Cold sweat rolled down his pale cheek.
No matter how many times he blinked, the face in front of him didn’t change.
Cha Seohu, face-to-face with Ryu Sunghyun smiling gently at him, couldn’t bring himself to raise his sword again.
“Hunter Cha Seohu?”
Seeing him frozen stiff and unmoving, Ryu Sunghyun called out urgently. Was he being attacked by something invisible?
At the sound of his name, Cha Seohu flinched and turned his head. His pale face was clouded with confusion.
...No.
When he saw the real Ryu Sunghyun looking shocked, Cha Seohu clenched his jaw. The muscle along his jawline tightened.
'That’s not Sunghyun-hyung.'
Forcing his mind to settle, Cha Seohu turned his eyes back to the front.
The cult leader, now fully exposed with his hood blown back, was dodging the chains raining down from above.
He still looked like Ryu Sunghyun to Cha Seohu’s eyes, but he wasn’t foolish enough to believe it.
'Hypnosis? Illusion? Either way, it’s some kind of mental skill or item.'
And it must only be affecting him.
If the other nearby S-ranks also saw the cult leader’s face as Ryu Sunghyun’s, they’d have reacted immediately.
“Hoo...”
Taking a sharp breath, Cha Seohu once again pushed off from the ground and charged the cult leader.
'More likely an item than a skill.'
As the cult leader twisted to avoid the chains, Cha Seohu thrust his sword straight for his chest.
Clang!
The gleaming blade collided with the stark white staff.
'Skreee, skreee...'
The lantern attached to the top of the staff rattled harshly with a metallic shriek. Cha Seohu flicked his gaze to it.
'That’s probably the cause... that lantern.'
More precisely—the green light contained within it.
With his lips pressed tightly together, Cha Seohu increased the speed of his strikes. His sword and the staff clashed without pause.
Beyond the defensive sweep of the staff, that smiling face remained unchanged.
Cha Seohu’s eyes twisted in disgust while the smiling Ryu Sunghyun's expression remained soft and kind.
He tried to stay calm, but tension forced itself into his grip. Even as he pressed the attack with reason, his body still flinched involuntarily.
'Pathetic.'
He understood what was happening, but his body wouldn’t listen. A hollow laugh escaped his lips.
It was fortunate the other S-ranks were here. If he’d faced the cult leader alone, he would’ve been overwhelmed by mistake after mistake.
“Hunter Cha Seohu, now!”
Ryu Sunghyun’s loud shout rang out at just the right moment.
It felt like he was scolding him to get it together, and it snapped Cha Seohu back to focus.
Golden light coiled around the cult leader’s right arm—thanks to Eun Woojeong targeting his legs to restrict movement and exploiting the opening.
With the arm holding the staff restrained, it was the perfect chance.
Cha Seohu didn’t waste it—he closed the distance instantly and grabbed the cult leader by the throat.
Boom!
Suppressing the instinct to let go, he slammed the cult leader hard into the ground.
Beneath the disheveled brown hair, sharp glowing eyes stared up at him. Cha Seohu twisted his mouth at the gaze.
“What, did you think I’d just get mad and kill you?”
No way. He had mountains of things to dig out of this bastard.
While pinning the cult leader down by the neck, Cha Seohu raised his sword.
But his blade wasn’t aimed at the man—it turned to the lantern lying nearby, still attached to the fallen staff.
CRASH!
The sword pierced the center of the lantern. Green light shimmered through the shattered glass, then disappeared completely.
“Ha...”
When he opened his eyes again, the cult leader’s true face was revealed.
No—was it even right to call this a “true face”?
Cold sweat dripping, Cha Seohu looked down at the figure pinned beneath him.
Glossy, unnaturally smooth skin. Eyes that looked painted rather than real. Ash-gray complexion.
“This is... a mannequin?”
Eun Woojeong, who had just descended nearby, seemed to think the same. He muttered in a disturbed voice.
'To think I actually mistook this thing for Sunghyun-hyung...'
The power of the mental-type item hit him again. Cha Seohu furrowed his brow.
“It’s not just a mannequin.”
Astonishingly, even this thing was an item.
From the neck he was pressing down on, he could feel a steady pulse and the elasticity of real human flesh.
The thought alone was sickening, but it was clear.
“They used a real person as the material.”
Revulsion rippled through him instinctively. Judging by their expressions, Ryu Sunghyun and Kwon Taehyuk, who were now standing over the mannequin, felt the same.
“...Are we taking it with us?”
“We have to.”
Cha Seohu answered Kwon Taehyuk firmly.
As distasteful as it was, they needed to extract information from it. They had to bring it back as intact as possible.
'I need to analyze how this item was made, too.'
He’d destroyed the lantern, unfortunately, but this mannequin had a lot to be studied.
Tick.
