Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World

“Attention, citizens. A gate has appeared here. From this moment, we are restricting access to all areas within 100 meters of the gate. I repeat, please stay clear.”

 

“Come this way-! Hey, that guy there!! Don’t push-!”

 

“Seriously, why did a gate have to appear on my day off?”

 

People rushed in like a tsunami. A staff from the Association’s Management Department was sweating profusely while guiding citizens to the escape route.

 

Since it was an S-rank gate, the advance notice this time was practically useless.

 

“Please maintain order!!”

 

A man who had lifted a fallen child wiped the sweat from his forehead.

 

D-rank. As a D-rank hero, this was all he could do here. His ability was even more useless in the field.

 

Since he fearlessly applied to the S-rank gate, it would be fortunate enough if he just didn’t end up being a hindrance. Damn it. If he had known it would be like this, he should have prioritized his life over the allowance.

 

The gate opened five years ago. Monsters came out of that gate. Initially, gate appearances weren’t frequent, but whenever they appeared, there were always several severe injuries. Nowadays, with ‘them’ around, it was somewhat better.

 

Screech—. A car came to a sideways stop with a sharp noise. Bang. The door swung open smoothly, and a tall man with long legs stepped out just as smoothly.

 

“Wow, it’s big. Really big.”

 

A man with flashy silver hair. Dressed in an S-rank hero uniform and wearing sunglasses, he whistled as he looked up at the gate. His colorful uniform with striking lines was certainly eye-catching.

 

“Save the admiration for later.”

 

A black-haired man who got out next spoke up.

 

“Oh boy, is our Jaeha upset because he had to leave in the middle of lunch?”

 

“Could it occur to you that it’s because of you that I’m upset?”

 

Another boy got out, stepping between the two. He wore white headphones around his neck and had a trademark expressionless face.

 

“Hyungs, don’t fight.”

 

A short-haired beauty who had her arm around Mueum’s shoulder shouted simultaneously.

 

“Yeah, if you’re going to fight, do it properly at the training center later!”

 

“….Noona, please don’t encourage them to fight.”

 

Giggle. She laughed, holding her stomach, and the boy, who looked the youngest of them, sighed deeply.

 

‘….SH1 unit. It’s the SH1 unit.’

 

The D-rank heroes who were managing the situation froze in place. Salute. They saluted sharply as the silver-haired man walked past them nonchalantly.

 

Still, they couldn’t say a word.

 

‘This man… The famous S-rank, Yoo Hwashin.’

 

‘Tha over there is Cha Jaeha, right?’

 

‘Jeong Mueum’s headphone is a killer. Crazy’

 

Just by looking at each other’s eyes, they could tell what the others were thinking. Some were even completely lost looking at Yoo Jian.

 

That was how rare it is for D-ranks to meet S-ranks on the field. No, you’d have better luck catching a star. Meeting the S-ranks of the SH1 unit was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

 

With the consecutive opening of S-rank gates, the situation was already a mess.

 

– Ah, can you hear me?

 

“Yes, loud and clear.”

 

Hwashin lightly pressed his in-ear communicator and responded.

 

– The gate that has appeared this time is an ordinary S-rank gate. Please deal with it quickly and come back.

 

“Aren’t people getting too relaxed?”

 

– Contact me when you’re done. And respond if you need anything. We’re monitoring via drone. Please. Please don’t cause trouble.

 

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

 

Jaeha, Mueum, and Yoo Jian stood beside Hwashin, who had put on a new pair of sunglasses.

 

Cha Jaeha asked while putting on his gloves.

 

“What are you staring at?”

 

“Thinking about the most efficient way to finish this.”

 

A calm and relaxed tone.

 

A D-rank watching them nearby gulped. The tense atmosphere from earlier was now gone. This place was now a defensive zone under their protection.

 

Monsters that had just emerged from the gate charged towards them. Boom, boom, boom. The ground shook.

 

Even in this situation, the SH1 unit continued their conversation leisurely.

 

“If you just stop them, we can attack. How many seconds will it take if you don’t overdo it?”

 

“Hmm. Since their magic isn’t that strong, 10 seconds? But I don’t mind overdoing it.”

 

“Hyung, please restrain yourself.”

 

“Besides, that’s enough time.”

 

Yoo Jian said as she took out the double axes that were strapped to her back. Clang. The sound of them clanking was impressive.

 

Hwashin chuckled at their responses.

 

“Alright. Let’s get started.”

 

Golden threads connected the monsters to the air. Hwashin held those threads between his fingers.

 

“「All monsters in front of me.」”

 

「Stop.」

 

They remembered hearing it somewhere.

 

Why is S-rank hero Yoo Hwashin so famous? What made him so renowned?

 

His reckless personality?

