SCENE 1 — RANKER REPORT: "WE HAVE A PROBLEM."
The office lights were dim.
Hansung Yu sipped tea, calm as a stagnant lake, while the Ranker in front of him looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.
The Ranker cleared his throat.
"A… situation occurred in Training Wing C."
Hansung didn't look up.
"Which one? The spear-bearer collapse? The tanker who tried to juggle Shinsu orbs again? Or Endorsi kicking someone through a wall?"
The Ranker swallowed.
"…None of those, sir."
Hansung raised an eyebrow.
"Continue."
The Ranker pulled up a slate of holographic recordings.
It began with:
Anak Zahard winding up to swing
Crow standing there like she wasn't holding a legendary ignition weapon
Green April freezing
Anak panicking
Crow stepping forward
And then—
The Ranker hit pause right as the Shinsu blade touched Crow's throat.
Hansung set his tea down.
"I see."
He didn't raise his voice, but the air tightened anyway.
"Explain what I'm looking at."
The Ranker exhaled shakily.
"He challenged a Princess candidate… during a sparring session… inside a restricted area."
"And?"
The Ranker tapped the slate.
"And nearly fought a Ranker. A serious fight."
Hansung blinked once.
"…Nearly?"
"Sir—three Rankers had to arrive to stop it."
Hansung's hand hovered over his teacup.
"And the Princesses?"
"Endorsi fainted after maintaining calm. Anak… is filing a complaint."
Hansung drummed his fingers.
"So she is alive."
The Ranker nodded.
"Yes."
Hansung sighed in real relief.
"…Good. Zahard's legal division terrifies me more than the Floor of Death."
He leaned back.
"Well, then. That's one issue."
The Ranker hesitated.
"…There's more."
Hansung's smile vanished.
"Oh good. Please. Ruin my day."
The Ranker swallowed and pointed at the report.
"It's not that he challenged a Princess candidate."
Hansung looked up.
"…Then what?"
The Ranker whispered:
"It's how the weapon reacted."
Hansung froze mid-sip.
"…What?"
The Ranker replayed the moment Green April refused to extend.
The ignition weapon shook violently. Pulled away from Crow. Cringed.
Hansung lowered his cup slowly.
"It recoiled."
The Ranker nodded.
"Yes."
Hansung stared at nothing.
"…Wonderful. Another Irregular anomaly."
The Ranker waited in despairing silence.
Finally, Hansung clapped once.
"Alright. Bring him to me."
The Ranker blinked.
"You… want to speak to him directly?"
Hansung put down his tea.
"Of course. I need to know whether he intends to kill my entire floor or only most of it."
He stood up, stretching.
"And bring the compiled report. I need to know how many Princesses he almost kicked this time."
The Ranker flinched.
"She… wasn't kicked."
Hansung waved him off.
"She was mentally kicked. Same thing."
SCENE 2 — DIRECTOR HANSUNG: "I'M FAILING YOU."
Crow walked into Hansung's office escorted by two tank-class Regulars and a Ranker who refused to make eye contact.
Hansung looked up with his polite, unreadable smile.
"Crow. Welcome."
Crow nodded.
"Director."
Hansung gestured to the chair across from him.
"Sit."
Crow sat.
The tankers stayed very far away.
The Ranker stood ready to teleport at the slightest spark.
Hansung poured tea.
"So," he began lightly, "I hear you challenged a Princess-class Regular, frightened an ignition weapon, threatened a Ranker, and destabilized an entire training wing."
Crow shrugged.
"She had something I wanted."
Hansung blinked.
"A weapon?"
"No. Information."
Hansung exhaled.
"Of course."
He slid the tea across the desk.
"Drink. Before you ignite something by accident."
Crow took a sip.
Hansung folded his hands.
"I've reviewed your reports."
Crow waited.
Hansung's smile sharpened.
"You are not passing this class."
Crow blinked.
"…Already?"
Hansung nodded cheerfully.
"Yes. Absolutely. Without question."
The tankers both sagged in relief.
Crow tilted his head.
"I thought Baam got flunked later."
Hansung's smile dimmed.
"Oh, he will. But you? You're a fast-track failure."
Crow waited for clarification.
Hansung leaned forward and ticked off fingers:
"You don't react to Shinsu.
You break tests by existing.
You ignore Rankers.
You walk into Princess disputes with fists.
You treat the Tower like a lawless ocean.
And—most importantly—if I let you pass too fast, you will destabilize every test on the next floor."
He sighed deeply.
"So yes. I'm going to fail you. Preventatively."
Crow nodded once.
"Reasonable."
Hansung blinked.
"…You aren't offended?"
"No. I expected it."
Hansung frowned slightly.
"You're abnormal."
"So I've been told."
Hansung pinched the bridge of his nose.
"But—until I'm allowed to fail you—you must finish your Wave Controller training sessions."
