My teammates, who had thoroughly beaten me while I lay sprawled on the floor, disappeared one by one, pairing off.
Left alone, I stared blankly at the ceiling and thought.
“…I survived.”
No, that's not right.
Of course I'm alive.
They weren't actually trying to kill me when they stomped on me.
“Perhaps it's better to say I've overcome a crisis.”
Though the order of events was a bit off, I made my case to them.
My intention was to live with all of them, without abandoning a single person.
Their reactions afterward were varied.
They were furious that I'd abruptly brought up polygamy without a word of warning, and they thoroughly stomped on me, but that wasn't a rejection.
They'll need time to think.
That's only natural.
What woman would readily accept living with one man and several women?
What if, by some chance, one of them rejects the proposal?
If they reject it, I'll naturally let them go… or rather, I won't.
“All I can do is persuade them diligently.”
I'll just keep pushing until they accept the proposal.
For now, that's as far as my thoughts go.
“Hoo.”
I got up, used my mana to brush off the dust clinging to my clothes, and left the conference room.
“Someone said there was a visitor.”
That's strange.
I don't recall having any appointments today.
“Which means they showed up without warning…”
If it were just some random person, my secretary, Yoon Ji-an, would have sent them away herself.
The fact that she didn't means they're someone worth meeting, despite the rudeness of showing up unannounced.
I opened the closed Guild Master's office door and stepped inside to find a man sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee.
It was a familiar face.
Long bangs that shimmered around his eyes, a perpetually smiling face, and beneath it, the sharp glint of a blade.
As soon as he noticed my presence, he rose and bowed politely.
“It's been a long time, Hunter Kim Dojin.”
“Your name was… K, wasn't it?”
“To think you remember a lowly A-rank Hunter like me… I'm so grateful, I don't know what to do with myself.”
“…”
My gaze turned cold as I looked at him, listening to his endlessly self-deprecating tone.
A lowly A-rank Hunter, he says.
He doesn't look like that at all.
I don't know what's happened in the meantime, but he's grown steadily.
No… 'steadily' might be an understatement.
I sat on the sofa opposite him, glanced at him, and continued.
“To show up so boldly in broad daylight, it seems you still have one foot in the light.”
The organization he belonged to was Zodiac.
I'd momentarily forgotten about them because of Hexagram, but they were undoubtedly a troublesome organization.
Whether they wanted to stay in the light or plot in the shadows,
and what they hoped to gain by establishing their organization, remained unknown.
Given that he'd come to meet me so openly, it seemed they were still operating as a 'fake' presence in the light.
He sat back down, following my lead, and spoke, his smile unwavering.
“Because we don't know how things will turn out.”
In short, he was still testing the waters.
I asked him directly.
“So, why have you come to see me?”
He then wiped the smile from his face, revealing the eyes he usually kept hidden, and replied.
“Our boss has requested your help.”
“…”
Suddenly?
Zodiac.
An organization that, true to its name, meaning the twelve signs of the zodiac, established a command structure with twelve Knight executives corresponding to each constellation, followed by Bishops, Rooks, and Pawns.
For a long time, they moved between the light and the shadows, diligently carrying out their assigned missions.
These missions were largely similar:
gathering information in their assigned regions, negotiating with those in power, securing personnel and funds, and maintaining appropriate cover identities.
Yes.
It was all preparation.
But no one, not even the executives, knew
what their preparations were for in the future.
In a way, it was strange.
How could an organization with such an unclear purpose remain so robust and endure for so long?
The reason was simple.
Their bonds were strong.
Zodiac didn't just take anyone in.
They reached out to those who had lost family, those who had been abandoned, and those who needed salvation.
And they told them,
“This place, we, are your new family.”
Among villainous organizations, where betrayal was rampant, this was a truly unique relationship.
But this aspect worked perfectly, becoming the reason they survived for so long.
Through the wealth, personnel, and military power they had accumulated, they were ready to act at any moment.
They were overflowing with confidence that they could achieve anything the moment their trusted boss set a goal.
That's how it was, but...
“Recently, our organization has fallen into crisis.”
