Chapter 1093 - 162 - 166

Chapter 162: Chapter 162

"Ah….."

They all became utterly speechless. There could not have been a more fitting description than that.

Choi Jung-Hoon forgot what he wanted to say. But, he was certain of something. The origin of that ominous energy he sensed before entering this Gate was that living sculpture.

The magic energy leaking out of that thing was so great that the space surrounding the d*mn creature seemed to twist around in his view.

He was simply staring at it from far away, yet goosebumps were breaking out on his entire body.

Glance.

His gaze was redirected towards Jin-Woo.

It made some sense to see someone as strong as Hunter Seong lying unconscious if he had been in a battle against a 'thing' like that.

No, hold on.

Fighting against such a 'thing' while also finding enough leeway to destroy all these other enemies – the stone statues – was only possible precisely because it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and not someone else.

He felt nothing but admiration in his heart. However….

'It's our turn to fight against such an opponent now.'

A thick drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and stopped on his chin.

The strength of this one monster easily exceeded that of the mutated ant that appeared on Jeju Island. No, it was unknown whether this enemy was really a monster or not, to begin with.

Gulp.

His dry saliva painfully slid down his throat.

Choi Jong-In glanced to his side and found that the complexions of Cha Hae-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were utterly pale from fright as well. These two had also figured out the depths of the enemy's power and were in the middle of inwardly freaking out.

On the other hand, the Hunters behind them were getting surprised by something else entirely.

"That thing… did that thing just speak??"

"Wait, I didn't hear incorrectly just now, did I?"

"A monster can speak our language?"

Hunters exchanged glances with one another, their faces filled with incredulity. Something like this seemed impossible.

It was already public knowledge that the monsters with intelligence spoke the language of their own.

Back when these Gates began appearing for the first time, some tried to learn the language of the monsters. Of course, their attempts all ended in failure.

The sole reason for that was the violent tendencies of the monsters. Monsters captured alive through great difficulties couldn't seem to endure being around humans the longer they remained in contact.

Even if their entire bodies were restrained, they tried to rampage around trying to attack humans – even when under the intense pain of their flesh being ripped apart and their bones snapping in half. In the end, either they were killed off by their human captors, or died naturally after being unable to win against the tides of their rage.

– It is impossible for monsters and humans to coexist. It is also impossible to communicate with them.

This was the unanimous conclusion reached by the scientists researching monsters from all over the globe, one they were completely certain of.

However, the monster in front of their eyes was speaking in Korean as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

A monster that could be seen as the find of the century had made its entrance, but for some reason, these Hunters all felt this inexplicable sense of dread in their hearts.

That was the warning bell rung by the primal instinct only detectable by the first-class Hunters such as these people.

Flinch.

The angel statue took one step forward, causing the trembling Hunters to hurriedly back away. The creature slowly shifted its gaze left to right as if to appreciate the sight of these humans and their expressions of fear and terror.

"Oh, strong humans."

The statue spoke up as it began looking at the Hunters with the eyes of someone finding a delicious snack.

"It seems that there are no shortages for the first sacrifices prepared for the king."

If a snake could smile, would that be as disgusting as the one on this creature? The movements of the Hunters froze stiff from the smile forming on the angel statue's face.

'….The king?'

Could there have been yet another monster here?

Choi Jong-In's head slanted to the side briefly, but too bad for him, now wasn't the time to dissect what the monster was saying.

The angel statue ripped up the arm of one of the stone statues strewn about on the floor.

Crack!!

'What is it trying to do?'

Hunters and their confusion didn't last for long. It placed the torn arm in its right shoulder socket that was already missing a limb, and the two parts suddenly began fusing by themselves.

'Heok…!'

As the Hunters gasped out in astonishment, the angel statue moved the newly-regenerated arm around this way and that. It was then.

Shooph.

The statue suddenly appeared before the Hunters. They didn't even have any time to respond. The angel statue took a swing with its right arm. The face of the Hunter standing in front of the group was crushed inward.

Peo-geok!!

The Hunter and his crushed face flew backwards and slammed into the wall. Other Hunters nearby threw out urgent counterattacks, but by then, the angel statue was already gone.

"Where…?!"

"Over there!!"

The creature was now standing on the same spot as before as if it never made a move in the first place. As a matter of fact, it was busy fidgeting with its newly-attached right hand and its fingers. It looked like it was testing out whether its new limb was functioning properly or not.

"M-Myung-Cheol-ah!!"

"Euh, uwaaaahh!!"

Hunters belatedly discovered the casualty among them and began crying out in anguish. He was killed instantly. A rank A Tanker working for South Korea's best Guild had died in a single hit.

Choi Jong-In's eyes as he stared at the angel statue began shaking unsteadily now.

'Hunter Seong Jin-Woo fought against such a thing all by himself…?'

Rather than the pain of losing one of his comrades, his mind was overcome with this hopeless sense of vagueness at not knowing how to break out of the current situation.

Unfortunately, not everyone was capable of rational thought process like Choi Jong-In.

"You son of a b*tch!!"

One of the female Hunters, the lover of the deceased Hunter, screamed out and dashed forward in anger. A pair of flames were burning brightly in both of her hands as she did so.

Just as she was about to launch those flames, someone grabbed her wrists from behind. The female Hunter looked to her side and discovered that Cha Hae-In had approached her before she noticed it. The female Hunter shook her arm and yelled out.

"Let me go!"

"Unni, you must hold it back."

"I said, let go of me, right now!!"

"Please, you gotta hold it back!"

The female Hunter glared straight at Cha Hae-In's face. The latter carried a grave but determined expression as she bit her lower lip.

"I'm also holding back, you know…."

Cha Hae-In's hardened expression caused the female Hunter to stop writhing around in anger. Because… even she knew it was unwise to agitate a monster that no longer showed any interest in their group after making that initial attack.

It was just that, she found it nearly impossible to hold herself back. Someone she loved was met with a horrific death, yet she was unable to do anything. The female Hunter began sobbing under her breath.

"Heuk…."

Once she stopped displaying hints of making a rash decision, Cha Hae-In shifted her attention over to Jin-Woo lying on the ground far away. The female Hunter wasn't the only one holding herself back, indeed.

For some reason, the monster had stopped attacking the group. And Jin-Woo looked unhurt as he continued to breathe normally. His expression was peaceful, as if he was simply asleep right now.

'For now…'

….She and others had to buy as much time as possible until Jin-Woo woke up. That was the best they could do.

It was then.

The angel statue moved its body this way and that before laughter abruptly broke out from its lips.

"Haha."

The empty interior of the underground temple was suddenly filled up with the echoes of the angel statue's voice. It kept its laughter short and shifted its gaze over to the Hunters.

"Well now, should I get the fun started?"

The colour of the angel statue's eyes suddenly reddened up.

Was that the beginning of the assault? The Hunters strengthened their grips on their chosen weapons and prepared for battle.

If it was only one… if it was only one enemy, couldn't they be able to do something here? Not only did they have two rank S Hunters present, but there were also dozens of top local Hunters gathered here at the moment, too.

As such an optimistic outlook quickly raced past the minds of the Hunters, this happened.

Dududududududuk.

Suddenly, an earthquake broke out inside this huge, open chamber.

"Ah…. No, this can't be…."

The dark shadow of despair drew upon the faces of the Hunters. The broken stone statues were beginning to stand up one by one, that was why.

The b*stards without heads, b*stards with holes in their chests, and even b*stards with limbs missing all began standing up. But the absolute worst among them all was the statue of the unknown god that could only be described as truly gigantic.

"….Oh, my god."

The god statue and the stone statues were standing upright and glaring at the Hunters as if they had never been destroyed in the first place. Their expressionless faces only made the already creepy atmosphere that much more bizarre.

Hunters began to backtrack a step at a time, only to run into something solid behind their backs.

"Uh….?"

It was the door.

Even before they had realised it, the doorway to this once-empty arena was closed shut tightly. It seemed that the angel statue had no thoughts of letting these humans go at all.

The angel statue spoke to them.

"Those who manage to survive until all of my dolls have fallen will be given the opportunity to witness the glorious rebirth of the king."

The monster kept saying 'king' this and 'king' that for a while now.

'Just what is it trying to say here?'

Woo Jin-Cheol's brows creased up.

He just couldn't understand the words the creature was busy spewing out. However, one thing was for certain. He knew that this creature was trying to kill everyone within the chamber.

He gritted his teeth.

He spent the last four years of his life in the Association.

He had faced plenty of hair-raising situations, but still managed to pull through by bitterly struggling till the end. Today would not be any different. He wasn't planning to die as easily as the monster wanted him to.

'Even I can't make it out of here….'

At least, he'd try to save Hunter Seong.

His thoughts reached there and he glanced at Jin-Woo. Rather coincidentally, the angel statue also pointed at the youth lying unmoving on the ground.

"This person was able to destroy all my puppets in less than five minutes."

The pointed finger of the angel statue was then locked onto the rest of the Hunters.

"How many minutes will it take for all of you to die today, then?"

Just as the words of the angel statue came to an end, Woo Jin-Cheol cried out at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone, get down!!"

Hunters hurriedly bent down to the ground.

A red laser beam sliced right past just above their heads with almost no gap to spare. The casualty was zero this time. It was almost a miracle in and of itself.

The red energy beam shooting out from the eyes of the god statue slowly dissipated.

'Ho-oh.'

The angel statue stared at the Hunters with eyes of some interest as it took a step back. It seemed that these humans might be able to provide some fun distraction before the king awakens.

"Pant, pant, pant."

