The job board at the Seoul Hunter Association's District 9 branch flickered with requests. Most were routine: pest control, gate reconnaissance, escort contracts. The kind of low-tier work no one wanted—but someone had to do.
Sang-Hyun stood in front of the terminal, hood pulled low over his brow, the pale-blue screen casting thin light across his face. His fingers hovered over the display as he scrolled past one rejected post after another.
Request: Pest Elimination – Industrial Zone 3
Rank: F
Details: Reports of mana-mutated creatures nesting in an abandoned packaging plant. Clear the area.
Reward: 50,000 won + salvage rights
Status: Solo Registration Permitted
He stared at it for a long moment.
The details were vague. No body count, no confirmation of enemy type, no guarantee of backup.
Which meant something had gone wrong the last time someone tried.
He tapped it anyway.
The screen blinked. Confirmation appeared.
[Request Accepted – Pest Elimination: Industrial Zone 3]
His Hunter ID chimed softly in his pocket.
Sang-Hyun didn't move right away. He watched the glow of the screen fade back into the general listing menu. The Association lobby was empty except for a janitor sweeping near the vending machines.
No one else around. No other F-ranks looking to pair up.
No team. No partner. No safety net.
He didn't expect one.
He turned and walked toward the exit, the soles of his boots clicking quietly against the tile.
Outside, the air was brisk. The sky hung low and gray, the kind of cloud cover that didn't promise rain, just quiet.
Sang-Hyun adjusted the strap of his gear pack and slid the worn blade into place across his back.
The flame inside him pulsed—faint, like a heartbeat at rest.
Not a warning.
Not anticipation.
Something quieter. Heavier.
Like it knew this would be the first of many trials.
A test not of power, but of choice.
He started walking.
And the flame walked with him.
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Industrial Zone 3 was a graveyard of steel and silence. Cracked roads snaked between rusted factories and long-abandoned shipping yards, their windows shattered and walls weather-stained with the slow erosion of time and neglect. The sky above remained dull, hanging like a heavy shroud.
Sang-Hyun stepped off the bus a few blocks from the site, the industrial plant looming in the distance like a forgotten beast hunched beneath the clouds. The air smelled of dust and faint sulfur—tainted mana, he realized, sharp and acrid like scorched copper.
He tightened his grip on the cloth-wrapped hilt of his blade, the rough fabric grounding him.
The building was tall but squat, its metal siding warped and peeled from age. A "No Trespassing" sign was bolted to the fence, but the chain-link gate hung wide open. Vines twisted through the gaps like skeletal fingers clawing their way into the light.
The moment he passed through, the flame in his chest pulsed.
Hard.
A pressure built in his lungs—not suffocating, but dense. The kind of pressure that came before lightning.
[Localized Mana Disturbance Detected – Classification: Mild Instability]
"Only mild?" he muttered under his breath. "Feels worse."
The main entrance was shattered, its glass doors long since broken and scattered across the entryway like jagged teeth. Sang-Hyun stepped over them carefully, each crunch underfoot drawing more attention than he liked.
Inside, the plant was a maze of conveyor belts, rusted catwalks, and overturned crates. Tangled wires hung like webs from broken fixtures, and forgotten forklifts sat entombed in dust. Moonlight bled through the shattered skylights above, casting narrow silver ribbons that did little to push back the gloom.
He moved slowly, blade half-drawn, his eyes adjusting to the shifting shadows.
The silence wasn't empty.
It was listening.
Then he heard it.
Scratching. Wet. Low.
A skittering sound echoed from deeper inside. Then another. And another.
Sang-Hyun dropped into a crouch behind an overturned cart and squinted into the darkness. His breath stilled. The flame inside him stirred—tense now, alert.
Movement.
Three… no, four creatures. Rodent-like in shape, but horribly wrong. Their bodies were stretched, elongated beyond natural proportions. Patches of hardened black chitin fused with tufts of fur, and their limbs bent at crooked angles. One dragged itself with a claw that looked more like a serrated hook than a paw.
Their eyes glowed a sickly amber, and their mouths opened not with squeaks—but hissing clicks.
One twitched violently, head jerking as if reacting to an invisible cue.
