The Hunter leading the team into the Portal did not look pleased to see someone running from a police officer wearing a boot on only one foot. The look on his face only soured when he heard Shiwoon claiming to be the trainee the Bureau had sent. He rubbed his temple. "What's going on, officer? Why are you chasing our porter?"

The police officer, face red from a mixture of shame and anger in equal parts, glared at Shiwoon as he spoke. "This young man here claimed to be a Hunter in training but couldn't produce any proof. He just...ran past me and refused to stop."

"Not much you can do if one of us doesn't stop for you, officer," the Hunter said while shooting Shiwoon a dirty glance. "please rest assured that it’s not your fault."

Shiwoon had the decency to look embarrassed.

The police officer opened his mouth. He seemed like he was about to protest the decision but stopped himself before the words came out. "Thank you, sir. I'll be on my way then." He tipped his cap and walked away, a sad blue penguin trudging back to where his boot had landed on the floor.

The Hunter turned to look at Shiwoon squarely, shaking his head. "He was just trying to do his job."

Shiwoon looked back at the Hunter. The man seemed like he was a few years older than Shiwoon. Wearing the traditional black suit with no tie, with a ring on his ring finger and a ring on his middle finger, the man looked every bit the charming gentleman. At least, he did, until you saw the greataxe slung over his shoulders, which gleamed with blood-red rust. "I know. But if I didn't get in here, I wouldn't have gotten paid." Shiwoon said.

The Hunter arched an eyebrow. "Is that the only reason?"

Shiwoon broke eye contact and tried to look guilty. "Maybe he got on my nerves. Just a little."

The Hunter shook his head before stretching out his hand. "My name is Hong Geunsoo. Feel free to speak casually. But, please, show me some identification. I don’t exactly trust men who run from the police, you know."

Shiwoon took out his ID card and presented it to Geunsoo with a bow. "My name is Kim Shiwoon, Hunter in training. I will be in your care then, Mr. Hong."

Geunsoo scoffed as he heard the formal tone but left it at that. “Seems like you’re our guy. Follow me.” After introducing him to the rest of the team, Geunsoo took him aside.

"Listen, Shiwoon. I don't know what you've heard about Portals, but put it all aside. Today, you move when I tell you to move. You breathe when I tell you to breathe.. If I don't tell you to touch something, you'd better keep those hands of yours away. Understood?" Every word was spoken calmly, like an adult explaining something difficult to a child, and they bore a clear promise of violent consequences.

Shiwoon wanted to look away. He knew he had to keep looking right back and he knew the words he had to speak. They were simple words. "Yes, sir," he said.

With a common understanding, Geunsoo nodded and waved one of the team members over. She brought with her a large rucksack, a baseball bat and a plain silver ring. All three were passed to Shiwoon.

"Use them well, rookie," she said in a sing-song voice.

Shiwoon stared, dumbfounded. The bag and the bat he could understand - though he would have preferred a sword - but what was the ring for?

"The ring creates a barrier just above your skin and any clothes on you. Doesn't protect you from anything worth a lick but it'll keep you from the ick." Geunsoo explained helpfully. "I don't know what weapon you normally use but that’s the only extra weapon we have on us."

Shiwoon could feel a faint buzzing within the aluminium bat, which seemed to resonate into him. He thought he could hear the hum of magic. As he slipped the ring on, he felt the world change surreptitiously, like a thin film of Aether was coating his skin.

"You should be thankful to be on this team," the lady said, her words carrying a melodic tone that made them seem to rhyme, “Geunsoo is one of the best team leaders around.” Shiwoon vaguely remembered that her name was Danmi.

"Thank you, team leader, senior." He bowed, though he wasn't sure whether she was saying the truth. He didn’t know much about E-rank teams and team leaders. Choi Minsik and Park Sua had been rather unhelpful when sharing their experiences as a porter.

"It was easy and I hope I never have to do it again." Park Sua had said with an unhappy pout.

Choi Minsik had only nodded and added unhelpfully, "Right, being a porter is a breeze."

And that was that. All Shiwoon knew about being a porter was that it was an easy job. Not what it entailed nor what the regulations were. Just that it had not been difficult at all for the two he had asked.

He regretted not talking more to the other trainees sometimes.

After checking that everyone had finished their preparations, Geunsoo gathered the team into a basic formation. Front liners at the fore, those with ranged or supporting Skills behind them, and further back still the porter.

