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Chapter 24
“Family or comrades? Tell me everything you’ve found.”
After hearing that Yoo Shinwoo’s whereabouts had been identified, Nana immediately asked about the people around him.
It was her instinct as a hound—
to seek out weaknesses in order to bring down her prey.
And a person’s weakness is almost always another person.
But Yoo Shinwoo was the exception.
—Uh… there’s nothing.
“Nothing?”
—No family, no lover, no one that could be considered a friend.
“What?”
Hearing that, Nana paused to think and then asked again.
“Hm… It’s not like a newborn baby could crawl around on its own making formula. Even if it’s not family, someone must have raised him. His orphanage, maybe. Don’t you have that kind of info?”
—We do.
“Then you should have said that earlier. Is this your first day on the job?”
She thought, even if it wasn’t blood family, there must be someone who had lived with him like family.
Even if you don’t feel the bond of birth, you inevitably feel the bond of being raised.
But that didn’t work either.
—He came from an orphanage… but apparently, even there he wasn’t seen as someone close. People kept their distance, actually.
“Ha, great. What, was he a problem child?”
—If he had been, at least he’d have left behind some romanticized memories later in life. But apparently, he never caused any problems.
“Then why the distance?”
—They said… he just lacked affection.
“Huh?”
—From childhood, he formed and maintained every human relationship strictly by gain and loss. If someone was no longer useful, he would cut them off without hesitation. Purely businesslike ties. He never harmed anyone, but it still made people feel uneasy and distant.
Even the ruthless Nana shivered when she heard about Yoo Shinwoo’s life.
“Damn… he’s a nasty piece of work. Never seen anyone like him. So not a single person around him could serve as a weakness?”
—Correct. Well… there is one person he’s been close with recently, but…
“And who’s that?”
—I think it would be better not to touch that one.
“And why’s that?”
—That person is a relative of Sung Hwang, one of Korea’s high-rankers.
“What? So Yoo Shinwoo’s got Sung Hwang as his backer?”
—From what we’ve investigated, they’re not close enough for him to act as a direct sponsor. But regardless, I’m saying it’s unwise to mess with that person. It would be far better to just deal with Yoo Shinwoo directly…
“Damn it.”
She ruffled her hair in frustration.
“What a pain. Who the hell goes through life without leaving a single weakness?”
She had come across the most difficult kind of prey for a hound.
Someone with nothing to lose isn’t that hard to deal with—because those people usually already lost everything and are driven by rage.
They tend to be self-destructive, which makes them easy targets for trackers.
But Yoo Shinwoo was different.
He never had anything to begin with.
No ties, no regrets.
If he decided to run, even those backed by the Russian government would have a hard time catching him.
“Tsk… you can’t give someone like this two chances.”
Unlike before, when she’d give targets a warning, this time Nana swore she would kill him on sight.
Alex had barely escaped with his life from the raid dungeon after Volkov was killed.
“Knight of Sorrow, Tristan.”
Never in his dreams did he think he, who possessed a legendary guardian spirit, would be forced into such a disgraceful retreat.
“That bastard…”
In the NL branch archive, he pored over the CCTV footage, his hatred for Yoo Shinwoo only deepening.
On screen, Yoo Shinwoo had knocked out three Russian men and strung them upside-down on a container roof.
The location caught on camera was the entrance to the Mana Sanctuary.
“He was fated to be our enemy from the start.”
Even if not for the Volkov incident, this was someone who deserved punishment sooner or later.
Alex clenched his fist.
“Our brothers are hunting him now. He’s finished.”
But the staff member beside him, reviewing the footage, made a remark that irritated him.
“I heard he’s been giving them a hard time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They say the hound went all the way to Korea to get him, but never found him.”
Nana had failed her pursuit.
By the time she got to his supposed location, he’d already left.
She’d scoured his entire range of activity but couldn’t find a single trace.
“Apparently no one around even knows of his existence. Like he’s a ghost.”
“Hmph.”
Alex dismissed it.
“So what? Even if he hides, our hounds will find him. They can track down traitors hiding in the most remote corners of the world.”
He figured this failure was nothing but an initial setback.
“Just wait. Soon enough, that bastard will—”
Bang!
Suddenly, chaos erupted outside.
“Huh?”
Gunfire, screams, panicked shouts.
Something serious was happening.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll check—”
“Wait. Don’t go.”
“Huh?”
Alex grabbed his bow from the desk, summoning his guardian weapon Failnaught.
Someone was approaching.
An enemy was right outside the door.
He sensed the threat and loosed an arrow without hesitation.
Shhhk!
A mana-forged arrow flew—
straight through the door.
Thunk!
But it didn’t reach its mark.
Crash!
The door burst open, and a man appeared—
holding Alex’s arrow in his bare hand.
“You…!”
“Been a while.”
It was Yoo Shinwoo.
