NOVEL NEXT #045
#045
“A gate opened with a wavelength never seen before. It will likely be newly classified as SS-rank.”
It was a serious matter that far exceeded expectations. Was the previous system message a premonition of this?
As he kept making gloomy assumptions, Yoon Pa-ran felt anxious.
“Where did it open?”
Yoon Pa-ran urged Dan Joo-hyuk to continue his slow speech. His hands were unconsciously gripping Dan Joo-hyuk’s shoulders.
Dan Joo-hyuk’s gaze briefly flickered to Yoon Pa-ran’s hands before returning.
Then he smiled again and said:
“In Russia.”
“…What?”
“It opened in Moscow, Russia. Right in front of the Kremlin Palace.”
Shit…
It’s not even in our country?
“You’re not thinking this isn’t our business just because it didn’t open here in Korea, are you?”
Dan Joo-hyuk spoke as if admonishing him, seemingly reading his mind again. Since Yoon Pa-ran had indeed thought that, he stiffened momentarily.
Right, even if it’s not in our country, I shouldn’t think so selfishly about gate issues…
“Well, it’s true that it’s not our business. Would monsters come all the way here?”
“Damn it!”
Finally unable to hold back, Yoon Pa-ran swung the fist that had been resting on Dan Joo-hyuk’s shoulder.
Dan Joo-hyuk’s smug face, which had been smiling as if enjoying toying with people, was especially annoying today.
“Oh my.”
Although the fist was swung close to his face, Dan Joo-hyuk reacted immediately. His grip was tight, not painful but strong enough to make it difficult to pull away.
Then, unexpectedly again, their lips collided.
“You…!”
The sound of moist skin colliding rang out too loudly. Especially in this indoor terrain, the echoing sound was even more prominent.
Yoon Pa-ran opened his eyes wide in shock. Dan Joo-hyuk, who had suddenly rubbed their lips together, was already far away.
What is he doing?
“Ah, it was a bit lacking.”
As if reading his question, Dan Joo-hyuk deliberately gave a reason.
Whether Yoon Pa-ran was frozen in shock or not, he calmly urged him again.
“Let’s go. We don’t have time.”
“You bastard!”
The anger unleashed a beat late went unresolved as the guy ignored it.
Was that sight amusing? Throughout the gate conquest that day, Dan Joo-hyuk wore a more grinning face than usual.
Yoon Pa-ran thought he looked even more like a madman.
❖ ❖ ❖
The next day.
―Breaking news. An unprecedented SS-rank gate has appeared in Moscow, Russia. The rank designation is temporary, as it’s reportedly a powerful wavelength never seen before…
“…”
Yoon Pa-ran, watching the news while gearing up in his studio apartment, numbly absorbed the content.
Dan Joo-hyuk was right. As soon as a day passed, all the news was in an uproar about the gate in Russia.
Maybe because he had heard it in advance, an idle thought crossed his mind first, incongruent with the serious situation.
Knowing powerful people sure has its perks.
“Hmm.”
The more he thought about it, though, it was a bit strange. What made Dan Joo-hyuk trust him enough to share such important information?
He should have doubted Dan Joo-hyuk’s intentions yesterday, but belatedly, Yoon Pa-ran tried to think it through.
Was it because the information would be public in a day anyway?
Having found a somewhat understandable reason, Yoon Pa-ran resumed putting on his gear. Today’s schedule also involved roaming gates all day.
He was worried about the lack of time spent with his younger siblings lately, aside from the brief visit to the orphanage yesterday. Though the good kids wouldn’t complain about such things.
Just then, Yoon Pa-ran’s rarely-ringing phone chimed briefly.
Checking it immediately, it was a message from Dan Joo-hyuk.
“Something urgent came up, so I’ll see you in two hours. The location will change too, so I’ll come pick you up.”
What’s this about?
It was strange that he would come to pick him up when there was no need. However, hearing it was urgent, Yoon Pa-ran thought calmly.
There must be some reason.
Thinking lightly of it, he sent a short reply. The sudden two hours of free time felt awkward.
“Hmm…”
Well, should I take a short nap then?
❖ ❖ ❖
At the same time Yoon Pa-ran was enjoying an unexpected nap.
Dan Joo-hyuk was meeting with people who had come from Russia.
“It’s been a long time, Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk.”
“Has it?”
