The moment the familiar voice reached him, Sung Jin-Woo opened his eyes. A blindingly white ceiling and the sharp smell of disinfectant. He didn't even need to feel the hard bed against his back to know where he was. A hospital. But he distinctly remembered the cold ice dagger buried in his chest, and his heart shattering from the inside.
'But… I'm alive?'
Sung Jin-Woo sat up. Two anxious-faced people who had apparently been waiting for him to wake up for quite some time came into view. One of them was someone Sung Jin-Woo knew well.
"Director Woo Jin-Cheol. The Monarchs… no, what happened to those monsters? How am I alive?"
Woo Jin-Cheol exchanged a flustered look with a monitoring team staff member, then took off his sunglasses and spoke.
"I have three things to tell you."
He then pulled a chair over to the bedside and sat down. His subordinate stood close behind him.
"First, I'm not the association president — I'm the head of the Monitoring Division. Second, those moving statues — that's something I'd like to ask Hunter Sung Jin-Woo about. And third."
His wide-open eyes shot an intense gaze.
"How do you know who I am? Do we know each other?" "Wait, wait a minute. Moving statues?" "When we received survivor reports and headed to the site with the Baekho Guild, it was already—" "No, not that."
Sung Jin-Woo cut off Woo Jin-Cheol's words and shook his head in disbelief. Emotions that couldn't possibly be put into words surged up inside him. No way. Sung Jin-Woo looked up at the ceiling. From the moment he opened his eyes, the scenery had felt familiar, but he never imagined it would actually be that place.
'Of course it would look familiar…'
He had spent two weeks here. The VIP hospital room provided by the Hunter's Association. After barely surviving the double dungeon and opening his eyes for the first time, he had returned to that very hospital, that very room. Judging by what Woo Jin-Cheol had said, it wasn't simply that the location was the same as before.
'How… is this possible?'
As Sung Jin-Woo stood there unable to form words, Woo Jin-Cheol asked with concern.
"…Are you all right?"
Sung Jin-Woo, head bowed and rubbing his throbbing temples, waved his hand to signal not to worry.
"I'd like to be left alone to sort my thoughts in peace. Hurry up and do the mana measurement so we can be done."
How could he know that they were suspicious of his awakening potential after the awakening? Woo Jin-Cheol stared blankly at Sung Jin-Woo with that expression, then shook his head quickly as if to shake off stray thoughts and spoke.
"For now, we'd like to hear about what happened inside. If you saw anything before losing consciousness…" "As I mentioned before, I don't remember."
When had he ever had a conversation with Hunter Sung Jin-Woo before? No. He never had. True to his Monitoring Division nature, Woo Jin-Cheol never forgot any Hunter he had met even once, and yet the name "Sung Jin-Woo" did not exist in his memory.
'Seems like he's suffering memory confusion from a major shock.'
Woo Jin-Cheol came to that conclusion after observing Sung Jin-Woo's state. In that case, he thought he should just finish his business and leave. Woo Jin-Cheol spoke.
"Bring it."
At Woo Jin-Cheol's order, the subordinate brought a portable mana measurement device.
'…'
Seeing that it was exactly the same as what he remembered, a wry laugh escaped Sung Jin-Woo.
"You just need to place your hand on this mana crystal for a moment." "Got it."
Thanks to Sung Jin-Woo's cooperation, the measurement process ended quickly. But when Woo Jin-Cheol tried to check the results, his expression soured. He fiddled with the device several times, then turned to the staff member.
"Why isn't it working? Didn't I tell you to check it before we left?" "Excuse me?"
The flustered staff member hurriedly examined every part of the measurement device, but nothing changed. The device that had been working perfectly moments ago suddenly shut down the instant the subject's hand touched it. After that, it refused to turn on again. Click. Woo Jin-Cheol clicked his tongue internally after watching the subordinate's mistake, then apologized to Sung Jin-Woo and asked for his understanding.
"There seems to have been an error on our end. I'll bring the measurement device again shortly — could you wait just a moment? This is a procedure essential for the investigation of this incident, so I'd appreciate your cooperation…"
Seeing Sung Jin-Woo nodding without even waiting for the full explanation, Woo Jin-Cheol left the room with his subordinate. But after only a few steps, Woo Jin-Cheol stopped and came back.
'Hm?'
At the only thing that differed from his previous memories, Sung Jin-Woo looked up. Woo Jin-Cheol stood right in front of him and asked.
