The "Shadow Unit"—the Association's private assassination squad—has been dispatched. Their mission: "Quietly retrieve or eliminate the anomaly."
Si-woo is sitting in his cramped apartment, staring at a bowl of instant ramen. He realizes something terrifying: he can't eat normal food anymore. The "Entropy Engine" in his chest doesn't want calories; it wants potency.
[NOTIFICATION]
[Host Satiety: 4%]
[Starvation Imminent. The Engine will begin consuming Host Vitality if Mana is not provided.]
"Damn it," Si-woo whispers, his skin turning a sickly translucent pale.
Suddenly, the shadows in the corner of his room stretch. Four masked figures in reinforced obsidian-weave suits emerge. They don't use guns; they use Mana-Suppression Needles.
"Han Si-woo," the lead assassin whispers. "You're coming with us. Don't make us—"
Si-woo doesn't wait. He doesn't even stand up. He just looks at the shadow the assassin stepped out of.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: 'INVERSION']
[Cost: 2,000 Mana]
[Effect: Turn the target's source of power into their source of decay.]
The assassin's shadow suddenly turns into a liquid void. It rises up like a tidal wave and swallows the man whole. There is no scream—just a wet crunch as the mana in his suit and body is processed into raw data.
[MANA CONSUMED: +15,000]
[SATIETY: 12%]
[STRENGTH +5]
The other three assassins freeze. They've hunted S-Rank monsters, but they've never seen a human turn a shadow into a digestive tract.
"He's not a Hunter," one yells, pulling a high-frequency vibro-blade. "He's a Breach! Kill him!"
Si-woo stands up. As he moves, the air behind him cracks like glass. He isn't fast because of muscles; he is fast because he is deleting the distance between himself and his enemies.
Snap.
He appears in front of the second assassin. He touches the man's chest.
"Your Pulse is 12%," Si-woo says coldly. "I'll take 10. Consider it a late fee for breaking into my home."
[DRAIN INITIATED]
The assassin shrivels in real-time, his skin wrinkling like a rotting apple as his life-force is sucked into Si-woo's palm. Si-woo feels a rush of heat—a predatory high that makes his violet eyes glow with a jagged, electric intensity.
The Revelation
The last assassin drops his weapon and falls to his knees. He isn't begging for mercy; he's staring at a device on his wrist.
"The... the local mana levels..." he stammers. "You're killing the city."
Si-woo looks out the window. Across the street, the neon signs of the convenience store are dimming. The flowers in the window box are wilting. The "Entropy Engine" isn't just taking from the hunters; it's pulling from the very ley lines of Seoul to fuel Si-woo's growth.
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL 5 REACHED]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: 'THE ARCHITECT'S SIGHT']
Si-woo's vision shifts. He no longer sees walls or people. He sees the World's Code. He sees the golden threads of mana that hold reality together... and he sees how frayed they are.
At the center of the city, a massive golden pillar shoots into the sky—the Association HQ. It's the densest collection of mana on the peninsula. To everyone else, it's a beacon of hope.
To Si-woo, it's a buffet.
"Tell President Choi," Si-woo says to the lone survivor, "that I'm coming to the Association tomorrow. Not as a prisoner. As a Sovereign."