Woo Jin-Cheol panted out heavily. Cold sweat poured out from his pores.

If he hadn't heard about the special trait of the god statue beforehand, would he be able to survive that blast? His entire body shuddered from sheer horror. Still, they managed to somehow live through the first attack.

Of course, that wasn't the end.

'No, it's merely the beginning.'

Woo Jin-Cheol raised his head.

The stone statues were rushing towards them now. They were so quick that only the high-ranked melee-type Hunters would be capable of following their movements.

Fortunately, Woo Jin-Cheol was one of the very best within the rank A Hunters. He rose up from his spot in an instant and while rotating his waist, sent out a powerful punch. The specially-constructed glove slammed hard into the face of a stone statue.

Boom!!

Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

'….??'

He genuinely believed that one punch would be enough. However, the stone statue was unscathed.

Because he saw that one of this statue's shoulders was completely destroyed from an unknown attack, he ended up making a mistake on his enemy's durability. It was a gaffe he shouldn't have made when thinking back to just who it was that destroyed all these statues in the first place.

The stone statue's face was pushed back only by a little bit, but it recovered from the impact force almost right away and thrust forward the sword in its hand.

'Tsk.'

Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly clicked his tongue.

He threw that punch out without taking into consideration the possible counterattack so he was unable to dodge. Besides, the enemy wasn't slow enough for him to evade at such a close distance, anyway.

But, then.

Ka-boom!!

A powerful explosion wrapped the statue up and it flew away.

Woo Jin-Cheol frowned and shook his head hard to recover from the buzzing sensation in his ears. Only then did he get to hear the voice coming from his side.

"Are you alright??"

It was none other than the 'ultimate weapon', Choi Jong-In. Woo Jin-Cheol nodded once to express his gratitude. They simply didn't have enough time to leisurely share a conversation.

Boom!!

Because, the god statue began moving in earnest, and…

Dudududu-!!

…And, the stone statues had already arrived right before their noses by then.

"Chairman Choi!! Aggro skills don't work against these things!!"

Tankers loudly cried out.

"What was that??"

Choi Jong-In's expression hardened considerably. If the aggro skills didn't work on them, then these creatures would instinctively start targetting the physically weakest Hunters present.

If the Healers were killed off first, then their line of defence would collapse in no time at all. It was nigh impossible for them to fight against powerful enemies without some sort of a defensive line to back them up.

Not only that….

Right behind these d*mn stone statues, the massive god statue was now raising its equally massive fist as well.

'Can we really get out of this place alive?'

Their situation was despairingly critical.

However, he still could think of one final method. And that would be waking up the unconscious Hunter Seong.

The angel sculpture b*stard said it, didn't it?

'That thing said that Hunter Seong was able to destroy them all by himself. In less than five minutes, too.'

Their situation could change greatly if his guess was correct and the only reason why Hunter Seong lost to the angel statue was that he became too fatigued from destroying all these stone statues.

Indeed, weren't there dozens of first-class Hunters present here that could aid Hunter Seong right now?

That is why….

'I need to wake up Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.'

Flames alighted on Choi Jong-In's hands. It was not for nothing that he was called the 'ultimate weapon'. Not only his firepower, but even his accuracy didn't lose out to any of the modern firearms.

It was now 'sink or swim' time.

Choi Jong-In fired the magic he cast in Jin-Woo's direction.

Hunter Seong might experience some discomfort, but he wasn't weak enough to get injured greatly by this level of magic. But, if he did wake up from the impact of the explosion, then the human Hunters would stand a good chance of surviving this event.

'That is why, please…!'

The flames flew towards their target while leaving behind a long trail. However….

Boom!

The flames simply exploded on the torso of the angel statue that stepped into the trajectory in the blink of an eye.

'….??'

Choi Jong-In was greatly taken by surprise from the unexpected interference from the angel statue and hurriedly raised his head.

Every muscle on the face of the angel was distorted unsightly until they couldn't be twisted any further to form a truly terrifying expression.

"How dare….."

For the first time ever, the angel statue stopped smiling and bared its fangs.

"How dare you try to interrupt the slumber of the king!?"

Chapter 163: Chapter 163

The king? Who was?

Choi Jong-In couldn't even begin to figure out heads or tails of what the angel statue was saying and asked back in a daze.

"What did you just say….?"

However, the angel statue didn't reply.

Would a human bother to converse with insects? The same principle applied to the angel statue, too.

For now, it simply had to assume this form due to some unavoidable circumstances, but it was still a superior creature nonetheless. It had no thoughts of having a Q&A session with this insignificant human being.

If an insect proved to be annoying, swat it to death and that would be the end of it.

The angel statue raised its fist up in the air and smashed it down like a hammer. It descended at a super-high speed straight towards Choi Jong-In's head.

Swish-!!

Choi Jong-In's heart tumbled down to the pit of his stomach. However, he didn't turn his head away. Do not give up, right up until the very last moment – that was what he always told his teammates, after all.

Before the fist landed on top of his head, though, a flash of light streaked past his eyes.

Boom!!

He opened his eyes to see the blade made out of pure light wavering in front of his face. Choi Jong-In's eyes went extra round.

"Hunter Cha?!"

Cha Hae-In was standing there, blocking the angel statue's fist with the skill 'Blade of Light'. If she was late even by a millisecond, Choi Jong-In's head would have been splattered into a gooey mess.

While he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, she spoke to him in no uncertain terms.

"I'll take over from here, so please go help out other Hunters, Chairman."

"Got it."

Choi Jong-In went away and began providing support to other Hunters busy battling the stone statues. Meanwhile, the angel statue stared down at Cha Hae-In's sword, now glowing with light, and its eyes quickly filled up with curiosity.

"Haha."

To think, there was yet another human besides Jin-Woo that could block its attack.

"You are very amusing. Very amusing, indeed."

The angel statue put more strength into its fist. Cha Hae-In's knees bent down slightly. She had managed to stop its attacks, but still, she was losing out in terms of raw strength.

"Euh-euhk…."

A thin, weak moan leaked out of her finely-shaped lips. Her wrists began trembling imperceptibly, as well.

"There, there."

The angel statue smirked derisively and applied more and more power as if it was turning up the heat on the stove. The ground beneath her feet shattered and cracks spread out on the stone surface.

Just a single arm, yet it was laden with a nonsensical amount of power already. Cha Hae-In bit her lower lip.

'At this rate… I won't be able to endure it.'

She determined that she'd not be able to last long at this rate, and focused all of her strength in an instant and forced the angel statue's fist back.

As expected of the explosive strength befitting Cha Hae-In, ranked as one of the very best even among the rank S Hunters!

The angel statue smiled again as it was forced to take a step back.

"Haha."

It considered her as a simple fun distraction, yet she managed to entertain the statue beyond its initial expectations. It seemed that there was more enjoyment to derive out of this human after all.

"Very good, very good."

This time, magic energy began pooling on both hands of the angel statue.

Gulp.

Cha Hae-In swallowed down her dry saliva. An immense level of power was oozing out from the clenched fists of the angel statue. She wanted to escape from this place if that was at all possible right now. That's how scared she felt.

'However….'

With Jin-Woo lying on the ground unconscious, there would be no one capable enough to face off against this monster if she were to turn her back and run.

Her glare became even sharper than before.

In complete contrast to her, the angel statue grinned carefreely and took a large stride forward to stand before her. The huge enemy nearly three metres tall kept forming that loose grin. And then, the b*stard's attacks commenced for real.

Just like what it did against Jin-Woo, the angel statue punched out indiscriminately with both of its fists. It was somewhat regretful that it now had only two arms, but that was still more than enough for the level of this human.

The clenched fists rained down like a barrage of bullets.

Dududududu-!!

Cha Hae-In's brows shot high up.

'Sword Dance!'

Her movements quickened up significantly as if she was performing a dance, and her sword drew stylish arcs in the air. Unfortunately, the punches of the angel statue were far too quick and, instead of attacking back, she could only defend herself desperately.

The flurry of fatal attacks rained down on her constantly, with each one powerful enough to kill her if she made just one mistake.

Khang! Ka-gang!! Khang!! Khang! Khang! Khahang! Ka-gang! Khang, kahng! Khang! Ka-gang! Khang! Khang! Khahang! Khang!

"That's right. Right, like that. Haha."

The angel statue was really enjoying itself as it continuously poured out the types of attacks that regular Hunters would never be able to follow with their naked eyes.

Cha Hae-In was being pushed back bit by bit, her entire body soaked in sweat.

Was that why? Or did she finally reach her limit?

Her wet hands slipped and she missed one of the attacks from the angel statue. It was a painful mistake on her part. Her sword failed to deflect the punch, and it hit her on the shoulder before sliding past her altogether.

Pah-gahk!!

"…!!"

Cha Hae-In quickly retreated while gritting her teeth. Unfortunately, her bones must've broke, because she couldn't feel anything from her shoulder.

And so, she lost her left hand in that fashion. She looked at her limp left arm with a dismayed, regretful gaze.

"Haha. So, is that all? Is that as far as you can go?"

The angel statue rapidly closed the distance again. The b*stard didn't even give her a small break. The attacks that were briefly paused for a moment or two, rained down on her again.

Khang! Ka-gang! Khahang!!

She had trouble defending against these attacks when both of her arms were still functioning. Therefore, having only one arm was simply not going to be enough. She missed more and more attacks and gradually, her body got destroyed.

Puhk! Puh-buck! Puhk!

Her bones broke, and her flesh tore away. And then, the deciding blow landed on her.

Puhk!!

