[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 Romes 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 wouldnt 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.

Lets head over for now.

He entered the Valhalla guilds 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. Woohyuks condition?

Park Changhyuns expression stiffened.

Letting out a deep sigh, he shook his head.

Theres, fortunately, no threat to his life, however I cant say that hes 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 couldnt be said to be a relief in the current situation.

I think itd 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 hadnt 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 wasnt easy to believe that the Valhalla guildwhere each and every member was at the level of an executive compared to other guildshad suffered a blow so powerlessly.

Was it Arshad Khan?

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

According to Yujins words, Arshad Khans 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.

Ill 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 surroundingsworried that another predator might come by to snatch its dead preywas flowing out of Lee Woohyuk.

What is this?

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

Kuh, cough! Ive shown you an unsightly appearance.

It seemed that Lee Woohyuk read the emotions reflected on Ohjins 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?

Ohjins mouth opened wide.

Perhaps

Was it Arshad Khan?

No. We already found him using the information you gave us, however the one we fought wasnt him.

Indeed.

It wasnt Arshad Khan.

Then just who?

Cheon Doyoon.

Lee Woohyuk spoke with a sunken voice.

His eyes shook as if he recalled a terrible nightmare.

Thats 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 werent 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 Stars stigma came to mind.

The stigma of the Owl Nebula.

If he had titled himself the King of Owls, It wasnt 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 Ohjins spine.

I knew they would be strong, but

He hadnt 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.

Shouldnt 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 didnt 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 Organizations HQ?

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

No. It wasnt the HQ. It was just one of their branches. Well even though its a branch, it was on a much larger scale than the one at Mt. Baekunsan.

Because there wasnt 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 wasnt 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 wasnt 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 isnt so.

It isnt?

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, didnt you eventually lose him?

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

It was hard to expect cooperation with a criminal that wasnt handcuffed.

Thats right. However, the case is a little different this time.

Different?

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

?

They didnt catch him and dig for information, but the opposing party had approached them first.

And that means

Ohjins eyes shone keenly.

Lee Woohyuk slightly nodded his head.

Yes. Hes 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 couldnt make contact with the whistle-blowerthe 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 were 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 couldnt give up on the chase.

Well reward you; you wont be disappointed.

Hmm.

With his eyes narrowed, Ohjin was lost in thought.

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

That doesnt 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 didnt 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 Im

Not just anyone, but

a Regressor.

I understand.

Ohjin took the piece of paper.

This job, Ill take it.