Jintae quickly stuck his head out and looked back.
The hand’s forearm was still blocking most of the Gate, but a furry creature was whining as it squeezed its head through a gap.
After a struggle, the low-level demon beast tumbled to the ground.
It let out a shrill, irritated cry and raised its head.
It resembled an orangutan, but its eyes, twice the size of a normal animal’s, glowed a malevolent red.
It scrambled to its feet, grabbed a club, and charged off, smashing the heads of fleeing people.
“Screee!”
“Ahhh!”
The howls of demon beasts and the death screams of humans wove a hellish cacophony.
Jintae’s head snapped forward.
His face, usually ruddy and coarse, was now ashen.
“Floor it,” Dana ordered.
He nodded.
With a heavy roar, the car shot forward like an arrow.
Dana retrieved a gun from the glove compartment and leaned out the window, aiming the muzzle at a low-level demon beast charging toward them at terrifying speed.
She closed one eye and squeezed the trigger.
‘Bang!
Bang!’
The bullets struck the nearest demon beast squarely in the eye.
‘I didn’t think this would come in handy so soon.’
After dispatching the creature, Dana straightened up.
Jintae glanced at her, his mouth agape.
“What?
Keep your eyes on the road.”
“When did you learn to shoot?”
“Recently.”
“You know, when I think about it, there’s really nothing you can’t do…”
Fortunately, they encountered no more trouble before leaving the town.
As they entered a road carved into the mountainside, the peaceful scenery made the terror from the Gate feel like a distant memory.
The road stretched on, uncracked and whole, in an area untouched by the disaster.
‘Chirp, chirp.’
The songs of mountain birds began to soothe her frayed nerves.
“Fuck, what the hell just happened?” Jintae muttered, relieved.
His eyes, which always looked like poorly made dumplings, welled with tears.
The tension finally draining from her, Dana leaned back in her seat and sighed.
“I think the worst is over.”
Jintae switched the car to autopilot, closed his eyes, and slumped against the seat before looking over at her.
“Who are you calling?”
“Doha oppa,” Dana replied, pressing her phone to her ear.
“Do you think Saeron is with him?” he asked, his voice laced with worry.
Dana nodded.
“Probably.”
His hold song, a sweet pop song by a female artist, played on and on.
‘Why isn’t he picking up?’
“Jintae, give me Saeron’s number…”
‘CRASH!’
A massive impact slammed into them from behind.
Dana was thrown forward, barely managing to shield her head with her hands before she hit the dashboard.
A sharp pain, like a bone snapping, shot through her.
‘HONK!’
Jintae, unable to protect himself in time, smashed his forehead against the horn.
His panicked face flushed crimson.
“What the hell hit us?!”
“Seatbelt!” she yelled, yanking on her own as she stuck her head out the window.
‘A truck?’
An old blue truck had rear-ended them.
Her gaze shot to the driver’s seat.
She saw an orangutan—no, a demon beast—with its tongue lolling out.
As its red eyes glowed, Dana held her breath, too stunned to speak.
‘A demon beast is driving?’
Each demon beast had different abilities.
It seemed they had run into a particularly intelligent one.
Dana calmly raised her gun.
Just as she aimed, the truck surged forward with terrifying force.
Before she could properly fasten her seatbelt, it slammed into the rear of their car again.
‘CRASH!’
The impact rattled her skull, and her body went airborne.
A white airbag deployed on the driver’s side.
Jintae was motionless, apparently unconscious.
That was the last thing she saw before she was ejected through the car window.
She landed on the slope beyond the guardrail, instinctively curling into a ball and protecting her head with her arms.
A moment later, an impact that felt like her limbs were being torn apart washed over her.
Her body tumbled like a ball down the mountainside until it collided with a lone tree, finally coming to a stop.
Sunlight, filtering through the leaves, fell upon her limp form like scattered white jewels.
‘Chirp, chirp.
Tweet, tweet.’
Her eyelashes fluttered.
Her eyelids parted to reveal dazed, unfocused pupils.
A squirrel was gathering acorns in front of her.
‘A squirrel.
Acorns…?’ Her eyes flew open.
The moment she tried to sit up, a sharp cry of “Agh!” escaped her lips.
Looking down, she saw her clothes were torn and her exposed skin was covered in scratches.
Thankfully, it seemed she hadn’t pulled any ligaments, but every slight movement sent a wave of throbbing pain through her.
Her entire body was a wreck.
Hunching her shoulders, Dana looked around.
“What happened?”
She was surrounded by trees, grass, and rocks.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the sunlight felt heavy, not bright and fresh.
