Chapter 580
With a quiet voice, Go Sewon stepped onto the magic circle.
A flash of white light—the sign that teleportation magic had been activated—carried him to Area A, where he continued,
“Why are there nine, not ten?”
– An urgent matter came up.
“An urgent matter? Who’s missing?”
– Kim Hojung.
“Kim Hojung?”
– Yes.
Listening to Team 1 leader’s dry voice, Go Sewon strode down the corridor of Area A, his mood as sharp as his echoing footsteps.
“That’s odd. I don’t remember being told anything about this.”
– Sorry.
“I’m not asking for an apology. I want a reason. Did he go AWOL?”
– Of course not.
Yeah, of course not, Go Sewon muttered inwardly.
The security team were hunting dogs raised by the late Lee Jeongryong.
Lee Jeongryong had secretly run a huge network of orphanages and foster homes for years, imprinting loyalty into those with nowhere else to go.
He was one of them. So were they.
Among them, Team 1 was made up of only the most loyal and capable. For someone from Team 1 to go missing was less likely than a monster wave.
Especially Kim Hojung—he was the least likely of all.
‘So that means…’
The Ares Guild had many senior and elder members, but the security team answered to only two people.
For Kim Hojung to disappear without even telling Go Sewon, one of them, could only mean one thing.
Step.
His steady pace stopped abruptly.
Just as Go Sewon stared in silence at a door without any nameplate or decoration, a cheerful voice rang out from inside.
“Come in. Don’t hover outside.”
Go Sewon swallowed and opened the door. In the neatly organized room, his only direct superior was waiting.
“The weather’s nice today, isn’t it, Team Leader Go?”
“Yes, sir.”
Go Sewon bowed briefly, eyes quickly scanning the room.
Seok Gojun’s pleasant smile, the whiskey glass in his hand, and something rolling in his other hand—
‘What is that?’
This wasn’t the Seok Gojun he knew. Everything about this room felt strange and unsettling.
Maybe it was the sound scratching at his ear.
Grind, grind.
As the irritating noise filled the room, Seok Gojun’s voice overlapped it.
“As for Kim Hojung, you don’t need to worry. I gave him a separate task.”
“I see.”
“Aren’t you curious what it was?”
Their eyes met in the air. Staring at Seok Gojun’s unusually red eyes today, Go Sewon bowed his head respectfully.
“No, sir. If it was your order, there must have been a reason.”
“That’s the right answer. I was starting to think you were upset with me lately. Maybe because I’m so young, and you were always loyal to your mentor.”
“That’s not true. I owe a lot to the former vice-guild leader, but that doesn’t change my loyalty.”
“Is that so? Good.”
Grind.
Smiling pleasantly, Seok Gojun rolled something in his palm and swirled his drink.
“The weather’s nice. How about a drink together?”
Go Sewon replied calmly.
“I’m sorry, but—”
“You’re refusing, huh? Too bad, it’s good whiskey.”
Go Sewon watched in silence as Seok Gojun emptied his glass, then suddenly spoke up.
“More importantly, I have an urgent report.”
“Go ahead.”
“In Busan—” Go Sewon trailed off. On the table was a hologram PC, frozen on an image of an enormous octopus and the destroyed Gwangan Bridge.
“In Busan, what?”
After a moment’s silence, Go Sewon muttered,
“You already know, don’t you?”
Seok Gojun let out a quiet laugh.
“I knew before anyone.”
The unchanging cheerful voice made Go Sewon’s heart sink.
He felt his vague worries take shape as Seok Gojun calmly continued,
“Then, is Kim Hojung in Busan now?”
“I thought you said you didn’t care a moment ago.”
“Sorry. It slipped out.”
“It’s fine. You’d have to know anyway.”
Seok Gojun refilled his glass and continued, still in a good mood.
“That’s right. Kim Hojung is in Busan on my orders.”
After a moment’s thought, Seok Gojun added,
“Although, by now he might not be there anymore.”
“Why not sit and have a drink? My neck’s getting sore looking up at you.”
This time, Go Sewon couldn’t refuse. He had no reason to. He needed something—anything—to steady his swirling mind, even if it was whiskey.
Gulp, gulp.
He downed the strong whiskey in one go and finally felt able to breathe.
Still clutching the empty crystal glass, Go Sewon forced out a voice.
“Vice-Guild Leader, I don’t know how you managed it, but this method won’t deal much damage to them.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because… Jin Taekyung is there. He’s the one who took down the Arch Lich. He’s suppressing this monster wave quickly, too. It’s only making the Peace Guild look better.”
“Right. Jin Taekyung. He really is something.”
