Eternal Gate
"What should we do?"
Han Seongmin was asking from the other side of the screen.
Lee Jayoung, General Manager of the Gate Keeper Association, answered.
"There's a chance Ttanttani might come out of the Eternal Gate, isn't there?"
"It's possible."
"Then we should take it. Who knows what else might come out besides Ttanttani."
"Exactly. Since the Association discovered it, it's only right that we claim everything. The Eternal Gate is ours."
Park Taeyoung, Head of the Anti-Villain Division, chimed in from beside her.
But he was wrong.
It hadn't been the Association that discovered Death's Land—it had been the soldiers.
"Then should we not call the other Keepers?"
"That wouldn't look good. Call them for now, and when the chance comes, we go in first... You get the idea, right?"
"Understood. I'll handle it that way."
"I'll be waiting for good news."
"Yes! Leave it to me!"
That was the end of the call.
"Things have been going well lately. It's all thanks to you, General Manager."
"No, it's thanks to you for helping me so well."
Lee Jayoung and Park Taeyoung.
Neither of them could hide the smiles on their faces.
One day after the Gate began to open from the magic circle.
We were still investigating the circle.
Keira was going over the runic structure again, trying to figure out what additional effects the magic circle was giving the Eternal Gate.
Elena was reverse-engineering the process that had created Death's Land, attempting to craft a holy spell that could restore the stolen life force.
Her research was also about stopping the energy that had been leaking from our bodies ever since the dead Necromancer.
According to her, if she could receive Holy Rank 4, she could plug the hole without any of this research.
In the end, training my mental strength so that massive amounts of holy power could cross through the Gate might be the right move.
And I was tracking the Necromancer's energy.
The enormous presence I had felt the day before yesterday was already gone.
I figured it had been used to activate the magic circle.
Even so, the circle was still absorbing the life force of people and living things through Death's Land.
The energy wasn't gathering the way it had before—it was vanishing somewhere the moment it was taken.
It could be the circle using it, or it could be flowing to whoever had installed the circle.
So I was tracking that energy.
"Jungmin, find anything?"
"No. Can't even grab the tail. Must be too far away."
"The circle activated and the master still hasn't shown up... Maybe he's already dead?"
"You think it was that guy after all?"
That guy.
The Necromancer who had died not long ago.
The energy he used was almost identical, so of course my mind went there.
This magic circle might have been something he set up before he attacked us.
"Could be. It's hard to believe another Necromancer crossed dimensions."
"Then what if we assume it was him and think it through? We might be able to guess why he installed the circle."
"If a Necromancer enters the Eternal Gate, the reason's simple."
"What is it?"
"To build an army of the dead. Monsters can come out of the Eternal Gate."
It was an extremely intuitive and reasonable reason.
The thought of monsters like ogres becoming undying bodies the way those Association Keepers had was horrifying just to imagine.
"Good thing he's really dead, then. So there's no problem now, right? The Eternal Gate's just going to open."
"We can't just let it slide like that. The moment the Eternal Gate opens, monsters stronger than the usual ones from an Eternal Gate could pour into Earth."
"Magic can do that kind of manipulation?"
"I don't know. I didn't even know magic could open an Eternal Gate. We have to assume that manipulating the inside of the Gate is possible for now."
"...What a headache."
Harassing people even after death—if that wasn't peak Necromancer, I didn't know what was.
"The harder problem is that the Necromancer might still be alive."
"What?"
I turned my head in surprise at Elena's words.
Worry filled her face.
"He is a Necromancer who deals in death. He wasn't a Lich, but he might have prepared in advance so that he would become one when he died."
"What's a Lich?"
"An undying mage. They store their life force somewhere other than their body, so destroying the body doesn't kill them. The Necromancer we fought this time definitely had life force in that body, but a top-tier Necromancer becoming a Lich at any moment wouldn't be strange."
We finally killed him and now we have to fight him again?
"So a Necromancer who became a Lich would be bringing an army with him."
"In the worst case, yes."
I understood why Elena's face was full of worry.
Even the Necromancer alone had been hard enough. How were we supposed to stop him if he came with undying monsters?
"That's why we called the Keepers. If it's S-rank Keepers, they should be able to handle even the worst case."
Keira's words were a big comfort.
If ten Keepers on Elena's level gathered, there didn't seem to be anything to fear.
Just thinking about it made me feel secure.
"But why aren't they coming? The Gate could open any second, right?"
"Yeah. The division head seemed to understand perfectly... so why?"
Time was critical, so why weren't the Keepers we'd called showing up?
A whole day had already passed.
I felt a little bad about pushing my hero again, but I was wondering if I should bring it up once more when an unexpected voice solved the mystery.
"That's because most of the S-rank Keepers are already inside Gates."
"...Suyeon?"
It was definitely Suyeon's voice.
I lifted my head toward the sound.
Suyeon was peeking down from the hole above.
"Long time no see, Oppa!"
I answered her bright smile with one of my own.
But was it really a long time?
It hadn't even been a week...?
...The feeling of being glared at from both sides was probably just my imagination.
"William Park of the Shinyongsan Crew."
He was a lanky man with a slender build.
He was smiling loosely and looked completely unguarded, but he was the kind of person you couldn't judge by appearances.
