Day 41. 4:47 PM. Three hours after the breach.
The Hunter Association's emergency response team swarmed Dungeon C-47 like ants on a disturbed nest. Medical personnel, combat specialists, forensic mages, and a small army of support staff converted the area into a disaster response zone.
Han Sera sat on a medical gurney outside the dungeon entrance, wrapped in a thermal blanket despite the warm afternoon. A medic was checking her vitals for the third time while an HA official waited with a recording device.
"Heart rate elevated but stable," the medic reported. "Some mana exhaustion. Minor bruising and lacerations. Considering what she survived, she's in remarkable condition."
The official—a severe woman in her forties with an HA Inspector badge—leaned forward. "Miss Han, I need you to describe exactly what happened inside. Start from when you entered the dungeon."
Sera's hands trembled slightly. The images kept replaying: Instructor Cho's body collapsing, students screaming, the demon's red eyes fixing on her, and then—
"A man saved us," she said quietly. "He appeared after... after the demon killed the instructors and most of my class. He told us to get back. Then he fought it."
"This man. Describe him."
"Thirties, maybe. Average height. Dark hair. He was wearing..." She paused, realizing how absurd it sounded. "A janitor's uniform. Academy maintenance clothes."
The inspector's pen stopped moving. "A janitor?"
"I know how it sounds. But I saw him. He killed the demon lord. Fought it with just a combat knife and won."
"Miss Han, I need you to understand how serious this is. Nine of your classmates are dead. Two instructors are dead. A Demon Lord breached into a supervised academy exercise. Your testimony will be part of an official investigation." The inspector's voice softened slightly. "I'm not doubting you. I'm trying to understand. You're saying an academy janitor defeated a B-Rank Demon Lord?"
"I'm saying someone dressed as a janitor saved my life and killed that monster. I don't know who he really was. But he was there."
Behind the inspector, Sera spotted Vice Principal Kwon approaching with several academy administrators. His face was ashen, aged ten years in three hours.
"Inspector Choi," Kwon said, his voice hoarse. "May I speak with my student?"
The inspector stood. "We're finished for now. Miss Han, we'll need a full formal statement tomorrow. Get some rest."
As she left, Kwon took her place, sitting heavily on the medical supply crate. For a long moment, he just stared at the dungeon entrance where body bags were being carried out.
"Nine students," he said finally. "Nine children who trusted us to keep them safe. And I sent them into a death trap."
"You didn't know," Sera said, though the words felt hollow.
"I should have known. The mana fluctuation reports, the sensor data—I saw the signs and dismissed them because closing the dungeon would have been inconvenient. Would have cost us funding. Would have made me look paranoid." He looked at her, eyes red-rimmed. "I prioritized the academy's reputation over student safety. And nine people died because of it."
Sera didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to rage at him, blame him, make someone pay for the friends she'd lost. But another part—the part that had been learning from a man who carried the weight of humanity's survival alone—understood that blame was easy and change was hard.
"What happens now?" she asked instead.
"Now I submit my resignation. The academy will conduct a formal review. Parents will file lawsuits. The Hunter Association will investigate everything." He straightened his shoulders, some of his administrative composure returning. "But before all that, I need to know: this janitor who saved you. Was it Kim Soo-hyun?"
Sera's heart skipped. "I... I didn't get a clear look—"
"Don't lie to me. Not now. Not after this." Kwon's voice wasn't angry, just exhausted. "I've been investigating him for weeks. I know he's been training you. I know he's not what he appears to be. And I think he's the one who killed that demon."
She weighed her options. The janitor had told her to keep quiet, to protect his secret. But Kwon was broken, guilty, and seemed genuinely interested in truth rather than punishment.
"If I tell you," Sera said carefully, "what will you do with the information?"
"Honestly? I don't know. If he's who I think he is, then he just saved six lives including yours. But he also violated dozens of regulations, entered a restricted dungeon without authorization, and has been operating under false pretenses for months." Kwon rubbed his face. "But right now, Miss Han, I don't care about regulations. I care about the truth. So please. Was it him?"
Sera met his eyes. "Yes. It was Janitor Kim. And he's not just some retired hunter. He moved like... like someone who's fought demons a thousand times. He knew exactly how to kill it. He barely seemed surprised it was there."
