The guild’s headquarters stood out starkly in the middle of the shimmering haze—its shape sometimes blurred depending on the host’s perception—yet it possessed a bold, three-dimensional presence that seized the eye at once. It looked like a raised 3D sticker pressed onto thin paper.
“Doesn’t it seem like the External Core is here?”
“Hmm.”
Finding the Core would mean a longer delay before rejoining the others—specifically, Kim Sibaek. Tae Woon’s expression made it clear he was not pleased. The scanner, too, was pointing straight toward the headquarters.
The fact that the Core was inside the building, on top of the host possibly being someone with a grudge tied to it, only made the hypothesis of a personal connection swell even further. Seo Gaeun felt a growing unease.
“Let’s head in. Lead the way.”
Cracking her neck with a few sharp turns, Seo Gaeun relaxed her grip on her battle axe and shield and climbed the steps first. She pushed open the revolving door that had manifested and cautiously stepped inside. There were no monsters in the building.
If Pi Minhyung had been there, he would’ve probably whistled at the sight. But the two simply looked around in silence.
“It matches reality here, too.”
The first floor—lobby and break area with a café and movie room—looked nearly identical to the real thing. Even the wall paneling and decorative plants matched.
“So they really could be someone connected to the guild?”
“Who knows…”
Tae Woon rubbed his chin and tapped the floor lightly with his shoe. A faint echo followed. Unlike reality, where the floor was finished with marble.
“This part’s open to the public anyway. Especially the café.”
Hearing that, Seo Gaeun looked back at the café’s exterior. Now that she was paying attention, it did feel slightly more spacious than the real one. It meant the café had left the strongest impression in the host’s mind.
They stepped past the entrance and moved farther in. Sure enough, the scenery changed beyond the employee badge gate. It looked just like how someone without access might imagine the restricted area based on glimpses from the lobby—“It probably looks like this.”
Seo Gaeun summed it up with a line:
“Feels like a drama set. Too clean, too perfect.”
At the very least, it confirmed the host wasn’t a guild member or someone authorized to enter.
Her nerves eased a little as she scanned the area. In the spotless, perfectly maintained lounge, a strangely out-of-place wall caught her eye. Seo Gaeun gave a small chuckle and pointed toward it. It was a display of sculptures made from the bones of S-rank monsters hunted by the 7777 Guild.
“If nothing else, we know they follow our guild’s Instagram.”
“Why?”
“Last week, we posted a photo where we swapped the positions of the Tiger-Eater Leopard and the Speaking Serpent in that display.”
“You’re saying someone who remembers details like that is the host?”
“Do you think they’ve been investigating you or the guild from the start?”
Tae Woon’s finely shaped brow furrowed.
“If that’s the case, even after clearing this Eid Portal, cleanup’s going to be a pain.”
“With so many civilians swept up in it, you can already imagine the kind of headlines reporters will write.”
‘Civilian casualties caused by an Eid Portal targeting the Guildmaster and Raid Leaders.’ They’d go wild with speculation, fabricate incidents, and obsess over what really happened with the host. The gossip would be endless.
A few malicious articles wouldn’t shake Tae Woon’s reputation or topple the 7777 Guild, but it would still stir up pointless noise.
And if reporters push Tae Woon Oppa’s buttons and he gets annoyed…
There was one journalist who, despite knowing better, stalked Tae Woon trying to uncover his secrets. Eventually, they crossed a line. Tae Woon grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into a quiet room.
They were in there for just two minutes. But when the journalist emerged, his face looked completely drained. Since then, just hearing the names “Tae Woon” or “7777 Guild” would send him into uncontrollable tremors.
Seo Gaeun, who still hadn’t dared to ask what exactly happened in those two minutes, gave a small shiver.
Is there even anyone in the world who could calm Tae Woon oppa down and keep him in check?
At that moment, for some reason, a smiling face—someone’s—flashed through her mind.
Either way, to avoid that kind of exhausting aftermath, they needed to conquer the Eid Portal with minimal damage.
“There’s only one basement level. How about we start down there and then work our way up floor by floor?”
“Was it publicly known there’s a training room in the basement?”
“Yes. Even if it wasn’t, most training rooms are in basements.”
“The host probably doesn’t even know how to get there.”
“Well… that’s true.”
Beyond the badge gate, the building’s internal structure was different from reality. As they searched the corridors for stairs or an elevator leading downward, Tae Woon raised his hand.
“Step back.”
“……?”
