The top-floor office of the Sun Guild headquarters. The night skyline of Seoul beyond the glass was as dazzling as ever, but the inside of Oh Changseok's head was charring black.
His ashtray was heaped with cigarette butts, and thick smoke hung in the air of the room.
"Not a single trace? How is that possible?"
Oh Changseok ground the words out. The secretary before him wiped cold sweat and bowed her head.
"Yes, Director. The scouts combed the scene three times, but aside from equipment fragments from Strike Team 3, not even a trace of magical energy was detected. The report says it was as if...... the space itself had been erased and redrawn."
Oh Changseok rubbed his face. Strike Team 3 had been among the Sun Guild's prized elites. Led by the A-rank Kim Seungtae, they had handled countless unofficial operations—yet they had evaporated while trying to kidnap a single White Tiger Guild recruit.
This was not a simple failure. It felt as though he had collided with a vast, invisible wall.
'There's no way the White Tiger Guild prepared this thoroughly. If they had that power, they'd have struck us long ago.'
That left only one conclusion. Behind the prospect named Kang Jina, a figure they knew nothing about was attached. Whether it was a government covert agent or a mercenary recruited from overseas made no difference. What mattered was the terror that this presence might be aiming for the Sun Guild's throat.
"Director, what should we do? We have not yet reported to the guild master......"
"Are you insane? Report this? That's asking me to slit my own throat!"
Oh Changseok shouted. He steadied his breathing, then pulled an old cell phone from the deepest drawer of his desk. An unregistered burner phone.
"Contact the backstreet 'cleaners.' Money is no object—get the best ones. Do not touch Kang Jina directly. First, identify whoever is circling around her. And......"
A chilling killing intent flickered in Oh Changseok's eyes.
"Cut every thread connected to me. Records related to the factory incident, money trails, liaison contacts—all of it. Anyone who even smells suspicious, handle them."
"Understood. I will act immediately."
After the secretary withdrew, Oh Changseok sank deep into his chair. His heart was beating unpleasantly. The instincts he had honed over more than a decade of handling the hunter industry's dirty work were sending a warning.
A very ominous warning—that he had touched a forbidden line he should never have crossed.
***
The White Tiger Guild's dedicated training grounds.
CRASH—!
A massive explosion rang out as the training target shattered in two and flew apart. The specially fabricated reinforced alloy crumpled like paper and rolled across the floor. The instructors and guild officials watching from the sidelines gaped.
"Is this output really...... from a C-rank?"
"Did you see that number just now? She hit over 40,000 for an instant. That's a burst output you'd be hard-pressed to find even at the upper A-rank tier."
The star of the training was Jina. She lowered her sword, breathing hard. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, but her eyes shone with more vitality than ever.
"Whew......"
Jina looked down at her hands. Lately, the energy inside her body had been overflowing like a waterfall. The magical energy she once had to force out now surged smoothly through her veins at the merest thought.
'It's strange. Every time I train, it feels like someone beside me is guiding my path.'
Jina stared at her palms. Whenever her concentration wavered, her center of gravity would mysteriously correct itself and the flow of her magical energy would straighten out. Was it because of the lunches her brother packed, or was she truly a genius?
"Hunter Kang Jina! That's enough for today. At this rate, next month's grade assessment isn't just a pass—you're looking at a guaranteed top score!"
The guild's head training instructor approached with praise. Known for his strictness, even he seemed to feel awe before Jina's talent.
"Thank you, Instructor! I'll work even harder tomorrow!"
Jina answered brightly. Just then, Somyeong waved from the bench at the far end of the training hall. Beside him sat a large cooler and the equipment bags.
"Jina, drink some water."
Jina took the water bottle Somyeong offered and drained it in one go.
"Oppa, did you see that? That was amazing just now, right?!"
"Yeah, incredible. I nearly fell over backward in shock."
Somyeong widened his eyes theatrically and gave a thumbs-up. Jina hummed a little tune, satisfied with the reaction.
