Into the Demon Realm (2)
A gate, in the truest sense of the word, was a passage. A corridor stretching from an unknown world beyond into the Earth, through which monsters invaded.
The only way to completely eliminate a gate was to shatter the core of the alpha entity—the driving force that gnawed at the cracks between dimensions.
"So you're saying we can't actually do anything because none of us can get inside the gate?"
"That is correct."
"Then who are the two people who managed to get in?"
If no one could enter, it would be a moot point, but Harin had said there were people who had gone into the demon realm. Two of them, in fact.
"...Your parents were able to enter that place."
God damn it. Parents again. I guess I'm supposed to worship them.
"Then I can—"
"No. Even if your parents could reach the demon realm, that doesn't mean you can."
Yeoryeong unnie blocked me.
"But I—"
"There are limits even to recklessness. We followed you here because we had confidence we could protect you—not to watch you crawl into a rift on your own."
"..."
She wasn't wrong. But even so, I had to go there.
I couldn't explain why my skill was guiding me toward that place. And yet, I faintly recognized that I had to head toward that gate, no matter what.
'Wait.'
There was one experiment worth trying.
After all, as long as it was for my safety, all I needed was someone capable of crossing that rift to protect me.
"If it's not just me?"
"?"
"If there's someone besides me who can head into the demon realm, then what would you do?"
"That's impossible. Everyone here has tried at least once. Not a single one of them could slip through that crack."
"Well, you won't know until you try."
"...Tch. You weren't going to listen to me at all, were you? Fine. If you think the people who can cross over are fit to protect you, I'll let you go."
The moment she finished speaking, Yeoryeong unnie strode toward the gaping rift. The gate that had vomited out massive monsters was now breathing, contracting and expanding, shrunk down to just barely fit one person.
"See for yourself. Watch how the demon realm repels us."
Her snow-white fingertips touched the gate. As if expecting to be bounced back, she kept her body balanced, ready to resist any rebound at any moment.
"See? When other people try to cross, they're always bounced back..."
-Suwooook!
"?!"
That was strange.
She should have bounced back at the same speed, like a collision—but instead, her hand slipped in smoothly, just like through an ordinary gate.
"...Wh—why...?"
Yeoryeong unnie yanked her hand back in a hurry. Her expression showed the shock of realizing that everything she had known was not the truth.
"Cheonghwa. Try it yourself."
"Yes, Master."
-Suwooook!
Her hand was smoothly swallowed. Cheonghwa's expression didn't waver, but a strange ripple moved deep within her eyes.
"Seolhye and Yuyeon too."
-Suwuwook!
"Jinyul, try it once."
"Yes!"
-Suuuwook.
It went in without a hitch.
"No way... This is impossible..."
"But unnie did it too."
"..."
Yeoryeong unnie's mouth clamped shut. Was this what a circus elephant bound by chains since birth felt? The phenomenon contradicting the firmly embedded preconception was enough to cause cognitive dissonance.
"Oh! So does that mean we can close this rift?!"
Moo Jeongwoon, head of Hyunmu Hall, asked with rising excitement. For him, the chronic damage the gate inflicted on Hyunmu Hall was nothing short of a burden.
"Then let's go in right now...!"
He stretched his hand toward the gate. The instant his fingertips touched the crack—
-Tiiiing!!
"Gyahhh! No—why am I...!"
He was flung back. His feet skidded across the ground, propelled back at least two steps.
"...May I try too?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
Harin also touched the gate. Her expression already carried the weight of resolve. She expected to be bounced back, but her arm plunged in anyway.
-Wuuuuung.
Her arm slid in without issue. The humming resonance unique to gates rang out endlessly.
"It works for me."
"...How?"
The people who could enter the demon realm were me, Cheonghwa, Yuyeon, Seolhye, Jinyul, Yeoryeong unnie, and Harin. Seven in total.
"Ah. I get it. This is that thing—that thing!"
Yuyeon clapped her hands together hard enough to make a cracking sound and shouted loudly.
"The Jujak Hall's kid knows something, doesn't she? What's the condition for entering the demon realm?!"
"That thing is se—! Ah. I don't think I can really say that."
