“Then I will draft the contract.”
Once the framework of the negotiation had been established, Yoon Yeong-su rose from his seat.
Since he had already grasped the flow of the conversation, the skeleton of the contract draft took shape quickly.
There was a reason Song Ji-hu rated Yoon Yeong-su’s administrative ability so highly.
Treatment target, treatment schedule, scope of compensation, rotational deployment conditions, activation requirements and limitations of the promises.
“…Impressive.”
USAA’s attendant reviewed the contents, but could not find a loophole and could only nod with admiration.
But Rick Wesley, instead of looking at the contract, persistently followed only Song Ji-hu’s eyes.
And when the contract draft was finally completed.
“Now… will you meet Ollie?”
Song Ji-hu looked at Rick Wesley. Over him, he saw the image of Rick from the past, shedding tears of blood over dying comrades.
“Let’s go.”
“I like how straightforward you are.”
At those words, Rick Wesley smiled brightly and nodded to the other staff.
“Will you move with us?”
Rick Wesley was the same now as he had been before.
“We will move separately. There are things I need to prepare on the way as well.”
“I wanted to talk with you on the way… but I suppose I’ll have to save that for another opportunity.”
At Rick Wesley’s words, Park Jeong-ho broke into a cold sweat and desperately tried to meet Song Ji-hu’s eyes.
Because whatever Rick Wesley wanted to bring up separately would surely be nothing but an invitation to come to America.
“Guild leader, approaching Hunter Song Ji-hu is….”
“Association President, are America and Korea not allies who share blood? Do you not trust America?”
“No, it is not that….”
“You do not need to worry. In any case, it is only a human fondness toward a Hunter who possesses the only ability of its kind in the world.”
At Rick Wesley’s words, Park Jeong-ho could not answer and merely wiped away his cold sweat.
“Then I will give you the destination.”
Yoon Yeong-su received the address from USAA and met Song Ji-hu’s eyes.
***
The outskirts of Seoul.
The lodging USAA had prepared in Korea was not an ordinary hotel.
They had rented out an entire section of a large vacation cottage complex located at the foot of a mountain.
From the front gate, USAA security personnel were deployed under tight guard, and magic power detection devices and suppression barriers had been installed around the cottages, thoroughly isolating the area.
“It seems their preparations for a rampage are solid.”
“If a rampage causes a mess, USAA will take all the blame.”
After getting out of the car, Song Ji-hu breathed in and scanned the scenery of the cottage complex.
Amid the fresh scent of the quiet, secluded forest, there was a faint unpleasantness mixed in, like rotten meat.
“This way.”
Rick Wesley personally took the lead. Past the main building, they reached an underground staircase connected to the rear of an annex.
“Please wait here. The basement is… a little dangerous for ordinary people to enter. Hunter Eun Seo-jin, will you be all right?”
“Yes, I am going with him.”
At the USAA employee’s attempt to stop him, Yoon Yeong-su looked at Song Ji-hu.
“That would be best. Nothing good comes from being too close to mental contamination.”
“I will be waiting.”
When Yoon Yeong-su sat down on a chair beside the stairs leading underground, Rick Wesley opened the door.
“Let’s go.”
The farther they descended the stairs, the more the mere act of breathing made them frown, and the compass inside Song Ji-hu’s clothes vibrated strongly as well.
“His contamination level is severe.”
Eun Seo-jin seemed to feel the alien, unpleasant energy that scraped against the skin as well, and he looked at Song Ji-hu with a deep frown.
“Yeah. Healing him won’t be as easy as I thought….”
At the end of the underground passage, a heavy door sealed in multiple layers with reinforced glass and magic power shielding panels appeared.
‘As expected of USAA. To think they prepared even this much overnight.’
The two Hunters guarding the door rose when Rick Wesley came down and released the security devices.
CREEEAK-
The moment the thick door opened, what poured out from within was flesh-biting madness.
Eun Seo-jin’s brow furrowed, and the Hunters guarding outside the door unconsciously took a step back from it.
“This is bad… It has worsened overnight.”
Rick Wesley sighed as he looked at the mental contamination level displayed on the panel attached to the door.
Song Ji-hu stepped into the isolation room without hesitation.
There was a man sitting there, his limbs bound to a special chair.
Five magic power suppression restraints, fastened to his hands, feet, waist, and neck, were glowing red-hot.
The skin exposed through his loose protective suit was dyed purple, and dark-red veins spread across it like spiderwebs.
USAA’s S-rank main Hunter, and America’s strongest combat-class Hunter.
But the man before Song Ji-hu’s eyes right now looked far removed from the title of strongest.
His blond hair had become disheveled and swayed in every direction, and beyond it, his unfocused eyes rolled wildly. His eyes were bloodshot.
His lips kept muttering words no one could understand.
VMMMMMM-!
The compass vibrated in his pocket as if screaming.
[Target Detected]
[Mental Contamination Level: 96.4% (Late Stage)]
[Mental Dive Danger: S+]
The compass continued spitting out information.
“…Nothing in this world is easy.”
Eun Seo-jin had reacted to Song Ji-hu’s Thought Projection and voluntarily consented to Mental Dive. But with Ollie Barclay, there was no method other than forced entry.
Song Ji-hu turned his head slightly toward Eun Seo-jin.
“When I go in, protect me no matter what happens.”
Eun Seo-jin’s expression hardened. It was not an expression of fear or terror, but one filled with resolve.
“Trust me.”
“I’m entrusting it to you because I do.”
