Chapter 39

Silence settled over the training facility, thick and heavy in the aftermath of the fight. Every Hunter stood frozen, awestruck by the sheer speed and precision of the man known as Sung Jin-Woo.

Well, almost every Hunter.

“I had him,” Kanae said coldly as she strode toward where Jin-Woo still held Kumamoto, her voice sharp enough to cut steel.

Jin-Woo glanced down at Kumamoto, then up at her. “Didn’t seem that way,” he replied evenly, adjusting his grip on Kumamoto’s arm. “Looked like things were starting to get out of hand.”

“He’s a member of the Draw Sword Guild,” Kanae said firmly, placing a hand on Jin-Woo’s shoulder. Her tone dropped further, colder. “And he’ll be dealt with accordingly. Get off him.”

Jin-Woo’s eyes flicked to her hand, then back to her face. His pupils gleamed with a piercing, unnatural blue, a warning.

But Kanae didn’t flinch. Her own eyes, deep crimson, burned just as fiercely, refusing to back down.

With a scoff, Jin-Woo slapped her hand off his shoulder and released Kumamoto, who stumbled to his feet with a groan.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” he muttered.

Kumamoto clutched his head, dazed. “Sorry about that, Miss Kanae,” he said quietly, wincing before turning a glare toward Jin-Woo. The fire hadn’t quite left his eyes.

Just then, Goto Ryuji approached the group with calm, deliberate steps, arms relaxed at his sides.

“Kanae,” he said smoothly, “there’s no need to provoke our hosts. Kumamoto was the one out of line. We should at least thank the young man for his intervention.”

He turned to the translator standing nearby. “Hanekawa, if you would.”

Hanekawa gave a small nod and stepped forward.

“You’re Sung Jin-Woo, right?” Goto asked, his voice level.

Jin-Woo looked at him as Hanekawa translated. He gave a short nod.

Goto smiled faintly. “It’s fair to say the Japanese Hunters won this friendly match… even with our unexpected wild card.”

He paused, then something shifted.

White wisps of energy began to drift from his body, slow and deliberate, like smoke rising from dry ice. The air around him grew dense with power.

“However,” he continued, his tone hardening, “I’d like to propose something else.”

His eyes narrowed.

“A one-on-one duel. You and me. The strongest here from Japan... against the strongest from Korea. What do you say?”

Jin-Woo said nothing at first. He simply stared, his eyes scanning Goto, not just his words, but his stance, his breathing, the tension in his shoulders.

He didn’t need a translator.

‘His body’s already talking,’ Jin-Woo thought, eyes narrowing.

‘He wants a fight.’

‘Does he want to see how skilled I am?’ Sung Jin-Woo wondered, eyeing Goto carefully. ‘I’m not sure if he has an ulterior motive… but this is a good opportunity to test how much stronger I’ve become since the Demon Castle.’

A slow smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.

“A fight between our strongest, huh?” he repeated, voice calm but brimming with anticipation. His gaze drifted briefly to Kanae. ‘Then she should be my opponent, no? Unless… he's hiding his strength so well I can’t even sense it.’

‘That would make him stronger than Baran.’

His smirk widened. ‘This is it. A chance to see how I compare to the top Hunters in the world. To see how high I still have to climb.’

Goto’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of irritation crossing his face. ‘He’s smiling? This brat dares to smirk in my presence?’

Hanekawa stepped forward and turned to Goto. “Mr. Goto, Mr. Sung Jin-Woo has accepted your challenge. But under one condition.”

Goto raised a brow. “A condition?”

Hanekawa nodded. “He will fight you, but only if you agree to use your full strength.”

For a moment, silence. Then something inside Goto snapped. ‘He wants me to go all out? Is he serious?’

The atmosphere changed instantly. The air grew heavy, and the temperature in the training facility rose like a furnace had been lit.

“What the heck is going on…?” Lim Tae-Gyu muttered nervously, backing up a step.

Goto chuckled darkly. “Fine. I hope you’ve got a healer standing by, because you’re going to need them.”

Not far away, Ma Dong-Wook sat on the floor beside Cha Hae-In, his gaze fixed on the brewing confrontation.

