An SOS Written in Blood

Kim Chan-il was behind the wheel.

He'd joined the company six months ahead of me.

We were racing toward Suwon in a company car, and I asked my senior what the hell was going on.

"Senior Kim. What do you think happened?"

"How should I know? But people are dead. A whole team's wiped out, so something big went down for sure. Maybe a boss popped out of nowhere, or they poked something they shouldn't have and got swarmed. Or else…"

His face was a mess of anxiety and irritation.

People had died. Awoken, no less. This was no ordinary incident.

"Or else what?"

"Who knows. Maybe the Awoken tore each other apart."

It was rare, but violence between Awoken—even outright murder—still made the news from time to time. Every last one of them lived off their own inflated egos, and their bodies were weapons in their own right. Hand a lunatic a gun. No—hand him a rocket launcher. Same difference.

At least nothing like that had happened inside our company since I'd joined. Our Awoken were bottom-feeders; they couldn't afford to pick fights with other hunters. That frustration just got dumped on ordinary people like me instead. Or maybe some of them had been crazy from the start.

"This is worrying."

"Tell me about it. I just hope it isn't our people. We finally get someone up to E-rank and they drop dead—that's a headache for the company too."

"I'm worried about Senior An Sora as well. Miyeon too."

An Sora. You might have guessed from the name—she was the only woman among the F-rank team leaders. She was currently managing the Awoken team that had gone into the Suwon Hwaseong Gate on expedition.

Honestly, I was more worried about Senior An Sora and her teammate Kim Miyeon than about the Awoken themselves.

"They're alive, right?"

"How the hell would I know, you idiot?"

Six months of working under him as an assistant had left their mark. Back then I'd known nothing, so I'd had no choice but to ask about everything—but still. Why the attitude?

We were equals now. Cool Support didn't care about seniority; if you brought in money, that was all that mattered. As a team leader, my standing was no different from his. Of course, I still had zero results to my name, so I barely got a word in at meetings—but even so. Six months ahead of me and he treated me like a complete subordinate.

Patience. Just wait.

My team is going to blow past yours, and then our positions will flip completely.

He stayed irritated the whole way, and I wasn't far behind—but of the two of us, I was still the calmer one. Thinking back a few months, it really was true that people changed. Probably the power I'd gained. Having it seemed to flood me with a strange, unfounded confidence even in situations I couldn't predict.

"We're here. Looks like we can't drive any farther in. Too many cars."

The place we'd arrived at was pure chaos—vehicles of every kind jamming the road. Press and rubberneckers, no doubt. We covered the rest of the distance on foot.

Our destination was already visible in the distance. Suwon Hwaseong, stripped of its role as a tourist attraction ever since the Gate appeared. This was my first time coming here.

Right in front of the ruins the Gate had wrecked stood a small state-owned building. They'd actually spent some money on an E-rank dungeon, it seemed. It was nothing like the F-rank Gate entrances—those were little more than tents propped up on wooden poles. Here, at least, there was a proper structure. Just far too cramped. Fine for ordinary days, maybe, but now it was packed solid with reporters, officials, and gawkers.

"We're from Cool Support."

"Ah, we got the call. This way, please."

We pushed through the crowd at the entrance and made it inside. Getting hit with a barrage of camera flashes for the first time left me flustered. I ignored the reporters' questions the way Senior had told me to, though I couldn't help wondering if my face was about to end up all over the internet. I quickly schooled my expression and shook my head, scolding myself for thinking about something so stupid at a time like this. The grim faces of the officials in front of us finally snapped me back to reality.

"What exactly happened inside? Have the deceased been identified?"

"We don't know either. No one has come out yet."

"Then how do you know the team was wiped out?"

"Well… we found this in front of the Gate this morning."

The middle-aged official set something on the table. What we saw was a very familiar piece of fabric—expensive, specially mana-coated cloth used for pitching tents inside dungeons. He unfolded it. A red stain spread across the surface. Blood, by the look of it.

"This is…"

"Yes. Exactly what you're thinking. Tent canvas. It was lying in front of the Gate, and it seemed to have been sent from inside the dungeon. The blood's soaked through so you can't make it out as is, but under a camera's special filter you can read what's written on it. We're certain this is an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠SOS from inside."

"Based on what? One piece of cloth? Couldn't someone outside have staged this?"

"The stain is definitely blood… and the cloth was being held."

"Held? By a hand?"

"That's right. Along with this cloth, we found a severed arm of unknown identity. It was wearing a C-rank mana-coated suit, of course."

I pieced the picture together in my head. A severed arm sent from beyond the Gate, cloth clenched in its fist. Written on that cloth in blood: SOS—and the news that an entire Awoken team had been wiped out.

Right now, no one inside the dungeon could make it out through the Gate entrance. That was why they'd sent the SOS this way. Was the person who'd lost the arm still alive? If there was a healer, maybe… but I couldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠count on it. The fact that they'd sent a signal while having their arm cut off meant getting out through the Gate alive had already been impossible. Someone—or something—was blocking the Gate from inside. A monster, 99.9 percent chance. And the person who'd begged for rescue with a severed arm was almost certainly already dead.

I pulled Senior aside into a corner.

As non-Awoken, all we could do here was wait for more news.

"What do we do, Senior? This looks serious."

"Contact the company first. No—I'll handle that. You go ask the officials when the rescue team's deploying."

When something like this happened, a rescue team got dispatched. Awoken, naturally—and only the top five percent among them. Usually it was military-affiliated hunters; big corporations sometimes sent their own rescue units too. Those places had money, and plenty of power to match. A company like ours obviously couldn't. All we could do was stamp our feet and hope someone else would handle it. Just like I was doing now.

