RTN 12

“Status window.”

Someone murmured. After that, not even a breath. Everyone’s gaze fixed on the central screen of the video wall, on Seol A-yeon on that screen, and on the countless translucent windows tightly enveloping and protecting her.

[If safety is not secured within 1 minute, everything within a 100 km radius will be reduced to nothingness.]

It was unmistakably a status window. Not just one—dozens of status windows orbited slowly through the air, densely wrapping around Seol A-yeon.

A status window made physical. Before them stood the very “Tuner” that emperors and all rulers of the universe had searched for. The only being that could meddle with dimensions without the aid of the Church.

“Withdraw the guns.”

Baek Yi-hyun said. Kim Do-woon looked up at him. It was an old habit: immediate reaction to his superior’s orders.

No one else moved. They all just stared at the screen, stunned. Baek Yi-hyun spoke again, clearly.

“Retract the turrets.”

Beside him, Kim Do-woon gave a quick kick to the calves of a researcher who was gaping up at the screen like an idiot. Pull the turrets back, he mouthed quietly. The researcher, face drained white, scrambled to operate the console controls.

The simulated combat chamber’s turrets all retracted at once. Still, the status windows around Seol A-yeon did not disappear.

“Stop data collection.”

At Baek Yi-hyun’s order, the crew snapped to attention and moved quickly. They flipped breakers and reset parameters.

The lights in the combat chamber dimmed to a minimum and then went out. The status windows that had surrounded Seol A-yeon vanished as if they’d never been there.

Only Seol A-yeon remained, hunched on the floor and looking around bewildered. Her face, completely pale, was not so different from the pale faces of the control room crew.

“Check where the status window appeared.”

On Baek Yi-hyun’s instruction, the central screen switched to the recorded footage. It replayed the moment: Seol A-yeon lunging to protect the child, and the status windows unfurling with a shimmering sound and neatly deflecting every attack.

When the rebounding attack gouged a circular hole in the floor, Baek Yi-hyun said, “Slow it down. Replay.”

The scene repeated at a much slower speed.

Even replayed, it was hard to believe. Everyone watched the screen as if entranced. Baek Yi-hyun said dryly, “Zoom on Seol A-yeon.”

They obeyed immediately. Seol A-yeon filled the central screen.

A tightly focused face. Pupils widening widely the moment she saw the child. A body reacting fast. There was no wasted motion in the stance she took to run toward the target. That was all.

There was no indication she’d summoned a status window. If anything, she looked desperate. She seemed to have had no expectation that something would save her.

And yet the status window appeared with no warning. More precisely, it formed at the moment her life hung in the balance.

The rule that the status window prioritizes the Tuner fit perfectly.

Baek Yi-hyun turned away from the screen. The entire control room crew braced themselves.

It was now indisputable that the person they’d tested was a Tuner — and action had to be taken. The room was silent.

“I’ll report to His Majesty immediately. This matter is to remain classified until His Majesty gives his judgment. And…”

Baek Yi-hyun paused. Kim Do-woon thought it was odd for him to hesitate, but Baek Yi-hyun spoke again.

“The research team will secure Seol A-yeon and detain her in a single-occupancy room. Be careful not to threaten her life when subduing her. If the status window reacts without warning, it will be irreversible.”

No sooner had Baek Yi-hyun finished than the researchers moved. Some busied themselves with consoles; others hurried down to the simulated combat chamber. Baek Yi-hyun glanced back over here.

Kim Do-woon stepped forward and saluted immediately.

“Transport the outsiders under restraint to the prisoner camp and provide them with sufficient meals and rest. Keep strict surveillance so not a single person leaves.”

“Sir, if I may—”

An unexpected interruption came from the side.

Did they all take something today? Before Kim Do-woon could even see the face of the man butting in, irritation boiled up. How many times had he seen orders to Baek Yi-hyun blocked today? It was absurd.

It was all because Seol A-yeon was an outsider. Something was very, very wrong.

The Tuner they had hunted for so long was an outsider.

And on top of that, she’d stolen an S-rank — the outsider’s price just shot through the roof.

How could those two precious things be concentrated in one outsider? The imperial pride couldn’t accept it.

So now those who usually couldn’t utter a peep kept opening their mouths.

“The outsiders must not step off the transport vessel. That woman may be a special case, and the child was brought briefly into the control room to be used as bait, but we can’t transfer more than thirty outsiders to the prisoner camp. Doing so would violate imperial law and—”

“So how do you propose we control Seol A-yeon?”

The crewman started to say something, then shut his mouth. His expression slowly hardened.

After a breath, Baek Yi-hyun asked again. The calm in his voice sounded less like reproach than a pure question.

“Is there any other way?”

There wasn’t. Not by now.

Kim Do-woon understood Baek Yi-hyun’s order. Right now, with everyone ignorant about Seol A-yeon, only one thing was certain.

Altruism.

Seol A-yeon felt some kind of responsibility toward the other outsiders. At the Gate, she’d risked her life to guard the exit and, in the test, thrown herself to wrap her arms around the child.

Securing the outsiders was essential to capture Seol A-yeon. All of them would be used as bait to handle her.

When they first faced the outsiders at the Gate, their scruffy appearance had seemed laughable, but now each one had become so valuable they wanted more brought in from somewhere.

After a short silence, the crewman bowed deeply. His ears were flushed red. He muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Baek Yi-hyun’s gaze immediately shifted from the crewman back toward Kim Do-woon. He said, “Handle it quickly.”

“Understood.”

Kim Do-woon answered crisply and headed to one side of the control room. A few researchers crowded around, busily removing sensors from the outsider child’s body.

The child who had just had the blindfold and earplugs removed sat bewildered. Because the sensors had been used only to capture his appearance for holographic display, the child could have no idea what had happened.

After they removed all the sensors, the researchers lifted the child and pushed him toward Kim Do-woon. The child shuffled a few steps and stopped.

Kim Do-woon bent one knee and lowered himself. He scooped the child up in both hands and rose, holding him smoothly against his chest.

He tried not to notice the child’s warm, familiar heat. The siblings he had carried on his back when they were little weren’t this small now. They must have grown a lot. He hadn’t seen them, but he imagined as much.

Carrying the docile child, who showed no sign of resistance from fear, Kim Do-woon stepped out of the control room and shot a glance back at the screen.

The central screen still replayed Seol A-yeon over and over.

Her eyes widening in surprise at the status windows that seemed to protect her. Her lips parting in astonishment as she read the content of the windows. Hair clinging to a sweat-damp neck.

Even so, her pale hand pressed firmly to the floor so she could pull herself away at any moment. Her constantly scanning, still bright pupils.

Kim Do-woon narrowed his eyes.

Is that the face of someone lying?

Baek Yi-hyun had once asked Seol A-yeon why she’d saved others when surviving alone was already so difficult. Seol A-yeon had given an answer then.

“I thought my friend would do the same.”

No — Baek Yi-hyun was not that kind of person. Kim Do-woon could be certain. The Baek Yi-hyun he knew looked neat on the outside but was cold and cruel more than anyone.

If you think the one who has led victory after victory in this long war is admirable, you are terribly mistaken.

Baek Yi-hyun would squeeze Seol A-yeon until he’d bled her dry. She might come to regret that terrible process to her dying day.

It would have been better to be torn apart by the monsters at the Gate.