A man snuck into a large hospital. The reason he kept looking around so cautiously was simple—the gasoline can in his hand. His eyes, which had long since lost any spark of motivation, burned with an odd vitality.
'Thought I was a joke, did you?'
He had already accepted his death. After wandering for a while, he finally found a suitable spot. He stopped in a sparsely trafficked hospital corridor and began carefully splashing the gasoline he had brought.
'You think I'd die alone?'
A week ago. Dead drunk and staggering, he had picked a fight with a random passerby for no reason at all, only to get beaten within an inch of his life. The result—a trip to the hospital. When he came to a short while later, he said to the doctor treating him: "I don't have money for hospital bills, so let's just call it here and let me go." That was when he saw it—the look in the doctor's eyes, gazing down at him with contempt. That doctor. He couldn't even remember the face clearly anymore, but days later, those eyes still haunted him. So he made a vow. I'll get my revenge. This was why he had returned to the very hospital he had been carried into. A life he had never planned on living much longer anyway. After splashing gasoline all over every corner of the hospital, he poured the last of it over his own head.
"We're all going together."
His voice dripped with malice. Of course, a hospital this enormous couldn't be burned down entirely from this alone. Still, he could take a few with him. If that doctor happened to be one of them, great. If not, well—that was just how it went. A life ruined by gambling debts, and he had no intention of quietly disappearing like everyone else. He hurled the empty can to the ground, rummaged around, and pulled a lighter from his pocket. All he had to do was spin the flint wheel with his thumb, and this wretched life would be over.
"..."
With a blank face, he pressed his thumb down. But just then, a cool breeze swept past.
'Wind?'
Something felt off. He looked around. A corridor with no open windows—how could there be a breeze?
'What the...'
He glanced about, head tilted, and suddenly felt something missing. He looked down at his hand. The lighter was gone.
'...!'
Impossible. He checked the floor, wondering if he had dropped it without noticing, but it was no use.
'Where did it go...'
As he looked up, bewildered, something large and black was standing on two legs right before his eyes. It was an insect with arms and legs. Just before the man could let out a scream with eyes ready to burst from their sockets, the insect reached out and clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Mmph!"
Hehe. The insect raised the index finger of its other hand and pressed it to its lips.
"Shhh—"
Can't have a commotion going on. There's a human female the king ordered him to guard sleeping in a nearby room. The man struggled, but he couldn't move a single fingertip.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
In his eyes, the insect—no, Beru's gaping maw was growing wider and wider.
* * *
Why level 101, of all numbers? Riding home in the car, Jin-Woo thought back over the skills that had suddenly upgraded today. Even lost in thought, his hands on the steering wheel moved smoothly.
'Not 100, but 101.'
He had expected that if a level was going to trigger some kind of change, it would be at 100. But the prediction was off. Every job-exclusive skill had upgraded one tier higher at level 101. Various guesses flickered through his mind, but the two most plausible theories were these. First, the significance of the number 1. The number 1 represents a beginning. So perhaps the moment the overall level crossed into 101, the skill-level cap was lifted and upgrades became possible?
'And if it's not that...'
Jin-Woo's expression hardened. He really hoped it wasn't the other one.
'That it's because I changed jobs at level 51...'
It was possible that exactly 50 levels after that, his skill levels had gone up. Which would mean the next stage wouldn't trigger until level 151.
'...I hate that.'
Given his recent leveling speed, he could only hope this one remained a theory. Before long, the guild office building came into view. Jin-Woo drove into the underground parking garage. He was the only one riding in Ahjin Guild's beloved Bongo. Yoo Jin-Ho had stayed behind at the site, saying he'd handle the wrap-up. The raid was over, but the loot obtained from the Dungeon still needed to be handed over to a broker. Since Yoo Jin-Ho had been the one to bring all the brokers in, it seemed he wanted to see things through to the end.
-Leave it to me, hyung-nim!
Yoo Jin-Ho's confident voice still rang vividly in his ears.
'Will he manage okay?'
Having an eager vice president was a good thing, but they really ought to hire some professional staff. Jin-Woo resolved to recruit additional employees soon and drove out of the garage. But then—
'Hm?'
