The one who blocked the approaching man was none other than the person who seemed to be the leader of the group. A broad, square-shaped face. A man with the features commonly called a square jaw.

‘Was that guy a 5-star Superhuman?’

Indeed. The one who stopped the man trying to handle Sungshik was, according to Insight, a Superhuman of the 5-star rank.

Insight.

Name: Shin Jinwoo

Rank: 5-Star (★★★★★)

Trait: [B+ Rank] Clown’s Dagger Arts

‘Nothing impressive.’

To be honest, Sungshik didn’t feel like he would lose even if he fought in his current condition.

“I’ll handle that bastard myself.”

The man, Shin Jinwoo, was at the peak of his stress level. He had already been frustrated having to personally come and clean up the mess made by his underlings, yet Sungshik showed no sign of coming out of the gate.

Crack— Crack—

Jinwoo loosened his hands and neck as he approached Sungshik. He came right up to Sungshik and growled.

“You little punk, do you even know where you— hmm.”

He glared at Sungshik up close, growling, but then suddenly swallowed his words.

“Hmm… Alright, you pass.”

“…What?”

A sudden declaration of passing. Sungshik let out an exasperated sound in response. What was he passing?

Just moments ago, he had been running combat simulations in his mind against these men. This unexpected remark filled his head with questions.

“You do know that this gate is under the control of our Yongho guild, right? You’re going to have to come with us.”

‘His face is actually pretty good-looking. Lady Han Eunyeong would like him.’

That was it. He planned to offer Sungshik to Han Eunyeong, the true ruler of the guild. At first, he intended to beat Sungshik to a pulp to vent his anger. But as he got closer and examined his face, he realized Sungshik was much more handsome than expected.

‘This should be enough to cover up my mistake.’

No, it might even be an opportunity to earn extra points. Han Eunyeong, the guild leader’s sister, had a habit of collecting handsome men, and Sungshik fit her type.

As one of the few who knew that Han Eunyeong was the real power behind the Yongho guild, Shin Jinwoo saw this as a chance to turn a crisis into an opportunity.

“It won’t be fun if you refuse. Think carefully.”

The sudden change in attitude made Sungshik pause.

‘This guy has some kind of scheme.’

A dirty feeling crept over him. There had to be a reason why they were suddenly treating him differently.

‘Hmm.’

He checked the remaining duration of the Future Vision Debuff.

—The debuff from using Future Vision is currently in effect.

—All stats and skill power -50% (Remaining time: 13:12:52)

‘Thirteen hours.’

About half a day. So, Sungshik made his decision—to go with them. If he forced a fight now, things could go wrong. It was better to buy time until the debuff wore off.

‘This Future Vision debuff is really inconvenient. I’ll have to be more careful next time.’

If he had accounted for the debuff before exiting the dungeon, he wouldn’t be in this hassle now.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

At Sungshik’s answer, the man grinned.

“Good choice.”

That smile was deeply unsettling.

The Yongho guild. A massive guild that held a firm grip over the Jeju Island region. One of the top five most powerful guilds in South Korea.

Its power rested on the foundation of two high-ranking Superhumans. Two individuals of the 5-star+ rank.

One was Han Cheolsik, known as the Mountain King, a powerhouse of overwhelming might. The other was Han Eunyeong, the Witch of Hallasan. These two were the cornerstones of the Yongho guild.

“The Mountain King Han Cheolsik’s strength is seriously insane.”

Han Cheolsik was particularly renowned, counted among the top-tier Superhumans in the country, standing toe-to-toe with the strongest elites.

“If anyone could become South Korea’s second 6-star Superhuman, it would be the Mountain King.”

He was a promising candidate to break through the wall of 6-star rank. That was the reason.

“People complain about the Yongho guild monopolizing everything, but hey, isn’t this world all about the strong taking what they want?”

“Rather than splitting things with weaklings, it’d be better if the Mountain King monopolized resources so we could at least get another 6-star Superhuman for the sake of national power.”

Despite the Yongho guild’s thuggish methods of hoarding resources, people tolerated it. The reason? Han Cheolsik.

Because of him, the public overlooked the guild’s actions.

As a result, Han Cheolsik’s younger sister, Han Eunyeong, received little attention. Even though she was also a 5-star+ Superhuman, almost nothing was known about her. Some people didn’t even know she existed.

“Wait, the Mountain King Han Cheolsik has a younger sister?”

“And she’s also a 5-star+?”

“No way, you must have gotten that wrong.”

