A Sudden Gate Break

It was noisy from early morning due to a Gate Break.

Siren sounds, along with disaster texts, heated up the city noisily.

People who had been busy since morning rushed to shelters, and Awakeners moved to their respective positions to track the Gate where the break occurred.

“A damn Grade 6 Gate Break, can you measure the number of monsters spewed out?”

Receiving Gu Hae-sang’s question, Bak Mi-so, a member of the government’s break task force, hurriedly looked through the data and said.

“It’s estimated to be at least 30,000. We expect about half will emerge from the underground tunnels, while the rest will remain inside and begin breeding.”

It was currently known that three types of monsters inhabited the burst Gate.

The monster causing the biggest problem was the ‘Hound’ type fighting dog.

It was a combat dog boasting a massive build reaching 2 meters.

“Why the hell wasn’t it managed?”

“Subjugation had been requested, but they say the break happened suddenly.”

“How many days were left until the scheduled date?”

“It’s recorded that it appeared 5 days ago, and there were about 20 days left until the break.”

Perhaps they were coordinating the schedule step-by-step since a lot of time remained.

In fact, Grade 6 is classified as a disaster grade, a Gate level that even Awakener guilds would create a fuss to claim.

It was the kind of Gate where a break would absolutely never happen, as it could yield massive profits and significantly help an Awakener’s growth.

But an emergency break had occurred.

“What’s the position of the guild in charge?”

“They were swept away along with the break. They say they were preparing supplies for the subjugation.”

“Damn, things are getting complicated.”

It was even a Gate that had appeared in Seoul’s underground drainage system.

Because it occurred in a location that was difficult to enter and difficult to manage, the situation had become tangled in many ways.

Furthermore, a massive number of monsters spewed out simultaneously with the break were surging into various parts of Seoul like a tide, spreading the damage.

Generally, when a break occurs, the entrance reverses and monsters inside are spewed out, but this Gate Break was in a state where the entrance had split and scattered over a certain range.

Usually, in this form, monsters might not be able to come out depending on the size of the entrance, but ironically, it was said that extensive damage was spreading because it had split into several sizes suitable for canine monsters to escape.

“Have you identified all the entrance locations?”

“Five have been identified so far, and they say team members have finished deployment and are moving to three of them.”

“Tch, did you say the location we’re going to have the most damage?”

“Yes, but one place is a problem. What should we do?”

“Is it the Yongsan area?”

“Yes, it’s a Gate that occurred behind Seoul Station; because there’s a large floating population, Awakeners are barely holding on, but the monster spread is said to be too strong.”

“What about the police and the military?”

“They say they’ve entered.”

Gu Hae-sang thought the timing of the Gate Break was the problem.

Looking at the watch, it was 4:55.

‘Even though we responded 10 minutes after the break occurred, is it inevitable that we’re late?’

It was a point 15 minutes past the response.

It was certainly a quick response, but the problem was identified as the fact that the monsters were fighting dogs called Hound variants, and they were increasing damage by tracking humans by scent.

“Display the information of Awakeners living nearby.”

At that question, Bak Mi-so quickly searched for information and displayed it in the air, and at that moment, Gu Hae-sang discovered one person and urgently pulled out his mobile phone.

“Please, pick up the phone.”

Gu Hae-sang became anxious while the dial tone rang, and then Bak Mi-so asked.

“Who are you calling?”

“The savior who will settle this situation!”

Bak Mi-so had an expression asking who on earth that was, and Gu Hae-sang gave the answer with a single action rather than a hundred words.

He pointed at one person with his finger.

“…Geum Seong-chan? A black mage?”

As soon as Bak Mi-so finished speaking, a connection tone was heard.

It’s been a long time. -

“Let’s do some work.”

I’m hanging up. -

“Wa- Wait!! Please handle the break response. It’s near Mr. Geum Seong-chan’s house, isn’t it possible?”

I don’t live in that old house now. -

“Damn it, but can’t you still give us some help? We’re short-handed.”

There was no answer for a long time to Gu Hae-sang’s urgent voice, but soon a brief reply came.

I’ll contact you after processing it. -

“Thank yo—.”

The connection was cut before he could finish his sentence, and seeing that, Bak Mi-so asked.

“He’s incredibly rude, isn’t he?”

“He’s a person who’s allowed to be.”

Bak Mi-so became curious about who the person could be that a picky man like Gu Hae-sang would take such a humble stance.

So, she checked additional information on the person and ended up being horrified.

“This person is… the Worst?”

“To us, he’s a hero. He’s only called the Worst by his enemies. Don’t act rudely if you ever happen to meet him.”

Bak Mi-so couldn’t help but have countless thoughts.

This was because she had heard too many bad rumors about the Worst.

Why else would she clearly know the moniker of the Worst even though neither the information nor the name of the person was properly known?

“How… do you know such a person?”

To Bak Mi-so’s curiosity, Gu Hae-sang replied lightly.

“He’s my life’s savior. Got it? Let’s go.”

Since Gu Hae-sang jumped into the scene without hesitation upon discovering an Awakener fighting a fighting dog that jumped out of the break, Bak Mi-so couldn’t ask any more questions and ran along.