Kwon nodded slowly, as if confirming a suspicion. "I need to speak with him. Do you know where he is?"
"No. He left right after the fight. Said he needed to check the perimeter and signal for extraction. But when your teams arrived, he was gone."
"Of course he was." Kwon stood, looking older and more tired than Sera had ever seen him. "Thank you for your honesty. Get some rest. The academy will arrange counseling for all survivors. Use it. What you went through today... no eighteen-year-old should have to experience that."
He walked away, pulling out his phone and making calls with renewed purpose.
Sera watched him go, then closed her eyes and tried not to see the faces of her dead classmates every time she blinked.
---
5:23 PM. Soo-hyun's apartment.
Kim Soo-hyun sat on his apartment floor, back against the wall, fighting to keep his breathing steady. His body screamed in protest—muscles torn from overexertion, mana channels burned from pushing his sealed power beyond safe limits, and a hairline fracture in his left forearm from blocking Malgrin's final strike.
**[STATUS UPDATE]**
**[Physical Condition: Moderate Injury]**
**[Mana Depletion: 94%]**
**[Recovery Time: 48 hours minimum]**
**[WARNING: Repeated strain on sealed body carries permanent damage risk]**
He dismissed the System notification and reached for the bottle of pain medication he kept for emergencies. Swallowed three pills dry. Then pulled out his phone.
Seventeen missed calls from Director Choi. Eight from an unknown number—probably Hunter Association. Three from a number registered as "Academy Admin."
And one text message from a contact labeled only as "S": *"Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay."*
Sera. Smart girl, getting a way to contact him directly.
He typed back with trembling fingers: *"I'm fine. Stay safe. Don't tell anyone about this number."*
Her reply came instantly: *"Kwon knows it was you. He's looking for you."*
Soo-hyun stared at the message. Of course Kwon knew. The vice principal wasn't stupid, just bureaucratic. And now he'd have questions Soo-hyun couldn't answer without revealing more than was safe.
He needed a strategy. Needed to control the narrative before someone else controlled it for him.
But first, he needed to not pass out from exhaustion.
His door lock beeped—someone with an access code. Soo-hyun's hand moved to the combat knife he'd hidden under the couch, but he relaxed when Director Choi entered, looking frantic.
"Kim! Thank god you're alive. Where have you been? The Hunter Association is asking about you, Kwon's trying to find you, and—Jesus, you look terrible. What happened?"
"I was near the dungeon when the breach happened," Soo-hyun said, sticking to the cover story he'd prepared. "I heard the screams. I... I couldn't just stand there while students were dying. I went in."
Choi's eyes widened. "You went INTO an active dungeon breach? Are you insane?"
"Probably. But I found survivors trapped with that demon thing. I helped them get to safety and held it off until the HA teams arrived."
"You 'held off' a Demon Lord? Kim, I know you said you had military contractor experience, but—" Choi looked him over more carefully, noting the injuries. "You need a hospital."
"I need to not be arrested for unauthorized dungeon access." Soo-hyun met his supervisor's eyes. "Director, I saved six kids today. But I also broke about thirty different regulations doing it. If the HA or academy officials push this, I'm looking at serious legal trouble."
Choi was silent for a long moment. Then he sighed and sat down on the couch. "The students are saying you killed the demon. Is that true?"
"...It was more complicated than that. The demon was already wounded when I arrived. I just... finished the job."
A lie. But a necessary one. Claiming to have killed a B-Rank demon lord would invite questions about his real power level, and those questions led to truths he couldn't reveal.
"Kim, who are you really?" Choi asked quietly. "And don't give me that contractor story. I've worked with former hunters before. You move like someone who's been in combat for years. Elite level."
"I'm someone who couldn't watch kids die when I had the power to help them. That's all that matters."
Choi studied him, then nodded. "Okay. Here's what's going to happen. The HA will investigate. Kwon will investigate. But I'm going to tell them you were traumatized by the breach, you're recovering from injuries, and you need time before giving statements. That buys you maybe two days. Use them to figure out your story, because they WILL question you eventually."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. If they find out you've been lying about your background, I can't protect you. But..." Choi stood to leave. "For what it's worth, those six survivors are alive because of you. Whatever else happens, remember that."
