Gu-myeong, Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu.

Hyunmyeong District 12.

Once known as the trendiest neighborhood in South Korea, Itaewon became a slum teeming with crime after the upheaval.

A place where people die in broad daylight.

A place where even the police hesitate to respond to calls.

A true lawless zone abandoned even by the government.

In this infamous District 12, there was a single unique Sodo (a sacred place).

A shabby commercial building located right next to a sealed gate.

No one dared to draw guns or knives there.

Checkpoint.

An SUV kicked up a cloud of dust as it approached.

“Where are you coming from?”

“Management Bureau.”

“Sorry, but could you show me your ID?”

The team leader displayed his ID.

A soldier snapped to attention and saluted.

“Loyalty!”

“Just lift the barrier.”

“Yes, sir!”

The barrier blocking the road lifted, and the team leader stepped on the accelerator aggressively.

A team member in the passenger seat swallowed nervously.

“It's probably just a malfunction, right?”

“We’ll know when we get there.”

“Please let it be a malfunction.”

“And if it’s not, will it change anything?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen such a high ether reading. If it’s a malfunction, at least we can feel some relief…”

“Even if it’s not a malfunction, it doesn’t change our job. Just focus.”

The team member nodded uncertainly, his face betraying his lack of confidence.

But the truth was, the team leader wasn’t any more confident.

He was just putting on a brave front because his subordinates were watching.

After a while, the SUV arrived at the sealed Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Once a bustling tourist attraction, the old palace now stood silent, with only the wind howling through it.

The team leader got out of the car, checked his radio, and activated his body cam.

“Sung-sik and Hyun-cheol, stay with the car. The rest of you, come with me.”

“Yes, sir!”

The team leader headed into the palace, searching for the sealed channel.

The channel was sealed within Sajeongjeon Hall.

“What’s the scanner reading?”

“No activity at all. It seems like…”

“Seems like?”

“A malfunction, sir. Haha!”

The answer was filled with relief.

The tense team leader let out a sigh of relief himself.

They had been dispatched in haste after a briefing about an unprecedented ether detection from the sealed channel in Gyeongbokgung.

Prepared for the worst, they had even packed hair and fingernails in plastic bags, ready to face death.

Luckily, it seemed to have been a false alarm.

‘If the ether was that intense, Seoul would already have been obliterated.’

At that moment—

Bzzzt!

A frantic voice came through the radio.

“Team leader!”

“What is it, Sung-sik? Everything’s fine here. I’ll report back to headquarters—”

“Forget the report and get out of there now!”

“We need to plant the control device first—”

The team leader stopped mid-sentence.

The needle on his wrist scanner was wildly fluctuating.

‘Damn it!’

A sealed channel is like a dormant volcano.

You never know when it might erupt.

When it does, a volcano spews magma, but a channel is different.

You never know what might come out of it.

Which makes it even more dangerous.

“Everyone, retreat!”

“Move!”

Wooooom!

As they sprinted away, a low vibration froze them in their tracks.

The channel had erupted.

A team member asked in a trembling voice, “What do we do now?”

“What do you think, damn it?! Get your weapons ready!”

The team leader pulled out the equipment they had brought, praying they wouldn’t have to use it.

“Grrrrr!”

A terrifying growl echoed in the distance.

They instinctively knew—this wasn’t a low-level monster like a goblin.

And their instincts were right.

Glowing red eyes, pointed ears, and a mane wreathed in flames…

“Hellhound!”

“Why… why is there a Hellhound?”

The team leader was at a loss for words.

This was a monster he had only seen in training videos.

Even the instructor back then had laughed, saying they’d never encounter one in their lifetime.

But now, that legendary high-tier monster stood before them, its crimson eyes glowing ominously.

It wasn’t fully grown yet, but its presence alone was paralyzing.

Like a rabbit before a tiger.

Like a mouse before a snake.

Even though they wanted to move, they couldn’t.

And then—

The young Hellhound charged.

The team leader instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.

A reflexive reaction, like a knee-jerk.

“……”

“……”

Nothing happened.

The team leader opened his eyes.

“Huh? What the…?”

“Where did it go?”

“Was it an illusion?”

“Well, thank God if it was…”

The Hellhound had vanished without a trace.

