I subdued the villains and finished clearing the Gate.
Then I handed the villains' bodies over to the Hunter Police officers who handled villain cases and came back.
Catching the villains and handing them over, somehow or other, was all well and good, but what came next was the problem.
I didn't know exactly how strong the villain trio was, but compared to an ordinary D-rank Hunter, they were overwhelmingly stronger; that much was certain.
A D-rank Hunter, outmatched in both strength and numbers, completely subduing those villains would inevitably look suspicious.
The police would probably grill us about that during the witness interview.
Well, that was the Hunter Police's job.
It couldn't be helped.
After finishing all the procedures, Jun-hwi and I left the police station.
"Hyung-nim. We got through today okay, but about the witness interview. What are we supposed to say there?"
"About what?"
"I mean, from their point of view, it doesn't make sense. A mere D-rank Hunter killing three villains estimated at B to C-rank."
From the police's point of view, they might even suspect that we were the ones hiding our strength.
Then they might naturally press us on whether we'd both deliberately taken lower ranks than our real abilities.
I was aware of that too, so ever since leaving the Gate I'd tried to summon that mysterious aurora-light sword energy again, but I failed every time.
The one good thing was that I had footage of the whole thing.
"We'll just have to explain it well. Or...... let's say the villains got badly hurt in an accident inside the Gate, and that's how we were able to deal with them."
Unexpected accidents really did happen in Gates from time to time, so it would make a decent excuse.
The inside of a Gate was still uncharted territory for humanity.
"Then we'd better get our stories straight."
"Right. Let's think it over and talk about it separately later.
"And, Jun-hwi."
"Yes, hyung-nim."
"You and I are only a year apart. Being called hyung-nim is a bit much."
I was only in my mid-twenties; I was too young to be called hyung-nim.
......And listening to him talk, I sometimes wondered if he'd come from some gang.
"Ah, sorry. I call the guys in my sister's guild hyung-nim, you see. So I've gotten too used to saying it, and the habit's hard to break."
Perhaps because he'd heard it a lot, Jun-hwi scratched his head sheepishly.
"Still, it's way too much for me. Please, just call me hyung."
"I'll try, hyung-nim."
Ugh, seriously.
It had been bearable at first, but now it was starting to make my toes curl.
"And, hyung-nim."
"What."
I was about to tell him to just call me hyung already.
But seeing the serious look in Jun-hwi's eyes, I swallowed my words.
"I know I'm saying it again, but today, really...... thank you. Hyung-nim, if there's anything I can help you with, just say the word."
"So that's what this was about."
"No amount of thanks is enough. You saved my life."
I really wished he'd stop.
It was embarrassing enough to kill me.
I hadn't realized it when we first met, but Jun-hwi was a surprisingly exhausting character too.
"Just buy me a meal."
"I'll buy you as many as you want! Do you like omakase, hyung-nim?"
"I told you to quit it with the hyung-nim, jeez."
***
Since it was dinnertime anyway, I ate with Jun-hwi and then went home.
Maybe because so much had happened today, I was completely wiped out.
Part of me wanted to flop onto the bed and head straight off to dreamland.
But I had to call Sia before going to sleep.
"......Call her?"
Is calling her the right thing to do, on a day like today?
It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to Sia. Far from it.
I just didn't want to worry her.
I'd told Sia that morning I was going to a Gate, so the Gate would naturally come up during the call, and then I'd have no choice but to tell her about running into the villains.
I couldn't lie and say nothing happened, either. Sia would figure it out even if I hid it, and above all, the wearable cam would have captured today's events in vivid detail.
If she found out what had happened this time......
'Sia's heart will...... grow heavy.'
She might grow anxious that it could happen again, or she might lose her mind over the fact that someone had tried to kill me.
Knowing Sia, she probably wouldn't sleep easy tonight.
Even so.
'Telling her is the right thing to do.'
I hadn't committed any crime, it wasn't something I needed to hide, and Sia would find out one way or another soon enough.
I called Sia right away.
As if she'd been waiting for my call, Sia picked up in under 1 second.
"Hello."
[Oppaaa! I missed you so, so much!]
Naturally, it was a video call this time too.
Sia was waving at me like crazy, overjoyed to see me.
Up until 1 year ago we hadn't video-called all that often, but since Sia came back, we checked in on each other by video call instead of a regular call whenever we could.
"Me too. I can't wait to see you."
[I don't know why time is going so slowly.]
Sia's cute whining brought a smile to my lips before I knew it.
[Oppa, how was today? Did the Gate go okay?]
Sia was looking at me with shining eyes, as if she was all ready to listen.
But.
[......Oppa? Did something happen? You don't look so good.]
Perhaps she had read the faint change in my expression in that split second; Sia asked in a worried voice.
It had only been for a moment, but I had hesitated over how to put it.
"My Sia's a real sage. You're right. Something did happen."
[Why, why? What happened? Tell me, oppa. I'll listen to anything.]
Just a moment ago, Sia had definitely been smiling brightly.
But.
[Don't tell me some bitch tried to get your number again?]
The moment I mentioned 'something,' Sia's mood changed in an instant.
