By Zephyria 
✽ ✽ ✽
While it is true that the leakage of one’s nature caused by emotions so heightened they cannot be controlled triggers an Id Portal, not all heightened emotions result in one. However, there were ways to artificially trigger a portal by amplifying emotions. There were countless drugs that acted on the central nervous system even before the Great Cataclysm.
‘Could this really be a portal targeting the Guild Master?’
The murderous intent of the magical beasts pouring out from the deepest point of the portal was directed toward Tae-un. For over four hours.
“Hey! Can’t you manage the aggro?!”
“I think the magical beasts have fallen for Tae-un oppa!”
The magical beasts were swarming Tae-un to an extent that neither Seo Gae-un, the tanker, nor Pi Min-hyeong, who excelled at dealing damage while dispersing stray aggro, could handle. As a result, it devolved into a chaotic brawl.
‘Damn it. If only there weren’t any civilians.’
The closer one gets to the deepest point of the portal, the more magical beasts there are. However, since the portal collapses rapidly from the outskirts once the core is destroyed, they couldn’t simply leave the civilians near the entrance.
Because some magical beasts occasionally charged past Tae-un, people were crouching in the middle of the emergency stairs, screaming.
The 7th floor was a scene of chaos, with the shrieks of magical beasts and the sounds of combat constantly intertwining. The displayed merchandise had been destroyed to the point where no trace remained due to the brawl between the hunters and the magical beasts. In actual reality, a huge hole would have already been ripped into the department store’s outer wall.
Thump. Thump thump. Thump!
A saber-toothed tiger, which would have been rated B-class if it were in a field, appeared. The saber-toothed tiger, with a body height so massive it nearly touched the ceiling, rushed toward Tae-un while trampling smaller magical beasts. Gwak Yun-sang reflexively reached out toward him.
“Guild Master Tae…”
Even if they were low-level magical beasts, there was no way around it when they swarmed in crowds. No matter how strong Tae-un was, a surprise attack from a new B-class magical beast while dealing with a horde would be—
K-k-k-kak!
The moment Tae-un stomped his foot on the floor, his coat fluttered violently, and spikes of darkness surged upward, instantly piercing the saber-toothed tiger’s magic stone and striking the ceiling. Naturally, the majority of the magical beast horde charging from the front were skewered like kabobs and died instantly.
“….”
I worried for nothing. If one possesses that much firepower, isn’t it a human virtue for their endurance to be short or for them to be a glass cannon? Why is he so devoid of human weakness? Is it because he’s a canine?
Gwak Yun-sang decided to stop worrying about others.
“Block the entrance thoroughly so none of those things get into the stairs!”
Even as he commanded the hunters from the Supernatural Phenomenon Response Agency, he felt anxious.
‘Magical beasts are spawning at a rate that would have been overwhelming if we didn’t have our Guild Master; I wonder if Mr. Kim Si-baek is doing alright. He’s the only combat power over there.’
He was doing very alright.
Bae Jihan was spending a comfortable 30 minutes. It was still pitch black, but thanks to the light centered around Kim Si-baek, he could distinguish obstacles to some extent, so there were no issues.
…That was a bluff. To confess his true feelings, he was so scared he wanted to hold the hand of Kim Si-baek, who was walking ahead, but the bluff of a high school student offset the fear. Instead, Bae Jihan followed closely, clutching the bottom of Kim Si-baek’s t-shirt rather than his hand.
‘Even a mere beast like a crow is acting dignified, how can I be scared? I might not have a trait, but do I not have pride?’
Bae Jihan could not see with his own eyes that Biyendwe’s legs, perched on top of Kim Si-baek’s head, were trembling violently.
Regardless, this comfort stemmed from the fact that they hadn’t encountered a single magical beast for 30 minutes. While Tae-un’s party was moving through the emergency stairs to minimize the risk of magical beast attacks, Kim Si-baek and Bae Jihan were simply walking up the wide-open escalators.
“It’s my first time at the MA Department Store, but it’s not usually this wide, is it?”
“Yep. We’ve walked for 30 minutes and we’re only on the 4th floor. This place goes up to the 8th.”
Kim Si-baek pretended to be calm but did not let his guard down, while Bae Jihan felt much more at ease. Thanks to that, he rambled on with all sorts of TMI and even exchanged phone numbers.
“My mom isn’t an Awakened, but she does work related to hunters. It was my dad who awakened during the Great Cataclysm, but he started a hunter business, failed miserably, and got divorced. My younger sibling also awakened at a young age and is said to be heading to an Awakened Academy once they hit high school.”
The gist of it was that he was very bothered by being the only non-awakened in a family of Awakened or hunter-related people. Because of that, he had even been scammed.
“Mister, if I pray and stuff, do you think I could awaken too?”
