Chapter 12
As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed. Seo Dami, the head of Crimson Guild who had just ascended to S-rank, had an incredibly packed schedule. It was busy before, but it had gotten even crazier since hitting S-rank. Things might calm down once the public's attention and hype died off a bit, but for now, it was nonstop: media interviews, gate raids, collaborations with the Association—she barely had time to breathe.
Korea, the world, wasn't as leisurely as it seemed on the surface; they wouldn't just leave an S-rank powerhouse sitting idle. It was only natural, something she'd prepared for. The physical fatigue wasn't too bad, but...
The mental exhaustion she felt was no joke. At first, she'd enjoyed the spotlight, but that lasted a day or two. Now she was praying for it all to just go away. No helping it. This was an S-rank we're talking about. She'd gotten plenty of attention for reaching A-rank in record time, but this? This was on a whole other level—global frenzy. As the saying goes, he who wears the crown bears its weight. She gritted her teeth, reminding herself that every senior S-rank hunter had been through this rite of passage. Still, she needed to carve out some rest amid the chaos.
And for Seo Dami, healing meant one thing: gallery lurking. But lately, she'd found a second source of solace.
"Ah, new chapter's up."
It was religiously keeping up with the webnovel Lebalheonda. Considering her personality—she wasn't much for reading unless it was community forums—this was pretty surprising. But it made sense. She'd skimmed it at first, figuring she'd drop it, but now she couldn't miss an update. All because discovering the character Hayunha in Lebalheonda was what propelled her to S-rank.
No one would believe it if she told the truth. She had tried telling the Association straight-up—
She'd graciously shared the truth for once, and that's the reaction she got. Even if ascending to S-rank involved some unpredictable epiphany that hit her in her sleep, who would buy that she reached enlightenment by mimicking a webnovel character? They dismissed it, clinging to common sense.
'S-rank is a realm beyond common sense.'
In the end, no point convincing the unconvinced, and she had no obligation to push the truth. So she spun a plausible tale they wanted to hear: her breakthrough came during a fierce 'real combat' with a powerful monster. Not entirely wrong, technically—while cleaning up her guildmates' mess in a brutal fight, she broke her limits using clues from the novel. But the clue's source was undeniably the webnovel, so post-S-rank, she dove even deeper into Lebalheonda. It was fun, and since it had given her so much, it felt special, different from other stories. Perfect for catching her breath amid the madness, so today too, she was immersed—
"What? I... die?"
Seo Dami panicked at the death of Hayunha, a character she'd projected herself onto beyond mere favorite status.
"Ah, no way—Hayunha dies?"
For a split second, it felt like she'd received her own death sentence.
"This can't be right! Why does Hayunha have to die!"
She was flabbergasted. The author's choice to kill off the character who'd become her role model so prematurely was incomprehensible. Seo Dami was at peak hype as a fresh S-rank. Countless writers were name-dropping her (with tweaks) in their stories to pull aggro and readers. It was the trend. Yet Lebalheonda's author, 'tls123', did the opposite—killed off Hayunha, not Seo Dami.
Hayunha met a heroic end protecting people during a Gate Break cleanup, sparking the protagonist's explosive growth. Clean, stylish exit on paper... but
"This is wrong! Author, this is so wrongggg...!"
Her head throbbed at the staging of her projected character's death. Like a terminal diagnosis from the doc.
"Ha... "
Seo Dami pressed her forehead, eyes shut. A storm of emotions swirled in her chest, but what could she do? The character was dead. Honestly, aside from her attachment, the plot was solid. Classic protagonist awakening via noble sacrifice from a comrade. She knew the flavor well—and familiar tastes hit hardest. Delicious. The progression was tasty, high marks if you ignored the fave's death. Still,
"Argh, feels so off."
She was left with complicated feelings.
"...A Break."
After humanity adapted somewhat to gates and predictions improved, the poster child for gate disasters was the Gate Break. Over-saturated mana inside the gate goes critical, collapsing it—like a box bursting, spilling its contents. The gate erodes reality. The surrounding environment warps completely, monsters scatter everywhere. Total hellscape. If it hits downtown? Pure apocalypse.
Once a Break starts, cleanup's a nightmare. Unlike regular gates that vanish after boss kill, a Break fuses dungeon environs into reality—even clearing every mob and boss leaves the altered landscape. Cities turn to tundras overnight or lava-spewing volcanoes. Chaos. That's why gates in populated areas get top raid priority—even partial clears drain mana to delay Breaks.
Breaks claim heavy casualties, civilians and hunters alike. Unlike structured raids, it's pure mayhem: monsters, civilians, city, dungeon all mashed together. Hunters die left and right from myriad mishaps. Undeniable catastrophe. That's a Gate Break.
So Hayunha dying in one while shielding people in the story? Not weird. But,
"Ugh... Maybe run some special Break drills, just in case."
Seo Dami couldn't shake the unease. Sure, common Break, common hunter death—in a novel. But immersed in Hayunha, it hit too close. Like a nagging stomachache, then TV symptoms match, cue hypochondriac checkup vibes.
"Yeah, training would be good."
She added Break prep to the guild schedule. Afterward, no energy left for the novel after that death, so she saved the rest for tomorrow, lurked galleries instead, then headed to her appointments.
And—
She regretted lurking the galleries.
"These idiots treating it like someone else's problem..."
No matter how good-hearted and selfless Seo Dami was at heart, who wants to die? Heroic or pathetic, death's death. Zero desire for it, so
"Definitely—"
Recalling Hayunha's end from the novel, she muttered.
"Gotta ramp up training intensity."
A decision that already had her hearing guild members drop dead from the hellish regimen.