A famous S-rank Keeper, and a narrow-eyed character at that.
"Hello. I'm Lee Jungmin."
"Thank you for saving Shinyongsan. I've heard a lot about you from Suyeon."
"Huh? You're close with Suyeon?"
"Of course. Ever since she was little..."
"Uncle!"
Just as his already-narrow eyes were about to get even narrower, Suyeon cut him off from the side.
Hearing her call him uncle, they really did seem close.
Closer than me, maybe?
"You little... Fine. I'll step outside. Suyeon was singing about wanting to meet her hero..."
"Uncle!"
Only after Suyeon shouted a second time did William Park leave the tent.
Suyeon's face turned red.
If it had just been me here it might have been a little better, but Keira and Elena were standing right beside me.
"Uh, should we step out too? So the two of you can talk as much as you—"
"No, it's fine. It's not important or secret, so please stay. I just have something I want to give him."
Suyeon stopped Keira from leaving.
The guitar-case-looking thing behind her was probably the item she wanted to hand over.
"What brought you all the way out here? It's dangerous."
"They said even non-Keepers can go in, so I came. I want to see the world inside a Gate too."
I knew that feeling well.
Especially since Suyeon was surrounded by nothing but Keepers—of course she'd want to go inside a Gate even more.
"Still, not right now. Once things settle down you'll be able to go in."
"I know. That's why I just came to deliver this. Anyway, I made it, so I have to do the adjustments myself."
"Adjustments?"
Suyeon brought the case forward and opened it.
Inside was a metal arm.
The glittering silver light gave it the feel of a scene from a movie.
"Whoa... When did you make this?"
"I finished the first version this morning. It's still a long way from complete, but I heard Oppa might have to fight again, so I brought it."
"This morning? Did you pull an all-nighter?"
"Pulling all-nighters is routine, so don't worry. Now give me your arm."
I turned toward her.
I was wearing a sleeveless combat suit under a jacket; when I took the jacket off, the yellow prosthetic appeared.
Suyeon roughly tore the prosthetic free, revealing the bare flesh of my shoulder.
"It might hurt a little."
The silver arm she lifted had sharp spikes sticking out of it.
"What, you can connect it with that right away? How?"
"Trade secret."
Suyeon grinned and jammed the arm into my shoulder.
"Hup...!"
I bit down hard on my lip against the surging agony.
A little, she'd said—this was no joke.
"Kh...!"
"...I'm sorry. I was afraid if I said it would hurt a lot, you wouldn't do it."
"...No, still, this is... Huh?"
I clenched my fist through the pain—and not only my right hand moved, but my left as well.
Zing. Zzing.
With the soft whir of tiny motors, the fingers of my left hand gathered and formed a fist.
"Huh? Huh?"
My left shoulder hurt like I'd been struck by lightning, but the fact that my left hand was moving was even more amazing.
"Yes! It attached perfectly! Success!"
I raised the arm, bent it, even rotated it.
The response was fast, and it moved incredibly naturally.
It felt like my original arm.
"W-what is this? Why does it move so well?"
"That's because it's the result of me staying up three days and nights straight. Do you have any idea how hard I worked making this?"
"No, this is possible in three days?"
"Nothing is impossible for this genius scientist. I can do this kind of thing like breathing."
"Seriously, that's insane, I mean, wow..."
While I was at a loss for words, Keira, apparently frustrated, sent a message.
Huh?
I turned my head without thinking, wondering what that was about, then stopped the motion mid-turn under the force of Keira's mana and fixed my gaze on Suyeon.
Suyeon was standing with her chest puffed out, looking triumphant.
I lifted the left arm she had given me and gently stroked her head.
I couldn't feel the softness of her hair, but just having a left arm again was more than satisfying enough.
"Thanks, Suyeon. I'll really take good care of it."
"Hehe."
Suyeon smiled happily.
If she'd had a tail, she would have looked exactly like a puppy—that cute.
"But why is this so light?"
The motors moved the arm on their own, but the left-right balance my waist felt had no difference at all.
From the outside it looked like a chunk of metal that should weigh twenty or thirty kilos, yet it seemed almost the same weight as my right arm.
"It's Ttanttani."
"...What?"
"Do you have any idea how hard I worked wrangling this out of Uncle Mujin... Mom!"
"Thank you, Suyeon. Really, thank you."
Overwhelmed with emotion, I pulled Suyeon into a hug.
Just being able to hold someone with both arms was moving enough—and the fact that it was made of Ttanttani made it even better.
Nothing could be better than this.
"Hey, Oppa, wait a second."
Suyeon tried to push me away, embarrassed, but I didn't want to let go.
I wanted to express my gratitude even like this.
Besides, Keira and Elena already knew I had feelings for Suyeon.
And I needed to get used to situations like this anyway.
Just then, someone came running into the tent from outside and rescued Suyeon.
"I'm sorry. It's urgent—"
That person, Park Sena, started to say something, then froze for a moment when she saw me and Suyeon.
...Why her of all people?
No, wait—better than William Park, right?
I slowly released Suyeon, and she cleared her throat before continuing.
"The Gate opened. We need to get there right away. All of us."
Already...?