The MNL Guild's Desperation
"Why are our clearing records like this lately?"
Lee Choon-bok, the Guild Master of Juvis—currently ranked 3rd in the nation—frowned as he flipped through the performance report. The number of uncleared gates cleared this month was exactly '0'. To quickly ascend to the number one spot in the national guild rankings, he needed to scrape up everything that came out of those uncleared gates. But to have a record of zero? What was this...
"Um, lately, there haven't been any uncleared gates appearing at all."
"What kind of bullshit is that? No uncleared gates? Does that even make sense?"
Gates were an irresistible phenomenon; they could neither be avoided nor blocked.
"To be precise, the Hunter Management Department is currently monopolizing all of them."
"Pwahahaha! Are you preparing for a comedy audition or something? Why are you spouting such creative nonsense?"
It had been a long time since the Hunter Management Department was left with nothing but bottom-tier hunters. Sure, there were a few decent ones, but that didn't mean they were capable of clearing uncleared gates.
"By any chance, do you know Hunter Cheon Yooshin?"
"...Cheon Yooshin? That name sounds familiar. Ah! That Sudden Gate guy? Why him?"
"Cheon Yooshin has joined the Hunter Management Department."
"...? Is my hearing failing me now? Why do I keep hearing such absurd things?"
"It’s the truth. He’s become a member of the department and is currently clearing every single uncleared gate."
"Ha... Why on earth would that guy crawl in there? If he came to our guild, I’d pay him ten times more. Anyway, never mind that. Does he really have that kind of ability?"
"Yes. It’s certain. We’ve even confirmed that he recently cleared three D-rank gates."
"Damn it! This is a disaster."
The uncleared gates that everyone used to share fairly were now being concentrated in the Hunter Management Department... This wasn't something he could just sit back and watch. If he wasn't careful, he'd be left with nothing but the scraps of already-cleared gates. It meant his guild's revenue would plummet, and it was a situation that could even lead to his own hunters defecting.
'This is serious.'
Frowning and lost in thought, Lee Choon-bok suddenly picked up his phone as if something had occurred to him. Then.
"Hello... How have you been? This is Lee Choon-bok, Guild Master of Juvis. I apologize for reaching out after such a long time."
A smile spread across Lee Choon-bok's face as he listened to the voice on the other end.
"Hahahaha. Of course. I’ll treat you to a fancy dinner this evening. I’ll explain the details then. Yes, yes. Take care! Loyalty!"
After hanging up, Lee Choon-bok spoke to his secretary.
"Hey, prepare two apple boxes."
"With 50,000 won bills?"
"Are you crazy? Do you think money grows on trees? Fill them with 10,000 won bills."
"Understood, Guild Master."
This wasn't happening only at the Juvis Guild. As the hearing approached, private guilds sensitive to their interests began working behind the scenes, utilizing every connection and media outlet they had to undermine Cheon Yooshin and the Hunter Management Department.
[Mana has been sealed.]
The inside of the car turned chaotic in an instant. As death loomed directly before them, human instinct exploded. The screams of his mother and Cheon Jin-ah tore through the air.
"Y-Yooshin!"
"O-Oppa!"
They had no one to rely on but him. If so, he had to respond. Sleep. He lightly put them to sleep as they trembled in terror. Yooshin stared at the oncoming dump truck with cold eyes. It was a fact that the car he was riding in would be crushed flat in a moment. However, neither Yooshin nor Imp felt any fear. Something like this was nothing.
Yooshin opened the car door that had somehow stopped working and walked toward the dump truck, step by step. The black sedan that had appeared alongside the dump truck was already parked in the distance. It was likely there to observe the situation.
"What the hell are you people?"
Yooshin's face turned as cold as ice. This was a family trip for the first time in 400 years. Yooshin was extremely curious about who would dare to ruin such a trip.
The dump truck drew closer and closer. The moment the massive hunk of metal was about to crush him, he threw a punch, his fist already wreathed in black haze.
KWA-A-A-ANG!
The moment Yooshin's fist collided with the dump truck, the sound of metal buckling echoed out. The front of the truck crumpled, and it came to a dead stop.
Yooshin glanced at the driver, who had already become a corpse, and walked toward the black sedan. Meanwhile, the men in the black sedan—specifically, the hunters belonging to the MNL Guild—had looks of panic on their faces.
"Fuck, what is that guy? No. Did that thing even work properly?"
What they had fired at the car Cheon Yooshin was riding in just moments ago was none other than a Magic Sealing Stone. A Magic Sealing Stone completely seals the mana that is the source of a hunter's power. It turns a superhuman back into an ordinary human. After that, they were supposed to crush Cheon Yooshin with the dump truck.
"W-Why didn't it work?"
"I don't know, fuck! Just turn the car around! Before we get caught! Hurry!" shouted the man who appeared to be the leader.
"O-Okay!"
The hunter in the driver's seat regained his senses and spun the wheel. The tires let out a sharp screech as the car began to make a high-speed U-turn.
"Phew! Fuck. Was the Magic Sealing Stone a knockoff?"
The man, who had glanced at Cheon Yooshin receding into the distance through the side mirror, let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his tension. At that moment, Yooshin's reflection in the mirror blurred and then vanished.
"Wha..."
THUD!
Before he could even finish his sentence, the car body shook violently, and the roof caved inward.
"W-What is this!"
"Fuck! He climbed on top!"
His words were true. Cheon Yooshin had fallen from the sky like a meteorite and landed on the roof of the car.
SKREEEEEE!
The car screeched to a halt, leaving skid marks on the road. But as if ignoring the laws of inertia, Yooshin's body stood tall on the car's roof. And they were able to hear it.
