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Now.

Kimcheon Liberation Area was filled with criminals trying to “re-plunder” the hunters and civilians that Ebony Bone—the former hegemonic force—had abducted for human trafficking.

It was not a slaughterhouse for nothing.

With the interests and wealth they had enjoyed left intact while the top brass evaporated, it was only natural that hyenas would take interest in ownerless meat.

From the news, Jeonghwa Guild and the Seoul Public Safety Bureau were holding a press conference, appealing and asking for restraint.

Of course, it was a plea that would not work on anyone. Unless you were an idiot, everyone knew Seoul’s situation well.

They knew The Abyss was constantly eyeing Seoul, so it could not easily send out forces.

And even if Jeonghwa Guild and the Public Safety Bureau asked, there were no nearby forces that could come help anyway.

If there were a force capable of that, it would be the first to rush into the liberation area with eyes blazing.

Unless you were a child, it was obvious that public-safety forces from Seoul would not come, leaving no room for doubt.

‘Since I’m heading down anyway, should I stop by? If things line up, there might be something to eat.’

It was a slight detour, but he could stop by on the way to the gymnasium dungeon where Park Dong-jae was.

Kimcheon Liberation Area also had quite a few dungeons.

If there were dungeons that had fallen out of attention, he planned to slip in and take a look. Ebony Bone was gone, after all.

Soon, on the road down in the rented car. He finished one more call with Park Dong-jae.

He said the full moon was almost here. That meant the groundwork for the clear was over 90% laid.

Of course, just because it became a full moon did not mean they had to clear the dungeon.

He had simply been waiting for the full moon for a long time, so he wanted to clear immediately and pull the next reset timing forward.

Pressing the accelerator, he drove down the open highway.

On the hunter-related radio channel he had turned on out of habit, they were covering news from China.

Breaking news.

It has been reported that, ten minutes ago, Sim Jun-gyeong of the moderate faction—who had been waging an all-out war over the Shintu Guild succession—lost his life to Chu Ye-seong of the hardliner faction.

If so, the only one left was Yu Cheonghwa, backed by the satellite guild Shinsu Guild.

With the balance of power heavily tilted toward Chu Ye-seong, it has become more likely that things will unfold as experts predicted.

However, according to information obtained unofficially, Sim Jun-gyeong’s supporting forces are believed to be backing Yu Cheonghwa.

“It was bad and good.”

That was Kang-hoo’s overall verdict.

He called it bad because Sim Jun-gyeong died earlier than expected.

He needed the three-way struggle to drag on so Chu Ye-seong’s strongest faction would have time to weaken, but that did not happen.

But if Sim Jun-gyeong’s remnants supported Yu Cheonghwa, it changed the picture. The scales could roughly balance.

Chu Ye-seong was called a sharp thorn even within Shintu Guild, a figure who split opinions sharply.

There were not few hunters who agreed with the view that the guild should be fattened by any means necessary.

But it was also true that nearly as many wanted Shintu Guild, as China’s number-one guild, to restore trust and honor.

So, paradoxically, Sim Jun-gyeong’s death could become the trigger that gathered support around Yu Cheonghwa, a pragmatist.

“I’ll watch a bit longer.”

This Shintu Guild executive massacre strongly seemed like a case where “Eyes” intervened.

At first, he had even considered helping Yu Cheonghwa to make her owe him deeply.

But if it was something “Eyes” was watching, it might look strange for an outsider like him to suddenly intervene.

Kang-hoo judged that a cautious approach had far more strategic value than active involvement.

The next news was about domestic power dynamics, even more interesting than China’s story.

Maybe because it was a regional radio channel heard outside Seoul, the content was as neutral as possible.

The Abyss, having fortified its borderlands with Jeonghwa Guild, is currently concentrating its elite forces toward Gangwon Province.

In the process, it is cooperating militarily with Myeongga Guild, which seeks to make Gangwon its base.

The Abyss–Myeongga Guild alliance is taking the lead in neutralizing forces known as satellite guilds of Jeonghwa Guild, and while those satellite guilds deny any connection to Jeonghwa Guild…… there is abundant evidence with clear causality, so it is expected to be a meaningless outcry.

And just now, we have obtained a new report through our newsroom.

It has been confirmed that ‘Team Jeon Se-hyuk’ has officially declared cooperation with The Abyss.

You can verify this on Team Jeon Se-hyuk’s official Huntergram.

“It was flowing nicely.”

The consecutive reports were a string of developments Kang-hoo could not help but find satisfying.

In summary.

First, Jeonghwa Guild’s influence was rapidly shrinking in Gangwon.

Second, Jeon Se-hyuk—who had already had contact points with The Abyss—had fully gone into their arms.

He had always worried about the safety of Jeon Se-hyuk and Ban Se-yeong, who operated like a detached unit.

If they fought with proper support inside The Abyss’s territory, it would become a more reliable hidden card.

Since Lee Hyun-seok, The Abyss’s warlord, and Jeon Se-hyuk were long-time friends, there was a strong chance they would receive substantial support.

“If this keeps going, even the linkage to Lee Ye-rin can stay connected…… Jeonghwa Guild must be fucked.”

Just imagining Jang Si-hwan with steam rising from his forehead made him laugh already.

From Jeonghwa Guild’s point of view, it was not a structure they could easily untangle.

In Seoul they were still the dominator, but outside Seoul they could become the defeated.

Then.

“Hm?”

His smartphone suddenly rang, and when he looked at the caller name, it was someone unexpected.

Lee Ye-rin.

