The True Reason Behind the Imugi's Rage
"Urgh, my head..."
An intense hangover. His head felt like it was about to split open. The brutal aftermath of chugging soju all night with that Association geezer. Curled up on the bed, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
He drew up his mana. Cool energy coursed through his veins. Once it circulated fully through his body, the lingering alcohol broke down and vanished in an instant. The vicious headache washed away clean. His condition returned to normal.
He rose slowly from the bed. Plopped down in the chair at his desk. Stretched out his foot and pressed the computer's power button hard with his big toe. While the monitor flickered to life, he slipped a hand under his baggy T-shirt and scratched his belly vigorously. He clicked the mouse and opened his email inbox. Sender: Association President Park Jin-cheol. It was a report compiling data from the guilds.
Dozens of pages of text and images. He scrolled through, skimming the info. Cross-verification between the fantasy ecosystem and the martial arts ecosystem. Detailed background data packed in from the briefing the geezer had given yesterday. Presence or absence of mana stones, skeletal structures of the corpses, properties of the energy. He scrolled to the end and closed the window. Enough with the headache-inducing info for now. He was hungry.
He opened the door and stepped into the living room. His mother bustled about in the kitchen.
"Mom. Food."
She turned, clicking her tongue.
"My little puppy. What time did you even stop drinking last night? Aigoo."
With her nagging came a hot pot thumped onto the table. Steaming white rice-cake soup.
"Mom's the best."
He climbed onto the chair and dug in. Spooned up a big slurp of broth and shoved it in his mouth. The cool liquid slid down his throat, wiping away the last traces of fatigue. He scraped the pot clean and stood.
Slipped on an outer jacket for going out. As he jammed his heels into his sneakers at the entryway, Hae-eun poked her head out of her room, eyes lighting up.
"Whoa! Bro, where you headed? Bring back something tasty!!"
She scampered over and clung to his shoulder. Annoying.
"Text me what you want."
He waved her off vaguely and opened the door. Cool breeze. He launched into the air. Destination: the Northern Frontline Base.
He flew north out of Seoul. Over what used to be called North Korea. Now a monster-infested demon realm and the front lines. He landed silently at the frontline defense base.
A soldier from the alert outpost sensed his mana signature and came rushing out in a panic.
"K-Kang Tae-ho Hunter! It's not regular extermination season—what brings you here?"
Obvious panic. An S-rank hunter's surprise visit was enough to put the whole forward base on high alert.
"No big deal. Don't sound the alarm. Just here to check something alone."
He calmed the soldier. Without waiting for a reply, he kicked off into the air again toward the demon realm.
A wasteland dozens of kilometers from the base. Ruins of a destroyed city scattered about. Perfect spot—plenty of test subjects. He cracked open his internal mana just a sliver. To monsters, it was irresistible premium bait.
Rumble rumble rumble!!
The ground shook from all directions. Starving beasts poured out from every corner of the ruins. Hundreds—no, thousands. A monster wave. From orcs and trolls and goblins to grotesque beasts with tentacles. He stared down blankly at the horde charging madly at his feet. Flicked his finger lightly.
Boom!!!
A massive gravitational force slammed down from the sky. The thousands of charging monsters were smashed flat into the earth. The gruesome crack of breaking bones echoed across the wasteland. With all movement sealed, he drew out his mana into long threads. Blue mana strands wrapped around each monster one by one, hoisting them into the air.
The fantasy-world rejects hung on the left side of the air. The bizarre yokai forms straight out of a martial arts novel dangled on the right. In seconds, the horde split into two groups. He raised his right hand and lightly slashed horizontally through the air.
Shlick!
A razor-sharp mana slash carved through the chests of every suspended monster at once. They died without even a scream. Time to check the results.
Left side: fantasy monsters. From their split hearts tumbled sparkling minerals—mana stones. Right side: martial arts monsters. No matter how he rummaged, only blood and guts spilled out. Not a single mana stone. No inner cores treated as elixirs, either.
"Association research team's hypothesis checks out."
Fantasy and martial arts. The gates clearly connected to two distinct worlds. He roughly piled the corpses and incinerated them. Soared back into the night sky.
He turned north in flight. The site of the massive imugi subjugation. Now the mountain range was half-shaved off, the ground hideously gouged.
