There’s a saying that because the United States had a very large territory, you will find yourself in a rural area after driving for an hour or two from any city.
Back when I was still actively running around as a hunter, I rarely had the opportunity to come to the United States because I mainly went to Africa, Europe and Asia.
However, thanks to one particular incident, I finally set my foot on the soil of the United States for the first time. That time, I came to the United States to join hunters from all over the world to stop the Great Rift that occurred in the City of Independence in Missouri.
No matter how hard I think about it, I still couldn’t find the best way to explain that Great Rift even until now. Simply put, it was a divine punishment sent by God towards humans to punish their ‘evil’.
I still remember it clearly, inside the Great Rift that seems to be the hell itself, a phenomenon that couldn’t be understood by human common sense and science continued to occur.
Well, long story short, humanity succeeded in fighting against it and overcoming it.
However, the price humanity had to pay was a steep one. Hundreds of thousands of hunters lost their life. If you also included the civilian casualties, the number you would get was absurdly high.
At that time, numerous heroes died. Many promising talents withered away before they could even bloom. The reason why I was able to survive on such a terrible battlefield was….
It was purely because I was a F rank hunter.
Back then, there was no need for a ‘strategic hunter’ who could only hunt a single monster for hours. In other words, there was no room for ordinary people with rifles on the battlefield.
Obviously, I was placed in the rearmost of the formation and I was so lucky that I managed to survive.
….But, I lost ‘Reina Ju’ that day.
I still haven’t forgotten.
As her body was sucked into the Great Rift, she stretched her hands towards me. She told me repeatedly ‘It’s okay now, you’ll live and you’ll survive.’
Even right before her death, she was still smiling.
“Have you ever been to America before?”
When the golden-haired man in the driver’s seat of the Retona asked me, I jilted away from that past memory.
The golden-haired man’s name is Michael.
He was the Director General of the International Supernatural Phenomenon Association.
Was this question only a simple chit chat? Or was he trying to dig some information from me?
“Yes. I came here 8 years ago.”
Rattle!
The Jeep bounced off several times because of the rough terrain. If you drive an ordinary car here, you might feel nauseous because of the shaking.
“Was it on ‘Independence Day’?”
“Yes.”
The calamitous Great Rift that occurred in the City of Independence. People later referred to the incident as ‘Independence Day’. It also was a reminder of the time when humans became completely independent from monsters and were reborn as the rulers of the Earth.
“That time was such a bad time, you probably don’t have any good memories about the United States.”
“It’s okay, because sometimes, I have a reason to come to America.”
I recalled Seol Jungyeon’s face as I watched the scenery outside the window passing by. Then Michael asked me once again.
“Have you ever been to Kansas?”
“No I haven’t.”
“It was a romantic and relaxing city…”
Well…. I don’t think so. Since,
“……But, not anymore.”
The state of Kansas that I saw through the window seemed to have been completely destroyed for decades.
It was a desolate town. There was no sign of life in the city except for the cold-looking soldiers that I saw occasionally. The intermittent gunfire and cry of monsters sounded like a reminder that this place was still a battlefield.
Apart from that. The state of Kansas was truly unique.
“That…. Is that the ‘supernatural phenomenon’ you mentioned?”
“That’s right. Till now we have been unable to determine the exact reason behind this.”
I could see a building floating in the air.
“I think I’ll need to inspect it closely in order to understand it.”
As Michael and Yoo Seodam walked out from the vehicle, several American soldiers approached them and greeted them. Michael passed them and led me to the city.
“After the monsters appeared, most of the city in the central and southern regions were destroyed. In particular, Kansas had become an uninhabited city.”
“Is that so.”
Still, unlike China, who completely neglected their lost territory, the United States continued to send hunters in order to recover their lost territory. But their speed was quite slow. Most of the lost territory was inaccessible. They also had dungeon environments ‘manifested’ into reality. On top of it numerous monsters had laid their eggs in every corner of the land, rivers, mountains and forests.
“By the way….. That was a really unique phenomenon. As far as I know ‘manifestation’ simply changes the environment and doesn’t affect anything else.”
In the distance, I could see researchers in white protective suits wandering from one place to another. They were busy researching something with both the computers installed outdoors and supercomputers set up inside the barracks.
I can’t blame them though, because I’m also curious about the surreal things that unfold in front of me. Building debris, the foundation of a building that has been cut off, reinforced bar, broken bridge, cars, signboard, and so on, were all floating in the air.
“At first, we thought that gravity itself had been reversed.”
“If that really was the case, doesn’t that mean we should also be floating in the air?”
“Yes. But there’s no way to explain it otherwise. We couldn’t detect any ‘force’, including magnetism and gravity, here. But, obviously, an unknown ‘power’ that we don’t know is present here. That ‘power’ is something that keeps those things floating in the air.”
It was wise of them to call a magician when facing something that couldn’t be explained by science.
I put my glasses on with a nervous feeling.
“What is….”
“Ah. It’s a device that can observe the essence of energy. With additional equipment, it could also detect the energy wavelength.”
“Oh, what is the additional equipment…?”
“I’ll show you soon.”
The expression of the scientists who followed Michael brightened after hearing my remark. And then, I pulled an item from my inventory.
It was a stethoscope.
“….huh?”
“…..Is that it?”
I heard some questioning murmurs from the scientists behind me but I decided to ignore it. I simply walked towards the building that floated a few centimeters in the air and put the stethoscope on it.
With this device, it was possible to detect an essence of energy wavelengths in great detail. It was also possible to detect a complicated magic that could hardly be felt and show it in the most ‘scientific’ way. On top of it, the data itself should be perfect because the interpreter is none other than The Library of the White Witch!!
