* * *
The warning voice was so chilling and sharp that I was startled into urgently grabbing Taehwan’s hand.
It felt like if anything went even slightly wrong here, fists might start flying.
The atmosphere was more intense than when we faced the kidnappers yesterday.
“Taehwan. I’m fine. Let’s go.”
It was unfair and irritating, but Taehwan was more important to me.
I knew it was all nonsense and hoped we could just walk away without bothering to respond, but then the man’s eyes locked on me.
He looked me over carefully, piece by piece, and let out a curious little sound of admiration.
“Your name is ‘Jehee’? That’s a good name…”
“…What?”
“You look exactly like a ‘Jehee’…”
“Guild Leader!”
“Boss!”
Just as I was trying to figure out what the hell he meant, a group of people shouted at the man before I could even react properly.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going!”
Shouting back at them, the man turned to look at Taehwan again.
The fire flickering in his eyes—it was intense enough that I finally understood the meaning of “flames burning in someone’s gaze.”
“See you later, Im Taehwan. I will uncover whatever scheme you’re hiding.”
“…Bullshit.”
Whatever the case, thanks to that, we were finally freed from the nuisance.
After the man ran toward his companions, Taehwan messed up his own hair in frustration.
“Ugh. That bastard always starts talking crap whenever he sees me.”
“Felt like a hurricane just passed through…”
“Hah… If I’d known the guild helping on site was Sun, I never would’ve come…”
…Huh? Wait a sec.
Did I hear that right?
I turned my head, staring up at Taehwan’s face that towered way above mine, and asked,
“Sun Guild? Hold on. That guy’s in the Sun Guild? The one that raided ‘Sanctuary of White Flames’ with Gray Coat?”
“He’s not just in it. He’s the Guild Leader.”
“What? The Guild Leader? So that guy is Cha Taeyang? The famous one?”
“…Famous or not, yeah, he’s Cha Taeyang.”
My jaw dropped. There was so much to be shocked about.
The Sun Guild, which recently teamed up with the “Gray Coat Hunter” to take on the Sanctuary of White Flames, was known for its positive impact.
I’m not that naive anymore—I’ve aged a bit.
Guilds that truly work for the sake of others, like some kind of idealistic dream, are incredibly rare.
A guild is basically a business.
Helping civilians—especially when there’s little to no reward and often loss—is something most try to avoid.
That’s exactly why I like the Gray Coat Hunter so much.
Anyway, among such a cold, practical adult world, Sun Guild stood out as one of the very few that operated with a more altruistic philosophy.
They worked harder than anyone else out on the field, always helping those in need without turning away, and regularly did volunteer work.
They’d even take on small requests from civilians who couldn’t afford a guild and would likely be rejected by the Bureau if they asked for help.
I also heard that their recruitment process was a hot topic.
They chose members purely based on skill and character, with no discrimination based on rank or any other bias.
Of course, rank is a very accurate indicator of ability, given how the Bureau classifies it through rigorous procedures.
Most guilds filter applicants from the start by setting a minimum rank requirement, but Sun Guild was supposedly the only mid-to-large guild with no lower threshold.
They were known to discover low-ranked but highly talented individuals.
Though their numbers weren’t huge, they had a reputation for each member being worth a hundred.
There’s even a saying: “If Cha Taeyang sets his eyes on you, your life as a hunter is set.”
And yet— why the hell does he act that way toward Taehwan?
Even I felt wronged.
He’d said weird things about “bad vibes” back at the Bureau’s cafeteria too, and now he’s throwing out another conspiracy theory.
For someone who supposedly treats everyone fairly and without bias, what is this?
Why does my kindest friend in the whole world keep looking like a villain in his eyes?
Maybe this really shows that no one’s perfect, and you can’t judge people on just one front.
My heart felt heavy.
A little disillusioned with Cha Taeyang and his guild…
“Don’t come in. We’ll handle this just fine.”
“Boss, take care of yourself. You shouldn’t be fighting right now. Just coming here in your condition puts more pressure on us.”
“Quit nagging. I told you, I’m not going.”
“You say that, but you’re totally going to sneak in. We know your record.”
“I’m not going. I trust you guys.”
“Okay then, good. I’ll be back soon.”
“Take care.”
“Hold tight and just wait for us, alright?”
Looks like Cha Taeyang had finished talking with the Sun Guild members.
