Chapter 30

Thirty-seven years ago, the appearance of the Gates threw the world into chaos.

The extradimensional spaces known as Gates spewed out bizarre monsters and contaminated the surrounding land. As uninhabitable contamination zones gradually spread, humanity’s territory shrank, and people with inhuman powers—Hunters—began appearing one after another in the cities.

Back then, most Hunters were outlaws.

It was an era before the Hunter Management Act existed. Ability users ran wild as they pleased, saved people when they felt like it, and sometimes endangered others without meaning to.

That was why they quickly became subjects of government research.

Eun Morae’s mother, Han Nokyeong, was taken to one of those government laboratories.

She had been bitten by a monster with fangs as large as an adult human, but thanks to her Diamond Body, she survived unharmed. After that, she became a test subject.

She had committed no crime.

She was simply exceptionally powerful—and unusually obedient.

Unable to resist authority in the name of the greater good, Han Nokyeong was imprisoned in a United Nations research facility built aboard a carrier strike group in the West Sea.

There were many other test subjects there who shared a similar fate.

Morae’s father, Eun Jisung, was there as well.

He was one of the researchers studying Han Nokyeong and the other Hunters.

It was that kind of era.

A savage age when people resorted to anything in order to survive in a world that had changed overnight.

Researchers and civilians weren’t spared, either.

People either lived under strict government control or were thrown into dangerous contamination zones.

Even Eun Jisung—a genius who had already discovered how to control Gates during that time—was no exception.

People who recognized the value of his intellect seized him and confined him to the laboratory floating at sea.

In troubled times, even geniuses became tools.

They were resources to be consumed for the sake of the nation, its people, and the world.

They couldn’t leave the ship whenever they wanted.

They couldn’t live the lives they wanted.

Eun Jisung silently devoted himself to uncovering every secret of Han Nokyeong and the other Hunters.

He pierced them.

He cut into them.

He made them cry.

He also made them laugh.

He cried with them.

He stayed up talking with them through countless nights.

And through the glass windows and iron bars separating them, they fought together.

After countless nights had passed…

After the sun had risen for what felt like the hundreds of times…

They staged a mutiny aboard the ship and sank the entire carrier strike group.

The ringleaders were a young United Nations major, the healing-type ability user Kim Sowol, the wealthy businessman Seo Jeongeon who had been abducted because of his unusual ability, the undisputed S-rank Hunter Han Nokyeong, and the genius scientist Eun Jisung.

The five of them sent thousands of soldiers and hundreds of weapons to the bottom of the sea, rescued dozens of test subjects, and escaped without looking back.

That was how the West Sea Legion was born.

From the hands of five people who escaped a laboratory floating on the sea.

Twenty-seven years had passed since then.

The West Sea Legion had weathered countless hardships.

The original Commander, the major, had died.

Kim Sowol, who succeeded him, was imprisoned in an undersea prison.

Seo Jeongeon, exhausted by reality, quietly said his farewells and disappeared when Morae was fifteen.

Only Eun Jisung and Han Nokyeong remained.

The West Sea Legion had never been founded for someone’s greed or personal ambition.

From the very beginning, it had been a sanctuary for fugitives.

A nest built upon the sea by people who fled simply to live as human beings.

That was why…

Eun Morae absolutely could not afford to lose.

There was no place in the bright world under the sun for parents who had fled simply to survive.

There could be no compromise.

If they gave even a single step, it would all be over.

The United Nations would never forgive Eun Jisung or Han Nokyeong.

If they were lucky, they would receive life imprisonment in a prison infamous for torture.

Ordinarily, they would be executed on the spot.

And if they were unlucky…

She didn’t even want to think about it.

Now and then, there were people who devised humiliations too degrading for ordinary people to even imagine.

Eun Morae loved everyone who cared about her.

For her mother.

For her father.

And for all those who had been driven out of—or forced to flee—the orderly world…

She wanted to become the dependable pillar supporting them all.

The problem was that Eun Morae resembled both of her parents…

Only halfway.

As the only second-generation descendant among the Legion’s founders, and the current Commander’s daughter, Morae possessed everything people could have wished for.

She came from a family that held power and wealth.

She had countless connections who adored her.

She inherited only the best features of both her parents, making her exceptionally beautiful.

She possessed the strength to survive confidently inside contamination zones.

She even had the intellect to graduate top of her class at one of the nation’s most prestigious universities.

She lacked nothing.

She was the sort of woman people admired…

And the sort they could easily fall in love with.

She understood things almost before they were explained.

Teach her one thing, and she’d grasp ten.

Applying the contents of research papers came naturally to her.

She excelled at calculations.

She memorized things effortlessly.

She could even carry out research on her own with remarkable efficiency.

Had she lived outside, she would have earned a doctorate long ago.

On top of that, she was a gifted Hunter.

Her ability excelled in close combat, and she was strong enough to participate in operations to destroy Gates.

Having inherited her father’s intellect and her mother’s strength in equal measure, there was almost nothing she couldn’t do.

But inheriting both of their strengths equally…

Also meant she hadn’t fully inherited either of them.

Her father was a once-in-a-generation genius.

Her mother was the S-rank Hunter who had supported the Legion for twenty-seven years.

