The Unruly Guild
Everything felt off-kilter.
Ha Dojin stepped into the Red Circle guild headquarters with a sense that something was slightly different from usual.
Thud. Thud.
His footsteps echoed through the lobby.
The employees at the desk suddenly furrowed their brows at the man walking in.
It was a crisis, after all—externals were strictly prohibited.
But…
“M-Master!”
“Hah!”
“Master has returned!”
The employees rushed over and bowed deeply toward him.
“Y-You’ve come! Master!”
“Master! You’ve arrived!”
Their voices were louder than usual.
Ha Dojin glanced at them once, then continued walking without pausing toward the office on the upper floor.
Eventually…
“Summon all executives immediately.”
Ha Dojin gave the order to the secretaries in a short tone and entered his own office.
“…”
The guild’s atmosphere had changed strangely.
It felt incredibly chaotic.
Even if he had been gone for a short while, this was too much.
But the reason behind the odd vibe became clear the moment he stepped inside.
“You called everyone in?”
“It’s just… it’s…”
Only four executives had entered the conference room.
One of them wasn’t even an executive—he was Baek Yejin from the information department.
Ha Dojin looked at them all.
And…
“So that’s how it ended up.”
A faint smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
But Baek Yejin had noticed.
His eyes had flickered for just a split second.
The killing intent radiating from him was enough to send goosebumps racing across the skin.
It lasted only an instant, yet Baek Yejin’s breath had almost stopped.
Ha Dojin looked at the gathered executives and spoke calmly.
“Sit down.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Understood.”
They looked terrified.
Heavy silence settled over the conference room.
Not one of them dared to speak first.
And then.
Ha Dojin rose from his seat.
He turned his gaze toward the window that overlooked the company interior.
Everyone else in the room looked exactly as they always did, but it was clear they were all focused solely on the meeting.
Ha Dojin spoke.
“Right. It’s about time we made a few changes.”
In the past, he had only looked forward and never had the chance to glance behind or to the side.
He knew there were many people in the same organization who thought differently from him.
“This is actually a good gift.”
The timing was perfect.
Now that he had reached level 250, Red Circle was ready to shed its old skin and take its next leap.
Ha Dojin looked at the executives in the room and called out.
“Baek Yejin, deputy.”
“Y-Yes! Master!”
“Find out the current locations of all executives who aren’t here right now.”
“The executives who aren’t…?”
Baek Yejin asked, but the moment he saw Ha Dojin’s eyes he startled and answered.
“Understood. I’ll find out immediately.”
Ha Dojin looked at the executives and said softly.
“I won’t take your lives.”
That short judgment.
“Think of it as saving yourselves.”
Heavy silence fell over the conference room.
* * *
“You said the path I took is different?”
That bright young punk.
How dare he speak as if he knew what kind of path Ha Dojin had walked for the past ten years?
“After only six months of awakening… how can you say something like that?”
“Maybe that’s what you think.”
“Are you trying to provoke me?”
“No, not at all.”
Ha Dojin shook his head.
What was the point of arguing with this guy in this situation?
He couldn’t tell the guy that he had come from the past, after all.
“He won’t believe me.”
But one thing he could say for certain was that the path he had taken was different.
Unlike Ha Dojin, who had to assassinate enemies stronger than himself.
“You’ve only fought battles with a plush carpet laid out.”
“What?”
“Ask yourself. Have you ever fought someone stronger than you?”
“You bastard! Why would I fight someone stronger than me? I’d be dead!”
“…”
Right.
His voice had been too bold, so his words had gotten stuck for a second.
And that was the critical difference between the guy and Ha Dojin.
The more experience he gained fighting stronger opponents, the greater the growth that came back to him.
Of course, the stat gap between Gwangho and Dojin in their current states was also a huge factor.
Clang.
Ha Dojin drew his sword.
Anyway, the fight was over.
After killing this guy.
“Don’t feel wronged. Kang Seungho is coming soon too.”
“You… you…!”
Gwangho shouted loudly and stood up from his seat.
The guy who had drawn his sword again raised his momentum.
“I’ll die like this!”
Gwangho poured every last bit of his mana into a final desperate explosion.
The Warrior’s trait gnawed at his sanity and lent him overwhelming strength.
Right now.
“Maybe… I could be the strongest in the world.”
But Ha Dojin knew.
It was nothing but a delusion born from delusion.
“I’ll shatter you.”
How worthless the pitiful power you believe in is.
And the path you walked…
“How much of a flower path it was.”
Even though he had been chosen as his successor, Ha Dojin was completely different.
Without him having to forge his way through hell on his own to reach here.
“Shut up!”
Gwangho, who had already lost his mind, roared and charged at Ha Dojin.
His charge was accompanied by flames of sword qi roaring from his blade.
