After the Knock

If you've knocked, then next—

"Here."

Jihyun's gaze followed my fingertip and lingered a long time on the number 5 painted across the sign.

"...I'll log it. Down to the exact time."

The sound of her notebook flipping open was unusually loud.

"W-wait. Here? What do you mean, here?"

Nayeon, who'd been in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠middle of setting her bags down, came scrambling over.

"The anomalies were jumping in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sequence, and the last place they jumped to was here. Our site."

"So?"

"...I think it found me."

...Saying it out loud made it sound like nothing. It was clearly a massive deal, but the moment it left my mouth it landed at about the same threat level as hehehe rolled omelet yummy.

Sweeping, sweeping... sweeping again—then stop.

If it hadn't found what it wanted, it would have kept sweeping and spinning out more anomalies. The fact that it had stopped meant it no longer needed to look.

So once it found me, then what? Throw another tantrum like last time?

"......"

"......"

The two of them turned serious a beat too late. It was only after I watched them both go speechless at the same time that I managed to firm up the thoughts that had been going all mushy on me.

From the radio, which knew nothing of any of this, a voice from an entirely different world came drifting through.

Stabilization, they said. Must be nice for the Association. One headache cleanly crossed off the list.

"We're pulling out."

Nayeon, having finished thinking it through, said it shortly.

"Let's pull out right now. Okay?"

Jihyun answered by closing her notebook.

And then Nayeon suddenly bolted toward the parking lot.

"M-Master?!"

"Just a second! I need to grab something!"

What she came back holding was some kind of stick. A little wooden practice sword, the kind kids use at kendo halls.

"It's for self-defense."

"...Self-defense?"

"I've been waiting for the right time to give it to you, and I think now's that time. A real sword would be too dangerous... Besides, Byeori, you can handle any sword just fine, right?"

Talking about how swords are dangerous. Right in front of a sword.

That's character assassination... no, sword-character assassination!

It wasn't the mood for jokes, so I swallowed that one. Instead—

"Where am I supposed to wear this? My waist is this tiny."

"On the cart!"

"The cart."

"Keep it somewhere you can reach, and if things look dangerous, pull it out right away. Got it?"

The shoddy wooden sword got loaded into a corner of the luggage cart.

A wooden sword.... I could swing it, sure, but could this thing actually take a sword aura? That mass-produced kendo blade I'd used last time... the moment I pushed even a little sword energy into it, it started shuddering and nearly shattered.

Well. I'd just have to hope I never needed it.

Evacuation prep rolled along quickly. And through it all, the instrument panel stayed infuriatingly quiet. The numbers that had been popping up like moles just moments ago were all sitting perfectly still in their places, not budging an inch.

The observation team guys were all smiles. Stabilization, hallelujah. Early wrap-up, sweet as hell. That kind of vibe.

Only our guild, who'd caught on that this was the calm before the storm, was scrambling in a panic to pack up.

"Jihyun unnie."

"Yeah."

"Right here. Around my chest."

Jihyun's pen stopped.

"It's been aching since earlier. Not badly painful... more like that exact feeling you get when someone's staring at you and not looking away."

"The signals are all reading normal, though..."

"Yeah. Which means I'm the only signal detector we've got!"

If the signal hadn't disappeared. If it hadn't gone anywhere—if it had locked onto me....

Jihyun wrote all of that down, then asked,

"So, your conclusion?"

"We leave. Fast. Somewhere without people."

Just in case that thing came sniffing around like last time, so nobody else would get caught up in it.

"...Got it. I'll put it down as Field Judgment in the official record."

"But."

I stopped packing and looked toward the observation team's tent.

"What about those guys? Are we just leaving without telling them?"

Nayeon's hands froze.

"...Byeori. Unnie puts you first."

"I know. But we still have to tell them."

"Tell them what? That something's coming? Honestly, if it weren't you saying it, even I wouldn't believe it..."

"I don't know. I don't know, but—"

If we left without saying a word, and then something happened, even just maybe.... I didn't want that. That would make me the kid who knew everything and still walked away, leaving people in danger.