Eun Seo-jin stood before the door and placed a hand on the sword at his waist. A stance from which he could draw at any moment.
Song Ji-hu gave a slight nod and looked at Rick Wesley.
“It probably will not be possible with a single treatment.”
At those words, which meant it was possible anyway, Rick Wesley’s stiff expression slowly loosened, and he let out a long breath.
“All I need is certainty that the numbers will go down.”
If so, they could have him treated twice, or three times.
“Hoo….”
Instead of answering, Song Ji-hu took out the compass and approached Ollie Barclay.
One step, then two.
The closer Song Ji-hu came, the louder Ollie Barclay’s muttering grew. The restraints rattled. His body bent grotesquely and shook the restraints.
“Grrrraaaa…!”
The growl of a beast filled the isolation room. Song Ji-hu’s hand reached toward Ollie Barclay’s shoulder.
And just before his fingertips touched.
“Graaaaaaaaagh-!”
Ollie Barclay went berserk.
The restraints screamed.
Red sparks flew from the magic power suppression devices, the special chair lurched up from the floor, and the entire isolation room vibrated with boiling killing intent.
“Ghk… Everyone, stand by for emergency!”
When Rick Wesley shouted, the entire cottage complex began moving busily.
“Stop!”
Because Rick Wesley did not understand the situation and feared that Song Ji-hu might be badly hurt, he reached out a hand, but Eun Seo-jin drew his sword like lightning and blocked the doorway.
The moment the USAA Hunters drew their weapons, Song Ji-hu’s hand had already touched Ollie Barclay’s forehead.
VMMMMMM-!
The compass vibrated so violently it could not be compared to before and emitted light.
As Ollie Barclay’s scream shook the glass windows of the isolation room, Song Ji-hu murmured coldly.
‘Mental Dive.’
The world flipped upside down.
***
Gravity vanished, colors distorted, and the noise from every direction was crushed.
Song Ji-hu’s consciousness fell endlessly into pitch-black darkness.
THUD-
Together with the heavy impact against the soles of his feet, his senses returned. The first thing that struck him was heat so intense it stopped his breath.
Dry air that seemed to burn his lungs. The smell of ash stabbing his nose.
The acrid smoke of burning concrete, the smell of melting metal, and an unknown fishy stench were all mixed together.
Song Ji-hu slowly opened his eyes.
“…….”
His lips moved, but no voice came out. What spread before his eyes was a ruin.
Collapsed buildings, with only their frames remaining, rose toward the sky in gaunt, twisted shapes.
The roads were cracked and warped, ragged as if an earthquake had passed through. Overturned vehicles had become lumps of scrap metal rolling across the ground.
CREEAK- CREEAK-
A fire truck, barely caught on a utility pole, hung there while letting out a creaking scream.
“Dammit….”
He looked up at the sky.
There, flames and ash were mingled together and falling like snow.
Dark-red particles and orange sparks swirled as they fell endlessly. The sky itself was burning.
Throughout the city, he could see shadows in the shape of people. But they were not living beings.
Every one of them was engulfed in flames, screaming soundlessly into empty air.
“Is this America…?”
Pieces of English signs rolling on the ground, a torn American flag. The wreckage of a fire truck marked FIRE DEPT.
Song Ji-hu clenched his teeth. He knew this scenery. A sight he had repeatedly faced at the end of his six lives.
The only trace left where the Abyssal Monarch swept through. A burning city, and everything scattering as ash.
The memory of the final battlefield vividly overlapped with it.
The day the Nakdong River defense line collapsed. The scene of the Abyssal Monarch swallowing his comrades’ souls in one bite. Im Jae-hyeok coughing blood and screaming at him to run.
‘…Calm down.’
Song Ji-hu forced his breathing to settle.
‘This is Ollie Barclay’s mental imagery world.’
The moment he stepped into his own trauma, he did not know what would happen.
‘It’s different from the Courtroom of Ice….’
Eun Seo-jin’s mental imagery had been a closed space called a courtroom.
It had rules and structure. But here, an entire city was a mental imagery dungeon. The scale itself was different.
The compass was vibrating wildly inside his clothes.
That was when it happened. The surrounding scenery began to twist grotesquely.
Fragments of collapsed buildings floated into the air.
Shattered concrete blocks hovered as if reversing, broken rebars found their original positions and fused, and cracked roads were sealed.
The flames of burning vehicles vanished, and crushed bodies straightened. Broken glass returned to its place.
The ash falling from the sky stopped.
The dark-red sky slowly cleared, and warm orange light began dyeing the city.
It was beautiful.
Children’s laughter could be heard, and cars drove along the roads. The sound of someone calling a name. The noises of everyday life filled his ears.
Newness was blooming in a place that had been a city of death only moments before.
But Song Ji-hu knew.
This was not a beautiful scene, but the beginning of a loop like Eun Seo-jin’s.
Aaaaaaaaah-!
From the center of the city, emotions of terror and fear surged in like a wave. An overwhelming emotional wave so strong he could feel it even before activating Mental Detection.
And at the center of the city, a gigantic pillar of light rose.
RUMBLE-!
Only destruction remained where the light passed.
A shockwave that began with the light spread in concentric circles, and the buildings that had just revived collapsed again.
The shadows of people in the streets were once more engulfed in flames, and the sounds of daily life that had returned changed into screams.
The city turned back into ash. From the sky, flames and ash began falling once again.
“This is cruel….”
Endless repetition of reconstruction and destruction. Hope and despair. Revival and collapse.
Song Ji-hu silently watched the cruel loop eating away at Ollie Barclay’s Ego.