Chapter 2
“Let’s head back now, Hunter Yoo Eunseong.”
At the sound calling him, Eunseong, who had been standing like a faithful wife waiting for her husband’s return, turned his head. A Rift Control Agency official was smiling pleasantly while holding a tablet in one hand.
Among the leaders of top-tier guilds, Eunseong was the only one who didn’t enter rifts. The title “Hunter” that they called him with a smile grated unpleasantly on his ears. To hide his unwarranted inferiority complex, he bowed his head politely.
“Please go ahead first. I’ll watch a little longer.”
Once suppression begins, rifts no longer expand. If the hunters inside are completely wiped out and fail to stop the monsters, secondary erosion occurs through re-expansion, but such cases were rare.
Eunseong’s gaze turned to the Control Agency workers setting up barriers around the rift’s perimeter. Even though watching didn’t help anything, he couldn’t easily tear himself away each time.
Would Mujin be able to return home safely after this rift ended? Wouldn’t his ever-growing power finally burn his body to ashes this time? His anxious heart made him chew his lips nervously.
On one side, Eunseong’s guild staff were organizing the remaining items and weapons. Workers used forklifts to load neatly stacked titanium boxes onto transport helicopters.
“Your lip is bleeding.”
Team Leader Yeon Seokchun, who served as Eunseong’s direct secretary and guild operations manager, approached and offered a handkerchief.
“It’s fine, Team Leader Yeon.”
When Eunseong rolled his lip inward and sucked the blood away, Yeon’s eyebrows twitched with displeasure.
“The cleanup is finished. If we return late, everyone at the office will worry.”
“Mujin went in there, so how can I just go back to my warm home alone?”
“You’ve done enough with buffs and items.”
“Done enough?”
He’s going to die because of me.
Eunseong’s muttering gaze remained fixed on the rift. More precisely, he was imagining Mujin fighting fiercely beyond the rift.
“I understand that you feel responsible every time, but why is that the guild leader’s fault? And even without Hunter Baek Mujin, the world…”
“Why isn’t it my fault?”
Eunseong cut off the team leader’s words. He didn’t want to hear what came next.
Yes, as he said, saving Baek Mujin wasn’t his duty.
And even without Mujin, the world wouldn’t end immediately. Even if the mythical-grade ability user disappeared, the people below would somehow gather their strength and carry on.
However, one thing was certain – his own world would collapse.
* * *
The large screen hanging from the ceiling was broadcasting a live rift suppression channel.
Behind the desk where the host and panelists sat, Baek Mujin’s face appeared large on the LED wall.
[ Baek Mujin ] [ Affiliated Guild: Huiseon ]
[ Energy Grade: Mythical / Last Rift Suppression: 20XX.07.22 – In Progress / Collapse Zone F003: 37° 29′ 47.35″ N, 127° 1′ 42.10″ E ]
“As everyone knows, the monster power flowing in Hunter Baek Mujin’s bloodline is mythical grade. It’s called that grade because the recorded appearance resembles dragons from mythology.”
“In our country, there’s actually no one besides Hunter Baek Mujin, so calling it a ‘grade’ is somewhat inappropriate.”
“Isn’t Hunter Baek Mujin’s father, Guild Leader Baek Sangyeon of Huiseon, mythical grade? They’re the same bloodline.”
“Many people are confused about this. Let’s look at the reference screen.”
A family tree of the Huiseon Guild’s Baek family appeared on screen. At the top was Baek Huiseon, the first guild leader who devoured a dragon, and at the bottom was Baek Mujin, her last descendant. In the center of the family tree was drawn a bright yellow flame that bloomed like a flower – Hwanghwa.
The Baek family, the Republic of Korea’s greatest resource, a mythical-grade ability user household. The overwhelming power of the family head who was the incarnation of a dragon. The Hwanghwa flickering in their dark eyes symbolized their invincibility.
“This power called ‘Hwanghwa’ has special properties.”
Among the Baek family descendants, the one who inherited and awakened the most powerful force had to externalize the fire that would consume their body from within once they reached adulthood. That was the only way to control their own power. Also, only after properly controlling their power could another descendant possessing Hwanghwa be born.
