Across the Han River, in the Yongsan District sitting at the top of a glittering skyscraper, a conference room had the perfect view of Guryong Village and the smoke that had been rising from it since the ogre gate break.

“Excuse me?” The voice spoke up from the entrance to the conference room, the speaker identifiable by the badge on his suit jacket identifying him as a member of the guild's surveillance team. “I have an update on the experiment.”

“Very well.” Seated at the had of the table, grey eyes blinking slowly in the direction of the door, the chairman waved the newcomer inside. “What is your update?”

Despite receiving permission to come inside, the surveillance team member did not look any less anxious as he stepped up to the tinted window opposite the head.

Picking up a remote, he turned on surveillance footage from one of the guild's drones, the image showing an overhead view of the ravaged slum. There was no reaction to the sight of the dozens of leveled homes and the corpses scattered through the makeshift roads.

It wasn't until the drone panned to the sight of Association workers taping off the area where the gate used to be that murmurs broke out around the sleek conference table, the seated executives exchanging perturbed glances.

“Quiet.” The chairman held a hand up, only having to wait for a moment before silence fell over the room once more. He nodded at the presenter to continue speaking.

“As you can see, the boss monster has been defeated. The gate break was ended within thirty minutes.”

“What was the damage and casualty estimation?”

Glancing down at a tablet in his hand, the surveillance member cleared his throat, “Damages are estimated at one hundred million won, considering the attack will setback planned development in the area several months. There were approximately two hundred civilians casualties, all from the slum.”

“What a joke.” The scoffed comment came from halfway down the table, a man with orange hair styled up in small spikes drawing the attention of the other meeting members. Unlike most of the room, he wasn’t wearing a suit but rather a leather jacket and a graphic t-shirt, his posture slumped back and just as casual. “All that planning for such a shitty result?”

“Watch your mouth, Eom Chul-Moo.” A woman a few seats down leaned over to hiss at him. “Your ranking as a hunter does not mean you can flaunt your disrespectful habits in front of the chairman!”

“I’m only saying what everyone is thinking, Gyo Sang-Hee,” Chul-Moo replied with a shrug. “This gate break was supposed to wipe that village off the map and it didn’t.”

“Which means there was an unexpected variable.” The chairman’s voice was as calm as it had been at the beginning of the meeting as he cut through the argument. “Let the man finish his report.”

All eyes turned back to the surveillance team member, who dabbed lightly at his now glistening forehead with a handkerchief before clicking another button. 

“Four hunters launched a counteroffensive against the ogres just five minutes after the break. We’ve positively identified three of them as low-level rookie hunters Gim Changmin, Ra Seoyeon, and Sang In Ho: ranks D, C, and C respectively.” Official hunter photos for each named member appeared next to the drone footage. 

“The last hunter is currently unidentified, but seems to have been responsible for keeping the hunter casualties at zero. Right now, all we know is that she’s a young woman with black hair who uses daggers as weapons.”

A grainy photo showing the aforementioned young woman as she left the closing gate appeared next to the official photos.

More murmurs rose around the table before Gyo Sang-Hee raised her finger, an ominous presence seeming to swirl around her to complement the indignation in her voice. “How is it possible we don’t have an ID on her? Our database is only equaled by the Association.”

A bead of sweat slid down the surveillance member's face as he did his best to hold her gaze. “Either this hunter is newly awakened or has been working unregistered. However, since she came into contact with the Association’s Monkey Troupe, we expect her to be in their system by the end of the day. I have a team on standby to dig into her as soon as their registry is updated.”

The chairman drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, staring off into space briefly before speaking, “Scout those three rookies immediately. We may as well control their movements and see if they can provide additional contact with this mystery woman. You can go back to your work.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” The surveillance member dipped a deep bow before slipping out of the meeting to do as directed.

When the door closed behind the man, all eyes turned back to the chairman.

“What will we do next, sir? We barely got to test the plan properly given the variables…” The question was quiet, coming from the man directly to the chairman’s left.

“We will have another test.” The chairman said without pause. “Select a location that has a higher concentration of civilians around it, preferably one where we will have easier access to multiple surveillance angles. Even if it gets handled just as quickly, it will provide more information on the effectiveness of the devices."

More murmurs sounded from around the table at the proposal, heads slowly nodding before the chairman slammed his hand on the table. "Make it quick so we don’t need to delay the schedule!"

Immediately, the meeting dispersed, various attendees pulling out their phones to begin relaying orders to subordinates as they hurried to do as ordered. 

As the room began to empty out, the chairman's head tilted in the direction of a hunter seated near the end of the table, who had not moved at all. "Do you have more to add?"

"Just a question." Im Youngjae replied, "We had a hard enough time keeping the hero on his leash regarding this incident. Moving it to a high-profile area might make it impossible to keep him from intervening. What are your orders with that?" 

Despite the young man's habit of rarely speaking his mind, his diligence was hardly rivaled by anyone else in the guild: the question made the chairman pause for a moment. "We'll find an international gate that requires his attention. Tell his coordinator the request came from me and get Park on a plane tonight."

"Understood." Youngjae slipped outside with a sideways glance at Gyo Sang-Hee, the only other person who had stayed behind. 

The chairman waited until the door closed behind Youngjae before he turned to look at her properly. Between one blink and the next, the grey color of his eyes bled into red, a bemused smile curling onto the chairman's face, "Did you have a question as well?"

Sang-Hee smiled as she dipped a respectful bow, "No. I just thought you might have some reason to make use of me."

He huffed a soft laugh, "I will be trusting you to continue your primary job here. Make sure to keep a close eye on him and intervene if there are any cracks in his training."

She looked up at him, brows furrowed slightly, "Do you anticipate problems arising? His training has been deep-set for many years now."

It was impossible to tell that what was on the chairman's mind as his blank stare shifted back to the drone footage that was still playing across from him. "Given the unexpected situation today, it does not hurt to prepare for more unexpected situations."

"I will do all I can to keep my task from getting swept up in such things, my lord."

"Then I will continue to put that faith in you."

With one more bow, Sang-Hee backed out of the room, leaving the chairman alone to continue studying the footage. His stare couldn't help but linger on the cracked street as the Association agents worked. 

In the back of his mind, a soft voice thought the shadows looked restless.

However... coincidences did happen.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Nearly fifty floors down, a phone call pulled Park Jae-sung from his training. Turning off the combat simulator, he slipped his phone out of his pocket, answering immediately. "Yes?"

"We have an emergency request for aid from Vietnam. We need you ready to leave in fifteen minutes."

Frowning slightly, Jae-sung started toward the door, "I haven't heard anything about a break there. Is it related to the Guryong Village situation earlier today?"

"Details are still coming in, we'll have a full briefing ready for you on the jet. It looks like you'll be able to handle the situation alone, but a healer will be sent with you for backup."

"That's unnecessary, but I won't question the chairman's orders." He commented. "I'll be there shortly."

Ending the call, Jae-sung glanced up briefly into what had once been empty air in front of him. The translucent blue screen now hovering just a step ahead was a familiar sight to him after so many years living with its random appearances.

Stepping into the elevator, Jae-sung selected the button to his floor, skimming over the information provided by the System.