Chapter 13: The First Strike
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It began with a quiet storm.
The Association didn't respond with sirens or press releases.
No, they moved like predators in the fog—silent, coordinated, and hungry for proof.
Across Seoul, field officers were suddenly reassigned. Audit teams requested ancient records from Azure Blade. Surveillance towers near the Guild were mysteriously updated.
And inside the highest boardroom of the Association, someone finally said aloud:
"This is war."
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Inside Azure Blade – Floor 29, Nightfall
Jin-Soo stood at the open window of his assigned elite dorm.
The sky was dark.
Rain again.
He liked the rain.
It made it harder to hear the footsteps of those who moved quietly.
> [System: Essence Core successfully delivered.
Association priority level: RED.
Internal panic rising within Azure Blade – Surveillance up 23%.
Commanders suspect traitor.
You are still undetected.]
His reflection stared back at him in the glass.
Hair damp. Eyes cold.
His fingers slowly traced the shape of the remaining essence core he hadn't delivered yet—the one he kept for himself.
Not out of sentiment.
But because this one was different.
> [Essence Core – Subject #47: Still warm.
Soul fragment strength: 16%.
Attached memory echoes: Active.]
Inside the core, he could feel something.
A whisper of pain.
A scream that had never ended.
> "I'll use it," he whispered. "But only after I make them feel it."
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Elsewhere – Guild Command Tower
The top brass had gathered. Dim lights. Tension thick enough to suffocate.
Commander Ryu Jae-Ho, the man who once watched Jin-Soo's scan with suspicion, slammed a crystal shard on the table.
"Essence core. One of ours. Leaked."
His voice was calm, but his knuckles were white.
"Someone walked into the vault and walked out again. No trace. No alarms. No logs."
The others sat in silence.
One finally asked, "Do you suspect Jin-Soo?"
"Maybe," Ryu muttered. "But that's the problem."
He tapped the crystal.
"Every time we track him, our detection spells fail. Our cameras flicker. He blends in. He vanishes."
Someone else offered, "Want us to kill him?"
Ryu stared at that man.
Then said—
"No. Not yet. He doesn't know how deep this goes."
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Meanwhile – Secret Meeting Room (Red Spiral HQ)
Jin-Soo stood before Mi-Ra and the others.
The atmosphere was charged.
He placed the second core on the table. Still glowing. Still pulsing like a heart.
Gasps echoed.
One of the hunters—a former healer—touched it and recoiled.
"That… That's not just mana. There's a person still screaming inside this."
Jin-Soo looked at them.
His voice was quiet.
"We're not witnesses anymore."
He turned to the map on the wall.
Tapped the name of a Commander: Nam Do-Hwan.
He was the logistics director of the Transfer Division—the man who ordered how essence was moved, disguised, and sold off to black-market buyers.
"He doesn't wear armor," Jin-Soo said.
"He wears pens and papers.
But he's the reason those Hunters are still bleeding underground."
Mi-Ra stepped forward. "You want to expose him?"
Jin-Soo shook his head.
"No. I want to erase him."
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Later That Night – Commander Nam's Office, Floor 25
Nam Do-Hwan was a meticulous man.
Every book aligned.
Every file dated.
He was currently sipping tea and adjusting the numbers on next week's "transfer quota."
He never heard the door open.
Never saw the shadow slip behind him.
Never had time to scream before a cold hand pressed to his neck.
Jin-Soo stood behind him, eyes calm.
> [System: Blood Echo Activated – Absorption Complete]
[Trait Absorbed: Mind Mapping (B-Rank Passive – memory storage of large data structures)]
[User Skill Compatibility: Enhanced. Processing ability increased.]
Nam gagged once.
Then slumped silently.
A single cut.
No blood spilled on the floor.
Just… silence.
> [Body Disposed – Replaced with Mana Construct Double. System illusion complete.]
Jin-Soo stood in the corner and watched the fake Nam sit down again.
It blinked. It moved.
No one would know.
Not yet.
> "One less name," he murmured.
"Thousands more to go."
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The Next Morning – Rumors Begin
The logistics director stopped speaking in meetings.
He just nodded. Signed things. Spoke in half-phrases.
Whispers spread: "Is he sick?"
"Wasn't he laughing yesterday?"
"Why did his aura change?"
None of them knew.
The real Nam was already gone.
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Final Scene – Association HQ
The leaked core had been tested.
Verified.
Multiple experts confirmed it was Hunter essence, artificially extracted.
The Association President, a woman named Choi In-Sun, stood before her war cabinet.
She raised the glowing core above her head.
"We move at dawn."
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