The Returner

The area was already under a lockdown.

The evacuation of civilians was carried out in an efficient and professional manner, while the flow of traffic was also under strict control.

"Please provide your ID."

The sentry took a look at the siren placed on top of the car and asked for the identification. Choi Jung-Hoon pushed forward his badge and the ID.

After confirming the ID, the sentry performed a dignified salute, and Choi Jung-Hoon nodded his head in reply before driving his car towards inner area.

"Looks like these Gates pop up just about anywhere?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"There doesn't seem to be any set pattern; sometimes, one appears in a remote mountainous area, sometimes in the middle of a street. The only saving grace is that, Gates hasn't opened in a place where there are buildings or such, so no structures have been destroyed yet - it's about that much." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Then, what about water?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Excuse me? What do you mean?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"If Gates pop up pretty much anywhere, then doesn't that mean one could appear in the middle of the ocean, or even underwater? What about one appearing up high in the sky? Maybe they'll just fall from there and go splat?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

A certain imaginative scene rose up in Choi Jung-Hoon's mind. A Gate opened up deep underwater and countless number of monsters poured out. However, as soon as exiting the Gate, monsters hurriedly grabbed their throats and struggled before they all drowned, and then, schools of fish rushed in after a nice source of nutrients were suddenly presented to them…

Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head quickly.

"There has been not one report of Gates opening up in the sky. And it's impossible to know if a Gate had opened somewhere in the ocean. But, judging by the fact that no monsters have showed up on a sh.o.r.e until now, we can infer that no Gates have opened underwater, or that the monsters ended up drowning, instead." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Ah, I see." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head.

If those words were true, then the position of each warp gate wasn't random at all.

On top of the warp gates' locations not being random, they were summoned on land and only land-bound monsters popped out. Sure as h.e.l.l smelt like someone's calculated move to him.

'Let's just confirm only. Just confirm.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He harboured no thoughts of poking here and there in order to uncover a sinister plot or some such. But, it should be fine simply to confirm the 'Gate' in front of his eyes only.

When the car entered deeper into the street, armoured personnel carriers similar to those he saw earlier in the day could be spotted. He also spotted support weaponry installed on many of the tall buildings.

Choi Jung-Hoon parked his car on the far corner and opened the door.

"Please, exit the vehicle." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Can't I just stay here?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"It shouldn't be a problem, but also, it could get more dangerous here." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"I'm coming!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk immediately unbuckled his safety belt. Well, his life was precious, after all.

Choi Jung-Hoon led Yi Ji-Hyuk and entered a tent erected behind two armoured personnel carriers.

"Loyalty!"

"Yes. Carry on." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

A soldier saluted Choi Jung-Hoon as soon as seeing him, and the KSF agent reciprocated the salute. (TL: In the South Korean army, it's a common practice to say the phrase "Loyalty/충성" out aloud when performing a salute.)

'Wow, this ahjussi must be ranked higher than I thought?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He looked like a low-level government paper-pusher the way he ran around doing errands and getting nagged on incessantly like a chump by a young girl, but after arriving on the scene, he seemed like he was overflowing with the Force right now.

Now that Yi Ji-Hyuk thought about it, the masculinity oozing from that dandy suit and well-combed hair of Choi Jung-Hoon was no joke, either.

"How's it looking?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Around one hour left, most likely."

A middle-aged soldier monitoring the situation out in front of the bank of screens replied to Choi Jung-Hoon's query.

"Have you called for reinforcements yet, sir?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"It's been decided not to call for help when the level is only a '1', didn't we? So, why are you here?"

"I was around the area, that's why, sir." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Looks like you guys really don't have much to do."

Choi Jung-Hoon formed a bitter smile.

The Supernatural Ent.i.ty Defence Command.

Also known as the Defcom.

It was a new organisation created by the military for the express purpose of combating monster threats with a corps of specially trained soldiers.

Not only were the methods of fighting against people and monsters, as well as training for those said methods, noticeably different, but because the old ways of placing importance on defending each region couldn't cope with the Gates that appeared in various places seemingly at random, a new unit that didn't follow the existing structure of the military became a necessity.

