Chapter 4

The dozens of cameras clicked and clacked at the sight of that surreal scene. As cheers were heard, the windows that had been closed after the police's shout earlier were all wide open again.

"Soram, my sister's mom changed her credit card because of you! My sister changed the coffee she's been drinking for 5 years!"

"Soraaam! What about the paper airplane!"

"I couldn't fold it because I got called while sleeping!"

Soram answered some of the questions as he went up to the front of the rift. Then the surrounding reaction became even more intense.

In the end, even the police officers blocking the surroundings gave up on stopping the citizens. Anyway, now that a hunter dispatched from the Rift Headquarters had arrived, the rift would be dealt with without any problems. Moreover, the person who appeared at the scene was the famous Jin Soram.

"They sent a 1st-grade right away because there are a lot of people. That's a relief."

"The company presidents or building owners nearby must have made a fuss in case a dungeon pops up."

The police officers who had been blocking the citizens on the opposite side also slightly moved to a spot where they could see better from above.

"Wow. He's really popular. It seems like people all ran out of their companies."

"These days, a good-looking hunter is better than a decent celebrity. That guy, Jin Soram, how many commercials has he filmed?"

"That's right. If you turn on the TV, you'll see him once every 10 minutes. But aren't hunters also civil servants? Aren't things like CFs (Commercial Films) originally not allowed?"

"They probably earn money and share some with the Rift Headquarters. That place is a bit, it's a government organization, but it also feels like a celebrity agency."

"Hmm, that might be the case."

In the meantime, Soram arrived in front of the rift that darkly split the sky.

The inside of the crack, split like a drought-stricken field, was black without reflecting a single point of light. Soram pressed his palm firmly on top of the rift. Even though it was a crack in the air, when touching the surface, roughness could be felt.

"It hasn't been long."

As time passed, the gap of this rift would gradually widen. Eventually, when the rift opened beyond a certain size, bizarre creatures or strange substances would flow out from inside.

That phenomenon was called "dungeonification," and the area occupied by the things that came out of the rift due to dungeonification became a dungeon.

Therefore, the principle was to eliminate all rifts before dungeonification occurred.

Unlike the enthusiastic cheers below, Soram, who had been up for less than 30 minutes since waking up from bed, yawned widely, covering his mouth with his palm. His face, deeply bowed with fatigue, replaced the expression that the office workers down there would have had in their offices.

"I need to finish quickly and go back to sleep..."

A sword was drawn from Soram's waist. It was a long sword that didn't match the modern suit. It would be convenient to pour out a strong attack and shatter it at once, but...

'I have to resolve it as quietly as possible, without any commotion.'

Recalling the request from above, Soram gripped the sword and plunged it deeply into the rift. And he scraped the blade down with force.

Screech!

A sound of scraping rough rocks came from the surface of the rift. Then, as if a Venus flytrap was closing its mouth, the gap of the rift gradually narrowed. Soram didn't miss that gap and quickly pulled out the sword and thrust it in hard once more.

Screech!

The same sound continued a little more, and the gap rapidly narrowed.

After a while, the rift was removed from the sky without a trace. The middle of the city returned to the same scenery as yesterday.

"Oh, oh, it disappeared!"

"Wow, is it true that he went up and did it in a 3-minute cut...?"

Another round of shutter sounds rang out. Having finished his task, Soram came down on the kickboard, floating and bobbing. He approached the police officers at the very front, but he didn't land completely and floated about 2m in the air.

"Excuse me."

"Ah, gasp. Yes!"

"This is a public kickboard, right? Then can I ride it to the headquarters?"

"Well, that's..."

Instead of the hesitating police officer, a person behind answered.

"Ride it! That's a Seoul kickboard, so you can go anywhere in Seoul! But if you ride it without registering on the app, you'll get a fine! Double..."

"That's none of my business. If I process it as an expense, the Rift Headquarters will pay for it."

Soon, the kickboard Soram was sitting on flew up into the air again and disappeared into one side of the sky. As it soared to the height of the building, the gazes that had been following naturally disappeared.

Soram's body, which was strengthened simultaneously with his awakening as a 1st-grade, was not much affected by the pressure at high altitudes. It was just a little cold because it was the middle of winter.

Before long, as he approached his workplace, the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters, his cell phone rang.

'Jin Hyung-woo'

It was the number of his eldest brother, saved under that name.

"Yes, the middle school dropout bastard answered the phone."

“...”

The other person was silent for a moment, then soon burst into an awkward laugh.

“Hey, hey, Soram. You too, is that how you answer your brother's call? Huh?”

"You must have said that when you called, right?"

