“You little punk!”

Seeing Yein’s silver hair, the Cosmos thug lowered his gun and drew a blade from his inventory.

“Stop.”

The man in front of Yein froze. The ash-haired woman was strolling over with an amused smile.

“L-Lady Margaret….”

She came to a halt directly before Yein. Under the ceiling lights, her shadow swallowed him whole.

“Interesting. Are you not afraid of me?”

“I’d be lying if I said no,” Yein said, looking up at her. “But standing by while a baby gets shot to death—that isn’t something a human being does.”

“What a model student. I’m moved. I could almost cry.”

Her face, of course, showed no sign of tears. She was still smiling as if she’d found a new toy.

“But this is pointless. What you’re protecting is an unchosen Unawakened. A dropout. They aren’t worth risking the life of an Awakener like you.”

The civilians lying prone felt their hearts turn to ice.

She was saying it plainly: Move, or you die first.

“We act for Awakeners like you. Young Awakeners are the future of this changed world. So I’ll give you one chance.”

Margaret pointed with her forefinger to Yein’s side.

A man was there, still shielding his baby with his own body.

“Kill these dropouts with your own hands. If you don’t, I’ll deem you a traitor standing in the way of a new order—and I’ll execute you myself.”

Faces turned blue across the floor.

“It won’t be hard. Compared to us, their bodies are like straw. If you don’t like using your hands, I can lend you a gun.”

“…”

Yein glanced at the man clutching the infant. The man could only stare back, eyes pleading. Yein slowly turned his head back to Margaret.

“I don’t follow.”

“What?”

“If you do this in the middle of Seoul, Mayor Cheon Ji-won will show up in minutes. What’s your plan for what comes after?”

“Pfft.”

Margaret puffed her cheeks, then burst into laughter.

“So that’s what you’re counting on? Cheon Ji-won? Not kind—just stupid.”

Her lip curled.

“Him coming is exactly what we want. We’re going to bargain with him—using the dropouts in this department store.”

“Bargain?”

From outside came the crackle of a loudspeaker.

“Looks like the police finally arrived. Good. Perfect timing.”

Margaret squared her shoulders and drew a short breath.

“Everyone in here—and out there—listen up! I’ll state our demands!”

Her voice boomed through the open central well, shaking all six floors, loud enough to carry beyond the building. Civilians clapped hands over their ears, shuddering. Even Yein winced and covered his.

“We have five demands. One! Any Awakener must be allowed to enter dungeons freely. Cheon Ji-won currently blocks those without licenses or permits. That policy lets only compliant Awakeners grow stronger and claim resources—it’s blatant discrimination! Two! Establish legal classes between Awakeners and dropouts, and make dropouts live lives of service to Awakeners. Three! Restrict dropout residential zones to the outskirts; they cannot leave without permission. Four! Grant Awakeners blanket immunity for any act committed against a dropout.”

Rage, helplessness, and dread welled in the civilians. But anyone who showed it would die where they lay.

“Five! Porter’s chairman—the architect of reverse discrimination—must resign. Porter Group must cease all such campaigns and pledge support to the Awakener organizations designated by Cosmos. Those are our demands. Refuse, and we execute ten Unawakened every minute!!”

Sobs and strangled cries rose from everywhere.

“How’s that? Glorious, isn’t it?”

Margaret looked back at Yein.

“…”

He stared at her in silence.

“This world is becoming a world for Awakeners. Like raindrops joining a river and flowing to the sea—it’s natural. But people like Cheon Ji-won and Porter’s chairman dam the current and force it backward. That kind of coercion only breeds rot.”

She smirked.

“Now, I’ve given you plenty of time. Decide.”

She pointed again at the father.

“Will you join us in building a new world—or do something stupid and protect a worthless dropout here and now? Even if you die, I’ll kill them anyway.”

A demon.

That was what Margaret felt like to the civilians on the floor.

“…Understood.”

Yein turned, stepped to the dented metal shield, and picked it up.

Those watching him out of the corners of their eyes gasped.

“Is that your answer?”

“Yes.”

Shield raised, Yein planted himself between Margaret and the father and child.

Disbelief rippled outward—from the civilians on the floor, to the masked Cosmos gunmen, to the Hunters locked in place by fear.

Only three people there were moving with unwavering purpose.

“Have it your way. You’ll be the first sacrifice for the new order.”

Margaret drew twin claws from her inventory and lunged.

Thud!

Steel bit flesh with a sickening note.

“…hk.”

The breathy sound was thin, like air leaving a punctured lung.

Baffled, Margaret looked down.

