Chapter 6: The Returnee’s Arrival

Between the clouds, a colossal airship emerged. The massive vessel, having glided through the sky, approached the city with the languid grace of a whale.

Startled gazes fixed upon its pristine white hull. In Baekdam, a small, remote town, the appearance of an airship was an exceedingly rare event.

Soon, the sky-vessel, enveloped in a radiant blue light, collided with the energy dome of the bulkhead. A few small sparks flared before the airship smoothly phased through the dome, much like a spoon sinking into pudding.

[Authorization Code 110367. Grisha City. Credit Guild.]

Grisha was a city-state renowned as the hegemon of the Western Continent.

Its territory stretched so vast that the bulkhead’s edge was nowhere in sight, and within the city, over twenty S-rank gates opened.

Within such a powerful Grisha, the Credit Guild held an unyielding first place.

It was also the guild that commanded the most S-rank Hunters in the city.

In an era where Hunters wielded more influence than ever before, many claimed the Credit Guild to be the true master of the Western Continent.

Sagyeol, the Guild Master of the Credit Guild, spoke as if profoundly shocked.

“I don’t come often, but every time I do, it’s astonishing. How can the bulkhead be visible from the city center?”

“Well, from our guild building, you can see the Sea of Trees, can’t you?”

“Is that the same thing?”

“What’s the difference?”

The man paused, then his eyes curved into a smile. Lee Hyun-su swiftly shifted his stance.

“This is just a small town, isn’t it? The maximum rank for gates opening within the city is C-rank.”

“Surely the hotel isn’t bad too. They say the dirtiest things in the world all happen in five-star hotels, don’t they?”

He spoke with grave seriousness. To an outsider, it was a perfectly picturesque scene, easily mistaken for a man concerned about the desolate city’s future.

Sagyeol was a handsome man of formidable build. Though his face was impeccably clean and he was clad in a sharp suit, his physique alone could rival that of a demonic beast.

It was understandable why guild members often told him to ease up on his workouts, complaining the elevators were too cramped.

‘Don’t you all know my schedule better than anyone? I don’t go to gyms.’

‘Instead, you pummel demonic beasts with your bare hands!’

‘And who doesn’t know you secretly test out new martial arts techniques while doing it?!’

‘If you’re a mana-user, please, for the love of all that is holy, act like one!’

In terms of proportion, physical enhancement-type Hunters accounted for nine out of ten, while mana-users were just one, yet the mana-users’ firepower was overwhelmingly superior.

Consequently, Hunter combat typically involved mana-users taking the lead, with physical enhancement-types providing close protection.

Sagyeol, however, was an S-rank mana-user with ice attributes.

As ranks ascended, mana-users, already scarce, became perilously close to extinction.

An S-rank was considered top-tier talent, even among high-level Hunters.

Such a formidable spec was possessed by only three individuals across all of Grisha.

Yet, this man, instead of utilizing his designated attribute, tore through monsters bare-handed and without escort.

It left the guild’s leadership utterly mortified whenever they attended guild alliance meetings.

It had long become routine for them to clutch their necks in exasperation whenever headlines like ‘Credit Guild Master Rips Apart Another Monster with Bare Hands’ blared across portal sites.

“Even if it’s shabby, there’s nothing to be done. You were the one who insisted on coming here in the first place, Guild Master.”

Lee Hyun-su, accompanying him as both secretary and overseer, stated flatly.

Even the great Sagyeol was momentarily speechless in his presence. Clicking his tongue again, he gazed down at Baekdam through the glass.

As the king of Grisha, he hadn’t graced this remote outpost without cause.

Sagyeol’s eyes curved as he smiled, a serpentine grin that held a peculiar languor.

“Because my returnee is here, of course.”

“……”

Lee Hyun-su secretly sighed.

Twenty years ago, a catastrophic disaster, destined to be etched into world history, unfolded on the outskirts of Grisha.

A Gate Overflow.

Nearly a thousand gates opened simultaneously, and a colossal tidal wave of demonic beasts swallowed the surrounding areas.

Grisha was already a major city then, but it lacked the manpower and equipment it possessed today.

Moreover, on that fateful day, two S-rank and six A-rank gates were scheduled to open in the city center, making a delayed response inevitable.

Communication disruptions caused by the massive gate surge further exacerbated the situation.

Hunters were completely unaware of the calamity that had descended upon the outskirts.

Had they known, they would have rushed to the scene, disregarding even the S-rank and A-rank gates in the city center.

By the time the situation was grasped, it was already too late.

Grisha’s Hunters could only barely re-establish a defensive line after half the city had been lost.

Stagnant meetings ensued, while Hunters on the front lines continued to perish.

As the hopeless situation persisted, the city’s leadership ultimately abandoned and excised the encroached sections.

Instead, they focused on strengthening the border defenses and rebuilding the city.

A precarious border, seemingly on the verge of collapse.

Grisha, facing fiercely rampaging demonic beasts, was a tattered ruin, devoid of hope, spiraling towards utter destruction.

It was this very man who, over twenty years, had revitalized Grisha from its ashes. Lee Hyun-su looked at Sagyeol with renewed eyes.

