Rescue Request
Serca didn't take her eyes off Do Ha-gyeong and asked.
“Who is this human?”
Do Ha-gyeong, who had been approaching, stopped in her tracks.
The woman with her red hair tied high and the woman with her silver hair hanging down looked at each other.
One was smiling, the other wasn't.
Sihyuk spoke first.
“Do Ha-gyeong. The deputy guild leader of Yeomhwa.”
Serca's eyes narrowed slightly.
“Are you acquainted with my lord?”
“We've seen each other a couple of times before.”
“Yes. It's Do Ha-gyeong.”
Sihyuk then turned his gaze to Do Ha-gyeong.
“This side is Serca.”
She extended her hand lightly.
Serca glanced between the extended hand and her face, then belatedly shook hands.
The contact was brief.
Do Ha-gyeong's amber eyes changed a little.
Serca was the same.
Both put their hands down without a word.
Sihyuk didn't ask.
People familiar with fighting would size up opponents that way too.
“Is it the person in the video from yesterday?”
Do Ha-gyeong asked.
“The one who appeared with a sword and knelt in front of Kang Sihyuk.”
Serca's face hardened.
“Video?”
Do Ha-gyeong took out her phone.
“It's the one recorded yesterday.”
The screen showed a familiar road.
Serca was kneeling on one knee, and in front of her was Sihyuk's back.
Serca's eyebrows twitched as she stared at the screen for a moment.
“…Did you put yesterday's incident inside this?”
“Yes. It spread like crazy.”
“The face isn't visible.”
“Is that important?”
Riel asked with disbelief.
“To me, it is.”
Sihyuk looked a bit more at the screen then withdrew his interest.
“Even so, I was thinking of calling you about this.”
Do Ha-gyeong shook her phone.
“Because there are too many things to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Who this person is. Why he knelt in front of you. And why the person who appeared with a sword became docile with just one word from you.”
“Three things.”
“So I was going to ask directly.”
While saying this, Do Ha-gyeong didn't take her eyes off Serca.
Seeing it on screen and facing it in person was different.
Serca was the same.
Her gaze lingered longer on Do Ha-gyeong's shoulders, hands, and toes than on her face.
Do Ha-gyeong asked.
“Do you have a hunter rank?”
“The association said it's equivalent to A-rank.”
“Hmm.”
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
Sihyuk had seen that expression before.
It was similar to when he checked his strength in the training ground.
“No.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“It's written on your face.”
Do Ha-gyeong touched her own face with her hand.
“…Does it show that much?”
Riel answered immediately from the side.
“Yeah.”
Do Ha-gyeong looked at them both with an unhappy face.
Serca seemed not to understand what it meant.
“What is it that can't be done?”
“You don't have to know.”
Sihyuk answered shortly.
At that moment, Do Ha-gyeong's phone rang.
Her expression changed immediately when she checked the screen.
The smile that had been there until then disappeared.
“Eh.”
Do Ha-gyeong, who received the call, stopped beside the display stand.
“Tell me.”
The other party's voice wasn't audible.
Do Ha-gyeong's brows slowly furrowed.
“One more person came out?”
A moment of silence.
“What's the status?”
She put the phone between her shoulder and ear and picked up the black knuckle from the display stand next to her.
It was equipment Bran had entrusted her with.
Do Ha-gyeong put on the knuckle starting from her right hand and clenched her fingers tightly then released them.
“Consciousness?”
This time, the time to hear the answer was a bit longer.
“Got it. I'll go right away.”
She put the knuckle on her left hand too.
“Rescue team, wait at the entrance.”
The voice lowered.
“Maintain the entrance, provide first aid to the first person out. Prepare for transport immediately, and contact when consciousness returns.”
“Don't let anyone else enter until I get there.”
After listening to the other party's words a bit more, she ended the call.
Riel asked first.
“What's going on?”
“There was a gate we raided today.”
Do Ha-gyeong brought up the map.
It wasn't far from Mullae-dong.
“A-rank. The raid team entered not long ago, but one person came out covered in blood.”
Riel's expression changed immediately.
“How many went in?”
“Thirty.”
“Thirty?”
“Yeah.”
Do Ha-gyeong put her phone in her pocket.
“One person came out of the gate and left a few words before collapsing.”
“What did they say?”
“The first unfamiliar person appeared from inside, and part of the escape route collapsed.”
“Currently?”
“Lost consciousness.”
Riel furrowed her brows.
A-rank raid team of 30.
Only one returned.
And even that one barely left a few words before collapsing in front of the gate.
Do Ha-gyeong continued.
“The gate itself is fine.”
“Rank?”
“Same as is.”
Riel was silent for a moment.
No change in the measured values outside, but the raid team collapsed inside.
Serca alternated between the two's expressions.
“Is the gate similar to the dimensional gate that opened when I came here before?”
Riel answered.
“Similar. This time, it's not something coming out from the other side, but us entering inside.”
“Meaning our forces are trapped inside?”
“Yeah.”
Serca looked at Do Ha-gyeong.
“Then why are you still here?”
Do Ha-gyeong closed her eyes for a moment.
Then looked at Riel.
“Can you help?”
“Finding people?”
“Yeah.”
Do Ha-gyeong explained.
“I did a quick scan of the internal terrain before the raid, but I didn't fully understand it. If the escape route has collapsed, I need scouting personnel.”
Riel didn't think long.
“I’ll go.”
“Thank you.”
Do Ha-gyeong immediately called again.
