That day, the people who visited the police station to see Seo Jung-woo were not just Yoon Nana and the twins.

A reporter had come looking for Seo Jung-woo.

“Detective Seo Jung-woo. You’ve solved two major cases. How about an interview?”

The reporter’s tone was blunt, but his eyes sparkled with anticipation.

‘No matter how much I searched, there wasn’t a single article with a direct interview of Detective Seo Jung-woo.’

Realizing this, he had rushed over immediately.

Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol spoke to Seo Jung-woo.

“A lot of reporters wanted to interview you, but the timing never worked out.”

The reporter’s eyes gleamed even more.

‘This is the first interview! This article will sell!’

Seo Jung-woo spoke to the reporter.

“Interview.”

“Yes! I’ll take a great picture to make you look cool….”

“I refuse.”

“What?”

“I don’t do interviews.”

It wasn’t that he had been too busy to do interviews. Seo Jung-woo had deliberately avoided reporters.

As the reporter’s anticipation turned into disappointment, he protested.

“Hey, you’re making this difficult. It’s not like I’m asking you to do something bad.”

“And refusing isn’t a crime either.”

“W-Well. But can a police officer ignore the people’s right to know?”

“As long as I catch criminals, I’m sure the public will understand.”

“Wait, what kind of logic is that…?”

Seo Jung-woo wasn’t rejecting the interview because he disliked the idea.

‘If they ask about my life so far, how am I supposed to answer?’

He could easily talk about his life up until 1999. He remembered what amusement parks he visited as a child and what delicious food he had eaten.

But after the gates opened and monsters invaded, there were no more amusement parks or good food. That made his childhood memories even more precious.

However, if they asked about events after 2000, he wouldn’t be able to answer. He had no idea how he had attended high school or university.

Especially if they asked about his time at the local precinct, it would be extremely difficult to respond.

‘There’s no way a reporter wouldn’t ask about my time at the precinct.’

Seo Jung-woo reused the excuse he had given earlier when Yoon Nana asked to take a picture.

“An interview? You said you’d take great pictures to make me look cool? If my face gets too well-known, it’ll be a disadvantage in undercover investigations. What if a criminal recognizes me?”

“Then what about an interview without photos…?”

“I refuse.”

“Why are you being like this? Are you shy? Or maybe introverted?”

Detective Baek Sung-min muttered from behind.

“No way.”

‘This is the guy who snaps murderers’ limbs like twigs.’

Seo Jung-woo casually left the detective division office. The reporter hurried after him, but he had already disappeared down the hallway.

The reporter turned to Baek Sung-min.

‘Since I came all this way, might as well get something else…’

He made a suggestion to Baek Sung-min.

“Detective, you were also involved in the arrest, right? Could I interview you?”

Baek Sung-min grinned widely.

“An interview? Hahaha. Please, come this way. As long as it’s not directly related to an ongoing case, I’ll be happy to answer any questions! You’ll need to take my picture too, right? Wow! You’ve got a great camera. This spot has good lighting. Should I pose?”

Composer and hunter Park Cheol-woo was operating in the northern Gyeonggi Province's Jeokseong Gate, where insect-type monsters frequently appeared.

Unlike beast-type monsters, most insect-type monsters weren’t edible. Some had parts that could be consumed, but the meat yield was so low that hunting them wasn’t worth the effort.

Occasionally, insect-type monsters containing rare ingredients for red potions appeared in Jeokseong Gate. But such luck was rare. Most of the time, it was just exhausting labor with little reward.

Furthermore, a special type of monster that damaged vehicles and electronic equipment had been spotted around Jeokseong Gate.

Jeokseong Gate wasn’t profitable, yet it was highly dangerous. That’s why few hunters fought there. The army was responsible for national defense as a whole and couldn’t concentrate its forces in one place.

But Park Cheol-woo was fighting there.

As he stepped back, he pulled the trigger of his automatic rifle. Armor-piercing rounds, capable of penetrating thin steel plates, fired in rapid succession.

However, the bullets bounced off the thick carapace of a giant armored beetle, roughly the size of an SUV.

The area where the armor-piercing rounds struck was slightly dented, but it was far from a fatal wound.

A massive pincer protruded from the beetle’s head. If caught in it, a human body would be instantly severed in two.

The monster advanced toward Park Cheol-woo’s team, pincers outstretched.

Beside him, a light machine gun suddenly fell silent. The gunner, removing an empty magazine, shouted.

“Reloading! Damn it! Armor-piercing rounds aren’t working!”

The bullets weren’t effective, but stopping their fire wasn’t an option.

