Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Civil Servant Hunter’s S-class Resignation Log – Chapter 54
Seongtap Guild had been punished for setting aside dungeon raids to engage in personal squabbles, nearly causing a major disaster. On top of that, word got out that they'd tried to secretly steal an item, so they were being shunned by other guilds, and their situation had become precarious.
But who would've thought they'd be completely wiped out. And right in the heart of the city, at their guild headquarters, no less.
"How horrific."
Se-ra, dispatched to the scene, furrowed her brow.
She was a hunter who fought monsters, so she prided herself on not being easily shocked by gruesome sights. Yet even she found the scene before her utterly revolting.
Mangled corpses strewn everywhere. The overpowering stench of blood was so intense she had to cover her nose and mouth with a handkerchief. But the nausea wouldn't subside.
"One guild master, eight guild members, three non-awakener staff. We've confirmed twelve bodies total. Every single person affiliated with the guild is dead."
Appearing alongside the association's dungeon incident investigation team was none other than Jeong Ho-young of Chasa Guild.
He was the best at tracking and searching, and he had close ties with the association, so they often requested his cooperation in cases like this. Today was no different.
"The bodies aren't in great shape, so it must've been tough. Good work."
"No trouble at all. To confirm death, you just need to find the heads."
"Are they all here?"
"Yeah. No signs they were moved postmortem. They all died right here. By a single person's hand."
One person? Even for a small guild, with an A-rank hunter as guild master, they shouldn't have been wiped out so easily. The creepiest part was that no one nearby had noticed until all twelve were dead.
"The prime suspect is Sanyang Guild, who had a grudge against Seongtap, but that guy's not skilled enough for this."
Sanyang Guild Master Baek Geon-tae.
He was a solid B-rank hunter, but nothing more. He didn't have the ability to take out twelve people in one go without anyone seeing. Se-ra was certain of that, having met him in person.
"Still, the motive checks out."
"That item they clashed over?"
"Yes. Word is, it's a top-grade gate stone that can close even a Rank-3 dungeon. With a value in the tens of billions, it's plausible Sanyang went on a real hunt out of anger."
If they'd sold the gate stone and split the profits fairly, they'd have made a fortune, but unfortunately, the association had confiscated it. It had nearly caused a dungeon break, so that was only natural.
"Hiring an A-rank assassin would've made a wipeout possible, at least."
"So, could that have happened?"
Se-ra gave Jeong Ho-young a knowing smile.
If Suhorang Guild monopolized the most healers, then Chasa Guild under Jeong Ho-young was a den of assassins. The difference was that most of the nation's top assassins had joined voluntarily under the best of them.
A man of such caliber sometimes received secret missions from Song Han-na. More like her shadow than an independent guild, everything Jeong Ho-young knew flowed straight to Song Han-na.
But.
"Sadly, I've got nothing for you this time. I don't take on hits like this to begin with."
"Figured as much. Oh, word just came in that the association's arresting all of Sanyang Guild as suspects. I'll head back now, so let me know if you find anything new. Seong Ja-rim, let's go ho... Ja-rim?"
Looking for Ja-rim, who'd come with her, Se-ra's eyes widened. Ja-rim's face, as she examined the vivid traces of the massacre, had gone deathly pale.
"Seong Ja-rim."
"Uh, uh-huh. We done here?"
"Yes, let's go. Nothing more to do here."
The two left the building together and got into the car parked outside. As Ja-rim let out a sigh, Se-ra asked curiously.
"What's wrong? Did you see something in there? Your face looks awful. Does it remind you of the Baskar incident?"
"No, not that... Just, the traces left behind felt oddly familiar."
"What? Familiar? You don't mean Baskar's the one who massacred the guild members...?"
"Huh? No, no. That's impossible."
Se-ra breathed a sigh of relief at the firm denial.
Even so, when Ja-rim said she still couldn't pinpoint why, they decided to start by grilling the already-arrested Sanyang Guild members.
Upon arriving at the association, Se-ra headed straight to the interrogation room where Sanyang Guild Master Baek Geon-tae was held.
Meeting him again after a few weeks, Baek Geon-tae looked gaunt and haggard. Ever since the rift dungeon incident where he'd suffered mental corruption from the White Ghost, he'd been plagued by nightmares.
