It was turning out to be a spectacularly shitty first day of work for San Taeyang.

He had thought nearly missing his train and spilling coffee on his scrubs would be the extent of his misfortune. After all, he had landed a residency in the pediatric department at a well-respected hospital with glowing letters of recommendation from his professors. He was well-prepared to make an excellent start to his career.

Nothing else should have gone wrong. So why was he staring down goblins in the middle of the afternoon?

When the alarms had started to blare, Taeyang had followed procedure to the letter by rushing to his assigned wing. The screams from outside the building, coming from other parts of the medical campus, had filled him with adrenaline, but that was all outside, sturdy walls separating him from danger.

As he had pulled the window curtains shut and ushered children into their designated shelter room, he was aware that somewhere close monsters were roaming. However, it was only a matter of time until the hunters arrived to drive them back.

The sound of a child sobbing at the far end of the hallway was impossible to ignore and, after asking the nurse to stay with the other children, Taeyang carefully slipped out of the shelter room. 

A little girl had fallen in the corridor, a wristband indicating that she was from a different group. He couldn't help but wonder how she had ended up alone... but perhaps the staff members had moved too quickly for her to keep up with, leaving the girl to get lost in the controlled panic of the lockdown.

Regardless, he rushed forward, picking her up with a soft shushing noise, “It’s alright, we’re going to be okay.”

Except, when he turned to head back the way he came, a group of monsters was blocking his path.

All of them were no taller than the average seven-year-old, their entire bodies a moldy green in color. Sharp teeth were bared in snarls as beady yellow eyes fixed on the child in Taeyang’s arms. One of the goblins in the middle of the group pointed their short sword at her, letting out a series of snarls and grunts that seemed to be some sort of language.

The meaning was clear enough based on their focus: they wanted the girl. For what purpose, Taeyang did not want to imagine.

Despite the way his legs were trembling violently beneath him, Taeyoung held onto her tighter, gently guiding her face toward his chest as he backed away slowly. Making a run for it probably wouldn’t help much—from what the news said, goblins were generally quicker than a normal person—but it was his best chance at getting the girl to safety.

A little voice in the back of his mind wondered what his family would say when he didn’t come home that night.

The talking goblin screeched at him, jabbing into the air with its sword as the group advanced for each step backwards Taeyoung took. It felt like the corridor was getting darker, his focus zeroing in on the danger as everything else faded into the background.

One of the monsters lunged forward and Taeyoung yelped, scrambling backward and losing his footing. 

Twisting his body, he just barely managed to fall straight back, making sure the child was cushioned from the impact as they hit the ground. Her sobs turned into wails of fear, Taeyoung’s trembling getting so bad that he didn’t even know if he could stand back up.

Before he could accept the fact that they weren’t going to get away, a person appeared in-between them and the monsters, kicking the attacking goblin square in the chest and sending it flying several meters back. 

It looked as if the newcomer grew out of the ground, black hair and clothes melting out of the darkness in the corridor.

“Stay where you are.” The speaker was a woman, her tone calm despite the terror of the situation.

Without waiting for a reply, the newcomer launched herself at the goblins, moving almost too fast for Taeyoung’s eyes to follow as he carefully pushed himself into a seat, continuing to cradle the little girl against his chest.

The woman could only be a hunter with movements like that: weaving through and dodging past the goblin’s attacks, blades flying from her hands to bury into their throats in-between her slashes and stabs at their vitals. It was a one-sided slaughter: ten monsters dead on the ground in what felt like seconds.

The remaining daggers in her hands seemed to vanish as she turned back to them, offering a hand to Taeyoung. “Are you alright?”

Accepting the help back to his feet, Taeyoung nodded, slightly dazed, “Thanks to you, hunter-nim.”

Her eyes were a peculiar, almost familiar, shade of pink as they swept over his appearance before settling on the girl. She reached out, patting the girl’s head, her already gentle voice somehow managing to soften, “It’s alright now. We’ll find your parents soon. Make sure to listen to what the doctors say, alright?”

Tears gave way to hiccups, the girl eventually nodding as her hands squeezed tighter onto Taeyoung’s scrubs. The hunter glanced back up at him, long black hair framing a delicate face. “Let’s get you back to the shelter room.” 