Sunset was approaching.
Dana fumbled in her pockets, her expression falling.
Her phone was gone, likely lost when she tumbled down the slope.
Leaning on a tree for support, she looked up with a troubled face.
The slope was impossibly high.
Her gaze then shifted downward, where she could see old concrete buildings at the bottom of the mountain.
She was back in the town.
‘How much time has passed?’
She looked up at the sky, which was as clear as it had been that morning.
The ominous purple of the Gate had vanished without a trace.
If not for the devastated town, she would never have believed a Gate had opened here at all.
‘Good.
It seems they dealt with the demon beast before a demon realm could form.’
Once a demon realm opened, the area could no longer be considered part of Earth.
If a demon beast of that magnitude had fully emerged, Korea would have been forced to abandon this entire region.
‘Even if the Gate is closed, the demon beasts that got through are still roaming around.
The center’s people are probably handling the lesser ones, which means this is still a danger zone.’
A fresh wave of caution washed over her, and Dana silently surveyed her surroundings.
‘Is Doha oppa with the center’s team?
What about Jintae?
He’s not dead, is he?
Damn it, of all the times to lose my phone.’
‘Growl.’
Her stomach protested loudly.
She hadn’t eaten all day and felt weak.
Remembering a small convenience store in town, Dana forced her heavy legs to move.
‘I hope I run into someone from the center on the way…’
As she emerged from an alley, she froze, the sight before her stealing her breath.
A group of orangutan-like demon beasts was huddled together directly in her path—the fastest route to the convenience store.
Cursing her luck, Dana glanced back at the alley.
There was even a demon beast that could drive.
If another one with that level of intelligence was among them, escaping in her current state would be nearly impossible.
‘What are they doing?’
Observing them more closely, she felt a wave of nausea.
Blood dripped from their bright red hands as they lifted them to their mouths.
They were eating something.
When she realized it was a person, a primal revulsion churned in her gut.
She barely suppressed the urge to vomit and leaned against the cold concrete wall, a cold sweat beading on her forehead.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
A moment later, feeling calmer, she carefully slipped away before the creatures could notice her.
The convenience store was a short distance from the mountainside she had tumbled down.
On the way, she had nearly been spotted by the demon beasts twice and had passed more than ten corpses.
She forced her gaze away from the bodies, which were covered in gruesome bite marks.
‘I thought it was an A-rank Gate, but maybe it was B-rank?’
An A-rank Gate couldn’t have been resolved this quickly.
It would have required at least three A-rank Espers.
It might have been possible if Mujin Park, Doha Lee, and another Esper from the center had joined forces.
‘Doha oppa.’
A sense of urgency gripped her.
The convenience store had clearly been ransacked; one of the aisles was completely overturned.
She first looked for the phone at the counter.
The receiver was dangling by its cord.
She placed it back on the cradle, then picked it up again.
‘Beep, beep, beep, beep.’ It was working.
Relieved, she dialed Doha’s number.
The same pop song began to play.
Her face darkened.
She hung up and called the center, pretending to be a local resident asking for an update.
It was just a guess, but it seemed Jintae had been rescued safely.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they told her an Esper Task Force had been dispatched and that recovery efforts were focused on the main battle site.
Apparently, they had lured the “giant hand” to an unpopulated area to fight it, which was on the opposite side of town.
‘So the low-level demon beasts must have wandered over here.’
She started to ask about Doha but stopped herself.
If he wasn’t there, it would be tantamount to revealing his weakness to the center.
Doha had been raised with the crushing expectation of perfection.
The question of what a nationally affiliated A-rank Esper was doing during a crisis could easily turn into a massive scandal.
‘The battle site the center mentioned is a twenty-minute drive from here.’
She made a final rescue request and hung up.
Thirty minutes later, the glass door of the convenience store opened cautiously.
She had wanted to eat, but after witnessing the demon beasts’ gruesome act, she couldn’t stomach the thought of food.
Having managed only a few sips of a drink, she slipped out of the store soundlessly.
Her plan was to find a secluded spot and look for an abandoned car.
This wasn’t her first disaster, but her lips were still parched with tension.
After the Gates appeared, survival training had become part of the standard curriculum.
There were protocols for emergencies like this, and a special law stipulated that commandeering a vehicle to escape a danger zone was not considered theft.
‘So that’s why that law exists.’
The realization hit her hard as she scanned her surroundings.
Stuck in an alley, she couldn’t find any suitable cars.
Most were properly parked, their keys missing.
‘I need to get out of here first.’