Lee Ji-hoon, the Regressor, was not pleased. He had spent days hunting for a trace of the Shadow-Rank, but the trail went cold after the Siren's attack.
Then, the rumors started. Reports of flawlessly executed, hyper-efficient Gate clears where the loot vanished instantly, leaving behind a signature of perfectly optimized combat.
Finally, an encrypted message appeared on the dark web, visible only to high-ranking guilds:
[Announcement: The Synthetic Collective has entered the market. We specialize in the acquisition of high-efficiency dimensional assets. Initial Fee: One A-Rank Skill Crystal.]
Ji-hoon stared at the message, his fists clenched, his S-Rank power surging uncontrollably.
"The fool," Ji-hoon hissed. "He created an organization. He's scaling his destruction."
He realized the terrible truth: Han Tae-oh was using his supposed death to build an empire. The rivalry was no longer a personal chase; it was a war between the True Hero's efforts and the Shadow Villain's optimization.
Ji-hoon publicly declared his response: He issued an official, Guild-wide bounty on the mysterious "Synthetic Collective," but with a strange condition.
"I want the leader of this Collective brought to me alive," Ji-hoon stated to the press, his eyes cold with strategic malice. "I need to prove that even a genius villain cannot succeed against the destined future."
The threat was clear: the rivalry was about to become official, public, and lethal. The next phase of Han Tae-oh's ascent would be under the direct, constant scrutiny of the S-Rank Regressor.