'My hard work really is paying off. At this rate, protecting Oppa will be a breeze.'
Jina clenched her fist. The stronger she got, the safer her brother would be. She could earn enough money that he would never have to take dangerous porter jobs again, and she vowed every night to become a shield that could protect him from any threat.
But she did not know. The residual magical energy that had leaked uncontrolled during her training just now had been quietly tidied by the true energy Somyeong had slipped through the floor beneath her. And the imperceptible corrections to the arcs of her sword strikes that maximized their power—those, too, had been the invisible handiwork of the brother sitting right beside her.
"Hunter Kang Jina, could you come this way for a moment? Guild headquarters would like to discuss your support arrangements."
At a guild official's summons, Jina turned to Somyeong.
"Oppa, I'll be right back! Wait for me here!"
"Sure, take your time."
Somyeong watched Jina's retreating figure with a tender smile. But the instant she turned the corridor corner and vanished completely from sight, his eyes sank to a chill.
He leaned back on the bench and slightly tilted his head, gazing up at the ventilation duct in the corner of the training hall's ceiling.
'The rats have multiplied.'
His senses had been picking up unpleasant presences for some time now. In the forest outside the training hall, on rooftops, and in the blind spots inside the guild building. Energies distinctly different from ordinary hunters'—dank, suppressed killing intent.
Professional contract killers. No doubt the hounds sent by that director from the Sun Guild.
'He can't come himself, so he sends hunting dogs.'
Somyeong fished a piece of candy from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. The sweet flavor lingered on his tongue, but inside his head, a design reeking of blood was taking shape.
He adjusted his porter gloves and slowly rose from the bench. Inside the worn bag slung over his shoulder sat the golden core he had refined.
'Any obstacle on Jina's path needs to be uprooted.'
Somyeong walked out of the training hall. His gait looked as ordinary and plodding as any porter's. But his steps led to the secluded back alley behind the guild's rear gate.
The presences began to move in unison. Tracking Somyeong's movements, shadows scaled walls and leaped rooftops, closing the distance.
Somyeong stopped at the alley's dead end. He murmured softly toward the empty air.
"Hide and seek ends here. You went to the trouble of following me all this way—it would be rude not to greet you."
Before his words could settle, three or four masked figures dropped from the air above. In their hands, daggers laced with magical energy and wires glinted.
"Sharp for a porter."
The man at the front sneered in a rough voice. Somyeong crunched the candy between his teeth and swallowed.
"I won't bother asking who your master is. I was planning to pay a personal visit tonight anyway."
"What kind of nonsense—?!"
The man lunged, dagger swinging. Somyeong did not dodge. No—he had no need to.
CRUNCH—!
Without so much as a sound splitting the air, Somyeong's hand touched the man's chest. It was closer to a light push than a strike, yet the man's body flew backward like a cannonball and cratered into the wall.
Thick concrete cracked in a spider's web pattern, and a scream tore out. While the remaining assailants froze in shock, a crimson light flickered through Somyeong's eyes.
"Tell Oh Changseok this. The hunting grounds are mine to choose."
Somyeong nudged a dagger on the ground with the tip of his foot. The blade sliced through the air as though alive, embedding itself precisely at the remaining assailants' feet.
"Tonight, I will be waiting at the Sun Guild headquarters."
Crushed by the overwhelming presence, the assailants could barely breathe. Somyeong left them behind and strolled back inside the training hall.
Where his sister's bright laughter awaited, his expression had already returned to the face of an ordinary brother you could find anywhere.
Night was deepening, and the countdown to a great guild's downfall had already begun.
"Oppa! You waited? I'm all done. Let's go get some meat!"
Jina came running from a distance. Somyeong waved and answered brightly.
"Sure. Tonight I'll buy you something good."
At his answer, Jina beamed and hooked her arm through his. The siblings' shadows stretched long beneath the streetlights. Behind that peaceful scene, a chilling harbinger of a great guild's collapse was quietly settling in.
The hunt was only just beginning.
"Sure, let's go get some meat tomorrow."