An Ominous Premonition

Scrolling through the Veteran Hunter Gallery, the reception was far better than I had anticipated. Thanks to the hunter who caught Kim Eunji on camera, news of the devil's subjugation was spreading like wildfire across the community.

"They should be making a move any minute now, right?"

Watching the posts refresh in real time, the corners of my mouth curved into an amused smirk. Whoever was pulling strings behind the scenes against Saebit Guild would now be forced to show their hand.

Ring, ring.

Right on cue, my phone began to vibrate.

The caller ID displayed Park Jihyuk, the team leader from the Argyle Guild whom I had assisted during the Gate frenzy.

"Hello?"

"This is Team Leader Park Jihyuk. Am I speaking with Mr. Lee Siwoo?"

"Yes, speaking."

After we moved the unconscious hunters to the rear during the incident, we had traded contact information so I could follow up on a few lingering questions.

"You mentioned earlier that there was something you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes. I recently started working at Saebit Guild, you see."

"Ah..."

A troubled sigh slipped across the line, as if he instantly understood what I was getting at. Rather than pressing him, I waited in patient silence. Less than a minute later, he spoke again.

"You saved my life. If not for Saebit Guild's timely support, I would be a dead man right now. For that reason... I'll tell you."

"Thank you."

It was not a response to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠take for granted. Even after being saved, many would feign ignorance to protect themselves. By my assessment, Park Jihyuk was a hunter who still possessed a shred of conscience.

"The Sword Saint issued direct orders," he admitted in a hushed tone. "We were instructed under no circumstances to offer assistance to Saebit Guild."

"The Sword Saint... as in the S-rank hunter?"

"Yes. Beyond that, I'm afraid I don't know much else..."

We exchanged a few more questions and answers, but there were no further meaningful leads. After ending the call, I took a moment to organize my thoughts.

South Korea's undisputed apex and the president of the Hunter Association was the Fist King, Kang Taejun. But the Sword Saint preceded him by half a generation—a relic from the dawn of the apocalypse who had survived through the darkest years.

I had never imagined that old fossil would be the one sabotaging us.

"Guess I'll have to pay him a visit and have a word later."

There was no urgent need to confront him right this second. Now that Kim Eunji had slain a devil, requests and commissions would come flooding in regardless. What mattered right now was something far more immediate.

"The well-being of our dear guildmaster, who boldly declared she'd handle all the administrative work herself."

She had dispatched us merely to contain a Gate frenzy, never dreaming we would rewrite human history in the process.

Ring, ring.

Just then, another call lit up my screen. It was Lee Miseon.

"Hello?"

"M-Mr. Siwoo! What in the world is happening right now?!"

"Well, things sort of ended up this way."

I hadn't planned for it to blow up quite like this either, but there was no use dwelling on it. The deed was already done.

"I can't possibly handle all of this alone! Please, you have to help me!!"

"...I'll be right there."

Calls from the Hunter Association, rival major guilds, the Korean government, and various overseas agencies would be pouring in by the thousands. For a rookie guildmaster managing a small outfit, weathering that storm alone was out of the question.

"Thank you! Truly, thank you so much!! H-How long will it take you to get here?"

Listening to her frantic, desperate voice, I finished getting dressed for work.

"It's not far from my place, so about thirty minutes?"

"Understood! Please take your time, but get here as fast as humanly possible!"

"Haha. Right away."

Take your time, but hurry. Smiling at the quintessential corporate paradox that every salaried worker had heard at least once, I stepped out the front door. Unlike my suffocating days at Deungcheon Guild, working here was strangely exhilarating.

Turns out, this job isn't so bad after all.

Not long ago, I had felt as though I were merely dragging out a life devoid of purpose. Now, things were finally starting to change.

"Seolyeon. It's probably just an off day, so don't beat yourself up over it. Go home and rest."

Standing tall at a hundred and eighty centimeters with cleanly trimmed hair, the man looked more like an executive from a major conglomerate or an investment banker than a hunter. He gazed down at Kim Seolyeon with a gentle, pitying expression.

"...I'm sorry."

As Seolyeon bowed her head in apology, he shook his head flusteredly, waving off her remorse.

"What is there to be sorry for? If anything, it's our fault for relying so heavily on you all this time. Don't worry about today, just head home and get some proper rest."

"Yes, Guildmaster."

Hearing the comforting cadence of Jang Taegyeong, the master of Deungcheon Guild, the tension in Seolyeon's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"I'll do better next time."

"Of course you will. Don't let today weigh on you."

Bowing once more, Kim Seolyeon returned to her home. After taking a long shower, she collapsed onto her bed. It was a luxurious penthouse she could never have even dreamed of as a child—adorned with extravagant interior decor, state-of-the-art amenities, and a personal secretary stationed in the first-floor lobby twenty-four hours a day exclusively for her convenience.

If someone had told her younger self that this would be her daily life, would she have believed it?

"Heh."

Not a chance. Aside from having a reasonably pretty face, she had been an utterly unremarkable girl with mediocre grades and no distinct talents. For such a dreamlike reality to fall into her lap was practically absurd. Back then, the most grand future she could have envisioned was still living happily with her childhood boyfriend.

Lee Siwoo.

The selfish man who had deceived her, leeching off her coattails for an entire decade. At first, Seolyeon had been completely blind to it. But every fox leaves a trail, and eventually, the truth catches up.

As she grew into an adult, navigating the cutthroat corporate landscape of the hunter industry and acquiring real-world savvy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the veil had been lifted.

