The Real Kang Hanul

Hanul took a sip of coffee and stared at the news screen.

"What's the condition of the injured?"

"Miraculous. They were attacked by monsters, yet none of their lives are in danger. It's as if someone precisely neutralized them without causing fatal harm."

Subtitles continued reporting that the ambassador, hastily returned from mainland China, was overseeing the cleanup.

"The biggest mystery remains the missing monsters. The Association claims they never dispatched anyone?"

"That's correct. By the time nearby Hunters arrived, the situation was already over. Experts believe either an unregistered Hunter or an 'unknown hero' who awakened on the spot is responsible."

At the bottom of the screen, another caption rolled across.

Hanul let out a hollow laugh.

A hero, of all things.

He'd merely had Hatchery send them back to the Demon Realm.

"Typical journalism. Invent a fictional hero to keep the public calm, is that it?"

Soon the screen changed again. An emergency joint announcement from the Korean government and the Hunter Association followed — full, unstinting support for the Chinese embassy recovery. Among the speakers, one man stepped up to the microphone.

"This tragedy is one for which the Korean government also bears responsibility. Our Veteran Guild will take the lead in assisting with the Chinese embassy recovery."

Hanul's brow twitched. He knew that face.

"Oho? Do you know him, Master?"

Hatchery asked, eyes bright with curiosity.

"More or less. Settling a personal grudge. And helping my niece with her ambitions. Looks like I can wrap up both at once."

Hanul left the café. Hatchery tilted her head and trotted after him.

"I'm coming too, Master!"

Gangnam District, Veteran Guild Headquarters.

Guild Leader Park Isaac sat arrogantly in the seat of honor. Flanking him were the elder executives — Managing Director Lee Deukchun and Executive Director Choi Palbong. Men well into their sixties and seventies, yet their eyes still gleamed with a greed that had only grown more ravenous with age.

"Counselor Jang still isn't answering."

Lee Deukchun set down his teacup. Choi Palbong wore a slimy smile.

"Missing, they say. Some other bastards must have gotten to him."

"Well, Counselor Jang always did stick his neck out too far."

"Doesn't matter. Thanks to that, we secured the recovery rights. The ambassador will head back to China soon enough, and whoever the new counselor is, it'll be perfect for showing off."

Park Isaac laughed nastily. A national crisis? To these men, it was an opportunity — traitors who had fattened themselves on Chinese money.

But not everyone in the Veteran Guild was rotten. While the top brass stuffed their own pockets, the people who actually ran the guild's day-to-day operations — Office Manager Seo Jihun and Vice Guild Leader Baek Hayan — were watching.

"…Here we go again."

Seo Jihun muttered under his breath. He was exhausted from cleaning up after the guild leader's family. He hadn't joined the guild for this kind of work. How had it come to this?

Vice Guild Leader Baek Hayan frowned as well.

"Vice Guild Leader Baek, how long do we have to keep doing this? We've already secured the evidence…"

"Reporting it won't do any good. They're all rotten together."

"What about Minister Kang Eunha of the Dungeon Management Department?"

"I know her personally. She's a decent person. But this isn't something she can handle alone."

Baek Hayan's voice was cold. She was the Veteran Guild's actual combat strength — and its restraint. She had tried to draw a line, wary of the cozy relationship with China. But to the elders, a young person's advice was nothing but noise.

"Hey, Vice Guild Leader Baek. What are you and the office manager whispering about over there with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those serious faces?"

"Ah, just some guild operational matters to discuss."

"You're not plotting to push us old men into the back room, are you? Hahaha!"

"Come now — our Baek and Manager Seo would never do such a thing."

Park Isaac blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke.

"More importantly — is the recovery team assembled? Don't forget to quietly lift that secret mana-stone vault from the embassy."

"That would be… a violation of international law. China won't sit still either."

Baek Hayan's reply was stiff. Park Isaac cackled.

"This is why young people are no good. No guts. With Counselor Jang gone, who's going to know?"

"Exactly right. The Guild Leader always knows how to make things exciting."

Lee Deukchun and Choi Palbong chimed in. Baek Hayan clenched her fists. Was there any future left for this guild?

Beep—

Baek Hayan's terminal chimed. An emergency report from the lobby security team.

"An intruder? At Veteran headquarters? Give me a detailed—"

"An intruder? Why are you handling something like that yourself, Vice Guild Leader Baek? Leave that to security."

"Right, right. That's what the underlings are for. We pay them for a reason."

Managing Director Lee Deukchun toyed with his teacup and casually spoke up again.

"By the way, Guild Leader Park. Just a thought. You don't suppose that Kang Hanul came back alive, do you?"

"Huh? Who?"

Executive Director Choi Palbong snickered as he piled on.

"A mole in the Association told me. A returnee showed up a few days ago and got into it with some Chinese. Name was Kang Hanul, or something like that."