He’d risked his superior’s anger mentioning the name, but Seok Gojun’s gentle smile didn’t waver.
That gentle smile only made Go Sewon’s unease grow.
“Vice-Guild Leader, don’t tell me—”
“If you want to take out a commander, you have to lure the general. If word got out, it’d be chaos, but at least there’d be no aftermath.”
“I can’t do anything about Jin Taekyung for now. But Choi Minwoo is different. Isn’t that right?”
Grind, grind.
With that unsettling grinding noise, a name flashed through Go Sewon’s mind like lightning.
“Song Cheonwoo. It’s Song Cheonwoo, isn’t it?”
“Correct. Have another drink as your prize.”
Go Sewon took the glass with trembling fingers. He couldn’t figure out where things had gone wrong.
Still, he was sure his superior’s plan would fail.
“…Choi Minwoo is a cautious man. On the surface, he’s the owner of the Peace Guild, and he has Kim Hwajong, who’s been loyal to him for years.”
“I know. I’ve heard all about Kim Hwajong from the mentor. And with other security personnel, there’s no way Song Cheonwoo could handle it alone.”
“Then why—”
GRIND!
Go Sewon’s words were drowned out by the loud scraping.
Instead of answering, Seok Gojun just smiled and opened his palm. What he’d been holding finally appeared.
About the size of an egg, it was filled with darkness like a piece of the abyss itself. Its name slipped from Go Sewon’s lips.
“Magic Stone…”
If it had been a normal magic stone, he wouldn’t have been surprised.
But what rested in Seok Gojun’s hand was the so-called S-class magic stone, only found in named monsters.
Unrefined, pure [Mana] swirled inside it.
“Vice-Guild Leader…”
Now he understood. This was how Seok Gojun had engineered the monster wave.
Hearing Go Sewon’s gasp, full of dread and realization, Seok Gojun murmured,
“Choi Minwoo. That bastard dies today.”
And the one to kill him would be one of two—
The old man with his family held hostage, or someone else, whose true nature even Seok Gojun didn’t know.
“One thing’s certain—Song Cheonwoo has no other choice.”
Seok Gojun murmured softly, smiling pleasantly.
As he habitually touched the old necklace around his neck, a shadow flickered in his eyes.
—
If anyone asked how Song Cheonwoo could move in such a dire state, his answer would be just two words.
Willpower.
That was all it was. Summoning his last reserves with pure will. The old man, pushing seventy, used every ounce of his remaining strength to hurl himself toward death.
Pop! Whoosh!
The world slowed.
The cold feel of snow vanished, and a floating sensation took hold of his entire body.
In that split second stretched to eternity, Song Cheonwoo met the wide-open eyes of two men watching him.
Choi Minwoo and Kim Hwajong. Their eyes seemed to ask—
‘Why?’
Song Cheonwoo answered their unspoken question inwardly.
‘Because there was no other way.’
Maybe a few days ago, he would have taken Choi Minwoo’s hand.
But the last time he saw Seok Gojun, he’d become… a monster.
Song Cheonwoo saw madness in his eyes. If he left here alive, that man would eliminate his family without hesitation.
Not even the Peace Guild, Jin Taekyung, or ‘that person’ could solve it.
‘So this is how it ends.’
With a fleeting thought, Song Cheonwoo fell toward the endless darkness.
The unfathomable abyss looked like a monster’s jaws—and like his own life.
Nietzsche, was it? Someone said, if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.
Song Cheonwoo realized this too late.
Screeeech!
A frigid, furious wind slammed into his body.
Through its howling, he seemed to hear a conversation from a few days ago echo in his ears.
‘This is…’
‘Put it away. As you know, Branch Chief, it’s a dangerous thing. And expensive, too.’
‘You’re crazy.’
‘You’ll have to be crazy too, if you want to save your family.’
It was a madman’s voice, a madman’s conversation.
And after days of torment that felt like years, Song Cheonwoo hadn’t used “that thing” to the very end.
‘Maybe that was my last good deed.’
Amid the raging wind, Song Cheonwoo felt something approaching in the darkness and closed his eyes.
Crunch! Crack, snap!
At the end of his long fall—
First, his neck snapped. Every bone in his body shattered.
And in that fading consciousness, he heard something cry out.
A chill, eerie monster’s cry like nothing he’d ever heard.
He tried to speak, but the thing lurking in the abyss for years allowed no dying words from its prey.
Crunch!
Darkness fell.
Massive fangs crushed the life from his body and drank his blood.
Even the thing he’d never used, tucked deep in his pocket, as if hoping to die a man and not a monster—
Darkness itself radiated light.