One would describe it as passionate, if they were being generous; aggressive, if they were being honest.
Her frizzy, hippie-perm hair and slightly tanned face were just on the edge of her memory.
‘Ah, now I remember.’
“What are you going to do, stare at me like that?” The girl smirked and rose from her chair, brushing popcorn crumbs from her hands with a swagger that suggested she was ready for a fight.
“Aram Jin,” Dana said, her purple eyes locking onto her.
Aram’s smirk slowly faded.
The sharp black bob, the translucent skin through which faint blue veins were visible, and those unnervingly vivid purple eyes—it was all somehow unreal.
The purple eyes, a symbol of contamination, combined with Dana’s uniquely calm aura, created a palpable sense of otherness.
Aram, who moments before had looked ready to grab her by the collar, now faltered.
“Where is Saeron Kim?” Dana asked quietly.
“Hey, who do you think you are to say her name?”
“Where is Saeron Kim?”
“…Why are you looking for her?”
“She’s not here.
And Doha isn’t answering his phone,” Dana said, holding up her smartphone.
Aram’s confidence returned, and she sneered.
“I guess they don’t want their date to be disturbed.”
“Oh, really?
Doha and her are on a date?”
“You keep saying my sunbae’s name so casually…”
Dana had no patience for this squabble.
Saeron was the domestic Guide from the center who had been matched with Doha after Yeonhwa left for China.
Her friends saw Doha as Saeron’s boyfriend and despised Dana, viewing her as a potential homewrecker.
Aram suddenly smiled.
“No, I’ll tell you.
It’s no big secret.
They’re probably in the middle of Guiding.”
“Are you sure?
Tell me everything you know.”
The command soured Aram’s mood again.
She lifted her chin.
“And why should I?”
“Because I have to report to the main house.
It’s my job to know where Doha is,” Dana said with a sweet smile, her purple eyes glinting sharply from beneath her lids.
“If a dangerous situation were to arise, we’d have to take action, wouldn’t we?”
For a split second, Aram’s eyes darted to the upper right before returning to Dana.
She watched the subtle shift carefully.
‘She’s plotting something with Saeron.’ It couldn’t be anything dangerous.
More likely, they were far from campus and wanted to turn the training exercise into a date, taking the opportunity to mess with the Contaminant they both hated.
Sensing she might get caught in the crossfire, a slightly cowed Aram asked bluntly, “…What kind of dangerous situation could happen here?”
“This is where a Gate once opened.
You can’t say it’s safe.”
“Hmph, that thing closed five years ago.
What’s so dangerous?
The buildings were fancy, and there were tons of people.”
At the clue she’d inadvertently dropped, Dana’s eyes lit up.
“So you went to the casino?” she asked casually.
Aram looked flustered and shook her head.
“What are you talking about?”
But Dana was already certain.
The massive resort and casino was one of Gangwon Province’s most famous landmarks.
If Doha wasn’t answering his phone, he must be completely absorbed.
“Anyway, if you know where Doha is, tell me.
I have a duty to report to the main house.”
“Ha, right.
‘If’ there’s any danger.” Any other time, she would have taunted her, but Aram’s guilt made her compliant.
Dana turned away.
It seemed Doha really was with Saeron, but she’d have to contact Saeron to be sure.
‘I need to wake Jintae.’ She started for the second floor.
A skin-crawling sensation made the fine hairs on her arms stand up.
It felt as if the very air was vibrating against her skin.
Dana’s eyes flew wide.
“What was that?
I just got goosebumps,” one of the students muttered.
Ignoring the bewildered chatter, Dana sprinted to the window where Jintae had been standing moments before.
In the clear sky he had been admiring, a purple anomaly now pulsed.
It shimmered above the crude, slate-roofed buildings and single-story houses, swelling in size.
It spread across the sky like a bruise, a tear in the fabric of the world that seemed to reveal the abyss of space beyond.
It was a sight that belonged to no landscape on Earth.
It was from the other side, just like that day, when it had torn a peaceful town to shreds in a matter of hours.
