“Have I been well?”

The man gripping Sa-yoon’s collar asked incredulously. Though everything from his eyes to the veins standing out on his hands exuded killing intent, he was just a German hunter. His threats delivered in broken Korean couldn’t help but sound ridiculous.

“You stole my dagger. Do you know how much loss I suffered?”

“My, you should speak properly, Gaider.”

“It’s Dominik!”

The man corrected through gritted teeth. Completely wrong. Sa-yoon expressed regret at not getting even one syllable right despite his sincere guess.

Such a common name, why couldn’t I remember it?

“Ah, was it too common to remember?”

“…”

“I should have remembered given your distinctive face.”

Despite how common the name Dominik might be, that face wasn’t one easily forgotten. How old was he again? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven? That young yet with such a thick beard it was pitiful. And how prematurely aged his face looked. Well, he’d heard Westerners matured and aged quickly. But the thirty-year-old Westerner he knew was cleanly handsome.

While lost in thought, there was a sharp cracking sound. It was the sound of some of Dominik’s teeth breaking from clenching too hard.

“Let’s settle what happened two years ago.”

He released Sa-yoon with a shove and drew the sword at his waist. Oh. Sa-yoon gazed covetously at the gleaming blade.

“You got something nice while I haven’t seen you?”

“You can’t remember my name but remember weapons?”

“Of course I have to remember weapons. Never know when they might end up in my hands.”

Making this glib response, he glanced at Jaehee. It was a look meant to prove that Dominik had provoked first rather than him starting trouble, but when their eyes met, the man just sighed without any particular reaction. Seeing him even avoid eye contact, Sa-yoon couldn’t help but laugh.

Is he ignoring me?

No, not ignoring. This meant he’d pretend not to see, so handle it yourself.

After this self-serving interpretation, Sa-yoon smiled and drew the Dagger of Heris. Seeing this, Dominik’s eyes flickered with rage.

“The Dagger of Heris!”

“You recognize it well? Must have been quite painful even though you handed it over yourself.”

“I never handed it over. You took it!”

The man’s form vanished as he shouted.

BOOM!

He and Sa-yoon collided. Blocking the attack with his dagger in reverse grip, Sa-yoon spoke while their blades were locked.

“Heris’s Repentance.”

BANG!

Immediately gray smoke obscured vision with an explosion. It was intentional.

Sa-yoon moved through the smoke using stealth. Diving through the gray haze to find those brilliant golden eyes. Since those eyes stood out more in darkness, spotting Dominik who had retreated from the explosion was child’s play.

SLASH!

The dagger’s tip cut through space toward the man’s face. Just as he swung his arm wide to add acceleration—

CLANG!

An iron sword flew at top speed with tremendous force, cleaving between Dominik and Sa-yoon. The reverse-gripped dagger struck down the iron sword regretfully. Sa-yoon clicked his tongue, as with just slightly slower defense timing, he could have blinded one of the man’s eyes.

Sa-yoon’s style was to never let someone live once they showed their fangs. And since it was the unity festival, there were many faces he hadn’t seen in a while. He’d planned to make an example of one person, but the administrators arrived earlier than expected.

“This is the unity festival. Please moderate yourselves.”

A woman with violet hair tied high in a ponytail warned while watching Sa-yoon and Dominik. Another iron sword remained unhurled in her hand.

Administrator.

As the unity festival gathered the world’s strongest hunters in one place, accidents large and small occurred every time. To minimize these, some participating guild leaders would volunteer as administrators, and it seemed Lion Guild had volunteered this year.

Since she was a familiar face, Sa-yoon briefly considered. There was no need to create unnecessary antagonism with Russian hunters. Sa-yoon had already sorted out the hierarchy by taking down Russian and French crime guilds until two years ago, so more friction would be dangerous. Even though he’d only eliminated crime guilds, there was a kind of solidarity among each country’s hunters, so creating hostility like “Our country’s hunters keep getting beaten by this bastard?” would only bring losses.

Above all, three warnings at the festival meant expulsion. He couldn’t get warnings and be kicked out after bringing Jaehee all this way.

“You’re lucky, Maximilian.”

Sa-yoon put the dagger back in his inventory.

“…How many times do I have to correct you that it’s Dominik?”

The man whose name was wrong again also sheathed his sword while grinding his teeth. Wrong again. Sa-yoon judged that Dominik was indeed too common a name to remember and looked at the woman from Lion Guild.

She’d grown quite a bit since he last saw her. Suddenly recalling their first meeting, he smiled until his eyes curved, and the woman who met his gaze gripped her sword warily.

How disappointing.

Anyone watching would think he was going to attack her rather than Dominik.

“Hi, Rian.”

“Don’t shorten my name.”

“Your Korean has improved a lot?”

“Who do you think is responsible?”

“Thanks to me.”

Sa-yoon casually changed her blame-implying “because of” into credit for himself and smiled. When he let out his characteristic giggle, the woman frowned.

“That unpleasant laugh is still the same.”

“It’s the laugh you love.”

A sigh returned at his glib response, as if she wasn’t even angry. Sa-yoon chuckled softly while lightly loosening his body that had tensed for battle.

Lion Guild’s guild master Misha Rian.

She was a slum girl rescued by Sa-yoon three years ago during his hierarchy battles with foreign crime guilds. Though now time had passed and she was eighteen.

