* * *
Its expansion was slow, but the slower it was, the more it felt like something enormous was coming.
Before the stones arrived, Lee Shinhae showed up.
It had been a while since I’d seen him outside his workshop.
Without so much as a greeting, he approached the table and inspected the box and the stones beside it.
“So these are the stones that melted their users, right?”
“That’s what we’ve been told. Can you handle it?”
Rather than replying, Lee Shinhae rolled one of the stones in his hand and scrutinized the others in the box.
No one spoke as all eyes fixed on him.
After a moment, he nodded.
“Hmm… Alright, I think I can modify them to prevent that.”
“Really?”
An executive, skeptical of his confidence, probed further.
Lee Shinhae responded with unshakable assurance.
“Of course! Is there anything a genius like me can’t do?”
“Well, if you say so…”
“It’s doable. Of course, even a genius like me can’t make them usable for ordinary people. The best I can do is modify them so that S-grade individuals can use them without issue. Structurally, if the user lacks sufficient mana, it starts drawing on their life force. So they’ll need a certain level of mana… maybe even a mana-rich A-grade could manage. I’ll need to test it, but let’s play it safe with S-grade for now.”
“Alright, enough of the explanation… how long will it take?”
“Oh, the processing isn’t too difficult. I just need to tweak the original’s formula and engrave the modifications. At this volume, I’d say about five minutes per stone, so roughly an hour and a half.”
Lee Shinhae grinned before frowning slightly.
“But… will this really be enough for that huge thing? The size seems insufficient.”
“I was about to say—”
At that moment, a staff member entered the room, interrupting.
“More materials have arrived! There’s too much to fit in here; where should we move them?”
“How much did we get?”
“We’ve received 446 additional stones.”
Lee Shinhae’s jaw dropped.
The new batch was over twenty times larger than the initial set.
At five minutes per stone, the task would take more than a day and a half.
“…I’ll try for three minutes per stone.”
“Too slow. Cut it down further.”
Baek Gunho spoke firmly, his tone resolute.
Lee Shinhae’s face grew slightly pale at his words.
“…I’ll give it my best shot,” he said, his voice wavering slightly.
Lee Shinhae, who had briefly slumped with doubt, quickly regained his composure under Baek Gunho’s impatient chiding.
Without wasting another moment, he headed for the workshop provided by the Hunter Management Bureau to process the mana stones.
Now, all they could do was wait for the stones to be refined into something usable.
“So, once the mana stones are complete, we’ll just use them to close the rift ourselves?”
“That’s right.”
Mana stones were a finite resource.
The effectiveness of items like these, which directly harnessed magical power, varied greatly depending on the user’s capabilities.
And the most effective users were always S-rank Awakeners.
In the end, it came down to the S-rankers to get the job done.
“I heard Jeong-un noona is almost here… but where’s Oh Mingyu?”
Son Areum, who had been silently waiting in the room for some time, finally broke her silence with a complaint.
There were six S-rank Awakeners in the country besides herself, and four of them, including her, were already present.
However, the remaining two still hadn’t arrived despite the summons.
“Oh Mingyu will be here soon,” Baek Gunho replied. “He’s running late because he was deployed far away for support.”
“Hmm, got it. So, where do we start? Closing the rift, I mean.”
“There’s been an order from the higher-ups to prioritize areas with dense populations.”
Dense populations first… It was a logical but overly simplistic directive.
Calculating priority this way could lead to endless debates.
“I’ll hold off any complaints or interference, so if anyone tries to spew nonsense, just ignore them,” Baek Gunho said with irritation.
Contrary to the frustrating directives, his words carried a reassuring tone.
It was a rare display of reliability, befitting someone who had survived and remained uncorrupted in the Bureau.
…I hope he’s okay.
I had heard on the way here that he had collapsed, but with everything going on, I hadn’t had the chance to check on him.
He had to be fine—he just had to be.
Even though I’d awakened from the nightmare, the lingering memories made his absence feel all the more significant.
I forced myself to suppress the creeping worries.
Now wasn’t the time to dwell on such thoughts. If we failed here, neither he nor I would be safe.
“Well then, I’ll leave the detailed strategy meeting to you. I need to step out and assess the situation,” the senior officer said as he left.
He likely had a mountain of tasks to deal with, from blocking interference from above to managing the situation.
Now, only the S-rank Awakeners remained in the room: Baek Gunho, Kwon Sahyeok, Son Areum, and myself.
We moved to the workshop where Lee Shinhae was likely waiting.
“So, does anyone have suggestions on where to start closing the rifts?” Baek Gunho asked.
Son Areum let out a derisive snort.
“You’re just gonna decide however you like anyway, so why bother asking?”
“You’re not wrong. I’m thinking we start from the outskirts and work inward, closing from both sides toward the center.”
“Hmm, that’s better than moving around haphazardly,” Son Areum said, nodding in agreement.
At that, Kwon Sahyeok, who had been silently listening, spoke up.
“Alright. How are we splitting the teams?”
“You and me, and the other two together,” Baek Gunho answered.
Son Areum frowned, clearly displeased, and jabbed Kwon Sahyeok in the side.
“Why even ask? It’s always the same answer.”
Kwon Sahyeok chuckled, then glanced slyly in my direction.
“What? Maybe he’d rather team up with me. Want to join me?”
“You’re insane,” Baek Gunho snapped, cursing sharply. H
e had never been fond of Kwon Sahyeok, but today his dislike seemed particularly pronounced.
“Hey, calm down,” I said.
“You don’t know what this guy said about you while you were gone, do you?”
Baek Gunho shot back, glaring.
Kwon Sahyeok flinched, a hint of guilt crossing his face.
It seemed he had indeed been suspicious of me.
“You doubted me?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well… that’s understandable, I guess.”
I nodded nonchalantly, and the reactions of those around me varied.
Baek Gunho’s expression shifted between shock and indignation, but he quickly composed himself.
“…Ah, right.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I never had high expectations of you to begin with, so there’s nothing to be disappointed about, right?”
I didn’t bother to argue. Considering even the senior officer had once tried to catch me, trusting anyone seemed like a tall order.
“He probably didn’t expect much from you either, you dating violence scumbag,” Kwon Sahyeok said coldly.
Baek Gunho turned sharply toward me. I didn’t refute the jab this time either.
Baek Gunho’s gaze bore into me, intense and fiery.
I avoided it, knowing full well that even if I had reached out to him back then, he likely wouldn’t have taken my side.
That’s just how it was at the time.
Watching the exchange, Son Areum clicked her tongue.
“Enough pointless chatter. Let’s just get ready.”
“It’s done!”
At that moment, Lee Shinhae’s voice rang out from inside the workshop.
We immediately headed in. On the table before him were four completed mana stones.
“Take these for now. I’ll send over the rest as soon as they’re done,” he said.
“Good.”
I grabbed one of the stones, clutching it tightly. If the mana stones didn’t work as we hoped, the situation would undoubtedly worsen.
It’ll work.
With that thought firmly in mind, we left the Hunter Management Bureau to begin the mission.
* * *
…