Chapter 52

EP 10 - The End of Winter (2)

“What, what’s that supposed to mean!”

[The gate opened! Damn it!]

"Why did a gate open in Gangwon Province!"

[I don’t know! Anyway, Mom and Dad are running around like crazy, shiiit!]

The sounds of static and screams were mixed together. It was easy to infer that Yeo Do-yeon was performing acrobatic actions on the other end of the phone.

“Where are you now-”

Crack. The sound of something breaking was heard.

Instantly, all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.

Was it a monster that broke, or a person?

“......”

[......]

......It seems the phone was broken.

* * *

It’s a familiar feeling. Something heavy settled in my chest, and I wanted to cry but no tears came.

I calmly handed the phone back. Everyone was looking at me in silence.

The judgment was quick.

I turned my head to the balcony and looked up at the sky. I couldn’t see any gates nearby.

At least not with my eyes.

“......Ji-yun?”

As I extended my hand, the kid ran over and grabbed it.

The moment I made contact, I felt like I was being swept away by a strong current. It was a different level compared to other hunters.

I could feel the world.

A massive vortex above Uijeongbu.

The waves of magic were sweeping through this area. Small gates couldn’t withstand the storm and were scattered.

“......”

As I quietly sensed the magic, Yang Il-ho wisely turned on the TV.

In the news. Since he caught the anchor’s report halfway through, he couldn’t understand the context, but the intuitive subtitles at the bottom of the screen caught his eye.

[Outbreak of sporadic gates near the capital region]

After a moment, the subtitle changed.

[Mass outbreak of small gates, over 200] [......Let me repeat. A large number of small gates have appeared throughout the capital region. Citizens are advised to take shelter in their homes or nearby evacuation centers-]

I checked the gate map in the upper right corner of the screen and took a picture with my phone.

It wouldn’t be a perfect map. There was no mention of gates opening in Gangwon Province.

Considering the thorough cooperation between the media and the Ministry of National Defense, it’s natural that the situation hasn’t been fully grasped yet.

“......Damn.”

Still, one thing was certain.

“There are no gates near Uijeongbu.”

The red dots on the map were strangely sparse near Uijeongbu.

The problem is,

“The closer to Uijeongbu, the more densely the gates are opening.”

It reminded me of the eye of a typhoon. Uijeongbu was right at the center.

Although there was still a vortex in the middle of the eye that hadn’t revealed itself yet.

The red dots indicating the locations of the gates were scattered so chaotically that at first glance, it looked like gates had opened throughout the entire capital region. But to me, it looked like a ring of blood surrounding Uijeongbu.

The massive vortex of magic above Uijeongbu. And the densely packed small gates around it.

A terrifying future loomed.

If this continues, millions will die.

Uijeongbu itself was a major city with a population of 450,000, and it was used as the core HQ for the Seoul recapture operation due to the many military bases used by the US military.

In other words, there were many soldiers.

That’s why Uijeongbu was the place with the most Seoul evacuees.

Moreover, millions of evacuees from the capital region were expected to converge on the safe haven of Uijeongbu to avoid the small gates.

“......”

If a super-large gate were to open in that situation.

If the vortex of magic covering the city were to turn into a gate.

The scale of casualties would be unprecedented.

......Numerous thoughts raced through my mind.

The disappearance of my family. The deaths of millions. Priorities. Utilitarianism. The gate crisis. The greater good. Pi Chae-won. Lee Ho-jeong. Uijeongbu evacuees. Catastrophe.

What should I do?

The judgment was quick.

I spoke to the group calmly and firmly.

“......Let’s start with what we can do now.”

“......”

“Lee Ho-jeong, Pi Chae-won. Is there anyone else you need to take care of?”

Gan Jine’s family was gathered in front of the prison to celebrate his release.

Yang Pan-seok’s family, who had no particular ties and little filial piety, had already evacuated to Jeju Island, leaving only Yang Pan-seok behind.

So.

Yang Il-ho, who had left his girlfriend in the middle of a gate, was the first to stand up with bloodshot eyes and immediately ran out the door. As everyone tried to follow, I extended my hand to stop them.

“......I don’t think we need to go out.”

People’s judgments were obvious. Hide in the house or run away.

Roughly half of them tried to run away or, like us, tried to save their loved ones, and they rushed out the door.

That alone would plunge the apartment complex into chaos.

