Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

The position of a Strategy and Tactics Team Leader inevitably led to him making many enemies. It was ironic that those enemies were not monsters, but Hunters.

Kang Mu-hyuk, not being a Hunter himself, was vulnerable to violence.

Therefore, he always maintained a flexible attitude when working.

He preferred allies over enemies, win-win situations over complete victories, and at least neutrality if not an alliance.

In that regard, his contribution to keeping the Titan Guild's internal and external competition low despite its rapid growth was significant.

A guild that grew together.

This catchphrase worked on competitors as well.

That didn't mean he had no enemies. Conflicts with Hunter criminals called villains or guilds involved in illegal activities were inevitable.

Kang Mu-hyuk had dealt with them firmly and had definitely ruined them.

So he had always been cautious of being targeted by his enemies at any time.

'But this shouldn't be happening.'

He had been too naïve. Rather than being complacent, he simply hoped for a sense of partnership among those in the same industry.

But now--

His belief in maintaining a minimum civility had been shattered.

'Ma Taesik... Did it seem so unfair to be kicked out? You stupid kid!'

Ma Taesik was infuriated by Kang Mu-hyuk's contemptuous expression.

"What's with that look?"

Ma Taesik attempted to slap the convulsing Kang Mu-hyuk's face.

Then, an unfamiliar voice from behind stopped him.

"What's going on here?"

"Who are you? Get lost!"

"Oh dear! A gangster? I'm going to report you to the police."

"What? Dammit. I'm just out of luck today. Go ahead and report it. But I'll smash that pretty face of yours first."

"Hehehe... Heheheh..."

At Ma Taesik's threat, Kang Mu-hyuk laughed while crawling on the floor.

"What's so funny, you bastard? You're about to die!"

"Ma Taesik... Cough! You, you must have drunk a lot. Or are your eyes really that bad?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Whose face will really... end up being smashed?"

"What?"

"Mr. Kang Mu-hyuk, I'll take care of this quickly before you die."

Ma Taesik realized a moment too late that the woman knew Kang Mu-hyuk.

"Do you two know each other? Are you a Hunter?!"

"How can you not recognize such a pretty face? Your eyesight must be really bad."

For a moment, Ma Taesik felt an overwhelming pressure from the woman who was approaching him with a clenched fist. Despite being drunk, human instincts worked faithfully. Resistance to fear. He reflexively reached out his hand.

"Don't, don't come any closer! Mana Bomb!"

A cluster of light shot out from his hand.

The explosion shattered all the glass walls of the elevator booth. Concrete dust scattered from the broken floor. Water gushed from the sprinkler pipes running across the ceiling. As the wires connecting the lights broke, sparks were emitted along with smoke, the sprinklers started working.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! This, this cleaning up... It's all because of that bastard Kang Mu-hyuk. It's not my fault!"

As Ma Taesik, tearing at his hair, shouted into the emptiness of the parking lot.

"Was that really all the resolve you had to kill someone?"

Through the thick smoke, a woman emerged.

"Pathetic."

"Wh-what are you? How come you're unscathed?!"

A painfully obvious question. He demanded an answer even though he knew it himself.

The response was simple.

"Because I'm stronger than you."

The woman brushed off the water and dirt from her coat and approached Ma Taesik.

"Assaulting a civilian is a murder charge for a Hunter. Assaulting another Hunter is an assault charge. A minimum sentence of 30 years. I won't grant you the mercy of death. You'll just rot in prison."

As swiftly as a judge's verdict, she closed the distance and drove her fist into Ma Taesik's abdomen.

Ma Taesik crumpled to the ground as her coat fluttered down.

It was too quick and anticlimactic to be called a fight between Hunters.

The staggering difference in their abilities was evident in the outcome.

Kang Mu-hyuk squinted up at the woman through his hazy vision.

"Hun...ter...Ju Se-ah... Th-thank you... for saving me..."

"Hey! Kang Mu-hyuk! Team Leader Kang! Snap out of it! If you want to die, do it after our guild interview!"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

In a hospital room filled with the sound of medical equipment checking vital signs, Kang Mu-hyuk slowly regained consciousness.

