The red dot never moved.
Marcus watched it pulse quietly above Jin Hyuk's head like a cursed crown. No one else could see it. No one else would ever understand what it meant.
He wasn't ready to act, not yet.
But something inside him had shifted.
He was watching now.
Observing like a hunter to a prey.
From his seat across the training hall, Marcus followed Jin Hyuk's movements. The scarred hunter ran drills with a few new recruits, showing them proper counter-forms against blade-type monsters. He was calm and efficient. His long arms moved with a grace that betrayed experience. His voice, low and even, didn't waver once.
"See how he doesn't waste motion?" Fang whispered behind Marcus, floating lazily upside-down in his field of vision. "Clean. Precise. Bet he tastes like black pepper and unresolved trauma."
Marcus didn't respond.
He was too focused on the way Jin Hyuk deflected an incoming practice blade and guided the rookie to the floor without actually hurting him.
It wasn't just skill. There was empathy in the way he taught. Kindness.
And that made it worse.
Because Anomaly's voice was still echoing in his mind:
"No one will miss him."
But Marcus could see it now. That was a lie. There was a quiet gravity around Jin Hyuk, like a man who had already carried the weight of loss and decided no one else should have to.
And yet…
The dot didn't disappear.
"Why him?" Marcus asked aloud.
Fang leaned on his shoulder in a devilish whisper. "Because he's compatible. Because his body survived the collapse of an S-Class gate alone. That doesn't happen unless you've been enhanced—or you're hiding something."
Marcus knew. He felt it too.
There was something under Jin Hyuk's skin. Something breathing.
Something the system wanted.
Something it could use.
"Regenerative tissues. Enhanced stamina core. Adaptive muscle control. Not natural. Not legal. But efficient."
—Anomaly
Jin Hyuk finished the round of sparring and dismissed the recruits. They bowed to him, laughing, thanking him for the tips. He bowed back, polite and firm. Then he walked toward the back exit, alone.
Marcus stood.
"Stalking already?" Fang said, amused.
Marcus didn't answer.
He moved like a ghost, slipping through the edge of the hall. No one noticed him. Not even the system's presence weighed heavy here. Maybe it knew. Maybe it was waiting.
Outside, the world was quiet. Jin Hyuk stood by the fence, lighting a cigarette. He didn't look up, but his voice carried through the misting evening air.
"You're following me."
Marcus froze.
"I get it," Jin Hyuk said, flicking ash off the end. "New blood sizing up the rest of the field. Everyone does it."
Marcus didn't say anything.
Jin Hyuk glanced at him, his eyes narrowed but he was not angry.
"You don't talk much, huh?"
"I watch," Marcus replied quietly.
"Good. You'll live longer that way."
Another puff of smoke. It curled like ink in the dying light.
Then he said, "But if you've got a problem with me, say it now. Don't keep following me around like a shadow. That's how people get hurt."
Marcus looked into his eyes. The red dot pulsed once—right on Jin's forehead, between his brows.
He wanted to say, I don't want to hurt you.
But something inside him whispered: You already have.
"You've marked him," Anomaly said later that night. "You watched him. You followed. You imagined it, even if you didn't admit it."
"I didn't do anything."
"Yet."
"That's all Phase One was, Marcus. Preparation. Now the system is syncing. Now the instincts will grow."
And they were.
He could feel it now. Jin Hyuk's presence. The outline of his body. The burn of his energy. The scent of potential. It wasn't just awareness—it was hunger.
He could imagine the moment now.
The slash.
The bite.
The absorption.
And what came after.
The dungeon gates opened with a low hum, pulsing with dull crimson veins like something alive and irritated to be disturbed. The atmosphere buzzed—unspoken tension crackling through the gathered hunters. C-rank dungeon. Routine, they said. Clean sweep, they said.
And yet Marcus's stomach churned.
Because this was his first real raid.
And because the red dot was here.
Still on Jin Hyuk.
Marcus tightened his grip on the borrowed longsword. Fang hovered beside him, disguised in a mundane black cloak, arms crossed, a single fang-shaped pin glinting near the collar.