“So the ‘power’ has a kind of will? Like ‘don’t covet what you’re not qualified for,’ something like that?”
The host nodded at the panelist’s question.
“Exactly. The method of controlling that ‘power’ is also extremely difficult. This is precisely when the power of ‘Yuseong’ becomes necessary.”
As if waiting for his words, the Yuseong Guild’s family tree appeared beside Huiseon Guild’s family tree. Lines extended from the face photos of Huiseon members to connect with Yuseong members.
Yuseong was the miracle that the dying Baek Huiseon had found. Someone who could control the power that burned the body from within. A symbiotic partner who helped externalize, stabilize, and control Hwanghwa.
The line extending from Baek Mujin’s photo stopped in midair as if it had lost its destination. On the opposite side, a red X was struck down over Yoo Eunseong’s photo like a death sentence.
“With Yuseong’s power currently lost.”
The host looked directly into the camera with a serious expression.
“Is there absolutely no way for Hunter Baek Mujin to avoid extinction?”
Eunseong, who had been looking up at the screen, flinched. He even had the illusion that he’d made eye contact with the host on TV.
The TV kept talking about the Baek family’s history day after day.
Simply possessing a mythical-grade ability user raises a nation’s value. As Baek Mujin’s inability to externalize Hwanghwa made his extinction increasingly a foregone conclusion, they obsessively re-examined the past even more.
How much power the guild ‘Huiseon,’ established by Baek Huiseon, had exerted in rebuilding this land, how the current prosperity was created – the more they illuminated those brilliant times, the clearer the current darkness became.
The feelings of those involved didn’t matter. People consumed by anxiety wanted to endlessly discuss the tragedy itself, and the ratings proved this brazenly.
Pop – the large screen that had been showing the news suddenly turned off and went black.
“Ah, what the hell.”
Those who had been looking around with dissatisfied faces about what happened soon closed their mouths. They had discovered Yoo Eunseong entering the Control Agency lounge. The murmuring crowd fell silent all at once.
“Crazy, the failure appears.”
Someone muttered quietly in the eerily settled silence.
“Hello, Guild Leader Yuseong. Is there anything I can help you with?”
It was one of the Rift Control Agency staff who broke the awkwardness. Someone fairly acquainted with Eunseong, usually good-natured in personality.
“Uh… no. I’m meeting someone here.”
Eunseong, who had been about to gesture lightly and turn around, raised his finger with an “ah.” He pointed at the remote control in the staff member’s hand and added:
“Don’t mind me and keep watching. It’s the same story everywhere, so I don’t care at all.”
“Ah…”
Leaving the embarrassed staff member behind, Eunseong went to sit on a sofa in an open area on all sides. Even in the Rift Control Agency where many people came and went, this was the central lounge, so he hoped anyone would quickly notice him and lower their voices. He didn’t care about gossip, but he didn’t want to see faces embarrassed after discovering him.
As long as Eunseong sat in the same space, they couldn’t possibly watch the same channel again. The staff member who turned the TV back on quickly changed the channel to a music program. Just as Eunseong was awkwardly rubbing his neck, thinking he’d said something unnecessary:
“Eunseong! You came early.”
“Ajussi.”
A middle-aged man with completely white hair approached with hurried steps toward Eunseong, who had jumped up. It was Baek Sangyeon, Baek Mujin’s father, currently serving as guild leader of Huiseon Guild.
With his appearance, the attention in the lounge focused on Eunseong once again.
“Hmm, did ajussi choose the wrong meeting place? Are you uncomfortable?”
“Not at all. It’s work that has to be done under the Control Agency anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
Eunseong lowered his eyes. At his obedient face like a child receiving a deserved punishment, Baek Sangyeon nodded.
“Alright, then shall we go down right away? Are you ready?”
“…Yes.”
Baek Sangyeon led Eunseong deeper into the Rift Control Agency. They passed through the spacious lounge, went through security checkpoints twice, and even then took a dedicated elevator that only those with the highest security level could use.
Inside the elevator, which had no signs indicating the destination, there was exactly one button. Baek Sangyeon stepped back as if yielding the choice, and Eunseong pressed that button directly with his faintly trembling hand. With a low hum, the elevator began to move.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