The angel statue's fist dug deep into her lower belly, and her feet left the ground. She coughed out a mouthful of blood.

"Keok!"

Her bent figure rose up in the air.

Obviously, her movements in the air would be restricted, and her preparation to deal with the next attack would be left incomplete.

The angel statue had finally lost its interest with the broken toy at this point.

To finish the proceedings off, the angel statue approached the woman falling head first to the floor. It straightened its hand into a blade and took aim at her chest.

But then….

A wave of blue light suddenly surged out and enveloped Cha Hae-In.

She suddenly opened her eyes wide in the midst of powerlessly falling to the floor. She rotated her body once and swung her sword, hard.

Flinch.

The angel statue quickly came to a stop and leaned its head back, but the tip of the blade still managed to brush past its brow.

Slice.

A thin line was drawn on the face of the angel statue.

Taht!

Finally succeeding in landing a single counterattack, Cha Hae-In regained her balance with some difficulty and landed back on the ground. Thanks to that timely healing spell, she was able to somehow get out of that really sticky situation.

She got really lucky on that one.

However, what was a fortunate event for Cha Hae-In didn't prove to be as fortunate for everyone else.

Swish!

The angel statue's head swivelled in the direction where that healing spell came in from.

'D*mn it!'

Cha Hae-In quickly looked at the Healer and cried out.

"Get away from there!"

The main Healer standing behind the Tankers and casting various healing magic spells until then heard her cries and flinched grandly.

"Pardon me?"

But, by the time he looked to where Cha Hae-In was, the angel statue was blocking his line of sight already.

"Ah…."

The mouth of the main Healer went slack.

The angel statue unhesitatingly did what it wanted to do to Choi Jong-In earlier.

BOOM!

The Healer's head was smashed down straight into the ground. His legs quivered and trembled for a short while, before ceasing their movements altogether.

"Oh god, no!!"

The Hunters surrounded the angel statue and pounced at their enemy while not even bothering to hide their rage. Unfortunately, they were going up against an impossible force. Their measly strength couldn't defeat the angel statue.

Pow, pow!!

Every time the angel statue threw a punch, rank A Hunters died powerlessly as if they were low ranked Hunters standing before a powerful monster.

"This is no fun. This is boring, humans."

Now that the fun time was over, this superior being didn't feel the need for mercy anymore.

Once the number of Hunters standing towards the rear decreased, the line of Tankers dealing with the god statue as well as the stone statues began collapsing in no time at all.

It was pure pandemonium.

The balance of the engagement broke down in an instant.

Boom!!

The god statue avoided the Tankers and slammed its huge fist down, resulting in the immediate death of two Hunters on the ground.

Afterwards, stone statues carrying weapons surrounded the Hunters with a scary efficiency and began rushing forward.

'God d*mn it….!!'

Cha Hae-In rapidly cut down four of the stone statues persistently sticking close to the Hunters and pounced on the angel statue. No matter what, this b*stard had to be stopped.

However, the angel statue lightly blocked her descending sword with its wrist and kicked her unguarded side.

SLAM-!!

Now that the angel statue decided to get serious, she too could no longer be considered its opponent anymore.

Having witnessed Cha Hae-In fly away helplessly like that, Choi Jong-In tightly grasped the shoulder of Woo Jin-Cheol next to him. The latter had just finished pounding one of the stone statues down to the ground and quickly looked behind him in surprise.

"I'll try to gather their attention to myself. Chief Woo, you go and wake up Hunter Seong. That's the only way."

"Excuse me? But, I thought Seong Hunter-nim is unconscious because he was defeated?"

"No, he's not. He's simply asleep. Both his breathing and the flow of magic energy are stable. The way I see it, he's not injured, either."

Could it be that he got done in by sleeping magic or some such?

Choi Jong-In thought that the reason for the angel statue not allowing any attack to fall on the sleeping Hunter Seong was probably because it didn't want the youth to wake up.

'I don't know anything about this king's sleep or that, but….'

Choi Jong-In recalled the angel statue desperately moving to 'protect' Hunter Seong. Without a doubt, the youth waking up would prove to be somehow fatal to the monster.

"Hurry!"

Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head.

Meanwhile, Choi Jong-In roused up every ounce of magic energy he possessed.

Soon, a giant circular shaped mass of flames formed on top of his hand, and it began spitting out countless sparks to all over the place.

Each of these sparks flying in a straight line caused powerful explosions to resound out every time it touched an object.

Swish-!! Swish-!!!

Boom!! Ka-boom!! Boom!! Kwa-boom!!

Naturally, the attention of the stone statues was directed on Choi Jong-In. While he was buying time in this fashion, Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly ran to where Jin-Woo was.

He prayed that Choi Jong-In's estimation wasn't off the mark.

Just as Choi Jong-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were doing their best to wake Jin-Woo up, the angel statue stood before Cha Hae-In as she lay on the ground while panting heavily non-stop.

Every rib bone on one side of her body got broken when she was kicked just now. She still tried to reach out and grasp the sword she had dropped. However, the angel statue stepped on her arm before that happened.

Kwajeeck!

"Aaaaahk!!"

Cha Hae-In grabbed her broken arm and screamed out.

The angel statue had already killed off all those humans possessing the ability to heal others, and this woman had received a grievous wound that disabled her from fighting anymore.

This was the moment that the lone threat among the humans had been eliminated.

"Haha.��

The angel statue formed a blade with its hand again.

"This is the end, then."

The human female glared at the statue, her breathing still rough and heavy. Everything was indeed over, yet she didn't show one hint of giving up on her struggle here.

She certainly resembled that man in this regard. That man named Seong Jin-Woo. When the angel statue met that man for the first time, he too carried around those eyes.

Smirk.

The corner of the angel statue's lips arched up, and it thrust its hand at Cha Hae-In's chest. No, it tried to. It had to stay its hand just before piercing into her heart.

The angel statue flinched slightly and took a step back. Because… it only now discovered that there was a lone Shadow Soldier hiding in her shadow.

Because of the rule in this chamber, that soldier couldn't come out of her shadow, but regardless, its existence was not in question.

Seeing the surprised face of the angel statue, Cha Hae-In formed a puzzled expression of her own.

'…..??'

That b*stard could've ended her at any time it wanted to, yet now, it looked like it was hesitating somewhat.

Indeed, she was correct. The angel statue was really hesitating right now. This was a human that the king had chosen to plant a soldier within her shadow. Did he have a special plan for her?

Of course, there was a possibility that the human did this, not the king.

However….

'Without a doubt – the king and the human are currently mixed as one, although it is only by a small amount.'

In that case, how was the statue to know whether this action was from the will of the king or from the will of the human? If the king had a plan and planted the Shadow Soldier in her, then the statue knew it couldn't carelessly touch her.

That was why the angel statue asked the human female.

"Why did you come here?"

"…."

Cha Hae-In didn't reply. When the silence deepened, the angel statue decided to change the question.

"What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?"

"…."

There was no reply from her, still.

Cha Hae-In knew very well that she had no obligation to answer her enemy's questions.

At this rate, it'd be impossible to make her talk. The angel statue figured as much, thus deciding to change its tactic.

Snap.

The angel statue snapped its fingers. And that brought about the immediate stop to the screams of the Hunters.

As if the god statue and the stone statues had received a command, they stopped fighting all at once and slowly turned around, before walking to one side of the chamber. Then, the angel statue extended its hand.

Woo Jin-Cheol, busy approaching Jin-Woo, was pushed down by the 'invisible hand' and got planted on the ground.

"Keu-heuk!"

He tried his best to resist against the power pressing down on him from above, but he couldn't even move an inch. Woo Jin-Cheol's tightly-clenched fist trembled noticeably as pained moans escaped from his lips.

The angel statue pulled its hand back.

It didn't miss a single movement taking place within the chamber. No matter how much these humans struggled, they were all trapped within its palm, anyway. That was the difference between the superior existence and these measly humans.

It was almost impossible to bridge that gap.

"I shall ask again."

The tip of the angel statue's finger now pointed at Woo Jin-Cheol.

"If you do not answer me this time, I shall kill that man, as well as every single one of your comrades."

"….Fine."

Cha Hae-In nodded her head.

If she could buy more time this way then that alone was already a good result. The angel statue stared at her as she forced her upper torso up, and quietly asked her.

"What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?��

"….A friend."

"And, why did you come here?"

She thought for a little while, before making her answer.

"To save Hunter Seong Jin-Woo."

After hearing that answer, a deep smile formed on the face of the angel statue. Just who was saving who now?

The statue was sure of it. These humans had no idea what was going on.

It felt embarrassed for even suspecting that the king had a plan for her. No, these humans only knew about the human 'Seong Jin-Woo', and that's why they came knocking in this place.

The angel statue could no longer hold back and began guffawing out loudly. And then, it spoke to her.

"I shall bless you with an opportunity."

"….What opportunity?"

"Today, in this place, one of the noble Sovereigns shall descend upon this world. I shall bless you with an opportunity to witness this glorious moment in history."

Until the angel statue could confirm the intention of the king, it couldn't do anything to Cha Hae-In. So, it had to keep her alive. However, she was the sole exception and it didn't plan on letting other humans live.

"But, every other human beside you…."

The smile was gone from the face of the angel statue, and its expression became incredibly murderous.

"….Will die here today."

Indeed, it wouldn't do for all these uninvited pests to be present in this glorious moment, would it? However, the reply didn't come from the front but from the back, instead.

"Says who?"

"…..?"

Before the angel statue could even turn around, a fist flew in and punched its face, hard.

Ka-boom!

The statue flew away and crashed into the far wall.

