Butterfly Effect
"Whew… I'm wiped."
Seong-min came down after finishing the morning's work, cracked open a bottle, and drained the cold water in long, grateful gulps.
Spring was supposedly on its way, but the air still carried a bite. Even so, he kept reaching for ice water and chilled sports drinks — the work simply burned that hard. The more stamina a job demanded, the more water the body wanted. Of course, Seong-min never changed his pace. He always worked at the same steady tempo.
"Hyung, did you see the news?"
"What about it?"
"They're saying the Gangrim Guild got completely wrecked. The whole fourth floor is a disaster, and the guild master's office plus a ton of members got hit by some unknown attacker."
"That so?"
"Yeah! People are losing their minds over it!"
"Why the fuss?"
"Public opinion on Awakeners is already pretty bad, and then a guild with over a hundred and fifty of them gets wiped out overnight by some mystery assailant? Of course it's blowing up!"
Seong-min already knew all of it. He knew perfectly well that the Gangrim Guild had been taken down by an unseen force — and that the whole thing was trending across social media. How could he not? He was the one who had done it.
"Who the hell would pull something like that?"
"Could've been a fight between Awakeners."
"Yeah, people are saying that too — that it was some clash between Awakeners. But nothing about the attacker has come out, so that's where the mystery is. Something that big should leave a trail, right? And there's nothing!"
"Fair enough."
That was when Mr. Kim cut in with a booming laugh.
"Hahaha…! Min-hyeok, what are you fretting over that for? Awakeners are the type who live to show off whatever power they've got."
"Mr. Kim's right. Before that National Safety Group or whatever showed up, incidents like this were everywhere. They even had to send in the military."
"Exactly!"
"These days, nothing like that should surprise anyone."
It was true. Ever since Awakeners had appeared, those kinds of brawls had been common. A fight between ordinary people and a fight between Awakeners were never going to look the same. The National Safety Group's founding had cut down on the chaos, but things still happened.
"So… that's just how it is, huh?"
Min-hyeok scratched the back of his head.
"Let the Awakeners sort out Awakener business. We just do our jobs right!"
"How are you supposed to survive this rough world if you're worrying about all that? The cops will investigate and handle it."
"We just take care of our own work, kid."
"Heh… got it."
Min-hyeok answered with an easy, open smile at the older men's words.
They're not wrong.
Seong-min agreed completely. If that bastard Chang-su hadn't come swaggering into the gym, he never would have gotten involved. He'd dealt with Chang-su, but leaving the Gangrim Guild standing would only have invited more headaches later — so he'd gone in and torn the place apart.
Being an Awakener guild, the people guarding the building hadn't been ordinary civilians. Not that it had mattered to Seong-min in the slightest. Between Chang-su and the rest of the Awakeners he'd actually faced…
All it did was show me how strong I really am.
Through the underlings Chang-su had dragged along, Seong-min had gathered intel on the Gangrim Guild — including the fact that their guild master, Kim Dong-woong, had been an action leader for the Baekho-pa. Those two underlings had been Baekho-pa alumni themselves. Inside a guild of over a hundred and fifty, Kim Dong-woong had supposedly been the strongest by far.
Facing him had given Seong-min a rough sense of what Awakeners could do.
Of course, they don't represent every Awakener out there.
There were power gaps among Awakeners too. Kim Dong-woong had definitely been stronger than Chang-su — that much was fact. But that was as far as it went. No matter how strong the man had been, he had never been a match for Seong-min.
With that settled, they ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and went back to the afternoon jobs. By the time both remaining jobs were finished, it was well past six in the evening.
"All right, everyone. Good work today."
They collected the day's pay from Team Leader Jeong and broke up for the night.
"Go on home and rest…"
Seong-min was about to send Min-hyeok off and head to the gym to grind experience and keep training when the younger man stopped him.
"Hyung, hang on a second."
"What is it?"
"Are you free this Sunday?"
"Sunday?"
"Yeah."
"Nothing important planned. Why?"
"It's my noona's birthday on Sunday."
"A-reum noona's birthday?"
Seong-min's face registered genuine surprise.
"Can you come that day?"
"Can I come? Of course I'm going."
"I knew it…!"
"There's nothing to 'know.' That's just obvious."
