Chapter 5

Chapter 5

BOOM—!

A massive tremor shook the ground.

"AAAAAH!"

"KYAAAAAH!"

Screams erupted across the restaurant.

Tables and chairs lurched violently, sending food crashing to the floor. The lights flickered ominously. For the tremor to feel this strong......

"Don't tell me it's already...!"

Haeseong pressed himself against the window.

Sahyeon's gaze followed, turning toward the intersection.

— AAAAAH!

— KYAAAAAAAH—!

— AARGH! Move!!

The once-peaceful streets had descended into chaos.

People scattered in every direction, frantic and terrified.

Sahyeon's grey eyes tracked the direction people were fleeing from.

"Over there."

The heart of the intersection.

There, in the sky above the city center, a black rift hung in the air — as if the sky itself had been split open.

And that rift was growing larger in real time.

"A Sudden Gate......"

Haeseong murmured blankly, his eyes following Sahyeon's gaze.

For such a powerful tremor to be felt the moment a Gate appeared, it was one of two things.

Either a Monster Wave was about to break and a flood of monsters would come pouring out, or an upper-tier monster was emerging.

"This is bad!"

Haeseong immediately tapped his watch several times, then shot to his feet. Holding up the hunter badge around his neck, he shouted at the top of his voice.

"Everyone, a Sudden Gate has formed up ahead! Please evacuate to the nearest shelter immediately! There's no time! Please move quickly!"

Haeseong stood by the door, helping people evacuate.

While he guided the civilians—

Sahyeon stared fixedly at the Gate hanging in the air and tipped the last of his drink into his mouth, muttering with casual indifference.

"Have to look at that godforsaken thing again."

The rift had already begun taking the shape of a Gate.

Fierce winds spiraled around it, forming a vortex.

BOOOOOM—!

A tremor twice as powerful as the last one shook the ground.

It was strong enough to stagger even Haeseong, an Awakened.

Thick clouds of dust rained from the ceiling, as if it might collapse at any moment.

At that instant—

SCREEEEEEECH!!

A shriek tore through the air.

A sound sharp enough to rupture eardrums.

Everyone mid-evacuation clamped their hands over their ears and crumpled to the ground.

Soon, through the rift, a massive shape became visible.

A sharp, curved beak. Glinting yellow eyes. And a cry like something being ripped apart.

Haeseong looked up toward the source of the sound, his face white with terror.

"A Falcon?!"

Monstrous Bird-class — an avian-based mutant monster.

The creature was forcing its enormous head through the narrow gap, trying to squeeze through the rift.

Judging by the size of the head and beak that were visible......

"A-rank at least......"

"A-rank?!"

Sahyeon and Haeseong spoke at the same instant.

"?! How do you know that, Mr. Sahyeon?"

How many years do you think I've spent rolling around in monster territory?

Sahyeon shrugged, and Haeseong blinked hard, then quickly slapped his own cheeks.

"No, no. Now's not the time for that."

The rift could fully open at any moment, and it would be no surprise if the monster burst through.

"......This is insane! Every flight-type hunter B-rank and above is deployed elsewhere!"

Haeseong chewed his lip and stamped his feet, then turned to Sahyeon and shouted.

"Mr. Sahyeon! I've sent a support request to the Hunter Association, but they're short on available hunters so it'll take time. I think we're going to have to handle this somehow ourselves......"

Haeseong let out a short, deep sigh, then spoke rapidly again.

"Let me share the monster data first!"

The moment he said it, a bright blue window appeared before Sahyeon's eyes.

[Record Sharing (A+) skill has been activated!]

[Loading data...]

"Didn't know there was a skill like that."

It seemed Haeseong had a skill that let him share information he possessed.

Soon, a blue window materialized in Sahyeon's vision.

[Monster Information]

Name: Creature Falcon

Grade: A+

Characteristics: Resembles a common falcon but distinguished by its massive body and rapid maneuverability.

Primary hunting method involves compressing and firing ultrasonic waves to paralyze the target's hearing.

[Estimated size: approximately 20 meters]

Its sheer bulk alone put its threat level far beyond a standard A-rank.

The plus sign next to the grade wasn't there for nothing.

SCREEEEEEECH—!

The cries grew louder.

Meanwhile, the rift had expanded further — one of the Creature Falcon's wings was now jutting through.

Just then, his wrist vibrated.

The watch screen flashed.

A response to the support request.

[Estimated 30 minutes until flight-type hunter deployment]

"You've got to be kidding."

Sahyeon let out a hollow breath.

Thirty minutes was more than enough time for this entire area to be razed to the ground.

By now, the monster's opposite wing was also protruding from the rift.

A hair-trigger situation.

"Mr. Sahyeon, please take the civilians and get them to the shelter."

