For better or for worse, Seo-ah continued her search. It was this curiosity and determination that had earned her so much praise at the CIU. Of course, it also led to her downfall and subsequent transferral, but that was beside the point.

With the GRA’s internal database at her fingertips, she almost didn’t know where to start. She clacked away at her keyboard; somehow a stark and lonely sound despite being in the middle of an office building. There were more files to decode and evidence to gather, if only she could get lucky.

In a moment of inspiration, she searched just Chase’s surname. There was always a chance that the Guild Leader version of Chase Mendleton was his father — one of those Senior-Junior situations.

“Woah.”

Articles flooded her screen, both public and GRA-only. Some were a few decades old, but they depicted events she’d heard of, even though she wasn’t alive at the time.

The Six Town Massacre.

The Three City Break.

The Gate of Ultras.

But these notable mentions were few and far between compared to the instances of a more solemn and depressing type of article.

‘Famous Husband & Wife Duo: Missing’

‘Eighty-Foot Gate Disappearance: Hunters Presumed Dead’

‘Ultra Hunters Not Enough? Mendleton Couple Reported Missing’

Seo-ah hovered over the last of these articles, building up the courage to click it. She felt dirty, as if she were invading some kind of personal space that had nothing to do with physical closeness. But she couldn’t help herself. Secrets were her bread and butter.

The article about Ultra Hunters was closer to libel than honest journalism. It took her to some dodgy website full of conspiracy theories and blatant slander against numerous politicians and prominent Guild Leaders. Surprisingly, the man, woman or team behind the articles was still posting — last week they’d taken aim at the Leader of a guild called Nambia, alleging that their leader was actually a coke-snorting robot.

Classy stuff, she thought.

Wary of giving them any more ad revenue, she returned to the search page and selected the article titled ‘Famous Husband & Wife Duo: Missing’. Thankfully, the writers seemed to have a little more integrity and a little less bias.

Famous Husband & Wife Duo: Missing

The sudden disappearance of an eighty-foot Gate in One City on Thursday has caused widespread panic amongst the GRA, the Embassy, and Hunters worldwide. For decades, experts have been studying and theorising about the purpose and mechanics of Gates, however this most recent tragedy involving the presumed deaths of forty-one Hunters has left them baffled.

Amongst the presumed deceased are the Ultra Hunter Alice Mendleton and her A-Rank husband Mark Mendleton. The two have played key roles in defending the Cities and Towns from prior Dungeon Breaks and criminal activity, earning them both the Medal of Valour, awarded by Prime Minister Ying. Surviving the couple is their son, Chase, and Alice’s father, Chester.

A memorial service for all the missing Hunters will be held at the Two City Botanic Gardens at noon on Monday. Attendees are asked to observe a minute of silence after the national anthem is played.

12th December, 2073 — written by David Volsworth

Seo-ah raised a hand to her mouth. Now she understood by Chase had seemed so hell-bent on being a Hunter. His parents, especially his mother, were the epitome of what it meant to be a Hunter — perfect examples of bravery, power, and sacrifice. He would’ve been only three or four when they died — too young to understand why they’d disappeared, but old enough to remember what he’d lost. To spend twelve years desperate to follow in their footsteps only to be denied by luck on the day of his sixteenth birthday…

She clicked into some of the attached files. Here, GRA employees of old had tied together a collage of information relating to the event. There were eyewitness testimonies, life insurance claims and the court battles that arose from them, as well as scientific reports. She opened one of these reports, titled ‘Dr. Huang, 602WR, Gate_Disappearance_Anomaly’. It was handwritten and then copied into the database. Dr Huang’s writing was conjoined and messy, and he often just scribbled out misspelt words and rewrote them.

Abstract: This paper analyses and attempts to draw conlusion conclusions regarding the premature collapse of an eighty-foot Gate on the 10th of December, 2073. Eyewitnesses, including Haulers and other guild administration employees report seeing a pink discolouration around the perimeter of the Gate in the hours prior to the colappse collapse. This discolouration eventually spread, engulfing the entyert entirety of the Gate moments before the collapse.

This paper finds that the collapse of the Gate was due to an extensive amount of latent magical energy breaking down the ‘curtain’ between our world and that of the Dungeons. This event led to a complete and instant eradication of all present life. In the future, Gates above seventy-five feet in diameter should either be cleared by an elite team of Hunters as quickly as possible, or be allowed to Break so that the monsters can be battled on more stable turf.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Please see the attached application which generates ideal evacuation routes depending on the placement of one of these 'Mega-Gates’ 'Super-Gates’, and the time of discovery. Dr Huang and his associates are not liable for the resulting damages if this application is used and human life is still lost.

Seo-ah didn’t bother checking out the application. Allowing a seventy-five-foot Dungeon to Break was a ridiculous notion to suggest. It hurt Dr Huang’s credibility in her eyes, but that was only because she didn’t want to believe one of the key lines in his report.

A complete and instant eradication of all present life.

It was cold and unfeeling, the kind of writing that scientific research favoured but the masses and their families did not. She just prayed that Chase and the other grieving people didn’t ever get their hands on this paper. ‘Missing’ implied hope. ‘Eradication’ did not.

As the mystery crumbled down around her into a misshapen array of rubble and guilt, she closed down the GRA database. At first, the concept of violating Chase’s privacy and exploring his history sounded like a fun, harmless adventure down memory lane. She was supposed to find funny pictures of birthday parties and school Fun-Runs, not crushing history about a dreadful personal tragedy.

Her stomach felt like it was twisting itself into knots. In answering her question and proving that Chase was a Guild Leader after all, she’d created even more questions.

She decided to go to the source of all these shenanigans. The mastermind who’d orchestrated the date in the first place. She opened her System and called her sister.