“Yeoksam! Sit!”

Whine.

“Here isn’t the Demon Realm. You can’t hurt people recklessly. Do you understand?”

A man was walking out of the palace, scolding the creature like a puppy.

The little Hellhound whined pitifully, ears drooping in apparent understanding.

“That’s better.”

The man smiled warmly and looked around.

In the distance, he could see the statue of King Sejong.

This was Gwanghwamun.

He had finally returned.

After enduring an eternity, he was back.

The man extended his senses, gradually spreading them outward until he caught a familiar energy.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Teleport.”

Had any mages witnessed this, they would have been astonished.

With a single activation word, the man’s figure blurred and reappeared in a third location.

His sharp eyes narrowed.

‘Isn’t this Itaewon?’

The coordinates were correct.

The street looked like Gyeongridan-gil, a place he remembered.

But something was off.

The café buildings were crumbled ruins, as if bombed, and the former bank was barely recognizable.

As he tried to piece things together—

“There he is!”

“What are you doing? After him!”

“Stop right there! Or we’ll shoot!”

A group of masked men, chasing a woman, took up shooting stances.

Bang! Bang bang!

Gunfire rang out, deafening in the heart of Seoul.

What on earth was going on here?

“P-please spare me!”

“You think you can run, you b****?”

“Ha… It’s been a while since I had a good workout.”

Smack!

“You thought you could escape? You’re not free until you pay back what you owe. And you can’t even die until you do. Got it?”

“Hic… hic…”

“You hear me, b****?”

The masked men soon noticed the man standing across the street, watching them.

“What’s with this punk?”

“Looks like a witness. Should we kill him?”

“Yeah, no loose ends.”

One of them swaggered over, raising his gun.

“Blame your unlucky eyes for seeing what you shouldn’t have.”

Bang!

“……”

The gun fired point-blank, but nothing happened.

The man stood there, untouched.

“Huh? What the…”

Bang bang!

Still nothing.

“How fascinating.”

The man waved his hand, and the masked men collapsed.

Ignoring their groans, he approached the terrified woman.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Yes?!”

“This is Seoul, South Korea, right?”

“Y-yes, it is.”

“Then what’s with the guns?”

The woman’s fear momentarily gave way to realization. Could this man be a returnee?

“You… you’re a returnee, aren’t you?”

“A returnee?”

“Yes. Someone who got sucked into a channel and came back.”

“Well… that’s not entirely wrong.”

“Then you should go to a shelter. I heard they have rehab programs for returnees…”

“A shelter?”

What was that supposed to mean?

While he pondered, the woman took the chance to run away.

The man chuckled bitterly and moved on, following the familiar energy he had sensed earlier.

He stopped in front of a shabby two-story house.

His heart pounded.

A heart he thought had stopped long ago.

“Who are you?”

A boy, maybe five or six years old, looked up at him with wary eyes.

“Is there someone named Lee Yeon-jun here?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m…”

What could he say?

There were no words.

Claiming to be his brother now, after all these years, felt shameless.

“We don’t have money!”

Before he could reply, the boy darted inside.

Dark circles under his eyes and a face worn by life.

Lee Yeon-jun rarely had reason to smile, but his face lit up when his son, Seo-woo, ran in.

“Did you have fun, Seo-woo?”

“Dad, are you going to work again today?”

“Yes, I have to.”

“Can’t you stay home today?”

“Huh? Why’s my Seo-woo saying that?”

“There’s a bad man outside…”

Yeon-jun’s expression hardened.

Grinding his teeth, he clenched his fists.

He had begged them on his knees.

Just one more day, he had pleaded.

If they waited until tomorrow, he would repay them somehow.

But here they were again, just ten minutes later.

Damn bastards…

“Stay inside, Seo-woo.”

“Don’t go, Dad!”

“It’s okay.”

He forced a smile and stepped outside.

Those bastards were going to pay…

“……”

Was he dreaming?

Or under some kind of hypnosis spell?

No, that didn’t make sense.

What kind of crazy magician would waste their time on someone like him?

That’s how unbelievable it was.

“Hyung?”

Standing there, smiling warmly, was his older brother, Lee Seo-jun, who had disappeared ten years ago.

“How have you been, Yeon-jun?”