Kim Jina shouted at the hunter whose attention had wavered. The hunter quickly turned around and swung his weapon.
Thud!
The monster that appeared from behind took a direct hit from the weapon, but there was no damage. It merely wobbled for a moment, oozing black slime, and took a step back.
'Monster? No, that can't be... I've never seen a monster like this before.'
An amorphous black mass that constantly changed shape. It moved slowly and had almost no aggression. It seemed to be searching for something, poking at the people around it as it wandered.
The strange thing was that attacks didn't affect it. Physically, it could be pushed back slightly, but no attack could bring it down.
Some people, who were particularly sensitive, went into a state of confusion upon seeing the monster. It seemed to shock their mental state just by looking at it.
Kim Jina had memorized countless books about dungeons, but none of them contained any data on such a creature. It was unclear whether it was even a living being.
And there was another anomaly.
'Alien Gate...'
Kim Jina looked up at the sky.
A large hole emitting strange light floated in the sky.
It was still quiet, but the ominous light was growing stronger. The sky, which seemed about to burst, looked as if it was staring directly at her.
It resembled a crack, so she tried to measure the mana with a detector, but the ether detector malfunctioned. It was different from a regular crack. No crack she had ever seen had shown this pattern.
'Then, this is...'
Suddenly, a piece of information she had read recently came to mind.
A top-secret document discovered at the <Awakened Center>, the predecessor of the now-defunct <Dungeon Management Bureau>.
It contained records of an 'Alien Gate' that had occurred only once about ten years ago.
It was strikingly similar.
[Faceless One □□□□□'s Gate
Time remaining until full activation: 00:58:32]
The Faceless One.
If her guess was correct, what was about to appear through that Alien Gate...
She felt a burning sensation in her chest. It was hard to believe, but if her guess was right, the situation was extremely dangerous. She needed to evacuate the people quickly.
"Teacher, you shouldn't go that way!"
"Follow the agents to the shelter. It's safe there!"
She shouted loudly at the people who were panicking.
As a mere civil servant, not an Awakened, there was little Kim Jina could do. She could only guide people to minimize casualties.
However, the gate in the sky was emitting stronger light, and the black monsters were growing more powerful.
Just as despair was rising like a fog.
A white bird appeared, splitting the sky.
The bird, with a long golden tail, flew from Namsan and slowly circled the air. Its yellow glow in the moonlight looked like lightning.
Kim Jina immediately recognized the bird.
It was a mysterious presence that could captivate even those in chaos.
Amidst the turmoil, there was a sense of calm. The light trails in the dark sky erased the pain.
And as the long-tailed phoenix flew near the Alien Gate, the next moment...
"Ah...!"
It shattered into pieces of light.
Boom!
A heavy thunderclap echoed, and a storm began. The rain started to dissolve the black slime.
The monsters that had been attacking people and causing chaos moments ago quickly lost their strength and melted into the ground.
The hole in the sky slowly closed.
Beyond the barricades for evacuation, someone belatedly cheered. Followed by applause and shouts.
"My God!"
"We're alive! We're alive!"
Everyone was in shock, but surviving was real.
The cause of this event was still a mystery. The investigation, cleanup, and recovery... the tasks ahead were daunting. But for this moment, Kim Jina shared in the cheers.
It's over. We survived.
Just as she was about to check on the remaining civilians and guide those who were uninjured home, Kim Jina was startled.
As she passed by the slime, a familiar shape emerged from the melting black slime.
It was her troublesome older brother.
A few years ago, he had left home, changed his name to "Zitun," and claimed he would make a name for himself. Despite distributing flyers to search for him, there was no news.
Then, he suddenly got involved in some incident in Shanghai, became an important witness for the <Dungeon Management Bureau> investigation team, and went missing again. She had been so worried.
He looked bewildered, still trying to grasp the situation. Kim Jina, moved, ran to him.
"Hey? Why are you here... Kim Jina?"
"Ugh, you... you brat!"
Smack! A strong slap landed on his back.
"Ouch!" He rubbed his back, a familiar sight.