"Definitely mutated," he whispered.
His heart thudded in his chest—faster now. Not out of panic.
Out of anticipation.
The System remained silent.
But the flame wasn't.
It burned.
Low. Hungry.
This wasn't going to be a simple clean-up job.
This was a nest.
And something in it was awake.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mutated creatures began to move—erratic, twitching, like they were guided by static rather than instinct. One broke from the pack and crept closer to the corridor where Sang-Hyun crouched.
He steadied his breath, drew his blade fully, and let the silence stretch.
Then he stepped out.
The creature hissed.
He swung.
The steel bit into chitin and caught, wedging halfway through its side. The mutated rat shrieked, thrashing violently, and Sang-Hyun had to brace his foot against it to wrench his blade free. The weapon felt heavier than he remembered—awkward, slippery in his grip.
Another lunged at him from the side.
He turned too late.
It slammed into his ribs, and he hit the concrete hard, air blasting from his lungs. His vision doubled. The stink of rot and ammonia overwhelmed his senses as the creature snapped its jaws inches from his face.
He rolled, blindly swinging. The blade scraped fur and sparks flew as it hit metal. He scrambled to his feet, only to stumble backward into a rusted crate.
Three now. Maybe four. Too fast. Too close.
His heart pounded in his ears.
He lashed out with a clumsy overhead strike. One of them ducked under it, another raked a claw across his arm. Blood sprayed. Pain bloomed white-hot.
He screamed—and then something changed.
The flame inside him surged, not with power, but with need.
Survive.
MOVE.
He pushed off the crate, shoulder-checking the nearest creature. It reeled. He pivoted, swinging low, and caught its leg. It shrieked and collapsed.
[Target Damaged – Critical]
Another leapt—he ducked too slowly. Claws raked across his back. He dropped to one knee, gasping. The blade clattered from his grip.
They were going to kill him.
They were—
No.
The flame didn't flare this time.
It focused.
A deep breath. Pain receded, not gone but dulled. He could feel every injury, every bruise—but he could also feel the fire.
He lunged for the blade, grabbed it, turned.
Steel met flesh. The first rat fell, cleaved through the neck.
[Target Eliminated – +14 XP]
The message blurred at the edges of his vision, drowned beneath the sound of blood roaring in his ears.
He moved. Not perfectly—but with clarity. Slash. Duck. Parry. Step.
Instinct wasn't guiding him. The flame was.
One tried to flank—he spun and slammed the blade into its side. Another screeched and lunged—he side-stepped and let it crash into the wall. He turned the blade and drove it down.
[Target Eliminated – +14 XP]
Only one remained. It hesitated.
So did he.
For a breath, neither moved.
Then the rat charged, wild with desperation.
Sang-Hyun ducked low, rolled under its leap, and came up behind it.
He didn't think.
He acted.
The blade punched through its back. A gurgling scream. Then silence.
[Target Eliminated – +14 XP]
He fell to his knees, gasping. Blood soaked his sleeve and smeared across his cheek. His lungs burned. His arms trembled. His whole body shook.
And yet—
He was alive.
The air stank of rot and blood and fear. But beneath it, something else lingered.
Ash.
The System chimed.
[Combat Milestone Achieved – First Real Encounter Completed]
+36 XP | +3 Stat Points
But more than that… it felt present.
For the first time, Sang-Hyun didn't just feel fire.
He felt something that taught. Not just movement, but intent. Correction. Memory.
A new notification chimed, softer than the rest, but firm:
[Skill Gained – Flame-Touched Swordsmanship (Passive) Lv. 1]
"You have taken your first steps not as a soldier, but as a Sovereign. The blade remembers what your mind does not."
His eyes widened.
He'd learned something. Not from a teacher. Not from training.
From surviving.
From the flame.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle was over, but the building still breathed danger.
Sang-Hyun stood amidst the ruined floor, surrounded by twitching carcasses and the stench of scorched blood. Every inch of his body ached—muscle torn, nerves raw—but the flame within his chest remained steady. Not roaring. Not flickering.
Steady.
Warm.
A quiet pulse.
A beckoning.
Something was calling him deeper.