Though confused, Seo Gaeun didn’t ask questions. She moved to the side, pressing herself against the wall. Once she had reached a safe distance, Tae Woon lightly clenched his fist. Darkness streamed from his coat and coalesced in his hand as he slammed it into the floor.
Boom!
A thunderous crash—far too heavy to believe it came from flesh and bone—echoed through the space as the floor caved in from a single blow. BOOM. THUD. CRASH. Dust billowed into the air while chunks of shattered debris plummeted downward, each impact resounding in succession with heavy thuds.
Seo Gaeun waved away the dust with a sweep of her hand and leaned over to peer into the gaping hole. What unfolded below was a stereotypical training room—the kind often shown in movies or dramas as a “guild facility.” The host’s imagination, it seemed, was confined to secondhand media.
“Nothing looks suspicious to the naked eye… What’s the scanner saying?”
“Feels like I’m looking at Pi Minhyung.”
“So it’s fried?”
They casually exchanged a remark that would have made Pi Minhyung blow his top, while keeping their eyes on the scanner. Its needle was spinning madly in every direction. But with only a 30% accuracy rate to begin with, neither of them seemed particularly discouraged.
That left one option: go up. Fortunately, the staircase wasn’t far. The second floor held nothing new—still pristine and polished like a film set, still empty of monsters, and still offering no clarity from the wildly spinning detector. The third floor was the same.
“Are we going all the way up?”
Tae Woon didn’t reply. He stopped on the landing to the fourth floor and stomped his foot. Just like on the first floor, the sound echoed faintly. Clenching his fist, he slammed it into the ground on the opposite side from where Seo Gaeun stood.
BOOM! The floor crumbled instantly, exposing the space below. Seo Gaeun glanced into the hole and clicked her tongue. The exact same guild training room stretched out beneath the third floor.
“Looks like we’re caught in a loop.”
“Which means…”
“Yeah. I know where the Core is. Get close.”
Seo Gaeun understood immediately what he planned to do. She gripped her shield tightly and positioned herself behind Tae Woon, guarding his back.
No monsters in sight. A scanner that spun aimlessly the moment they entered. Repeating, unchanging interiors. Even someone with a weak imagination would notice subtle differences when moving between real spaces.
Which meant the answer was simple. The entire building itself was the monster—the Portal Keeper of the External Core.
Tae Woon raised a hand to his shoulder. Where he touched, the fabric of his coat began to shift, melting into a dark texture with tangible weight.
The darkness rippled, taking form. As it enveloped Tae Woon and Seo Gaeun behind him, it exploded outward in a single violent burst—sharp and focused in all directions.
TUKWAGAGAGAK!
Blades of darkness surged outward, cutting through everything—ceilings, walls, floors, furniture—without restraint. Seen from outside, the building would resemble a grotesque porcupine, black spikes jutting out from all sides.
The sounds of walls crumbling, ceilings collapsing, and floors breaking apart clashed in a violent cacophony.
Finally, a scream-like creak twisted through the structure as the ceiling, walls, and floors shook. The building itself shuddered with a slow, writhing motion.
“It’s starting!”
Seo Gaeun raised her shield high. The impact didn’t come like falling debris—it came like a launched projectile. The frame struck her shield with enough force to make her arms tremble. Any ordinary Hunter would have collapsed, coughing blood from the shock alone. But Seo Gaeun stood firm. They were right to come alone without bringing weaker Hunters along.
That single strike seemed to mark the beginning. The building now bared its malice like a predator closing in on prey. CLANG! BANG! THOK! Fragments of the structure flew at them, only to be blocked by Seo Gaeun’s shield or smashed apart by her battle axe.
One floor after another crumbled beneath their feet, revealing a gaping black void that yawned wide like a predator’s mouth. The ceiling surged upward, blocking their escape path like a rising tide.
BOOM! Tae Woon smashed through a sudden wall with a punch, charging forward. Seo Gaeun blocked the debris chasing them from behind and shouted:
“Where’s the Core?! What’s the scanner showing?!”
“Above!”
As the building—no, the monster—fully awakened, the scanner needle finally steadied, pointing upward.
“Above?! Are you serious?!”
Seo Gaeun leapt over a newly opened pit in the floor. The stairwells and elevators had long since collapsed. A door, shaped like an elevator panel, flew toward them only to be split in half by Tae Woon’s hand.
Worse, the structure’s height had grown far beyond its real-world form—the top was no longer visible to the naked eye. How were they supposed to reach it?
Tae Woon had the answer.
