"Renji."
Mr. Takeda called his name the moment Kael stepped out of the dungeon. His voice sounded steady, but his eyes told a different story. He kept staring at the portal, searching for the rest of the team. Reporters crowded behind the security line, cameras raised, eager to capture the moment the hunters walked out victorious. Dungeon-clearing news always spread fast, and people loved hearing stories of triumph.
But instead of hunters stepping out, the dungeon gate itself began to crack. Thin lines spread across its swirling surface. A hum followed, then the portal shattered like broken glass and faded into thin air.
The crowd gasped. The reporters murmured. The fading portal confirmed only one thing.
The dungeon boss had been defeated.
Chief Liam walked straight toward Kael. He was not a hunter, just a human with enough influence to erase someone from society without leaving a shadow behind. His guild held only two A ranks, and Kael had already sent one to the afterlife. Even so, the chief kept a friendly smile on his face as he extended his hand.
"Mr. Renji," he said, using the name he believed belonged to Kael. "Where are the rest of the crew that went in with you?"
Behind them, security guards held the reporters back. Cameras kept flashing. All eyes stayed glued on Kael, trying to understand why he was the only one standing.
"They're dead," Kael said. His voice was calm. "They didn't make it."
The B rank mage snapped. His face twisted in rage as he tried to rush forward, but Chief Liam quickly held him back by the arm.
"Not here," the chief whispered sharply. "Not now. The reporters are watching. All eyes and ears are pointed at us. Control yourself."
Kael watched the scene with mild interest. The mage's anger was clear, but it barely moved him.
Chief Liam turned back to Kael. "Mr. Takeda will take you to the guild headquarters. We need a full report of what happened inside the dungeon."
Kael cut him off before he could finish. "With respect, sir, I have done my part of the deal. I am not going anywhere. Make the transfer before midnight. I owe no one an explanation."
The chief blinked, then forced a polite nod. "Fine. I understand. The money will be sent immediately. If you need medical attention, our hospital is open to you. We will not charge you. It is part of our duty as a guild to care for our hunters."
"I'm fine," Kael said and stepped away, choosing a narrow path where reporters could not follow.
The B rank mage and his lackey shoved their anger into their car and sped off, their frustration nearly making the tires screech.
Takeda didn't move. He watched Kael disappear into the shadows, his thoughts running wild. The man who walked out of the dungeon did not feel like the Renji he once knew.
"I must find out what happened in there," Takeda whispered to himself. "Before the guild decides to kill him first."
Kael slipped into a quiet, lonely street where no one would bother tracking him. He peeled off Renji's clothes, stuffed them inside an old junkyard bin, and dusted his hands like he had just finished taking out the trash. By the time he walked back onto the main road, he looked like a regular guy minding his business.
His phone buzzed.
He checked it.
Money received: six million, three hundred and fifty thousand won.
Kael blinked twice. "Wow. Renji wasn't lying," he muttered, almost laughing. "First thing first… Emiko's bills."
He headed straight for the hospital.
The automatic doors slid open, and the familiar nurse looked up from her desk. The moment their eyes met, she brightened.
"Mr. Yorkshire," she greeted warmly. "You are back. Did you forget something?"
Kael gave a small smile. "Not really. The money is ready."
Her eyes widened with pleasant surprise. "Oh, that is great news. Please follow me so you can make the payments."
She led the way with a little bounce in her step. Kael followed her to the cashier desk, where she handed him a file containing Emiko's details.
"You will need to sign here… and here," she said, pointing at the papers. "You are paying for this month, right?"
Kael kept writing. "Not just this month. I want to pay for the whole year. And hopefully that is the longest she will need to stay."
The nurse chuckled. "Wow. I am impressed. You barely struggled to cover a month before, and now you want to pay for a whole year? Your sister will be very grateful. But…" she narrowed her eyes playfully, "…saying that is the longest she will stay? Someone sounds a little dramatic. Unless you won a big lottery."
Kael didn't answer. He kept signing.
She added with a sigh, "I mean… even clearing an A rank dungeon alone is not enough to bring an S rank healer into this country. Even our president went into debt trying to hire one for his child."
Kael stopped. His pen froze mid-signature. His gaze slowly lifted to meet hers.
She smiled politely at his sudden stillness.
"So," Kael asked calmly, "how much would it cost to bring an S rank healer to save my sister?"
"That is the point," she said gently. "It is almost impossible. If the president can't afford it, what chance does a hunter who is not even S rank have?"
Kael finished signing and handed the file back. He made the transfer without hesitation.
"Don't underestimate anybody," he said quietly before turning away.
He walked down the quiet hallway toward Emiko's room. His steps were calm, but his thoughts were heavy. If even the president failed to bring in an S rank healer by his own will power… What was he supposed to do?
He slipped into the room and sat beside Emiko's cylindrical life-support chamber. The soft glow of the machine lit the quiet space. Kael pulled out his phone, opened his browser, and began searching the cost of hiring an S rank healer.
He needed the truth, no matter how brutal it sounded.
Kael scrolled through page after page on his phone, and the more he read, the more he realized something strange. This world was almost identical to the one he came from. The military, the culture, the technology, the way people lived, even the career paths… everything lined up perfectly with his past life in Japan. The only difference here was the awakening of hunters and the appearance of dungeons.
In his former life, he was Japanese. Now, he found himself living in Korea.
Every continent had its own tragic story tied to the dungeons. The first dungeon break in the world happened fifteen years ago in the United States. South Korea's disaster came five years later. Kael remembered it too well. He lost his parents on that horrible day. Five gates opened without warning near residential areas. Two B rank gates, two A rank gates, and one C rank gate. Monsters poured out like a flood of nightmares, tearing through the streets and killing anything in their path.
Before the Korean incident, hunters were already appearing around the world. After the first dungeon break in the US, their government developed the technology to detect awakened individuals and grade their strength. That system spread globally, and soon anyone who awakened was scanned and assigned to guilds. Those who refused guilds became "machinery hunters," working alone and taking odd jobs. Most of them were low-ranked E and D ranks, because guilds didn't pay them well enough to bother staying.
There were only fifteen awakened S rank hunters in the entire world. Out of those fifteen, only three were S rank healers. Two lived in the US, and the last one was in China. South Korea had only two S rank hunters total, and the country treated them like living gods. Even so, the S rank healers were considered more valuable than gold. They were national treasures. They never entered dungeons and were kept strictly for healing the incurable, charging fees high enough to make even wealthy nations tremble.
The blast from the dungeon gates that day tore apart everything around Kael's neighborhood. Those who weren't killed by the monsters were knocked into coma by the shockwave. Emiko was one of them. The president's daughter, who had been visiting the area at the wrong time, was also caught in the blast and fell into the same deep sleep.
The president did everything in his power to save her. He spent money, pulled strings, begged, and even fell into debt just to bring an S rank healer to Korea. The rumor was that the healer demanded almost one billion won to even consider coming. Some people online even claimed S rank healers sometimes took the money and still refused to show up.
Kael sighed as he read through the information. His frustration grew heavier with each word.
But after a moment, he clenched his teeth.
"No. I won't give up," he whispered. "I will bring an S rank healer for Emiko. I just need to climb the ranks fast. Faster than anyone else."
Then another thought hit him.
Renji.
"I need to return his clothes and mask… and pay him for helping me," Kael muttered.
He rose from his seat beside Emiko's cylindrical life-support chamber and placed his palm gently against the glass.
"I will be back, Emiko," he said softly.
He stepped out of the hospital and made his way toward the junkyard where he had hidden Renji's clothes earlier.