Stealth Arts? Xiao deduced, watching as Ch'en—with restrained aggression—turned him around. He can't be a normal citizen, can he? Xiao started to shuffle closer, hearing what Ch'en was saying.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, right hand resting on the handle of her sheathed blade.
For some bystanders and citizens alike, they may believe the prospect of drawing a sword on what looked to be a 'citizen' might have been too extreme, but Xiao knew better.
It's obvious he's not ordinary. He motioned with mnemonics for other officers in the surrounding area to get ready to aid the Superintendent in detaining the intruder should he prove to be an issue. Looks like the media will have some new content to vomit.
The black-haired man continued to meet the gaze of Ch'en, the two practically stuck in a dead lock.
That was until he opened his mouth, "아, 사실 당신이 무슨 말을 하는지 이해가 안 가네요..."
Xiao paused in his steps, hand hovering over a taser, and his superior seemed to have shared the same sentiment?
"What...?" Ch'en scrunched her brows.
"음...? 이걸 어떻게 설명해야 할까요...?" The black-haired man continued, nonchalantly scratching his cheek as he didn't look perturbed in any manner, just... how could Xiao even describe it?
"You... what language are you speaking?"
Obviously, he didn't understand her. "시간이 부족해요." Based on his tone alone, it seemed to have become more monotone.
"Listen—if you even understand—I will have to detain you under Section 3, Article 24 of the Lungmen Public Safety Behavior." Ch'en's grip tightened against his shoulder. "For trespassing over government-sanctioned roadblock and failing to obey lawful order."
The black-haired man sighed. "죄송하지만 제 생명이 걸려 있으니 지금 가보겠습니다."
Nobody understood what he said, as he pried the Superintendent's grip off of his shoulders and turned around.
"Hey—!" Ch'en yelled, being pushed back without much resistance.
Xiao watched the scene, astonished. He could only recall one other person within the guard department that could push her away so easily, which further cemented in his mind that they weren't dealing with a measly 'unruly' folk.
With that, he had enough confirmation to signal all available L,G.D. officers to convene on the potentially high-threat trespasser in their midst and aid their Superintendent in detaining him.
Just as they were about to move, the black-haired man had already moved forward. His speeds were fast enough to the point where Ch'en had only drawn her black blade half-way through before a small portion of his body could be seen passing through the 'miasma.'
Xiao's jaw became slack as the blue phenomenon instantaneously changed to a redder hue, blasting a wave of unknown energy across.
Survival instincts kicked in as officers immediately ducked for cover, citizens behind the roadblocks yelling and retreating away from it.
Ch'en, who was the closest of them all aside from the man who had just walked into it, raised her blade to shield herself and stood her ground, attempting to make clear sight of the blinding spectacle before her.
"What are you doing?! back away from that thing!" Xiao called out, feeling a traffic cone bash against his body. "Tch!" It wasn't painful or harmful in any manner with the rather small amount of force flinging the objects, and his armored uniform working its magic, but it still served as an annoyance.
By the time the torrent had subsided and the environment had returned to normal—barring the now crimson eminence in front of them—everybody had been left disoriented.
...Things had just become far more complicated, and Xiao began to curse the day he was ever assigned to deal with this highway.
***
If there was something Jin-Woo could say about this new world he had entered, it would certainly be about the many similarities it bore to his previous one, albeit, the technology definitely strayed from being a corresponding parallel as compared to Earth.
He had been stranded in some sort of wasteland with practically no end in sight for a little while, but when finding the first city filled with inhabitants and life, he had come to the realization that they were also literally on wheels.
The fact that locomotion at such large-scales was achievable here had already told him enough. Even if this new world reminded him a lot about Earth, nothing was bound to be the same, and he should expect his sense of normalcy and common sense to be skewed when adapting to its culture.
But for now, the Gate he was in provided more precedence for his attention.
Jin-Woo's senses detected the grainy mineral beneath his soles, feeling a faint tinge of 'nostalgia' in spite of the length since he's last been in a desert-like environment. However, he wasn't in what could necessarily be called a desert, but a wasteland.
Cracked clusters of dirt were seen littered all across with withered trees having embarked from life, the smell of putrid rot coming from limber and desecrated roadkill ravaging his nose. Worst of all, it seldom felt like sticking his tongue out in the open air would leave a musty feel on it.
It was bad, but most certainly not the worst.
The rancidity of Jeju Island infested with a bunch of mutated ants—bonafide mountainous nests for those critters—was much more of a vomitous experience.
...That officer won't be too angry, right? Jin-Woo massaged the back of his neck, black coat bristling in the wind as he continued analyzing the environment. That special sword she had... Did it reveal my Stealth? His mind flashed back to the humming weapon by her hip, a crimson glow telling of something beyond just an ordinary armament.
Forget it. He shook his head, deciding to put his previous blunder behind himself, instead focusing on the present. I wouldn't have expected that Gate to be a Red one, but I guess my luck's been rather strange recently.
There was superstition that bad luck came in threes, and this was the third Red Gate he had experienced so far. Though, he wasn't one to believe in such fallacious beliefs, so there wasn't much worry plaguing his heart for the forthcoming future.
In addition, if one were to look at the positive side of things, the curse was sort of a blessing in disguise, because nobody else could enter the Red Gate after first entrance.
An A-Rank Gate? Or could this be S-Rank?
There were many presences he felt at the moment, and they just so-happened to spring from underground.
