chapter 43
I should have noticed something was off the moment he said the library was underground.
The “library”—or rather, the underground bunker—looked like something out of a movie, the kind of bunker built to prepare for nuclear war.
Racks of firearms and military blades lined the walls.
Storage compartments stuffed with emergency rations and ammunition.
Even a room filled with dozens of monitors clustered together like a beehive, resembling a tactical command center.
But what chilled Lee Hyun the most was the tank placed squarely in the center of the circular bunker.
…It was so well maintained that the gun deck gleamed with oil.
Clang, clang.
Lee Hyun tapped the armor lightly with his hand and let out a hollow laugh.
“This isn’t a decommissioned display piece, is it? Does it actually run?”
Ahem, hem! “Just a hobby of an old man. Those Yankee fellows love putting things like this in their garages.”
“This is Korea.”
“Heh heh. That’s why it was a pain to sneak it in.”
“…”
That wasn’t what I meant.
“…And your wife didn’t say anything about it?”
“Oh, I got scolded plenty. Said I was childish. But what can I do? It’s a man’s romance.”
Lee Hyun shook his head, as if at a hopeless case.
“Cool, isn’t it?”
“Uh, sure… I guess. But more importantly—”
Unable to scold his respected mentor, who puffed out his chest with pride, Lee Hyun fixed his gaze elsewhere. His eyes sank.
“What… is that?”
At one side of the bunker was a lab.
In it, a glass storage case sat among scientific instruments.
Inside was a hand.
Its skin was blue—too soft to be a monster’s hand, yet not human either.
The problem was how strongly it tugged at Lee Hyun’s senses.
[Combat Instinct (B) is receiving a familiar yet alien stimulus.]
[The narrative embedded in your mana stirs faintly.]
His mana kept yearning to approach it. A chill emanated from it.
“You, of all people, shouldn’t be ignorant of that.”
“…No way?”
“That, my boy, is the left hand of the <Snow Queen>.”
“…!”
Lee Hyun whipped around to stare at Yi Gunsan.
Yi Gunsan answered with a wry smile.
“I wondered if continued research might reveal a clue to lifting your curse.”
“General…”
Lee Hyun’s body went rigid.
Yi Gunsan was one of only seven high-rankers in the nation.
His class: Alchemist.
A master of pharmaceutics and synthesis.
“Still, I’m grateful you returned safe and sound. Truly. My wife and I were going mad after years of no progress.”
Lee Hyun hadn’t known this. His chest tightened.
“How did you even take it out? The military must guard it strictly.”
“Before it was officially reported, I filed it as missing and smuggled it out. The rest of the body was moved frozen—probably still being researched. Treated like a trophy, no doubt. Typical brass behavior.”
Lee Hyun didn’t know what to say.
Yi Gunsan patted his shoulder with a smile.
“As long as the results are good, that’s all that matters. Anyway, wait here. I’ll fetch the organized documents.”
While Yi Gunsan stepped away, Lee Hyun silently stared at the Snow Queen’s hand, still radiating cold.
His expression was tangled with complicated emotions.
“So this is the thing that tormented you?”
“Kak-kak. For a grudge this powerful, despite originating from a fairy tale instead of legend or myth… She must have caused plenty of trouble while alive.”
Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing appeared at his side.
Wukong glanced at him and said:
“You’ve gathered good people around you. That ugly doctor, this mentor of yours.”
“…Yes.”
“Then just do well in return. Don’t think of it as a debt. Accept kindness as kindness, and later repay it with something even greater.”
“Yes. I will. No, I must.”
Lee Hyun nodded heavily.
Wukong chuckled and gave him a pat. A touch full of meaning.
Kak-kak-kak. Haven’t seen such a heartwarming sight of a god and disciple in ages. But elder brother, why didn’t you treat us like this?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you just say good ties should be nurtured? Why did you torment us disciples so much?”
“What, you brat? Can’t you let me enjoy the mood for once?”
“This is what they call being beaten with facts.”
“You little—!”
Wukong and Wujing bickered endlessly as always.
And for some reason, Lee Hyun felt deeply grateful for it.
A few years out of active duty, I may not have the latest data, but the core facts won’t have changed.
The world’s major hunter guilds, including those in Korea, had some inkling—but not a full sense—that intelligence agencies and special forces of various nations constantly monitored them.
Since the modern era, states had monopolized violence.