“That’s the S-Rank Hunter everyone’s been talking about, right?” he asked. “Going head-to-head with Goto Ryuji... the guy’s got guts.”

Cha Hae-In’s brow was furrowed. ‘Will he be okay? No, wait… he cleared an A-Rank dungeon alone. Took down over a hundred High Orcs...’

She folded her arms tightly.

“Are you all right being around this many Hunters today?” Baek Yoonho asked gently, glancing at her.

“I can’t always be covering my nose,” she replied, eyes still fixed on Sung Jin-Woo. “Especially not when we get to Jeju Island.”

She turned to him. “You said you’re acquainted with Sung Jin-Woo, correct?”

“Yeah,” Baek replied, his expression unreadable.

“Then, are you not worried for him? His opponent is Goto Ryuji.”

Baek smiled faintly. “Normally, I would be.”

“Then why...” she started, but he cut her off.

“For the same reason as you, Miss Cha,” he said firmly.

She blinked at the shift in his tone and looked at him. To her surprise, there was a flicker of excitement in his eyes, poorly concealed beneath his usual calm.

‘You’re looking forward to seeing this too… aren’t you?’ he asked with a knowing glance.

“All right then,” Sung Jin-Woo said, his voice calm, steady. “Let’s get...”

A five-fingered strike shot toward his face, slicing through the air with deadly precision.

“...started.”

BOOM!

The shockwave thundered through the training facility as Goto Ryuji stood at the epicenter of the attack, arm outstretched. Dust and wind swirled around him.

He blinked, eyes narrowing. ‘I missed?’

Across the room, several meters away, Sung Jin-Woo landed lightly on the balls of his feet, completely untouched. ‘He attacked the moment I opened my mouth.’

Goto stared at him, thoughtful. ‘A mage-type, huh? Not buying it.’ A feral grin tugged at his lips. ‘His movements are too clean. Too fast. Footsteps quiet as death. Just like Ippei Izawa… and Kanae Tawata.’

His grin faltered for the briefest moment, a shadow flickering behind his eyes. ‘Who the hell does he think he’s fooling? A mage that moves like an assassin. That’s almost as absurd as a Tank who could summon...’

He flinched, breath hitching. ‘Dammit, Goto. She's not here. He’s not her!’

In the next instant, his aura erupted outward like a firestorm.

A low rumble rolled through the ground as debris rose and spun in the air, caught in the raw pressure of Goto’s released energy. Dust shimmered, weightless, in the sheer force of his intent to kill.

Sung Jin-Woo stood unmoved in the eye of the storm, eyes narrowing slightly.

‘Still holding back? Does he think I’m not worth going all out against?’

Fine.

His eyes ignited with a searing sapphire glow.

A black-edged blue aura surged outward from his body in an explosive wave, swallowing the facility in its terrifying presence. Walls creaked. The floor cracked beneath his feet. Overhead lights flickered, strained by the weight of his power.

Hunters watching from the sidelines could only gape, frozen.

‘This pressure…!’ Lim Tae-Gyu staggered back instinctively.

‘It feels like the air itself is folding in!’ Ma Dong-Wook gritted his teeth.

Goto’s pupils shrank as the wave of darkness crashed over him.

He didn’t move. Couldn’t.

‘This aura... no, this killing intent... it’s just like…’

For the briefest heartbeat, the image of Sung Jin-Woo distorted.

In his place stood the towering form of a humanoid demon, the very same one Kanae’s sister had once summoned. Its presence screamed of death.

‘It’s just like that demon!’ Goto’s thoughts scrambled. ‘Like death itself!’

Then came the fist.

He never even saw it coming.

KABOOM!

The impact tore through the facility with the force of a missile. The far wall exploded in dust and shattered concrete as Goto Ryuji’s body slammed through it, blood streaking across his path.

He crashed to the floor on the far side, a battered mess of limbs and groans, sliding slowly down the fractured wall.

And then...

Silence.

A heavy, breathless silence. Not a whisper from the gathered Hunters. Not even a gasp.

Just the wind, threading through the broken walls of the training facility.

