DMG Episode 9

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Even in a world where Gates appeared without warning and monsters emerged to threaten lives, the days somehow still rolled on as if everything were normal.

It was an early weekday afternoon, and the city center was noticeably quieter than the bustling weekend crowds.

After five grueling days on duty, Kang I-won was finally enjoying a day off and had decided to venture into town alone, drawn by a sale at a nearby supermarket.

He had kept putting off restocking essentials for weeks now, finally running out of toilet paper. Since it happened to be on sale, he’d made the trip to the city to stock up.

The large, two-story supermarket—with its main floor and basement—was plastered with sale signs, including on the toilet paper Kang I-won needed.

Picking up a cart at the entrance, Kang headed downstairs. The first item he grabbed was ramen, filling his cart with bundles since he usually ate several packs in one sitting. As always, he chose the cheapest kind, which happened to be even cheaper today thanks to the sale.

“Toothpaste… and shampoo too.”

Kang I-won muttered to himself as he mentally ticked off other necessities. It had been a while since he’d come to the store, so his list was longer than usual.

After adding toothpaste and shampoo to his cart, he was about to head upstairs when he felt an ominous sensation, one that stopped him in his tracks.

His gaze immediately turned in the direction of the feeling. There was nothing visible, but his finely-honed Esper senses, developed over a decade, warned him to evacuate immediately.

And that sense rarely failed.

For once, Kang I-won raised his voice, loud and clear.

“Evacuate immediately!”

People, conditioned by countless disasters, didn’t wait to confirm the Gate’s presence; they abandoned their carts and fled to the first floor.

“Evacuate immediately!” Those who reached the top shouted down, their panicked voices echoing to the basement. Kang calmly used his device to send an emergency call to nearby Espers, citing a Gate appearance. By now, the Center and all nearby Espers would have received the alert.

His next task was to get the remaining, confused civilians to evacuate.

One man, looking around skeptically, swaggered over to Kang with a smirk. He seemed annoyed as he spoke.

“Evacuate? There’s nothing here. Hey, are you some wannabe YouTuber? Is this a prank? Geez, looking as shady as you do, you sure know how to act the part.”

“Please evacuate immediately. A Gate is about to appear.”

The man got right in his face, pressing a finger against Kang’s forehead as he sneered.

“Evacuate, my ass. There’s nothing here. All this fuss over nothing. You’re one of those attention-seekers, aren’t you? People like you are always trying to pull stunts for a little bit of attention. YouTube’s really gone and messed up so many kids these days, hasn’t it? Do you really get a kick out of pranking people like this? Do you enjoy living like that?”

“You need to evacuate,” Kang repeated.

“Evacuate, my ass. You’re just full of crap.”

Seeing the stubborn man and a few people standing around watching with curiosity, Kang I-won let out a quiet sigh.

“I am Kang I-won, an Esper with the Southern Gyeonggi Third Branch of the Monster Response Center. I’m sensing a dangerous presence here, so please evacuate imme—”

He didn’t get to finish. With a loud tearing sound, the air itself began to rip like paper, revealing a black dot that swirled and grew into a Gate.

“Holy—shit!” The man, who’d been poking at Kang I-won, turned and bolted in terror. The onlookers who had been watching the exchange were also shocked, scrambling to the first floor in a panic.

“It’s a Gate! A Gate has appeared!”

Kang heard the man shouting at the top of his lungs as he ran.

Meanwhile, now alone in the supermarket’s basement, Kang I-won kept his eyes fixed on the Gate, assessing it calmly. There had been no clear precursor, so it was likely a Summoning or Dungeon Type. He hoped for the latter.

He wasn’t confident he could hold out in his current state.

It was supposed to be a day off after a brutal five days. Though he’d used guiding drugs after exhausting his abilities, his body still hadn’t fully recovered. Looking back, he regretted not taking Choi Soo-bin’s advice to get a guiding session from the on-site guide.

But regrets came too late. He could only hope the Gate was a Dungeon Type, or at the very least, that the monsters would be low-grade.

The Gate quickly expanded, swallowing a quarter of the ceiling before stabilizing. It then began to emit a deep, ominous red glow.

Kang I-won grimaced as he stared at the Gate. The color indicated a monster rating between B- and B, a level that would be difficult to handle alone.

“Ha…” Kang let out a low sigh. His prayers had gone unheard. There really was no such thing as luck.

From the swirling depths of the Gate, a hind leg covered in thick, dark green chitin slowly emerged—a giant insect.

Of all things, it had to be an insect-type.

Insect-types were especially troublesome. They could keep moving for a while even after you removed their heads. To kill one, you’d need to split open its body and spill its insides, but their exoskeletons were notoriously hard to penetrate.

If only it had been a land-based monster—those were at least easier to handle. But most insect-type monsters were internal creatures, meaning they could regenerate or survive in challenging environments.

Watching the creature’s flailing legs emerging from the Gate, Kang I-won made one final plea: ‘Please, don’t let it fly.’

But, as always, fate had other plans. The creature pulled itself fully from the Gate, and sure enough, it resembled a giant mantis, complete with a pair of wings on its back and thick, saw-like forelegs.

