Chapter 1
Prologue + Chapter 1
Prologue
At ten in the morning, an ordinary alley in Mapo-gu, Seoul was swarming with hunters.
The energy was more ferocious than most dungeon breaks.
“Yujin, I came because you asked me to, but how long are we going to wait? It’s already been three hours…. Can’t we just go somewhere else?”
“No. Absolutely not. This isn’t just a shop—it’s a holy site. With just a few of the items they sell here, even a B-rank hunter like me can solo an A-rank gate.”
“Solo an A-rank gate? Just from items? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Exactly, Gahee—because it doesn’t make sense, that’s why there are this many people. Even if you’re a bar-exam student who knows nothing about hunters, don’t go saying things like that out loud.”
Yujin pointed to a sign propped up in front of the shop’s wide front window.
It read: [Today’s Recipe: Mana Blessing Candy (Peppermint Flavor)—Rapid Mana Recharge at 200%!]
“This is the shop of nationally certified hunter Ye Bitna. Got it?”
“Wait?! I’ve heard that name! The hero who even cured hunters who’d retired from mana addiction?”
“That’s right—so let’s just be grateful that ordinary people like you and me get to receive Lady Bitna’s items, yeah? There are tons of great items for non-hunters too, so get excited.”
”……But for a shop like this, shouldn’t people be fighting over who got here first? Why is everyone so quiet and orderly?”
Yujin snorted.
“Are you crazy? Anyone who starts a fight here is getting killed by the part-timers.”
“Part-timers?”
The words had barely left her mouth when the shop door swung wide open.
“Wihyang1 is now open! Welcome, ladies!”
A handsome man with red hair stepped out, greeting them with a burst of energy.
The female customers erupted in cheers as the tall, strikingly handsome man—the kind of face you’d expect on an idol—appeared before them.
“That’s Oh Hyeongtaek. An S-rank hunter who can shred monsters into hundreds of pieces with a single blade-wind strike.”
“An S-rank hunter is working part-time……?”
“How many times have I told you not to call the customers ‘ladies’? You want to die?”
The next part-timer to appear smacked him on the back—a cute-looking woman with a short bob that suited her perfectly.
“That’s S-rank healer Shin Nara. There’s no healer in all of Asia who can match her.”
And that wasn’t all.
“Now, now, don’t push each other—come in carefully.”
A part-timer with a massive, muscular frame was guiding customers inside with a gentle smile.
“That’s S-rank tanker Seon Donguk, Korea’s Shield. A one-man army, undefeated in a hundred battles—a living legend.”
Gahee stood there with her mouth hanging open.
“Why are S-ranks working part-time here?”
“Because the owner is even more incredible than they are.”
When their turn finally came, Gahee drifted inside as if in a trance.
The display shelves, divided into attack, defense, heal, and cosmetics sections, were packed with charming little items.
”……It smells good.”
The sweet floral scent filling the shop and the lush, plant-filled interior put Gahui’s heart at ease without her even trying.
“Checking out, please—owner!”
A male customer loaded up with items approached the register.
And there was the owner she’d only heard about—smiling brightly as she greeted him.
“Hello! Let me ring you up!”
The owner’s radiant smile made the male customer’s cheeks flush pink.
But that warmth didn’t last even a second.
A man quietly folding boxes beside the owner turned and fixed the customer with a glacial stare.
He tilted his head slightly to the side, still watching the customer.
“Next.”
It wasn’t just cold—it was the kind of killing intent that chilled you to the bone.
“H-huh?! Hunter Kang Jinseo……! I-I’m so sorry!”
The customer repeated his apologies, face drained white, and hurried through the transaction.
“Stop scaring the customers like that.”
”……I was just having trouble tying the ribbon.”
The man—no, S-rank hunter Kang Jinseo, now a living legend of the Republic of Korea—frowned at the crowded shop with obvious displeasure. But the moment his eyes landed on the owner’s wide, beaming smile, he turned back and resumed folding boxes.
Gahee watched the bizarre scene in a daze, and thought:
What rank could the owner possibly be, to have monsters like these S-ranks working part-time for her?
Chapter 1
“See you next week, Grandma!”
I quickened my pace after finishing my bathing volunteer shift at the care home.
Every nerve in my body had begun to stand on end, sharp as needles.
A sign that the medication was wearing off.
I yanked open the car door and fumbled through my bag for the pill case.
A piercing headache started stabbing at my skull.
I swallowed the pills without even looking for water, but it was already too late. Cold sweat soaked my entire body.
“Haah.”
I climbed into the car with a ragged exhale, stuffed earplugs in, clamped headphones over them, and pulled on an eye mask.
Finally, I pressed an aromatherapy oil to my nose—and a few minutes later, peace arrived.
“You really do get what you pay for.”
I’d switched to a cheaper medication to save money, and this was the result.
I tossed the eye mask aside and glared at the innocent pill case.
It was labeled Seong Hunter Hospital—the only hunter-exclusive hospital in Korea, famous even overseas.
”……I’m not even an awakened, and I’m going there way too often.”
I let out a short sigh and started the engine. I’d have to call the hospital and see if I could move my appointment up.
“I wonder if I’ll even be able to make rent next month.”
My bank account was getting lighter while my sensory hypersensitivity was getting worse.
The sighs that kept slipping out the entire drive were unavoidable.
[This is Hunter Radio’s five o’clock news. The United States’ surprise gate prediction device, which had drawn worldwide anticipation, has failed in development……]
Honk honk—!
The traffic light changed.
The car just ahead of the stop line inched forward, and one by one the waiting vehicles switched off their brake lights.
“Huh……?”
In that moment, my hands on the steering wheel went slick with sweat.