But with the emergence of dungeons and awakened powers, private individuals once again wielded violence.
To prevent social collapse, states had no choice but to check the guilds.
‘Otherwise things would spiral into the chaos we see in the Middle East. That’s why they never let their guard down on guilds.’
Korea was no exception.
Lee Hyun felt the documents tucked inside his coat.
These are the materials my wife and I compiled while studying the Snow Queen. You may not need them anymore now that your mana is restored, but they may yet be of use.
A gift for meeting again after so long.
Investigation records about the Snow Queen.
Even without opening them, he knew they’d be a compass for unraveling the Ice Crystal Heart and other abilities.
Clack!
At that moment, he reached his destination.
‘Here it is.’
Lee Hyun looked up at the Myungga Guild’s headquarters. He was cloaked in stealth.
[Your Steps of the Duskwraith grow more skillful. Proficiency greatly increases stealth and infiltration ability.]
‘The doors are locked. They must have caught on about the dungeon.’
It had been half a day since they’d lost contact with their guildmaster—naturally they were on alert.
‘The cartel might be moving too. Time’s been wasted enough. Let’s go.’
The Madam had insisted on checking Jinwoo’s pulse herself, which ate up precious time.
Fortunately, he was diagnosed safe—just months of recovery needed.
With that off his chest, Lee Hyun could begin his new operation freely.
‘The general promised to support me from the shadows. Time to go wild.’
Rustle—
[You begin infiltration.]
Gripping his rune staff, Lee Hyun slipped inside.
Locked doors posed no obstacle. He moved silently through the lobby toward the 5th floor.
There were plenty of surveillance systems capable of detecting stealth skills, but—
‘I know all of them.’
He bypassed or jammed each one with curse-script interference.
Every detail matched the information in Yi Gunsan’s files.
‘Without his help, I’d have run into needless fights. But this way I avoid them all.’
It showed just how thorough intelligence agencies were in watching guilds.
And how remarkable Yi Gunsan was for managing such intelligence.
‘Even with my Lone Ghost set, restored legacy, and high-ranker-level power, I couldn’t take on the entire guild head-on. But…’
His pace quickened.
‘With the general’s intel guiding me straight to the heart of their HQ—’
[Your Duskwraith Steps grow even more silent.]
‘—it’s a completely different story.’
Whoosh—
Guild members were running frantically through the halls.
“What do you mean we can’t reach him? What happened?!”
“What about the cartel? Any word from them?”
“The Korea branch has been unresponsive too!”
“Then contact Mexico City directly on the hotline!”
Others tried to figure out the Black Market’s situation.
“What about the team sent to Uijeongbu?”
“They said the gate closed. The abandoned building vanished with it…”
“Damn! The dungeon really was cleared! What the hell are the cartel bastards hiding?!”
“Troops! How many hunters can we mobilize right now?”
“Director, don’t tell me…!”
“What, we just sit around? Let’s storm the cartel’s HQ and protest! Gather the raid members now!”
“Y-yes!”
Chaos reigned.
“Half of them are already assuming their guildmaster is dead.”
‘A company’s all about appearances. The clever ones are already worrying about how the staff perceives them.’
The bigger the guild, the more scavengers it attracted. For Lee Hyun, the greater the confusion, the better.
‘Funny how even in this chaos, no one dares touch the president’s office.’
He slipped into the 6th-floor office. The employee ID taken from the dead Heo Jaewoon worked perfectly.
‘It should be here… yes, here.’
Feeling along the wall, he pressed a hidden spot.
The wall split open, revealing a keypad.
Beep.
-
Please verify user.
So the ID didn’t work here.
Lee Hyun pressed his hand against it.
The system denied authorization.
‘Whatever. I wasn’t planning on being quiet anyway.’
He’d already downed mana potions, circuits brimming.
Bzzzt!
[You draw Kerounos. White lightning pours forth!]
White lightning surged from his palm, instantly destroying the security lock.
WEEE-OOO!
The siren blared—
BOOM!!
The wall exploded, revealing a massive hidden vault.
Heo Jaewoon had supposedly kept all his treasured items and company secrets inside.
The vault was as big as a whole room.
“What was that sound?!”
“The president’s office!”
“Move!”
Footsteps pounded the hall.
But Lee Hyun had already swept all the valuables and files into his oversized inventory.
