---
Seoul never truly slept.
Even after midnight, the city pulsed with light and noise. Car horns. Neon billboards. The distant murmur of drunken laughter. But tonight, somewhere above all that, in the lonely silence of a rooftop apartment, Jin-Soo sat awake.
His body had healed.
His powers had grown.
But his mind... remained a battlefield.
He held a cup of hot water between his palms—not tea, just boiled tap water. There wasn't money for anything else. He didn't mind. The warmth grounded him. Reminded him he was still human.
At least… for now.
He closed his eyes and whispered:
> "System."
> [Yes, Master.]
> "Status."
> [Name: Lee Jin-Soo]
[Level: 16]
[Title: Monarch of Silence (In Progress – 26%)]
[Unique Skills: Soul Assimilation, Pain Storage: Blood Echo, Monster Sense, Bone Blades]
[System Visibility: 0% – Completely Hidden from External Detection]
[Next Trait Unlock: 40% Progress]
He exhaled slowly.
So far, no one knew.
Not even Ha-Eun.
That's how it needed to stay.
He took another sip—
Knock.
He froze.
A knock on the door. Soft. Two taps.
He carefully set the cup down, quietly rose, and approached the door barefoot. His system activated Monster Sense instinctively—but no hostility was detected.
He opened it.
And saw Seo-Yeon.
---
She stood there in a gray hoodie, the hood down, her long black hair damp from misty rain. Her eyes met his—nervous, uncertain, but burning with something deep.
She didn't say anything at first.
Neither did he.
Until finally, she whispered:
"You're alive."
Jin-Soo opened the door wider. "Come in."
---
Inside, she sat on the old couch while he handed her a towel. She dried her hair in silence. Neither of them knew where to begin.
"I heard you walked out of the Denguen alone," she said eventually.
"I did."
"They said it was an S-rank monster that appeared. That you… stopped it."
"I didn't stop anything. I survived."
She looked up sharply.
"I fought them, Jin-Soo. I begged them not to leave you. I tried to stop them."
"I know."
"I wasn't strong enough."
He paused. Then quietly replied:
"Neither was I."
For a moment, the apartment was silent except for the ticking of the wall clock.
Seo-Yeon finally reached into her hoodie pocket and placed something on the table: a small, dented silver pendant. It was shaped like a sword.
"I found it in the Association bin. It belonged to you, right?"
He nodded slowly. "I lost it... during the raid."
"I kept it," she said. "Because… I didn't believe you were dead."
She stared at him.
"You're not the same. You feel different. Your eyes. Your posture. Your voice. Like someone who… saw death and came back with a scar no one else can see."
Jin-Soo said nothing.
She didn't press.
"I won't tell anyone," she said instead. "Whatever you're hiding—I won't ask. But if something ever happens, if you need someone… call me."
He looked at her.
For the first time in a long while, someone's gaze didn't carry pity or fear.
Just... memory.
Just truth.
"Thank you," he said.
---
Elsewhere – Hidden Guild Room, Downtown Seoul
Inside a lavish underground chamber filled with crystal maps of active Denguen across Korea, a man in a white blazer studied video fragments from the Mok-dong raid.
A single freeze-frame showed Jin-Soo's blurred outline, face distorted by aura suppression, standing above the broken corpse of the mutated goblin.
"You still haven't found out who he is?" the man asked.
His assistant shook his head. "The Association only tagged him as a reclassified E-rank. No upgrades. No guild affiliation. But the hunters on-site all say he moved… like a top-tier fighter."
The man narrowed his eyes. "Then he's either hiding something... or becoming something."
He turned to a tablet showing profiles of low-rank Hunters.
"There's one name that showed up in two unusual Denguen incidents."
He tapped the image.
Lee Jin-Soo.
---
Back at the apartment – Later that night
After Seo-Yeon left, Jin-Soo sat again beneath the stars.
His system pulsed softly.
> [System Alert: You are being searched by external magical detection...]
[Search Blocked.]
[Caution: 3 independent sources are now tracking your name.]
> [Title Progress: Monarch of Silence – 31%]
He closed his eyes.
"Let them look."
He glanced back through the window where Ha-Eun slept peacefully, curled up beneath a patchwork blanket.
> "But if they come too close…"
He summoned one of his bone blades—shorter, shaped like a crescent now. The edge gleamed like frost.
> "I won't just survive next time. I'll erase them."
---