Crow nodded.
"That's fine."
Hansung peered at him.
"You aren't going to… 'accidentally' explode the training room, are you?"
Crow shook his head.
"…Probably."
Hansung froze.
"…'Probably'?"
Crow corrected.
"…Possibly."
Hansung slowly placed his forehead on the desk.
The Ranker backed up two steps.
The tankers went pale.
Crow sipped his tea.
Hansung straightened again with a sigh of total spiritual defeat.
"Fine. Finish your training. Don't challenge Princesses. Don't threaten Rankers. Don't set the floor on fire. Don't terrify ignition weapons. Do you understand?"
Crow nodded.
"Yes."
Hansung stared into his soul.
"You're going to do at least three of those, aren't you?"
Crow considered.
"…Probably."
Hansung deflated.
"Get out. Before you cause an incident by existing."
Crow stood.
"Understood."
He left.
The tankers fled after him like survivors escaping a natural disaster.
Hansung waited until the door shut.
Then he locked it.
SCENE 3 — THE CALL TO THE HOUND OF FUG
Alone at last, Hansung tapped a hidden sequence on his Lighthouse—one even most Rankers didn't know existed.
[ENCRYPTION: FUG-LEVEL / UNTRACEABLE]
The screen flickered to life.
A symbol appeared.
Fangs.
Red.
Hansung exhaled.
"…Connect me to the Hound."
The reply came instantly.
"Connection acknowledged. Awaiting response from—"
The screen cut off mid-sentence.
A calm, lazy voice slid into the room instead.
"You're calling sooner than expected, Director."
Hansung stiffened.
"…Ha Jinsung."
The Slayer's teacher sounded amused.
"Well well… I was expecting a 'Hello,' or maybe, 'I'd like to renegotiate that favor,' but this is fine too."
Hansung swallowed lightly.
Of all the people FUG could send, they sent him.
Jinsung chuckled.
"Relax. If I wanted to kill you, I'd knock first."
Hansung pinched his temple.
"…That somehow does not comfort me."
Jinsung laughed warmly.
"You said you had a problem child. That's not usually your department."
Hansung took a breath.
"I do. A very serious one."
Jinsung's tone sharpened—
not playful anymore, but alert.
"Name."
"Crow," Hansung answered.
A soft hum.
"I don't know that one."
"You will," Hansung muttered.
He pushed a recording through the Lighthouse.
The moment Green April recoiled.
The instant Crow's aura crushed the training wing.
The near-fight with a Ranker.
The way Shinsu itself refused to interact with him.
Jinsung watched the entire sequence in silence.
When it ended, he didn't speak.
Not for several seconds.
Then:
"…Director."
"Yes?"
"That boy is a walking natural disaster."
Hansung let out a tired sigh.
"Thank you for confirming what my instincts already told me."
Jinsung continued:
"He's not Shinsu-oriented.
He's not Ki-oriented.
He's not even internally consistent."
Another pause.
"He's instinct-oriented."
Hansung blinked.
"Instinct?"
Jinsung almost sounded impressed.
"Yes.
The type of person who doesn't need training to kill a Ranker.
He just needs motivation."
Hansung froze.
"…Please do not phrase it like that."
"Why?" Jinsung teased. "You're afraid he'll try it?"
"He already did try." Hansung rubbed his face. "He wanted to fight one of my instructors just to see if he could bleed."
Jinsung whistled.
"Lovely. I like him already."
Hansung stared blankly.
"Of course you do."
Jinsung cleared his throat.
"So. Why call me? What's your angle?"
Hansung sat back.
"You want the cave boy—Twenty-Fifth Baam."
Jinsung said nothing.
Hansung continued.
"When your organization inevitably moves for him, I need a cover story.
A distraction.
A reason you were already sniffing around the testing floors."
"And this Crow is your distraction," Jinsung finished.
Hansung gestured helplessly.
"Do you want the truth?
If he gets bored enough, he'll accidentally wipe out the whole floor."
Jinsung laughed loudly.
"You're serious."
"Yes."
"Dead serious."
"Unfortunately."
Silence fell.
Then Jinsung spoke:
"Alright, Director.
I'll come get a look at this 'problem child.'"
Hansung stiffened.
"…You'll come personally?"
"You requested me personally," Jinsung replied. "This isn't the kind of talent you send lackeys for."
Talent.
Hansung winced at the word being applied to Crow.
Jinsung added:
"And don't worry. I won't take him—not yet."
Hansung sighed in real relief.
Jinsung's smile could be heard through the line.
"But I will ensure Baam's future involvement with us has a believable cover."
"And that cover… is Crow," Hansung confirmed.
"Exactly.
When the Tower asks why FUG moved on Baam, you simply point at the monster you were begging us to collect."
Hansung muttered:
"…Thank the Administrators."
Jinsung paused.
"Oh—and Director?"
