[Title: Our Big Bro Is the Strongest When He’s on Our Side]

[Guildmaster On: China’s Metallic Armor Changer — “My daughter likes it... appropriate for a five-year-old.”]

King Ju Rim

[Comments]

— Damn, a man who never backs down

— Solid! Big Ju Rim!

— Let’s go Hanhanryeong 2~

Sure, but the second Guru’s toys go on sale, y’all are gonna crawl over and buy ’em anyway~

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

LMAO Guru’s toysㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Yesterday y’all were worshiping him for being badass and today it’s “Guru’s toy” lmao

In just one day?? What a turn.

[Title: Wouldn't Hanhanryeong 2 Actually Be Good?]

Just the stuff we couldn’t do before:

SSPED-backed Doan Gnovation

Kritaito Reactor

Changer (a.k.a. Guru Toy)

Now imagine not being able to buy those? Who’s really taking the L here?

[Comments]

— Feels so good~

— Facts frㅋㅋ

[Title: How much is Kritaito now?]

Title says it all.

[Comments]

— It’s 1,500 per unit now

Wtf is this, crypto? It was 100 yesterday

Damn I should’ve just bought yesterday. If I sold today...

If there’s any stock left, buy today. Labs and companies are scrambling. It’s only going up.

Dropping 1,500 on an F-rank?? Tsk...

Fact) Regret bros (“should’ve bought then,” “should’ve sold then” types) never buy anything in their lives

Fuck this hurts I’m absolutely obliterated

***

The middle-aged man leaned back into the plush chair.

Creeaak.

The eerie sound of the chair sliding back echoed through the office.

The subordinate, who had been watching every twitch of his superior’s expression, bowed his head even lower.

["Do you think my China—this great nation—must endure such disgraceful insults from a thieving country that stole our relics?"]

Minister of State Security (MSS), Hu Weigang, flung the newspaper onto his desk.

The front page, crumpled now, bore On Jurim’s face in bold print.

He took a swig from a ceramic liquor bottle and strode over to the subordinate.

["Now I have to face the Chairman. What could I even say to him?"]

He had been the one /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ who proposed, at enormous cost, bringing Lee Soyeon back. It was his burden to bear.

["I have no excuse, sir. I apologize."]

The subordinate bowed repeatedly. Hu Weigang ground his teeth.

["You guaranteed that Lee Soyeon would never be able to replicate her work in Korea."]

But it was clear now that she had left key research data behind in Korea.

Otherwise, Korea wouldn’t be talking about mass production this quickly.

And now Amakusa was involved on top of that. For all China mocked their so-called item mastery, maybe some of it was true.

Stupid Takahashi Norio.

He clenched his fists. He couldn’t afford to become the next dumbass prime minister like that one.

["Don’t worry about that. Lee Soyeon will soon have... a guest."]

["Do you think the Chairman gives a damn about Lee Soyeon’s safety?"]

Unlike Lee Soyeon, who they could handle at any time, Korea’s On Jurim wasn’t so simple.

Sensing his superior’s intentions, Sun Jianping knelt on one knee and looked up.

["It’s an act of benevolence for a great nation to remind a small one of its place. If you permit me, I shall go discipline this insolent fool myself."]

["On Jurim?"]

["Compared to a rising great power, he’s nothing but a paper tiger."]

["Kukuk. Paper tiger, huh? Hehehe..."]

Spoken like a brat who’d never actually met Jurim in person.

But his confidence did reflect the boldness and talent of China’s new generation.

Of course, the risk was obvious. If word got out that China had dispatched a covert special unit, this could escalate to a full-blown international conflict.

But.

["I like that answer. Then go prove it."]

He understood that sometimes you had to throw yourself in like a moth to the flame. Only then could you surpass your limits.

With that faint flicker of hope, Hu Weigang sent his subordinate out.

Outside, Sun Jianping’s team had already assembled in formation.

["We’ve got authorization. Operation Tiger Hunt begins now."]

***

Almost as if they’d expected a Chinese raid, Hyeonak had been moving mostly with Team 1 these days.

They seemed to be staying prepared.

But it didn’t matter. With so many dungeons to hit, today’s teams were split.

Meaning today’s targets would be lighter in number.

At Sun Jianping’s signal, his armed team slipped through the dungeon gate.

They immediately activated their stealth skills, pulled out their prepped stimulants, and bit into them like chewing gum, swallowing twice.

Even though it would cause a sudden magic surge, they controlled their output like veterans—keeping mana from leaking.

Sun Jianping nodded, surveying the area. The dungeon was smothered in thick fog.

As planned, they moved toward the boss room.

Pat-pat-pat!

His footsteps were nearly silent, and soon the faint footsteps of the hidden team members followed behind.

At this pace, it wouldn’t even take ten minutes to reach the boss room.

Just then, Sun Jianping reached for his sword.

Pat-pat-pat.

Pat-pat-pat...

What...?

One by one...

The footsteps disappeared.

By the time he noticed—

Pat, pat!

Pat!

The running sounds were cut short. Then nothing.

Sun Jianping stopped and looked back, opening his comms.

— Status check. Where is everyone?

— ......

No reply.

As silence hung in the air, Sun Jianping realized he was afraid.

Cold sweat dripped endlessly down his temples.

Could someone really make his entire team vanish like magic, without a trace?

Then why not me?

Why am I the only one left?

It felt like some god was toying with him.

Just as he looked up—

He saw it.

Half-shrouded in the mist was something massive—so tall he couldn’t even see its head, no matter how far back he craned.

It resembled a human... but its limbs were twisted and its face monstrous.

A grotesque tangle of limbs, and at the end of each, one of his teammates hung, limp and lifeless.

The monster lifted one in its hand and slowly turned its head toward Sun Jianping.

["Ah..."]

Then, as if mimicking his voice, the thing responded.

“Ah...”

The raspy, scratching voice froze his heart.

The creature in front of him felt like fear incarnate.

As he stood paralyzed—

“He’s the Gatekeeper of the 90th Floor.”

A slow, calm male voice echoed from somewhere.

“A curse itself. He doesn’t ‘die,’ just ‘disappears.’ Can’t kill him.”

Like a candle flame—blown out, he vanishes. Re-lit, he returns.

“I cleared the floor because of him... ended up having to take him with me...”

The voice’s owner stepped out of the mist, fiddling with his wristwatch.

Jurim wore a faint smile.

“Guess he came in handy after all.”

["Ah..."]

Sun Jianping collapsed to his knees as his team members started dropping from the monster one by one.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Black shapes piled up on the ground.

An incomprehensible sight.

And facing the “paper tiger” he’d scorned, he couldn’t even lift his weapon—paralyzed by overwhelming terror.

Jurim, wearing a look of pure annoyance, stared him dead in the chest.

Meanwhile—

“Hyung’s unhinged today... Noona, we’ve got a problem. I think Dani needs a SAN check right now.”

“What’s a SAN check?”

“Wait—is that thing even human?”

From a distance, Gidan, Nayeon, and Serhi were whispering among themselves.

“Maybe it’s not.”

Nayeon said seriously. Serhi, unsurprised, added,

“Probably experimented on somewhere, right?”

Gidan gave a low hum and nodded.

“That’d be less scary. If he’s a 100% unmodified human, that’s way worse.”

At that moment, Jurim turned his head—and the three of them shut up immediately.

He smirked, lifting a micro-transmitter.

The body cam Sun Jianping had brought was now broadcasting Jurim’s face.

No doubt it was streaming straight to MSS.

“Enjoy the show?”

It was a one-way broadcast, but that was fine.

“Now it’s time to settle up.”

Because from this point on—everything belonged to the victor.