"...It'd sit wrong. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. You wouldn't either, would you, Master?"

Nayeon and Jihyun's eyes met.

"...You're right. We should tell them. Unnie was wrong."

We told them.

"Excuse me! I think the rift's going to act up again. You guys should pull out too..."

"Aigoo, little Hunter-nim."

The observation team guy just laughed, hearty and dismissive.

"The instruments are all normal. We're wrapping up early today to celebrate the stabilization, so don't you worry."

"B-but still!"

"Haha. Go on, go play with your unnies over there. The wrap-up radio call will come through soon."

"......"

I had no evidence, so I couldn't push it any further. I have a feeling, or my chest is aching... if I said that, there was no way they'd believe me.

Jihyun stepped forward.

"Subcontracted Saetbyeol Guild, withdrawing early per our own assessment. Reason: Field Judgment. Please just leave a record."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Thanks for your hard work~"

What we got back was a greeting that wouldn't even make it into anyone's notebook.

If our guild had been even a little bit bigger, would they have listened to what I had to say?

Jihyun gently steered me out of the tent, me standing there frozen, chewing on my lip.

We were about halfway through packing when it happened.

Boom—

Thoom—!

The ground rumbled. A dull but regular rhythm, neither rushed nor leisurely. It was a knocking sound. It had found me, and now it was starting to knock on the door.

"How rude...!"

Who knocks like that? There were already hairline cracks spreading across the ground...!

At the far end of the splitting earth, like a scene from a disaster movie, stood the observation team guy from earlier. Blank-faced. Looking back and forth between the instrument panel that hadn't so much as twitched, and the ground ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cracking open like a rice paddy in a drought.

The radio was still repeating the same thing.

Maybe they couldn't even feel the vibrations from the other sites.

"Mister! Get out of there!"

My voice didn't reach him. Equipment noise, radio chatter, and... the roar of the earth shaking. My voice was too small and thin to cut through all of that.

I was about to scream again when I realized something. My voice was a problem, sure—but so was the recipient. In a full-blown panic, even if a kid's voice reached him, would he even pay attention?

I'd been trying to reach the wrong person from the start.

Rrrumble—!

The ground split even wider. The tent collapsed, and massive boulders began surging upward.

Someone else. Someone who would listen even to a little kid's voice.

"Ah."

I'd decided to shout for someone, and I'd thought of it way too late. But it couldn't be helped. A sword isn't something that cries out in its own voice. It only hums when something strikes it. Calling for that person of all people... it just wasn't a thought I could come up with easily.

"By-Byeori! Over here, come on...!"

Jihyun held out her hand.

I looked at that hand for a moment, then drew in a breath all the way to the bottom of my lungs. What I remembered was a single number I'd memorized earlier.

Did it reach her? No. It must have.

I screamed until my throat tore.

The ground didn't wait for an answer.

"Aaah—!"

Until the splitting earth swallowed the tent whole... three meters.

I couldn't just stand there and wait. If I left him like that, he was actually going to die. ...Sitting still and waiting, unable to do anything—that was the thing I hated most in the world.

I turned my back on Jihyun's hand and ran toward the tent, measuring the distance as I went.

"Byeori!"

Two meters. One meter.

That was when, from the other side of the mountain—

THOOM—

Dirt exploded into the air like a bomb had gone off, and a person came shooting across the sky.

She was fast. Far faster than I remembered.

"Everyone, stand back!"

The first thing Rina saw the instant she landed was me. More precisely, my feet. She confirmed I was safe, and only then did her gaze snap toward the tent.

"Over here!"

KWAANG—!

The ground split, and the instrument supports and chunks of rock went flying toward the observation guy. Rina drew her sword—and by the time I'd even registered that, the blade was already catching the support beam.

A streak of blue light flashed. Just for an instant. A single line, following the edge of the blade.

CRACK—!

The steel support split like tofu and tumbled away to either side. And that wasn't the end of it. The boulder that had surged up cast a shadow as it loomed over the guy's head.

