I paused mid-step, my body instinctively bracing as I turned my head slowly, my gaze locking onto the person who had grabbed me.

  A soldier.

  His uniform was standard issue, dark combat fatigues, a reinforced vest, and a communication earpiece tucked into his ear.

  His posture was firm, disciplined, yet his eyes carried a flicker of uncertainty as he studied me.

  The moment he saw my expression, calm but wary, he quickly removed his hand from my shoulder, taking a step back.

  "Apologies," he said, his voice measured. "Didn’t mean to startle you."

  I didn't say anything at first, just held his gaze.

  His grip hadn’t been aggressive, but there was something in the way he stopped me that made me curious.

  Was he trying to warn me?

  Stop me?

  Or did he simply not believe I was capable of handling what was out there?

  The soldier straightened his posture, his face hardening with authority.

  "Listen, kid," he started, his voice firm but not unkind. "Only hunters or expirenced awakened should be handling this situation. It’s dangerous, and we don’t know what might come out of that portal. If you’re just a civilian, I advise you to return to your seat and wait until the situation is under control."

  I didn’t react.

  No flicker of emotion.

  No change in my expression.

  I just stared at him, my face blank, unreadable.

  The soldier’s brows twitched in frustration.

  His fingers flexed slightly, like he was restraining himself from grabbing my shoulder again.

  "Did you hear what I just said?" he asked, voice sharper now. "This isn’t something to play hero with. You’ll only get in the way."

  I continued to look at him, silent, unmoving.

  The more he spoke, the more obvious it became, he had already decided that I wasn’t a hunter.

  That I was just some reckless fool about to walk into a death trap.

  His frustration was almost... amusing.

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  The soldier let out a slow breath, his frustration evident as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  He must have realized that I wasn’t going to respond to his warning, so he changed tactics.

  "You don’t get it, do you?" he said, his voice lower now, more serious. "Portals don’t just appear randomly on train tracks. This isn’t normal. In fact, something like this has never happened before."

  That caught my attention.

  Never?

  Not even once?

  The soldier must have noticed the slight shift in my expression because he pressed on.

  "I don’t mean rare. I mean impossible. portals appear in places with high mana concentration, known danger zones, or spots that have been marked as unstable. But this?" He gestured vaguely towards the front of the train, where the portal was said to be located. "There was nothing there. No signs. No warnings. It just... appeared."

  I remained silent, digesting his words.

  "If this was a normal portal, we’d have some level of expectation. We’d know what monsters to anticipate based on the mana fluctuations. But this thing?" His jaw tightened. "We don’t even know if it follows the usual ranking system. For all we know, it could be something entirely new."

  Now that was a troubling thought.

  A dungeon outside the standard classification.

  One that couldn’t be predicted or measured.

  Something like that... could be disastrous.

  The soldier’s words lingered in the air, heavy with the weight of the unknown.

  A portal with no classification?

  One that had no warning signs before appearing?

  If that was true, then whatever was on the other side wasn’t something to take lightly.

  I exhaled, then finally spoke.

  "Then maybe it’s a job that needs to be handled."

  The soldier’s eyes snapped to mine, narrowing in confusion.

  "Of course yes but... what?"

  I didn’t repeat myself.

  Instead, I held his gaze, letting my words settle.

  His stance shifted slightly, no longer just that of someone giving a warning but of someone reevaluating the person in front of him.

  He wasn’t stupid.

  He had probably been trained to read people, to recognize when someone wasn’t just speaking recklessly.

  "You’re saying that like you’re supposed to be the one handling it," he said carefully, watching my expression.

  I didn’t answer directly, but I didn’t deny it either.

  His frown deepened.

  Then, as if piecing things together, his eyes flicked over me again, scanning for something, gear, a weapon, anything that marked me as a hunter.

  "Wait a second," he muttered, realization dawning. "Are you an awakened or hunter?"

  The question was expected, but it still made me pause.

  So, what exactly was I supposed to do or say in this kind of situation?

  The soldier's question hung in the air, waiting for a response.

  I could have explained it.

  Could have given him the answer he was looking for in words.

  But instead, I reached into my jacket pocket.

  Evidence is better than words.

  The moment my fingers wrapped around the handle, the soldier tensed.

  His posture shifted, weight shifting slightly backward as his instincts kicked in.

  His hand twitched toward his waist, likely where his weapon was holstered.

  Slowly, I pulled the dagger free.

  It wasn’t anything extravagant.

  Just a simple blade, small enough to be concealed but sharp enough to do its job.

  But in that moment, it was enough to make the soldier take a step back, his eyes flicking between the weapon and my face.

  "Chill," I said evenly, holding it in a loose grip. "It’s just a dagger."

  The soldier didn’t look convinced.

  His fingers were still twitching slightly, but he didn’t draw his own weapon.

  Instead, his narrowed gaze locked onto mine, as if reevaluating everything he had assumed about me up until this moment.

  "You didn’t answer my question," he said. His voice was careful now, not quite as dismissive as before. "Are you an awakened or hunter?"

  I turned the dagger slightly, letting the train light catch along its rusted surface.

  Then, finally, I met his gaze again and gave him a simple answer.

  "I am a hunter."