The Bus That Has Departed Never Returns
This was the Baekryong Guild, inside the guild master’s office.
Ring, ring, ring~
“What is it?”
Baekryong Guild Master Cha Seong-woo had barely settled in after arriving early when the call from the secretary’s office came through.
— Guild Master. Director Lee Won-hyung from the Awakening Management Bureau has arrived in person and requests a meeting. How should we proceed?
“Director Lee?”
Cha Seong-woo couldn’t hide his bewilderment. They had made no appointment, nor were they close enough to meet without one. For the director to show up unannounced at the crack of dawn was even more out of character.
“Escort him in. And prepare two cups of tea.”
“Understood.”
A short while later, Lee Won-hyung entered the office with the secretary. Cha Seong-woo rose to greet him warmly.
“Welcome, Director.”
“Hahaha! It’s been a while, Guild Master. First time since the regular guild council three months ago, isn’t it?”
“Has it really been that long already? I’ve been so buried in work lately that the days just blur together. Please, sit down.”
After exchanging a firm handshake, Cha Seong-woo offered his guest a seat and settled into his own chair.
“To what do we owe the honor of such a busy man visiting our guild at this hour?”
“You’re right. I won’t waste your time. Let’s get straight to the point. Guild Master, have you received any report on the incident that occurred last night?”
Lee Won-hyung slid a tablet PC across the desk. The device contained a neatly organized case file and attached video evidence.
“You bastard… Are you seriously declaring the entire Baekryong Guild your enemy?!”
“…My apologies. I haven’t received any report yet. If this incident truly occurred, our guild will launch an immediate internal investigation, identify the perpetrator, and report them to the Management Bureau.”
“So the Baekryong Guild has no involvement whatsoever in the attempted murder of operative Lee Dong-hoon? That is what you’re saying, correct? If you know anything, I need complete honesty. The victim survived, thank goodness, but the circumstances cannot rule out murder, murder cover-up, or evidence tampering by Baekryong Guild members.”
“I am both grateful and deeply sorry that the Director himself would come all the way to our guild over such an unsavory matter. However, I assure you nothing of the sort happened. Even if it had, we cannot possibly control every personal grudge. We, too, hope for the victim’s swift recovery and the perpetrator’s appropriate punishment.”
“……I see. Understood.”
Lee Won-hyung stood and offered his hand.
“Thank you for your time, Guild Master. We will proceed on the assumption that this matter has no connection to the Baekryong Guild and handle it entirely from the Bureau’s side. We will also move quickly to identify the impersonator who used your guild’s name in that footage. We have no intention of letting it tarnish the Baekryong Guild’s reputation any further.”
At the director’s meaningful smile, Cha Seong-woo could only respond with a mechanical smile of his own, his face an impassive mask.
“Not at all. If anything, I’m the one who should thank you and the Bureau agents working so hard on our behalf. Please contact me if you need anything for the investigation. We will cooperate fully.”
After the handshake, heavy with unspoken emotions, Lee Won-hyung departed. The moment the door closed, Cha Seong-woo pulled out his phone and dialed.
“It’s me. Find out who caused that mess last night, which team they belong to, and report back immediately.”
A short time later.
“You called for me, Guild Master!”
Jeong Sang-woo, leader of Team 17, stood rigidly before the desk, face tight with tension.
Cha Seong-woo continued signing documents without so much as a glance upward.
“Last night, Lee Dong-hoon of Team 17 caused a major incident. Why did I have to learn about it from the Director of the Awakening Management Bureau instead of my own people?”
“I-I’m sorry! I truly had no idea until just now. I swear it!”
Jeong Sang-woo felt genuinely wronged. It should have been a simple matter of handling an E-class and burying the incident. Vice-leader Jo Seung-je could have taken care of it without breaking a sweat. That was why he had slept soundly, come to work relaxed, and now found himself standing here.
“……”
The scratching of the fountain pen across paper suddenly stopped. Jeong Sang-woo swallowed hard.
Flame Emperor Cha Seong-woo.
Though he had stepped back from the front lines to shoulder the responsibilities of guild master, every Korean knew the name Flame Emperor. An SSS-class fire sorcerer, he still occasionally led a special team into the Tower. Those who had accompanied him spoke of a literal inferno unfolding wherever his gaze fell. The oppressive heat seemed to radiate from his crimson eyes, and right now that same pressure was burning the air out of Jeong Sang-woo’s lungs.
“Let’s hear the circumstances first. Team Leader, do you know why Lee Dong-hoon did what he did?”
“Well……”
“If words fail you, perhaps this footage will refresh your memory?”
“Th-that’s…!”
Jeong Sang-woo’s eyes bulged. The tablet now displayed the exact confrontation between Lee Dong-hoon and Ahn Humin in the Flame Anvil Guild lobby.
“The investigator I assigned just sent this over. I thought it was a trivial scuffle. Clearly I was mistaken.”
“The truth is… the person Lee Dong-hoon grabbed in that video was one of our guild’s former candidates.”
