The World of Hunters
Thud-thud-thud-thud...
The rooftop garden of the Yuseong Guild headquarters. The deafening roar of helicopter blades filled the air as the chopper touched down on the helipad painted over the artificial turf.
"Shin Ji-hye."
Lee Seon-yul, wearing a hunter suit for the first time in nearly three years, frowned at the constricting sensation squeezing her chest.
Did this thing shrink because I haven't worn it in so long...?
Suddenly annoyed, she voiced the question that had been lingering in her mind.
"Do I really have to go too?"
It was Yoo Sung's request, delivered through Do Yun-ah.
Kim Hee-jeong and Do Hyun-ah were already inside the helicopter. So was Jin Seong-ah, who had been caught by Kim Hee-jeong earlier.
He had requested every single S-rank hunter except for Choi Mi-ra, who was better suited for aftermath cleanup than actual combat, and Lee Chae-eun, who still lacked combat experience.
"You don't have to."
"..."
"Hunter Team 3 has plenty of magic-type awakeners, so there will be enough rescue personnel. Hyun-ah is going, too."
As for Shin Ji-hye herself...
She couldn't go. She shouldn't go. Lee Seon-yul knew that fact all too well.
Yet, for some reason, Shin Ji-hye was wearing her hunter suit as if she were about to board that helicopter at any second.
Why...?
To Lee Seon-yul, it made no sense.
"It's fine, Seon-yul. You already do plenty of work as it is. No need to feel pressured. You know the kids on the hunter teams, right? Nothing bad will happen."
"..."
"If it really bothers you, you can always go with the backup unit..."
Telekinesis. While it was a great ability for destruction, it was also peerless when it came to saving lives.
Clearing obstacles from blocked roads, deflecting falling debris from above, or lifting and carrying people across physically severed paths.
Unlike physical-type awakeners who only possessed raw strength, or magic-type awakeners whose abilities had limited utility, telekinesis was incredibly versatile.
"..."
And the greatest telekinetic in the Yuseong Guild was Lee Seon-yul.
"He specifically asked for me, right?"
"According to Yun-ah, yes. She asked if she should call you too, and Sung-eun said to bring you along..."
"..."
She couldn't understand Yoo Sung either, who had gone out of his way to summon her.
To think he would jump back into hunter work after finally retiring.
To think he was trying to save people.
"If he's doing it, I can't just sit this one out."
Facing monsters would only put his own life in danger.
His strength was far too weak to save anyone.
Even she had failed to save so many people...
So why was Yoo Sung, who was vastly weaker than her, doing this?
"Seon-yul, you don't have to push yourself. Team 3 is..."
"Shin Ji-hye."
"Yeah?"
"I'm an S-rank too."
They were facing demons instead of monsters, but the Gate itself was only A-rank.
If Yoo Sung, a mere D-rank, was out there, it would wound her pride as an S-rank to stay hidden.
That was why she was going.
"Don't worry."
"...Alright. Be careful out there."
Lee Seon-yul gave a curt nod to Shin Ji-hye, who was watching her with a swirl of complex emotions, and walked toward the helicopter.
Grrrrrr...!!
"Uh..."
The giant turned its head toward the spot where red mana was swirling.
Its hideous eyes twisted in fury. The hand gripping the building began to move.
"Captain! We're fucked!"
Do Hwa. The hunter, who went by a single-character name, fired her wire in the opposite direction of the massive hunk of flesh swinging toward her.
"Our attacks aren't doing shit!"
She had channeled the acceleration of her fall from the helicopter and her mana-reinforced physical strength directly into the back of its head.
Yet, the giant remained completely unscathed. Despite its colossal size, there wasn't even a scratch on it. If anything, she had only succeeded in pissing it off.
"What do you mean they aren't working? Did it absorb the impact, or did it just tank it?"
"I don't know!"
Zzzzip! The launcher on her arm retracted the wire, pulling her body through the air toward where the anchor had latched.
The giant's arm swung through the exact spot she had occupied a split second ago. Sweeping through empty air, the massive limb slammed into the adjacent building, obliterating it in a shower of debris.
"What do we do now?!"
A capable man who had held a captain's position in Yuseong, the nation's top guild, despite being a mere D-rank.
Though he had retired to become a guide, his voice—now inexplicably present at the scene—crackled through her earpiece.
"Fall back for now. Get out of its range. Keep your distance."
"Right, got it!"
The hunters who had descended with her exchanged tense glances from the rooftop of a building.
Their current captain was Do Yun-ah, and Yoo Sung was their former captain. Do Hwa had instinctively looked to Yoo Sung out of habit, but...
Whose orders were they supposed to follow? The current captain, Do Yun-ah, had yet to issue any commands.
As if anticipating this confusion in the chain of command, a conversation between the former and current captains filtered through the comms.
