Chapter 50
**CHAPTER TITLE: The Message That Shook Everything**
“Contact has been lost?”
The encrypted message from Yang Taesan contained an unbelievable piece of information.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but…
“Park Nam-hee is alive… and contact with the Shadows has been severed.”
What does this mean?
If I think about it simply, the obvious conclusion would be mission failure and the Shadows’ deaths.
But even so…
“Is this really possible?”
Kang Seungho, who had personally experienced the Shadows’ strength, was right there before me.
Combat with full preparations in place.
Even facing them head-on, he could barely manage three of them.
If he had deliberately used his skills, he would have had no trouble winning at all.
‘I deployed five of them just in case there were some unknown variables.’
Five Shadows alone were enough to make me feel uneasy.
And this wasn’t a straight fight anyway; it was a carefully coordinated ambush using poison and stealth.
I had to admit that Park Nam-hee was a skilled hunter, but…
“That’s impossible.”
It had to mean someone had interfered.
Seungho’s expression turned icy cold.
His blade-like gaze was so murderous that it felt as though it could kill someone just by looking at them.
“Red Capital… Burning Red.”
When I quietly reflected on the events of the past three or four months, there were far too many unbelievable things.
His foundation, painstakingly built over the years, simply could not have cracked so quickly.
‘The pigs on the government side are starting to pull away.’
Following this Red Gate incident, rumors had spread that Red Circle had deliberately caused a dungeon break.
“Goddamn Hao Chen.”
Had I been too trusting of that bastard?
But Seungho himself admitted that Hao Chen’s ability was not bad at all.
He might have been a womanizer, but when it came to work, he was clean and efficient.
Still…
“Who is the bastard constantly interfering with my plans…?”
After the Shadows’ mission failed this time, I finally understood clearly.
It had to be…
Seungho pressed the button on the phone resting on his desk.
“Call Baek Yeojin right now and bring her to my office immediately.”
A short command.
Before long, several minutes later, a knock sounded at the door.
“I have been summoned?”
“Sit down.”
His voice was calm.
But Baek Yeojin swallowed hard as she felt a strange tension pressing down on her shoulders.
Finally, after she sat, Seungho asked.
“Do you know the mission roster for this Red Gate raid team?”
“Of course.”
“I need information on their personal backgrounds.”
No one in Red Circle tracked information for her, so he asked.
But Yeojin tilted her head at the question.
The master would know the list, and most of the names belonged to hunters who had records.
But…
“Ah, there’s a new name that just appeared this time. Ha Dojin of the Firebird Guild.”
“Information on him?”
“That is…”
Yeojin’s eyes flickered for a moment.
She had known exactly what he wanted.
Soon her expression calmed again as she answered.
“There isn’t much public information on him yet. He hasn’t even registered with the Association.”
“I didn’t call you at an inconvenient time just to hear that.”
“Yes, according to our information team’s findings…”
Yeojin hesitated.
Recently, under the tense atmosphere inside the guild after the incident, she had been gathering as much information as she could.
‘This…’
It was too absurd to organize properly.
But Seungho’s gaze made her speak.
“Just tell me. It’s fine.”
“That is… I believe he is a hunter who awakened this year.”
It was an absurd statement.
If he had awakened this year, the hunter who had entered a Red Gate dungeon with over 130,000 mana in it had to have awakened for less than three months.
Seungho suppressed the rising anger and asked.
“…What’s the evidence?”
“It seems to be connected to the Firebird Guild, so I’m investigating now, but there’s something strange…”
“Wait a moment.”
Yeojin quickly left the room and, ten minutes later, returned carrying a stack of documents.
“I wasn’t able to prepare the documents properly because of the rush.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Format and decorum were not important right now.
As Seungho turned his attention to the papers, Yeojin continued.
“Early this year, a strange situation occurred in a dungeon in southern Gyeonggi Province… several low-level unraided dungeons were cleared at the same time.”
Most of the entry limits were between 10 and 30 levels.
“They were dungeons that wouldn’t have caused major problems even if a break occurred, but their difficulty was far beyond what the requirements suggested, so everyone had given up on them.”
Seungho looked at the unraided dungeons on the list.
‘Black Growling’s Nest… entry requirement of 10 levels for six people?’
That was ridiculously hard for a Black Growling Nest.
And the other dungeons were the same.
Yeojin went on.
“A few days later, unraided dungeons submitted to the Firebird Guild began clearing one after another.”
She believed they were all the same person.
And…
“I suspect… it might be Ha Dojin.”
“Hmm…”
“This is also quite a sensitive matter, so I’ll need to investigate further, but…”
“…”
Seungho looked at her.
Yeojin, whose expression had been carefully cautious, turned several pages of the document.
“At the moment the Red Capital server room exploded, the hunter Heo Sang-woong went missing.”
“Who is Heo Sang-woong?”
“Ah, he’s an B-rank hunter in the guild. He managed Red Capital under Deputy Director Baek Il-seong.”
“And?”
“At that time, a message was sent to Heo Sang-woong, and the location where the message was sent was an empty dungeon. And the owner of that empty dungeon…”
“Was the Firebird Guild.”
“…”
For a moment, Seungho’s eyes sparkled.
“Unraided dungeon… empty dungeon… Firebird Guild…”
Seungho muttered under his breath as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit.
It felt as though the scattered puzzle was finally aligning.
