Go Jun was utterly confident.
I can do this.
It had been some thirty years since he first met Lee Jungryong, after losing his parents in the Great Cataclysm and becoming an orphan.
“I’ve had my eye on you for some time. Would you like to come with me?”
“Me?”
“Yes. You have exceptional talent.”
Only then did Go Jun understand.
How a mere orphan like him had grown up with the finest education in the best possible environment. Who the anonymous benefactor he had never once seen truly was.
Lee Jungryong was no Daddy Long-Legs from a fairy tale, but that alone was reason enough to follow him.
“Yes, sir.”
“From now on, call me Master.”
That was how it all began.
He had to learn strange movements and unfamiliar ways of breathing alongside other children, but Go Jun loved every moment of it.
His tiny hands blistered, then formed calluses. The skin split, healed, and hardened… Go Jun’s life followed much the same path.
The pain made him stronger, until at last he came to stand at Lee Jungryong’s right hand.
“Starting today, you’re the Head of Security.”
“Please tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.”
“Follow my orders. Never defy them. That is all.”
His Master’s answer burned itself deep into Go Jun’s mind.
He lived his life by the path Lee Jungryong laid out for him—sometimes in the shadows, sometimes in the light…
He carried out countless tasks for Lee Jungryong, never once leaving room for error.
Unlike the Hunters who inflated their reputations and reveled in flashy lives, Go Jun concealed his true strength and quietly completed every assignment Lee Jungryong gave him.
Even within the Ares Guild, everyone could only speculate about his abilities. Lee Jungryong alone knew the true extent of his strength.
“Doesn’t it frustrate you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Always remaining by my side.”
“I’ve never thought about it.”
“With your abilities, you could make a name for yourself anywhere right now.”
“I have no interest in such things. I will always remain by your side, Master.”
“Ha ha. You seem even more dependable than usual today.”
Go Jun had meant every word. Every member of the security team had received Lee Jungryong’s teachings, but no other Disciple worshipped and revered him as blindly as Go Jun did.
Exceptional ability and unwavering loyalty.
Ironically, those two virtues were precisely what led Go Jun to defy Lee Jungryong’s orders.
“If it hadn’t been for my Master’s special order… you would have died here.”
“Your Master? Oh, Jungryong?”
“……!”
“How’s Jungryong doing? Isn’t it about time he started looking for a place in a retirement community?”
It was an insult Go Jun could not endure. To him, Lee Jungryong was a parent, a Master, and practically a god.
It was only natural for a fanatic to lose his mind when someone insulted the god he worshipped.
You filthy bastard… I’ll tear you apart.
The moment his Master’s order to avoid a clash with the Peace Guild was wiped clean from his mind, aura had already gathered around his fist.
“If you think this will end the same way it did last time… I’ll make you regret it.”
Go Jun already knew Jin Taekyung’s abilities from their brief clash at the hospital a week ago.
But that confrontation had taken place under his Master’s orders. At the time, Go Jun had displayed less than half his true strength.
Now Jin Taekyung would pay dearly for underestimating him.
I’ll go all out and finish this in a single blow.
He did not care about the aftermath. He only wanted to punish the bastard who had insulted his Master as brutally as possible.
And Go Jun had absolute confidence in his strength.
“Die!”
Whoooosh!
His fist shot forward like a ray of light, accompanied by a terrifying crack of displaced air.
Only three steps separated him from Jin Taekyung.
The bastard stood there smiling broadly, his arms spread wide. He was completely defenseless.
In a world that seemed to slow around him, Go Jun’s fist drove forward with enough force to punch straight through Taekyung’s chest.
Taekyung did not move an inch.
It’s over, brat.
A triumphant smile had just begun to curl Go Jun’s lips when—
Kkwaaang!
A thunderous boom split the sky.
But Go Jun never heard it. An overwhelming recoil surged through his fist as lava-like heat swept through his insides.
What is this…?
His vision flashed white. Agony engulfed him, as though a red-hot blade were churning through his stomach.
His mouth fell open, and something came pouring out.
“Bleeergh!”
Splaash.
Go Jun doubled over like a shrimp and vomited up his insides, his eyes bulging.
Blood.
There was blood everywhere. Unidentifiable pale objects lay scattered throughout the dark-red pool soaking the ground.
It did not take him long to realize they were pieces of his internal organs.
“W-what the hell…?”
As Go Jun stared in shock at the pool of his own blood, a foot suddenly entered his field of vision.
“Didn’t you say you’d make me regret it?”
“……!”
“Strange. Doesn’t look like much to me.”
He did not need to raise his head to know.
He knew whose foot was planted in his blood. He knew who spoke with that ice-cold voice, blazing with barely contained heat.
How…? How did I lose in a single blow…?
One clash.
That single clash had become a pillar of fire, reducing the painstaking tower Go Jun had spent thirty years building to ashes.
How is this possible?
His entire body trembled.
Pain?
No.
What ruled him now was fear—an emotion he had felt from only one person in his entire life.
His Master, Lee Jungryong.
“Raise your head.”
That very fear seized Go Jun by the hair and slowly dragged his head upward.