In the distance, a familiar face was heading toward the guild building. That familiar face spotted him at the same moment.
"Ah..."
She stopped dead in her tracks. Cha Hae-In looked startled, took a few steps backward, then turned and broke into a run.
'You kidding me?'
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded. Putting aside the fact that she bolted the instant she saw someone—
'Do you really think you can outrun me?'
What does this woman think I am? A spark of stubbornness flared up, and Jin-Woo activated his Swift Foot skill, bursting forward at full speed. In the slowed flow of time, only the background blurred past him. The gap between him and Cha Hae-In closed in a flash.
'If I grab her from behind or reach out, I might hurt her.'
Jin-Woo leaped lightly, rotated in midair, and landed right in Cha Hae-In's path.
'...!'
Cha Hae-In's eyes went wide. Cut off from her escape route, she had both her shoulders seized by Jin-Woo.
"Kyahk!"
And just like that, the chase between two S-rank Hunters ended anticlimactically. Caught at last, Cha Hae-In couldn't meet his gaze. Jin-Woo looked at her with a puzzled expression and asked calmly.
"Why are you running away when you see me?" "..."
Fine. Let's say running was an option.
"Then why were you coming this way toward our office in the first place?"
If she wanted to avoid him that badly, she could have just stayed away entirely. When he asked, Cha Hae-In spoke in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.
"My car... is in the parking garage..."
Ah. That explained the car he hadn't seen in days. That day, when she had come to join the guild, she had gone from the guild office straight to the Association's gymnasium without ever going back to retrieve her car. She must have left it in the parking garage.
'She heard our guild was going on a raid today and tried to sneak over.'
But there was no way she had predicted an A-rank Gate would be cleared in just over two hours. The result—these two ran into each other, she tried to flee, and got caught.
'...'
When Jin-Woo looked at her in silence, Cha Hae-In lowered her head. He let out a soft sigh and released her shoulders.
"You don't need to run away."
Jin-Woo smiled as he spoke.
"People change their minds, you know."
Interest could fade; new interest could bloom. That was simply how people worked. There was no reason to go out of their way to awkwardly avoid each other.
"..."
But Cha Hae-In said nothing and kept her head down.
'Not in the mood to talk?'
Maybe he had upset her by grabbing her so abruptly.
"Well then."
Jin-Woo gave her a small nod and turned to leave. No—he was about to turn to leave. But just before he could, Cha Hae-In quickly grabbed the end of his sleeve.
"Um..." "...?"
A few question marks practically materialized on Jin-Woo's face. After hesitating, she finally managed to speak.
"Could you spare me some time?"
She had been running away like her life depended on it, and now she wanted his time? Sensing his bewilderment, Cha Hae-In quickly continued.
"Actually, Hunter Min Byung-Gu had a message he absolutely wanted me to pass along to you."
The unexpected name changed Jin-Woo's expression.
"To me?"
She nodded up and down.
"He said he had something to tell you about the ability you possess..."
That can't be right. Jin-Woo had no connection with Hunter Min Byung-Gu. Their first and last encounter had been when Jin-Woo briefly resurrected him as a shadow soldier. He had carried out his task admirably, and thanks to him, Cha Hae-In had survived. The fact that the two of them could even stand here talking was entirely because of that. But when would he have had the chance to leave a message? Before that, Jin-Woo had never used his power in front of him, and when he did, Min Byung-Gu was already dead. It was impossible. When Jin-Woo gave her a look of disbelief, Cha Hae-In slowly continued.
"Your power..."
She had barely gotten that far before Jin-Woo cut in.
"Hold on."
Whether this story was real or fake, this probably wasn't the kind of thing to hear while standing on a roadside. Jin-Woo glanced around.
"Let's go somewhere quiet and talk."
* * *
Chairman Yoo Myung-Han received the documents Secretary Kim handed him.
"What's this?" "Material gathered from Seoul Ilshin Hospital."
Ilshin Hospital—the very place where Hunter Sung's mother had been admitted. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han's gaze turned sharp. He read through the documents in silence.