After he left, Soo-hyun allowed himself to collapse onto the floor, exhaustion finally winning. Two days. He had two days to decide how much truth to reveal, how much to hide, and how to maintain his cover while the entire system was scrutinizing him.
**[QUEST UPDATE]**
**[CONSEQUENCE: Identity Exposure Risk - 67%]**
**[NEW OBJECTIVE: Manage Investigation Without Revealing True Identity]**
**[TIME LIMIT: 48 hours]**
**[FAILURE PENALTY: Forced recruitment by HA or exposure as Kang Minho]**
**[SUCCESS REWARD: Maintain cover, continue mission]**
Two days to convince everyone he was just a lucky janitor with some combat skills.
Two days to hide the truth that he was humanity's strongest hunter operating undercover to prevent an apocalypse.
*Challenge accepted*, he thought, and passed out on his apartment floor.
---
7:15 PM. HA Investigation Headquarters.
Inspector Park Ji-hoon reviewed the forensic reports from Dungeon C-47, his expression growing more troubled with each page.
"The demon core was destroyed using a precision technique," the forensic specialist explained, pointing to holographic images. "Single strike, perfect targeting. Whoever killed it knew exactly where to hit."
"Could a C-Rank hunter manage that?" Park asked.
"Theoretically? Yes, if they had perfect knowledge of demon anatomy and flawless execution. Practically? It would require experience fighting dozens of demons to develop that precision. And we have no record of any C-Rank hunter with that level of demon-combat expertise."
Park pulled up another file: Kim Soo-hyun's background check. Employment history was thin. Military contractor work in Southeast Asia—impossible to verify due to classified operations. No hunter license. No academy training records. Appeared in Korea five years ago with minimal digital footprint before that.
"He's a ghost," Park muttered.
"Sir?" his junior agent asked.
"This Kim Soo-hyun. Everything about him screams 'false identity.' But false identities are usually sloppy, with obvious gaps. This one is... professional. Almost too perfect, like someone with resources built it."
"Could he be a foreign agent?"
"Possibly. Or a retired black-ops hunter who wanted to disappear." Park tapped his fingers on the desk. "Or something else entirely. I want full surveillance on him. Movement tracking, communication monitoring, everything we can legally do. And I want to know why an academy janitor has the combat skills to kill a Demon Lord."
"Should we bring him in for questioning?"
"Not yet. He's injured and traumatized according to the academy. We push too hard, we give him reason to lawyer up or disappear. Let him think we're just doing routine investigation. Watch. Wait. Learn." Park smiled slightly. "Whatever Kim Soo-hyun is hiding, he'll slip up eventually. They always do."
He pulled up the surveillance footage from near the dungeon entrance. The cameras had been damaged during the breach, but fragments remained. Frame 1847 showed a figure in academy maintenance uniform approaching the dungeon entrance just before emergency teams arrived.
Frame 1848 showed empty space—the figure had moved so fast the camera only caught blur.
Frame 1849 showed the figure again, already fifty meters away.
"Enhance and analyze that movement speed," Park ordered. "Compare it to known hunter profiles."
His agent worked quickly, then paled. "Sir... that movement pattern matches only A-Rank hunters and above. Specifically, it matches profiles of hunters with advanced movement techniques. We're talking elite-level skill."
Park leaned back, a puzzle finally becoming clear. "So our janitor is actually an A-Rank hunter hiding his power. The question is why."
He pulled up another file—one marked CLASSIFIED. The list of missing hunters from the past decade. Several A-Ranks and above had disappeared, presumed dead in dungeons or killed in action. But no bodies were ever recovered.
Could Kim Soo-hyun be one of them? Someone who faked their death and assumed a new identity?
"Pull the missing hunter files," Park said. "Look for anyone who matches Kim's general build and age range. Cross-reference combat styles with what we saw in that dungeon. If he's a missing hunter, I want to know which one."
As his team worked, Park stared at the blurry image of the janitor who'd killed a Demon Lord.
*Who are you really?* he wondered. *And what are you hiding in that academy?*
He'd find out. It was just a matter of time.
---
9:34 PM. Seoul Hunter Academy Memorial Hall.
Vice Principal Kwon stood alone in the hall where nine students' photographs had been placed. Hastily printed images from academy IDs, since the memorial service wouldn't be held until all the families were notified.
