“Still, it’s not like I’m not interested in you.”

“Pardon?”

“How about just enjoying each other lightly?”

Enjoying lightly.

The girl wasn’t naïve enough not to understand that phrase. It meant a one-night stand.

‘What kind of lunatic says that…’

On the first meeting… no, without even exchanging a few proper words, he suddenly suggested enjoying each other lightly. He was crazy. Clearly insane. And yet…

The words crazy bastard didn’t come out so easily. Something about him left her hesitant.

Letting this man walk away just like this. Parting without even knowing his name.

That was how strangely alluring he was.

“Shall we go?”

Before she could even respond, the man was already leading her away.

Kadalan gathered his clothes and began dressing. A naked woman lay sleeping quietly on the bed.

Once he was fully dressed, Kadalan left the room without looking back. He had indulged in enough pleasure. Now it was time to continue his work.

He followed the faint traces of Meruths. The remnants she left behind were very small.

Even a Celestial Commander wouldn’t be able to track them. But Kadalan had been born in the same era as Meruths.

By human standards, they were like siblings. So he could perceive those faint traces.

Back in Kyoto, where the Hexagram was located, the distance had been too great to sense anything. But this was Korea—a place Meruths had passed through.

There, he could feel faint remnants.

‘Hmm.’

After surveying the surroundings, Kadalan spread his wings wide and soared into the air in an instant.

Yet no one around him seemed aware of his presence at all.

Shooting through the sky, Kadalan flew at lightning speed toward the source of the energy.

Soon, he arrived at a city named Tongyeong.

The traces here were still faint, as they had been in Busan, but they were noticeably stronger in Tongyeong.

‘Is it here.’

He looked around the coast. From that point, the remnants were faintly pulsing.

This must have been Meruths’ last destination. The problem was, after this place, no further trace of her could be found.

Still, it wasn’t a complete loss.

Kadalan trembled slightly. A trembling born of fear.

‘…That one’s presence has grown stronger.’

Though still faint—so much so that one would miss it without focus—it had definitely grown stronger than what he’d sensed in Kyoto.

‘So Meruths really did fall to him.’

There wasn’t much else that could explain it.

While Kabenian had speculated that Meruths was either erased by the experiment or sucked into another dimension, Kadalan thought differently.

He believed she had been erased by him—not by the experiment. And that he was still on Earth. In this very country, South Korea.

The Celestials are categorized by rank. Kadalan belongs to the lower tier of Celestials.

Lower Celestials were called Hellortheon among themselves. Above them were the middle-tier Legions, and above them, the high-tier Archons.

Above even the Archons were the Arconus, whom the Celestials often referred to as Celestial Commanders.

But rather than "commanders," they were more akin to elders in role.

Trbilon was one of those Arconus.

Kadalan, having returned to the Celestial Realm, was now meeting privately with Trbilon. Trbilon bit into a green apple and spoke.

“Are you afraid of him?”

“How could I not be? In the past, didn’t we even rush to seal the Celestial Gate because of him?”

“Don’t speak of such disgraceful things.”

“……”

“Why do you think he’s there?”

“I don’t know that. But it’s certain he’s on Earth.”

“Hmm… if we don’t even know the reason, we can’t act carelessly. Few Celestials can cross over to Earth at will. How could we stop him with just them?”

What Trbilon said was true. He—no, the Demon God—was the one who had thrown the Celestials into fear.

He had been human, but no longer a mere human.

When he finally united the blood-soaked Demon Realm, the Celestials had even sealed the Celestial Gate for fear that he would lead the Demon Legion into the Celestial Realm.

That sealing had meant isolation. And in that time of isolation, the Celestials had no influence over the intermediate world or the human world.

That had caused great damage to the Celestial Realm.

“Lord Trbilon, Earth belongs to the Celestials. It must belong to the Celestials.”

At Trbilon’s nod, Kadalan spoke firmly.

“There’s no way to stop him, but there is a way to divert his attention elsewhere.”

“Hold on. Diverting his attention doesn’t solve the problem, does it?”

“But isn’t there the option of accelerating the experiment while his attention is elsewhere?”

“And if the experiment succeeds, we mobilize a large number of Celestials?”

“Yes. No matter how strong he is, how could he withstand the combined assault of all the Celestials of the Celestial Realm?”

“That’s true. But there’s no guarantee the experiment will succeed either.”

“It’s certain that he made Meruths disappear. If he’s realized our plan, he’ll try to interfere. So we have to try something, don’t we?”

“Hmm.”

After a moment of silence, Trbilon spoke.

“So, what is this method you speak of?”

Kang Yoon-gu was the team leader of Reconnaissance Team 7 under the Bureau of Management.

“I was wondering why things had been quiet lately.”

