Chapter 119

Episode 119

Prime Minister Yukio Murata could not speak. It must have been because of his pride.

Or, perhaps, he still couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening.

A crack re-opening?

No matter how much he thought about it, he could not determine the cause of the phenomenon.

The Prime Minister stared at Yoo-seong.

“The crack will open any time soon,” Yoo-seong told the interpreter. “You must talk to him,” he added before lifting his index finger toward the Prime Minister.

The interpreter’s and the Prime Minister’s faces hardened.

What they saw in Yoo-seong’s face wasn’t anger or ridicule. It was just plain pity.

Jeeing-!

The crack was almost open. Monsters were about to get out.

There were civilians all around them who didn’t have time to even think of an evacuation.

“Prime Minister.” The interpreter’s voice trembled.

Up to this point, he had shared Murata’s opinion. But right now… it seemed like there was no other answer.

They had to beg Oh Yoo-seong, give him anything he wanted to prevent disaster from happening.

“Prime Minister!” he pleaded to his boss.

However, Yukio Murata had a different answer in mind.

“Our Defense Forces have a very thorough response system in case of an emergency.”

“What?!” The interpreter couldn’t believe it.

“They can organize a response. It won’t be too late.”

Their phones were ringing continuously.

The Prime Minister checked the message that appeared on his screen and nodded. Cold sweat poured down his pale face, but there was conviction in his eyes.

“In less than ten minutes, hunters and Defense Forces will arrive and handle it. With luck, there won’t be any casualties. It’s a sudden rift, anyway. Property damage would happen in any case,” the Prime Minister continued to rationalize.

It seemed as if he wasn’t talking to Oh Yoo-seong or his interpreter. It was as if he was trying to convince himself.

“Prime Minister! No! Please, no!” The interpreter was near tears.

“Get in the car. There’s nothing else we can do,” Murata said in a cold tone.

Then he threw Oh Yoo-seong a glance.

Yoo-seong saw it clearly. For some reason, the Prime Minister had a triumphant smile on his face.

The interpreter didn’t seem to see it because, at that moment, all he felt was desperation.

Thud-!

He fell to his knees in front of Oh Yoo-seong.

“Please! Please! Stop that crack!” The interpreter burst into tears.

Rather than simply kneeling, the interpreter brought his forehead to the ground.

He was almost the same age as Yoo-seong. Perhaps he had lost a family member in the past due to a monster attack.

Perhaps his family was within the vicinity, or perhaps, it was just a normal human mindset to hope that no tragedy would occur in his own country. It was something more important than pride.

Yoo-seong’s gaze fell to the man on the ground before him. The interpreter bowed so recklessly that he hit his forehead violently against the ground. Blood started pouring from the man’s forehead.

“What?!” someone in the crowd yelled out.

Yoo-seong, the interpreter, and Murata all turned their heads.

Hunters.

Even without lifting equipment, just pure skill, a team of hunters was floating toward the crack.

They were hunters who’d arrived to help with the rescue. However, now, they found themselves in the position of a rush team.

“They don’t have a circuit breaker,” the interpreter murmured.

“There’s an unused breaker left inside,” Yoo-seong remarked unexpectedly.

The interpreter’s eyes widened with belated enlightenment. There was a total of two breakers inside the crack.

One had been used by the rush team who closed it while Yoo-seong fought with the Thunder Ape.

And the first rush team that was wiped out had also had a circuit breaker with them.

“It must be partly charged already from the first team’s efforts. If they could quickly complete its charging before a wave comes…” Yoo-seong nodded to himself. “It’s worth a try.”

Yoo-seong spoke as if he were commentating on a game, almost as if he had nothing to do with it. He stared at the crack with no intention of helping. The interpreter felt hands on his shoulders and allowed himself to be pulled up.

It was the Prime Minister.

“Usui! Wake up!”

The interpreter felt light slaps against his cheek.

“Are you still in a daze? Come on! We’re done here. Things will end well.”

The Prime Minister’s smile was reassuring.

“Come on! The Prime Minister’s assistant must not fall to his knees so easily,” the old man scolded the interpreter good-naturedly.

Then the Prime Minister turned to Yoo-seong.

“In the end, luck will help those who have walked straight.”

Just then, the hunters who had floated into the rift reappeared. It was as if they had gone through a fierce battle in the short time they had been in there.

Their clothes were ragged.

However, although some appeared to be injured, there had been no deaths, and joy and relief filled their faces.

The first rush team who’d entered had charged more of the pulse breaker than expected.

It was almost full. Now, the crack was about to be closed.

“Look!” the proud Prime Minister’s voice rang loud.

Kuung-

A heavy explosion from inside the crack.

Blue light flashed across the sky.

The breaker had operated successfully. Cheers burst from everyone in the rescue site.

Everything had happened too fast.

A crack had opened before they could react, and now, thanks to the hunters in the area, it had been closed before Tokyo took more damage.

People were crying with tears of relief and joy. However, Yoo-seong was still staring at the sky with an unreadable expression.

Was he thinking about why the crack had reappeared? Or was he regretting that the opportunity he’d had was gone?

There was something else on Yoo-seong’s mind.

When the interpreter knelt before him, Yoo-seong had pressed the Auto-Hunt button.

However, it hadn’t moved him toward the crack. Instead, Auto-Hunt had wanted him to stop. To observe.

Yoo-seong had trusted Auto-Hunt’s decision.