Nine faces staring at him. Nine futures erased. Nine families destroyed.
All because he'd been too concerned with budget and reputation to close a dungeon showing instability.
His phone rang. Unknown number. He answered anyway.
"Vice Principal Kwon? This is Hunter Association Special Investigations. We need to schedule a formal interview regarding the Dungeon C-47 incident."
"Of course. When?"
"Tomorrow, 2 PM. Bring all documentation related to the dungeon practical approval process."
They were going to destroy him. His career, his reputation, possibly his freedom if they found him criminally negligent.
He deserved it.
But before they dismantled him, he had one task left: find Kim Soo-hyun and get answers. Not for punishment. Not for legal reasons. Just to understand.
To understand how a janitor had saved six lives when an entire system had failed to protect them.
Kwon looked at the nine photographs one last time. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I failed you. But I won't fail to find the truth about what happened to you."
He left the memorial hall and pulled up Kim Soo-hyun's home address on his phone.
Time to have a conversation.
---
10:17 PM. Soo-hyun's apartment.
The knock on the door woke him from pain-medication-induced unconsciousness. Soo-hyun dragged himself upright, every muscle screaming protest, and checked the peephole.
Vice Principal Kwon stood in the hallway, looking exhausted and determined.
*Of course*, Soo-hyun thought. *Here we go.*
He opened the door. "Vice Principal. I'd invite you in, but I'm not really in a state for visitors."
"I can see that." Kwon took in the visible injuries, the pale complexion, the way Soo-hyun was bracing against the doorframe to stay upright. "You look like someone who fought a demon lord."
"Or someone who got caught near a dungeon breach and barely survived."
"We both know that's not the full truth." Kwon met his eyes. "Kim Soo-hyun—if that's even your real name—I'm not here as an administrator. I'm here as someone who just watched nine students die because I ignored warning signs. I need to know: who are you? And how did you know to be at that dungeon today?"
Soo-hyun weighed his options. Lie? Kwon wouldn't believe it. Partial truth? Risky. Full truth? Impossible.
"I'm someone who's lost too many people to incompetence and negligence," he said finally, echoing what he'd told Sera. "When I saw the mana fluctuation reports circulating through academy channels, I recognized the pattern. I knew that dungeon was becoming unstable. So I positioned myself nearby during the practical, just in case."
"That doesn't explain your combat abilities."
"Military contractor work in Southeast Asia isn't just paperwork, Vice Principal. I've seen combat. Ugly combat. Against things that weren't quite human." Not exactly a lie—he'd fought in demon-infested zones in his previous life. "I learned to fight dirty and smart because power wasn't enough."
Kwon studied him for a long moment. "You're lying. Not about everything, but about enough that I don't know what's real and what's cover story. But here's what I do know: you saved six lives today. And my investigation into you? I'm dropping it."
Soo-hyun blinked in surprise. "Why?"
"Because whatever you're hiding, you're not a threat to students. You're protecting them. And right now, that's all I care about." Kwon pulled out a business card and handed it over. "This has my personal number. If you ever need academy resources, or if you notice other threats like today, call me. No questions asked. No investigations. Just... help me keep them safe."
He turned to leave, then paused. "For what it's worth, Kim—or whoever you really are—thank you. Those six survivors? They're alive because of you. Remember that when the guilt for the nine you couldn't save tries to drown you."
Kwon left without waiting for a response.
Soo-hyun closed the door and slumped against it, Kwon's card still in his hand.
An ally. He'd somehow gained an ally, even if that ally didn't know the full truth.
**[QUEST UPDATE]**
**[ALLY ACQUIRED: Vice Principal Kwon Jae-sung]**
**[Identity Exposure Risk: 67% → 52%]**
**[New Resource: Academy Administrative Authority (Limited)]**
He looked at the card, then at his phone where Sera's message still waited.
Six students alive. Nine dead. A compromised cover. An active Hunter Association investigation. And demon lords across the city searching for the "anomaly" that had killed one of their own.
Just another day in the life of a regressed SSS-Rank hunter pretending to be a janitor.
*I need a vacation*, he thought deliriously, and passed out against the door, Kwon's card clutched in his hand.
Tomorrow would bring more problems. But tonight, he'd take the small victory.
Six lives saved.
It had to be enough.