CH 40

The Director looked down from a high place. He could see a city shrouded in colorful lights through a transparent window.

A lot of people must be working hard on it. They never would know when or where something life-altering might happen, so they had to grind on.

It was their day-to-day life. That’s why it was fun to step on. He sat down in his chair and clasped his fingers. The machine on his desk moved and began transmitting sounds.

(EN: The following is a News Channel.)

-Recently, non-symptomatic portals have increased. Not only that, but also new monsters that have never before seen are being reported simultaneously. ‘They’ are still controlling this news in association with a huge guild, but we don’t know when this will leak. (EN: ‘They’ is intentionally vague)

-Isn’t it your job to prevent that as much as possible? It’s not right to release such ominous news right away. Citizens will be worried.

-What if there’s a big accident!

-Then we’ll just let it play it.

Those who responded to the shouting man continued to make evasive remarks. For him, citizens are not objects to be protected— merely objects to extract money from.

-Director!

-I can’t hear you screaming like that.

He moved his finger to cover the speakers again. Humans haven’t changed; they are selfish and so full of themselves. Such a human being happened to be what he needed the most.

He smiled and lifted the wine glass from the table.

“For our glory!”

I wonder how much longer humanity will survive.

***

A vast expanse of desolate land with a huge shadow laid over it.

“Kirreuk!”

The owner of this shadow was a Black Drake, body covered in splendid scales. The most powerful monster in the area, his steps were confident.

“Kirik!”

These days, he isn’t called upon too often. Life had become a little boring. Drake ran briskly to look for today’s meal. He found a group of ‘Les de Boers’ who were grazing in the distance. Although the outside looked a bit tough, they were large and full of lots of meat.

The Black Drake blew his nose and flew toward them. He was planning to strike from above.

Suddenly, a strange hole appeared in front of the Black Drake.

It felt ominous so he tried to turn quickly, but his momentum carried him into the hole. After fighting it for a while, the Black Drake flew toward a light he spotted in the distance. The moment he passed through the light, a landscape he had never seen in his life unfolded before him.

“Kirik?”

As he looked around, other monsters passed by him. At the same time, a scream rang out.

“Ahhk! It’s a gate! Run away!”

“How did this happen? Help!”

The human was trembling in fear and howling. The other monsters were running rampant and treating them like appetizers, but the Black Drake was in no hurry. The humans he knew were much more terrifying.

The Black Drake lifted himself up and soared into the sky.

***

A small, shaking video showed insight into a terrible scene.

『Kyak! No! I don’t want to die! 』

『Someone help! 』

Desperately screaming, many people were caught by the monster and died. It wasn’t that there were no Awakened in the portal, just that they all were low grades. They couldn’t all be protected, and as a result many lives were lost.

The once-peaceful streets were now stained with blood and filled with screams. The video had only been shaking slightly at first and now started to really move unsteadily. The person holding the camcorder was trembling with fear. Around that time, the hand of salvation arrived.

Awakened people sent by guilds and the government poured in. Tankers with shields blocked the monster and the dealers attacked. Saints with support-type powers were busy moving around rescuing survivors.

『Here, they’re here!』

The camcorder fell and hit the ground. The screen went black.

One day, a video suddenly uploaded to RedTube went viral. Even though RedTube kept deleting the video for violating the rules, it couldn’t be stopped. The speed at which the video spread was terrifying.

After just about everybody had already seen it, the news began to cover it as well.

Showing a screen half-covered with censored mosaic, the announcer added,

『The gate incident in New York is having a massive social impact. The portal exploded without any sign before it opened. 』(EN: This was originally in English.)

Tik. The same thing on the next channel.

『The opening of the No-Warning Portal has not occurred in just New York. Apparently something similar has also happened in Korea. We were able to make contact with a survivor from the incident. Let’s hear what they had to say.』

Tik. No matter where I turned, there was only talk of no-warning portals.

“Tsk.”

