The Shadow in the Basement
Ha Dojin stepped into the descending elevator. B1, B2, B3….
After descending fifteen floors underground, the elevator stopped, its doors sliding open with a soft hiss.
“Where is this?”
“This is where you’ll train.”
In response to Sohee’s question, one of Chairman Gu Jinmo’s secretaries—Seo Na-yeon—answered calmly.
Sohee stepped inside, glancing at the training facilities below before turning back to her.
“And what about Uncle?”
“Uncle?”
“Ha Dojin-ssi.”
“Ah… Ha Dojin-ssi. He said he wouldn’t be reachable for a while. He had an important matter to attend to.”
“Ah… I see.”
A faint disappointment flickered across Sohee’s face at Na-yeon’s reply.
Na-yeon offered a gentle smile and gave Sohee’s shoulder a light pat.
“Ha Dojin-ssi entrusted you to me. He asked me to make you strong.”
“He did?”
“I wasn’t told the full details… but he mentioned that my power will be needed soon for something very important.”
“My power?”
“Yes.”
Na-yeon nodded firmly.
Although Sohee’s current level was still low, she had received an SR-grade blessing.
“Your potential is far greater than that of ordinary hunters. Train hard here. It will be tough—I won’t lie—but if it becomes unbearable, tell me. I’ll listen and help.”
Sohee’s expression brightened slightly, and she nodded vigorously.
“I’ll give it everything. I can handle any training.”
Because she had faced so much already, her sixteen-year-old face held an unusual maturity.
Na-yeon placed a hand lightly on her shoulder.
“Then let’s begin.”
“Yes!”
Sohee’s training started right away.***
“Here?”
Hak Gye-hyun looked up at the small villa and muttered to himself.
This was the spot where Red Capital’s trail had finally reached the fugitive Kwak Seong-il.
Moreover, after checking the nearby CCTV footage, the figure captured near the entrance of Burning Red matched the one spotted here.
“Ha Dojin… hmm.”
What made it even more intriguing was the information on the man.
No records of awakening existed from last year.
That meant, even if he had awakened, it had happened this year.
‘So he’s only been awake for about a month…’
Could such a young man really be involved in something this important?
Or was it possible that someone else was pulling the strings behind the scenes?
‘Either way, I’ll find out once I catch him.’
In this situation, where information was scarce, every piece of the puzzle had to be gathered.
Especially with Red Byte’s reputation on the line, this case could not drag on for more than a week.
Gye-hyun proceeded carefully, his footsteps silent as he climbed the stairs toward the house registered under Ha Dojin’s parents’ names.
Swish.
Pressing his ear to the door, Gye-hyun focused all his senses.
No sound came from inside.
Not even breathing.
‘No one’s home?’
Then they must have fled elsewhere.
It felt like a wasted trip, but searching anyway might still yield results.
Without hesitation, Gye-hyun smashed the lock and pushed the door open.
Creak.
The rusty metal door emitted its familiar grating sound.
Thud.
Once inside, Gye-hyun scanned the empty house carefully.
Just as he reached for the light switch in the living room…
Whoosh!
“……!”
A black shadow suddenly leaped out from nowhere, sending Gye-hyun’s heart racing to his throat.
There had been no one here…!
Had the intruder completely concealed his presence?
But time was not on his side.
Gye-hyun swung a fist desperately only for…
‘…What?’
A strange sensation washed over him—like an invisible thread wrapping around his body.
Time slowed to a crawl.
‘Had I always moved this slowly…?’
His eyes widened in shock, but before panic could fully set in…
Thud!
“Kyah…!”
Something pierced his left thigh in an instant.
Gye-hyun cried out in agony, but before the sound could escape, a hand clamped over his mouth.
Then…
Thud! Thud!
A single strike landed on each side of his ribs.
The entire assault happened too quickly for resistance or even awareness to register.
Behind him came the voice.
“Shh.”
The hairs on his entire body stood on end.
Blood flowed freely from the wounds, and strength drained from his limbs.
The cold sensation pressing against the base of his neck told Gye-hyun everything he needed to know.
‘This… this bastard.’
Even as a B-rank hunter, he had been caught completely off guard.
At least A-rank.
Where had this monster come from?
Pain barely registered through his dazed mind.
But then the voice spoke again, cold and clear.
“Red Byte’s Hak Gye-hyun.”
“……”
Ha Dojin spoke the name quietly, almost lazily.
Hong Woo-min or Yang Jin-hu would have been ideal, but Hak Gye-hyun would do just fine.
The priority was simply to weaken the enemy’s forces.
“How far along is the pursuit?”
“You… you’re Ha Dojin?”
“Correct.”
A faint blue light blinked near Hak Gye-hyun’s left waist.
At this very moment, every Red Byte hunter in the field was listening in.
Gye-hyun asked, voice tight.
“Was it you who created Burning Red?”
“Yes. It was nothing more than muddying the waters with a ridiculous scheme.”
“Muddying the waters?”
Gye-hyun’s eyes sharpened with sudden interest.
Perhaps there was something more to uncover here.
Ha Dojin continued calmly.
“Sometimes you have to cross a few lines. What’s stopping you from stepping into someone else’s territory?”
“What…?”
But before the question could finish,
Thud!