Yuyeon's words caught in her throat. In a situation where Harin was also implicated, saying something like "People who've had sex with Hwahyeon can go in" would mean the defense force watching them would learn her affair.
Anyway, by this point, the people who could cross the gate seemed roughly selected.
"So we can go through, then?"
"...I didn't think this would work. Do as you wish, Hwahyeon. It's a shame the head of Hyunmu Hall can't come along, but me and the vice-head should be enough to protect you."
"No! If you knew what was on the other side...!"
"Don't worry so much. Even if you go, Chunho-sensei will be coming along."
Despite Moo Jeongwoon's objections, we decided to go through. The fact that this entire choice relied solely on my intuition—a dangerous gamble—continued to make me hesitate until the very end.
Sense (?) has been activated.
No. It wasn't simple intuition. It was the unnamed skill lingering in my status window, clearly signaling me.
"I'm sorry, everyone. Because of me, we're having to go through an S-rank gate..."
"It's fine. The gate breaches that happened on other fronts were one rank higher than this one. By human world standards, I'd already be at the level of an S-rank hunter, and Chunho-sensei is coming along too."
"Why bring that up now. Everyone here follows their master and trusts him. If you've decided once, it's an important virtue to see it through to the end."
"...Thank you, Harin. Seolhye."
Good words. Now it was really time to head toward the other side.
"Be careful. The demon realm is virtually unknown. It may be a place fundamentally different from the gates you've experienced so far."
"I'll handle that myself. Trust your wife, and trust me, Geum Yeoryeong."
"..."
-Wuuuuung.
One by one, they began crossing the rift toward the demon realm. Moo Jeongwoon, left behind, could only watch the departing figures' backs.
"I'll come back."
-Shuuwook!
The last one—his wife—departed, and the rift sealed shut.
All he could do was stare helplessly at the cracked space.
The interior was far wider than I had imagined.
The moment I stepped in, a strange oppressive pressure clamped down on my lungs.
The walls and ceiling soared upward without end, and the floor was as smooth as black glass, yet each step produced a moist sound that shattered the silence. The surroundings distorted, creating the illusion of everything bending, and an unknown tremor washed over my entire body.
"What's going on? Why don't I see any monsters?"
Yuyeon's voice was a light toss, but in the empty space it echoed endlessly like a shout.
"It seems the monsters that filled this place until just now fled due to the breach."
Cheonghwa's calm reply followed immediately. She crouched down to examine the floor.
"Look. Strange footprints are scattered everywhere."
She was right. The footprints were irregular, and their sizes varied.
As we were about to continue our exploration while keeping watch—
"...?!!"
An instant, the back of my neck stood on end.
It was a voice.
But it was far too alien to be a human voice. Clearly it was speech, yet it was impossible to tell if it belonged to a child or an adult, a woman or a man. The texture of the voice kept shifting, as if dozens of people were whispering at once, making my ears itch.
"Who's there! How does a monster have a voice...!"
-Uhahaha! Kkiki! Heehee!!!
Grotesque laughter rang out from all directions. There was no way to tell where it was coming from. It was so pervasive that it even sounded like it was coming from right beneath my feet.
"You son of a bitch! Stop hiding and come out!"
Yuyeon shouted at the empty air. She already had fire blazing in both hands.
Suddenly, the space warped. Visible ripples seemed to ripple through the air, and the void split open like a mirror shattering, and from the crack, a form flowed out. Like a doll's skeleton assembled from countless shards, the fragments were stuck together.
Yuyeon's startled face, Cheonghwa's resolute gaze, Seolhye's clenched lips, Jinyul's wary eyes, and even my own face—reflected and shattered, we were all there.
-Wuuuuung.
In that instant, the air grew heavy and sank. The pressure was so suffocating that even breathing hurt, pressing down on my body like my heart had been seized by someone else's hand. The rhythmic thud of my heartbeat twisted and burst forth.
To introduce oneself was not something a gate monster would dare do.
Yet no one could object or stop it. The pressure that entity radiated was, quite literally, violence itself.
Tension and silence piled up in the room as Moruglian's voice echoed faintly.