Chapter 21

Ch.21 The Regression Of Calamity-Level Monster Tamer

Incheon Airport International Terminal.

A man of massive build appeared in that place where countless people came and went.

Like Gulliver arriving in Lilliput, perhaps.

That’s how tremendous the presence his bulk gave off was.

And beside him, a small girl clung tightly to his calf.

“Baba, where is this?”

“This is a place called Korea.”

“Ko…rea…?”

“That’s right, my daughter.”

“Then why did we come here?”

“We came to meet someone.”

“Oh, I see. Baba, give me a piggyback.”

The massive man lightly lifted his daughter and gave her a piggyback ride.

The goateed man who had been watching from the side kept moving his lips, then finally couldn’t hold back and spoke up.

“Elder Brother, even now, if you would return…”

“Shang.”

“Yes.”

“I trust your discernment.”

At the massive man’s words, the goatee grumbled.

“Then you should have trusted and left it to me to the end. Even though I told you that since it was the accident I caused, I would definitely take responsibility and make ‘that matter’ succeed, did you really have to make the trip yourself?”

“A man sulking… Even if it’s a virtual world, when someone beat me, as a person, wouldn’t I be curious about my opponent? And…”

Suddenly, the massive man’s face became serious.

“That Gate doesn’t feel right.”

“Mm, you mean that Red Gate?”

“Right, that… something about the feeling is strange.”

“But according to the investigation with the Artifact, clearly—”

The goatee tried to respond, but the giant cut off his words.

“I trust my intuition more than objects made by that woman. So I need something to eliminate my anxiety. I came all the way here to find it myself.”

“…Do you think that fellow can change your sixth sense, Elder Brother?”

“Well, we’ll know when we meet him. That’s why we came on this business trip, isn’t it?”

At the giant’s retort, the goatee frowned and corrected his words. It seemed this wasn’t the first or second time.

“…To say it again for the twenty-first time. We are here to teach the Korean government our unique Player training techniques—”

“Yeah yeah, I know. You came to clean up after losing the bet, didn’t you?”

“Elder Brother!”

“Hahaha—! Alright, I’ll stop teasing. Anyway, let’s hurry and meet that young man who humiliated both of us.”

Two men and one girl.

And over ten Players following the three crossed the airport.

They were the elite of China’s representative Guild, Tian Dun Guild.

***

Kim Pyeong-on.

I liked my name.

To the point where even my life motto was to live like my name.

Did heaven understand my wish?

With moderate luck following me, I awakened as a Player and was specially recruited as a Grade 9 civil servant.

The workplace I was assigned to was White Gate.

It was a cushy position among cushy positions.

First, since Guilds didn’t come, it was the furthest place from power.

So any incidents were at most small disputes between civil petitioners.

Someone called it an exile where career advancement was blocked, but for me alone, it was a workplace that was modest yet therefore more happy.

But. But…

‘…Where did it go wrong?’

Right. It’s that person.

That person brought ‘calamity’ to my peaceful life.

‘Kang Si-woo…’

This mess broke out after I let him enter White Gate.

My colleagues and I, including myself, couldn’t even bring ourselves to clean up the pandemonium before our eyes and just clung to the radio.

Chijik—

“This is WG1! This is WG1! Headquarters, please receive!”

“This is WG1! Can headquarters hear me!”

‘Fuck! Please answer the radio!’

Headquarters at the Gate Management Agency should definitely be on standby to receive, but the radio isn’t reaching them.

It’s probably poor communication.

‘It’s definitely because of that chaos. Damn it, what do I do…’

Those monsters causing a ruckus outside the guard post.

The magic field generated each time they use a Skill is tremendous.

That’s interfering with communication.

“Pyeong-on-ssi, what do we do? At this rate, even the guard post will collapse!”

“It’ll be fine. I heard the Gate guard post was built to prepare for special situations.”

Prepared my ass.

It was merely a lie to reassure them because they looked anxious.

Otherwise, they looked like they’d foam at the mouth and collapse.

—Chijik… is it.

At that moment, headquarters responded.

I immediately grabbed the radio again and reported the situation first.

“Situation 5 occurring! Situation 5 occurring! This place is pandemonium right now!”

—Chijik… Headquarters is also aware… will be resolved shortly… chijik…

This is a bit much to say, but my five senses are outstanding.

That voice is Officer Seo Gyeoul’s voice.

“…Pardon? Officer Seo? You’re saying it’ll all be resolved if we wait a bit? No, does that make sens—”

—Chijijik… ttuk.

“…Officer Seo? Officer Seo?!”

Even in this chaotic midst, that ‘calamity’ guy was on a winning streak in his fight with himself.

[Player ‘Kang Si-woo’ cleared the 46th Wave!]

[Player ‘Kang Si-woo’ cleared the 47th…]

The moment I saw that message, something inside me snapped with a ttuk.

It should surely be an amazing record even now, but I wasn’t surprised.

My threshold for surprise had completely dulled.

Looking around, it wasn’t just me.

Far from being surprised, they were just fighting like mad with the single thought of obtaining Kang Si-woo.

“You said no alliance! Huh?! Why are you coming in hand-in-hand with ‘Crow’! You traitor bastards—!!”

“If you leave here, it’s straight to Guild war! Remember everyone!”

The Guild members who until earlier had only fought with words were now properly ignited as if someone poured gasoline.

No one was surprised anymore.

There was no more time to be surprised.

Each time a System message appeared, people’s eyes blazed, and slogans and cheers burst out under Guild flags.