The Portal awaited them on the road. A bouquet of daffodils laid on the black gravel near it, its yellow petals a parting gift from some unwitting person. Perhaps they had been walking early in the morning to pass a lover the flowers and had been surprised by the opening of a Portal. Where the Portal stood, the space within one metre of it seemed to distort, like the air on a scorching summer afternoon. Outlined in blue, the Portal was an oval-shaped man-sized window into the world beyond it. Shiwoon could see a horde of boars beyond the Portal, if boars had horns like a rhino and two tails that whipped about dangerously from side to side.

Geunsoo whistled. "They were right. It's the Boars. This Portal is E-rank for sure."

"Boars?" Shiwoon asked.

"Right, Boars. I know there's a scientific name for them but us Hunters call them Boars. Or at most, Two-tailed Boars. They're a standard E-rank monster." Geunsoo turned to the team. "Well, everyone ready?"

Seeing only nodding heads, Geunsoo walked up to the Portal with the rest of the vanguard. He turned back to them again. "Remember to fight just as we planned. Try not to use any unnecessary Skills. We want the meat if possible." He said before walking through first. The other frontliners stepped into the Portal one by one after him.

When the last of the backliners had stepped through, Shiwoon finally walked through the Portal.

The thought that a different world could be separated from his by a thin tear in the fabric of the world had never really seemed logical to him. Sure, the scientists had come up with all sorts of theories to justify it, but Shiwoon thought of himself as a traditionalist at heart and none of his ancestors had ever spoken about anything quite so absurd.

Moving from the summer heat of the urban jungle to the humid boil of a tropical jungle, Shiwoon could feel with his body the truth he had always denied. It really was a different world. The air was fresher, buoyed by the plants and their green leaves and the wet dew that had melted into the air. He could hear the chirping of insects and the songs of distant birds in between the sound of metal cutting into flesh.

The team was already engaged in steady combat. Ducking behind shields, then counterattacking, while the ranged attackers poured down attacks from behind. There was a reason that the basic formation was universally praised among Hunters: it worked. The Boars were being cut down with efficiency, their lives wheat before the sickle.

The Boars were trying to put up a fight with the weapons that they used with natural prowess. Their sharp horns, which seemed like small towers growing towards the sky, were more than sturdy enough to deflect the Hunters’ weapons, and their tails inflicted visible agony on the Hunters they managed to lash at.

But the Boars were always a step slower than the Hunters, both physically and mentally. For every blow they received, the Hunters would deal several more lethal ones. And when things seemed to get dangerous for one of the frontliners, who had been careless and lost his weapon, the other Hunters stepped in to prevent anything going awry. There was no challenge in the slaughter. Why the Boars did not rout, but instead chose to stand their ground and fight, Shiwoon could not quite understand, but he did understand that the Boars would soon all die. They would have died no matter what.

At the very front, with a ring of corpses around him, Geunsoo looked almost bored as he brought his axe down on the neck of a Boar that already laid limp on the floor. His eyes met Shiwoon’s, before moving to scan the rest of the battle. The Boar's head plopped neatly to the soil. Blood dribbled out where the neck would have sealed it in, a pool of red amidst the green and brown.

Elsewhere, the Boars were dying to blade and arrow. Geunsoo's eyes met Shiwoon's again. He motioned for Shiwoon to come over.

Geunsoo pointed to one of the few remaining Boars, which postured aggressively and made low growling noises. “You’ll kill that one,” he said to Shiwoon, “Don’t worry about the corpse. As long as we get the magic crystal, it’s fine.”

Shiwoon blinked for a few moments, then looked dully at the bat in his hand. “With this, team leader?”

Geunsoo chuckled. “Would you prefer to use your hands?”

Shiwoon shook his head. “No. I’ll use this.” He put down the large, empty rucksack onto the floor and walked towards the Boar, feeling none of the bravery he thought he would. But it is a cruel world, he thought to himself, and I must kill you, Boar, though you have done nothing to me.

‘I have to kill you.’ He repeated in his mind.

Staring with suspicion, the Boar made no moves, though its tails lashed about dangerously, leaving marks on the ground. Shiwoon thought that both the Boar and him knew that they were now in an arena where only the victor was allowed to leave alive.

Shiwoon set his right foot back, getting low upon the floor, coiling up like a spring before shooting forth with the bat held in both hands and to his right side. The Boar lowered its body, bracing for the hit.

It was going to be a head on confrontation then, Shiwoon thought. No matter, this is how I like to fight anyway, he thought, a fair fight.

As he drew near the Boar, he remembered what Kang Seok had told him after they sparred for the last time.

‘Besides that, it doesn’t form good habits for the Portals.’

