Emergency Disaster Alert
━ x Month xx Day ━
! Emergency Disaster Alert [Babel Office]
3-7 13:42 — Seoul Special City, Bukhansan area. Gyeonggi-do Suwon-si, Jangan-gu western district: simultaneous emergence of two Grade-2 sudden rifts. Evacuate the danger zones immediately.
! Emergency Disaster Alert [Babel Office]
3-7 13:45 — Gyeonggi-do Namyangju-si: emergence of a Grade-4 sudden rift. Please exercise caution.
! Emergency Disaster Alert [Ministry of Public Safety]
3-7 13:50 — Seoul, Suwon, Namyangju
Rift advisory in effect. Avoid going outdoors; evacuate from danger zones and do not approach them; secure safety for the elderly and vulnerable. Pay close attention to safety guidance and tune in to disaster broadcasts.
Bzzzt, ding ding.
A café packed the way it should be on a holiday was instantly washed in the chime of text alerts.
After checking the disaster alerts, Gyeon Geum-hee instinctively opened the YouTube app first.
The index screen had already flipped to a different version.
It meant all real-time interest had swung to the “hunter” side.
YouTube has two index versions.
The “normal version” where regular videos go up, and the “hunter version” where hunter-related videos get posted.
Because you can switch to the hunter version with the button in the top-right, people commonly call it “WooTube,” or “HunTube.”
The streaming era.
This was YouTube’s all-in counter when other platforms fronting hunter content were ripping away its market share at a terrifying clip.
Awakeners had captured massive public interest from day one.
You can’t film inside the Tower, sure, but who cares when you’ve got dungeons?
Dungeon-clear lives, vlogs of hunters’ everyday lives like market runs, rift footage, and more sent shockwaves through the industry.
In short: it paid. Very well.
And there’s no language barrier when you’re watching a raid.
Views (=money) shot past borders straight into the stratosphere.
No wonder the “Breakout crowd” who did nothing but grind dungeon clears had a bad rep. You could basically think of the Talokpa as those kinds of YouTubers.
And age seventeen. First year, Class 4 at Saetbyeol High.
The youngest of the Gyeon siblings, Gyeon Geum-hee, is an out-of-the-rankings Talokpa, an attention-seeking YouTuber.
[LIVE!!!] Secret stream) From Seoul to Namyangju, let’s gooo (new viewers welcome)
[Dokkaak LIVE] Huh? Here? Right now? Came to Suwon and ran into a Gate
[LIVE] Sudden Gate TRIPLE HITTT let’s all cheerrr
“Jesus. Fast, so fast.”
“Should I go home? Hey, what are you all doing? Isn’t ‘monster-free during tutorial walks’ the national standard rule? Why are rifts always dumped on the capital region, what the hell?”
“Because there are more heads. They pop proportionally to population.”
“Starting today I’m redesigning my life plan to emigrate to Africa.”
“Mm-hmm. The rich already bought it all up. You’re cut at the door.”
“H—hey! Shut it! It’s Gyeon Riok.”
[ Suwon, Jangan-gu. World #5 ranker Gyeon Riok and Babylon Guild arrive ]
The TV mounted on the café wall.
The breaking-news channel had a big, bright LIVE badge.
A wavering blue rift.
Beasts roaring.
The camera was far away.
When Gyeon Riok made a light leap from a helicopter, the café stirred.
And as the shot zoomed in on him sprinting across rooftops and summoning a spear, the vibe flipped in a heartbeat into World Cup Round of 16 levels.
“Waaah what do I do! Our Oppa is insane—he’s so damn cool!”
“Seolppo, your fangirling is unhinged. He has an actual little sister—why are you the one losing it?”
“…Ugh, embarrassing people. A-hem, please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
Still watching the real-time tab, Gyeon Geum-hee replied without looking up.
“What did she say?”
“Hey, leave her. She has absolutely zero interest in what her Oppa’s doing. How do you still not know?”
“The more I look, the weirder it is. If my own blood were a sky-tier ranker, I’d carry him on my back, damn it. If he were as drop-dead gorgeous as Bambi I’d even consider giving him an allowance.”
“Your Oppa already takes an allowance from you. A forced allowance.”
“Right? He’s like a guy who’s alive just to raise atmospheric CO₂. If a gate opened right over that bastard’s head I could die happy.”
Even as they chattered about nothing, their eyes stayed glued to the screen.
That’s how hunters are. They have the power to steal your gaze anywhere, anytime.
Especially rankers.
And it’s not every day you get a live combat stream from a sky-tier ranker like Gyeon Riok.
Right now the only person in the café not looking at the TV was Gyeon Geum-hee, who was looking at her phone.
