Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Northwestern Tranfeion Continent.

A fierce blizzard raged across the snow-capped mountains, thick with dark, ominous clouds.

In this natural fortress that seemed to permit no life, four figures appeared on one peak, making one doubt their own eyes.

Among them, a tall, fair-haired young man shouts boldly.

“Kuhah! At last, we’re all gathered!”

The four gathered in one place, as if they alone existed in another world, the cold and blizzard seeming to bypass them.

Then, a woman wearing a flowing sleeveless dress stepped forward into the center.

Then, with an enchanting grace, she blew a breath of warm air toward the spot where snow lay thickly piled.

“Huuu.”

Whoosh-!

Her light breath became a powerful gust, instantly sweeping away all the snow around them.

As the snow vanished, a large rectangular desk carved from rock appeared in its place.

Similarly, there were five stone chairs without backs.

“It’s been a while since we’ve all gathered like this. Let’s talk for a bit.”

The boy said as he sat down on a chair.

“Is this the time for idle chatter?”

A muscular middle-aged man, wearing leather pants and shirtless, asked in a deep, somewhat gruff voice.

The knife scars covering his entire body made his question feel even more threatening, yet not a single one of them flinched.

“Mr. Balan, please sit down. Do you really think it’s appropriate for the last one to arrive to be spouting off like that?”

The boy wore an innocent expression, but the middle-aged man, upon hearing this, sat down in the chair without a word, his face twisted in displeasure.

The woman in the dress and the young man, who were still standing, also took their seats.

“The fact that we’ve awakened means the seal has weakened that much, right?”

“That means more than four have been broken!”

“The day Lord Gelahan revives can’t be far off.”

“Ah… my master…!”

The four humans simultaneously recalled a single being.

The great being who betrayed the seekers and drove an entire world to the brink of destruction.

Gelahan.

“We must prepare for the day Lord Gelahan returns.”

The boy looked at the other three with an unsuitable gaze.

His eyes held a savagery and viciousness that made it impossible to believe he was merely around ten years old.

“Haa, haa… I want to see my master… I want to bear my master’s child…”

The woman in the one-piece dress writhed as she spoke.

Her breathing grew increasingly ragged.

“Tsk, you crazy woman. Now’s not the time for that. Humans have been wiped out completely.”

“Bedeya’s still the same, huh? Kwahahaha.”

The muscular middle-aged man spoke with a displeased expression, while the handsome young man swept his long hair back and laughed heartily.

Then who exactly were these men?

They were the four Apostates who gained divinity through Gelahan, sealed away alongside him by the Seekers at the end of the Hundred Years’ War.

The blond youth was Havik of Choice.

The woman in the dress was the Crimson Purity, Bedaya.

The boy with eyes tinged with madness was Ridiran, the Dream of the Specter.

And finally, the muscular middle-aged man, Balaan the Beast King.

All four were Gelahan’s loyal retainers who drenched the continent in blood.

“Don’t worry. Humans are plentiful.”

“Where? All I saw were filthy subhumans.”

Balaan asked at Ridiran’s words.

Ridiran looked toward the empty chair as he spoke.

“Before being sealed away, Lord Gelahan discovered a new world.”

“A new world…?”

“It was a place entirely different from here. A place where mana did not exist. A world where only humans and animals existed.”

“So that means it doesn’t exist now.”

“Yes. Lord Gelahan exhausted all his remaining power to create a connection with that world, and the cowardly seekers seized that opportunity to seal him away.”

The other followers were startled by Ridiran’s words.

Only Balaan continued speaking. Havik wore a beautiful smile, while Bedaya wore a sinister one.

“But why didn’t we know? How do you know, Ridiran?”

“Who stood beside Lord Gelahan first? And who awoke the quickest? Balan, do not forget the gap between you and me.”

“Ahem… So what’s your point?”

“Our power isn’t fully restored yet. The aftermath of the seal lingers. But soon, the seal will be completely broken. Before that happens, I want to seize this continent, devoid of seekers, first.”

Ridiran clenched his fist.

Then the air began to stir.

Balran bit his lip tightly, and Havik crossed his arms and crossed his legs.

Bedeya swept her hands across her face and said.

“Ugh… I can’t take this anymore…!”

“Wait, Mr. Bedaya. There’s something you need to understand. The seal weakening means the Seekers’ power is returning too. And the Seekers are bound to that world. That means now is our chance.”

“Got it… Can I go now? Haa… Haa…”

Bedeya jumped to her feet.

Her face flushed crimson as she gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.

“I’ll call you again when the time comes. Ms. Bedaya, Mr. Valan, Mr. Havik, I’m counting on you.”

“All for Lady Gelahan!”

“For Lord Gelahan.”

“Haah! Lord Gelahan…!”

The fugitives, having concluded their brief meeting, soon vanished one by one into the blizzard.

***

Puff-.

A man pulled his hood over his head as he stepped out of the car.

“Oppa! Get a good scan and come back with an S-grade! Fighting!”

“Big bro, have a safe trip! I’ll pick you up after I finish shopping!”

A couple cheers from the rolled-down window.

The man, head bowed low, waves at them as they drive away.

‘I told you I’m going alone…’

Friday, early morning.

Seoul Regional Hunter Agency parking lot.

The man lowering his hand as the minivan receded into the distance was Dojae.

“S-class? S-class isn’t some neighbor’s dog’s name.”

“Exactly. What era do you think this is? Do you expect a dragon to rise from a muddy pond?”

People murmured toward Dojae.

