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It all started on a regular Tuesday afternoon.
History books would later write about how the Kingdom of Corea responded swiftly and effectively, ensuring the safety of its citizens and the preservation of the land. Papers would be written on the different policies implemented by the King and how effective they were at instituting new programs and companies, and how successfully the economy bounced back from the sudden shock. People would spread stories on how effective the assistance they received was and how helpful the government was during the turbulent times after The Bridging, as it was eventually coined years later.
Yet at the time thousands across the kingdom fell unconscious simultaneously, none of those future things mattered.
“... and after following those orders, begin the process of instituting the Emergency Protocol immediately!” Lee Gon stood up from his chair, attention directed to the computer screen that showed a collage of a massive influx of posts from his citizens about their friends, family, colleagues, and veritable strangers suddenly passing out on multiple different websites and forums that the head of PR emailed him a few moments prior.
“Yes, pyeha!” Those lined up by the door rushed out, scattering in a multitude of directions to fulfill various responsibilities after they were called by Gon. Letting out a sigh, he sat down in his chair and stared down at the piece of legislation he had been dragging himself through just minutes prior.
Yeongie, I wonder how you- He was interrupted from his thoughts by frantic knocking at his door.
“You may come in!” Gon rested his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands together.
“Pyeha, it's about J- uh, Jo Yeong! A report has come in that he passed out while training in the gym, and he has been moved to the Navy's medical bay for observation!” The inexperienced Royal Guard who entered almost forgot to salute and stuttered, too anxious for the standard protocol to kick in. All the senior guards and staff were busy, so every hand was needed on deck.
Gon sat stock still, words processing but not fully settling in. Jo Yeong, his Unbreakable Sword, was in the medical bay? Placed under observation?
“Dismissed.” He said blankly, barely registering the guard bowing and backing out of the room, finally blinking when his office door closed.
He allowed himself a moment of weakness, feeling the mantle of King fall from his shoulders now that Yeong was no longer holding it upon his back. He bent his head and squeezed his hands together, knuckles turning white. His people were frantic, Yeong was in the medical bay, and things were spiraling at a rate he almost couldn’t keep up with.
Shaking his head, he straightened up and felt the mantle of King on his shoulders again, a determined look appearing in his eyes. He must stay strong and be a good ruler, especially in such a time of crisis.
Boom. BOOM. BOOM!
Three consecutive booms rang out across the military base, causing almost all the heads in the vicinity to turn in the direction of the loud noise. It had come from the medical bay, and everyone on base immediately came to one conclusion: Jo Yeong finally woke up.
The room where he had been lying for thirteen days remained the same, not even the bouquet brought in had a flower out of place. Yeong's eyes remained closed, but sprang open when the window creaked.
“Ugh!” He tried to move his arm to cover his eyes, blinded by the sun he hadn't seen in over ten days, but he barely lifted his arm before it fell back down onto the sheets.
“What…?” He struggled to take in his surroundings when a bunch of nurses and doctors rushed into the room.
“He's awake! Someone inform the King immediately!” A doctor shouted, and a muffled voice of confirmation came from outside the room.
“Officer Jo, how are you feeling currently?” A nurse fiddling with the IV asked, glancing up at him from where she was working.
“...It's very bright. Would-” he was cut off immediately by the sound of a different nurse walking over and yanking the curtains closed.
“Better?” Someone in the room asked, and Yeong could only nod.
“Officer,” a doctor at the foot of his bed began, taking out a clipboard, “if you're feeling up for it, I can explain what exactly happened.”
Jo Yeong thought for a moment but nodded in assent. The lack of direct sunlight on his face made thinking a lot easier.
“Great. It has been thirteen days since a report came in that you had fainted in the training room at around twelve hundred hours. Since then, you have remained unconscious until now.” The doctor inhaled and tapped the clipboard a few times with the pen. “The reason for your thirteen-day coma is due to an incredibly new phenomenon called ‘Awakening’.” The doctor used one hand to use air quotes for the last word.
“I assume you'll explain what that means?” Yeong couldn’t help but ask, attempting to move his arm out for someone to hand him some form of information.
“Correct,” the doctor looked at him over their glasses, but motioned with their hand to a nurse who brought over a packet of paper for Yeong to grab and begin reading.
“Simply put, some humans between the ages of eighteen and fifty now have magical abilities.”
“What?” Yeong asked, stunned. This wasn’t a novel; this was real life, and magic simply did not exist in the real world. He placed the packet of information given to him to the side and looked at the doctor with rapt attention. He would have tried to keep reading, but his headache was a bit too strong to do so.
“The kingdom’s scientists have been working around the clock to investigate and return with concrete results, but yes, magic is real.” At the end of his sentence, the doctor held out a hand, and Yeong looked on in shock as a faint green glow surrounded it. A curl turned the hand into a fist, and the glow disappeared. The doctor continued talking, “Based on preliminary tests and readings as well as information gained within the recent days, it has been tentatively determined that you, Officer Jo, are currently one of the highest ranking ability holders in the kingdom, if not the highest ranking.”
