The Assassin Hunter Stops Time
…….
It was just like Kang Seungho.
Dojin stared at the phone whose call had ended.
A head-on charge.
Or at least it looked that way. In reality, the move would be laced with every dirty trick imaginable.
If he moved without proper preparation, he would end up just like before….
I really thought it wouldn’t be like that back then.
The hundred-plus hunters who had surrounded him.
He had been cautious in his own way. The strange atmosphere and ominous premonition he’d felt at the time had been warning enough.
Yet he had still been helpless to stop it.
He had believed in the confidence Kang Seungho carried. A man with that much power, he had assumed, would never resort to such cowardly tactics.
“Foolish….”
It had been stupid. He admitted it. That stupidity had cost him his life.
But it would not happen a second time.
This fight might be between the two of them, yet far too many others would inevitably become entangled in it.
“Then I’ll have to prepare as well.”
Kang Seungho was probably preparing on a grand scale. It was time to open the Pandora’s box Dojin had kept ready all this while.
Dojin turned and walked slowly toward his destination.
“Chairman.”
Gyeongtaek’s expression was unusually urgent.
Gu Jinmo exhaled softly. “So he’s finally making his move?”
“It appears so.”
At Gyeongtaek’s reply, Gu Jinmo rose from his seat.
This single clash could throw the entire Korean hunter world into upheaval. Or worse, it could set the industry back by at least a decade.
The Red Circle Guild’s influence over Korea’s hunter society was simply that immense.
Even Gu Jinmo could not ignore the consequences.
Still….
“Is retreat truly the correct choice?”
“…Pardon?”
“What is your honest opinion? If Red Circle disappears, will Korea’s hunter world regress?”
“That…”
The straightforward answer was yes, it would regress. That was the safe reply.
Yet Gu Jinmo was not asking only about the guild’s disappearance. He was thinking of the new star rising in its place—the emergence of Hunter Ha Dojin.
“In a situation where the two cannot coexist, if only one can remain…”
Gyeongtaek chose his words with care. Personal bias had no place here. Even so, his answer was clear.
“I believe it may become the catalyst that elevates Korea to a world-class hunter powerhouse within the next decade.”
“I see.”
Gu Jinmo nodded. He knew Gyeongtaek was not the type to let sentiment cloud his judgment. That was precisely why he trusted the man’s insight on matters like this.
“A world-class hunter powerhouse…”
Gyeongtaek’s words carried real weight. Gu Jinmo shared the same thought.
“I agree.”
The decision was made.
“Arrange a meeting with Assemblyman Moon Byeong-gi. I will meet him personally.”
“Understood.”
Yet Gyeongtaek hesitated. “Still… I wonder if they will agree to it.”
“There is a high chance they have already begun moving on their own.”
“Pardon?”
Gu Jinmo’s answer prompted Gyeongtaek to ask what exactly the other side was moving toward.
“That headache has grown far too large to control as easily as before,” Gu Jinmo explained.
“But the larger it grows, the more useful it becomes, does it not?”
“Our positions differ.”
Gu Jinmo shook his head. “Their relationship is built on pure utility, not trust or human connection. Moreover…”
Moon Byeong-gi was a politician. He backed the hunters because he needed their power, but he was not the sort of man who would reach out to someone who was falling.
Gu Jinmo stood. “Make the preparations.”
“Understood.”
Gyeongtaek instinctively understood. The fight Dojin had begun would soon reach its conclusion.
Step. Step.
It really was a strange twist of fate.
“This place.”
The location chosen for his meeting with Kang Seungho. He had never imagined they would meet here of all places.
Or perhaps he simply hadn’t wanted to imagine it.
This was the exact spot where, in his previous life, Dojin had fought his final battle. The abandoned construction site, ringed by half-finished buildings left to rot.
Standing at its center, Dojin recalled the fight from six months ago. Countless people had died by his hand. The battle had been fierce. In the end he had lost his own life, yet the ordeal had also shown him the true extent of his power.
A cold night wind swept through the ruins.
Dojin, standing motionless amid the chill, soon spotted a man walking slowly out from inside one of the buildings.
“…Kang Seungho.”
His aura was unmistakably different from before. He was trying to conceal his strength, but he could not hide the subtle shifts in power.
Seungho stepped forward and looked at him.
“You really came alone?”
“Who knows.”
“If that’s true, you’ll die here. I assumed you would have made some preparations of your own.”
Seungho wore a faint smile, as though trying to brush off the killing intent he had sensed from Dojin that day.