Hovering over the shattered terrain, he scattered thin mana. Read the residual traces soaked into the dirt and rocks. Government and Association had hauled off the corpse long ago. But if that imugi had a massive inner core, its dense energy should've lingered in the space.
"Gone."
Not a speck of inner core energy. Did the government or Association secretly pocket it while dissecting? No. Impossible. He was the one who killed the imugi. When its head exploded, if there'd been a high-density energy mass like an inner core inside, his senses wouldn't have missed it. Conclusion: that massive imugi never had one to begin with.
His mind grew complicated. He recalled martial arts novels and legends he'd read. Imugi: spirit beasts that cultivated for a thousand years, nurtured a Yeouiju, and ascended as dragons. A disaster-class monster like that should've had a fitting crystal of spiritual power inside.
"No way."
A horrifying hypothesis flashed through his mind. The imugi that had rampaged in extreme rage, tearing up the continent. Why had it gone that berserk?
'What if it left its Yeouiju behind in its own world?'
No. Not left. Dragged away. Right at the moment of ascension after a millennium of cultivation. Suddenly sucked through a gate hole into an alien planet called Earth. Yeouiju—the core of its entire being—ripped away to its original dimension.
"Enough to drive anyone insane."
Then all the monsters they'd thought were invading Earth... maybe they were victims forcibly displaced by the gates' horrific suction. Goosebumps. Needed confirmation. He exploded his mana and rocketed south toward Seoul at full speed.
Hunter Association HQ. He threw open the president's office window and barged in. The geezer looking over papers jumped, dropping his glasses.
"You crazy bastard! Use the door!"
"Geezer. Need to check something."
He flopped onto the sofa and cut straight to it. The imugi subjugation details. No Yeouiju or inner core. Hypothesis: the imugi was another victim swept over by dimensional reflux. As he explained, President Park Jin-cheol's wrinkled face hardened.
Explanation done. Heavy silence settled in the office. The geezer pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit up. His hand trembled faintly.
"Hoo..."
Dull smoke dispersed into the air. The geezer fixed him with exhausted eyes.
"I was there for the imugi dissection myself. We tore through bones, hide, organs... but like you said, no Yeouiju or inner core energy mass."
The geezer stubbed out his cigarette roughly in the ashtray.
"Your hypothesis has a high chance of being right."
"So it wasn't here to smash Earth. Woke up in a strange land and lost its shit."
"Maybe everything coming through from that side... are just unfortunate victims of the gates' massive disaster."
The geezer rubbed his dry face and let out a deep sigh.
"Ah, what a headache. Humanity's enemies turning out to be refugees."
His face screamed pounding migraine. But hashing out politics and countermeasures was this old bureaucrat's job. Not for a shut-in slacker like him. He hopped off the sofa.
"Geezer's gonna lose more hair. I'm heading home. Good luck."
Without waiting for a reply, he launched out the window. The world's complicated shit was for the big shots.
Penthouse entryway. He unlocked the door and stepped in. Noisy footsteps from the living room.
"Bro!! Got the tasty stuff?!"
Hae-eun came bounding like a tail-wagging puppy. Her eyes locked on his empty hands.
"Oh."
His mind blanked. Forgot all about it proving the hypothesis.
"Shit. Sorry. Slipped my mind."
Her bouncing shoulders slumped. Face like a dog denied its treat.
"Aw... for real? I was dying for something today."
She pouted. Scanned his tired look, then swallowed her disappointment.
"Eh, you were busy with work. Can't be helped. Fine. I'll just boil some ramen."
Her trudging back was pitiful. Whatever he'd dealt with out there, right now he was just the thoughtless brother who forgot her errand. A pang of guilt.
He pulled out his wallet. Slipped the black unlimited black card between his fingers.
"Hey."
Hae-eun whipped around. He flicked the mana-infused card.
Smack! It flew straight and stuck to her forehead. She blinked dumbly at the card adhered by mana's stickiness.
"Order delivery with it."
"Yay!! Bro's the best!!"
Her sad face vanished. She peeled off the card with a whoop. Yelled toward the kitchen.
"Mom! Dad! Bro shot the black card! What're we having for dinner?!"
The family's boisterous voices filled the living room. More important than grand truths of the world or pitiful otherworldly monsters. This noisy, peaceful daily life was what mattered most to him.
He sank deep into the sofa. Nap till delivery arrived.