Have we met before?
The face of the counterpart who heard the languid response through the interpreter contorted in embarrassment. After scrutinizing the other party closely, a vague memory seemed to surface.
The wavelength of this gate must be serious indeed. Barely a day after the intelligence came in, Russia had sent their currently highest-ranked hunter.
The purpose for urgently calling on Dan Joo-hyuk, ignoring all diplomatic protocols, was obvious. They would probably ask for help in conquering this gate.
At that moment, the mobile phone he was holding chimed briefly. He glanced at the screen, keeping it hidden from the other party.
Dan Joo-hyuk then covered his mouth with his hand, unable to suppress the emerging smile.
“Something urgent came up, so I’ll see you two hours later. The location will change too, so I’ll come pick you up.”
“K”
After being badly burned once, Yoon Pa-ran had been replying quite diligently. Even if the replies weren’t proper and were merely for the sake of ‘responding’.
Dan Joo-hyuk found this behavior strangely amusing.
As was Yoon Pa-ran’s action of initiating a kiss yesterday.
“…”
He knew well how Yoon Pa-ran had misinterpreted the clues he had dropped. After all, he had deliberately mentioned the location for that purpose.
It was quite strange how Yoon Pa-ran approached closely, falling for such a simple ploy. And that clumsy tongue play as well.
What was even more astonishing was that he himself felt inclined to go along with that awkward act.
Yoon Pa-ran had a knack for surprising people in new ways every time.
“It seems you view the news of this gate positively, Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk.”
“Ah, yes.”
The Russian hunter spoke, having interpreted Dan Joo-hyuk’s sudden smile in some way. Like all high-ranking hunters, this fellow also had the talent of accepting only what he wanted to see.
The interpreter nearby, despite relaying these words, was watching cautiously with a serious expression.
Regardless, Dan Joo-hyuk had no intention of correcting the situation and just stared blankly at the person in front of him. The Russian A-rank hunter he had encountered over 10 years ago looked similar to back then.
Including that idiotic red cape.
After the first gate appeared in 1914, the world’s political situation was a continuous chaos.
Russia, which was an empire even then, resolved its internal problems through war. When even that solution became unsatisfactory, the gate problem began to seriously threaten humanity.
Because of this, modern historians often evaluate that gates played a major role in strengthening the Russian imperial power.
It was a time when a revolution wouldn’t have been surprising. However, due to the fear of gates appearing everywhere, humans couldn’t unite properly.
To make matters worse, when the Tsar of that time awakened as a hunter, many things changed. It was literally a reversal to powerful imperial authority.
Anyway, Russia thus became a country where the emperor remains to this day, along with England. While outwardly showing flexibility by adopting democracy, the essence remained unchanged. Even the current Tsar, despite not awakening as a hunter, still reigned wielding powerful imperial authority.
The system where all Russian hunters were automatically incorporated into the emperor’s royal guard was evidence of this.
The royal guard’s white uniforms, red capes, and Slavic appearances were famous. It was a stark contrast to Korean hunters who dressed as they pleased.
Dan Joo-hyuk always thought this was stupid.
Even now that it’s been proven that hunter awakenings are completely random, their uniformly matched appearances seemed even more foolish.
“I won’t take up much of your time. Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk, please help us.”
Moscow was quite far from Korea. Yet the reason these people sought out Dan Joo-hyuk was simple.
Russia currently had no S-rank hunters.
“We’ve brought some data you might find interesting. It’s a detailed analysis of the gate’s wavelength.”
So it was understandable why they were acting as if they would extract a monster’s mana stone for him. Especially since the gate had appeared right in front of the palace where the Tsar resided – such misfortune was unprecedented.
Of course, Dan Joo-hyuk wasn’t particularly sorry about that either.
Especially when remembering that Russia’s only S-rank hunter had died simply because of his different skin color.
It happened after repeatedly engaging in reckless operations to gain the Tsar’s approval. The Tsar didn’t even lament the sacrifice of this S-rank hunter because he wasn’t Slavic.
“Well…”
Perhaps that was why. He was so indifferent to this news of a new gate that should have been interesting.
Even though explaining this fact to Yoon Pa-ran yesterday had been quite fun, today was different. He wasn’t particularly concerned about his rapidly changing moods, as it was a common occurrence.
He just suddenly felt the urge to quickly get through his original schedule.