Turbulent Situation
"Jin-woo, you okay?"
The urgent voice in his ear snapped Kim Jin-woo back to reality.
"Ch-Cha Eun-joo? What the hell are you doing here?"
He was so shocked his voice cracked. Calming his trembling lips, he pressed on. "Weren't you dead?"
"Came damn close. But..." Cha Eun-joo turned toward the door.
Sertina strolled in with leisurely steps.
"Sertina saved me."
"S-Sertina?" Kim Jin-woo glanced at her, then back at Cha Eun-joo.
Sertina scowled and crossed her arms. "I told you not to run around when you're not fully healed."
"Heh heh, sorry."
Cha Eun-joo scratched her head with an awkward grin.
Deep in thought, Kim Jin-woo's fingers drummed rhythmically on the bed. His eyebrows twitched dramatically.
"Wait... then you too?!"
"Yeah. Nearly got murdered by one of our own guildmates."
Kim Jin-woo's jaw dropped in disbelief. "What the—why?"
The world's top Techno Master. In these monster-plagued times, she deserved every special treatment imaginable. What reason could there possibly be to kill a talent like her?
But Cha Eun-joo's answer crushed his expression.
"Opposed the Federal Government's moves."
Kim Jin-woo's mind went blank for a moment. He blinked rapidly, eyes darting as thoughts raced.
No way...
Things were dire, sure, but surely not over something so trivial.
Then a recent memory flashed by.
Come to think of it, didn't that bastard Jang Jin-cheol ask me about it?
Something about supporting a semi-permanent regime for national stability. He'd promised players all sorts of perks, but it boiled down to outright dictatorship. Kim Jin-woo had told him to cut the bullshit.
His face darkened by the second.
"N-No proof, right?"
"Remember the guys you partied with today?"
"Yeah, fresh in my mind."
"Any of them oppose the Federal Government's bullshit?"
Kim Jin-woo tilted his head, pondering. It didn't take long for his face to twist.
"Son of a bitch..."
The pieces fit too neatly now. But the clincher came next.
Cha Eun-joo drove it home. "And you know the subjugation teams are assembled by Federal Government brass, right?"
No more words needed. Out of the twelve—including himself—eleven had tried to kill him.
It meant one thing.
"Those fucking traitors...!"
Kim Jin-woo's fists shook with rage. Cracks spiderwebbed across his forehead as veins bulged blue.
Flash—
A massive sniper rifle materialized in his grip.
"I'll take every last one of those bastards down right now!"
Cha Eun-joo, startled, reached to stop him—but Sertina stepped forward.
"Hold it."
"What?"
His voice dripped fury, eyes blazing into her. But Sertina shook her head.
"Not yet."
She walked to the window, gazing silently at Seoul's skyline. Then, in a flat, emotionless tone:
"Why do you think I'm bothering to collect evidence? Just to save you?"
Kim Jin-woo's face grew conflicted. Sertina continued.
"To heal a rotting limb, you endure the pain and cut out the rot. Cut too little, and gangrene spreads. Cut too much, and it damages the rest. Same with a nation."
She turned, morning sun rising to halo her in blinding light.
"I plan to save this country. But not at the cost of needless waste. Life is precious—unlike those who steal it."
Cha Eun-joo and Kim Jin-woo stared, mesmerized. Punish the wicked decisively, without harming the innocent. That was Sertina's way.
Forgotten rage fading, Kim Jin-woo rubbed his eyes in a daze. Was this really the infamous, ruthless Sertina? The light from the heavens made her seem like a descending angel.
His anger cooled, sinking deep inside.
"Jin-woo, I get it. But rash moves just give them an escape. Trust me and wait a bit? I promise I'll avenge you."
She extended her hand. His hesitated mid-air, then clenched with resolve, lips pressed tight.
"Please do."
"Good."
And so, another talent joined Eterna Guild.
Red lights blared in the Federal Government headquarters. Bureaucrats drowned in paperwork and bad news, working overtime endlessly. No amount of manpower could fix it.
"Jang Jin-cheol's team still not back?"
"Lee Soo-ho's team missing for four days now!"
"Search parties?"
"Vanished without a trace. Nowhere to look."
Dubbed the "evaporation phenomenon" in the building—a string of bizarre incidents. Starting with Present Moon Guild's Jang Jin-cheol team, victims poured in from Flame Guild, Immortals Guild, and nearly every Federal-aligned guild.
Subjugation teams entered gates for monsters... and never returned.
A month of this. Someone slammed their desk.
"Goddamn it! How the hell are we supposed to form teams like this?!"
"Nobody's volunteering anymore!"
"Disaster. We need players to contain rampaging monsters..."
Just worries, no solutions.
Meanwhile, President Han Sung-ho—who suspected the truth—clutched his head. He knew the missing teams' common thread.
"Only the anti-government assassination squads are vanishing."
The meeting room nodded gravely.
Defense Minister Lee Kyu-cheol spoke. "Too patterned for coincidence."
"Attacker's highly intelligent. Not monsters."
Economy Minister stroked his chin. "Has to be players, then..."
Prime Minister Shim Hyun-baek raked back his hair in frustration. "They spot traps, distinguish fake teams flawlessly. Hell, not even sure how to catch 'em."
The government hadn't sat idle. All-anti-government teams to lure vanishings. Fake subjugations with surveillance everywhere. Body cams on teams.
Every trick failed. Culprit unknown. All electronics failed right before disappearance—same MO, no traces. Impeccably ruthless.
But the room's eyes held conviction. They knew who.
"Obviously Silver Tree and Star Alliance."
"Only forces in Seoul that can challenge the Federation."
Choi Ah-rin's Silver Tree Guild and Yoo Ji-hoon's Star Guild—split from the Federation early in the materialization crisis.
President Han Sung-ho, listening quietly, cracked his knuckles.
"No other suspects. They're as good as guilty."
Someone ventured: "Change the evaporation response?"
He pondered, then shook his head.
"No."
Ambition sharpened his gaze.
"I've got a better idea."
Thus, in the dead of night as all slept, a classified document on critical matters reached every Federal Guild leader.
"How the hell is she doing it?"
Lee So-yeon gawked at the daily influx of missing persons lists, equal parts awe and horror.
The powerhouse Cha Eun-joo had vouched for? No exaggeration.
Taking down entire subjugation teams solo? A- and S-rank players at that.
The mystery figure dismantled them single-handedly. Strike and vanish—zero traces.
Lee So-yeon now wondered if some crime syndicate was involved. Hell, was it even human?
No, can't be. Unnie wouldn't associate with that!
She shook her head fiercely, banishing doubts. She knew Cha Eun-joo's character—fiercely just, incapable of such darkness. Plus, with her powers, escape via Titan would be trivial anywhere.
Lee So-yeon cracked her knuckles calmly. "Time to clue her in, probably."
Strange vibes from Federal internals lately. Rumors pinning the guild murders on Silver Tree and Star Alliance.
The rumors rang too true, most guildies buying it outright.
Makes sense. They're the only ones in Seoul who could stand against the Federation.
Cha Eun-joo swore it wasn't them, so that eased her. But the top brass wasn't even quashing the rumors—despite zero evidence.
"They trying to spark a civil war or what...?"
Frowning deeply, Lee So-yeon pulled out her phone and messaged the mystery number(?).
"Doesn't seem like a normal person at all... using a number like this."