The eruption of one’s true nature due to uncontrollable, heightened emotions could indeed trigger an Eid Portal. But that didn’t mean every surge of emotion led to one. Still, there were ways to artificially induce a portal by amplifying emotional states. After all, countless drugs that acted on the central nervous system existed even before the Cataclysm.
Could this really be a portal aimed at the Guildmaster?
The killing intent of the monsters pouring out from the portal’s core had been relentlessly targeting Tae Woon—for over four hours.
“Hey! Can’t anyone manage the aggro?!”
“I think the monsters have a crush on Tae Woon-oppa!”
Even Seo Gaeun, the tank, and Pi Minhyung, a skilled DPS who excelled at dispersing stray aggro, couldn’t handle the sheer number of monsters rushing Tae Woon. As a result, the battle had devolved into chaos.
Damn it. If only there were no civilians here…
The deeper they pushed toward the portal’s core, the more monsters they encountered. But since destroying the core would cause the portal to collapse rapidly from the outside in, they couldn’t just leave it near the entrance.
Some monsters managed to break past Tae Woon and rush ahead, prompting civilians crouching on the emergency stairs to scream in panic.
The seventh floor echoed with the screeches of monsters and the clash of battle. Display shelves had been completely obliterated in the fight between Hunters and beasts. If this had been the real world, the department store’s outer walls would already have massive holes torn through them.
Thud. Thud-thud. THUD!
A Saber Tiger appeared—a monster that would’ve been rated B-rank in a field scenario. Towering high enough to brush the ceiling, it trampled lesser monsters underfoot as it charged straight for Tae Woon. Reflexively, Gwak Yoonsang reached out.
“Guildmaster Tae…!”
Even low-tier monsters were dangerous in a horde. No matter how strong Tae Woon was, a fresh B-rank monster attacking in the middle of all this—
CRACK-CRACK-KRAK!
The instant Tae Woon stomped the ground, his coat flared dramatically, and a burst of black, shadowy thorns erupted upward. They pierced the Saber Tiger’s manastone and tore through the ceiling. The majority of the charging monster horde was skewered alongside it, impaled like meat on a spit and killed instantly.
“……”
Worrying had been pointless. With that kind of firepower, shouldn’t he at least have some weakness—like poor stamina or a glass-cannon build? Wasn’t that basic human fairness? Why was he so inhuman? Was it because he was from the canine family?
Gwak Yoonsang decided to stop wasting his energy worrying about other people.
“Block off the entrance completely! Don’t let a single one get into the stairwell!”
Even as he directed the Hunters from the Paranormal Phenomena Response Agency, unease still gnawed at him.
There are so many monsters spawning that even we’d be overwhelmed without the Guildmaster. I wonder if Kim Sibaek is holding up. He’s completely alone.
He was holding up just fine.
Bae Ji-han had spent a surprisingly peaceful thirty minutes. It was still pitch-black, but with the light emanating from Kim Sibaek, it was enough to make out obstacles—more or less—so there was nothing to complain about.
…Or at least, that’s what he told himself. Truthfully, he was so scared he wanted to grab Kim Sibaek’s hand. But high school pride outweighed fear. So instead, Bae Ji-han clutched the hem of his t-shirt and followed close behind like a duckling.
Even a crow, a mere beast, can stay composed—so how could I panic? I may not be an Awakener, but I still have pride.
What he couldn’t see was that Lord Biendeoé, perched on Kim Sibaek’s head, had legs trembling like jelly.
Regardless, this odd tranquility stemmed from the fact that they hadn’t encountered a single monster for thirty minutes. While Tae Woon’s group had moved to the emergency stairwell to minimize monster spawns, Kim Sibaek and Bae Ji-han were casually walking up the wide-open escalator.
“I’ve never been to the MA Department Store before, but it’s not usually this big, right?”
“Nope. We’ve been walking for thirty minutes and we’re still only on the fourth floor. And this place only has eight.”
Kim Sibaek kept a calm expression, though he remained alert. Bae Ji-han, meanwhile, had let down his guard quite a bit. As a result, he started chattering nonstop, even exchanging phone numbers.
“My mom’s not an Awakener, but she works in the Hunter industry. My dad Awakened during the Cataclysm, but after starting a Hunter business and running it into the ground, he got divorced. My little brother Awakened when he was young—he’s planning to go to an Awakener Academy once he hits high school.”
The real point was that the rest of his family were all Awakeners or tied to the Hunter world—except for him. That bugged him a lot. He’d even been scammed over it.
“Hey, do you think if I pray and stuff, I could Awaken too?”
