After Sending Back Han Seol-ah with the Face of a Comeback Hero
After sending back Han Seol-ah, whose face now burned with the fierce resolve of a reversal hero, I took a moment to stop by the Black Market Korea branch.
"Here are the escape artifacts you requested."
Kang Hyo-jun handed me a bag. Inside were top-grade potions alongside artifacts that could save my life.
This is the escape ring, and this is the life-saving earring.
"Mm."
I swept them all into my inventory.
My life is precious, after all.
You could never prepare too much.
"Then we'll consider the identity forgery request canceled."
All these artifacts were basically freebies. When Kang Hyo-jun had hemmed and hawed about how tricky forging an identity would be, I'd demanded these as compensation for dropping the commission.
"Th-thank you!"
Relief flooded his face at my announcement, impossible to hide. He must have been that desperate. Forging an identity must be way harder than I'd imagined.
Now that I've built a connection with Min Ji-hee, I've got something more reliable than going through the Black Market. No need to bother with a market-sourced fake ID.
He would've eventually messaged me with "No longer needed" anyway if I'd left it alone.
Jackpot. Total jackpot.
It felt like an omen that things were falling into place, lightening my steps as I headed to the appraisal center right on time.
As I opened the door, the eyes of Han Seol-ah, Min Ji-hee, and Jin Cheon-jin—already waiting—locked onto me in unison.
A heavy silence hung in the air, thick with barely contained anxiety on the verge of explosion.
"I'll explain the plan."
Their breaths caught at once. My first words felt like a death sentence deciding their fates.
I pointed at Han Seol-ah.
"You'll face Skazaha."
"…?"
Min Ji-hee and Jin Cheon-jin were dumbfounded.
"Pardon?"
It was understandable. I'd declared I'd kill Skazaha myself, so they'd assumed I'd handle everything from start to finish.
…But no.
I couldn't leave Incheon. Yet I couldn't just wait around for Skazaha to come to me either.
By then, Korea would already be done for.
While I prepared an ultra-long-range sniper spell from Incheon all the way to where Skazaha spawned in Pyongyang… someone had to hold it off from advancing south.
"Just endure."
Why else would I waste four precious days sparring with her?
"…How long do we need to hold?"
Min Ji-hee asked, her face desperate.
"Two minutes."
"Two minutes?! Apostle, sir. The enemy is Skazaha. Not just any dragon—it's a calamity-grade ancient dragon. For a human to survive two minutes against that monster…!"
"Can't make it shorter."
It was the bare minimum. Any less, and the 'charge' wouldn't be enough… the distance to Skazaha wouldn't be bridged.
That was the spell's limit. Any longer, and even revived a hundred times, Han Seol-ah couldn't endure.
For the spell's prep, it was the razor-thin minimum. For her survival limit, it was perfectly calibrated.
Two minutes was that golden window.
"Think it's impossible?"
I cut off Min Ji-hee before she could add more, turning to Han Seol-ah.
You can do it. If anyone can, it's you.
That's how I'd trained her.
And sure enough.
"No. I can do it."
"Seol-ah…!"
Unyielding determination gleamed in Han Seol-ah's eyes.
"Two minutes. No—even longer if I have to. Until you've finished your preparations, Apostle."
That's right. That's my girl.
Three hours until Skazaha appeared.
—Preparations complete.
Pyongyang, the already ruined land.
From a mountaintop overlooking the ashen ruins, Kim Min-seok peered through his binoculars.
And instantly regretted it.
Better not to have looked.
They called a Rank 1 gate a "mid-boss gate," right? Whoever named it had some nerve—such a comforting label.
If they'd ever laid eyes on a real "Boss Gate" even once, they wouldn't dream of using a similar name.
Boss Gates were on another level entirely.
Especially Korea's Boss Gate… it's from beyond the heavens.
Kim Min-seok shook his head.
"…It's starting."
It began with sound.
