There are many types of anomalies that can occur with gates.
Red Gates are the most well-known among them, but in truth, Red Gates are considered relatively quiet as far as anomalies go.
Due to their nature, the casualties are usually limited to the Hunters who enter the gate.
And even if the entire team inside is wiped out, a new strategy can be formulated and the gate re-entered according to its classification.
However, there are anomalies that demand an immediate national-level response the moment they occur.
The Monster Wave currently happening near Section 3 of the Bukhansan Trail is a prime example.
– Wait, a Monster Wave? Is this real?
– How do we go from a Red Gate to a Wave in just one week??
– Is the Great Hero… flying right now?
– Why does the stream look like satellite footage all of a sudden?
A disaster where a certain level of damage is guaranteed the moment it starts.
Among such events, Monster Waves are among the worst.
That’s because they completely ignore the rules that Hunters rely on in their response manuals.
Typically, monsters that live inside a gate’s dungeon need about two weeks before they can cross into Earth.
During that time, Hunters are expected to clear the gate and shut it down.
If that process fails, and monsters begin pouring into the real world, it’s called a Break.
But Monster Waves don’t follow that rule.
“This is urgent. I’ll speed up.”
Cheon Hwi extended his hand like a blade.
The air around him split apart like a transparent barrier being torn, and his body rapidly accelerated as it escaped the pull of air resistance.
Because he was moving faster than the speed of sound, the screen of the smartphone he’d grabbed with air-grasping technique kept flipping wildly, but he didn’t care about that minor detail right now.
“If the max estimated rank is A-rank… that means there are already tons of C-rank monsters out there.”
Cheon Hwi bit his lip.
Monster Waves occur when a Break happens at the same time as the gate forms,
with the gate’s rank increasing over time and producing stronger monsters.
The final rank of a Wave is typically two levels higher than the rank of the initial gate.
Which meant that for a Wave estimated to end at A-rank,
the damage was going to be catastrophic.
It starts with swarms of C-rank monsters and a C-rank boss, followed by B-rank monster hordes and a B-rank boss, and finally, an A-rank monster swarm plus an A-rank boss.
Only once all of those are defeated does the Wave officially end.
“I already made some arrangements for the orphanage area, but there’s no telling what kind of variables might arise.”
Cheon Hwi had been at the Hunter Association building near Gwanghwamun Square.
The Wave, however, had erupted near Section 3 of the Bukhansan Trail.
Even just glancing at the map, the distance was considerable.
But with his mastery of Lightfoot Void Movement, Cheon Hwi soared through the sky and arrived at the site of the Wave in an instant.
– Whoa
– He’s seriously that fast
– Wait, he’s already there??
– There’s no way it took him less than a minute from the Association to here LOL
Viewers filled the chat with stunned reactions, amazed by the ridiculous speed.
But Cheon Hwi remained calm as he expanded his consciousness domain,
scanning the entire area around Section 3 of the Bukhansan Trail where the Wave had emerged.
“The situation is urgent.”
– Is it really that bad?
– It’s a Wave—of course it’s bad lol
– Can someone mute that guy already?
Viewers, whose perspective was limited to the broadcast screen, couldn’t see the full picture, but Cheon Hwi, extending his perception like a web, quickly grasped the gravity of the situation.
“Most of the monsters are heading straight toward the city. Civilians are evacuating, but they’re too slow. At this rate, they’ll be caught in just a few minutes.”
– Uh, what
– Never mind how you even figured that out, this is seriously bad
– We trust that the Great Hero will go save them
Cheon Hwi’s consciousness field was incredibly precise.
Anything within its range felt as clear as if it were in the palm of his hand.
Thanks to that, he immediately understood just how critical this situation was.
“The Association and major guilds are sending people… but they won’t make it in time unless I intervene.”
– What’s the Association even doing??
– What about the guilds?
– Be real, who else could arrive in one minute like he did lol
The orphanage—and the child there—were safe.
That brought Cheon Hwi some relief.
But that didn’t change the fact that dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent lives were still in danger.
“At the very least, I’ll have to buy them some time.”
Right after saying that, Cheon Hwi leapt forward.
Soaring through the air with Lightfoot Skill, Cheon Hwi zipped in a straight line across the sky and cut off the monster horde’s path.
The smartphone, still clutched by his Air-Grasping Technique, followed close behind, capturing every moment on stream.
Viewers erupted as Cheon Hwi stood alone, blocking hundreds of monsters by himself.
– Yo, this is insane
– This is what you call a real master
– LET’S GOOOO
– Martial arts legend, step up!!
Though Cheon Hwi didn’t realize it with his back to the camera, the viewer count displayed on screen had already surpassed 7,000.
Word had spread like wildfire—especially through Chobang Gallery—that Cheon Hwi had gone straight to the Wave zone and was fighting monsters in real time.
– He’s actually there
– Aren’t those all C-rank monsters?