Yi Gunsan’s intel even detailed the vault’s layout.
Such was the extent of surveillance on guilds. For a moment, Lee Hyun even wondered if White Burn was being monitored this closely.
‘At times like this, the relic is really convenient.’
Using the Sacred Relic made him far faster.
So when the employees burst into the office, what they saw was—
A man in a goblin mask, standing in the middle of a blazing white storm.
“You had plenty of fun toys here. No wonder you dared covet what was mine.”
“Who the hell are you?! Get out of there at once!”
They shouted, but none dared approach. The white lightning’s pressure was overwhelming.
“Then I’ll show you: Ignorance only brings death.”
Lee Hyun slammed his rune staff into the floor.
Vwooom!
White ripples shook the entire building as bolts of lightning erupted.
Bzzzzt!
“Try and stop this.”
[White Tsunami strikes!]
KR-BOOOM!
“The b-building—!”
“Run…!”
Their screams were drowned out by thunder.
The 6th floor was engulfed in a blinding flash, then exploded.
Crash—!
Boom! BOOM!
Rumble—!!
Windows shattered, the whole tower trembling as if about to collapse.
Lightning whipped up and down relentlessly, wreaking havoc floor by floor.
Lee Hyun wasn’t aiming to slaughter guild members—his target was the building itself.
The goal: to drag Myungga’s prestige through the mud, showing the world that no one could trifle with Zeus’s Apostle.
‘The more infamous this identity becomes, the more Jang Lee Hyun’s real self will fade.’
Bzzzt!
Crackle—
[Chains of Lightning rampage!]
Chains of electricity tore through walls and pillars, shaking the structure.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Outside! Get out!”
“The building—it’s collapsing!”
Employees and hunters fled in panic.
No one dared try to stop him. With no president to lead them, no one wanted to die pointlessly.
Thoom, thoom, thoom!
Finally, the skyscraper crumbled downward, floor by floor.
Outside, employees who’d escaped and bystanders drawn by the commotion all witnessed Myungga HQ’s fall.
Rumble…!
“…”
“…”
“It really collapsed.”
“Myungga… just like that…”
The crowd stared in disbelief.
One of Korea’s five great guilds—gone, just like that.
But it wasn’t over.
Bzzzzt!
White lightning burst from the rubble—
BOOM!
The debris shifted, and from within emerged the sorcerer responsible, striding up stairs woven from chains of lightning.
A scorching gale and crushing pressure swept the area.
Just looking up at him on the ruins made everyone’s spines tingle.
“Commander, what should we do?”
“Should we take him down now—?”
“No. We wait.”
The six raid leaders, the core of Myungga, all hesitated. None moved rashly.
“But—!”
“Anyone who dared infiltrate to the heart of HQ and pull this off is at least high-ranker level. None of us detected him. That alone proves it.”
“…”
“And the way he flaunts his destruction—this isn’t ordinary confidence. Rush in blindly and we’ll only get hurt.”
“…”
“And…”
“There’s more?”
“I heard the man who killed Mukesh recently wore a mask like that.”
“M-Mukesh’s death was real?!”
“I thought it was just rumor. But it must’ve been true. The description matches exactly—terrifying white lightning.”
“…”
“So we wait.”
“Orders acknowledged.”
“Orders acknowledged.”
The mysterious high-ranker said to have killed Vajrason in a single blow.
All hunters watched him warily, tense.
The misunderstanding was intentional—Lee Hyun’s ruse—but none of the six raid leaders were willing to die for Myungga, which was finished anyway.
‘No way this guild will recover. Then…’
‘Better to break off with my squad.’
‘Or defect. If we move as a unit, we’ll fetch a good price elsewhere.’
Their minds were divided—just as Lee Hyun intended.
‘As expected. Same old mess. Always were hollow inside.’
Seeing no one dared pursue, Lee Hyun finally spoke once the mood was ripe.
『This punishment ends here. But if anything like this happens again—』
Through the goblin mask, golden eyes blazed with cold lightning.
『—I’ll grind everything into dust, leaving not even a blade of grass.』
“…!”
“…!”
“…!!”
Fwoooosh—
Confirming that every witness was struck dumb, Lee Hyun thought:
‘I got plenty of data on the fossil egg too. Time to leave.’
He burst into radiance and vanished.
Flash!
Even long after he disappeared, the witnesses couldn’t move from their spots.