"Yun-ah, do you want to take command?"
"I've never commanded an urban combat operation before. You take it, Senior."
"I can't manage all of this alone. Let's split the teams."
"That sounds better."
"Everyone, listen up. Do Hwa's squad, you're with me. We're Alpha. Ha-jun's squad, stick with Yun-ah. You're Bravo."
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood."
The situation was organized in an instant. The voice of the Alpha Team leader continued.
"Pull back toward the Han River first. Head in the direction with the fewest civilians."
"Got it! Everyone hear that? Toward the Han River!"
Fighting monsters was always a battle against the unknown. Eleven years had passed since the first Gate opened, and while humanity had figured out a great deal, mysterious, unidentified monsters still spawned on the front lines.
Demons, which appeared far less frequently but were vastly stronger than monsters, were an even greater mystery.
Why hadn't the attack worked? Did it block it, or did it just tank it? Or was it a new breed of demon that was entirely immune to physical attacks?
The questions flashed through Do Hwa's mind as she swung through the air on her wire. But she quickly cleared her head. Solving these mysteries wasn't her job.
First-generation, early awakeners.
Hunters who had fought since Year Zero of the Gate Catastrophe, back when absolutely nothing was known about the monsters.
The hunter who had once been her captain had fought the unknown far longer than she had, and he knew exactly how to handle it.
"Seon-ho, you there?"
"Yes, Senior. You called?"
"You guys are Charlie. Split your squad into three teams. You see the bridge leading into Yeouido? Block off all incoming traffic. If you see any civilians nearby, evacuate them immediately."
"Understood, Senior."
First, assess the situation.
Second, respond.
—Darling, what should I do?
"Hee-jeong, you're here too?"
—You're the one who called me, aren't you?
"Is Seong-ah with you?"
—Oh my, you call me out here and the first thing you do is ask for Seong-ah? You really are... a tease. Seong-ah is right next to me. So are Hyun-ah... and Seon-yul.
And third.
"Throw something big to draw their attention."
"We're going to scatter those bastards using Team Leader Kim Hee-jeong's magic. The buildings are obstacles to them, so use them as cover and hold the line. Fighting them in the open park is a death sentence."
Conquer.
—Something big. Got it, darling.
Marketing Team Leader Kim Hee-jeong. The woman who would constantly show up at the hunter team's training grounds with a camera to film their sessions.
But she was also a ten-year veteran S-rank magic-type awakener.
"...Whoa."
A mass of pitch-black mana began to coalesce above Yeouido Park.
Black magic. It was a spectacle that deserved no other name. The swirling mass of mana in the sky began to pull in everything around it like a vortex.
Do Hwa and the other hunters clinging to the building walls found themselves momentarily transfixed by the sight.
...Why did that mass of mana feel infinitely more terrifying than the giants standing right in front of them?
"Hee-jeong. Try not to destroy the buildings if you can help it."
—I know, darling. But don't you think Yeouido would look much prettier if we just flattened it and rebuilt it from scratch?
"We need them for cover."
—Hehe. Fine, fine~.
The writhing mass of mana, which looked ready to swallow the entire world, surged violently.
Then, in an instant, it froze.
As the giants stood frozen, their attention captured by the bizarre phenomenon just like the hunters, the colossal mass of dark mana began to slowly descend upon their heads.
───!!
Ruin was descending.
The moment the hunters felt a primal shiver run down their spines and instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves, the mass struck the earth.
A faint tremor rippled through the buildings they clung to. They could feel the subtle shockwave washing over them.
"Stop spacing out and start saving people!"
The sharp bark through the earpieces snapped the dazed hunters back to reality.
The hunters hanging from the buildings near the park shot out their wires in all directions, grabbing every civilian in sight and pulling them to safety.
Skreeeech!!
An ear-splitting, metallic shriek tore through the air—a sound far too unnatural to have come from a living giant.
Clutching their heads with their bulging, muscular arms, the beasts began to thrash about in a wild frenzy.
A local police station on the corner of Yeouido Park was crushed like tofu as one of the giants stumbled backward into it.
Even amidst the chaos, the voice in their ears remained perfectly calm.
"Alpha, follow me. We're taking the two heading toward the National Assembly. Got it? We can't let them cross past the subway station. The roads are narrow, so a lot of citizens haven't been able to evacuate yet. Saving lives is our top priority."
"Yes, sir!"
"Bravo, handle the two fleeing toward the department store. Do not let them get near the apartment complexes under any circumstances."
"Understood."
"Hee-jeong? Take care of the one heading toward Mapo Bridge."
—On it~.
"Seong-ah, handle the one heading toward Seogang Bridge. Can you do it?"
—I can do it.
