Suwon – 2:03 AM
Jung Ha-Joon sat cross-legged on the floor of his darkened room, the only light coming from the moon slipping through a narrow crack in the curtain.
Eyes closed.
Breath slow.
But his mind was far from rest.
The voice from before still lingered in the corners of his thoughts—cold, ancient, and deeply familiar.
> "Crimson vessel… We've found you."
Not a threat.
Not a call for help.
But a claim.
As if something out there believed it still had ownership over him.
> "You shouldn't have followed me here," he whispered.
> "You'll regret it."
---
Meanwhile – The First Incident
Gyeonggi Province, 4:11 AM
The night was still, quiet.
A patrol drone hovered slowly over farmland, doing its routine scan for mana fluctuations and unauthorized gate openings.
Suddenly—silence.
The drone feed cut off. Not with static.
Just… nothing.
It vanished from every network.
Within five minutes, emergency responders arrived on-site.
And found only frost.
Deep, unnatural ice that hadn't melted despite rising temperatures.
In the middle of the field stood a perfect circle of blackened grass, scorched by energy that didn't belong to any hunter classification.
There was no sign of a gate.
But the Hunters who arrived on scene… all collapsed within minutes.
---
Hunter Association – Crisis Meeting
Screens flashed red.
"UNIDENTIFIED ENTITY DETECTED."
Gate Zero?
Category Black?
Worse—no category fit.
The director pounded the desk.
> "Get eyes on Jung Ha-Joon. Now. Every second we don't involve him, we're gambling with the nation's survival."
Another analyst spoke, pale-faced:
> "Sir… with all due respect… if that entity is coming for him, then dragging him into the open might be exactly what it wants."
Silence.
Then a single word:
> "Monitor quietly. Alert all major guilds. Do not—under any condition—engage him without authorization."
---
At School – Suwon High
It was just past 8:00 AM.
Homeroom had begun. The usual boring chatter from the front desk, students half asleep, phones hidden under textbooks.
Ha-Joon sat quietly at his desk, staring out the window.
Baek Seo-Yeon was watching again.
This time, she didn't bother pretending.
He felt it.
He didn't turn.
> "You're planning something," she whispered under her breath.
At that moment, she didn't know why—but she felt afraid.
Not of him.
But for him.
---
Ha-Joon's Thoughts
A whisper echoed in the back of his mind still.
Not the words—just the pressure.
The awareness.
The unmistakable presence of something that had tasted endless time… and wanted more.
Ha-Joon clenched his hand under the desk.
If he flared his power even slightly, they would know.
The watchers.
The Hunters.
The foreign powers.
The entity that crossed the veil wasn't hunting the world.
It was watching for weakness.
And he would not give it one.
> "This is still my world now," he thought.
"I'm not letting you take it."
---
Later That Day – City Mall Incident
An incident occurred at the Suwon Central Mall.
The news called it "a technical fault."
Elevators jammed.
People collapsed due to "low air pressure."
But Ha-Joon knew better.
He had already been there, sitting quietly in the food court when the shift happened.
The mana in the air reversed for a fraction of a second.
Something ancient tried to phase through—but failed.
He felt it.
A reaching claw.
A curious gaze.
> "It's probing," he murmured.
> "Trying to see if the veil is thin enough."
He stood and walked out.
By the time investigators arrived—nothing remained.
Except a single word, faintly burned into a metal beam:
> "CRIMSON."
---
That Night – Rooftop Again
He looked to the sky.
Clouds drifted lazily across the moon.
The stars were unusually still.
> "You're testing me," he said aloud.
> "Trying to see how much of myself I'm willing to use again."
> "I already told you once. This world is under my protection now."
A pause.
Then his eyes flickered crimson.
The rooftop railing beneath his hand cracked from pressure.
> "If you insist on crossing…"
He stepped away.
> "…then you'll find out what it means to be invincible."
---
Across the Veil – In Between Worlds
Somewhere between dimensions—between time and decay—a being hovered inside an endless dark ocean of stillness.
Its form was unclear.
Not solid. Not energy. A shape made of intent.
In front of it, a mirror-like surface showed Earth.
Cities.
Lights.
People.
And him.
The Crimson Vessel.
A flicker of hatred surged through the entity.
> "He broke the Loop."
> "He shattered the Spiral."
> "He was supposed to fade."
But he didn't.
And now… he was home.
The entity pressed its hand against the mirror.
A ripple spread across the veil.
And somewhere in Korea—
A new gate cracked open without warning.
---