"I can't believe," Choi Minsik said between aggravated huffs, "that you would come back to train after going into a Portal."

Shiwoon was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, heart pumping and out of breath. "I did good today,” he said matter-of-factly, “because I train everyday."

"Still," Choi Minsik said, "it's rare for a team to get their porter to actually fight."

"Is that so," Shiwoon said.

"Park Sua and I were both glorified pack mules when we went. Though, she only had to work as a porter once."

"Because of her Skill?"

"You guessed it. There aren't many Hunters out there with a Skill that amplifies projectiles."

"I'm envious."

"Me too." Choi Minsik got onto his feet and extended a hand. "Another round?"

Shiwoon pulled on the hand and got onto his feet with a grin. "Of course."

Because he had only reached the Bureau in the evening, there were only so many hours he could spend training. Choi Minsik always left at about eight and there weren't any other trainees left after that without Kang Seok around anymore. Shiwoon practiced on his own with a club for a few minutes, before deciding, after his swing launched the wooden head of a dummy into the wall, that it was time for him to head home.

There was a moment of absolute darkness when he switched off all the lights and he couldn't see anything in front of him. His hand was already on the door, however, and he left the dojang before he could see anything in the dark.

From the Bureau building it was a short walk to Gyeongbokgung station. As always, along the way, he picked up some food to eat on the go, and by the time he was waiting in the subway for the 3rd Line he was already finished eating and he was looking at the news on his phone.

Nowadays, the biggest news story was about an S-rank Hunter in Europe named Dirk Muller. He was actively campaigning for Hunters to be allowed to wear whatever they wanted on the job, arguing that the practice of having a uniform 'effectively enforced a permanent dress code that serves only to segregate Hunters from the rest of the community'.

Shiwoon could see his case, though he really didn't care. Why did it matter what you wore, as long as you were making money?

After boarding the train and finding a seat, Shiwoon got onto MeTube, searching for a video of the Empress of Lightning again. He had always watched the videos of her battling monsters, even before becoming a Hunter. Now training to be a Hunter himself, he had newfound appreciation for her prowess in combat. He liked to think that the videos were a preview of the things he too would be able to do someday.

As always, she was in a mask. Nobody knew what she looked like; there were accounts from Hunters who had worked with her when she was still unknown and they all said that she had worn a mask from the beginning. The veil around her identity led to many netizens theorising that even her flowing brown locks were likely just a wig.

Her battles were brief and brutal. Like a ballerina weaving her way through a crowd in the subway, she danced past the monsters, in this case an odd hybrid between a stegosaurus and a camel, with hard scaly humps and a reptilian face that ended in a sharp beak. Leaving behind only a streak of light, which was soon followed by a spray of blood as the flesh of the monsters finally caught up with the speed of her rapier, she kept cutting her way through the horde relentlessly.

Videos like these were usually filmed by retired Hunters. Not many regular Joes could find it in themselves to wade into such danger willingly. This particular video, like most videos of the top Korean Hunters these days, was filmed by Park Soohyuk. He had been a prominent B-rank Hunter before retiring and his natural wit and affinity for the camera lended themselves well to his new career.

Again, Park Soohyuk ran up to the Empress, the camera positioned on the top of his shoulder.

"It has been yet another successful subjugation of an A-rank Portal for you, Empress. Tell me, do you have anything you want to say today?"

It was an open secret by now that the woman the public had given the moniker 'Empress of Lightning' to was a reclusive person. The leader of the organisation behind her, the rather aptly named Thunderbolt, was the face of the organisation despite not being its top Hunter and it was him who appeared in all the press interviews. Over time, this had formed a subtle craze amongst reporters to elicit a reaction from the Empress.

Unfortunately, the video was not one where she spoke. That made sense, Shiwoon thought. If she did speak, this video would have much more views.

A member of Thunderbolt stepped out, a man in Hunter attire. He blocked the camera's view of the Empress and expressed gratitude for the public's continued support of their organisation. He seemed well trained and continued to speak about the organisation and the Empress’ desire for privacy.

He looked up and saw on the screen above the train door that the train was reaching Hongje Station. He put his phone away as he prepared to disembark.

