The Assassin Hunter Stops Time
“Hoo… Why such a long interview?”
Since emerging from the dungeon, Park Namhee’s daily life had undergone a slight shift. Not in any other way, but because various media outlets had been reaching out to him regarding the events that took place inside the Red Gate dungeon. He had no intention of rejecting them. Still, it would be necessary to organize the details of those events a little more thoroughly. “Hmm… If that’s the case, I’ll need to hear the story from him in greater detail.”
After contacting the Firebird Guild to investigate the matter, he found that no reply had come yet. “Strange. It’s been four days already. There should be some kind of action.”
“I’ll have to call him again tomorrow. Just one more day of waiting. Since he was a comrade I fought alongside, risking our very lives, I can endure that much.”
But then—
Ting-ririririri!
The master-exclusive telephone on his desk rang. Park Namhee pressed the button with a bewildered expression. “What is it?”
―Master, a guest has arrived…
“A guest?”
No reservation, yet he claims a guest? Yet the follow-up words caused Namhee’s pupils to tremble. “It’s Hunter Ha Dojin.”
“Hunter Ha Dojin?!”
Namhee’s voice rose sharply. He had requested Firebird Guild to clear a space for Hunter Ha Dojin, yet he had arrived in person. “Send him up.”
―Yes, understood. When the order came, the staff member guiding Dojin bowed politely. “Thank you for waiting. Please follow me this way.”
Impressed by the respectful tone, Dojin followed the direction he was led. Soon, after riding the elevator to the sixth floor and receiving assistance from the staff, Dojin arrived at Park Namhee’s office. “Master, the guest has arrived.”
“Please come in.”
A polite voice echoed from inside. Dojin maintained a calm expression and glanced around the surroundings. If their boldness was that extreme, he would need to consider entering even the enemy’s camp. But… “He hasn’t moved yet, has he?”
Of course. The bastards only knew that he was the target; they had no idea about the time and date. Dojin withdrew his gaze and entered the room where Park Namhee greeted him. “Welcome, Hunter Ha Dojin. I was already pressuring Firebird Guild to arrange for you to meet him, haha.”
No trace of the sharp edge he had shown inside the dungeon. With a relaxed smile, Namhee approached, and Dojin gave a slight bow. “I hope you’ve been well.”
“Busy these days. It’s been quite troublesome dealing with the media. Really… haha.”
Namhee took a sip of the coffee brought by his assistant and spoke to Dojin. “Regarding that… um?”
Just as Namhee was about to continue, Dojin suddenly stood up from his seat. Next, Dojin gazed at the various weapons hanging on the wall. From regular daggers to scythes with chains attached. Weapons mostly related to Park Namhee’s lineage. “You seem to like weapons.”
“They’re merely for display. Speaking of which, Hunter Ha Dojin is also from the assassin class, aren’t you?”
“May I touch one?”
“Of course.”
Dojin pulled out a dagger from the display and turned it over in his hands. Judging by the sharp edge, it was clearly something to be used in real combat. “Good.”
“Compared to the weapons Hunter Ha Dojin possesses… it’s an amateur level at best.”
Dojin already knew that his own weapon was made from the teeth of the dragon Arcal. It was an item too tempting to even ask to see, yet the performance he had shown earlier made it impossible to request further. At that moment, the dagger returned to the display rack. “Then, what did you call me here for?”
Dojin asked, looking at Namhee while replacing the dagger. Namhee answered, “Didn’t you say that the Red Circle Guild defeated the Drake inside the dungeon?”
“Yes.”
“Did you witness it directly?”
“Not exactly direct, but I saw members of the Red Circle Guild and Huanglong Guild’s Hao Chen coming out of the space where the Drake was sleeping, and then the Drake woke up shortly after.”
“So, you faced off against Red Circle hunters and Hao Chen?”
“I thought there was something wrong, so I approached them first and asked what was happening.”
Dojin spoke as if reliving the moment. “At first, I didn’t think they had defeated the Drake. It was just circumstantial. But the moment they sensed something was off, they attacked. At that time, I was certain.”
“Tsk.”
Namhee furrowed his brows. How much shock he must have felt upon being attacked by ‘allies’ from the same side he had entered the dungeon with. “That’s fortunate you remained unharmed.”
“The Drake had already rushed out. Instead, they missed their timing because of me and suffered a loss.”
Namhee nodded. “And you escaped?”
“As you know, the Drake isn’t a foe I could handle alone. I was lucky.”
By now, the terrain where the Drake had been was completely devastated, and he couldn’t even locate the bodies of others. What they knew was that Dojin had killed the Red Circle hunters. Dojin continued to recount the aftermath. While descending, he had encountered the trio, questioned them about the Drake, and they attacked. “That was the end. Right after I killed them, you all appeared.”
