The Suspicious Man
The office of Park Seoyun, located on the top floor of the Taesan Building in Seoul, was bathed in the soft glow of multiple monitors. The guild master sat at her desk, fingers flying across the keyboard as she replayed the CCTV footage from the alley where everything had happened. Her eyes narrowed with growing disbelief at the movements she watched unfold in high definition.
“This is not student-level movement…” she muttered, replaying the sequence for the third time. “It’s impossible to replicate even by accident.”
Every detail screamed excellence. The posture was textbook perfect, the strike landed with pinpoint accuracy on the weakest point, the force balanced so flawlessly it looked effortless, and the reflexes responded like pure muscle memory. Yet the body behind those actions was anything but a warrior’s. Kang Seojun’s frame was grotesque, a living warning of debuffs that had no business producing such feats.
His hunched back, the twisted limbs, the swollen, necrotic skin—none of it should have allowed him to move like that. And he had done it alone, felling Park Sinhu and every last one of his followers without a single ally. It made no sense. Park Seoyun let out a sharp breath, rubbing her side where the lingering bruise from yesterday’s punch still throbbed.
That afternoon, she had been about to walk into the middle of the fight when something stopped her. Park Sinhu was the type to summon people just to beat them bloody for sport—routine, almost comforting in its predictability. They had been in the same age group, never truly close, but duty forced her to the test site to pick up her little brother. When she arrived, Kang Seojun and Park Sinhu were already locked in combat. She had watched from afar, deciding it was none of her business.
Then the unthinkable happened. Park Sinhu, who had never lost a fight against anyone her age, crumpled under one of Kang Seojun’s punches. The delinquents charged in after him, only to end up crawling on the ground themselves. The younger brother kept getting back up, swinging wildly, but the outcome never changed. When he finally pulled out a knife, Park Seoyun had no choice but to step in.
She took the blow meant for her brother. The sharp pain had been worth it—protecting family was instinctive, no matter how much she disliked the boy. A day later and the bruise still ached. As an A-rank hunter with superior recovery, she should have been healed by now. Yet here she was, gritting her teeth at the reminder.
“He’s not student-level,” she told herself again, voice tight. “If he could inflict that much damage, he should at least hold A-rank stats or higher.”
But the records from the entrance exam were brutally honest. Only willpower had been tested. The rest were… embarrassing. Strength 1, F-rank. And the intelligence score? Eight points? It made no sense with the body he carried.
“Why is he hiding his strength?” she whispered, staring at the grainy photo of Kang Seojun on her screen. The man was an absolute mystery—past records that led nowhere, no trace of the orphanage he supposedly came from, no employment history, no health checkups. It looked like a fake identity at first glance.
Her secretary had come up empty despite the request. Even minor details were missing. The man simply didn’t exist in any database she could access. Not even the cheap fake IDs used by criminals held up under government mana-print and iris scans. Whoever he was, he had to have some background. Otherwise, how could someone with that body produce power that defied logic?
Park Seoyun finally buried her face in her hands and let out a soft sob. “This is getting ridiculous…”
Then the noise started outside—loud thuds, shouts, and the unmistakable sound of furniture breaking. It was moving closer, coming straight toward her office. She sighed deeply, already bracing herself.
“Park Seoyun!”
The door slammed open so hard the frame rattled. Park Sinhu stormed in, face flushed and eyes wild, reeking of cigarette smoke and barely contained rage.
“Haa… shit…” he muttered, wiping blood from his nose with a gauze pad. The makeshift bandage looked pathetic against his perfect features.
Park Seoyun’s patience snapped. “You have the nerve to come here after what happened?” She shot to her feet, voice sharp. “I saved your life yesterday and this is how you repay me? I should have let the knife do its work—you’re a disgrace to the family name!”
Park Sinhu’s expression hardened. “What did you say?”
“I’m talking about the fact that I pulled you out of that alley. If I hadn’t intervened, you’d be a vegetable right now. Pathetic.”
“Don’t you dare—”
“Don’t you dare talk back to me, you useless brat!” Park Seoyun slammed her fist on the desk. “I’m the guild master of Taesan Guild! You should be grateful I even showed up!”
She shoved the dossier she had prepared directly into his chest. The pages fluttered open to the section that made Park Sinhu’s smile freeze.
“What is this?” he demanded, flipping through the printed reports. His eyes widened for a split second.
“Fake identity. Suspected of entering the academy under false pretenses. Report it immediately and have the police run a proper investigation. I already told my contacts to start asking questions.”
Park Sinhu’s lips curled into a dangerous grin. He leaned forward, voice low and venomous. “If you’re that concerned about him, then you’re an idiot. Stay away from that freak. He’s not worth the trouble.”
“Excuse me?” Park Seoyun’s eyes blazed. “Who do you think I’m on your side of?”
“Obviously me! Don’t you dare meddle!”
The next second, her fist cracked against the edge of the desk. Wood splintered. The expensive solid-wood piece, bought after a dungeon drop, now sat in two broken halves on the floor. Park Seoyun didn’t care. She jabbed a finger at Park Sinhu’s chest. “Think before you act, you oversized idiot! The world has bigger organizations than our family. Learn to read the room or you’ll be left behind when I become the next heir!”
Park Sinhu blinked, then let out a bitter laugh. “The same sister who failed to get the Fruit of the Sun because she always plays trash and wastes every opportunity? That’s rich.”
She ignored the jab, already turning toward the window with her back to him. “Get out. And don’t come back until you learn how to act like a real grandson of the Taesan Group.”
Park Sinhu picked up the dossier and tossed it at her feet. “You’re always the same. That’s why you’ll never get the fruit either. Stop clinging to that weird guy and focus on your real responsibilities.”
His footsteps echoed as he headed for the elevator, not even glancing back at the angry hunter who was now shouting after him. The guards outside rushed to stop him, but he brushed them off like flies. Park Seoyun’s voice faded into the distance as the elevator doors closed.
Alone again, Park Sinhu ignored the “No Smoking” sign and lit a cigarette. He took a long, satisfying drag, then pulled out his phone. A single call connected immediately.
“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
Park Sinhu exhaled smoke in a perfect ring. “I found something interesting. Kang Seojun. Suspected fake identity—send the report to the academy and put pressure on my police connections. I want him gone.”
A thin smile spread across his face as he savored the thought of the small, pathetic man who had dared to stand in his way. The board of directors would love this. And once Kang Seojun was out of the picture, the path to the Fruit of the Sun—and everything else—would finally be clear.