Internal Monologue Of A Blood Ogre LordApproximately Four Minutes Before Everything Went WrongAnd Two Minutes After It Had Already Started Going Wrong
I am Kargath the Consuming.
I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
Eleven.
Not defeated. Not repelled. Destroyed. Completely. With considerable efficiency and some personal satisfaction.
The eleventh team was a B-Rank response unit that arrived with specialized equipment and a formation strategy and a speech about justice. The speech took forty seconds. I destroyed them in thirty five. I didn't even wait for the speech to finish. That felt appropriate.
I stepped through the Gate into this city forty seconds ago.
The city is large. Loud. Full of the small creatures in metal boxes. The usual.
I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
I am not concerned.
There is a man on the road.
He is not running.
He is not in colored armor.
He is crouching on the pavement pressing his hand flat against it and looking at the ground with the expression of someone doing something very specific that they do not want interrupted.
He has no aura.
His mana is—
I checked.
It is the ambient background of the street.
He is weaker than the pavement he is pressing his hand against.
He is an F-Rank human in a cleaning uniform pressing his hand against a road.
I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
I am Kargath the Consuming.
Why is something wrong.
Why is something VERY wrong.
There is nothing wrong.
He is F-Rank.
He is pressing his hand against a road.
My instincts which have never failed me in twelve dimensions of existence are currently generating a response I have never received before.
The response is: reconsider your life choices.
I have never reconsidered my life choices.
I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
He just looked up.
He is looking at me.
He looks annoyed.
Not afraid.
Not impressed.
Annoyed.
Specifically annoyed in the way of someone who was doing something important and has been interrupted by something that had no business interrupting it.
I am Kargath the Consuming.
I am not an interruption.
I AM—
He just said something.
He said: "You came through that Gate."
"Yes," I said. Because I did come through the Gate. That is accurate.
He said: "You stepped on my mapping grid."
I looked down.
There are small marks on the road.
Very precise small marks in chalk.
I am standing on approximately seven of them.
"I'm going to need to redo those," he said.
He sounds genuinely upset about the marks.
I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
He is upset about chalk marks.
WHAT IS HAPPENING.
Thursday morning.
Six fifty eight AM.
Han-Ho had been in the eastern Mapo district since six thirty.
Not the route. The route was adjusted for Thursday to accommodate the subsurface anomaly mapping. The Registry equipment team had arrived at six forty five with the approved Class A deep-scan instruments and had set up the perimeter sensors along the three block radius Han-Ho had identified on Wednesday.
The mapping grid was chalk marks on the pavement.
Precise. Methodical. A coordinate system Han-Ho had developed himself over four years of doing subsurface work without proper equipment and had refined since getting the proper equipment because the proper equipment worked better with a good grid.
Each mark represented a scan point.
Forty seven marks across three blocks.
Han-Ho had been working from the northwest corner moving systematically southeast.
He had completed nineteen marks.
Then the Gate opened.
Not a large Gate. Not a Red Gate. A standard Blue Gate. The kind that opened regularly in urban districts and produced B-Rank to A-Rank threats that Hunter response teams handled as a matter of professional routine.
This one had opened directly in the middle of his mapping grid.
On marks twelve through nineteen.
Which he had just finished.
And which were now under the feet of something large and red and spiky that had come through the Gate and was looking around with the focused aggression of something that had destroyed eleven Hunter teams and was prepared to destroy more.
Han-Ho looked at the ruined marks.
Looked at the Gate residue spreading across the pavement.
Looked at the thing.
"You came through that Gate," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Kargath the Consuming, because it was accurate and he had not yet identified a reason to lie about it.
"You stepped on my mapping grid."
Kargath looked down.
Looked at the chalk marks.
Looked at Han-Ho.
"I'm going to need to redo those," said Han-Ho. He made a note. "And the Gate residue is spreading across the scan area. That's going to contaminate the deep readings."
He looked at the Gate residue.
Looked at the thing.
"Can you move," said Han-Ho.
Kargath the Consuming, who had destroyed eleven Hunter teams and had never been asked to move by anything that wanted to continue existing, stared at Han-Ho.
"I HAVE DESTROYED ELEVEN—"
"I'm going to need to remap sections twelve through nineteen," said Han-Ho, making another note. "Plus the Gate residue cleanup before I can continue the scan." He looked at his watch. "That's at least forty minutes of lost time."
"I AM KARGATH THE—"
"The equipment team is going to need to recalibrate the northeast sensor array too," said Han-Ho. "The Gate energy will have disrupted the baseline readings."
He turned around.