Where there had been only civilians, a green-haired girl had slid low into her guard. Two daggers were buried in Margaret’s chest and belly.

Clink!

“Ghh!”

Still dazed, Margaret took a glass bottle full in the face. It shattered; clear liquid sluiced over her hair and skin.

She staggered back—and hesitated.

Where the liquid touched, her hair and face began to turn to stone.

“Thanks, Lumina,” Yein said, eyes on the girl now standing in front of him. “I knew you’d be by my side.”

“…”

Lumina’s cheeks flushed red.

He was right.

When it all began, she’d cloaked herself in invisibility; the moment she spotted Yein, she’d moved to him—waiting at his shoulder, daggers in hand.

If the enemy struck at Yein, she would stop it.

She couldn’t gauge the woman’s level. The thought that she might die had never left her mind.

But still, she remained by Yein’s side.

Because to her, that was only natural.

“Lady Margaret!!”

“Captain Margaret!”

Several Cosmos members rushed over to their fallen leader. One pulled out an HP Potion, another a Stone-Cure Potion.

“You… what on earth are you two….”

Margaret glared at Yein and Lumina, her voice trembling.

The wounds in her chest and stomach refused to close. One of them was still frozen stiff.

She wore leather armor beneath her clothes, yet the girl’s daggers had pierced clean through her defenses.

Even worse, Margaret’s whole body was shaking. The strike had been critical enough to sap a huge portion of her HP.

It was absurd.

Her level was 66—a rank no ordinary Hunter could stand against.

On top of that, her ability, Lion’s Roar, induced the status effect Fear, a mental domination that crippled her enemies.

Her voice was its medium. Anyone who heard it was powerless to resist unless they were higher level than her.

That was why every civilian and employee in the mall had crumbled at her booming speech, unable to fight back.

Yet these two—mere Hunter cadets—stood straight, untouched by her roar, and even fought back.

Higher level than me? Impossible. Cadets barely scrape level 40, if that.

Margaret’s wounds healed, and her skin returned to normal under the potions her followers poured out, but she barked furiously:

“Drop your weapons, both of you! Or I’ll have every dropout and Hunter on this floor killed where they lie!”

Cornered, she abandoned the fight for a more reliable weapon—threats.

At her words, metallic clicks echoed all around.

Masked Cosmos members pressed guns against the prone civilians.

“Y-Yein…”

Lumina’s green-haired head turned, her eyes anxious.

The silver-haired boy beside her wore a blank mask. His gaze dropped briefly to his wrist.

“We did what we could.”

Yein let his sling of items fall to the ground.

Margaret’s mouth curled into a smile.

“You too! Drop them!”

Lumina glanced at Yein again. He nodded once, slowly.

Her daggers clattered to the floor.

Margaret tightened her grip on her claws, lips twisting in satisfaction, and charged.

“No!”

Lumina cried out, spreading her arms wide in front of Yein.

And then—

…?

Margaret caught his gaze. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking past her—behind.

A suffocating dread clamped down on her chest.

Crash!!!

Glass exploded. A massive window on the sixth floor shattered inward.

Margaret’s body froze stiff. Not from fear, but from something tangible—an invisible force locking her limbs like stone.

Ch-Cheon Ji-won!!

The man stepping through the broken glass was none other than the Mayor of Seoul—and one of the last surviving Seven Pioneers.

The world’s strongest Hunter.

How…? How did he arrive so fast—and land here of all places?!

Margaret screamed inside, thrashing to no avail. She wasn’t the only one.

Everyone in the mall—civilians, Hunters, Cosmos members—could do nothing but breathe. Every other movement was stolen from them.

“You’ve done well.”

Cheon Ji-won looked straight at Yein.

“Leave the rest to me.”

With calm steps, he advanced on Margaret.

“Urgh… ghhh….”

Sweat poured from her as she collapsed to her knees. But it wasn’t fear making her fold—some unseen pressure was crushing her into the ground.

“Ghhk!”

Thud!

Her jaw cracked against the floor.

Cosmos members all around fell flat, pressed like tin cans underfoot.

The pressure didn’t relent until Margaret’s eyes rolled white and she fainted.

“Everyone, please endure just a little longer.”

Mayor Cheon Ji-won strode to the central railing, his voice resonant yet steady.

“We are subduing the terrorists. The situation will be resolved shortly.”

With that, he vaulted over the railing, dropping down to the fifth floor.

Twenty minutes later, every hostage in the department store was freed.

The unconscious terrorists were bound by the Security Force, dosed with high-concentration Sleep Potions, and hauled off to special facilities.

The crisis was over.

(End of Chapter)

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