Zodiac faced the risk of its first and worst crisis since its founding.
What was the cause of this crisis?
“Hexagram has overtly begun targeting us.”
Kim Dojin's brow furrowed at K's explanation.
“…Hexagram?”
“Yes.”
“The reason?”
“We don't know. At least, we didn't provoke them first, nor did we provide any pretext.”
“So they just started targeting you out of the blue, with no prior connection?”
“No.”
K shook his head.
“It's not that we had no prior connection. We've known of each other's existence for a long time, and we even exchanged favors when needed.”
A look of bewilderment crossed Kim Dojin's face as he listened.
“Then isn't that even stranger?”
“Yes, it is strange.”
“You haven't tried to talk to them?”
“We tried, but our boss dissuaded us. Perhaps he has some idea why.”
“Hmm.”
What could it be?
The reason Hexagram started targeting Zodiac.
It was a rather poor time for a simple expansion of power.
They already had many enemies; why turn a potentially cooperative party into an adversary?
As he pondered, K continued.
“For some reason, our boss didn't tell us the answer. But he said that Hunter Kim Dojin would immediately understand once he heard this.”
“…Me?”
As Kim Dojin tilted his head, K recited the words he'd heard from his boss exactly.
“He said, ‘He and I share the same root...’ and that you would understand if I told you that.”
“…”
Kim Dojin's face hardened.
The same root.
Because what that implied was clear.
“Contact your boss immediately.”
Kim Dojin, who had maintained a relaxed demeanor until now, spoke to K with a hardened face, almost commanding him.
“Whether he wants to ask for help or pick a fight, tell him to do it face-to-face.”
Las Vegas.
In a city brimming with every kind of debauchery, she had built her own nest.
It was a utopia.
A paradise for those who abandoned family, friends, lovers, and all other relationships, dedicating themselves solely to pleasure.
“Oh, all in!”
Some to a single card.
“Haaahng...!”
Some to the physical relations between men and women.
“Jackson, push harder!”
“If you lose, we'll all be beggars!”
“That idiot!”
And some to the violence of crushing each other's bodies.
The ecstasy and screams erupting from those who willingly sacrificed—no, ground down—their lives for every pleasure-filled act that sent currents through their minds, were the very source of her power.
At the top of a colossal building, where every floor blazed with all manner of debauchery,
a messenger arrived for her, who had been biding her time there, feeding on joy and despair.
“What did you just say?”
“Lord Chris has ordered Lady Lucy to assassinate Kim Dojin.”
“Ha, assassinate?”
She scoffed.
“Is he twisting an order for me to die into something like that?”
“That's not it—cough!”
Enraged by the man's resolute head shake and reply, she seized his throat before he could finish speaking.
“Or is he trying to threaten me like this because he wants something else from me?”
“Kuh... Grrrk...?!”
Lucy released his throat only when he was on the verge of suffocating.
“Cough, hack!”
The man, gasping for breath repeatedly amidst violent coughs, continued speaking, his face still etched with pain.
“Lord Chris truly wishes for Lady Lucy to step forward...”
The heated atmosphere gently subsided.
The fact that he didn't change his words, even after his life was threatened, meant his conviction was strong.
No matter that she was an executive, she was still part of the organization.
She couldn't openly defy the orders of her boss, Chris.
So, she asked.
“By what means does he expect me to kill that man?”
To this, the man replied.
“Lord Chris said that within the organization, Lady Lucy has the highest probability of killing Kim Dojin.”
“So.”
Frustration welled up inside her.
“By what means does he confidently believe I have a high chance of killing him?”
How many times did she have to ask the same question?
Towards her, who was on the verge of exploding again, the man continued, trembling.
“Th-that... Lady Lucy will quickly understand if she thinks about it herself...”
At his answer, she smiled.
“Right, I understand.”
She still had no idea how she was supposed to kill Kim Dojin.
But one thing she definitely understood.
“You, however, are going to die here today.”
“L-Lady—!”
“Take him away.”
Into pleasure that wouldn't stop until death.
Even after disposing of the man so simply and directly, her mind was as tangled and complex as a ball of yarn.