Thirteen Years Ago...
A team of scientists stood in a dimly lit lab, staring at a strange object no larger than a remote. Its surface pulsed faintly, humming with an energy they couldn't identify.
"This… this might be it," one of them whispered, eyes wide with fascination.
But they never knew where it came from.
A few days earlier, the device had fallen from the sky like a shooting star, crashing beside a lonely stretch of road. The impact carved out a small crater, glowing faintly in the dark.
A lone driver, heading home from a late shift, slammed on his brakes when he spotted the smoking pit. He grabbed his phone nervously.
"Uh… there's a small crater beside the road," he told the police dispatcher, glancing uneasily at the light.
Without getting out of the car, he drove away, tires screeching into the night.
When the authorities arrived, they found a small, metallic rock in the center of the crater. It was warm to the touch—almost alive. They brought it to a research facility for examination.
Days passed. The scientists debated, tested, and scanned the object endlessly. Then, one night—
"Careful with that!" a researcher snapped as another fumbled with the strange device.
But it was too late. The device slipped from his hands and hit the floor.
A blinding flash filled the room. The air rippled. Space itself began to twist and tear apart as a swirling rift exploded outward.
"Get back!" someone screamed.
The lab walls crumbled as the rift devoured everything in its path—the scientists, the equipment, and finally, the device itself—vanishing into the distortion.
The moment the world was exposed to the otherworldly beings, many gates appeared, and monsters poured out.
Earth was in complete ruin. But then, people awakened gaining superhuman strength and powers.
They called these people hunters.
The hunters fought the monsters for two years, and eventually, they pushed the monsters back.
That day, the world changed forever.
And the location of the device… remained unknown.
---
The Present Day…
"Ugh… such a hassle. Why do we even have to do this?" grumbled a girl with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, kicking a small rock across the dirt.
"This is a mission, Minji," replied a man with black hair and piercing yellow eyes, adjusting the straps on his tactical vest. "We don't have a choice, so we should just clear this gate and go back."
Minji huffed, crossing her arms. "Tch, you make it sound so simple. Still… dying isn't exactly on my to-do list."
"Then stop complaining and focus," he said with a faint smirk. "We move in five minutes."
"Fine, fine," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "But if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you, Woo-jin."
Woo-jin gave a short laugh, but his expression quickly hardened as he turned toward the back of the group. A quiet figure stood apart from them, clutching her gear tightly.
"Hey, Shi-eun," Woo-jin barked, walking toward her. "What're you doing just standing there?!"
Shi-eun flinched, her eyes darting to the ground. "I-I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'll be there in a sec."
Before she could move, another teammate with orange hair and smug blue eyes stepped forward, grinning.
"Hah! Look at her—always spacing out. No wonder we have to clean up her messes," Minji sneered.
Shi-eun's fingers trembled as she gripped the strap of her bag, but she said nothing.
Woo-jin stepped closer, his voice dropping to a cold tone. "You'd better not slow us down again, Shi-eun. We don't need another liability."
Shi-eun swallowed hard, nodding weakly. "I-I understand… Woo-jin."
The group laughed and walked off, their voices fading into the sound of rustling leaves.
Shi-eun stood there a moment longer, the laughter echoing in her ears. Her yellow eyes dimmed, the faint spark of life inside her flickering out beneath the weight of humiliation.
Five minutes later, Woo-jin's voice cut through the air.
"Alright! Move out!"
The team walked toward the gate, boots crunching against the dirt.
The gate loomed before them—its surface rippling like liquid glass, humming with unstable energy.
One by one, they stepped through the gate.
In an instant, the world twisted. The light around them flickered and faded, replaced by damp, cold air. Their footsteps echoed softly off stone walls.
They were in a cave.
The ground was uneven, slick with moisture. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping water that echoed into the distance.
A faint mist lingered in the air, glowing slightly from the blue light seeping through cracks in the walls.
Their breaths came out as pale clouds.
Shi-eun walked quietly at the back, the weight of the supplies pressing down on her shoulders. The faint sound of her steps followed the group.
