Emergency Summons
The house, after the storm that had swept through it, was finally at peace.
The door panel that had gone flying had been rehung by a repair company, and the fixes were complete. Choi Jeong-il, for his part, had headed off to catch up on the work he'd neglected while absorbed in fishing, and Han Su-yeon, having come down without so much as a plan, had no choice but to return to Seoul right away.
Which left only two people in the house.
"Mmm~"
Ju Ji-hye rolled a strawberry around in her mouth, nodding again and again. The flesh filling her mouth was pure ecstasy. The strawberries had gotten even better than last time — and there was still a heaping bowl of them sitting there, which only deepened her happiness.
She scooped up the bowl, stood, and headed for the living room — where a lone chair sat abandoned in the middle of the floor, with Oh Hyeon-seong occupying it. Ju Ji-hye flashed a triumphant smile.
"You like it, then?"
"Like what?"
"The chair. The house looked so bare I bought it, and honestly, the place really does look brighter now."
The chair Oh Hyeon-seong sat in was the very one she had brought herself. Tired of mooching strawberries without contributing anything, it had been her proper housewarming gift — a high-end piece worth well over ten million won.
"It's fine to sit on, I guess... but I still don't understand why anyone would pay ten million won for this."
"That's a limited edition Voca de Rava!"
"A what?"
At his lukewarm response, Ju Ji-hye shook her head in exasperation. Unless you were a celebrity of her caliber, that chair would have been nearly impossible to obtain no matter how much money you had.
Be that as it may, to an ordinary eye the design was baffling to say the least. You were supposed to buy things that suited your surroundings — a chair this loud was just a liability.
"...I wonder how much I'd get for it on the secondhand app."
"Wh-why would you put THAT on a secondhand app! You can't even buy it with money! Wait — you're joking, right?"
She trailed after Oh Hyeon-seong as he headed outside, grumbling at his heels. But he only shook his head, saying that at this point it wasn't the app that wouldn't sell it — nothing would.
"Come on, you guys eat too!"
Dropping down onto the wooden porch, he set down a basket. As the aroma of hot roasted sweet potatoes wafted out, the spirits who had been scattered about playing came flocking in. Each grabbed a big one and dug in.
Yip!
Exclamations of delight rose from the little group gathered here and there. Feeling the cold winter air on his face, Oh Hyeon-seong took a big bite of his steaming sweet potato.
Mm... sweet potatoes in winter really are something else.
How could a natural crop hold such rich sweetness? It existed in a different dimension entirely from the lurid, cheap commercial sauces that seduced people's tongues. Savoring the flavor that filled his mouth, he drifted into thought.
What should I make next?
Fish-shaped buns, sweet pancakes, fish cakes — that was his wishlist for the winter. Fish cakes hadn't originally been on the menu, but securing the reservoir had made them possible. He figured he ought to make a trip up to Seoul sometime soon and pick up a fish cake pot and a bun press.
"Here, you eat some too."
Ju Ji-hye handed strawberries to a few of the spirits. The fire spirits, whom she'd grown quite close to after they had thawed her frozen body, snapped up the berries nimbly even after finishing their sweet potatoes, and a soft smile spread across her lips.
"I think I might actually want to live here."
"What?"
"Ah— n-no! Not that I'm planning to freeload forever or anything."
"That's not what I meant. When you first came here, didn't you say you'd rather die than live somewhere this rural?"
"I definitely did say that... hmm."
Ju Ji-hye fell into thought. Was it the adorable spirits? Or the food so delicious it made her eyes go wide? Certainly those accounted for a large share — but it wasn't just that.
How do I put it... every time I come here, it feels like I've stepped into a different world.
A space completely unlike the society she'd always inhabited. Shut off entirely from outside worries and the cruelty of the world, this place seemed to heal something in her.
"Looks like I've fully turned country at last— eek!"
Ju Ji-hye jolted upright in fright. A bug was creeping stealthily toward her thigh.
Thwack!
In that instant, a pair of adorable otter paws slammed down on the floorboards. The bug met its end on the spot, and Ju Ji-hye blinked at the unexpected rescue.
"Th... thank you."
Whether she thanked it or not, Alvern tossed its head away with an air of nobility and burrowed regally into Oh Hyeon-seong's arms. When he stroked its fluffy belly, it flopped out entirely across his lap.
Watching the scene for a moment with a strange pang of envy, Ju Ji-hye spoke up.
"Um... by any chance, she's not going to retaliate, is she?"
"Retaliate? What kind of retaliation?"
"Baek Ji-soo. She just whooshed off without a word. What if she takes it out on me and suddenly drags me off to the Security Bureau..."
At the memory, Ju Ji-hye shuddered slightly. Baek Ji-soo hadn't exactly displayed open hostility toward her, yet her mere presence alone had been enough to make Ju Ji-hye want to shrink away. As much as she'd always disliked entanglements, she now wanted nothing to do with the National Security Bureau more than ever.
"Retaliation, my foot. Don't worry. It won't happen."
Oh Hyeon-seong said this with certainty. His original plan — to win her over with a delicious meal — had failed. She was the type who couldn't rest until every debt, grudge or gratitude, was repaid in full, so he'd meant to quietly saddle her with one beforehand. But just because that had failed didn't mean he'd go shaking anyone up over it.
Click, click.
"Hm... it's empty."
Oh Hyeon-seong tried to fire his newly bought torch, but the gas canister was empty and no flame came. He'd bought a sturdy replacement for the ancient one in the shed and wanted to test it, but with no spare gas on hand, that was impossible. On top of that, he'd run out of shampoo, and a few household supplies were running low too.