A foot submerged in a pool of blood. A straight, steel-hard leg. A torso covered in the supple, powerful muscles of a wild beast.
And then…
A fierce light burned in his eyes.
Within the black forest, surrounded on all sides by faint darkness, two eyes filled with flame stared down at Go Jun.
“Give your Master a message.”
Hot breath brushed his ear. A whisper quiet enough for him alone to hear followed.
“As long as I’m here, no one lays a hand on the Peace Guild.”
“……!”
Go Jun’s eyelids quivered. A hoarse voice slipped between his blood-soaked lips.
“What… are you?”
“Me?”
A moment later, the answer echoed not in his ears, but directly inside his head.
—A descendant of the Fire King. I am the successor to the Blazing Flame.
The voice was like an auditory hallucination.
Go Jun did not realize it was Sound Transmission, nor did he understand the meaning behind the words.
Only one word filled his mind.
Monster…
The last thing Go Jun saw was Jin Taekyung’s playfully smiling face.
Then his body toppled like a rotten old tree.
Slump. Thud!
A suffocating silence descended.
No one dared to speak. No one could even move. Hundreds of trembling pairs of eyes swept over my entire body.
I stared absently at the unconscious Go Jun, then gave a brief assessment.
“So why the fuck did you have to start shit? You’re nothing special, asshole.”
“……!”
“……!”
The air froze in an instant.
When I looked away from Go Jun and turned my head, sharp gasps erupted all around me.
One person reacted more violently than the rest.
“Mr. President.”
“Eek!”
Lee Woojoong, the Seoul Branch President, jumped and averted his eyes before answering.
“D-did you call me?”
“Why are you suddenly speaking so formally? You were talking pretty informally just a minute ago.”
The President’s face turned deathly pale as he stammered.
“M-me? I was?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“Lately, lately my memory hasn’t been so good. I keep forgetting things…”
“Oh, is that so? Then you must have already forgotten everything that happened between us today.”
“……!”
“Judging by your expression, your memory seems just fine.”
If he still could not take the hint after all that, he never would have risen to such a high-ranking position.
The President hurriedly shook his head.
“No. Of course not. I-I’ll make sure everyone keeps their mouths shut.”
“Keeps their mouths shut?”
“Gah! That’s not what I meant.”
“The people who came with you must have bad memories too. Right?”
“Y-yes. Yes, exactly. They all suffer from short-term amnesia. Isn’t that right?”
More than two hundred Association Hunters had followed their direct superior into the Gate. Every one of them began nodding frantically.
“That’s right.”
“Of course. I don’t even remember my own name.”
“Wait. Where am I? Who am I?”
Who the hell said that last one?
I barely managed to suppress my urge to check his face.
“Well, that works out nicely.”
I smiled broadly. The President and the other Hunters forced themselves to smile along with me.
Not that I expected this to keep everything quiet. There were far too many witnesses for that.
Next up…
“Who’s in charge over there?”
“I am.”
A sharp-eyed middle-aged man stepped forward. He was an A-rank Hunter and a team leader in the Ares Guild.
Still looking as though he could not believe his eyes, he glanced between me and the fallen Go Jun before biting his lip.
“I don’t know what happened between you and Team Leader Seok… but you’ve made a serious mistake.”
Judging by his words, he clearly did not know the exact circumstances behind the incident.
I grinned.
“These things happen. What can you do?”
“Aren’t you worried about how the Vice Guild Master will react when he hears about this?”
“Not worried, no. I am looking forward to it, though. Be sure to report everything to Mr. Lee Jungryong.”
The middle-aged man flinched, as did every Ares Guild member lined up behind him.
I could not tell whether it was because of the way I addressed Lee Jungryong or my shameless attitude.
Then again, I was far more interested in how Lee Jungryong would react to the report than in what any of them thought.
Looks like old Jungryong is in for one hell of a headache.
In this little production, Lee Jungryong had been cast as the cleanup man.
Since he would not want word getting out, he would have to cover people’s eyes and ears, then switch off any loudspeakers that might spread the story.
It hasn’t even been two weeks since that incident, and he’s already showing his teeth again… Impressive. Truly.
We had barely finalized our deal, yet Lee Jungryong had bared his teeth again the instant an opportunity presented itself.
The thought sent a chill down my spine.
What if I really had died here?
That would have ended the fight then and there. Without me, the Peace Guild would never be able to stand against the giant that was Ares.
It also drove one fact home all over again.
If I let my guard down in this fight for even a moment, it’s over.
There would be no truce in this war. Only an end. Our enemies would keep watching for the slightest opening to bare their teeth again.
“Whew.”
In any case, I had done the bare minimum to settle matters.
Or so I thought.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Four pairs of eyes bored into me with terrifying intensity.
Dozens more demanded an explanation.
Ah. I forgot about our Guild.
I had forgotten the most important thing. But where was I supposed to begin? And how much was I supposed to tell them?
After a moment’s thought, I opened my mouth.
“I went to take a piss.”
“……”
Silence flowed through the area.
Then Song Song spoke in a gentler voice than I had ever heard from her before.
“Taekyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I kill you?”
“…I’ll explain once we’re outside.”
Right. Let’s get out of here.
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