Yeong just lay on the bed and blinked, mind quickly processing the information he just received. He turned his head to look at his own palm, a small amount of wonder in his eyes.
“Since some time has passed since the incident first happened, there are a few emergency protocols and programs that have been put into place regarding the existence of those with powers.” The doctor motioned towards a new nurse who handed Yeong a thin stack of papers. “These are the forms and information packets regarding the new programs. Please take some time to review them, and-” The door swung open and hit the wall loudly, interrupting the doctor.
“Pyeha!” Yeong exclaimed, eyes wide at the appearance of the King who looked as if he had come running.
The King straightened up and cleared his throat, prompting all the medical workers to bow and leave silently, with the final person leaving the door open only for the king to close it. Lee Gon made his way over to the bed and stood silently, eyes roving over Yeong as if checking for any visible injuries.
“Pyeha…” Yeong attempted to get out of the bed, but Gon held up a hand and stopped him immediately. He looked around the room and walked over to a nearby chair, dragging it over amidst Yeong’s verbal attempts to dissuade him.
“Yeong…” Gon spoke quietly, but with a tone that had Yeong ducking his head down to look at him through his lashes.
“Pyeha,” Yeong looked down at his hands and fiddled with them, a sense of nervousness overcoming him that he desperately tried tamping down on.
“...Huuu,” Gon let out a sigh before giving Yeong a look that had him straightening up in the bed, “have you read the new information yet?” He gestured to the thin stack of papers with his hand.
“Ah, no. Apologies, pyeha.” Yeong hurriedly grabbed the papers, which had been thrown to the side at some point, beginning to read.
Those persons with powers, to be further referred to in this document as “Awakened”, shall be tested at a government-sanctioned site and bestowed upon them what will be referred to in this document as “Rank”. To classify those Awakened, there will be a system whereupon their Rank will be determined at the government-sanctioned site as between “S” and “F”, whereas “S” is for those who fall between the power level of Undetermined (measurements above the level that can be calculated) and-
“Pyeha, what on Earth…” Yeong couldn’t help the tone of disbelief in his voice. He had read a few pages from the thicker stack of papers the doctor had handed him earlier before putting them aside, but after reading the smaller stack of papers, it hit him. There really was something that shifted the Kingdom forever.
Yeong grit his teeth, pulling water up from the blades of grass beneath his feet as he stared down the monster exiting the portal. The water condensed into a sword, and he quickly changed the edges of it to dry ice. The monster, a being that looked akin to a snake but with two heads and coated in tough-looking scales, simply raised its head and hissed, swishing its tail. Tightening his grip on the ice-water sword, he ran forward, leaping into the air to avoid the tail that swept low at the ground. He swung his sword, nicking the skin, and caused the monster to open its mouth to bear large fangs at him.
“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue as he heard the rest of his unit give orders and supply support, “let’s try-.” He quickly increased the distance from the creature and took out the gun holstered at his side while returning the sword to water droplets, and pushed a bit of mana through it, not flinching from the recoil as a bullet of highly pressured water shot out from the gun and hit the snake creature right below where the two heads began to split. The creature let out a piercing shriek, but Yeong simply pushed more mana through the gun and shot three more times, managing to hit the snake in both its heads and once in the lower body. The snake fell and lay unmoving, but no one moved to get closer until Yeong shot it five more times to ensure that it was dead.
“Nice!” One of the support members on the team hit him on the back as the rest of the team began preparing the creature for transport back to the base. Yeong simply nodded and reholstered his gun. He had been out in the field killing all sorts of monsters that left the portals scattered around the area, seeing as he was the only S-Class hunter in the area. The portals had been releasing a steady stream of monsters ever since they appeared, and even two years after the Awakening and into his military service, he had been constantly deployed to take care of the otherworldly creatures. That wasn't to say that there weren't other S-Class hunters in Corea, but there were none that were in the military and able to be deployed easily, if they were able to be deployed at all. Fortunately, there were quite a few A-Class hunters enlisted and who were officers, but scientists had found out that there was an exponential increase in strength for every letter, and even within a rank there were different power levels. The science was too new to really determine the differences, but Yeong had seen it for himself when he was sent on a mission to clear a high-ranked gate.
He had been partnered up with two other S-Class hunters, Chae Eui and In Seung, and they were tasked to clear what scientists thought was an A-ranked gate. He was almost nineteen at the time, and the other two hunters were twenty-one and twenty-four respectively, and their single year of hunter experience showed. He was a mage type specialized in combat who was lucky enough to be comfortably proficient in melee. Eui was also a mage type, but her skills were geared towards support buffs, while Seung was a tank. They figured it would be similar to other A-rank gates they had cleared, but were unpleasantly surprised at the power of the boss.
Fortunately, they had become acquainted with each other's skills and had good synergy, but the boss gave them a run for their money, considering the level of skill and training they had. Afterward, when the three came out roughed up and bruised but whole, the hunter community discovered that high-ranked gates also went up in difficulty exponentially, as well as having a hierarchy within each letter rank, much like the hunters themselves. Yeong didn't really bother much with the specificities of it all, since as soon as he was out of military service and the other training he underwent while in ‘military service’, he would be devoting the rest of his life to Lee Gon.
