January 1st
January 1st.
The first day of the new year in this place, arriving in the dead of winter, was both my busiest day and my biggest headache.
While everyone else was sleeping in and nursing hangovers, here I was suffering from the crack of dawn. People in the same boat as me were bustling about the plaza, staking out their spots. Guild representatives, officials from the Royal Council, even curious onlookers who'd come just to watch. Their reasons varied, but every last one of them was staring at the same place, waiting for the same thing.
"I'm gonna yawn my face off."
Jae-hyeok, sitting next to me, stretched and muttered under his breath. He was sprawled there with a smug look, his coat — the one with a white tiger painted across the armor — half-slipped off his shoulders. A guy summoned the same year as me four years back, and every year around this time we got stuck together all day doing newcomer orientation. Hopeless, that one.
"What'd you do last night?"
"What do you think? Sold off some magic stones from last time and hung out with some Settler girls. Getting up at dawn on January 1st is hell on a normal day, man."
That was the kind of guy he was. Even in a world crawling with monsters, all he ever thought about was chasing women.
"Sigh. When are you gonna get your act together?"
I let out a short breath and started running through today's orientation script in my head when Jae-hyeok opened his mouth again.
"You're the one living too tightly wound, Ha-jun. There won't be many of them this time anyway. What's the harm in a little less sleep?"
"…I don't know. That's just a guess. We won't know until it opens. And we have no idea what the Korean ratio will even be."
When I answered without much conviction, Jae-hyeok propped his chin on his hand.
"It's obvious. Four years ago, our year, it was exactly ten thousand. Kept getting cut in half, and last year it was twelve hundred fifty."
As he spoke, he turned his eyes toward the stone structure in the center of the plaza.
"So this Dimensional Gate will probably get cut in half again — around six hundred twenty-five. Haa… but if it keeps getting halved like this, won't it just stop coming entirely someday?"
The Dimensional Gate.
A massive stone structure standing in the heart of the plaza, a good ten meters tall. The kingdom's stonemasons hadn't built it — it had apparently always been there — but even digging through the royal records turned up nothing about when it first appeared. All we knew was that four years ago, starting with us, it began opening every year, and each time people from the world we'd originally lived in came pouring out at random.
And as Jae-hyeok said, that number had been cut in half every single year.
Jae-hyeok and I had claimed a corner of the plaza in front of the Dimensional Gate that was about to open for the fifth time. We'd hung a crude banner reading [Korean Guild Baekho] over a roughly built wooden table, written in cheap ink, and spent the wait trading idle chatter. Same spot, same table, three years running. That was what we did every January 1st.
I looked at Jae-hyeok beside me.
"In a few years, you might be right. It could stop coming altogether."
"That'd be a disaster. I don't know about the other guilds, but ours needs every single person we can get right now."
Jae-hyeok muttered it with a genuinely worried look. Since when did this guy care about guild affairs? He was probably just bummed that fewer newcomers meant fewer people to party with.
"You that sad about fewer newbies?"
At my words, Jae-hyeok crossed his arms and stared out over the plaza.
"Of course I'm sad. They're even paying foreign workers to come in and work as Settlers now. If the numbers keep getting halved every year, that means fewer cute newbies too. Ahh, please let a ton of pretty Korean girls show up this year."
He had a point. If it got cut in half again and only six hundred twenty-five came through, next year's sixth Dimensional Gate would be down to around three hundred. And how many of those would be Korean?
The problem was that what Jae-hyeok was mourning wasn't the guild's hardship — it was not getting to see new girls.
"Figures. For a second I thought you actually cared about the guild. You're not here to play around. You're here to work. Get your head on straight."
"Ah, who doesn't know that? But if we're doing this anyway, better if a bunch of pretty ones show up, right? Last year's batch was garbage. Su-yeon was about the only half-decent one, and that was nice for a while."
I adjusted the banner and asked,
"Don't tell me Su-yeon dumped you."
"Nah. She's been missing for about a month. Went out on a party with the Chinese guys."
The words Jae-hyeok tossed out so casually made my hands stop for a moment.
"Missing? Not killed by a beast, right?"
"Who knows. How would I know? If you're curious, go ask the Chinese guys over there."
Jae-hyeok jerked his chin toward the table where the Chinese were sitting.
"I don't care how many magic stones they throw at you — who parties with people you can't even talk to? I don't get it."
The picture was obvious enough. We need a healer, foreigners are fine, if they understand 'heal' who cares about language. That kind of pitch, dangling magic stones. What happened after that, nobody knew. Whether something got them, or they just took the money and left for somewhere else. Even if you found out, there wasn't much you could do about it.
"Talking to Yongmun about it probably wouldn't mean anything anyway…"
In this world, guilds were divided by language more than by nation. Fighting alongside people you could actually talk to raised your odds of survival even a little, so whether you were from Taiwan or Singapore, if you spoke Chinese you went into the Chinese guild Yongmun. Language groups became power blocs as a natural result.