Even then, he sauntered with his hands in his pockets, mind always finding its way back to other subjects which didn't quite pertain to the Gate he found himself in.
When did this happen...?
Placing a hand on his forehead and glancing at the modest celestial object hung in the sky—the sun—Jin-Woo attempted to recall what had torn him away from his world. Unfortunately, any recollections were hazy at best, and all he could tangibly recall was the involvement of some Gate he decided to enter.
The System's features are bugging out too.
There was a tremor underneath his feet, but he ignored it and swiped his hand in the air, attempting to pull up his stats. His efforts were in vain, the System interface presenting a glitched and scattered screen of blue static.
...A maintenance feature? It's been stuck in stasis for a while now, but it still assigned me a quest.
——————————
(!) [QUEST INFO]
——————————
[Urgent Quest: Clear the Gate]
GOAL
A Gate has appeared in this world due to your arrival. Prevent its influence by clearing it.
WARNING
If you do not complete this quest, you will receive an appropriate penalty.
REMAINING TIME
2 Hours
The ground beneath him burst at the seams, fissured cracks shaped in spiderwebs forming just five meters away from him. Still, he continued staring at the System interface, rubbing his chin.
This is the first time the System has asked me to clear a naturally formed Gate and added a waypoint marker.
The monster finally unveiled itself from its subterranean travels, revealing what looked to be a murky brown reptilian behemoth roaring into the sky, dirt clustered yon its gaping maw.
It's an urgent quest to boot.
Right as the reptilian monster was in a prime striking stance, focused solely on him, a sword crackling with lightning shot into its jugular, penetrating all the way through.
Cloaked in gyrating shadows, Igris had been summoned, heeding the calls of his esteemed sovereign.
Might as well get it over with. It's my fault these Gates are appearing anyways.
He huffed, flicking away the screen as Igris pulled the Demon King's Longsword in a tornado swing, sending off more currents of electricity as the reptilian monster gurgled on its own boiling blood.
Promptly, the creature's head had been lopped off, Igris leaping away from his current position as its fleshy fuselage hit the ground, blood pooling into the ground and seeping into the dirt's crevices.
"Good work," he commented to Igris, turning around to watch the knight kneel in reverence before him. "Still like carrying around heads?" He noted once again how the Shadow had dragged the severed noggin of the monster by his side.
Igris nodded.
"Alright." Jin-Woo decided to keep it at that, having already grown used to his idiosyncratic behaviors, one of which had bled its influence to his other Shadows. "We're getting more company, so let's clear them out."
A faint stampede of dust was seen in the distance, and he felt a congregation of tremors resounding from underneath his feet with greater fervor than before. Trees were toppled and the scent of mahogany rot started to intensify.
Their numbers were large and innumerable, but Jin-Woo had just the solution to topple the scales immensely—even if it had already been weighed dramatically in his favor in the first place.
"Come out," he called, tenebrous slicks of malleable shadows lengthening from underneath his feet and spanning far behind himself, reaching until the short horizon.
Igris stepped back up from his kneeling position as an army of shadows stood as if preparing for a war parade, an assortment of weapons ranging from spears to swords pointed into the sky.
"Lead the charge," Jin-Woo sternly commanded, motioning for them to attack.
In that moment of his impeachable command, a cluster of hollow screams drowned out the thundering of the reptilian monsters, two sides stood diametrically opposed to one another.
I need more time to think.
He sighed, massaging his forehead and sitting atop a lonely rock.
Although partaking in combat with his Shadows was usually in repertoire for his fighting-style, Jin-Woo desired more to research a way of coming back home to his sister and... mother.
His chest felt like it was clamping up as he remembered the two. The Shadows he had stationed in their shades, and all Shadows on Earth in general, had been recalled to himself. That meant his family was at potential risk of danger while he was gone and off in a completely foreign environment.
The more he thought about it, anxiety swelled inside of him.
Can the System find a way for me to go back home? Could it even do that?
Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head as the glitched screen appeared before him once again, the only discernible assets still being the last-second quest it had bestowed upon him.
Maybe if I can get another Blessed Random Box... that's right, then it would give me something I want!
Something clicked in his mind as a slaughtered reptilian beast crashed and skidded not too far away from him—he ignored it—focusing on the spark of hope igniting within.
A Blessed Random Box possessed the nifty feature of granting the user an item which would fulfill their desires, and if its usage could extend to world travel, then that meant he could potentially gain an item which allowed him to return to Earth.
That's it.
Jin-Woo nodded in satisfaction to himself, clenching a fist.
A decapitated reptilian beast crashed with its head dug into the ground by Iron suplexing it, the Shadow roaring with great fervor marginally mirroring the same joy Jin-Woo had felt.
"Set your priorities straight, and think with a clear mind," Jin-Woo muttered to himself, becoming more attentive to the scene of conflict. "When this maintenance phase is over, I'll try to find a way to get a Blessed Random Box."
How he would do so honestly escaped him, but just a hint of possibility, of hope, was enough for him.
Thunder and fire ran amok in the battlefield, the new pungency of charred flesh becoming a common visitor for his olfactory nerves. Steel, the blades of his armor-clad knights, reverberated a slaughtering tune, a certain Ant King flying between it all with blinding speeds, cleaving apart lowly opponent after lowly opponent.
Extending his hands, a pair of daggers materialized just as he clamped them, mana pouring off them in a perpetual cycle.
Within the next minute or so, the entire Gate had been decimated, along with the Boss monster.
The specific details were arbitrary.