Seon-woo, who was watching next to him, clicked his tongue. He had paid large sums of money to keep the situation quiet, but it seems someone broke their contract. Did they not read it properly? Once he figures out who it was, they’ll have a lot of money to pay.

“Additionally, monsters that have never been seen before have also appeared. This time, I have a video of a monster named the Black Dragon.”

As time went on and the commotion in New York slowly subsided, the public’s anxiety lingered. One of the most dangerous monsters had survived.

『Do you see it? There’s a black dragon way over there!』

The New York anchor shouted with an excited voice. At the top of a particularly tall building, a massive monster hung off it. Its tail was fastened around the spiral while it dozed.

『Many Awakened people have gone out to catch it several times, but they haven’t caught it yet.』

The monster was too clever. As soon as someone got close, it flew high up. That alone made it impossible for them to even touch it. They tried mobilizing a hunter with flying ability, but the monster was far superior. So the US decided to try a different method.

They tried to mobilize more fighters— but even that wasn’t easy. The monster was very fast, and when he was running away he deliberately moved only to where there were civilians. It made it impossible to launch an attack recklessly. He would then launch his own attacks against the Awakened people.

A fighter, hit by an acid-breath that melted everything, crashed down and wrecked the city center. Some thought that all people should be evacuated, but they were met with opposition.

“When are we going to move all those people away from it!”

“And how do you propose we do that? The monster will attack the moment we let up pressure. If you’re going to object, come up with a better plan!”

For that reason, the monster was still hanging above New York’s buildings.

“It’s a black dragon.”

Seon-woo stared at the screen. Between the spider monster he had encountered and this black dragon, new monsters seemed to be popping up everywhere. Dealing with their current monsters was already a challenge. He didn’t know how the world was going to be able to face portals that poured out increasingly strong monsters.

“It’s a dragon.”

Hyeon-woo, who narrowed his eyes, glared at the screen.

‘Weird. Why does it look so familiar?’

The monster flickered and changed its body position. Hyeon-woo saw a large white dot on his back.

‘Hm? A spot?’

The first bike he left behind in the Demon Realm, Black Drake, the tamed savage who initially rushed to eat Hyeon-woo. It looked remarkably similar to that blotch.

‘Why are you here?’

The fairy might be the cause of this. Basically, creatures from the Demon Realm cannot come to Earth. She had told this to Hyeon-woo, who was worried about what would happen if these terrible monsters went to Earth and harmed Seon-woo.

‘That’s the rule. By default, entry to other dimensions is prohibited for creatures from the Demon Realm and the Celestial Realm, as they could destroy the world. So rest assured. Monsters from the Demon Realm will never appear on Earth!’

Was it a lie? Or was it true and something else has happened? He still didn’t know, but one thing’s for sure:

“Seon-woo, I have a request.”

“Request?”

Seon-woo’s eyes widened at his first request. So far, Hyeon-woo had never asked for anything. Was Hyeon-woo starting to trust him? His heart was pounding.

“There.”

Hyeon-woo’s hand pointed to the TV screen.

“I want to go there.”

Seon-woo’s gaze touched the screen and then turned to Hyeon-woo.

“Where, America? I mean, we can go, but New York is dangerous at the moment, so would it be ok if we just avoid that area?”

“No, there.”

“Hyung.”

“I want to go to New York and see the monster up close.”

“No. It’s too dangerous. The hunters there haven’t even fought it properly yet. It’s like a volcano that you don’t know when it’ll explode.”

At that, Hyeon-woo looked up at Seon-woo quietly.

“You can protect me.”

“I don’t have the ability to fly. If you get caught up in it, I can’t guarantee whether or not I will be able to protect Hyung.”

Hyeon-woo’s gaze moved to Do-jin, who was sitting quietly on the other sofa this time. It was only when Seon-woo was next to Hyeon-woo, but these days he would normally leave.

Since he’s still the Guild Leader, he must attend to the management of the Guild, I guess. Hyeon-woo thought so at least.