Chapter 1

Coincidence or Necessity (1)

Environmental destruction, war, limited resources: humanity has always lived with these problems.

Now though, these problems reached a turning point. An unimaginable disaster ravaged humanity.

Gates suddenly opened in unexpected places, and scores of apocalyptic monsters were rushing out of them.

Modern firearms couldn’t hurt these monsters.

At first, in an effort to catch the smallest of these monsters, billions of missiles were launched.

The only way to close the gateways was to wait for them to spit out all of the evil monsters, exhausting what appeared to be the gates’ supply of the creatures. The problem was that even if some of these gates vanished, more would appear just to replace them. All over the world, this was happening. All over the world, humans were trying but failing to stop the cataclysmic tragedy brought about by these treacherous monsters.

Humanity was devastated; cities were left empty, destroyed.

But out of dark despair, there came the glimmer of hope.

When the gates opened, a small group of people found themselves blessed with new abilities.

Known as awakeners, these people had power and stamina far beyond human limits. Some of them even received unique abilities.

This group, known as “The Awakened,” defeated the monsters using their special powers and newfound instincts. They vanquished the invading savage monstrosities — conquering the creatures who were otherwise immune to humanity’s intervention.

After the appearance of the first gate, there came a time of mass confusion while the Awakened put the Great War policy in place.

Once the disaster was subdued, and a semblance of normality returned to the world, the catastrophe created an opportunity.

Ether, the monsters’ nuclei, a potent energy source, boasted an overwhelming efficiency compared to any modern terrestrial resource.

With the advent of ether, the price of oil plummeted, and human technology took great advantage of this newly acquired efficiency.

Many new technologies using the new ether were developed, making it easier to deal with monsters, even without the Awakened’s assistance.

In developing countries, where civil war and wars between nations prevailed, whose governments were constantly engaged in fighting off monsters, the battles between humans stopped and disappeared as people put aside their differences to recognize the common enemy. It was in this massively altered world that the Awakeners became the main figureheads of society.

The number of Awakened that a nation could lay claim to had a direct impact on that country’s national power.

In Korea alone, the number of Awakened compared to the number of people was very much noticeable. Korea’s status was unparalleled. Its standing in the international community was higher than any other nation, and it quickly became the most influential country in the world.

All over the world, the often-asked question was why the Korean Awakeners were greater in number and could boast superior abilities to other nations. People speculated that the first gate was linked to Seoul in some way.

Awakeners had saved many lives, and this, coupled with their extraordinary powers, led to them quickly becoming prominent in modern society.

It was not long before Awakeners started to appear on TV far more regularly than celebrities and politicians. But the interest in the very highest-level Awakeners was far greater than that.

Being a top-ranking Awakener lead to wealth, honor, and power. Everyone knew that.

Probably everyone has dreamed of being an Awakener at least once.

And when I was 20, I felt that feeling for a while.

* * *

“You said it was SSS rank.”

“Really? Surely you’re mistaken!”

Kang Il-hyun, speaking to a government official, found himself taken aback by this revelation. He stood up.

The grade of intellect was SSS. He had never heard of a grade being that high before.

However, the blurry-eyed female official shook her hand as if she was bored.

“Yes. It’s a machine error. Sometimes when I test it against the general public it doesn’t give the right rank or ability.”

As if this wasn’t the first time, the civil servant spoke, her voice taking on the tone of vocational wisdom.

“It doesn’t matter if you come back next week and retest, but you haven’t had any other results yet. If you were really Awakened, your results would have been right.”

She held out the paper towards Il-hyun.

“Arghh, yes… Thank you.”

Il-hyun, momentarily ashamed of his dashed expectations, quickly took the inspection paper and left the building, unable to conceal disappointment from showing on his face.

The taunts of the people waiting behind him burnt into the back of his head.

This occasional Awakening machine error was notorious and had become an in-joke among testers.

“Hey, it’s a triple S. It’s not something to laugh about…”

Il-hyun, now standing in front of the pedestrian crossing, sighed deeply. There was an aura of despair about his person.

The rank of the ability itself and the rank of the Awakener was not always proportional. Still, even a single A-rank ability had the potential to make someone a celebrity.

But it wasn’t S, it was SSS, so it was even more ridiculous.

He read the letters on the test paper to shake off his regrets.

Category-Awakening

.

.

.

SSS Rank: [Summon], [Predation], [Transform]

When his eyes caught his instincts list, Il-hyun laughed at himself and threw the test paper into the trash.

* * *

People started to evacuate.  In the middle of Seoul, gates had appeared, and special police officers blocked the surrounding streets and attempted to widen these black cracks. The authorities took control of a large area surrounding the B2-rank gate. The cordon spanned many kilometres, effectively causing a mass exodus of the city.

The B2 was a high-rank gate that first starting appearing in Korea only very recently.