“A Gate!
A Gate has opened!” someone screamed from behind her.
A low groan escaped Dana’s lips.
“Contact the center!
And the military base!” Aram shouted, jolting the frozen students back to their senses.
After confirming the Gate, Dana ran back to the Guiding device and hit the stop button.
The transparent cylindrical lid hissed open, and the Esper inside—a Caucasian man—opened his eyes.
Aram shook his shoulder.
“Julian!
Get up!
We’re about to have a Gate Surge!”
Dana raced up to the second floor.
Jintae, just waking up, mumbled, “This is a lie, right?”
She grabbed his chin and turned his head toward the window, where the purple maw of the Gate gaped like an entrance to hell.
“Every second you’re late is a second closer to death.”
“Gasp!” Jintae shot up like a spring, not even bothering to wipe the drool from his mouth.
Before heading downstairs, Dana glanced back at the Gate.
‘What rank is it?’ It was impossible to estimate the danger level before the demon beasts appeared.
Generally, a B-rank Gate required an A-rank Esper.
If this was an E-rank Gate, Julian could probably handle it, since he was C-rank.
But if it was anything higher… She shook her head, forcing the ominous thought away, and moved faster.
Students poured out of the health center’s open doors as similar scenes unfolded in the surrounding buildings.
“Uh, where do we go?” someone cried.
Another pointed to the road, where a few quick-thinking students were already speeding away in their cars.
“Get in the car!”
As Jintae started to follow the panicked crowd, Dana grabbed the back of his collar.
He twisted around, his face a mask of urgency.
“What?
We have to go!
There won’t be any room!”
“Something’s wrong.
I have a bad feeling.”
“What do you mean, a feeling—!”
Just then, the sky went dark, a formless shadow falling over them like a lid.
Confused faces turned upward.
The sound of something slicing through the air was sharp and terrifying.
An object fell from the sky and obliterated the head of a student in the front yard.
It was the medical student who had asked about her lab coat.
Everyone froze.
It was the instinct of prey encountering a predator: stop, be still.
They stood like pillars of salt, only their eyes moving.
It was a giant hand.
Where the student had been standing, a colossal hand was now planted on the ground, blood seeping from between fingers matted with coarse, brown fur.
“Uh, ugh…” The focus drained from Jintae’s eyes.
Gritting her teeth, Dana tightened her grip on his collar, keeping him from collapsing.
In that instant, the silence shattered.
“Aaaah!”
It was Aram Jin.
Even she, the calmest of the group, thanks to her training, had finally lost her nerve.
“Don’t move!” Dana’s desperate shout was useless.
As if it had finally chosen a target, the hand moved, lunging after the blindly fleeing Aram.
“Julian!” she screamed in terror.
He was a student, but he was still an Esper.
While the others scrambled to escape, Julian, now in his gear, stepped in front of her, his expression grim.
“I’ll block it!
Run!” he yelled, thrusting his hands upward.
His power was psychokinesis.
The giant hand stopped in midair.
Just as a wave of relief washed over the crowd, Julian’s face contorted in pain.
A sharp ‘crack’ echoed through the air.
In the same instant, the giant hand crashed down on top of him.
The sickening crunch of breaking bones and pulped flesh followed.
Before anyone could react, the hand lunged again, falling upon the stunned Aram.
The sound of life being extinguished rang out once more.
Aram Jin—or what was left of her—was instantly reduced to a bloody mess.
The students scattered, screaming.
The hand, toying with them like a child with insects, flinched, seemingly confused by the cacophony.
Clamping a hand over Jintae’s mouth to stifle his scream, Dana’s gaze shot to the Gate.
An arm, connected to the hand, filled the entire portal.
A Gate was a passage.
It was too small.
Only the arm had made it through.
Dana swallowed hard.
If the arm and hand alone were this devastating, the thought of its entire body emerging sent a chill down her spine.
At the deafening roar, Dana’s head snapped around.
The hand, disoriented by the noise, stopped its slaughter and began to lash out indiscriminately.