And soon.
“He’s the one.”
The puzzle clicked together perfectly.
Although he still had no idea how the bastard had acquired such strength, the question was set aside for later.
Seungho looked at Yeojin.
“Assign someone to follow Ha Dojin. Ah… I’ll handle this one myself.”
Seungho stood up from his chair.
Why? Why was that even necessary?
The important thing was that the bastard was connected to every incident that had caused problems for the Red Circle guild.
‘If it happened only once or twice, it could be coincidence…’
But if it repeated three or four times, it could no longer be called coincidence.
Finally, as Seungho left the office, Yeojin swallowed hard with an inexplicable unease.
* * *
“This is the request you made?”
The command was a little surprising.
Since she had reached level 200, she had never been given such an operation.
But looking at Seungho’s expression, the situation seemed quite serious.
“Everything that has caused problems so far has been involved with the bastard. Even if it’s not direct interference, there’s probably some connection.”
This was the first thread they had caught.
Only by following this thread could they resolve this wretched situation.
Jang Junyeong, the executive sitting in front of him, nodded.
“I understand. So, we’ll simply follow him?”
“First. We need to figure out where he is and how he moves.”
And then create the situation to match his movements.
If…
‘Everything lines up perfectly…’
Then there would be no need to wait; the bastard would be the clear culprit.
Junyeong nodded at Seungho’s plan.
“Then I’ll tail him starting today.”
“For now, get help from Deputy Director Baek Yeojin. She’s been thoroughly investigating the situation.”
“Understood.”
As Junyeong turned to leave, Seungho boarded the waiting car.
Now that the bastard had been placed under surveillance…
‘I guess I really have to go flatter those pig-like old men.’
South Korea was a country where doing business was a real pain in the ass.
Or, from a certain perspective, it was convenient.
Because you only had to feed the powerful pigs.
But watching those pigs that had been fed get scared and then having to go placate them was something he simply could not get used to.
Just…
“It felt easier back when I was out there killing dungeons and monsters like before.”
Fatigue began to creep in from the start.
Seungho leaned back in his seat and simply closed his eyes quietly.
* * *
“This is the task you requested.”
“I’m truly grateful.”
He had received an enormous amount of help from SW Technology.
With their superior abilities, they had done everything he asked for.
That was why he had requested this task as well.
It took some time, but Dojin received the document envelope from Kyung-taek.
A flick of his wrist.
Inside were photos, a short document, and a plane ticket; everything he had wanted was inside.
“Who is this person…?”
“He is very important to me.”
“…”
It didn’t look easy.
“It doesn’t matter. I haven’t had an easy job yet.”
“Sigh…”
Kyung-taek pressed his forehead in discomfort.
Up to now, Dojin had accomplished a great many things.
But this one seemed truly difficult.
It was simply on a different scale and nature.
“If you speak to the Chairman, I will move the hunter team of SW Technology. Even if I lose the entire SW hunter team for Ha Dojin’s request, I will make the attempt.”
“That’s out of the question.”
Dojin shook his head.
Chairman Gu Jinmo’s full support was always appreciated.
But up to now, the things he could do were thanks to the ‘force’ he possessed.
Money.
The value differed depending on the person, but for Chairman Gu Jinmo, money was not that important.
Because there were far more precious things above money.
‘But…’
If a person died, that changed.
As much as he cherished himself, that hunter team would too… and the lives of others that Chairman Gu cherished were precious.
“That’s why I’m going. This is enough.”
“…”
“Then before you go, at least equip yourself.”
“Are there better items than these?”
Dojin gave a faint smile.
Kyung-taek’s eyes shook at the sight.
Because it was an extremely rare occasion for Dojin to smile outside of Chairman Gu Jinmo.
At the surprised expression on Kyung-taek’s face.
“I will return safely. Don’t worry.”
“…”
“Haa, that’s true. Your expression is completely visible.”
Kyung-taek let out a sigh, embarrassed.
Finally, Kyung-taek extended his hand to Dojin.
“When you return, let’s have a drink. I’ll treat you to the best.”
“Yes.”
Dojin gripped Kyung-taek’s hand firmly.
Then Dojin turned to leave.
But soon, as if remembering something, he told Kyung-taek.
“Ah… there might be people following me behind. Just like always, please erase all traces carefully.”
“Don’t worry.”
The traces of Ha Dojin will be perfectly erased without any effort.
Keeping the afterthoughts unspoken, Kyung-taek watched Dojin’s retreating figure.
‘Please return safely.’
So that I can fulfill that drink promise.
Only when Dojin’s figure had completely disappeared did Kyung-taek turn around.
* * *
Crunch.
The familiar yet unfamiliar sensation of gravel under his sole.
How long had it been since he had come here?
‘…Is Seungho still there?’
He was a smart guy.
The biggest mistake one could make in achieving a goal was underestimating Seungho.
Up to now, things had only succeeded because of luck.
‘The moment there is even the slightest misalignment, everything collapses.’
That was why he always had to be on guard and careful.
Perhaps Seungho had already noticed him.
‘I must always account for that.’
That was why, even though it was somewhat forced, he had advanced the plan this time.
Thanks to the special ability gained from reaching level 100 in the previous Red Gate dungeon.
Right now, he could…
“At least fight evenly.”
Dojin muttered softly.
Or perhaps… truly, it was for the only being he could trust in this world.