Two of the world’s leading A-class Awakened gathered, and there were over ten B-class Awakened to back them up. All of them wore black coats that fluttered in the wind. These black coats were a symbol of the Awakened, along with the swords that they kept sheathed on their waists. This wasn’t a mere uniform: the black coat was designed for its defensive capabilities. The ether sword was made by processing ether from monsters — ether that could now be used against them.

The Awakenings were cheered on by surrounding citizens as they crossed over the gates. Not long after they entered, hordes of almost human-sized worms started to pour out of the gates.

A fierce battle ensued between the monsters and the Awakened. Shrieking screams and wild wailings echoed over the barricades. Helicopters joined the fray, firing at the monsters from afar. These sensational scenes of war were broadcast all over the country.

“It’s great.”

Il-hyun was sipping coffee in a cafe and staring at a scene on TV.

“Once I thought I was capable…”

Il-hyun said sourly, his voice trailing off weakly.

He did have a small ability from the past.

He could move small particles without touching them.

On sandy beaches he was able to shift the shape of the sand. Thanks to this discovery, he thought he had awakened some kind of kinetic force.

But that was all—there was no further development.

Even though he had not tested optimally for a great Awakener, there was no reason why he couldn’t use his ability at some point.

Il-hyun didn’t have a strong body, and this was partly why his abilities were as limited as they were.

It was an occasional occurrence among the general public.

If you have feeble abilities from a young age, there is absolutely no possibility of development. You couldn’t escape that fate even after the  Awakening occurred. When he was 20, he was tested for Awakening by the state, but now a machine error had caused him only ridicule.

“I thought I had some intellect.”

Il-hyun put his hand on the sugar powder and focused his mind. The powder moved in slow motion to form a small circle.

The ability was still there, but it was still really useless, a skill that couldn’t help anyone.

He was living an ordinary life, far from exceptional, his job small and insignificant: a manager’s assistant for a small company. He was twenty-six.

He was lucky conscription had been scrapped after the Awakening.

“Yes, it wasn’t a fuss because I had a gate in my uncle’s apartment,” said the clerk, who was sitting across the street and looking at the screen, clapping her hands.

“What?! Really?”

Her female colleague’s face smacked of incredulity.

The woman nodded vigorously.

“I mean it. My cousin took an authentication shot next to the gate and posted it on SNS.”

“There really is no fear in the world.”

“The monsters never appear right away anyway. In time, there’ll be no need to worry about the Awakened people having to come and deal with them. My uncle’s house was destroyed, but we were entitled to compensation, so I thought about moving.”

“Yeah, the old building owners wanted to open a gate… buildings now though, they aren’t built with any particular attention to detail. Even if you don’t want to pay much for a home though, you still need to save because of the high cost of mandatory insurance.”

Il-hyun, who was listening to the two talkers, said.

“Are you still worried? The cycle will be back soon.”

It was a peaceful time worldwide. Gate generation was down, and so there weren’t that many monsters. The reason was simple. There was a cycle in the gates that seemed to follow a schedule. The cycle repeated every five years, and the number of gates depended on the current time within the schedule. This year was the beginning of the five-year gate cycle.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen monsters.”

“Awakening was five years ago, and we had no problem then. But I wish I could see the monsters at least once.”

“Yeah, same.”

Il-hyun stared at his watch as the two female workers laughed and chatted away.

“Lunch is almost over.”

“Oh, remember to drop by a high-ranking convenience store…”

The two of them talked behind Il-hyun.

* * *

Tiddididick. Tiddididick.

The alarm clock sounded in Il-hyun’s ears.

He frowned and sat up in bed.

“Tsk tsk.”

Il-hyun rubbed his eyes and turned off the clock alarm.

He had woken up at his regular time, and now prepared himself to go to work as always. He dressed, then decided that for his breakfast, he’d finish the leftover food from yesterday. While he waited for the food to heat up, he brushed his hair.

He left his house and got on the subway. These were all free to use now — ether had virtually eliminated the running costs. He scored himself an empty seat. Then he looked at his cell phone.

He read a news article about more gates opening. Some of the

Awakened had been injured.

‘Awakened people suffer, too’ Il-hyun realized.

The gates opened without any outside help, so there were a high number of Awakened people and police waiting at night to deal with the situation.

For larger countries such as Russia, with wide expanses of uninhabited land, they only managed to control the gates with massive expenditure on security forces.

“Wait… Is this near the company?”

Surprised, Il-hyun stopped.

“Are there any problems with the family?”

Il-hyun was overhearing an interesting conversation, but before he could fully process its meaning, a subway announcement came up over the loudspeaker.

[We will guide the passengers. Due to the gate opening near Cheongseong Station on Line 11, we will pass the controlled Cheongseong and Gudo Stations without stopping.]

“Argh.”

Il-hyun’s face screwed up in frustration.