The Man in the Operating Room
After the Four Major Korean Guilds’ dungeons began appearing simultaneously across the world, humanity established a new standard for talent: the Hunter. Superhumans who could adapt to the power leaking from dungeons and fight monsters head-on. In this era, Hunters were far more than simple combat personnel. They were a nation’s defense, its economy, and its diplomatic trump card. The number of quality Hunters a country possessed was enough to decide its entire global standing. It was said that in the past, nations had thrown human rights out the window in their scramble for the genes of men, who carried a higher chance of producing exceptional Hunters. That was how precious a Hunter was. One strong Hunter could rewrite the defensive line of a small city, and a single A-class Hunter could change the atmosphere at an international negotiation table.
In 21st-century South Korea, the peninsula was experiencing an era with the greatest concentration of Hunter talent in its history. The start had been late. Compared to the great powers, its dungeon response systems and Hunter training programs had lagged behind. Yet through its characteristic compressed growth, educational fervor, and insane infrastructure investment, Korea had claimed the final seat among the world’s advanced Hunter nations.
K-Hunters. Overseas media no longer sounded awkward using the term.
Even in that Korea, B-class Hunters were special. On the Hunter ranking scale, B-class belonged to the upper tier. Out of roughly one hundred thousand registered Hunters domestically, those at B-class or above numbered only in the few thousand. A small or mid-sized guild would treat them as guild master or core force material. Even in major guilds they were classified as promising rookies, next-generation executive candidates, and the central powerhouses of main dungeon raid teams.
Such a B-class Hunter had been rushed in with critical injuries. That fact alone was enough to flip the hospital—and the affiliated guild—on its head.
“Is it true a B-class Hunter was brought here?”
“Ah, yes! The patient is currently in surgery!”
“You must save them. That child is not someone who should die in a place like this.”
One voice pressed down on the air of the first-floor lobby like a heavy weight.
The woman who stepped into the lobby of Daehan Central University Hospital was clearly no ordinary guardian. Flame-bright red hair. The high-tied locks swayed with every step, and her matching red eyes froze everyone in place with a single sweep across the room. A coat embroidered with a red dragon rested on her shoulders.
Jang Songhui.
Vice President of the Geumseong Guild, one of Korea’s four major guilds. The guild boasted the most glamorous infrastructure and capital in all of Gangnam. She was also an A-class Hunter.
The moment she appeared, the lobby erupted in murmurs.
“Isn’t that Jang Songhui?”
“The Geumseong Guild’s vice president?”
“I saw her on TV… She’s a real A-class Hunter!”
Even the patients lifted their heads as if they had forgotten their pain. A few guardians reached for their phones only to be stopped by hospital staff and quickly lowered their hands.
But Jang Songhui paid the stares no mind. The team rushed in from this incident had once been a rookie raid party she had personally mentored. Among them, the B-class Hunter was a next-generation executive candidate the Geumseong Guild had been watching closely. An irreplaceable talent they could not afford to lose here.
“What’s the current condition?”
At the curt question the hospital staff member swallowed hard.
“Well… the patient has entered the operating room, but the outlook isn’t good. There appear to be overlapping chest and abdominal injuries, and there were signs of shock during transport.”
“Can they be saved?”
“That’s…”
The staff trailed off. That reaction alone told her everything. Jang Songhui’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Speak plainly.”
“I’m sorry. It would be best… not to hold out too much hope.”
“What?”
“Doctor Na Hayeong has entered the operating room. And… Student Jihoo went in with her…”
“Jihoo?”
The moment she repeated the name, confusion flickered across her face. It was unfamiliar. She had never heard it among the guild’s medical personnel or in the Hunter Trauma Center of Daehan Central University Hospital. Moreover, it sounded suspiciously like a man’s name.
“Who is this Jihoo?”
“Well…”
The staff hesitated, then answered.
“It’s Student Seo Jihoo.”
“A student?”
“Yes. A male medical student currently in his first year at Daehan Central Medical University.”
“…A man?”
A man. A medical student. A first-year, at that.
…Was this a joke?
Jang Songhui thought so for a split second. But the other party was an employee of Daehan Central University Hospital. No matter how insane they might be, they would never have the nerve to make such a tasteless joke to the vice president of one of the Four Major Guilds. Which meant every word she had just heard was true.
“So you’re telling me…”
Her voice sank to a dangerous low.
“A male medical student is currently operating on our guild’s B-class Hunter?”
“Y-yes… However, Doctor Na Hayeong is also inside in a supervisory capacity.”
“Supervisory?”
Her eyebrow twitched. A human life was not a game. Moreover, if it was a man—the most precious and protected gender in this world. Their numbers were extremely low, and most lived their entire lives under the protection of the Birth Rate Management Bureau. They were the type far removed from dangerous scenes, unaccustomed to the smell of blood or the sound of screams.
Of course she did not deny that they were lovable and precious. But that was their only “function.”
‘There’s a saying that dying by a man’s hand is a good death, but… that’s nothing but crazy nonsense made up by ancestors who never once held a man’s hand in their lives!’