“Seo-ah!” Pearl’s voice came through crisp and clear. At this time of day, Pearl would be reading something from her endless library of books. The walls of her bedroom were lined with overladen shelves, half of them storing high-fantasy stories of medieval dragons and conniving warlords, the other half smutty romance.

“Hey, Jinju, how are you?”

Her sister grumbled. “Don’t call me that, you know I prefer Pearl. You know how hard I fought for eomma to switch to the English word.”

Seo-ah laughed. “She washed your mouth out with soap, didn’t she?”

“Multiple times. But you already knew that. What’s up? Why the call?”

“Do I need a reason to call my lovely, beautiful sister?” She cringed at herself, then got up and walked to a more private part of the office. The place was deceptive — everywhere was silent, but that didn’t necessarily mean a lack of open ears.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “No, I suppose you don’t. But something tells me you have one, and it better be good. I’m halfway through reading a detailed description of the protagonist’s abs and his butt and his—”

“I need to ask about Chase,” Seo-ah said. “I’m confused about how you met, exactly, considering he’s a Hauler — kind of — and you’re a Hunter.”

She heard shuffling and the sound of a book being slammed shut.

“You like this guy?”

Seo-ah scoffed. “Shut up. I’m just asking, I don’t have time for an interview. Just tell me.”

Pearl let out the same giggle that used to infuriate her when they were kids. “I’ve actually only met him once, which was when I set you two up. He was waiting for me to come out from a Raid and called me over. There was a slight misunderstanding at first.”

Seo-ah frowned, but waited for her to continue. It was an interrogative technique she’d learned — if you don’t answer, the suspect feels like they should keep talking.

“He actually bought some of my magic off me, like the stuff my Talent produces. Residue, he called it. I told him he could have it if he paid well, and also went on a date with you.”

Seo-ah’s jaw dropped. She was stunned, then hurt, then angry. Very angry. “I was part of a transaction?! Are you fucking kidding me?! What were the terms? How many dates does he have to go on?” She shuffled into the toilets, went to a cubicle, then locked the door. “This next date he asked for — what does he get from you? A second shipment of magic and some favourable payment terms? Huh?”

She was breathing hard. Suddenly she didn’t feel so bad for looking into the guy. If anything, she didn’t look hard enough.

Pearl’s crystalline voice shook her from the storm of anger that had overtaken her.

“What’s this about a second date? He only had to go on one.”

*******

Chase couldn’t wait until the next Ballistic Raid.

It was scheduled for the next morning, but that wasn’t soon enough. He needed to get into a Dungeon ASAP so he could try out his newest purchase.

The best solution to this problem was a Sweep Team Raid. An empty one. Under the cover of darkness, he travelled around the Cities to the various sites where small Gates had appeared. Enro kept him updated as new Gates popped up.

{The Sweep Team website shows a new Gate in Seven Town.}

“Too far,” Chase said. “It’s nearly midnight. The trains will be every hour, if that.”

{If you run at 34.6 kilometres per hour, you will make it to the next train.}

He sighed. No matter how much he messed around with Enro’s settings, he couldn’t get them right. He wanted it to be precise, but not ridiculously so. He wanted it to work alongside him, but not comment on every one of his thoughts. He wanted to bounce ideas of it, but not receive forty-five step solutions with eight-month timelines.

“What’s close by and also reasonable?” he asked.

{The Four City Gate is available; however, I cannot deduce if there are other active Hunters in the area.}

“Fuck it. Lead the way, I’ve gotta be awake in five hours.”

Enro led him to a carpark in Four City. There were a few cars in the area, but Chase guessed they were customers at the 24/7 supermarket that sprawled over the block. He could see a tribe of people filtering through the self-checkout, all of them illuminated by the bright lights. He wondered if they knew he was watching them. Was anyone watching him? He pulled his cap further down and brought up his hood.

The Gate sat neatly within the bounds of a single park, accidentally obeying the traffic laws. It lived up to the Sweep Team reputation. Standing at about eight-foot tall and three-foot across, the oval swirls of energy betrayed an extremely weak Dungeon, even by Sweep Team standards.

It was perfect.

He bounced on his feet, feeling the effects of the enchantments flowing through his body. He could jump high enough to see over the top of the Gate. On the way here, he’d knocked into a garbage bin and barely felt the impact. He was Chase Mendleton, but better.

Even still, he wouldn’t make the same mistake he’d made last time. This Raid was about experimentation, but it was also about building good habits. Safe ones. He started by pulling out each of his Beretta mags, checking they were loaded with seventeen bullets each, then he brought out the pistol for a split second. He held it close to his chest, quickly inspecting the weapon and making sure the safety was on.

Then he entered the Gate.

Standing on the pavement outside the supermarket, Jonas Heelsy (Jonesy, to his band members) dropped his cigarette mid-pull. He’d gone in for smokes and some of those fruit roll-up lollies, but in the end decided the lollies were too expensive.

And they were bad for you.

He brought up his System and typed in a short phone number. There was a calling tone (not necessary considering the thing making the call was part of him, but Jonesy liked to be retro), then a calm voice answered.

“Hello, this is Emergency Services. What’s your emergency?”

Jonesy tapped his foot on the pavement. He couldn’t take his eyes off the Gate.

“Hi, um, I’m in Four City. At the Superplex on Banyard Street?”

“Okay, and what’s your emergency?”

Jonesy swallowed. “I’ve just seen a man. He, uh, he went into a Gate.”

The emergency responder’s reply was delayed. “And? Did you cut out, sir?”

“No, no, sorry.” Jonesy coughed and shook his head, clearing the fog. “He…well, he had a gun.”