Chapter 42: Shadow in Command
The KGFH headquarters approached the quality of an inhospitable fortress-an edifice generally reflecting stark efficiency and steel-eyed routine-now throbbing with a taste-able tension thick enough to taste. An electric hum whispered through the walls and vibrated in the bones of even the most battle-hardened hosts.
Lights glimmered from command center brightness; cool tactical displays cast a discord and bleary glimmer over a table of obsidian black, where ten figures sat-these ten figures being Korea’s finest, at its most formidable champions.
At its highest peak sat Jhin Won, Level 32 Shadow Master, the undisputed strongest Host in the nation. He sat with unnerving stillness-a black hole of calm where the anguished eddies made their round in the hall. His presence did not command the room-it consumed it.
And before them stood Director Han Ji-soo-a woman usually fabulously composed-but of late a hint of shaking could be heard from her crisp government garb.
A holographic map shimmered into being behind her, casting the pulverized mountains west of Seoul in bruised, grim colors.
"As you can see," she said, "the damage has proven unprecedented in its scale."
She allowed time for the room to digest the evidence of torn land, the gouge earth, and melted stone.
"Our initial analysis, based on the scope and nature of the destruction, indicates a Diamond-Class monster threat."
Murmurs broke out immediately. Not loud. But sharp. Diamond-Class monsters weren’t threats—they were extinction-level events. Apocalyptic entities prophesied to appear only at the grim three-month mark of the Ascension Royale.
The game had just ticked past its second month.
Director Han’s eyes usually blades of discipline, now swept the room with a flicker of unease.