Chapter 61
**CHAPTER 61: The Assassin's Hunter Stops Time**
My heart felt like it would burst.
In the past ten years. No, in my entire life. Had I ever felt this tense?
When I infiltrated the enemy’s guards in the Middle East to assassinate a VIP.
In a battlefield where I was isolated and surrounded by ten times as many enemies and on the verge of death.
I had always remained calm and composed in extreme situations.
Yang Taesan.
He stood before a single door for a full hour.
Dojin waited silently beside him.
I could scarcely imagine what his heart was feeling right now.
Reaching for the doorknob, only to hesitate.
The trembling fingertips.
What emotions were swirling in that heart?
Without a doubt, I had watched this man for a long time in my previous life… but…
‘This appearance is completely new.’
It was like watching someone else.
Had he made up his mind?
The man who had once failed to grasp the doorknob finally turned it.
Click.
With a soft creak, the door opened. Taesan’s heartbeat echoed loudly.
But the moment I saw his daughter—
“Ah… Ah…”
Taesan let out a long sigh, unable to contain the emotion in his voice.
His eyes, bloodshot and red, were filled with a complicated mixture of shock, pain, and overwhelming affection.
Dojin spoke first.
“I will step aside.”
“…Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
Dojin bowed slightly, then closed the door behind him.
Thud.
The space behind the door was now empty.
Only Taesan and Soo-ah remained.
Taesan approached her, forcing his trembling legs to steady.
What should he say?
There had been hundreds—thousands—of things he wanted to say.
His mind was completely blank.
Just…
Tap.
Taesan knelt on one knee in front of his daughter.
He took her small hand in his, suppressing the tears that threatened to spill.
“…I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
His first words.
The first words of the man who had called himself her father were heartbreakingly tender.
Like a dam breaking, tears poured from both of Soo-ah’s eyes in two streams.
“I tried so hard not to cry…”
“Ugh! Hic! Hicuuu!”
Her voice leaked between tightly clenched teeth.
The father holding his daughter’s hands.
The tremor in his grip, the sincerity in his touch—it was all transmitted to her.
Finally.
“Daddy… Daddy…! Daddy!”
One of the few Korean phrases she remembered.
Soo-ah screamed the name she had longed to call out all these years and threw herself into his arms.
* * *
“AAAAAAA! AAAAAAHHH!”
Clang! Smash! Boom!
The thick desk split cleanly in half.
Kang Seungho’s face twisted with rage as he fought to contain his fury.
Thankfully, a sliver of reason remained; he refrained from using mana.
If he had truly lost control, the entire building would have collapsed in an instant.
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
The office had become a complete disaster.
Not a single item remained unscathed.
And staff rushed in frantically.
“M-Master! Hah!”
Yoon Younghwan, the chief secretary, stared in horror at the destruction.
He had served him for over seven years.
Yet…
‘Has Master ever shown such emotion…?’
Kang Seungho had always grown colder when angered.
That was why Red Circle had continued to grow without a single obstacle.
But this time…
It was completely different.
Younghwan forced the heavy anxiety pressing on his chest and called out.
“Master, please calm down. I don’t know what happened, but this won’t solve anything.”
He was risking his life.
Speaking coldly to an enraged master was something he could not even imagine the consequences of.
If the man could not control his anger…
‘My head would fly off in one second.’
Younghwan knew Master’s abilities better than anyone.
And at those words—
“What?”
Seungho glared at him.
“H-Hah!”
It felt as if a massive blade had pierced straight through his chest.
No, as if a giant boulder had crushed his entire body.
His breath choked in his throat, and it felt like he might suffocate at any moment.
The top hunter in Korea— or rather, the strongest.
His rage was something even a non-awakened man like Younghwan could not withstand.
Yet…
“Hah! Hah…! Hah… Hah…”
Seungho turned sharply and looked back.
Only then did Younghwan finally exhale with relief.
His face was bright red. If he had been a second slower, he would have lost his life.
Seungho turned toward the window, still gripping his fist.
Although the overwhelming rage continued to sweep through his body,
“…You’re right.”
The secretary was correct.
Exploding in anger would not solve anything.
But he simply could not accept it.
‘Why… Why did they suddenly disappear?’
All the Shadows—including Taesan.
Not a trace remained, as if they had never existed.
Why…?
A question he could not answer stirred inside his head.
But then.
“No way…”
Could it be related to that guy?
Seungho recalled Dojin’s face.
What perfect timing.
At the moment he was targeting him…
‘Suddenly the Shadows vanished.’
But Seungho quickly shook his head.