"Still having those nightmares?"
"It's gotten a bit better now. Lucky me. Dreams of someone constantly shooting me in the head are the worst."
"......"
So it wasn't nightmares from the ghost after all.
Se-ra, the very person who'd shot him in the head to free him from the monster, pretended not to hear.
Tch. I went out of my way to save him, and all he does is have nightmares.
"Looks like you'll be having a different kind of nightmare starting today. Seongtap Guild got wiped out...?"
He'd apparently heard on the way in, asking with a pale face.
"I'm just back from the scene. All guild members, including non-awakener staff, are dead."
"So that's where the thick blood smell was coming from."
Baek Geon-tae rubbed his face with both hands. Se-ra closely observed his trembling hands and bloodless complexion.
"Guess I'm the prime suspect, huh? We had the most recent beef with Seongtap."
"And a solid motive too."
"Damn it, I didn't do it! You think I'm crazy enough to pull that? When I'd obviously be the suspect!"
"Protest all you want; it won't help. Write down where you were and what you were doing from noon yesterday to 10 a.m. today. If your alibi doesn't hold up, you'll be indicted as is."
Baek Geon-tae grumbled and cursed but obediently took the pencil and wrote his alibi on the paper Se-ra handed him.
But he knew it too. This wouldn't fully prove his innocence. That's why his hands were still shaking badly.
"Goddamn bastard. I told them not to get greedy and just report it to the association properly. Because of that jerk, now..."
Se-ra sighed at the sight of him spewing curses and wiping away tears.
"Seriously, why'd you even fight? Sure, a top-grade gate stone isn't cheap, but it's not worth risking your life over."
She understood being pissed that Seongtap tried to siphon it off first, but there were limits.
But as Baek Geon-tae sniffled and scribbled down his alibi, his eyes suddenly widened.
"What? What are you talking about? Gate stone?"
"The item Seongtap tried to sneak out right after finding it in the dungeon. Like I told you last time, the association already confiscated it."
In that instant, Se-ra felt the ominous dread that had been nagging at her feet all morning swell up dramatically.
Baek Geon-tae's eyes shook violently.
"Wha... What the hell are you saying? Gate stone? Who told you that? Seongtap?"
As Se-ra looked at him in confusion, Baek Geon-tae's face drained of even more color, turning ghostly white. A horrific voice leaked from his trembling lips.
"Crazy, insane bastard! Even with greed, how could he... create the worst possible situation...!"
"Guild Master Baek Geon-tae? Calm down! Guild Master!"
Baek Geon-tae grabbed Se-ra's arm. His vein-popping grip was so desperate she couldn't shake it off. He shouted with a face full of terror.
"We have to find who killed those Seongtap bastards fast! If we don't, something huge is gonna happen! Now I get why they were killed!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Explain it so I can understand!"
"What we found in the dungeon wasn't some damn gate stone. It was a special itema special item! It was the Key!"
Se-ra's face turned ashen at Baek Geon-tae's desperate cry.
She now perfectly understood why that ominous feeling had kept flickering at her feet and behind her back all morning.
There are countless items in the world. From those dropped by slain monsters to byproducts inside dungeons, ways to obtain them vary wildly.
But the prefix "special" is exceedingly rare. They're not acquired through fixed methods, and their appearance rate is minuscule.
The item "Lock" was one such special item.
Its ability: completely seal any one gateexcluding labyrinth dungeonsso no monsters can escape.
Unrestricted by dungeon rank, the Lock is called both special and essential. Even a Rank-1 dungeon that L-rank hunters can't contain can be sealed with a Lock.
Does that mean a gate locked by a Lock can never be opened again?
No.
If you have the other special item treated as a set with it, the "Key," it can be reopened.
'And the Key is managed even more specially than the Lock.'
If the Lock can close any gate, the Key can open any Lock. In other words, with its whereabouts unknown now, it wasn't an exaggeration to say every locked gate was in danger.
And the problem was, there was one such locked gate in Korea.
The first Rank-2 dungeon to appear in Korea, the worst and most vicious dungeon that had sent countless awakeners to their deaths.
The very place where Se-ra's mother had failed to clear and died. Cheorwon Dungeon.