Sure enough, the emergency stairs were packed with people, and the screams of those who had fallen could be heard. The elevators were over capacity, and no one was getting off.

Yang Il-ho returned with a troubled look.

“...I don’t think we can get down?”

“......Open the window.”

“!”

As soon as I finished speaking, Yang Il-ho went out to the balcony with a gleam in his eyes and opened the window wide. Knowing the implications, he quickly ran to the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and tore off the mosquito net.

I limped out to the balcony, and the cold wind blew my bangs. I put my hand on the railing and checked the ground.

Then I gave the instructions.

“We’ll fly down. Everyone put on your shoes.”

Gan Ji-yun had worked as heavy machinery at construction sites.

He had carried several tons of metal from the ground to the roof multiple times, so he could certainly carry seven people.

And.

“......Ji-yun, can I carry three?”

“U, um! No! I can carry four!”

“Ji-yun is good at math.”

Gan Ji-yun times two.

*

The fact that our feet weren’t touching the ground is terrifying.

Holding each other’s hands, we slowly descended along the exterior wall of the apartment.

Even with strong superpowers, if we were to descend too quickly and break our spines, it would be over. So, we had to be cautious when carrying people.

The cold, strong winter wind blew from above, and we shivered, unsure if it was from fear or the cold, as we clung to each other.

We could feel each other’s fear. From the hands we held, from the tightly closed eyes of the person we faced. We shared our fear.

And.

After a few minutes that felt like hours.

Two psychics landed seven people on the ground.

“Phew....!”

“Haaa...!”

“Huff...! Huff...!”

Everyone’s legs gave out, and they collapsed on the ground.

Among them, only the baby Gan Seok, who didn’t know what was happening, and Yang Il-ho, whose eyes were bloodshot with worry for Lee Ho-jeong, didn’t tremble with acrophobia. Even Yang Pan-seok, whose face had turned pale, clung to my hand and trembled, but no one in our group complained about the height.

Because they knew the value of their lives.

Anyway, small gates started to appear in the area. I looked at the dark sky, dotted with blue spots, and asked.

“......Dr. Cheon, are you okay?”

Cheon Hara, heavily pregnant, managed a weak smile.

“...Yes!”

I didn’t add to her worries. There was no time for it.

There were two cars in the underground parking lot, but

Now we had to move in one car.

I looked around for a large van nearby. Leaning on a hiking stick, I limped around.

Okay. I found a clean, large Staria.

“Let’s take this one.”

I held Gan Ji-yun’s hand and stuck to the semi-transparent front window to manipulate the lock.

Click. The door opened.

The magic control I had practiced with Hong Seon-a on the Shinbundang Line six months ago hadn’t rusted.

There was no room for laughter in this situation, but I smiled to ease the tension of the group.

“Anyone have a driver’s license?”

Gan Jine, who had stolen and driven rebel trucks in Africa, hastily took the steering wheel.

I supported Yang Pan-seok and kept watch, while Cheon Hara held the baby Gan Seok and got into the car. Gan Ji-yun, with a worried expression, floated above them.

As the group was about to get into the car, Yang Il-ho, who had been repeatedly calling Lee Ho-jeong, made a grim face.

“...The phone keeps turning off...!”

“......”

We were in Dongducheon, the center of northern Gyeonggi Province.

Below Dongducheon is Yangju,

Below Yangju is Uijeongbu.

Above Uijeongbu is the vortex.

And,

Lee Ho-jeong is near the Yangju City Hall,

Pi Chae-won is at Uijeongbu University Hospital.

Cheon Hara’s family and Pi Chae-won lived in the VIP ward of the hospital, and the hospital’s attached laboratory was used as the foundation’s research institute. The entire area, including the nearby apartment complex, was the Han Seung-moon Foundation’s minor support center.

Anyway, we could pick up one person at a time as we headed south.

The problem was that Lee Ho-jeong’s phone was off.

“......It can’t be that the battery ran out in this situation.”

If the phone was off, he would have tried to turn it on or borrowed one to contact us.

“Then it must be a situation where he has to turn it off.”

“......”

“Is it a situation where the ringtone can’t be heard?”

Yang Il-ho’s face turned pale. I probably didn’t look much different.

“......Well, that’s it.”

Gan Jine, sitting in the driver’s seat, showed a troubled look.

“Can’t drive if the engine won’t start...?”

“Damn it!”

Yang Il-ho, with half-flipped eyes, cursed.