“One of ours?”
“Yes. His name is Ahn Humin. He graduated from last year’s training program with designation number 122.”
“Number 122… I remember him. He swept first place in every quarter of close-quarters combat training. I personally presented his commendation. I had high hopes for that one. Why didn’t he join us?”
“He awakened as E-class and was discharged immediately.”
“I see. What a shame……”
Cha Seong-woo’s voice trailed off. When Jeong Sang-woo looked up in confusion, the guild master’s eyes suddenly widened. He replayed the copy of the video Lee Won-hyung had given him.
After watching it again, Cha Seong-woo’s eyes opened so wide they looked ready to split.
“Guild Master? Is something wrong…?”
Without a word, Cha Seong-woo slid his own tablet across the desk. Jeong Sang-woo leaned in, studying the two figures in the dim footage, and his own eyes flew wide in shock.
“What…?!”
“To me, the man who caused trouble during the day and the one who clashed at night appear to be the exact same person. What do your eyes tell you, Team Leader Jeong?”
“Th-this can’t be right? Lee Dong-hoon clearly told me the kid was discharged on the spot for being E-class! I swear it!”
“So the E-class Ahn Humin who was kicked out immediately proceeded to toy with an S-class Level 15 like a child, then shattered every limb in his body?”
“That’s… How… How did this happen?”
As Jeong Sang-woo broke into a cold sweat, Cha Seong-woo asked in a voice like frozen steel.
“Who did you assign to watch Lee Dong-hoon?”
“V-Vice-leader Jo Seung-je… The plan was to cover up any accident first and report to you afterward……”
“I see. So that’s why you fought so hard to take in a problem child every other team had rejected. As long as the numbers looked good, any mess could be swept under the rug using the guild’s influence. Is that it?”
“G-Guild Master, that’s not—”
“Which means there are likely more incidents involving Lee Dong-hoon that we don’t know about yet. The guild’s internal affairs division will launch a full investigation. Should any further problems surface, both Lee Dong-hoon and you, Team Leader Jeong, will be held accountable.”
By the time the words finished, every drop of color had drained from Jeong Sang-woo’s face.
“Go home for today. Do not return until I give further instructions. You may submit a resignation letter to the secretary’s office at any time.”
“I was wrong, Guild Master! I was blinded by performance targets! I should have reported everything immediately. I never imagined he was this far beyond control……”
Jeong Sang-woo dropped to his knees, hands clasped desperately, but—
Beep.
“Clean this up.”
Cha Seong-woo’s cold dismissal was all the response he received.
“Please, just this once! Guild Master! Guild Master!!”
Tears and snot streamed down Jeong Sang-woo’s face as he clung to the floor, but Cha Seong-woo never even looked at him. In the end, staff members had to drag him away like a dog.
Afterward, the chief secretary was summoned.
“You called, Guild Master?”
“Bring me the full training records of trainee number 122 from this year’s graduating class, along with the original awakening chamber footage.”
Once Cha Seong-woo reviewed Ahn Humin’s files and the awakening video, only one conclusion remained.
It really is E-class…
Final Measured Rank:E-class
Awakening Stone Resonance:Clear White Light
Training Evaluation:No Errors Detected
The final rank listed was E-class. The footage clearly showed the Awakening Stone radiating pure white light. There had been no mistake in the training center’s judgment.
Then how was any of this possible?
An E-class at Level 99 could not defeat an S-class at Level 10. Reaching Level 99 as an E-class was nearly impossible to begin with, and even if achieved, the growth was so marginal the hunter would be only marginally stronger than a normal person. An S-class at Level 10, however, could handle dozens of grown men without breaking a sweat.
Yet in this video, the E-class Ahn Humin had not merely beaten an S-class Level 15 operative named Lee Dong-hoon—he had toyed with him before dismantling every limb.
Even to Cha Seong-woo’s eyes, those movements were impossible for any E-class to replicate.
Could the footage be fake? The possibility seemed low.
If it were fabricated, Director Lee would not have come in person to deliver a warning. That visit was his way of telling us the Bureau would quietly handle Lee Dong-hoon and Jo Seung-je, and that we were not to touch Ahn Humin.
Lee Won-hyung was a good man who respected people regardless of rank, but he was not one to waste time on trivial matters. He would not have overlooked an injustice against an E-class, yet he would not have moved personally either.
Today, however, he had come himself and drawn a clear line: the Bureau would close the case, and the Baekryong Guild was to stay out of it.
In other words, the E-class hunter named Ahn Humin was someone important enough to make even an SSS-class Bureau Director take personal action.
Cha Seong-woo picked up the phone once more.
“It’s me. I need every available detail on Ahn Humin. The sooner the better.”
Perhaps we have already let an unimaginable talent slip through our fingers without ever realizing what we held.
An uncontrollable anxiety and dark premonition crawled slowly up Cha Seong-woo’s spine.
They had expelled him from the guild without knowing he was EX-class.