Before high schooler Jung Hyun-soo could even react properly, Seo Jung-woo extended his pistol to the side and pulled the trigger. With a heavy recoil and a sharp gunshot, an armor-piercing bullet was fired.

A Fang Frog suddenly leaped out and took a direct hit from the armor-piercing round. Though the bullet didn’t penetrate its hard skull, the impact knocked it backward, exposing its belly.

Seo Jung-woo’s first shot was meant to check the Fang Frog’s movements. He immediately pulled the trigger in rapid succession. Three more armor-piercing bullets tore through the creature’s belly.

Switching his pistol’s firing mode to automatic, Seo Jung-woo shouted.

“More incoming!”

As he called out, he spun around and held the trigger down. With a rattling sound, a stream of armor-piercing rounds shredded the Fang Frog that had just leaped out.

More Fang Frogs jumped in from both sides.

While Seo Jung-woo was taking down two of them, Jung Hyun-soo also drew his pistol. Aiming at the Fang Frog on the right, he pulled the trigger and screamed.

“Hyaaaaaaah!”

His pistol had been set to automatic from the start. He didn’t release his finger from the trigger—in fact, he pressed down even harder. Armor-piercing bullets poured out in an instant.

Some rounds missed, but quite a few found their mark, piercing into the Fang Frog.

In the blink of an eye, the twenty rounds in his magazine were spent. Of those, seven hit the creature. No matter how tough a monster’s hide was, seven bullets were more than enough to take down a single Fang Frog.

Jung Hyun-soo shouted.

“Reloading!”

As soon as Lee Seon-hwa heard Seo Jung-woo say, “Damn it. Hyun-soo, can you even shoot?”, she opened her handbag and pulled out a pink pistol. It was much lighter and smaller than the others, but it only held twelve rounds.

It took her a moment to retrieve it from her bag instead of a holster. It had gotten caught on lipstick-like objects, and she also had to remove the extra safety device she had attached to the trigger to prevent accidental discharge.

Still, since she had realized the situation before Jung Hyun-soo, they were almost equally prepared to fire.

The Fang Frog leaping from the left was hers to handle. She fired with one hand.

The first shot missed. Fang Frogs could jump both forward and upward, making them tricky targets.

She had learned to shoot from Seo Jung-woo. Like him, she normally kept her pistol set to single-shot mode.

She pulled the trigger again. The second armor-piercing bullet hit the Fang Frog’s head, buying her a moment.

She gripped the pistol with both hands and lowered her stance. Just as she was about to fire with a proper aim, three armor-piercing bullets suddenly whizzed past with a rattling sound, blasting the creature away.

Seo Jung-woo shouted at her.

“Auto-fire!”

“Auto-fire!”

She repeated after him and switched her pistol’s firing mode to automatic.

Jung Hyun-soo finished swapping his magazine.

Seo Jung-woo issued a command.

“Check left and right!”

Lee Seon-hwa immediately aimed left, while Jung Hyun-soo turned to the right, their pistols sweeping the area for threats.

Seo Jung-woo approached the four fallen Fang Frogs and shot each one once more to ensure they were dead. Then, he ejected his magazine, which still had four rounds left, and inserted a fresh one filled with armor-piercing bullets.

Slowly, he turned in place, checking for anything his detection skill might pick up. Though the passive mode of his skill wasn’t direction-dependent, it was still safer to visually confirm the surroundings. If a monster wasn’t exuding killing intent, the skill wouldn’t detect it.

Even after completing a full rotation, his detection skill didn’t pick up any signs of hostility. At least for now, there were no enemies charging at them.

“Situation clear.”

Lee Seon-hwa lowered her pink pistol and let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew. That scared me.”

Seo Jung-woo scolded her.

“You’re slow to draw your gun because you keep it in your bag.”

Of course, Lee Seon-hwa wasn’t the type to get discouraged by nagging.

“How am I supposed to carry a gun while wearing this fabulous dress? On my waist? That would ruin the look. I’m an actress, you know. An actress.”

“No bulletproof vest, carrying your pistol in your bag… You make me nervous just thinking about it.”

She flashed a bright smile at him.

“Aw, do you really worry about me? Then why are you always like this?”

Seo Jung-woo averted his gaze and grumbled about something else.

“This neighborhood is the problem. Even if it’s just a small, low-tier Gate, they open way too often. This place is dangerous.”

