Signs Of Fracture (1)

At that time.

“Whose hidden skill was Black Cross Flame Lotus? If it isn’t in the database, that means it belonged to a hunter who obtained a hidden skill at least five years ago.”

Shinwol, who had been resting in her private room, saw the hidden skill plunder message and rose from her seat.

She did not know all seventy-seven owners of hidden skills.

However, after she began collecting data in earnest five years ago, information had been compiled on any hunter whose hidden skill had been exposed even once in an official setting or in a video.

That was why, when Vincent’s hidden skill passed to Kang-hoo, she had been able to tell who had lost it and who had taken it.

But there was absolutely no related information on Black Cross Flame Lotus.

As for Kang-hoo, since no one had been assigned to tail him separately yet, she still did not know his exact whereabouts.

In any case, Kang-hoo already had a total of six hidden skills. As the system notification said, he truly ranked third in number possessed.

First place had ten, and second place had nine.

Out of a total of seventy-seven hidden skills, the two of them alone accounted for nearly a quarter.

At first, she had naturally assumed that the being who possessed that many hidden skills was Eye.

Because it was Shinwol’s greatest enemy, and the organization with which it waged a relentless shadow war.

The people of the world knew neither of Shinwol’s existence nor of Eye’s existence.

Even the incident in which Shinwol’s South America branch had been annihilated in its entirety this time was transformed in the media into a fire at an illegal immigrant lodging and reported that way.

Of course, it was true that Shinwol used facilities even more ordinary than those of regular people in order to avoid revealing itself to the outside world.

Even so, Eye’s influence was greater than expected, enough to easily distort the truth through the media.

In truth, given Shinwol’s structure, where hiding one’s identity was the default no matter where one operated, it probably would not have seemed especially unusual to others.

In any case, the world knew nothing of this lonely, yet endlessly long war.

“I’m starting to think maybe first place or second place. Those beings might end up targeting Shin Kang-hoo.”

A hidden skill gave rise to greed for yet another hidden skill.

Shinwol believed this was a conflict deliberately engineered by the system. It was encouraging a blood-soaked struggle for possession.

However, the identities of the ones in first and second place, other than Eye, and what exactly they did, were still completely unknown.

Perhaps they were hiding their power while mixed in among ordinary people, pretending to be normal.

Or perhaps one of those two might even be among the non-hunter celebrities or actors we all know.

The fact that imagination could spread without limit meant there was absolutely nothing known.

In any case, Kang-hoo’s rise to third place in the possession ranking was even more dazzling growth than Shinwol had expected.

It was enough to make one wonder whether he was really a latecomer who had escaped the detention center only a few months ago and been belatedly incorporated into the world of hunters.

Even when Shinwol had trained hunters with the best infrastructure it possessed in its own way, it had never produced an expert like that.

Even when openly backing them!

That meant there had never been a member who had unleashed potential and ability on the level of Shin Kang-hoo. It was growth that made no sense.

Blackly gleaming obsidian. Yet inside it, there is a radiance brighter and more brilliant than anything else.

It was something she had heard long ago in a dream from the divine maiden Sperma. She now slept peacefully in the basement.

In truth, the reason Shinwol had devoted her whole body to maintaining the order of this world was also because of Sperma.

That was why she had resented her before.

After instilling in her a noble conviction she could never lay down, Sperma herself was lying there so peacefully, “dead.”

But every story she had heard from Sperma had been shocking enough that none of it could ever be dismissed lightly.

And so it stimulated Shinwol’s conviction, the conviction that wished for her power to be used meaningfully for the world.

Shinwol did not cry out for lofty justice. Rather, she despised it.

She believed that in order to stand against evil, one had to be willing to use any means necessary. Terrorism? She did not care in the least.

It had also been Shinwol who had openly turned Celestial Assassin, who had never lived while bearing enmity with anyone in his life, into a villain.

And now.

The thing quietly asleep on the bed placed to one side of her private room was also a sacrifice Shinwol had made.

Ibella. Shinwol’s younger sister.

In the past, Shinwol had tried to catch Eye by using her younger sister Ibella, who had happened to come into contact with the Red Eye.

But the plan had failed, and in order to prevent information about herself and the organization from being exposed in reverse, Shinwol…….

Turned her younger sister into an idiot!

Shinwol’s swift response, having already considered the possibility of failure.

As a result, she had managed to stop Shinwol’s internal information from leaking out, but the younger sister she loved had become a fool.

Even so, unless she was alone, Shinwol had never once expressed regret over Ibella.

Cold-Blooded Shinwol.

That was how those who knew her referred to her. They said she had neither blood nor tears.

That was why. The vulnerable side she had shown Celestial Assassin lately had been a shock even to him.

“Ibella. What do you think? Do you think this person called Shin Kang-hoo is someone who fits Lady Sperma’s will?”

The sparkling eyes of Ibella, who had just woken up, examined Shinwol’s eyes, but there was no response.

Since it was her private room, she had also removed her mask, so her older sister’s real face was clearly visible.

But as though Ibella’s time had stopped somewhere in the past, there was no reaction. She only smiled.

