Shadows Slain, Bureau's Overture
Jenny cast her space magic perfectly.
Back to Busan via spatial distortion.
Two of them for real.
I'd definitely taken one out earlier. Something was wrong.
From what I'd observed through the scope,
I'd seen the small one zipping around too fast—no way I could hit it reliably, so I'd cleanly given up on that.
Instead, I'd decided to focus on the big lump.
Right on cue, Kim Chi-gon the hunter charged at the small one. Perfect timing.
"Hoo..."
This was my chance. Target: the lump.
The distance wasn't much different from my training range.
I exhaled steadily, relaxed my finger, and pulled the trigger.
- Phut...
Fired.
- BOOM!
Got it.
Hit! This time, for real, with my own skill!
The training had paid off, no doubt.
Is that it now?
No way it respawns again?
I'd sniped it just like this before, so the suspicion was natural.
- Click!
I yanked the bolt to chamber the next round immediately.
With my left eye glued to the scope,
- BOOM!
Almost simultaneously, Kim Chi-gon smashed the small one.
No more apostles respawned after that.
Judging by Kim Chi-gon's reaction, it was definitely dead.
He cracked his neck side to side in relief and sauntered off the battlefield with that signature swagger.
Alright, that's it then. Right?
Plenty of time left, but I decided to head back right away.
Just as I was pulling the rifle away from the distortion point,
"Ha. What the fuck now."
The kill count still hadn't gone up.
I poked the muzzle back out, scope aimed at Busan, and focused my view.
Kim Chi-gon also turned back, sensing something off.
Then,
- Shhhshshsh...
Dozens of shadow clumps (●) spawned from Kim Chi-gon's shadow, skittering across the ground in all directions.
Kim Chi-gon seemed to curse viciously and stomped around, crushing the floor.
Each time, pop! Pop!—black wisps burst up, and they didn't respawn.
That must be the last of them.
My gut told me so. I focused my sight to help.
Not much time left, and they were scattering too fast for even Kim Chi-gon to track visually.
Just in case, I activated my non-lethal skill for backup.
Neutralizing them would help plenty.
"Hooo. One shot."
I spotted a cluster of ●s merging into a lump,
- Phut...
fired my final snipe there, and pulled back without checking the result.
Stealth dropped the moment I returned to the shelter.
"Hahk. Hahk."
"H-how did it go, Captain! Did you get it!"
"...Uh, yeah."
It was ambiguous. Had it really ended properly?
Checking the footage afterward, it looked like I'd hit the shadow lump.
The thing skittering on the ground had leaped up, writhing irregularly in agony.
Probably the pain hallucination from Warning doing its job.
But Kim Chi-gon's reaction was a bit odd.
What was that?
He'd hesitated for some reason.
Kim Chi-gon was honestly flustered.
Eighty percent of it was just him lashing out in anger,
...but the Unregistered had actually helped. For real.
He'd finally taken down the tenacious Ombros core.
But his mind was getting seriously complicated now.
Not because he wasn't MVP.
It was that "Unregistered power" he'd glimpsed just before.
The force that neutralized Ombros instantly before it could flee.
- Chill.
As someone who fought by deploying martial energy in battle form, Kim Chi-gon could sense it.
The realm of power inflicted on Ombros.
"..."
An overwhelming killing intent that transcended everything.
A weight that crushed existence itself, ignoring magic, curses, laws.
This is definitely... Intentional Form Murder.
Intentional Form Murder.
The pinnacle of martial arts he'd devoted his life to pursuing.
The ultimate essence of martial combat.
Unregistered.
He wanted to meet them. Confirm it firsthand.
At that moment,
A rundown container yard.
Seemingly abandoned, no sign of life, just a damp gloom hanging in the air.
[Field Type] [Advanced] Apostle of the Flesh – Carnebris.
An Apostle of the Flesh was there.
A grotesque form of flesh clumped together messily.
With recovery power near divine authority, it was the most tenacious type among apostles,
『S-sorry... please... kill me now...』
but right now, it just trembled, endlessly begging someone in a quivering voice.
Its dignity gone, its body hacked into tiny pieces.
Stitched crudely with red thread in places,
hundreds of thick nails embedded densely across its unrecognizable flesh.
Obviously a horrifically mutilated corpse,
『S-sorry... please... no more...』
yet its terrifying regeneration kept it from dying, trapping it in eternal agony.
Where Carnebris's pleas reached,
Rank 3 = [Hongmaehwa] Seol
A slender woman in a blood-soaked dress.
Ignoring Carnebris's groans, she squatted by the blood pool,
flipping through the [Murcielago Battle Log] system window.
She tapped Unregistered's name to check damage... watched the kill footage... repeating endlessly.
『Kill... me... please...』
"Hm."
Her curiosity burned.