“Wow… wow, damn, wooow. Did you see that turn just now? I’m salivating. What rank is our Bambi on the world charts again?”
“Think he’s 11th.”
“Different class. Definitely not human.”
“He hasn’t even been debuted for that many years, and even considering he’s S-rank, his talent is terri—terrifying… Come to think of it, their family’s kind of wild too. The Oppa’s world-ranked, Geum-geum’s a hunter, and their dad was a hunter too, right? Take out the mom and older sister and that’s basically a full hunter family, isn’t it?”
“I’m jealous. But Gyeon Riok is so sky-tier all by himself. It’s a relief the older sister’s a civilian at least. If it were just Geum-geum and him, I think I’d feel kind of deprived and weird.”
Gyeon Geum-hee’s busy fingers paused.
She lifted her head for the first time. With studied nonchalance, she snorted.
“What are you even saying? Deprived, in a family? And I don’t exactly lose to anyone, okay? What’s with you?”
“Yeah. Our Geum-geum’s a YouTuber, you gremlins. She has a whole ten thousand subscribers.”
“They say Bambi passed three hundred million Insta followers yesterday. Ten thousand versus three hundred million… Our Geumi-Geumi, you’re not going to cry, right?”
“Gwak Sera, you’re crossing a line. I’m leaving.”
“Why? Where? Geum-geum, are you mad?”
“Forget it. I was going anyway. Top-ten channels are going live everywhere and making a mess. I’m heading up toward Bukhansan. Seolppo, wanna come?”
Seol Bomi stood right up, delighted.
Just then, as she watched the screen with Gyeon Riok, Gwak Sera tossed off a thoughtless line.
“Why be dumb about it? Just use Oppa privilege. You’d hit thirty million subs in an hour.”
Seol Bomi didn’t have time to stop her.
“Agh!”
Eyes that had all been on the TV turned partly toward the loud yelp.
Ignoring the stares, Geum-hee tightened her grip in Sera’s hair.
Gwak Sera, her head yanked back, teared up in shock.
“Wh-why are you doing this!”
“Try running your words through your brain first. Even if it’s facts, don’t just spit them. Why do you think they call it a ‘fact assault,’ Sera? It hurts because it’s true. It hurts, so it feels bad. Are you a thug, Sera?”
“…S-sorry.”
“Mm. You should be. I’ll call him if and when I feel like it. Geum-hee has a plan for everything, so don’t worry your pretty little head over what you don’t know, our Sera who knows jack-all.”
With a sweet smile, Gyeon Geum-hee flicked her hand and let go.
And the instant she turned around, the smile vanished cleanly.
Seol Bomi sidled up and linked arms, reading the mood.
“I didn’t… say anything, okay?”
“You’re already out for stanning that Bambi punk.”
“Eeh. Geum-geum, cheer up. Want to go get our nails done?”
“I told you I’m going to Bukhansan. Jeong Gilgaon popped up there. We probably can’t get near the site, but if we’re lucky we can catch him on his way out.”
“What? Why are you only saying that now? O-okay, let’s go.”
Right as they were about to leave the café—
Gyeon Geum-hee glanced back toward the TV.
Following the sweep of Gyeon Riok’s long spear, a prison of trees surged up from the ground.
In an instant, a single woodland bloomed in the very center of the city.
The 4th-grade monsters—those other-breed Blood Knights—were swallowed without even getting to lay a finger on him.
Gyeon Riok didn’t even look back at them. He just charged straight at the gigantic otherworldly beast in front.
With eyes wrapped in quiet rapture.
Well, well. The switch flipped. He did say he’d definitely bring one back today… Where’s the no-hope case and what is he doing right now?
A “civilian,” huh. It’s not even funny.
Then again, since sticking his neck out is practically a yearly event, it’s not exactly wrong either, is it?
Why’d you have to be born human. Should’ve been born as some country town cat.
Life, ha…
Thinking of a certain hopeless someone made her stride roughen on its own.
Thanks to that person who pisses you off just by existing, this walk had pretty much become a Gyeon-family tradition.
Seol Bomi hurried after her friend’s back, which for some reason looked angry.
Behind them, a cheer exploded for Gyeon Riok’s victory.
“Wooooow. Look at you, look at you—growing so well.”
“Q-quite capable, sir!”
Tap. Baek Dohyun landed lightly.
As expected, a seasoned regressor plays on another level.
Once his break ended, it was truly an unstoppable onslaught.
For about two hours he cut down the mutant cannibals without rest.
Five hours since the tutorial began, and the boss fight was already in sight.
In the middle they ran into a cannibal tribe joyfully having a meal, and passed through a skin-crawling bog.
A lot of things happened, but Jioh didn’t have much reason to take the lead.
