Chapter 104: A New Gate
The moment David stepped out of the assessment room, April looked up.
She had been leaning against the wall with her arms folded, but straightened the second she saw him.
"Finally."
David stopped beside her.
"That sounded hostile."
"It was."
"Fair."
April pushed herself away from the wall. "What took so long?"
David glanced back at the closed door.
"The machine had a problem."
Her eyebrows rose.
"What kind of problem?"
"The kind that required a supervisor."
April stared at him.
David stared back.
"That’s it?"
"That’s it."
"David."
"What?"
"You were in there for almost half an hour."
"I was busy."
"Doing what?"
"Apparently confusing a machine."
April narrowed her eyes.
"You broke it?"
"I touched it."
"That’s not a denial."
David shrugged.
The corner of her mouth twitched, but she didn’t quite smile.
"So what did they say?"
"That they couldn’t get a proper reading."
April waited.
David waited.
She eventually sighed.
"You’re terrible at explaining things."
"I’ve been told."
"By me."
"Frequently."
She shook her head and started walking.
David followed.
There wasn’t much else to do.
The assessment was over. The registration was done. Whatever problem the Association had with his results could remain their problem for now.
He wasn’t particularly interested in standing around while someone else tried to figure out why a machine couldn’t read him.
The System had already given him the answer.
As far as David was concerned, that was enough.
April glanced sideways at him as they crossed the lobby.
"You know, most people would be worried."
"About what?"
"An Association machine malfunctioning while you’re using it."
David considered that.
"Wasn’t exactly my fault."
"That isn’t the reassuring part."
"I know."
She gave him another suspicious look.
"But you’re not worried?"
David shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Should I be?"
"I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking."
He thought about it for a moment.
There was no point pretending the assessment hadn’t been strange.
The machine had failed.
The supervisor had wanted to involve researchers.
Then an S-Rank had walked in, taken one look at him, and sent him away.
None of that was normal.
But none of it changed what David already knew.
The System was the reason.
Whatever the Association could or couldn’t detect wasn’t something he could explain to them without revealing far more than he wanted to.
So, for now, there wasn’t much to worry about.
"I’m fine."
April watched him for another second.
Then sighed.
"You’re really not going to tell me anything, are you?"
"Not anything useful."
"At least you’re honest."
"I try."
They reached the exit.
The moment the doors slid open, the noise of the street replaced the controlled hum of the Association.
David stepped outside.
He immediately felt better.
No crystal.
No machines.
No supervisors asking questions.
Just traffic, people, and the ordinary noise of the city.
April walked beside him.
For a few moments, neither of them said anything.
Then she glanced at him.
"So."
David looked over.
"So?"
"You’re buying dinner."
He frowned.
"Why?"
"Because you disappeared into a room for thirty minutes and came back without an explanation."
"That doesn’t seem related."
"It is in my mind."
"Convenient."
"Very."
David shook his head.
"Fine."
April smiled.
"Good."
They started walking.
The Association slowly disappeared behind them as they made their way through the streets.
For the first few minutes, the conversation stayed surprisingly normal.
April complained about how long registration had taken.
David pointed out that she had spent most of that time arguing with the receptionist over a form she’d filled out incorrectly.
She denied this.
He reminded her that he’d watched her do it.
She told him he was annoying.
He accepted that assessment with considerably less resistance than the one he’d just received from the Association.
By the time they turned onto the street leading toward their apartment, the entire incident already felt strangely distant.
David glanced ahead.
Their building wasn’t far now.
He could already see the familiar block between the buildings.
"Finally," April muttered.
David nodded.
"Yeah."
They kept walking.
Then April slowed down.
David took another step before noticing.
He looked back.
"What?"
April wasn’t looking at him anymore.
She was staring farther down the street.
David followed her gaze.
There were people gathered ahead.
A lot more than there should have been.
Several had stopped in the middle of the pavement.
Others were standing outside nearby shops.
A few were pointing toward something beyond the next intersection.
David’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"What happened?"
April shook her head.
"I don’t know."
Neither of them moved for a second.
Then someone farther ahead suddenly shouted.
David couldn’t make out the words.
Another voice followed.
Then another.
The crowd began shifting.
