Chapter 8
After dungeons began appearing simultaneously across the world.
Humanity established a new standard for talent.
Hunters.
Superhumans who could adapt to the power flowing from dungeons and fight monsters head-on.
In this era, Hunters were more than mere combat personnel.
They were a nation's military strength, economic power, and even a diplomatic card.
How many good Hunters a country possessed.
That alone determined the size and standing of a nation.
At one point, it was said that countries had gone so far as to throw human rights out the window over the genes of men most likely to produce high-quality Hunters.
That was how valuable Hunters were.
One powerful Hunter could change a small city's defensive line, while a single A-rank Hunter could change the mood at a negotiation table between nations.
And 21st-century South Korea had entered an era in which it possessed more Hunter talent than at any other point in the history of the Korean Peninsula.
It had gotten a late start, though.
Compared to the great powers, both its dungeon-response systems and Hunter-development programs had lagged behind.
But thanks to its characteristic compressed growth, fierce passion for education, and insane investment in infrastructure, Korea had eventually joined the ranks of the advanced Hunter nations.
K-Hunters.
It was no longer unusual for overseas media to call them that.
Even in South Korea, B-rank Hunters were special.
In the Hunter ranking system, B-rank belonged to the upper tier.
Of roughly 100,000 registered Hunters in the country, only a few thousand were B-rank or higher.
A rank that a small or mid-sized guild would welcome as its guild master or a core combatant.
Even in a large guild, such a person would be classified as a promising rookie, a candidate for future leadership, or a core member of a major dungeon assault team.
One such B-rank Hunter had been brought in with critical injuries.
That fact alone was enough to turn not only the hospital but also the guild they belonged to upside down.
“There’s a B-rank Hunter who was brought in here, right?”
“Ah, yes! They’re currently in surgery!”
“Make sure they survive. They’re far too valuable to die in a place like this.”
A single voice pressed down on the air in the first-floor lobby.
The woman who entered Korea Central University Hospital's lobby was plainly no ordinary patient's guardian.
Brilliant red hair, vivid as flames.
Her hair was tied high behind her head and swayed with every step, while eyes of the same color froze people simply by sweeping across the lobby.
A coat embroidered with a red dragon pattern hung over her shoulders.
Jang Song-hee.
One of South Korea's Big Four guilds.
The vice president of Geumsung Guild, the major guild in Gangnam, boasting Seoul's most dazzling infrastructure and capital.
She was also an A-rank Hunter.
The moment she appeared, the lobby began to buzz.
“Isn't that Jang Song-hee?”
“The vice president of Geumsung Guild?”
“I’ve seen her on TV⋯ She really is an A-rank Hunter!”
Even the patients lifted their heads as if they had forgotten their pain.
Several guardians tried to take out their phones, only to be stopped by hospital staff and hurriedly lower their hands.
But Jang Song-hee paid no attention to the eyes around her.
The team brought in after this incident was a rookie assault team she had once personally mentored.
Among them, the B-rank Hunter was a prospective executive whom even Geumsung Guild had been watching closely.
In other words, they were an asset the guild absolutely could not afford to lose here.
“What’s their condition?”
At the brief question, the hospital employee swallowed dryly.
“The thing is⋯ the patient is currently in the operating room, but their condition isn’t good. They appear to have suffered both chest and abdominal injuries, and they were also showing signs of shock when they arrived.”
“Can they be saved?”
“That⋯”
The employee let their words trail off.
That reaction alone made it clear the situation was grim.
Jang Song-hee's eyes turned fierce.
“Tell me straight.”
“I’m sorry. It would be best⋯ not to get your hopes up too high.”
“What?”
“Doctor Na Ha-young has entered the operating room. And⋯ Student Jihoo went in with her as well, so⋯”
“Jihoo?”
As she repeated the name, a question flickered across her face.
It was an unfamiliar name.
She had never heard of anyone by that name among the guild's medical staff or at Korea Central University Hospital's Hunter Trauma Center.
Besides, it sounded strangely like a 'man's name.'
“Who is this Jihoo person?”
“Well⋯”
The employee hesitated briefly before answering.
“Student Seo Jihoo.”
“A student?”
“Yes. He’s a male medical student currently in his first year at Korea Central Medical University.”
“⋯A man?”
A man.
A medical student.
And a first-year student at that.
⋯Was this a joke?
Jang Song-hee thought so for a moment.
But the other party was an employee of Korea Central University Hospital.
No matter how out of their mind they were, they couldn’t possibly have the nerve to make such a nasty joke to the vice president of one of South Korea's Big Four guilds.
Which meant everything she had just heard was true.
“So⋯”
Her voice sank low.
“A male medical student is performing surgery on our guild’s B-rank Hunter right now?”
“Y-Yes⋯. But Doctor Na Ha-young also went in as a supervisor.”
“A supervisor?”
Her eyebrow twitched.
Human life was not a game.
And if the person in question was a man, then he belonged to the sex most precious—and most in need of protection—in this world.
Their numbers were vanishingly small, and most lived their entire lives under the protection of the Population Agency.
They were a group far removed from dangerous sites, unaccustomed to the smell of blood and the sound of screams.
Of course, she had no intention of denying that they were lovable and precious.
But that was a man's only 'function,' after all.
‘There was a saying that dying at a man's hands was a good death⋯ but that was just some insane nonsense made up by ancestors who had never even held a man's hand in their entire lives!’
Boom.
A crushing pressure descended on the first-floor lobby.
