Heavy Rain I

[Typhoon 'Noru' that is currently headed north past Japan is estimated to arrive in the central regions at around 8 PM. Preparations for the sudden heavy rain…]

Beep—

[Recently, news of numerous assassination attempts against Rome's Saintess, Isabella Colagrande have been discovered…]

Beep—

[The Association has officially released a notice that the 'Lightning Wolf' has been discharged from the hospital. They have expressed their intent to decline all visitings and interviews…]

Boop—

He stopped looking around news channels and turned off the engine.

'Is there no news about the Valhalla guild?'

Although news about the Black Lion, Lee Woohyuk, suffering a defeat wouldn't be strange if it was treated as breaking news, it was nowhere to be found.

What it meant was that the Valhalla guild was internally hiding the matter.

"…Let's head over for now."

He entered the Valhalla guild's building that he had visited once before.

As he glanced around the luxurious interior that was like that of a 5-star hotel, Park Changhyun appeared.

"You came."

"How is Mr. Woohyuk's condition?"

Park Changhyun's expression stiffened.

Letting out a deep sigh, he shook his head.

"There's, fortunately, no threat to his life, however… I can't say that he's in a good state, not even with empty words."

"What state is he in?'

"He has regained consciousness. Contacting you was what he ordered, as well."

The worst-case scenario had been avoided, but it couldn't be said to be a relief in the current situation.

"I think it'd be best if we talked about the details once you meet him directly."

"Yes."

He followed Park Changhyun.

Beep, beep, beep, beep—

After entering an area Ohjin hadn't been to before, Park Changhyun pressed a card against a flat, inconspicuous wall.

Drrrrrrr—

'So there was this kind of hidden area…'

The wall slid out on its own like some kind of hidden treasure room in an ancient dungeon.

Instead of shiny gold coins, there was a life that was narrowly holding onto the fading hem of existence inside.

It was a series of treatment rooms filled with expensive medical equipment.

Light didn't trick out of even a single place.

"…Was Mr. Woohyuk not the only one who got injured?"

"Yes."

Park Changhyun nodded his head with a stiff face.

"Excluding me, who didn't participate in the operation, all members of the Valhalla guild… have suffered from the Black Star Organization."

Ohjin walked through the hallway with an expression of disbelief.

The unique smell of hospital medicine, which he had become sick of during his 10-day stay at the hospital, was coming out from the tens of treatment rooms that were spaced out at set intervals.

"The death-count…"

"There are no deaths… Yet."

With a wretched expression, Park Changhyun dropped his head.

He who had once felt extremely reliable when holding off the demon beasts had his shoulders pitifully sloped down.

'For all members of the Valhalla guild to be in this state…'

Although it was the lowest seat, the guild had still managed to obtain the position of one of the top 10 guilds of Korea, and with a minority that was a little over 20 members at that.

It wasn't easy to believe that the Valhalla guild—where each and every member was at the level of an executive compared to other guilds—had suffered a blow so powerlessly.

'Was it Arshad Khan?'

He shook his head at the question that surfaced in his head.

According to Yujin's words, Arshad Khan's position within the Black Star Organization was one step higher than him, a mid-rank Templar.

If a mid-rank Templar could sweep the Valhalla guild alone, there would be no reason for the Black Star Organization to hide their identities and act in the dark. With those kinds of forces, they would be able to wage war against the entirety of the Seven Stars.

'I'll know once I hear it from the person directly involved.'

Placing his questions behind him, he moved his feet.

Park Changhyun carefully knocked on the treatment room door that was located at the farthest corner.

Knock, knock—

"I have brought Mr. Ohjin."

"…Come in."

A weak voice was heard through the door.

Creak—

As the door opened, Ohjin could see Lee Woohyuk lying on the bed.

He had hollow eyes and deeply sunken cheeks.

His pupils shook as if they had lost the ability to focus.

The fierce pressure akin to a lion he had once emitted could no longer be felt.

A strong sense of defeat emanated from the man.

The feeling of helplessness, like that of a toothless old lion paying attention to his surroundings—worried that another predator might come by to snatch its dead prey—was flowing out of Lee Woohyuk.

'What is this?'

Just what could have happened for a person to change so drastically?

"…Kuh, cough! I've shown you an unsightly appearance."

It seemed that Lee Woohyuk read the emotions reflected on Ohjin's pupils as he smiled feebly.

"Just what happened?"

"As you… can see. Uhk! We fought them and were defeated disgracefully. Cough! Cough! And… to one person."

It was a voice mixed with self-deprecation.

Lee Woohyuk coughed up a mixture of blood and chewed his lips.

'One person?'

Ohjin's mouth opened wide.

Perhaps…

"…Was it Arshad Khan?"

"No. We already found him using the information you gave us, however… the one we fought wasn't him."

Indeed.

It wasn't Arshad Khan.

Then just who?

Lee Woohyuk spoke with a sunken voice.

His eyes shook as if he recalled a terrible nightmare.

"That's the name of the elder that… cough! Fought us… They called him the 'King of Owls'.

Grip—

Clenching his fists, he continued.

"It was… one-sided. We weren't even able to put up a proper fight before being overwhelmingly defeated. Honestly, just being able to escape alive was a miracle."

He dropped his face with an expression saturated with a deep sense of defeat.

—King of Owls.

Ohjin narrowed his eyes.

While engraving that ominous title into his head, a certain Black Star's stigma came to mind.

'The stigma of the Owl Nebula.'

If he had titled himself the King of Owls, It wasn't hard to guess what his identity was.

'An Executor of the Black Star Organization.'