That was why, other than talking with the interpreter, he hadn’t moved at all.

The Prime Minister and the interpreter began walking towards their car. However, like everyone else, they soon froze in place.

Everyone saw it.

A sight that couldn’t possibly happen.

The blue aurora in the sky caused by the circuit breaker’s explosion had not gone away.

It was supposed to scatter into the atmosphere. However, it seemed as if the gateway between the two dimensions was still open.

A black dot was falling out of the sky.

“Wow, what?!”

“Well, something’s coming!”

One by one, black dots were beginning to fall.

Soon, the shapes were close enough to be recognized.

Geisha Harpy-★★★★★★

“Isn’t the crack closed?!”

The hunters who had just come out of the crack couldn’t believe it. They’d charged the breaker themselves.

Together with the citizens on the rescue site, they’d watched the breaker explode.

But how? Why was this happening?

-Kishaaahhh!

The Geisha Harpy screeched.

True to its name, the upper part of its body was that of a woman with what seemed like a white-painted face.

The lower half of its body was that of a bird.

It had been named after the monsters of Greek mythology. However, its actual appearance was not as elegant as its Japanese counterparts.

Despite the brightness of their skin, their faces were as horrible as those of apes. In addition, they were grotesque creatures, with bodies as tall as five meters.

Three Geisha Harpies flapped their wings around, observing the strange new landscape below them.

“Seems like they called one more to join them,” one of the hunters in the emergency rush team observed.

They’d struggled against two Geisha Harpies inside the crack while they finished charging the breaker.

Luckily, they had been able to finish charging the device and escape the six-star monsters before anyone was seriously injured. However, now, there were three of them.

-KIshaaaaa!

As if they remembered the hunters they had fought with, two Harpies immediately dove at the roof of the building where the hunters were. However, the real problem was the other one.

It was aiming for easier prey.

“We can’t let it get down there!” the hunters screamed as they fought with the other two Harpies.

The solo Harpy plunged to the ground without anyone to stop it.

But before it reached the ground…

-Keek!

Something invisible sliced it in half.

The creature that had been descending to the ground with hopes of a feast died in an instant.

-Kiiish!

The other two Geisha Harpies froze and turned their gazes to their fallen companion.

Then they changed their target.

It was as if they recognized the threat from below them. They descended to the ground at fiery speed, right toward Yoo-seong.

However, Yoo-seong had no intention of dealing with them.

Taang-!

Taang-!

As if the five-meter tall, savage Harpies weren’t something worthy of attention, Yoo-seong began running toward the crack, carrying the Sky Needle in his hand.

He began work as soon as he reached it.

Yoo-seong moved up and down the open crack, sewing it closed with thick strands of Aura.

The image of Yoo-seong stitching the sky was something that would remain in everyone’s mind for a long time.

Not only the hunters on the rooftops but also the ordinary civilians on the ground held their breath.

‘He seemed to be dancing in the air.’

It was how eyewitnesses would describe it in the future.

Two Harpies slashing fiercely with their beaks and claws. One of the most dangerous flying monster species in Japan.

However, despite their attacks…

Huwook-!

Yoo-seong steadily moved back and forth, as smoothly as a fish avoiding hands trying to catch it in the water. Finally, Yoo-seong finished stitching the long Storm-class crack.

Then…

-Oh my God!

Yoo-seong’s body began falling to the ground at high speed.

-Kiiiish!

Above Yoo-seong’s falling form, the two Harpies were stuck together as if they were entangled.

At the same time, Yoo-seong’s velocity slowed down, and he began falling at the same speed as the Harpies.

It was like a skydiver opening his parachute.

That was because, as Yoo-seong had stitched with the Sky Needle, his opposite hand had been spewing out invisible Spider Web threads. As a result, the Harpies were caught in several layers of thread by the time Yoo-seong had finished stitching. And when he pulled the threads together…

“The view was more breathtaking before,” Yoo-seong thought as he glided down using the two monsters as his parachute.

However, his mind was not as relaxed as his appearance.

Cracks that couldn’t be closed with circuit breakers. It was unheard of until now. It might just be a random and rare occurrence.

‘But what if it isn’t?’ he thought. ‘What if it wasn’t just an exceptional case but a precursor to what will happen in the future?’

Then the only way to close the crack would be…

“It’s too early to worry about it.” Yoo-seong shook his head.

He would have time to think more about it later. Right now, he had other stuff to do.

The Queen’s Hug was totally broken by now, revealing his casual clothing inside.

If anyone were to look closely, they would notice something pretty strange attached to Yoo-seong’s clothes.

There was a ballpoint pen pinned to his shirt’s left pocket. It was something Yang Chang-guk had given him before his helicopter had sped to the embassy.

“You have an action cam, so better use that. Think of this as a kind of auxiliary equipment,” the Director had told him.

It was a camera disguised as a ballpoint pen.

It was for those who needed simple, covert shooting equipment. They had been commercialized twenty years ago.

“There’s nothing bad about being prepared,” Yang Chang-guk had told him.

Yoo-seong had agreed with him and taken the ballpoint pen.

Now, as soon as he landed, Yoo-seong took the memory card from the pen and transferred it to his phone.

The footage it contained was sent to Yang Chang-guk, who was at the embassy.

It was then released and quickly found its way to the press.

Before the day even reached noon, everyone in Japan knew everything Yoo-seong and Prime Minister Yukio Murata had talked about.