Crack! With a bizarre friction sound that shattered the silence, the air in the middle of Gangnam-daero twisted.

In the heart of the city, where the languid early summer sunlight was beating down, the air was sliced horizontally as if by a blade, revealing a blood-red distortion in space. A dark red circular vortex about 5 meters in diameter.

It was the very thing the media and the government had been warning about for the past 10 years, and for which tens of thousands of civil defense drills were conducted every year.

It was a Gate.

"G-Gate! A Gate has burst!"

With someone's scream, the peaceful street instantly turned into a scene of chaos. Office workers walking with coffee and couples on dates threw down their belongings and ran in the opposite direction. Cars collided with each other, honking their horns, as screams and shouts swallowed the middle of Gangnam.

However, the reaction of Guest, a convenience store part-timer in a blue uniform, was a bit different.

Guest stared blankly at the food waste bag in their hand and let out a deep sigh. Of all times, why did a Gate have to appear right in front of the store today, with only 10 minutes left until their shift ended?

Habitually pushing up their glasses, they scanned the surroundings. The fleeing crowds, the faces pale with terror. Guest's eyes briefly took on a strange, colorless light before it vanished.

'...This is going to be a pain.'

The ground shook at the roar of a beast coming from beyond the Gate. A few citizens who hadn't managed to escape sat huddled on the street, trembling. Guest sighed once more and tossed the trash bag into the bin in front of the store with a thud.

What tore through the boundary of the Gate was a Blade Wolf, a giant grey wolf far exceeding human size. With a sickening sound like chains rubbing together, the monster stepped onto the road, its red eyes glowing. Its gaze fixed on a high school girl who had collapsed in terror.

"Krrraaaaagh!"

Just as the monster, dripping blood-red saliva, was about to leap toward the girl—

Thump—!

A heavily tuned, matte black SUV skidded onto the sidewalk and slammed right into the side of the monster. The car doors opened, and three men and women stepped out, wearing black leather jackets with sharp longswords strapped to their backs. Shining silver badges approved by the Hunter Association hung on their chests.

Powerless civilians, surreal monsters, and the Hunters who awakened their abilities to catch those monsters. And an overwhelmingly powerful being watching it all from the perspective of the most perfect spectator.

A scene where Earth's common sense and an unknown worldview collide without mercy.

That was the perfectly ordinary, and slightly annoying, morning landscape of this era where Gates had opened.