My funeral was, honestly, a bizarre thing.
There were far more children there than adults in mourning black.
"Teacher's a liar... you said you weren't gonna leave..."
The older kids, the ones who understood death, wailed openly in front of the memorial portrait, and the little ones — too young to know what was going on — were clumsily wiping their older siblings' tears with tiny hands.
That pure, aching scene crossed the wall between dimensions and drove into my heart like a knife.
"Ah..."
The pain of being torn apart by monsters didn't come close to what those children's tears were doing to me.
I have to go.
Anything like rational judgment shut down.
Only instinct pulled at me.
I have to get over there. Get over there and... calm the kids down.
Half-hypnotized, I staggered forward, and took a step toward the rippling fissure.
"Director! Don't!"
Beside me, Sihyeok was clinging to my coat, screaming, dragging at me desperately — but the sound came through as if from underwater, distant.
Wait for me. Teacher's coming. Teacher didn't die. I'm alive. So don't cry...
I stretched out a hand like a sleepwalker.
If I could just step through that purple crack, it felt like I could hold those kids again.
The instant I took that one step toward the fissure.
Fwip—!
Something snatched my waist rough and hauled me back.
"Guk!"
My body tumbled to the ground, undignified.
And at the same time.
Puk—! Chaang-grang—!
Along with a clean shattering sound, the [Warding Jade Talisman] tucked in my coat broke apart and scattered across the ground.
It had read the rough grab from an A-rank Awakened as a fatal attack, and shattered in my place.
"Get a grip!"
I was hauled up by the collar.
Past my hazy sight, red eyes shot through with vicious bloodlines were glaring at me like they meant to swallow me whole.
"You insane? Are you dying to die?!"
He had me by the collar and was shaking me, rough.
"You know where that is?! You a moth to a flame?!"
Cha Yul was shrieking at me, but the sound only came through as a muffled hum in my ears.
Every nerve in me was pulled toward one thing — the sound of the children's crying coming from beyond the fissure.
["Whaaa — Teacher... don't gooo..."]
["Teacher's a liar..."]
Guilt gripped my heart like a fist, chest crushing in on itself.
"Ah..."
I stared past Cha Yul's shoulder with a blank gaze.
"I have to go..."
The mutter came out half-hypnotized, but desperate.
"The kids... they're crying. I have to calm them down..."
As I tried, still hanging by the collar, to force myself upright, Cha Yul went pale with shock and pressed my shoulder down harder.
"Please, get a grip!!! There's nothing over there!"
"But... but... I can't leave the kids crying..."
"What kids?! What kids could possibly be in there!"
That was the moment.
Kuguguguung—!
Because Han Jewoon wasn't letting up on the massive mana pour, maybe.
Along with the scream of space, the rippling purple fissure gaped wider — its mouth splitting open.
And in that instant.
The scene beyond the fissure began to warp, strange.
The solemn funeral hall, the crying children — all of it started smearing and blurring, like paint bleeding.
"N — no...! I have to go! The kids are crying over there!!"
I flailed like a madman trying to shake Cha Yul's hand off.
I had to run, right now, and gather those blurring children in my arms.
Just then, Han Jewoon's urgent shout came slamming in like a thunderclap.
"Almost fed him full—!"
He hadn't even finished.
Kraaak—!
The instant the Gate breach hit, something like the very deep of my soul was being ripped out of me — a horrific sensation swept through my whole body.
"Aaagh—!"
Kwaaang—!
Off the overloaded boss's body, a mana storm exploded outward.
"Director!!!"
Cha Yul's and Sihyeok's screams faded, distant, and my consciousness cut to black.
Outside the Gate.
The Gate's mouth, gaping like a huge maw, was rippling without pause, ominous.
Seo Jihyeok adjusted his glasses and calmly reorganized the line.
"Locking Hunter Choi Juran's position."
Choi Juran was lying right at the Gate's threshold — the corridor where the mana would spill out first.
Resting on her chest was the [Mana Lightning Rod], and beside her, Cheon Sarang and Suho stood on standby.
"Miss Lee Sea-ah, prep barrier deployment. Once the monsters come out, protect Hunter Choi first."
"Understood."
Sea-ah took her position beside Choi Juran.
