Chapter 1

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Have you ever heard of a princess of dark flare?

She’s a humanoid monster that appears deep in the darkness beyond the gate.
She’s quick like a cat and as pale as a vampire.

I’ve heard that she has a strange charm which you can’t forget.
A certain hunter, who was distracted by her appearance, was just standing still and then suddenly, his eyes were plucked out with the top of her parasol.

If you see her, run away.

—If you can escape her black flame.

***

It was late summer after a terribly long rainy season.

As she was walking down the street, Eunha couldn’t stand it anymore and looked at the paper in her hand once again.

Test Number: 9782136

Name: Cha Eunha

Note: Passed the Pet Grooming Department

It was already the twenty-sixth time Eunha checked the acceptance letter and put it back in her bag.
Even after repeating the process twenty-six times, it remained a clear letter of acceptance.

She was finally able to study dog grooming at a famous university in the United States, something she’s always dreamed of.

Across the road where the smell of rain did not reach, she could see an empty bus stop.
Eunha raised her head and looked up at the sky.
It had stopped raining, but the heavy clouds could still be seen. 

Once again, Eunha looked at the acceptance letter and hurried.
It was a twenty minute walk from school to her home.
However, the street she’s used to walking down everyday felt longer than usual. 

Not far away was a telephone box.
Eunha wanted to inform her mother about the acceptance letter as soon as possible.
Her mother would surely be delighted.

Riiing—

Her heart was beating like crazy as the ringing tone continued. 

At last, the ringing stopped and a familiar friendly voice came over the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Mom, It’s Eunha.”

Eunha spoke as calmly as possible, not forgetting to swallow her saliva.

“I don’t have a hundred won, so I’ll tell you quickly.
You know, mom—”

But Eunha couldn’t finish her words.

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Tock—

The telephone fell helplessly.

Duuuung—

Suddenly, the sky cried loudly and dozens of red lightning bolts fell all over Seoul.
The asphalt split and the atmosphere vibrated.
As the surrounding buildings collapsed like dominoes, people began to run away as if they were running out of a collapsed ant house.

“Hello? Eun…Ha….”

The rain which began to fall again at some point was pounding on the payphone box, leaving black tear marks behind.

‘What the hell is this? What’s going on?’

It was too vivid to be called a dream, and it was unbelievably terrifying to be called reality.

A car crashed through the cracked asphalt, and the street lamp tangled with electric wires shook like crazy.

The person on the signboard of the shopping mall that flew from somewhere was crushed as if they were a boiled potato.

As Eunha watched the scene blankly, she felt like something heavy had fallen onto the payphone box.

“Aaah…!”

Eunha heard her mom screaming over the phone.
She quickly snapped out of her daze and reached back to grab the phone.

“Mom? Mom!”

There was no answer no matter how many times she called out.

I have a bad feeling.

And bad forebodings were always right.

Eunha immediately started running home.
As she ran, she held the acceptance letter tightly in her hand.
She couldn’t remember exactly how she got home at that time.
She just ran and ran in the opposite direction of those who ran past her frantically.

Eventually, when she turned the corner and arrived at the familiar gate, Eunha dropped the acceptance letter she was holding. 

The wind mixed with someone’s distant screams carried the acceptance letter that had been rolling on the floor, eventually flying away.

***

September 1997.

The world had changed.

The red thunderbolts that fell from the sky left huge traces all over the country.
The various cracks on the ground exuded a suspicious and gloomy energy, but it didn’t cause anything special.

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Red thunderstorms occurred all over the world and the cracks that remained like traces were later called ‘gates’.

Then one day, an incident occured in which researchers investigating cracks in the metropolitan area were killed in droves.
Out of dozens, only one returned alive.

‘There was a cicada bigger than a car or a bus! I lost my arm to it!’

The world treated him like a maniac.
However, it was soon revealed that his words were true.

October 1997.

Horrible monsters escaped the gates and appeared out in the world.

It was a disaster.

Starved monsters devoured passersby at random, regardless of age or gender.

The government deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to various gates across the country, but none of the weapons develope