The Clinging Shadow

I wanted to test the skill on that woman I'd forgotten about right away, but I had to hold myself back until we entered the dungeon. I sat cross-legged on the floor, closed my eyes, and worked to calm my excitement. Whenever I closed my eyes, my focus always shifted to Yeonhee. There she was, hugging her pillow in deep sleep. She'd gained excellent skills and abilities, yet the better they became, the more other concerns rose to the surface. It was clear her raw power now far exceeded what she'd possessed in her previous life. But right now Yeonhee felt... lacking in the ability to proactively reshape situations. Since I kept resolving every crisis that appeared, her mental growth seemed sluggish. It would benefit her development if she could take center stage in my absence... I'd thought about this often, but beyond raising her senses, I had no clear solution. Besides, I sometimes wondered if such thoughts were even appropriate for a summoned beast. After all, I existed to support Yeonhee from her side. What was I doing, thinking about leaving her? Still, I had to keep pondering whether a better path existed.

'Yeonhee's level has risen a lot, but the biggest gap between her and the rest of the party is still me... It might be best to let her run dungeons with her colleagues while I train elsewhere.' Efficiency-wise, that was optimal. Yet leaving Yeonhee behind in this unstable world where anything could happen always weighed on me. 'I should help her complete her assigned hidden quest quickly... and if the summon scroll we receive as a reward brings out something stronger than the Bone Dragon, I can look for a different growth method then.'

Of course I had no concrete way to find that method, but if it came down to it, I could simply train inside the Dark Space. Seeing Yeonhee's condition today, waking her again to do anything else seemed unlikely. So I activated Mimicry and scanned for any hostile presences within range of my senses.

Hmm... The closest marker on the minimap is about thirty kilometers away. My movement speed had increased dramatically lately, so if I pushed myself I could cover that distance in thirty minutes. But today that wouldn't be possible. Is she with the same group as the woman who spied on us using shadow abilities last time...?

A bug had latched onto the villa right next door and was watching us. An unknown hunter, most likely part of Ilseom Guild's shadow organization. There's a massive gap between her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the woman from before. Upper C-grade, maybe? So now they're monitoring us with personnel at this level... Seriously. How ridiculous.

I couldn't imagine what they hoped to gain by watching us, but you never knew. They might be preparing something that would inflict enormous damage. The first idea that came to mind was subduing her and forcing an oath. Against an information-gathering hunter, a preemptive strike should make subjugation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠relatively easy. Still, cutting her down immediately feels burdensome... An organization at that level would surely have prepared countermeasures against oaths.

Even if she swore the oath, sending her back alive risked her being investigated about it. Eventually they would realize we'd noticed them. In every sense, an annoying bug had attached itself. We're genuinely exhausted today... It would've been nice if they could have overlooked just today. We can't even pass a single day in peace. Ha...

Crack— Crack—

I toyed with two sharply honed daggers, shifting them between my fingers as I continued thinking. After facing a Great Calamity, something this sloppy feels so light. The weight of their level is pathetically thin. My situation wasn't relaxed enough to waste attention on such trivial things, so it irritated me. With the world falling apart, what were they accomplishing with these pointless actions? Since I'm already connected to Uncle Jung-gil... I don't need to be overly cautious with my body.

I reversed my earlier hesitation. No hunter would stay idle when someone was monitoring them anyway. I activated stealth and leaped outside. In the shadowed area of the neighboring building, I clearly sensed a woman lying flat like a frog, watching us. Her eyes were closed. Even after I transformed into human form she showed no reaction, which meant she lacked the ability to peer inside the house. As expected, sloppy. If her training was this incomplete, the job should go smoothly.

I flew toward the mysterious woman at the highest speed I could manage.

Thanks to Yeonhee, the stat penalty from Mimicry had dropped from fifty to forty. Still, losing forty points across the board didn't feel pleasant. Since my stats have fallen, I'll go all out.

A flash of light burst from the monitoring woman's body, warning her that something was approaching. But my fist was already driving upward into her abdomen.

"Keuk—!"

The woman collapsed, clutching her stomach, and tried to activate some ability. But Depressed Sneaky Drain had inflicted a status ailment, preventing her from manifesting the skill properly. On top of that, she was tightly bound by Flame Chains and paralyzed. Coughing up a mouthful of blood from the excruciating pain, she stared at me—who had revealed myself at the moment of impact—with eyes wide in shock.

"What are you looking at?"

"Ugh...?!"

The moment she saw my human face, her pupils shook violently. Who the hell is this man? Wasn't Lee Yeonhee supposed to live alone? Her expression practically screamed those thoughts. For someone immersed in this world, her face showed surprisingly rich emotion. She's not cut out for this line of work. Isn't a poker face the basics?

Thud— Thud—!

I applied Depressed and Paralysis a few more times to keep her disoriented, then slung the collapsed woman over my shoulder and headed for the church. The ruined church still carried its gloomy atmosphere. From a few days earlier when Yeonhee had absorbed the lizard unit here, Lizard No. 1's footprints remained clearly visible on the floor. I released the Flame Chains the instant we arrived, but the woman was still writhing from the burning pain. I grabbed a fistful of her hair.

