Chapter 1

1. Prologue

Have you ever heard of the Princess of Black Flames?

She is a humanoid monster that emerges from the deep darkness beyond the gate.

She is as agile as a cat and has skin as pale as a vampire.

They say she has a mysterious charm that you can't forget once you see her. A hunter who was captivated by her appearance stood there dumbfounded and ended up having his eyeball pierced by the tip of her umbrella.

If you ever meet her, run away.

─If you can dodge her black flames, that is.

* * *

It was late summer, and the long, relentless rainy season had finally ended.

Eunha, walking down the street, couldn't help but look at the paper in her hand again.

Exam Number: 9782136

Name: Cha Eunha

Note: Admitted to the Pet Grooming Department

This was the twenty-sixth time she had confirmed the acceptance letter and put it back in her bag. Even after repeating this process twenty-six times, it was still a clear acceptance letter.

She was finally going to study pet grooming at a famous university in the United States, a dream she had longed for.

Beyond the road, still damp from the rain, an empty bus stop was visible. She had come halfway. She looked up at the sky. Although the sky was still heavy with clouds after the rain, Eunha's heart felt light.

She looked at the acceptance letter again and quickened her pace. It was about a 20-minute walk from school to home. The distance she walked every day felt so far today.

Not far away, a public phone booth was visible. She wanted to tell her mother this news as soon as possible. Her mother would surely be delighted.

Dial tone—

Her heart pounded wildly as the dial tone continued.

Finally, the dial tone stopped, and a familiar and affectionate voice came through the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's Eunha."

Eunha tried to speak as calmly as possible. She even swallowed once, not forgetting to do so.

"I don't have many 100-won coins, so I'll be quick. Listen, Mom—"

But Eunha couldn't finish her sentence.

Thud. The public phone receiver fell limply to the ground.

Boom.

Suddenly, the sky rumbled, and dozens of red lightning bolts struck Seoul.

The asphalt cracked, and the air vibrated. Buildings collapsed like dominoes, and people began to flee as if they were ants escaping a collapsed anthill.

"Hello? Eun... ha..."

The rain, which had started again, mercilessly beat against the public phone booth, leaving black streaks.

'What is this?'

What was happening? It was too vivid to be a dream, yet too terrifying to be real.

A car crashed into the cracked asphalt, and a street lamp, entangled with power lines, swayed wildly.

A person was crushed like a boiled potato by a sign that flew from somewhere.

Stunned, Eunha watched the scene. Bang! Something heavy seemed to have fallen on top of the public phone booth.

"Ah!"

A scream came through the receiver. Eunha, suddenly coming to her senses, reached for the phone again.

"Mom? Mom!"

No matter how many times she called, there was no response.

A bad feeling washed over her.

And bad feelings always come true.

Eunha started running home immediately, still clutching the acceptance letter.

She couldn't remember exactly how she got home. She just kept running in the opposite direction of the fleeing people.

When she finally turned the corner and arrived at the familiar gate, she dropped the acceptance letter from her hand.

Among the fallen concrete, a familiar white piano was broken. A twisted left arm protruded from under the piano keys.

No, it can't be, it can't be. Eunha slowly approached the scene.

The wish bracelet she had made and given to her mother years ago was there.

Eunha, as if in a trance, grabbed the piano. No matter how hard she tried, the piano wouldn't budge.

Finally, Eunha used all her strength to pull her mother's arm.

Thud.

The arm, which seemed immovable, came out like a sweet potato stem. Her mother's cold hand.

"…Mom."

Eunha collapsed on the spot like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

The hand that used to stroke her hair, the arm that used to be her pillow on sleepless nights, was now ownerless, shedding red tears.

A distant scream mixed with the wind, carrying the acceptance letter that had fallen to the ground, eventually drifting away.

* * *

September 1997.

The world changed.

The red lightning that fell from the sky left massive traces across the country. The cracks on the ground, varying in color, emitted a suspicious and eerie aura, but did not cause any particular reaction.

The red lightning that fell across the world, and the cracks left behind, would later be called 'Gates.'

One day, researchers investigating the cracks in the metropolitan area were massacred.