However, although their goal was the same, the way to achieve that goal was the polar opposite, with the defense force that placed emphasis on firepower and the KSF that centred around ability users, leading to frequent clashes, both big and small, between the two. It wasn't to the point of hatred, but well, oil and water weren't meant to be mixed, after all.

So, even if the att.i.tude of Colonel Jeong In-Soo in front showed how unwelcoming this intrusion was, this reaction could be seen as on the side of being very moderate for a member of the Defcom.

"And he is?" (Jeong In-Soo)

Colonel Jeong In-Soo pointed at Yi Ji-Hyuk.

"Ah,

"He's an ability user?" (Jeong In-Soo)

"No, he's still a civilian." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

The face of Colonel Jung In-Soo crumpled.

"Look here, mister Choi Jung-Hoon! Are you insane? You brought a civilian into an active area of operations?!" (Jeong In-Soo)

Choi Jung-Hoon frowned slightly while taking in the reaction of Colonel Jeong In-Soo. He had inserted the word 'still' so there could be some room to wiggle around, yet, this reaction seemed to suggest that the Colonel was deliberately looking for trouble here.

It wasn't as if he couldn't oppose them, but with the KSF no longer involved, all responsibilities of handling a Level 1 situation was given to the Defcom. So, such a reaction was understandable, since the resulting problem from dragging a civilian in, and an accident arising from that, wouldn't be pretty at all. Well, in that case, it should be fine to get rid of the room, then.

"Our side will be taking all responsibilities." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Are you speaking as 'mister Choi Jung-Hoon', or from your side of the fence?" (Jeong In-Soo)

"From the KSF." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"For real?" (Jeong In-Soo)

"Yes, really." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

When Choi Jung-Hoon cleared up the matter of responsibility, Jeong In-Soo took a step back. There shouldn't be an issue if the other side were to take the responsibility.

"I'll go and take a look around the Gate, then." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Be careful. And don't cause an incident." (Jeong In-Soo)

"Haha. Don't worry." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Exiting the tent, Choi Jung-Hoon let out a soft sigh. These jarheads didn't seem to possess one iota of spirit of cooperation. The KSF had come to their rescue many, many times before, yet here they were, not even remotely grateful for that.

"How obstinate and stuffy." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk complained audibly. It was like he was saying the words Choi Jung-Hoon had to swallow back down, because the target of the scorn was in front.

"What the, did he just put on a gamtu or something? Should've tucked in his stomach first, since he's a soldier." (TL: a gamtu is a hat worn by a government official in the Joseon era. Wearing it meant you've become a serious player now, so must behave as if a pole is stuck up your bottom.)

Huh?

He's got a pretty good timing there, doesn't he?

Maybe he's the type that will do well in the social life? (Choi Jung-Hoon's inner monologue)

Choi Jung-Hoon changed his impression of Yi Ji-Hyuk from "someone who might inflict a cerebral infarction on his boss out of pure stress if he became an office worker" to "a surprisingly sensible type that could end up under the barrage of insults and abuse after becoming an office worker."

"That's because of the nervousness. Well, a battle is about to begin pretty soon, after all." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon walked past the barricades and approached the Gate located beyond.

"This is a Gate. Originally, it's not something you can approach so easily and take a gander." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Ah, sure." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Not really caring whatever Choi Jung-Hoon was saying, Yi Ji-Hyuk fixed his gaze on the Gate.

'This, isn't this really a warp gate?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The doorway in front of his eyes was a very familiar object.

A mirror-like blue doorway.

The methods of manifesting magic were different from a school of sorcery to another school, and also, slightly different from an individual to another individual as well. However, it was still possible to figure out the process since there were some similarities in the essence of a spell.

And so, the thing in front of him was a warp gate, without a doubt. Although its form was different from any warp gates he knew, Yi Ji-Hyuk could tell its purpose with a single glance.

'This, can't I cancel it by interfering with Mana?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

There was some merit to trying that out, but now wasn't the right time. That wasn't something he should perform in front of the others, and even if he could succeed, it didn't feel right to hand over the information to those who created these gates, that there was someone this side capable of interfering with Mana.