Seong-min let out a quiet sigh. A-reum noona was no longer just some older sister he happened to know. They had long since crossed the line from friends into something that could only be called a relationship. Remembering her birthday was the bare minimum.
"I overdid it a little, huh…?"
"Yeah, you did."
"Heh…"
After parting ways with Min-hyeok, Seong-min headed straight for the gym. Now that he understood what the Escape Skill could do, he intended to stockpile at least three charges no matter what. And he planned to keep pouring points into Martial Power, building his strength higher. In a situation like this, raising Martial Power wasn't optional — it was essential.
"So? How did it go?"
A man in his late thirties with a sports cut asked the question.
"Between the CCTV and the police side of things… finding the attacker looks impossible."
Bang!
At those words, the man slammed his fist down on the desk. His name was Jeon Jong-ho — widely known as the number two of the Gangrim Guild. He hadn't been in the building when it happened; he'd rushed over the moment he heard the news, only to lose his mind at the scale of the damage. He had never imagined the Gangrim Guild could be ruined this thoroughly.
"Does that make any goddamn sense? That many of our people get hit, Big Brother ends up like that, and we still don't know who pulled this shit?! And you're telling me to just accept that, you bastard…!"
Jeon Jong-ho's rage was entirely justified. Damage this severe should have left some trace of the people responsible — and yet there was nothing.
"Where did they say Chang-su got hit?"
"At a gym."
"Anything off over there?"
"The police investigated that angle first, but nothing turned up on that side either."
It defied belief. Attackers had clearly existed, yet their identities remained a complete blank. How was that even possible? Every single survivor acted as if their memories had been scrubbed clean. At first Jeon had assumed they were lying. They weren't. It was as if the entire group had come down with collective amnesia — they genuinely could not remember.
"What about the Jangseung Guild?"
"No unusual movement from them so far."
The Jangseung Guild operated out of Yeongdeungpo, Geumcheon, and Dongjak-gu, with a membership that also topped a hundred and thirty. Fewer numbers than the Gangrim Guild, maybe — but still a force no one could ignore.
The times had changed. After Awakeners appeared and the National Safety Group cleaned up the worst of the chaos, Awakeners had begun forming guilds the way they already did in Europe and the United States. That left the old underworld organizations in each district in an awkward position. They hadn't truly collided yet, but the moment those guilds started reaching into the nightlife and entertainment businesses, a major clash would be inevitable.
Of course, the central associations and the gangs weren't sitting still either. Awakeners existed among their own ranks as well, and they were scrambling hard to scout anyone who had awakened. When an organization member awakened, the treatment that followed was generous. Left unchecked, the situation was only going to get uglier.
For now, though, the Awakeners still hadn't touched the gangs' traditional territories. The Gangrim Guild was no exception — Kim Dong-woong himself had come up as a Baekho-pa action leader. The whole country was living through a period of pure confusion.
"Maybe those bastards made a move. They've been watching us, waiting for an opening."
If you really thought about who would dare pull something like this, the Jangseung Guild was basically the only candidate. They were the only Awakener force of comparable size operating in the area.
"Keep a close eye on their movements. Even if it wasn't them, they might try something while we're reeling."
"Understood."
Once the subordinate withdrew and Jeon Jong-ho was alone, he stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it.
What the hell is even going on…
Becoming an Awakener and then landing in a mess like this left him furious and, at the same time, completely at a loss. He had worked without rest through the weekend and right up to today, hunting for any lead on the attacker. Nothing had surfaced.
It's the Jangseung Guild. If it isn't that cunning bastard Jang Seung-tae, there's no one else who would hit us…!
No matter how he turned it over, the only people capable of walking into a guild of over a hundred and fifty and doing this much damage were the Jangseung Guild.
That was when it happened. The man who had just left came bursting back through the door in a panic.
"You crazy bastard! Don't you know how to knock?! Did I teach you to throw doors open like that?!"
Jeon had come up through the organizations himself; he was sensitive about manners.
"H-Hyung-nim… it's not that… he's here!"
"Who's got you this worked up?"
"J-Jang Seung-tae, sir!"
"What?!"
At the name Jang Seung-tae, Jeon Jong-ho's face twisted.