By size, Greystone was the biggest — they'd absorbed every ability user who could speak English, regardless of nationality. Next came China's Yongmun, and third, surprisingly, wasn't India but the Spanish-speaking guild Espada. Across all of South America, different accents or not, if you could hold a conversation you stuck together, and they outsized even the complicated Arab-speaking bloc.
The Korean guild Baekho… sat well below all of that. North Korean defectors who'd lucked into escaping to this other world had joined Baekho too, so we were bigger than the French guild and smaller than the Japanese one — somewhere right around there.
The problem was when disputes broke out. They'd put an interpreter up front and run something resembling a trial, but the verdict always flipped in favor of whoever had more power. So what was the point of law? Law only worked when the evidence was so clear nobody could argue. And in a world where that kind of evidence was nearly impossible to come by, the real answer to conflict was violence wearing the costume of justice.
"Did you at least report it to Ye-rin…?"
"And do what? March over to Yongmun and ask if they've seen our guild member?"
"You're talking like it's someone else's problem. Su-yeon barely had any other Koreans she ran with in the guild besides you. You two were dating."
Jae-hyeok glanced at me, then spoke like he couldn't understand what I was getting at.
"Ah, come on, what are you even saying. Su-yeon's body felt good to touch, so I just took her around. And for all we know she just went wherever paid more. There's no point sweating every little thing like that."
"Hey, even so—"
Jae-hyeok had a point, but the circumstances still left me worried. Before I could finish, though, he cut me off like he already knew what I was going to say.
"Besides, even if you ask those Chinese bastards, they won't tell you a damn thing. Last time they shoved twice as many people into Espada's zone and swept up every magic stone there. When Espada protested, they didn't even bother with an interpreter — just stared them down like, go ahead and try us. Those guys have been openly looking down on the other guilds lately, you know?"
"Watch your mouth, you idiot."
I checked our surroundings on reflex.
"There are plenty of ethnic Koreans from China around here. If that kind of talk leaks out, you know as well as I do how much of a headache it'll be."
"Who cares. And for real, those bastards might've taken Su-yeon. Ah, hell, I don't know either."
"Even so, she was someone who ran with you. You should at least report it to Ye-rin."
Jae-hyeok shook his head.
"Look, you think like that because you're dating Ye-rin. And for the last time, Su-yeon and I weren't anything special. We were basically just fuck buddies. What would a pure-hearted monogamy guy like you know about it?"
I didn't answer. I turned my gaze toward the plaza instead. Jae-hyeok was already gearing up to change the subject, but I couldn't quite let it go.
A month ago, the last time I saw her, Su-yeon had given me an awkward smile and said hello. Told me to call her again next time the guild ate together. That was the last of it.
Because the guild was small. Because there was no evidence. We always just swallowed things like this. Maybe forgetting fast, the way Jae-hyeok did, was how you survived a long time in this world. I was the type who couldn't manage that. How much longer I could keep swallowing it, I didn't know either.
Then Jae-hyeok, who'd been staring at the plaza for a while, suddenly turned to me.
"By the way, you still haven't done it with Ye-rin?"
I frowned at the out-of-nowhere question.
"…Why do you suddenly care about that."
"I don't know, I'm just curious. You've been dating for years already — why still nothing? Is Ye-rin into the whole saving-it-for-marriage thing?"
"Saving it for marriage, my ass. If the guild master gets pregnant, you'd need someone else covering for her for months at minimum. Baekho doesn't have that kind of luxury. We're being careful on purpose."
That was what I said, but… I was only human. Honestly, there were times I thought I'd lose my mind. I wanted to. Of course I did. But I couldn't show it in front of Jae-hyeok, the only person who knew the situation. The second I did, I'd become a punchline, and I knew it.
"Ah, Ha-jun, you dense bastard. Everyone else is doing it and nobody's gotten pregnant. You can go inside and still not get pregnant, you know that? And the guild is full of girls who are into you — why are you sitting on your hands? If it were me, I'd just tell Ye-rin straight up that I'm seeing other people too."
Jae-hyeok said it like it was nothing.
"…Jae-hyeok."
"What."
"Don't cross the line. One more word and I might keep you off guide duty starting next year."
Not being allowed to guide every year meant not getting first look at the new arrivals. For a woman-obsessed idiot like him, that threat always landed.
Jae-hyeok started to say something more, then shut his mouth, turned his head, and muttered under his breath.
"Sheesh, guys talk about this stuff. You're so damn touchy. Whatever. Ah, I want to date an Awakened too."
"Why would an Awakened give you the time of day. Get real."
"And that comes out of your mouth?"
"…What about me."
"What about you and Ye-rin, then. And is Ye-rin just any Awakened?"
"Why wouldn't it work. Ye-rin and I were together before the Awakening."
"Yeah, but… looking at it, Ye-rin's way out of your league."
"…You little shit?"
"Forget it. If someone half-decent shows up this time, help me out a little. I should try dating or something one of these days too."
"Jae-hyeok. If you make a newbie run away, it's going to be a real problem."
I pulled out my tumbler and opened the lid as I spoke.
