The Silver Lions Guild Headquarters rose like a fortress against the Seoul skyline, all glass and steel edges softened only by the sweeping crest of the silver lion emblazoned across its entrance. From the outside, it looked imperious—flawless even. But inside, things rarely gleamed as cleanly.
Yoon Taesung stood before the elevator's polished doors, the faint hum of mana scanners brushing against his skin. Guild badges shimmered on passing uniforms. Some hunters eyed him with a flicker of recognition, most with indifference. His name wasn't high on the rankings, but word had started to spread. C-rank, but strange. C-rank, but skilled. C-rank, but—
The elevator chimed.
He stepped out into the operations floor.
Rows of monitors, desks cluttered with Rift reports, and hunters arguing over deployment routes filled the space. At the center of it all was a large digital map—floating holographically—tracking Rift surges across the peninsula. A red flare blinked faintly in the lower east.
"Taesung."
He turned. Seong Jinhwan approached with his usual casual elegance, the tailored guild uniform crisp, a black lion insignia stitched over his chest. He offered a nod that was more measured than friendly.
"You're early."
"I prefer not to waste time."
"That's new," Jinhwan said, though there was no heat in the jab. "Come. The executive council is expecting your formal induction. After that, we'll discuss assignments."
They walked together through a wide hall toward the internal board chamber. The walls here bore the names of fallen hunters etched into obsidian plaques, each lit faintly by runes. Taesung glanced at them once—rows upon rows of names, some burned in bold, others dulled with age. He didn't recognize them, but somehow, it felt like he should.
The meeting chamber was quieter than he expected.
Ten guild officials sat in a crescent arrangement. One stood—a woman in her forties with short black hair and a scar running from ear to chin. Guildmaster Cha Miran.
"You're the one who turned us down the first time," she said as he entered, tone clipped. "Changed your mind?"
Taesung met her gaze. "I did."
"Not because of any new rank?"
"No."
She regarded him a moment longer, then sat.
Seong Jinhwan stepped forward. "Yoon Taesung has completed two solo Rift expeditions, both cleared. One involved a fused entity—confirmed by our scouts. The other, a Class C Rift with anomalous mana readings and several disappeared teams."
The room shifted slightly. Eyes sharpened.
"Solo clearance?" murmured one councilor. "With no team?"
Jinhwan nodded. "Documented. Verified."
Another spoke, older, hair grey and tied back. "You're either reckless or something else entirely."
"I'm alive," Taesung said.
A beat of silence. Then a chuckle from the corner.
"You've got balls, at least," said a man in a leather coat—Chief Tracker Yoo Jisoo. "That'll take you further here than you'd think."
Guildmaster Cha leaned forward.
"You'll be under observation," she said. "For the next three missions, you run with a team. No exceptions."
"Understood."
"You're provisionally assigned to Nam Doohyuk's pack. You'll meet them at tomorrow's briefing. Don't be late."
And just like that, it was done.
As Taesung turned to leave, Jinhwan fell into step beside him.
"That could've gone worse," he said mildly.
"They don't trust me."
"They shouldn't. You're an unknown quantity."
Taesung didn't answer. They stepped into a side hallway, one used by senior staff to bypass the bustle of the operations floor. The air here was quieter, the lights dimmer. But there was tension. Something simmering.
Jinhwan's voice dropped.
"Watch yourself with Doohyuk's team. Most are professionals, but not all are fond of outsiders."
"I can handle it."
"I know," he said, "but that's not what worries me."
They turned the corner and entered a restricted archive corridor. Scanners hummed to life, then stilled as Jinhwan's mana signature registered.
"There's been unrest," he continued. "Not in the field. Here. Some think the Guild's grown too big. Too bureaucratic. That we've lost our edge chasing PR and politics."
"And?"
"And…" Jinhwan hesitated, gaze fixed ahead, "there've been signs. Rift fluctuations—new ones. Old ones pulsing back to life. Remember that fused entity? You said something was watching you."
Taesung slowed slightly.
"Yes."
"That wasn't the first time we heard that. Other hunters—soloists mostly—have reported the same. A presence. Something intelligent. But the reports were buried. Too few. Too vague."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you didn't run."
Jinhwan stopped at a sealed vault door, keying in a sigil sequence. The locks disengaged with a heavy click. Inside was a narrow chamber, lined with containment casings. Runes glowed faintly.
"This was recovered three months ago," Jinhwan said, gesturing to a case. Inside: a shard of black crystal, jagged and pulsing slowly with dim blue light.
"Residual Rift energy?" Taesung asked.
"More than that. We ran tests. It resists classification. Riftborn, but not unstable. Not dangerous in itself, but… it calls to things."
Taesung felt a faint pull in his chest just looking at it.
"It came from an abandoned Rift," Jinhwan said. "One we thought collapsed years ago."
A silence stretched.
Then: "It's waking up, isn't it."
Jinhwan's lips tightened.
"We don't know what 'it' is. But it's not just you. Something is watching, moving behind Rift flows. And someone in this Guild is hiding things. Records are vanishing. Reports edited. Even Cha doesn't know everything anymore."
Taesung stared at the shard, its pulse matching the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Then he turned away.
"I'll handle the missions."
"That's not what I'm asking."
"I know."
---
The Silver Lions Guild dormitories were clean, modest, and unnervingly quiet at night. Taesung sat at the edge of his cot, the room dim, the window half-open. Cool air filtered in from the city, carrying with it the faint scent of exhaust, damp concrete, and spring.
He glanced at the locker at the far wall. Inside was his gear—repaired after the last Rift. But there was something else too.
A piece of chitin.
From the fused entity. He'd kept it. Small, blackened at the edges, but still warm when touched.
It didn't hum like the shard in Jinhwan's vault. But it remembered.
And so did he.
When the presence had looked through the Rift, when its gaze had scraped across his mind—it wasn't curiosity he'd felt.
It was recognition.
Not of him.
But of the skill.
And perhaps of what lay beneath it.
Taesung leaned back, eyes unfocused.
His path into the Guild had begun.
But something darker moved beneath its crest.
And it was waiting. Watching. Ok