Seo Jihyeok took the twins and set himself at the rear.
Damn it... we don't have the numbers.
Seo Jihyeok bit his lip.
Once the A-rank Gate's breach blew, tens, hundreds of monsters would come pouring out.
But the only person here right now who could put out proper offense was, at most, himself alone.
The twins beside him were A-rank on paper, but assigning a dealer role to five-year-old babies sat wrong with him.
In the end, I'll have to handle this.
He was gripping the grimoire tight, steeling himself, when—
Beside him, he caught the twins whispering.
"Did you see it too, noona?"
"Yeah. Direchtor's kinda weird..."
At that, Seo Jihyeok glanced back.
Far off, way in the back, behind a boulder.
The Director was pacing around alone.
When he'd first seen it, Seo Jihyeok had figured — silver-spoon Director, right on brand — that he'd tucked himself somewhere safe, tail between his legs.
But the kids' read was different.
"Kinda like a robot. And Director's smell isn't there either..."
That was the moment.
Wuuung—!
The Gate — that had been gaping like a huge maw — shuddered violently, and then flooded a red so deep it was almost the color of blood.
The unmistakable sign of an impending Gate breach.
They pulled it off!
"Incoming! All units, combat ready!"
Seo Jihyeok's cool, clear shout landed just as—
Kwajik—!
Along with the horrific sound of space breaking, the Gate's surface tore open, and out of that crack, starving monsters came pouring through.
"Kraaaang!"
"Kieeek!"
Monster hordes surging out in numbers that seemed ready to fill the whole plain.
Faced with that overwhelming volume, the kids drew a sharp breath and faltered a step back.
This wasn't in the same league as virtual training.
The stench punching at the nose, the ugly killing intent scraping the skin.
Meeting real monsters for the first time in their lives, the kids' legs locked up on instinct.
"Don't panic."
Then a calm, cold-cutting voice sliced through the kids' fear.
"I'll protect you."
Seo Jihyeok pushed his glasses up and stepped forward.
In one hand was a weathered grimoire.
Chwaarak.
The grimoire's pages turned themselves without a breath of wind, and around Seo Jihyeok, four mana spheres rose up like satellites.
Red flame, wreathed in searing heat.
Blue ice, breathing a cold that reached the bone.
Brown stone, with a heavy, solid texture.
And yellow lightning, crackling and spitting sparks in every direction.
"Defensive wall first."
Seo Jihyeok caught the brown stone sphere and the blue ice sphere out of the air, one in each hand, and slammed them together hard.
"Fusion — [Wall of Permafrost]."
Kuguguguung—!
The ground rose and formed a massive earthen wall, and over its surface, the unbreakable ice of a never-melting perennial snow spread in an instant.
"And now..."
Seo Jihyeok's eyes flashed cold.
Looking at the flying-type monsters trying to soar over the wall, this time he took the red flame sphere and the yellow lightning sphere and mixed them together.
"Fusion — [Plasma Ray]."
Jijijik — Kwaaang!
Out of his fingertips, ultra-heated lightning shot forth, burning the atmosphere as it went, and drove straight through the monsters in a single clean line.
Chiiiiik—!
Anything it touched turned to ash on contact — overwhelming firepower.
At that astonishing display, the kids' jaws dropped open and stayed there.
But Sea-ah was different.
She yanked her almost-stunned mind back into place and pulled herself out of the awe faster than anyone.
This isn't the training room. This is the real thing!
She snapped out an order in the commander's tone she'd drilled countless times in the virtual training room.
"Snap out of it! We've got work to do!"
At her sharp shout, the twins and Suho — dazed a second before — jerked their shoulders straight.
"Same as always! Just do what we've practiced!"
Along with Sea-ah's shout, the light in the kids' eyes shifted.
Wiing—!
Sea-ah immediately began stacking layer after layer of solid hexagonal barriers around Choi Juran.
And something was passing through those barriers.
Wuuung—!
The mana storm blasting out with the Gate breach.
That massive volume of energy started getting sucked into the [Mana Lightning Rod] resting on Choi Juran's chest.
"Kh-uk!"
Choi Juran spat up a full palm's worth of dark red blood and twisted, contorted with pain.
"...Ah."
Beside her, Cheon Sarang was staring, glassy-eyed, at the blood scattered on the ground and muttering to herself.
