my body gathered and condensed into massive pillars of ice. I swept my hand down toward the monsters surging down the mountainside like a flood, and one after another, the ice pillars plunged toward the ground.

KWANG—! KUGWANG—!

Dozens of meters of ice came crashing down, crushing the monsters beneath them. And where the pillars struck earth, they began radiating waves of bitter cold into their surroundings. That would hold the monsters' movement in check for a good while.

"See you in a bit!"

WHOOOM—!

I threw myself out of the helicopter and into free fall. Instead of dropping all the way to the ground, I landed atop one of the ice pillars I'd dropped, then bounded lightly from pillar to pillar, making my way to the gate.

The gate swirled crimson. It seemed to have regurgitated nearly all of its monsters, because the flow was thinning. Well, even what I'd personally counted exceeded a thousand—it was about time.

But the real fight started now.

Did anyone seriously believe an S-Rank gate would end after coughing up a mere thousand-odd monsters?

Beyond the gate, something was slowly making its presence known. Every monster that had emerged so far, combined, couldn't match the presence radiating from this single creature.

Rather than a lizard-like Lizardman, it had the head of a dragon—and in its hand, a spear carved from bone.

Scanning it with Insight—now such a basic skill that every hunter knows it—revealed its race: Dragonian. Level 160. A species I'd never seen before, but there was no doubt this thing was the boss monster.

The gate it had burst from shrank and shrank, then vanished entirely.

"Never picked up the hobby of giving my name to monsters."

"You lack even the honor of a warrior, then. Very well. I shall wrench that name from you by force."

"If you can."

KWAANG!

The Dragonian who'd called himself Shuroft kicked off the ground, and part of the mountain simply collapsed. In the same instant, he crossed the distance to me faster than an eye could blink.

The spear in his single hand moved like a serpent, striking for my throat.

Thwk—

The spear buried itself deep into my neck—but I was fine. After all, that had been an ice clone from the start.

"I've dealt with things like you hundreds of times over."

The shattered clone scattered into what looked like white snow, flying apart and coating Shuroft's entire body.

"Cold Explosion."

Crack!

The instant I snapped my fingers, the white crystals clinging to him swelled and fused, freezing him solid into a colossal ice statue.

He wasn't dead yet, but left like this, he wouldn't be moving for a while. So then—

"Let's end this."

I raised the spear I'd brought from my office and aimed for his heart. Mana saturated the weapon, and it stretched out gleaming a pale silver-blue—

CRACK—!

With the sound of splitting ice, his spear came for my throat.

"How—?!"

I jerked myself backward in a panic, but I couldn't evade it completely. The spear grazed me by a hair's breadth—and snapped the cord of the necklace hanging around my neck.

"Ah—!"

I lunged desperately for the necklace as it floated through the air, but cruelly, it fluttered out of reach and landed right in front of Shuroft.

"A pity, warrior. I could have pierced your throat in one str…hmm?"

Even for a monster, Shuroft's voice sounded bewildered. But I had no time to spare for that.

The moment the necklace left my body, the changes began. My height shrank, my limbs drew in. My hair lengthened, my muscle melted away.

"Ahh…"

A thin, high voice spilled from my throat.

I looked up—and there was the broadcast station helicopter that had followed me all this way, its massive shoulder-mounted camera pointed straight at me.

The secret I'd worked so hard to hide all this time. The fact that I was a woman. The fact that I was a woman who looked this young.

It had all just been broadcast to the entire world.