This time of night, Hongje Station was usually deserted. Only a handful of passengers stepped off the train, and as far as he could tell, no one had boarded. He made his way to the bus stop, where he barely waited before the bus came, and he got on the bus that would take him back to his family’s house.

Throughout the whole bus ride he absentmindedly scrolled through TALKAO, reading through his high school and university chat groups. He still hadn't opened the chat with Sangmin. He didn't know what to reply.

The high school chat group had been filled with messages between his former classmates, recounting what they did these days and how they were doing. A new message came in the chat group at that moment.

'Do you guys want to meet next month?'

It had been sent by an old classmate, Kim Soojin. She had been shy at first in high school, but thanks to Sangmin and him, she had gradually broken out of her shell. They had spent a lot of effort to get her to be more comfortable around the class and he almost thought she would crawl back into that shell and waste those efforts when Sangmin remained painfully oblivious to her hints. He had gotten into an argument with Sangmin because of it, asking him to avoid playing with her feelings while Sangmin told him that he didn’t know what Shiwoon was talking about and that nothing was going on and they were just friends. Right, they were friends, but she had not wanted to be just friends. How Sangmin never recognised that, he still couldn't understand.

Sangmin was the first to reply in the group.

'Okay.' Sangmin followed the message with a string of thumbs up emojis.

A moment later, Shiwoon saw that Sangmin had privately messaged him.

'Are you going??'

Shiwoon put his phone away. Outside the window, the road merged into an endless series of white lines as the bus crawled towards Hongeun-dong.

*

"I'm home." He announced while taking off his shoes. As he stepped into the house, he found himself blocked by his elder sister at the doorstep. Her arms were folded and there was a stern look on her face that made him feel like he had done something wrong.

"What's going on, noona?" He asked, confused as to why she was glaring daggers at him.

She extended her right hand out to him, her left arm still holding onto her right. "The monthly payment."

He scowled. "Do we have to do this out here? At least let me come in first."

"You've been putting this off for too long." She turned back to look at the door to the room he shared with his brother. It was securely closed. "Sungwoon hasn't been hounding you properly, so I have to."

Shiwoon shook his head and clicked his tongue. She was right about everything she said. That only made it more annoying for him. "I'll transfer it to you right now, okay?" He sent the money through his mobile wallet, turned the phone to her so that she could see the receipt. "Happy now?"

Seeing the evidence, his sister stepped aside and allowed him to come into the house. He went straight to his room and slammed the door behind him, feeling more than a little angry. His brother was sitting on his bed and using his phone and trying to look not at all guilty.

"You okay, hyung?"

Shiwoon looked up at him before sighing. He walked over to the bed, set his forehead against the wooden frame of the upper bed.

"Don't worry, Sungwoon, I know I'm in the wrong." He put his hands on the wood and lifted his head up.

His brother looked away with a sheepish expression. "I felt bad. Asking you to pay when you haven't even started work officially."

Shiwoon shook his head. "It's my debt."

"What did you rush out in the morning for, by the way?"

"I went into a Portal today."

"Sorry? A Portal?" Sungwoon stared at him, wide-eyed. "Are you okay?"

Shiwoon snorted. "Would I be here if I weren't okay? I just went in as a porter, that's all."

"Tch. So you were a waterboy."

Shiwoon flicked his finger menacingly towards his brother. "Don't go making light of my efforts."

Sungwoon looked at him and he could see the concern in the now narrowing eyes. "Hyung," his brother said, "do you really have to be a Hunter?"

"You know I have to. I couldn't find a job for so long."

"You could have asked your friend Sangmin for a favour - doesn't his family own a building? Or you could learn how to make shoes from Mom-"

"No." Shiwoon stated. "I want to stand on my own two feet. To succeed based on my own merits. No favours and nothing from Mom."

His brother sighed. "Fine then. I just hope you'll think this through properly."

Shiwoon nodded. "Aigoo, stop worrying about me, my little brother." He smiled as he stretched out his arm and failed to reach his brother's head. He flailed about while making it clear that he wanted to rustle Sungwoon's hair before continuing to speak. "When are you going into the army anyway? You can't seriously be thinking about going in at twenty eight."

"Ah, I don't know. We'll see how it goes."