"The blood... just keeps leaking out..."
Not a shred of grounding in the tone — dreamy nonsense.
But at odds with that dazed voice, from her fingertips, holy healing light was pouring down like a waterfall.
And behind her stood Suho.
His hands itched to help, but he clamped down on the urge and kept his eyes locked on Cheon Sarang.
If the main healer went down, he'd have to step in as her replacement, immediately.
"Ajusshi! Behind you!"
Along with Hayun's sharp cry, the twins' tiny hands clamped tight around each other.
Wuuung—!
The twins' mana resonated, and huge boulders from the plain wrenched themselves up into the air.
"Get lost!"
The twins tightened their grip on each other's hands, and the airborne boulders shot away like living missiles.
Kwajik! Puk!
The wolf-type monsters lunging at Seo Jihyeok's back were crushed under the incoming stone and driven into the dirt.
"Thank you."
Seo Jihyeok didn't turn — just tugged the corner of his mouth up.
He opened the grimoire and stretched out a hand toward the wave of monsters barreling in at him head-on.
"In that case, I'll keep my eyes forward."
"Fusion — [Ice-Lightning Storm]!"
At his fingertips, the elements of ice and electricity twined together.
Kwaaang—!
Blue lightning laced with cold spread outward in a fan and swept across the front line.
The charging monsters froze solid and were electrocuted to fragments, all at once.
But some persistent ones still forced their way through the gap.
"Kieeek!"
A winged beast tore through the storm and dove for Choi Juran's head.
"Oh no you don't!"
Kang—!
Sea-ah reacted.
The transparent hexagonal panels she threw up deflected the beast's beak clean off.
"Now! Slam it down!"
At Sea-ah's signal, the twins fired up telekinesis again and drove the beast into the ground.
Down on top of it came Seo Jihyeok's fireball, finishing the job.
Sea-ah watched the beast dissolve and clenched her fist tight.
She could feel it... she'd changed.
The training with Kim Sunja hadn't been for nothing.
And more than that...
Sea-ah's eyes flicked to the ring shining on her finger.
The [Ring of Acceleration] the Director had pressed into her hand.
...Actually more useful than I expected...
With the mana pool she had at her age, drawn-out fights were impossible.
But this artifact was dramatically speeding up how fast she could deploy her ability.
The technique Kim Sunja had taught her, and the gear power the Director had kitted her out with — a perfect fit.
Watching the ring, Sea-ah pulled her wavering focus back into place.
Concentrate. If they break through, we're done.
She was just about to redeploy the barrier at the wave of monsters crashing in toward her, when—
"Kraaaaak!!!"
A horrific scream tore out from behind her.
Choi Juran.
Her upper body snapped upward, and she spat up a fistful of dark red blood.
"...Ah."
Beside her, Cheon Sarang — who'd been pouring heals in unbroken — stared at the drops of blood that had spattered up and murmured.
"It burst again... the red is really pretty, though... it's a problem if it keeps leaking out like that."
The languid smile was still hanging at her mouth, but cold sweat was streaming off her like rain.
The healing light flickered, faint, and was just starting to waver — that was the moment.
Tak.
A small hand touched, careful, against Cheon Sarang's back.
Suho.
He could see it.
To Suho's eyes it was visible: the black, sticky shadow of exhaustion pressing down on Cheon Sarang's shoulders.
"I'll... take it."
Wuuung—.
Suho activated his ability, and the black energy coiled around Cheon Sarang's body slid down along Suho's hands and flowed into him.
At the same time, the [Heart of the Void] hanging around Suho's neck began to shine, brilliant.
"Whoaa..."
Cheon Sarang turned her head.
And saw.
The little fairy behind her, solemn face on, a hand pressed to her back.
"What was that? All of a sudden I'm not sleepy at all. Feels like I just woke up from the best nap."
Cheon Sarang blinked at him, honestly amazed, and Suho's face went red as a beet.
"I thought you were cotton candy, but you're actually a charger, huh?"
Cheon Sarang smiled bright and reached out again.
"Shall we get back to it?"
With Suho's infinite battery at her back, the healing waterfall pouring from the S-rank healer's fingertips came down more brilliant, more holy, than before.
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