'The nurse found him awake when she visited the room in the morning? And Hunter Sung Jin-Woo was beside him?'
There was something else odd as well. The hospital had recommended further tests, considering the patient's condition, but Hunter Sung had apparently insisted on being discharged. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han shook his head involuntarily.
'That's not like him...'
He was a man so devoted to his mother that he had risked his life on raids just to pay her medical bills. Yet he demanded her discharge without even knowing her exact condition?
'No—it must be the opposite.'
That meant Hunter Sung Jin-Woo had been certain of his mother's condition at that point. But how? As Secretary Kim read through the hospital's records, the furrows between his brows deepened. Everything about Hunter Sung Jin-Woo was a mystery.
'The Double Dungeon incident, his sudden re-awakening, his mother's recovery. And that unknown ability to produce countless summons...'
When coincidences keep piling up, they become inevitabilities. Something was going on. Definitely. His own sharp instincts told him as much. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han made up his mind.
"I need to see him." "I'll send someone today." "That won't be necessary."
Secretary Kim asked, startled.
"You mean you'll go yourself?" "Who do you think it is I'm going to meet?"
"..."
That single remark sealed Secretary Kim's lips. Just then, Bzzz—Secretary Kim's phone vibrated. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han turned his eyes back to the documents.
"It's fine."
Secretary Kim, who had briefly bowed his head, quickly checked his phone. It was a breaking-news text.
"Sir."
Chairman Yoo Myung-Han looked up.
'Breaking news from Japan—would you like to see it?'
Secretary Kim was not a man to get worked up over trivial matters. When he asked whether you wanted to see something, it meant you had to see it. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han nodded, and Secretary Kim switched on the large wall-mounted TV as though he had been waiting for the cue.
-Yes. This is Park Sung-Woo reporting. What you're seeing now...
The screen began broadcasting a live feed of Japan's most bustling cityscape.
* * *
Japan. Tokyo. Shinjuku. In the beating heart of Japan—arguably the most vibrant stretch of Tokyo—a dark shadow had fallen. It was no mere figure of speech. Cars, bicycles, people on the street—everyone, without exception, had stopped moving in the shadow's shade. Clunk. One by one, people climbed out of their halted vehicles. Though the road had ground to a complete standstill, not a single person honked or shouted. As if possessed, every gaze pointed in the same direction.
"My God..." "Lord have mercy..."
A Gate so colossal it blotted out the sky. People stared in disbelief at a Gate of a size that defied all reason, rivaling the height of the tallest buildings.
"..." "..."
The teeming street, once brimming with life, was slowly being swallowed by a suffocating, nausea-inducing silence.
* * *
The atmosphere inside the Prime Minister's residence was no less dire. BANG! The Prime Minister, unable to contain his fury, hurled the remote and smashed the TV that had been broadcasting the breaking news.
"Mr. Prime Minister!"
His aides sprang to their feet, but under the Prime Minister's withering glare, they silently sat back down.
"Why hasn't the Hunter's Association said a word?"
Matsumoto Shigeo, president of Japan's Hunter's Association—who had grown noticeably gaunt since his trip to Korea—hung his head weakly. The Prime Minister's face hardened.
"Damn it all..."
A Gate like that had appeared in the heart of Tokyo, and the Association responsible was sitting in silence!
"An S-rank Gate in the middle of downtown Tokyo, and the Association has no plan whatsoever—does that make any sense, does it?!"
The Prime Minister's scream. Yet everyone present kept their mouths firmly shut, as if they had all silently agreed to do so. He scowled and cursed as though bearing the weight of all the world's woes, then finally slumped into his chair.
"Tell me the truth, Association President."
His finger pointed at the cracked TV screen.
"What happens if that thing bursts open?" "...It's over."
Just as he feared. The Prime Minister clutched his head and muttered.
"So that's it. Tokyo falls because of a single Gate." "That's not what I said, Mr. Prime Minister." "...?"
When the Prime Minister looked up, Association President Matsumoto spoke in a voice stripped of all emotion.
"I said all of Japan is finished."