"Mr. Kim Sungwoon," he said, "I hope you figure it out soon. You aren't getting any younger."

"Just go shower already. You stink."

*

Shiwoon woke up the next morning to a notification that a million won had been deposited in his bank account.

'Those guys in the Bureau sure work fast,' he thought with a smile. With such good news in the morning, he thought that nothing could spoil his mood.

Not even a phone call from Sangmin, as it turned out. He was waiting for the train when he felt the buzzing. He groaned when he saw who was calling. After thinking for a moment, he decided to pick up. You never knew what people were calling about, though he had a strong idea of what it would be about.

Right off the bat, Sangmin came at him. "What, you can pick up the call but you can't answer my message?"

"Sorry, Sangmin, it's been a hectic period."

Sangmin clicked his tongue. "You going to the gathering? I asked you on TALKAO, but you didn't answer me there."

Shiwoon turned his head to look at the empty train tracks. "I don't know," Shiwoon said, "I'm not sure how I feel about it."

"Ah. Honestly, though, you have a job now. You can hold your head high wherever you go, Shiwoon."

Shiwoon bit his lips. "Alright then. I'll go to the gathering."

"Ah, there he is! The Kim Shiwoon I've missed so much!"

Shiwoon scoffed. "Please, save it. Is there anything else?"

There was a pause. "How's life these days?"

"Tiring. But it pays well to go into Portals and it feels good to be earning money."

"I'll bet." Sangmin chuckled. "Everything going good then?"

"Perfect."

"I'm glad to hear that. I'll see you at the gathering then. And, Shiwoon?"

"Hm?"

"If you have any problems, don't hesitate to call."

A lump formed in his throat and he found it hard to speak. He could only manage a murmur. "...thank you."

"Till the gathering."

"See you there."

The sound of the phone call ending was the signal for him to look again at his bank account balance. He had checked it a few too many times since the morning, and even now it felt surreal to him that money could come so easily. He had barely done anything in the Portal! He imagined this was what gamblers felt when they won a prize.

But it was not enough. Not yet. In order to earn more, he had to be a good Hunter. And to be a good Hunter… He looked up, resolute, ready for another day of training.

*

Running from the station meant wasting the effort he had put into showering after training all day, but there was no choice. He was going to be late. Zipping past lines of pedestrians on their phones walking too slowly, he checked the time again: 6.57 p.m. He had three more minutes to reach the restaurant.

Stepping up the pace, he ignored the onlookers and continued running past rows and rows of brightly lit windows. He barely managed to make it to the restaurant’s entrance a minute before seven, and he could feel the sweat slipping gently down his forehead and down his back. His scalp was itching and his hair was a mess. But he had made it on time.

“Hey, Kim Shiwoon!” A woman greeted him with a surprised look. “Did you run here or something?”

Shiwoon looked up to see the familiar face of Park Sunha. She was wearing a nice blue dress and the same warm smile that served as a perfect accessory.

“Hey, Park Sunha. It’s been a while.” He said.

“Tsk, do you only have eyes for girls or something, you jerk?”

He could go years without listening to that voice and still know who it belonged to. He grinned as he turned around. “Hey, Lee Sangmin, don’t be jealous.”

Sangmin stood beside Kim Soojin and a handful of their former classmates. Unfolding his arms with a cheeky look, Sangmin pointed to the restaurant. “The rest say they’ll be coming late. Let’s go in first.”

People change depending on who they are with but they rarely change how they are with the same people. This was something Shiwoon had gleaned after so many years of living and it rang true when he saw how the dynamics of their class remained largely unchanged.

Sangmin still dominated the conversation with his loud personality. Shiwoon would in turn argue with the man or agree with Sangmin, but they were always enthusiastic in their conversation. Soojin would interject every now and then, her quiet voice providing a calm alloy to Sangmin’s voracity, with opinions that served to counterbalance the too passionate speeches that Sangmin was prone to launch into. Park Sunha was still just like a mother, cooking the meat for everyone and placing pieces of barbecued meat into the bowls of those who were too busy talking. The others would say something every now and then, but their voices were largely drowned out by Sangmin when he started to get into it.

