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Join the ServerHan Dokyeom Hunter, please just go into your room today too. You won’t be able to leave here for a while anyway. Until the gate conquest is complete, they’ll claim national security and your phone will be out of service, and the surveillance will be tight. Those guys always act like this when we come.
“Ah, go in and check your room thoroughly. Tampering with guest rooms is their specialty. They say it’s to monitor and prevent their information from leaking outside, but… the reality is more like finding something to pick at.”
“Having your embarrassing sleeping picture appear in foreign media without warning, heh heh.”
Whether it was because he had suffered so much that he became numb or had attained enlightenment, the hunter shrugged and spoke with a calm expression.
“Dinner will be served as scheduled, so it’s best to just stay in until the meeting. Those guys… we’ll handle them.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The hunters, who had been scanning the newcomers with sour expressions, threw empty milk cartons and bread wrappers into a nearby trash can and disappeared into the hostile atmosphere. That tense situation was resolved neatly as soon as they said, “Seniors, what are you doing here?”
The rookie hunters flinched and stiffened. One of the senior hunters put his arm around the shoulder of a junior and laughed, pulling him back. At that, the rookies who had been arguing fell silent as if their mouths were sealed, and soon began moving away from the entrance. The seniors were apparently scary.
“Hyung, did you hear that? They told us not to leave?! What kind of crazy bastards are they!”
And then Baek Jiun filled the spot. Right in front of Dokyeom, spraying spittle.
“…You bastard, spit. Huh? You’re spitting.”
“Ah, spit is the problem now! They’re going crazy over there saying we can’t leave because of food. What kind of jerks are so petty and narrow-minded?”
As Baek Jiun was trembling and causing a ruckus alone, Dokyeom gave him a pathetic look. Then, for a moment, all movement around him slowed down. It was also the instant a group of rookie hunters brushed past Dokyeom. Time itself seemed to stretch.
Baek Jiun’s lips moved in slow motion, and all objects around seemed frozen. Sound became a stretched, continuous note.
Startled, Dokyeom turned his head and confirmed the person passing by him. It was a rookie hunter from Sahyun Guild. Unlike the others, he seemed uncomfortable with the situation, wearing an expression of relief.
But as Dokyeom blinked, a scene flashed by.
[Keu, keuheuk… Save me, heuk…]
Blood splattered. Before his eyes, a grotesque, massive shape lurked in the darkness. Another blink, and a scream rang out again. The monster’s blood-red eyes glowed eerily in the dark.
Dokyeom reached out fiercely. Before his fingertips could touch the gasping man, someone’s voice suddenly emerged from behind the monster.
[Wait, we can lure him with this guy.]
“Ha…!”
Dokyeom let out a breath he had been holding. Seeing this, Baek Jiun was startled and stopped talking, while Agon and Beom Yeonhu quickly grabbed Dokyeom’s shoulders from both sides and checked his complexion.
“Dokyeom, what’s wrong?”
Swaek-
What was that? What was that just now?
While hastily exhaling, Dokyeom quickly raised his head and turned his eyes to find the person who had passed by. The back view of the hunter who had just passed was burned into his vision.
The voices of Beom Yeonhu and Agon didn’t register in his ears. Only the scene of blood splattering remained vivid in his mind.
Only belatedly did Dokyeom notice the hardened gazes on him and quickly muttered an excuse.
“No… I just choked on my saliva.”
“Hyung, seriously… Ah, you scared me.”
Baek Jiun, patting his chest, seemed to believe Dokyeom, but Beom Yeonhu was different. Seeing Beom Yeonhu, who couldn’t relax his stiff face, Dokyeom felt that the air was somehow strange.
The previously chaotic lobby was too quiet. He could feel the clear gazes directed at him from all around. It was foolish not to have noticed such obvious stares before.
“Eheu, hyung, you’re not feeling well… Today is ruined. Let’s just go to the room and order room service.”
Everyone except Dokyeom seemed to have already noticed these gazes long ago. Everywhere he looked, there were people in black suits with earphones. They looked like hunters, and their ranks seemed at least B, no, A-class.
Why hadn’t he noticed earlier?
For this gate conquest, no more than 30 hunters from Sahyun Guild came to China. Excluding Taeseongyeon, Beom Yeonhu, and Yisaein, among the remaining 27, 18 were A-class, and the rest were all B-class hunters.