 

That laid-back attitude and way of speaking?

 

While all his characteristics were part of the reason,

 

The biggest reason for his fame was. Because of his special ability.

 

“….Crazy.”

 

Beyond the gate danger zone, one of the reporters capturing this scene on camera unconsciously lowered his lens.

 

5 monsters. Just because of 5 monsters, the surrounding land had risen, buildings had collapsed, and citizens had evacuated.

 

Those bizarre and enormous monsters that D-rank heroes couldn’t even touch all stopped at once.

 

“Grrrr.”

 

Occasional growls could be heard. But they didn’t move. Or rather, they couldn’t.

 

S-rank hero Yoo Hwashin’s ability was that powerful.

 

“Mueum–”

 

At Hwashin’s voice, as if he had been waiting, a boy floating in the air suddenly dropped to the ground. His landing point was the head of a giant lizard-like monster that had stopped moving.

 

Pop. The head burst like a balloon. Plop. As pieces of the carcass fell, he landed lightly below. A complaint mixed with irritation soon followed.

 

“Hyung, next time you use your command, can’t you tell them to stop the bleeding? …The blood splattering is no joke. It’s so dirty.”

 

Jung Mueum said, hanging his headphones around his neck. Hwashin, with a relaxed expression, patted Mueum’s head.

 

“Mueum really has a way with words.”

 

“No, try getting splattered once, hyung.”

 

“I don’t want to. Hahaha.”

 

“Ah, don’t just laugh it off!”

 

“Hahahaha.”

 

Before the D-rank heroes watching the scene could even utter exclamations of admiration, Yoo Jian’s twin axes sliced through the neck of one of the remaining monsters, accompanied by her boisterous voice.

 

“Why are you being so relaxed after just killing just one monster?”

 

Just like that, another monster was down.

 

The neck Yoo Jian had severed floated in the air. Mueum flicked his fingers forward. The monster’s head moved at high speed, impaling the body of another monster.

 

“…Whoa.”

 

There wasn’t a moment that wasn’t impressive. The seamless coordination, their composed demeanor throughout. And on top of that…

 

“…That’s crazy.”

 

On the road where flames had erupted, there was no trace of the monsters left. Even in front of the road that had turned into a fire hell, Hwashin was casually taking pictures of the scene with his phone camera..

 

With a proud face, as if showing off his top-ranked children, he said.

 

“Our kids do their job really well, don’t they?”

 

“…Ah, well.”

 

Right.

 

Yoo Hwashin was so proud of himself for having made it this far, he could go crazy for it.

 

He was now living in the novel <Your Hero is Here>, alongside the characters he adored the most. As the (former) Grand Mage.

 

Oh, to properly start this story,

 

He needed to talk about his past.

 

His past name was Elric.

 

His former profession was not a hero, but a grand mage.

 

Hwashin, who was photographing Cha Jaeha with a continuous camera, briefly recalled his past before his possession.

 

***

 

When the Grand Mage Elric snapped his fingers, the previously dark cave entrance lit up one by one. Outside the entrance, monsters swarmed. They seemed to be under the illusion that they could win against a dragon, who was nearing the end of its life and wouldn’t leave the cave.

 

As Elric laid down, the pillow he was resting on spoke to him.

 

‘Need some help?’

 

The dragon’s language, which he was using as a pillow, flowed directly into his mind. Elric responded with a smile.

 

“I’ll do it alone. It seems like it’ll be more fun that way.”

 

‘You’re always looking for fun. If that’s the case, why don’t you try living like the warrior in the next town?’

 

“I tried that about 100 years ago.”

 

Elric shrugged his shoulders once.

 

“「Barrier release.」”

 

With his voice, the flow of karma surrounding the cave changed. The barrier blocking the entrance collapsed with a crackling sound. From hobgoblins to rainbow-furred mutant unicorns, all kinds of magical beasts rushed in.

 

A goblin wielding a huge club was at the forefront.

 

Another club, another brawl? Why did they always use the same repertoire? He couldn’t even play with them.

 

Ha. After a brief sigh, he spoke.

 

“「In the order you came in. Starting with you there.」”

 

Elric pointed at the goblin at the front.

 

“「Explode one by one. And make it neat.」”

 

At Elric’s words, the body of the goblin at the forefront slowly began to swell. Its green skin stretched out and then burst with a pop. Chunks of flesh, torn into neat squares, fell to the floor with a thud.

 

“Guruk?”

 

“Guruk!”

 

The monsters following behind stopped in their tracks. Some tried to flee back towards the entrance. But the ‘outcome’ that had already been dictated for them by the verbal command could no longer be changed.

 

Blood began to pool on the ground as they exploded in the order they came. The stalactites stretched out from the ceiling turned sickly green as they absorbed the monsters’ blood.

