“Gate activation 60 seconds before.”
Moon Woo-shin’s voice stabbed down above the team members’ heads like a warning.
Hae-il looked at his back while readjusting the vest size and checking other equipment one by one again. The tension that had risen again made even all the fine hairs on his body stand on end.
Jang Yun-seo, who stood beside him, looked back and forth between Seo Hae-il and Moon Woo-shin, neither of whom were in his interest, and shook his head from side to side.
Soon, when the scheduled time arrived, the area around the black crack floating in the air began to shine white. The first Gate assigned to the A-1 Team was an F-rank regular Gate.
“March 30th, 9:12 AM, Gate N9011-11 activation confirmed.”
Following the teaching assistant’s confirmation, Moon Woo-shin declared.
“We’re entering.”
Moon Woo-shin, who stood at the front, first stepped into the Gate entrance without hesitation. The black gap where the inside couldn’t be seen at all swallowed him up in an instant. Watching from behind, it feels like an illusion of being sucked into a black hole.
Hae-il, who stood at the very back, exhaled one deep breath and moved his feet following the person in front.
The sensation of passing through the Gate rippling with white light was similar to submerging in water. Something formless pulled at him as if wrapping around his body, and after blinking once, he was inside the Gate.
As if to show that even if the rank was low, a Gate was still a Gate, the scenery that unfolded before his eyes as soon as he entered was quite unfamiliar.
Completely opposite to just a few seconds ago when outside the Gate had been a corner of an ordinary city center, inside the Gate was a snowy mountain with pure white snow piled up in all directions. Standing in front of trees with bizarre shapes, he realized he’d come to a completely different world.
Hae-il’s eyes, which had been slowly looking around, stopped in the distance.
‘…Why does it feel familiar?’
What caught at the edge of his vision was a tree curled in a spiral shape. It should feel unfamiliar, but a strange sense of déjà vu came from that shape and the faintly visible pattern.
Where did I see it? As he tried to trace his memory, his insides felt strangely stuffy. Even though he was just standing still, it felt dizzy and nauseous as if he were motion sick.
What freed him from that strange sensation was thanks to a voice heard not long after.
Moon Woo-shin, who confirmed the team members’ safe entry, briefly made eye contact with everyone once and spoke with emphasis.
“If you just don’t do what you’re told not to do, there won’t be any danger or failure. Because I’m commanding.”
The statement that sounded somewhat arrogant felt like an extremely natural fact thanks to his calm voice. Thanks to that, he felt strangely reassured.
When he breathed deeply while his gaze touched his, the strange feeling from before faded. What filled the empty space instead was the will to successfully complete the Gate strategy.
‘Since there’s no gap no matter where I look, I have no choice but to catch his eye by doing well.’
His goals were to secure practical grades and obtain the connection called Moon Woo-shin.
Hae-il followed behind Moon Woo-shin with a determined expression.
***
The missions of Espers and Guides who entered a Gate were largely two things.
First, understanding the terrain. From right after entry, they’d scrutinize thoroughly while collecting information with their watches, and the team leader would compile the information transmitted to a tablet to draw a map of that Gate. This was because the terrain changed at regular intervals even in regular Gates.
The completed map was used when the support team collected magic stones after completing the Gate strategy, or when periodically inspecting and managing the Gate’s condition.
Second, handling monsters. The most important process in Gate strategy. Only by handling all the monsters inside the Gate within a certain time could they prevent accidents where monsters burst out of the Gate, and also obtain magic stones.
Since magic stones were a resource generated only when all monsters disappeared, the occurrence of magic stones was usually used as an indicator of Gate strategy completion.
Just because it was practicum didn’t mean it was much different from actual Gate strategy missions.
Under Moon Woo-shin’s command, the A-1 Team was smoothly carrying out their mission and passing the midpoint of the Gate.
“Confirmation complete. No abnormalities.”
Hae-il, who confirmed the last individual among the monster group they’d just encountered had stopped breathing, reported concisely. White breath came out due to the low temperature.
Soon Moon Woo-shin’s voice flowed through the earpiece.
- Everyone return.
Team members who had been sparsely maintaining their positions far away could be seen moving to where Moon Woo-shin stood according to the instruction.
‘It’s more doable than I thought.’
They say even if you participate earnestly in training, you usually get lost on your first Gate.
Perhaps thanks to the training Moon Woo-shin had created preparing for all sorts of unexpected situations, they’d been progressing step by step without major problems so far.
Hae-il slowly moved toward Moon Woo-shin, who stood nearby, while being on guard around according to the basics.
The variable appeared when tension was slightly loosening.
- Wait a moment….
Moon Woo-shin’s voice flowed from the earpiece and cut off abruptly.
Hae-il, who was in the position closest to him, quickly turned his head at the strange feeling. Thanks to that, he recognized the situation first.
Moon Woo-shin, who had been stepping on the ground fine right before his eyes, suddenly sank down into the ground. As if being sucked into the earth.
Even in that brief moment when he was being pulled down starting from his feet, the sight of Moon Woo-shin reaching out his arm to embed a wire into the nearby ground and disappearing while barely holding onto just one line was reflected in his eyes in sequence.
Before even feeling flustered, his body instinctively leaped out first.
Hae-il kicked off hard and generated water around him so he could respond immediately at any time. Water streams that rose while drawing round circles like a whirlpool gathered together in a round mass.
Recognizing the voice in the earpiece came next.
- Team Leader!
- Everyone wait above.
Even in that situation, Moon Woo-shin’s voice giving instructions was mixed with breathing that sounded labored.
“I’ll follow.”
- Seo Hae-il, don’t move and wait.
It was after he’d already arrived at the spot where Moon Woo-shin had been standing in just a few seconds. Hae-il, who lowered his posture as if sliding, looked around.
Only a black hole and a wire stretched taut remained like traces between the pure white piled snow. How deep is it? Not even Moon Woo-shin’s hair was visible inside the hole.
“How will you do it alone? I already arrived.”
- I’ll handle it myself. Wait for now….
The voice that had been continuing cut off unnaturally again. Even though other team members called out consecutively, not even breathing could be heard.
Hae-il’s eyes wavered. The wire that had been stretched taut while supporting Moon Woo-shin loosening slackly caught in his vision. To make matters worse, the hole that had been open large began to contract at a fast speed.
They were consecutive ominous signals.
‘If I wait for other team members to join, it’ll be too late.’
If I completely lose him like this, he’ll fall alone and be trapped down there where I don’t even know how deep it is or whether the exact location can be pinpointed. It might take a long time to find and join him, or it might even lead to disappearance. The numerous Gate accident cases he’d learned so far crossed his mind in sequence.
He’d seen Moon Woo-shin face monsters with his bare hands a few times while coming this far, but even so, being left alone is dangerous. Even if he were an Esper, even accounting for this being an F-rank Gate, it was the same.
The judgment and decision took less than a second. His intuition was shouting that this was right.
“I’m entering first.”
- Seo Hae-il!
Hae-il jumped into the hole while hearing another team member’s voice.
His body thrown into the air was quickly pulled downward.
At the same time, he spread out the water he’d made in advance downward in a large, long cylinder shape. It was both a cushioning material and a backup measure to use immediately at any time.
As he was familiarly submerged deep in the water, the falling speed gradually decreased. After steadily narrowing the distance, Hae-il stepped firmly on the ground in just a few seconds.
The scene he faced as soon as he stepped properly was Moon Woo-shin surrounded by numerous monsters in the darkness.
The monsters’ glittering eyes and the light flashing from the gun Moon Woo-shin held were dotted on the black background.
“Senior!”