Haeseong spoke with a deliberately resolute expression. Then he strode back inside the restaurant.

The interior was a wreck — tables and chairs overturned everywhere, debris from the collapsed ceiling scattered across the floor.

Haeseong picked up a long kitchen skewer.

A rod-shaped metal utensil.

He gripped the skewer firmly with both hands, then returned to Sahyeon.

"I'll hold out somehow until the combat-type hunters arrive."

Haeseong adjusted his grip on the skewer, his face set with determination.

"Oh."

A desk jockey with zero combat experience, armed with nothing but a metal stick, squaring up against a Creature Falcon.

Sahyeon let a faint smile slip.

"Is dying for nothing your dream?"

"......What?"

"Ha. This is going to be a problem. They told me to drag around someone who doesn't know the first thing."

"Huh?"

Haeseong's resolute expression faltered.

"You. Don't do anything. Just watch how I handle this."

"??"

Sahyeon was looking down at Haeseong and clicking his tongue when—

"Have you seen my little brother?!"

A student came sprinting toward them, her face stricken with panic.

The face was familiar. The older sister of the child Sahyeon had given an earful to just moments ago.

Haeseong's eyes went wide with alarm.

"He's missing?!"

"Y-Yes."

The sister nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"We were trying to leave together, but when the monster screamed, I covered my ears and lost his hand...... People were pouring out all at once, and he was just gone. It happened so fast, I—"

Spiraling into panic, she stammered incoherently.

Haeseong pressed a hand to his temple.

"I definitely didn't see him leave......! Then he's still somewhere inside!"

***

The interior was a mess — tables and chairs overturned, chunks of collapsed ceiling scattered everywhere. Haeseong and the sister searched the restaurant, calling his name.

"Eunwoo!!"

The child was found among the toppled tables.

A small boy with his face wrecked by tears, hands clamped over his ears.

The sister rushed over and pulled him into her arms.

"What are you doing in here?!"

"I got scared and hid under a table, but......"

The child spoke, his voice thick with tears.

"He doesn't seem hurt, at least."

Haeseong let out a sigh of relief.

The child's face was a mess of tears and dust, but he didn't appear to be injured.

"The nearest shelter is the subway station, so hurry and go."

At Haeseong's urging, the sister and brother nodded.

The two of them had just taken each other's hands and were heading for the restaurant entrance when—

WHOOSH— SHATTER!

"KYAAAAAH!"

"WAAAAAAH!"

A gust of wind blasted in, and the glass windows exploded into pieces. The sister threw herself over her brother, and Haeseong dove on top of them both, curling into a shield.

FLAP!

A body even larger than a full-size truck.

The Creature Falcon was beating its two massive wings.

SCREEEEEEECH—!

A shriek erupted — incomparably sharper than before, like a blade through the air.

Blood trickled from the sister's and the child's ears.

"WAAAAAAH!"

The child cried out in pain.

And in that moment, the monster's eyes locked onto them.

The Creature Falcon was a monster that operated on its exceptional hearing.

It had reacted to the child's crying.

"Run! Run now!!"

Haeseong shoved the siblings forward.

FLAP—

But it was already too late.

A beak aimed directly at them.

The Creature Falcon dove with the ferocity of a fighter jet.

'Can't dodge it.'

Everyone standing there knew it instinctively.

A Falcon's charge was powerful enough to obliterate an entire building. Even if they ran now, they'd be caught in the blast.

The moment they squeezed their eyes shut—

CRACK—! WHOOSH—

The monster's momentum stopped.

A fierce wind grazed past them, and Sahyeon's black hair whipped violently in the gust.

Then, stillness.

"Screeches like that really are a pain in the ass."

"......?"

At the sound of Sahyeon's voice, Haeseong cautiously raised his head while still shielding the child.

"God......"

And he expelled the breath he'd been holding at the sight before him.

Sahyeon, gripping the massive beak with his bare hands.

He turned to Haeseong and spoke in a composed voice.

"Watch carefully. With a monster that uses sound-based attacks, the priority is to disable its vocal organ like this."

Physical stats could always be improved through training.

It would take a while, sure.

But if he could raise even one halfway-decent combat asset, that would mean less work on his plate.

"And then—"

Sahyeon kicked off the ground without hesitation and launched into the air.

What followed happened in an instant.

CRASH—!

Mid-air, Sahyeon spun and drove his foot straight into the bird's skull.

The massive form went limp, carving through the air as it was sent flying.

CRRRRASH—!

The road's asphalt ripped apart as the Creature Falcon tumbled and smashed into the ground.

"Wow."

Haeseong let out a gasp before he could stop himself.

"Just blast it away. Simple."

Sahyeon touched down lightly.

"That's the fundamentals of monster suppression. Block the attack based on its trait, then counterattack. Remember that."