Chapter 23
Hyun-jun fell asleep not long after Tae-min left the hospital room. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the dream-space he had long since grown used to. On the door before him were the words, "The Shadow Behind You."
Perfect.
A smile spread across his lips. He happened to need stealth and assassination techniques anyway. If there was anyone who could teach him, it would be Hashashin, the assassin past life known by that very epithet. The moment his hand touched the doorknob, he shoved the door open and stepped inside.
The room was swallowed in darkness. He could not see an inch ahead of him, but Hyun-jun kept walking with a faint smile on his face, deeper and deeper into the black. Soon, a dim light came on at the center, revealing a handsome black-haired young man dressed in a nobleman’s formal attire.
"Hashashin..."
"It has been a long time. I hear much has happened in the meantime."
"I need your power."
He said it plainly. Watching him, Hashashin let out a pleased, interested laugh and spoke.
"You need stealth and assassination techniques?"
"Yes. I want to learn stealth that no one can detect, and assassination techniques that can kill even the strong with a single strike."
"At your current level, perfect concealment is beyond you."
At those words, Hyun-jun lowered his head with a disappointed look. He had expected it to be difficult, but hearing it directly still made his resolve waver a little.
"However, teaching you limited stealth should not be difficult. Fortunately, thanks to your diligent training in the mana circulation method Sidenmiller taught you, it seems you’ve gathered more than enough mana."
Hashashin spoke with a satisfied expression.
"What do you mean by limited stealth?"
"I’ll teach you a stealth technique that lets you erase both your appearance and presence completely in places where there is night, or any kind of darkness."
"Is that even possible? I heard even S-Class Hunters who specialize in stealth have a hard time completely erasing their bodies and presence..."
Erasing one’s presence was not hard, but becoming perfectly invisible was no easy feat. Only transcendents among magic-type Hunters could reach true invisibility.
"I would prefer you not compare me to those trash. I am special."
As if offended, Hashashin’s brow furrowed slightly.
"Then let us get to the point. The stealth technique I am about to teach you is, to be frank, closer to magic."
Hyun-jun had suspected it was linked to magic from the moment he was told he could hide himself completely, and as expected, he had been right.
"To explain it simply, you conceal yourself within a veil of darkness. It is not as advanced as magic that bends dimensions, but it is still considered high-grade magic in its own right, so it consumes a fair amount of mana. And, naturally, there is the limitation that it can only be used where darkness exists."
"That level of limitation seems trivial to me."
"An admirable attitude."
Hashashin clapped.
"What should I do now?"
There was one thing he had learned from moving back and forth through the room of past lives: to awaken a new blessing, he had to repeatedly perform certain actions or reach a realization that raised his synchrony with that past life.
The clearest example was Dantzig. By attuning himself to the horrendous despair and sorrow Dantzig had felt, he could obtain his blessing.
"From this moment on, I will trap you in an endless darkness. To hide yourself within the veil of darkness, you need a high affinity with it. There is no helping that."
Hashashin had chosen to increase that affinity by forcing him to live in darkness.
"It may take months. It may take years. It does not matter if you go mad. The blessing of this room will restore even your mind to normal."
It was a brutal training method, one that could only be used in a space where time did not flow. But there was no better alternative. Hyun-jun had guessed as much, so he nodded without protest.
"I'm prepared."
"Strong will. Sidenmiller would approve."
"Let's begin."
Time did not pass here, but he still urged him on impatiently. Hashashin let the corners of his mouth rise, gave a thin, chilling laugh, and stepped backward. His body began to melt into the darkness.
"I do not know how long it will take until you awaken the blessing. I wish you success, Kang Hyun-jun."
With those words, Hashashin's body vanished. Even the dim light went out. Now there was only complete darkness.
I can’t see a thing.
Normally, if you stay in the dark long enough, your eyes adjust and you start to make out vague shapes. But in the darkness Hashashin had bestowed upon him, even after more than an hour, there was literally nothing to see.
"Congratulations. Twenty-four hours have passed."
It was Hashashin’s voice. It came from right beside him, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
It feels like three days have gone by...
Time was moving slower than he had expected. Maybe Hashashin had done something, because he did not feel hungry, but he could not honestly say how long he could keep enduring this.
"Ninety-six hours have passed."
"How much longer am I supposed to hold out?"
He was starting to feel like he might go mad. But the healing force of the room of past lives was restoring even his polluted mental state to normal, so he could not even do that. That somehow made him feel even more like he was losing it.
"Are you at your limit?"
Hashashin whispered from within the dark. His body was still invisible.
"I’m still fine."
"Are you bored?"
He did not answer. He did not feel bored. Only pain.
"There is a way to raise your synchrony faster. Would you like to hear it?"
"Go on."