Red mana flared over her shoulders like flames.
The marble floor trembled ever so slightly, and the electronic display above the reception desk crackled and shook.
She looked ready to smash something at any moment.
But.
“Eek?!”
“M-Mom⋯!”
“Good heavens⋯”
Patients and guardians were cowering in fear.
Only then did Jang Song-hee grit her teeth.
This was a hospital.
It was not a battlefield to trample in frustration.
“Phew⋯”
She barely managed to rein in the mana boiling inside her.
Yet her eyes did not calm down in the slightest.
“Are you people out of your minds?”
Her voice toward the hospital employee was low and sharp.
“You let a man into the operating room? And into an operating room where a Hunter trauma patient is lying?”
“Th-that’s because⋯ Student Jihoo said he absolutely would save the patient⋯”
“Absolutely?”
The corner of Jang Song-hee’s mouth twisted.
“A man's promises were limited to cute pouting about wanting you to tell him you loved him again tomorrow, weren’t they?”
“B-But Doctor Na Ha-young—”
“If anything happens to one of our guild members this time.”
Her red eyes pierced the hospital employee.
“Geumsung Guild will formally file a complaint against Korea Central University Hospital. A medical malpractice investigation, an inquiry into responsibility for Hunter management, a meeting with the hospital director—we’ll pursue all of it.”
“⋯⋯”
“You knew that when you opened the operating room, didn’t you?”
The air in the lobby grew heavy again.
That was when it happened.
“Oh-ho-ho-ho.”
A languid laugh, strangely out of place, came from behind them.
“Hunter Jang Song-hee. For the vice president of the great Geumsung Guild to be radiating such a fearsome presence in a hospital lobby full of patients.”
The fan snapped shut with a sharp clap.
“I’d hate to think it reflects poorly on us as fellow members of the Big Four.”
“You’re⋯ Han Sora?”
The woman standing there was dressed strangely.
Her outfit looked like a modernized version of a traditional hanbok with an old-fashioned flair.
A coat trimmed with white fur was draped over it, while her hair fell in thick, drill-like curls reminiscent of Western nobility.
A combination that should have looked bizarre.
And yet, somehow, even that discordance looked like a deliberate part of her personal style.
Han Sora.
One of Seoul's Big Four guilds.
One of the top executives of Baekho Guild, which ruled over Gangseo.
She covered the corner of her mouth with the end of her fan and laughed, blatantly enjoying herself.
“What brings Baekho Guild here?”
“Oh my, is this hospital owned by Geumsung Guild? One of our guild members was injured in this incident as well. We only stopped by both to visit them and check on the situation.”
“Check on the situation?”
Jang Song-hee narrowed her eyes.
“Was it you?”
“Excuse me?”
“The mastermind behind this incident.”
The smile vanished at that moment.
The air in the lobby turned cold again.
Jang Song-hee glared at Han Sora.
A D-rank dungeon.
Under normal circumstances, it was a low-risk dungeon where a party led by a B-rank Hunter should never have been smashed to pieces like this.
And yet, this was the result.
Four E-rank Hunters, two D-rank Hunters, and one B-rank Hunter had all been injured and brought in.
It was far too suspicious to be a coincidence, and Han Sora had appeared here far too quickly, as if she had been waiting for the news from the beginning.
“Han Sora.”
Jang Song-hee stepped forward.
“I asked whether your Baekho Guild had a hand in this.”
At those words, Han Sora’s smile disappeared completely.
She folded her fan and slowly walked toward Jang Song-hee.
The distance between them narrowed until they were nearly face-to-face.
“Can you take responsibility for those words, Hunter Jang Song-hee?”
“⋯⋯”
“Anyone listening would think Baekho Guild had lured Geumsung Guild’s rookie party into a trap.”
“I haven’t even specified what I’m talking about yet.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Han Sora turned her head slightly.
Beyond her line of sight lay the other side of the hospital's glass doors.
Outside the lobby.
By then, reporters had already begun crowding the area.
Cameras.
Microphones.
Guild-focused internet broadcasters.
Reporters from Hunter-industry publications.
Hyenas that had caught the scent of a scoop.
More precisely, people who would latch onto the news that Geumsung Guild—considered the foremost of South Korea's Big Four guilds—might lose a valuable B-rank asset in a D-rank dungeon.
“There’s already a whole crowd of reporters outside.”
Han Sora smiled again.
“If the wrong words from just now get out in front of them, this could escalate into a guild dispute. This isn't some old-fashioned war-on-crime era.”
The tip of her fan lightly indicated Jang Song-hee's shoulder.
“This country has risen to the ranks of an advanced nation in many fields, not just through its Hunters. Surely you don’t intend to show the Big Four throwing punches at one another in a hospital lobby?”
“⋯⋯”
“Maintain your dignity. It would be a shame to sully Geumsung’s name, wouldn’t it?”
One wore a relaxed smile.
The other held her anger down to the very bottom.
Geumsung’s red dragon and Baekho’s white tiger.
The two were on the verge of colliding in the middle of the hospital.
“H-Hunter Jang Song-hee!”
A member of the medical staff came running breathlessly from the end of the corridor.
Every gaze turned in that direction.
“The surgery⋯ has just ended.”
Jang Song-hee’s eyes wavered.
Han Sora’s fan stopped in midair as well.
A brief silence.
Then, gasping for breath, the medical staff member said,
“They say it was a success⋯!”
!!
“What⋯ did you say?”