BOOM!!

Cracks ran against the surface of the wall from the sheer impact force and rubble tumbled down to the floor. Just before the angel statue could slide down to the ground, Jin-Woo stood before the creature. He tightly grasped its neck and growled at it.

"You."

Jin-Woo's other hand was pressing against his right chest.

Indeed, he wasn���t dreaming of it.

There was one more heart beating away within the right side of his chest. Jin-Woo clenched the neck of the statue even harder and asked.

"What the hell did you do to my body?"

Chapter 164: Chapter 164

For a moment then, within the recalled data, Jin-Woo had become THE Shadow Sovereign. And that's when he realised it.

He realised that there was another heart of magical energy beating within his chest. He felt powerful surges of energy ceaselessly flowing out from this new heart.

Could he have made a mistake? It was rather easy to confirm the truth, actually.

'Status Window.'

While keeping his hand firmly locked around the angel statue's neck, he summoned his Status Window. What he wanted to see out of the many listed values in there was his current reserves of magic energy, which the System had designated as 'Mana Points' or 'MP'.

[MP: 109,433]

Jin-Woo's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

'Over one hundred grand?!���

He confirmed the truth with his own two eyes, yet he still couldn't believe it. The last time he checked, he definitely only had around nine thousand or so. He confirmed it before arriving here, so he couldn't have made an error on that one.

But now, it was over ten times greater?

However, that wasn't the only surprising thing he discovered.

'My Title has changed?'

As if to let him know of a big change that had taken place, the 'Title' column was blinking continuously. He didn't even change his Title, yet it had been swapped out to something else.

And the new Title was 'Demon Hunter'.

He had been putting this Title in the background because its information was hidden from him until now. Jin-Woo quickly confirmed its newly unveiled info.

[Title: Demon Hunter]

'You have satisfied its requirements.'

You have recovered the memories of defeating the King of Demons, Baran, Sovereign of the White Flames. An immense power has acknowledged the Player as its new owner.

Effect 'Black Heart': Additional MP +100,000

'Black Heart!!'

This here was the reason why his MP reserves had shot up to a nonsensical degree.

Additional MP of one hundred thousand – that was enough power to regenerate his Shadow Soldiers almost infinitely.

Abruptly, Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the Shadow Sovereign from the recalled data. The beings that fought against the silver soldiers blotting out the entire sky were part of the immortal army led by that person.

They went through an endless cycle of destruction and revival while managing to gradually overwhelm their enemies.

The silver soldiers, strong enough to easily suppress roughly the same amount of monsters, couldn't endure against the regenerative abilities of the Shadow Soldiers and, in the end, were forced into retreat.

If it weren't for the timely arrival of the reinforcements, those silver soldiers would not have avoided the fate of being annihilated. And that was all due to the bottomless amount of magic energy the Shadow Sovereign from the data had possessed.

'If that's the case….'

'….As long as I have the effect of this 'Black Heart', then my own Shadow Soldiers can become the immortal army, too…'

When his thoughts reached that far, Jin-Woo's entire body shuddered from the shock.

"But how….. can you be….??"

Jin-Woo raised his head. A trembling voice was leaking out of the angel statue's mouth.

For the first time ever, Jin-Woo saw another expression besides that disgusting smile or the one of anger from this statue's face. The emotion revealed by its new expression was clearly fear.

The angel statue looked at Jin-Woo with true fear and spoke as if it couldn't believe what had happened.

"How can you still retain your former ego, even with the Black Heart beating within you?!"

'What was that??'

Jin-Woo heard the creature's mutterings and quickly realised two important things.

One, the angel statue was definitely not responsible for this 'Black Heart' appearing within his body. Two, the result of it waking up within him shouldn't have ended well for him.

Crack!

Jin-Woo strengthened his grip on the angel statue's neck, and deep cracks formed on its neck.

"Keu-heuk!!"

The face of the angel statue distorted in pain.

"What is this 'Player' thing? What were you trying to do to me?"

Jin-Woo didn't lower his vigilance, so he could shatter this thing's neck at any given moment. However, it seemed that the angel statue wasn't of the right mind to provide an answer.

"Could it be….?! Y-you, you d*mn Shadow Sovereign, you dare to… against us….!! You think other Sovereigns will take this lying down?!"

The angel statue glared at Jin-Woo and kept muttering out some nonsense.

Crack!!

Jin-Woo's fingers dug quite deep into the angel statue's neck. If he simply pulled his fingers back, the creature's neck would shatter into pieces. The enormous pain was transmitted in full to its real body somewhere.

"Keuaaahk!!"

The angel statue screamed to the high heavens.

"Answer my questions."

That was why he went ahead and gained the right to ask for the result of the test. So, it was only right that he demanded the promised rewards be handed over.

At that time, red lights flashed from the angel statue's eyes.

"Heok?!"

"What's this??"

Jin-Woo heard the Hunters' shocked cries and looked behind him.

"T-those things!!"

"They're coming back!!"

Red lights were burning within the eyes of the god statue and the stone statues that were moved to one corner of the chamber. And then, they began moving again.

"Haha."

The angel statue guffawed out loudly.

"If you kill me, no one will be able to stop my dolls."

'So, can you really kill me now?' The angel statue glared at Jin-Woo with eyes that screamed that question at him.

Inferior beings possessed far too many weak points. Since this man was also human, this would be one of his weaknesses, too. Without a doubt, he'd have the so-called friends among those humans. However, quite different from the angel statue's expectation, Jin-Woo suddenly formed a smile.

'He's… smiling?'

Jin-Woo asked the dazed statue.

"So, what will happen if I kill you first, and then destroy those dolls afterwards?"

The angel statue hurriedly replied in a panic.

"If you kill me, the architect of the System….!"

"You know, I also thought about that."

Jin-Woo cut the words of the angel statue off. The look in his eyes was rather similar to what the statue had when it was looking at the human Hunters earlier on.

"Here's the thing. Just because the guy who created the System disappears, that doesn't mean the System will suddenly start breaking down, does it?"

The bluff was called.

This human already knew the truth that the angel statue deliberately failed to mention.

This was a serious miscalculation on the angel statue's part. It had forgotten with what criteria this particular human being had been selected in the first place. This man, even in the past, was capable of seeing through the set rules.

'If that's the case, you've forced my hand!'

The angel statue activated the final hand it possessed.

Tti-ring!

[System has denied the System Administrator's access.]

[System has denied the System Administrator's access.]

[System has denied the System Administrator's access.]

Tti-ring! Tti-ring!!

Several more mechanical beeps rang in his head. The exact same Message repeated itself again and again, however.

[System has denied the System Administrator's access.]

The face of the angel statue hardened considerably.

It attempted to use the System and do something to Jin-Woo, but unfortunately, even the System itself had turned its back on the creature.

Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders, causing the angel statue to go berserk in rage.

"Uwaaaahk!! You b*stard!"

If this thing wasn't going to answer, then….

'….Then, no point in keeping you alive.'

Jin-Woo let go of the angel statue's neck, but at the same time, injected magical energy to his left fist and punched out.

KABOOM!!

The immense impact force broke past the angel statue and left behind a massive crater on the wall behind it.

Guooooh….

For a moment there, silence filled the surroundings.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Jin-Woo bestowed an appropriate level of punishment to the angel statue that tried to use him.

Not just its head, but the entirety of its upper torso had been obliterated. What remained of the creature slid down against the wall and sunk to the ground.

'It's a bit regretful that I didn't get to hear any answers, but…'

But, this thing was trying to deceive him from the get-go, anyway. Could he be able to believe anything such a creature told him?

'With this, it's done.'

As if he was shaking off the regret, Jin-Woo lightly shook the dust off his left hand. It was at this moment that he heard the desperate voice calling out to him.

"Seong Hunter-nim!!"

"…Ah."

Jin-Woo quickly turned around. He was far too focused on the angel statue and had forgotten about the other stone statues. These things were indiscriminately attacking the Hunters as ordered by the angel statue just before its death.

"Hunter Seong!!"

Choi Jong-In pitifully sought out Jin-Woo as he used his magic to keep the stone statues at bay.

Even then, even as he called out, these statues were still descending on them in their droves like a black storm.

Pow!

Woo Jin-Cheol was struck in the chin by a stone statue and he unsteadily staggered on his feet. He tried to maintain his balance with his faltering legs, his eyes searching to his left and right.

He caught the sight of the blood and sweat belonging to his fellow Hunters spraying into the air as they desperately mounted a resistance against the monsters pouncing on them.

The inside of his head blanked out.

'Wait. What was I doing just now?'

Ah.

When he regained his senses, the stone statue was already right in front of his nose.

He confirmed just what had struck him on the chin just now. It was actually a d*mn book with a thickness of several encyclopedias stacked together. Of course, it was made out of stone so it was only obvious that his head would spin like that.

'No, hang on a minute… can a thick book be considered as a deadly weapon?'

For a brief moment there, Woo Jin-Cheol recalled watching a certain televised criminal law amendment process and smirked to himself. In any case, he no longer possessed any strength to block the book, nor could he avoid it now. He definitely didn't have any strength left to throw a counter, either.

And that's why he finally gave up with a wry smirk, but then….

Ka-boom!!

The stone statue's head split into two and the monster was flung away as if it got swept up in an explosion.

"Huh….?"

His mind abruptly woke up from that. He blinked his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind, and finally spotted a familiar man standing next to him.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah….."

Woo Jin-Cheol could only gasp out at that moment. That familiar man was none other than Seong Jin-Woo.

Woo Jin-Cheol kept that look of surprise on his face as he managed to leak out a question.

