[BREAKING — National Auction Incident: What Really Happened Inside?]
A cult operating under the name "Stargazers" was subdued last night during the National Auction in what authorities are calling an unprecedented security breach.
Perhaps more alarming than the incident itself is what came after. Investigations have revealed that the Stargazers' activities were not limited to Korean soil, affiliated cells and illegally raised dungeon monsters have since been confirmed in multiple countries, raising serious questions about the scale of the organization and how long it had gone undetected.
Several top-ranked hunters who attended the auction have agreed to speak, though all requested anonymity.
"If it weren't for that person," said one attendee, "I don't think we would've walked out of there so cleanly." The individual in question, already being referred to online as the 'angel', has yet to be identified.
A second source added fuel to the speculation: "If Hunter Saber and Hunter Gilbert Kingsley were not there, I think the outcome would have caused international wars."
Saber and Gilbert Kingsley have both declined to comment. No one has come forward as the hunter the public has taken to calling 'angel.'
And yet the search has already begun. Multiple sources within high-ranking hunter circles confirm that several individuals have been quietly making inquiries, who she is, where she came from, and why someone with that level of ability has remained completely off the radar until now.
Whether she wants to be found is another question entirely.
[ Comments ] (1.2k)
ImAnExpiredBread: So our angel-nim attended the auction too and ended up saving everyone again?? Daebak ㅋㅋㅋ Wish there was footage honestly
AnitaNapdaily: Saber-nim and Angel-nim a power couple fr ㅋㅋㅋ
CtrlAltDefeated: There were a lot of foreign hunters this time though. Are they going to try and recruit our angel now???
KimchiThief: @CtrlAltDefeated Their identity is hidden so good luck with that lol
LeeVemeAlone: We must protect angel-nim at all costs. Korea's biggest loss would be losing her. I don't care if she stays hidden forever, just please stay in Korea.
YoonBelievable: Okay I wasn't going to say anything but someone I know went to the auction. Apparently a guy tried to hit on our angel-nim, and Saber-nim personally dealt with it.
MukbangLover: WAIT ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Saber-nim is more possessive than I thought?? Now I'm even more curious who angel-nim is omg
BLorGL: Why are both of them unaffiliated?? Are they trying to live normal lives or something?? We pay taxes for a reason, some of us can barely afford rent because of these dungeons...
ChaEunwoofan: Why can't they live however they want?? If you want more hunters go become one yourself and die in a dungeon then. At least these two are actually out there protecting people unlike you sitting at home. Broke much? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
BLorGL: @ChaEunwoofan What did you just say?? Send me your address!
ChaEunwoofan: You mad?? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
BLorGL: I SAID SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS
MukbangLover: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ why is this comment section like this every time
While all kinds of rumors and speculations were flooding the comment section, Han Jinhyuk sat quietly next to Seo Elena who was still unconscious.
The only sound in the room were the heart beat monitor and her faint breathing. It had been a month since then and she was showing no signs of waking up.
He'd requested a healer overseas under the psudonym, Saber, so that he could get a priority request.
"How is she?" Han Jinhyuk asked. Seo Elena was inside the Obsidian guild, on the top floor.
"I can't say. She doesn't have any major injuries externally, and she seems to be fine internally too but something's off." S-rank healer, Ashley, says, "I can see status differently and right now, she's in a... recovering state?"
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. It's my first time seeing something like this too. I've tried healing her in every way possible, but it's not that my healing isn't working..."
The healer swallowed nervously.
"It's that it can't. Her body is already in perfect condition, yet her status still says she's in the process of recovering..."
"So you're telling me you don't know what's wrong with her?" Jinhyuk asked coldly.
The healer flinched.
"Then what the fuck am I paying you for?"
"I-I apologize, Saber-nim." The S-rank healer lowered her head immediately. "There's really nothing else I can do except wait for her to wake up."
"Fuck..."
Jinhyuk dragged a hand down his face before glancing toward Seo Elena's pale, unconscious figure.
His jaw tightened.
"You're an S-rank healer, aren't you?"
The pressure rolling off him became suffocating.
"So fix her."
Dark circles had settled beneath his eyes. He'd barely slept, couldn't, really, not when his gaze kept drifting back to Elena no matter how many times he tried to look away.
"Are you not going to answer me?"
He murmured it quietly, not wanting to wake her. But the words weren't meant for her.
『 ... 』
Not one of his three constellations responded. It had been that way for a month now. The moment any question touched on Seo Elena, silence remained.
His phone buzzed against the kitchen table. With his hearing, he caught it easily, and he was already moving before he'd made the conscious decision to, more so to keep the noise from waking her than out of any real desire to answer.
"Guild master." Kim Taewon's voice was clipped and urgent. "An immeasurable rank dungeon just formed in the Mirang district."
"Handle it yourself."
"No — wait, guild master—!"
The line went dead.
He was still holding the phone when it rang again. He glanced at the screen.
Minwoo.
He picked up, if only because it was already in his hand. "Make it quick."
"Hyung, you need to get here. I think this is that dungeon."
Even hearing the urgency in Minwoo's voice, he couldn't bring himself to care. Something in him had gone quietly empty.
"Handle it yourself." He repeated the same answer he'd given Taewon.
"Hyung." Minwoo's voice shifted, dropping the urgency for something more serious. "You know that if we die, it gets out too. And if that happens, your odds get worse."
Han Jinhyuk said nothing.
"If you die, you automatically regress." He continued. "But are you sure she'll be there when you go back? You said it yourself, in every single regression, you never once saw her. Not once Hyung. Someone with that kind of power doesn't just get missed, Hyung. It's like she can only exist here. In this timeline."
His grip tightened around the phone.
He knew. He'd known for a while now, turning it over in the back of his mind without ever letting himself look at it directly.
With everything accelerating so fast, so many variables diverging from every regression he could remember, the rational choice would've been to cut his losses. Reset. Start again.
But that meant losing her.
And he couldn't.
"Send me your location."
He had to protect this timeline.