Despite each of them having started a career, despite all the changes in their lives, the gathering seemed like it would fit perfectly into the memories of their high school days. Some of these quiet men and women were now high flyers in a bank or in the government; he knew that at least one of them was now a personal banker, and yet the woman was still so silent here at the dinner table. Others still had taken up blander jobs, with one choosing to extend his military service and one choosing to inherit her family’s diner.

They were all so different now, Shiwoon thought to himself, and so successful in their own ways, even if the way they interacted with the group didn’t change. But what about him? The others treaded lightly around the topic but he thought that he was the only one who was still nothing but a trainee. Though he seemed so important around the small table, he was actually a small fish in the great ocean of the world.

As such gatherings were wont to do, the conversation gradually converged into a collective reminiscence of the good old days. Shiwoon found himself missing the simpler days in high school, when he and Sangmin would go about helping other students and being good men. He never quite found that same sense of purpose in life after high school, he realised. He had peaked.

‘But not them.’

As he looked at the bittersweet smiles that tinged the faces of his former classmates, he was once more convinced that it was only him stuck in the past and everyone else had moved onto greater things. Life didn’t stop at high school, after all. There were still taller mountains to climb.

“Say, Kim Shiwoon,” Soojin suddenly said, pulling him forcefully out of his thoughts, “you must be doing well for yourself, seeing as you are wearing such a nice watch. What do you do nowadays?”

Shiwoon’s eyes fell onto the watch on his right hand’s wrist. He had bought it a few months after leaving the army and he had never stopped regretting it. Nice as it was, it wasn’t something he ought to have bought. But he had more than a watch and a nice suit to be proud of now. His eyes drifted to the ring he wore on his middle finger. He had a job, a proper job. He didn’t have to feel the burn of the shame of saying he was still working in 7-Eleven at twenty-six. He looked up at Soojin, and as he met her gaze, he said, “I’m a Hunter trainee.”

“Seriously?”

“Wow~”

He could hear the collective gasp around the table, as well as the murmurs of astonishment. “Oh my,” Soojin said while covering her mouth with her right hand, “how’s life as a Hunter?”

He smiled and flapped his hand. “It’s nothing. My life’s just like the rest of you.” On the inside, he could feel a touch of pride, and it made him feel like he could sit up straighter. He put a piece of meat into his mouth, a part of him feeling the shame wash away as an embarrassment that came with boasting about an achievement began to rise.

Park Sunha looked at him. She looked almost sad as she put a piece of meat into his bowl. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Not at all.”

Sangmin shook his head, shovelling food into his mouth as he remained silent. The conversation drifted to talking about Hunters and how life was like and Shiwoon just brushed the questions aside with the unentertaining answer that he was still just a trainee and had no clue about how his life might change when he actually started work as a Hunter.

“I’ve only been working as a Porter lately,” he explained, “went on three trips into the Portals. My instructor only gave me permission to start being a part of the actual extermination teams yesterday.”

“Is it like a work experience program?” Park Sunha asked.

Shiwoon snapped his fingers and pointed at her with a finger pistol. “Exactly. It is exactly like an internship. Most of my days right now are just filled with training, though I won’t deny that it’s been fun.”

Sangmin spoke up after being oddly quiet. “How’s training like then?”

“I used to be sparring partners with this big guy named Choi Minsik, and we’d just spar all day, but both him and this other friend I made named Park Sua graduated recently and so I’ve just been sparring with the instructor. He’s a real pain. Nothing I do is ever right to him.”

“Does everyone manage to graduate?” Another classmate asked.

“Generally, yes, as far as I can tell.”

“You must be able to drink a lot now!”

“Ah, lucky you. Who cares about drinking? It’s sweet days ahead in terms of your finances!” Another classmate exclaimed.

Shiwoon stared at the watch on his wrist, then at the Green Forest on Sangmin’s. “I’ve still got a long way to go.” He said with a sigh.

Dinner eventually drifted back to more normal topics, like how none of them had seen an old classmate since they had graduated. Among the ladies, he heard one or two discussing marriage, having been in their stable relationships for years.

“I don’t want to wait too long and be left on the shelf,” he heard one say. The other woman had nodded understandingly.