Boom.
For an instant the air on the first floor was crushed flat. Red mana flared above her shoulders like rising flames. The marble floor trembled faintly, and the electronic board above the reception desk flickered and shook. She looked ready to destroy anything in reach.
But—
“Eek?!”
“Mom…!”
“Oh my god…”
Patients and guardians were cowering in fear. Only then did Jang Songhui grit her teeth. This was a hospital. Not a battlefield she could trample in a fit of rage.
“Huu…”
She barely managed to pull the boiling mana back in. Yet the fire in her eyes refused to die.
“Are all of you out of your minds?”
Her voice toward the hospital staff was low and razor-sharp.
“You let a man into the operating room? Into an OR where a Hunter trauma patient is lying?”
“T-that’s… because Student Jihoo insisted he would definitely save the patient…”
“Definitely?”
The corner of Jang Songhui’s mouth twisted.
“Since when did a man’s promise amount to anything more than a cute whine asking to be told ‘I love you’ again tomorrow?”
“E-even so, Doctor Na Hayeong—”
“If our guild member suffers any harm because of this incident.”
Her red eyes bored straight through the staff member.
“The Geumseong Guild will file an official complaint against Daehan Central University Hospital. Medical accident investigation, Hunter management liability review, a personal meeting with the hospital director—everything.”
“………”
“You opened that operating room prepared to face at least that much, correct?”
The lobby’s air grew heavy once again. It was then that a relaxed voice cut through the tension.
“Ohohoho.”
An unfittingly leisurely laugh drifted from behind them.
“Hunter Jang Songhui. For the vice president of the illustrious Geumseong Guild to release such a murderous aura in a hospital lobby full of patients.”
The fan snapped shut with a crisp tap.
“As a fellow member of the Four Major Guilds, I worry it might damage your dignity.”
“You’re… Han Sora?”
The woman standing there wore an eccentric outfit. A modernized take on an old-fashioned hanbok, layered with a white-fur-trimmed coat. Her hair cascaded in thick, drill-like curls reminiscent of Western nobility. An extremely mismatched combination. Yet strangely, even that dissonance looked like deliberate style on her.
Han Sora.
One of the highest-ranking executives of the Baekho Guild, which dominated the Gangseo region among Seoul’s four major guilds. She covered her mouth with the edge of her fan, laughing with open delight.
“What is the Baekho Guild doing here?”
“My, is this hospital the private property of the Geumseong Guild? One of our own guild members was also injured in the accident. I merely stopped by to pay a visit and check on the situation.”
“Check on the situation?”
Jang Songhui’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Was it you?”
“Pardon?”
“The mastermind behind this incident.”
The laughter stopped instantly. The lobby’s air turned ice-cold once more. Jang Songhui glared at her rival. A D-class dungeon. It should have been a low-risk dungeon where a party led by a B-class Hunter would never be torn apart like this. Yet four E-class, two D-class, and one B-class had all been carried in injured. It was far too suspicious to be coincidence, and Han Sora had arrived on the scene far too quickly—as if she had been waiting for the news from the very beginning.
“Han Sora.”
Jang Songhui took one step closer.
“I asked whether the Baekho Guild had a hand in this.”
At those words Han Sora’s smile vanished completely. She folded her fan and slowly walked forward until the two women stood nearly nose to nose.
“Can you take responsibility for those words, Hunter Jang Songhui?”
“……”
“Anyone listening would think our Baekho Guild had pushed the Geumseong Guild’s promising rookie party into a trap.”
“I haven’t even specified which incident I’m referring to yet.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Han Sora tilted her head slightly. Her gaze pointed past the hospital’s glass doors. Outside the lobby, reporters had already gathered in droves. Cameras. Microphones. Guild-specialized internet broadcasters. Reporters from Hunter industry magazines. Hyenas that had caught the scent of an exclusive story.
Specifically, those who would latch onto the news that the Geumseong Guild—one of the nation’s top four—might lose a precious B-class talent inside a mere D-class dungeon.
“The reporters are already swarming out there,” Han Sora said with a fresh smile. “If you carelessly let words like that slip in front of them, it could escalate into an inter-guild conflict. We’re not living in the era of the War on Crime anymore.”
The tip of her fan lightly indicated Jang Songhui’s shoulder.
“This country has advanced in many fields besides Hunters. You wouldn’t want to show the world the sight of the Four Major Guilds brawling in a hospital lobby, would you?”
“……”
“Please maintain your dignity. The name of Geumseong is too valuable to tarnish, isn’t it?”
One side wore a relaxed smile. The other pressed her rage all the way to the floor. The red dragon of Geumseong and the white fox of Baekho. Just before the two clashed in the middle of the hospital—
“Hunter Jang Songhui!”
A member of the medical staff came sprinting from the end of the corridor, panting heavily. Every eye in the lobby snapped toward him.
“The surgery… just ended.”
Jang Songhui’s pupils trembled. Han Sora’s fan froze in mid-air. After a brief silence, the medical staff member caught his breath and spoke.
“The result was… a success!”
“!!”
“What… did you just say?”