"No! My Yoonjeong would never do something like that! You know she's not that kind of girl, Yusin, don't you? Right? Please?"

I was visiting Yoonjeong's home. Her mother clung to my clothes, wailing. Her haggard face was a mask of suffering.

"Oh, god! To say that sweet child killed someone… It's all lies! Lies!"

I wasn't shameless enough to lay out the grim reality for a mother crying her heart out for her daughter.

"Of course. There must have been some kind of mistake. I'll find her, no matter what it takes."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Oh, where is my mind! Have you eaten?"

"Haha, I ate before I came. More importantly, has Yoonjeong been home?"

She shook her head. "She lives on her own. She used to come home once or twice a month, but lately she said she was busy with exams…"

I had come just in case, but it seemed she hadn't stopped by her apartment or her family home. She knew her own condition better than anyone. Even if she had returned to her senses, she probably couldn't bring herself to visit the people she loved for fear of hurting them.

Her mother, sobbing the whole time, bowed repeatedly, begging me to find her daughter. She followed me outside and waved goodbye as I left. I took a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and put a check mark next to the word 'Home.' I was systematically visiting every place she might go.

'Alright, next up…'

This time, it was the player training center Yoonjeong frequented—a place I had also visited often back when I was considered a non-combatant. But then…

Ugh.

A large banner was plastered across the window of the second-floor building.

'THE VERY SAME TRAINING CENTER ATTENDED BY OFFICIAL RANK-4 HUNTER 'Kim Yusin'!'

That man… Shaking my head at the embarrassing sign, I went up to the second floor, but the door was closed. Was he not open today? I knocked, just in case.

"Who is it?" a gruff man's voice called out.

"Um…"

"Which TV station is it this time? Just go away! Got nothin' to say!"

"It's Kim Yusin."

Silence.

The voice cut off. Then came the sound of stomping footsteps, and the door flew open with a clatter.

"Ooooh! Yusin! Come in! Hurry, come in!"

I entered the training center to an enthusiastic welcome. Nothing had changed. The familiar training equipment was lined up in rows. My handprints were probably still on a few of them.

'How nostalgic.'

Since players' stamina and strength were fundamentally different from those of ordinary people, they needed specialized training equipment. Of course, proper gear made from monster byproducts was only available if you joined a guild. Places like this, scattered all over Seoul, catered to provisional players who would come for personal training when there were no dungeon schedules. Yoonjeong and I, being treated as 'non-combatants' who couldn't even enter dungeons, used to practically live at this place.

"A VIP has graced us, but this is all I have to offer."

The owner handed me a can of 'Pine Bud,' the most polarizing drink in existence. It was a canned beverage with a long history, containing pine bud extract.

"Thank you, I'll enjoy it!"

Of course, I absolutely loved it. It was hard to find these days, so I couldn't drink it even if I wanted to. Popping the tab, I took a sip, and the refreshing pine flavor spread through my body. 'Ah, this is good.' This was exactly the old-school, menthol-like taste I'd been craving.

"Thanks to you, Yusin, I can finally breathe easy. I'm really grateful."

"Why me?"

"I've been in this business for about ten years, and people stopped coming, sayin' the equipment was old. I was thinkin' of closing up shop, but then suddenly you were all over the news! So I put up a banner with your name on it, and the customers started flocking in! Thanks to that, I've been able to bring in some new equipment, and things are looking up."

"I'm glad I could help."

"But…"

The owner lit a cigarette with a troubled expression. "That girl who used to come with you, Yoonjeong…"

"Ah."

"The customers just stopped coming. Just a few days ago, this was a place Yoonjeong frequented. The thought of working out alongside a demonkin just repulses everyone." The owner exhaled a long plume of smoke. "Yusin."

"Yes."

"Do you really think Yoonjeong is a demonkin?" Without waiting for my answer, he shook his head. "People who don't know her will just watch the news and curse her, but anyone who knows Yoonjeong couldn't say such things. That gentle, hardworking kid became a demonkin and started killing people? Ha, what nonsense! There must be a mistake."