"Ugh..."

"Are you awake?"

He heard a familiar voice as soon as he opened his eyes.

Kang Mu-hyuk tried to sit up, but the surging pain forced him to lie back down.

"Ugh...!"

"Don't push yourself. The expensive potion I prescribed may have helped, but your ribs haven't properly healed yet. What audacity does a non-Hunter have to challenge a Hunter?"

"Kang Chang-soo, why are you here...?"

"You can say that to your father, huh? Tsk! I got a call saying that they needed family consent for surgery. So I had to postpone my research to come here."

It was unbelievable.

Seeing him after several years, yet his research still came first. Should he be grateful that his father had come before his death? He hadn't expected anything, but seeing his father still obsessed with research made him shake his head.

"Thanks for stopping your important research to come here. Now that I'm awake, you can go back."

"I would like to leave, but I think I should wait until you've seen the doctor."

"Why are you suddenly acting like family after living like strangers for over a decade?"

"Even if we've lived like strangers, we're still legally father and son. I have to fulfill my role as your guardian. Wait here. I'll call the doctor. Since you woke up after three days, they need to check your condition."

While his father called the doctor, Kang Mu-hyuk looked for his smartphone. He was worried about the guild's affairs after hearing that three days had passed.

Fortunately, his smartphone was nearby. It seemed someone had taken care of it while he was unconscious.

It was even charged, so he immediately checked his call log.

He saw the familiar guild phone number and Lee Cheoljung's number. Judging from the call icon, his father must have answered the calls for him.

The messages overflowed with wishes for a speedy recovery.

Among them was the name 'Vice-Guild Master.'

[Sorry. Contact me when you wake up.

It must be because of my brother.]

As he thought of Ma Taesik, Ju Se-ah naturally came to his mind.

It was unclear why she had been there at that moment, but thanks to her, he had survived.

The logo on the bed's blanket read "Taesung Hospital." It was affiliated with the Taesung Guild. Befitting a leading domestic conglomerate, it was a large hospital.

A private room in such a hospital, no less.

He was not only indebted to her for saving his life, but in various other ways as well.

'I should find out her contact information. It's only right to express my gratitude. But first, I should call the guild leader....'

As he was about to press the call button, the door to his room opened.

His father and a doctor entered together.

"Mr. Kang Mu-hyuk, it's fortunate that you've awakened. When you were brought in, your organs had ruptured in several places, and you were in a critical condition."

"Ruptured organs? Considering my condition, I feel surprisingly fine. My abdomen and side, uh! ... Aside from some stiffness, there doesn't seem to be any problem. You must be quite skilled, Doctor."

"Fortunately, the mana treatment developed by our Taesung Medical Center was effective. We also combined it with potion therapy."

"Isn't mana treatment dangerous for non-Hunters?"

"You're well-informed since you work at the guild. That's why we reduced the concentration for the treatment. We can't expect ordinary people to possess the same stamina as Hunters, after all."

"Ah, it must have been costly."

"You don't have to worry about the medical expenses. They were covered by the Taesung Guild."

The Taesung Guild?

It meant that Ju Se-ah had paid on his behalf.

Kang Mu-hyuk wondered why she had gone to such lengths for him.

'Is it really because of the scouting offer?'

Of course, he had no intention of taking it for granted, but he still felt indebted to her.

Ju Se-ah was also a successful Hunter in a top-tier guild, so she would likely find a way to get something of equal value in return.

Kang Mu-hyuk had plans to repay Ju Se-ah's demands, as long as they didn't cross the line.

"Up until now, I have shared good news with you, but as a doctor, I think it's time to deliver some bad news."

The doctor said, wearing a somewhat grave expression.

"Bad news?"

He grew uneasy as the doctor exchanged glances with his father, not him.

"While examining your body comprehensively for the surgery and treatment, we discovered a certain disease."

"A terminal illness?"

Kang Mu-hyuk asked as calmly as he could.

"We can't be sure. It's a rare disease with a very few cases."

"And what happened to the patients who were diagnosed with those few cases?"