If they stopped shooting, the armored beetle wouldn’t just crawl forward like this—it would leap. If it caught them with its pincers then, their bodies would be split in two, and they’d die instantly.

Park Cheol-woo fired short bursts with his automatic rifle and shouted,

“Grenade!”

“We used them all on the blade mantises!”

The grenadier had already switched his weapon to a small submachine gun.

The armored beetle’s shell was so thick and sturdy that even if a 40mm grenade hit it, there was no guarantee it would break. However, the explosive force of a grenade could at least deal some damage.

But this wasn’t their first battle. Just moments ago, they had engaged in a fierce fight against the blade mantises. They had used up all their grenades then.

Park Cheol-woo’s makeshift team had only three members, including himself. It wasn’t easy finding volunteers for a mission deep into a danger zone.

Park Cheol-woo handled the automatic rifle and support equipment, while the other two carried a light machine gun and a grenade launcher, respectively.

The grenadier’s secondary weapon was a small, lightweight submachine gun. When the grenades ran out, he had to use it for suppression. But such weak firepower couldn’t damage the armored beetle. At most, it could slightly slow the monster’s advance.

Park Cheol-woo shouted,

“Pin that bastard down! Last missile!”

The grenadier fired his submachine gun wildly.

In that moment, Park Cheol-woo pulled out the personal portable missile launcher he had been carrying on his back and fully extended its inner tube.

The missile inside had a diameter of just 6cm and a length of about 50cm—small in size. When the launcher was collapsed, it was only 65cm long.

It wasn’t even an electronically guided missile. It was a simple rocket, fired by a mechanical trigger, traveling only in a straight line.

Despite its small and simple mechanical design, its firepower was substantial. If he could hit the target, he could inflict significant damage on the armored beetle.

The other two had already fired portable missiles at the armored beetle earlier, but both had missed.

This was the last missile.

The machine gunner reloaded his last magazine and squeezed the trigger hard. As the barrel heated up, he sprayed armor-piercing rounds, forcing the armored beetle to stop its advance and curl its body.

Seizing the moment, Park Cheol-woo fired the portable missile. The mechanical trigger ignited the rocket’s tail.

Hot flames erupted from the launcher’s rear. The missile shot out and flew straight toward the armored beetle.

His aim was precise. The missile was on a direct path to the beetle’s head.

Suddenly, the armored beetle leaped sideways.

The machine gunner cursed and adjusted his aim.

“Shit!”

A few armor-piercing rounds struck the beetle’s thinner belly, but that wasn’t enough to cause serious damage.

The critical issue was the missile.

This unguided missile could only fly in a straight line. It passed through the space where the armored beetle had been and exploded behind it.

The machine gun’s magazine was empty. The submachine gun had also fallen silent. Park Cheol-woo was holding an empty missile launcher.

The gunfire stopped.

The armored beetle stretched out its six legs and rose. From its mouth came a sharp cry.

“Kiiiiiiik!”

Park Cheol-woo grabbed his automatic rifle again and shouted,

“Damn it! That’s the sound it makes right before attacking! Get rea—”

Suddenly, sparks erupted from the joints of the beetle’s front legs. At the same time, a series of sharp gunshots rang out.

Armor-piercing rounds continued to strike the joints.

Ten consecutive rounds all hit the same joint. The thin outer shell at the joint cracked and shattered, spilling internal fluids. Then, the joint snapped completely.

The armored beetle was heavy. It had just lifted itself up, raising its posture. The moment one of its legs broke, it lost its balance, and its massive body tilted to the side.

For an instant, the beetle’s relatively weak underside was exposed.

At that moment, another unguided missile flew in and struck the connection between the beetle’s head and body.

An orange explosion burst forth from the beetle’s front.

Immediately, flames erupted from various points on the beetle’s body.

At first, small holes appeared in the front as fire spouted out. Then, additional holes formed in the middle, allowing flames to escape from the inside.

The number of flames pouring out from within rapidly increased.

“Kieeeek!”

The armored beetle let out a sharp cry. But the scream didn’t last long. Holes had formed all the way to its rear. In the final moment, a massive burst of fire exploded from its tail.

That was the end.

The armored beetle’s legs all buckled, and its massive body collapsed onto the ground.

Park Cheol-woo shouted,

“Allies have arrived!”

His teammates also shouted,

“Reinforcements!”

“That was definitely a shooting skill!”

Someone had shattered the beetle’s leg joint with just ten armor-piercing rounds. And the moment the monster exposed its weakness, an unguided missile had struck the exact spot, turning its insides into an inferno.

For that to happen, either extreme luck was involved—or a shooting skill was at play.