Unfortunately…
‘…It’s not magic.’
As expected, this phenomenon couldn’t be explained by magic.
Magic wasn’t something omnipotent that could make fire, or beam of light out of nowhere. Magic was just a discipline that identifies all sorts of phenomena and recreates it mathematically using magic formula.
“How is it?”
“I’m not sure….. I need to examine it a little bit long–huh?”
While I was talking, something passed in front of me.
That something slowly raised its head and looked at me.
Unless my eyes were deceiving me, those pointy ears, dark black hair, and a skin that a lot darker than night was…
‘An Elf?’
I took a few steps back in surprise. Then I looked behind me because I felt that something was strange.
Just a few moments ago, the warmth of the summer was shining at me. But now, the sun has completely disappeared. I found myself in the middle of dark and sunless Kansas.
Is it really Kansas?
I could see a tentacle with mucus flowing down from its skin wrapping itself around a building and lifting it up. The main body of the tentacle was an octopus, but its head was that of a fly. The creature then, leisurely passed under the building.
And just a few distance away, a creature with a horsehead on the limbs of a rat and a cat torso shouted into the air.
A sense of disparity wrapped around my whole body.
This is not the Earth. No such environment existed on Earth.
As I slowly looked into the air, the secret of the floating structure was revealed.
Something made of sticky material was lifting and supporting the building, while the cars in the air were actually placed on a pile of garbage, and it turned out that the floating signboard was recycled as a signboard of some suspicious building.
However, the problem was that all of them were not visible until now..
‘Just what…’
<Seodam. It’s a phenomenon called ‘dimensional distortion’. This phenomenon happens when different dimensions collided into each other and created a distorted space.>
‘Dimensional distortion?’
<Yes. dungeons, gates, and the Great Rifts that occur on earth are a phenomenon called ‘dimensional collision’. And ‘dimensional distortion’ is similar to that, but different at the same time.>
‘···How is it different?’
<I’ll explain it easily for you. Dimensional collision is like when frozen coke and frozen cider collide.>
Frozen coke and frozen cider only scratch each other even if they collide, they don’t mix.
<And the dimensional distortion is when melted cola and melted cider collide.>
However, when melted coke and melted cider collide… The two are completely mixed up.
<This is a dimension that is completely mixed with Earth. However… it is also space that’s difficult for ordinary humans to detect.>
It means that I could only see this place purely thanks to the system.
“Magician Yoo Seodam? Are you okay?”
As Director Michael spoke from the back, I was brought back from my stupor and turned my head towards him. He stood there clueless, he still didn’t know anything. Even at this moment, a giant centipede was passing in front of their nose, and an elf with completely rotten skin was crawling across the floor, but they knew nothing.
<You could say that, that dimension was a world on the opposite side of the mirror. However, they are usually separated and should not be able to see or feel each other… It seems that the two distorted realities are trying to merge into one.>
‘Why is this happening?’
While traveling across many dimensions, I have never seen this phenomenon before. Phenomenons like dungeons, gates, Great Rift, and reality distortion were unique only to Earth.
<…because on Earth there’s a ‘dimensional trash bin’ where debris from all dimensions gathered.>
‘Dimensional trash can?’
<Yes, Seodam. That place is the place you call ‘Hell Gate’.>
‘….What? So, Hell Gate is the cause of all this phenomenon on Earth?’
<For now… You could say that.>
Earth, a world where debris from all dimensions gathered.
Only then I was able to resolve one question I had in my head for so long.
It was about the existence of the ‘silver spirit flower’.
Right after she was born, she was already aware of witches and Mugong.
It turns out she knows all of it not because she was special. But because she was born in a world where magic and martial arts existed. And probably, her original world had already perished.
‘…What will happen in the future?’
<It seems that there hasn’t been a lot of distortions occurring on Earth after ‘Hell Gate’ appeared. Probably, this is the first time. Just like the dungeon situation, the alternate world will ‘manifest’ in Earth as time pass.>
When the manifestation of the ‘distorted world’ happens, something that couldn’t be compared to dungeon manifestation would happen. While the dungeon environment was a space where humans can adapt and live… It seemed that humans could hardly survive in the ‘distorted world’.
What’s even worse was that ‘reality distortion’ was literally a ‘supernatural phenomenon’ that cannot be coped with human scientific power. Thankfully, this phenomenon rarely occurred on the planet, but once it occurred, it would be a disaster.
‘Wait a minute…hey.’
<Yes?>
‘I could see it anyway, doesn’t that mean I can interfere too?’
<Yes, you are correct.>
‘Then, is there any way to destroy it?’
<Probably…. The way exists. But, I’m not sure… Do you have any plan in mind?>
‘Nope.’
He had none.
But that’s okay. It was a matter to think about later on anyway.
Right now, he had something more important to do.
“Director?”
“Yes. Please tell me.”
I tried to look as serious as possible. Even more serious than the time when the rice cake soup restaurant was closed. (T/N man just how much did you love rice cake soup.)
“I guess I should tell you…. About how serious this phenomenon is.”
“Is it really that serious?”
“Yes. But it would be okay. Because I’m a professional in this field.”
“Do you have a plan that can resolve this situation?”
“Absolutely! I have the plans. So…..”
I rubbed my fingers and said with a subtle expression.
“Hire me. I’ll take care of everything.”
I could protect the Earth, make some money, and spread my influence to the world’s largest institutions.
It’s not even two birds with one stone. It was three birds with one stone.
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