Kang I-won clicked his tongue at the sight of those wings, surprisingly fluffy despite their attachment to such a fearsome body.

Flying monsters were troublesome. They had a habit of escaping to the sky whenever things got tough, quickly recovering their energy by swooping down on humans for easy prey. Cunning ones would even hit and run repeatedly, exhausting Espers before delivering a final blow.

There was no way he could let a flying monster escape this place. The only silver lining was that they were in an enclosed basement.

And there was only one of it. After releasing a single monster, the Gate vanished as if its task were complete.

A flying insect-type, approximately a B-grade monster—essentially the worst match for Kang I-won, especially since he was unarmed.

He let out a long sigh. Still, with only one of them, he should be able to hold out until backup arrived. He had to.

“Kreeeeeek!”

The giant mantis, around three meters in length, roared in frustration at the low ceiling. Its wings, previously folded against its back, began to tremble as it attempted to take flight, intending to break through the ceiling.

Seeing this, Kang I-won acted quickly, grabbing a nearby can of tuna and hurling it at the creature’s wings. The can struck the trembling wings, disrupting the monster’s flight attempt.

The monster’s head snapped toward Kang I-won.

“Kriek! Kriek!”

Now aware of Kang I-won’s presence, the creature clacked its jaws in twisted excitement.

Fresh out of the Gate, the monster was ravenous. One human wasn’t much, but it would be enough to tide it over before escaping and feasting on more.

Its deadly forelegs, resembling serrated blades, began sweeping aside anything in its way. Wherever those limbs touched, items were sliced through as easily as if they were made of tofu—its cutting power was immense.

Kang I-won kicked a cart in its direction, but the mantis monster swiped it aside with its foreleg, cutting the cart in two and sending it clattering across the floor.

“Tsk.”

No matter how he looked at it, this monster was a terrible match for him. If it closed the distance, his body would be shredded like paper by those razor-sharp limbs.

Kang I-won carefully maintained a distance just beyond the mantis’s reach, dragging the fight out. The constant dodging caused shelves to topple and spill their contents, filling the air with a mix of food scents.

“Kreeeeeek!!!”

Frustrated by its inability to catch him, the mantis shrieked and swiped its long forelegs at the ceiling, shattering the fluorescent lights and plunging parts of the basement into darkness.

Many Espers wished this reality were a game—one where monsters had no intelligence, followed set patterns, and could be defeated with strategy.

But this was no game. Monsters did have intelligence. Studies suggested that the smartest ones had the cognitive abilities of a young child.

The mantis was furious with the elusive human, but it wasn’t foolish. Deciding to abandon its current target, it scraped at the ceiling, aiming to break through and find prey elsewhere. It would return to tear apart this infuriating human after feeding and recovering.

“Damn it,” Kang I-won cursed under his breath. The creature wasn’t persistent enough. With a low sigh, he threw a nearby cart at it, but the mantis ignored the impact and continued digging through the ceiling.

A hole opened in seconds.

“Krriek! Krrrrrriek!!” The creature screeched in joy as light seeped through the opening.

The mantis began expanding the hole to fit through, and seeing this, Kang I-won finally made his move. Armed with a long metal rod—the broken piece of a shelf—he leaped.

The tilted shelves served as a makeshift staircase. Using them as steps, he climbed up quickly, reaching the top shelf and launching himself at the creature, swinging the rod straight for its eye.

Kang I-won often aimed for the eyes since they were the weakest and softest part of any monster, and attacking them usually kept the monster’s attention focused on him.

But he missed. Just before the rod struck, the mantis’s thick foreleg whipped forward, hitting Kang I-won square in the torso. With no armor to cushion the impact, he crashed straight into the wall.

“Urgh…!”

There was no time to lose focus. Kang I-won immediately raised his rod, blocking the mantis’s serrated foreleg as it barreled toward him with deadly force. The impact sent a painful vibration through his arms, making them throb, but there was no chance to dwell on the pain. He quickly threw himself to the side.

At that moment, the mantis’s foreleg slammed down into the spot where he’d just been, embedding itself into the wall. Kang I-won seized the fleeting opportunity, striking hard at the monster’s immobilized joint. But, lacking a proper monster-killing weapon, his attack barely left a scratch.

“Kiiaaaaak-!!!”

Although there was no lasting damage, the blow still inflicted pain. The mantis screeched in fury, its enraged eyes locked onto Kang I-won. Blinding anger flooded its mind; it wouldn’t be satisfied until it tore this human limb from limb and devoured every scrap of flesh.

The chase resumed. The mantis’s movements, fueled by fury, were now even faster and sharper. Unlike before, when Kang I-won barely managed to keep a safe distance, the creature’s forelegs now grazed him more frequently.

His clothes tore repeatedly, and shallow cuts appeared and healed just as quickly, leaving streaks of blood on his clothes as the only evidence of his injuries.

Midway through their deadly game, one of the unsteady shelves finally collapsed, obscuring his view. In that split second, one of the mantis’s forelegs broke through the shelving and clamped down on Kang I-won’s thigh, the jagged inner edge slicing into his flesh.