“Attention all citizens. A gate has currently opened at this location. Effective immediately, the area within 100 meters of the gate is under full lockdown. I repeat…”

“This way, please! You there, no pushing!”

“Seriously, a gate just had to open on my day off!”

People surged forward like a tsunami. The management team employee from the Association, drenched in cold sweat, guided the citizens to the evacuation routes.

Being an S-rank gate, even the advanced emergence time notice was of little help this time around.

“Please maintain order!”

The man who helped a shoved child to their feet wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

D-rank. As a D-rank hero, this was all he could do at the scene. His abilities were even more useless on the field.

He had recklessly volunteered for this S-rank gate, so he should count himself lucky if he wasn’t just getting in the way. Damn it. If he had known, he should have prioritized his life over the bonus pay.

5 years ago, gates started opening. Monsters poured out from those gates. Initially, gate emergences were infrequent, but each occurrence left several people seriously injured. Things were slightly better now that “they” were around.

Screeech! A car skidded to an abrupt horizontal stop with a shrill noise. Bam! The door swung open energetically, and an equally energetic long-legged man stepped out.

“Whoa, it’s huge. Huuuge.”

The silver-haired man, donning the distinctive S-rank hero uniform and sunglasses, whistled as he looked up at the gate. The uniform, accented with colorful lines, was certainly eye-catching.

“How about saving the admiration for later?”

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

“Oh man, did our Jaeha come out pissed from lunch?”

“You ever consider that you might be the reason I’m pissed?”

Another boy emerged between them. His trademark white headset hung around his neck, accompanied by his signature expressionless face.

“Guys, don’t fight,” the short-haired beauty draped her arm over Moo-eum’s shoulder as she called out simultaneously.

“Yeah, if you wanna fight, do it properly later at the training center!”

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

Snicker snicker. She laughed, clutching her stomach, while the youngest-looking boy among them let out a deep sigh.

‘…The SH1 Unit. It’s the SH1 Unit.’

The D-ranks, who had been assessing the situation, froze in place. Salute. They assumed crisp salutes as the silver-haired man sauntered casually through their midst.

Even so, they couldn’t say a word.

‘That man… he’s the famous S-rank, Yoo Hwa-shin.’

‘And that’s Cha Jaeha, isn’t it?’

‘Jeong Moo-eum’s headset is killer. Damn.’

A mere glance was enough to know what the others were thinking. One of them was utterly awestruck upon seeing Yoo Jian.

That’s how rare it was for a D-rank to meet an S-rank on the field. No, you might as well try plucking a star from the sky. Meeting the S-ranks of the SH1 Unit was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, if that.

The S-rank gates that had opened in succession had already turned the scene into utter chaos.

—Aah, can you hear me?

“Yeees, loud and clear,” Hwa-shin responded, lightly tapping his in-ear device.

—The gate that emerged this time is a standard S-rank gate for a change. Wrap it up quickly and come back.

“Isn’t that person getting a bit too lax?”

—Contact me when you’re done. Answer if needed in the middle too, I’ll be watching through the drone. Please. Please don’t cause any accidents.

“Yees, yees. Got it.”

Cha Jaeha and Jeong Moo-eum lined up beside Yoo Hwa-shin, who had just put on a new pair of sunglasses.

Jaeha asked as he slipped on his gloves, “What are you spacing out and staring at?”

“Thinking about how to finish this efficiently.”

A relaxed and languid tone.

Nearby D-ranks, observing them, gulped nervously. The tense atmosphere from moments ago was gone. This place was now under their protection, a defensive zone.

Monsters that had just emerged from the gate charged towards them. Boom, boom, boom. Thunderous noises reverberated. The ground trembled.

Even in that situation, the SH1 Unit continued to converse leisurely.

“Hyung just needs to halt them and we’ll attack. If we don’t overdo it, how many seconds will it take?”

“Hmm. Their mana isn’t particularly strong, so 10 seconds? But I can go all out, you know.”

“Hyung, please show some restraint.”

“Besides, that much is enough.”

Yoo Jian remarked as she drew the double-headed ax affixed to her back. Clang clang. The clashing sound was impressive.

Hwa-shin chuckled at their responses.

“Alright. Then let’s begin right away.”

Golden threads connecting the monsters’ movements and the void. Grasping those threads between his fingers, Hwa-shin declared:

“「The monsters before my eyes. All of you.」”

「Halt.」

I’ve heard someone said this somewhere before.

Why is the S-rank hero Yoo Hwa-shin so incredibly famous? What made him this renowned?