Park Cheol-woo immediately recognized whose handiwork it was.

“Jung-woo!”

Seo Jung-woo appeared from behind them.

“Ah, seriously! I told you so many times to fight with more caution, but this is too much. You’ve come too deep in!”

Park Cheol-woo turned around and laughed.

“This time, I had a team, so we went a bit deeper. If that armored beetle hadn’t shown up, it would’ve been manageable.”

“It would’ve been manageable if it hadn’t shown up. But it did, didn’t it?”

“And you showed up too. Heh.”

Seo Jung-woo asked about Park Cheol-woo’s team members.

“Permanent? Temporary?”

“Temporary team.”

Park Cheol-woo had lured in two capable hunters with the food Jung-woo had brought him. Then, they went deeper than usual to check the state of the gate.

It was a dangerous mission, but the team members had also become hunters for revenge. Even knowing the risks, they joined the operation.

The machine gunner greeted him.

“Ah. Are you Seo Jung-woo? I’ve heard a lot about you from Cheol-woo hyung. They say you’ve awakened both a detection skill and a shooting skill? I’m jealous.”

The grenade launcher operator let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew. I thought I was going straight to my family. I haven’t even gotten my revenge yet. It’s too dangerous here, so let’s retreat for now.”

Seo Jung-woo took the lead.

“You went too deep inside, so it was hard to find you. We don’t have much ammo left, so let’s pull out immediately.”

After retreating to the defense line, Park Cheol-woo’s temporary team disbanded.

Everyone had used up a lot of ammunition during this reconnaissance. But insect-type monsters didn’t have many valuable parts to sell.

Even so, they had gathered some things to sell, hoping to cover the cost of the armor-piercing rounds they had spent. But after fighting the armored beetle, they lost even that.

Sitting in front of his personal tent, Park Cheol-woo explained.

“I told them I’d cover the cost of the armor-piercing rounds and grenades they used. There are quite a few guys who trade armor-piercing rounds for coffee or chocolate you bring.”

Even if they traded bullets for food here, those bullets would still be used to kill monsters in the end. That’s why hunters who had come here for revenge easily traded their bullets for food.

Seo Jung-woo tried to reason with him.

“Ajusshi, if you keep fighting like this, you never know when you’ll die. Please, don’t overdo it and live safely for a long time. A long time.”

“Someone has to check the situation around the gate.”

Seo Jung-woo felt frustrated.

‘If he knew that his twin daughters exist in that other world, and if he knew there was a way to help them, he’d definitely want to stay alive.’

But he couldn’t reveal that secret. The more people who knew, the greater the chance of it leaking. This world wasn’t a place where such information should be casually shared.

Park Cheol-woo spoke.

“Thanks again for saving me today. I survived because of you. This time was really dangerous.”

Seo Jung-woo stopped nagging.

“If you’re grateful, give me one more song.”

‘This is all for your daughters.’

Calculating the twins’ age in reverse, it meant they had been conceived before a dimension split into parallel worlds.

‘They’re in another dimension, but they’re still your daughters. Even if you don’t know they were born.’

Park Cheol-woo smirked.

“You said the same thing last time. Are you going to demand a song every time you save my life? I have a lot of songs, so I guess you’ll have to keep coming to rescue me.”

“Next time, if it’s dangerous, I’ll just leave you.”

Park Cheol-woo asked.

“Who’s going to sing it this time?”

“Of course, those four. Did you think I’d sing it?”

“Yeah? Then I’ve got the perfect one.”

Just receiving the basic sheet music wasn’t enough.

“Make some arrangements to suit them, too.”

“Already done. I’ve even added notes for them on how to perform it.”

“Huh? In advance?”

Park Cheol-woo chuckled.

“Listening to the younger two of the four sing reminded me of the past. I wanted to hear their voices in another song, so I prepared in advance. I didn’t think you’d take just one song.”

Seo Jung-woo understood why he felt that way.

‘Because their voices are just like his twin daughters’.’

People’s voices changed slightly when singing, and the twins had grown much older than the image of them in his memory.

‘But still, hearing those voices must have reminded him of his twins.’

Seo Jung-woo felt his resolve waver slightly. He wanted to tell him about the twins. But to do that, he would also have to reveal the existence of the parallel world.

It wasn’t time for that yet.

Seo Jung-woo opened his bag.

“Let’s eat some beef.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I brought beef.”

“How much?”

“1kg.”

“Hyung!”

Seo Jung-woo was startled.

“Are you crazy, ajusshi? Why are you calling me hyung?”

“Since the monster attacks wiped out the ranches, whoever buys beef is now my hyung.”