"Do you perhaps… know the penalty for unregistered Hunters?" "…" "I've met countless top-tier Hunters, but I've never seen eyes like yours in any of them. If you're hiding something, now would be—" "Nothing."
Sung Jin-Woo answered flatly, and when the other man just kept staring, Woo Jin-Cheol soon bowed his head deeply.
"My apologies."
Watching Woo Jin-Cheol's retreating back as he left the room, Sung Jin-Woo thought that he really did seem better suited to the Monitoring Division than to being an association president. And for good reason.
"Status Window."
Without even flinching at the message floating in midair, Sung Jin-Woo called up his Status Window, which displayed his current level.
[Name: Sung Jin-Woo] [Level: 146] [Class: Shadow Monarch] [Title: Demon Hunter (+2)] [HP: 93,300] [MP: 155,720] [Fatigue: 0]
[Stats] Strength: 324 Vitality: 320 Agility: 340 Intelligence: 340 Perception: 321 (Allocatable Stat Points: 0) Physical Damage Reduction: 65% Magical Damage Reduction: 44%
[Skills] Passive Skills: Tenacity Lv.1, Dagger Mastery Lv.max
Active Skills: Quicksilver Lv.max, Killing Intent Lv.2, Frenzy Lv.max, Dagger Rush Lv.max, Stealth Lv.max, Ruler's Authority Lv.max
[Class-Exclusive Skills] Active Skills: Shadow Extraction Lv.2 Shadow Storage Lv.2 Monarch's Domain Lv.2 Shadow Exchange Lv.2
'Is the reason my level is so much higher than the last time I checked due to the experience gained from defeating the Plague Monarch?'
That wasn't all. Inside his inventory, everything he had stored away remained perfectly intact. Seeing the two copies of "Kamish's Wrath" kept in the very first slot, Sung Jin-Woo felt hollow. He had come back to square one with everything he had accomplished before.
'The Shadow Soldiers are gone, but…'
He could just gather troops again. With his abilities and memories intact, Sung Jin-Woo was confident he could handle everything far better than before. But. How had this happened? Why had something like this occurred? With all the thoughts spinning through his head, even though he had been given this chance again, he couldn't smile. He carefully retraced his memory to see if he had forgotten anything, then looked up.
'Soon…'
Just as expected. Right on cue, his younger sister walked in.
"Oppa!"
Since losing her friends, his sister's face had always had a certain shadow over it, even when she smiled, but today there was no trace of worry. Seeing his sister's expression, Sung Jin-Woo's heart clenched and he pulled her into a hug.
"O-Oppa?"
Jin-Ah, who had been planning to pressure her brother into quitting as a Hunter as soon as he woke up, was taken aback by being beaten to the punch.
"What is it? Why are you acting like this? Did you hit your head or something?"
When the brother she finally managed to push away gave her a bright smile, the anger she might have felt vanished entirely, and she tilted her head with a puzzled look. She couldn't point to anything specific, but something about her brother was completely different from usual. Now that she thought about it, he seemed to have grown considerably taller in the days she hadn't seen him. While Jin-Ah was growing more confused, Sung Jin-Woo's thoughts were gradually falling into place. The things he needed to do lined up in order in his mind. He ushered his sister out, changed clothes, and stepped out of the room. They were the same clothes he had worn before, so they were tight, and the state of them was terrible from the ordeal of dying and coming back — but what could he do? He couldn't wander around downtown in a hospital gown. Seeing him pass by and move away quickly, Jin-Ah called out.
"Oppa, where are you going?" "To the Hunter's Association." "Why there?" "To tell them I'm quitting." "Really?"
Sung Jin-Woo turned to look at his sister, whose eyes had gone wide.
"I know you snuck out, so hurry back to school." "Wha—?"
As Jin-Ah's expression grew ever more bewildered, her brother's back disappeared from view.
* * *
The association staff member checking the reassessment results rubbed his eyes several times. It had been two years since Cha Hae-In, hadn't it? Looking up at the Hunter who had appeared as the tenth "measurement impossible" grade, the staff member's face went pale. The man he had dismissed because of his ragged appearance was an S-rank Hunter.
"R-Right now, with our equipment, we can't measure Hunter Sung Jin-Woo's mana—" "I'm aware. Before the re-measurement, though, I'd like to meet with the association president. Is that all right?" "T-The association president?" "Yes."
Sung Jin-Woo, who knew the reassessment procedures inside and out, requested a meeting with the president, and the staff member absent-mindedly picked up the phone.
"Yes, yes. Yes. That's right. A measurement-impossible grade. Understood. Yes. I'll pass that along."
