Chapter 1 (2/2)

A fierce battle ensued between the monsters and the Awakened. Shrieking screams and wild wailings echoed over the barricades. Helicopters joined the fray, firing at the monsters from afar. These sensational scenes of war were broadcast all over the country.

“It’s great.”

Il-hyun was sipping coffee in a cafe and staring at a scene on TV.

“Once I thought I was capable…”

Il-hyun said sourly, his voice trailing off weakly.

He did have a small ability from the past.

He could move small particles without touching them.

On sandy beaches he was able to shift the shape of the sand. Thanks to this discovery, he thought he had awakened some kind of kinetic force.

But that was all—there was no further development.

Even though he had not tested optimally for a great Awakener, there was no reason why he couldn’t use his ability at some point.

Il-hyun didn’t have a strong body, and this was partly why his abilities were as limited as they were.

It was an occasional occurrence among the general public.

If you have feeble abilities from a young age, there is absolutely no possibility of development. You couldn’t escape that fate even after the  Awakening occurred. When he was 20, he was tested for Awakening by the state, but now a machine error had caused him only ridicule.

“I thought I had some intellect.”

Il-hyun put his hand on the sugar powder and focused his mind. The powder moved in slow motion to form a small circle.

The ability was still there, but it was still really useless, a skill that couldn’t help anyone.

He was living an ordinary life, far from exceptional, his job small and insignificant: a manager’s assistant for a small company. He was twenty-six.

He was lucky conscription had been scrapped after the Awakening.

“Yes, it wasn’t a fuss because I had a gate in my uncle’s apartment,” said the clerk, who was sitting across the street and looking at the screen, clapping her hands.

“What?! Really?”

Her female colleague’s face smacked of incredulity.

The woman nodded vigorously.

“I mean it. My cousin took an authentication shot next to the gate and posted it on SNS.”

“There really is no fear in the world.”

“The monsters never appear right away anyway. In time, there’ll be no need to worry about the Awakened people having to come and deal with them. My uncle’s house was destroyed, but we were entitled to compensation, so I thought about moving.”

“Yeah, the old building owners wanted to open a gate… buildings now though, they aren’t built with any particular attention to detail. Even if you don’t want to pay much for a home though, you still need to save because of the high cost of mandatory insurance.”

Il-hyun, who was listening to the two talkers, said.

“Are you still worried? The cycle will be back soon.”

It was a peaceful time worldwide. Gate generation was down, and so there weren’t that many monsters. The reason was simple. There was a cycle in the gates that seemed to follow a schedule. The cycle repeated every five years, and the number of gates depended on the current time within the schedule. This year was the beginning of the five-year gate cycle.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen monsters.”

“Awakening was five years ago, and we had no problem then. But I wish I could see the monsters at least once.”

“Yeah, same.”

Il-hyun stared at his watch as the two female workers laughed and chatted away.

“Lunch is almost over.”

“Oh, remember to drop by a high-ranking convenience store…”

The two of them talked behind Il-hyun.

* * *

Tiddididick. Tiddididick.

The alarm clock sounded in Il-hyun’s ears.

He frowned and sat up in bed.

“Tsk tsk.”

Il-hyun rubbed his eyes and turned off the clock alarm.

He had woken up at his regular time, and now prepared himself to go to work as always. He dressed, then decided that for his breakfast, he’d finish the leftover food from yesterday. While he waited for the food to heat up, he brushed his hair.

He left his house and got on the subway. These were all free to use now — ether had virtually eliminated the running costs. He scored himself an empty seat. Then he looked at his cell phone.

He read a news article about more gates opening. Some of the

Awakened had been injured.

‘Awakened people suffer, too’ Il-hyun realized.

The gates opened without any outside help, so there were a high number of Awakened people and police waiting at night to deal with the situation.

For larger countries such as Russia, with wide expanses of uninhabited land, they only managed to control the gates with massive expenditure on security forces.

“Wait… Is this near the company?”

Surprised, Il-hyun stopped.

“Are there any problems with the family?”

Il-hyun was overhearing an interesting conversation, but before he could fully process its meaning, a subway announcement came up over the loudspeaker.

[We will guide the passengers. Due to the gate opening near Cheongseong Station on Line 11, we will pass the controlled Cheongseong and Gudo Stations without stopping.]

“Argh.”

Il-hyun’s face screwed up in frustration.