"Did you think you could get away so easily? After daring to touch me... no, my family?"
A voice, as cold and gloomy as that of a grim reaper, pierced the air and seeped into the car. Cold terror flowed down the spines of the hunters inside. Just as someone swallowed hard, the car roof was ripped clean off.
The hunters inside the car launched their attacks. They knew well that striking first was the truth. But this time, it didn't work. The moment Cheon Yooshin waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, all the magic they had unleashed vanished.
"I-Impossible."
Someone gaped, looking as if they had lost their soul. Cheon Yooshin grinned at the sight.
"Yeah. From now on, impossible things are going to happen."
Shudder!
Three men were now kneeling on the road outside the car. Yooshin asked them, "Affiliation?"
But they remained silent. Cheon Yooshin chuckled at the sight. To them, he looked exactly like a demon.
"Cool. Very cool. Yeah. Keep holding out like that."
At that moment, Yooshin's hand moved. With the sound of something being pierced, blood gushed from one man's chest.
"Aaargh!"
With a short scream, the man whose heart had been pierced collapsed. The faces of the remaining two men turned pale. Yooshin wiped his blood-stained hand on the man's clothes and stood up. The men kneeling beside him groaned. They never imagined he would kill them so immediately.
"Why? You guys are allowed to kill others, but I'm not?"
Yooshin now stood in front of the man next to him. "Are you ready to answer now?"
Just as the man kneeling before Yooshin trembled and was about to open his mouth, "M..."
Suddenly, madness flashed in the eyes of the man at the end.
"You crazy bastard!"
THWACK!
Jeong Yu-chan, the man at the end, threw a punch. In that instant, the head of the man in front of Yooshin burst like a ripe fruit. Red liquid and flesh splattered onto Yooshin's feet. Jeong Yu-chan, who had killed his own comrade in an instant, glared with wild eyes. A bizarre smile crept across his lips.
"You bastard! Do you think I'll talk?! Kill me if you can. See if I say anything. Kikikikik!"
Perhaps he had taken some drugs; his eyes were slightly unfocused. However, far from being flustered, Yooshin smiled instead.
"Interesting."
Yooshin moved in front of him, placed one knee on the ground, and met his gaze. Then, he grabbed the back of his head. "I'll do as you wish."
At that moment, Yooshin's eyes began to dye pitch black. It was a chilling sight, enough to make even the maddened Jeong Yu-chan flinch. But it was already too late to turn back. The terrible Magi dwelling in Yooshin's eyes had already begun to read his brain through Jeong Yu-chan's eyes.
The Demon Eye—the ability to see through everything and read the opponent's thoughts. That power, which even in the Abyss was said to be possessed by only two beings, had manifested here, in the mortal world.
Park Jun-pyo's face flushed red in an instant. "What kind of nonsense is that?"
With his shout, an ashtray flew through the air. Lee Seong-jun instinctively ducked, and the ashtray barely grazed his face.
"Hey. Say it again. What did you say?"
Lee Seong-jun, shoulders hunched, barely managed to open his mouth. "W-We failed."
"Ha! Failed? Failed? Do you even know what that means? You took the Magic Sealing Stone. And yet you failed? Do you expect me to believe this bullshit?"
Magic Sealing Stone. That name alone made it one of the items that shook the black market. It was obvious. It was a terrifying item that turned hunters, who were like superhumans, into ordinary people. And yet, they had failed despite taking that incredible item with them.
"You fucking bastard. You're lying right now, aren't you?"
Naturally, Park Jun-pyo denied it. What was a Magic Sealing Stone? It literally sealed a hunter's abilities. Sealed! Even he, a B-rank, would become an ordinary person if he entered the influence of a Magic Sealing Stone. Who on earth was Cheon Yooshin that he could fail even with the stone?
"You, fucker! You siphoned it off! You siphoned it off. That’s the only way it makes sense! You took it and still couldn't catch him? What a ridiculous story! Give it here! Give me back my Magic Sealing Stone!"
However. "I-It's the truth. It's real. I'm telling you, it's real!"
That was when it happened. Suddenly, the office was engulfed in darkness. With a Kwoong sound, the lights illuminating the interior went out.
"What?! Fuck! Is it a power outage?"
It was when Park Jun-pyo was frowning and spitting out curses. Kuaaaaak! A scream echoed from far away. It was a faint sound that an ordinary person wouldn't have heard, but Park Jun-pyo and Lee Seong-jun, being hunters, could hear it clearly.
"Hey, you too?"
"I-I heard it too."
The screams continued. One, two, three. More and more screams were heard. The sound drew closer and grew louder. It meant that the culprit who was making those screams was gradually coming up to this place, to the office where he was.
Gulp.
"I-I think it's Hunter Cheon Yooshin. We have to escape immediately!" Lee Seong-jun shouted urgently. But Park Jun-pyo's reaction was unexpected.
CRACK!
In an instant, Lee Seong-jun's neck snapped. Park Jun-pyo had snapped his neck just like that. Park Jun-pyo spat on Lee Seong-jun, who had collapsed helplessly to the floor!
"Escape? Me, Park Jun-pyo? Has this idiot lost his mind?"
Madness burned in Park Jun-pyo's eyes. It was better this way. He should have stepped up himself from the beginning. Leaving it to idiots was a stupid thing to do.
The screams continued to draw closer. The final scream now came from the floor directly below. Thump, thump. The sound of footsteps clearly burrowed into Park Jun-pyo's ears. The footsteps stopped beyond the door. It became quiet for a moment. Once the door opened, that guy would be there.
Park Jun-pyo clenched his fists. In the darkness, his fists shimmered with blue energy.
'You arrogant bastard. Today is your memorial day!'