"Yes?"
"Please keep that boy entertained until I arrive."
Hansung blinked.
"…Why?"
Jinsung's cheerful voice dropped into something predatory.
"Because if he gets bored before I get there…
I may not have a testing floor left to visit."
The Lighthouse cut.
The room fell silent.
Hansung sat down slowly, staring at his tea.
"…Baam. I hope you appreciate what I'm doing for your future paperwork."
He drained the cup in one go.
"Crow… please don't explode anything before Jinsung gets here."
SCENE 4 — ONE WEEK LATER
Crow spent the next week doing three things:
Reading Shinsu theory
Standing in Wave Controller training pools that refused to touch him
Accidentally traumatizing half the floor
By the end of the week:
The Shinsu pool avoided him
Ignition weapons refused to extend near him
Rankers gave him a ten-meter safety radius
And Hansung Yu had developed a permanent stress twitch
On the last morning, Hansung met him in one of the quieter corridors, holding a clipboard like it was a shield.
"You," Hansung said flatly, "are going to the finish line."
Crow looked up from his Pocket.
"…I was told I'm already failing."
"You are," Hansung confirmed. "But we need to process you with the next batch. Walk the pathways, reach the end, and wait there. We'll file it as a retest slot."
Crow blinked.
"…I'm being used as bait again."
Hansung corrected without shame:
"As ambient deterrence."
Crow accepted this.
"Reasonable."
Hansung flinched at the word.
"Just go.
Don't fight anyone.
Don't touch any Princesses.
Don't… ignite anything."
Crow turned away.
"No promises."
Hansung watched him leave with the expression of a man sending a wild animal through a daycare.
SCENE 5 — THE PATHWAYS: "THE CAPTURE OF A MONSTER"
The pathways stretched endlessly.
Stone walls.
Repetition.
Silence.
Crow walked alone, hands in his pockets, letting his mind drift as he followed the route Hansung's Pocket had mapped.
Boredom settled in.
That was the first warning.
The second came as a shiver along his spine.
Every nerve in his body tightened.
Every instinct screamed.
Something was watching him.
Not with eyes.
With intent.
Predatory.
Cold.
Amused.
Crow slowly looked over his shoulder.
The hallway was empty.
The air wasn't.
A voice slipped into existence behind him:
"Running already?"
Crow didn't think.
He transformed instantly, golden wings ripping from his back and blasting heat against the stone.
He launched down the hallway so fast the air cracked behind him.
This wasn't panic.
This was experience.
The rule etched into his bones:
Don't fight what you can't kill.
The corridor blurred.
Corners whipped past.
Crow poured Ki, flame, instinct, and fear into pure speed.
He shot around a bend—
And slammed into a wall of pressure.
Not Shinsu.
Presence.
Ha Jinsung stood casually in front of him.
No footstep.
No dash.
No teleport effect.
Just there.
As if the Tower itself had placed him in Crow's path.
Crow spread his wings, skidding to a halt so violently the stones cracked beneath his talons.
Jinsung smiled softly.
"You run well."
Crow didn't answer.
Wings up.
Body coiled.
Every escape vector mapped.
Jinsung's tone sharpened.
"Very well."
Crow exhaled slowly.
"…You're not after Baam right now."
"No," Jinsung said. "I already know where he is."
His eyes glinted.
"I'm after you."
The world seemed to drop out from beneath Crow.
Not physically.
Spiritually.
A predator's truth.
Crow stepped back.
"Why?"
Jinsung walked forward with calm certainty.
"You're not the one I was sent for.
You're not special in destiny.
You're not chosen."
He stopped an arm's length away.
"But you have something far rarer."
Crow's heart hammered.
"…What."
Jinsung smiled.
"Potential."
Crow snapped his wings wide and blasted himself backward—
But Jinsung vanished.
Crow twisted in midair.
Too late.
A hand closed around the back of his neck.
Soft.
Gentle.
Effortless.
A grip that said:
You never stood a chance.
Crow's body locked.
Not by technique.
By instinct.
Predator over prey.
Jinsung leaned in slightly, voice warm, almost friendly.
"You sensed me. You ran. You transformed. You didn't freeze."
He lifted Crow off the ground like a misbehaving cub.
"That means you're teachable."
Crow snarled and ignited, wings blazing hot—
Jinsung patted his head.
The flames died.
Automatically.
Crow's mind stuttered.
"What—?"
"That," Jinsung said, "is the gap."
He slung Crow over his shoulder casually.
Like picking up luggage.
"You're not the chosen one," he continued. "But you're the kind of warrior my organization loves."
Crow's fists clenched.
"FUG?"
"Yes," Jinsung said pleasantly. "And congratulations."
He turned toward the depths of the corridor.
"You just got drafted."
Crow struggled once—hard—wings flaring.
Jinsung tapped his shoulder.
The entire world went black.