Jeju Hunter Association, Situation Management Team.

"How am I supposed to report this to the higher-ups?"

Though it was long past quitting time, Assistant Manager Lee Mingyu was still at his desk, sighing at his monitor. Messenger conversations he'd had with hunters that day, an unfinished report, and a jumble of articles and research papers filled the screen.

"They definitely said there'd been a gate break."

First came a report from a civilian who said a rift had opened right before their eyes. Then around ten hunters reported sensing the distinctive mana fluctuations of a gate break near a beach. So far, it was business as usual.

But soon afterward, the hunters dispatched to the scene called in.

["What? You can't find any sign of a gate break?"]

["That's what I'm telling you. I definitely felt the mana fluctuations, so I came to check... but there was nothing here. And I wasn't the only one who felt them. Every hunter here says they felt the same fluctuations."]

The reported location looked far too quiet for the site of a gate break. According to the hunters, the strong mana fluctuations they'd felt until moments earlier had vanished without a trace by the time they arrived.

Nor could Mingyu dismiss it as a simple mix-up. Quite a few hunters besides those who had reported it had sensed the fluctuations at the same time. The chance that they had all imagined it was practically zero.

"How does something like this even happen?"

He was completely stumped. Nothing he knew could explain what had happened.

A gate estimated to be somewhere between A-rank and B-rank couldn't possibly have been cleared so easily or so quickly. More baffling still, there wasn't a trace of it left. The hunters had reached the scene less than ten minutes after the mana fluctuations were first detected. How could anyone have stopped the gate break and cleaned up perfectly in that time?

Even if some monster of a hunter had happened to be there and resolved everything in under ten minutes, why would they vanish without leaving a trace?

'Or could the gate have disappeared on its own in that short time?'

He considered other theories, but that one made no sense either.

"... Come to think of it."

Hadn't there been another mysterious incident involving a gate break in Seoul recently? An unidentified figure had appeared, single-handedly wiped out the countless wyverns pouring from a gate in about five minutes, and disappeared. An acquaintance at Hunter Association headquarters had told him that many people had searched for the hunter since then, but no one had yet discovered who they were.

Mingyu had been interested in these recent mysteries. But when he realized they were also the reason he had to work overtime, despair set in.

No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out how to explain this to his superiors or what to do about it. Naturally, nothing like this was covered in the Hunter Association's own manual.

His head spinning, Mingyu went up to the rooftop for some air.

And then—

"Aaaaaaah!"

He let out a near-scream like a madman, venting all the frustration he'd bottled up. The hunter named Yoon Minjun, who had supposedly gone to another dimension and come back, had already added to his workload lately. And now he had another headache to deal with.

But did Mingyu know? Yoon Minjun, the hunter who had been adding to his work for days, was involved in this incident too.

* * *

Getting some fresh air had helped untangle my thoughts, and Sia's condition improved faster than I'd feared. So I cut my trip short and went home earlier than expected.

'I'll never forget that trip, for more reasons than one.'

It hadn't just been a vacation. One major event after another had happened. I doubted I'd ever forget it. How could I forget getting sucked into a gate in the middle of my trip and taking an unplanned journey to another world?

Anyway, the moment I got home, exhaustion from the trip caught up with me and I collapsed onto my bed.

The next day, I turned on my phone as soon as I woke up. One notification made me freeze in surprise: several million won had been deposited into my account without warning. When I checked, the sender was none other than Sia.

It wasn't an anniversary or anything. Why had she sent me that much money? Still stunned, I video-called her.

"Hello?"

["Oppa! Did you sleep well?"]

"Yeah. How about you, Sia?"

["I slept well too."]

After exchanging greetings, I got straight to the point.

"Sia, I just saw that you sent me around eight million won. You didn't mean to send it somewhere else, did you?"

["No! I meant to send it to you."]

"... It gave me a shock when I saw it. What's all this money for?"

Seeing my confusion, Sia answered brightly.

["You know that gate break during our last date? It's what I got for selling the bodies of the monsters you killed. You killed them, so of course the money should go to you!"]

Come to think of it, I had killed quite a few monsters that day. But I'd been focused entirely on fighting them, and there hadn't been time to collect all the bodies afterward. It hadn't even occurred to me.

["I thought you might've forgotten, so I gathered them all up and sold them. Well? Didn't I do good?"]

Sia asked with an innocent smile.

"Yeah. Thank you, Sia."