“Reorganize the rescue team. Riel from Cheongrim is joining.”
Serca's gaze turned to Riel.
It was different from the displeased look until just now.
“Is that elf necessary?”
“She’s good at finding people.”
Sihyuk answered instead.
Riel turned her head.
“Why are you bragging?”
“Because it’s true.”
“But that’s not the point.”
Serca stared at Riel for a moment then withdrew her gaze without saying anything.
The four of them went out of the exhibition hall together.
In the Mullae-dong alley, the sound of hammering didn't stop like before.
Riel took out the car key.
“Let’s go to the site first.”
Do Ha-gyeong looked at Sihyuk.
“But why are you coming along?”
“Just. I wanted to see.”
“It’s going to the gate.”
“I know.”
Since I entrusted the sword to Bran, in theory, today's work should be over.
But strangely, I didn’t want to just go back.
Curiosity arose about what the inside of Earth's gate is like.
“Just to check the site.”
“Want to see?”
“Yeah.”
Do Ha-gyeong let out a short sigh.
“It’s not a sightseeing trip.”
“You don’t have to go in.”
There was no rebuttal to that, so Do Ha-gyeong didn’t say more.
Instead, she looked at Serca.
“What about you too, Serca?”
“I’ll go where my lord goes.”
Do Ha-gyeong's gaze went down to the sword at her waist.
“Following inside the gate is a different story.”
“Why?”
“You just asked what a gate is. I don’t know how the rescue team moves.”
Serca's expression hardened.
“Do you think I’m weaker than your soldiers?”
“That’s separate from strength.”
Do Ha-gyeong didn’t laugh.
“Today, bringing people out is more important than catching enemies.”
Do Ha-gyeong folded her fingers with the knuckle once.
“If it’s a raid, the strongest person can push ahead. But for rescue, no. You have to match the injured person’s pace, find scattered people, and keep checking the way back.”
Serca was silent for a moment.
In the Demon Realm, there were cases of extracting besieged forces or recovering stragglers.
“…Understood.”
A short answer.
Do Ha-gyeong didn’t explain further.
“First, let’s go to the site, report the situation, and decide.”
Serca still looked displeased.
But Sihyuk sat in the back seat first, and Serca sat beside him without a word.
As the car left Mullae-dong, Do Ha-gyeong called almost without stopping.
“Add more ambulance teams.”
She listened to the other party for a moment.
“Yeah. All of them.”
The next call continued.
“Pull back non-combat personnel around the entrance.”
And again.
“Check the recording equipment for the people who came out first. If the video is alive, upload it right away.”
The usual light tone was almost gone.
Sihyuk turned his gaze out the window.
The district lined with blacksmiths ended, and low warehouses and factory buildings followed.
A bit further, there were also lines of association vehicles and ambulances moving in the same direction.
Serca watched the scene silently.
“It looks like a battlefield.”
“Because people can die.”
Serca nodded at Sihyuk's answer.
She didn’t ask after that.
The place where the gate opened was a site where old logistics warehouses were gathered.
From afar, a control line was visible.
Association vehicles blocked both sides of the road, and armed hunters gathered in groups, checking equipment.
When Riel's car approached, one side of the control line opened.
Do Ha-gyeong unbuckled her seatbelt before the car fully stopped.
She opened the door and got out, and a Yeomhwa guild member waiting nearby rushed over immediately.
“Deputy Guild Leader.”
“Status.”
“No additional people came out. The gate is maintaining stability.”
“Injured?”
“Yes. They’re receiving first aid. Consciousness hasn’t returned yet.”
“Recording equipment?”
“It’s been salvaged.”
Do Ha-gyeong's steps quickened.
Sihyuk, Riel, and Serca followed.
In the wide open space between the warehouses, a gate was floating.
It was different in size from what was seen from a distance.
A space torn long and vertically spread to the height of a four-story building.
The surface was slowly waving like waves, and inside it was so dark that nothing was visible.
Around it, measuring equipment and temporary barriers were layered.
Generators and measuring devices hummed lowly.
Structure personnel carrying stretchers came and went between the temporary tents, and on one side, hunters in armor were inspecting weapons.
The equipment was similar to what was seen in the exhibition hall in Mullae-dong earlier.
Shiny swords.
Shields padded with monster leather.
Long spears and mana guns.
But on the faces of the people holding them, there was no sense of excitement that was seen in the exhibition hall.
Sihyuk slowed his steps a little.
He had already seen gates where monsters burst out from outside.
This was the first time seeing the entrance directly entering inside up close.
Do Ha-gyeong immediately entered the site tent.
On the wall screen, a video of the hunter who escaped from the raid team was playing.
At first, it didn’t seem like there was any problem.
Hunters equipped with weapons moved along unfamiliar stone paths.
Soon the screen shook greatly.
A loud noise.
One person flew next to the camera.
Someone shouted from outside the screen.
“-3rd floor contact lost!”
The camera quickly turned.
Collapsed stone wall.
Two people dragging one bleeding person.
“- Pull the injured back first!”
Another loud noise exploded.
The wall on the right side of the screen collapsed inward.
A large stone blocked the path people had passed.
“- Part of the entry route has collapsed!”
“- Rear passage is blocked!”
The camera turned back.
Due to dust, nothing was visible.
Then.
Something moved beyond the dust.
A large shadow whose shape couldn't be properly seen.
The hunters around stopped walking one by one.
Someone swallowed.
“-What is that…….”
The video cut off.