Besides, summoning gates wasn't all that special a magic anyways; if cancelled, another one would simply pop up somewhere else. In other words, it was a fruitless endeavor.

"How do you differentiate that level thing?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"The size is used for the cla.s.sification. A Gate not exceeding 1 metre in diameter is cla.s.sified as level 1. The level changes according to size after that. The biggest discovered so far is a level 10 Gate." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

From Yi Ji-Hyuk's perspective, that was a really crude method.

A humanoid-type monsters could easily crawl out from this size of a Gate. If something like a Lich escaped from a level 1 Gate, then that one would become a h.e.l.l Gate, instead. But, he still had no desire to interfere, since the folks this side must've their own standard of judging.

"When this blue colour changes completely to the red colour, the Gate opens up fully. The remaining time is…" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon turned around and gazed at the timer.

"There are 15 minutes left. We should retreat now." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at the timer with mystified eyes.

"This, how does this thing measure the remaining time?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"The princ.i.p.al is unexpectedly simple. After dividing the time taken for the changes in colour into units, it measures that and then calculates." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Eh?"

"A Gate opens up fully when the colour changes from blue to red, so it measures the change in colour in real time to estimate when it would become completely red." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Ah, so you could do it that way." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Not measuring the Mana, but the changes in colour… That sure was a simple, yet unexpected method. Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked slightly after he found himself in the middle of coming up with formulas to calculate the rate of Mana coordination for the spell's activation.

'Looks like I still refer to magic first, whenever I'm about to think of something, huh.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He thought that he should discard the mentality of being superior to ordinary people just because he learned magic.

"Well, let's leave this area. It should be fine for us observe from the back." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

While Yi Ji-Hyuk was buried deep in his own thoughts, Choi Jung-Hoon pulled out his ringing phone and answered it.

"h.e.l.lo, Captain. I'm at the scene. Yes? No, I still should come regardless. Even if we don't have the jurisdiction, who knows what might happen? It won't do if we respond too late and get civilians hurt, so can you dispatch someone over here? Eh? There's no one?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

While holding the phone, Choi Jung-Hoon began sweating nervously.

"But, what should I do if there's no one? But, that's no good if there's no one. How come no one's available? Eh? You sent them out as a reinforcement somewhere? Wait a minute, our area is over here, yet, why did you send them elsewhere and leave this place empty?!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Holding on to the phone and bitterly complaining for some length of time, Choi Jung-Hoon finally ended the call while breathing angrily.

"Seriously, I gotta quit this d.a.m.n job." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

When discovering Yi Ji-Hyuk awkwardly standing to his side, Choi Jung-Hoon resumed that business-like smile at once.

'What the, is he a chameleon or something?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The changes in Choi Jung-Hoon's emotions were so colourful.

"Ah, looks like they are laying the mines now. Let's go back. Over there, we should get a good view." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Sure."

Yi Ji-Hyuk followed Choi Jung-Hoon and headed towards the rooftop of a building a bit of distance away.

"This is a good view." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

The Gate now almost entirely bathed in a crimson hue, as well as armoured personnel carriers and platoons of soldiers surrounding it, could be seen in one view.

Behind the Gate itself, a huge concrete wall had been erected with a method Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn't really tell.

"And what is that?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"That's the fast-setting concrete. We told them to use 'Securefoam' countless times, yet here they are, still insisting on using concrete, instead." (Choi Jung-Hoon)

"Se, cu…? What? A succubus?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"It's 'Securefoam'. It's hardened styrofoam. It's fast acting, and is cheaper too, yet the topic of safety keeps getting brought up. I don't understand what all the fuss is about, since we can just have the mold be a bit thicker when erecting it. Could this be corruption in the defense contracts, I wonder?

Ignoring Choi Jung-Hoon, who was busy yammering on about stuff no one else could understand, Yi Ji-Hyuk concentrated on the Gate itself.

It was then, the Gate began emitting bright rays of light.

"Looks like it's starting now."

Fin.