Mid-Year Break
The mid-year break began.
Suho was now 17 years and 5 months old.
He took his car, went to the transfer point, and returned to Korea without even contacting his friends.
As for his strength, it had changed significantly over the past two months.
His endurance and physical capability had increased noticeably, and even his mana circulation had greatly improved.
His gains were clear:
20 Mana
20 Strength
15 Endurance
He arrived in Seoul as usual.
And his destination was obvious.
In Front of the Korean Hunters Association
The boy stared at the building with anticipation and entered.
Only minutes passed before Investigator Park appeared—
his official clothes messy as always, a cup of coffee never leaving his hand.
— Oh?
— What's this?
— Did you miss me, or did you miss the free food?
Suho smiled faintly.
— Both.
Park laughed.
— Come on. Let's eat. Talking here is boring.
The Nearby Café
They sat as they always did.
A side table.
A quiet spot.
Park stared at him for a long moment before speaking.
— You've changed.
— I don't know how, but you've changed.
Suho took a sip.
— Training does that.
— Just training?
— No gates? No dungeons? No tower?
Suho shook his head.
— I needed rest.
Park chuckled lightly.
— Planning to rest forever?
Suho raised his eyes, his tone serious with a hint of dry humor.
— My pockets are about to run dry.
— Give me work.
Park burst out laughing.
— There you are!
— That's what I was waiting for.
He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice.
— We have a gate.
— Not clean… but not a disaster.
— A scouting team partially disappeared.
— We need someone to enter quickly. Alone.
Suho was silent for a moment.
Then he simply said:
— When?
Park smiled.
— Now.
Before Entering the Gate
They stood before the gray gate.
Its pulse was calm—
but unsettling.
— Mid-level.
— But the signals… unclear.
Suho looked at the vortex.
— Unclear how?
— As if…
— It's trying to be normal.
Suho smiled faintly.
— That's the worst description possible.
Park sighed.
— Don't be reckless.
Suho looked at him.
— When have I ever not been?
Park patted his shoulder.
— Come back alive.
— I'll try.
Then Suho stepped forward.
Inside the Gate
The moment he entered, suffocating air greeted him.
The smell of dampness mixed with something else…
something like rotting flesh.
The forest was dense.
Trees twisted as if bent under an invisible weight.
Light barely reached the ground, arriving only in fractured strands.
He moved with measured steps.
Breathing steady.
Hand on the sword hilt, unhurried.
Something was wrong…
The first monster appeared.
A deformed wolf, its body partially decayed, its mana unstable and impure.
One strike.
Fast. Decisive.
It fell without a sound.
But Suho did not relax.
He moved deeper.
He found traces of battle.
Clear human blood on the ground…
but no bodies.
— They weren't dragged away…
— It's as if they… stood up.
That was when he heard it.
Footsteps.
Heavy. Irregular.
The creature emerged from between the trees.
It was human… or what remained of one.
Cracked gray skin.
Sunken eyes without light.
A half-open mouth releasing a rough, rasping breath.
But what caught Suho's attention wasn't its appearance.
It was the mana.
Corrupted mana—
not dark,
but rotten… like dead mana forced into motion.
— A ghoul…
He recalled the description immediately.
Ghouls—
humans who died inside dungeons,
then became infused with corrupted mana,
reanimating the body without a soul.
They closely resemble jiangshi.
Not zombies.
Stronger.
Faster.
More violent.
The ghoul suddenly lunged.
Faster than it appeared.
Suho retreated half a step,
then struck.
The sword collided with bone.
It didn't penetrate immediately.
— Tough…
Two more ghouls rushed from the sides.
His body moved without thought.
A turn.
A side thrust.
A cut to the knee joint.
One fell—
but the other continued attacking as if pain did not exist.
A direct thrust to the chest.
The sword pierced through…
but the ghoul didn't stop.
— The heart isn't enough…
He changed angles,
then pulled the sword upward with force.
The head split in two.
The body finally collapsed.
Heavy silence fell.
Suho breathed deeply,
feeling something deeply unsettling.
— This forest…
— It's full of them.
He advanced with greater caution.
The deeper he went,
the more ghouls appeared.
Some wore remnants of hunter armor.
Some carried broken weapons.
They had been human…
He fought them one by one.
The battles weren't difficult in terms of strength,
but they were mentally exhausting.
Every strike…
was a reminder of a possible fate.
Deep inside the dungeon,
he found the missing team.
Alive.
Exhausted.
Hiding behind a crude barrier.
— The ghouls…
— Our comrades…
They couldn't finish.
He secured a path for them
and eliminated the remaining ghouls in the area.
Before leaving,
Suho paused,
looking into the darkness between the trees.
— This isn't an incident.
— This is… rot.
Outside the Gate
He emerged hours later.
Park Cheol was waiting.
— What did you find?
Suho looked at his hand,
then said with heavy calm:
— Ghouls.
— Human ones.
Park's expression changed instantly.
