GGC

A Keeper's rank is decided by their strength — or, more precisely, by their capacity to get the job done.

An S-class Keeper might be someone who can take down an S-class monster in a straight fight. It might also mean someone who can deal with an S-class monster by any means necessary.

Korea has roughly ten S-class Keepers.

Their raw power gives them a certain influence over Keeper society and the country itself. In other words, they hold a kind of authority.

But the people who hold the real power are someone else entirely.

The Keepers who own Gates where S-class monsters appear.

The masters of Gates where rare metals can be mined.

The ones who can open Gates where rare plants grow.

Those are the true power brokers. Next to them, a plain S-class Keeper is nothing more than a chess piece — a pawn they move around the board.

And why wouldn't that be the case? What good is strength if you have nowhere to use it? This isn't some primitive society where might makes right. In a capitalist world, the Gates that can be turned into cash are king.

Anyone who owned a Gate like that was a one-man corporation. Some of them didn't even envy entire nations.

The Keeper who owned Korea's most famous Gate was one of those.

He was the only person in the world who could open a Gate that produced Ttanttani.

Ttanttani was harder and lighter than any metal on Earth. With that alone, he rocketed overnight into the ranks of the world's wealthiest people.

And that wasn't all. A single word from him could summon the Minister of Defense or the President. Supplying Ttanttani had doubled the growth of Korea's weapons technology, after all. Calling him the cornerstone of national defense wasn't an exaggeration. Of course the President and the Defense Ministry danced around him. Plenty of other countries wanted him, and he could leave Korea whenever he felt like it.

He was an extreme case, but Keepers who owned good Gates all lived lives ordinary people couldn't even imagine.

People called them conglomerates.

And those conglomerates had exclusive Keepers — what everyone called a Crew.

A Crew was a group of Keepers who regularly entered a conglomerate Keeper's Gate to help with gathering, mining, and hunting. In practice, if you weren't part of the Crew, you weren't getting into a conglomerate Gate at all. Conglomerate Keepers didn't post open recruitment notices on places like The Gate. They screened people through Crew interviews and decided who got in.

Most Keepers dreamed of joining a conglomerate Crew. Once you were in, you got frequent access to the best Gates — which meant money and power. You also got a certain degree of protection, and the connections that came with it went without saying.

Garam, a B-class Keeper and the owner of the Goblin Village Gate, belonged to a Crew himself.

His was a brand-new outfit, barely off the ground. In the Crew leader's Gate grew a plant that stimulated brain cells. More research was still needed to be sure, but so far it was being hailed as a potential complete cure for dementia. They weren't a conglomerate yet — but the odds of them becoming one in the near future were high.

Let's see…

Garam checked what had happened in the Crew during the week he'd been gone.

A notice had been posted on the private community only Crew members could access.

Scouting-ability users?

The latest notice alone wasn't enough for Garam to piece together what was going on. He dug back through the earlier posts one by one.

Kim Nayeon — that was the Leader's younger sister. If she'd been poisoned, things were clearly serious.

"Hmm…"

The moment he heard "scouting-ability user," a particular face floated up in Garam's mind.

"Maybe I should give Jungmin a call."

It wouldn't be a bad offer. Opportunities to join a rising new Crew didn't come around often. It would be a big help to the Crew, too.

The morning after my first kiss and a night of intense sex with Kayla.

Nothing much had changed. The moment I opened my eyes, I did what I'd been doing every day since she arrived.

Not se…x. Rune study.

Trying to write runes without the skill's help for the first time in a while felt a little awkward. But I drew the Gather rune perfectly on the first try. Then the second. Then the third. By the fifth, the awkwardness was gone. I was at the point where I could write it with my eyes closed — and that wasn't a metaphor. I actually could. You had to, if you wanted to see even the first stroke of mana. Seeing it and finishing the rune were still two different problems, though.

Maybe I should try it alone this time.

Normally I would have kissed the back of Kayla's hand and borrowed her dark magic, but I didn't feel like it today. She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was sitting on the bed with her tablet, and I didn't want to interrupt. From what I'd seen, she treasured that time.

Besides, I had a feeling I could pull it off solo. I had a Magic Power stat now, after all.

I tried moving my magic power the way I did when I used dark magic.

Hmm…

Not a chance. I couldn't even remember how I'd done it with dark magic, and I had no idea where my magic power was supposed to be. From some hazy memory it seemed to start in the head, so I tried working from there. All I got was a headache.

Fine. Then…

I decided to write the Gather rune on my heart first. I still didn't really know how to use magic power, but I focused on each stroke as if I were pouring it in.

Stroke by stroke.