‘Seen like this, he just looks like an insufferable chaebol scion.’

As the sole heir of the Samchoseungdal family, it wasn’t entirely wrong, but…

“Hyun-su.”

“Yes?”

“I do like men, but you’re not my type. Don’t get hurt unnecessarily; just give up now, alright?”

Lee Hyun-su’s face became serious.

“Don’t spout nonsense.”

“Oh? Really?”

“I’d rather date the Hestia Guild Master!”

This time, the expression vanished from Sagyeol’s face.

“Is he insane…? Are you saying that fiery pig is better than me?”

“You were the one who started with strange remarks.”

“Correct your tone. No, more importantly, if not, then why are you looking at me with such profound eyes? You’re confusing people.”

“……”

Lee Hyun-su found his composure by recalling the resignation letter he always carried close to his heart.

Regardless, mana continuously flowed from the unclosed gates.

In the mana-saturated land, grotesque and lush trees sprouted, providing an ideal habitat for demonic beasts after the Wave.

The Demonic Sea of Trees.

A breeding ground for monsters, dubbed the Cursed Forest by people; a land of death brimming with mana; a vast garden of the gods where a black labyrinth unfolded.

Deepest within it lay what the man desired.

However, given its nature, conquering the monster-infested forest proved challenging even for a colossal guild.

How, then, could one breach an inviolable domain that conventional methods and Hunters alone couldn’t resolve?

He already knew the answer.

Sagyeol immediately sprang into action.

He rummaged through the Samchoseungdal family’s archives, long relegated to a guild corner.

Locating Lee Myeong-hwan’s confidential project within them proved to be no great challenge.

Lee Hyun-su, his face uncharacteristically grave, repeatedly asked if he was certain.

‘Please, reconsider. You know, don’t you? This project is…’

‘I know.’

‘……’

‘Precisely because of that.’

Just as Sagyeol seemed to know everything about Lee Hyun-su, Lee Hyun-su understood most things about Sagyeol.

He grasped the meaning embedded in that ‘precisely because of that’.

Though his attribute was ice, Sagyeol, in his eyes, was fire—a raging inferno consuming even the last bone fragment Lee Myeong-hwan had left behind.

Unable to object further, Lee Hyun-su projected the project’s details as a hologram.

Sagyeol, surrounded by densely appearing blue windows, scanned the text with cold eyes.

The more he read, the more he was utterly dumbfounded.

The Returnee.

It referred to one who had crossed into the Demon Realm and returned alive.

History itself attested to the absurdity of such a feat.

After not a single Hunter had returned alive from past explorations and expeditions beyond the gates, all related attempts were strictly prohibited.

Scholars argued that humans could not withstand the dimensional pressure, and this became widely accepted as truth.

Then, the first Returnee appeared.

He had spent approximately 48 hours in the Demon Realm.

Requiring four months merely to recover, he said little during the press conference, appearing in a wheelchair.

He only spoke clearly about the deaths of those who had crossed the gates.

Rejection to mana.

‘It was a dimension saturated with concentrated mana.’

To the question of how he had returned alive, he replied with a trembling voice:

‘I was fortunate.’

Despite countless desperate offers from information-hungry guilds and researchers, the silent Returnee died within a few years.

As he had implied himself, the cause was his inability to fully adapt to mana.

Thereafter, Returnees appeared at intervals, sometimes as short as a decade, sometimes several decades.

Yet, most died within a few years or vanished without a trace.

Among them, a very rare few were proactive.

As soon as he recovered, he collaborated with the city’s research efforts.

He authored books detailing his experiences in the Demon Realm and delved into mana poisoning, contributing to the development of neutralizers.

Thanks to him, it became possible to partially counter mana, an previously incomprehensible domain.

Equipment for pre-scanning gate cycles and devices capable of withstanding mana were thus born.

‘A project to artificially create such Returnees.’

That was Project Snow White.

Despite its fairytale-like name, the reality was grotesqueness itself.

The very idea of sending hundreds of people, hoping at least a few would return, was utterly insane.

‘There’s a limit to how reckless one can be.’

Even as he thought this, Sagyeol couldn’t tear his eyes away from the project report.

“Therefore, while the survival rate is less than 0.02%, if one succeeds in surviving this extreme probability, they will gain primary immunity to mana.

Hypothesis (1): If the duration of stay is prolonged, there is a possibility of gaining stronger immunity through secondary and tertiary adaptations…”

“Project cities: Haram, Inos, Baekdam…”

Sagyeol planted his people in the small towns where the project had been carried out.

Then, three days ago, a report arrived from Baekdam.

His heart, long desensitized to most matters, thumped for the first time in a long while.

“It’s still uncertain whether it’s real or not. Reflecting on past experiences, it’s highly likely to be a wild goose chase.”

“Hyun-su.”

“Yes?”

“It seems you’ve been living too comfortably lately.”

“…My apologies.”

Lee Hyun-su habitually raised his white flag.

“The name?”

“It’s Kim Cheol-su.”

Sagyeol crooked a finger.