The steady stream of orders continued. Do Hwa and the hunters under her command retracted their wires from the buildings and leaped off the glass facades.
"And Lee Seon-yul."
—...What is it, Yoo Sung?
"You go to the National Assembly with Hyun-ah."
—You want me to go wipe the asses of politicians?
"There's a school field trip group there."
—...What?
"There are too many kids, so they probably haven't evacuated yet. Help them escape toward Yeongdeungpo."
—Fine. I got it.
A heavy sigh echoed through the earpiece.
"Operation start. Don't die out there."
After descending from the helicopter and landing in the middle of Yeouido, Lee Seon-yul and Do Hyun-ah began moving toward the National Assembly Building.
It was glaringly obvious that the situation was turning into a complete shitshow.
Colossal giants, dozens of meters tall, were obliterating buildings with every swing of their arms.
They had remained completely unscathed even after Hunter Team 3's surprise attack during the initial drop. Even now, as battles raged all across Yeouido, the comms were filled with nothing but desperate cries that their attacks weren't doing anything.
First, they had to get all the civilians out.
Only then could they call in Shin Ji-hye or Baek Seol to clean up this mess.
"Sigh..."
However...
The road in front of the National Assembly Building was utter chaos.
Dozens of cars were piled up in a massive gridlock, bumper-to-bumper, in a multi-vehicle collision of unimaginable proportions.
Civilians were scrambling over hoods and squeezing between bumpers just to flee on foot.
"They always tell people to abandon their cars when a Gate opens, so why the hell did they..."
It was the most basic evacuation protocol.
Trying to escape by car when a Gate opened in a densely populated city like Seoul was a physical impossibility.
"Because basic rules don't matter to people who only care about their own comfort."
"..."
"This is where the wealthiest and most powerful people in Korea gather. They're the type who want to escape in comfort... Do you really think people like that would deign to run on foot?"
Do Hyun-ah muttered in a chillingly deadpan voice, adjusting her slipping lab coat.
People in business suits sporting gold lapel pins were screaming at the top of their lungs, shoving their way through the crowd to escape first.
"It'd be faster to fly. Seon-yul, can you manage?"
The road was physically choked with metal. Walking to the National Assembly Building visible in the distance seemed completely out of the question.
Lee Seon-yul scowled at Do Hyun-ah's question.
"Who do you think you're talking to?"
Mana surged from Lee Seon-yul's body, enveloping them both. Floating into the air with her telekinesis, the two of them 'flew' over the heads of the panicked crowd and glided straight into the Assembly building.
"..."
The interior of the National Assembly was no better.
Even with a Gate wide open and demons crawling out, people were desperately trying to drag out massive bags filled with whatever they deemed so precious.
With a grimace, Lee Seon-yul shattered a window with her telekinesis and stepped inside.
*Tap, tap.* Do Hyun-ah landed gracefully as the telekinetic grip released her, dusting off her hands as she surveyed the surroundings.
"Let's check the third floor."
"The third floor?"
"The main chamber is on the third floor. The room you always see on TV. If kids came for a field trip, they'd probably be there. It's the largest space."
They hadn't seen any students among the fleeing crowds. Lee Seon-yul nodded at Do Hyun-ah's suggestion, and the two headed toward the main chamber on the third floor.
"Teacher...?"
"Teacher, are we going to die...?"
"Kids...? Just a second, please wait..."
"Mommy...!!"
It was exactly as Do Hyun-ah had predicted.
They looked like upper elementary school students. A quick scan of the room suggested there were well over a hundred of them.
For some reason, there were only three teachers trying to manage the entire horde of children.
Meanwhile, a cold, mechanical voice echoed continuously through the building's PA system.
The automated broadcast repeatedly warned that an evacuation order had been issued and instructed everyone to leave immediately. If even grown adults were losing their minds and fleeing in terror, there was no way elementary schoolers wouldn't be frightened out of their wits by the ominous announcement.
"Excuse me."
"...Yes?! W-Who are you...?"
The teacher was so overwhelmed trying to soothe the crying, hysterical children that she hadn't even noticed Do Hyun-ah's approach until she spoke.
Do Hyun-ah decided that explaining who they were to the teacher, only for the teacher to relay that to the students to restore order, was highly inefficient.
"Hey, kids."
Instead, she summoned her mana to create a massive sphere of brilliant light.
"We're hunters."
"Hointers...?"
"You want to go home, right? We're going to take you home."
*Snap.*
Do Hyun-ah snapped her fingers, extinguishing the sphere of light.
Instantly, the main chamber was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
"We're leaving anyone who cries behind, so shut up."
That single sentence was more than enough to make every child instantly stop crying.
She's really doing this to kids...?
Lee Seon-yul finally understood why Yoo Sung called Do Hyun-ah a psychopath.