The Shadow of White Masks
It was exactly one week ago.
The headquarters of the Hyeonmu Guild. The top floor of a towering building that could easily be mistaken for a massive entertainment agency. Inside a room that only the guild leader, Yun Mija, was permitted to enter, someone was already waiting.
“It is an honor to meet you, Hunter Yun Mija.”
“⋯Hah.”
A sudden visit. No, calling it a visit would be laughable. It was an outright intrusion. Yet the intruder bowed deeply at the waist with impeccable courtesy, as if they were not an enemy at all.
The sheer audacity of it made Yun Mija, who had just stepped into the room, genuinely consider for a moment—
But her gaze soon fell on the intruder’s attire. A pure white uniform. A white mask covering their face. It was the kind of outfit one might wear if they truly believed themselves to be a ray of light in this broken world ravaged by gender imbalance and dungeon breaks.
And there was only one organization in the entire world that dressed like that.
“The Reproductive Resource Management Agency?”
“Correct.”
The International Reproductive Resource Management Agency. Commonly known as the Repro Agency. The largest international organization on the planet, with roots spread across every nation, responsible for managing male reproductive resources and genetic information.
One of their agents had infiltrated the office of the guild leader of the Hyeonmu Guild—one of Korea’s four major guilds—without anyone noticing.
Well, they may not wage wars, but when it comes to sheer scale, they’re worse than most countries.
Even so, this was still bizarre. The Repro Agency was an organization that moved without mercy or tears when it came to male genetics and reproductive resources. They managed men, controlled genetic data, and influenced childbirth policies. There was no reason for those white masks to pick the lock on the Hyeonmu Guild leader’s office and come looking for a hunter.
Yun Mija took a step forward. Though she was smiling, her footsteps were heavy. As she approached with an aura that suggested she could crush the annoying fly before her with a mere flick of her finger, the Repro Agency employee kept their head bowed and spoke.
“Hunter Yun Mija. From now on, we would like the Hyeonmu Guild to absorb the Baekho Guild.”
“⋯What?”
With those words, the employee pulled out a single document envelope from their coat. They had shown up unannounced, and instead of proposing a negotiation or a check between the four major guilds, they were essentially declaring war—demanding that one side devour the other.
No matter how powerful the Repro Agency was as the world’s largest international body, they should not possess this kind of authority.
At first, Yun Mija considered beating this person half to death and tossing them in front of the Repro Agency’s Korean branch. But the moment she checked the contents of the envelope, her expression hardened.
“What the… is this?”
Inside were the current internal records of the Baekho Guild. The guild that had toyed with others through information warfare and boasted the most airtight security in all of Korea. Their bare face. Their weaknesses. And above all, the current condition of Han Yura, who was known to have withdrawn from politics eight years ago after solo-clearing an A-class dungeon, devoting herself entirely to nurturing her successor.
Spinal and pelvic penetration. High-concentration dungeon toxin infiltration. Infection around the spine. Pelvic tissue necrosis. And eight years of essentially incurable long-term treatment.
All of it was written in far too much detail.
“I knew she had been injured that day, but… it was this bad?”
Yun Mija unconsciously tightened her grip on the documents.
How on earth… had they extracted internal data so easily from an information warfare guild that ranked among the top ten in Asia?
A chill ran down her spine. But before that, a question arose.
“Why bring something like this to me?”
“⋯⋯.”
“With information of this caliber, you could have taken it to Geumseong instead of Hyeonmu and received a much higher price.”
Though the current era made outright guild wars difficult, the four major guilds did not simply keep each other in check. If a clear opening appeared, the story changed completely. They possessed the power to tear into that gap, swallow the opposing force, and reduce Korea’s four major guilds to three without anyone batting an eye.
Among the current four, the most powerful by any measure was Geumseong. Capital. Military strength. Influence. And even the symbolic value of controlling Gangnam, the most desirable land in Korea. In every aspect, Geumseong was a far more blatant predator than Hyeonmu.
So why had this information come to her?
“First of all, does the Repro Agency have a reason to want Baekho’s downfall?”
Yun Mija’s voice grew low. As previously mentioned, the Repro Agency was an international organization that no nation dared touch when it came to male-related matters. In other words, they had no direct connection to the power struggles between hunter guilds. At least on the surface.
Then the employee answered.
“It’s simple. In exchange for our assistance in Hyeonmu Guild’s absorption of Baekho, Hunter Yun Mija, you will provide Hyeonmu’s image and connections.”
“Image and connections?”
“Yes. Securing male resources with superior genetic traits. That is the very reason for our Repro Agency’s existence.”
Aha.
Now the puzzle pieces clicked into place.
The Hyeonmu Guild. Put nicely, it was a guild that always performed above average. Put badly, it was a guild that lacked the decisive “one punch” compared to the other three. It didn’t possess Geumseong’s overwhelming capital, Baekho’s meticulous information network and intelligence web, nor Cheongryong’s raw combat power that could break through anything.