To reach Russia’s #1 rank and become guild master at that age.

The future of Russia’s hunter world was beyond bright—it was dazzling. Compared to that, Korea’s hunter world future seemed bleak.

Sa-yoon briefly recalled domestic rankers besides Lee Han. There were no hunters as young as Rian, and even those who existed had stopped activities long ago. This was all because they hadn’t properly put the older generation’s conservatives in their place.

They kept trying to hide talent within associations and guilds, then didn’t treat them properly and assigned near-abusive workloads, so of course talent kept flowing overseas.

Of course, Sa-yoon also worked Night Rats guild members brutally, but at least he compensated them accordingly. He provided lodging for them to rest comfortably as a basic amenity and gave them hundred-million won annual salaries plus frequent performance bonuses. Sometimes he’d even toss them three or four A-rank items, sustaining their hunter lives. That’s why Night Rats guild members complained they were dying but stubbornly endured without actually dying.

Though he wasn’t particularly patriotic, it was irritating when one’s country fell behind others. Clicking his tongue, Sa-yoon swallowed a bitter smile after thinking about who among those Rian’s age could compare to her.

Han Geon-joo might match up.

An S-rank Han Geon-joo would be plenty worth showcasing. If he unlocked all his exclusive skills, the domestic rankings would change.

Shaking his head since it still seemed far off, Sa-yoon called over Jaehee who was standing about 10 meters away.

“About time to hand those over?”

“Ah.”

Rian searched her clothes and handed over two bracelets. They were translation artifacts.

Translators were essential at an event gathering hunters from various countries. Sa-yoon gave them to Jaehee who approached and introduced him to the two hunters before him.

“S-rank summoner.”

Woof!

“And baby Fenrir.”

The explanation was simple. The two hunters who showed interest at “S-rank summoner” opened their eyes wide upon seeing Rai. A Fenrir itself was rare to see, but a young Fenrir was even rarer, so they couldn’t help but be surprised.

“I’m Lee Jaehee.”

Despite Sa-yoon’s overly brief introduction, he finished his greeting with just a small nod without adding any explanation. The two hunters showed their bewilderment. Though they reached out their hands and stated their names as if unsure how to react, Jaehee showed no particular interest.

Instead, he observed various hunters while looking around the party hall. Sa-yoon noticed what he was doing and smirked.

“Why so gloomy, Jaehee?”

“Isn’t it better than causing trouble like you?”

Though he must be busily examining others’ information with his heaven-piercing eyes, he spoke well. Sa-yoon thought he might as well use the genius eyes too and used his skill on some he knew. Some had made surprising progress while others had regressed compared to before.

This is what happens when you get complacent in your position.

Muttering about their lack of ambition to get stronger, Sa-yoon stroked Rai. Though there were many hostile hunters and more picked fights after Dominik, with Rai beside him and administrator Rian nearby, no one dared start trouble carelessly.

Of course, this only applied to those with normal reasoning.

Those crazy with revenge or inferiority complexes lacked such reason, so they eventually broke through Rian to reach him. Sa-yoon instantly severed the arms of the three attacking hunters. When he was about to finish them off, familiar voices rang out.

“You can’t.”

“That’s a warning.”

It was Jaehee and Rian. Sa-yoon shook his bloody dagger feeling somewhat wronged.

“But they started it first, isn’t this self-defense?”

“That’s a warning.”

“I didn’t raise you to be so cold, Rian.”

“You never raised me in the first place. You just threw me into a crime guild.”

“I made you the leader before throwing you in. That must have become Lion’s foundation, right?”

The woman frowned, unable to refute. Sa-yoon giggled before furrowing his brows at Jaehee’s criticism asking if he enjoyed teasing children. Only Dominik failed to join the conversation, staring pale-faced at the hunters’ severed arms.

How much time passed?

Just as another hunter who still hadn’t come to his senses charged at Sa-yoon and wine entered the stomachs of the late-arriving Sa-yoon and Jaehee, the signal flare announcing the start of the proper eve ceremony auction went off.

“Tell me if you don’t have money. I’ll buy it for you.”

Sa-yoon nudged Jaehee and said. Right as the man answered that he was fine.

Rumble rumble.

When hunters’ cheers anticipating the auction filled the hall, dust fell from the ceiling drop by drop. That incident accompanied by vibrations soon led to collapse.

The party hall’s ceiling suddenly caved in, then began to be torn away as if being sucked up by something.

“W-what is this?”

“Shit, which bastard used a skill?”

“This can’t possibly be done with a skill…”

The hunters panicked.

Shiver!

Narrowing his eyes at the sense of crisis running through his whole body, Sa-yoon immediately grabbed Jaehee’s shoulder and pulled him behind his back.

CRACK!

Finally the entire ceiling was torn away and rose into the sky. Everyone present was momentarily speechless at the unwanted sky view.

“Holy shit…”

Someone’s curse flowed through the silent space.

With that as the start, all hunters began fleeing their spots or drawing their weapons in panic. There was one reason.

A gate had opened in the sky.

—GROWL!

And it was in a saturated state.

—SCREECH!

“AHHH!”

“Shit, don’t let them escape! Kill them!”

“These crazy bastards are S-rank!”

Monsters fell into the party hall that had been brilliantly decorated with all sorts of luxurious ornaments and lights.