The fallout from Tae-oh's audit was swift and clinical. The following morning, before the Hunters had even finished their training drills, the logistics accountant, Seo-jun, was publicly stripped of his Guild rank and assets. The Guild Master presented the outcome as a "triumph of internal integrity."
Tae-oh was the beneficiary of an immediate, massive wave of positive buzz. The Hunters didn't see an auditor; they saw a visionary who eliminated an internal plague without lifting a finger.
Tae-oh was walking past the Guild's central observation deck, trying to blend into the shadows, when he heard the confirmation of his unwanted fame.
Two senior B-Rank Hunters were speaking in hushed, intimidated tones.
"Did you hear?" one whispered. "The Young Master Han exposed Kim's corruption. All with a few days of data analysis. He secured a 19% recovery."
"I know," the other replied, clearly intimidated. "He's brilliant. He didn't fight, he didn't threaten. He just exposed the flaw in the infrastructure itself and removed it with surgical precision. He's not a simple villain. He's a terrifying strategist."
Tae-oh nearly tripped. Terrifying strategist? I was just trying to avoid going back to being an F-Rank!
Then, his heart hammered against his ribs.
Leaning against a distant column, his arms crossed, was Lee Ji-hoon, the Regressor. He wasn't hiding; he was observing, a silent monolith of focused suspicion. He was holding a small, rolled-up sheet of paper—likely the Guild Master's report summarizing Tae-oh's analysis.
Ji-hoon's expression was tight, cold, and utterly convinced. His eyes didn't hold the memory of a whiny, incompetent brat; they held the memory of the Architect of the Apocalypse.
In the Regressor's mind, a corrupt accountant was just a piece of meat. But Han Tae-oh, the known traitor, spending three days meticulously exposing the Guild's financial weak points, was a whole new level of threat.
This isn't an idiot acting out. This is a monster building a network. He's securing the Guild's finances to fund his true, darker goal.
Ji-hoon slowly unrolled the paper, his gaze never leaving Tae-oh. He took a single, deliberate step toward him.
"Young Master Han," Ji-hoon's voice was low, carrying the rumble of a distant storm. "I remember a time when you couldn't be bothered to tie your own boots. Now, you are performing C-Rank managerial coups."
Tae-oh forced the Han Tae-oh sneer onto his face, masking the sheer panic of having the most dangerous man in the world scrutinizing his spreadsheets.
"You should focus on your own rank, C-Rank," Tae-oh retorted, trying to sound bored. "If the Guild is efficient, it benefits everyone. Why worry about how the sausage is made?"
Ji-hoon's lips curled, a dark, humorless expression.
"The sausage is made to be eaten, Young Master," he replied. "And you have shown everyone just how sharp your teeth truly are. You may have convinced the Guild that you are a genius. You have convinced me that you are a cunning mastermind."
He rolled the report back up and tucked it into his jacket.
"Keep playing your games, Han Tae-oh. But know this: I am watching. And when your brilliance finally points toward the destruction of this world... I will not hesitate to cut out your brain before it can devise its final strategy."
With that chilling promise, the Regressor walked away, leaving Tae-oh trembling, not from a physical threat, but from a profound misunderstanding.
I just made the literal Hero of the novel convinced that I'm the ultimate evil mastermind! I was only trying to hit a 10% efficiency metric!