"Excuse me," he called to the equipment team lead who was behind the perimeter sensor at the corner. "The northeast array. Gate disruption. Can you recalibrate."
The equipment team lead, who had been watching Kargath the Consuming emerge from the Gate with the professional calm of someone who has been doing this job for eight years and has seen many things, looked at Han-Ho.
Looked at Kargath.
Looked at Han-Ho.
"Recalibrating now," said the equipment team lead.
"Thank you," said Han-Ho.
He turned back to the mapping grid.
Crouched down.
Started redoing mark twelve.
Kargath the Consuming stood in the middle of the ruined mapping grid and processed the fact that a man in a janitor uniform had just turned his back on him to redo a chalk mark.
He had destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
Nobody had ever turned their back on him.
Nobody.
Not even the teams that ran.
They ran facing him.
Because turning your back on Kargath the Consuming was something you did not do if you wanted to continue existing.
This man had turned his back.
Was now crouching on the pavement.
Making a chalk mark.
"I WILL CONSUME YOU," said Kargath.
"You're standing on mark thirteen," said Han-Ho, without turning around.
Kargath looked down.
He was standing on mark thirteen.
"Move slightly left," said Han-Ho.
Kargath moved slightly left.
He had moved.
He had done it before he decided to do it.
His instincts had just moved him.
Without consulting him.
He looked at his feet.
Looked at where mark thirteen was.
He had moved off it.
Because the man asked.
"Thank you," said Han-Ho, still not turning around.
From the perimeter Min-Seo watched all of this.
He had been watching since the Gate opened.
He had activated his shadow energy immediately. Full response posture. A-Rank Gate in an urban district with civilian proximity required full response. That was protocol.
Then Han-Ho had said the thing about the mapping grid.
Then Kargath had moved off mark thirteen.
Min-Seo's shadow energy was still active.
He had just not done anything with it.
Because there was nothing to do.
Kargath the Consuming was standing in the middle of Han-Ho's mapping grid moving when asked and looking at the chalk marks with an expression that Min-Seo recognized.
He had worn that expression himself.
For approximately the first three days.
It was the expression of something encountering Han-Ho for the first time and understanding that none of its previous experience applies here.
Min-Seo took out his phone.
Called Ara.
"Ara," he said.
"Yes," said Ara.
"A-Rank Blood Ogre Lord. Eastern Mapo district."
"I'm seeing the Gate alert yes. Response team is—"
"Tell them to stand down," said Min-Seo.
A pause.
"Min-Seo—"
"Tell them to stand down. It's handled."
"The Gate just opened thirty seconds ago—"
"It's handled Ara."
Another pause.
"Is he—"
"He's redoing the chalk marks," said Min-Seo. "The Gate opened on his mapping grid. He's annoyed about the chalk marks."
A very long pause.
"The Blood Ogre Lord destroyed eleven Hunter teams," said Ara.
"I know."
"Eleven B-Rank and above teams."
"I know."
"And Han-Ho is annoyed about chalk marks."
"Yes."
"And the Blood Ogre Lord is—"
"Standing slightly to the left of mark thirteen because Han-Ho asked him to move."
The pause this time was the pause of someone who has been Han-Ho adjacent through Min-Seo for two weeks and has developed a significant tolerance for the inexplicable but is still finding specific instances of it notable.
"Tell the response team to stand down," said Ara.
"Thank you," said Min-Seo.
He hung up.
Watched Han-Ho redo mark twelve.
Kargath the Consuming had been standing slightly to the left of mark thirteen for four minutes.
In those four minutes:
The man had redone marks twelve through sixteen.
The man had spoken to the equipment team twice about sensor recalibration.
The man had made seven notes in a small notebook.
The man had not looked at Kargath once.
Not once.
In twelve dimensions of existence Kargath had never been ignored.
Feared. Respected. Fled from. Occasionally screamed at. Once, memorably, offered tribute by an entire civilization that had heard about the eleven Hunter teams and decided tribute was more efficient than resistance.
Never ignored.
The small dark creature on the man's left shoulder was looking at him.
The other small dark creature on his right shoulder was eating something from a bag and also looking at him.
The small creature in the bag pocket was looking at him with very large eyes.
They were looking at him.
The man was not.
The man was doing mark seventeen.
"Excuse me," said Kargath.
Han-Ho looked up.
"You're talking to me now," said Han-Ho.
"I have destroyed eleven Hunter teams," said Kargath.
"I know," said Han-Ho.
"Eleven."
"Yes."
"B-Rank and above."
"The Registry alert had your file attached," said Han-Ho. "Eleven teams. I read it."
Kargath stared at him.