Just then, the sound of a second hand ticking echoed once again.
Cha Seohu looked up. At the top of the towering clocktower, the rift still floated in the air.
Amazingly, it was shrinking—sparks flying off as it slowly closed.
“L-Look at that!”
“The rift’s closing!”
Hunters who had just finished off the last ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) remaining gremlin cried out in emotional relief.
Tick.
Cha Seohu also let out a breath of relief.
'Sahyeon must’ve found the flower in time.'
Tick.
The second hand of the clocktower continued its motion. The current time: 6:55 AM. Somehow, the night had passed, and morning had arrived.
As the rift closed, the sky slowly returned to a pale blue. Once the thick clouds scattered, the bright morning sun would shine upon the earth.
Tick.
He had saved everyone again. He had protected this place from the cult.
That was what he wanted to believe as he felt relief settle over him—
Tick.
But the ticking sound scraped at his nerves.
At first, he thought it came from the clocktower.
'But could the second hand at that height really sound this clear?'
Wait.
Something’s wrong.
As Cha Seohu stood frozen with the mannequin still pinned beneath him, the world around him moved rapidly.
“Guildmaster Kwon! The Supporters rescued from the facility are on their way here!”
Tick.
“Hunter Cha Seohu, fire suppression has been completed—Hunter Cha Seohu?”
Tick.
“Excuse me, you’re the one who healed us earlier, right? I just wanted to thank—”
People were gathering. And with that, a terrible sense of foreboding intensified.
Feeling the chaos spreading around him, Cha Seohu’s thoughts raced.
'What is the ‘real cult leader’ after by sending this mannequin?'
To catch me off guard and incapacitate me with a mental item?
Or to prevent the last rift from being closed?
'If that was the goal, they’d have intervened earlier.'
There must be another objective.
That objective was—
Tick.
“...!”
Realization struck Cha Seohu like a hammer, and his fingertips trembled.
He gasped sharply, then hastily drew his sword. Without hesitation, he slashed across the mannequin’s chest.
The layers of robes tore away, revealing the torso.
What he saw explained the ticking—and left him biting down hard on his tongue.
Tick. Tick.
Inside the glass torso of the mannequin was not blood, but a thick, deep green liquid. And attached to its heart: a time bomb.
“Guh...!”
Whether the clothes were treated with an item or some other method, as soon as the body was exposed, a foul stench erupted—and the ticking grew louder.
Even though it was sealed inside, the poison’s toxicity was so strong it made him gag. Cha Seohu quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve as sweat poured down his face like rain.
'If this kind of poison explodes...'
He couldn’t even begin to predict the result.
Would he be able to purify it or heal through it? What if contact with the liquid caused instant death?
And if it detonated this close—he wouldn’t survive it either.
He wanted to smash the glass and purify the contents immediately, but the bomb made that impossible. What if it exploded the moment he touched it?
As Cha Seohu hesitated, time ticked forward mercilessly.
The timer on the bomb affixed to the heart began its countdown:
[00:00:15]
[00:00:14]
[00:00:13]
'I have to move it. Now.'
But where?
Cha Seohu looked around in a panic.
Curious Hunters loitered nearby. Kwon Taehyuk was receiving a briefing from what looked like a guild member. Ryu Sunghyun, who had gone to Song Jiwoon, was now running toward him with a shocked expression.
“...!”
Eun Woojeong, who had been inspecting the fallen staff, finally realized what was happening and grabbed Cha Seohu’s arm in a panic.
Trying to drag him to safety.
Cha Seohu shook him off.
“Are you fucking insane?!”
“It’s already too late.”
Running now meant nothing.
[00:00:12]
[00:00:11]
Only ten seconds left.
His mind went icy cold. Cha Seohu pulled an item from his inventory.
[Wings of Skystride]
Small wings that allow the wearer to fly. Attach them to your shoes.
(Duration: 5 minutes)
He slapped the wing-shaped stickers onto his shoes and stood up.
Grabbing the mannequin, he launched himself into the air without hesitation. With one strong flap, the white wings sprouting from his shoes lifted him skyward.
“Hunter Cha Seohu!”
A horrified shout rang out from below.
[00:00:09]
'Please...'
Just a little higher.
[00:00:08]
[00:00:07]
Sunlight broke through the clouds.
His arms were starting to go numb from holding the mannequin.
But Cha Seohu clenched his teeth and kept flying, higher and higher.
[00:00:05]
[00:00:04]
The top of the towering clocktower was now beneath his feet.
[00:00:03]
Cha Seohu mentally counted down the seconds as he threw the mannequin upward with all his strength.
The mannequin, filled with poison, spun alone in the air.
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
Cha Seohu brought his hands together and unleashed a wide wave of holy energy.
One second later, the mannequin exploded.

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