The Shadow of the Quiet Dawn
Portals exploded with articles related to the Red Circle. Yet the real bomb hadn't fallen yet.
In the stock market, a nuclear-level disclosure hit only VVIPs.
A ledger had been discovered listing every name who had taken Red Circle's blood money over the years.
All the illicit profits siphoned from ordinary people's veins had been funneled straight into their pockets.
Furious politicians scrambled to deny everything.
“Ah! I have nothing to do with it!”
“I only had dinner with that Kang Seungho guy once!”
“Control the media now! What kind of nonsense is this?!”
Some screamed back, but the public cared about only one thing.
Who exactly was on that ledger? How much money had they taken?
Even without full details, one truth remained crystal clear.
“If this ledger goes public… the nation will be turned upside down.”
“If the ruling party politicians have ties to the Red Circle…”
The next regime—or perhaps impeachment right here and now—could bring catastrophic change.
The reporter writing the article felt an odd sense of destiny in her eyes.
And…
“Shall we begin?”
“Yes, please.”
The woman sitting across from him nodded.
Baek Yeojin.
Deputy Director of the Information Department of the Red Circle Guild.
Finally…
‘People inside the Red Circle were starting to turn on each other.’
The reporter clicked on his voice recorder and addressed her.
* * *
Swoosh!
The distance had closed to point-blank. At the exact instant the Red Circle sword was about to strike Ha Dojin…
‘Eye of the Demon God.’
Ha Dojin's skill that let him see one second into the future.
The moment the skill activated, blinding pain slammed into his skull.
His vision blurred and spun, but…
Ha Dojin's concentration remained absolute, calmly watching every micro-movement of Seungho.
‘Left.’
Even if he had gone mad, Kang Seungho was Kang Seungho.
No ordinary rage-fueled slash here. A near-perfect strike laced with every possible variable.
But he didn't know what was coming one second ahead.
‘An attack capable of inflicting serious injury on me.’
Yet…
Whoosh!
Seeing one second into the future was worth more than gold in any fight against elite hunters.
Zero-point seconds. The outcome was decided inside that tiny window, and one second felt like a death sentence.
Seungho twisted his body and swung his sword toward Ha Dojin's left shoulder.
He had saved the Eye of the Demon God until the very last second for this exact moment.
Through the skill, Ha Dojin saw the future and…
Bam!
Twisting his body, he sidestepped the strike with effortless grace.
“……”
Seungho's pupils shook violently.
That was supposed to be his final strike.
‘It… missed?’
It had been the perfect execution.
Seungho couldn't finish his thought.
Slash!
“Grrrrrraaaah!”
Arkal's Wrath carved deep into Seungho's right side, opening the flesh and armor like paper. Blood gushed out in a hot torrent.
The wound would have dropped a normal person unconscious on the spot.
Yet Seungho pressed his own side with his right hand and roared, sword still in his left.
“You bastard!”
He swung again at Ha Dojin.
But…
Clang!
Ha Dojin parried the blow using Arkal's Wrath infused with power. Seungho's grip weakened, and the swing lacked any real force.
Seungho stumbled backward, eyes wide with panic.
Step by step.
An assassin hunter… had just blocked his attack like it was nothing?
‘My 30% boosted attack…?’
Even with his left hand? Even injured?
How could this monster possibly possess such ability?
‘Impossible.’
This was the peak of Korea now, but the blood he had spilled to reach here… no one had ever faced an opponent like this.
‘His level…’
Different. Completely different.
Fear began to cloud Seungho's gaze.
Step.
Ha Dojin took one step closer.
He had been evading until now, but…
“It's over, Kang Seungho.”
Nothing was left for the powerless Seungho.
At those words Seungho screamed, “Shut up, you bastard!”
Step step.
Ha Dojin walked forward in silence.
Seungho swung his sword wildly, but…
Clang! Boom!
Ha Dojin repelled the attack once more with Arkal's Wrath.
The more terrified Seungho's eyes grew.
Finally he yelled, “Don't come! Don't you dare! You monster!”
His desperate screams.
As Ha Dojin approached, he recalled the current situation.
Why had the gap become so vast?
[Unique Skill (Passive): Transcendent Awakening]
―When facing an opponent ten levels higher, every stat rises by one.
[Unique Skill (Passive): The Stronger, the Stronger]
―Deals 200% attack power against opponents 30% or more higher level.
Ha Dojin thought of his own skills.
The stronger the opponent, the stronger he became.
Combined with the Eye of the Demon God and Time Distortion…
‘Why…?’
He didn't know where these powers had come from, but he believed there was a meaning behind them.
But was it because he had briefly considered another possibility?
At that moment…
Bang!
The breath caught in Seungho's throat as he ran toward Firebird Guild with all his might.
“He's coming!”
“Block him!”
Firebird Guild hunters raised their weapons, but…
Boom!