“It’s not too late. Come under me. A man like you has the right to stand as my second-in-command in everything I will accomplish.”
His eyes were sincere. He genuinely wanted Dojin. The ambition to climb even higher burned clearly within them.
But….
“How can a wolf serve under a dog? Don’t you agree?”
“I noticed it before, but you really do have quite the mouth on you.”
At the same moment, Dojin sensed the presences closing in around them. Just as expected.
“Didn’t you say you came alone?”
“In this day and age, insurance is only common sense.”
Hunters had taken control of the perimeter. Their numbers….
Still fewer than I thought.
Roughly fifty. Considering the scale of their previous encounter, it was a modest force. Last time, over a hundred hunters of B-rank or higher had gathered.
Seungho’s lips curved upward.
“Last chance. Come under me. Not only will I spare your life, I will make you the second strongest in the world.”
“Second strongest in the world?”
“That’s right. I now possess the power to make it happen.”
Seungho’s eyes flashed with sharp intensity. His words carried real weight—the conviction that he could truly deliver on such a promise.
I fell for that line once.
But now Dojin knew the truth. Those words were hollow. Seungho might believe them, yet no one else existed in his vision. Only his own greed remained.
Dojin’s hand closed around Arkal’s Wrath at his waist.
In that instant, Seungho warned, “You should be more cautious. I didn’t take you for the reckless type.”
He already knew Dojin was not alone. Yet he still intended to fight?
Seungho stared at him with open disbelief.
Dojin answered calmly, “Insurance is important in this day and age. So why do you assume you’re the only one who took it out?”
“…?”
Seungho’s expression twisted strangely. He had sensed nothing.
Then—
Shwaaaaaack!
Thud!
At the dull impact, Seungho whipped his gaze sideways. A corpse lay on the ground. His eyes turned ice-cold. It was one of the Red Circle hunters he had brought.
There had been no sound of combat. The man had been killed before he could even reveal his presence.
“…You.”
As far as Seungho knew, only one person was capable of such a feat.
His face contorted with rage. “So it really was you. The one who controls the Shadow.”
Yang Taesan.
If it was him, it made sense. Seungho had suspected, yet the confirmation still hit like a blow.
Blood rushed to his head. This was the organization he had built. The tools he had forged. How dare they—
“The ones I raised… and you…”
Fury burned in his eyes.
Dojin watched him with mild surprise. It seemed Seungho’s attachment to the Shadow unit had been more genuine than expected.
Well, that makes sense.
No other hunter organization in Korea possessed anything like the Shadow. Their levels were not particularly high, yet each member possessed elite skill. They could easily bridge a twenty-to-thirty level gap. They had followed Seungho’s orders like machines—emotionless killing devices that executed commands without question.
Considering what Kang Seungho had gained through them in his previous life, the rage was understandable.
Yet Dojin’s voice remained cold. “They belong to me now. I’ll put them to good use.”
“You—!”
Kang Seungho roared. The aura exploding from his body shook the abandoned buildings and sent tremors racing across the ground.
It was an overwhelming pressure, nothing like before. Yet despite the killing intent radiating from him, he remained wary, spreading his senses wide to assess the situation.
Too late. This area was already under the complete control of Taesan and the Shadows.
Still, the power balance was even. Neither side held a clear advantage.
Then—
Crackle—
Master, an unidentified group is approaching from the opposite side of the entrance.
“…What?”
An unidentified group?
Dojin glanced at Seungho. The man’s expression had hardened as well; it seemed he had received the same report. This place was supposed to be completely deserted.
“…Did you prepare this too?” Seungho demanded.
He had assumed even this mystery force was part of Dojin’s plan.
Dojin said nothing.
The mere fact that Seungho had asked the question revealed the truth: the newcomers were not his people. In that case, silence itself became a weapon.
Dojin simply stared at him without answering.
Seungho clicked his tongue. “Whether this is your doing or not, your luck is certainly good.”
He turned away.
“You’ll be receiving an empty dungeon soon. Just like all the others you’ve cleared until now.”
To a hunter, the promise of an empty dungeon was a clear declaration of murderous intent.
For the first time, Dojin’s lips curved into a smile.
“That… is something I’ve been hoping for as well.”
“Today doesn’t seem to be the day. We’ll meet again soon.”
With those final words, Seungho withdrew along with the Red Circle hunters.
And then—
“Hunter Ha Dojin!”
The unidentified group that had been announced. At the familiar voice, Dojin turned with genuine surprise toward the man approaching him.