The hunter party returned to base, with the other members of the team bidding Yeong goodnight as he opted to return to his dorm instead of going out with the others. Night routine completed, he lay down in his small cot and closed his eyes. He wouldn’t say he was the biggest fan of being sent out to raid gates and clean up gate breaks, but any moment to improve his skills was necessary. He needed to be prepared for any event while guarding Lee Gon, and if killing monsters would help with developing that type of on-the-fly thinking, then he would follow the orders. He willed a small amount of mana to his hand and began his control exercise, transferring the small ball of water he conjured between the tips of his fingers, making sure to keep it perfectly round and letting no small droplets escape.
“The Gate is secured. No casualties, no injuries aside from minor scratches and fatigue.” Jo Yeong moved away from the head of the hunter party to report to the RCHA employee dispatched to the gate that had just been raided. The employee nodded and typed on his tablet.
“The materials will be split as stated in the Association rules, and the total value will be taxed. If there are any questions regarding our regulations, please contact the Association immediately, and we will do our best to help. Thank you for your service, Hunter-nim.” Yeong just tilted his head in response and returned to the hunter party.
“Captain, thank you for coming out to help with the dungeon personally.” A nervous party member bowed their head in thanks, and Yeong felt the corner of his mouth quirk up briefly.
“It is no problem, this event is exactly what delegation is for. I believe His Majesty understands my duty to the country.” The rest of the party nodded in understanding. Ever since citizens across the kingdom Awakened, the government did its best to build around the phenomenon. One such step it took was the establishment of the RCHA, otherwise known as the Royal Corean Hunter Association, a government organization that acted as the kingdom's only guild and Hunter Association.
The RCHA had many separate bodies spread out, and the RERT, Royal Emergency Response Team, was one such sub-organization. Its jurisdiction was the Palace and the surrounding area, so if there were any Gates or random monster sightings from nearby dungeon breaks in that area, the team would be dispatched. Naturally, it fell under the Royal Guard, which Yeong was Captain of. Normally, the team was able to handle the Gates and monsters, but man simply cannot control the mana output that gives a Gate its rank. As such, for very serious cases such as an A-rank or S-rank Gate, Yeong went out on the expedition with a team.
Such events usually spiked his stress levels, but it was a good exercise for his powers, considering he usually didn’t allow himself to use his powers against other humans unless the situation proved too dire. Taking his gun from his holster, he inspected the circle engraved to make sure that it was still perfectly intact. Nodding to himself after his quick check, he headed towards the vehicle the team used and got in. Taking his phone from his pocket, he kept an eye out while he made a call.
“The mission was a success. Once I return, I’ll be back on duty.” He called Hopil, who had been temporarily put in charge as Captain while Yeong was away in the dungeon.
“Yes, Captain!” Yeong could practically see the salute and briefly smiled.
“Anything to report?” If anything really important happened, Yeong would have received an alert as soon as he stepped out of the dungeon. Dungeons, true to their nature, were completely cut off from outside contact, as they were actually little pockets of different dimensions whose energy overflowed and ended up randomly connecting with their dimension.
How, exactly, was he supposed to go from here?
Yeong sighed, rubbing the side of his head. It was bad enough that Lee Gon had come through the portal—he would be having words with some of the Royal Guard—but what exactly was he supposed to do now? Surprisingly, he thought to himself sarcastically, they didn't exactly have a protocol for such an event.
He looked over to the King, and saw him talking with a female hunter, gesturing excitedly. Yeong closed his eyes; it was going to be a long rest of the day. He opened his eyes again and headed over to the King, his determination quickly clearing people out of his way.
“Pyeha,” he bowed, “please, follow me." The rest of his team were finishing up their talks, but they had successfully secured a place for the King to stay. As his Sword, it was his duty to inform the King of the team's plans, regardless of whether he was interrupting. Regardless.
“Oh! Yeongie!” Yeong almost felt guilty when Lee Gon turned to look at him with pure excitement in his eyes, “I was just talking with Jeong Taeeul here! Apparently, they're further behind in a lot of matters about the Gates and Gate technology; it's rather fascinating what the differences are.”
“I see,” he did not, “but the team has secured a residence, so please follow me.” The only thing fascinating is the fact that the King wasn't concerned at all about the stress the team and he were under! And even that, Yeong thought, wasn't all that fascinating. It was numbing in its familiarity. Yeong didn't want to listen to what the King had to say next, so he just gave the hunter a cool nod and expanded his power, condensing it around the King and himself. That should ward them off, he thought to himself, smug in a way that he shouldn't have been, try getting near him now, see what happens. Lee Gon just hummed by his side, still thrilled by the wonder of it all, of the possibilities it opened for him and his mathematics.
Jo Yeong just sighed to himself, continuing to walk forward. It would be beneficial to exchange information with these new hunters, but the negatives outweighed the positives. Nothing good could come out of the two worlds meeting, and Jo Yeong wanted to make as many plans as possible. That was his job, after all: to protect the King against anything that might cause him harm.