– Why are they grouped like a buffet line with every species imaginable lol
Unlike normal dungeons, a Monster Wave doesn’t spew creatures from just one type of dungeon.
Instead, it randomly produces monsters from all dungeons within the designated rank.
That’s why the crowd of monsters in front of Cheon Hwi was wildly diverse, but not even that variety, or sheer number, fazed him in the slightest.
“They may be many, but they’re nothing more than a disorderly rabble.”
They might have decent raw strength, but they lacked discipline, unity, and intelligence.
They were just brutish beasts, forming hordes by sheer numbers alone.
And Cheon Hwi had already dealt with these kinds of situations more times than he could count during his days in the martial world.
This was familiar ground—and he knew exactly how to handle it.
Now then… how should I wipe them out?
With the stream still live, Cheon Hwi felt a small desire to make this moment memorable.
As techniques flickered through his mind, appearing and vanishing in turn, he finally settled into a stance—his lips curling into a faint, gleaming smile.
There’s no better martial art to show who I truly am.
Though it had been a long time since he last used it since returning, perhaps now was the right moment to reveal it on stream.
A martial technique he had steadily built up since the earliest days of his training…
It had become a law of nature, a universal truth, no, more than that: a cosmos, a world in itself.
The culmination of the life and identity of the martial artist named Song Cheon Hwi, his one and only personal martial art, was now revealed to the world.
“Mugeuk Ilwon Divine Art.”
In that moment, countless strands of inner energy surged from Cheon Hwi’s body.
Red.
Blue.
Brilliant.
Yellow.
Radiant.
Ominous.
Holy.
Sacred.
So many concepts—far beyond what human language could fully describe—manifested as energy.
Then, all those energies began to intertwine.
The colored energies—red, blue, and yellow—merged into one.
The lights—fierce and sacred—also fused together.
Things that could be perceived, and things that could not.
Surface-level and abstract concepts twisted and braided together, weaving themselves into just two distinct currents.
– Holy—
– What am I even looking at right now?
– Is all of that… magical energy?
– Why are there so many kinds of magic???
One stream of purest white, the other deepest black.
The two flows swirled around each other in spirals, eventually mixing into a form that resembled the Taiji symbol—Yin and Yang in motion.
Black and white blended together, yet never dulled into gray—each retained its own purity, dancing and shimmering in balance.
Normally, a person’s magical energy has a fixed, unique nature.
And in most cases, that nature reveals itself through a single color.
Very few awakened individuals—extremely rare cases—manifest more than one.
But Cheon Hwi defied that very concept.
He emitted countless colors of magical energy, then fused them all into one,
completing the true essence of Mugeuk Ilwon Divine Art—a harmony of white and black energy.
This was the realm Cheon Hwi had sought.
“Mugeuk Ilwon Steel Qi.”
A star settled in the energy coiled around Cheon Hwi’s hand.
Within it, the principle of his long-unused martial art shimmered.
All things in the world are born from the One.
And thus, all things eventually seek to return to that One, a destined return, tied by the causality and origin of creation itself.
Furthermore, humans perceive the world through color and form.
And when all colors imbued in those forms are blended together, they produce the purest black.
Yet it is light that gives birth to color and form, and when all light is gathered into one, it produces the purest white.
Thus, the world is made of color and light.
And so, the beginning of the world… is black and white.
When all colors endlessly mix together, it becomes Mugeuk, the Limitless.
When all returns to one, it becomes Ilwon, the Origin.
When all light overlaps without end, it becomes Mugeuk.
And when it unites as one, it is Ilwon.
The most primordial concept—black and white—swirling in harmony.
That is the great current from which the world begins, the very framework of the universe itself.
Thus: Taiji.
The greatest principle of all things, the ultimate pole of existence in thought and truth alike.
“If I went into all the enlightenment and philosophy behind it… we’d be here a while. But this much should suffice for now.”
The ultimate realm that all things pursue, only to return to the beginning.
Cheon Hwi, embedding the image of a cosmos into his Steel Qi, raised his hand.
Everything he had just recited was merely the prologue, the beginning of Mugeuk Ilwon Divine Art.
There were far more truths and revelations embedded within it.
But there was no need to unfold them all here.
With that thought, Cheon Hwi half-closed his eyes.
And the moment his gaze fell upon them, the monsters froze.
As though their ferocity had been forgotten, many recoiled in terror, some trembling, drooling, and groaning pitifully, and a few collapsed on the spot, unconscious before the fight even began.
One man, through mere presence, halts a disaster.
Though standing between Heaven and Earth, his presence surged as if he alone could swallow the world whole.
Even the viewers, watching this spectacle unfold through the stream, were struck speechless.
“Watch closely.”
As Cheon Hwi stepped forward slowly, calmly, everyone realized—no, they were forced to realize.
“This is the first time I’ve revealed Mugeuk Ilwon Divine Art.”
Martial God.
The Martial God… was right there.