Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1. Oppa, You Haven’t Gotten Another Woman While I Was Gone, Have You?
[The Late Jung Sia / August 25, 2000 – August 25, 2023]
It had been precisely three hundred and sixty-five days since her life was cut short without warning.
She had passed away barely six months following her graduation from the Hunter Academy, right after stepping into the field as an official hunter. Having endured the trauma of losing my entire family to a Gate Break during my secondary school years, I had assumed I was already immune to the absolute worst that fate could inflict upon me. Yet reality proved otherwise. Who could have ever anticipated that she would meet such an untimely end on the very day celebrating her birth?
“A full year has passed since our Sia vanished from her oppa’s world.”
Marking both her birthday and the anniversary of her tragic departure, I arrived at her resting place carrying a warm container of tteokbokki, which had always been her ultimate comfort food when she was still breathing.
“It still feels impossible to accept that my lovely Sia is really gone.”
To me, Jung Sia was the single most precious person on this earth, my cherished partner.
Back on that fateful afternoon, we had planned to meet up right after her practical field training concluded, hoping to sit down at a high-end restaurant, share an intimate meal, and celebrate her special day together. Then, sheer disaster struck within the depths of the gate.
While everyone understood that gates were unpredictable hazard zones carrying untold perils, nobody could have predicted that a raging sea of flames would erupt inside what was supposedly a mere D-rank gate.
That catastrophic event left three people severely injured and claimed one life—and by some cruel twist of fate, the solitary fatality was none other than my Sia.
‘If only I had possessed more power…’
From the moment she stopped breathing, that tormenting possibility had never ceased echoing in my head. Had my physical abilities been just a fraction sharper, or had I reacted a few seconds quicker, wouldn’t I have succeeded in keeping Sia alive?
‘If only that peculiar trait had actually awakened…’
On paper, I was nothing special—merely an ordinary swordsman-class D-rank hunter. There was only a single irregularity on my status screen.
[??? (EX)
Skill Description: ???]
The core issue was that I had zero clue regarding the nature of this ability, let alone the method to activate it. It gave no indication of whether it functioned passively or required conscious triggering.
Yet, if I had only understood its true identity and channeled even a sliver of whatever strength it concealed, perhaps Sia’s journey wouldn’t have ended in such futile tragedy.
‘What use is there in agonizing over that now?’
An ability that never once triggered when it mattered—one that proved completely useless in protecting the one person I treasured—was utterly worthless. It made far more sense to carry on as though such a power had never existed in the first place.
Shaking off the pointless doubts and regrets that kept dragging my spirits down, I retrieved my smartphone and started browsing through the digital memories we had shared together, swiping past picture after picture. Each captured frame summoned those cherished occasions straight back into vivid focus.
Here was Sia, confessing her feelings with complete disregard for whoever might be watching. Here was my sweet Sia, whose radiant grin could easily outshine anyone else in existence. Here was my girl, forever insisting that my chest was the coziest spot in the world, refusing to let go once she was in my arms. There stood my irreplaceable Sia, the very purpose that kept me moving forward.
As those vivid recollections of our shared days flooded my mind, a burning sensation welled up behind my eyes. Our devotion to one another had run so deep that surviving apart felt inconceivable; why, then, did we have to be torn away from each other like this?
Fighting back the moisture gathering in my eyes, I uncapped the bottle of cheongju brought alongside the meal, poured a careful cup, and set it down in front of Sia’s headstone. Alongside the liquor, I placed the tray of spicy rice cakes she had adored so dearly.
The pungent, fiery aroma drifting from the tteokbokki instantly carried me back to the hours leading up to her death.
‘Sia, let’s treat ourselves to something amazing tonight. What are you craving?’
‘Hmm… definitely tteokbokki! And we have to load it up with tons of toppings!’
‘Rice cakes again? Hey, it’s your birthday today. We ought to get something fancier. I told you I’d handle the bill, remember?’
‘Don’t you want tteokbokki, oppa? I really want it, though.’
Had I possessed the slightest inkling that she would be taken from me that very day, I never would have complained about having the same meal over and over. I would have gladly shared that dish with her one more time without hesitation.