"And," said Kargath.
"And the Gate residue is spreading," said Han-Ho. "I need to address it before I continue the mapping or the contamination will compromise the deep-scan readings." He stood up. "Can you step back approximately three meters. Toward the Gate."
Kargath did not step back.
"I CAME THROUGH THAT GATE TO—"
"I know why you came through," said Han-Ho. "To destroy things. Standard Blue Gate emergence behavior for A-Rank entities. I've read the classification manual." He looked at the residue spreading from the Gate. "The issue is the residue. It's spreading faster than normal because your mass is significant. The Gate residue from A-Rank entities has a higher mana density than standard and it's contaminating my scan area."
Kargath looked at the residue.
It was spreading.
He had never thought about the residue he left when he came through Gates.
He had never had to.
Nobody had ever mentioned it before.
"The residue," said Kargath.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"I leave residue."
"Everything that comes through a Gate leaves residue," said Han-Ho. "Standard Blue Gate for a B-Rank entity leaves approximately two square meters of Class C contamination. You're A-Rank. Higher mass. Higher mana density. You've left approximately six square meters of Class B contamination." He looked at it. "Which is spreading because you're still standing in it."
Kargath looked at his feet.
He was standing in his own residue.
He had never thought about this.
"Step back," said Han-Ho. "Toward the Gate. It'll stop spreading if you're not standing in the source zone."
Kargath stepped back.
Toward the Gate.
The residue stopped spreading.
"Thank you," said Han-Ho.
He pressed his hand flat against the residue.
The glow started.
Warm. Golden. Stain Removal addressing six square meters of Class B mana contamination with the focused efficiency of a man who has done this ten thousand times and would like to get back to his mapping grid.
Kargath watched the residue disappear.
Section by section.
Cleanly. Completely. No trace remaining.
Something in Kargath's A-Rank awareness that had spent its entire existence sensing and measuring and categorizing threats looked at what Han-Ho's hand was doing to the residue and said very quietly:
That is not cleaning.
That is erasure.
That is the complete and total removal of something from existence.
The residue is not being cleaned.
It is being unmade.
What is this man.
Han-Ho finished the residue.
Stood up.
Nodded.
Made a note.
Looked at the Gate.
Looked at Kargath.
"You need to go back through," said Han-Ho.
"I CAME HERE TO—"
"I know. To destroy things." Han-Ho looked at him with the patient expression of a man explaining something reasonable to someone who is being unreasonable about it. "But you stepped on my mapping grid and your Gate residue contaminated my scan area and I have lost forty minutes of work this morning because of you." He held up his notebook. "I have filed a report about the Gate. The Registry response team is standing down because I handled the residue. The Gate will close on its own in approximately six minutes." He looked at Kargath. "You can go back through voluntarily and tell whatever sent you that this district is not available for destruction currently. Or I can handle you the way I handled the residue and you can figure out the rest from whatever is left."
Kargath stared at him.
The small dark creature on his left shoulder was watching Kargath with ancient red eyes that contained ten thousand years of darkness and a very clear memory of what handled by this man felt like.
Moru said nothing.
He did not need to say anything.
His expression said it.
Kargath looked at Moru.
Looked at Han-Ho.
Looked at his feet.
Looked at the clean pavement where his residue had been.
He had destroyed eleven Hunter teams.
He was standing in front of a man in a janitor uniform who had cleaned his residue and told him to go back through the Gate and was now waiting with the patient expression of someone who has a mapping grid to finish and a schedule to keep.
The man's hand was still glowing.
Softly.
Warmly.
Kargath had faced many things.
Swords. Spells. Formations. Specialized equipment. Speeches about justice.
He had never faced warm.
He did not know what to do with warm.
He took one step back toward the Gate.
Then another.
Then he stopped.
Looked at Han-Ho one more time.
"What are you," said Kargath.
Han-Ho looked at him.
"I'm a Mana-Janitor," said Han-Ho. "Rank F. One skill."
He turned back to the mapping grid.
Started on mark eighteen.
Kargath the Consuming, who had destroyed eleven Hunter teams across twelve dimensions, stood at the Gate for approximately three seconds.
Then stepped back through it.
The Gate closed behind him.
The eastern Mapo district was quiet.
The equipment team lead looked at his recalibrated sensors.
Looked at the clean pavement.
Looked at Han-Ho doing mark eighteen.
"Mr. Kang," said the equipment team lead.
"Yes."
"The northeast array is recalibrated."
"Good," said Han-Ho. "Thank you."
"The baseline readings are clean."
"Good."