His shabby attire, a cap pulled low over his hoodie, made him hard to recognize.

Besides, Dojae had refused all photo shoots and interviews, so it was only natural they didn’t recognize him.

Even if he showed his face, it wouldn’t have mattered, but Young-jin insisted he wear it and placed the hat he’d brought over his head.

‘Quite a crowd.’

Do-jae entered the building, took a number, and sat down.

Even though it was just past 9 o’clock, many people were already waiting.

‘Shopping will take at least an hour, so that should be plenty of time.’

Do-jae thought of Yeong-jin and Ji-yun, who had left to buy food.

You might wonder why they were suddenly shopping, but it was because the entire Guardian Guild had decided to go on a trip.

At Youngjin’s strong suggestion, the guild members decided to take a day off.

They planned to go on a two-day, one-night trip to Busan before moving into their new office next week.

They insisted Dojae absolutely needed to get re-examined, saying it was time for a fresh start with renewed resolve. In the end, Dojae had no choice but to come in for a mana scan.

“Hm?”

Had he been seated for just a moment?

Someone entered the examination room.

The moment he entered, he drew the attention of everyone waiting.

“So you’re that famous Lim Seo-jun? You haven’t even taken the exam yet, but you’ve already joined Daeho, right?”

“How did you get into the elite unit? It’s because of that case, right? Right?”

“I saw it on the news too! Wow, that kid was something else, huh?”

A high school student surrounded by the waiting crowd.

Wearing the uniform of the high school Dojae had attended, the youthful student wore a perplexed expression.

‘Level 97 despite being so young.’

Do-jae’s gaze wasn’t directed solely because of the uniform.

His level and skills.

At just 17 years old, he possessed a level nearing 100 and over a dozen skills.

‘Is this what it feels like to raise a jumping character… Anyway, he’s a blessed kid.’

Young age and formidable power.

It seemed Korea’s top guild, ‘Daeho’, had snatched up this promising young talent named Lim Seo-jun.

‘So that’s why there were so many people outside. It was all because of that kid.’

Today’s guilds operate differently from the past, when they were run solely on monster hunting.

A star like Lim Seo-jun, who received an A-grade in his initial rating, could greatly contribute to the guild’s image.

Judging by the crowd gathered outside, Daeho must have already made their move.

Ding-dong.

Do-jae headed toward the counter.

Fortunately, the next spot opened up immediately, and that student sat down next to Dojae to fill out the paperwork.

‘Thank goodness, I can leave comfortably.’

As long as he made sure the prosecutor in the office kept his mouth shut and slipped out immediately, all attention would be on that student.

***

Kim Sang-gu is a civil servant working at the Seoul Regional Hunter Bureau.

He is not an awakened one, but an ordinary human whose role is to analyze inspection reports generated by mana scans and assign ratings.

‘Guess I’ll have to earn some pocket money today too.’

If the numbers are borderline or ambiguous, he might bump them up or down depending on his mood.

A single rank change can alter which dungeons one can enter and which guilds one can join, making it truly significant power.

Thanks to that, he received a fair amount of kickbacks, and his standard of living wasn’t bad.

“I’m here for my evaluation.”

Kim Sang-gu saw the man standing before the scanning room.

Shabby clothes, a hat pulled low over his eyes.

He looked at the man’s documents on the monitor and let out a cheer.

‘Yes! A goldmine, a goldmine!’

A C-grade man undergoing his third mana scan.

His first scan was F-grade, but since the second was C-grade, it seemed like there had been a mistake in the first scan.

Kim Sang-gu thought, since such mistakes happened occasionally, the man probably didn’t even know his real grade and had been living doing other things, only to receive C-grade again this time.

“Come in.”

The scanning begins, and moments later, the man’s mana structure diagram prints out.

Kim Sang-gu blinked hard at the numbers written on the paper.

‘What did I just see?’

Kim Sang-gu rubbed his eyes vigorously and looked at the paper once more.

But the numbers on the paper remained unchanged.

Shiver-shiver-shiver-.

Kim Sang-gu couldn’t contain his shock, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

Despite having worked here for years, the numbers written there were something he had never seen before.

“H-Hello? Right now… um… Es… ugh…!”

Kim Sang-gu was about to call his superiors to report immediately.

But the man who emerged from the mana scanner covered Kim Sang-gu’s mouth.

“Mmmph!”

“I’ll let you go if you promise to be quiet.”

Kim Sang-gu raised his arms to make a circle gesture.

The man slowly released his grip.

“Mmmph… Phew…”

“I have a request.”

“What… what is it?”

It was an S-class request.

Kim Sang-gu replied in a trembling voice.

“I don’t want to cause a commotion, but could you handle the grading quietly?”

“…Is that something I can control? Once I hand over the files, everyone will see them anyway. Then rumors will spread in an instant. By the time you leave here, people will already be all over it.”

“Haa… Is that so?”

The man bowed his head deeply.

Then he made a call somewhere.

After exchanging a few words, he hung up.

“What should we do? We need to scan others too, and the data needs to be uploaded quickly…”

“Could you please wait just a moment? It won’t take long.”

Kim Sang-gu had no choice but to wait at the man’s request.

No, he took out paper and a pen.

This was the man who would soon become the most famous person in South Korea.

He had to get his autograph now.

“Um… Mr. Lee Do-jae, could I ask for your autograph…?”

But Kim Sang-gu’s wish was not granted.

Because in that brief moment, the highest-ranking person here appeared, gasping for breath.

None other than the Chief of the Hunters!