Truly. The association president of the Hunter's Association wanted to meet this man.
"Then I'll guide you to the president's office—" "I know where the president's office is. I'll find my way."
After a brief nod, Sung Jin-Woo headed for the elevator, and the staff member's face was filled with bewilderment.
'How would an outsider know where the president's office is?'
Yet the elevator carrying that man stopped precisely on the floor where the president's office was located.
"Ha…"
The staff member, who had been watching the floor indicator with worried eyes, let out a quiet exclamation. Ding. As Sung Jin-Woo stepped out of the stopped elevator, he spotted a familiar face heading in to take the same elevator. Sung Jin-Woo turned around.
"You."
The man, seeing Sung Jin-Woo turn toward him, pressed the door-open button.
"Me?" "You possess the Stealth skill but never registered it. Even as a senior Hunter, you weren't on the priority watch list."
Kang Tae-Sik, a Hunter affiliated with the Monitoring Division, stiffened.
"How did you…?" "Someone will come to you asking for revenge on their daughter. I don't care what you do with criminals. But if that leads to innocent Hunters getting hurt, you die by my hand."
When Sung Jin-Woo revealed his killing intent, Kang Tae-Sik flinched and reached for his waist — but it wasn't there. Fumbling behind his back, Kang Tae-Sik finally realized his knife had disappeared.
"Looking for this?"
Sung Jin-Woo returned the knife he had been tossing back and forth with. Kang Tae-Sik, sensing that Sung Jin-Woo was on a completely different level from the Hunters he had dealt with, took the knife in silence.
"This is your only warning."
Since his opponent could cut him up as much as he pleased if he so chose, Kang Tae-Sik slowly put the knife back and nodded. Then, as Sung Jin-Woo turned to leave, he called after his back.
"Hey… who the hell are you? Did we meet before?"
Without a word of reply, Sung Jin-Woo walked down the corridor and quietly entered the president's office. After he vanished, Kang Tae-Sik looked down at his own sweaty palm and removed his finger from the "door open" button.
"…Feels like I've been possessed by a ghost or something."
* * *
'Association President…'
Sung Jin-Woo stopped. The real, living Association President Go Gun-Hee was seated at the president's desk, reviewing documents. Standing at the threshold, Sung Jin-Woo gazed at the president with eyes full of longing. Go Gun-Hee smiled broadly and spoke.
"For someone who flung the door open with such confidence, you lack nerve. Come on in, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo."
Go Gun-Hee rose from his chair, walked forward, and gestured for Sung Jin-Woo to sit on the sofa. He then settled into the chair across from it.
"Not going to sit down?"
For a moment, the face of Go Gun-Hee from when they first met seemed to overlap with the one before him, and Sung Jin-Woo's expression stiffened briefly. After standing there expressionless for a moment, Sung Jin-Woo took a seat.
"Not at all."
Seeing this, Go Gun-Hee began to speak.
"Coming straight to me after the reassessment results suggests you know the procedures fairly well." "I do." "Then let me cut to the chase." "Before that — I have a proposal for you, Mr. President." "A proposal?"
Association President Go Gun-Hee was taken aback by a young man who acted as though he had always known he would become an S-rank Hunter. But boldness was a fine weapon for the young. For some reason, Go Gun-Hee didn't find the young man before him at all disagreeable. Perhaps that was why — without hiding the smile that came naturally to his face, he listened to what the young man had to say.
"What is it you want, Hunter?" "Change the rules so that summoned creatures called forth by a Hunter can be included as combat personnel." "Change the rules… that's quite the request. I'd like it to come with terms attractive enough that I have no choice but to agree."
After a brief pause, Sung Jin-Woo spoke.
"I'll clear out every last ant on Jeju Island."
Right now, supplementing his troops was the priority. And on Jeju Island, a wealth of quality magical beasts awaited — ones that could immediately be turned into Shadow Soldiers. If this proposal was accepted, he could not only finish restocking his Shadow Soldiers but also stop worrying about personnel limits going forward. Before awakening his mother with the "Fruit of Life," he wanted to get this done. But in the association president's ears, Sung Jin-Woo's proposal sounded like a declaration of suicide.
"Don't say such nonsense!"
A reaction he fully anticipated. Without panicking, Sung Jin-Woo calmly released all the mana sleeping within him for just an instant — all at once. An unfathomably vast power radiated from Sung Jin-Woo. Only the strong can gauge the strength of others. Go Gun-Hee, known as the heavens of heavens — a sky above all skies — shook his head with an expression of disbelief.