It didn’t make sense.
Only he knew about the Shadows in this world.
He had hidden them so carefully that even the perfectly refined organization had never suspected.
How could that man know?
“…I should meet him.”
“Excuse me?”
Seated on the floor, Younghwan wiped his runny nose and snot with his sleeve before lifting his head.
Seungho looked at him.
“I’m going to meet that Ha Dojin. Prepare yourself.”
Whether the man was connected to SW Technology or the Firebird Guild… it didn’t matter.
He would verify it himself.
‘Me. Directly.’
At that, Younghwan quickly stood up.
“Ah, yes, sir.”
He had returned.
He understood now.
He understood what kind of man he was, what abilities he possessed.
‘He will definitely die.’
Younghwan moved with urgency.
* * *
It was already late at night.
Dojin asked the Taesan who had come to see him.
“You don’t have time to be together, yet you came all this way at such a late hour.”
“My daughter has fallen asleep.”
His daughter.
An incredibly warm word.
Strangely, the expression of the Taesan from yesterday, the one from midday, and the one now were all different.
It was as if a very sharp blade had been slightly blunted.
Of course, the heavy pressure remained.
Dojin asked.
“Did you spend a good time?”
“…?”
Taesan could not answer.
But then—
Tap.
Slowly lowering his posture, Taesan knelt on one knee before him and spoke.
“I have served under many people throughout my life and fought on battlefields, but I have never knelt or obeyed anyone with my true heart.”
Taesan’s tone changed.
“But at this moment—”
He swore with his life on the line.
“I, Yang Taesan, will serve Hunter-nim Ha Dojin as my master from this day forward. I will carry out any order he gives.”
“…?”
A heartbeat.
After obtaining a new chance, I had gained much.
I had become an awakener of the ??? grade that surpassed the legendary rank, and I had grown immensely.
I had destroyed the businesses of my enemy, Kang Seungho, and established a connection with the largest backer, SW Technology.
But it was different from those things.
‘Truly…’
I had obtained it.
This man’s heart.
Even if it had been an intended action, it was the greatest thing he had ever received.
In a way, this man had become the driving force that allowed me to live this life.
And he had protected me more than my own life.
Dojin asked the Taesan still kneeling with his head lowered.
“The path I am going is… quite dangerous. Will you be able to follow me? You might even die.”
“I have already lived a life full of deaths. I have already lived in hell. There is no path more dangerous than this in my life.”
You might die?
I laughed.
This life is not worth it.
“If it is for the work Master is doing, my life is not precious. I will walk at the forefront.”
At those words, Dojin smiled faintly.
“But you have Soo-ah. You cannot die. You must live the happy life you have missed until now.”
Dojin helped him up.
He looked at the standing Taesan and spoke.
“Master is unnecessary. Just call me Dojin.”
“I cannot. To me, Hunter-nim Ha Dojin is my master.”
“…There’s no helping it, then?”
“I insist.”
Taesan smiled with a small grin.
Dojin extended his hand.
Two men shook hands.
But then Taesan said with a serious expression.
“However… how do you plan to handle the aftermath from here?”
If they did not kill them completely, Seungho would not remain unaware.
Of course, he would learn of the connection with me…
“I will kill him.”
“It doesn’t matter. I also plan to kill the man.”
The plan had simply progressed faster than I thought, advancing the timing.
Perhaps…
‘I will meet him soon.’
There was no longer any ‘word’ I could use from below.
The moment Seungho had to move on his own.
‘The next move of that man…’
Dojin’s mind, already predicting Seungho’s actions, grew even more complex.
* * *
“So you finally decided to move directly.”
“There’s no other choice now. And… a hunter named Gang Seungho met Dr. Moon Byeonggi recently.”
“Moon Byeonggi?”
Gu Jinmo’s expression hardened at the words.
Moon Byeonggi was a powerful politician on the opposition side.
Meeting with such a person…
“So you plan to move soon.”
“Yes. I suspect we will face strong pressure from our side as well.”
Moon Byeonggi could certainly do so.
And with Seungho in this poisoned state…
‘The intensity will be even greater.’
Gu Jinmo narrowed his eyes.
Then…
“I’ll have to prepare something on our end too.”
“I will handle the contact.”
He nodded.
Gu Jinmo stood up.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
“…Yes?”
When Gu Jinmo asked as Kyungtaek tilted his head in confusion.
“If you had to bet who would win between Hunter Ha Dojin and Hunter Kang Seungho, who do you think it would be?”
“Ah… I…”
Gu Jinmo simply nodded silently as Kyungtaek continued speaking.