Shinwol disliked having her thoughts keep getting stuck on any one thing.

But these days, more and more, she was thinking that Kang-hoo might be the “obsidian” that fit Sperma’s prophecy.

That was because she also felt that the contents written in the book of prophecy she had been able to open last year subtly pointed to Kang-hoo.

She thought that the “alone” and “loneliness” in the contents written in the prophecy matched Kang-hoo’s current state rather well.

He belonged nowhere and acted alone, and he kept undergoing abnormal growth, did he not.

Sperma’s prophecy was absolutely not telling her to pay attention to an already well-established named figure.

It was telling her to find a rising star who was still going through explosive growth while others did not yet think of him as a named figure.

Here, no matter how Shinwol turned over the possibilities in her head, she could arrive at no conclusion other than Kang-hoo’s name.

“Shin Kang-hoo…….”

Shinwol’s blue eyes sparkled as she repeated Kang-hoo’s name.

It was certainly a vain and misguided act to place all expectations on a single person.

But right now, she wanted to place a foolish hope in Kang-hoo once, just as she had when she first met Celestial Assassin.

If it was true that Sperma’s prophecy was pointing to him, then he was talent that must never be missed.

If she could not have him……. then at the very least, she had to prevent him from falling into the arms of the enemy. No matter what.

After that.

Kang-hoo’s group returned swiftly.

Since they had killed Quentin and also finished clearing the Forest of Nightmares, there was no reason to remain any longer.

As agreed beforehand, Ayane and Park Dong-jae were able to experience earning a tidy profit in magic stones.

Kang-hoo had already achieved what he wanted long ago by obtaining three Shells of Blackwood and two Shells of Bimok.

On top of that, he had even accomplished his long-cherished goal of “plundering a hybrid’s hidden skill,” so it was fair to say he had achieved everything he had wanted.

After returning to the airport, Kang-hoo sold items at a market near Perth Airport while his companions handled maintenance.

Because the market was located not in the northeastern area where the large-scale hybrid attack had occurred, but in the safe southwestern area.

It could be reached with only about a fifteen-minute flight by light aircraft.

Perhaps because it was the place with the largest market in Australia, finding buyers was easy.

He got the prices he had expected, and thanks to that, Kang-hoo’s balance rose to 985 billion won. Roughly 1 trillion won.

After finishing the transaction.

While waiting for the departure of the light aircraft that would take him back to Perth Airport again, Kang-hoo came out to a nearby vacant lot.

There were quite a few hybrids wandering around aimlessly nearby, but they had completely lost their combat ability.

They were hybrids that had fallen behind after leaving their group and suffering severe injuries.

Seeing that so many such hybrids came specifically this way, it was obvious that a leader like the Yellow-Eyed Magician was intentionally sending discarded hybrids here.

Since they were no longer useful as tools for battle, it was probably the idea of clearing them away so they would not become an unnecessary nuisance.

Meanwhile.

As Kang-hoo came to the vacant lot, he had been reading a simple newspaper he had picked up at the entrance to the market.

A story about teams that had challenged the extermination of the West Australian hybrid zone caught his eye. The information was based on yesterday’s point in time.

The casualty news, aside from the Argentine and Italian teams he had directly seen, was written much farther below.

The reason the newspaper announced “failure” rather than extermination success like this was to stop foreign hunters from pouring in. It was intentionally meant to frighten them.

But rather, content like this seemed to stimulate foreign hunters even more.

Day by day, the number of hunters entering Perth Airport was rising steeply.

It was clearly shown in the influx graph article handled in a separate section beside the casualty notices.

The arrow was shooting straight upward, enough to make one wonder whether the rise in slope could really be this dramatic.

“We’re a case where things went well.”

Kang-hoo was newly made to realize just how perfectly they had completed the extermination with a three-person clear.

They had not suffered so much as a small scratch, let alone an injury. The same was true not only for Kang-hoo, but also for Ayane and Park Dong-jae.

Perth Airport was in such chaos right now because it was dealing with the aftermath of the previous sudden incident, but if they found out the news about Kang-hoo’s team, they would probably react with surprise.

When Kang-hoo’s group had returned to Perth Airport earlier, the person in charge had said this.

Area No. 7 is definitely difficult, isn’t it? I’m glad you made it back safely. It’s fortunate enough that you returned unharmed.

It was a remark that took extermination failure as an established fact.

Ayane and Park Dong-jae had flinched, but knowing Kang-hoo’s personality, which disliked showing off in matters like this, they held back.

Having already come back stuffed with profit, they had no desire to ride an emotional high or low over meaningless praise anyway.

“Now I can finally get a proper look.”

Kang-hoo stood while keeping an appropriate distance from a discarded hybrid.

The creature immediately recognized Kang-hoo’s presence, but as though it had lost the will to live, it merely wandered aimlessly.

And then.

Kang-hoo opened the information on Black Cross Flame Lotus, the hidden skill he had plundered after killing Quentin.

Because the match had been decided so early, it was a skill Quentin died without ever getting to use on Kang-hoo even once!

He intended to examine the precious skill in detail.

And test its power.

Just in time, there had long since been a suitable test subject right before his eyes.