Everyone knew about Sangmin’s background, and they had presumably heard about his job in past gatherings, because nobody seemed particularly amazed when they asked Sangmin how he was doing and he replied with a succinct description of his day as a manager.

“All I need to do is make sure the capable people under me are given the right environment,” he said with a self deprecating grin.

“You’re still one of the most successful among us though,” one of the men around the table said, “though Shiwoon’s coming for your spot soon!”

After eating till they all had full bellies, they parted ways outside the restaurant, promising to meet again soon. Shiwoon wondered why some of them even attended the gathering, when they were so invisible in the group. He shook his head to dispel the thought and the tangent it wanted to pull him on. Being able to meet up with old friends was something to be thankful for.

At last, they were left with just Shiwoon, Sangmin, Sunha and Soojin.

“Anyone need a lift?” Sangmin offered.

Shiwoon and Sunha were shaking their heads and declining the offer when Soojin agreed, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. Internally, Shiwoon groaned, and changed his answer. Soojin’s face immediately became more downcast.

“What, you suddenly changed your mind?” Sangmin questioned.

‘You should be thanking me for saving you from an awkward situation, you jerk.’

“Yes, I’m a bit tired after training.”

“Even after eating so much? You really are a pig, aren’t you?” Sangmin said while flashing his teeth. “Sure, let’s go then.”

“Well,” Sunha said, her eyes forming cute little crescent moons that accentuated her plain beauty, “I’ll see everyone next time then.”

“Goodbye, Park Sunha.”

“See you again, Sunha.”

“Bye, Sunha!”

Shiwoon took the front seat, relegating Soojin to looking at them from the back. He did not miss her shooting him a dirty look for a moment as she got into the car. He wanted to sigh as he put on the seatbelt.

“So, Soojin,” he said, “why did you decide to organise a gathering so suddenly anyway?”

Sangmin started driving as she replied. “I just thought of everyone and how we hadn’t met in a long time.”

“Is that so,” Shiwoon said.

“Not everyone’s as cold as you, Shiwoon,” Sangmin said with a deliberately arranged look of pain, “not answering their friend’s text for weeks.”

“Hey,” Shiwoon said, “I said I was sorry. And I really was busy.”

“I know, I know. Soojin,” Sangmin said, “would you help me decide whether I should forgive this jerk?”

Soojin looked taken aback. “I-I think you should, Sangmin.”

Sangmin laughed. “I guess you’re forgiven then, Shiwoon.” Sangmin looked at the rear view mirror for a moment. “I’m surprised you haven’t moved, Soojin, not many of our classmates still live in this neighborhood.”

“Only Shiwoon and I, right?” She asked.

“Right,” Sangmin nodded, “it’s gotten a bit… unsavoury to live in, according to the rumors.”

“What can I do,” Soojin said with a bitter expression, “I can’t leave the place where my childhood memories were made.”

Sangmin chuckled. “I suppose there’s a strong case for sentiments.”

“Ah, make a turn there, and you’ll reach my place.” Soojin said.

As they stopped outside her home, she thanked Sangmin for driving her back, before bowing outside the car. The two men watched her walk silently up the stairs and into her home before Sangmin drove the car back.

“Soojin’s still the same.” Shiwoon noted.

“We all are, around the same group.” Sangmin said.

“I don’t know if it’s a bad thing,” Shiwoon said.

“It’s just a thing. Neither good nor bad on its own.”

“How’s things at YL, really?” Shiwoon asked.

“They’re going fine, don’t worry. I wasn’t lying.” Sangmin said. “I’m touched by your concern though.”

Shiwoon scoffed. “Don’t make me puke in your car.”

The two men laughed.

*

There were no rules saying that trainees couldn’t be asked to interrupt their training to go for a Portal run, and, indeed, Shiwoon had faced one such situation before as a porter. He found himself having to scramble and leave the dojang in a rush again when the call came after he had just finished a series of exhausting spars against the instructor. He had lost all of them but he had been given much to think about and that was what he was doing as he went back to his bag to drink some water and decided to check his phone at the same time.

‘AN E-RANK PORTAL HAS OPENED IN EUNGAM-DONG. PLEASE PROCEED TO EUNGAM-DONG WITHIN THREE HOURS OF RECEIVING THIS MESSAGE.’

