“If nothing else, I can protect you until the rescue and attack teams arrive.”

“…I don’t like just being protected.”

“But you just detected a dangerous area like before.”

“…”

“Even hunters with decent intuition skills can’t do that. If it weren’t for you, we might have encountered monsters and been in trouble by now.”

“…Yeah.”

His intention to comfort me was sweet. Yet I simply couldn’t accept that sentiment with good grace.

I covered my ears with both hands and held my breath. I didn’t want to hear the screams, didn’t want to hear pleas for help, didn’t want to feel the vivid sense of someone’s death.

Baek Yi Hyun handed me some chocolate. I took it and stuffed it in my mouth. It should have been sweet, but it tasted bitter.

“Has a rescue request been sent?”

“For an incident of this scale, it surely has. The main problem with corrosive types is that they keep eroding the ground, and cleanup is difficult, so they’ll try to deal with it quickly.”

“…I wonder if Secretary got caught up in this.”

“Secretary?”

“Um, Uncle Min Yu Shin.”

“I checked before you passed out, and we were almost at the edge of the corrosion. The place where he was probably wasn’t affected.”

“I see…”

I wondered if that was a good thing. There was more I should have asked, but I kept my mouth shut.

How nice it would be if the situation was as optimistic as he said. But sadly, I couldn’t view things as positively as Baek Yi Hyun.

Even if it wasn’t a sync, hunters should have been deployed long ago for a corrosion of this scale. Yet the fact that I couldn’t sense any trace of them meant there was a problem.

My unusually keen senses informed me of everything around us. Who was screaming, who was fighting back, who had died, where the aura of death was heading.

It didn’t make sense for an ordinary person to have such sensations. Why could I feel all of this? If I asked Yi Hyun, would he be able to give me an answer?

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Shin Ah.”

As if knowing my state, a voice repeatedly telling me it was okay could be heard. With each word, a corner of my heart sank.

“…Yi Hyun.”

“Yeah.”

“This is an S-rank, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“I thought so.”

I wasn’t particularly surprised since I had expected it.

Baek Yi Hyun is an A-rank hunter. Even if he couldn’t access detailed information, he should have been able to check information up to B-rank.

Even that Kali couldn’t conquer it alone, meaning it’s an S-rank gate. Even if other hunters come, it’s uncertain whether it can be conquered.

I quietly exhaled.

“Baek Yi Hyun, if something happens, leave me behind and go on your own.”

“…What do you mean?”

“If you abandon me, you can survive on your own, right? There’s no need to hold out because of me.”

“…”

Baek Yi Hyun’s brow furrowed at my words. I looked at him, then curled up and buried my face between my legs.

“Shin Ah.”

“Anyway, here, even you’ll have trouble taking care of yourself.”

“…Shin Ah.”

“There’s no need, because of me…”

“Shin Ah.”

The strong voice gently admonished me several times. Though I knew what he was trying to say, I couldn’t give him any other response.

At that moment.

“H-help me! Aaargh!”

A scream erupted from somewhere.

“…Just wait here for now.”

It was a voice suppressing anger. I didn’t raise my head.

Corrosive-type gate. Scale immeasurable but large enough to erode part of the park, streets, and apartment complexes. Attribute: death, main monsters: undead and specter-type monsters. Estimated rank: S-class, possibly Unknown if unlucky.

I had no vague thoughts that things would be okay. The death reverberating in my head was so strong that I only felt nauseous. The desire to escape this place quickly, anxiety, disgust, the horrific smell emanating from corpses.

“Thank you, thank you.”

The screaming stopped. When I raised my head to look, I saw Yi Hyun extending his hand to people.

“If, if you’re a hunter, you should have come earlier to help! What were you doing to be so late?”

One of the presumably rescued people shouted. An awkward smile flashed across Baek Yi Hyun’s face.

“Stop that, he still helped us.”

“Um, now that a hunter is here, are we all saved…?”

The battered people each started saying different things. The smile on Baek Yi Hyun’s face remained unchanged.

“I have a companion, so I need to go.”

“If it’s the hunter’s companion… is that person a hunter too?”

“No, they’re a civilian friend.”

“Hey, hurry up and do something about this situation.”

Desperation mixed with the nagging voice. Baek Yi Hyun’s voice remained calm.

“Since it’s a large-scale incident, other rescue teams will arrive soon.”

“My child, my child was playing over there. Can’t you, can’t you find them? My child, my child…”

I quietly approached them.

“Ah, Shin Ah.”

“…Are you going to help?”

“Well, I’m not sure. In the current situation, I don’t know how much better things would get if I helped…”

Someone interrupted my conversation with Baek Yi Hyun.