— That's worse than I expected…
Suho raised his gaze.
— This dungeon isn't an exception.
Park was silent for a long time.
— Then…
— Your rest is truly over.
Suho looked up at the Seoul sky
and smiled faintly.
Later – Office of the Korean Hunters Association President, Seoul
Since Suho's arrival on Earth and his stay within the Association for training before entering the world,
he had caught the attention of the Association's president—
which granted him special privileges.
The office wasn't luxurious in the conventional sense.
No excessive decorations. No false displays of wealth.
A dark wooden desk. Simple walls adorned with old paintings of sealed gates and the names of fallen hunters.
The entire place carried a single feeling:
decisions made here could not be undone.
Investigator Park Cheol stood straight.
Beside him stood Jin, silent—back straight, eyes steady, no visible curiosity or tension.
Behind the desk sat a man in his late sixties.
Short gray hair. A face lined with wrinkles—not of weakness,
but of a man who had lived long while witnessing blood and heavy decisions.
He wasn't physically imposing,
yet his presence alone made the room feel smaller.
Go-Hyun.
President of the Korean Hunters Association.
He spoke calmly:
"Begin, Park."
Park activated his tablet.
"The report consists of three interconnected incidents."
He raised his eyes briefly, then continued.
"First incident: Canada."
He explained.
An unstable gate. Disappearing hunters. Residual unnatural energy.
Traces resembling rituals—unfinished.
Go-Hyun did not interrupt.
"Second incident: the test gate," Park continued.
A gate that was ordinary at first, then turned into a qualification test by the tower, with its system manifesting.
The team had moved via tower teleportation without system windows.
Waves of thousands of monsters—
ending with a Drake.
Park paused.
"But the third incident."
He glanced at Jin, then continued:
"The Ghoul Gate."
He detailed everything—
their movement, resilience, attack patterns,
and the fact that they were humans who died and returned corrupted.
"This is not a natural phenomenon," Park said heavily.
Go-Hyun slightly lifted his head.
"Your opinion."
Park clenched his jaw.
"I believe the ghouls are connected to black mages."
A brief silence.
"The corruption method," Park continued,
"resembles forbidden techniques recorded before—but this is… broader."
Go-Hyun did not respond immediately.
Then—
for the first time, he turned his body fully.
He looked at Jin.
It wasn't an examining gaze.
Nor a threat.
It was the look of a man who had seen too much—
and now saw something he didn't know whether it was danger or opportunity.
"This is not the work of black mages," Go-Hyun said calmly.
Park froze.
"Sir?"
Go-Hyun looked forward again.
"This is from the tower."
Park's eyes widened slightly.
"But—"
He was cut off.
"Black mages exploit chaos."
"The tower… creates it."
Heavy silence followed.
Go-Hyun did not explain further.
But his eyes remained on Jin.
Jin stood unchanged.
His expression did not shift.
"You haven't spoken," Go-Hyun said.
"I wasn't asked," Jin replied calmly.
Go-Hyun smiled briefly.
"Smart."
He gestured.
"Sit."
Both sat down.
Go-Hyun looked directly at Jin.
"How is your life now?"
"Training."
"Only that?"
"No gates. No guilds. No long missions."
The old man nodded.
"And your progress?"
Jin thought briefly.
"Stable."
Go-Hyun raised an eyebrow.
"A word used by those who don't want to reveal their cards."
Jin did not object.
"Do you feel stronger than you were six months ago?" Go-Hyun asked.
"Yes."
"How much?"
Jin paused longer.
"Enough to be different."
Go-Hyun looked at Park.
"This type is more dangerous than the braggarts."
He turned back to Jin.
"What do you think of guilds?"
"They are a means."
"For?"
"Money. Protection. Influence."
"And nothing else?"
"Sometimes… a shackle."
Go-Hyun smiled again.
"And the Association?"
Jin considered.
"A necessity."
"Not an authority?"
"Not absolute."
"Do you trust it?"
Jin paused.
"I trust people… not structures."
Go-Hyun did not grow angry.
On the contrary, he seemed interested.
"If a major guild offered you a permanent contract?"
"I would refuse."
"Why?"
"Because my path isn't fixed."
"And if the Association asked for your direct cooperation?"
Jin raised his gaze steadily.
"If it doesn't bind me… I'll accept."
A long silence followed.
"You are unlike most hunters," Go-Hyun said.
"Nor do I wish to resemble them," Jin replied.
Go-Hyun slowly stood up.
And when he did—
Park felt something strange.
Invisible pressure.
Quiet power.
"The ghouls won't be the last," the old man said.
Looking at Jin,
"And you… will find yourself at the center of things you didn't choose."
He turned to Park.
"Watch him."
Then back to Jin.
"Not out of fear."
He paused.
"But because the tower is already watching you."
Jin did not respond.
The meeting ended without further words.
As they left the office,
Park remained silent.
Finally, he said:
"You're not normal."
Jin replied, eyes forward:
"I never said I was."
— End of Chapter