Rattle. Rattle…
Rain hissed and pattered—dense threads of water weaving a hazy white veil through the night. Distant lights bled into soft halos behind the curtain, as if the world were being seen through frosted glass, everything steeped in damp, misty air.
Outside the school, the crowd had already swelled.
Students who'd evacuated clung to the parents who'd rushed over, holding one another tight, trembling with relief at being alive. Some parents, frantic with worry, had sprinted here without even opening an umbrella, caring nothing for the rain that soaked them through.
Hunters Association staff worked to keep order. They threw up cordons, formed human barriers, and searched the school for anyone who hadn't made it out yet.
"Ah! Miss Scáthach—so you're the Hunter who found the Gate in the school?"
Sensing familiar mana, Scáthach threaded into the crowd—and found Sung Jinwoo's sister, Sung Jinah, and their mother.
"So it's Jinah." Scáthach's gaze swept the campus. "If you're here, that means… this is your school? What a coincidence."
"Yeah! I can't believe a Gate opened at my school. I was scared to death…" Jinah's voice wobbled, then steadied. "Thank goodness you were here, Miss Scáthach."
As she calmed Jinah with a few words, Scáthach let her eyes dip to the shadow at Jinah's feet—and met the gaze of several shadow soldiers lurking inside it.
There were shadow soldiers hidden in Jinwoo's mother's shadow as well. With this many Hunters around, no one noticed.
It made perfect sense. Jinah and their mother were Jinwoo's most precious family. With his temperament, he would absolutely keep shadow soldiers at their side whenever he wasn't there. And if something happened that even the shadow soldiers couldn't handle, Jinwoo could use [Shadow Exchange] to trade places with them and appear in an instant.
Esil suddenly leaned in close to Jinah, scrutinizing her from head to toe.
"Strange… why can I sense Lord Jinwoo's mana on you?"
"Lord Jinwoo…?" Jinah blinked. "You mean my brother?"
"My—wait. You're Lord Jinwoo's little sister?!"
While Esil and Jinah talked, Woo Jin-chul walked over with a complicated look and said to Scáthach, "Miss Scáthach, I hope you understand how much this complicates our job."
To prevent a riot—or worse, a stampede—and to keep the evacuation running smoothly, the Hunters Association had already briefed the school leadership: an S-Rank Hunter and an A-Rank Hunter were holding the Gate.
So whether it was the teachers, students, and parents who'd been saved, or the reporters who'd come running at the scent of a story, everyone was half-crazed with the need to see Scáthach and Esil. The teachers, students, and parents wanted to thank their saviors in person; the reporters wanted interviews and first-hand details.
In a situation like this, Woo Jin-chul should've escorted them straight into a car and taken them to Hunters Association headquarters. But after sensing Jinwoo's mana, he hesitated.
And faced with Scáthach—with someone like her—Woo Jin-chul couldn't exactly refuse. So he'd had no choice but to pour even more effort into maintaining order and keeping the crowd from surging in.
Scáthach understood. After a few brief words with Jinah and her mother, she and Esil followed Woo Jin-chul into a black sedan.
Inside the car, Scáthach suddenly asked Woo Jin-chul in the passenger seat, "Have you heard anything about that kid, Jinwoo, these past few days?"
A few days ago, Jinwoo had said he was going to the Cartenon Temple to uncover the truth behind the system. After that, he hadn't returned to the Land of Shadows even once—so, bored out of her mind, Scáthach had dragged Esil to Earth for a change of pace.
"You mean Hunter Sung Jinwoo?" Woo Jin-chul glanced at her through the rearview mirror. After a brief hesitation, he lowered his voice. "He's in the hospital right now. Still unconscious."
"Lord Jinwoo is unconscious?!" Esil whipped her head around, disbelief splashed across her face.
The moment Jinwoo's name came up, she'd been listening with rapt attention—only to be hit with news like that.
The one who could defeat even Baran… the one Esil thought of as the very definition of invincible… How could he be unconscious?
"Three days ago, a small guild was exploring a C-Rank Dungeon when they discovered a Double Dungeon inside," Woo Jin-chul continued. "That was when Hunter Sung Jinwoo forced his way in. He warned the guild members how dangerous it was and told them to back off—then he entered alone."
"The guild reported it to the Association. But when we arrived, we didn't see the enormous door they described. We only found Hunter Sung Jinwoo—unconscious, and clearly fresh from an intense battle. With no other option, we sent him to the hospital and decided to question him once he awoke."
Scáthach nodded, turning to the rain-smeared window. From Woo Jin-chul's account, she pieced together the gist.
That Double Dungeon was almost certainly the Cartenon Temple—the place where Jinwoo had died once and obtained the system. The starting line of his path to power.
So if Jinwoo hadn't died in the Cartenon Temple this time, there was only one question left—
When Jinwoo woke up, would he be "Sung Jinwoo"… or "Ashborn, the Shadow Monarch"?
Scáthach's crimson eyes deepened in an instant, as though the boundaries of time and space could no longer obstruct her sight. The answer came swiftly.
Through [Clairvoyance], Scáthach "saw" Jinwoo lying in a hospital bed—and she "saw" his current condition, and a future not far away at all.
"…Miss Scáthach," Woo Jin-chul asked carefully, watching her go quiet in the back seat, "do you know something?"
"Mmm~ Who can say?" Scáthach let her lashes fall, as if she were merely resting her eyes. "I'm not all that sure myself."
Instinct told Woo Jin-chul she knew more than she was admitting. But with that attitude, he dropped it.
The sedan eventually pulled up in front of the Hunters Association headquarters.