It was a surprising call, coming at a time when contacts had grown a bit distant as commissions had become sparse lately.

“Yes.”

-Is it okay to talk?

“It’s okay, or I wouldn’t have picked up.”

-Heh, as expected! I don’t even need to check if it’s really you.

Hearing Kang-hoo’s blunt line—almost his signature—Lee Ye-rin chuckled.

No matter when she called, Lee Ye-rin’s energy was always high. Kang-hoo was sometimes jealous of that.

Moving brightly with constant vigor was not something that came without cost.

And she was one of the key figures in Daejeon, where fierce power struggles were unfolding in South Korea.

Every moment should have been a chain of tension and worry, yet he had never once sensed fatigue from her voice.

“What is it?”

-A designated request came in. Your fee is so high that it’s been quiet for a while, but.

“That’s true. I said I wouldn’t move for ordinary money.”

-Honestly, even this request feels a bit short. But I wanted to ask because the reward is kind of unusual.

“What is it?”

-Three Hematite. Not deferred payment either. I already received the request reward.

“Three Hematite instead of cash? And you already received it?”

-Exactly.

Tempting.

Hematite was not something you could easily put a price tag on.

If you had to assign a number, the common notion was around fifty billion won.

But Hematite had never been sold on the market. It was that rare and that hard to obtain.

Even so, if the requester offered Hematite as compensation, it meant they had a goal they desperately needed fulfilled.

“What kind of request is it?”

-You’re interested?

“Yes. Very.”

With Hematite, there was a lot he could attempt.

He could upgrade items, and he could upgrade skills as well.

It was a problem because he didn’t have it. If he did, there were mountains of things he wanted—and needed—to do. It was that kind of painfully scarce rare material.

It’s an assassination request. Location: Kimcheon Liberation Area. They want you to kill Yun Cheol, the boss of the criminal organization ‘Koma.’

It was a request that came, coincidentally yet perfectly timed. It also fit the current situation.

He roughly knew the board state, but Lee Ye-rin added the details with good intuition.

Right now, Koma was filling Ebony Bone’s vacuum faster than expected. There’s a high chance they’ll become the replacement.

The side that placed the request was Cheonhye Guild. A guild based in Gumi City and Chilgok County.

A competing guild had asked for the opposing force’s boss to be killed.

In capital-region terms, it was like Lee Hyun-seok putting in a request to a mercenary corps to kill Jang Si-hwan.

It was a request only a faction desperate to crush the other side could make.

That was why they had readily included Hematite—something the guild master could have used to upgrade their own specs—as the fee.

“Can I hear more about Yun Cheol? I have no prior info at all.”

Since the original story always centered on Seoul—where Jang Si-hwan and Jeonghwa Guild were— it rarely spared episode space for things outside Seoul, or even mentioned regional power structures.

Some might say:

You wrote the novel, and you don’t know that?

Kang-hoo was confident he could throw the question right back.

Until it was turned into text, a novel’s plan often remained only in the mind—or sometimes didn’t exist at all.

When the story needed it, brainstorming happened, or flesh was added to the skeleton.

Like this.

Even in the original story, at this point in time, a person named Yun Cheol probably existed in Kimcheon Liberation Area…… but he was never covered.

So he could not know.

Put differently, it also meant Yun Cheol had not been important enough.

And even now, wasn’t it exactly that situation?

The bloodshed in Kimcheon Liberation Area would be hard to spread outward. All the brawling and burning stayed inside this place.

-Yun Cheol. Male, late 30s. A gunner and sniper. His level is known to be in the high 400s.

“Hm.”

Aside from gender and age, his level and concept were almost identical to Ayane’s.

-He’s been infamous around Pohang for a long time. After that, he moved through Cheongsong County, Andong City, Yecheon County, Uiseong County, Gumi City, Kimcheon City—attacking and plundering local forces. He has over twenty-five suspected counts related to human trafficking.

“In one sentence: trash?”

-That’s a good summary. The problem is, they couldn’t kill Yun Cheol even if they wanted to, so they’re getting headaches like this.

“I’m thinking he might be the one behind the bloodshed in the liberation area.”

-His sniping is good. Since that’s his livelihood, I think quite a few hunters have died here because of him.

“Maybe he’s using the chaos as cover to satisfy a desire for killing.”

-I’ll cast a vote for that too.

He wasn’t an easy opponent.

The most troublesome thing about snipers was the high chance they’d suppress you first before you could even close the distance.

You couldn’t think in terms of normal attack ranges, so you could never let your guard down.

In a sniper’s world, a single shot leading to a target’s death was far too common.

Of course, once you got close, snipers also tended to become even more helpless than mages.

“I’ll take it. You said the Hematite has already been received in advance, right?”

-Yes. Once completion is confirmed, you can come receive it from me anytime. And if it’s you, Kang-hoo, I can even deliver it personally as a special case?

“Good. Let’s move.”

-How long will it take?

“We’ll start right away. Kimcheon Liberation Area is…… about five kilometers away. I’m basically there.”

-What? Already?

Lee Ye-rin’s shocked voice punched through the receiver and struck his ear hard. It was that kind of shock.

Unless he had predicted the request would come in, there was no way he would have been there in advance.

Lee Ye-rin was simply amazed at Kang-hoo’s ghostlike route—vanishing and appearing like Hong Gil-dong.

For a moment, she could not continue speaking and stayed silent.

She had told the client it would likely take at least three days to recruit Kang-hoo and prepare—only for that to be made ridiculous!

The result came out in three minutes.