Shiwoon skidded to a halt, stopping right outside the reach of the Boar’s horn. It grunted in dissatisfaction, as it watched Shiwoon jump back. Now that he thought about it, the other Hunters had worked around the horn. None of them tried to clash with it directly unless they had no other choice. Looking at the horn and how hard it looked, and looking at the bat he held in his hands, he could picture the bat breaking if he had decided to go ahead and fought in a headstrong manner. Shiwoon’s lips curled up. I see, he thought, it was trying to bait me in. But I am not as stupid as it thinks. It will soon know that.

Adopting the same low position he had before, Shiwoon dashed ahead with the same furious speed before he pounced forward, cocking his arms back in midair like he was about to take a great swing. Seeing this, the Boar snorted and braced itself again, lowering its body for more stability. In its mind, Shiwoon thought, it must believe that it is an immovable object. But being immovable is not such a good thing.

As he neared the Boar, Shiwoon forced himself to a stop by pushing his feet into the ground right before he entered the range of its horn. His feet burned and it felt like his ankles were about to be torn off as he skidded sideways. Changing direction so suddenly was difficult but he just about managed it, dashing to the side to dodge away the Boar’s horn. It was slow to react, having expected a frontal clash and Shiwoon jumped and swung the bat down on its head hard before it could even think to do anything. There was an awful sensation as he felt something soft give way beneath the bat. He did not pause and swung the bat again and again, forcing himself to focus on where he was hitting, making sure that he was hitting its head over and over like a game of whack-a-mole where he had no confidence to react to the mole and stuck to trying his luck by relentlessly slamming down on the same hole. The Boar whimpered and tried to curl up but the heavy blows left it off balance and confused and unable to bring its feet in. The Boar would not be able to endure.

He knew the monster had died when he saw its legs sticking out in every direction like a four-legged gymnast doing a split, grotesque green fluids trickling from its head and its eyes and its nose and its lips. He stopped his arms in mid-air, deciding not to desecrate the corpse any more than he already had.

“I know I said don’t worry about the corpse,” he heard a man’s voice say, “but you don’t have to be so brutal, Rookie Kim.”

Shiwoon turned back to see Geunsoo staring at him with a wry smile. Geunsoo put on a pair of gloves, took out a knife, crouched down beside the Boar, gesturing for Shiwoon to come closer. Shiwoon put his right knee down on the ground, edged close to the Hunter to observe.

“You’ll need to learn how to dismember the corpse properly in the future,” Geunsoo said, “though I don’t think today is the right time to learn. Just watch this time.” Geunsoo began to carve out slabs of meat from the Boar’s corpse, though he noticeably avoided the head, which was unrecognisable apart from the horn that stood proudly at its center. Shiwoon winced when he thought of how he had been the one to deliver such terrible violence. At the end, Geunsoo had cut out enough of the meat to reach in and grab the magic crystal.

The meat they threw into a small bag that had been prepared for them. Shiwoon felt a burst of cold air when he opened it to put in the meat and both the bag and the crystal was placed into the rucksack Shiwoon had been charged with carrying.

After depositing the meat and the crystals that the other members of the team had harvested, Geunsoo double checked their gains again with Shiwoon beside him. Satisfied that there were no errors, he announced to the whole extermination team that they would be leaving the Portal.

This time, they went out of the Portal in the reverse order of how they had come through the Portal before. Shiwoon got out first, followed by the backliners, and then the frontliners, and it was Geunsoo who brought up the rear.

Returning to his own world proved decidedly less magical than leaving it. Emerging onto the same gravel he saw everywhere in the city, Shiwoon discovered that he would not have minded staying in the other world just a bit longer. Here, in Seoul, there were only familiar sensations. The overhead sun poured down suffocating heat and there were no trees to provide shade on the road.

His mind turned to the time he had spent in the jungle. His first encounter with a monster had been easy and he had escaped without any major injuries. He took a deep breath of the air in Seoul. He was grateful to be back alive.

Can’t believe we got called for Boars-”

“Did you see how I hit that Boar in the eye with an arrow?”

“Wonder how much we’re getting-”

Conversations filled the air as the team returned to Seoul. They still stood vigilantly around the Portal to ensure nothing spilled out when it collapsed, but they did not keep up the intensity of before. It made sense. They had survived. That was worth celebrating. The Boars had not survived. That was also worth celebrating.

There was a Bureau official waiting a short distance away, standing next to a black van with the logo of the Monitoring Bureau painted subtly on its side. A hand washing area had been set up, spilling out of the van's side with pipes leading back into the van's interior.

"Rookie Kim," Geunsoo said, "go and pass the official our loot. Make sure they count it right."

The official did get the tally right. After sifting through the bag, the official looked at the bat and the ring in Shiwoon's hands.