Sometimes she just went bang-bang from the back a few times with a gun.
Granted, that gun was a demon gun she’d taken from the Marksman of Magic Bullets, but let’s let the minor details slide.
This is getting awkward with so little hardship. Don’t tell me… Babel got played?
By some wicked star blinded by love for their incarnation?
They said our house was about to collapse so I rushed over to stamp the papers, and turns out it was just redevelopment?
[Your Constellation of covenant, “Reader of Fate,” clears their throat to say they heard everything.]
[Babel also turns its head and clears its throat to say it’s not that naïve about how the world works.]
Even so, her growth rate was shooting up just fine.
- 00:05:09:15 Growth Buff (x5)
*(on)/off
[Unique Skill, “Library-ization” — Proficiency: 17.12%]
[Title Traits, “Heart of the Dragon Horse,” “Mana Delay” (Stage-2 growth in progress)]
Seventeen point one two percent…
Let’s see.
She may have slept like a rock through every math class and taken the art-school exam three times, but this level of mental arithmetic is a piece of cake.
If she safely collects even the completion rewards, hmm…
Come to think of it, the one who got fooled is the one at fault.
She’d nearly let a little misplaced sympathy ruin the whole affair.
Gyeon Jioh steadied her heart like the emotionless, cold city woman she was.
Mhm, she nodded to herself and yanked Na Jo-yeon behind her.
Thoom—
They had finally entered the tutorial’s final stage, a cavern of rock faces.
The spot where Na Jo-yeon had been standing collapsed as is.
Jioh carried her, flying to land, and kept thinking.
Still, I’m Gyeon Jioh; even if he’s a pathetic sap who got duped, I ought to show some generosity. Especially to a pushover who gives away so much for free.
Rrrrumble— BOOM!
“Hyah!”
A mechanical trap.
Thousands of poisoned arrows poured down like a cloudburst.
Jioh casually stomped her foot and threw up a shield as she mulled.
Arrows pinged off the barrier, pitifully deflected.
No more and no less—just enough to save face. Hm, but what exactly should I do?
Shaaa— shwiiish—!
“Uh, umma-ya…?”
Mandokgul.
From beneath the pillar-bridge, vipers of the otherworld bared their fangs.
Jioh walked right over the top of them, brows knitting.
The sparsely placed pillars had, before she knew it, linked up into something like a proper paved road.
Nothing to do. The regressor punk is too strong. The boss? Should I just slit the boss’s throat? Nah. Stealing a tutorial boss is a bit much.
And so, when the path was blocked, she broke it; when there was no path, she made one and walked it—for dozens of minutes…
Ugh.
Under towering statues, Gyeon Jioh folded her arms tight and let out a long sigh.
“What is this? You said this was a boss dungeon. Why is there nothing here? There’s literally nothing for me to do!”
“…”
“…J-J-Jojo-nim! B-behind you!”
“Huh? What now? Rude much, glaring while someone’s talking!”
nyang-nyang, not comfy.
It’s nyang-nyang not comfy.
Baek Dohyun and Na Jo-yeon thought it at the same time.
And with one contemptuous swing of a fist at empty air, the final checkpoint of the scenario <Festival of Beginnings: Human Disqualification>—
The ancient statues that guarded the human-sacrifice rite,
the Gatekeepers of the Barbarian God who had awakened for the first time in a thousand years—
had the red light in their eyes die out completely.
Functionally, they were done.
“What a sense of interior design… Who puts decorative pieces in a place like this?”
“Th-those were originally there— I mean, never mind… Shall we go in?”
“Wait. So, I thought about it, and—yeah, the boss stage should really be wrapped up by our Baek Butler. They’re big-ticket kills and all, but I’ll gladly yield.”
“M-my word. H-how can a person’s measure be this vast! Your magnanimity is truly tremendous!”
“Can’t you tell at a glance? I was born big.”
“Ahh! You’re so grand I can’t even bear to look up at you, Jojo-nim!”
That was the mid-boss just now, I think…
The dead don’t talk, they say.
Besides, for a mid-boss, it died so absurdly fast it was hard to even bring it up.
Even so, from Baek Dohyun’s perspective, aside from the cruelty of the hand getting heavier, the stage difficulty didn’t seem much different from the previous run.
Had the difficulty changes simply not reached the boss fight?
Collecting his thoughts, Baek Dohyun went up front and pushed the massive stone door.
And then—
Mist fell on them at once.
A blood-mist so thick it blurred consciousness.
…Oh.
…
Ah, right.
I forgot to boost resistance to mind-type attacks.
Watching their incarnation topple like a puppet with cut strings, a far-off Constellation belatedly smacked their forehead.