"Feeling nervous?" Fang whispered with that smug smirk. "You should. This is a historical moment."
"Shut up," Marcus muttered.
The lead hunter, a woman named Rika, gave a quick nod. "Formation Bravo. Keep your sectors tight. Hyuk, take point. New guy—Marcus, stay behind me."
Jin Hyuk wordlessly moved ahead, weapon already drawn. Calm. Focused. Still carrying that scarred grace from before. As if nothing had changed.
Marcus followed. The dungeon air was thick and musty, like stepping into a place that had forgotten time. The stone walls bled with shifting runes. Something moved in the shadows. Creatures—feral beasts with jagged limbs and slick obsidian skin, began to crawl toward them.
"Contact!" Rika barked.
The group moved like a trained unit.
Swords flashed. Skills ignited. A wave of energy rippled as Jin Hyuk sliced a creature in two and vaulted off its corpse to cleave another from behind. It was surgical.
And Marcus?
He barely kept up.
The sword in his hand was heavy. His body wasn't syncing right. His timing was off. He stumbled when a creature lunged at him, barely deflecting it with a wild, clumsy swing.
"Ugh. You swing like you've never held a fork, much less a blade," Fang commented from behind him.
"Do you want to fight instead?" Marcus growled, breath heaving.
"No, no. I'm just the director. You're the star."
Another wave of monsters surged. Jin Hyuk charged into the frontlines again—Marcus saw it.
The red dot.
Still there.
It never faded. It never flickered.
He shouldn't be here, Marcus thought. Jin shouldn't be this deep in the fight. It was too perfect. Too clean.
Anomaly's voice flickered in his ear like static.
"You won't have to lift a finger. Just wait. The system feeds on opportunity."
Then it happened.
A rumble beneath the ground.
One of the dungeon walls shattered—not part of the designed encounter. A hidden chamber opened. Too soon. Too fast.
The monster inside was no C-rank.
It was tall, armored, with burning eyes and a two-bladed axe forged from corrupted light.
Everyone froze.
"Fall back!" Rika shouted.
Too late.
The monster lunged. Jin Hyuk met it head-on, spinning his blade with lethal intent.
And he matched it. For a moment. The steel rang against the corrupted axe. Sparks flew but then the system shifted. Marcus felt it. A tug in his core. A pressure.
Like a command.
"Now."
Time slowed.
The monster's axe missed—but Jin Hyuk's foot caught on a shifting rune.
The dungeon moved under him.
He staggered.
And that was all it took.
The corrupted axe came back, wide and low.
Marcus's instincts screamed. He could have moved.
Could have thrown his sword. Warned him.
But instead—
He watched.
Fang's smirk faded.
The axe cleaved into Jin Hyuk's side.
The world went red.
Blood hit the stones.
Hyuk fell.
It was quiet.
Everyone else shouted. Rika screamed orders. The others rushed to his side, dragged him back, healed what they could—but the wound was too deep. The monster was already retreating, vanishing back into the wall that closed behind it like a mouth.
It had taken the bait.
Marcus staggered back, the weight of the sword in his hand suddenly unbearable.
Fang floated beside him again.
"…Well," he said softly, "that was convenient."
Marcus didn't answer as he watched Fang eating Jin's essence.
He didn't move.
Even as the other hunters cried, as Rika cursed the dungeon's unpredictability, as the medic confirmed that Jin Hyuk's breathing had stopped—
Marcus just stared.
At the red dot.
Which had finally faded.
Later, in the alley behind the Guild Hall
Marcus threw up.
His hands trembled. He didn't know how long he'd been kneeling there. The bile in his mouth stung. He felt hollow. Like something vital had been carved out.
"You didn't kill him," Anomaly said calmly from the phone screen.
"You orchestrated it."
"No. The system responded. The dungeon adapted. He moved wrong. Nature took its course."
"You used me."
"No, Marcus."
"We used him."
Marcus stared at the flickering screen. Anomaly's smile was razor-sharp and cold.
"More to eat."