"The Blood Ogre Lord—"
"Went back through the Gate," said Han-Ho. "The Gate is closed. The residue is addressed. The scan area is clean." He looked at marks twelve through seventeen which he had redone. "I need to redo eighteen and nineteen before we continue. The Gate energy may have shifted the readings in that section."
"Of course," said the equipment team lead.
He went back to his sensors.
Made notes.
In eight years of Registry equipment work he had recalibrated sensors for many reasons.
He had never recalibrated them because an A-Rank Blood Ogre Lord had stepped on a mapping grid.
He added this to his incident log.
Filed it under: Unusual but not the most unusual thing this week.
Min-Seo was still at the perimeter.
Shadow energy deactivated.
Phone in his pocket.
Watching Han-Ho redo mark eighteen with the focused patience of a man who has lost forty minutes of mapping time and is making it back.
He had Re-Awakened twice.
He had destroyed a mountain.
He had forty million views.
He had watched Kargath the Consuming — eleven Hunter teams, A-Rank, twelve dimensions — step back through a Gate because Han-Ho told him the district was not available for destruction currently.
He took out his phone.
Opened his message thread with the other S-Ranks.
The group chat had been active since the press briefing. Seven S-Ranks and Han-Ho's contact which Han-Ho never used but Min-Seo had added anyway.
He typed:
Eastern Mapo district. A-Rank Blood Ogre Lord. Gate opened on Han-Ho's mapping grid. Han-Ho told it the district was not available for destruction currently. It went back through the Gate. Han-Ho is redoing the chalk marks.
He sent it.
Six responses arrived in under thirty seconds.
Yoo Chae-Won: I left mood boards for this man.
Baek Sung-Il: The chalk marks.
Jin Tae-Yang: Four buildings.
Oh Kyung-Soo: Clean first.
Lee Soo-Bin: He told it the district was not available.
Song Mi-Rae: The district was not available.
Min-Seo looked at the responses.
Looked at Han-Ho.
Typed one more message.
He's finishing the mapping now. Equipment team recalibrated. He filed a report about the Gate. He's annoyed about the forty minutes.
Yoo Chae-Won responded immediately:
Of course he is.
Min-Seo put his phone away.
Walked to the mapping grid.
Crouched down next to Han-Ho.
"Mark nineteen," said Min-Seo.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"I can hold the chalk line if it helps."
Han-Ho looked at him.
Looked at mark nineteen.
"The line needs to be precise," said Han-Ho. "The coordinate system depends on—"
"I know," said Min-Seo. "I've been watching you do this for forty minutes. I know where the line goes."
Han-Ho looked at him.
Min-Seo held out his hand for the chalk.
Han-Ho looked at the chalk.
Looked at Min-Seo.
Handed him the chalk.
"Forty three degrees from the northeast corner," said Han-Ho. "Exactly thirty centimeters."
Min-Seo measured thirty centimeters.
Drew the line at forty three degrees.
Han-Ho looked at it.
Made a note.
"Good," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo handed the chalk back.
They moved to mark twenty.
"Han-Ho," said Min-Seo.
"What."
"You told it the district was not available."
"It wasn't available," said Han-Ho. "I'm doing subsurface mapping. An A-Rank destruction event in an active scan area would compromise three days of baseline readings."
"You told an A-Rank Blood Ogre Lord that destroyed eleven Hunter teams that the district was not available."
"Yes."
"Like it was a restaurant reservation."
Han-Ho looked at him.
"It stepped on my grid," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Helped with mark twenty.
The mapping took until eleven forty AM.
Forty seven marks. Complete. Accurate. Uncompromised by Blood Ogre Lords or Gate residue or anything else that had tried to interrupt it.
Han-Ho stood up.
Looked at the grid.
Made a final note.
"Phase one complete," he said to the equipment team lead.
"Yes sir," said the equipment team lead. "Deep scan initiating now. Results in approximately two hours."
"File them directly to the Director," said Han-Ho.
"Yes sir."
Han-Ho picked up his bag.
Looked at the pavement.
The grid was clean.
The residue was gone.
The Gate was closed.
The scan was running.
He nodded.
Looked at Min-Seo.
"GS25," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Min-Seo.
They walked.
Behind them the equipment team ran their deep scan.
Below them, far below, in the bedrock and the mana veins and the deep dark where the fracture network ran through the foundations of everything, something very old felt the scan touching it.
Felt the clean above it.
And felt, for the first time in longer than Seoul had existed, like something was paying attention.
Not the aggressive attention of something looking for weakness.
The specific attention of a professional with a notebook who has found something that needs addressing and has filed a report and will be back.
The something very old settled.
And waited.