A dark night.
Dim lighting enveloped the hospital room.
Despite there being only one bed, several personnel were moving around inside the room.
Guards were even stationed outside the room.
All to take care of a single patient.
The patient was the second son of the Fire Bird Guild Leader, Woojin Jeong.
Therefore, everyone was diligently taking care of him even at this late hour.
If any problem were to arise, their heads would be the first to roll.
“Hee… huh…”
However, Woojin Jeong’s condition on the bed was not good.
No, it wouldn’t be strange to call it the worst.
He would suddenly chuckle to himself, drool, or even have seizures when left alone.
During severe seizures, it required all the surrounding personnel to restrain him.
Woojin Jeong.
He had originally been in charge of personnel within the guild.
Although his position was lower than his older brother, the Vice Guild Leader, the title of the Guild Leader’s child was not something to be easily dismissed.
Moreover, what kind of guild was the Fire Bird Guild?
It was one of the top guilds in Korea.
It had the power to blow away smaller guilds that were just lying around with a single breath.
Thus, Woojin Jeong lived within the Fire Bird Guild, treated like royalty.
If this wasn’t happiness, what was?
However, such happiness did not last long.
Woojin Jeong grew a little more greedy.
He wanted to increase his honor within the guild even slightly. At the same time, he wanted to bring down his half-sister, Yerin Jeong.
So, he planned something.
It was a dungeon subjugation.
Assigning a dungeon was not difficult.
Since Woojin Jeong himself held the personnel authority, he could choose whichever dungeon he wanted.
He assigned his sister an A-Rank dungeon with a Goblin Lord.
And he himself chose a B-Rank Incubus Dungeon.
Incubus.
A monster that drains the vital energy of women.
Therefore, with proper preparation, it was as good as a free dungeon.
Woojin Jeong confidently shouted and set out to subjugate the Incubus Dungeon.
The result?
It ended in failure.
Even if he managed to come back alive with his life intact, his current state was beyond description.
It was a state where he might have wished he had died instead.
His daily life was already impossible.
The life within the guild that he had desired was now over.
He was now an invisible person within the guild.
No, rather, he was a shameful secret that needed to be hidden.
Whatever happened to him inside the dungeon was kept strictly confidential and controlled.
“Ah.”
As Woojin Jeong’s consciousness briefly returned, tears streamed from his eyes.
It was a cycle of regret.
The dungeon he thought would surely be successful had one variable.
The appearance of a Succubus.
And it was a high-rank monster at that.
And his and his subordinates’ memories were cut off.
After that…
“Ugh…!”
Only horrific memories that he didn’t want to think about remained.
That place was hell.
Hell that he didn’t want to think about.
Yes, it was a memory he absolutely had to forget.
To the point where he wished he could just go completely insane like this.
Even now, Woojin Jeong desperately tried to erase his memories.
Just for a moment.
He would lose his mind again like this.
As Woojin Jeong muttered to himself, he heard a sound from outside.
“You’ve arrived.”
It seemed someone had come.
Who is it?
Woojin Jeong had already lost his mind.
When he was hospitalized here, none of his family had visited.
The only people who visited were hunters from the information department of the Fire Bird Guild.
Yet someone had come to see him.
Could it be someone from the guild again?
The hospital room door opened, and a man appeared.
It was an unexpected person.
“…Hyung.”
It was Taeyoung Jeong, the Vice Guild Leader of the Fire Bird Guild and Woojin Jeong’s older brother.
“Everyone, get out. Don’t come in until I say so.”
Taeyoung Jeong first cleared out the personnel inside the room.
After confirming that everyone had left, he looked at Woojin Jeong.
“I heard your condition was bad, but you seem alright, Woojin Jeong.”
It was his first visit to his injured brother.
However, there was a coldness in Taeyoung Jeong’s voice.
“……”
Woojin Jeong could not say anything.
Because his brother’s reaction was so cold.
‘Well, I did fail.’
It must have been a blow to the Fire Bird Guild’s image.
That would, in turn, be a blow to his brother, the Vice Guild Leader.
Woojin Jeong thought so. However, the answer that came from Taeyoung Jeong’s mouth was completely different.
“Did you want to become the Vice Guild Leader that much?”
“…?”
What was he talking about?
Why would he want to become the Vice Guild Leader?
Woojin Jeong could not understand his brother’s words right now.
He wanted to open his mouth and express his confusion, but Taeyoung Jeong did not give him time.
