[Target Report Name: Jin Tae-kyung 

• Age: 27 
• Residence: Address XXX-XXX Hope Goshiwon. Living separately from family. 
• Family relationship: Eldest son of 1 son, 1 daughter. Father died in accident 11 years ago. Information about mother and younger sister attached separately.]

This was a report received just four days after ordering the investigation. Lim Chunsoo read through the densely written information spread across five pages and spoke.

“Hey, Team Leader 1.”

“Yes, Guild Master.”

The man sitting across from him answered. Excluding Guild Master Lim Chunsoo, he was the only A-rank hunter in Sangdong Guild and Lim Chunsoo’s loyal right-hand man.

“This report, have you read it?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s the guild master’s order. I was told to report any incoming information without filtering it.”

“Then take this opportunity to read it.”

Team Leader 1 respectfully accepted the report handed by Lim Chunsoo, and his eyes moved busily. About ten minutes later, he raised his head and murmured.

“This is quite…”

“That report, what do you think?”

“I’ll follow Guild Master’s judgment.”

“No, speak candidly.”

After hesitating briefly, Team Leader 1 answered.

“I think the information is incorrect.”

“Which part exactly?”

“The subject of the report, Jin Tae-kyung, was an F-rank hunter until just two weeks ago. However, he succeeded in re-awakening as a C-rank hunter. While this is rare, it’s not impossible.”

“Continue.”

“But according to the testimonies of Team Leader Lim Changsoo—I mean, Hunter Lim Changsoo—and other participants in that raid, Jin Tae-kyung single-handedly defeated a group of B-rank minotaurus monsters.”

“At least five, maximum ten, right?”

“Yes. They even said he took down the boss monster with a single strike.”

“That’s right. A mere C-rank hunter defeating the Minotaurus Great Warrior in one hit. Does that make any sense?”

“I don’t think it does.”

“Then what could it be?”

He wasn’t asking because he didn’t know. This was simply a process of confirming that Team Leader 1 was thinking the same thing.

“There are three suspicious points.”

“List them.”

“First, the report could be wrong.”

“Who wrote this report? Hong, Hong something. Definitely not Hong Gil-dong.”

“Hong Woo-jin. He’s still young and doesn’t have much experience, but his skills are well-regarded.”

“Right, whether it’s Hong Woo-jin or Hong Gil-dong, double-check with that bastard. Intimidate him a bit too. Anyway, what’s the second?”

“Second, Hunter Lim Changsoo and the others might have colluded to lie.”

“That kid Changsoo might not have his head on straight, but he’s never lied to me in his life. Continue.”

“Finally, Jin Tae-kyung might be an as-yet-unconfirmed A-rank hunter, or…” A troubled expression flashed across Team Leader 1’s otherwise composed face. After a moment, he hesitantly opened his mouth.

“Could he be a third awakening?”

“Third?”

“…Yes.”

“Team Leader 1. Even you find it absurd after saying it, right? How could there be a third awakening, huh?”

Team Leader 1 answered by lowering his head.

Lim Chunsoo clicked his tongue at this response and picked up the report. Extreme cold emanated from his fingertips.

Hissss. Crack!

“Rewrite the report. Finish it by this week and place it on my desk when you come in on Monday. Nice and clean.”

“Understood.”

“And what about that, what’s it called? Peace Guild or Love Guild or whatever? What’s the information on the other guys there?”

“…About that, I was just about to report.”

“What? You haven’t figured anything out?”

“Everything has been identified except for three people.”

Lim Chunsoo frowned.

“Three people? One of them must be Jin Tae-kyung. Who are the other two?”

“The guild master and team leader of Peace Guild.”

He had heard about them from his son.

The young team leader was insolent, and the middle-aged guild master was a shallow person who just kept laughing throughout the raid.

“Why them?”

“They’re locked.”

“What?”

“As I said. Not only their personal information but everything related to their accounts is under security, so even our surveillance team is perplexed.”

“Did we skimp on the money?”

To operate a guild, help from institutions is necessary. Corrupt officials working in various agencies don’t hesitate to accept bribes in exchange for information.

“We’ve already given them plenty…”

“And?”

“They seem quite reluctant. According to them, security was set by higher authorities, making it difficult to interfere.”

Lim Chunsoo was dumbfounded.

A guild that hasn’t even been established for a month.

A small-scale guild with so few members they couldn’t even form a single raid team.

No, at that level, it wouldn’t be strange to call it a social club rather than a guild.

So why would those nobodies have security locks?

“Huh, would you look at these guys.”

“What should we do?”

“For now, don’t dig deeper into that part and leave it. Also, make sure to keep the mouths of those who received money from us this time shut.”

During the Great Cataclysm, Lim Chunsoo was known for his fiery temper, but while running the guild, he learned one important thing:

To achieve a goal, and to get results beyond that goal, one must be calm and cautious.

“So apart from those three, everyone else has been identified?”

“Yes, completely.”

This was coming from Team Leader 1, who had earned trust through his meticulous character. Lim Chunsoo nodded.

“Handle those two with the security locks as I just said. For now, focus intensively on that Jin Tae-kyung. Mobilize a few members of the guild audit team to increase the surveillance personnel separately.”

“Separately… you say?”

“Yes, looking at the report’s condition, it’s clearly not right. Come to think of it, our guild’s audit team shouldn’t be inferior to others, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

Team Leader 1 momentarily paused. He remembered what Hong Woo-jin had earnestly requested when they commissioned the task.

