The sirens were screaming closer. Red and blue lights flashed against the peeling wallpaper of the studio apartment.
Kang-woo didn't wait. He grabbed a hooded jacket and threw his remaining mana crystals into a bag. Every second he stayed in this basement, he was a rat in a trap.
"Centurion," Kang-woo whispered. "Clear the perimeter. Non-lethal unless necessary. We can't have the whole Association bloodthirsty yet."
The Black Guard Centurion nodded, its iron crown scraping against the low ceiling. It sank into the shadows, moving with a fluid, predatory grace that the 'Broken Soldier' never had.
Kang-woo kicked open the back window, dropping into the narrow, trash-filled alley.
Viper's Sense flared.
A silver wire, nearly invisible in the rain, was stretched across the exit. Kang-woo skidded to a halt. From the top of a dumpster, a figure in light tactical gear dropped down.
"Kang-woo? You look a lot smaller than 10 billion won," the man sneered. He held a high-frequency vibration blade that hummed with a deadly blue light. A Rank-C mercenary.
"The bounty was fast," Kang-woo said, his eyes scanning for more.
"The Association app doesn't lag when the reward is that high. Now, stay still. If you're alive, I get the bonus."
The mercenary lunged.
Kang-woo didn't reach for his dagger. He simply snapped his fingers.
A massive, blackened greatsword erupted from the mercenary's own shadow. The Centurion appeared like a nightmare, slamming the flat of its blade into the man's ribs. The sound of snapping bone was wet and loud. The mercenary was sent flying, crashing through a stack of wooden crates.
[Enemy Neutralized.][Experience Gained.]
"Too slow," Kang-woo muttered.
He ran toward the main road, but his heart sank. Three black SUVs were skidding to a halt at the end of the block. Men in 'Hunter Surveillance' vests poured out.
But they weren't the only ones. Dozens of independent Hunters, drawn by the massive bounty, were converging on his location. It was a gold rush, and he was the gold.
[Warning: Hunter Density in 500m radius is increasing.][The 'Debt Collectors' are 10 minutes away.]
"The Collectors... they aren't human," Kang-woo realized.
The air around him started to grow heavy. The rain didn't just fall; it began to turn black, staining the pavement. The King's bounty wasn't just a call to humans—it was a beacon for the things that lived in the cracks of the world.
Kang-woo ducked into a crowded subway entrance. If he could get to the underground tunnels, he could vanish. But as he reached the turnstiles, a voice stopped him cold.
"Kang-woo! Over here!"
He spun around. In a nondescript silver sedan parked near the entrance sat Han Seol-ah. She looked pale, her neck wrapped in a medical bandage, but her eyes were sharp and glowing with a faint silver light.
"Get in! Now!" she urged.
Kang-woo hesitated. "You should be in the hospital. If you're seen with me, you're a traitor too."
"I already am," she said, tapping her tablet. "Director Kim tried to lock me down, but my mana is linked to yours. I felt the bounty the moment it went live. I've wiped the local CCTV for the last five minutes, but we have to move."
Kang-woo jumped into the passenger seat. The car roared to life, tires screeching as she swerved around an incoming Association van.
"Where are we going?" Kang-woo asked, checking the rearview mirror.
A group of Hunters was already chasing them on modified motorcycles, their weapons drawn.
"To a 'Black Zone'," Seol-ah said, her hands tight on the wheel. "A dungeon that was cleared but never officially closed. The Association doesn't patrol them. It's the only place we can hide from the humans."
"And the monsters?"
"The monsters are the least of our problems," she said, glancing at his shadow. "The thing sitting in your shadow is radiating enough death energy to be felt from three blocks away. We need to mask your signature."
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the street behind them. A bolt of violet lightning struck the pavement, vaporizing one of the chasing motorcycles.
It wasn't a Hunter's skill.
Kang-woo looked back. Standing in the middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic, was a figure in a tattered gray robe. It held a ledger made of human skin and a quill carved from a finger bone.
[The first 'Debt Collector' has arrived.][Type: Soul-Reaper (Rank B+)]
The Reaper didn't run. It drifted, its movement defying physics, closing the distance to the car with terrifying speed.
"Drive faster!" Kang-woo yelled.
"I'm floored!" Seol-ah screamed back.
The Reaper raised its quill and began to write in its book.
[Penalty: 'Weight of Guilt' applied.]
The sedan suddenly felt like it weighed ten tons. The tires smoked, the engine groaning under the impossible pressure. The car slowed to a crawl.
Kang-woo looked at the Reaper, then at the Centurion in his shadow.
"Seol-ah, keep the engine running," Kang-woo said, opening the door while the car was still moving. "I need to balance the books."
He stepped out onto the asphalt, his gray-silver mana flaring like a halo of dying stars.