"How about training Sidenmiller’s swordsmanship in this darkness? You won’t be able to build up mana, but you should be able to improve your understanding of swordplay."
It was a welcome suggestion. That would be far better than just standing there, staring blankly into the dark.
"Will you give me a sword?"
"Stretch out your hand."
He extended his right hand as instructed. Something cold touched his fingertips. Hyun-jun immediately recognized the hilt of a sword.
Swish.
He gripped the hilt hard and drew the blade. Instinctively, he activated Aura Blade, but the darkness did not recede.
"It is useless. This is no ordinary darkness."
"Understood."
And so his sword training began. Hashashin no longer told him how much time had passed. He honed his swordsmanship without rest in the endless dark.
He could not see ahead, and he had no idea how much time had gone by. He felt as though he might lose his mind, but the more he endured, the more he focused on the sword, and his skill steadily deepened. How long had he trained in that world where the sense of time had vanished? At last, the pitch-black world was tinged with light.
"Congratulations. You have now learned one of my stealth techniques, the one I, Hashashin, used to strike terror across the continent as the Shadow Behind You. Your affinity is not yet sufficient, but there are few on Earth who would dare face you with stealth alone."
Hashashin clapped.
"So that’s it?"
He wanted to rest. The mental fatigue was immense. It felt as though he had been swinging a sword for months on end.
"Unfortunately, no. I have taught you stealth, but I have not yet taught you assassination. From here on, I will teach you my own assassination techniques."
Merely learning the basics had taken more than a month.
*
"Hah...!"
He came to in the hospital room. He picked up his smartphone and checked the time and date. It felt as though he had spent more than a year in the room of past lives, but here, only a little after midnight had passed.
"Mr. Kang Hyun-jun. Are you awake?"
It was Tae-min’s voice.
"Yeah. Come in."
"Excuse me."
The door opened, and Tae-min walked in, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed. Hyun-jun sat up as well and perched on the edge of the mattress.
"The spy has been dealt with."
The work was faster than expected. Hyun-jun nodded with satisfaction.
"Good. What’s the status of Echo Guild’s executive faction?"
"They’re definitely preparing for a second strike. We’ve received reports that they’re recalling the executive Hunters they had deployed outside."
Tae-min answered. Echo Guild’s executive faction had taken a heavy hit because of Hyun-jun. That was why they were calling back the Hunters they had sent out, in preparation for a second battle. Hyun-jun got up from the bed and gathered the gear he had left beside it. He shoved the shield and sword into his subspace pouch, then slipped his daggers into the sheaths attached to the pockets of his vest.
"M-Mr. Kang Hyun-jun? Don’t tell me..."
"I’m not going to sit here and take this."
"Are you planning to attack the Echo Guild office?"
"Yes. That’s right."
As he answered, he changed clothes. Seeing that, Tae-min knew Hyun-jun was serious. Careful, he spoke.
"Attacking a guild office directly is extremely dangerous. You may end up having to face not just the executive Hunters, but others as well."
He did not say it outright, but because it was in the middle of the city, they also had to consider the possibility of special police being deployed to prevent further damage if things went wrong.
"I’m going to wipe out the executives only."
"That’s close to impossible."
Tae-min did not say it was impossible outright. There were Hunters capable of that. But he did not think Hyun-jun had reached that level yet.
"Yesterday, yes. Today, no."
Leaving those ominous words behind, he opened the hospital room door.
"Mr. Kang Hyun-jun..."
"Take care of So-jin noona and my younger brothers."
"Don’t worry about that. My men will stake their lives on protecting them."
Tae-min answered in a voice heavy with resolve. He felt gratitude toward Hyun-jun, who had rescued the Wraith Guild, and at the same time felt responsible for the situation they were in. Even if he could not take part in the attack on the guild office, he intended to do everything he could to protect the people Hyun-jun cared about.
"Good."
With a smile on his lips, Hyun-jun left the hospital room. Then, as he stepped out of the hospital, he searched for the Echo Guild office’s location on his phone. Most guilds made their offices public, so it was not difficult to find with a simple internet search.
Close.
But it was too far to walk. In the end, he had no choice but to take a taxi partway there. After getting out about five kilometers away, Hyun-jun drew up his mana and activated Hashashin’s blessing.
Hashashin’s pitiless darkness leads you into its veil. So long as the darkness remains with you, you become a shadow.
As a huge amount of mana poured out of him, his body melted into the darkness. Without the mana circulation method he had learned from Sidenmiller, it would have been difficult to maintain, because an enormous amount of mana kept draining away continuously.
Should I test it?
He stepped onto the sidewalk. Yet he behaved as though no one could perceive his existence. Naturally, a cold smile spread across his lips.
So long as the darkness remains with me, I am a shadow.
A chilling killing intent rose in his eyes.
Today is the last day of Echo Guild.