“If all of this has been an act, I’d clap. You’re truly amazing.”
Taeyoung Jeong clapped his hands mockingly.
“None of what you said was right.”
Woojin Jeong still felt confused by his brother’s words.
What kind of situation was this?
Did something else happen while he lost his mind?
“Even now, seeing that confused look, I’m truly impressed.”
Taeyoung Jeong slowly approached.
“Your words led me to send a subjugation team to that dungeon. But the subjugation team has been silent. That should have been enough time to subjugate the dungeon with their strength.”
Taeyoung Jeong had reached Woojin Jeong’s side before he knew it.
“Within the guild, the atmosphere is already leaning towards a conclusion. That something went wrong. And that the subjugation team was practically annihilated.”
Taeyoung Jeong slowly raised his hand.
“So I thought. Where did it go wrong? Or, did it really go wrong?”
Taeyoung Jeong’s hand stroked a flower next to the bed.
“What if, what if it didn’t go wrong? What if it was orchestrated from the very beginning?”
The flower petals were plucked one by one from Taeyoung’s hand.
“What if there were no Succubus in the dungeon from the start? No, perhaps it wasn’t even an Incubus Dungeon. We were all played as part of a plan.”
All the flower petals fell.
“Who would benefit the most if this job went wrong, I wondered.”
When all the flower petals fell, his hand, having lost its purpose, pointed at Woojin Jeong.
“Woojin Jeong. Did you want to become the Vice Guild Leader that badly? Enough to surpass your brother, me?”
Taeyoung Jeong’s voice trembled with rage.
Yerin Jeong was already gone to a place of no return.
The A-Rank Goblin Lord dungeon.
Even if she had survived until now, she would die before long.
So, Yerin Jeong was completely erased from his thoughts.
But Woojin Jeong was different.
Despite being his own brother, Woojin Jeong was in a position where he could always be a competitor.
“The reason I tolerated you until now wasn’t just because you’re my brother. It was because you knew your place and bowed down respectfully.”
But not anymore.
Now that he knew Woojin Jeong was eyeing his position, he could not leave him be.
Taeyoung Jeong’s hand grabbed Woojin Jeong’s mouth.
“Gak…”
Woojin Jeong struggled to break free from his brother’s grip, but the difference in strength was too great.
Taeyoung Jeong tightened his grip.
He looked as if he would kill his brother right in front of him.
“Since you’re useless anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just die?”
Woojin Jeong’s body slowly lost strength.
At that moment…
“Vice Guild Leader!”
Someone entered the room.
It was Taeyoung Jeong’s secretary.
“What? Don’t you remember I told you not to come in?”
“I’m sorry! But this is an urgent matter…”
Taeyoung Jeong loosened his grip.
What urgent matter could there be at this hour?
“What is it?”
Leaving his gasping brother, he turned his body around.
“A Monster Wave has broken out!”
“…What?”
For a moment, silence filled the room.
Why a monster wave all of a sudden?
“A monster wave has broken out from the dungeon that the subjugation team led by Seo Youngho entered!”
“What’s the scale!”
Taeyoung Jeong frowned as he looked at his brother.
Truly, nothing was going right.
“The monsters confirmed so far are Ghouls and Incubus, and…”
The secretary paused for a moment.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke again.
“Death Knights have also been confirmed.”
Hah.
A-Rank monsters.
Taeyoung Jeong laughed as if he couldn’t believe it.
He looked like a madman.
“Woojin-ah.”
Then he called his brother’s name again.
“Even now, are there Succubi there?”
He said it with a voice full of rage.
The doubts Taeyoung Jeong harbored were now understood.
There was a Death Knight in the dungeon, not a Succubus.
It made sense that the subjugation team was silent since they focused only on the Succubus.
They would have been annihilated by the Death Knight already.
The Ghouls coming out of the dungeon now were probably the subjugation team members transformed.
“And also…”
But the report didn’t end there.
“Miss Yerin Jeong came out of the dungeon.”
“What?”
What in the world was happening?
Why all of a sudden?
Ah, maybe she barely escaped with her life?
If so, it wasn’t impossible.
But the next words he heard crushed Taeyoung Jeong’s expectations.
“…She cleared the dungeon. And she even brought back the corpse of the Goblin Lord.”
Taeyoung Jeong sat down on the bed, faltering.
“Ha…”
It was the worst.
In this situation, Yerin Jeong’s appearance was a huge variable.
