How Unknown Absorbs an Organization (1)

But that thought lasted only a moment.

Lee Junwoo spoke to her.

"Shall we move, then? To where the organization called Blood Jaguar is. Or rather, the unlicensed guild."

Choi Hana nodded.

And for a brief second, she turned over the name he'd just used for her organization.

Unlicensed guild, huh.

Just as Junwoo had said, even the violent syndicates of the underworld outwardly styled themselves as hunter guilds. They simply never received official license certification from the Association. There had been a time when that alone was enough to brand them as criminal organizations. Now, even unlicensed guilds coexisted with ordinary citizens.

That's why Theia's cadets can work with them, too.

The Association regularly collected membership dues from its affiliated guilds anyway. In practice, what the Association did wasn't all that different from the underworld's own organizations.

Still, Choi Hana was cautious. She had no idea how Junwoo truly felt about underworld syndicates.

If I think about it coldly...

He probably didn't hate the underworld all that much. Most cadets already knew the truth: in the major hunter guilds of today, without the right background, you were nothing more than expendable fodder.

The underworld was different. It still had a pyramid of higher and lower organizations, but if you proved yourself even in a lower one, you could get scouted into a higher organization and rise into a key position.

Though even that's mostly a thing of the past now.

The major underworld organizations had stagnated too. Their rules were excessively rigid, and until you secured a real post, you had to follow the hierarchy without question. In the end, most people ended up as little more than cannon fodder.

That was why the number of villains kept rising. Villain organizations moved solely according to their own desires.

"Crimson Teeth might stage another terrorist attack."

Junwoo, walking beside her, spoke up.

Just as he said, Crimson Teeth was a notorious villain organization — the kind of lunatics who freely used Chaotic, a Chaos Attribute potion with severe side effects.

The more chaos they sow, the stronger they become as villains...

And their influence had swollen rapidly in a short span of time. Choi Hana's organization, Blood Jaguar, had already clashed with those villains more than once.

They soon arrived at the sector Student Council President Jo Arin had assigned them. At Choi Hana's suggestion, the two of them had agreed to work alongside Blood Jaguar.

"Good evening."

Junwoo was the first to greet the organization members.

Choi Hana tensed for a moment. She had introduced Blood Jaguar to him as an organization she'd learned of through Student Council Vice President Scarlet's connections, and she had already told her people that a fellow cadet would be joining them for the day. Even so, Junwoo was still just a cadet. Facing someone from the underworld, he might unconsciously shrink back.

"Cadets from Theia, are you? Pleasure."

And of all people, the one who came out to meet them was the organization's vice-boss, Hwang Yonggyun.

A skinhead in sunglasses. A vivid knife scar carved across his cheek. An intimidating, muscular build. Anyone looking at him would have called him a thug on sight.

It wasn't just his appearance. By hunter license standards, he was a powerhouse on the level of A-rank. He was holding himself in check, but the pressure of a strong awakener still naturally rolled off him.

Like me, he hides his identity — but if he gave his real name, even famous hunters would know who he was.

Without his loyalty to her father and his thirst for revenge against the traitors, a man like him would never have been rotting away in a small-time organization like this. And as someone who had been active in the underworld since her father's era, he was hardly ordinary in temperament. Against a regular cadet, his killing intent alone could have dropped them to their knees on the spot.

He glanced briefly at Choi Hana, offering the proper respect due a boss with his eyes. The look he turned on Junwoo, however, was cold. As a man of the underworld, wariness toward strangers was the most basic of basics.

Still, as the organization's guest, Junwoo was the one he extended his hand to first. For an awakener of Hwang Yonggyun's caliber, a handshake alone was enough to gauge the other party's presence and strength.

"Pleasure. A cadet from the prestigious Theia Academy might find people like us from the underworld distasteful. Still, if our goals align, an awakener should know how to work together—"

That was when it happened.

Choi Hana froze in surprise.

"......"

Hwang Yonggyun, mid-handshake and mid-sentence, fell silent. Then she saw something she could scarcely believe. His pupils trembled. For a fleeting instant, something like fear seemed to flicker across the face of the underworld vice-boss.

That... can't be right...?

This was a man who wouldn't so much as blink if someone cut off his fingers. For Hwang Yonggyun to make a face like that at a mere first-year from Theia was impossible.

I-it must be my imagination.

Junwoo answered the handshake with a smile.

"Even if it's only for today, I look forward to working with you."

And remarkably, Junwoo was smiling at Hwang Yonggyun without the slightest hint of fear.

Coming back to himself a beat too late, Hwang Yonggyun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hastily released his hand. He shot Choi Hana a look that seemed to want to ask her something — then turned on his heel and left the spot at once.

What just happened? The vice-boss making a face like that?

She already knew Junwoo wasn't ordinary. She hadn't expected even Hwang Yonggyun to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠react like that.

And unbidden, Student Council President Jo Arin's words came back to her.

— Lee Junwoo. Of all the cadets I've seen, he's the most unusual type. Close to an irregular, you could say.

That was the evaluation the president had supposedly given Scarlet. But once again, the thought stopped right there.

"Oh my. Cadets from Theia. Are you two a couple, by any chance?"

Other organization members came over to them.

"W-what are you talking about!"

Choi Hana cried out in a fluster.

Her organization members — and the members of Underdolls, who secretly worked as VTubers to fund the organization's operations.

A fair amount of time had passed since the Pure White Festival began.

The event had started at two in the afternoon. Eight hours later, it was already ten at night.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"The air's so humid. It wouldn't be strange if it started raining any minute."

Choi Hana, beside me, spoke up. Just as she said, rain was in the forecast.