Jung Hyun-soo nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Our school’s closed all the time because of them…”

Jung-hyun Soo noticed a peculiar type of heat sink on Seo Jung-woo's pistol. He examined the gun and, with sparkling eyes, asked,

“Wow, hyung. Is that a caseless pistol?”

“Yeah. Pretty nice, right?”

“Whoa. That’s an incredibly expensive gun. Can I touch it?”

The chamber and heat sink of a caseless pistol are made from a rare alloy that occasionally drops from mineral-type monsters. Because the material itself is costly, the gun’s price is also high.

“Do you think you can?”

Lee Seon-hwa also lifted her pink pistol with a smug expression.

“This is a caseless pistol too.”

“Pearls before swine…”

“What did you say?”

“No way. A gun like that suits a beautiful person like you perfectly, noona.”

“That mean older brother over there gave it to me as a birthday present.”

Seo Jung-woo grumbled.

“I figured if I gave her something small and light, she’d carry it around properly. But what’s the point if she doesn’t even practice shooting?”

“I couldn’t practice because I’ve been busy with filming, okay?”

Jung-hyun Soo turned to Seo Jung-woo.

“I’m jealous. Judging by your clothes, you don’t seem rich, yet you have a caseless pistol. That means you must be a Hunter, right? A Hunter who uses a caseless pistol… Wait, huh?”

It was only then that he realized the battle just now had played out differently from any he had seen before.

“Hyung, are you perhaps an Awakened with firearm-related combat skills? You shoot incredibly well.”

“Yeah.”

“Accuracy? Recoil?”

“Shooting.”

“Whoa! So that’s how you shot so quickly… Wait. Come to think of it, even before the monsters appeared, you noticed them and told me to draw my gun. Do you have a detection skill too?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow!”

Jung-hyun Soo shouted with genuine admiration.

“Hyung totally deserves to know Seon-hwa noona!”

Seo Jung-woo scoffed.

“Seon-hwa being rated this highly…?”

“I’m so jealous!”

“You’ve got an awakened skill too, don’t you? Is it firearm recoil control?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah.”

Jung-hyun Soo grinned proudly.

“Hehe. Thanks to this skill, I managed to take down a monster alone with just a single magazine. But it’s really amazing how you figured out my skill type after just a quick glance.”

“I saw it a lot in the military.”

When someone awakens the firearm recoil control skill, their aim doesn’t jump around much when firing in full-auto. That’s why gunners with that skill see a big boost in combat power.

“Since you have that combat skill, the moment you finish basic training in the military, you’ll get pulled straight into the Awakened Special Forces.”

Jung-hyun Soo’s face immediately turned pale.

“Huh? Isn’t that a place where everyone dies?”

“Die? I finished my service and came out just fine.”

Jung-hyun Soo let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, so it’s just a rumor.”

“Not everyone dies… but a lot do.”

His face turned pale again.

“R-really?”

Seo Jung-woo smirked.

“Hey, you won’t die. Don’t worry. They don’t throw high-value personnel into missions where they’re certain to die.”

Some of the operations carried out by the Awakened Special Forces do have high mortality rates. One such mission involves infiltrating monster-occupied zones to rescue survivors and extract them.

In the Special Forces, Seo Jung-woo was frequently assigned to those operations. Thanks to him, the unit’s success rate for rescue missions had increased significantly, and so had the survival rate of its members.

“They only send you on missions you’re expected to survive.”

Seo Jung-woo had survived.

Jung-hyun Soo clutched his chest in relief.

“Oh. Thank goodness.”

“They expect you to survive, but a lot of them don’t make it back.”

His face went pale again.

“Hyung, is there any way to avoid getting drafted into that unit? Can’t I just go to a normal unit? Should I hide my skill?”

“That’s not what matters right now.”

Seo Jung-woo turned to Lee Seon-hwa.

“You said the gate alert was lifted, right?”

Lee Seon-hwa held out her phone screen.

“Yeah. It says there was only a rift, and the gate failed to fully form before dissipating.”

“Damn it.”

Seo Jung-woo took out his phone and called the Gate Response Center.

– This is the Gate Response Center.

“I’m requesting an emergency gate alert for this area. A highly dangerous entity has crossed over.”

An emergency gate alert ranked even higher than a normal gate alert or a sudden gate alert.