Reflecting on that choice caused an intense wave of sorrow to wash over me once again. I tipped the filled cup, letting the clear rice wine soak into the soil of her grave, then poured myself another portion and tossed it straight back.
“Sia, you wouldn’t mind if your oppa got a tiny bit tipsy just for today, right?”
Yet, just as the ceramic cup was drained and I reached out to pour another drink…
BOOOOOM—
Without the slightest warning, the earth trembled violently, accompanied by a deafening reverberation that threatened to rupture my eardrums. In the very next breath, the fabric of empty air cracked wide open, carving a jagged fracture across the atmosphere.
‘A Gate Break!’
The telltale symptoms were unmistakable to anyone with basic hunter training. As that fractured rift tore wider and wider across space, panic and shock tore through my thoughts.
Why did this nightmare have to unleash itself right now, on the precise anniversary of Sia’s passing, right above her grave?
Though I understood the mechanics of a Gate Break conceptually, experiencing one unfolding right before my own eyes was a first. Paralyzed by the sheer shock of an unprecedented crisis, my body froze solid.
‘I can’t just stand here; I need to act.’
I needed to alert the Hunter Administration immediately, then somehow hold the perimeter alone to prevent the catastrophe from spilling into civilian territory. Yet the moment I reached for my device to place an emergency report, the rift convulsed, and a silhouette slipped through the tear.
Operating on the assumption that a vicious monster was breaking through, I moved instinctively to draw my blade from the dimensional pocket—only to freeze the instant my eyes landed on the emerging figure.
It was a young woman possessing striking, exotic features, appearing to be around the same age as me. Far from being some hideous beast, the unknown entity stepping out of the breach was completely human in shape—a woman. Even so, there was no way she could be classified as an ordinary mortal.
Her hair was a brilliant, fiery crimson reminiscent of a sacred blaze, while her striking eyes shone like luminous rubies, possessing an aura far too otherworldly for a regular human being. Furthermore, her complexion held the spotless perfection of pure jade, and her delicate countenance bore an elegance so striking that anyone would instantly equate her to a divine entity. Her attire, completely alien to anything manufactured on modern Earth, only deepened that celestial, unnatural aura.
‘No. I can’t let her stunning looks cloud my judgment.’
It was entirely possible that this entity was an undocumented monster masquerading beneath the guise of a human female. Dropping my guard was not an option. Regardless of whether there were bystanders around, preparing for extreme danger was imperative. Facing an unknown entity meant caution had to override everything else.
The immediate priority was determining whether this visitor harbored friendly intentions toward humanity or outright hostility.
As I took a wary stance and cautiously began unsheathing my blade, the newcomer appeared utterly indifferent to the weapon in my hands. Instead, her focus drifted straight toward another spot entirely. Her eyes had locked onto the serving of tteokbokki and gimbap set before Sia’s tombstone, resting beside the wrapped birthday gift that had remained unopened for an entire year.
Only after taking in those items did she finally shift her attention toward me. While inspecting my features was understandable, why on earth was she giving so much attention to a simple platter of spicy food?
However, the event that truly defied comprehension followed immediately after.
“Oppa?”
Though she carried a visage so distinctly foreign that she couldn’t possibly pass for an ordinary Korean, the word ‘oppa’ rolled off her tongue with flawless Korean pronunciation, spoken in a cadence brimming with affection and intimacy.
‘Oppa?’
‘Did this person honestly just address me as oppa?’
Before I could voice the demand to know who on earth she was, she continued speaking.
“Minjun oppa, it’s really me. It’s your girlfriend, Jung Sia.”
‘What…?’
“Oppa, I missed you so terribly that across two whole millennia, I never stepped out to have fun even once. I holed myself up inside my lair the entire time, focusing completely on unlocking Dimensional Travel Magic. I did amazing, right? Tell me I did a wonderful job, oppa!”
‘Two millennia? A dragon’s lair? Dimensional travel magic?’
The woman standing before me, boldly declaring herself to be the deceased Sia, began spouting concepts that made no earthly sense whatsoever.
“Say, oppa… you haven’t gone and found yourself another woman while I was gone, have you?”
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