Not toward whatever had caught their attention.
Away from it.
David’s expression changed.
"That’s new."
April looked at him.
"What?"
He didn’t answer.
Because now he could see it.
Something was wrong with the air ahead.
The space near their apartment seemed to be—
Moving.
David stopped walking.
April followed his gaze.
And for the first time, she saw it too.
For a few seconds, David couldn’t quite make sense of what he was seeing.
The air itself seemed to be bending.
Not like heat rising from the road.
Not like smoke.
The space ahead of them had developed a strange distortion, as though someone had grabbed the middle of the street and twisted it.
People were noticing now.
More phones came out.
Someone stepped backward so quickly they nearly bumped into another person.
"What is that?" April asked.
David didn’t answer.
The distortion widened.
A faint crackling sound carried through the street.
Then the air in the center of it darkened.
David’s eyes narrowed.
The darkness wasn’t spreading outward.
It was forming.
A circular shape slowly emerged in the space between the buildings, its edges twisting with an unnatural blue-black glow.
April’s voice dropped.
"David..."
"Yeah."
"Is that what I think it is?"
David watched the formation stabilize.
He had never seen one this close before.
But there was no mistaking it.
"A Gate."
The word seemed to travel through the crowd.
Someone shouted it.
Then panic broke out.
People began running.
A woman grabbed a child’s hand and pulled him toward the opposite sidewalk.
Several others hurried into nearby buildings.
The people who remained farther away simply raised their phones higher.
Apparently, watching something potentially deadly through a phone screen made it less dangerous.
David almost understood the logic.
Almost.
The Gate continued forming.
Its edges pulsed once.
The ground beneath it trembled.
April instinctively stepped closer to David.
"That’s really close to us."
David looked past the Gate.
Their apartment building was visible behind it.
He stared for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Yeah."
"How close do Gates normally appear?"
"I don’t know."
She looked at him.
"You’ve never seen one?"
"Not this close."
Another pulse ran through the Gate.
The distortion suddenly collapsed inward.
For one brief second, the entire formation disappeared.
The street went silent.
Then—
BOOM.
The Gate exploded outward.
Not with fire.
With pressure.
Wind tore through the street, sending loose papers and dust flying.
People screamed.
April grabbed David’s arm.
David planted his feet.
The pressure passed over them.
Then everything went still.
The Gate was there.
Fully formed.
A dark, circular opening suspended several meters above the pavement.
Beyond it was nothing David could clearly see.
Only darkness.
Deep.
Almost absolute.
He stared into it.
Something moved.
David’s expression changed.
"April."
She looked at him.
"What?"
"Don’t move."
Her fingers tightened around his arm.
"Why?"
He didn’t answer.
Because he wasn’t sure what he’d seen.
A shape.
Something large enough that the darkness around it seemed to move with it.
It disappeared again.
David kept watching.
The crowd had gone strangely quiet.
Even the people recording had stopped talking.
For a moment, the entire street seemed to be waiting.
Then the Gate pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Something scraped against the other side.
April swallowed.
"There’s something in there."
David nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
His gaze remained fixed on the opening.
He didn’t know what was inside.
He didn’t know why a Gate had appeared here.
And he definitely didn’t know why it had chosen a location practically beside their home.
But there was one thing he knew.
This wasn’t an ordinary coincidence.
A familiar notification appeared in the corner of his vision.
David froze.
[ DUNGEON DETECTED. ]
His eyes widened slightly.
Another line appeared beneath it.
[ Dungeon access has been established. ]
David stared at the Gate.
Then at the message.
The timing was almost too perfect.
His expression slowly flattened.
’You have got to be kidding me.’
David stared at the Gate.
Then at the message.
The timing was almost too perfect.
His expression slowly flattened.
’You have got to be kidding me.’
April glanced at him.
"David?"
He didn’t answer immediately.
The Gate pulsed again, throwing a faint glow across the surrounding buildings.
Somewhere behind them, a siren began to wail.
More people were running now.
David finally looked at April.
"What?"
She pointed toward the Gate.
"You’re doing that thing."
"What thing?"
"The face."
"What face?"
"The one you make when something is about to become our problem."
David looked back at the Gate and saw it... A shape moved inside the darkness.