Then, from deeper inside the cave, came a low growl.
Woo-jin raised a hand, signaling the others to stop. The group fell silent.
Only the faint dripping of water and their shallow breathing could be heard.
Suddenly, a sharp hiss broke the quiet.
Green figures emerged from the shadows—small, twisted shapes with glowing red eyes and jagged teeth.
"A goblin!" someone shouted.
"Get into formation!" Woo-jin barked, unsheathing his blade.
Shiiiing! The metallic ring echoed through the cave.
The hunters moved quickly, forming a defensive formation. The air filled with the sound of footsteps, grunts, and the scrape of steel.
"Kill the goblins!" Woo-jin commanded.
The hunters rushed forward, cutting down the goblins with ease. The cave echoed with the wet sound of steel slicing through flesh and the faint cries of dying monsters. Within minutes, the last goblin fell to the ground with a dull thud, its red eyes dimming into nothingness.
"Wow," one of the hunters said, wiping blood off his blade. "That was easier than I expected. Didn't think this mission would be such a breeze."
Woo-jin sheathed his sword and scanned the cave, his expression calm but sharp. "Don't let your guard down. Low-level gates can still be unpredictable."
Minji smirked, leaning casually against a rock. "Relax, Captain. If there were more of them, they would've shown up by now."
"Still," Woo-jin said, his tone stern, "stay alert. We'll finish collecting the materials and move forward."
Shi-eun quietly moved forward, kneeling beside the fallen goblins. She pulled small crystal shards from their bodies—mana stones—carefully placing each one into her pouch. Her hands trembled slightly, but she worked quickly, trying not to draw attention.
"Hurry up," one of the hunters called out impatiently. "We don't have all day, you know."
Shi-eun flinched but didn't respond. She simply nodded and continued her task.
Woo-jin's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he turned away. "Once she's done, we move deeper," he ordered.
A tense silence settled as Shi-eun finished gathering the materials. The group pressed on, deeper into the cave, unaware that shadows were moving in the distance—watching them.
As they ventured deeper, the air grew heavier, colder. Then one of the hunters froze mid-step.
"Guys… look at this," he said, pointing at the wall. "There's blood on the floor—and on the walls too."
Everyone gathered around. Thick streaks of dark red trailed along the stone, still glistening under the faint blue light.
Woo-jin crouched down, running his gloved fingers through a small puddle. "It's still warm," he muttered. "This blood is fresh. Whatever did this is close."
Minji wrinkled her nose. "Ugh… great. Just what we needed."
"Stay sharp," Woo-jin ordered, standing and tightening his grip on his sword. "We're moving forward. Eyes open and weapons ready."
The group pressed on, their footsteps echoing softly through the winding tunnel. The deeper they went, the stronger the stench of blood became—thick and metallic, clinging to the air.
But there were no corpses. No monsters. Nothing.
A tense silence settled over them. Even the faint dripping of water seemed to have stopped.
"This doesn't feel right," one of the hunters whispered.
Woo-jin didn't answer. His eyes narrowed, scanning the shadows ahead. "Keep moving," he said quietly. "We'll find out soon enough what happened here."
As they were just about to move, a tall, black, human-like creature appeared before them.
"What's that?" one of them asked, pointing his flashlight toward the creature.
The creature began walking toward them.
"It's a fucking Void Walker!" Woo-jin shouted.
"What! But I thought Void Walk—" one of them shouted, but before he could finish, the Void Walker teleported in front of him and sliced off his head.
Blood splattered everywhere. The team panicked.
Void Walkers—monsters capable of tearing through space and time—were among the rarest and most feared entities to ever emerge from a gate. Towering over two meters tall, their bodies were completely black, absorbing light instead of reflecting it, making them appear as walking shadows. Their movements were silent and unnaturally fast, almost as if they existed in multiple places at once.
They could manipulate dimensional rifts, slipping through space to attack from any direction without warning. Ordinary weapons were useless against them; only high-grade mana or spatial abilities could inflict real damage.
For most hunters, encountering a Void Walker meant one thing—death.