Jung Minho moved like a shadow through the archive wing, long after most of Aegis had gone quiet. Crystals pulsed faintly above the consoles, casting pale light across shelves and sigils etched deep into the stone.
At Seo Haneul's order, he began where all searches did — the guild's own registry.
"Yoon Sihyun," Jung Minho murmured, pressing his palm to the sigil plate.
The file appeared.
Thin. Too thin.
Name: Yoon Sihyun
Secondary Gender: Beta
Rank: A
Affiliation: Foreign guild, unspecified branch
Records: [Restricted / Missing]
Jung Minho's brows drew together. No dungeon logs. No assessment notes. Not even the standard medical checks that trailed every hunter's career. Hunters left paper behind whether they wanted to or not. Promotions, demerits, missions, deaths.
But this file was stripped bare.
"This isn't a record," Jung Minho muttered. "It's a placeholder."
The Hunters Association registry was next. His access token unlocked a secondary console, its wards pulsing once before admitting him.
Again, the same result.
Name. Rank. Affiliation. Nothing else.
Jung Minho leaned back, lips pressing thin. The Association kept records on everyone. Even the dead had fuller files.
The underground networks took longer. He left the guild through the side gates, moving into the lower city where hunters without banners bartered information like coin. The air smelled of smoke, cheap liquor, and rust.
He spoke little, showed the right insignia, laid gold on scarred tables.
Most shook their heads. Some scoffed.
"Yoon Sihyun? Never heard of him."
"Beta A-rank? Don't make me laugh."
"Sounds like a forged card, Vice Guildmaster."
But when Jung Minho pressed harder, one old broker finally leaned close, voice dropping to a whisper.
"…There were whispers. Ten, maybe twelve years ago. A hunter with golden eyes. Disappeared after a raid went wrong. Name's gone, face unknown but—" The man hesitated. "That one wasn't a Beta."
Golden eyes.
Jung Minho's jaw tightened. He left more coin on the table than the information was worth and stepped back into the rain-slick streets.
By the time he returned to Aegis, the night had deepened. Seo Haneul's office glowed faintly, a single lamp lit behind closed doors.
Through the crack, Jung Minho glimpsed him sitting at the desk, the shield-shaped pendant glinting faintly in his hand. Pie dozed at his boots, tail twitching even in sleep.
Jung Minho's chest tightened. He had served beside Seo Haneul long enough to know he rarely is obsessed with anything or anyone.
But this time — this name.