Including the doctor, staff of the Korean medicine clinic: four.
Middle-aged people waiting for checkups: three.
Elderly folks with difficulty moving: four.
One grade-school kid.
And…… one E-rank Hunter.
Considering the Gate that blew open right in front of us was Class 2, it was a perfect suicide squad, plain and simple.
Not DC Comics’ anti-hero group—the literal kind of suicide commando.
“It doesn’t get any signal….. They say the closer you are to a Gate the worse reception is, and I guess it’s true.”
“Still, since we don’t know if it’ll work later, it’s best not to use phones if possible. We need to save battery.”
“Why does the power keep going out. Thank goodness we at least have a radio. If there weren’t even disaster broadcasts in a situation like this, really……”
“Fuckin’ useless anyway! All they do is parrot ‘it’s dangerous, don’t come out’! They lock us down like this and then just sit on their hands, right? This is why the government these days—! I didn’t even vote for that bastard in the first place!”
“Hey, why are you bringing politics into this now?”
At the young nurse aide’s words, the man looked ready to explode, but his wife smacked him. In a desperate situation like this, they had no time to argue among themselves.
The disaster broadcast called it a large-scale Rift incident.
Not just in Yongin—sporadically, Uijeongbu, Cheonan, even Sokcho had burst open one after another.
Especially the one at Seoraksan was near a Class-1 catastrophe, so most of the top forces had headed that way.
The Jukjeon–Bojeong area, finally assessed at Class 2.5, was sealed off for now.
Army units and Hunters were still fighting nonstop, but…..
Led by hellhounds, the monsters were pushing through the waterways, not going down easily, and were rampaging around the whole area.
The disaster broadcast kept repeating a strong warning to stay inside.
Awoooooo— woooo—!
Outside, now sunless and dim, the chilling howling wouldn’t stop.
Might have to hold out longer than I thought…..
Gyeon Taeseong patted the back of his daughter, who had been quiet for a while.
“Our Jioh is going to get super close with Daddy this time. Right, Jioh?”
“……Mm-hmm.”
“Why does my girl feel so weak? Look at Dad.”
“Does she have a fever? One moment.”
The woman who’d been chatting with Jioh earlier, Lee Eon-jeong, hurried over and felt her forehead.
Then she bit her lip hard and smacked Taeseong’s forearm.
“She has a fever! How can you be holding a kid this hot and not notice? Dads, honestly! Doctor! Doctor, please! The child is sick! Hurry, hurry!”
“J-Jioh!”
March 23, 20xx.
Due to a sudden Class-2.5 Rift, all of Suji-gu and Giheung-gu locked down.
Bojeong-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin City. A Korean Medicine Hospital “A”.
One Hunter, twelve civilians.
Current time 10:07 p.m.
Six hours since isolation began.
“So we’re just going to sit here like this? At the very least we should let someone know there are people trapped!”
“Didn’t you hear the disaster broadcast? They said absolutely do not go outside. The monsters are smart enough to get into buildings, so they even said not to use the stairs. What do you expect us to do? You think we’re not frustrated too?”
“I’m going to lose it. Are we really all just going to fucking die like this?”
“Good grief, look at your manners in front of your elders. Then you go out yourself, Hee-seop!”
“Why should I when there’s a Hunter here!”
……
……
“Doctor, how’s our Jioh—our Jioh, is she doing any better?”
“Her fever’s come down to 37.5. Progress looks okay, but…… are you planning to go out? I don’t know how this will sound, but just stay put and use the child as your excuse. Rescue will come. You’ve got the kid and the grandmother with you….. everyone’s on edge, so don’t get swept up in the crowd mood. Cool your head.”
……
……
[ksssh— ksh— ……aksan’s Class-1 Rift incident appears likely to drag on longer than expected. With public anger mounting over an unannounced forced lockdown, the Disaster Management Agency has announced plans to deploy rescue helicopters to the sealed zones.]
……
……
KWAANG— bang bang!
Shit! It’s locked!
N-No. Hicc. Is anyone inside? Please open up! Excuse me!
Go up!
It’s blocked by rubble—we can’t! What do we do?
“…..O-open it! Quick! From the voices they sound like kids!”
“W-what if monsters get in while we do that……”
“Are you crazy! If they die like that, we killed them! Open it!”
……
……
“We’re all students from D University. We hid at the Starbucks near campus, but monsters broke through the glass and, they…… hkk, they killed everyone and only we managed to run……”
“The Center Hunters are holding the front of the Gate right now. The guilds…… guild bastards and the government and whatever, they’re all rotten dogs who should die. They say besides Silver Lion at Seoraksan and Heta at Uijeongbu, no one—no one—is moving.”
“And President Kim Geun-young, that crazy nutcase bastard, locked people down to die, then showed up way later and spewed bullshit! People are rioting to impeach him right now.”