“Huh?” Sung Jin-Woo finally broke the silence, glancing down at his fist. “I…”

He trailed off, surveying the wreckage he’d left behind. Chunks of debris, fractured walls, and the barely conscious body of Goto Ryuji painted a scene far beyond what he'd anticipated.

'I thought he was stronger…'

“Ms. Cha. Coach Baek,” Ma Dong-Wook said slowly, eyes wide. “Did you just see what I saw?”

Cha Hae-In didn’t respond. She simply stared, her mouth slightly open, utterly speechless.

“This is… far beyond what I expected,” Baek Yoonho murmured, stunned. He could barely believe what he’d witnessed. 'He’s definitely gotten stronger. He really can level up…'

“In one hit,” Go Gunhee muttered under his breath from the observation deck, still reeling.

Among the Japanese Hunters, the silence shattered into murmurs of disbelief.

“Guild Master Goto…” Mari Ishida said faintly.

“Lost,” Kei whispered from behind his gas mask, the tone muffled but unmistakably shaken.

“In one hit.” Hoshino staggered a step back. “Just what kind of monster is this guy?”

The others could only stare.

Except one.

'Now that I think about it…' Jin-Woo glanced at the shadow trailing behind him, where faint, inhuman gazes blinked silently from the abyss. 'He didn’t even notice my shadows infiltrating his. I should’ve realized sooner, he wasn’t as strong as I thought.'

But his attention shifted again. 'But her.'

Someone was walking toward him, deliberate, cold, and composed. A silent fury shimmered behind her eyes.

Kanae.

'She can see them,' Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes. She can see my shadows.

“This is the second time you’ve manhandled a member of the Draw Sword Guild, Sung Jin-Woo,” Kanae said, stepping up to him until only inches remained between them. Her voice was calm, but the threat behind it was sharp.

Not one to be cowed, Jin-Woo took a step forward himself. Can’t let them see I misjudged.

“You’ll have to forgive me, then,” he said coolly. “I meant no harm. I merely gave him the fight he claimed he was worthy of, as Japan’s strongest.”

Kanae smirked.

It wasn’t the reaction he expected. And that puzzled him.

“You must be behind the times,” she said easily. “Japan has a strongest Hunter, but it’s definitely not Goto.”

'So he’s not the top dog after all?' Jin-Woo mused. 'Still… the gap can’t be that wide, right?'

As if reading his thoughts, Kanae chuckled and nodded toward the others. Hoshino and Ippei were already carrying Goto’s battered form out of the shattered wall.

“I know that look, Mr. Sung,” she said with a smile, but her eyes held something sharper. “Let me put it this way: if every S-Rank Hunter in Japan, including Goto and myself, were to gang up on Kaede…”

She paused.

“We would all lose.”

A beat.

“In the first half-second.”

Her words were spoken with a chilling certainty.

'First half-second?' Jin-Woo’s eyes flickered. 'That fast? That dangerous?'

‘That’s how long it would take Hosha to kill us all,’ Kanae thought grimly, but kept that part to herself.

Just then, Go Gunhee received a tablet from his assistant. He glanced over the contents, his expression grave.

“The young lady is correct,” he said, looking up. “Japan updated its Hunter rankings just last week.”

Jin-Woo gave Kanae a longer look now. 'Very impressive. So there really is someone stronger…'

Kanae’s smirk twitched, the faintest flicker of inner panic surfacing.

'Why did I say all that?' she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. 'No one even mentioned Kaede, and here I am defending her again. Oh god… am I turning into a siscon?'

“I think we should take a short break,” Go Gunhee said diplomatically, diffusing the tension. “The healers will be here soon.”

Jin-Woo turned without a word. His voice, however, rang back over his shoulder.

“I don’t care how strong your Hunters are. If anyone has a problem with me, we can settle it however they see fit.”

Kanae chuckled. “All right then. Once the raid is over, we’ll have another match. Between the true strongest of both countries.”

She stepped away, glancing back at him.

“And trust me, Sung Jin-Woo… your shadows won’t save you.”

Jin-Woo smiled faintly at that, a dangerous glint in his eye.

Then he kept walking.