A spacious office.
People stood in formation along both walls.
Every one of them in black suits.
Hands clasped in front, eyes fixed straight ahead.
At the far end of the formation stood a wall made entirely of windows, and before it sat a heavy oak desk.
On top of it were ornate nameplates and trophies.
And seated there was a man.
A well-pressed gray suit.
Hair neatly combed back.
At a glance, he could have passed for a corporate executive—but one look at his face told a different story.
A large scar running across one eye.
And massive, scarred hands.
It was like a scene straight out of a noir film.
Iron Claw.
An A-rank Guild by the Hunter Association’s registration standards, an organization that wielded both capital and force in equal measure.
A guild that had crawled up from back alleys, trailing a string of unsavory rumors—yet no one dared touch it openly.
He was its master.
Jeonghyeon rolled a fountain pen between his fingers, quietly waiting for something.
The office was silent.
Not even the sound of breathing.
Then.
The door opened.
Their vice-master, Kim Min-seong, walked in.
Min-seong strode between the rows of guild members and approached the desk.
“Here it is. Boss.”
He set a black plastic bag down on the desk.
It landed with the weight of something like a small jar.
The fountain pen went still.
“Open it.”
Min-seong opened the bag.
“…”
A faint ripple of unease passed through the formation.
It was a head.
A human head.
The leader of the six hunters he had dispatched—an A-rank hunter.
Someone who had spent over a decade building their bones in this guild.
Their eyes were wide open, as if in bitter resentment.
Jeonghyeon said nothing for a moment.
Instead, he tapped the desk a few times with his fingers.
“The rest.”
“All but one failed to return. And that one is… not in great shape.”
“How so.”
“His mind isn’t right. And he says he wants to quit the guild.”
“…”
Jeonghyeon’s fingers stopped.
“There were six A-ranks.”
“Yes.”
“And only one came back.”
“…Yes.”
Jeonghyeon looked down into the bag once more.
He slowly rose from his seat.
Tension rippled through the guild members.
“…How dare.”
A low voice.
“They make a fool—”
His fist rose slowly.
“—of me!!”
CRASH!!!
The thick desk split clean in two.
“…”
Wood splinters flew, but Min-seong didn’t move.
Jeonghyeon seethed, forcing his rage down.
“Get ready. I’m going myself.”
Min-seong’s expression hardened.
“Boss.”
“What.”
“With respect, it doesn’t look good for an S-rank hunter to move personally. It’ll draw attention from all sides. It might be better to put out a villain bounty instead—”
Jeonghyeon stared at Min-seong in silence.
“Kim Min-seong.”
“…Yes.”
“Ten guild members are dead, and one came back a vegetable.”
“…”
“And you’re saying the guild master—whose own son is dead—should sit on his hands and ask a government agency for help? An S-rank hunter, at that?”
“…”
“What do you think that looks like to everyone watching?”
“…I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Min-seong bowed his head.
Jeonghyeon turned and looked out at the city beyond the windows.
“I don’t know what gutter she crawled out of, but after a stunt like this, there’s no way I let it slide. I have to give her the exact same treatment—otherwise I’ve got no face left.”
“Understood.”
***
Hunter Association Magical Beast Management Bureau.
Seoul Branch.
It was an office where the fluorescent lights flickered.
A drab, oppressive atmosphere hung over the room.
Probably thanks to the mountains of documents piled on every desk.
The desk with the most documents of all.
In the middle of that mountain of paperwork sat a woman.
Hair loosely tied up.
A jacket hanging off the back of her chair.
Overall, she had the kind of face that could be called beautiful—but the exhaustion soaked into her eyes cut that appeal in half.
Kang Seo-yeon.
Team leader here, and one of the few S-rank hunters in the Bureau.
Dark circles drooping below her eyes, she scratched the side of her head with a ballpoint pen.
A woman approached her.
“…Again.”
Seo-yeon muttered it the moment she sensed someone coming.
“Team leader, here are the additional cases for this week.”
“How many this time?”
“Seventeen.”
“…”
Seo-yeon leaned back in her chair and squeezed her eyes shut.
“The budget got cut. Last year.”
“Right.”
“On top of that, the unquantifiable summon case got transferred from the Association to us this time. They said your abilities were a perfect fit.”
“…Aren’t they working me a little too hard?”
“You’re S-rank.”
“I think being S-rank means you deserve better treatment. Honestly, if I quit and joined any guild, I’d be better off than this.”
“Ahaha…”
Seo-yeon let out a sigh and took the new documents.
It was a report that had come up from the Academy.
Unquantifiable summon.
Summoner: Yu Se-ha.
Summon appearance description: white hair, red eyes, horns, female form.
Appearance nearly identical to a human aside from the horns.
Suspected lower-class demon.
Supplied mana output: 0.
Combat evaluation result: one-sided suppression of a Salamander with a mana output of 91.
“Hmm.”
Seo-yeon rested her chin in her hand.
“Output of zero?”
“First time I’ve seen it too.”
“Faulty equipment is… obviously not the answer, right?”
“No. They measured with two separate devices, and both were working fine, apparently.”
“Haah, another headache just walked through the door…!”
Seo-yeon stretched and was about to set the documents down when she paused.
“Wait.”
Yu Se-ha?
She’d seen that name somewhere before.
Seo-yeon swept her gaze across the desk.
Then she pulled a single document from one of the stacked piles.
It was the report on the hellhound escape incident that had come in today.
Witness statements.
Hunters who handled the scene: Han I-sol, Yu Se-ha.
“Three dispatched with a wooden sword, two killed by internal explosions…”
Seo-yeon’s eyes narrowed.
She spread the two documents side by side.
Yu Se-ha.