Led by Woo Jin-chul, Scáthach and Esil soon arrived at the Chairman's Office and met the Hunters Association's chairman, Go Gunhee, who had been waiting.
"I'm glad you accepted my invitation, Miss Scáthach… and Miss Esil."
The moment the door opened, Esil's foot froze mid-step. Her eyes—wide with shock—locked onto Go Gunhee.
This human… he's strong. And terrifying. He could kill me in an instant.
Scáthach dropped onto the sofa as if she owned it, met Go Gunhee's gaze, and said, "You asked to see us. What is it?"
"My apologies. Originally, I intended to come to you in person, to show our sincerity…" Go Gunhee said. "But after learning certain information, I had Woo Jin-chul invite you on my behalf, while I stayed here to handle a few matters."
As he spoke, he produced an item.
"This is Miss Esil's S-Rank Hunter ID. It's ready."
Esil had completed her rank assessment a few days ago and become an S-Rank Hunter. But because of the special nature of S-Rank documentation, processing had taken time.
"Even though Miss Esil isn't from South Korea, as the eleventh S-Rank Hunter to appear here, you may still enjoy all S-Rank privileges within our country."
"O-okay… I understand."
Esil accepted the ID tensely, fingers tight around it.
Go Gunhee smiled and nodded, then turned to Scáthach.
"To be honest, at first I thought it was only a coincidental shared name. I didn't expect reality to be this absurd…" His eyes sharpened. "The one who defeated Thomas Andre… registering here as a Hunter—and as an A-Rank Hunter, no less…"
"Because I wanted to experience what my two disciples experienced," Scáthach said blandly. "I'm used to doing as I please, but once in a while I get the urge to see what it's like to be bound by rules. And… if I cleared Dungeons however I wanted, I imagine I'd cause you a lot of trouble."
"But what you've done now has already brought us trouble."
"Hm?"
"The National Level Hunter you defeated—Thomas Andre—woke up in the hospital and began searching for you. After failing to find you, he returned home. And not long ago, while he was still in the United States, he learned you had registered in South Korea as an A-Rank Hunter. He was furious. He believes we're humiliating him. South Korea is under considerable pressure because of this."
A strong enough fighter to defeat Thomas Andre head-on—and you're telling me she's only an A-rank Hunter in your country? Are you saying a National Level Hunter like me is worse than an A-Rank?
That was, more or less, what Thomas was thinking.
Scáthach hadn't expected a whim on her part to produce consequences like this.
"So," she said at last, "how do you plan to fix it?"
"I want to arrange another rank test." Go Gunhee's tone was steady. "I don't know what method you used to deceive the machine, Miss Scáthach, but I want you to become an S-Rank Hunter in this assessment."
He paused, then added, "Originally, I wanted to recognize you as a National Level Hunter immediately. Anyone who can defeat Thomas has, without question, the qualifications. But the National Level designation is… special. First, you must be an S-Rank Hunter. Then you must have the achievement of successfully clearing an S-Rank Dungeon. Only then can you earn the recognition of other countries and become a National Level Hunter. Recognition from a single country alone isn't enough."
"Do whatever you like." Scáthach waved a hand. "I only thought the Hunter identity would make clearing Dungeons more convenient. The National Level title and its privileges mean little to me."
In truth, Scáthach had already broken the rules. There was a regulation requiring a minimum number of participants for a clear—and since becoming a Hunter, she'd always been acting with only Esil. But Go Gunhee didn't bring it up.
That minimum-party rule existed to protect Hunters, to stop them from charging blindly into Dungeons and dying.
But Go Gunhee knew it was meaningless for Scáthach. Even an S-Rank Hunter would only slow her down.
He also didn't attempt to recruit her to the South Korean Hunters Association or any guild. He understood—South Korea was too small for her. She was standing on a much larger stage.
So there was something else he wanted to discuss.
"What's this?"
A thick stack of papers had been placed on the table by Woo Jin-chul. Scáthach looked at Go Gunhee, puzzled.
"Complaints," Go Gunhee said. "From other Hunters—about you and Miss Esil."
Scáthach blinked. What on earth had she done to get this many people filing complaints?
Seeing the confusion on her face, Go Gunhee chuckled. "Miss Scáthach… do you remember how many Dungeons you and Miss Esil have cleared these past few days?"
Before Scáthach could answer, Go Gunhee provided it himself.
"Twenty-two Dungeons. In just a few days, the two of you cleared twenty-two Dungeons."
"I see. They're complaining that I stole their work?" Scáthach asked.
"No. If it were only that, they'd be unhappy, but they wouldn't file formal complaints. After all, unless they had no choice, they wouldn't want to offend an S-Rank Hunter…" Go Gunhee's smile faded slightly. "The real problem is this: in those Dungeons, you and Miss Esil only took a small portion of the haul—and left the majority of valuable resources and monster corpses behind inside the Dungeons. Correct?"
"…Ah. I understand."
Put simply, imagine there are ten thousand heavy crates. You get paid a hundred per crate delivered. Everyone else carries one or two at a time—then you show up and haul a hundred in one run, earning more than all of them combined.
People might envy you, but no one dares complain—you're the kind of monster who can carry a hundred crates at once, and they're terrified you'll kill them with one punch. The problem is, it doesn't stop at you carrying more. Sometimes you'll get halfway, smash what you're carrying, then sprint back to fight everyone else for the remaining crates. You don't make money, and you don't let anyone else make money either.
Of course they'd complain.
Monster corpses, mana stones, mana crystals—these were extraordinarily precious resources to the nations of Earth. In a world that never stopped advancing, the importance of mana only grew. To them, what Scáthach was doing was like the myth of Jingwei trying to fill the sea—except she was using gold bars.