Kaching.
He pressed a bill into her hand.
"...?"
"You've got nothing to do anyway, right? Run this errand for me."
Trudge, trudge.
Ju Ji-hye walked down the road without a hat or a mask. For private outings she always covered her face, yet even so, people inevitably recognized her on the street. Her figure alone radiated a model's aura that drew every eye, and with how explosively popular she'd been lately, plenty of people picked her out at a glance.
But not here.
"You look familiar somehow. Kim's granddaughter, are you?"
"Excuse me? No, I'm just a visitor from out of town..."
"Oh, is that so? Have fun now."
The area was quiet enough that there were hardly any people to run into, and of those she did meet, not one recognized her. The same held true inside the little general store she stepped into.
"Ahem, by any chance, do you happen to know me?"
"Never seen this child before in my life... did someone new move in?"
the old woman who ran the store said slowly. But beneath it lay the most indifferent reaction imaginable — a detached air that couldn't have cared less about anyone else's business. Everyone in the village, Oh Hyeon-seong included, knew exactly what kind of personality the old shopkeeper had, but Ju Ji-hye, who had no way of knowing that, was flustered.
Why are the elders here so cold?
Her image of the countryside — one of city folk enduring busybody neighbors whose meddling bordered on unbearable — shattered completely. Everywhere else, even when people failed to recognize her, she'd still drawn waves of attention and stares; here, she was outright ignored.
Wasn't this exactly what she'd wanted? She had wished people wouldn't recognize her so she wouldn't be hassled wherever she went — yet now that nobody knew her, she felt a strange, bittersweet pang of disappointment.
Even I can't make sense of myself...
"Oh!"
Just then, a startled voice rang out from the entrance. A very young-looking woman — Yoo Eun-ha — stood there with wide eyes.
"Y-you're Ju Ji-hye, aren't you?"
"Ah... yes, that's me."
"Wow! I love your dramas so much! A total goddess of acting!"
Yoo Eun-ha fussed and gushed. She'd always been deeply interested in the hunter world, but even without that, this reaction would have been unavoidable. Ju Ji-hye's latest starring drama had just claimed the number one spot on OTT, topping the buzz charts since the very first episode. Among young people especially, it had become an unavoidable topic of conversation everywhere you went.
"Um, so what brings you to this village, of all places...?"
She didn't appear to be filming a drama or a variety show, and for a star of Ju Ji-hye's caliber to show up in this rural backwater was a wonder in itself. Ju Ji-hye hesitated a moment at the question before answering — she'd seen the girl before, after all, and knew she was acquainted with Oh Hyeon-seong.
"What?! Wait, then don't tell me — that person from the shelter...?"
"That's right."
Yoo Eun-ha clapped a hand over her gaping mouth. At the time she'd been too frantic to look properly, but the silhouette of that masked figure matched perfectly.
"Wow... who IS that guy, seriously?"
A Bureau of Management employee on one hand, and on the other, how did he know an Aegis star? At this point, she figured he must be some kind of insider in the hunter world.
"A-anyway! I was actually planning to visit your place today, so this works out perfectly!"
Yoo Eun-ha clapped her hands together. Ever since the miasma incident, the siblings had been run off their feet sorting out the farming work. But things had finally settled down, and they'd been planning to drop by Oh Hyeon-seong's house for the first time in a while. Stopping by the store had only been to buy groceries on the way.
Come to think of it, my brother's going to lose his mind over this way more than I will.
Her older brother, Yoo Seung-su, had little interest in the hunter scene. When they'd met the famous Han Su-yeon of the Management Bureau, his reaction had been far tamer than hers. But Ju Ji-hye was another matter entirely.
Following her on social media went without saying — he watched every single one of her works and even collected her merchandise. A genuine, dyed-in-the-wool fan. If he laid eyes on her in the flesh, he was guaranteed to faint on the spot.
Zzzzt!
But in that moment, Ju Ji-hye's phone rang. The tone was different from an ordinary incoming call; she pulled out her phone, and her face quickly turned grave. Then, without even properly finishing the conversation, she sprinted back toward the house.
SLAM!
Ju Ji-hye kicked open the gate and dashed inside, setting down the bags she'd hauled back with her. Oh Hyeon-seong, who happened to be stepping outside, ran into her.
"Ah, good work on the errand."
"I have to go. Right now."
"What? Why?"
She'd said she'd be staying several more days, and now she was suddenly leaving? Oh Hyeon-seong tilted his head — and she thrust her phone screen toward him.
"Emergency summons."
"This is..."
As he read the message, Oh Hyeon-seong's expression grew serious. The government had issued an emergency summons to her and all other high-tier hunters of Grade 10 and above. It didn't say how many would gather, but it was enough to assemble at least one full assault team — in other words, this concerned an S-Rank gate.
"An S-Rank gate... and not an ordinary one, at that."
"No. If they're issuing an emergency summons like this, it means activation can't be far off."
Gate detection and response were divided into four stages. The first was the pre-sign phase, before the gate even formed. The second was the inactive gate, one that could not yet be entered. The third was activation — when entry became possible. And the last was eruption, when monsters began pouring out of the gate.
For a call this urgent to go out, the gate had to be on the verge of stage three — or already past it. The odds of an S-Rank gate being detected late were extremely low, which meant this was a gate with an extraordinarily short fuse.
Ju Ji-hye swallowed hard. She had cleared a great many gates in her time. But there was only one occasion on which she'd been yanked away by an emergency summons before she could even talk things over with her agency.
One year ago. The Busan Gate.