Chapter 2 – Coincidence or Fate (Part Two)

Il-hyeon got off one stop before Cheongseong Station.

A D4-grade Gate had appeared near Cheongseong Station at 4 AM, and the entire area was now completely cordoned off.

Not only was the station itself closed, but the route from there to his company was also blocked.

“This is bad. They’re going to raise hell if I’m late…”

Il-hyeon, who had never once been late since joining the company, let out a deep sigh.

In this day and age, a company that didn’t even let its employees leave on time was hardly going to be filled with decent bosses.

A man who nitpicked every little thing and constantly yelled at him sat squarely in the position above his.

*It’s my own fault for not studying harder. I’m so sick of this.*

He wanted to hand in his resignation right then and there, but that was realistically impossible.

But complaining was just complaining; he needed to find a solution.

The atmosphere at work had been tense lately, and if he showed up late on top of that, he was sure to get an earful, no matter the reason.

*If I take a taxi from here, the roads will be blocked because of the cordon, and I’ll have to take a huge detour. Is my only option to break through?*

To slip through the restricted zone.

Normally, he wouldn’t even consider it, but given the circumstances, it wasn’t particularly dangerous.

The monsters from the Gate that had appeared at dawn had already been dealt with by the Awakened. They were just waiting for the clean-up crew to arrive for the final processing.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

Il-hyeon exited the station and slipped into the restricted area, which was haphazardly blocked off with “Do Not Cross” tape.

The streets were completely deserted, and the roads and buildings, damaged here and there from the battle, created an eerie atmosphere.

But since it was a bright, sunny day, it wasn’t scary.

Walking alone through the bustling streets, now empty of people, Il-hyeon found his mood lifting for some reason and began to hum a tune.

“Whoa… Is this a monster corpse?”

A few corpses of dog-like monsters, not yet cleared away, were lying haphazardly in a corner of the street.

It seemed the night team had completed the initial on-site processing, as all the Ether had been recovered from the monster carcasses.

If any Ether, the most valuable resource, remained, there was no way the site would be left unguarded.

But a strange energy stopped him in his tracks.

As if drawn by something, Il-hyeon approached one of the corpses in the corner.

Standing before it, he stared blankly at the body for a moment.

Then, not stopping there, Il-hyeon boldly reached under the monster’s belly, toward a faint white light glinting from beneath it.

“Ugh.”

A foul smell and unpleasant texture assaulted his senses, but he didn’t stop.

As a result, a cube-shaped core leaking pure white light emerged, clutched in his right hand.

It seemed the processing team had made a mistake; one of the monster’s Ether cores had been left behind.

“Is this an unprocessed Ether stone? I’ve never seen one before…”

Il-hyeon stared, mesmerized by its beautiful form, overflowing with light.

Even an Ether core from the weakest monster was easily worth millions of won.

It was tempting, but it wasn’t ownerless property. Taking it from here would obviously be theft.

Il-hyeon didn’t even entertain the thought.

Instead, a bizarre word escaped his lips.

“Looks delicious…”

Il-hyeon licked his lips, staring blankly at the Ether in his hand.

“Hah, what am I saying?”

Startled by his own words, he snapped back to his senses and flinched backward.

But he still couldn’t take his eyes off the object in his hand.

His instincts were rejecting the command from his brain to put down the Ether and be on his way.

His grip on the Ether tightened, and his hand began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Just one bite… It’ll be fine, right?”

Il-hyeon muttered as if he’d lost his mind.

All the while, his grip grew stronger.

*Crack!* Fissures began to spread across the cube, and the Ether core, said to be indestructible by physical force, shattered into pieces.

The core broke apart like glass, scattering in all directions. And the brilliant white light from within flowed into Il-hyeon’s body.

“Hoo, that was good.”

Il-hyeon murmured, darting his tongue out to lick his lips.

The power of ‘Predation,’ which had lain dormant within him, had awakened.

***

*Tap, tap, tap!* Having crushed and consumed the Ether, Il-hyeon quickly fled the scene.

Even after leaving the restricted area, he kept glancing around cautiously as he ran.

Panting for breath, he dashed into his company’s building.

“You made it just in time. Mi-yeong said she’s going to be late because the station’s closed, and the manager is in a terrible mood.”

As Il-hyeon entered the office, a female colleague whispered to him, looking around nervously.

Il-hyeon, who would normally have been clutching his head in despair, just scoffed, sat at his desk, and printed out a form.

Then he began to frantically clear his desk.

“Hey…? What are you doing.”

“Thanks for everything. Don’t look for me again. Take care.”

He rattled off the nonsensical words in an excited voice.

Peeking over his shoulder, she saw him writing something intently, and her eyes widened in shock.

“Don’t tell me you won the lottery or something?”

“This is nothing compared to that.”

Grinning, Il-hyeon shot up from his chair and shouted.

“Manager Choi! Take my resignation!”

***

“Oof!”

Il-hyeon dropped the box of his belongings from the office onto the floor of his entryway.

After causing a scene at work, he felt so light and free he could fly.

“I feel like the ten years of life I lost to stress have just been added back.”

He had finally acted on one of the countless scenarios he’d played out in his head while enduring insults and bottling up his anger.

