The Assassin Hunter Stops Time
CLANG!
The sound was like a barrier sliding shut.
For an instant, all the electronics went dark, flooding the vast penthouse with shadow.
Haejin’s entire body went rigid.
He had prepared for exactly this moment—backup power should still be running.
But even that failed to activate. Someone had deliberately destroyed it.
SSSHHH.
With that, Haejin felt movement brush against his instinct.
He immediately surged his mana, snatching the weapon he had hidden under the living-room table.
Prick!
“Ugh!”
The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, thorns pierced deep inside.
Haejin bit back a small groan and yanked his hand away.
The sting was unusually hot—nothing like a normal poison spike.
Poison!
He realized it too late.
His vision blurred.
“Ugh.”
The world spun violently. Mana control shattered.
What the hell had happened?
The pressure was suffocating.
He had no time to analyze anything.
Power cut out. Maybe ten seconds left.
Suddenly someone charged straight at him.
A Red Circle Shadow Hunter.
The attack was silent, lightning-fast, and mercilessly precise.
The bastard slipped behind Haejin’s staggering form and locked his arms around the throat.
His elbow pressed the jaw and his forearm crushed the windpipe.
He could have killed him instantly with a blade, but Haejin had to die by suicide—that was the plan.
The press conference for Red Circle was scheduled for tomorrow.
Any suspicious death would be twisted to make Red Circle look guilty.
Anyone with half a brain would see the hand of the guild master.
Without proof, the entire nation would turn on Red Circle.
That was why Haejin had to die by his own hand.
The headlines tomorrow would read: “Park Haejin, master of Black Chain Guild, collapses from drug overdose during a frenzy.”
Red Circle would seize the opportunity to rewrite the narrative.
Use crisis as fuel.
Kang Seungho’s cold calculation.
“Kkueuk!”
Haejin clawed at the strangling arm.
But before he could react—
BAM! CRACK!
Two more shadows slammed in from both sides, pinning his arms.
Haejin’s pupils shook.
More than one…?
“Kkueuk…!”
He couldn’t breathe.
The choke was too deep; there was no way to loosen the grip with poison flooding his veins.
He had planned to collapse backward, but the arms holding him were ironclad.
And the poison—whatever it was—slowly drained every last ounce of strength from his body.
Mana itself refused to obey.
No… I can’t…
His sight clouded. Consciousness slipped.
If he blacked out now, he would never wake again.
Was this really the end?
“Kkueuk…”
Before his mind shattered completely, a wet, gurgling sound escaped his lips.
He was helpless.
Death was waiting for him.
It had to be this way…
But…
SQUEAK!
Suddenly something streaked through the air.
“…?!”
The Shadow Hunter gripping Haejin’s left arm whirled his head.
That was his last movement.
THUD!
The hidden blade punched straight through his forehead.
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, both of them were blasted away.
Haejin and the two shadows tumbled across the floor, slammed by the shockwave.
“Cough! Ugh…! Hah…! Hah…!”
Haejin’s throat burned as he gulped air like a drowning man.
He had been on the verge of hell’s door and had barely turned back.
“You bastards…!”
Summoning every ounce of strength, Haejin rose to his feet.
Even if it was poison, the drug was wearing off.
He could barely stand.
His eyes were still blurring.
But he staggered toward the window, yanked the curtains open with brutal force.
SHRIIIP!
One curtain tore free.
A sliver of light spilled into the room.
That was when Haejin saw it.
THUMP.
“…”
Five figures lay bleeding on the floor.
They were all hooded, impossible to identify.
But the one standing alone—
“Hah… Hunter Dojin…?”
Dojin stood there.
* * *
CLANG!
The moment the lights died—
They’re moving.
Dojin activated his instinct and held his breath.
The wine Haejin had drunk was fine.
The problem was the glass itself.
Someone had slipped trace amounts of poison into every glass in the house.
So the target was always this penthouse.
A meticulously planned operation.
They had probably been using this place like their own home for days.
It was easy for them.
Just as easy for Dojin.
SHRRRR!
The curtains were still half-open when—
BAM!
Dojin sprinted toward the dagger Haejin had hidden under the table.
Another miss.
He had expected this.
“Ugh!”
Even the thorns on the hilt were poisoned.
They scattered mana and induced delirium.
The wine glass from earlier had simply accelerated whatever had been in the needle.
Dojin waited, cold and calculating.
Soon the shadows moved.
BAM!
In the blink of an eye, one reached behind Haejin, the next two flanked him.
But…
Still two more.
They had reserved them as contingency.
A flawless assassination.
Especially five active Shadows—Kang Seungho’s absolute resolve to kill Park Haejin.
But luck was on Dojin’s side.
SQUEAK!