What did he even do that made him any different from an ordinary office clerk?

At best, he knew her habits and preferences well enough to arrange logistics a little faster than someone else might have. That was the entirety of the work Lee Siwoo performed at Deungcheon Guild. Yet, under the guise of an active hunter, he drew an inflated salary and exploited his status as her boyfriend behind the scenes to secure countless personal perks and kickbacks.

The one who had opened her eyes to that reality was Kwon Dohyeok.

"Haaah..."

She had never imagined Siwoo could be that kind of person. To think he had fraudulently obtained an unawakened hunter license to pocket illicit subsidies, parading their relationship to intercept lucrative rights. She hadn't simply taken an outside hunter's word for it, either; she wasn't so naive as to blindly trust claims from a rival guild member. She had verified it personally with Deungcheon Guild's own Hunter Support Team.

Team Leader Kim Changhoon, who had joined the guild around the same time as her, had laid out the sordid details in full. Complete with documented evidence.

"Why did you have to do it?"

Had he simply been honest and handled the paperwork quietly, she would have turned a blind eye. If he had failed to awaken, she could have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brushed off his past claims as the foolish, childish lies of their youth. But the Lee Siwoo she thought she knew wasn't supposed to be like that. Or so she had believed.

Though now, all of that was in the past.

"...It doesn't matter anymore."

Everything related to Lee Siwoo had been settled cleanly. Their paths would never cross again.

Pushing thoughts of her ex-boyfriend aside, Seolyeon stared into the empty air above her bed and parted her lips.

"Status Window."

It was a skill composition utterly unthinkable for an A-rank hunter. Her highest-grade skill was barely C-rank. It made no sense whatsoever.

Originally, that entry should have read: Freezing (C) → White Night Ice Palace (Unmeasurable Rank).

I couldn't even remember the incantation.

In the past, whenever she resolved to deploy White Night Ice Palace, the mystical verses flowed into her consciousness naturally, like second nature. But during the raid just hours ago, her mind had gone entirely blank. All she had managed to do was mechanically recite the syllables she had memorized through sheer repetition over ten long years.

"Why?!"

In a decade of dungeon raids, this had never happened once. Why now, all of a sudden? Even the medical specialists at the hunter hospital couldn't find a single anomaly in her mana pathways.

Just as frustration began to boil over in her chest—

Chime.

Her smartphone screen lit up. The caller notification flashed: Dohyeok (♥).

It was Kwon Dohyeok, the S-rank ace of Asterion Guild, which was slated to merge with Deungcheon Guild in the near future.

"Ah..."

A wave of relief washed over her. Coming from an S-rank hunter of Kwon Dohyeok's caliber, his reassurance carried immense weight. Unlike her incompetent ex, he was well-connected, immensely capable, and thoroughly professional. Her heart fluttered slightly in her chest.

I knew it.

Her judgment had been right all along. Cutting ties with dead weight and aligning herself with a man who eclipsed Lee Siwoo in every conceivable metric was the only logical choice.

Feeling far more composed after sending a reply, Seolyeon opened the Veteran Hunter Gallery. To the public, she had to maintain her pristine image as a brilliant, exceptionally gifted, and beautiful elite hunter. Because she could never drop that mask in front of others, venting her stress under the cloak of internet anonymity had become her sole indulgence.

"Wait, what?"

Her eyes caught on an inflammatory thread near the top of the board.

"Tsk."

Clicking into the thread, she had left a comment earlier, only to receive an utterly absurd reply claiming that the guildmaster had been badmouthing her behind her back.

"As if that would ever happen."

Ever since their initial meeting ten years ago, Jang Taegyeong had consistently treated her with genuine warmth and unwavering support. There was no way a man like that would speak ill of her in secret.

"Standards must really be slipping if trash like this can get verified as veteran hunters."

Judging from the post, the author seemed to be one of the low-rank mercenary hunters hired as cannon fodder support for her raid. After firing off a scathing, paragraphs-long rebuttal, Seolyeon returned to the main feed to browse other posts.

Then, another headline froze her in her tracks.

"This forum really has gone to the dogs."

To gain access to the Veteran Hunter Gallery, one needed at least five consecutive years of active service and a minimum rank of C. Because the verification criteria were so stringent, fabricated rumors and clickbait were usually filtered out almost immediately. Yet this blatantly fake post boasted over a hundred upvotes.

"Even my personal best was only seventy-three...!"

Back when she set a world record by holding off a devil single-handedly without suffering any civilian casualties, she had posed as an anonymous insider to leak the news, earning seventy-three recommendations. Yet some piece of blatant rage-bait was sitting at over a hundred? Gnashing her teeth in irritation, Seolyeon clicked the post.

"There's no way this is real."

Chewing nervously on her thumbnail, Kim Seolyeon pressed play on the attached video.

The moment that hauntingly familiar opening phrase echoed through her speakers, Seolyeon's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

The phrasing differed from her own incantation, but the underlying rhythm and structure were unmistakably identical. And then came the cataclysmic surge of mana—an explosive, suffocating atmospheric pressure that mirrored the manifestation of her own White Night Ice Palace in every single way.

"What... is this...?"

Her hands trembling, Seolyeon read through the post's text once more. And there, etched clearly across the screen, was a name she knew all too well.

"Lee Siwoo...?"

Why was her ex-boyfriend's name written here?

A chill seized her chest, and an ominous, terrifying premonition began to gnaw at the back of her mind.