Why Should I?
Orion Guild Headquarters.
Kang Hanna was in the middle of sorting through paperwork in the guild leader’s office.
“Haa…….”
But she hadn’t been able to focus for a while now. In the end she set down the pen she’d been signing with and let out a sigh. There was still a mountain of documents waiting to be processed, yet her mind kept drifting elsewhere.
“Why does something like this have to happen while I’m the one sitting here?”
With that complaint, her gaze drifted naturally to the calendar.
Three days left.
That was all that remained of the deadline the Death Knight had given. And yet the Association, its chairman, and the other hunters were still acting as if nothing were wrong. At this point she was starting to wonder whether her own anxiety was simply excessive.
“I really am tired. Maybe I should head home early today…….”
Just then her phone chimed. For a second her heart lurched—she thought it might be news about the Death Knight—but when she checked the message she exhaled in relief.
Her little sister’s bright, innocent message. Hanna smiled softly and replied.
“Heh…….”
She laughed quietly. The fatigue that had piled up until a moment ago melted away as if it had never been there. Talking with her sister made her feel, for a second, that she could overcome any hardship.
“That’s right. It’s fine. It’ll definitely be fine.”
Looking at her sister’s photo, Kang Hanna cast aside every worry from earlier. Yes—it had to be fine. That was why she had run all the way to this position.
The day she became guild leader and her little sister’s surgery ended successfully, she had felt relief. Her choice hadn’t been wrong. If she had chosen another path, she would surely have regretted it. So from now on she would be happy. To prove that this choice had not been a mistake, she had to be happy no matter what.
Her phone chimed again. Still more to say? She smiled, pleased, and reached to answer—
“Huh……?”
Her hand froze. A startled sound escaped her; her face went rigid. Her eyes trembled as she stared at the screen. This was nothing like a message from her sister.
“Guild Leader! Are you in there!?”
Urgent pounding on the door. Kang Hanna looked up. Her secretary burst in, face ashen, gasping for breath.
“G-Guild Leader. It’s a disaster! Gates are appearing in Seoul right now……!”
Kang Hanna slowly turned her head toward the window. The whole of Seoul lay spread out before her.
“…No way.”
Dozens of gates were blooming into existence right before her eyes.
Sirens wailed across Seoul. The streets thronged with people filming and murmuring. Police and hunters tried to lock down the area while Association councilors and staff stared up at the gates with blank faces.
“So you’re telling me… this isn’t just one or two of them.”
Even the councilor who said it couldn’t quite believe his own words. Neither could anyone else. Where were they even supposed to start? Every face around them looked lost.
Current time: 1:20 p.m.
Nearly a hundred gates had taken root across the whole of Seoul.
“How are the other districts looking? Have the guilds started clearing yet?”
“No, sir. Even the guilds already in Seoul haven’t finished forming parties, let alone decided who goes into which gate.”
“Damn it. Just pick one and go in. What the hell is there to decide in a situation like this?”
The councilor spat the curse out of sheer nerves, but the process was unavoidable. First came the gate auctions; after the winning bids, there was still publicity and marketing for the public. Which hunter to put forward as the face of the operation was, to them, a matter of real importance.
Association hunters had already begun clearing a few gates, but that was the limit. New ones were still opening somewhere even now; stopping all of them was beyond their capacity.
“Haa. Why did they have to drop right inside the city?”
And all at once, as if someone had coordinated the whole thing. The staff couldn’t hide their unease at a phenomenon none of them had ever seen. It felt less like chance and more like someone had deliberately set the board.
Hah. No. That’s impossible.
If something like that existed, the world would already be in chaos. The councilor shook his head at his own chilling fantasy.
“At least the monsters aren’t spilling out…… I guess that’s something.”
Except for Red Gates, monsters almost never crossed outside. The exact reason was unknown, but the leading theory was that weaker monsters simply couldn’t adapt to the outside environment. Even Red Gate monsters bursting free en masse was rare—only a handful of cases worldwide, and those only after a certain amount of time had passed.
“Let’s seal the Red Gates first. How many have been reported so far?”
