Episode 14
Chapter 6: Monster (1)
Yeonghun stood in place and waited for Eunseo to approach. Eunseo walked toward him quickly in a business suit.
When she arrived in front of Yeonghun, she let out a small sigh, then looked straight at him and spoke.
"There is something I would like to ask. Could you spare me a moment?"
Yeonghun pondered briefly. What she was going to ask was obvious anyway. She would clearly ask whether he knew the meaning of what had appeared on the laptop screen, as well as what he had seen.
The question was whether he needed to talk to her.
Yeonghun recalled what she had done earlier.
There was no need to sour relations with someone of such a rough—no, vulgar—personality. Since he needed to learn about other ability users anyway, this happened to work out well.
Yeonghun agreed, and the two headed to a cafe behind the city hall. Fortunately, the cafe was empty, so they could talk without concern.
After ordering coffee, time passed in silence.
Eunseo was waiting for the coffee to arrive because it was difficult to broach the subject, while Yeonghun was in no hurry and was waiting for her to speak first.
Shortly after, the coffee arrived. Yeonghun took the cups, placed one in front of Eunseo, and set one down before himself as well.
He picked up his Americano and took a sip.
His face immediately scrunched up.
It was his first time drinking an Americano in this world. In the other world, he had carefully rationed the packet coffee that had been barely supplied for several years.
After coming to this world, he had enjoyed vending machine coffee with delight, but the Americano he drank after almost seven years was terribly bitter.
While Yeonghun was grimacing, Eunseo began to speak.
"I saw that you intentionally spilled the coffee cup earlier."
After worrying for a long time, what she finally brought up was merely about what Yeonghun had done in secret.
Yeonghun let out a small sigh and replied.
"Yes, and I also saw you break that desk leg over there."
Eunseo became speechless. It had been a method she had agonized over, only to be found out. Feeling her image crack, she fell silent.
And silence fell between them.
Yeonghun clicked his tongue and spoke first. At this rate, they would only be wasting time.
"My name is Gang Yeonghun. What is your name?"
Eunseo's expression brightened.
"Yes, I'm called I Eunseo."
"You said there was something you wanted to ask?"
Eunseo smiled. She could now talk about what she had wanted to.
She asked Yeonghun.
"You deliberately spilled coffee to peek at the laptop. Did you do it because you knew something?"
The conversation proceeded as expected.
"No. I simply found that man's atmosphere suspicious and did it to check."
At Yeonghun's words, Eunseo looked slightly disappointed.
"You saw what was on the laptop, right? Do you know what it means?"
She didn't seem to consider at all that Yeonghun might not have seen the screen. This, too, proceeded as expected.
"I don't really know."
Yeonghun shook his head. There was no reason to be suspected for speaking up first.
She nodded at Yeonghun's words.
Eunseo asked Yeonghun while slightly reading his reaction. She seemed hesitant to ask for personal information.
"Then, could you tell me what was written on the screen?"
It was the expected question until the very end.
"I'm also curious about what was on your screen. How about we tell each other?"
Eunseo flinched briefly before nodding. She hadn't expected Yeonghun's words. But her curiosity was great, so she agreed to Yeonghun's proposal.
"What was written on yours, Ms. Eunseo?"
Yeonghun's question came a bit quickly.
Eunseo also seemed about to ask the same thing, but since Yeonghun had asked first, she had no choice but to answer first.
[F] [3.1/10] Recruitment required
That was what she had seen. Yeonghun smiled bitterly inwardly. Truly, the dimensional power of an A-rank ability user was extraordinary.
His dimensional power, raised through the most efficient training, was 1.4, yet she had achieved that value without any special training.
Yeonghun told her his value as well.
[F] [1.4/10] Monitoring requested
Hearing Yeonghun's value, she fell into thought. She seemed to be inferring the meaning from her own value and Yeonghun's.
Yeonghun took this opportunity to ask what he was curious about. He had wanted to know the initial state of an A-rank striker-type ability user.
In the other world, information on ability users of A-rank and above was handled with considerable security.
It had changed after high-level ability users had been massacred once; thanks to that, Yeonghun had an extremely difficult time gathering information to break through his capped maximum level.
"If you don't mind, could I see you activate your ability?"
Yeonghun intended to observe the movement of her ability while she demonstrated. It wouldn't be exact since it was someone else's body, but it was a good opportunity to check the difference between an A-rank ability and those below it.
Eunseo, who had been lost in thought, looked around at Yeonghun's words. There were only the two of them in the cafe. The cashier couldn't see this spot from the front, so there was no worry of getting caught demonstrating her ability.
Seeing that there would be no problem, she raised both hands.
Yeonghun focused his mind to observe the movement of dimensional power. He couldn't miss the striker-type dimensional power flowing along the edge of her hand.
And Eunseo activated her ability.
Yeonghun stared blankly at Eunseo's hand. A sight completely beyond his expectations was unfolding.
Her entire fist was glowing faintly. Dimensional power was enveloping her whole fist.
In this world, Eunseo was a defender-type ability user.