[Right. That's it. This is exactly why I can never relax. Oppa, which bitch was it. Was it a bitch from the Gate? Or—]
......It seemed she'd misunderstood, thinking it was about a woman, like the time at the tteokbokki place.
But the icy look lasted only a moment.
Perhaps anxiety had swept over her; Sia started to bite her nails.
I decided to explain quickly before it caused a bigger misunderstanding.
"It's absolutely not that."
[It's not? Phew. I was worried it was that again.]
Perhaps relieved to hear it wasn't, Sia went back to her usual self.
But does Sia know?
That I had been through something far more serious than that.
It hurt me to have to tell her something like this, but......
It was something I'd have to tell her someday anyway.
"Sia."
[Yeah.]
I began in as serious a voice as I could manage.
At first Sia had been smiling warmly, but when I gave off a seriousness unlike my usual self, her pupils began to tremble slightly.
"......."
And as the silence dragged on, Sia's face was deeply tinged with anxiety.
[What is it, what is it, oppa? Huh?]
"Something kind of serious happened."
I let out a deep sigh and told her what had happened in the Gate today.
Everything, from the villains trying to kill me, to my suddenly being able to wield aurora-light sword energy, to using that power to kill them.
Naturally, I didn't bother mentioning the insults the villains had hurled at Sia and me at the end.
"......That's what happened."
Right after getting that long, heavy story off my chest, I carefully watched Sia's reaction.
Sure enough, Sia didn't look good.
She had a lot to say and even more she wanted to ask, but she was struggling to calm her emotions.
Especially her eyes.
I could feel indescribably complicated emotions in Sia's eyes.
At first she'd managed to hold her feelings down fairly well, but soon her expression began changing from moment to moment, as if everything she'd bottled up had burst.
Perhaps she didn't want me to see her like that; Sia turned off her camera.
"Sia......?"
[......I'm so glad, oppa.]
Her voice seemed calm, but it sounded like she was forcing her feelings down.
[I'm so glad you're safe.]
"Thanks. And in a way, it's thanks to you, Sia. If it weren't for the sword you gave me, a miracle like that probably wouldn't have happened."
[No. You made that miracle yourself, oppa. Thank you so much for coming back alive.]
She spoke brightly as if she were fine, but I could tell she was still holding her feelings in.
For Sia's sake, I pretended not to notice and let myself be fooled.
"Anyway, Sia, I made it back without a scratch, so don't worry. Okay?"
[......Okay.]
She was acting cheerful, but the faint tremble in her voice made my heart ache.
It seemed that keeping the call going any longer wouldn't do either of us any good.
"Ah, I'm tired. Sorry, but let's leave it here for today and have a long call tomorrow. Is that okay?"
[Yeah. Of course. Good night, oppa.]
I hung up and stared blankly into space.
Hearing Sia's voice strain to sound cheerful left me feeling low.
It didn't look like either of us would sleep well tonight.
If only I could, I'd sing Sia a lullaby at her side and fall asleep feeling each other's warmth.
Tonight was going to be especially lonely.
***
Right after the call ended.
Sia couldn't contain the emotions boiling up from deep in her chest.
She had come so close to losing her precious lover, found again after every hardship, in an instant, over something so absurd.
Yet despite all that, the sight of the kind Min-jun worrying more about her than himself made sorrow and guilt start to creep up from deep in her heart.
But soon those feelings turned into a fierce rage at the trash who had dared try to kill Min-jun.
And that rage turned again into a regret so deep it made her chest ache.
Regret that while Min-jun was risking his life to get through that ordeal, she hadn't been able to help him at all.
'It's a good thing oppa drew out that power.'
What if he hadn't?
Something she didn't even want to imagine would have happened.
When her thoughts branched out that far, she crushed the drink bottle in her hand without realizing it.
It was a plastic bottle, yet under Sia's overwhelming grip it didn't just crumple; it shattered into tiny pieces like glass.
'What can I do for oppa?'
Sia could do anything for Min-jun.
Quite literally 'anything.'
But right now.
There was nothing she could do for Min-jun except listen to him and comfort him.
The bastards who deserved to be torn limb from limb were already dead.
The helplessness of being unable to do anything, despite being a being as mighty as a dragon.
That helplessness was more than enough to set her rage ablaze.
BANG—!
Pouring in all her rage at the villains, and at herself, she slammed her fist into the floor.
It was a solid marble floor, but one blow of her fist sent a crack splitting across it.
'I have to do something.'
Not just for Min-jun, but for her own sake too.
If she just sat still and did nothing, she felt she'd go mad.
She racked her brain for something she could do.
Then an idea flashed through her mind.
'Just because they're dead doesn't mean I can't get revenge, right?'
An ordinary person couldn't, but as a dragon, she was more than capable.
Having experienced reincarnation, she had naturally taken an interest in the necromancers' studies ever since she was a hatchling.
That interest naturally grew into a desire to learn, so she taught herself their craft, and thanks to that, she could use spirit summoning, which called back the souls of the dead, at an expert level.
'That's it.'
If the targets of her revenge were already dead, she could just summon their souls back and take her revenge then.
They were probably all in hell by now, though.
"I'll show them there's a place far more horrible than hell."
Her eyes began to fill with thick killing intent.