Chapter 11
Baekho Guild.
Seoul, South Korea's largest strategic hub.
One of Korea's Big Four guilds, it controlled the defense of the gates throughout western Seoul's Gangseo area.
If Gangnam's Geumseong Guild was the kind of guild that pushed straight ahead with lavish funding and overwhelming firepower, Baekho operated in an entirely different way.
In terms of raw force alone, it fell behind Geumseong.
That was a fact even Baekho Guild itself did not deny.
But in Hunter society, swords and magic were not always what decided victory or defeat.
Which dungeons opened, and when.
Which guilds had pulled their forces out of which areas.
Which Hunters were hiding injuries.
Which parties were developing fractures due to internal conflicts.
And Baekho knew which information could tighten whose leash when released to the world.
If Geumseong defeated its enemies after a fight began, Baekho was the type to have a noose around its opponent's ankle before the fight even began.
Not flashy.
But quiet, tenacious, and precise.
An information network among the most renowned not only in Korea but across Asia.
That was Baekho Guild's true weapon.
Indeed, several mid-sized Hunter factions that had tried to cross swords with Baekho in the past collapsed without ever properly clashing.
Tax audits, internal whistleblowing, allegations of illegal equipment deals, concealed injury records, corruption in dungeon assignments.
Untraceable information erupted one piece at a time, and when public opinion turned, partners withdrew and sponsors turned their backs.
What remained afterward was always the same.
Baekho Guild said nothing.
It simply went quietly on to conquer the next gate.
Even within Baekho Guild, there was someone being discussed as one of the candidates for the next guild master.
Han Sora.
A woman who, from childhood, had gone to study in Europe, which was considered centuries ahead of Asia in the Hunter system, and made a name for herself overseas before Korea.
She excelled at European-style gate response tactics, information warfare, covert movement, and the deployment of small elite units, and quickly established herself as a core member of Baekho Guild after returning home.
She was A-rank.
But no one saw her merely as an A-rank combatant.
Because Han Sora was not the kind of Hunter who stood at the front with a sword; she was the kind who erased the prey's escape routes first.
That woman suddenly came to Daehan Central University Hospital.
And not for a scheduled appointment or injury treatment—she said she had come to meet Na Ha-young of the Hunter Trauma Center in person.
This was no ordinary visit.
Na Ha-young knew that much as well.
But that did not mean she could refuse to meet her.
A figure who was effectively Baekho Guild's second-in-command had specifically requested her.
The moment she refused, even that refusal would become information.
‘If it’s Baekho Guild⋯ there’s nothing to gain by getting on their bad side.’
Modern information warfare was sometimes crueler than a blade.
Wounds inflicted by a knife could be sutured.
But a suspicion spread across the internet, manipulated public opinion, or a single cleverly edited video could ruin a person's entire life.
Especially for a profession like being a Hunter, which operated on public support, state authorization, and trust between guilds.
So Ha-young ultimately had no choice but to return to her consultation room.
And someone was already sitting there.
Han Sora.
A modernized hanbok adorned with white fur.
Hair curled up as meticulously as a Western doll's.
A faint smile played at the corners of her mouth.
She sat naturally on the sofa, as though she had been the owner of this room for a long time.
Holding a teacup from who knew where, she leisurely sipped her tea.
“⋯I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“It's all right. Hospitals are busy places by nature.”
Han Sora smiled.
A soft, polite smile.
Which made it all the more uncomfortable.
Ha-young sat across from her.
“I heard you specifically asked to see me, Hunter Han Sora. What brings you here?”
The teacup settled quietly onto its saucer.
Clink.
It was a small sound, but for some reason it sounded loud.
Han Sora looked at Ha-young for a moment.
As if she were not choosing an answer, but confirming one she already knew.
Then she spoke.
“Who is it?”
“⋯Yes?”
“The person who treated Geumseong's B-rank Hunter last time.”
Ha-young's expression stiffened ever so slightly.
“You aren't Dr. Na Ha-young, are you? The person who actually saved that B-rank Hunter.”
“⋯I have no idea what you're talking about. No, before that, I'd like to ask you something. How did you find out that I treated Geumseong Guild's B-rank Hunter?”
Each Hunter was a guild's fighting strength in and of themselves.
Especially the injury information of Hunters rank B and above was not treated as mere medical records.
Because every detail—what part was injured and how badly, how long recovery would take, and who the surgeon was—was directly tied to the resulting gap in a guild's fighting strength.
That was why access permissions were extremely restricted; even within the same guild, it was classified information accessible only to a handful of authorized executives.
That was why Jang Song-hui had been able to confirm who performed the surgery that day.
She had been the vice-chairwoman of Geumseong, the injured Hunter's guild.
From the medical staff's perspective, she had been in a position where they had no choice but to provide at least a minimal explanation.
But⋯.
Han Sora of Baekho Guild knew.
And she knew it in less than a week.
“Heh-heh.”
Han Sora laughed as if it were nothing important.
“With the intelligence network of our Baekho Guild, we can more or less find out which male prostitute the president of our country is spending time with.”
“⋯That joke is in poor taste.”
“It’s fortunate if it sounds like a joke.”
Cold sweat beaded on Ha-young's forehead.
Baekho Guild.
The master of information warfare.
She felt once again, right there in that room, that the claim was no empty boast.
But that was not where the problem ended.
Han Sora lifted her teacup again and casually brought up her next point.
“And I hear⋯ a 'male medical student' also entered that operating room.”