Only one of the dozens who returned was still alive.

"There was a cicada, larger than a car, no, a bus! I lost my arm to that thing!"

The world treated him as a madman. However, it was soon revealed that his words were true.

October 1997.

Terrifying monsters emerged from the Gates into the world.

It was a disaster.

The starving monsters devoured pedestrians indiscriminately, regardless of age or gender.

The government deployed thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers to the Gates across the country, but no weapon developed by modern humans could harm them.

─But that didn't matter.

At the funeral.

Due to the situation, it took a long time after her mother's passing to finally secure a small funeral hall.

"What? Our house? We have three kids."

"Then what? Should I take care of her? We're not even close relatives."

Eunha stood motionless in front of her mother's portrait. There was no place for her, not here, not anywhere in the world.

For an hour, people who only knew her by face had been arguing.

"I don't know. Where's the father? Maybe he can take care of her."

"Figure it out yourself! I don't know!"

"Shh! The child can hear!"

…She can hear everything.

Eunha, with dry eyes, stroked the bracelet in her hand.

The entire apartment building had collapsed into rubble, so this wish bracelet was the only memento from her mother.

"Eunha, you're almost an adult. You're old enough to take care of yourself."

"Yes."

"I don't feel good about leaving you alone, but as you know, we have three kids... Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

"The government will provide temporary housing and disaster relief funds. It should be fine. If it gets too hard, let me know."

"Yes."

In the end, Eunha was left alone.

The house provided by the government was a makeshift structure of planks and tents, but she was grateful for even that.

She barely managed day by day with disaster relief funds and free meals.

"Did you hear? Ma Dong-sik, he's awakened."

"What? Really?"

"He's been missing since yesterday. He must have been taken to the training camp."

"Please, not me... If I'm drafted, I might die at any moment. I absolutely refuse."

"Me too. Fighting those monsters is worse than living in this dilapidated shack."

The atmosphere in the free meal center was more chaotic than usual.

It had been quite some time since extraordinary superhumans began appearing across the country, and the world.

She thought it was someone else's problem.

Until that day.

* * *

'…What is this?'

When she stretched out her finger, half-awake, a crackling current seemed to flow from the tip.

No, it wasn't a current.

"Fire…?"

A flame burst forth as if a spark had ignited at her fingertips.

The flame illuminated the old, dark shack. The flame didn't extinguish until dawn, even though Eunha didn't want it to.

A few days later.

Someone from the government came, somehow knowing. He introduced himself as from the National Security Agency and told Eunha to pack her bags.

She had no choice but to comply.

Eunha obediently followed his lead and boarded a large bus. About forty people were on the bus.

She learned a few hours later that they, like Eunha, were 'awakened' with superpowers.

They arrived at a training camp.

"In the face of an unprecedented national disaster, you have been given the opportunity to serve your country."

The voice, amplified by a microphone, resonated in the ears of those gathered at the training camp.

"Remember that the lives of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people depend on each of you here."

The training camp was as quiet as if it had been doused with cold water. Occasionally, the sound of sobbing could be heard.

They said that terrifying and ferocious monsters were rampant from the cracks, now called Gates, across the country. Eunha had also learned this from the news and newspapers.

'You want us to fight them?'

Eunha looked down at her trembling hands. Although she had awakened, she had no idea how to use her power to fight the monsters.

But there was one thing she knew well.

They had killed her mother.

They had taken her home, her dreams, her life.

The cruel monsters wouldn't wait for unprepared awakened individuals. At that moment, monsters were still rampaging, and someone's family was dying.

The training for the hunters was shortened to just three months due to the urgent situation.

To Eunha, it was a long time. She had no reason or means to go to university anymore.

A person who has lost everything is braver than one who has everything.

Cha Eunha's unique ability, 'Flame,' was optimized for combat. Her flames were fierce, aggressive, and relentless.

April 1998.

After the minimum three-month training, the hunters were immediately thrown into the Gates.

They had no weapons or armor.

All they had were dog tags around their necks and the heavy burden of being the last hope for humanity.

Cha Eunha.

It was the year she turned twenty.