"By any chance, you only used bare hands to…..??"

"Let's talk about the details later."

Jin-Woo left behind the dazed Chief of the Monitoring Division and dashed away to elsewhere. Even then, he never stopped searching and eventually, he spotted a certain something reflecting the light just over yonder.

It was his missing 'Demon King's Shortsword'.

'Found it!!'

Jin-Woo extended his hand out to the weapon. He activated the 'invisible hand' and sucked his shortsword back into his grip.

Grab!

The sense of grip transmitted through his hand remained top-notch.

Boom!!

First of all, he kicked away an annoying stone statue blocking his path and began slicing all the statues that had been tangling with human Hunters.

Fuu-woop.

In the midst of doing that, he took a deep breath.

Time slowed down greatly, but only he remained unbound and free. Right afterwards, Jin-Woo seemingly vanished from the spot and, while using the movement that not even the top-ranked Hunters could follow, he began destroying all the stone statues.

Slice!!

Thud!!

Four stone statues fell apart simultaneously.

The Hunters who barely made it out alive thanks to Jin-Woo's timely intervention could only look on dazedly as their jaws dropped to the floor.

"Uh….?"

Woo Jin-Cheol eventually made his way next to these Hunters and quietly spoke to them.

"That's all you can think of, am I right?"

"….Yes."

Hunters nodded their heads.

"Yes, I'm the same as you."

Woo Jin-Cheol had seen this spectacle a few times by now, but even then, the only thing coming out of his mouth was a gasp of astonishment. He grinned wryly and placed a cigarette between his lips. A Hunter from the Monitoring Division stood next to him.

"Chief, will it be alright for us to step back like this?"

"What's wrong?"

"Right now, Seong Hunter-nim is still engaging the monsters….."

The Hunter from the Monitoring Division turned his head towards Jin-Woo, but even his jaw fell.

"Huh…..?"

Woo Jin-Cheol placed another cigarette in the slack mouth of this guy and even lit up for his subordinate.

"Can you see how should we go about helping him?"

"No, sir… I can't."

"So, stay here and quietly smoke that."

"Y-yes, sir."

Hunters gazed at Jin-Woo with eyes of awe but still, didn't forget to swarm around Woo Jin-Cheol. And as a result, his stash of cigarettes ran out very quickly.

But, for some reason, his nose began stinging just a tad.

'I can't even remember how many times I nearly died in this place.'

He thought those monsters were a wall he could never overcome, no matter what he tried. But now, seeing Jin-Woo single-handedly sweeping those things away, the sense of relief and powerful emotion of delight were flooding into his heart.

"Section Chief? Are you crying, sir?"

"No, I'm not, you idiot. It's just this spicy cigarette. Okay?"

"Right. It's also too spicy for me."

"Yeah, me too."

"Me three."

Maybe this batch of cigarettes tasted far too spicy for them today since teardrops were clearly visible within the eyes of all these Hunters.

SLAM-!!

Sohn Ki-Hoon managed to block the punch of the god statue with his shield and gasped out a pained grunt.

"Keo-heok!"

His knees were bucking hard. With no Healer around, he had no choice but to take on the impact force all by himself, but he knew that anything more than this was asking for too much.

"S-someone…. Anyone!!"

He painfully turned his head to the side and spotted a quiet gathering of his fellow Hunters sitting over there.

What the hell.

He was sh*tting blood trying to block the attacks of the god statue all by himself, yet why wasn't anyone trying to lend him a helping hand here??

Sohn Ki-Hoon was royally p*ssed off and angrily yelled at them.

"What do you all think you're doing?!"

When he did, the Hunters all pointed above him. Sohn Ki-Hoon interpreted that as them warning him of another attack, so he flinched greatly and raised his shield up again.

However, the expected attack didn't materialise.

'...??'

He finally noticed that the surroundings had become eerily quiet for some reason.

'What's going on here?'

He sneakily scanned his surroundings below his shield, and finally noticed that all the stone statues in the vicinity had been destroyed.

"What's this?!"

He got startled out of his skin and hurriedly lowered the shield. And that allowed him to see what was going on above him. He saw the sight of the god statue, as tall as a skyscraper, and Jin-Woo standing on the d*mn thing's shoulder.

"Huh….??"

Even before Sohn Ki-Hoon was done with his surprise…

Ka-boom!!

Jin-Woo's punch blew away the other remaining half of the god statue's face. With its head gone now, the massive statue began unsteadily tottering around.

"….Uh? Ehhh?"

Sohn Ki-Hoon sensed something awry was afoot and ran as if his back was on fire. And just as his senses had warned him, the god statue crashed down right where he used to be standing a second ago.

Kwa-boooom!!

A choking dust cloud kicked up and filled the entire interior of this place.

"Cough, cough!"

Choi Jong-In coughed out repeatedly and while blowing away the dust from himself, he quickly made his way to Cha Hae-In.

"Hunter Cha."

"Chairman….?"

"How are you feeling? Can you stand up?"

She was still lying on the ground, moaning in pain. She shook her head at his question. Not one part of her body was okay right now. Choi Jong-In's brows furrowed as he felt somewhat helpless at this.

"Let me help you. Try to slowly stand up."

Just as he was trying to support Cha Hae-In, Jin-Woo arrived next to him, having finished off all the stone statues in the room.

"Will it be fine if I aid Cha Hunter-nim?"

"Pardon me?"

Choi Jong-In shifted his gaze towards the direction of that voice. It was then, he thought that for a little bit there, Cha Hae-In was pushing his hand away. He replied in somewhat of a daze.

"Oh. Uh, yes. Why not."

Jin-Woo quickly lifted her up in an embrace. Cha Hae-In's face reddened instantly.

"Please, hold on for a little while longer."

Jin-Woo promptly ran over to the exit and kicked the closed door, hard.

BOOM!!

A locked door such as this only needed a good kick from him. The sturdy door that didn't even want to budge an inch when these high-ranking Hunters pushed at it got destroyed in an instant.

He cautiously laid her down outside the chamber and summoned up his Store. Her current condition was considerably bad. Jin-Woo quickly purchased a superior grade healing potion and carefully emptied the vial in her mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

Her wounds began recovering at a scarcely-believable rate.

"But, how…??"

"Shh."

Jin-Woo raised his index finger and pressed to his lips. Right now was ill-suited to explaining himself, wasn't it?

Hunters emerged from the chamber one by one. Could this be called a silver lining within the sea of misfortune? Their current appearance was truly wretched, but thankfully, none of them required emergency medical assistance.

Jin-Woo closed the Store's interface.

Not knowing the existence of the healing potion, Hunters and their eyes could only pop out of their sockets when Cha Hae-In stood back up as if nothing was wrong.

"Huh?? But, Cha Hunter-nim, weren't you…..?"

"Well, I…."

She was about to answer back reflexively, only to sneak a glance at Jin-Woo and quickly diverted the conversation away.

"This isn't the right time to discuss that, so let's get out of here first."

Hunters all agreed with her.

"Are there any more survivors?"

She asked Jin-Woo, who possessed the best sensory perception among the group. He looked into the interior of the chamber and shook his head.

Only seventeen remained standing outside the chamber. Over half of who stepped inside had died. Their joy at surviving this encounter only lasted for a short while and the atmosphere grew gloomy and heavy.

"In that case…."

Cha Hae-In turned around with a stiff face, but Jin-Woo reached out and held her wrist. She turned to face him.

The reason why the Hunters Guild came here was secondary. He was a lot more curious about something else at the moment.

"Excuse me, but… what happened to Japan?"

Jin-Woo had entered here just before the dungeon break of the rank S Gate occurred and so, he was getting legitimately curious of the news coming out of Japan.

Cha Hae-In hesitated slightly, but eventually, came up with a suitable description.

"They have been destroyed."

Chapter 165: Chapter 165

So, that's what happened in the end.

The plan to block up a Gate sounded quite dangerous from the moment Yuri Orlov came up with the idea. Besides, wasn't he trying to deal with a rank S Gate?

Didn't matter whether it was a Hunter or Gate, rank S denoted that something was impossible to evaluate.

"Impossible to evaluate" – meaning, no one knew exactly what would pop out from the Gate, nor what kind of events would happen next. Even then, Yuri Orlov greatly overestimated his strength. And, in the end, his stupidity led to a truly horrifying result.

Jin-Woo's expression became deeply complicated.

Association President Goh Gun-Hui had told him about what the Japanese Hunters were trying to do back in Jeju Island. It was unknown what their real goal was, but nevertheless, they commenced with their plan anyway.

If Jin-Woo didn't show up on time, it'd have been extremely difficult for the Korean Hunters to get out of there alive even if the mutated ant monster hadn't shown up.

And, even after trying something underhanded like that, the b*stard of the Japanese Association's President had the gall to visit South Korea to threaten Goh Gun-Hui.

'That man deserves to be punished, no doubt about that.'

However, that was the story only for the brain trust of the Japanese Association as well as the top-ranked Hunters who took part in the stinking scheme.

The innocent Japanese citizens not included in that story certainly didn't deserve this.

There might have been some unresolved historical 'feelings' between the two nations, but that wasn't a sin so grave that whole masses of people had to die because of it.

What's even worse, this particular dungeon break occurred in the middle of the city.

Just because of some Orcs that came out from a Gate within a school, nearly half of all the students there had lost their lives. However, what would happen if a rank S Gate opened up in the middle of a huge city with a population of over 13 million? Obviously, it'd lead to a truly gruesome end result.

Not to forget, this result was partially brought upon by themselves, as well.