Compared to those two, whose talents had been bestowed by heaven itself…

Morae was ordinary.

Unlike them, she was good at many things and possessed outstanding social skills, but she lacked that one decisive quality.

Because she hadn’t fully inherited either parent’s greatest strength, Morae didn’t possess the ability to lead the West Sea Legion on her own.

To make the Legion flourish, she needed other people.

That was why she devoted herself to expanding its strength by gathering loyal and powerful comrades.

Alone, she couldn’t succeed her parents.

But with strong allies…

That was a different story.

That was why she was so desperate not to lose Yu Pado.

She found herself willing to do anything to keep him.

She even lashed out at people who had done nothing wrong.

What had the Downtown Workshop ever done?

They were simply living the lives they wanted and trying to become friends with Pado.

Just as her mother possessed immense power yet chose a peaceful life…

Pado also had every right to live peacefully among people who cared about him.

She knew that.

She understood it perfectly.

And yet…

She hated it.

Even more than watching her mother choose to remain on the island.

Her emotions overwhelmed her reason and stubbornly insisted:

I hate seeing your attention wander elsewhere.

Dream the same dream as I do.

Laugh with me.

Cry with me.

Share that glory with me.

“Yu Pado…”

Whenever people talked about how incredible her parents were, she couldn’t help longing for the things she didn’t have.

Sometimes it was talent.

Sometimes it was the uncle who had disappeared when she was young.

And sometimes…

It was the companion she wished would dream the same dream she did.

“Yeah?”

A familiar voice answered bluntly.

“Huh…?”

Was Pado really standing in front of her?

Morae rubbed her eyes, then lost her balance and toppled to the right.

Before she could fall into the cluster of liquor bottles, a sturdy body caught her.

Simple clothes.

A solid, dependable frame.

And the faint scent of rain.

It was Pado.

“…Haa.”

The strong smell of alcohol made Pado let out a sigh.

The entire hall reeked of liquor. The moment he stepped inside, the overwhelming scent made him wrinkle his nose.

And among everyone present, Morae smelled the strongest.

She must have drunk a lot, but she’d also spilled alcohol all over herself. It clearly hadn’t happened just once—her shirt and jeans were soaked and stained with whiskey.

Yet no one seemed bothered.

Not Morae.

Not anyone around her.

They simply laughed and passed drinks around.

At least her clothes weren’t see-through.

“Ahaha, want a drink?”

Her flushed face brightened as she held out the glass she’d been sipping from. Inside, an oddly mixed cocktail sloshed near the rim.

“Here, drink this, Pado.”

“N-No, this one’s better.”

“So you’re Yu Pado! Want me to make you a somaek?”¹

The moment Pado appeared, the Legion members all tried to hand him a drink.

They looked genuinely happy that one of the younger members had shown up.

Of course, they were all drunk.

Some offered him their own glasses, while others shoved empty glasses toward him that no one even knew the owner of.

As countless hands surrounded Pado, Morae suddenly shouted,

“I’m first! Pado’s… I’m first!”

Her voice was shrill despite its naturally cute tone.

While everyone around them burst into laughter, the cocktail glass tilted in Morae’s hand.

The drink that had still been half full spilled all over her clothes again.

Having lost her alcohol, Morae tugged at her soaked shirt and lightly bit the fabric.

Then, as if trying to savor the taste, she licked the liquor from her own clothes.

Pado immediately draped one of her arms over his shoulder.

As Morae obediently leaned against him, he wrapped his other arm around her waist.

“Mmm… hehe… I’ll pour you another.”

“I don’t need one.”

“I’ll get you another… Pado’s here now.”

“Hey. Stay still.”

“Mmm… okay…”

Still clinging to him with one arm around his shoulders, Morae rubbed herself against him.

Her alcohol-soaked chest dampened his sleeve, and her liquor-scented cheek drifted close.

Her eyes were completely unfocused, and her cheeks were as red as if someone had dusted them heavily with blush.

What struck him most was that her dazed expression wasn’t seductive—

It was simply gentle.

Pado leaned his head back slightly while tightening his grip around her.

“What the hell did you do to get this drunk already?”

It was the first time he’d ever seen Morae this intoxicated, and he frowned.

The veins along the arm supporting her stood out.

He hadn’t planned on joining the welcome party.

Still, he’d been curious about how Morae was doing, so he’d stopped by for a moment…

Only to find her like this.

He already knew that alcohol stripped away Morae’s sharp edges and made her cheerful.

The woman who was normally so composed would beam and become surprisingly kind, which explained why she was so popular at drinking parties.

So he’d come over wondering how much she’d be smiling.

He just hadn’t expected her to be this drunk.

Was she really that happy about recruiting six new members?

Or had she met someone she genuinely clicked with?

She couldn’t even sit up properly anymore and kept swaying.

Her tongue was sluggish.

Her eyes wouldn’t stay fully open.

With her eyelids half-closed and both her cheeks and the back of her neck flushed as red as apples, she gave anyone looking at her an oddly unsettling feeling.

They’d shared drinks several times before, but today was the first time Pado had ever seen Morae so completely defenseless.

Sliding an arm around her waist, he lifted her into the air.

Dangling effortlessly from one arm, Morae giggled happily.

“You guys keep drinking.”

“I’ll take Morae back.”