Tap tap. In the quiet room, only the sound of a keyboard being typed on echoed.
Hyun Dowoon, who had been intently focused on the monitor for quite a while, suddenly rubbed his forehead and furrowed his brow.
[Cover is siding with the Circle Guild in the upcoming competitive match.]
Cha Seohu’s voice rang faintly in his ears. Running a hand through his hair with a puzzled expression, Hyun Dowoon muttered to himself,
“What the hell... is this?”
Cha Seohu had stormed out of the C-281 district, claiming he couldn’t take it anymore, and then disappeared for several months without a word.
Hyun wondered if something had happened to him—or if maybe he was just living the good life and couldn’t be bothered to check in. No searches turned anything up. Just when it was starting to feel strange, Seohu had suddenly returned. With a boy no one had ever seen before.
Seohu sold off who-knows-what kind of item, got himself an office, and established a guild. Then, one by one, he started asking Hyun for favors.
They were all suspicious requests, but the most incomprehensible of them all was the one where he asked Hyun to anonymously register a ranking match with Kwon Taehyuk.
He’d been so persistent that Hyun had eventually just given in. And the person who entered the ranking match wasn’t even Seohu—it was some stranger. But somehow, that stranger became the hunter currently ranked number one: Cover.
Hyun had already been curious about Cover—about what kind of relationship he had with Seohu. And now, Seohu was asking him to spread the news that Cover would be joining the competition?
And he said it right in the middle of the call—didn’t even give me a chance to ask.
So Cover just does whatever Seohu says? Whether it’s a ranking match or a competition?
What the hell is going on between those two?
Hyun Dowoon had known Cha Seohu since they were too young to remember. They’d practically grown up as brothers. And yet, he had never heard of any connection between Seohu and a hunter like Cover.
He had asked about it directly once, when curiosity got the better of him, but all he got was a troubled smile in return.
[Not right now... I’ll explain it later.]
Exactly the kind of response he’d expected.
If Seohu had really wanted him to know, he would’ve brushed aside Hyun’s opinion and introduced them already.
“Shit... smug bastard.”
Muttering yet another curse—he’d lost count by now—Hyun slumped back in his seat and placed his hands on the keyboard. Since he’d already agreed, he figured he might as well get the job done.
Knock knock!
Just then, someone banged on the heavy door.
No one was # Nоvеlight # supposed to be coming. Puzzled, Hyun pressed a button next to the keyboard. The door clicked open—and there stood someone unexpected.
“Nunim?”
“Busy?”
It was Son Gayoung—the boss and overseer of B10, the tenth basement level of this district.
Hyun knew Son Gayoung didn’t come in person unless it was something serious. He shot up from his chair, answering quickly.
“No, how can I help you?”
“Hm...”
She leaned against the doorframe, taking the cigarette from her lips and holding it between her fingers.
“Hyun Dowoon... You know where Cha Seohu lives, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
The abrupt question caught him off guard, and as he hesitated, Son Gayoung clicked her tongue in irritation.
“You said you helped him get an office, didn’t you? Where is it?”
“......”
“Let me be clear—I don’t care what Seohu’s been up to outside. And you’ve already figured out who sent me to ask this, haven’t you?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say no. But at the same time, he didn’t want to give up the address that easily.
Son Gayoung sighed, exhaling a puff of smoke like a breath.
“Two months... That’s a long time to hold back—for someone with that kind of temper.”
Back when Seohu had visited briefly two months ago, she’d thought for sure he’d be dragged back within days.
But as weeks passed with no word, she began to believe maybe—for once—the man was finally letting the kid go, finally allowing her to live her own life.
Apparently, two months was the limit.
Crushing out her cigarette and tossing it into the trash, Son Gayoung looked at Hyun Dowoon, who still hadn’t made a decision, and spoke with a hint of exasperation.
“Is all this thinking gonna change anything? You and I both know he’s not someone we can control.”
“Well... to be honest, I thought he already knew where Seohu was staying. That’s why I’m surprised...”
“Oh yeah? Makes sense. But still—who knows what’s going on in that head.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she turned to leave.
“Anyway, I passed on the message. If you don’t want to get dragged upstairs, you’d better think fast and give that man a call.”
Leaving behind that final warning, she disappeared without a second glance.