'If Goto Ryuji and the other top Japanese Hunters were still alive, the end result could have been different.'

Goto Ryuji was strong. He was strong enough to endanger Jin-Woo for a moment back then. Even he felt greatly startled when the Japanese Hunter's attack barely missed his eye by a hair's breadth.

Would that be all?

Every single dead Japanese Hunter he found on Jeju Island was an exceptional individual that surpassed Korea's own rank S Hunters.

He might not have known their fighting styles, but at least, that's the impression he got after checking out the amount of magic energy still remaining on their corpses.

Back then, Jin-Woo didn't want to turn blameless humans into 'undead' so he gave up on them. But they were such exceptional Hunters that he was greatly tempted to turn them into Shadow Soldiers.

'Turning them into Shadow Soldiers would've been perfectly fine when I think about what they were trying to do, though!'

Too bad, he only got to learn the truth a long time after the fact, so there was nothing he could do about that.

In any case, such powerful Hunters got massacred in one go so it was only obvious that Japan simply lacked enough personnel to deal with a rank S Gate appearing within its borders.

In the end, this event wasn't a calamity engineered by the heavens, but something called upon by the greed of humans, instead. A man-made disaster, in other words.

"Seong Hunter-nim?"

Cha Hae-In worriedly called out to him. Even now, Jin-Woo was still holding her wrist.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking of something else just now."

"Ah."

Jin-Woo let go of her arm.

The reason why Cha Hae-In called out to him wasn't because of the wrist, but his complexion had darkened considerably out of the blue, that's why.

Did he have family members or relatives living in Japan? Such a question fleeted in and out of her mind, just then.

She still had no idea that the Japanese Hunter's Association had cooked up such a dastardly scheme. So, she thought of the events unfolding in Japan as merely an accident – no, more correctly, a horrifying incident, instead.

He got to solve his first question of what had happened to Japan. Jin-Woo asked the second thing he was curious about.

"What brought you guys over here, anyway?"

Currently, there were Cha Hae-In, Woo Jin-Cheol, and then, Sohn Ki-Hoon and his team members, who Jin-Woo met when fighting against Fangs, present here.

High-ranking Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the members from the Monitoring Division, the ones that didn't really seem to have a common reason to form a team, had gathered all around him.

Woo Jin-Cheol finished checking up on the injuries of his subordinates and took a step forward to clarify the situation.

"Actually, we came here first after receiving a report from this location. But then, we learned that you had entered the Gate, and the magic energy leaking out from the dungeon itself was so great that…."

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Chief of the Monitoring Division. Perhaps the number of casualties had been far too great, Woo Jin-Cheol's expression was really stiff right now.

"We thought that our strengths would not be adequate enough so I requested for assistance from the Hunters Guild that had been getting ready for a raid nearby."

The right to request assistance in emergencies. It was the highest form of authority the Association possessed over the Guilds. Even the Hunters Guild wouldn't have been able to reject the request.

Many had come to aid him, and in the process, many unfortunate sacrifices had to be made. Jin-Woo felt his heart begin to ache.

As the youth grew quieter in contemplation, Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously raised a question.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know that you'd find the dual dungeon in this particular Gate, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

That was a very pertinent question to ask.

As the Chairperson of the Hunters Guild, which had suffered huge losses today, Choi Jong-In was deeply curious about this, as well.

How did Seong Jin-Woo know that there was a dual dungeon hiding within a rank C Gate, and that a monster capable of exceeding everyone's imagination was waiting for him there?

Hunters who had heard of this before coming here were all feeling quite puzzled from this unanswered question.

Rumble….

The cavern they were in trembled. The Gate sent them the signal that it'd close not too long from now, yet the attention of these Hunters were solely focused on Jin-Woo's answer.

"The dungeon…."

Jin-Woo decided to be as honest as he could be.

"…It summoned me here."

"…..Wait, it summoned you here?"

Woo Jin-Cheol asked back, his expression showing his disbelief.

"Yes. I received a message telling me to come here."

"Can we view that message, as well?"

Jin-Woo shook his head. Then, he pointed to his temple with his finger.

"I'm sorry. It was a message that appeared in my head."

The answer nobody expected to hear rendered everyone utterly speechless.

Jin-Woo didn't lie here, though. It was just that he chose to omit a few other unnecessary details and simply delivered the core of the truth, that was all.

His straightforward expression of hiding nothing managed to overpower other Hunters.

Woo Jin-Cheol could legitimately claim that he knew Jin-Woo the longest out of this group. Even then, he had no choice but throw up the white flag with a shake of his head.

'He's… not someone I can read with my common sense.'

The dungeon summoned him through his head?

Could this youth be some kind of an incarnation of a godly being sent to this world so he could smash apart all the dungeons that appear here?

'Why am I even thinking of such nonsense….?'

Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly gave a wry chuckle. While he was doing that, Jin-Woo soundlessly brushed past him.

He walked past the broken doorway and re-entered the chamber. Cha Hae-In panicked and called out to him in a hurry.

"Hunter Seong?? If we don't leave right now, it could get dangerous!"

Jin-Woo turned around after hearing her worried voice and made his reply.

"I know."

How could he not know of the dangers?

Jin-Woo had walked on this lengthy passageway to get here twice already. It was almost an hour's distance even with the walking speed of Hunters. If they wished to get out of here before the Gate closed, they certainly couldn't tarry any longer.

Not only that, Jin-Woo's own old man went missing inside a Gate, too.

He heard that his dad, despite getting grievously injured, still managed to carry out his comrades from the boss chamber one by one before he himself got left behind as the Gate closed.

There was no one out there who understood the dangers of a dungeon better than Jin-Woo. That was why his reply of "I know" was filled with his conviction. Even then….

"I can't leave behind the Hunters who came running for my sake, now can I?"

Hunters getting anxious to leave all froze up in their spots after hearing his words. Every single one of those who lost their lives inside that chamber was a comrade to them. If possible, they didn't want to leave anyone behind.

However, there simply wasn't enough time to take all the deceased with them. Not only were these Hunters far too exhausted, but trying to locate the remains buried under the debris of the stone statues would mean they had to search through all corners of the chamber, as well.

And that was why they turned around to leave with bitter tears in their eyes, but now….

"I'm taking them back with me."

One sentence from Jin-Woo and the Hunters began shuddering as if a bolt of electricity was travelling within their bodies.

No one argued that there was no time, that they had to get out of here. No, they simply watched on in a daze.

Choi Jong-In, who had been silently enduring until then, spoke with a powerless voice.

"Can we… ask you for this favour?"

These Guild members were like his family. If it was possible, he didn't want them to rot away stuck in a cold corner of this d*mnable cave.

Jin-Woo nodded his head and turned around.

Ba-thump, ba-thump!

His hearts were quietly beating away.

'I need to sense a little deeper.'

Basically, his two hearts always beat as one. He needed to concentrate really hard to separate the sound of the Black Heart beating from his regular heart. Jin-Woo gathered the magical energy sent out by this mysterious heart towards his fingertips.

'Did he do it like this?'

Jin-Woo tried to mimic the hand gesture of the Shadow Sovereign he saw within the data's playback.

His hand reaching up as if he was grasping something – without a doubt, he could sense enormous magical power going crazy within his hand right now.

'I can do this.'

Jin-Woo felt this powerful self-assurance enter his mind.

He immediately located the whereabouts of the deceased Hunters through their magic energy emission. His eyes gleamed brightly. Shortly afterwards, he stopped silently studying the interior of the chamber and spoke up.

"Ruler's Authority."

And when he did….

Dududuk….

All the remains of the Hunters buried under the rubble of the stone statues all uniformly rose up into the air.

"Heok!!"

"But, how?!"

Hunters watching Jin-Woo with bated breaths all cried out in shock.

Never mind the fact that he was able to locate all the dead Hunters in such a short span of time, he even managed to lift them up without touching them? Wasn't this like one of those telekinetic superpowers often seen in movies?

The floating Hunters were carried out of the doorway via invisible hands.

'How can this be….?'

'How can something like this even be possible?'

Just like how normal people would get surprised by the Hunters, these Hunters were getting even more astonished by Jin-Woo's feats.

Even Choi Jong-In, who could be called very knowledgeable when it came to the manipulation of magical energy, couldn't quite believe what he just witnessed with his own two eyes.

'Just what kind of a skill is that?'

It was certainly a skill he had never even heard of before.

After seeing Jin-Woo's powers personally, Choi Jong-In realised that he had been greatly mistaken about something. When he saw the angel statue for the first time, he thought that such a 'thing' would obviously be able to defeat Jin-Woo.

However, his thoughts were wrong. It was a complete miscalculation.

Which monster would be able to deal with a Hunter capable of wielding powers like this as if it was nothing to him? Not realising that he was doing it, Choi Jong-In began shaking his head.

'Utterly impossible….'

In actual fact, the angel statue was eliminated in an instant almost as soon as Jin-Woo opened his eyes. Only sighs of amazement could come out after seeing this young man's capabilities.

Jin-Woo carefully moved the cold, unmoving corpses of the Hunters to one side and summoned out his Shadow Soldiers. The restriction only applied within the temple itself so he could call them out no problem outside the doorway.

While the living Hunters couldn't close shut their slack jaws, the Shadow Soldiers proceeded to pick up the dead Hunters. Everyone forgot what they wanted to say and simply looked at Jin-Woo as he addressed them.

"Let's get out of here."

It was then, the dungeon rumbled one more time as if it was waiting for this moment. The Hunters all nodded their heads.