I couldn't bring myself to respond.

"After you left, Yoonjeong worked out even more fiercely. Kids like that are the ones who should succeed. What's all this nonsense about a demonkin all of a sudden?! Huh? What demonkin in the world works out with their hands covered in bandages and their body plastered with pain relief patches? Good grief!"

I nodded. "I'm also looking for Yoonjeong to hear the full story from her. Has she stopped by here at all?"

"She paid for three months of training and then suddenly stopped coming. She's not the type to do that, so I figured something must have happened."

"I see. Thank you for letting me know."

Another dead end. I stood up. "Well, I'm busy, so I should get going…"

"Ah, wait a minute!"

The owner dashed into the staff room and came back with a pen and a sheet of paper. He then held it out to me like a shy schoolgirl. "Y-you gotta give me an autograph before you go. I'm gonna frame it and hang it on the wall."

"…Haha."

After giving him my autograph, I moved on to the next location: the neighborhood she frequented, the convenience store, and her academy dorm. I exhausted every bit of information I had about her, chasing even the slimmest of possibilities, but found no trace of her anywhere.

—Seojin: Tower Master. She is not here.

—Bora: I'm sorry, Yusin.

The Magic Tower members helping with the search all came up empty. I slumped onto a park bench.

'The police can't even find her. What the hell am I doing?'

A wave of helplessness washed over me, but I quickly shook it off. This was no time to rest. I had to do something before the situation got any worse. Somehow.

A text message arrived. I checked it. The sender was an unregistered number.

—Unknown number: Come to the mountain tomorrow.

* * *

Red rain fell. The streets sloshed with crimson rainwater as the entire world became a sea of blood. The umbrellas people held were scarlet, and buildings were smeared with the red liquid, which dripped down in fat drops. This strange phenomenon was a precursor to a Disaster. And among them, red rain meant only one thing.

'The Disaster, 'Classic Gate,' is expected to manifest for the first time in seven years.'

'Scholars have measured irregular mana phenomena in the sky and have taken note of the strange occurrence of red rain. The scope of the Disaster is vast, covering East and Southeast Asia, including the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore.'

'The governments of each nation have launched the 'Asian Disaster Response Coalition' and have agreed to cooperate closely, prioritizing human life in their efforts to overcome the Disaster.'

This damn situation just refused to get better. A serial killer, a demonkin, and now a continent-spanning Disaster. Korea hadn't even recovered from the shock of the Labyrinth Dungeon. In truth, this Disaster was less dangerous than the Labyrinth, which dropped monsters all over the peninsula, but the red rain had sent the public into a panic. The outcry over the serial killer and the demonkin was washed away, replaced by a swelling fear of the Disaster. Because of this, the Korean government decided to divert some of the Joint Investigation Headquarters' resources to Disaster defense. Investigating crimes was important, but their judgment was that overcoming the immediate crisis took priority.

I didn't know whether to be happy about this or not. The manpower tracking Yoonjeong had certainly been reduced, and many of the police officers who had been deployed all over Seoul were pulled back. Unfortunately, however…

'The Vatican's Holy Knights, currently in the country, have refused the Korean government's request for cooperation regarding the Classic Gate Disaster.'

'Following the Holy Knights, Egypt's Gravekeepers have also refused to cooperate. Pharaoh Menes drew a clear line, stating, 'Our purpose for visiting Korea is solely the arrest of the serial killer.

The two World Guilds were still chasing Armin Walter. And Armin Walter was chasing Han Yoonjeong. There was no guarantee that the chaotic confrontation I had experienced before wouldn't happen again.

The red rain fell ceaselessly. I walked, holding an umbrella. It was just red-colored rain, but it felt sticky, as if it were truly blood, and my whole body felt heavy. I forced strength into my legs and walked, one step at a time, toward my meeting place with Yoonjeong.