When such an alert was issued, ordinary civilians were required to evacuate immediately. Important facilities that couldn’t evacuate would go into lockdown and enter high-alert mode.

A tense female voice responded through the phone.

– We have confirmed the caller’s location. What kind of monster did you witness?

“Four Fang Frogs.”

– What? But you just said it was a highly dangerous entity?

The Fang Frogs were low-tier small monsters. A few armor-piercing bullets from a handgun would be enough to kill them.

The woman spoke in an irritated voice.

– Hey, if you're making a prank call, you can be punished for it. The fine is really hefty, you know? You're requesting an emergency gate alert over some Fang Frogs?

“They announced today that a rift appeared in this area but then vanished without forming a proper gate. So where do you think these four came from? If it were just one, you might assume it was a leftover from before, but there are four.”

This wasn’t some deep, unregulated mountain area. Because gates occurred here more frequently than elsewhere, it had become a place with a lower population density, but it was still the outskirts of Seoul.

In Seoul, a gate warning wasn't lifted until all residual monsters were completely eradicated after closing the gate. Until then, at the very least, a residual monster alert should remain.

There was a pause from the other side, then a tense voice asked,

– But there was no observed spatial distortion from the gate?

“Just as there are monsters that expand spatial distortions, there are also ones that contract them. They’re much rarer, though.”

– A disruption-type monster?

“Yes. And it's one capable of concealing gate formation. The Fang Frogs just came along with it. The real threat is something else.”

Just as hunters possessed skills, some monsters had special abilities. There were ones that had camouflage, ones that caused magical disruptions stronger than electromagnetic interference, ones that expanded spatial distortions in a gate—many different kinds.

This time, a monster had appeared that could deceive the gate detection radar.

Such a special monster was dangerous. If a gate couldn’t be detected, then no one would know what had emerged from it.

– To issue an emergency gate alert, we need proof that what you’re saying is true. Please take a photo of the hunted monsters and send it over.

“There’s no time. Just check this phone number. The center should be able to look it up.”

The Gate Response Center had extremely high access privileges for information.

– What? Your phone number? What could we possibly learn by checking—hngh!

There was a strange sound, and exactly fifteen seconds later, Lee Seon-hwa and Jeong Hyeon-su’s phones began to emit a soft siren sound. At the same time, an emergency gate alert notification arrived.

The center’s agent spoke rapidly.

– We’ve issued an emergency gate alert in that area. We are also contacting the emergency response unit.

If an emergency gate alert had actually been issued, that meant the situation room manager at the Gate Response Center had personally intervened.

– This is an official request from our center. We request that you join the emergency response unit.

“I was discharged ages ago. What do you mean, agent? And I was discharged as a sergeant, not an agent.”

– Oh? That can’t be right? Ah?

There was a brief silence before the agent spoke again.

– Ah! You're a reservist! A reserve sergeant!

“Fine, whatever. When the emergency response unit arrives, have them call this number. Right now, I need to make sure the people around me are safe.”

– Understood! Agent!

“I’m not an agent.”

Seo Jung-woo hung up the phone.

Jeong Hyeon-su asked,

“Whoa! Were you some kind of special agent, hyung?”

“No. I just completed my service as a sergeant.”

He had shaken off the people who had tried to force him to extend his service and gotten discharged.

“Then what was that whole thing about calling you an agent?”

“They’re just mistaken.”

Lee Seon-hwa asked,

“Oppa, what’s the situation right now?”

“A special monster has appeared—one that can hide a gate from detection radars. That means there’s still an open gate somewhere nearby. The emergency response unit will be here soon.”

“Wow. Like in those TV shows, are they going to fly in on helicopters?”

“No. Helicopters can’t come. This thing has a rare ability to conceal a gate. We don’t know what other abilities it has, so they have to come by car, which will take a little time.”

If a low-flying helicopter was attacked by a high-level electromagnetic disruption monster or a magical interference monster, it would go down instantly.

Sending a helicopter into a place like this, where they had no idea what had emerged, was a death sentence.

“For now, let’s move to a safe place. This area is dangerous.”

“Even with you here, oppa?”

Lee Seon-hwa believed Seo Jung-woo to be the strongest man in the world. And this wasn’t a war zone like a hostile gate—it was just the outskirts of Seoul.

Seo Jung-woo lifted his pistol.

“Our firepower is way too weak right now.”