Soon after they set off, the Shadow Soldiers ran right behind them. Jin-Woo remained behind and watched them move, before turning around to face Cha Hae-In who also hadn't left yet.

Although her physical wounds had been healed, her expression showed how fatigued she was.

'That is obvious, though.'

Even he himself needed to put in a lot of effort to defeat that angel statue. She'd definitely be exhausted trying to defend against such a creature all by herself.

Jin-Woo walked over to her and asked.

"Would you like me to carry you?"

Cha Hae-In formed a thin smile and shook her head.

Grasp.

He reached out to grasp her wrist again, and she quietly stared at him. He wanted her to feel at ease, at least by a little bit, so he relaxedly spoke to her.

"We should get going, too."

Nod.

Cha Hae-In, depressed by the deaths of her comrades, wordlessly nodded her head.

***

Hunters began emerging one by one from the Gate.

Right up until then, those waiting around outside the Gate had no idea the scale of the event taking place within. However, they all realised that something really bad had happened after seeing the deceased Hunters being carried out by the Shadow Soldiers.

"Oh, my god…."

"Are those all….?!"

The members of the Bravery Guild who had reported this matter, and the female Association employee standing by, all saw this procession and their complexions turned ashen in an instant.

The number of casualties was just far too great.

Weren't these people the elite Hunters of the country? The Hunters belonging to the Hunters Guild and the Monitoring Division were called some of the very best, yet….

After everyone had emerged, Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In simultaneously stepped out of the Gate. Enough time had passed on the outside and it was night-time already.

Reporter Kim had been staying put until then to keep an eye on the situation, and when he saw the conditions of those two, his eyes grew extraordinarily wide from sheer shock.

The heavy traces of intense battle were clearly visible on the bodies of these two rank S Hunters – dried up, caked blood; torn, ripped clothing; their dishevelled hair.

Sure, Cha Hae-In still looked quite lovely even then. But Hunter Seong Jin-Woo gave off a feeling that he'd been through a bitter war all by himself.

'This is it…. This really is it!'

Reporter Kim raised his camera with his trembling hands.

This was the reason why he became a reporter in the first place. And that was to document event such as this one.

He wanted to let others know that there were some people who willingly put their lives on the line to fight for the masses in some forgotten corner of their country, even though everyone's attention was focused on the events taking place in Japan.

Almost twenty of the country's top Hunters had perished here today. If such a Gate had broken open, then the scale of destruction and losses to life would have exceeded imaginations. These people and their sacrifices had prevented a future tragedy.

However, if Reporter Kim wasn't here, would others ever get to know about these folks and their heroic battle today? He had been circling around the Association just so he could stumble into a story like this one day.

Click, click!!

He was so emotionally moved that tears were forming in his eyes as he busily snapped away photos.

Woo Jin-Cheol lost all the strength in his legs right after leaving the Gate and settled down on the ground. Jin-Woo looked for him and walked closer.

"….Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim."

Woo Jin-Cheol tried to get up, but Jin-Woo stopped the older man. Instead, the latter pointed at Reporter Kim over yonder.

"He's taking my photos, but is that allowed?"

Woo Jin-Cheol smirked and made his reply.

"It is indeed disallowed to film you in an individual capacity, Seong Hunter-nim. However, just like how it was back in the Jeju Island raid, it's impossible to block the report on the incident itself."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

Mom would get worried if she saw his messed-up appearance, though. He was sort of worried about that happening, but then again, it didn't mean he could forcibly stop the reporter from doing his job.

Indeed, that reporter was doing what he was supposed to be doing.

He also wished for someone to let the world know of the ultimate sacrifices these Hunters made while fighting to ensure that no tragedy would unfold in the near future, as well.

A quiet wind seemed to blow by. The sounds of distant sirens from approaching ambulances were carried by the winds.

Next morning.

Every newspaper carried the front-page headline of the dungeon break happening in Japan, except for one publication. It was the only one that carried the news of the dual dungeon incident.

This paper sold the most number of copies that day.

Chapter 166: Chapter 166

The American Hunter Bureau mobilised its agents from the Asian branch office in order to assess the current situation in Japan.

A helicopter set off from the safe zone and eventually, entered Tokyo's airspace. A senior agent from the Hunter Bureau, who had risked his life and volunteered for this trip, looked out of the vehicle's window and clicked his tongue.

"How tragic."

The current status of Tokyo was far worse than he had imagined. The city itself was completely destroyed after the dungeon break occurred.

Buildings no longer possessed their former appearances; cars folded and crumpled like bits of paper; street lamps bent at their waists; burning flames, rising smoke, scorched remains, and unidentifiable structures turning into ash.

Surely, the word 'tragic' was invented just for a sight as wretched as this one.

The agent's forehead unconsciously creased up. If someone were to ask him in the future if he had seen hell, then yes, he could now say that he indeed have seen one.

Unfortunately, he didn't come here to mourn the now-destroyed city.

No, his mission was to assess the current situation. He continued to film and carefully observed the carnage below, before asking the Japanese representative next to him.

"Even though the city has been destroyed to such an extent, I don't see any human remains?"

The senior agent remembered seeing the images of the rank S Gate opening up on the island of Jeju during his training back in the Hunter Bureau's HQ.

Whether it was from a video clip or a still photo, the streets of the Jeju Island were filled with dead bodies. Ants had killed every single resident who couldn't escape the island in time.

It was one of the worst tragedies ever in history, and the Hunter Bureau kept detailed records of what happened then.

But now, even though the city of Tokyo was wiped clean off the face of the planet, it was hard to see any corpses. No, there were no traces of dead people to be found, actually.

The Japanese representative spoke up.

"That can't be helped, actually. The Giants have been eating humans, you see."

He was a young man working for the Japanese Hunter's Association. It wasn't all that hard to figure out what his life had been like recently from his bloodshot eyes and the overgrown beard he couldn't trim yet.

He continued to speak with worries forming deep creases on his face.

"Those b*stards are acting as if to erase all traces of Japanese people from Japan itself. They destroy all the buildings, eat humans, and they even pull out trees from the streets, too."

Nod, nod.

The Hunter Bureau agent agreed with that.

These Giant-type monsters that came out of the rank S Gate displayed a certain difference in behaviour from other monsters. While other monsters concentrated on killing humans, this batch of monsters was actively trying to destroy everything they could see.

Only the destroyed remains of the civilisation were left behind in these creature's wake. No matter where in Tokyo, one couldn't see a building, no, a single house still standing intact.

"But, thanks to that, we were able to buy ourselves a bit of time."

He said, 'thanks to that.'

The Japanese Association employee formed a smile full of self-mockery.

Should he be thankful or feel sorrowful for the monsters proceeding to destroy everything in their path, thereby buying enough time for people to escape from their carnage?

Such complicated emotions were writ large on the employee's face.

The Hunter Bureau agent looked at this Japanese man and thought to himself.

'It's already something that he's able to hold on like this.'

After all, the capital city of his country had fallen into such a wretched state in an instant, had it not?

The sense of loss felt from monsters raping one's country wasn't a foreign concept to this American agent.

The United States also lost a portion of their Western Seaboard about eight years ago from the single monster that came out of the rank S Gate, 'Kamish'.

And, was that all? South Korea right next to Japan also had to surrender the biggest island in the country to monsters for nearly four years, only to somehow recover it recently, didn't they?

The American agent got to confirm something while watching the footage of that raid's ferocious battles.

He had no relations with South Korea at all, yet when he saw the lone Korean Hunter sweep away all those ant monsters and even smack that mutated ant a really good one, he jumped up from his seat and let out an elated cry.

That wasn't simply because he worked for the Asian branch of the Hunter Bureau. No, he saw that battle of Jeju not as a fight between a small nation of Korea and monsters, but as a proxy war between humanity and the waves of monsters, instead.

And here, on this land called Japan, there were more battles taking place between humanity and monsters.

'The result of that is this…..'

Tatatatatata-!!

The spinning rotors of the helicopter remained an incredible racket, but the situation on the ground was severe enough to steal away the agent's attention from the noise.

He felt angry and frustrated. However, there was nothing he could do here. All he could do was to carry out the mission he was given. The agent continued to operate the camera and asked the Japanese the questions that popped up in his head every now and then.

But then, he discovered something that took him by great surprise and he fell hard on his a*s.

"Heok!! T-that thing over there!"

Cold sweat poured out of the American agent as he began calling out to Jesus. The Japanese Association employee helped him to stand back up.

"So, you saw it."

"O-over there! There's a Giant over there!!"

"Yes. There is one Giant still remaining here. No, rather than calling it 'remaining', should I say that it's not budging from the spot, instead?"

The employee's gaze shifted outside the window. The American agent wiped the cold sweat off his brows and cautiously looked in the same direction as well.

A massive monster, bigger and taller than any monster this agent had ever seen, stood proudly in the downtown area of the utterly-devastated city of Tokyo.

'That is the Giant-type monster….'

The helicopter began flying closer according to the employee's instructions. The agent hurriedly inquired as his face paled instantly.

"W-will it be fine to get this close to that thing?"

The American definitely heard this before coming on this trip. All Giant monsters had left Tokyo now, which meant that the abandoned city was as safe as it could get under the circumstances.

But then, wasn't this way too different from that declaration?

The Japanese Association employee calmly explained the situation with a tone of voice indicating that there was nothing to worry about.

"It'll be fine. As long as we stay in the altitude that the creature's hands can't reach and we don't attack first, we'll be 100% safe. This has been confirmed through multiple observation efforts so you can rest easy."

Gulp.

The American agent swallowed his saliva.

'Confirmed through multiple observations, is it?'