His wild personality?

That sloppy attitude and way of speaking?

All his traits were part of the reason, but…

the biggest factor behind his fame was his unique ability.

“…That’s insane.”

Beyond the gate’s danger zone, one of the reporters capturing the scene with a camera involuntarily lowered his lens.

5 monsters. Just 5 monsters had upheaved the surrounding ground, toppled buildings, and sent citizens fleeing.

Those bizarre, colossal monsters that the D-rank heroes couldn’t even touch had simultaneously frozen in place.

“Grrrrr…”

Occasional growls could be heard. However, they did not move. No, they couldn’t move.

This was the nature of the S-rank hero Yoo Hwa-shin’s ability.

“Moo-eum-“

As if on cue with Hwa-shin’s voice, one of the boys who had been floating in the air plummeted straight down. His landing point was the head of a giant lizard-like monster whose movement had been halted.

Pop! The head explodes like a bursting balloon. Plop. Chunks of the corpse fell as he lightly landed beneath. A complaint laden with irritation soon followed.

“Hyung, next time you use your Decree, can’t you tell the blood to stop too? …It’s no joke getting splattered. It’s frickin’ filthy.”

Jeong Moo-eum spoke as he hung the headphones he had been wearing around his neck. Hwa-shin, with a relaxed expression, ruffled Moo-eum’s hair.

“Moo-eum sure has a way with words.”

“No, hyung, you try getting drenched in it for once.”

“Nah, I’ll pass on that. Hahaha.”

“Ah, stop laughing!”

“Hahahahaha.”

Before the D-rank heroes observing the scene could even utter exclamations of admiration, Yoo Jian’s double-headed ax sliced through the neck of one of the remaining monsters, accompanied by a hearty voice.

“Don’t get complacent after killing just one.”

And so, one creature.

The severed head that Yoo Jian had sliced off floated in the air. Jeong Moo-eum’s finger flicked forward swiftly. The monster’s rapidly moving head. That head pierced straight through another monster’s body.

“…Whoa.”

There wasn’t a single moment that didn’t elicit amazement. The effortless coordination, the leisurely demeanor throughout. Moreover…

“…This is freaking insane, damn.”

Flames soared on the devastated road where not a trace of the monsters could be found anymore. In front of the road-turned-inferno, Hwa-shin maintained a carefree expression as he captured the scene with his phone camera.

As if boasting about his top-notch kids, he proudly declared, “Our kids sure do a great job, don’t they?”

“…Ah, well…”

Indeed.

Yoo Hwa-shin was bursting with pride for having made it this far.

Having transmigrated into the novel <Your Hero is Here>. As the (former) Grand Mage who now found himself here alongside the characters he had once loved more than anything.

Oh right, to start this story, I should first tell you about my past.

My past name was Elric.

My former occupation wasn’t a hero, but a Grand Mage.

Hwa-shin, who had been photographing Cha Jaeha with a burst shot, briefly reminisced about his past self before the transmigration.

***

When Grand Mage Elric snapped his fingers once, lights flickered on sequentially from the cave entrance that had been dark. Outside the entrance, monsters were swarming. They seemed to be under the delusion that they might be able to defeat the dragon who refused to leave the cave even on the verge of death.

The pillow Elric was resting his head on spoke to him.

‘Shall I help?’

The words of the dragon, which Elric had been using as a pillow, flowed directly into his mind. Elric responded with a smile.

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

‘You’re always seeking out fun. Then why don’t you try living like the hero from the neighboring town for a change?’

“I did that about 100 years ago.”

Elric shrugged his shoulders.

“「Dispel Barrier.」”

With his voice, the flow of karma encircling the cave shifted. The barrier blocking the entrance crumbled with a crunch. Hop goblins and even rainbow-furred unicorn variants. All sorts of magical beasts poured inside.

A giant goblin wielding a huge club was the lead batter.

Another club, another fistfight. Why do they always stick to the same repertoire? I can’t even have fun playing with them.

Ha. Sighing shortly, he opened his mouth.

“「In the order you entered. You there, starting with you.」”

Elric pointed at the goblin at the forefront.

“「Burst in sequence. Neatly, if possible.」”

At Elric’s single utterance, the body of the goblin at the very front slowly swelled up. The stretched green skin ruptured with a pop. Neatly torn chunks of flesh fell to the floor with a thud.

“Gruuk?”

“Grrruk!”

The footsteps of the monsters chasing after halted. Some fled back towards the entrance. However, their ‘end result’, already designated by the Decree, could no longer be altered.