What could he do just by opening the car door? There was no key to start the engine.

Everyone was so flustered that they didn’t notice and naturally got into the car, but not me.

“Anyway, the road is so congested that we can’t go by car.”

I held Gan Ji-yun’s hand.

“I never intended to drive in the first place.”

The minivan floated in the air.

*

If we fly too high, we become targets for flying monsters. If we fly too low, we might get tangled in power lines or attacked by monsters.

Although it was my first time controlling a flying car, it wasn’t difficult with Gan Ji-yun’s hand firmly in mine.

The sensation of perceiving the world was different.

I moved as naturally as taking a step.

The car smoothly crossed the sky, and while Yang Il-ho was biting his nails, a few exclamations of amazement were heard inside the car.

In the distance, the Yangju City Hall came into view. Soldiers and monsters were fighting fiercely.

Several bat-like creatures, which were sucking people like maggots in a beehive, were seen on the windows of the city hall. I bit my lower lip and secretly avoided them, heading towards the residential area.

The sky was particularly crowded with monsters, and I saw two medium-sized gates nearby. The gates were densely packed between Uijeongbu and Yangju.

Anyway.

The fact that Lee Ho-jeong turned off his phone suggested that he was hiding from monsters, and it was possible that he was close enough for the ringtone to be heard by the monsters.

It might just be that the battery ran out, but from the situation, it doesn’t seem so.

Several monsters were circling near the house where Lee Ho-jeong and Yang Il-ho had prepared.

Yang Il-ho looked at me with an indescribable expression. He couldn’t bring himself to speak or touch me, fearing it might interfere with my superpower control, and just watched me nervously.

I asked Gan Ji-yun, who was in my arms, with a jacket covering his eyes to prevent him from seeing the carnage.

“......Ji-yun.”

“U, um?”

Gan Ji-yun, who was fidgeting in fear, lifted his head from under the jacket.

“Have you cleared a lot of collapsed buildings at construction sites?”

“No...?”

After all, it wouldn’t be right to make a child clear buildings, which would involve removing human bodies.

“Then have you done any demolition work?”

“Um... I only did it once, at the most important part! Demolishing a building!” “A large building?”

“Yes! A very large one!”

“Was it easy?”

As soon as Gan Ji-yun nodded confidently, I lowered the altitude and stuck to the roof of the house where Lee Ho-jeong was hiding.

Yang Il-ho and Lee Ho-jeong were living in a two-story detached house because the land value had dropped.

Inside, Lee Ho-jeong and his brother Kang Shi-ho would be there. If we were unlucky, there might be a monster. If we were even unluckier, no one might be there.

“Yil-ho. Your house doesn’t have an attic, right?”

“Y, yes, it does.”

He opened the window and extended his hand.

“I was just asking to be sure.”

- Crack!

I tore off the roof.

It was a bit of a struggle, but not impossible. I threw the debris I had torn off at a passing monster.

Below the floating car, the inside of the house came into view.

It felt like looking at a building’s cross-section.

On the second floor, there was a hallway and two rooms.

There was a monster in the hallway, a mix of a human and an insect, and I couldn’t see Lee Ho-jeong or Kang Shi-ho.

Then.

Lee Ho-jeong and Kang Shi-ho crawled out from under the bed in one of the rooms.

I immediately twisted and pulled out the neck of the monster in the hallway. I confirmed it was a vertebrate when something came out of its head.

“Open the back door!”

Chun Hara, in the back seat, opened the door wide.

I carefully lifted the two people into the air. I had to be careful not to break their spines and kill them.

The problem was.

It seems I made too much noise.

A large wolf, the size of a two-story bus, with two tongues dripping black saliva, started running towards us from a distance.

“Ji-yun! That! That! On the left!”

Gan Ji-yun peeked out from under the jacket.

“Squeal!”

And hid back under the jacket.

What could I expect from a 12-year-old? I thought as I quickly checked the status of the wolf running towards us.

It was rolling around as a furry, round piece of meat.

I turned my head, unable to bear the sight.

“......”

“......”

“......”

Everyone seemed to feel the same way. Even when Lee Ho-jeong and Kang Shi-ho barely made it into the car, no one said a word.

It wasn’t until a flying monster, shot down by the tank, exploded nearby that we regained our senses.

The black Staria flew through the sky, where gates had opened.

It was a scene that didn’t belong to this world.