“Of course you should help! You’re a hunter, aren’t you?!”

“Ji Hoo, Ji Hoo…”

The five or six people each spoke only for themselves.

Should I say it’s impressive they survived this chaos, or that it’s amazing they’re still asserting themselves in this situation?

I spoke to them.

“…There are no other survivors in this area. It’s useless to search nearby. If you lost your child a bit further away…”

Someone shouted at my words.

“W-what do you know! You’re just a civilian, not even a hunter!”

Someone else agreed.

“Saying the child is dead. Isn’t that too harsh? You’re just trying to monopolize your hunter friend, right?”

The agitated people raised their voices without properly assessing the situation.

This shouldn’t be happening. What should I say at a time like this? Something was stuck in my throat, preventing me from speaking. In the end, it was Baek Yi Hyun who calmed them down in my place.

“…Everyone, please calm down first.”

“How can we calm down in this situation? What is this! I, I have a broadcast to watch when I get home today!”

“If you’re a hunter, do something!”

Would anyone actually listen no matter what was said?

I suddenly became curious. Do these people really not understand the situation, or are they just ignoring it?

“Please, please…”

A desperate voice was heard.

“…I’ll go take a look for now.”

“Thank you, thank you…”

And surprisingly, Baek Yi Hyun accepted all of this.

People started making different demands of him, and he fulfilled all of those demands.

If they asked for food, he gave them food, and if they said they couldn’t run because they were injured and asked for a potion, he handed it over.

Being too kind can also be a problem.

“You’re going to leave us behind to look for one kid?!”

A harsh voice scolded him. Baek Yi Hyun was still smiling.

“But the child might still be alive. You’ll be safe here for a while.”

“How can we believe that! It would be a hundred times safer to stay by your side, Hunter!”

Although it was happening right before my eyes, the whole situation felt like a lie. I felt frustrated, but I couldn’t even tell what I was frustrated about.

“This kid is right. There are many dangerous things over there.”

So the words that came out of my mouth were this meaningless.

“Why do you keep interrupting? And you, it looks like you haven’t even awakened… On what grounds are you saying such things?”

“…”

I just feel that way. Unable to answer, I chose silence.

“My friend usually has good intuition. So…”

“How can we believe that! Without any evidence! Are you siding with your friend in this situation? We might all die if we’re not careful!”

Yes, that’s right. How could they trust and follow the words of someone they’ve never met before in a situation where they might all die if they’re not careful? I took a step back from them.

Seeing my state, Baek Yi Hyun spoke in a calm, settled voice.

“…Apologize for speaking carelessly. I’m just helping you out of goodwill, and if you can’t trust us, you can go separately.”

“What? What do you mean…”

“Goodwill isn’t an inherent right. If you want to go, then go.”

Another argument broke out. Although Baek Yi Hyun was the main subject of this verbal dispute, people’s resentment was directed at me.

This situation was ridiculous. If you ask what was ridiculous about it.

“…Ah.”

The fact that they’ll all die whether they believe me or not.

Black smoke gathered in the sky.

It soon formed the shape of a giant skeleton wielding a scythe.

My gaze was fixed on the air, while people’s gazes were fixed on me.

And so, an anomaly occurred.

Among the people who only wanted to blame me, Baek Yi Hyun’s eyes widened as he was the only one to follow my gaze to the sky.

“Duck!”

The scythe traced an arc. I took a step back. A person who barely saved their life looked blankly at the air. And soon, that turned into a scream.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

I knew that monsters with death attributes are drawn to places where people gather.

Baek Yi Hyun’s greatsword emitted a pure white light. Kiiiiik, an eerie sound filled the surroundings.

“Ugh.”

The monster disappeared with a single slash, but Baek Yi Hyun fell to one knee.

“Sob, sob. M-mom. Mom…”

“Aah, aaaah…”

People caught in the confusion started screaming. Among them, some people were running madly in random directions.

Black smoke gathered in the air. Those things, neither alive nor dead, swung their giant scythes as if harvesting people’s necks.

“Don’t raise your head, stay down!”

No matter how many times he fell, Baek Yi Hyun didn’t give up and kept swinging his sword. It must not be easy to cut down formless things, but he protected the people until the end.

I just watched the scene with my own eyes.

“Sob, sob sob sob, save me…”

Everyone seemed to be in a panic, unable to move. Baek Yi Hyun’s fingertips were also trembling slightly, as if he was strained.

Though he quickly dealt with the few monsters that appeared, those that followed the people who ran away were still gliding through the sky.

Someone sat down and cried.

“You could have, you could have saved them! You could have defeated them… How can you not do anything? Please…”