A suffocating, ice-cold silence had taken the corridor hostage.
Behind the heavy iron doors, there was supposed to be nothing but pitch-black darkness and death. When you threw an unarmed, wounded, low-level 'bait' into the jaws of a Level 30 Alpha Wolf, the result was simple: shattered bones and blood.
But now, standing on the threshold of that iron door was Haruki.
The word "…Impossible," that spilled from Liam's lips echoed in the dim, damp corridor before fading away. The four hulking men behind him wore the exact same expression of sheer terror as their boss. No one could move; no one could breathe.
The thick, heavy stench of monster blood clinging to Haruki spread through the hallway. Liam was the first to recover. His shock quickly morphed into a dangerous suspicion. His eyes narrowed, and his hand slowly drifted toward the poisoned dagger at his waist.
"You... you killed it. Didn't you?" Liam hissed.
Haruki didn't answer. He didn't shift his stance, and there wasn't a single trace of fear or panic on his face. He merely looked at Liam. In that deep, expressionless gaze, the desperation of the old, pathetic Assassin was completely gone. Haruki's silence frayed Liam's nerves even further. This kid was no longer prey; he was looking at Liam as if he were already a corpse.
Liam's rage overpowered his fear. His perfect murder plot had fallen apart, and if this kid lived, Liam would be the next one thrown into an Association prison after Kenji. He gritted his teeth, the veins in his neck bulging.
"Kill him!" he roared.
The four assassins instantly drew their weapons and lunged forward. Haruki's right hand calmly slipped into his pocket. He wrapped the transparent thread around his fingers and gripped the thin, metallic needle. His mind was racing at incredible speed.
I'm facing a Level 23 leader and four men averaging Level 20. And I'm only Level 13, Haruki thought. This is an unwinnable fight.
He knew this. He was no longer afraid of death, but he wasn't stupid either. He knew his limits. He tensed his muscles, planning to thrust the needle into someone's eye and at least take one of them down with him.
However, a millisecond before the men's blades could reach Haruki, the walls of the dungeon began to violently tremble. A massive blue panel erupted before Haruki's eyes, illuminating the entire space:
[DUNGEON CLEARED][RETURNING HUNTERS TO EXIT POINT...]
The ground vanished from beneath his feet. As the damp walls of the dungeon shattered like glass and scattered around them, a blinding white light swallowed the corridor. The last thing Haruki heard was Liam's furious curse fading into the light:
"Tch—!"
The white light abruptly extinguished.
The scent of blood and the deadly chill of the dungeon were instantly replaced by exhaust fumes, the smell of asphalt, and the loud blare of car horns.
Haruki and Liam's crew suddenly materialized in the middle of a crowded street near the city center. The red and blue lights of neon signs illuminated Haruki's mud- and blood-stained face.
Seeing these six figures suddenly appear, the pedestrians on the street halted their steps. Hunters being violently spat out of dungeon gates into the city was a common occurrence in this modern world. No one screamed or ran away. However, the thick, suffocating killing intent lingering in the air was so sharp that the civilians instinctively began to back away.
Some people lowered their heads and quickly took refuge in the nearest shops, while others retreated to the far edge of the sidewalk and pulled out their phones. A tense, dead silence fell over the street. Everyone could see it: these hunters were about to tear each other apart.
Gripping his dagger, Liam took a heavy step toward Haruki. But just then, his eyes caught the security cameras on the corner of the street, the people recording them with their phones, and the flashing lights of a patrolling police cruiser.
He stopped.
Starting an unauthorized Hunter battle within the city, surrounded by civilians, meant violating the most absolute rule of the Hunters and Dungeons Association. It meant immediate execution or a lifetime in solitary confinement.
Liam clenched his jaw so hard that the grinding of his bones was audible. He slowly sheathed his dagger. He approached Haruki, leaning in until there were only a few inches between them, and spoke in a venomous whisper only Haruki could hear:
"You got lucky, loser." His eyes burned with hatred. "But next time... I'll kill you where no one is watching."
Haruki didn't say a single word; he didn't even blink. Liam straightened up, adjusted the collar of his coat, turned to his men, and nodded toward the end of the street. "Let's go."
As the crew blended into the dark alleyways and disappeared from sight, Haruki remained standing where he was. His right hand was still in his pocket, his fingers tightly gripping the needle. Liam was right. The level gap between them was massive; in his current state, he couldn't fight him.
But Haruki was no longer that cornered, trembling victim. Feeling the cold metal of the needle in his pocket, only one sentence crossed his mind:
"Next time... I'll be ready."
Later that evening. The small, steaming ramen shop in the city's backstreets was crowded as usual.
Haruki was sitting at a corner table, taking a quiet sip of his tea. When the bell above the door chimed, Hana burst inside with hurried steps. Her eyes quickly scanned the shop, and the moment she found Haruki, her shoulders slumped in relief.
She rushed to the table and sat across from him. "Haruki! I couldn't see your name in the Association system, I couldn't reach you all day... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Hana," Haruki said, his voice calm and flat.
Hana paused for a moment. She narrowed her eyes, looking closely at the boy across from her. Something was different. Haruki had always been quiet, but he used to have slumped shoulders, eyes that constantly scanned his surroundings, a demeanor always ready to panic. But the person sitting across from her now was as still as a deep, dark lake. Cold, calm, and calculating.
Just then, Hana's eyes caught sight of his left shoulder, visible through the torn collar of his t-shirt.
As a Healer, Hana knew scar tissues and healing marks by heart. On Haruki's shoulder was a flawless, thread-thin suture mark glowing a faint blue—something no Mage or Healer could ever produce.
Hana's eyes widened. She reached out and pointed at the mark. "Haruki... this wound... it looks like it was a fatal strike. Who healed you? What high-level Healer did this?"
Haruki slowly set his teacup down on the table. Looking straight into Hana's eyes, he answered in that flat voice, devoid of even a crumb of emotion:
"I did."
Hana shook her head in confusion. "What? That's impossible. You're an Assassin, you can't use healing magic..."
Before Hana could finish her sentence, the bell at the shop's door rang once again, but this time, it felt much heavier.
As someone stepped inside, all the noise in the bustling ramen shop instantly ceased. The air pressure spiked so drastically that even the water inside Haruki's teacup began to tremble.
The man who entered was wearing ordinary clothes, but the massive, crushing aura he radiated screamed his identity. It was none other than Seo-Jun, the Level 78 Knight and the right hand of the Association Chairman.
Ignoring the terrified gazes of the other people in the shop, Seo-Jun walked directly toward Haruki and Hana's table. He stood at the head of the table with his massive frame and spoke in his deep, resonant voice:
"Haruki. We need to talk."