On the imaginary heart in my mind, the rune took shape little by little. Sweat rolled down my forehead. The moment I noticed it, I realized my whole body was drenched.

When did this happen? Why is this so hard?

My concentration was about to break — and then a firm voice and a warm hand caught me.

"Focus. Just focus. Finish the rune."

Kayla said it as she wiped the sweat from my forehead and the corners ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of my eyes. Just having the sweat gone from my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyelids made concentrating so much easier. Buoyed by her encouragement, I kept drawing the rune.

Stroke by stroke.

How long did it take? Subjectively, about an hour before I finished it.

A low hum.

My heart vibrated with a sensation completely different from a normal beat. Something drifted closer in time with that vibration, circling near my heart before settling in one spot. It tingled.

"…Did it work?"

"It worked."

Kayla's declaration came at the same moment a message filled my vision.

Whoa — two at once!

Jackpot!

"…Took longer than I expected."

Joy was surging through me, but she was as calm as ever. Normally I would have let it slide, but right now it stung a little.

"Come on, this is the part where you praise me. I finally finished a rune!"

"Well done. Congratulations. I guess you won't need me anymore."

The words said congratulations, but her tone somehow sank even lower.

Wait — won't need her for what?

Ah… so that's how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was taking it?

Come on, was that really something to get gloomy over?

Maybe I should mess with her a little.

"Right. From now on?"

"…"

Kayla's face went rigid. An atmosphere I'd never seen from her before. If I tried to laugh it off as a joke, I was pretty sure I'd get hit a few times… better pivot.

"Then how about we try transferring mana directly this time?"

"…Alright. You know how, right?"

"That…"

I was about to say I didn't — and then it came to me. The Awakening ability, of course.

"Give me your hand."

Kayla held out her left hand, the one with the wing pattern drawn on it. I kissed it the way I always did.

A soft peck.

Then, still like that, I focused on the tingling sensation in my heart — willing the mana to pass through my lips into Kayla.

"…Do I need to wait longer?"

"Just a second. I'm concentrating."

Slowly. Agonizingly slowly. The mana refused to move.

"…"

"…Got it!"

At last the mana crossed over to Kayla. Strangely, I could still feel it — twitching on the back of her hand.

"…Did it work?"

"No. It has to reach the heart… How do I move it? My mana affinity probably isn't enough…"

"It'll be easier if you put your hand on it and guide it. And I'll help."

"How?"

"Like this."

Kayla stacked my hand on top of hers, then guided it from the back of her hand up to her shoulder.

"Okay. I'll try."

I started again from the back of her hand. Doing it her way, the mana moved a little faster. Maybe because she was helping.

Back of the hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder — and then her chest.

My hand arrived with the mana.

Soft.

I always felt this way, but touching her chest felt incredible. Hers was soft and springy at the same time; pressing into it was genuinely fun.

"…There. Done."

My mana reached Kayla's heart. The link cut the moment it arrived.

"Nnh…"

She made a small, unreadable sound and dipped her head slightly.

"How is it?"

"…Not enough."

"Huh?"

"It's way too little. I can't do anything with this. Even charging mana once an hour wouldn't be enough."

"Th-that bad?"

Honestly, I'd kind of expected it. The mana in my heart had been a pitiful scrap.

"Yeah. So let's do it."

"Huh? Mmph."

Kayla lifted her head and covered my lips with hers. I was a little startled, but I responded right away — pulling her waist in and sucking hard on her mouth.

Her tongue was sweet. I could do this every morning and it would still be sweet.

After we'd finished our little campaign, I sat facing Kayla again.

"So magic power and mana still aren't enough?"

"Yeah. Your magic power isn't enough yet."

"And even if I inject magic power, I'd still have to top it up once a week."

Which meant I couldn't stay inside another Gate for more than a week. Most Gate expeditions only lasted three days at most — but if something unexpected happened like last time, there was no telling. And now that I was aware of the risk, I didn't want to take that chance again.

Kayla was precious to me.

"Until we have a solution, I shouldn't enter any Gates."

"Why? I'm fine."

"I'm not fine with it."

"So how long are you planning to keep this up?"

She had a point. We couldn't do this forever. Eventually I would have to enter a Gate. Which left only one option.

"Let's go into a Gate together."

"Huh?"

"If we go in together, it'll be fine, right?"

"I'm not a Keeper."

If you weren't a Keeper, you couldn't enter a Gate. That was a rule even Otherworlders couldn't dodge.

But I had a feeling it would work somehow.

"Let's try. I have a hunch we can get in."

"Whose Gate?"

That was the real problem. We couldn't enter Association-run Gates, and I couldn't open one myself.

"Well…"

There was someone who came to mind. Whether it would work was another question.