Putting up a barrier around the area for my sake and cleaning everything up must have been hard enough. Yet she'd also made sure to collect and sell the monster bodies, then sent me the money. I should bring her a big present next time I saw her.

Oh, that reminded me.

"By the way, Sia, did you get what I sent you?"

During my trip to Jeju Island, I'd happened upon something I thought she'd like and sent it to her as a gift.

["Yes! Tangerine tteokbokki, of all things! Who on earth thought of making that? I don't know who they are, but they must be a genius."]

The gift I'd sent Sia was tangerine tteokbokki. Your first thought might be, 'That actually exists?' Surprisingly, it does.

While I was staying at a guesthouse, one of the travelers sharing my room told me about it. Sia came to mind immediately. She loved tteokbokki so much that I knew she'd like it, so I ordered a box for her on the spot.

"I know. I couldn't believe it when I first heard about it either. So, have you tried it?"

["I opened a pack as soon as it arrived. At first I was worried it might taste weird, but it was even better than I expected! You should try some too, Oppa."]

"I will."

If the tteokbokki expert recommended it, of course I had to try it.

We spent a while longer chatting about little things. I was just about to end the call and get something to eat when Sia asked,

["Oh, Oppa. Aren't you about as strong as an A-rank hunter now? Shouldn't you go for a rank reassessment?"]

"I was planning to. It'll feel strange if the Hunter Association officially recognizes me as A-rank..."

Right now, mastering my dragon power mattered more to me than any rank. But that didn't mean I didn't care about my rank at all. I'd been treated differently from other high-ranking hunters more times than I could count. There had been plenty of humiliations I couldn't talk about while I was a D-rank hunter.

And now, somehow, I was going to be A-rank. I couldn't help smiling.

["Exactly. Everyone's going to be so surprised. Hehe, I can't wait. Promise you'll tell me how it went after the reassessment!"]

"Of course. I'll call you when I get the results."

["Okay!"]

After we hung up, I murmured, "A rank reassessment..."

Rokan had brought it up before, but talking about it with Sia made it feel more real somehow.

'Me, A-rank.'

Even leaving everything else aside, wasn't A-rank high enough to get frequent recruitment offers from major guilds? And at this rate, becoming S-rank was only a matter of time. I knew I couldn't let my guard down, but I couldn't stop smiling.

And there was something else: I was looking forward to seeing how the Hunter Association staff would react.

I remembered their reactions clearly from my last reassessment. In a way, this time was even more unbelievable. From their point of view, they might think, 'Once was hard enough to believe. How could the same miracle happen to the same person twice?' Besides, moving from B-rank to A-rank wasn't easy.

Anyway, after a quick breakfast, I headed to the rank assessment center as planned.

"I'd like to apply for a rank reassessment."

As I handed over the forms I'd filled out in advance, I got a good look at the receptionist. She was definitely the same one who'd been there for my last assessment. She seemed to remember me too; her eyes widened in surprise.

"... Pardon?"

Her face quickly stiffened with fear.

"So, Mr. Yoon Minjun, you're here to apply for another reassessment because you believe your rank has gone up... Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

She took the forms and stared at them in disbelief. Had it been about two weeks since my last reassessment? I probably wouldn't have believed it either if I were in her position.

"Um... Since it's been less than three months since your last reassessment, regulations require you to pay the assessment fee."

"It was 250,000 won, right?"

"Yes."

My last reassessment was recent enough that I remembered the amount clearly. I handed her my card, and she processed the payment, still looking dazed.

"If your rank increase is confirmed, the fee you've paid will be refunded in full."

I was pretty sure she'd told me the exact same thing last time. Wasn't this déjà vu all over again?

Anyway, just as I had two weeks ago, I waited a little while before heading to the testing room. Sure enough, it was the same room where I'd taken my last test. As luck would have it, the examiner was the same person too.

The moment I walked in, the examiner flinched at the sight of me, though they seemed to be trying not to show it.

"Yoon... Minjun?"

"Yes."

"Surely you haven't come for another rank reassessment...?"

"I have."

I answered calmly and handed over my forms.

But the examiner must have been shocked too, because they dropped them.

"I-I'm sorry."

Looking just as stunned as the receptionist, the examiner bent to pick the forms up from the floor. After checking them carefully another two or three times, they said, "As you may remember, the reassessment procedure is the same as before."

Just as last time, the examiner handed me a ring for the rank assessment. I put it on and entered the testing room, which was familiar by now. All I had to do was strike the rank-testing dummy until the time limit ran out.

I completed the test the same way I had before, and soon afterward, I received my results.