Park Isaac snorted in disbelief.

"Must be a namesake. Kang Hanul? That bastard died ages ago."

"True enough. Expert Choi here dissected him personally, didn't he?"

Choi Palbong nodded. In his eyes flickered a glint of madness, as if he were reliving that day.

"Damn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right. I put the scalpel to him myself. Studied him cell by cell, right down to the brain. Even if he came back, he'd be nothing more than a walking corpse."

The classified research from dissecting Kang Hanul's body. Selling those materials to China's Black Dragon Guild had forged a massive connection. Thanks to them, the Veteran Guild had pocketed Chinese backroom money and grown large enough to enter the nation's top ten guilds.

"How many years ago was that already? It's thanks to that we're sitting here now."

Lee Deukchun smiled greedily. Park Isaac refilled his glass and smacked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his lips. Regret was plain on his face.

"All well and good, but leaving him as a vegetable for ten years was a waste."

"What could we do? That older brother of his, Kang Junwu, put up one hell of a fight."

Kang Junwu. Hanul's older brother and Eunha's father. He had stood against the Veteran Guild with everything he had to protect his younger brother's body.

"If it weren't for that bastard, we would've spirited the corpse away within a year."

Park Isaac's eyes flashed with malice. If they'd dealt with Kang Junwu sooner — if they'd sold the research on Kang Hanul's body earlier — the money from China would have been ten years' worth more.

"We should've put Kang Junwu in the ground sooner. That stupid brotherly love cost us profits."

"Still, he died in the end. And thanks to that, we could manipulate that daughter of his, Kang Eunha, however we wanted."

Choi Palbong grinned hideously. To them, Kang Hanul had never been human. He was research material that made money. A slab of meat that sold well.

"Even in death, that Kang Hanul bastard gave us a hell of a gift. Pretty useful for a guy who vanished into the Demon Realm."

That was when it happened.

BANG!

The thick conference room door crumpled like paper.

Thud—thud—

Through the cloud of dust, a man walked in.

It was none other than Hanul. Beside him stood Hatchery, a candy in her mouth, her expression indifferent.

"······!"

The air in the conference room froze solid in an instant. Clink— Park Isaac's glass shattered on the floor. Lee Deukchun and Choi Palbong gaped at a sight they could not believe.

"K-Kang Hanul?"

Choi Palbong's voice twisted pitifully. This was the corpse he had personally dissected and studied. On paper, and by every common sense, a being that should already have been annihilated. That dead man had walked in on his own two feet. Moreover — they had aged thirty years, yet that bastard looked exactly as he had in his youth.

"How…"

"Calm down! He looks exactly like he did when he was young. Someone's trying to fool us with an illusion skill or something."

"They mentioned an intruder earlier. Looks like this one's got some skill."

"And they know a thing or two about us. Could be the Americans."

"Could be Russia or Japan."

"Either way, if they punched through our security to get this far… they were sent here with a purpose."

Lee Deukchun shoved his chair back and stood. Blocking his path was Vice Guild Leader Baek Hayan. No matter how corrupt these old men were, she was still employed as an operations officer. She was a woman who did her job.

"Security team? Is no one there?"

"The ones outside, you mean? Let's check for ourselves."

BANG—

At Kang Hanul's gesture, the entire wall collapsed. The outside came into view.

The scene was catastrophic. Hunters clad as if in iron armor all lay unconscious — yet not a single external wound among them.

"Now that you've confirmed, let's get down to business."

Hanul's pupils rippled grotesquely. Violet flames engulfed his eyes, then settled into pitch-black darkness. A black magic spell.

Hanul's gaze swept over the humans in the room. Deep into their souls. Fragments of filthy desire and memory poured into his mind.

"······."

First — Hanul's gaze settled on Baek Hayan and Seo Jihun.

Hmm?

Unexpected. Their souls were not murky. Rather, the traces of their desperate struggle to hold back the corruption of the upper ranks were clear — restraints who had guarded against the Chinese connection and checked the guild's runaway excesses.

"More useful humans than I expected."

Hanul murmured low. Baek Hayan and Seo Jihun were worth keeping alive.

Snap—!

Hanul flicked his fingers lightly. In an instant, Baek Hayan and Seo Jihun's bodies locked up like stone. Their minds remained clear, but they couldn't so much as twitch a finger. Horror filled the eyes of the two people paralyzed on their feet.

"Well, you two can probably already guess — but let's have a look anyway."

All that remained were the trash. Hanul's gaze turned to Park Isaac, Choi Palbong, and Lee Deukchun. Sure enough, their souls were more filthy and corrupted than sewage — greed, betrayal, and the malice they had directed at his brother, Kang Junwu.

"H-How?!"

"Is it really Kang Hanul?!"

And as Kang Hanul scoured their minds, they in turn glimpsed the traces he had left behind. Thanks to that, they understood.

The man standing before them was the real Kang Hanul.