Yu Se-ha.
The same name.
“Um, Team Leader.”
Her junior carefully cut in.
“The filing dates on these two cases are really close.”
“I know.”
“And also.”
She pointed to the map on the wall.
“This—the scene of the five-person suspicious death case is really close too.”
Seo-yeon looked up at the map at that.
A red dot and a blue dot sat side by side.
“Within a five-hundred-meter radius.”
“…”
Dismembered bodies.
Identity checks confirmed all five were members of the Iron Claw Guild.
Seo-yeon spread all three documents side by side.
Unquantifiable summon.
Hellhound incident.
Iron Claw suspicious deaths.
Everything converged on a single point.
“…”
Seo-yeon took a sip of her long-cold coffee.
Summon.
Academy student.
Hellhound.
Academy-issued request.
The suspicious deaths also near the Academy.
…
Seo-yeon murmured, almost to herself.
“Can you look into getting me a position at the Academy?”
Her junior blinked.
“Pardon?”
“Visiting professor. Look into it.”
“That’s, uh, kind of sudden—why…”
“I need to see it for myself.”
Seo-yeon picked up her jacket.
Then she slipped all three documents into a clear folder and said,
“I don’t think this is all just coincidence.”
***
Night.
Se-ha had laid out a mat on the living room floor and was lying face-down on it.
Both hands planted shoulder-width apart, back held straight.
“One… two… three…”
Push-ups.
Da-hong’s words circled in his head.
‘If you lack strength, build it.
If you lack knowledge, gain it.
Did you think confidence comes from having nothing?’
Confidence doesn’t come from nowhere.
If you want to be confident, give yourself a reason.
Then he’d make one.
Starting today.
“…Four… five…”
Thump.
A presence stirred from the direction of the sofa.
“What are you doing.”
“Exercising.”
“Why.”
“You said I needed to build strength.”
Se-ha answered without stopping his push-ups.
There was something satisfying about it.
This has to look pretty determined, right?
He was thinking that when he glanced up without thinking—and stopped.
Da-hong was leaning against the sofa’s armrest, looking down at him.
She was wearing the clothes they’d bought at the department store. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Short gray shorts and a comfortable short-sleeved shirt.
A completely different, casual feel from the formal outfit.
His eyes caught a glimpse of pale white thighs without meaning to.
He looked away.
‘…Why is she dressed so casually.’
Se-ha squeezed his eyes shut and tried to erase what he’d just seen from his mind.
“Why did you stop.”
“Oh—it’s nothing.”
At Da-hong’s words, Se-ha hurriedly resumed his push-ups.
“Six… seven…”
Then.
Right as he went down, Da-hong’s foot stepped onto his back.
Swish.
“…?”
And pressed down firmly with her sole.
“Aaagh!”
“Go lower.”
“Y-you can’t do that!”
“I’m improving your workout efficiency.”
Da-hong said it without a care in the world.
Se-ha gritted his teeth and held on.
He held, and pushed up.
Then went back down.
“Eight… nine…!”
Press, press.
“Nnnngh…!!”
“Get to ten. Don’t tell me you can’t manage ten.”
“I can… manage it…!”
Se-ha’s arms trembled violently as he hit ten.
“…Ten!”
Thud.
Se-ha collapsed onto the mat.
Da-hong lifted her foot and looked down at him.
“You’re really lacking in strength.”
“…That’s because of you.”
“What did I do.”
“You were pressing down with your foot!”
“I said I was helping.”
“You just wanted to mess with me…”
Da-hong played innocent.
“Looking at your condition, you’ll need to do this again tomorrow.”
“…I will.”
Se-ha pushed himself up off the mat.
His arms were shaking, which made his poor stamina painfully obvious.
Watching him, Da-hong clicked her tongue.
“Ten push-ups for a man? You need at least a hundred.”
“…Unlike other Awakened, my physical abilities aren’t exactly great.”
“Which is exactly why you need to work harder.”
“…That’s true too.”
Hff.
Se-ha let out a sigh.
She acts like she’s just teasing, but every now and then she says something that cuts right to the bone.
Se-ha bit his lip.
“I’m going again.”
“Go ahead.”
Se-ha lay back down on the mat.
Both hands planted shoulder-width apart, neck held straight.
“Hhuuu… one…”
At that moment.
Something soft landed on his back.
“…?”
It wasn’t a foot.
Wider.
Heavier.
“D-Da-hong.”
“Yeah.”
“Where exactly are you sitting right now.”
“Your back.”
“…”
Se-ha slowly looked down.
Along his side, he could see pale white legs draped out.
“…”
“Why aren’t you going.”
“H-how am I supposed to—like this…!”
“It’s heavier than before, so the effect will be better.”
“That’s not the issue here!!”
Se-ha’s face went red all the way to his ears.
No matter how hard he tried not to think about it, his nerves zeroed in on the soft, substantial weight pressing against his back.
…It felt like blood was rushing somewhere it shouldn’t.
If that happened, it would be a catastrophe.
He might actually have to throw himself off the balcony.
Se-ha pleaded.
“Please get up! I’m begging you!”
“I’ll get up when you hit ten.”
“That’s not—!”
“One.”
“…”
“Not going?”
Se-ha gritted his teeth.
His arms trembled.
His face burned red like it might burst.
“Nnnnngh…!”
Shaking, shaking.
His body slowly went down.
The floor trembled like there was an earthquake, yet Da-hong maintained a perfectly serene expression.
No—the corners of her mouth were curled up ever so slightly.
“One.”
Da-hong counted for him.
“Two.”
“Nngh… aaaargh!!”
Se-ha roared.
Da-hong didn’t come down from on top of him until the very end.