The Association's "Deep-Cover Recovery Center" was a fortress of glass and white marble, hidden beneath a mountainside on the outskirts of Seoul. It smelled of antiseptic and expensive mana-filters.
Kang-woo sat on a bed draped in silk sheets, his chest wrapped in bandages that pulsed with healing magic. His slate-gray skin had faded back to a pale, sickly white, but his eyes—those metallic silver eyes—remained.
[Current Status: Bound to Creditor (Han Seol-ah)][Mana Recovery: 42%][Warning: The 'Key to the Sunken Throne' is reacting to the facility's Mana Reactor.]
The black key sat on the bedside table. It looked like a piece of charred wood, but to Kang-woo, it hummed like a live wire.
The door slid open. Director Kim walked in, followed by a team of researchers in white coats. They didn't look at Kang-woo as a person; they looked at him as a specimen.
"The girl is stable," Kim said, gesturing for the researchers to begin their scans. "Seol-ah is in a separate wing. Her mana circuits have been... altered. Permanently."
"She saved the city," Kang-woo said, his voice cold. "Treat her like a hero, not a prisoner."
"She's a Bureau investigator who assisted a 'Dimensional Traitor'. She's lucky she isn't in a hole," Kim countered. He picked up the black key, his fingers tracing the jagged edges. "This thing. It's drawing power from our reactor. It's an antenna, isn't it?"
"It's a lock," Kang-woo lied. "And I'm the only one who knows the combination."
One of the researchers gasped. "Director! Look at the readings!"
A screen showed a 3D map of Kang-woo's shadow. It wasn't a flat shape on the floor. It was a dense, swirling vortex of dark matter, expanding and contracting like a lung.
[Evolution Progress: 44%...]
"The summon is feeding on the facility," the researcher whispered. "It's absorbing the ambient mana at an exponential rate."
Kim turned back to Kang-woo, his face darkening. "I gave you a chance to play nice, Kang-woo. But if you're trying to turn my base into your personal pantry—"
"I'm not doing anything," Kang-woo interrupted. "The King didn't retreat because he was defeated. He retreated to prepare for the Harvest. If you want to survive the next gate, you need my Centurion at full strength."
"The next gate?" Kim laughed, though it sounded strained. "There hasn't been a gate signature detected in the whole country since you left the Black Zone."
"That's because it's already inside," Kang-woo said.
Viper's Sense suddenly went from a hum to a scream.
The lights in the room flickered. The high-pitched whine of the facility's mana reactor changed to a low, guttural growl. On the monitors, the readings for the 'Key' spiked into the red.
"Director! The reactor's mana is being redirected!"
"Shut it down!" Kim roared.
"We can't! The system is locked from the inside!"
Kang-woo stood up, ripping the healing sensors from his chest. He looked at his shadow. The Centurion didn't emerge as a skeleton this time. It emerged as a pool of liquid darkness that began to coat the white marble floor.
[Evolution Complete.][New Summon: 'Abyssal Knight-Commander'.][Rank: B+ (Growth-Type)]
The shadow didn't attack Kim. It flowed into the wall, merging with the building's power lines.
"What are you doing?" Kim demanded, reaching for his weapon.
"The Association is full of parasites, Kim," Kang-woo said, his silver eyes glowing. "You wanted to use me as an asset? Fine. But assets need to be fed."
A series of explosions rocked the facility. Not from outside, but from the lower levels—the vaults where the Association stored the mana crystals seized from illegal raids.
Kang-woo felt the surge of power through the 'Key'.
[Level Up!][Level Up!][Current Level: 15]
"You... you're stealing the Association's hoard?" Kim was speechless, his mana flaring in rage.
"I'm taking a deposit," Kang-woo said. "The 'Debt Collectors' are coming back, Kim. And they won't stop at the Black Zone this time. They're coming for the capital."
Suddenly, the intercom system screeched. A voice—not a human one—echoed through the entire base.
"The Auditor is pleased with the interest. The Second Audit begins... now."
The floor of the recovery center cracked open. But instead of purple fog, a fountain of white paper butterflies erupted from the fissure, each one carrying a drop of black ink.
"Yeon-hee," Kang-woo muttered.
The 'Corpse-Butterfly' hadn't waited for him to come to her. She had used the chaos he created to hitch a ride into the heart of the Association.
The white walls of the room began to peel back, revealing the gray, rotted wood of a distorted Victorian mansion. The facility was being overwritten by a different dimension.
"Kim," Kang-woo said, grabbing the black key from the Director's stunned hand. "If you want to live, tell your guards to stop shooting at my shadow. We have guests."
From the shadows of the mansion's corridor, the first 'Hound' emerged. But it wasn't a dog this time. It was a man in an Association uniform, his face replaced by a blank, white paper mask.
[New Enemy: Paper-Bound Thrall.]
Kang-woo looked at his shadow. The Knight-Commander rose, now clad in full plate armor made of solidified ink, holding a spear that trailed gray fire.
"Collect them all," Kang-woo commanded.