In terms of pure force alone, it was actually the smallest of the four major guilds.
Yet the reason Hyeonmu had remained one of Korea’s four pillars until now was tradition and image.
Korea’s oldest hunter guild. The modern successor of a martial family that had existed since the Joseon dynasty. Unlike the countless guilds that had collapsed over the long years, it was an organization that had survived to the end and adapted itself to the modern era.
Hyeonmu knew how to sell its tradition. Hunters wearing modified hanbok. The symbolic presence that never missed national events. Countless connections scattered across broadcasting, advertising, the entertainment industry, and the political world. A significant portion of hunter-related industries that lived off image had Hyeonmu’s touch, and that was exactly what the Repro Agency wanted.
“We require the Hyeonmu Guild’s assistance for this Repro Agency promotional campaign and male registration drive.”
The employee’s voice did not waver in the slightest.
“To be honest, our Repro Agency’s image has become rather firmly fixed on the negative side, wouldn’t you agree?”
The survival of humanity. Protection of males. Preservation of superior genes. The justifications the Repro Agency put forward were always respectable. But reality was different. Especially in developed countries sensitive to men’s rights, the gaze directed at the Repro Agency could only be icy.
They may claim to provide a lifetime pension, but in the end, it was an institution that systematically managed and extracted male reproductive resources. Physical condition, genetic information, reproductive capability, mating compatibility—everything was quantified and ranked.
As a result, the average life expectancy of registered men was in their forties. Under the banner of humanity’s survival, it was no different from legally exploiting men.
Because of that, the number of men in Korea who were reluctant to register with the Repro Agency had been slowly increasing each year. They could not use the same forceful methods employed by some branches in developing countries. If they tried that in Korea, the country would be overturned by men’s rights issues.
That left only one option. If force was impossible, they had to make men feel safe.
Famous celebrities. Broadcasters. Popular star hunters with favorable public images. The guild that housed the most of them was Hyeonmu. If the guild leader of Hyeonmu herself, Yun Mija, became the face of the Repro Agency, even frightened men would lower their guard just a little. And the Repro Agency would be able to secure them more easily.
Yun Mija looked down at the document envelope and laughed softly.
“So in the end, you’re telling me to play the clown.”
“Your wording is harsh, but not entirely incorrect.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Unfortunately, we plan to hand this information over to Geumseong or Cheongryong.”
“Either way, you intend to destroy Baekho?”
“Yes.”
The answer was far too calm.
“Both guilds will pay a price comparable to what we are offering you, even if not quite equal to Hunter Yun Mija. The reason we came to you first is… a form of ‘mercy,’ if you will.”
“Mercy?”
“Yes. As far as we are aware, Hunter Yun Mija, you have a close relationship with Hunter Han Yura, who currently lies in the underground medical ward of the Baekho Guild, as well as with her bloodline.”
Crack!
It happened in an instant. Yun Mija’s hand seized the Repro Agency employee by the throat and lifted them into the air. A choked sound came from beneath the white mask. Yet the employee did not struggle. It was as if they had calculated this exact reaction.
“If you kill me… the chance to save Baekho will disappear as well.”
“Save?”
Yun Mija’s eyes narrowed.
“You bastards are calling it ‘saving’ when one major guild is devoured by another?”
“But wouldn’t it be better than being absorbed by Geumseong or Cheongryong?”
“⋯⋯.”
“At the very least, if it is Hyeonmu, you would not completely trample Hunter Han Yura and Hunter Han Sora.”
More strength flowed into Yun Mija’s hand.
These people. Just how much did they know?
If she followed her heart, she would storm the Repro Agency’s Korean branch right now and flip everything from top to bottom. No, if possible, she wanted to uproot the very foundation of this sinister international organization from the country entirely.
It had been that way for a long time. Right after the war, when Korea was the poorest nation in the world. Behind the hands that came under the name of relief, handing out chocolate and powdered milk, those white masks had taken innocent young boys away one by one every night.
Even as the world and the times changed, their essence had not changed much. They simply packaged it now with more refined words and cleaner documents.
But.
This could not be solved with emotion alone. If this information was true, Baekho had already effectively lost its power as one of the four major guilds.
Above all, Baekho had many enemies. Since it was a guild that had held the weaknesses of countless people through information warfare and shaken them, once it collapsed, the hyenas who had been grinding their teeth would come running to tear apart the mother and daughter.
If it were Geumseong, they would swallow the force. If it were Cheongryong, blood would be spilled. But if it were Hyeonmu… at least if it were her, she could avoid completely trampling the mother and daughter.
Yun Mija slowly released her hand.
Thud.
The Repro Agency employee fell to the floor. Even while clutching their throat and coughing, they never let go of the document envelope until the end.
“We will give you one month.”
“⋯Understood.”
That day, Yun Mija made her choice.
To save Baekho. To prevent the balance of Korea’s four major guilds from collapsing in a single moment. And to prevent Han Yura’s daughter from being torn apart by other beasts. She decided to take on the role of the villain herself.