Kkiiigggk—
At first, like nails raking a massive chalkboard, a piercing tinnitus stabbed his eardrums.
Kuuaaaang—!
Soon the entire sky howled.
The mana particles filling Pyongyang's skies trembled wildly in terror at the apex predator's arrival, screaming in unison.
The atmosphere itself twisted in fright.
"Ugh…!"
Kim Min-seok reflexively clamped his ears and collapsed.
But it was useless. That nerve-shredding rupture bypassed his eardrums, invading straight to his brain via the hunter's mana circuits—his sensory organs.
"Urk."
Bile surged up. His heart pounded erratically, a chill like blood flowing backward overtaking his body.
Humanity's primal instinct—survival instinct—was reacting violently.
Even from over 10km away… this much?
Zzzt— Kwazzik!
The sky split like rotting flesh bursting open. As if invisible giant hands forcibly tore space apart, a hideous gash ripped through Pyongyang's airspace.
From that rift, from the wound's raw edges, a pale abyss began to leak.
An unnatural energy that devoured light and stole heat!
Saturation died. The moment the gate cracked open, even the gray clouds shrouding Pyongyang lost color, fading to a murkier monochrome.
The laws of the world were being overwritten.
Not Earth's physics, but the "monster"'s laws from beyond that door.
It's eroding this much without even appearing yet…!
Kim Min-seok thought, chilled to the bone.
…Hell has opened.
And then…
Drip.
Sound vanished.
The atmospheric screams that had torn at eardrums moments ago ceased like a lie.
In that deathly silence.
The dragon descended.
"……Ah."
Not even a curse escaped him. He just gaped blankly, dropping the binoculars from limp hands.
Defeat welled from the depths of his instincts.
Big. Strong. Terrifying.
Beyond such simplistic impressions, one clear conclusion etched into Kim Min-seok's mind.
—If you face it, you die.
He knew it instinctively. No choice but to know.
Kim Min-seok's awakening ability was [Survival Instinct (A)].
The power to intuitively know if you'd live or die from a single monster hit.
It was what had crowned him Korea's top tanker.
And the most vital skill for any tank.
If a tank could survive one hit, the healers behind could save them somehow.
Survive that hit, get revived, survive another… holding out until Guardian Han Seol-ah arrived.
That was the sole mission for Korea's tanks.
Kim Min-seok had tenaciously survived every battlefield, outlasting countless tanks who perished, earning the title "Korea's Greatest Tank."
But now, that proud instinct screamed madly.
Run. Never face it…
His mind ran thousands of simulations—same result every time.
Block and die. Dodge and die.
Ah… humans… are weak.
Kim Min-seok knew. The day he couldn't tank a monster's "one hit" and burst wasn't far off.
And there, hovering in Pyongyang's sky—that existence was his dreaded "limit" incarnate.
No matter the sturdiest shield, stacked skills, full buffs… whatever he did!
Before that being, he'd tear like paper.
That was the tank's—no, humanity's—limit.
Kim Min-seok stroked his trembling chest with shaking hands.
His heart raced wildly. Proof he was alive.
"…Good call running."
Cowardly? No. Just avoiding certain death.
That was how Tank Kim Min-seok had survived this long.
And this time, he was certain Han Seol-ah would break.
Before that overwhelming calamity, even the firmest will would shatter.
With his conviction set, no reason lingered to stay in this nightmare.
Besides, his survival instinct shrieked to flee this hell ASAP.
As he whirled to escape, glancing back at the battlefield one last time.
Through the carelessly passing binocular lens, an unbelievable sight caught his eye.
"…Huh?"
…A tiny human figure stood atop a ruined building's roof.
Long white hair whipping in the ominous mana Skazaha exuded.
Han Seol-ah.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
Kim Min-seok screamed.
No way—has that old fool Jin Cheon-jin lost it? You evacuate Han Seol-ah, not leave her there! What the hell?!