Relief welled up, and tears filled her eyes.
The last time she saw her brother was vivid in her memory.
"Kim Jihun, what's all this stuff? What are you doing at this hour?"
"Hehehe, little sister, I've abandoned that name. Call me Zitun from now on."
"Are you crazy...?"
"Then, adios! See you when my name, Zitun, rules the hunter world!"
"Wait, does Mom know? Where are you going? Hey! That name..."
Kim Jina finally said what she couldn't say to him years ago.
"Brother, that name Zitun... it's really not good."
"..."
So, come back home.
* * *
Seeing the system notification in front of me, I felt relieved.
[Congratulations!
The power of the Faceless One □□□□□ has been deactivated.
The gate is disappearing.]
[Congratulations! You have completed the main quest: 'Prevent Chaos!'
Please claim your reward.]
[The Ether-Wiki has been updated.]
[The cafe's level has been upgraded to D.]
[A new area has been opened in this space. You can install new items.]
It's over.
Watching the hole in the sky gradually close, I thought.
There are still questions and tasks to clean up, but the biggest crisis is over.
Rain started pouring from the sky, now fully night. The heavy rain of early winter was bone-chilling.
On a rainy day, a warm coffee is needed.
I must have scared As by suddenly pushing her into this space. I should go back to the shop, take care of As, and have coffee together.
I've already done too many things today that don't suit a cafe owner, so I need a break.
Yes, even though it's late, I should invite Ki Yuhyun to come along.
I'll contact Kwon Jiwoon tomorrow.
With that thought, I turned to find Ki Yuhyun.
Then, a red light flashed in front of me.
[Warning!
Location: The barrier of <Silver Guild> has been destroyed.]
What...?
* * *
After a brief moment of thought, I decided to return to <Silver Guild>.
There might not be anything I can do about the destroyed barrier, but the system must have a reason for the warning.
If Kwon Jiwoon says, "You're fine, go home," then I'll go home and have a warm coffee.
With that in mind, I headed to <Silver Guild> with Ki Yuhyun, but the situation was more serious than I expected.
"What happened here?"
"Wait, you can't just enter here."
"I'm Kwon Jiwoon's family! Let me through."
The civil servant blocking the way moved aside with a sympathetic look.
Why? Why that look?
It was almost 1 AM, yet there were quite a few people in front of <Silver Guild>'s basement.
Strangely, most of them were civil servants, and there were no <Silver Guild> members in sight.
There were only four, including Hunter Park Hee-young. Even considering the late hour or absence due to dungeon raids, it was too few.
Where is everyone?
And where is Kwon Jiwoon...
"Ah."
Then, I saw inside the barrier room through the crowd.
A crack? No, a barrier?
In the center of a translucent membrane with complex patterns, Kwon Jiwoon was lying unconscious. Someone was shouting his name loudly, but he didn't move. He looked like he was in pain.
A hunter who seemed to be a mage class was trying to force the barrier open. After muttering for a while, the mage shook his head.
"Ugh... It's no use. It doesn't respond to any external attempts to connect. It seems impossible to break it open by force."
I didn't understand.
It hadn't been two hours since I left with the long-tailed phoenix.
What happened in that time for Kwon Jiwoon to be trapped inside alone? Wasn't that just a barrier maintenance device?
I turned to Hunter Park Hee-young.
"Hee-young, what happened? You were with Kwon Jiwoon, right?"
"That... that..."
Her face was pale, and her lips trembled. She usually would have said something nasty to me, but she seemed deeply shocked.
"The deputy guild leader... The barrier in the barrier room can only be activated by the deputy guild leader. Earlier... he said he would check the barrier alone. I went to check the outside situation for a moment, and in that time..."
I had revived the long-tailed phoenix and cleaned the contamination in the barrier room. The barrier room was now safe, so I let Kwon Jiwoon do as he wished and went to check the chaos outside due to the monsters.
When I returned, it was like this, so I reported it to the <Dungeon Management Bureau>.
She said she didn't know the cause or the circumstances.
...There were some suspicious points, but that was her story.