Ha-young's breath stopped for an instant.
“Was it Seo Jihoo? A male student by that name.”
⋯She had found out this much?!
The fact that Jihoo had entered the operating room itself could not be completely concealed.
There had been many medical staff at the hospital, as well as security personnel, and the scene at the time had been nothing short of chaos.
But the fact that he had performed the surgery himself was different.
Only a very small number of people knew that.
Ha-young, who had entered the surgery with him.
Jang Song-hui of the Geumseong Guild.
And the handful of hospital personnel who had watched the situation from close by.
Even then, at the press conference after the surgery, everything had been attributed to Ha-young as the surgeon.
In the official records, Seo Jihoo would likely have been listed as little more than an observer or assistant.
At least, that was how the world was supposed to understand it.
‘Could it be⋯ she found out even that much?’
Ha-young studied Han Sora's eyes.
She couldn't let her guard down.
Her opponent was Baekho.
But the words that came from Han Sora's mouth the next moment were a little different from what she had expected.
“You laid out a truly 'elementary trap.'”
“⋯Yes?”
“You deliberately sent an eye-catching male medical student into the operating room, didn't you?”
Han Sora smiled.
“That precious male medical student entered the operating room. In an emergency where a B-rank Hunter was dying, no less. Naturally, people couldn't help but focus their attention on him.”
“⋯⋯.”
“You hid the identity of the real surgeon in that confusion. Am I wrong?”
Ha-young nearly went blank for a moment.
She had taken Seo Jihoo for a trap?
To interpret the man who had truly been the leading figure in that surgery as a smokescreen meant to conceal the real surgeon.
She had thought too much and strayed from the answer.
So this was what they meant when they said genius and fool were separated by a single sheet of paper.
That was exactly what was happening now.
“⋯Ha.”
Ha-young barely swallowed the sigh of relief that almost escaped her.
Then she immediately corrected her expression.
“As expected of the Baekho Guild.”
“May I take that as a compliment?”
“I didn't expect you to uncover that much.”
“Ohohoho. Of course! Even by global standards, Baekho ranks among the world's top ten guilds in intelligence alone.”
Han Sora laughed elegantly.
Her face showed not the slightest thought that she might be wrong.
And this was, if anything, an opportunity.
If her opponent had failed to identify Seo Jihoo, Ha-young could make that misunderstanding grow as much as possible from here on.
Thinking that, Ha-young carefully chose her words.
“But that’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Why did you rule out the possibility of me from the very beginning?”
Han Sora's eyebrow rose slightly.
Ha-young continued in a calm voice.
“It's a little awkward to say this myself, but I'm still one of South Korea's most renowned specialists in Hunter medicine. When the reporters announced that I had performed the surgery, they didn't raise any particular questions either.”
That was true.
Na Ha-young's reputation was more than sufficient.
The Golden Scalpel of the Hunter Trauma Center.
She had not earned that nickname for nothing.
Even if she had saved a B-rank Hunter on the verge of death, people could accept that Na Ha-young was capable of it.
Yet Han Sora had crossed her off from consideration from the start.
As though she knew for certain.
At that question, she looked down at her teacup for a moment.
Then she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world,
“Because I was the one who found that B-rank Hunter back then.”
“⋯Yes?”
“Ah, don't misunderstand.”
Han Sora quickly added a disclaimer.
“No matter how much Geumseong and Baekho may be rivals, do you think we'd be crazy enough to attack Geumseong Hunters inside a dungeon crawling with monsters? They weren't criminal Hunters, either.”
“Then why were you at that location⋯?”
“I went to verify some information.”
Her smile thinned.
“Information about the 'Dungeon Chaos phenomenon.'”
Dungeon Chaos phenomenon.
Ha-young's expression grew heavy at those words.
Dungeons were normally assessed for rank from the moment they appeared.
Their rank was determined based on their danger level, mana concentration, monster types, and internal structure, and guilds and parties suited to that rank were sent in to clear them.
But on very rare occasions, there were cases in which those very criteria collapsed.
That was the Dungeon Chaos phenomenon.
A phenomenon in which a dungeon rated D-rank on the surface suddenly mutated into C-rank, or sometimes even higher, on the inside.
Monsters grew dramatically stronger, the terrain warped, and mana concentration skyrocketed.
In return, the completion rewards also increased abnormally.
Several times over.
If you were lucky, dozens of times over.
In extreme cases, even hundreds of times over!
So if anyone had information about one, everyone would covet it.
The problem was when that information concerned a dungeon in someone else's jurisdiction.
“That day, we received information indicating that signs of Chaos had appeared in a D-rank dungeon managed by the Geumseong Guild.”
“So you're saying you entered secretly?”
“Secretly? That's a slightly hurtful way to put it.”
Han Sora laughed.
“It's reconnaissance. Unofficial reconnaissance.”
“That's usually called trespassing.”
“It is if you get caught.”
Ha-young was left speechless.
Yet Sora continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
“Anyway, by the time we arrived, it was already too late. A rookie party from Geumseong had gone inside, and the B-rank Hunter who appeared to be leading them had already been attacked by a monster.”
“Hunter Jang Mi-hyeon⋯.”
“Yes. Her.”
The teacup settled back down.
Clink.
“I knew as soon as I checked her condition.”
A confident smile played at the corners of Han Sora's mouth.
“She was in such a state that not even every Hunter specialist in the world, gathered together, could have saved her—not even Dr. Na Ha-young.”