"I'm guessing those are borrowed," the official pointed to the bat and the ring in Shiwoon's possession, "so you'll have to return them to us."

"How, sir?" Shiwoon asked.

The official showed his palm to Shiwoon. "Pass me the bat and the ring." As Shiwoon placed both items in the official's palm, the man stared at them and then they seemed to drop into a blackhole that opened in his palm, a faint wisp connecting it to the dull ring the man wore on his thumb.

"What was that?"

"Oh, that? It's how these spatial enchantments look like. Some people perceive it differently but research claims these spells function somewhat like a mini Portal. Scary stuff to think of." The man went to wash his hands and asked Shiwoon to do the same.

"Safety procedure. Though research has shown that germs from the Portals can't survive in our world, it never hurts to take precaution." The official explained. He then added that Shiwoon would receive a cut of the profits from today and that Shiwoon ought to ensure that his bank account details were updated.

"How much will it be roughly, sir?" Shiwoon was curious.

The official did some quick calculations in his mind, his fingers moving chaotically. "About a million won?" (~800 USD)

That was surprisingly high, given Shiwoon hadn’t done much. "Is that normal?" He asked.

"Porters take a lower cut because they face less risk. Those guys back there probably earn triple what you do. Geunsoo probably earns at least five million won because he's an official team leader."

"Why do team leaders earn more?"

"You must be thinking it's not fair," the official said with a chuckle, "but the Bureau only gives team leader positions to a few trusted Hunters. It's not easy leading a group you meet on the job."

"Wait. This isn't his actual team?"

The official laughed. "Most teams are only seriously formed at D-rank or C-rank. Too many people quit at E, you see."

Shiwoon's next question was interrupted by the sound of something cracking. He turned and saw that the Portal was collapsing. He had never seen it happen in real life before and the videos and stories did not do the spectacle justice. The Portal expanded and grew to the height of a skyscraper, and stayed at that size for a minute, the space around it suddenly stable. And then it started growing smaller and smaller. As the Portal began to rapidly shrink into itself, the space around it suddenly fluctuated like waves in a troubled ocean, until there was nothing to shrink into and the Portal disappeared with an audible ‘pop!’ The party cheered, their voices inconsistent and out of time, before each member began to walk towards the Bureau vehicle to clean up before heading off. Everyone deferred to Geunsoo, who skipped to the front of the line and washed his hands first.

As the others began to wash up, Geunsoo came over to speak to the official. They talked for a while before finally shaking hands after the official sent something out on his phone. The message that the Portal was closed must have been sent out, Shiwoon thought. Sure enough, his phone buzzed a minute after, with a message that read: “Portal in Sinwol-dong closed at 1325, area is certified safe.”

Walking back towards the rest of the Hunters, Geunsoo began to yell about having lunch after, which was met with riveting applause. The Bureau official shook his head.

Shiwoon thanked the man for his help and shook his hand before going over to thank the team. It was a very enriching experience, he said, over and over, thank you for having me. They in turn responded with words of appreciation, for having counted and carried the spoils, and expressed hope that they would work together with him again.

Geunsoo was talking to Danmi and another woman he could not quite remember the name of. It might have been Miso, he thought.

He bowed politely to Geunsoo and the other two. "Thank you, team leader. I really appreciate what you did for me today."

Geunsoo shook his head, playful disappointment dancing on his lips. "Still going on with the honorifics. No problem, Rookie Kim. It's something I do for all the porters. Gives all of you a chance to decide if the Hunter life is for you." He turned serious for a moment. "You seem suitable for it."

Shiwoon noticed then that both Danmi and Miso were staring at him with looks of concern, tinged with something else. Fear? Disgust? He could not quite decipher their expressions.

"Thank you, sir." He said.

"You up for lunch? My treat." Geunsoo asked.

Shiwoon didn’t even have to think. The moment he heard that it was someone else’s treat, he knew he had to go. "Of course, team leader.”

*

His father had a way of judging other people, his noona had told him once, by looking at the way they kept their cars and their rooms.

“Dad liked to say that if you had a clean car and a dirty room,” she recounted longingly, “that you cared about how you looked to others but not how you looked to your family.”

“How was Dad, then?” He remembered asking.

She smiled. “His room was always clean but his car was filled with crumbs I left behind.”

Hong Geunsoo’s car was perfectly tidy. There was a spicy fragrance lined with lemon and everything seemed to have been cleaned in the morning. The carpet was not filled with crumbs and there were no cigarette butts hanging below the windows. Hanging from the rear-view mirror was a yellowing family picture.