“Three in total. The problem is we haven’t found every gate yet. There’s a real chance more are still out there…….”
“Shit. As if we didn’t already have enough on our plates… Hey! Keep that line tight—people are slipping through!”
The councilor pointed and shouted at someone trying to sneak past. Beyond the curious civilians, the crowd was packed with reporters and streamers who had come to film. No amount of warnings about the danger made them listen. The staff’s headaches were just starting to peak when Kang Hanna finally arrived and stepped out of her car.
“Sorry I’m late. Traffic was bad.”
“Not at all. Thank you for coming, Guild Leader Kang Hanna!”
The moment she appeared, the staff’s dark expressions brightened. Kang Hanna—top of the top five guilds, the face of Korea’s strongest—had arrived. They believed the problem would be solved now.
“So. What’s the current situation?”
“For now there’s little chance of monsters emerging, so the Association and the government are monitoring the situation and reviewing emergency martial law. We’re still locating gates, but not a single guild has managed to start a clear yet.”
“…Is there any chance this is the Death Knight’s doing?”
She kept her voice low enough that only the councilor could hear. That was what she had truly been afraid of.
“No. Zero chance. The deadline he gave still has three days left, and the Red Gates that have appeared so far are all in completely different locations from that cave.”
“I see…….”
“More than that, there’s no way a monster exists that can control dozens of gates at once.”
If such a creature truly existed, no single nation could handle it. Even the United States, which had clashed with the Death Knight, had never reported anything like this. Still, seeing her unease, the councilor added:
“It’s just an unfortunate coincidence of timing. The Death Knight operation is proceeding smoothly, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“…Yes. It has to be. Absolutely.”
“So please have Orion Guild prepare for gate clears as well. The Association Chairman wants everything finished within three days.”
Three days. She glanced around. Countless gates still opening, people gawking as if nothing were wrong, an optimistic councilor, and a chairman who had never set foot on the scene. After fretting the whole way here, she felt like the only fool in the room.
Right. I was overthinking it. We’ll get through this one too.
The Death Knight. These gates. In the end they would all pass without incident. Kang Hanna believed that as she stared at the gate in front of her.
“…….”
Never knowing that a knight in black armor was looking down on them from a building rooftop.
At first she thought it was a message from Guild Leader Kujo. After all, the only time this emergency alert ever went off was when he called her over for some pointless errand. So Fujiwara had assumed it was the same this time.
“W-what is this?”
The moment she looked at her phone, her expression changed completely. Nearly a hundred gates—opening in the neighboring country of Korea. She couldn’t close her mouth at the unprecedented sight.
“Lee Seoyun. I think you need to come see this too…….”
She held out the phone with a grave face, but he didn’t approach. He simply stood there, holding his sister in his arms. Fujiwara sighed as if she had expected as much.
“Ugh, just take it. I bought this not long ago.”
She tossed the phone; he caught it lightly and checked the contents. Watching him, Fujiwara looked surprised. She had expected him to be shocked, yet his face as he read remained remarkably calm. Even after everything that had happened in Korea, it was still his country—she had thought he would show some reaction.
Or maybe he’s just the type who doesn’t show emotion on his face.
For all she knew he was reeling inside. She waited until he finished reading, then spoke.
“Haa. Looking at this, it doesn’t seem like the time for you to be hanging around with us.”
“…….”
“What’ll it be? If you want, I can send you to Korea right now without anyone knowing. And don’t worry—I’m not going to use this as leverage to force you to meet the guild leader.”
“F-Fujiwara-nim!?”
The subordinates behind her panicked, but she ignored them and kept her eyes only on Lee Seoyun. Over the past half year of hunting him she had learned at least some of his circumstances. This was simple goodwill—simple enough to surprise even herself.
Damn it. We finally found him, and that bastard guild leader is going to give me hell again.
She raked a hand through her hair and called out to him.
“What are you doing? Hurry up. Unless you still don’t trust me…….”
“Why should I?”
“…Huh?”
In that moment he finally spoke. Softly—yet every word reached her ears with perfect clarity.
“Why should I look at this and go back?”
That voice was so cold it froze even Fujiwara’s tongue in her mouth.