The drilling grew louder. Dust fell from the cracked ceiling like gray snow.
Kang-woo looked down at Han Seol-ah. The black mark on her neck—a faint, pulsing vein of violet—was invisible to the naked eye, but to his 'Necrotic Butcher' sight, it screamed like a flare in the dark.
If I kill her, the mark vanishes. The Herald loses its tether. I walk away clean.
His hand tightened around the hilt of his dagger. The 'Viper's Sense' hissed in his ear. The rescue team was seconds away.
[Warning: Alignment shifting toward 'Cold-Blooded'.]
"No," Kang-woo whispered. "A dead Bureau agent creates an investigation. A living witness creates a story."
He slid the 'Ring of the Usurper' onto his finger.
[Class: 'Necrotic Butcher' is now hidden.][False Class 'Shadow Warrior' (Rank D) is now active.]
He grabbed Seol-ah's broken bow and tossed it near the spider husks. Then, he sliced his own arm with his dagger, letting the blood soak his sleeve. He collapsed next to her, breathing heavily, putting on the face of a survivor who had barely escaped death.
CRACK.
The wall of rubble exploded. High-intensity floodlights blinded him instantly.
"Survivors! I see two survivors!"
Heavy boots thundered across the stone. Men in tactical gear surrounded them, their mana signatures radiating the power of B-rank and A-rank elites.
"Medical! Now!" a deep voice barked.
A man in a white suit knelt beside Kang-woo. He ran a glowing hand over Kang-woo's chest. "Stable, but severely depleted. He's got signs of mana backlash. Wait... look at his hair."
"Later," another man said, stepping into the light. He wore a tailored suit that looked out of place in a dungeon. His eyes went straight to Han Seol-ah. "Is the Investigator alive?"
"She's unconscious, Director Kim. But she's breathing."
Director Kim looked at Kang-woo. His eyes were sharp, calculating. "You. You're the G-rank carrier from Park's party. How are you the only one standing?"
Kang-woo winced, playing the part of the traumatized victim. "The... the spiders. They went crazy. A rift opened. A monster came out and started killing everything. The investigator... she fought it. She saved me."
"A rift?" Director Kim's expression darkened. "What kind of monster?"
"A knight. It looked like a ghost," Kang-woo coughed, spitting out a bit of blood. "It blew itself up. I just... I hid under the corpses."
Director Kim stared at him for a long, silent moment. The 'Viper's Sense' told Kang-woo the man was checking for lies. But the 'Ring of the Usurper' was doing its job. To Kim's senses, Kang-woo was just a lucky, low-level warrior with a damaged mana circuit.
"Take them both to the Association Hospital," Kim ordered. "Seal the dungeon. I want a full sweep for dimensional residue."
Two hours later. Association Hospital, VIP Wing.
Kang-woo sat on the edge of the bed, his arm bandaged. The room was sterile, silent, and heavily guarded. He felt the 'Ring' pulsing on his finger, feeding him a steady stream of information.
[Level 7 reached.][New Passive Unlocked: 'Aura of the Deceiver'.][The 'Mark' on the Investigator is stabilizing. Estimated time until next Manifestation: 48 hours.]
"Forty-eight hours," Kang-woo muttered.
The door opened. Director Kim walked in, carrying a tablet. He didn't sit down.
"Your story matches the residue we found," Kim said. "A dimensional breach. It's becoming more common lately. But there's one problem."
He turned the tablet toward Kang-woo. It showed a photo of the Ogre's corpse.
"The Ogre wasn't killed by a knight. It was drained. Like it was harvested by a parasite. And Park... we found what was left of him. Or rather, we found the dust that used to be him."
Kim stepped closer, his shadow looming over the bed. "The Investigator is still asleep. When she wakes up, I'll have the full story. But until then, I have a proposal for you, Kang-woo."
Kang-woo narrowed his eyes. "A proposal?"
"You survived a High-Rank breach that killed a veteran E-rank party. Your mana signature has jumped from G-rank to D-rank in a single night. That doesn't happen by accident."
Kim leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "The Association needs 'Special Assets.' People who can see things others can't. If you tell me what actually happened in that cave, I can make your 'illegal' awakening go away."
Before Kang-woo could respond, a scream tore through the hallway.
It came from Seol-ah's room.
Kang-woo felt it instantly—the cold, oily sensation of the 'Mark' activating. The 48-hour estimate was wrong. The presence of so many high-level Hunters in the hospital had acted like a catalyst.
The shadow under the hospital door began to bleed violet.
"It's here," Kang-woo hissed, reaching for the IV stand to use as a makeshift weapon.
"What's here?" Kim demanded, reaching for his own weapon.
The hospital lights flickered and died. In the darkness, the sound of rhythmic, metallic footsteps began to echo from the ceiling.
Cling. Clang. Cling.
Something was crawling on the walls, and it wasn't a Herald this time. It was something much smaller, and much more numerous.