It was a hillside near Acha Mountain in Seoul, a place Yoonjeong and I used to visit often during our provisional player days. Back then, there was a superstition about 'mana forest bathing'—that your magic power stat would increase if you spent time in a place with high mana concentration—so we'd often come here as part of our stamina training.

As a place known for such things, the demonic trees grew lush and tall. A dense forest of conifers, rare in Korea, rose up, giving it the feel of a European drama set. But hiking in the mountains during a red rain was gloomy.

The trees were bleeding. The sight of them swaying in the wind, dripping red liquid from their leaves, was menacing and eerie. I tried to clear my mind as I walked on.

About halfway up, I left the hiking trail and followed a small path. A short while later, a wide-open view with no trees unfolded, revealing the buildings and the Han River below. It was a view I used to love.

Quietly approaching the edge of the cliff, I tilted my umbrella to the side. "You're not going to use this?"

From within the bushes, a woman soaked in the red rain looked up at me. Below her neck, she was covered in the shell of a demonkin, but her face was still human.

"It's not like I'll catch a cold from getting rained on anymore."

"…I see."

We fell silent, quietly staring ahead. The blood-soaked city created an indescribably strange atmosphere.

"What have you been up to?"

At my question, she answered with a faint smile. "Trying to kill myself."

I was speechless.

"I tried jumping from a really high place, but that wasn't enough. I got angry and tried drowning myself, you know? When I opened my eyes, I was back on land. I think I turned into a demonkin while I was unconscious and got out." She paused and looked down at her own shell-covered arm. "I guess I'm really not human anymore."

I plopped down next to her and handed her the entire umbrella. "If you think you're human, then you're still human."

She stared at the umbrella silently before finally taking the handle. Then she held it between us, sharing it, just like a person.

"Hey," she began. "I called you because I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

She smiled brightly, as if it were nothing. "Turns out, I'm the boss of this Disaster."

My heart sank. I had thought the timing was too perfect, but could it really be?

"The Classic Gate only ends when you find and kill the boss monster, right? It seems I've become the core of that Disaster."

"…No way! How could you possibly know that…?"

"You just know when you become a demonkin. Naturally." Yoonjeong placed a hand on her chest. "I can feel that I'm intimately connected to this red rain calamity, and that when this heart stops, the Disaster will end too… Yeah. I can feel it all."

I was too stunned to speak.

"By the way, I can control monsters now, too. Hehe, funny, right? I tried moving a monster just in case, and it followed my command. I'm a real demonkin."

It wasn't funny. Every word she spoke was a knife in my chest.

"So I have a favor to ask."

'Don't say it. Please.'

"I want you to kill me."

The rain poured down as if demanding my answer, but I couldn't say a word.

"If it's you… I think I can prepare myself. Being killed by a complete stranger is a little scary."

She confirmed her own death in a calm tone. Right, I knew. Her fate had only been postponed by the Disaster; this country would find her one way or another. Especially when Association President Hong Yul returned, she would hunt for Yoonjeong with bloodshot eyes for harming her students. There was no way to turn a demonkin back into a human. Her story was set for a bad ending.

"Ah, of course, I don't mean I want to die right this second," she said, forcing a bright tone. "I still have one thing I need to do."

The moment she said that, her face was covered by the shell as she transformed. Then, without any warning, she shot her arm out toward me.

"Whoa!"

Startled, I leaned back. Just as quickly, she returned to her human face and laughed out loud. "Scared ya? Huh? You were scared, right? You're still a coward even after becoming an official hunter."

"You…"

"I figured out how to control my power without letting the demonkin transformation take over my mind." She clenched and unclenched her fist, then shot up from her spot. "I've made up my mind. I'm going to land a blow on this Disaster before I die."

"…What?"

"The Disaster made me this way, right? Well, it's true I wanted power a few weeks ago, but this is just wrong. The Disaster made me kill people, and now it's trying to use me to kill even more." She turned to look at me. "Honestly, my demonkin instincts want to kill you right now, too."

