Ia Sis, It Hurts
Ia Sis, it hurts.
1. As I stepped out of the guild building, the moon hung high in the midnight sky. It had been evening when I arrived for the checkup, but the thorough examination dragged on far longer than expected. I pulled out my phone to check the time—already 10 p.m.
"...Already 10?"
Ten at night. The sacred personal time for wrapping up the day and unwinding before bed. Way too late to text a colleague. Hell, bothering someone during their off-hours was rude to begin with.
The reason I needed to contact Ia Ris was to get my body treated. Considering her main job was healing injured guild members, hitting her up now would be like an F-rank scrub barging into her downtime with a work request: "Hey, I'm hurt—fix me." That'd piss off any office worker.
Especially since Lapis had been riding my ass hard after becoming 2nd Team Leader, constantly texting me with work stuff and pressuring me to come in even after hours. No way I could do that to her.
So I decided to approach this on a personal level, not professional. The one texting Ia Ris right now wasn't Liar's Trap's F-rank awakener—it was the man Paster. The monstrous stud she craved enough to ditch all her luxuries for.
No backing down, Paster! You got this!
Come to think of it, I'd texted her late at night before. Back then, I'd fired off a brainless message even later than this without a second thought. So why was I hesitating now?
I mulled it over. Back then, I didn't know the real Ia Ris. Now I did, all too well. That was why I could spam her mindlessly before but struggled now.
I didn't have the guts to brainlessly text a woman who'd blow someone's house sky-high. But I had enough courage for a calculated one.
I channeled every ounce of intellect I'd honed for survival, crafting a message that wouldn't piss her off when she saw it.
First, the honorific: 'Ia Sis.' She'd visibly melted last time I called her that and hugged her. Yeah, time to make "Ia Sis" a habit.
"Okay, start with 'Ia Sis.' Then what? Keep it short and sweet."
There's a reason "three-line summary" is a thing. Nobody hates concise info. The text needed to let Ia Sis—no, Ia Sis—grasp the situation at a glance and tug at her heartstrings.
I pondered, then added five characters, spaces included: 'Ia Sis, it hurts.'
For all the headache it caused, it was pathetically simplistic. Who'd buy this crap and come heal me? It wasn't a summary—it was an omission.
But explaining to her possessive, rampaging side how I'd ended up wrecked—Fucked Ska, overheated, fucked Lapis to cool down, now I'm fucked and dying in three days without treatment—was suicide.
I'd nearly spilled blood earlier tonight by revealing unnecessary truths just to ease my mind. Unless she hounded me relentlessly, I'd learned to gloss over sensitive stuff.
In that sense, 'Ia Sis, it hurts.' left endless room for imagination. She'd think, "Paster's hurt? Gotta heal him!" less than "Huh? What happened?"
That curiosity would spark prying questions, and buckling under them, I'd spill everything from tonight. Horrifying just imagining it.
Yeah, better scrap this and go with a normal "Can I come by? I'm hurting."
"...Just send something straightforward like that instead. Cancel this text and..."
CRACK!!!
The moment my finger hovered to delete, like some damn drama, my phone vibrated perfectly on cue.
- VRRRRIIIIING!!!!
A piercing siren shredded my eardrums, and cracks spiderwebbed the empty air right in front of me.
Crack...!Crack crack...!!
A massive rupture tore through the air with a boom, mana levels in the atmosphere skyrocketing.
Mana—the new resource defining our era—was also the biggest roadblock to humanity's progress. An inexplicable catastrophe, the deadliest disaster in history.
Gate.
Unlike dungeons that blended into landscapes and only overflowed when monster capacity maxed out, Gates spewed beasts the instant they formed. That's why they were humanity's most dangerous threat.
CRASH...!
And now, that ultimate peril was unfolding before my eyes.
The siren cut off, replaced by a mechanical voice. It was the gate rank detector and alarm Dr. Emme had developed.
A-rank Gate detected near Liar's Trap. Evacuate the area immediately. Repeat: A-rank Gate detected...