He thought it was over if he got rid of Woojin, but someone even worse had appeared.
Where did it all go wrong?
Then, he glanced at Woojin Jeong.
“Woojin-ah.”
Unlike before, his voice was not cold.
“We’re brothers, aren’t we?”
It was surprisingly gentle.
“Mother is also very worried. We’re here because we’re the Fire Bird Guild. If this escalates further, it will be difficult.”
It was true.
When Woojin Jeong’s incident broke out, Taeyoung Jeong acted quickly.
First, he even used an artifact to suppress the energy so that information about the dungeon would not spread.
It was due to the prestige of the Fire Bird Guild that he was able to quietly cover up Woojin Jeong’s situation.
But the atmosphere had changed now.
A monster wave had broken out from a dungeon owned by the Fire Bird Guild.
They had to stop it immediately.
They couldn’t let the monster wave grow any larger.
Moreover, there was a Death Knight that turned its victims into Ghouls.
If the scale continued to grow…
After the monster wave ended, the government would thoroughly investigate the Fire Bird Guild.
In extreme cases, a hearing would be held.
“Tsk.”
The monster wave had overturned everything.
Moreover, the place where the monster wave broke out was a densely populated area.
What if more damage occurred here?
What if he reached a point where he could no longer do anything?
Even if the Guild Leader father was okay, he, the Vice Guild Leader, would certainly not be untouched.
In the worst-case scenario, he might have to step down from his position as Vice Guild Leader.
No, perhaps that was just the beginning.
Taeyoung Jeong swallowed his anger and looked at Woojin Jeong.
Still, he was his brother.
Unlike Yerin Jeong, who had a different mother, Woojin Jeong was his own full brother, born of the same mother.
“Woojin-ah, you must resolve this situation.”
It was a request from a brother.
“Whether you kill Yerin Jeong or stop the monster wave, take responsibility for everything and step down. Then, I will ensure that you can at least remain under the Fire Bird Guild.”
It was also a threat.
If he couldn’t do it, what choice would he have?
He would have to die.
* * *
The Hunter Association was quiet today as well.
Not because there were no people, but because there were no special emergency situations.
Unlike before, the system was now rather systematic.
Most situations could be handled by the lower-level organizations and hunters.
“It’s quiet again today.”
Han Jeongcheol, who was on duty, was resting in his chair.
He was an A-Rank Hunter and also the team leader of the Association’s Emergency Response Team.
Although it was called the Emergency Response Team, in this peaceful era, it was safe to say that they had virtually no work to do.
Even if a dungeon suddenly appeared in some area, the surrounding guilds or government hunters would quickly deal with it.
Within the already systematic setup, they just had to wait for their turn.
Well, unless a monster wave broke out somewhere, of course.
“Team Leader! This is bad! A monster wave has broken out!”
Exactly like that. Yes, a monster wave had broken out. Mon…
“What?!”
Han Jeongcheol’s expression turned surprised, and he got up from his seat.
Then, looking at the person who had just spoken, he replied.
“Mirae, a monster wave? Are you kidding me right now?”
A monster wave out of nowhere.
Normally, he would have dismissed it as a joke.
But the person in front of him was someone who didn’t know jokes at all, a boring person.
Mirae Lee.
She was a B-Rank Hunter belonging to the Emergency Response Team.
He knew her well since he brought her along himself.
That kid would never lie.
“Yes, Mirae. What are you talking about? A monster wave all of a sudden?”
This was clearly not a joke.
Everything that came out of Mirae’s mouth were serious matters.
“…Not only Ghouls but even Death Knights? This is crazy. Where is it!”
The location was the most important thing.
If the incident happened in a remote, unpopulated area, it would be fortunate.
At least they could buy time.
But the world was not always a beautiful place that turned out as desired.
“It’s Anyang.”
His last hope was crushed.
Anyang was a fairly populated area.
Moreover, it was close to Seoul.
“Damn it! We’re deploying immediately!”
A Death Knight is an A-Rank monster.
It wasn’t scary just because of its high rank, but the Death Knight’s true power lay in its skills.
Whoever it killed was reborn as a Ghoul.
In other words, it could create an infinite number of Ghouls.
They had to quickly subjugate it before all the people turned into Ghouls.
“Please…”
Han Jeongcheol hoped that nothing major would happen.
At the very least, he hoped the damage wouldn’t be too extensive, so he summoned the Emergency Response Team.