“It’s been calm since the Jesungdang Gate incident… ha.”

“Today’s my wedding anniversary. I was planning to get home early, but forget it, that’s not happening.”

Grumbling, Kang Yoon-gu and his team entered the checkpoint.

Perhaps they had been informed in advance—soldiers guarding the checkpoint raised the barrier and saluted immediately.

Passing smoothly through the checkpoint, they arrived at Dongui Elementary School in Guui-dong.

Of course, it had been closed for a long time.

As proof, a threatening notice was posted at the entrance.

This is a restricted area with a sealed Channel. Trespassers may be shot on sight without authorization.

This place was known as the so-called Dongui Elementary Channel.

It was the reason Team 7 had been dispatched.

An abnormal reaction had been detected here.

“Everyone, check your gear first.”

Before entering the sealed Channel, Team 7 inspected their equipment, then stepped into the Channel.

“How’s the detector reading?”

“It’s a bit strange.”

“Strange how?”

“I’d say… ambiguous?”

Checking the detector himself, Kang Yoon-gu frowned. Just as his teammate said, it was ambiguous.

The needle wasn’t wildly oscillating or trembling—it was just barely swaying left and right.

“Could it be broken?”

“Sung-woon, how’s your detector?”

“Mine’s showing something ambiguous too.”

Both detectors showed uncertain readings.

He radioed the Safety Team at the control center that had issued the dispatch order.

“This is Team Leader Kang Yoon-gu of Team 7.”

-Yes, Team Leader. Go ahead.

“The readings are coming out ambiguous, so I’m reporting in.”

-Ambiguous?

“It seems faster for the Safety Team to analyze this directly. I’ll send over footage recorded by the body cam.”

-Yes, we’ve received the footage. We’ll review and radio back. In the meantime, please plant the control device and stand by.

“Understood.”

Kang Yoon-gu reached into his backpack to retrieve the control device. No—just as he was about to.

Kurururururur!

The inside of the Channel shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck. At the same time, a sharp transmission came from the control room.

-It’s a rampage! Evacuate immediately—

Jijijijijik!

With a burst of static and the panicked voice of the staff member, the transmission was cut off.

“Everyone, run!”

Team 7 dashed toward the exit in a panic.

“Huff, huff, huff!”

“Huff, huff!”

Fortunately, they all managed to escape safely. Or so they thought.

Just then, a powerful wave of energy made Kang Yoon-gu raise his head.

“……”

And he was left speechless.

‘That’s…’

Kang Yoon-gu had recently undergone updated audiovisual training.

It had been based on the body cam footage from Choi Sungkyun’s team during the Bamseom Channel rampage—Choi being one of his fellow team leaders. That was when Kang Yoon-gu had first seen what a dragon was.

It had been almost the first and last time he’d been seized by pure fear during training.

But that fear was now repeating itself. No—this fear was even more intense than before.

A dragon. Not a dragon as seen in training footage, but a real dragon.

The dragon, with glowing blue eyes, looked down at them with overwhelming presence.

“Humans are forbidden from setting foot in this sacred place.”

The dragon began to open its maw. It was clearly preparing to unleash a breath attack.

They had to avoid it. No matter what, they had to dodge. If that breath hit them directly, there was no surviving it. So run. They had to run.

Kang Yoon-gu desperately tried to move his legs, but they wouldn’t budge.

The same was true for the rest of the team. Their bodies had frozen against their will.

Something gradually gathered in the dragon’s mouth, then it was unleashed in a burst.

Where the breath had swept past, nothing remained.

Nothing at all.

“The signal… it’s been cut off.”

“Team 9’s signal has also been lost…”

“Same with Team 3. They’ve disappeared from the GPS too…”

At the stunned reports from the staff, Lee Myung-seop pounded the desk in frustration.

The control room was silent. The only sounds were Lee Myung-seop’s heavy breathing and the hum of the engine coolers.

Rrrring!

The phone in the eerily quiet control room rang. One of the staff hesitantly picked it up and approached Lee Myung-seop with a timid look.

“…It’s a direct line from the National Security Office.”

That meant it was the Security Chief calling.

Snatching the receiver, Lee Myung-seop answered the call.

-Director Lee, what the hell is going on?

Truthfully, even Lee Myung-seop hadn’t fully grasped the situation. He could only make a rough estimation based on circumstantial evidence.

“…Three Channels have gone into rampage simultaneously.”

-What? What did you just say? Three Channels rampaged at the same time?

“…Yes. Dongui Elementary in Seoul, Uam Historic Park in Daejeon, and Dongbaekseom Channel in Busan. These three Channels went into rampage.”

Gritting his teeth, Lee Myung-seop forced himself to continue.

“…And all agents deployed in the operation are presumed dead. I request activation of Emergency Response Level 10.”