"Ugh!"

"There's only one way for you to survive. Form... an oath."

"... You think I'd ever do that?!"

"Then you'll have to die."

"Ugh..."

Despite her brave words, her heart was pounding wildly. Her skin was deathly pale and her frame extremely small—someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠might easily mistake her for an elementary-schooler. But I was a monstrous skeleton. Delicate or not, I wouldn't hesitate to use violence.

Thud! Thud—!

"Keuk— Cough—!"

After beating her for a while, I asked again.

"I don't kill people outright. I can slice your flesh bit by bit, heal you, and keep you in agony for years."

"......Ugh..."

"Or..."

I roughly tore open her tight top.

"Kyaaak!"

Breasts far more voluminous than her petite frame spilled out. She hurriedly covered her exposed skin, lips pressed tight. They were trembling so badly that one more strike would surely make her burst into tears.

"Hmph. Not a bad reaction. You understand perfectly that causing you pain... isn't limited to the method I just mentioned, right?"

I'd spoken to frighten her, but I caught myself talking with surprising fluency. Oh... It feels like I've grown somehow. I never imagined being able to speak so smoothly would bring this much joy. I paused my intimidation for a moment and simply savored the feeling. But my trembling must have heightened her terror, because she soon began sobbing as if tears would spill any second.

"Hic..."

I seized her hair again and forced her to meet my eyes.

"..."

"..."

Seeing my emotionless gaze, she must have truly believed I would do terrible things. Her underwear began to darken with urine. Her reaction exceeded what I'd expected, and I found myself slightly flustered. ......Why is her condition this bad?

It was painfully obvious they had rushed an inexperienced agent into the field because they lacked proper manpower. Whether this was orchestrated by Hyeon Jung-seop, Hyeon Jung-gil's brother, or someone else, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it showed exactly how loosely they viewed us.

"You must have family, or at least one precious person. If you refuse the oath... you'll never see them again. Or rather, they'll see you in a state beyond recovery."

"Huuu..."

"All you have to do is form the oath. Then answer a few of my questions with your eyes."

"......"

She chewed her lip in thought, then gave a tiny nod. I pulled the oath document from my subspace, added several conditions, and handed it over. Do not report information about us beyond ordinary levels. Never speak of me to anyone. After I wrote those clauses, the woman signed it immediately. She clearly wanted to escape this terrifying situation as fast as possible. She's a total rookie, isn't she?

I barely suppressed a hollow laugh and began questioning her.

"If my question is correct, blink once."

"Yes..."

Her spirit was thoroughly broken. She'd coughed up plenty of blood, but since I hadn't touched her face I felt no guilt whatsoever.

"You belong to the underground organization Hyeon Jung-seop has hidden. Correct?"

Flinch—!

Her eyes widened and she couldn't blink at all. The oaths were clashing. Of course. They would have bound her not to speak about the organization. The God of Oaths wielded tremendous power, but it wasn't omnipotent. My condition had been eye blinks. The current oath focused only on that and couldn't completely restrain her heartbeat or physical movements. Someone with no information would yield little from interrogation, but I was different. From her reaction alone, I could tell she was connected to Hyeon Jung-seop.

"Did Hyeon Jung-seop order it himself?"

"......"

"Not him. Then who? Hmm... I've heard the instructors in that guild are out of their minds. Could it be them?"

"......"

"Oh— Not them either?"

That left only the second-generation members of the Hyeon family. But why them? "Hyeon Il-hwan, Hyeon I-hwan."

"......"

"Not them. Then Hyeon Tae-seok, Hyeon Jeong-seok, Hyeon Woo-seok?"

Twitch—

"...... No way. It can't be Hyeon Woo-seok, right?"

Tremble—

"Huh? Really? Hyeon Woo-seok? Why?"

My voice rose in disbelief. Hyeon Woo-seok was a swordsman whose talent rivaled Hyeon Il-hwan, the greatest prodigy of Hyeon Jung-gil. Among Hyeon Jung-seop's sons, I remembered him as having a relatively upright character. So why?

"Hmm..."

I turned the matter over in my mind. No matter how I looked at it, the only offense we'd given the Ilseom Guild was the Heo Min-sol incident.

"Heo Min-sol... Heo Min-sol..."

"......"

"Don't tell me Hyeon Woo-seok is actually her lover?"

The woman averted her eyes completely and stared fixedly at the floor.

"Haha, this is absurd... What could Hyeon Woo-seok possibly lack that he'd choose a woman like Heo Min-sol? She's somewhat attractive, but a man of his standing could have picked any number of better women."

Having heard countless stories of Heo Min-sol's wickedness from Baek A-rin, I couldn't understand it at all.

"Anyway, thanks to you my questions are answered. So it's the tiresome tale of holding a grudge because Heo Min-sol lost her limbs and was thrown in prison."

"T-that's...!"

"That's not it? Hmm... It has to be. But the fact they're only monitoring suggests they haven't chosen a precise target yet. Am I right?"

"......"

The woman watched me assemble the puzzle so quickly in such a short time, her face frozen in terror. The moment I bluntly asked about Hyeon Jung-seop's shadow organization, the outcome had already been decided.