After hearing the officials out, we waited for the military Awoken rescue team. Looking at their faces, though, something felt off.

"Out of the way! You here to gawk?"

But the first to arrive were someone else entirely. Raised voices erupted at the building entrance, and a moment later several figures pushed inside. Support companies for Awoken, same as us—Shinbaram Corporation and the Diamond Guild.

They entered almost simultaneously, and the interior grew steadily more chaotic. The culprit was the Diamond Guild. As the name suggested, they'd existed since the old days—before the current expedition system, when only Awoken entered dungeons at all. Back then they'd been little more than a small Awoken social club; once the system changed, they'd grown into a massive corporation with hundreds of Awoken and nearly ten thousand ordinary Supporters under them.

And one more thing. It was also the company where my ex, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Shin Haneul, now worked.

"What the hell is all this? Someone get over here and brief me! Hurry up, you slow-ass government bastards!"

Judging by the attitude, he was definitely an Awoken. You could find plenty of ordinary people that rotten if you looked hard enough, but in this situation, in this place, only an Awoken could get away with acting like that. Any civilian who behaved that way would get beaten half to death by a hunter and end up in the hospital—or get buried alive online afterward.

"Hey, Kang Junghyeok! What the hell are you doing?"

Senior hissed at me in a low, urgent voice, but I didn't care. I surprised even myself. Whatever nerve had taken hold of me, I walked straight up to the newly arrived Awoken and offered a handshake—driven by a single purpose: to see his information. I wanted to know just how much of a gap there really was between a corporate Awoken and bottom-feeders like us. How much better Shin Haneul's company supposedly was than ours.

Behind me, Senior called out again, trying to stop me.

Senior. You don't need to worry that much.

I ignored him and faced the man head-on. Even if this bastard tried something, all I had to do was flip the Magic Switch off.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Kang Junghyeok from Cool Support."

The man from the Diamond Guild, still mid-temper, looked at me with an expression that said, Who the hell is this guy? I offered my hand again as if nothing were wrong.

"Who are you?"

"I just told you. Kang Junghyeok from Cool Support. Our company's Awoken are inside that dungeon too. Figured we might share some information, given we're in the same boat."

"Don't waste my time. Get out of the way."

He shoved me in the chest with one big hand. He hadn't used Awoken strength, so I only staggered back a step. In that same motion I casually caught his hand.

"Whoa there."

I made a show of flailing as I was pushed. And just like that, I had his information.

So you're the real deal, huh?

Magic capacity at a full B-rank. He was on a completely different level from the kids on my team. Looking at the info just made me sigh. If a guy like this were on my roster, we'd be milking mid-tier dungeons for all they were worth.

The contact had lasted only a split second, but I was already used to working the ability. In that brief instant I'd even checked his potential.

I snorted after reading the potential.

This guy's strong, sure—but his potential's lower than my kids'?

From what I'd checked, not a single person on my team had a potential score worse than his. So even those bottom-feeders, raised properly, could at least hit this guy's level? I'd thought they were just stupid. Turns out they were lazy on top of it. Plenty of potential, zero effort—no wonder they looked like that.

This man, though. Lee Daeman had worked hard and pushed himself right up against his ceiling. Almost admirable. He'd hit the wall soon enough and stop getting stronger, but hang in there, buddy.

I laughed to myself and walked back to where Senior was standing.

"Doesn't seem like he likes me much."

When I strolled back as if nothing had happened, Senior stared at me in horror and hissed under his breath.

"Hey. Do you have any idea who that is? That guy's an Awoken. A pretty well-known one, too. He's held a seat at the Diamond Guild for nearly five years."

"Is that so? My mistake, then. I thought we were colleagues in the same business. I'll go apologize."

Senior grabbed my arm before I could turn back toward the man. I hadn't actually planned to go. Watching him panic over me, I figured I'd pushed it far enough.

The officials repeated the same story they'd told us to Lee Daeman, and he only got angrier.

"And we're just supposed to stand around? Where the hell is the rescue team? If I'd known it would be like this…"

Lee Daeman was starting to look a little different. Getting that worked up over his company's people—maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

He suddenly made a phone call, and I casually eavesdropped on his end of the conversation.

"Where are you? Yeah? Doesn't matter if you wreck everything—just push through. I'll take responsibility. The company will too."

Hearing only one side made it hard to follow, but it sounded like someone was on their way here. A short while later, a series of crashes started booming from outside, followed by a blaring car horn. Wondering what was going on, I rushed out.

A massive trailer that looked like it belonged to a transport company had arrived, and the cars lining the roadside were half-destroyed. One of them was probably ours.

Shit.

That was when Lee Daeman turned to me and Senior.

"Which of you two is Awoken?"

"We're both on the management side."

"Tch. Fine, whatever. Both of you, get up here."

I couldn't make sense of it. Neither Senior nor I could figure out what he meant for a long moment.

"What are you waiting for? We're going in for a rescue—hurry up and change into the suits!"

"W-we're not Awoken…"

Senior's voice shook as he spoke.

"Your company's people are inside, aren't they? You just gonna leave them there?"

And just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that, Senior and I found ourselves being dragged into the dungeon. With a throng of reporters and onlookers watching from behind, openly refusing wasn't an option. Our own people were inside; I couldn't exactly cut Lee Daeman's magic when he was going in to save them. Surrounded on all sides.

If there was any silver lining, it was this: for the first time in my life, I got to put on an A-rank mana-coated suit. And I got to hold an A-rank mana weapon worth nearly ten billion won.

That was all.