The Hunter Association Headquarters was a fortress of glass and steel, towering above the Seoul skyline like a sword driven into the earth. Inside, the air was scrubbed clean by mana filtration systems, the walls lined with protective sigils older than the Association itself. Nothing here was left to chance.
Chairman Bae Sang-wook walked with deliberate pace down the central hallway, flanked by his personal secretary, Cho Geon-woo. At fifty-six, Bae carried authority without needing to raise his voice. His hair was streaked with grey, but his eyes were clear and sharp, a man forged by years of decisions that cut deeper than blades.
Geon-woo, as always, matched his step. Dressed immaculately, black suit pressed to perfection, silver badge pinned with precision to his chest. He held a thin tablet, glowing softly with the latest report.
"Summarize it," Bae said without turning his head.
Geon-woo nodded, tapping the screen. "At 8:30 yesterday 3 licensed B-Rank Hunters entered alongside AMCC cleaning crew entered a C-Rank gate that was seen as something that be handled by 3 B-Rank hunters."
Bae raised an eyebrow. "And yet this 3 B-Ranks ended up dead and the cleaning crew."
"Yes, sir. The readings changed approximately eight minutes after the team crossed the gate boundary. Mana levels spiked to borderline A-Rank levels. Emergency protocols failed to trigger—suggesting an unrecognized signature."
Bae slowed his pace. "You're saying something masked its mana?"
Geon-woo gave a single nod. "That appears to be the case. According to the survivor's account, the true threat inside was not the dungeon boss—but a magical beast that appeared post-entry."
The term hung in the air like smoke.
Bae stopped walking. Turned.
"A magical beast," he repeated. "Inside a low-tier gate?"
"Yes, sir. And not just any beast. Intelligent. Fast. Capable of eliminating three Hunters before they could mount a coordinated defense. We believe it mimicked the mana signature of the gate itself, hiding its presence until it attacked."
"And who brought it down?"
Geon-woo's voice lowered slightly. "Nam Ara. One of the fallen Hunters. As said by the survivor she engaged the beast directly and managed to kill it."
Bae's jaw tensed. "And who was this survivor?"
Geon-woo didn't blink. "A civilian. Lin Wei. Cleaner, registered under the AMCC cleaning division for District 7."
The chairman's brow furrowed. "Lin Wei? That's not a Korean name."
"No, sir. He's of Chinese descent. According to joint records from the Department of Internal Affairs and the Population Verification Bureau, he was found abandoned at the DMZ border checkpoint between South Korea and China sixteen years ago. All he had was a blanket and a name tag around his neck—written in faded Mandarin."
Bae listened in silence.
"He was later adopted by Han Soo-ah, a local detective in the Yeongdeungpo precinct. She's been his legal guardian since he was ten."
"Combat history?" Bae asked.
"None," Geon-woo answered. "No license. No awakening reports. Not even a failed aptitude test. By all measurable standards, he's a non-combatant. The youngest member on his cleaning crew, and by reputation… the weakest."
The hallway seemed to narrow around them.
Geon-woo didn't flinch as he added, "They said he was slow to finish tasks. Cautious to a fault. One manager wrote in a quarterly evaluation: 'Decent kid. But he's got no presence. Doesn't stand out. Feels like he's made of smoke—always drifting, never grounded.'"
Silence settled between them.
"So," Bae said eventually. "He's a nobody."
"Yes, sir."
The chairman looked ahead.
"Let's go, then," he murmured.
Together, they walked into the boardroom.
It was a long, rectangular space with a projection dome suspended above a black glass table. Twelve members of the Executive Division sat in their seats—commanders, financiers, strategists. And beside the far end, standing near a floating 3D projection of a gate signature, was Dr. Park Min-jae—the Association's head of Magical Studies.
He was already speaking when Bae entered.
"…and the mana waveform matches neither beast nor boss-level emission patterns. This isn't a hybrid anomaly. It's a separate entity, introduced into the gate after formation."
Bae gestured for him to continue.
Dr. Park nodded, adjusting his wireframe glasses. "This isn't the first time, Chairman. We've logged five other appearances of magical beasts in the last three months—two in Busan, one near Incheon, one outside Daegu, and now this one in Seoul."
"Why wasn't this raised to me before?"
"Because until now, the deaths were minor," Dr. Park replied, his tone clinical. "A D-Rank Hunter here. A Scout team there. Incidents we could still rationalize as bad luck or poorly calibrated scans."
"And now?" Bae asked.
Dr. Park expanded the display. A projection showed a shadowy beast lunging from behind dungeon terrain—only a few frames, grainy, captured from a failed drone transmission.
"Now, we have pattern convergence. These creatures share biological traits not found in any known beast class. Hardened exoskeletons, high mana conductance, and most troubling—neural activity indicative of planning. One of our AI heuristics compared their behavior to trained wolves."
Another board member leaned forward. "Are you saying they're being sent?"
"We don't have conclusive evidence," Dr. Park said. "But their coordinated ambush tactics are inconsistent with spontaneous dungeon ecology. Something—someone—may be testing the boundaries of dungeon spawning rules."
"What about this latest appearance?" asked Commander Lim, head of Hunter Recruitment. "A low-tier gate? That's unprecedented."
Dr. Park nodded. "Agreed. A high-level magical beast nested inside a C-Rank gate without disrupting the gate's classification. That defies everything we know about mana stability."
Bae folded his hands in front of him. "What's the theoretical explanation?"
The scientist hesitated.
"There's an old theory," he said slowly, "about external anchors. That a being powerful enough could bind its essence to an artificial space and suppress its mana presence. Effectively cloaking itself inside weaker structures. Until it chooses to act."
"You're saying these beasts… are hiding?"
"Yes," Dr. Park confirmed. "Hiding. Learning. Possibly Adapting."
A quiet dread settled across the room.
"Then we have to strengthen our hunters, guilds president to make sure their members are well prepared for anytime they are entrying a gate, and for each entry an S Rank or A Rank should be present to accompany the hunters." Chairman Bae said.
Commander Lim "We'll do so sir."
Commander Bae let his back rest on the chair soft leather looked up the ceiling. (Gates, Monsters now Magical Beasts, what as this world not seen).
——