Suwon – Hunter Association, Internal Briefing Room
The next morning, Ha-Joon sat in a small conference room with six other support staff. The walls were plain white, the projector idle, and the air stale with instant coffee.
A tired-looking field officer entered with a tablet in hand.
> "Gate Zone 3 reactivated last night," she said bluntly. "Unexpected surge. Reading spiked to Tier-3 before stabilizing again."
The room buzzed with murmurs.
> "But it was scheduled to collapse…"
"No core was detected…"
"It was a fake-out?"
The officer nodded.
> "We suspect it masked its reading intentionally. A sleeper gate. Rare but not unheard of."
Ha-Joon said nothing.
Inside, he wasn't surprised.
He already knew.
---
Later That Day – Gate Zone 3 (Now Tier-3 Status)
The gate no longer shimmered like calm water.
Now it pulsed.
Heavy. Rhythmic. Like a heartbeat.
A temporary containment squad had surrounded the area with yellow fencing and field devices. Drones buzzed overhead. Trucks rolled in with monitoring equipment.
Ha-Joon stood at the edge of the perimeter, hands in his coat pockets.
He was assigned again as a support observer.
"Coincidence," they'd said.
He didn't believe in coincidence anymore.
---
Team Briefing – Field Tent
Choi Hyun-Tae led the briefing again.
> "No entry orders yet. We're monitoring energy fluctuations and keeping this thing sealed tight. Association suspects a delayed awakening. We hold the perimeter. That's all."
Min-Kyung sat beside Ha-Joon again, scrolling on her tablet.
> "This is crazy. First a dud, now a surge? If this gate had gone hot in the city center…"
> "It didn't," Ha-Joon said calmly.
She frowned.
> "You're not shaken at all, huh?"
> "I've seen worse."
He meant it.
Worse was an ocean of molten sky and monsters that fed on thoughts.
Worse was a collapsing star that screamed in languages that burned his soul.
This was… peaceful.
---
Gate Activity Spike – 3:44 PM
Sirens flared suddenly.
> "Energy fluctuation!" a technician shouted.
"Pulse instability rising—Tier-3 pushing Tier-4!"
The gate turned red for two seconds.
The mist around it thickened, almost fog-like.
> "Visual anomaly detected—shapes inside!"
The drones faltered—signal disruption.
The air grew cold.
> "Hold perimeter!"
But Ha-Joon stepped forward, expression unchanged.
He could feel it.
Something inside was searching. Sniffing. Trying to push through.
But not all the way.
> It doesn't want to come out, he thought. It wants someone to come in.
---
Ha-Joon Narrowly Avoids Exposure
Choi Hyun-Tae grabbed him by the shoulder.
> "Back! No one approaches the boundary!"
Ha-Joon nodded, stepping back obediently.
He didn't resist.
Couldn't draw attention yet.
> "Sorry. Lost my footing."
Hyun-Tae narrowed his eyes. "Be careful, rookie."
Ha-Joon bowed slightly.
The moment passed.
No one saw the brief shimmer of crimson behind his contact lenses.
---
Observation Logs – Night Summary
The gate stabilized by sunset. No monsters emerged.
No one entered.
But three awakened hunters posted nearby suffered from sudden migraines and nosebleeds.
The Association marked it as an "Unstable Veil Core Event"—rare but not unprecedented.
> "If it happens again," the officer said, "we'll call in a ranked guild."
Ha-Joon already knew that wouldn't happen.
The gate wasn't meant for guilds.
It was calling to him.
---
Back Home – That Night
Rain fell lightly as Ha-Joon walked home alone.
He didn't speak to his team. Didn't message Min-Kyung.
He just walked.
Quiet. Soaking in the night. Listening.
The world was beginning to twist again.
The peace he'd carved for himself was shifting beneath his feet.
But this time, it was still manageable.
Still distant.
> "Not yet," he murmured to the rain.
"Don't pull me back in yet."
---
Later – Rooftop Silence
The rooftops glistened with water. A cat ran along the edge and disappeared behind a vent.
Ha-Joon stood with a towel over his shoulders.
The gate's pulse still echoed faintly in his mind.
It was familiar.
Not identical to the world he had destroyed…
But familiar enough.
> "What followed me back?" he whispered.
> "Or…"
He closed his eyes.
> "…did I bring it?"
The question remained unanswered.
But his crimson gaze cut through the dark like twin stars.
Unblinking.
Unyielding.
---
Across the City – Somewhere Else
Inside a private lab, a man in a black coat reviewed satellite footage from Gate Zone 3.
He paused the video.
Zoomed in.
Frame by frame.
There—a still shot of the crowd near the perimeter.
A boy in a gray hoodie, hands in his pockets, looking directly at the gate.
Unshaken.
Almost like… he recognized it.
> "Who are you?" the man muttered.
He pressed a button on the screen.
> "Jung Ha-Joon. Support class. No aura. No awakening."
The man frowned.
> "Then why are your eyes glowing in this frame?"
---