Thunk. Left alone, Hyun Dowoon stared at the closed steel door. Then he slowly covered his face with one hand and bowed his head, letting out a deep, exhausted sigh.
A small meeting room inside the Circle Guild.
Even though it was nearly 10 PM, the room was filled with guild members, all gathered with heavy hearts.
“What do we do now?”
“Is there even a solution here? Everyone knows how hard it is to gather seven A-rank hunters, even for a mid-sized guild.”
The already grim mood darkened further at the blunt truth.
“What kind of negotiation is this? Ronik’s seriously insane.”
“The rumors have spread now, so backing out would just look like we gave up because we couldn’t match their lineup...”
The recent meeting at the Administration Bureau ended in chaos, thanks to Ronik’s bulldozing demands. There had been no resolution—only pressure.
And worse, mere hours later, news outlets were reporting that the two sides had failed to agree on rank balancing.
If the Circle Guild backed out now, everyone would know it was because they couldn’t recruit enough A-ranks. And they’d also be seen as a guild that couldn’t even protect its own members from a beating.
Yoo Harin, who was close with the victim Kim Suho, bit her lip in frustration.
“There’s no way that video wasn’t leaked on purpose. Ronik’s trying to screw us over.”
“Honestly, even that admin from the Bureau was suspicious. Ronik throws out bullshit demands, and they just let it happen?”
“Right? Just because we’re a weaker guild, we’re supposed to accept that kind of treatment?”
“...Ugh.”
“What are we supposed to do? Suho got beaten up—we can’t just let that go. I won’t be able to sleep like this.”
As their outrage swelled, a bespectacled guild member who had been quietly observing the room finally spoke.
“If seven A-ranks is too much... then maybe we could bring someone of another rank.”
“Another rank?”
“Like... S-rank.”
The suggestion, timidly voiced, made everyone fall silent—then sigh collectively.
There were fewer than 30 S-rank hunters in the entire country. Most were already tied up with strict schedules or led their own organizations. They weren’t the kind of people who’d join a small-time guild competition.
“It’d be easier to find seven A-ranks, honestly.”
“Still, if we could get an S-rank, that’d change everything. With our vice-guildmaster included, we’d have two S-ranks. That would help even out Ronik’s A-rank-heavy lineup.”
“True. If it were even remotely possible, that’d be the best-case scenario.”
“Sigh...”
As their hopes crumbled once again, Ryu Sunghyun, who had been sitting silently in the corner, gave a bitter smile.
S-rank... huh.
Hearing the conversation, he couldn’t help but recall his recent encounter with Cha Seohu.
[If my rank’s the problem, I’ll get re-evaluated.]
“......”
That moment—how desperately, how earnestly Seohu had stood before him—was seared into his memory.
Ryu Sunghyun still believed his choice to reject Seohu was the right one. Even knowing that Ronik was manipulating the system, he wouldn’t have answered any differently if he had the chance to go back.
He didn’t understand why Seohu, a near stranger, had been so intent on helping him and the Circle Guild. But the issue wasn’t motivation—it was rank.
He didn’t want to use someone who was hiding as a B-rank when they were clearly S-rank—especially not by forcing them into a position they were deliberately avoiding.
But still... he couldn’t ask his guild members to understand his choice. Maybe, deep down, he’d betrayed their trust.
I’m really... not cut out to be vice-guildmaster.
Someone more rational should’ve taken this role. At the very least, he should’ve consulted the guildmaster before turning Seohu away.
Now, all he could do was feel the regret surging through him.
How absurd must I have looked from Seohu’s perspective—worried about appearances when he was just trying to help.
The more he replayed that conversation, the more it gave him a headache. Pressing his fingers to his aching eyes, he let out a quiet sigh.
Then—thump thump!—hurried footsteps approached from the hallway.
“Vice-Guildmaster!”
Bang! The meeting room door flew open as a guild member burst in, face flushed with excitement.
“Did you see the news?! Cover—Cover is...!”
“Cover?”
“Who’s that?”
“You know—the hunter who hit rank one recently.”
“Oh! That guy. What about him?”
“Cover says he’s joining us!”
At those words, not only the guild members—but even Ryu Sunghyun—were visibly stunned. Thud—his pen slipped from his hand and rolled across the paperwork in front of him.

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