But…
“Acceleration, Night Walker.”
Ha Dojin didn’t dodge.
No, Ha Dojin’s body moved even faster toward the guy.
In an instant, the distance between them closed.
The moment Ha Dojin swung his sword at him.
“Time Distortion.”
Within the slowed world, Ha Dojin’s sword moved alone through time and severed Gwangho’s head.
Slash!
Splat!
The guy’s head flew off and dropped to the floor.
Blood spurted like a fountain from the neck where the head had been severed by the pressure of the rising momentum.
A hollow death.
It would have felt that way to the guy.
He had been planning to take over the Red Circle guild and rule Korea.
Ha Dojin looked at the guy’s head on the floor with a dry gaze.
In the eyes filled with injustice, many emotions lay hidden…
“When you die, nothing means anything.”
Ha Dojin stepped out of the dungeon.
And…
“Did everything end well?”
“Instructor.”
He faced Yang Taesan waiting outside the dungeon.
The scent of blood brushed his nose.
Ten Shadows stood behind Taesan.
Unlike the emotionless eyes from before, their expressions carried a hint of life.
But they still possessed the ruthless ability to complete the mission at hand.
Ha Dojin asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Yu Yeongseok.”
“Yu Yeongseok. A good name. Well done.”
“Thank you, Master.”
The expressions of the men who had once been Shadows were completely different now.
Taesan smiled faintly.
“Everyone is finally living like real people. Thanks to Master’s consideration.”
“That’s good. Then is the work here finished?”
“Yes. Everything has been handled.”
Ha Dojin nodded at Taesan’s words.
So now…
“One remains.”
Even before starting, the end had seemed far away.
Because he had known Kang Seungho well.
The man’s strength, ruthlessness.
Most of all, the cold gaze that viewed the situation objectively.
With all of that combined, Seungho had never been an easy opponent for Ha Dojin.
That was why in his past life…
“I ended up dying like that.”
But now the end was truly in sight.
Money and fame.
Those were all Kang Seungho had said.
Hundreds of people had died as fodder for the man’s money and honor.
But those days were gone.
“I… will stop it all.”
It wasn’t just revenge against Kang Seungho.
His own past sins toward his previous life.
Ha Dojin had to pay them back.
And…
“The dirty hands that reached out behind Kang Seungho.”
He had already begun investigating Kang Seungho’s background at SW Technology.
It was hard to find out how many monstrous men were entangled in it all.
But it would only take time—no, it was impossible to fail.
“Let’s go back.”
First, take care of what was right in front of him.
At Ha Dojin’s words, Taesan nodded and followed him.
That night was unusually quiet.
* * *
Squelch!
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”
A middle-aged man screamed in pain from a blade piercing his left shoulder.
Just looking at the decorative items displayed inside the house showed he was quite wealthy.
But…
“P-Please save me! Save me, Master!”
“It’s not very proper to ask me to spare you after you turned your back on me, is it?”
“It was Jang Gwangho! It was that dog Jang Gwangho’s doing! He threatened me that if I don’t betray Master, he’d kill me!”
The man knelt on both knees and pressed his head to the floor while blood poured from him.
His desire to survive was overwhelming.
“I understand. I’ll make sure to kill Jang Gwangho too.”
“…?”
The moment the man raised his head slightly.
Puuk!
Ha Dojin’s sword had pierced his neck and was embedded in the floor.
Ha Dojin pulled his sword out while looking around at the blood-soaked area.
“…”
A thick blood scent brushed his nose.
Ha Dojin opened the windows wide and looked outside.
“Ten years…
That was the time it had taken for him to become a hunter and reach here.
It had been a long time, and in that time he had accomplished much.
But…
“Kkikkikikikikik.”
Ha Dojin let out a small laugh, then shook his shoulders and burst into laughter.
In just one moment, those ten years would be halved.
Or had he lost even more?
In reality, Red Circle’s guild was nothing but a hollow shell now, its core almost gone.
The business and the people.
How could he not laugh in this situation where everything he had painstakingly nurtured had disappeared?
But…
“It doesn’t matter. Red Circle was mine from the beginning.”
Kang Seungho was going to be Red Circle’s master soon.
As long as he himself remained alive, rebuilding the fallen fortress wouldn’t take long.
Hadn’t he endured the brutal training to reach level 250?
“Now…
There is no one in Korea who can stand against him.
No, more than that—among those in Asia, the number of people who can oppose him can be counted on one hand.
“Ha Dojin… Ha Dojin…”
The man had thought of that guy’s eyes and name hundreds of times inside the dungeon.
Those had been his fuel to become who he was now.
And now.
“I’ll pay for the price of defying the gods.”
Behind the blood scent carried on the wind.
Thud. Thud.
Ha Dojin moved somewhere.
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