The man they called a CEO had made the absurd threat of suing him for damages for quitting so suddenly, but he couldn’t care less.

“I knew it! I’m an Awakened!”

Il-hyeon shouted, throwing his arms into the air.

He had heard countless times that if you were an Awakened, you would know it instinctively.

And now, Il-hyeon finally understood what that meant.

He placed a hand on the wall of his studio apartment and, following the image in his mind, slowly infused it with an intangible power.

The wall began to change into the shape he desired. A square pillar slid out from the wall, following the movement of his hand.

Then, he placed his hand on the end of the pillar and pushed it back in, restoring the wall to its original state.

This phenomenon now seemed perfectly natural to him. Because it was his ability.

Il-hyeon picked up a dumbbell he had bought long ago and rarely used.

He wasn’t about to start working out now.

When he gripped the end of the dumbbell and squeezed, it crumpled mercilessly, as if it were made of clay.

An unbelievable increase in strength—power that transcended human limits.

“Oh my god, oh my god.”

Unable to contain his excitement, Il-hyeon paced back and forth on the spot.

The three SSS-rank abilities written on the Awakening test results he had once dismissed as a form of cruel hope.

Summoning, Predation, Transformation.

If that was true, then an Awakened with unprecedented potential had been born since the Gates first appeared.

“But I still don’t have a feel for the Summoning ability.”

Il-hyeon clenched and unclenched his right hand, staring at it.

No one had to tell him about Predation and Transformation; he instinctively knew what they were and how to use them.

But it wasn’t the same for Summoning, his first ability.

He had tried many times on his way home, picturing various images in his mind, but no phenomenon befitting the word ‘summoning’ had occurred.

*Is it not enough yet?*

It was a sudden turn of events, but one thing was certain.

He had devoured the Ether’s energy and made it his own power.

*In that case, I need to absorb more Ether. But there’s no way I can afford an Ether core with the money I have…*

Not only was Ether expensive, but pure, unprocessed Ether cores taken from monsters were banned from public trade.

For an ordinary person to get one, they’d have to turn to the black market, where the prices were exorbitant.

*Or maybe I could join the government or a corporation?*

The government’s Gate Response Team, or a private Awakened corporation.

These were the two typical career paths for the Awakened.

Corporations, for their part, hired many Awakened and negotiated with various governments to secure cases or territories to manage.

Since governments couldn’t handle every Gate on their own, there was a constant back-and-forth of requests to fend off Gates and monsters.

As it was difficult for individuals who weren’t experts to secure jobs directly from the government, most who didn’t join a government response team ended up in corporations.

Awakened who joined a corporation were paid according to the quantity and quality of Ether obtained from the cases they handled.

In other words, they were paid exactly for the work they did.

In exchange for no base salary, they enjoyed a relatively free atmosphere where they could take vacations anytime and pick up jobs again when they chose.

The government, by contrast, offered its hired Awakened a share of the profits from monster-derived Ether, plus a substantial base salary.

This meant they earned far more money than their corporate counterparts.

However, there were drawbacks.

As government-affiliated Awakened, their workload was incredibly demanding, all for the sake of public safety.

They were often on standby to prepare for emergencies, and if incidents occurred back-to-back, they couldn’t even rest as they pleased.

The interesting part was that it was the opposite of the common public perception of government versus corporate jobs.

But as Il-hyeon considered both options, he quickly shook his head.

*No. I’d make a lot of money either way, but I wouldn’t be able to get the Ether cores I need right now. It’s useless.*

Whether it was the government or a corporation, both made massive profits from Ether and used that money to hire Awakened.

Naturally, without Ether, the profits of both corporations and governments would disappear.

This meant that even if he hunted the monsters himself, he couldn’t freely use the Ether that came from them.

All Ether cores obtained from monsters were turned over to the corporation or government, not the Awakened who belonged to them, to be used or sold. The Awakened was then paid a suitable compensation in cash.

*I don’t want to go around telling everyone about my abilities… In that case, I guess I have no choice but to act on my own. I’ve never committed a crime before. This is a problem.*

As it was an issue directly tied to national security and public safety, the countless Gates that opened were naturally managed and controlled by the state.

Awakened who formed corporations or crews all operated with permission from their respective countries.

Except in emergencies, entering a site without permission or hunting monsters was strictly illegal.

Though it was only a misdemeanor.

“Ah, come to think of it, I already stole one from that site.”

Recalling what he’d done on his way to work, Il-hyeon chuckled.

The first time is always the hardest. Thinking of this as his second time, he felt his heart lighten.

*I have no choice.*

Il-hyeon turned on his phone and hurriedly searched for information on Gates that had appeared in the country.

Even at that very moment, several Gates were open.

Among them, he found one that was perfect for his needs.

An E-rank Gate.

Aside from F-rank Gates, which could be easily suppressed with Ether-powered firearms, it was the lowest-grade Gate.

“Perfect.”

Il-hyeon slapped his knee.

A Gate had opened in Suwon, with monsters expected to emerge in seven hours. Dane Company was in charge of the subjugation and was controlling the site.

He shot up from his seat and changed his clothes.