“No, I'm telling you. Would your brother ever do such a thing? Jin Ik-jae changed it and deliberately made the phone ring in front of you. Aiming for you to misunderstand like this. No, I know you had to drop out of high school because of your hunter activities, so how could I possibly do that? You know your brother's heart, right?”

Jin Ik-jae was the name of Soram's second brother.

The sound of swallowing saliva, waiting for the answer from this side, was heard from the other end of the receiver.

"Yes."

In contrast, Soram's answer was full of annoyance.

“You, you said yes. I was recording from the beginning of the call. You can't say anything about that. I know that your father handed over a building last year on the condition of not cutting ties with you. How much is that worth...!”

"That's because he was about to lose the election if it was known that he cut ties with me during the primary."

Assemblyman Jin Sung-tae had tried to belatedly jump on the bandwagon of his youngest son's reputation as a 1st-grade hunter. And in order to appease Soram, he had no choice but to hand over a prime commercial building in Seongnam as compensation.

The seat in the National Assembly that he had barely maintained like that ended up being wrapped up early due to his second son Jin Ik-jae causing a major accident. Soram watched the news and boringly changed the channel. I told you to manage the brothers well.

The ranking of the Jin family members had now completely reversed. The third son, who didn't even show his face at home during the holidays, had become a solid number one. Jin Hyung-woo had no right to feel wronged about that. In the first place, it was none other than him who had created the hierarchy among the siblings first.

"Why did you call?"

“No... Well, there doesn't have to be a reason, right? Just to check on you…”

"How kind. I'm doing well. I'm not hurt anywhere. Then I'm hanging up."

“Soram, actually, there's a gathering this time, and you...!”

Beep.

As soon as the wheels of the kickboard touched the rooftop of the Rift Headquarters building, Soram hung up the phone as if he no longer needed to kill time.

"Hmm."

The sky was clear, but it was a sad day when he received a dispatch alarm before he even opened his eyes. Moreover, he didn't feel well, as if he had caught a cold out of season.

"I should get off work."

The civil servant who arrived at the company after 10 a.m. muttered.

* * *

20 years since the first rift occurrence, people had become accustomed to not only the dangers posed by rifts but also coexisting with the hunters who protected the world from rifts.

As the fight against rifts emerged as the top priority for human survival worldwide, the "Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters," also known as the Rift Headquarters, which was in charge of managing domestic hunters and responding to rifts, rose to become one of the most important institutions in the country.

The pinnacle of the affiliated hunters was Park Jae-seon, the head of the Field Operations Bureau, who was one of the initial 1st-grade awakeners. Having just entered his 40s, he was the key figure who had resolved the 1st Great Rift that occurred 10 years ago and the 2nd Great Rift that occurred 8 years ago.

"The backlash is fierce, as expected."

As he spoke, Kwon Jung-oh, a 2nd-grade hunter in his 60s and the deputy director, answered from across the table.

"It's not like he awakened as a 1st-grade from the beginning, and he's a case who was active as a 3rd-grade hunter in that region and then re-awakened as a 1st-grade, so they'll be even more reluctant to let him go. Even if we say we'll send a 2nd-grade hunter instead, it's natural for them to have a lukewarm reaction."

The two had been continuing the meeting since morning, but the problem kept going around in circles without any sign of resolution. Director Park Jae-seon fell into thought for a moment and turned to his secretary, Min Yu-ra.

"You said Soram came to work?"

"Yes. I heard he went straight to the 7th team office."

"What's up with that guy? I thought he would lie down somewhere else after being called to work in the morning."

"He was about to go up to the dormitory, but when he heard that today's cafeteria menu was chicken soup with neungi mushrooms, he turned around."

"Why is his taste like that when he's young and has a lot of money? Anyway, go and call him over. On a day like today, even if we tell him to come up, he won't budge."

"Yes. I'll be back."

Min Yu-ra also agreed with the words "Even if we tell him to come up, he won't budge" and left the director's office to the hallway.

The elevator stopped after going down two floors.

The Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters building standing tall in Jongno. Among them, the 13th floor was the office of the hunters who received calls and were dispatched when rift phenomena occurred. Most of them were out on dispatch, so usually only about 30% of the total personnel remained on this floor.

In front of the office of the 7th team of the field dispatch bureau, located at the very end of the lined-up offices, Min Yu-ra knocked on the door.

"Yes."

"Chief Jin Soram, I'm coming in."

"Why...?"

Ignoring the question, Min Yu-ra opened the door.

Jin Soram, the chief who was alone in the 7th team office, was sitting on a soft chair, wrapped in a blanket that looked even fluffier. With one cheek stuck to the desk, he was flipping through an unknown book with only his hand sticking out of the blanket. That person was none other than... one of the only 23 1st-grade hunters currently in the country. And one of the most competent ones at that.