“Appeal! If you don’t appeal now, it’s over!”

“Our Guild was the first team to come greet him, engrave that!!”

I spotted Ma Eun-mok of Dokkaebi Guild in that pandemonium.

He was on a phone call with someone while barking orders at Guild members.

“Everyone advance! If we don’t push now, it’s the end!”

Seonyang’s Park Jae-gwang was more serious.

He was wildly swinging ‘that greatsword’ scabbard and all, smashing anyone’s head who blocked his way.

“…We’ll win. We’ll definitely win!! Us!!”

Even if someone fell, even if someone fled, they were all steadily approaching White Gate where I was.

‘As expected, exceptional people don’t go crazy normally even when they go crazy. Please leave me alone and get lost…’

That’s when it happened.

Jjeoeoeoeoeoeoeng――!!

An explosion loud enough to burst eardrums erupted from somewhere.

“Uueueuk…”

“…My ear!”

Did a bomb explode?

I left my colleagues fallen into confusion and rushed out of the guard post.

‘…Huh? What’s the situation?’

When I went out, the Guild people who had been in the middle of battle were also collapsed clutching their heads, no different from colleagues.

The monster-like Park Jae-gwang of Seonyang, and Ma Eun-mok of Dokkaebi too.

“Huu… Elder Brother, it’s done.”

“It couldn’t have been easy for you either, good work.”

Jjireurereu—

When a presence I couldn’t catch even with my five senses was detected right next to me, goosebumps rose all over my body. Enough to make my hair stand on end.

But the language of that conversation was a bit unfamiliar.

Not Korean but Chinese.

“……”

Slowly turning my head, I saw ‘two people.’

A massive middle-aged man and a goateed man.

…No, three.

Including a girl who appeared to be about four years old.

‘I’ve seen that face a lot somewhere…’

The massive man looked at me with a curious face, rattled off something in Chinese, then soon threw a question in fluent Korean.

“Are you by any chance a civil servant working here?”

“…Yes… yes? Ah, yes. That’s correct, but…”

My sensor for detecting the strong activated.

I stuttered.

Already twice today alone.

When I let Kang Si-woo in, and now.

And the moment I thought of that guy, like a lie, the massive man mentioned that name.

“Then by any chance, among the Players who entered White Gate, is there someone named Kang Si-woo—”

But before the man could finish speaking, the System message that had been quiet for a moment began ringing noisily.

[Player ‘Kang Si-woo’ cleared the 50th Wave!]

[Successfully blocked all Waves!]

[White Gate is maintained in a slightly weakened state.]

[Gate Break probability within Seoul area slightly decreases!]

“…Hahaha! Shang, that young man seems to be a real one among real ones.”

“This doesn’t seem like something to be happy about, Elder Brother.”

“No, why?”

“He achieved an accomplishment no one has. And at such a young age at that.”

“Ah, so you’re saying right now ‘nothing will catch his eye’?”

“We cannot exclude the possibility that even our ‘Tian Dun’ won’t be satisfactory.”

The goateed man was also fluent in Korean.

But Tian Dun?

Not Tianshou but Tian Dun?

Are they talking about Tian Dun where one of the Three Venerables is?

‘Wait, earlier these people were fluent in Chinese… then this giant is perhaps… Joo… Geon-ryul?’

The two men were continuing their conversation in Korean, leaving me frozen aside for some reason.

“Hehe, that’s for you to resolve. Didn’t you assert you could definitely succeed in recruitment?”

“…Elder Brother!”

“Hahaha!”

The Guild Master and Deputy Guild Master of Tian Dun exchanging banter before my eyes.

The White Gate area that had become a mess.

‘…Where is this? Who am I?’

Feeling somewhat disconnected from reality, I lifted my head and spaced out.

“……”

“……”

How many minutes passed like that in silence?

“…Huh?”

“…Why isn’t he coming out?”

“Don’t tell me he incinerated together with the final boss…”

When Kang Si-woo showed no sign of appearing despite the clear message appearing, people began murmuring.

Considering the difficulty of the 50th Wave, it was a plausible guess.

‘Could it be…’

Finally, just as Joo Geon-ryul and Zhuge Shang’s expressions were about to stiffen.

Giiiiing—

The Gate began shining brightly while making noise.

‘It’s Kang Si-woo!’

At that moment, I felt it instinctively.

That he was coming out.

“He’s coming!”

Someone among the Players who belatedly came to their senses shouted.

Then everyone’s gaze here is fixed on White Gate.

While holding their breath.

“……”

“……”

“……”

Teobeok. Teobeok.

In the quiet silence, three silhouettes appeared from the Gate.

Two massive four-legged beasts and one man, Kang Si-woo.

‘He came out stronger than before going in…’

Even seeing that appearance, I couldn’t easily speak.

An emotion that was neither joy nor surprise.

Rather, it was closer to the feeling of standing before nature.

An incomprehensible, irresistible, irreversible existence.

Something no different from a natural disaster.

He was, such a feeling to me.

‘A disaster sculpted in human form.’

I couldn’t accept that this existence breathing before my eyes was human.

At his appearance, the air seemed to chill.

Honestly, it seemed like only I felt that way.

Because my senses were whispering so.

“…Ahem.”

Kang Si-woo looking around at the crowd focused on him.

As if he expected this situation, he loosened his neck then shouted loudly toward the people.

“The right to take me, Kang Si-woo, as an external director. From now on, I will put that right up for auction!”

His statement contained quite shocking content.