He looked at the time the message had been sent; nearly half an hour had passed. After letting the instructor know about the situation, Shiwoon grabbed his bag, went down, flagged a taxi.

The Portal this time was located in the middle of a front yard. An antsy old lady stood right outside the cordoned off area, along with several disgruntled people who seemed to be her neighbours.

“Please, don’t let anything happen to my home!” He heard her saying to the police officer as he walked past them, “My husband’s pictures are still inside!”. Having learned his lesson from before, he made sure to carry his Monitoring Bureau pass with him wherever he went, and he hadn’t run into any more issues with his identity since that first terrible run.

The other Hunters were already there. There were a couple of familiar faces from the exterminations he had participated in as a porter, but he could see the distrust in their eyes from the way they looked him up and down. They hadn’t seen him fighting before, so it was only natural, he thought.

The team leader was a stern looking man who introduced himself as Song Taesung. From what they could tell about the Portal, the man said, it was likely to be E-rank based on their observations of Slimes and Boars. It stood in the middle of a barren courtyard, with only two pots near it. Beyond the Portal, Shiwoon could see the monsters that had been sighted. No doubt, it was an E-rank Portal then, given the generally low threat of the monsters beyond, though he did find it odd that two creatures that were not usually seen together were present in the forested world beyond.

“It looks like it will be a simple extermination,” Song Taesung explained nonchalantly, “so let’s just do our jobs.”

He arranged them based on their roles, just like the other teams Shiwoon had been on. This time, there were five frontliners and five backliners. Shiwoon was naturally one of the men at the front. An empty rucksack laid on the ground in the courtyard. He noted that there were no porters - presumably, the Bureau only posted one trainee per extermination, to prevent any accidents from occurring.

“Let’s go,” Song Taesung said coolly. Their weapons began to appear, a faint buzz of magic in the air as the rings began to work. Everyone looked serious and ready. The Portal stood ominously ahead of them. Shiwoon saw that one of the pots contained beautiful purple flowers. The Hunter next to him shook her head. “Aconite,” she said, though she didn’t elaborate more before stepping into the Portal.

When Shiwoon stepped through the Portal, he was greeted by a breath of refreshing natural air before he felt a painful charge that sent him tumbling to the floor. Without getting the chance to make sense of what was happening, another charge came and sent him crashing into a tree. A Slime plopped itself onto his face and he could immediately feel a mild burn on his skin and a feeling that something was trying to quite literally suck his lips off. He didn’t dare to open his eyes, but he moved his hand up to grab where he thought the Slime’s stem might be. Finally feeling something solid, he yanked on it, pulling the Slime off his face, before whirling back and slamming the Slime into the tree behind.

He opened his eyes and saw the scattered, gooey remains of a dead Slime. It’s small Aether Crystal glimmered in the sparse light that trickled through the dense leaf roof above him. The semi-darkness of the world around him made him just a little nervous.

And then he heard a scream. He couldn’t tell who it belonged to but he thought that he knew he had to go. As he ran towards the source of the sound, wading ever deeper into the woods, he found himself worrying that he wouldn’t reach in time. He begged his legs to run just a bit faster. When he finally reached the place he thought he heard the scream come from, he was confronted by a smiling Goblin, screaming like it was a woman being pulled apart by monsters.

‘Are you kidding me? E-rank? Goblins aren’t an E-rank threat!’

Having finally seen him in the shrubbery, the Goblin tilted its head mockingly and bared its teeth at him. He nervously put up his sword, fell into his stance, as he heard the rustling of bushes around him. Small, bright green faces began to peek out of the greenery, their beady red eyes staring at him with a savage hunger.

One of the Goblins leapt out. It's short sword, chipped and rusty after having been neglected for so long, clashed against his, causing him to slide backwards on his heels. There were so many more around him. Despite their superior strength, they were ganging up on him. He didn't know how he was going to beat them.

Exasperated and feeling like death, he sighed as he readjusted his stance. He gritted his teeth as the Goblin returned to slam sword against sword again. One Goblin was tough enough. His eyes travelled to the rustling bushes. “Aish, life’s just perfect at times.”