The Invasion Has Already Begun
The invasion had already begun.
“Death Knight, huh…”
I murmured the name under my breath.
Come to think of it, that bastard had been around. I hadn’t seen him since our spar half a year ago, but the experience had been invaluable. In a way, he was the reason I had managed to break past my limits.
That was why I couldn’t help smiling at the news.
“Oppa. What are you looking at that’s so funny?”
My little sister threw her arms around me from behind. I folded the newspaper and stroked Jian’s hair.
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on. If it’s nothing, why are you smiling like that?”
“Hm? Is it that weird for me to smile?”
“No, not weird… It’s just, Oppa, ever since that day you’ve only smiled in front of me and Grandma.”
“Have I?”
I hadn’t really paid attention. I looked at Jian and let out a soft chuckle.
“What? You don’t like this version of me?”
“No! I like it better! I want Oppa to smile only for me.”
“Heh. Then I guess I’ll keep doing that.”
We looked at each other and burst out laughing.
It had already been almost half a year since we came here. Back then I had taken Grandma and Jian deep into an empty forest. Of course, escaping the eyes of the government and the Association hadn’t been easy at first. Deep woods. Abandoned mines. Even an uninhabited island—yet their pursuit had been more tenacious than expected.
I had been seriously considering hiding underground when a gate happened to open nearby. An ordinary gate of B-rank or lower. Under normal circumstances I would never have taken Jian and Grandma inside, but hunters had closed in right on our heels that day, leaving me no choice.
“Final Bloom. Full Bloom.”
The moment we entered, I slaughtered every monster in sight. Not a single one was allowed to get near the two of them. I even finished off the Mirror Demon Lord waiting in the boss chamber—shattering every one of the hundreds of mirrors lining the room before driving a blade through its heart and ending it for good.
“….”
I stood over the corpse for a long while, lost in thought, then turned to Jian.
“Jian. Could you take Grandma and wait in the back for a bit?”
“Huh? Why? Why?”
“Please.”
She looked at me with uneasy eyes but didn’t press further. Once I confirmed she had led Grandma away, I placed my hand on the corpse without hesitation. Then I tore off a chunk of flesh and put it in my mouth.
“…Definitely not delicious.”
Nausea surged up, yet instead of spitting it out I forced more down. Just in case, I even drank the blood that was still flowing. After swallowing every last bit, I picked up the sword the boss had been holding and rose to my feet.
“That should be enough… right?”
There was no guarantee that doing this would make me the boss. Neither the Association nor any research institute in the world had ever reported such a thing. And yet something pulled me forward. I walked to the door and opened it.
Hundreds of monsters were gathered outside the boss chamber. Instinct told me they had not come to attack.
“Listen carefully. From this moment on, I am your king.”
“….”
The monsters gave no answer. Instead they simply dropped to their knees where they stood and looked up at me. I understood. In that instant, the entire gate had submitted to me.
“…Then only one thing left.”
That night, while Jian and Grandma slept, I took up the sword. There was only one reason. I intended to recreate the technique the Death Knight had shown me half a year earlier—to connect this place with the outside world.
“Full Bloom.”
I swung the blade. Nothing happened.
“As expected. This much isn’t enough.”
I tried accumulating more time. One second. Two… five. Another Full Bloom. Still failure.
“Hah… Fine. Let’s do this.”
If I had been alone I would have given up right there. I had no lingering attachment to the outside world; living inside the gate wouldn’t have been so bad. But Jian and Grandma were different. Even if they claimed they were fine, I could not keep them in a place like this forever.
Thirty seconds… ■■ seconds.
“Cough…!”
The time limit passed. Blood poured from my mouth and agony crashed over me again. My body screamed for death, yet I ignored it all. Through endless concentration—
“…Full Bloom.”
Crack-crack-crack-crack—
The instant the sword cut the air, a black gate tore open before my eyes, accompanied by a fracture in space. I smiled weakly at the sight.
“It only opens if I go this far… I’ll have to train harder here.”
A black gate, of all things. Not the usual blue, nor red. A color I had never seen before. Still, it suited me just fine.
“A color that fits a guy like me.”
And so I became the master of this gate. I took Grandma wherever she wanted to go and bought Jian anything she wanted to eat. Of course we could never set foot in Korea or anywhere too conspicuous, but anywhere else was fine as long as the three of us were together. That was all I had left—my only happiness.
I smiled as I looked at Grandma sleeping peacefully on the bed.