In the original story, the quest started once the rain fell.

It wasn't only the rain. The distinctive stench of miasma — the kind you felt near monsters or dungeons — was growing stronger. That meant a gate could open at any moment.

But the festival continued. The Pure White Festival was an all-night event, a rite that purified even the miasma of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠present with the Saintess's power.

A low, resonant hum filled the air. The holy power of Marianne, the Saintess of Purity, blanketed the entire Gwanghwamun district.

If it follows the original, the gate opens in two hours.

Crimson Teeth wanted to make a name for themselves. So today, they would punch through the Saintess's holy power and stage a terrorist attack. Of course, countless awakeners were already on guard, protecting the citizens — but Crimson Teeth used not only villain terrorism, but a gate as well.

I calmly mapped the scenario out in my head. Unknown was a villain, not a champion of justice — but the side I had to protect was the citizens. More precisely, Blood Jaguar, who were currently guarding those citizens.

It won't be easy.

For Blood Jaguar, this was both a crisis and an opportunity. If they perfectly contained the chaos in their assigned sector, a mid-tier organization like theirs could make a real name for itself.

So my quest is a defense of this sector, too.

As the first quest on the underworld side, I needed to make proper use of Blood Jaguar's combat strength to complete the mission. More importantly, this operation would give me the chance to swallow up the higher organization above them — Mad Knife.

Mad Knife was the organization Blood Jaguar paid tribute to. It ranked one grade below the organization Jeong Siu's father belonged to, but—

It's still better than Blood Jaguar as it stands now.

Coldly speaking, seventy percent of the combat power in the organization Choi Hana currently led belonged to Vice-Boss Hwang Yonggyun alone.

I found myself thinking back to what had happened with him that morning. When I entered the festival grounds with Choi Hana, he had offered me a handshake. As a man of the underworld, it was no ordinary handshake. An A-rank high-level awakener — he must have been testing what kind of person I was, standing at Boss Choi Hana's side. Not killing intent, but not goodwill either.

And right then, the hidden title Unknown had activated.

I saw Hwang Yonggyun's eyes tremble the moment they met mine. I was surprised myself in that instant.

It worked not just on Bone China, but on someone as strong as Hwang Yonggyun.

Unknown — a broken title that simultaneously boosted attack power and applied a Fear debuff against anyone on the underworld side. The implications were huge. If it worked on an A-rank awakener, it meant I could maintain a broken-tier buff against most villains as well.

Thinking about it, it wasn't that impossible.

When I'd killed Horror Hole in the tutorial, that villain had already surpassed A-rank. The hidden title's judgment range seemed quite broad.

Anyway, this works out well.

Blood Jaguar was Choi Hana's organization — but in the end, it had to become Unknown's. From that perspective, Hwang Yonggyun was someone who could become an obstacle. With this buff, though, persuading him later would be much easier.

I patrolled the area, idly fingering my holy knight's sword. Then the female members of Blood Jaguar I kept running into acknowledged me again.

"Haaah... nothing's happening. Aren't you bored too, Junwoo? This is way too dull a mission for a college student who should be out having fun."

Three of them quickly surrounded me. They talked like that, but none of them looked much older than me. Their outfits were all striking — tight leggings, or dresses that showed off every curve of their figures. Naturally, that meant they had the bodies to pull those looks off.

Well, they do cam work, so it's not that strange.

It had been the same in the original. Choi Hana's subordinates — especially the women — earned the organization's operating funds through internet broadcasting, specifically camgirl work. They were all awakeners, but that paid far better than clumsy dungeon runs.

Which means Underdolls must be...

Choi Hana was Naharing, so of course those three organization members were Underdolls members too — VTubers.

Looking at the three of them left me with a strange feeling. I was looking at the real faces of VTubers, not their 3D models.

After watching Naharing's streams... I watched the other members' videos too.

Plenty of viewers were curious about a VTuber's "red pill" — slang for what a VTuber looked like in real life. But once they actually learned it, a fair number of people started complaining about the gap between the character and reality.

Well, with bodies like those, if the red pill ever dropped, their popularity would only skyrocket.

There was a reason they'd been doing cam work even in the original. It meant they had the figures and the dancing skills as a baseline.

Anyway, the three of them kept chatting me up like we were already close. All three had extremely high energy. I wasn't particularly introverted myself, but their social-butterfly intensity was enough to overwhelm me.

Among them, the blonde organization member named Jeong Noeul suddenly stepped in close. She seemed endlessly curious about my relationship with Choi Hana.

"Hana's wearing a necklace she never had before. Did you give it to her, Junwoo?"

She casually linked her arm through mine and whispered into my ear.

"I'm a little close with Hana privately, so I know. Lately she's gotten strangely more feminine. A little more... alluring, I guess you'd say?"

The moment Choi Hana spotted that, she hurried over to me.

"Noeul unnie! What are you doing to my classmate... huh?"

Right then—

Plip. Plip.

Rain began to fall. And the thing I'd been expecting happened.

With the rain, it was only natural. Even in the original, this quest had been fairly difficult with only fire-attribute characters.

Choi Hana is developing her second awakening toward the fire attribute.

So this quest would be rough for her too. And I was in the same boat — my main skill, Goddess's Flame Sword, was having its effectiveness reduced.

That won't do.

But I looked again at the pendant hanging around Choi Hana's neck. The Barrier Pendant. The new authority I'd created from that aquamite necklace was water-attribute. There was a way to overcome the current debuff.

A massive series of explosions tore through the air.

Booming blasts began to echo across Gwanghwamun Plaza.

"Everyone, stay alert!"

I shouted, and immediately activated my authority.