“Hmm…”
Namhee let out a small sigh. A story that fit perfectly without a single loose end. No room for doubt. “I see. Well told.”
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
“Leaving already?”
Surprised by Dojin’s quick rise from his seat the moment the conversation ended, Namhee’s expression changed. Dojin spoke briefly. “I came to deliver that message.”
“I see. Thank you. It will be a great help going forward.”
Now he had solid words for the media outlets. Enough leverage to pressure Red Circle. Eventually, Dojin turned and left Black Chain Guild. Outside once more, Dojin inserted the wireless earpiece into one ear. ―Among the media, exclude those entangled with Red Circle and schedule the interviews. Dates… when your schedule is relatively open. Yeah, that should work. The voice coming through the earpiece was Namhee’s. The reason Dojin had visited Black Chain Guild. He had installed a GPS tracker on Namhee’s primary vehicle and a bug in the office. The reason he had casually touched the dagger on the wall earlier was for exactly this purpose. A micro-tracker made by SW. Hard to detect and not picked up by surveillance devices. “The installation in his home is already complete.”
With this, he could perfectly track Namhee’s movements. As long as there were no special external matters, Namhee was always at the guild building or at home. Moreover, the routine was consistent, making his movements easy to predict. Of course, that also meant… “It’s easy to target them.”
Since the Shadows had begun moving, it would take at most a week. No, it could happen as early as today. “First, stop the bastards… then strike their base.”
Dojin continued listening to Namhee via the bug while observing him from inside the car. And two days passed. * * *
“Hoo.”
High-rise penthouse. Like the master of one of Korea’s leading guilds, the house was quite spacious. Namhee threw the jacket he was wearing onto the sofa and pressed the wall switch. Whooshing. The automatic curtains opened, revealing the night view of Seoul with its neon signs and the Han River in the distance. It was one of his daily routines to return home and gaze at such an open night view. “Red Circle…”
The business Black Chain was currently handling was quite substantial. But lately, Namhee’s every nerve had been focused solely on Red Circle. Red Circle had always been active. Yet the recent events—both the incidents that occurred and those inside the dungeon—had combined to make them appear unusually quiet. “They must be hiding their blades somewhere.”
Moreover, Namhee had been poking and prodding Red Circle little by little. If tomorrow’s press conference leaked to the media, Red Circle would receive a severe blow. “It won’t be someone like Seungho Kang who just sits idly by.”
Namhee knew a little about Red Circle’s master, Kang Seungho. Officially, he was known as a formidable hunter. “But inside, a century-old serpent is writhing.”
Furthermore, he knew the man was greedy. That someone in such a crisis would huddle up like this meant… “He must be scheming behind the scenes.”
Still, it was necessary to figure out what exactly. Namhee recalled the Ha Dojin he had met two days ago. Even inside the dungeon, he had sensed something off. “No openings…”
Upon investigation, he hadn’t even registered with the Hunter Association. Of course, association membership wasn’t mandatory, but without it, activity was heavily restricted. So far, he had somehow managed to avoid formal registration, but soon he would be required to do so. “Then I’ll be able to know more details.”
Or perhaps this was a good opportunity to casually contact the association and warn them to urge registration for Hunter Ha Dojin. “If Red Circle falls… will the only one I need to worry about from now on be Hwarang?”
The three major guilds of Korea were Red Circle, Black Chain, and Hwarang. Of these three, Red Circle had been the most aggressive. If they fell like this… “From my perspective, that’s too good to be true.”
Seungho Kang was too greedy. “Did he seriously think he could force a dungeon break?”
Of course, just a guess. But from the rumors that reached his ears, after a certain number of days since an assault group entered the Red Gate, Red Circle’s elite hunters were said to have gathered near the gate. No clear evidence, but such situations only strengthened the possibility. “In any case… evidence isn’t needed.”
From now on, it would be a war of words. Because Red Circle had accumulated so much, they wouldn’t collapse in a single blow. “If I slowly dismantle them one by one…”
One day, everything would crumble. The corners of Namhee’s mouth lifted slightly. He wasn’t usually one for drinking, but on days like this, he craved it. Namhee took a bottle of premium wine from the refrigerator and poured it into a glass. Soon, standing by the window once more, Namhee laughed at his faintly reflected self in the glass. “Hehe, the fallen chaebol villain from some movie.”
The setting wasn’t all that different. Namhee had enough money and fame; he lacked nothing. Yet here, he would become the hero, not the villain. Namhee held the glass forward slightly and raised it in a toast to Seungho Kang’s fall. “Feel the taste of falling, Hunter Seungho Kang.”
And he downed the wine in one gulp. Gulp. At the same moment, the lights in the house suddenly went out. Except for the faint light filtering through the window, everything was swallowed by darkness. Namhee’s expression hardened. Whirrrrr. The curtains that had been open automatically closed, blocking even the faint light. And… Ssssh. Someone had begun to move.