“Hey Oppa, how about we go to Japan next?”
I turned at Jian’s sudden suggestion.
“Japan? Out of nowhere?”
“Yeah! They built a new ride in Osaka! I want to ride it with you!”
“Hmm. We might stand out a bit there.”
“Come on, we can just disguise ourselves like last time. And by now everyone thinks you’re dead anyway!”
“Is that so?”
Well, after half a year of complete disappearance, it was a reasonable assumption.
“Please? I want to go to the magic school with you, ride the gorilla, and spend the whole day on a date!”
Sensing her chance, Jian piled on the charm without mercy. I finally laughed in defeat.
“All right. We’ll go soon. The three of us, with Grandma.”
“Kyaa! Oppa, you’re the best! I love you so much!”
She threw herself into my arms. I smiled at my delighted little sister.
“Okay then—shall we get breakfast ready before Grandma wakes up?”
“Yeah! Today I’m cooking something delicious for you and Grandma! You can look forward to it!”
“Haha. Now I’m already excited.”
I ruffled her hair and stood to prepare the meal. As I did, my eyes flicked to the newspaper I had set down. The headline about the Death Knight. It featured the “heroes” who had supposedly conquered him—Yoon Seah and Cha Seojin.
“Ha…”
Among the hunters who had actually fought that bastard, was there even one who believed those words? I let out a hollow laugh and turned away.
Two days after the Red Gate appeared in Seoul, South Korea.
A Red Gate had dropped right in the middle of the capital, yet the citizens no longer felt any anxiety.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting! Our guests today are none other than the heroes who recently conquered the Death Knight—Hunter Yoon Seah and Hunter Cha Seojin!!”
The host’s introduction was drowned out by ear-splitting cheers. Half a year earlier even Lee Seoyun had failed to subjugate the Death Knight. The two who had succeeded now stepped into the light, and the entire studio erupted in frenzy.
“Kyaaaaaa!! Seah unnie, I love you!!”
“Seojin! We love you forever! Your Seojin Mamas will always support you!!”
From that day on, the balance of power in Korea’s hunter world was completely overturned. The Death Knight—said to be the strongest and most terrible among undead bosses. News that he had been conquered stunned not only Korea but the entire world: the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and every nation that possessed hunters. Rumors even claimed America was already eyeing the pair.
“Hahaha! Yes, yes, I’m that Cha Seojin! The Death Knight? Once he was in my hands he was nothing!”
“Wow, as expected of Hunter Cha Seojin—overflowing with confidence. Hunter Yoon Seah, a word from you as well?”
“Yes. Thank you, everyone. With us here, you can rest easy!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
The roar of citizens watching the live broadcast swept across the entire nation. Korea’s hunters now seemed poised to surpass even the United States, the strongest hunter nation on earth. There was no truth in any of it. Or rather, truth no longer mattered.
That the Death Knight was still alive. That the gate had closed not because he was dead, but simply because he had chosen to wait. And that in five days the Death Knight himself would march into Seoul. All of it was nothing more than the result of the hunters who had escaped the gate that day choosing to lie.
Watching the broadcast alone in the guild master’s office, Kang Hanna pressed a hand to her forehead. While everyone else celebrated, she alone could not smile.
“Death Knight…”
Why was that monster suddenly looking for Lee Seoyun? And why now, after half a year? What connection could possibly exist between them? She had only just begun to forget him.
“How am I supposed to bring back someone who’s already dead…”
She clenched her fist as she muttered. They still hadn’t found a body, yet the world already believed he was dead. Kang Hanna believed it too. She had been trying desperately to forget him. So why was his name being spoken again?
“Guild Master! We’re back.”
Cha Seojin and Yoon Seah returned. On the screen the two of them were still laughing and chatting with the panelists.
“…You’re early.”
“Yeah, that was actually filmed twenty minutes ahead of schedule. We came straight back the moment it wrapped.”
“Man, people recognize us everywhere we go. At this rate we might even break into America! Hahahaha!”
Cha Seojin puffed himself up, already dreaming big. After all, that was why they had deceived everyone in the first place.
He for wealth and fame.
Kang Hanna to bury the truth.
And Yoon Seah—
Sunbae… please, just stay quietly in that abyss.
—to make certain Lee Seoyun never defeated the Death Knight and became a hero again.
Everyone who knew the truth was hiding it for their own gain.
Yet even they did not know.
…Zzzt. Crack-crack-crack—
That the invasion had already begun.