"If only six hundred twenty-five actually show up this time, how many of them will even be Korean? You're going to put your hands on those precious newcomers?"
No answer. Mid-sip, I felt eyes on me and turned — Jae-hyeok was staring straight at me. More precisely, at what was in my hand.
"…What are you looking at."
"Hey. Is that a tumbler?"
"Yeah."
"Dude, where did you get that. Just one sip."
And then he casually reached for my tumbler.
"Hands off."
"Come on, just one sip."
"It's Ye-rin's."
"You know the water from these canteens tastes like shit. We won't tell Ye-rin. Just one sip while it's here — I'm thirsty. We've got to guide the newbies later."
"Back off. I'm doing the guiding anyway. Last time I let you handle it, the kids only learned weird crap and kept causing trouble. First impressions matter. First ones."
Jae-hyeok withdrew his hand with a show of giving up. I pulled the tumbler closer to my body. It was one of the things Ye-rin had been carrying on her when she came through the Dimensional Gate. She'd filled it herself and packed it for me, saying I'd get thirsty during the dawn orientation. Knowing full well how precious modern goods were in this world, and without a word about it.
I'd planned to stop him if he reached again.
Three seconds later.
I failed.
Jae-hyeok snatched the tumbler, cracked the lid, took a gulp, and put it back in my hand in less than a second.
"Hey. You just used an ability, you bastard."
"Ability, nothing. Fast hands."
Jae-hyeok wiped his mouth and played dumb.
"Whoa, the water really does taste different. Smells better too — is it because it's Ye-rin's tumbler? Anyway, if any of the kids coming through this time have a tumbler, I should grab one for myself."
I pretended not to hear the deliberate Ye-rin dig. Taking that bait would just let the conversation go exactly where Jae-hyeok wanted.
"If you want one that bad, buy it with your own money. Why are you eyeing a newbie's tumbler. And those things are all tied directly to survival — keeping even one more newcomer alive is better for us."
At that, Jae-hyeok let out an exaggerated sigh and grumbled.
"Haa, a beggar without even a tumbler has to drink canteen water that tastes like metal again today. So sad."
"If you just saved a little of the money you throw around partying with girls, you could've bought a damn tumbler ages ago."
Even with the bullseye hit, Jae-hyeok looked put-upon.
"Hey, spending money on this stuff is normal. We live in a shit world where we might not even be alive next year — you've got to spend when you spend and enjoy yourself. You and I have both been here over four years. You should start living a little too."
"Excuses, excuses. When are you going to stop that crazy talk and go back to your year-one mindset?"
At my scolding, Jae-hyeok stopped the excuses he'd been lining up and closed his mouth. The words "year one" must have dragged up memories of those desperate days.
Four years ago, we'd come pouring out of that thing the same way. Back then, with no one waiting to receive us and ten thousand people dumping out all at once, it was pure chaos. No guides, no interpreters, nobody to explain what the hell was going on — just ten thousand people panicking simultaneously, each left to find their own way to survive. Compared to that, the kids about to arrive had it easy. At least there were people out in the plaza ready to explain things one by one.
…The problem being that those people happened to be me and the guy sitting next to me.
Maybe he'd thought of the same thing. Jae-hyeok kept his eyes on the Dimensional Gate and spoke quietly.
"Hey, Ha-jun. Talking about year one got me thinking. The kids who come out when that thing opens later."
He paused a beat, then went on.
"What decides who comes through? No explanation for why they got sent, no status window, no language pack. Just a bunch of twenty-one-year-olds dropping out of nowhere. When you get summoned to another world, shouldn't they at least tell you why? I kept yelling 'status window, status window' thinking a skill list would pop up."
I laughed in disbelief.
"Are you insane. A status window?"
Jae-hyeok snorted.
"It wasn't just me, you bastard. Plenty of other kids were doing the same thing back then. Even Satoshi next to me was at it."
"You mean the Japanese guild master?"
"Yeah. He's the Japanese guild master now, but back then he was a total wreck. The Japanese kids these days would lose their minds if they knew. Ha, if I'd been the Korean guild master back then, by now I'd…"
"If you'd been the Korean guild master, I'd be in Greystone right now. Wow. Terrifying. A Korean guild master who's completely obsessed with women."
A short silence settled.
"I'm not that bad…"
Four years ago, I hadn't been any different from the kids about to come spilling out of that gate. Dropped in knowing nothing, with no explanation at all. Would a status window have made it less terrifying, the way Jae-hyeok said? A skill list? I didn't know. Even if a status window had appeared, I doubted it would've been much easier to keep your head on straight.
Right then.
Sunlight that had cleared the horizon touched the top of the stone structure, and light began to leak from within. Thin as a thread at first. Then like a line. And then, all at once—
— FWOOOOOSH
It erupted.
"Looks like they're coming. Time to welcome our pretty little kimchi kids. Ah, I want kimchi."
Jae-hyeok stood up. Whether he was talking about the food or the people, with this guy they might as well have been the same word.
I stood too, and looked toward the Dimensional Gate.