He turned toward a partially collapsed hallway, its walls stained with rust and decay. With each step, the air thickened, pressing in on his skin like steam before a storm. Dust floated through narrow beams of light that pierced the ruin above, painting the path ahead in ghostly gold. In the distance, a slow drip echoed through the silence—like a clock counting down to something forgotten.
Then he found it.
A hidden chamber, half-swallowed by the building's collapse. Within, the world felt… still. Not dead. Not lifeless.
Reverent.
Curled against the far wall, framed by a collapsed support pillar and fragments of shattered steel, was a body—long dead.
Not human.
A demon.
Tall even in death, it sat slumped upon what resembled a throne of rubble and rust. Cracked obsidian armor clung to its skeletal frame, fused to bone as if burned there. Scorch marks trailed up its limbs. Its flesh, where not withered entirely, was pale as ash.
But its posture spoke of something ancient.
Waiting.
Still.
And in its right hand, still clenched against its chest, rested a ring—ancient and worn. The once-smooth band was marred by soot and time, its surface engraved with faintly glowing sigils, like embers captured in metal. The carvings circled the band like forgotten runes, waiting to be remembered.
As Sang-Hyun's eyes locked onto it, something in him twisted. The flame in his chest leapt—startled, alert, alive.
He staggered back half a step, chest heaving.
Not fear.
Recognition.
The ring wasn't just there.
It was calling to him.
He reached toward it—and felt warmth before contact.
Not the warmth of fire.
The warmth of memory.
[Remnant Identified – Flamebound: Thraz]
"One of the fallen. Bound in loyalty. Lost to time."
[You did not arrive in time.]
[No recovery possible.]
"But the flame remembers. And it waits for others."
Sang-Hyun approached, reverence anchoring his steps.
The demon's expression was not twisted in agony, nor locked in rage. It was still. Almost peaceful. Like it had died with purpose.
When his fingers brushed the ring, it pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then a gentle heat surged through his arm, spreading into his chest and sinking into the flame already burning there.
[Bound Relic Detected – Awakened: Ashen Sigil]
"A relic forged in flame remembers the hands of its true bearer."
Item Type: Sovereign Relic – Bound (Scaling)
Effect: Unlocks latent traits as Sync and Level rise.
Current Effects:
– Passive: Slight resistance to heat and flame-based damage.
– Passive: Flame Affinity detection enhanced during meditation.
Bound to: Lee Sang-Hyun
He held the ring in his palm for a moment longer, feeling the heat—not searing, but welcoming—and then slid it onto his finger.
It fit perfectly.
Not just in size.
In destiny.
The flame didn't speak.
It didn't need to.
It remembered.
And now… so would he.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sun was beginning to rise when Sang-Hyun emerged from the ruins of Industrial Zone 3.
His clothes were torn, his blade dulled and streaked with grime, and his muscles throbbed with every step. But he was alive. Alive, and changed.
Behind him, the decrepit factory loomed like a husk that had given up one of its ghosts. The wind stirred faint embers across the concrete as the dawn light caught the edges of broken glass and scorched metal.
He looked down at the ring on his finger—the Ashen Sigil—and flexed his hand slowly. It was warm. Not with heat, but with presence.
His thoughts drifted back to the demon he found. Thraz. Loyal. Forgotten. And lost.
"I wasn't fast enough," he murmured.
The flame in his chest stirred gently. Not in guilt. Not in scorn. But in understanding.
You weren't meant to save him.
But maybe there were others.
His brow furrowed. His gaze lifted.
If that demon had fallen here, how many others were still hidden across the world?
Alone. Waiting. Dying.
The System chimed softly, like a whisper carried on a breeze.
[New Quest Unlocked – Emberkind Redemption]
"Demons once bound to the White Flame still linger. Some sleep. Some suffer. Some survive. Seek them. Awaken them. Save them."
Objective: Discover and rescue Flamebound remnants.
Progress: 0/??
He stared at the message for a long moment, the gravity of it sinking in.
This wasn't just about survival anymore.
This was legacy.
He turned, one last time, to the husk of the building behind him.
"I'll find them," he said.
And the flame pulsed.
In agreement.
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