Her existence was unknown. Her abilities were denied. That was how much of a mystery she was. Only rumors and gossip circulated about her.

‘But in time, her presence will become widely known.’

After the Gate Break and the arrival of the Night of Trials, people would come to understand—the true power behind the Yongho guild was Han Eunyeong.

Because she would become one of humanity’s greatest eleven stars, one of the 11 Thrones.

‘The Star of Stars, one of the 11 Thrones. She was the brightest existence… but later became the biggest piece of shit.’

One of the worst beings to ever exist for humanity.

In the past, it would have been unthinkable to meet her at this point in time. Yet, here she was, standing right in front of Sungshik’s eyes.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Ah, yes, nice to meet you.”

A broad, flat face. A body as massive as a mountain despite being a woman. An appearance that made it difficult to immediately tell if she was male or female. The only indication of her femininity was the long hair she had grown out.

Indeed, it was an appearance that would leave an impression on anyone. Though Sungshik had only encountered her once by chance before his regression, he recognized her instantly.

‘She definitely looks younger than before.’

Back then, she had been over thirty. Now, she looked barely into her twenties. But there was one thing that hadn’t changed—her sullen attitude. That remained exactly the same, both then and now.

‘Insight.’

Name: Han Eunyeong

Rank: 6-Star (★★★★★★)

Trait: [SS Rank] Army of Death

What Sungshik saw through Insight was astonishing. Contrary to common knowledge, she was already at the 6-Star level.

‘She’s already reached 6-Star?’

He had somewhat expected it. The future 11 Thrones should have reached at least 6-Star by now.

But what stood out more than her rank was her trait—[SS Rank] Army of Death. A trait that hinted at the power she wielded. As memories of the power she had used before his regression resurfaced, Sungshik couldn't help but frown.

Seeing him frown, Han Eunyeong looked at his face for a moment before speaking again.

“I heard you trespassed into our gate?”

“…Yes. It just kind of turned out that way.”

Her choice of words—trespassing—made Sungshik feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t like he had done it on purpose, but the very idea of considering a gate as their private property was laughable.

“Hmm—this is troublesome, very troublesome.”

“……”

Her exaggerated tone, as if something serious had happened, made Sungshik curse internally.

‘Troublesome, my ass. I just cleared a single gate.’

Gates constantly appeared all over the world. All he had done was clear one of them. It wasn’t as if the Yongho Clan had suffered a tremendous loss or anything significant had happened.

“Our clan has been managing the gate zones with great difficulty at the government’s request, you see.”

‘Government’s request, my ass. As if I don’t know they’re hoarding them, knowing they’ll be gold mines in the future.’

“If word gets out that this gate was cleared without permission, we’ll face heavy criticism.”

It wasn’t entirely untrue. After all, they were in charge of managing the gates, and allowing one to be cleared like this was a failure on their part.

‘Still, it’s not like these gates belong to them. As long as someone meets the qualifications, they should be open to anyone for conquest.’

The words burned at the back of his throat. But now wasn’t the time to voice them. Instead, he simply expressed superficial regret.

“That’s unfortunate.”

A mere formal remark. But upon hearing it, the man beside Han Eunyeong, Shin Jinwoo, clenched his jaw, veins bulging on his forehead.

“Hey, do you still not realize what you did wrong?”

His voice was sharp with hostility.

Pfft.

Sungshik let out an involuntary chuckle. From the moment they had first met, this man had been openly showing his displeasure. Holding back his laughter at the absurdity of the situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

“Oh? You think this is funny?”

Shin Jinwoo took a step forward.

“Shin Jinwoo.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve done well. You can leave now.”

“…Yes.”

But before he could approach any further, Han Eunyeong stopped him. Left with no choice, he turned around and exited the room. Even as he left, his glare remained locked onto Sungshik, as if he were trying to shoot lasers from his eyes.

‘Haha. This is getting interesting.’

His pitiful behavior was starting to amuse Sungshik.

“Our Team Leader Shin was quite rude, wasn’t he? Allow me to apologize on his behalf.”

Now that Shin Jinwoo was gone and only the two of them remained, Han Eunyeong spoke in a much softer tone.

“Oh, no need for that. It’s fine.”

“Then let’s get to the main point.”

She smiled at him and then walked over to the door through which Shin Jinwoo had just left.

“If word gets out that we failed to properly manage this gate, we’ll lose our justification for holding onto it.”

Click—

As she spoke, she locked the door. Sungshik remained silent, observing her closely.

“So, what do you think we should do to make sure this incident stays quiet?”

Her gaze met his, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous light.