As the doctor hesitated, his father, who was standing behind him, spoke up.

"They all died."

After a moment of silence, Kang Mu-hyuk asked again.

"They all died? What kind of disease is it?"

"Mana Addiction."

"Mana... what?"

"It's a hereditary disease for which no treatment has been discovered yet."

"A hereditary disease?"

"Yes. Your mother suffered from it too."

The Gate Era.

As humanity encountered a new world, the Gates brought in various resources and relics.

They were like the two sides of the same coin.

As much as they illuminated human civilization, they also cast a shadow.

The brightest gift among them was 'mana.'

Thanks to mana, Hunters were born, and a new energy source that did not destroy nature was discovered.

The darkest gift was also 'mana.'

Mana was the cause of monsters attacking, and the power to destroy the world also came from mana.

Mana Addiction.

This rare disease, too, showcased the dual nature of mana.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

As Kang Mu-hyuk was confused, the doctor continued to explain.

"In non-Hunters exposed to mana, there's a very low chance of them developing the disease. If a person with the disease has a child, it is known to be hereditary. Although nothing is known for certain, there is a long incubation period before the onset of symptoms."

"That can't be. The test must be wrong. My mother didn't have such a disease."

The doctor glanced at the father before meeting Kang Mu-hyuk's eyes again.

"There are several characteristics of this disease."

"Like what?"

"Mr. Kang Mu-hyuk, you must have heard people calling you a genius or a prodigy since you were young. Exceptional memorization skills, insight into things others couldn't see, understanding every phenomena clearly, and so on. Although there are individual differences, your learning ability must have been astonishingly great."

"So what?"

"Mana Addiction affects the brain. The brain becomes activated at the cost of a shorter lifespan. Of course, even this effect is known to gradually diminish after the onset of the disease, but possessing an extraordinary intellect is a typical example of this illness."

His intelligence, one of the symptoms of the disease? The insight and intuition that put him in the position of a Strategy and Tactics team leader came from this cursed rare disease?

He couldn't accept it.

"Being a bit smarter than others doesn't necessarily mean I have Mana Addiction?"

"At least on the surface, yes. That's why it cannot be easily detected. Moreover, there are no specific symptoms of the disease. Some people suddenly have seizures and die, while others experience sensory paralysis like visual or hearing impairment. You can lose them forever. The symptoms are so diverse and unpredictable that you never know when you might die."

Suddenly, Kang Mu-hyuk remembered something from his early childhood, when he had just started to walk.

Was his good memory from that time also due to the disease?

He clearly remembered his mother having a seizure when he was young. Later, he heard it was epilepsy, but now it seemed that it wasn't.

Kang Mu-hyuk turned his gaze to his father.

"Did mother really have Mana Addiction?"

"Yes. It wouldn't have been surprising if she suddenly died one day. Her hearing impairment was also a side effect of the disease."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What mother in the world would tell her child she has a terminal illness?"

"..."

As Kang Mu-hyuk remained silent, his father sighed and added one more thing.

"Anyway, there was nothing for you to take after, so why did you have to inherit that?"

It was the first time in fifteen years that his father, who had never shown his emotions, spoke out.

Leaving Kang Mu-hyuk, who was confused, to gather his thoughts, Kang Chang-soo left the hospital.

He stood there blankly, staring at the sky for a while, and then, as if making up his mind, his eyes shined as he called someone.

"Yes, brother-in-law, it's Mana Addiction. It must have been in a dormant state until now, but it seems it has finally manifested, perhaps stimulated by the mana therapy. ...What could I have done? It was a matter of life and death. I had to risk the danger and save his life first, so I agreed to the mana therapy... Now, all that's left is the research from the past 20 years. There's no time to wait for a completion when we don't even know when that will be. It's a disease that we don't know when or how it will strike. We have no choice but to rely on it, even if it's incomplete... Side effects? I can't guarantee that. He might become a fool. But isn't it better to live in this world, even if you have to roll in a dung heap? ...Yes, please prepare as soon as possible. I was too late 15 years ago, but not this time."