With a nod of her head in the direction of the room Taeyoung came from, she started down the hall, “Two hunters from the Association are making their way up to this floor, they’ll come collect everyone in your room and escort you to safety.”

His legs were still slightly weak beneath him, but each step was easier than the last. “How long do you think it will take?”

“They’re only one floor down right now, I just rushed ahead when I noticed you were in danger.” She stopped outside the shelter room, swiping an all-access key on the security panel and opening the door to wave them inside. “Don’t come out until the other hunters get here.”

Stepping inside, Taeyoung turned to dip a low bow, his brain finally connecting the dots, “Thank you for saving us, Hunter Ahn Sua-nim.”

There was a short pause before she replied, “…it’s the least I could do. Stay safe.”

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

The door swung shut, the sound of the security lock engaging once more a barely audible click compared to the noises of sirens and the alarm around the complex.

“Hunter Ahn, status report.” It was a little odd to listen to Haneul so clearly in command mode after spending the day teasing Sua mercilessly.

She winced slightly, still getting used to the small in-ear communicator she received from the response team coordinator. Even adjusted for the increased sensitivity of hunters, it was a bit too loud for her. 

Tapping her mic on, Sua started back up the corridor, shoving away her surprise at the doctor having recognized her, “I’ve confirmed the safety of lockdown group 5 in the pediatric ward. They’re waiting for their escort. No casualties. I’m not registering any other areas of distress in this area.”

“Proceed to the command center.”

Between one step and the next, Sua dropped into the shadows, arriving at the command center situated on the roof of the medical building in the next second.

“You’re going to give someone a heart attack like that.” Haneul commented over the startled yelp from a different member of the response team.

Shoving her hands into her pocket, Sua shrugged slightly, “It’s an emergency situation, I figured time was of the essence. What’s the plan?”

“According to Engineer Gyo, this gate has already completely destabilized, so we can’t enter it to kill the boss.” The other hunters and Association reps gathered in the command center exchanged concerned glances. 

“Evacuation of the center is at 85%, but the mob goblins will start coming out in waves in five minutes. If we don’t take them down here, they can reach civilians by running in just about any direction.”

Sua turned her attention to the gate, studying the crack in the air right over the center of the building’s rooftop while another hunter piped up with a question. “How many waves are we expecting?”

“Based on past breaks of this gate level and how many goblins have already been killed, we’re looking at one hundred goblins in the span of a minute. Four members of the team will need to stay on guard near the patients that can't be moved, and the police will maintain a perimeter."

Dragging her gaze back to the group, Sua watched the split of duties curiously. Both of the team's tanks, the sole supporter, and the spear fighter were sent to guard the patients and remaining doctors. That left the attack squad with Haneul, the ice mage, the hammer fighter, and Sua.

The difference between an experienced A-ranker and a novice commander was clear as day (or rather night, in Sua's case) as Haneul rattled off a stream of instructions. 

Taking up position halfway between the roof's edge and the gate, Sua watched with fascination as the ice mage froze the doors and vents shut and iced over the perimeter of the roof. Aiding in the task of preventing escapes, Haneul hovered in the air several meters above the roof.

"It's a good thing we're dealing with small fry," the vanguard hunter laughed from his position right in front of the gate, warhammer propped causally on one shoulder. "I barely have to worry about those sticks they call swords."

"You don't worry about most weapons, damned unique class." The dry response came from her earpiece: one of the squad members she wasn't familiar with. "That whole berserker thing is cheating."

"We're thirty seconds out from the gate's collapse." Haneul said, white light beginning to glow at her fingertips.

Sua slipped two daggers from the ether, the weight in her palms grounding her impatience as the seconds ticked by slowly. She could sense a growing crowd outside the police perimeter, highlighted by a teeming glob of shadows that wanted to slide into the action just as much as the people who were clamoring for a sight of it.

"Is that normal?" She found herself asking. "For people who can't fight to be so excited to get close?"

"Depends on the type of gate." As always, Haneul was quick to answer, "Goblins are known as one of the weakest monsters, and our team's success rate at handling breaks is high. They don't think it's dangerous."

The ice mage laughed under her breath, "That and there's a shiny new S-rank here."

"... oh." Sua wondered how long it would take until she stopped forgetting that she was no longer someone people overlooked.

"Here it comes!"