If that guy really was Cha Taeyang, I wondered why he hadn’t gone in with the rescue team—but then I noticed the bandage wrapped around his arm.
Looks like he was injured.
Maybe he got hurt during the Sanctuary of White Flames raid?
Still, there was a small relief—
“He looks pretty upbeat.”
“If Sun’s looking that positive, then the search must be going well. Let’s head back to the car. Who knows, he might come bother us again now that he’s free.”
“…Yeah.”
Seeing how Taehwan was still grinding his teeth, it was probably best for his mental health if we stayed away for now.
— Rumble…
But just before we could turn the wheelchair around, both our bodies froze.
A deafening boom echoed from the sky, like thunder.
An ominous chill, like a blue frost, swept over us.
“Ah…!”
“Oh my god!”
A wave of murmurs swelled in the crowd.
Everyone’s eyes were drawn to a single point.
“The gate… it closed…”
“…”
The spiral-shaped gate had sealed into a smooth, spherical form.
Unlike dungeons, gates usually just open and close repeatedly before vanishing.
But this case… was rare.
It hadn’t even been three hours since the gate appeared during the evening rush.
I’d experienced being trapped before due to a gate closing—but even back then, more than six hours had passed after its initial appearance.
My chest tightened.
Desperate, I tugged at Taehwan’s sleeve.
“Taehwan… what happens now that the gate’s closed?”
“…What else? We wait for it to reopen.”
“….”
“The sooner it closed, the sooner it might reopen. That’s all we can hope for.”
I’d been clinging to a tiny hope—maybe in the last ten years they found a way to forcibly open a gate?
But of course, that was just wishful thinking.
This was the worst-case scenario.
Was it lucky or unlucky that the Sun Guild members who had been talking with Cha Taeyang didn’t manage to enter the gate?
“W-What do we do? What do we do…?”
“Ahh……”
At the very least, this was going to be a tragedy for the families of those missing.
The golden window for rescue was slipping away with every passing second, and now, civilians—who were even more vulnerable than awakened individuals—couldn’t even be protected inside the gate.
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Cha Taeyang’s expression hardened when he spotted the rest of his team still unable to enter.
He urgently questioned the agents from the Bureau.
“How many people are still inside?”
“Ah, probably three. But I think only one of them is capable of combat.”
“If it’s those remaining members, they probably won’t be able to continue the search… It’s too dangerous…”
“The gate needs to reopen within the golden time… This is bad.”
“How much time is left?”
“Considering the time needed for the search, it must open within the next three hours.”
“Has a closed gate ever reopened in three hours?”
“Not that I know of… Even the fastest recorded case in the world took at least a day…”
Somber voices murmured from a distance. Just looking at Cha Taeyang’s face, it was clear how dire the situation was.
And if it felt this suffocating to someone like me, just a bystander—what would it be like for those with family still inside?
“G-Guild Leader…”
A group of people approached Cha Taeyang.
They looked like ordinary civilians in unremarkable clothes, but I could tell instantly who they were.
Their pale faces and stricken expressions made it obvious.
They were likely the family members of those who had been dragged into the gate.
‘Was my mom like that too…?’
When Taehwan was rescued first and the gate shut right after—until I was eventually saved.
Back then, I’d been too overwhelmed with my own situation to notice anything else.
But seeing the faces of these missing people’s families now… it made me wonder if my mother had worn that same expression.
They at least still had other family.
My mom had been alone.
The gate that had already stolen her husband had swallowed up her only son too.
How much pain must she have been in?
How utterly devastated she must’ve felt.
I might not have been able to endure it if I were in her place.
The only reason my mother held on might have been the hope that I was still alive—or maybe because of the two young children who only had her to rely on.
No… it was probably both.
If only those people didn’t have to go through the same agony my mother did…
If only there were something that could be done…
My mouth felt dry.
I tried to steady my breathing, but the emotions, blooming in hot blotches deep in my chest, refused to settle. I fidgeted, hands clasped tightly together.
‘Isn’t there anything I can do to help, even a little?’
What could I possibly do for them?
Would it be okay if I went over and offered some comfort?
I mean, I did make it out alive, but… not exactly in one piece.
What if they shunned me, afraid I’d bring them bad luck?
‘Even if it’s meddling, it’s better than doing nothing at all—huh?’
As I hesitated, drowning in those thoughts, something entered my line of sight.
I saw it.
What I’d wanted so badly to see back in the training room—finally, it was there.
* * *