I was too stunned to speak.

"Someone keeps whispering in my ear. 'Kill the humans. Annihilate the humans. Let go of everything, surrender to your instincts, and find peace.' It's like they're trying to brainwash me. Isn't that just vicious?" She looked up at the sky. "So, even if I have to die, I want to land one hell of a punch on this world."

I looked up at her. She was strong. So strong it gave me chills.

"You'll help me, right?" she asked, holding out her hand with a grin.

Yes, this was the Yoonjeong I knew. I took her hand and stood up. "Do you have a plan?"

We talked for a long time, just like we used to. We giggled together as we plotted how to give this world a giant middle finger. And we found our answer.

"Look! The sun's coming up!"

The red rain stopped, and the clouds began to part. The strange phenomenon was over, which meant the Disaster would soon begin. And yet, a clear sky is better than a red rain, I thought.

* * *

I dragged my exhausted body onto the subway. The plan was set. However, I had deferred my answer to her final request. That wasn't the ending I wanted. I intended to change the final act of the story she had in mind.

"This station is Sanggye, the last stop on this line. The doors will open on your left."

I was back in Sanggye-dong. I got off at the station and walked slowly through the quiet, deserted city. I went to one of the only two convenience stores in the neighborhood and bought the fruit-flavored jellies Eunsol wanted.

After buying some snacks, I was walking slowly down a narrow alley when I stopped, turned around, and said, "Alright, come on out."

Two men in white priest clothes emerged. Holy Knights.

"There's no need for a long conversation," the one on the right said. "Hunter Kim Yusin. The Archbishop is looking for you. If you come quietly, no harm will come to you."

"Harm? Don't make me laugh." I leisurely pretended to clean my ear, adjusting the distance between us. "If Marcello has something to say, tell him to come himself. Don't bother me by sending your lackeys."

"Insolent. Who are you to speak his name so freely?"

The two knights drew the swords from their waists, white mana coating the blades.

"Give up. We may be rank 4 like you, but a Holy Knight who wields divine power is on a different level from an ordinary Hunter."

"Besides, it's two against one."

"Enough with the sarcasm. This is your final warning. If you have a hunting device, put it on the ground. Kneel and place both hands behind your head."

I slowly bent my knees. Then, pretending to place the plastic bag on the ground, I scraped the sole of my shoe. "In your dreams."

<Devastar>

I shot forward like an arrow, grabbed one of the knights by the face, and slammed him into a concrete wall. 'CRUNCH!' Cracks spiderwebbed across the wall as the man's face was crushed, and he collapsed. I immediately spun around and leaned back as a pure white sword sliced through the empty air.

"You bastard!"

The white flash, swung like a beam of light, was fast and sharp. As expected of a sword meant for hunting monsters, it relied on power and mass. It even followed the most efficient path to its target—the sign of a swordsman with excellent fundamentals. When it came to hunting specific monsters, I might even be less effective than that knight. But…

'Compared to him, this is so boring it makes me yawn.'

<Earth Claymore>

With a flick of my fingers, an instant-cast earth sword erupted from the ground, blocking the knight's charge.

<Shield>

I deployed a shield in the direction he was moving, obstructing his advance.

<Ice Field>

I spread a sheet of ice on the ground, making him slip and unable to plant his feet firmly. With just a little pressure like this, a swordsman's balance could be easily broken.

"What…! How many abilities do you have?!"

The knight finally tried to leap off the building wall to escape the ice field, but…

"Peekaboo."

I was already there. Having reached him first with my Leap Boots, I brought my leg down on his face, slamming him into the ground.

"Cough!"

As he collapsed, I fired an Ice Javelin with a blunted tip to freeze his arms and legs. Then I descended from the sky and stomped on the knight's neck.

"Kegh!"

"Relay this to the Archbishop." I bent down, meeting his eyes as I continued. "I know how to find Armin Walter."

"…!"

"Tell him to stop with these cheap tricks and arrange a formal meeting."

* * *

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