After receiving the call in the early dawn, I put on my clothes.

Go Yu-jin, who had been asleep, tossed and turned and opened her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“It seems a break has occurred. They appear to be short-handed.”

“…In a nearby place?”

Lightly pressing down on Go Yu-jin, who was getting up, and making her lie back down, I said.

“I’ll be back soon after processing it. It probably won’t be on a large scale.”

“…I’ll help. Me too!”

Dissuading Go Yu-jin, who was trying to step out again, I left the mansion. Then, I released mana and searched for monsters over a wide area.

At the time of the Great Cataclysm, Awakeners used to develop the ability to search for monsters in their own ways.

In my case, I just used mana to search for monsters.

‘There are quite a lot, is it Hounds?’

It was an entity called a fighting dog, and it was a very dangerous monster because it was a type all-in on combat power.

However, fighting dogs had tough hides and were easy to process, so they had many uses, and their bone fragments from each part, such as teeth, were on the hard side, enough to be preferred as arrowheads.

Because the cost-effectiveness was so excellent, the preference was great despite the relatively high price.

As such, one could expect that a break in a Gate where such monsters resided exploded in a sudden form.

‘Since the numbers are high and a person of Gu Hae-sang’s level requested support, it must be a diffusion-type break. The scale will be large too…’

Since the current time was not when people would be walking the streets, it seemed possible to minimize damage, so with the thought that it was lucky, I flew into the air using levitation magic.

‘Are they heading toward Seoul Station?’

It seemed they spread to the surroundings after picking up the scent of humans.

Fortunately, these days, each house installed magic defensive circles to prepare for breaks, so the defensive walls cannot be breached by general methods.

Even a 2nd Circle defensive wall cannot be breached by a Hound.

That was probably why they were flocking to Seoul Station, where many people gathered and emitted a thick scent.

‘If victims occur, people might blame black mages again.’

Black mages were a group that received much groundless resentment in many ways. Even though Gu Hae-sang requested this task, there was no particular need to reduce damage.

One just needed to process the monsters.

However, if a request went to a black mage and damage occurred?

Then, they would blame our incompetence and curse all black mages together. Thinking it was right to avoid that at least, I released even more mana, quickly set each entity to ‘Lock-on,’ and then immediately activated the ‘Air Ring’ magic.

It was simple magic.

It was to rapidly rotate wind blades to form a ring.

Instead, after setting this magic to manifest near the ‘neck’ of the targets and instantly organizing and activating the mana pattern, the presence of the living fighting dogs quickly faded away.

So, while I was moving to find the break location where the remaining entities and fighting dogs were pouring out, it was at this moment.

Was it because strong mana had moved?

Some Awakeners who were nearby rushed out of buildings, and after noticing the commotion outside, they followed me, tracking the direction I was going.

Then, they were divided into those who faltered upon discovering the countless carcasses of fighting dogs and those who did not and continued to track me. A while later, when I reached the ground after finding the break location, a woman who arrived by my side at that moment spoke to me.

“Why did you go out of your way to step forward?”

She was the woman called the Cold Witch, an opponent I had encountered once before, so I nodded lightly and said.

“It’s a request from the task force.”

“I didn’t know a black mage would take such a request.”

“It’s probably better to help if asked. But what brings you here?”

“I was curious.”

Those who hadn’t stepped forward at all despite such an uproar were peering around?

Perhaps they considered it an opportunity to boost their image.

The corpses of many fighting dogs were scattered everywhere. If an Awakener who had done nothing stood in the center of them, an ordinary person might mistake that Awakener for having killed all the creatures.

It was an image makeover without spending money or effort.

Whether they acted shrewdly or whether they used this situation or not didn’t matter.

‘The break feels strongly artificial. Would it be possible to break so uniformly with a normal emergency break?’

Looking at the traces of the break, one could roughly understand in what state it became like this.

So, I pulled out my mobile phone and called Gu Hae-sang.

-What is it? -

“I’ve processed most of the monsters and I’m in front of the break tunnel; can you send me photos of your side and other places as well?”

-What… Oops, I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of a battle. -

“It’s because I want to check for artificial aspects.”

-Artificial… I understand. I’ll send them soon! -

With that, Gu Hae-sang hung up. At that moment, the Cold Witch Cheon Se-ah, who overheard the call nearby, asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Gate Breaks take many forms. Among them, in the case of a diffusion-type break, it breaks in a swirling manner based on the center of the Gate. So, it is also called an ‘explosion type.’ But this Gate, doesn’t it look like a well-sliced piece of cake?”

Cheon Se-ah, who immediately understood my meaning, was flustered and then asked with a serious expression.

“Are you saying… someone can artificially manipulate the Gate?”

“We are in a position where we don’t properly know about Gates. No one knows what tricks can be played to cause what miracles. Since I only recently learned that there are even those committing worse eccentricities, who knows if there might be even more than that?”

It wasn’t a story Cheon Se-ah could fully understand, but I thought that as long as she wasn’t stupid, she could feel that I knew more than her.