They'd ignored her contract from the start, nagging at her,
and their actions since were even more astonishing.
The Gargoyle massacre was the "perfect assassination" realm Hongmaehwa craved.
The burst damage on Murcielago far surpassed her mascot,
and even Dokkaebi Hae-dong's neutralization was Unregistered's doing, apparently. Even she, Hongmaehwa's guild master, would need to stake her life against him.
『No... more...』
"But it's weird."
Digging deeper, one thing stood out.
A clue about Unregistered she could guess easily as an assassination guild master.
"Only active in Seoul? And super narrowly."
The locations of monsters/bosses/provocateurs (Hae-dong) Unregistered killed were extremely limited.
Around the Gargoyle massacre zone.
A hunch hit her.
"Or can they only act around here?"
Maybe they couldn't leave the area for some reason.
- Clap!
Seol clapped lightly,
- Whoosh! Whoosh!
and rankers of all sorts gathered around her.
Hongmaehwa members.
"Grrr..."
A massive muscle monster that made Seol look like a little girl.
"Give your orders."
A woman in mourning garb with long straight hair.
"..."
A blind swordsman with eyes covered in cloth.
About a dozen gathered, and Seol commanded without glancing at them.
"Search the area. Especially when battles happen."
"Understood."
- Whoosh! Whoosh!
They vanished the instant her order dropped.
Left alone again, Seol.
『Kill... me... please...』
Bored, but she'd grasped a lead, so she felt good.
"Let's meet. Talk it out."
Muttering to herself, chin propped, about to dig further,
- Ding!
Apostle kill message popped up.
Hm. About to wipe them all out.
She'd heard via intel net that Kim Chi-gon tangled with the "Shadow Apostle." As expected, quick work.
But,
"?"
Seol's brow furrowed deeply; she stood without thinking.
"What."
Battle location: Busan.
"Hahk. Hahk. Hahk."
[Shadow Apostle ‘Ombros’ vs Kim Chi-gon]
Team 1 Leader bald Kim Chun-gyu, with the Hunter Universe video on his status window,
bolted from the situation room, sprinting down the hall.
"Hahk. Hahk. Hahk."
Destination: the video conference room.
Where Director Baek Moon-seong stood by for World Hunter Management Bureau meetings.
And the video title he'd just had up had changed.
[Shadow Apostle ‘Ombros’ vs Kim Chi-gon x Unregistered]
The addition: "x Unregistered."
The one clue he'd been waiting for.
The mysterious Unregistered hunter, who'd hidden identity and intent, leaving only riddles—had finally signaled as "humanity's side" for the first time.
Chance. Chance!
Not just Kim Chun-gyu thought so.
Public opinion, mostly neutral-to-worried, was already shifting.
Grab them here. Unregistered.
- Bang!
Director Baek Moon-seong sat in the video room; Kim Chun-gyu slapped his prepared agenda right next to the chair.
Kim Chun-gyu's Unregistered plan.
Abandon contract,
choose cooperation.
"..."
Baek Moon-seong grasped it instantly.
"Basis."
Kim Chun-gyu submitted the video immediately.
Confirmation? The title alone sufficed.
[Kim Chi-gon x Unregistered]
High-ranker Kim Chi-gon had collaborated with Unregistered.
Baek Moon-seong killed the mic and camera,
"From now on, all Unregistered matters are Team 1 Leader Kim Chun-gyu's sole authority. Director takes responsibility—full investment."
"..."
No time wasted on reply; Kim Chun-gyu rushed back to the situation room.
Waited for this. Unregistered.
Unregistered had given the Bureau enough.
Now the Bureau's turn to show Unregistered.
Its... attitude.
My one-room apartment.
Rainbow light flowed from my body again.
"Hoooahk!"
While Jenny freaked,
[Providing Gate Reward EXP.]
[Providing Boss Kill EXP.]
[Providing MVP Bonus EXP.]
After the Shadow Apostle snipe,
[EXP exceeds per-gate level-up limit.]
[Max 10 levels per gate.]
[Excess EXP saved for next gate reward.]
With the system limit notice,
Level 41.
"Good."
Growth accelerating.
[New skill acquirable.]
[‘Shelter Enhancement’ available. (10)]
[‘Facility Upgrade’ available. (2)]
[‘Additional Facility’ available. (1)]
Jenny panted beside me.
Time to grow fast from now on.
Then,
- Ding!
Sponsorship arrived,
■ Gold = 500,000,000
"..."
Ridiculous sum, but my instincts told me why this time.
Reward for apostle kill?
No contract, just straight reward.
But the Bureau wasn't done.
"...Since I didn't accept contract, this their play."
"..."
The news body focused on the ‘Apostle of Bone’.
Format? Clear "subjugation commission" to anyone.