'Observation.'

The Japanese employee spoke of that word as if it didn't mean much, but just how many people had to be sacrificed at the hands of that Giant monster in order to come to that conclusion?

Just thinking about those unlucky few who flew too close to the reach of the Giant sent an eerie shiver down the agent's spine.

In any case, it was highly valuable information for this agent who was tasked with compiling data on the rank S monsters, as well as to report on Japan's current status back to HQ.

His brows gradually rose up as he studied the Giant. Now that he took a closer look, this creature's face seemed familiar to him.

'That's right….'

It was none other than the super-giant b*stard that shattered Yuri Orlov's magical barrier with its body. Unlike other monsters that had been scattered elsewhere, only this Giant monster, designated as the boss rank by many others, chose to remain here.

The Japanese employee spoke with a bitter expression on his face.

"Do you also think that the monster is guarding that Gate, too?"

"Ah…. Well, I…."

"This is my third time seeing that b*stard, but every time I do, I keep thinking of different things."

"What did you thought of just now?"

"To my eyes, that thing is…"

The Japanese employee took his time before carrying on a beat later.

"That thing is waiting for something. That's what it looks like to me."

"I… see."

The agent shifted his gaze back over to the Giant.

Indeed, it certainly looked like that in a way. He thought that it wouldn't be much of a stretch for this Japanese employee to read the current situation that way.

As these two people conversed regarding the boss rank Giant monster, the helicopter had arrived near the absolute limit of the safety.

Even though there was a helicopter buzzing above its head, the Giant didn't even lift a finger. As if it hadn't even perceived the presence of the man-made contraption, it remained utterly docile.

However, according to the employee's explanations, it wasn't as if this thing would never attack, either.

"The creature will definitely attack whatever enters the fixed range. Whether the targets of its attack are people or machines, nothing can escape from it."

Just how many observation attempts were needed to find that out?

The final moments of Yuri Orlov overlapped with that of the employee's face in the American agent's eyes as the Japanese calmly explained the situation.

The boss monster's agile movements as it broke past the barrier and rapidly snatched up Yuri Orlov left a huge mental shock with all the viewers watching the broadcast at home. The Russian's death had been shown live in that manner to the rest of the world.

The report on the rank S Hunter compiled by the Bureau described Yuri Orlov as such:

– A man who craves after wealth and fame.

He may have failed in extracting money from Japan, but well, he had definitely become one of the most famous Hunters in the entire world through this incident.

'Not sure if that was the result he'd have liked to see but, oh well.'

The agent frowned deeply after recalling the final moments of Yuri Orlov. Meanwhile, the Japanese employee spoke up.

"This is also from a personal point of view, but….."

He said it was a personal point of view. But the American agent found this man's opinions rather interesting, even the one about the Giant monster waiting for someone or something.

"Alright, please tell me."

The agent nodded his head, prompting the employee to continue on.

"When I look at that thing, I don't really get the feeling that the creature is truly 'alive', you see? Yes, it's obviously breathing in and out, and can move around because it's alive, but well, should I say that it's like looking at a machine that only acts according to how it was programmed?"

"A machine, is it….?"

Quite regretfully, the agent couldn't agree with that assessment.

The imposing figure of the Giant monster when looked at from up close was, in a word, overwhelming. When subjected to the chest-tightening pressure emanating from the creature, the agent simply couldn't think of that thing as a machine at all.

It was then.

The Giant's eyes shifted in their direction.

"Heok!!"

Tumble!!

The agent fell on his a*s once more. As if he was waiting for that, the Japanese agent supported the American back up. He then spoke as if to calm his charge down.

"That thing's simply looking at us. As long as we maintain this distance, it won��t attack."

The agent nodded his head. He thought his heart just fell out of his chest just now. He belatedly raised his camera up and recorded the creature in great detail. The reason for the viewfinder shaking ever so slightly like that was probably not entirely due to the helicopter busily buzzing around in the air.

The agent only spoke up again after he figured he had captured enough data by now.

"How many Giants came out from that Gate?"

"A total of 31. Excluding the boss rank, the rest have evenly dispersed throughout the countryside."

"….And how many have been killed so far?"

"Only two."

"Which means, with the exception of the boss over here, there are 28 Giants destroying Japan as we speak."

"Well, there aren't any Hunters left to fight against the Giants, you see. Everyone's been preoccupied with escaping at the moment."

The complexion of the employee was gloomy.

On the day the dungeon break happened, Hunters participating in the crucial battle to buy the residents of Tokyo enough time to evacuate were all killed.

They were able to kill two monsters in the process, but they had no other methods left to stop the remaining 28 from spreading out to the rest of the country.

This here was the reason why the Japanese Association employee said 'yes' without resistance to the request for assistance from the Hunter Bureau when he should have been far, far too busy trying to put out the fire burning on his foot – no, make that on his entire body.

Right at that moment.

"W-what are you doing?"

The American agent jumped up and tried to stop him, but the Association employee finally managed to bow his head down. His knees were bent all the way down and his forehead was pressed to the floor.

Stuff like pride or dignity no longer mattered. No, if the only cost to pay were his pride or his dignity, then he'd not have hesitated to do something even more drastic.

And so, still remaining in the kowtowing position, the employee spoke up.

"Please, aid us, the Japanese."

The American agent was about to help his Japanese guide up but stopped in the middle of his actions. He couldn't say anything back to the grave determination of the employee.

The Japanese spoke in fluent English and emphasized his plea.

"If America doesn't help us, then Japan as a nation will be finished. Hasn't Japan been a trusted ally of the United States all this time? Will you not consider taking on the risk, just this once, for Japan, the allied nation of America?"

It was unknown whether this was coming from the employee's own heart or he was being ordered by the Japanese Hunter's Association. However, regardless of where it was coming from, this young man's desperation could definitely be felt in his voice.

The agent chewed on his lower lip and pondered for a bit before replying with some difficulty.

"I'll lodge a request for aid to the HQ."

"Thank you. Truly, thank you very much."

The American agent couldn't tell the Japanese employee bowing his head several times in a row that he shouldn't get his hopes up.

Would the Americans, after having lost many of its high-ranking Hunters from the 'Kamish' incident, and thus began obsessively managing the well-being of their remaining Hunters, make a move just for the sake of the Japanese?

'I'm pretty sure they won't.'

However, how could the agent tell this young man lowering his head for the sake of his nation, that his beloved country was already as good as finished?

'All you can do is to leave it to the will of heavens….'

The agent looked at the sky above.

Unfortunately, the heavens simply stared at the world below in disinterest, just like how it had been, like how it was doing right now, and how it would continue to do so in the future.

The agent dazedly stared at the heavens before muttering to himself.

'Oh, dear God…. Please, don't forsake us.'

***

Jin-Woo woke up early in the morning and went to the Guild office while doing a light jog.

'Yup, as I suspected.'

His eyes brimming with happiness looked slightly above from the dead centre of his vision. And he could see the current status of the Daily Quest there, just like how it had been until now.

Tti-ring.

[The distance run: 10km]

[You have completed 'Running: 10km.']

Even though he got rid of the self-proclaimed architect, nothing seemed to have changed from before. The System continued to function as it had so far, and just like before, the Daily Quest arrived as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning.

His physical condition was at its peak, too.

Ever since this 'Black Heart' took root within his body, vitality was overflowing within him. He deliberately held back his speed, yet each of his steps felt light and airy.

However, thanks to the d*mn b*stard getting killed off like that, he was now left with a ton of unanswered questions.

'Just what was that recorded footage I saw?'

He kind of figured that watching it was one of the conditions to unlocking this 'Black Heart', but everything else remained a mystery.

Just as his thoughts were getting deeper….

"Excuse me!! Hold on!"

"Mister Yu Jin-Ho!! May I ask you some questions?"

Jin-Woo raised his head at the noises coming from afar. And that's when he spotted the big cordon of reporters camping outside the Guild building.

Yu Jin-Ho was currently being surrounded by them, unable to do anything to extricate himself. It seemed that he got ensnared by the reporters during his morning commute.

The reporters began their barrage of questions.

"Mister Yu Jin-Ho, were you aware of the tragedy of the Hunters Guild that happened yesterday?"

"Please provide us with a statement as the Vice Chairperson of the Ah-Jin Guild."

"What is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's connection to that incident?"

"Japan is going through a crisis at the moment, but did Mister Seong Jin-Woo express his thoughts on aiding the Japanese?"

'Aha.'

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

These reporters couldn't interview him personally, so they resorted to clinging onto Yu Jin-Ho, who must've come across as an easy mark to them.

Jin-Woo was about to take a step forward, thinking that he should help the kid out, but then, he discovered something and he stopped moving altogether.

'Mm….?'

For some reason, Yu Jin-Ho's expression didn't seem so bad right now.

He outwardly looked to be somewhat troubled, but Jin-Woo's exceptional eyes definitely caught the kid trying to forcibly suppress his smile every now and then.

'Hah, this Jin-Ho. I didn't know that he enjoyed stuff like this.'

Jin-Woo was dumbfounded but still formed a soft smirk anyway. It seemed that his help was not strictly necessary here.

'So, what should I do instead, then?'

Should he just drag Yu Jin-Ho into the office quietly, or go back the way he came so the kid could enjoy himself a bit more?

As Jin-Woo seriously considered his options, a car rolled to a stop right behind Jin-Woo. And its window silently rolled down next.

"Are you Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

Jin-Woo heard that unfamiliar voice and turned around to see who it was without thinking too much about it.

However….

'Huh?'

His brows rose up slightly after he confirmed who it was.