C-rank and below near Liar's Trap: Assist in civilian rescues. B-rank and above: Assemble in designated zones to form Gate strike teams and aid in destruction. This is an A-rank Gate—C-rank and below are barred from assault. Prioritize rescues.
Gates usually started at B-rank, and those were the most common. But this one opening before me? A-rank.
Taking down an A-rank needed a well-trained A-rank leader plus ten synced B-ranks. That was the bare minimum—normally, you'd deploy double or triple for contingencies.
In awakener society, ten B-ranks (successful elites) and one A-rank (mid-guild master material) as the minimum made A-rank Gates terrifying. And one was yawning open right here.
Crack crack!Krunch!
The initial hairline fissure, barely a meter, had ballooned into a 5-meter maw that could swallow a person whole. In under a minute, it'd be a full oval Gate, vomiting its monsters.
- Grrr... RAAAAAWR!!!Clack! Clack clack!
As if signaling the end, a savage claw—sharp enough to shred a human like tofu, serrated like shark teeth—protruded from the gap. It screamed intent to slaughter everything living.
"Ha, fuck."
The Gate grew, alarms blared, the monster poised to lunge—this pure disaster, and all I could do was mutter emptily.
"Wrong send..."
My phone screen glowed: 'Ia Sis, it hurts.'Sent.
Say it was a mistake now? Then what excuse do I give Ia Sis when I show for treatment? Fuck, why's a Gate popping off here of all places?!
"Gotta fabricate some reason she'll buy and..."
CRAAACK!!!
As I scrambled to explain my wrecked state, another boom erupted from the rift. If the first was the prelude, this was completion.
I looked up. A majestic oval Gate, maybe 10 meters wide, loomed.
Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.
From the darkness within, the claw's owner emerged—a wolf-like monster, village bus-sized even half-shadowed.
No way the first one's this big. Don't Gates start weak?
Gate by gate, they varied. And for an A-rank like this, weak or strong didn't matter to me. Nothing here was beatable.
Wolf-beast... Silk Blond would name it Wolfy. Anyway, Wolfy didn't like me standing dumbstruck, so it spewed mana to intimidate.
- Grrrrrr...
Its throat-rasp challenge roar made texting impossible here. Whatever. Nothing I could do anyway.
Pacing before a fully open Gate was suicide for most, but not with Rabbit Hole.
"You idiot, popping out right in front of our guild. See the lights back there? On-duty members'll swarm soon. So... next life, spawn in a dungeon, not a Gate. Bye!"
I wished luck to the unlucky Wolfy and activated Rabbit Hole to bail—
"M-MONSTER...! S-SAVE MEEE!! HELP!!!"
- ROOOARRRR!!!
"...Fuck."
A Hypo City civilian screamed into existence just as I moved, drawing Wolfy straight at me in response. Short curse escaped.
2.
"Of all places, right in front of our guild. Those monsters inside are unlucky. Just like me..."
Ia Ris gave a self-mocking chuckle at the urgent TV bulletin, tilting her wine glass. It held soju, not wine. No fragrant bouquet—just the stench of cheap booze permeating her home.
Yet she could chug dozens of shots from that glass without getting drunk. Her healing powers detoxed alcohol instantly.
"Fucking dogs... All of 'em fucking dogs."
Today had been utter shit for Ia Ris.
Ska Rate tagged her in an Insta post: date pics with Paster. Outraged, she'd scoured every outlet in Hypo City for their supposed shopping trip. No Paster, just endless pasta joints fueling her rage.
Fury clouded her judgment, unleashing her mad bitch alias as she maniacally hit every outlet four times over. Only then did she realize Ska's troll, trudging home under the darkening sky.
Bad mood lingered, so she'd been pouring soju into wine glasses till now.
"Why can't I even get properly wasted...! One more!"
Glug glug glug.
Bzzz.
As she filled her 89th glass, her phone buzzed faintly on the sofa corner.
"...Huh? Who the hell at this hour."
Already pissed, she snatched it, ready to unleash if it was bullshit.
"Ia Sis... it hurts...?"
The moment she read the incoming text, white mana enveloped her entirely.