After that, Yeonghun answered Eunseo's questions perfunctorily, and perhaps because his answers were unsatisfactory, she soon said her goodbyes and left.
The situation had become much more complicated. Yeonghun sat with a cold cup of coffee before him and fell into thought.
It had become difficult to trust his own knowledge. It had been different from the very beginning. The aurora had occurred ten years later here than in his world. The divergence had likely started from there.
He didn't know why the monsters were invading now, but it seemed that because of the twisting of time, events that would happen later were also unfolding differently.
'Could it be that the monsters followed me when I crossed over to this side?'
Yeonghun shook his head. Bad thoughts only gnawed at the mind. He immediately erased the negative thought and continued thinking.
The dimensional power itself, determined by a person's aptitude, didn't seem to have changed. But it seemed that each person's ability type and awakening timing differed from the other world.
Then perhaps the timing of the monsters' appearance could also be different.
'I need to adjust my training schedule.'
He would probably need to prepare quickly.
As Yeonghun continued his train of thought, he briefly thought of Seonhui.
'I wonder if Seonhui is doing well in this world.'
He shook his head. He had deliberately not looked for Seonhui in this world. The Seonhui he loved was the one in the other world. Seeing the Seonhui here would definitely be extremely confusing.
Steeling his resolve once more, he rose from his seat. Since he could no longer know what lay ahead, he needed to adapt his dimensional power to his body as quickly as possible. It still felt awkward, but he felt that with just a little more time, he would be able to move as freely as before.
He left the cafe, and only a cold Americano remained in the empty seat.
***
Online, discussions were raging about the government's ability user registration policy. No one denied the existence of ability users anymore.
-That's ridiculous. One million won just for registering? I oppose using my taxes for something like that.
-I'm in favor. We need to manage them before they get excited about having superpowers and run wild. I don't think making them wear electronic ankle bracelets would be bad either.
-Electronic ankle bracelets? They're already a human rights issue as it is, and you'd put them on people who aren't even criminals? They must be out of their minds.
-Anyway, they say if an unregistered person causes an accident, even by mistake, the penalty is doubled, so all you hidden ability users should register quickly.
Yeonghun turned off the computer. Among the posts, he spotted ones that were steering public opinion. They were probably working for the government.
There were many posts opposing ability user registration on the internet as well.
But no matter how much they clamored online, the registration could no longer be undone.
Because the registration system had been implemented for reasons different from what people thought.
Perhaps it would be abolished if the monsters didn't appear for several years, but the monsters would appear soon.
Having turned off the computer, Yeonghun sat on his bed, picked up a small piece of wood, and began carving. He had started carving recently whenever he had time left after training and gathering information online. At first, it had been somewhat awkward, but he adapted immediately.
Having forgotten how to utilize his leisure time, he had no choice but to spend his time carving like this. The small piece of wood being shaved away by the carving knife gradually took on the likeness of Seonhui.
***
Several days had passed since then. Today as well, Yeonghun had trained on the back mountain in the afternoon and was slowly making his way down toward home.
"Bark! Bark!"
From the empty lot beside the road ahead, the sound of a dog barking and students' voices could be heard.
"Hey. No matter how much we beat it, it doesn't even flinch!"
"Crazy, I told you to just leave. Why did you pick a fight for no reason?"
"Don't stop, keep hitting it!"
"Damn it, I'm just going. See you later."
"Hey! You bastard!"
As Yeonghun crossed a small hill, a high school student passed by. The student's eyes shook as if terrified of something, and without looking back, he ran past Yeonghun.
Yeonghun withdrew his gaze from the student running behind him and looked ahead. A strange sight was unfolding there.
Several high school students were wildly swinging clubs at a large dog before them. It looked like they were collectively assaulting a poor stray dog, but the situation seemed completely different.
The dog appeared to be a fully grown retriever. It looked like a mixed breed roaming the streets, but when the students swung their clubs, it dodged nimbly and occasionally got hit and pushed back.
But after being pushed back, the dog approached again as if nothing was wrong.
The students' expressions were clearly fearful. As if stopping their attack here would cause a disaster, they continued to strike with clubs and kick.
"Let's just run. If we scatter in all directions, we'll be fine!"
They seemed to have become terrified because the dog wouldn't budge no matter how much they hit it with clubs or kicked it.
"Crazy, what about Gyeongtae if we just run away like this?"
Behind the students fighting the dog, Yeonghun saw one student sitting on the ground clutching his leg. Blood was flowing from his leg.
It seemed one of their friends had been bitten by the dog.
Still, the sight of them standing their ground without abandoning their friend looked commendable to Yeonghun.
"Has it already begun?"
Yeonghun hardened his expression and moved toward the students.
The dog now realized it wasn't taking any damage at all and began to move more boldly against the students.
Yeonghun examined the dog carefully. He saw a faint green light flowing around its body.
It was dimensional repulsion.
The mixed breed before him was undoubtedly an F-rank monster that had crossed over from another dimension.
"Grrrr~"
From the bushes behind the mixed breed came a beast's low growl. The students, who had been attacking the dog in front of them, froze instantly.
Dogs similar to the one before them revealed themselves, pushing through the dense bushes.