Dojin focused on the two hidden Shadows and hurled his blade at the one gripping Haejin’s left arm.
A mana-infused strike.
BOOM!
The explosion sent the two hidden ones scrambling.
They moved with mechanical precision, trying to snipe him.
Boring.
Fast.
Accurate.
But to Dojin, who stood at the apex of the Shadows—
Their movements were as natural as breathing.
WHISH! WHISH! SLICE!
He twisted his body, dodged, then carved through the flanks and necks of the two on either side.
THUMP.
Excluding the two who dropped simultaneously, Dojin now faced the remaining two who were rushing in without hesitation.
The aftershock of the explosion lingered, yet they charged like machines.
Sorry.
You have no emotions.
Only positions.
The two who had drawn their weapons attacked.
WHISH! WHOOSH! THUNK!
Their coordinated assault targeted his neck and legs.
Dangerous.
He should have retreated.
But BAM!
Dojin charged forward instead, striking both at once.
CLANG! CRACK!
One blade met his sword; his foot slammed into the side of the other’s ribs.
Both Shadows looked stunned.
Not because Dojin was strong—
Because his movements were painfully familiar.
“You…!”
The Shadow who blocked the sword finally spoke.
Trainees who had been drilled never to speak during missions.
That alone meant he was terrified.
But it was his last words.
SLASH!
A straight beam of light cut through the darkness.
The Shadow collapsed, throat severed.
The one watching him died instantly.
THUMP.
Five Shadows dead in seconds.
That instant—
SHRIIIP!
Haejin rose, staggering as he yanked the curtains fully open.
Seeing Dojin through the thin light, his face twisted in shock.
“Hah… Hunter Dojin…?”
Dojin simply nodded in answer.
* * *
“Are you all right?”
After swallowing the antidote and resting for an hour, Haejin stood up.
Too many questions swirled in his mind.
But one had to be asked.
“How did you know?”
Haejin’s face hardened.
Maybe he had suspected Dojin was involved.
The gratitude was there, but the eyes were cold and suspicious.
Dojin answered calmly.
“If I were from Red Circle, I would have gone after Hunter Park Haejin first.”
“So they were sent by Red Circle?”
“I can’t say for sure. I’m only guessing.”
“…”
“Who exactly are you?”
Even inside a dungeon, how had he awakened?
How was he this strong?
His movements—
Even in chaos, every single one was unnatural.
No hesitation in swinging the sword at them.
No cry of pain despite the explosion wounds.
Thoroughly trained Shadows.
But…
The time to deal with five of them…
Ten seconds?
More like twenty, if you counted mercy.
He had slaughtered five elite assassins in such a short time.
Dojin rose as well.
“I’ve already contacted Black Chain Guild. People will be here soon. As for the poison—
It’s not fatal, but full detoxification will take days. Don’t use mana until then.”
“…”
“Thank you.”
No matter what, Dojin had saved his life.
He had to believe that.
Leaving the bewildered Haejin behind, Dojin stepped out of the house.
He had no luxury to worry about the man’s scrambled mind.
SWISH.
Dojin touched the pouch containing the drugs and syringe in his pocket.
These were the items the Shadows had brought to stage the suicide.
He couldn’t give them to Haejin.
For now, keeping him alive and the fact that an assassination attempt had occurred was enough.
Leaving evidence would only leave traces.
Pressure slowly but surely.
Kang Seungho, drowning in his own swamp and unaware of it, would keep sinking deeper.
Until the day he learned everything was part of Dojin’s plan.
Until he couldn’t even move.
That’s when I’ll finish it.
This was the first mission for the Shadows.
Kang Seungho’s fury would be unstoppable.
Of course, the arrows would fly toward the man who trained them—Yang Taesan.
“But that doesn’t mean he’ll move himself.”
It was all conjecture.
He couldn’t be sure.
If the worst happened and he did move, the situation on this side would explode.
Security for Lee Hyejin needs to be tightened for now.
Maybe right now, the scariest thing in the world wasn’t Kang Seungho—
It was him.
“Yang Taesan Instructor…”
Some said he had been a special-forces soldier.
Others whispered he had fought as a mercenary in South America.
His true identity was unknown, but the man who killed without blinking was real.
An absolute monster—even before awakening, and after—nothing short of a hunter among hunters.
Locked away training the Shadows in secrecy.
But the moment he’s cornered, he’ll move.
Stealing this evidence was just one of those circumstances.
THUD.
“Hah…”
Dojin got into the car, leaned back, and exhaled deeply.
Tomorrow was the press conference.
Everything would change after that.
He would have to act while the world was watching.
“Kang Seungho.”
The man who always looked down on others with icy arrogance.
Right now…
What kind of expression is he wearing?