“Gah!”
Seungho kicked the front-row tank hunter with his foot.
The man flew backward with his shield.
He hadn't even expected a single kick to carry such strength.
And…
Grab.
Seungho snatched a fallen hunter from the ground.
“Aaaah!”
The scream came from the healer hunter, whose neck he was choking.
She was one of the most skilled healers in Firebird Guild.
Seungho held her and looked at Ha Dojin.
“Don't come any closer! If you do, I'll snap her neck!”
Crunch.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
The force in his hand made her scream in real pain.
At that sight Ha Dojin felt his strength suddenly drain away.
This…
‘Was this monster's end… this pitiful and wretched?’
Still, he had once been his master.
To Ha Dojin he had been a god-like figure, the pinnacle of Korea.
And yet… his end was…
“A pathetic hostage situation.”
Ha Dojin took another step forward.
Seungho flinched and shouted, “I'll kill her! I'll really kill her!”
He had kept all these enemies alive instead of killing them… meaning he didn't want to take a life.
Even if it looked dirty and cowardly…
‘First, I need to get out of here.’
Recover later, rebuild the forces.
Seungho's body trembled as he stared at Ha Dojin.
How could such a monster suddenly appear?
In the final clash he hadn't even read his movements.
In the blink of an eye.
Without doing anything, he had been defeated.
“……Ugh.”
The wound Seungho had inflicted was deep.
He needed treatment immediately.
“……Heal me right now.”
Seungho looked at the healer hunter he was holding and said, “Treat me now.”
In that short moment, choosing her had been the only reason.
“Hurry up and heal me! Or I'll break her neck!”
At the threat, she began to tremble and channeled her mana.
And at that moment…
“Hunter Ha Dojin.”
Seeing the situation, Hyejin approached.
“We will draw his attention. In the meantime… allow us to rescue her?”
“No need. I won't be interfering.”
Complex emotions filled Ha Dojin's gaze.
He had rushed here for revenge, yet the monster's end was so pitiful it broke his heart.
‘I won't let him linger long.’
Just finish it quickly.
Ha Dojin stepped forward one foot at a time.
The enemy could no longer react to his movements.
The side wound was so deep that his organs would spill the moment Seungho removed his hand.
His leg tendons were nearly severed; he could barely stand.
Even his arm holding the unarmored healer was shaking.
Only inhuman willpower kept him upright.
Whoosh!
Finally, as Ha Dojin's figure vanished…
“You're going to kill her after all!”
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
Seungho tightened his grip on the healer's neck.
He had planned to break it in one go.
But Ha Dojin moved first.
Slash!
“Grrrrrrraaaaaah!”
A dull thud echoed as Seungho's hand was severed and fell to the floor.
With no hand left to hold the healer, Seungho staggered backward.
“You went out in such a shabby way to the very end.”
“You bastard…!”
Thud!
Arkal's Wrath, gripped tightly in Ha Dojin's hand, pierced Seungho's heart exactly.
Stumble.
At that instant Seungho's body froze as if paralyzed.
“……Ah.”
A soft sigh.
Complex emotions flooded Seungho's eyes as he stared at the dagger buried in his heart.
‘Just a little further…’
If I had taken just one more step…
‘I would have stood at the pinnacle of this country.’
No, I could have spread my power across the world.
Then… what had all this struggle been for?
Countless questions and memories flashed through his mind in an instant.
It was unfair.
“If it weren't for you… if only you hadn't…”
The sudden obstacle blocking his path.
Seungho reached out toward Ha Dojin.
Wasn't everything he had built up too precious to let go of like this?
But…
“Now give up and leave, Kang Seungho.”
“You…!”
Puuuk!
The moment Ha Dojin pulled the dagger from Seungho's heart…
Chwaak!
His neck was sliced cleanly in one stroke.
Once the master who had ruled Korea, Kang Seungho.
The hunters from both guilds watching his end could not hide their shock and awe.
Thud.
The pitiful, broken body of Kang Seungho fell.
“At this very moment…”
Ha Dojin looked at the Firebird Guild and Red Circle Guild hunters staring at him.
And declared, “The Red Circle Guild no longer exists.”
Seven months had passed since he had obtained a new life.
Short or long, it didn't matter.
Ha Dojin had grown stronger.
He had corrected the past twists and completed his revenge.
‘……No.’
Ha Dojin shook his head.
Seungho had been nothing but a small accessory in that massive threat.
While preparing for this revenge, Ha Dojin had learned a great deal.
And behind the Seungho he had thought was finished… the true giant background.
The Yongin dungeon break.
And the millions of lives lost in the future.
‘Before I completely destroy that cartel…’
I can never stop.
Ha Dojin pulled out the phone from his pocket.
And…
“Now I'm moving on to the next one.”
On the other end of the phone, only deep silence flowed.