“Are you still single, team leader?” Shiwoon asked while looking around, the only passenger in the car. All of the Hunters drove their own cars because of the demands of work. He saw no unnecessary decorations apart from the picture within the car; there was a very functional aesthetic to the interior of the continental car that he rarely saw with family men.

“Yes. I’ve sold my soul to being a Hunter, you see,” Geunsoo grinned.

It was a short drive to a nice restaurant in nearby Mok-dong. A waitress greeted their group at the front and let them in when Geunsoo told her his name and his reservation. They walked into a serene dining area where Victorian music was being played live by a violinist. There was a chandelier and dim lights and majestic oak tables and they left Shiwoon feeling like he was in a grand dining hall.

The prices were certainly grand too. Shiwoon nearly choked on his own spit when he saw the menu - did Geunsoo intend on spending over a million won on lunch? Given that they had ten people in the group - four men, including Shiwoon, and six women - he thought it was very much in the realm of possibility.

Perhaps it was because they weren’t hurting their own wallets, but when the time came to order, the others chose expensive options like premium steak. For his part, Geunsoo did the same, prompting Shiwoon to just order something that looked good. Geunsoo then began ordering three bottles of red and white wine. If it had been Shiwoon, he would have ordered the second cheapest bottle, or even house wine, but Geunsoo had gone and ordered some unreasonably priced wine. After making sure it was the right vintage and sampling the wine, Geunsoo waited with a smile as the waitress went about filling glasses around the table.

“Say, Rookie Kim,” he asked, “are you graduating soon?”

“Ah, no, team leader,” he said, “I still have a ways to go.”

“Eh?” Danmi uttered in surprise, “aren’t you good enough for E-rank already?”

He pinched his fingers together. “The course instructor is a little strict this time.”

“Pity,” Geunsoo said, “you won’t get to enjoy life like this for a while then.”

“It really is a pity,” Shiwoon said with a bitter smile.

Lunch continued with several anecdotes from the Hunters about the exterminations they had taken part in. In truth, Shiwoon found that they were invariably the same story; not many interesting things happened in E-rank Portals if you were careful enough. His focus therefore went to the assortment of cutlery that had been left out for him and he picked up each one only after observing Geunsoo doing the same. What did they need all these different forks for anyway? A pair of chopsticks and a spoon was enough for a meal. He did note, however, that everyone had been glad to be under Hong Geunsoo.

“He’s one of the few good ones,” one of the team members had said while toasting to Geunsoo, “and I know it sounds mean, but I hope he continues to stay in E-rank!”

Everyone had laughed, but Shiwoon wondered what the man had meant. Was there politics, even in the Hunter community? It wouldn’t be surprising, he supposed. Politics exists everywhere.

As they finished lunch, Geunsoo asked for the bill, and they began to leave. As he stood up, Shiwoon saw a group of beautiful women take their seats at a table near the entrance.

Wearing a yellow dress, which seemed to drift gently with the breeze that came in as the group of Hunters left the restaurant, one of the women was laughing excitedly, her lips drawn apart and showing her teeth, when her eyes accidentally met Shiwoon’s. He looked away, embarrassed, though he found her face oddly familiar.

“They’re probably actresses,” Danmi said with a cheeky grin after seeing where his eyes led, “the SMC building is nearby.”

“Ah,” Shiwoon said, “I see, senior.” He looked back at the woman again, who had gone back to her cheerful conversation with her group of beautiful friends. In his heart, he found a wiggling urge to go up to her and start talking. Shiwoon shook his head and sighed to himself. There was no point in bothering them, not when they seemed to be having such a good time.

“What’s the matter?” Danmi said.

“Nothing, senior.” Shiwoon said before walking out of the restaurant

After that, the group parted ways, each of them thanking Geunsoo again for his generous treat. Shiwoon was checking his phone - there was only the unopened message he had received from Sangmin a few days before - when Geunsoo came next to him.

“Hey,” Geunsoo said, “Rookie Kim. What’s your number?”

Shiwoon gave it to Geunsoo with a confused look. “Why do you need my number, team leader?”

Geunsoo chuckled. “Never hurts to keep in touch, rookie. I hope you enjoyed lunch.”

“Yes, I did, sir. It was the best meal I’ve had in my life.”

“I’d bet. That meal burned a hole in my pants,” Geunsoo laughed, “but it’s how these things are.”

“Good thing you aren’t married, team leader,” Shiwoon said.

Geunsoo laughed again. “Where are you heading? I’ll drive you.”

“To the Monitoring Bureau building.”

“What?”

Shiwoon looked at the man sheepishly. He grinned as he said, “There’s still time for training, team leader. It’s only four.”