‘The moment you accept this request, it becomes my job, understood? I’ll find out even the color of underwear this guy wore that day within a week, so trust me and leave it to me. If you guys start causing trouble on your side and the surveillance target notices, you’re ruining my work.’

Hong Woo-jin had a good reputation through word of mouth, despite his short career.

Though his tone was arrogant, his professionalism inspired trust, and he had made a direct promise.

‘I should mention this.’

But the opposing opinion Team Leader 1 was about to voice retreated back down his throat at Lim Chunsoo’s words.

“What? Do you have something more to say?”

“N-no. I’ll convey it exactly as you said.”

“Good, you can go now.”

Lim Chunsoo has been in a bad mood lately.

It’s his job to placate him as much as possible and guide things in a positive direction.

‘It should be fine, right? It will be fine.’

Even as he left the guild master’s office, Team Leader 1 couldn’t shake his uneasy feeling.

***

Home, vacation.

These two words bring a sense of happiness just by thinking about them. That was true in reality too. But…

Bzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz.

“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”

I swatted at the fly with lightning speed. This wasn’t an ordinary palm but one infused with internal energy. I threw the fly, killed instantly with one blow, into the trash can and returned to the sofa.

“Why are there so many damn flies?”

Ha-yeon, who had come out to the living room for a moment to drink water, let out a deep sigh.

“It’s summer, what do you expect, stupid oppa?”

“It’s not just that, seriously.”

“How many can there really be? Just now there was only one.”

“The problem is they keep coming in one after another. I keep killing them, but they keep coming from somewhere.”

“How many have you killed?”

“I swear to heaven, I’ve killed at least 100 flies since this morning.”

“Look at you exaggerating. This is why men…”

“It’s true!”

“Okay, okay.”

Wow, this is driving me insane. I tore at my hair and swatted another new fly.

A hundred flies? This is no exaggeration. What’s wrong with this neighborhood that so many flies can swarm one house?

‘Did someone smear honey on the windows?’

At first, it was just annoying. As Ha-yeon had said earlier, I thought it was a natural phenomenon given that it’s summer.

But I gradually realized something was strange.

‘It was after I’d killed about 30 of them.’

These damn things keep coming in without rest! Kill one, and another appears; kill that one, and a different one takes its place.

Even after closing all the windows in the house and conducting a search operation with my Qi Sense, the nightmare of the fly army continued.

Bzzzzzz.

“See that? Another one coming in because it couldn’t wait. Where on earth are these things coming from?”

I looked carefully to see if there might be some tiny gap I hadn’t noticed, but I couldn’t figure it out. It was as if they were coming through spaces that would barely allow an ant to pass.

“Don’t kill them, just leave them alone. Then it gets quiet.”

“What kind of creative nonsense is that? Will they stay still if I leave them alone? It’s obvious I won’t be able to sleep with that buzzing sound.”

“The flies in my room stay still though.”

“What?”

“There are about three flies in my room too. At first, I was bothered and thought about killing them, but when I left them alone, they didn’t fly around and just sat still on my desk.”

“That’s just temporary. They’re probably flying around like crazy when you’re not looking.”

“They seemed like rather lazy flies. They didn’t move even once.”

“Say something that makes sense.”

“I’m serious. Want to bet 100,000 won?”

“Do you even have 100,000 won? You’re just a student.”

“Of course I do. The money you gave me last time.”

“You want to bet against me with the allowance I gave you?”

“Die if you’re chicken.”

“…Call.” Damn, so this is how money circulates. We headed straight to Ha-yeon’s room. She pointed to a fly sitting quietly and grinned triumphantly.

“See? I was right, wasn’t I? Quickly, give me 100,000 won.”

“Give you what? We need to experiment first.”

I brought my palm down over the fly. It was at an ordinary person’s speed, one that a fly could easily avoid. But…

Flinch. Scurry.

At that moment, the fly startled and scurried away on its busy legs.

Seeing this, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment. Ha-yeon also had a “what is this” expression.

“Little sister.”

“Y-yes?”

“Do all flies act like this these days?”

“Th-that could be possible, right? Anyway, give me 100,000 won.”

“I will. I’ll give it to you, but… doesn’t that fly seem a bit strange?”

“A fly is a fly. It just seems like a weird one.”

“What kind of fly acts like that? In my life, I’ve seen goblins and minotaurs, but I’ve never seen a fly that doesn’t fly around like this.”

Just as I finished speaking:

Bzzzzzz-

Suspicious, too suspicious. Not only is the timing uncanny, but the wingbeats that seem to be trying to appear normal make it even stranger.

Even its flying seems somehow awkward and wobbling.

Setting that aside, it feels unsettling.

This feeling is oddly familiar.

Where have I felt a similar sensation?

Ah, that’s right. That alley two days ago when I was returning from looking at houses.

The strange feeling that someone was watching me.

‘Am I really being oversensitive?’

As I glared at the fly, I activated [Qi Sense]. Now, my Qi Sense’s range extending to 70 meters spread out to every corner of the house.

And then something unexpected happened.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

[Lv.1 House Fly – Familiar] 

[Lv.1 Black Fly – Familiar] 

[Lv.1 Bluebottle Fly – Familiar]

“…?” 

What’s this?