“The power gained through prayer is different from an Awakening.”
“Eh, same thing.”
They continued their idle chatter as they climbed the escalator, when suddenly, Kim Sibaek came to a halt.
“W-What is it?”
Bae Ji-han’s voice trembled instinctively, afraid a monster had appeared. But Kim Sibaek had sensed something faint—like two split timelines merging back together. He turned to look at Bae Ji-han. Judging by the boy’s frightened expression, he hadn’t noticed a thing. Understandable—it had been a very subtle sensation.
“It seems Woonie—ahem, Guildmaster Tae Woon’s team has reached the portal’s core.”
“Whoa. You can actually sense that? That’s S-rank for you…”
“We should hurry and regroup, right?”
“I’ll run!”
“It’ll be faster if I carry you.”
“…?”
While the high school boy—still ruled by bravado—was too stunned to fully grasp the meaning of “carry you”, Kim Sibaek moved without hesitation. He slipped one arm under Ji-han’s knees, the other around his back, and effortlessly lifted him up. Before Ji-han could even process the shame of being princess-carried out of nowhere, Kim Sibaek kicked off from the ground.
Suddenly airborne, Ji-han watched the floor drop away beneath him. Forget pride or dignity—he screamed and clung to Kim Sibaek’s neck for dear life. The escalator they had slowly been climbing now looked like it had fallen away into the abyss.
With just a few quick, light leaps, they reached the top—the eighth floor.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Kim Sibaek, you’re safe!”
On the far side of the eighth floor—scattered with monster corpses and clear signs of battle—Tae Woon’s group stood, drenched in monster fluids and gasping for breath. But Ji-han didn’t see any of that. His eyes were locked, spellbound, on Kim Sibaek—the man who had carried him in an instant, not even winded.
Now that he thought about it, that calm, even voice hadn’t changed since the first time they met at the Eid Portal, after wiping out monsters, or even now—just the two of them. That unshakable composure… a confidence only true strength could afford. It was everything he’d ever dreamed of in a Hunter.
Ji-han’s heart pounded wildly. Sure, the guy wasn’t a woman, so he couldn’t exactly fall for him, but still…
If he became my stepdad, that’d solve everything, right? Yeah, this works. This totally works. Stepdad…!
“Dad!”
“…Huh? Dad?”
“My mom’s a divorcée with two kids, but she married young, so she’s probably around your age! You saw her picture earlier, right? My mom’s gorgeous. I’ll set up a blind—augh!”
Just as he was about to say blind date, Tae Woon—who had rushed over in a single bound—grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and flung him backward like a rag doll. Fortunately, Seo Gaeun caught him midair.
Tae Woon, however, was far from done.
“A blind date?! With that brat?! You two already hit it off, didn’t you?! That little punk seduced you! I knew it!”
“He wasn’t talking about the kid… he meant the mother.”
“Huh? Then she’s married!”
“Divorced. And since her eldest is in high school, she’s probably around my age—forty-nine.”
“WHAT?!”
“Anyway, let’s clear the portal first. That’s the core chamber, right?”
“Hyung! Wait! Hyung! HYUNG!”
Kim Sibaek calmly dragged Tae Woon—who was now clinging to his pant leg with desperation—across the room toward the group. The others, who had just started to smile in relief at seeing them safe, now stared at the scene with strange expressions.
That’s really an S-rank Hunter…?
The memory of him moments ago—slaughtering monsters with inhuman precision—clashed so hard with the image of him now that Gwak Yoonsang felt a dangerous surge of cognitive dissonance. He quickly emptied his thoughts.
“No blind dates…”
Still clinging to Kim Sibaek and on the verge of tears, Tae Woon sniffled as the man gently patted his head, quietly healing him with Divine Power in the process. Then Kim Sibaek turned his attention to a tightly sealed door. Though made of transparent glass, the inside remained completely obscured—nothing at all was visible through it.
“Is the Portal Keeper and the inner core inside?”
“Yes. According to the staff, this is the VIP lounge.”
Pi Minhyung, with a look on his face like he desperately wanted to peel Tae Woon off Kim Sibaek and toss him into the trash, stepped forward.
“He’s not gonna be any help right now, so I’ll open it.”
As the Hunters readied themselves, Pi Minhyung drew his blade and slashed a firm cross across the closed door.
Despite its glasslike appearance, the door split cleanly without scattering a single shard. The interior, which had seemed like a void, finally revealed itself.
Kim Sibaek’s eyes widened.
Inside the heart of the Eid Portal—stood Tae Woon.