“Ah, we’re screwed. Phones don’t get any signal in here……”
A Korean Medicine Hospital “A”, four students from a nearby university join.
March 24, 12:25 p.m.
Twenty hours since isolation began.
Thud-thud-thud—.
Another helicopter could be heard passing.
According to the college kids, the emergency exit stairwell was completely inaccessible from the third floor up due to debris.
Which meant the route to the roof was cut off.
There was a suggestion to lean out the windows, but for several hours now, monsters that had caught the scent were prowling right nearby.
Jioh could see her father’s face growing darker and darker.
The snacks the nurses had squirreled away were long gone.
Hunger was fine; the problem was drinking water.
As mouths to feed increased, the supply began to drop at a frightening pace.
Since the first day, when blood-tinged water came out of the tap, they’d stopped turning on the faucets entirely.
They still had a little leeway for now, but if this dragged on……
The burdens he was carrying were the elderly and a child. He himself was a Hunter.
The looks aimed at him were growing sharper by the minute.
Gyeon Taeseong spent more and more time wrestling with it alone.
In her father’s arms, Jioh felt the tremor running through his forearms.
“……This won’t do. I—I’ll go outside……”
“Waaahhh. Daaad!”
A fairly sharp kid, she knew she was smaller than her peers, and thus that she more easily drew people’s affection.
Which also meant, as far as earning sympathy votes went, she was perfectly positioned.
At nine years old, Gyeon Jioh cried out for her father and burst into full-on sobs.
It was the first time since she’d graduated from diapers, and it was an instinctive calculation.
The eyes that had been unconsciously turning toward him awkwardly looked away.
March 25, 8:15 p.m.
Two days since isolation began.
“Our princess—no, did Her Majesty conduct herself regally?”
“……It’s hard.”
“Of course it’s hard if you cry like that! You little…… Dad and Mom were actually worried because you never cried, but that was needless worry. Didn’t know you could cry this well.”
“I’m someone who does what needs doing when it’s time.”
“Oh boy, yes, yes. I live because of you, I really do.”
“Jioh.”
“……”
“Dad is, you know, a Hunter. A Hunter who was given power from the heavens to save people from those monsters. You even did a presentation once about how proud you were that your dad was a Hunter. Right?”
“But the heavens gave Dad way too little power.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Don’t go, Dad. ……I—I’m acting tough, but I’m scared.”
“……”
“I hate Grandma, who said we should come here, and I hate the people who keep staring at you weird. The monsters outside sound scary, I’m really scared. But if you’re here, I can endure everything. So don’t leave me, Dad. Don’t leave me alone…… okay?”
“……”
“Okay? Answer, quickly.”
“……”
“That’s an order, Gyeon Taeseong.”
“……All right. I got it, I got it. Yes. Understood.”
“Promise.”
“Promise.”
“Copy and sign.”
“Here. Cooopy. Siiign.”
“Happy?”
“Nope.”
“……You really take after your mom. When Dad was your age, I was out digging in the dirt. Whose daughter talks this well and is this strong?”
“When I go outside everyone says I’m Dad’s spitting image.”
“Hahah, really? That’s right. Mm. You’re Dad’s girl. Our Jioh.”
The apple of my eye, my lovely treasure who wouldn’t hurt even if I put you in my eye.
“Tae” (太), great.
“Seong” (星), star.
A night when the stars were unusually many.
The name the orphanage director gave him, saying he’d come like a gift.
Living up to his name, shining more brightly than anyone, working hard, kind to the point of being foolish—maybe Dad wasn’t such a great man after all.
Because he couldn’t even keep a single promise to his little girl.
“Grandma, where’s Dad?”
“……”
“Auntie Eon-jeong, where did my dad go?”
Sick and drained from crying, Jioh had fallen into a very deep sleep.
And no one woke a child like that. It was an agreement among the adults.
March 26, 10:15 a.m.
Third day of isolation.
E-rank support-type Hunter Gyeon Taeseong, voluntary departure for the purpose of requesting rescue.
No other volunteer personnel.
“……Damn it! Why won’t it break! Jioh, Gyeon Jioh! Can you hear the doctor?”
“Jioh, snap out of it. What do we do? Isn’t it dangerous if a child’s fever is this high?”
“Grandma was wrong…… huh? Please open your eyes, my poor baby, my dear little one……”
“W-what do we do, is the little kid going to die?”
“How can you spout such rotten crap, kid! Good grief—why did it have to be a Korean medicine clinic, of all places.”
“That’s why I said don’t send the kid’s dad out—let’s just keep watch!”
A fever that felt like it was burning her whole body to ash.
Even if it hadn’t been a Korean medicine doctor but someone else, treatment would have been impossible.
Because it wasn’t a disease of humans, by humans.
Beyond the clamor of voices, Gyeon Jioh heard someone.
【Found you.】
A chime that came from a place far, far away.
The Gate of stars and souls—the first opening of Seongheon (星痕, “Star-Trace”).