Even if you cut it, the pieces would fall. Even if you knocked it away, the fragments would spray. That wasn't something you could deal with using a sword—

No. No, no. Common sense didn't apply to an S-rank Hunter.

Before that thought had even finished, Rina used the split support as a foothold and launched herself. Just by unfolding her bent knees, she shot forward at a speed like an arrow. And then, a downward slash from midair.

KAGAK!

The boulder split cleanly down the middle and fell away to either side of him. Before the dust could even touch his shoulders, Rina already had him tucked under her arm.

Landing. Softly, without a sound. From start to finish, just two breaths.

"...Ah."

That color. That sword aura. She'd grown so much more than when she'd wielded me. Maybe I really had just been holding her back—

"......"

No. Don't think useless thoughts.

I shook my head and looked at what was in front of me again. Every last fragment she'd cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had fallen only into empty spaces where no one was standing. That wasn't a coincidence. She'd cut it accounting for exactly where the pieces would land.

...She really was a monster, yeah.

The ground rumbled a few more times, loudly... then stopped dead.

I looked toward Rina. She didn't even seem to notice I was watching, glancing down at her own blade for a moment.

"...My condition's back."

A mutter, barely audible. And then, without so much as looking back at me, she whirled around and left in the opposite direction.

The people were fine. Two of the ridiculously expensive observation units were dead. In the end, Site 5 was shut down.

The rescued observation guy bowed his head to me.

"Thank you, kid. If you hadn't shouted..."

"I was taught to shout. A long time ago."

"Haha... that's a good thing to have learned. You saved my life. Thank you, really."

He rummaged through his pocket and pressed a piece of candy into my hand.

Oh!

Oh...?

"R-red ginseng flavor...?"

"I wanted to give you something tastier, but this is all I've got right now..."

"N-no, it's fine. I like it."

I couldn't even handle mildly spicy curry. Could I actually eat something this bitter?

For now I just bowed my head, took the candy, and put it in my pocket—ah, right. These pants don't have pockets. Anyway, I stuffed it into my pants.

Ugh, the wrapper's all scratchy!

Rina, who'd disappeared to handle the aftermath, came over right after that.

"Any injuries."

"None. I'm fine."

"...You called well."

An awkward silence. Her lips twitched like she had more to say, and she finally managed to get it out.

"Do that next time too. If something dangerous happens, you always call for a nearby adult."

And then she started to say something more, but.

"...That's all."

Rina nodded and headed south again. The complete opposite of how she'd come running—her footsteps were even slower than mine.

While we waited for the evacuation vehicle, I had a throat lozenge in my mouth. It was from Jihyun's drawer. She'd given it to me after I said my throat hurt from screaming.

My throat went whoosh— all cool and tingly!

"Byeori, can you talk?"

"Yeah, it works. About halfway?"

"Halfway's enough. Halfway's fine."

Nayeon hadn't let go of my hand since earlier. A leash substitute, or something like that. I glanced over, and her hand clenched tighter over mine.

"Byeori."

"Yes."

"...Never mind. Let's talk about it at home later."

Was I about to get another round of that exhausting lecture....

"Hueeeng."

That might actually be the worst.

Until the lozenge had shrunk to half its size, nobody around us said a word. Clack. Roll, roll. While I diligently rolled the lozenge around between my teeth, the two of them just stared quietly at the ground. They all had the faces of people thinking the same thing.

At the end of that silence, Jihyun lowered her eyes to today's records. There were two pages. One for the Association, one for us.

"Which one's the real one?"

"Both. They just differ in how much they say."

It was a document with my name on it, so it'd probably get processed ridiculously fast again this time too. Aigoo, this fate of mine.

Before getting in the car, I took one last look toward the instrument panel. A shut-down site. A shattered monitor. And the control voice leaking from the radio.

Moving. The coordinates on the broken monitor, getting faster and faster. The mountain's base. The descent path. Where we were standing right now—

"...Oh."

Why hadn't I thought of that?

If you've knocked... then of course, next you'd try to open the door.