“What you obtain through prayer is a power different from awakening.”
“Anyway.”
While continuing up the escalator and engaging in such leisurely chatter, Kim Si-baek suddenly stopped walking.
“W-what’s wrong?”
Thinking that a magical beast had appeared, his voice trembled involuntarily. Kim Si-baek, vaguely feeling the sensation of the separated times merging—the moment Tae-un and Seo Gae-un, who had attacked the outer core, returned—looked back at Bae Jihan. Seeing the terrified expression, it seemed the boy hadn’t noticed the sign. It was a very faint sensation, after all.
“It seems that Un—ahem, Guild Master Tae-un’s party has reached the deepest point where the core is located.”
“Huck. You can feel that? As expected of an S-class…”
“We should join them quickly, shouldn’t we?”
“I’ll run!”
“It will be faster if I carry you.”
“…?”
While the high school boy, whose brain was dominated by bluffing, was still trying to understand the meaning of ‘carry you,’ Kim Si-baek decisively slid his hands under the boy’s back and beneath his knees and scooped him up. Before the shame of being suddenly carried princess-style could saturate his mind, Kim Si-baek lightly kicked off the ground.
Bae Jihan, suddenly floating in the air, saw the floor drift far away and, forgetting all about the princess-carry, screamed and clung to Kim Si-baek’s neck. The escalator they had slowly walked up vanished beneath them in an instant.
There was only the sensation of leaping, with a few light thumps against the floor, and before he knew it, they were on the 8th floor, the top level.
“We have arrived.”
“Mr. Kim Si-baek, you’re safe!”
Beyond the 8th floor, which was riddled with the corpses of magical beasts and traces of battle, was Tae-un’s party, panting and drenched in the fluids of magical beasts, but they were not in Bae Jihan’s sight. Instead, he was merely looking up, entranced, at Kim Si-baek, whose breath wasn’t even disturbed despite moving him across the distance in an instant.
Come to think of it, his plain voice hadn’t changed—whether it was during their first greeting in the Id Portal, after dealing with the magical beasts, or now, while they were alone. This composure could only be possessed by a strong person with unwavering confidence in themselves. The epitome of a hunter that the boy had always dreamed of.
Bae Jihan’s heart raced violently. Although there was the problem that he wasn’t a woman and thus couldn’t fall in love…
‘Wouldn’t it be fine if he’s a step-dad? It works, it works. This works. Step-dad…’
“Dad!”
“Huh? Dad?”
“My mom is a divorcee with two kids, but she married young, so she’s around the same age as you, mister. You saw the photo earlier, right? My mom is totally cool. If you pick a date, I’ll set up a blind date for you two… waah!”
The scream of Bae Jihan, who was grabbed by the scruff of his neck by a suddenly approaching Tae-un and flung backward, echoed pitifully. Fortunately, Seo Gae-un caught him safely. Regardless, Tae-un could see nothing else.
“A blind date? What are you talking about? With this brat?! Have you two already hit it off? This punk seduced you! I knew it!”
“Not the boy himself… but the mother?”
“What? Then she’s a married woman!”
“I heard she’s divorced. Since the eldest is a high schooler, her age would roughly match mine, 49.”
“What?!”
“Anyway, let’s clear the portal first. Is that the deepest point where the core is?”
“Hyung! Wait a minute! Hyung! Hyung!”
Kim Si-baek, holding the waist of Tae-un—who was calling out to him desperately and looking as if he might cling to his pant legs—and dragging him along, approached the party. Their faces, which had been delighted to see Kim Si-baek and Bae Jihan safe, turned strange upon witnessing Tae-un’s unsightly behavior.
‘Is that really an S-class hunter…’
Recalling how he had been rampaging and slaughtering magical beasts just a few minutes ago, Gwak Yun-sang felt a severe cognitive dissonance and hurriedly cleared his mind.
“Don’t go on a blind date…”
Patting the head of the sobbing, clinging Tae-un and subtly healing him with divine power, Kim Si-baek looked at the firmly closed door. Despite it being a transparent glass door, nothing inside was visible.
“Are the Portal Keeper and the inner core here?”
“Yes. According to the staff, this is the VIP lounge.”
Pi Min-hyeong stepped forward with a face that looked like he wanted to peel Tae-un off Kim Si-baek’s back and throw him into a trash can.
“Since that one seems useless right now, I’ll open it.”
As the hunters prepared in tension, Pi Min-hyeong drew his sword and slashed the closed door in a cross shape.
The door, which had looked like glass, split open cleanly without a single shard scattering. The interior, which had shown nothing as if nothing existed beyond the door, was finally revealed.
Kim Si-baek’s eyes widened.
What was at the deepest point of the Id Portal was Tae-un.