A certain unpleasant sensation—sharp and piercing, cutting straight through every nerve. One I knew all too well, and never wanted to feel.
I looked around frantically.
The busy intersection on a six-lane boulevard, with a subway station entrance right there, was packed solid with people and cars.
“Now? A gate is going to open here……?”
If that happened, a massive disaster was guaranteed.
“Why here of all places……”
My sensory hypersensitivity was worse than most hunters’. Even without awakening, I could feel mana.
Because of that, people had once expected me to awaken as a high-rank hunter. I never did, in the end.
But thanks to my senses growing uselessly sharper day by day, at some point I’d started detecting the flow of mana right before a gate formed.
Gate occurrences—the kind that no existing technology or skill could predict.
One day, Nara unni had told me:
‘Bitna, don’t tell anyone you can predict gates. Okay?’
My younger self had asked why I should hide something that could save lives—and unnie had answered without hesitation.
‘Do you think that ability would be used for everyone’s sake, with good intentions? Hiding it is better for you.’
I hadn’t understood back then. But I did now. I knew that this ability of mine could become a threat to me.
I also knew that nothing was more dangerous than an ordinary person with no power possessing an extraordinary ability.
‘That’s why I’d been keeping my head down.’
But what was I supposed to do when one opened up right in front of my face……
While I was still panicking, the car ahead of me had started moving.
Hoooonk—!
When I didn’t move, the cars behind me erupted in a chorus of horns.
I finally lifted my foot off the brake, but my wheels rolled slowly—as if reflecting the turmoil churning inside me.
‘What do I do, what do I do?’
The gate was going to open right here, at this intersection—directly above this large crossroads.
Even if it was a small gate, it was obvious that at least several hundred people would be sucked in.
And from what I could sense, that gate would open in three minutes at most.
Time was running out.
Wummm—.
My car was rolling slowly, just about to cross the stop line at the intersection.
And then I did it.
“Ugh, forget it!”
Screeeeech—!
I wrenched the wheel hard, cutting across from the straight lane into the left-turn lane and crossing the center line.
Hooooonk—!
I came to a stop right in the middle of the intersection. You’d have to be out of your mind to drive like this—and I clearly was.
Honk! Honk! Hooooonk!
“Hey, you maniac!”
“Can’t you drive?!”
The cars behind me and the ones coming from the opposite direction all slammed their brakes and unleashed a torrent of outrage.
“Haah, haah.”
For someone who had never once sped in her entire life, this was an enormous act of madness.
Heart hammering like it was about to burst, I climbed out of the driver’s seat. My legs were shaking.
I pulled my cap and mask down low, retrieved a safety triangle from the trunk, set it on the road, and waved my arms wildly.
“It’s dangerous! A gate is going to open here!”
“Has she lost it?! Driving like a complete idiot—wait, what? A gate?”
The people who’d been cursing at me through their windows froze at the word gate.
“It’s going to open right in the middle of this intersection! Everyone, back up!”
“There’s nothing here. What are you talking about.”
“Stop talking nonsense and get out of the way, now!”
The drivers revved their engines like they were about to run me over.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought I might faint, but I didn’t move from in front of the cars.
Just hold on for about one more minute—!
“Move, I said!”
“Are you insane?! If you want to die, go die somewhere else by yourself!”
“I-I’m a Hunter Association employee! Do as I say!”
Since I’d already lost my mind, I decided to break one more law.
I impersonated a Hunter Association employee.
In a world where hunters and gates were everywhere, public awareness of Hunter Association staff was high—so the effect would be immediate.
Even civilians who didn’t know much about gates would trust the word of a Hunter Association employee.
“She says she’s from the HA!”
“Really?”
Just as I’d expected, even the ones who’d been cursing me started to believe it.
The people who’d been snarling at me began slowly reversing.
Good! At this rate, no one would get pulled into this intersection—!
That was when it happened.
Ding dong dang♬
—The pedestrian signal has turned green. You may cross.
The crosswalk light changed to green.
A curse surged all the way to the tip of my tongue.
“Don’t cross! A gate is going to open here!”
I ran back and forth, blocking people from stepping into the crosswalk.
Whether my desperate voice had reached them or not, people hesitated and stopped.
‘Ten seconds.’
All I had to do now was get myself to safety.
I confirmed the mana around me had gone haywire and sprinted toward the sidewalk.
‘Why is a six-lane road so wide……!’
Running for my life, I barely managed to make it onto the sidewalk.
Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief—I spotted an elderly woman crossing from the other side of the crosswalk.
Whether her hearing was poor or something, everyone was calling out to her desperately, but the grandmother just walked on slowly, one hand pressed to her hunched back.
Damn it!
“Grandma!”
I knew that running toward her meant getting pulled into the gate, but my body moved before my mind could stop it.
“It’s dangerous!”
Gritting my teeth, I ran to her and shoved her back—
And in that instant.
Wuuuuuum!
The gate entrance materialized.
Right. Under. My feet.
“Aaaaaah!”
I was sucked into the gate’s cliff edge, plummeting into bottomless darkness.
And at the same moment—
A window appeared before my eyes.
[Compatibility Assessment Complete]
.
.
.
[Congratulations on your Awakening!]
[Name: Ye Bitna]
[Hidden Class: Healing Therapy Shop Novice Owner]
[Skill: Absolute Senses (EX Rank)]
[Sight: 0
Hearing: 0
Smell: 0
Taste: 0
Touch: 0
??: ?]
[Remaining Stat Points: 2]
[Acquired Prerequisite Points: Calculating…]
Footnotes
-
위향 romanizes to Wihyang. Could mean Guardian’s Home for example (or Guardian Village), but going to keep it as Wihyang for now. ↩