The next morning, as Jinchul arrived at his office, the quiet hum of the Association headquarters felt different.
It was a low, nervous thrum that he could now feel in the very mana of the building itself, a silent vibration that spoke of latent power and unseen dangers. Before he could even sit down, his secretary appeared, a tablet in her hand, her expression one of professional urgency.
"Chief Woo, a new gate just opened in the Bongcheon-dong district. It's a C-Rank, but the initial mana readings are fluctuating wildly. It needs to be confirmed as soon as possible before we issue a raid permit," she said, her voice a low, efficient murmur.
Jinchul took the tablet, his eyes scanning the data. The numbers were erratic, a chaotic dance that conventional sensors couldn't make sense of. A C-Rank Gate's mana signature should be stabilizing at this point, but this one was still in flux.
He knew what this was—not a bug in the system, but an anomaly. The kind of subtle, almost imperceptible deviation from the norm that he had discussed with President Go Gunhee.
He dismissed his secretary with a nod, his mind already racing. The elite team he was forming couldn't be built on trust alone. He needed people who were powerful, who had the kind of strength that operated outside the usual rules.
He needed a weapon he could trust to act decisively, a blunt force that was unafraid to break the rules for a cause greater than itself. His mind immediately went to one man: Kang Taeshik.
His memory from the "Earthling" on Taeshik was a testament to his ruthlessness and singular power. He was a hunter who fought like a monster, a man of pure, unadulterated force.
His files were filled with vague reports of completed missions and whispers of brutality that Jinchul had long dismissed as rumor.
But with his newfound mana-sight, he could now see the truth behind the whispers—a hidden strength, a potential for violence that was both terrifying and exactly what he needed.
He was exactly the kind of hunter the Association would typically sideline. But Jinchul needed a man like that on his team. A man who was already a monster, fighting for himself but who should also fight for humanity's sake too.
Jinchul picked up his phone and made a single call. "Agent Kang, I need you to accompany me on a Gate inspection. Meet me at the Bongcheon-dong Gate in thirty minutes." He didn't wait for a response, ending the call before Taeshik could even question the sudden order. He knew the man would come.
He wasn't just recruiting an ally; he was recruiting a monster, a man whose dark ambition had almost consumed him in a past he was now trying to prevent. He had to be sure of his choice, had to know that Taeshik's loyalty to himself, once earned, would hold true.
He arrived at the Gate's location, a derelict industrial park cordoned off by official Association tape. Kang Taeshik was already there, leaning against a rusted chain-link fence, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket.
He seemed relaxed, but Jinchul's mana-sight saw a subtle, predatory tension coiling within him, like a spring ready to uncoil.
"Morning, Chief Woo," Taeshik said, pushing off the fence. His voice was casual, a stark contrast to the grim purpose in his eyes. "Ready for a little field trip?"
"I am Agent Kang. Let's go, as I have heard you like to do things quickly." Jinchul replied, his tone even and professional.
Taeshik chuckled, a low rumble in his chest. "I like to keep things simple. The less fuss, the better."
Jinchul didn't respond as they stepped through the shimmering veil of the Gate. The air on the other side was stale and thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying mana.
Jinchul walked with a purposeful stride, his boots silent on the dungeon floor. The mission was a simple one on paper—to read Mana's signature, monsters and then issue a raid permit.
But beneath the surface, it was a test, a deliberate game of cat and mouse orchestrated by Jinchul to probe the man he now knew was a rogue hunter.
Jinchul's eyes scanned the darkness, his mana-sight peeling back the layers of illusion and shadow. The monsters were close, lurking in the side tunnels. But he ignored them, his focus solely on Taeshik. "Simple, yes. But I'm interested in your full potential."
The comment hung in the air, a direct challenge. Taeshik's smile vanished, replaced by a cold, predatory glint in his eyes.
He stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh!, Chief, what are you talking about? My potential as you know is B-Rank and it's also recorded." He said his voice dripping with a subtle, dangerous mockery.
"You, of all people, should know that hunters are defined by their Mana. My Mana is a B-Rank, nothing more."
"Is it?" Jinchul countered, stopping as well. He met Taeshik's gaze head-on, his own expression unreadable. "A hunter's aura is a measure of their mana. But a man's strength… that is a measure of his will. I believe a hunter should be ready for any contingency."
Before Taeshik could reply, Jinchul moved. It wasn't a full attack, but a blindingly fast feint—a flash of movement designed to test the limits of his opponent's reflexes.
He snapped his hand out, a low-level mana strike aimed at Taeshik's core. He could have used his full power, but he wasn't here to kill him; he was here to humble him, to show him that there were levels of power he couldn't even comprehend.
Taeshik reacted instantly, a blur of motion that a lesser A-Rank wouldn't have even registered. He deflected the strike with a forearm, his aura flaring in a surge of raw, untamed power. "A fight in a dungeon? You're joking."
"No," Jinchul said, his voice now a low, dangerous growl. "I'm not."
The true battle began. Taeshik's movements were brutal and efficient, a whirlwind of fists and feet, each strike laced with mana powerful enough to crack stone.
He didn't fight like a man with a team; he fought like a lone wolf, relying on his sheer speed and devastating force. He was a force of nature, a monster in human form.
This was the strength Jinchul knew he had been hiding, a power that could have easily obliterated a Gate without backup.
Jinchul didn't return his attacks with equal force. Instead, he danced around them, his movements economical and precise. He dodged, parried, and weaved through the torrent of blows, using his enhanced perception to predict Taeshik's next move.
It was a humiliating spectacle for Taeshik—his most powerful strikes were effortlessly avoided. Jinchul was a wall he couldn't break, a shadow he couldn't touch.
Finally, in a brief opening, Jinchul moved. He didn't punch or kick. Instead, he snapped his fingers, and a sudden, sharp pressure compressed the air around Taeshik's knees. It was a subtle, almost imperceptible use like Ruler's Authority, enough to make Taeshik stumble, but not enough to hurt him.
Taeshik's eyes widened. He had felt it—a strange, unnatural use of mana. He came to a halt, his chest heaving, his face a mask of shock and awe. He looked at Jinchul, seeing him for the first time not as a peer, but as something else entirely. "What was that?" he rasped.
Jinchul simply lowered his hand ignoring his question "You think you have hid your ambition very well working in the association"
Taeshik's aura flared again, a dangerous, resentful energy. He took a menacing step forward. "What do you want, Jinchul?"
Jinchul didn't flinch as he thought about the memories "Tell me Taeshik do you want money or power to fight. I can see your hunger to fight is more than money. Hunters as we are nothing but monsters. It shows more on you even though you have kept it well hidden. Do you want to join me on something that will change Korea or even the world"
He then made his move, a simple gesture to a dark corner of the dungeon, where a pack of demonic dogs with glowing red eyes were emerging.
The monsters were a low-level threat, a mere distraction, but Jinchul was using them for a different purpose—to demonstrate his proposition. He turned his back on Taeshik and simply pointed at the pack, gesturing for him to show his true form.
"Join my team, Agent Kang," Jinchul said, his voice cutting through the growing snarls of the monsters. "The team I mentioned to President Go. I need a man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty"
Taeshik stood frozen for a moment, his eyes darting between Jinchul and the approaching monsters. He had been given a choice: stay a caged animal or die or become a part of something he didn't understand, something that promised the power he craved.