No sign of Korea's vaunted tank squad anywhere he looked.
No tanks desperately clinging to the boss's legs to buy time for Han Seol-ah's cast?
Did they…?
"Given up?"
Chosen euthanasia? If Han Seol-ah dies, it's all over anyway. Just accept death?
"Can't let that happen."
Kim Min-seok had to save Han Seol-ah and get her out.
He gripped the artifact in his pocket tight.
With this, he could save her.
…If I survive Skazaha myself.
Let her die, and the guild master would kill him 100%.
But rush in to save her, and the artifact guaranteed 90% survival.
Damn, damn it!
Jin Cheon-jin, you mad old bastard!
Min Ji-hee, you wretched witch! Iron-blooded my ass—sending your own daughter to die?!
Kim Min-seok gnashed his teeth and leaped down the mountain.
He had to rescue her before she suicided!
How long could Han Seol-ah last? One minute? Three? No clue.
Without tanks up front, one swing from Skazaha would end her.
That's when he neared the battlefield.
"Wha—?"
Han Seol-ah soared through the air, plummeting straight before Skazaha.
Before the colossal dragon, she looked like a toothpick before a mountain.
A toothpick holding its head high.
"Shit."
Kim Min-seok hurled himself behind a ruined building. Getting closer was suicide.
Han Seol-ah was done for.
Where to run this time?
His survival instinct blazed, seeking escape.
Suddenly.
Bang!
"Gah!"
A blast of azure cold stormed in.
Kim Min-seok shielded his face hastily.
Pa-pat!
Ice shards grazed his skin. Not lethal, but mana-dense fragments left scratches.
His clothes shredded to rags instantly.
Pew-pew-pew!
"Wh-what?"
Explosions followed. Kim Min-seok ducked behind the building, peeking out.
Skazaha flicked its finger arrogantly.
Then Han Seol-ah thrust out her hand.
Her fingertip mana snaked through the air like a serpent, stabbing the magic circle's weakest link.
Ching-lang—!
The massive magic array shattered like glass just before completion.
What… magic battle?
Pew-pew-pew-pew!
Cold blasts overlapped and detonated dozens of times.
"She's… fighting?"
A human fighting that calamity? Possible?
But the scene before Kim Min-seok was reality.
He couldn't approach, forced to widen the distance in shock.
Through his stunned eyes, Han Seol-ah's form came into view.
Her face was contorted in strain.
"…."
Not fighting.
Kim Min-seok realized.
Enduring. Holding out.
Skazaha's playful mana swings. Before they morphed into grand magic, Han Seol-ah desperately reached out.
Interfering, disrupting, altering.
Bang!
The mana fizzled short of magic, exploding physically instead.
Impossible…
Like yanking a shell's fuse barehanded. Utter madness.
———!
Han Seol-ah seemed to shout something.
First time he'd seen her, usually emotionless, this agitated.
Bright red blood streamed from under her pale nose. Proof her overloaded brain screamed.
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew—!
But she didn't stop.
Her legs quivered violently. On the verge of buckling.
The massive mana orbs encircling her chilled any onlooker's blood.
Hit by one? Dead. Even the blast? Dead.
That level of power.
Yet she didn't stop.
Didn't break.
"…."
Kim Min-seok fell silent.
What drove her to such desperation?
It's an unwinnable fight.
Mana runs dry, it's over. And that monster wasn't even serious.
It's an obvious loss!
Only death awaits at the end.
"Why go so—"
Kim Min-seok shut his mouth.
His fleeing feet halted.
Survival instinct still urged flight.
But that small back standing alone before calamity felt more distant and solid than any fortress wall.
Guardian.
Han Seol-ah's epithet.
The only hunter worldwide bestowed that title.
A hunter who sacrificed all to protect Korea.
Thus, they called her Guardian.
Kim Min-seok felt the true weight of that name.
Calamity. Despair.
A will that never yielded before them.
—That was how she guarded the world.