Ha Dojin’s blade drove straight into Gye-hyun’s throat.
Thud.
In an instant, the man was finished.
Ha Dojin exhaled softly and stripped the items from the corpse.
Items worthy of a Red Byte member—decent enough.
Of course, far from the level of what Chairman Gu Jinmo had provided, but still useful.
Ha Dojin turned on his phone and pressed it to his ear.
“Mission complete. Switching to the next operation.”
With that, he left the villa behind.
A few hours later, the remaining Red Byte team members arrived at the villa where Gye-hyun had died.
“……”
“Hyung… Hyung!”
Yang Jin-hu cried out upon seeing the body of his fallen comrade.
How could it end so… brutally?
Crunch.
“Captain.”
“What guilds are dividing the Gangnam area? No—where does our guild’s territory overlap with others?”
“The Ssin Guild and the Goblin Alliance.”
“Immediately search through the entire Ssin Guild and Goblin Alliance for the name Ha Dojin. And find out where the bastard is headed next.”
The man had deliberately said “someone else’s territory.”
‘There must be guilds with overlapping activity zones.’
Moreover, this next operation…
How dare this bastard underestimate Red Circle’s guild?
“Jin-hu will handle the body… the rest of us will focus on the Ssin Guild and Goblin Alliance. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to Ha Dojin—no friends or associates will escape notice.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
Just four men.
‘Left thigh first… then double strike from behind.’
Gye-hyun’s combat ability was solid, yet he had fallen so easily.
It proved the opponent was not only skilled but also calculated to the extreme.
‘Who the hell is he…’
I swear on my life—I will tear him apart limb by limb and make him pay.
The fury on Moon Seok-min’s face was fiercer than ever after losing a comrade.***
Boom!
Inside a speeding car on the highway, Ha Dojin studied the navigation screen.
‘This will divert their attention for a while.’
But buying time with this alone would only buy three or four days at most.
Still, three or four days…
‘I can clear about ten dungeons.’
Because Red Byte already knew his capabilities, they would not make the same mistake twice.
The remaining six would have to be dealt with.
To face them, he needed at least level 20 more in his current state.
“……Impossible through normal methods.”
In normal circumstances, this would be desperate.
But with Chairman Gu Jinmo’s backing, it was possible.
Moreover…
“I even got an unexpected harvest.”
A bracelet filled his left hand—the one he had received from Chairman Gu Jinmo.
Although his attack power was already exceptional, it still fell short of top-tier dungeon monsters.
But…
【Oath of the Berserker】
―Bracelet soaked in Ogre blood.
Attack power increases when activated, but mental stability may be compromised.
―Attack Power +20%
―Mental Strength –30%
―Status: Confusion
A blessing and curse as sharp as Blood Bain.
He could now understand why Chairman Gu Jinmo had said he alone could use it.
‘Because I survived the Shadow Whisper’s curse.’
That seemed arrogant, but at the time, death had been staring him in the face.
Yet it had also given him this chance.
‘If attack power rises by 20%…’
He could deliver fatal blows to monsters in high-rank dungeons.
The best place to raid while avoiding detection…
“This area will do.”
The car finally left the expressway and entered a quiet provincial road deep in Gangwon-do, where hunter guilds were strangely scarce.
Ha Dojin arrived in a remote corner of Gangneung wearing sunglasses and headed toward the dungeon he had pre-registered.
“Ah… it’s Mr. Kim Cheolsu?”
“Yes.”
For the next four days…
He would clear every dungeon in this area.
***
“……Damn it, we have to break through here already.”
Iron Hammer Guild Master Woo Hae-jun was on the verge of a breakdown from the constant gates appearing all over the region.
“If things improved even a little, we’d all move to Seoul… who is supposed to handle the gates appearing here?”
The most troublesome were the conditional gates.
Low entry levels or limited personnel, yet high difficulty due to monster strength.
The only option had been to wait for a dungeon break and mop up the monsters… but the number of hunters in the area was ridiculously low.
Iron Hammer Guild was the Gangneung-based To-bak Guild.
Their scale was already enough to enter Seoul, yet they had refused to leave because no other guild could protect this territory if they did.
“God damn it, they keep saying we should get more support from provincial guilds.”
Recognition was a funny thing.
Provincial areas often produced more gates and yielded far better spoils.
But hunter guild business structures favored Seoul, so most guilds kept leaving the provinces.
As a result, the number of major hunter guilds in the provinces kept shrinking.
Clank!
“M-Master!”
Woo Hae-jun frowned as the operations assistant walked in unannounced.
“Did you forget to knock, or are you deliberately ignoring me?”
“I-I’m sorry. It was urgent…”
“What is it?”
The operations assistant extended a tablet.
The map of Gangneung was displayed, marked with red and scattered green dots.
Hae-jun examined the screen and asked.
“What is this?”
“The dungeons that couldn’t be cleared through conditional gates. Only two days ago there were seventeen… now only ten remain.”
“What? Seven dungeons cleared in two days? What the hell?”
Hae-jun looked bewildered.
It didn’t make sense.
But…
“Yes… seven conditional dungeons were cleared in just two days.”
“Where?”
“That… I don’t know the affiliation, but one person did it… his name is Kim Cheolsu.”