Blood began to burst in sequence, pooling on the floor like a pond. The stalactites protruding from the ceiling turned blue, drenched in monster blood.

“Then, Dragon, you want to handle the cleanup?”

In a disinterested voice. A languid attitude, as if he had just woken up from a boring dream.

Elric, a Grand Mage over roughly 200 years old, found every day utterly tedious.

It was about 20 years ago that Elric, bored with life, sought out the dragon living in the cave. (He no longer kept accurate track of dates, so even this was imprecise. As a result, Elric himself wasn’t sure of his exact age.)

Elric, who had casually named the dragon ‘Dragon’, would often listen to old stories while living with it, and those tales were immensely intriguing.

One day, as Elric was sprawled out scratching his belly with a bored expression, Dragon tossed him a book. It was written in characters from another world, unreadable to him. And so, after an extremely long time had passed, Elric finally succeeded in deciphering the book Dragon had given him!

A novel entitled <Your Hero is Here>, containing a heroic tale. However, in this book, heroes were referred to as “heroes”.

Elric clung tightly to Dragon, who seemed on the verge of falling asleep, and started chattering away.

“The hero unit SH1 that appears in this book. They’re just way too cute. It’s unbelievable that such babies are saving the world.”

‘How old are they?’

“The protagonist is 25.”

‘Even a kid like that is thinking of saving the world. Whereas you…’

Dragon, eyes half-open, glanced down at Elric. And Elric was a master at changing the subject.

“Anyway, thanks. It’s been a while since I’ve found such an entertaining story.”

Elric re-read the book several more times after that. Expressions that were sometimes incomprehensible even when he could read the text became easier to understand the more he read. Naturally, his affection for the protagonist Cha Jaeha also grew.

• Cha Jaeha needs to speak a bit more gently.
• His way of talking is rough, but he’s actually really kind. He’s politely ill-mannered.
• Speaking of the cover of this book, could that be Cha Jaeha’s face? If he looks this good, no wonder he’s popular.
• To prevent the world’s destruction, Cha Jaeha dies. But the world still ends… Can’t we just tear out the ending of this book?

After rambling on for a while, Elric scooted up close in front of Dragon, who was no longer responding to his words. The ‘today’ he had dreaded so much had arrived.

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

“…You’re not dead yet, are you?”

‘Don’t go killing me off on your own, Elric.’

“Can’t you just live a bit longer on your own then?”

‘You should have found me a bit sooner.’

Trivial conversations continued. They were all the more precious for their meaninglessness.

‘When I’m gone, make sure to enter the world inside the book. Then you won’t be bored. You hate being bored, after all.’

“That’s quite a sudden thing to say… But I suppose if you’re not here, inside a book might indeed be better than reality. I could save Cha Jaeha’s life too. He died and I honestly cried, you know. Haha.”

Elric gently stroked Dragon as he embraced his dying friend. Silver scales turned to powder, clenched in his hand. Dragon, who seemed to lack even the strength to speak anymore, continued talking until the very end.

‘Live well.’

A dragon peacefully reaching the end of its life returns to where it originally came from. To the earth if it was of the earth, to the fire if it was of the fire, to the wind if it was of the wind.

Dragon’s body was enveloped in a white light. Mustering its dying breath, Dragon uttered human language for the first and last time.

“Don’t worry. Even without me, you won’t be too bored.”

His vision was engulfed by a pure white light. Everything felt cozy, and it seemed as if his soul was embarking on a journey together with Dragon.

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

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

‘…What the.’

He roughly reattached his broken arm by manipulating karma. There was a sense of discomfort in his right ankle, but it was tolerable like this. Elric bent his legs, which somehow seemed longer than his original body, and huffed as he got up. He was wearing black clothes of a style he had never seen before, and the white ends of the sleeves were soaked in a blue liquid.

He flexed his slender, elegant fingers.

This body was not Elric’s body. Taking a look around in the pitch-black night he was trapped in, unfamiliar monstrosities lay strewn about. He kicked the tattered lumps of flesh with his foot and surveyed his surroundings.

Before long, memories of the man who had been the owner of this body began flowing into Elric’s mind. The memories rapidly intertwined with Elric’s original memories.

Hero, Cha Jaeha, Republic of Korea, Awakener, Gate.

Amidst the scattered words, he realized where this place was.

The world where the hero he had cherished the most resided, the one who vowed to save everyone even if he had to become a villain.

“…Hahaha.”

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

Right. Come to think of it, his dragon friend.

“Was a dragon of dimensions.”