 

“Well then, Dragon, do you want to do the cleaning?”

 

A voice devoid of emotion. A languid attitude as if waking from a boring dream.

 

Grand Mage Elric, who was well over 200 years old, found every day terribly boring.

 

***

 

It was about 20 years ago when Elric, bored with life, found the dragon living in the cave. (He no longer kept an accurate count of days, so this too was imprecise. Hence, Elric didn’t even know his own age properly.)

 

Elric, who casually named the dragon ‘Dragon’, lived with it and often listened to its old stories that he found quite interesting.

 

One day, Dragon tossed a book to Elric, who was scratching his stomach with a bored expression. The writing was in letters from another world and unreadable. Only after a very long time did Elric finally succeed in deciphering the book Dragon had given him!

 

It was a novel containing a warrior’s story titled <Your Hero Is Here>. However, in this book, warriors were called ‘heroes’.

 

Elric, sticking close to Dragon who had its eyes closed as if about to fall asleep, started chattering.

 

“You know, the hero SH1 unit in this book. They’re really so cute. They’re like kids saving the world.”

 

‘How old are they?’

 

“The protagonist is 25 years old.”

 

‘Even such a young one thinks about saving the world. Yet you….’

 

The dragon glanced at Elric with half-closed eyes. But Elric was a master at changing the subject.

 

“Thanks anyway. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an interesting story.”

 

Since then, Elric reread the book several times. Although he could read the letters, expressions that were often incomprehensible became easier to understand the more he read. Naturally, his affection for the protagonist, Cha Jaeha, grew.

 

– Cha Jaeha should speak a little more gently.

 

– His tone is harsh, but he’s really a good kid. He’s polite yet lacking manners.

 

– I wonder if the cover of this book is Cha Jaeha’s face? If he looks like this, no wonder he’s popular.

 

– Cha Jaeha dies to prevent the world’s destruction. But the world still gets destroyed. …Can’t we just tear out the ending of this book?

 

After chattering for a long time, Elric moved closer to Dragon, who had stopped responding to his words. The ‘today’ he had been so desperate to avoid had arrived.

 

Elric rested his arms on Dragon’s nose. The soul of his only friend was now nearing the end of its life. Elric whispered softly.

 

“…You’re not dead yet, right?”

 

‘It’d be troublesome if you declared me dead at your whim, Elric.’

 

“Can’t you whimsically live a bit longer?”

 

‘You should have found me sooner.’

 

Their conversation was trivial. The fact that it was trivial made it even better.

 

‘When I’m gone, try entering the book. At least you won’t be bored. You hate being bored.’

 

“That’s quite a random thing to say. …Of course, if you’re gone, maybe being in the book would be better. And I’ll keep Cha Jaeha alive too. To be honest, I cried when he died. Haha.”

 

Elric hugged the dying dragon and patted it gently. Silver scales turned to powder in his hand. The dragon, which seemed to have no strength left to speak, continued talking until the end.

 

“Live well.”

 

A dragon that peacefully completed its life returned to its original form. To the earth if it was earth, to fire if it was fire, to wind if it was wind.

 

The dragon’s body was surrounded by white light. Using its last ounce of strength, the dragon spoke in human language for the first and last time.

 

“Don’t worry, you won’t be so bored even without me.”

 

White light engulfed his vision. Everything became cozy, and he felt as if his soul was embarking on a journey with the dragon.

 

Elric naturally closed his eyes. He thought that since he would be left alone after the dragon disappeared anyway, it wouldn’t be so bad to return to nature together.

 

When Elric opened his eyes again, his body was lying in the middle of a pool of blood.

 

“…What is this?”

 

He manipulated karma to roughly reattach his broken arm. There was some discomfort in his right ankle, but it was tolerable. Elric bent his legs, which somehow felt longer than his original body, and stood up with a grunt. He was wearing an unfamiliar black outfit, and the white sleeve ends were wet with blue liquid.

 

He flexed his neat, long fingers.

 

This body was not Elric’s. Trapped in the pitch-dark night, he looked around and saw many unfamiliar monstrous creatures lying fallen. He kicked at the tattered flesh and looked around.

 

Before long, the memory of the man who was the owner of the body began to return to Elric’s head. These memories quickly intertwined with Elric’s original memories.

 

Hero, Cha Jaeha, South Korea, Awakened, Gate.

 

Amidst the scattered words, he realized where he was.

 

The world where the hero he cherished most, who had vowed to save everyone even if it meant becoming a villain, existed.

 

“…Hahaha.”

 

He had now moved to a new dimension, inside the novel <Your Hero Is Here>.

 

Yeah. Come to think of it, our dragon friend.

 

“It was a dimensional dragon.”