"How… how is this… what is this?"
A shudder. Never before had he felt mana of this magnitude from anyone, anywhere. A nation-level Hunter? No — the power before him seemed to dwarf even them. Go Gun-Hee could not close his gaping mouth.
"I can take care of every last ant on Jeju Island."
Hadn't that been Go Gun-Hee's lifelong wish? Seeing Sung Jin-Woo's composed expression, Go Gun-Hee, who had been about to reprimand the young man for his naivety, found his expression changing.
"Are you… serious?"
Sung Jin-Woo nodded.
"This is something only I can do. Leave it to me."
* * *
Sung Jin-Woo gazed at the ant corpses strewn from one end of the land to the other. And right at his feet lay the body of Beru — no, not yet Beru, but the Ant King. It hadn't even been that long since they last parted, yet he already missed Beru's voice calling him "my king." Sung Jin-Woo called out to the ants.
"Arise."
And so, from the shadows of every ant within Sung Jin-Woo's sight, Shadow Soldiers rose silently. Among them was Beru.
"My King…"
Surrounded by thousands of ants kneeling before him, Sung Jin-Woo slowly nodded. A new army. A brand-new Shadow Legion, fully prepared from the start, pledged its loyalty to Sung Jin-Woo. But. After speaking with them, he became certain.
"…Enough."
Even with the Shadow Legion assembled, the emptiness inside his chest would not fill. Beru looked up with a worried expression, but Sung Jin-Woo knew that even those looks and emotions were fabricated. And so, standing before them, his heart ached all the more. Thick tendons stood out on Sung Jin-Woo's neck.
"I know all of this is fake. End it now and show me your true form!"
An illusion so realistic it was indistinguishable from reality. For a brief time, he had even wished that this side was the real one. But for however long he had spent here — that emptiness, growing in proportion to the time passed, could not be hidden no matter what. So—
"Now—!"
Sung Jin-Woo roared into the air with all his strength, and only then did he notice the change. Time had stopped. Every ant soldier that had raised its head had its gaze fixed on him. Those mechanical eyes sent a chill down his spine in an instant. Then. From beneath Sung Jin-Woo's feet, the Monarch's Domain — pitch-black shadow — spread rapidly outward. Everything it touched vanished without a trace. Beru, the soldiers, the corpses, the land, the sea, and finally, the sky. Soon the entire world was swallowed by shadow. It became darkness itself. Only then did a deep, resonant voice reach him from somewhere within the dark.
[If you so desire, you could live in this world forever. Just as a happy dream never needs to end.]
Sung Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings, searching for the source of the voice.
"You're telling me to stay trapped inside this illusion you created forever?" [No. I did not create this. You did.] "I created it?"
Nonsense. As Sung Jin-Woo moved to retort, he felt something approaching. Behind him. He spun around. Sure enough, from the deep darkness behind him, a figure walked out. Black armor of a craftsmanship beyond compare to any Shadow Soldier — and an oppressive, overwhelming presence unlike anything he had ever felt from any being. Facing him, Sung Jin-Woo found it difficult even to open his mouth. The figure spoke.
[This world was born from your desire to atone for all the mistakes you made, joined by my power. This place is death — my domain.]
Only then — only then did Sung Jin-Woo realize that the darkness he stood in was wrapping around him more warmly than any place in the real world.
'Is this… eternal rest?'
Death. Then this man who called this world beyond consciousness his own domain must be… Sung Jin-Woo asked to hear the answer directly from the man's mouth.
"Who are you?"
The man in black armor drew slowly closer to Sung Jin-Woo.
[I have watched you for far longer than you can imagine. Closer to death than anyone, yet resisting more desperately than anyone.]
Watched… me? In the end, the figure standing before Sung Jin-Woo looked down at him with eyes so black they seemed to draw him in.
[I am the history of your struggle, the mark of your resistance, and the reward of your pain. I am death, and rest, and also terror.]
Every word he uttered rang deeply within Sung Jin-Woo. Memories of flailing and struggling to survive despite being pitifully weak flashed through his mind like a film reel, and his heart raced. The man gripped Sung Jin-Woo's wrist and placed his hand over his own chest. Sung Jin-Woo's eyes widened. Even through the thick armor, he could feel it clearly. How could he not? If he concentrated, he could always hear it — this familiar heartbeat. The sound of a second heart whose location he had never known. The black heart. A black heart was pounding fiercely inside the man's chest.
[I am…]
He spoke softly.
[You.]
= [END]