“How did you… No.”
Alex froze.
How had he found this place?
And more importantly, what was he thinking coming here?
“Are you insane? Do you even know where you are?”
“Of course. NL… no, the meeting place of the Kalininskaya Bratva.”
“…How?”
“Dig deep enough, and you’ll find anything.”
Chased by a hound—
yet he’d taken the time to dig into their organization and show up here himself.
Alex couldn’t help but admire his audacity.
“Fine, you’re bold. But…”
He saw through Yoo Shinwoo’s intentions.
“You think this stunt changes anything? You’re just trying to look like too much trouble so we’ll back off. But you don’t know what kind of organization the Russian mafia is. We’ll never stop hunting you.”
He smirked confidently.
“Do you think wrecking this place means we’ll give up? Wrong. You’ll be hunted your entire life. Until you die.”
And indeed, Yoo Shinwoo had now branded himself an enemy of the Kalininskaya Bratva.
That meant a lifetime of pursuit.
But Yoo Shinwoo only smirked more wickedly.
“Why do you assume I’ll be the one running?”
“What?”
The assumption was simple: a lone awakened facing a massive organization must flee.
But that assumption was wrong.
“What lion runs from a herd of deer?”
His right eye—
the Eye of Malice that devours guardian spirits.
Armed with that monstrous ability, he was ready to claim power by stealing lives.
Especially the lives of those hunting him.
The Bratva had everything he wanted—
Awakened at his level, and bosses called Colossi at the very top.
From bottom to top, one by one, they were perfect prey to devour and grow stronger.
To Yoo Shinwoo, the Kalininskaya Bratva was nothing less than a full-course banquet.
“So who’s the lion, and who’s the deer?”
“I’m the lion. You’re the deer. And the ones being hunted aren’t me—it’s you.”
“Ridiculous nonsense…”
To Alex, it was absurd.
A barely mid-level awakened chasing down rankers of a mafia syndicate?
It was like saying “one man can defeat thirty.” Impossible.
But Yoo Shinwoo was dead serious.
“Nonsense? Hardly. I can pick my fights when and where I want.”
NL was a massive group.
But that made them leaky—no matter how tight their security, information always slipped.
Yoo Shinwoo was alone.
No ties, no obligations.
Chasing him was like searching for a needle in a desert.
Unlike the usual weaklings NL exploited, Yoo Shinwoo was cut from an entirely different cloth.
He fought only when he chose.
And he had come here now because he knew Alex was the only real awakened present.
“…What?”
Yoo Shinwoo grinned.
Alex felt chills—he saw a demon in that face.
Tap-tap-tap!
In an instant, Yoo Shinwoo closed the distance.
“Damn!”
An NL staffer stepped up to block him.
He was a melee awakened, wielding a shortsword.
“Alex! I’ll hold him—”
His intent was for Alex to shoot from behind.
But Alex already knew from experience—that wouldn’t work.
Shhhk-shhhk-shhhk!
Failnaught unleashed a volley of arrows.
Thud-thud-thud!
“Ghhhk!”
The staffer was riddled with holes instantly, his corpse becoming a mere screen.
The arrows flew straight through, a lethal rain Yoo Shinwoo could not dodge.
No choice but to endure or deflect them all.
Gáe Bulg Barrage.
He chose the latter.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
Thirty simultaneous strikes manifested by his Authority.
The storm of arrows, like a shotgun blast, was shattered one by one.
“That technique again…!”
The very attack that killed Volkov.
Seeing it again, Alex roared in rage and fired another endless volley.
‘I’ll fire again and again! Block them all if you can!’
Inside the narrow building, there was no room to retreat.
So he staked everything, determined to keep shooting until his mana ran dry.
The first to falter would lose.
He gritted his teeth, drawing until his fingers bled.
Shhhk-shhhk-shhhk!
But he was wrong.
Relentless attack didn’t guarantee victory.
Whuuum!
Shockwave Generator Fist: Mountain-Breaking Fist, Caladbolg.
The very weapon wielded by his fallen comrade Volkov—
now reborn as Yoo Shinwoo’s fist.
BOOOM!
The straight punch exploded with a monstrous pressure wave.
“Ghhhaaaa!”
The arrows filling the room dissolved into nothing.
Alex was shredded into unrecognizable bits by the blast.
The shockwave didn’t stop there—it tore through the wall behind him, ripping open the entire building.
The Gáe Bulg Barrage had only been the setup for this finishing blow.
“Haaah…”
Yoo Shinwoo steadied his breath, restoring mana with Mana Breathing.
His right eye once again reflected another man’s memories.
And when the visions faded, he had gained new strength as always.
{Absorbed the soul of Tristan.}
{Stole the Authority <Failnaught, the Infallible Bow>.}
{Willpower +4.}
{Assimilation rate with Azidahaka has increased. 5.47%.}