It was only natural that surveillance was so tight. With such a major figure moving, capable of affecting national security, the association of another country couldn’t just stay still.
If Dokyeom hadn’t seen that ‘future’ just now, he would have thought that way. But now, having seen the scene of blood splattering, it was different.
‘Lure.’
Why did those gazes seem so dark compared to before? Hoping it was just his imagination, Dokyeom still read a sense of unease in the looks they exchanged.
“…Let’s go up, Dokyeom.”
Beom Yeonhu’s low whisper carried a heavy gaze. Something was there. He didn’t know what, but he knew it wasn’t something to take lightly.
“Yes, let’s go. I had something to say too, but I forgot.”
They were threatening this much to ‘interfere’ with the conquest.
The mention of attending the ‘meeting’ meant they would try to meddle, and from their perspective, it was unclear what they would say since it was a loss for them if Sahyun Guild conquered the gate.
The meeting would be called after Taeseongyeon arrived. Dokyeom moved toward the guest room, estimating the time. Probably late at night.
As he walked, Dokyeom replayed the scene he had seen several times. By the time it was etched into a corner of his mind, several hours had passed, and around dark night, Taeseongyeon appeared late.
It was also when Dokyeom was clearing and organizing his tangled thoughts.
As if heralding the start of a long night, the sky had already turned pitch black. In that dark night, a meeting accompanied by the core forces of the Shanghai Association was held in the reception room.
***
The large window covering one wall showed the bustling city nightscape. In the lit reception room, several dozen people sat facing each other across a long table. A considerable number of surveillance hunters stood guard at the door with their hands behind their backs.
The neon signs seen through the glass were flashy, but the air surrounding the reception room was only heavy.
A total of 50 hunters gathered here.
Excluding the 30 Sahyun Guild hunters, the rest were high-ranking officials and hunters from the Shanghai Association. Among them were the vice president of the Shanghai Association as the representative and also Wang Rong, whom he had seen during the day.
The first to speak was the expressionless, authoritative vice president of Shanghai, ‘Li Jian.’
“It’s been a long time for contemplation, leaving our guests seated. I apologize. Since the matter at hand is significant, we had much to think about. I ask for the generous understanding of the Sahyun Guild side.”
Li Jian softened his stern-looking eyes and bowed in a respectful pose, asking for understanding. Despite the considerate gesture, his pitch-black eyes were the opposite.
He looked to be in his mid-40s, and his demeanor was like a veteran who had rolled around in politics. At least it was clear he was not an easy opponent.
“There’s no need for apologies when you’ve prepared the place for us to cooperate. The matter seems urgent, so let’s hear the Shanghai Association’s position first. How far can you cooperate, what can each of us do? Let’s hear even the formalities.”
The obvious condescending tone made the Chinese officials’ faces harden slightly. Tension filled the reception room. Taeseongyeon was also not someone to take lightly.
Li Jian stared at Taeseongyeon as if scrutinizing him for a while, then reached out to the side. Wang Rong, acting as a secretary, placed a stack of documents in Li Jian’s hand.
“You are aware that it’s been two weeks since an anomaly occurred in the ‘Huangpu’ gate. In the meantime, our Shanghai Association has provided numerous support in place of the Sahyun Guild’s absence. Of course, it’s not someone else’s business, so we did that. Let’s see… According to the gate data, the scheduled date for the ‘Gate Break’ is the day after tomorrow, correct?”
While looking at the documents, Li Jian cocked his head as if troubled, then clicked his tongue sympathetically.
“All the missing hunters were symbolic figures of the Sahyun Guild. The loss must be great. According to reports, most of them are still alive, right? If so, our Shanghai Association’s position is that we need to move cautiously in this matter.”
Li Jian scanned the Sahyun Guild hunters and stopped at a certain section. It was where Han Dokyeom was among the hunters. Then his gaze moved once more from Han Dokyeom to the B-class hunter Baek Jiun sitting next to him.
A smiling remark followed.
“Our Shanghai Association will naturally support the Sahyun Guild in both material and spiritual aspects regarding this situation. Solving the matter with minimal damage to our country is the most ideal direction for our city. Therefore, we will set one condition.”
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