They had chased after a wildcat and ran into a tiger.

A frightening sensation ran down Ohjin's spine.

'I knew they would be strong, but…'

He hadn't imagined that a single member would be able to overwhelm the entire Valhalla guild alone. Once again, he could get a feel of how overwhelming the strength of the group known as the Black Star Organization was.

'Shouldn't the ones that end the world in the future be not me, but the Black Star Organization?'

That question naturally surfaced in his head.

He obviously didn't know the details of the 1st round since he had no memories, but he thought that it would be highly unlikely for an organization of that caliber to have no influence in ending the world.

'Something like the Black Star Organization being the group the Heavenly Demon led… but that would mean I led them.'

He could hardly imagine that future.

'I need at least some kind of clue to attempt a deduction.'

As it was akin to marking a couple of dots on a blank white canvas and trying to guess what kind of drawing it was, he had no way to figure it out.

"Haa."

Letting out a deep sigh, he stopped his thoughts.

"First, could you explain to me what happened in detail?"

"Yes," Lee Woohyuk nodded.

"Cough! Cough! Khm! Twe!"

Spitting out phlegm mixed with blood into a paper cup, he opened his mouth.

"Haa, haa… fuu. We chased after them using the phone number you provided us. It took us quite a long time… but we were successful in catching their tails."

Ohjin already knew up to that point since he had heard it from Park Changhyun.

"They were hiding inside a branch of the Pandinus guild. That place was labelled as a warehouse… but it was the hideout of those Black Star Organization bastards."

Pandinus Guild.

It was that name again.

"Then was that place the Black Star Organization's HQ?"

If Cheon Doyoon was at that place, there was a chance it was the headquarters.

"No. It wasn't the HQ. It was just one of their branches. Well… even though it's a branch, it was on a much larger scale than the one at Mt. Baekunsan."

"Because there wasn't any more information that connected from there on out, we decided to ambush them. Ah, of course, we tried to contact you as well."

It was likely that they heard he was in the emergency room after getting poisoned; it was just that they didn't have the leisure to patiently wait for him to recover.

"The plan went rather smoothly. We succeeded in ambushing them and restrained them."

"Was Arshad Khan there as well?"

"No. He appeared later on. Though… he didn't come alone."

"At first, we thought it worked out well since we got the opportunity to catch a high-ranking executive of the Black Star Organization… but those were foolish thoughts."

Cheon Doyoon had swept every member of the Valhalla guild alone.

Overwhelmingly, absolutely.

Without even being able to fight back properly, they were defeated.

"Haa."

A deep sigh flowed out.

That wasn't the end of the problem.

They were able to miraculously make their escape, somehow, but they ended up losing the tails of the Black Star Organization that they barely managed to catch.

"Then do we no longer have any leads to track them down?"

As long as Arshad Khan wasn't an idiot, he would cover up all the information that was deemed necessary since their hideout was discovered.

It was right to think of all the information they obtained until then being useless.

"No, that isn't so."

"…It isn't?"

What kind of leads would be left in that situation?

"During the process of restraining them, there was an opportunity to talk with one of their members. He… had detailed information about the Black Star Organization."

"However, didn't you eventually lose him?"

Even though they found a member who possessed internal information, with Cheon Doyoon's appearance, they failed to restrain him.

It was hard to expect cooperation with a criminal that wasn't handcuffed.

"That's right. However, the case is a little different this time."

"Different?"

"He was the one who approached us first and wished for cooperation."

They didn't catch him and dig for information, but the opposing party had approached them first.

'And that means…'

Ohjin's eyes shone keenly.

Lee Woohyuk slightly nodded his head.

"Yes. He's a whistle-blower. He integrated himself into the Black Star Organization for unknown reasons… but seems to have a rather deep hatred towards them."

It was more than reasonable for something like that to occur to an unsociable group of criminals like the Black Star Organization,

When it was common for companies that seemed to run fine on the outside to have rotten insides, no explanation was required for a criminal group that blatantly acted in the shadows.

"Then is the reason why you called me because of that?"

Now that they knew there was a whistle-blower, it was time to obtain information about the Black Star Organization by making secretive contact with him.

It went without saying that a member of the Valhalla guild couldn't make contact with the whistle-blower—the Black Star Organization would be on guard against them as a whole from the incident.

Moreover, excluding Park Changhyun, none of them could move at the moment.

"…Yes, that is correct."

Lee Woohyuk nodded his head with an expression of slight surprise.

He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Ohjin.

"This is the contact of the whistle-blower."

"We are fully aware that we're requesting a dangerous job. However…"

Grit—

Lee Woohyuk fiercely ground his teeth.

"At this rate, we might lose a lead to those bastards forever."

The Black Star Organization was the group that kidnapped and killed his older brother; no matter how helplessly he was defeated, he couldn't give up on the chase.

"We'll reward you; you won't be disappointed."

"Hmm."

With his eyes narrowed, Ohjin was lost in thought.

As Lee Woohyuk said, it was an extremely dangerous job, however…

'That doesn't mean I can lose this opportunity.'

Rewards were rewards, but the leads they had to the Black Star Organization getting cut off was something Ohjin didn't want either.

'I need information.'

The couple of dots that were marked on top of a blank white canvas…

The opaque and unfriendly drawing that was the future…

In order to draw a 'line' that connected the dots in that drawing, there was a need to investigate the Black Star Organization.

They had to dig up their plans until there was nothing left to scrape.

'Because I'm—'

Not just anyone, but…

'—a Regressor.'

"I understand."

Ohjin took the piece of paper.

"This job, I'll take it."