Several hours later, the side gates of the royal palace slowly pushed open, letting a single figure step out onto the quiet street.

Hajin stumbled forward, his feet dragging against the ground while he stared blankly at the dark sky above. The sun had completely set a long time ago, leaving the streets illuminated only by the soft glow of the mana lamps lining the walkways.

He looked like he had easily aged thirty years in the span of a few hours.

The dark circles under his eyes were practically carved into his face, his shoulders were slumped forward, and his once relatively clean clothes were still a complete disaster of dried blood and dirt from the Gate.

He took another step, a sudden, breathy chuckle escaping his lips.

"I’m free," he muttered to himself, letting out another quiet laugh that sounded completely unhinged. "I actually made it out alive."

The conversation with Didi had started out nice, but it quickly spiraled into a grueling, multi-hour interrogation where she demanded to know every single microscopic detail about his fight with the Beast King.

She had essentially held him hostage in her study, forcing him to recount the battle over and over again until his throat felt like sandpaper.

By the time she was finally satisfied and let him go, his brain was completely fried.

He let out another mad chuckle, shaking his head while he began the long, quiet walk back toward the inn.

His entire body was screaming for sleep. He just wanted to fall face-first into his bed and not wake up for at least two days. The thought of his small, cheap mattress was honestly the only thing keeping him moving at this point.

’Just a little further,’ he thought, forcing his heavy legs to keep walking down the empty street. ’I just need to get back to the room.’

He let out a long sigh, his thoughts drifting back to the council meeting.

It was honestly a shame he had to hand over the Beast King core. Thanks to his Fragment’s Blessing, the system had actually upgraded the drop into a Divine-grade item right after he picked it up. Handing over something with that much value physically hurt him, but it was the only way to prove the anomaly was real.

’Whatever,’ he thought, shaking his head to keep himself awake. ’I am sure the reward the council decides on will make up for it. They cannot just take a boss core and give me nothing in return.’

He was about halfway to the inn, slowly walking past a dark intersection between two tall buildings, when the air suddenly shifted.

Before his exhausted brain could even process the danger, a massive force slammed directly into his side.

He didn’t even have time to react before his feet left the ground. He was sent flying off the street like a broken doll, violently crashing into the brick wall of a narrow alleyway before crumpling into a heap among the trash.

He groaned, coughing up a mouthful of spit as he slowly pushed himself out of the trash.

His ribs were practically screaming in protest, the fresh impact aggravating all the injuries he had just sustained fighting the boss.

"What the actual fuck," he cursed quietly, rubbing the back of his head while he tried to focus his blurred vision.

He looked toward the street entrance of the alleyway. A young woman was slowly walking toward him, flipping a thin blade between her fingers while an amused smile stretched across her face.

He immediately turned his head to check the other end of the alley, only to see a tall man standing there with his arms crossed, his face half-hidden behind the high collar of a black coat.

He was completely trapped.

’Thieves?’ he thought, his sluggish brain struggling to process the situation. ’No, something about this feels completely wrong.’

"This is the target?" the woman asked, letting out a disappointed sigh as she caught her knife mid-flip. "He looks like he is already half dead. I still don’t get why the Flints are paying us so much coin for trash like this."

Hajin froze, the gears in his exhausted mind finally clicking into place, ’the Flints?’ he thought. ’I see, they must be assassins hired by my own family.’

He slowly lowered his hand from his head, the realization settling over him. He knew his father was ruthless, and he knew the man would eventually make a move after he showed up at the palace that day, but he didn’t expect him to hire actual professionals to do the job.

He just sat there on the ground, slowly grabbing his face with his hand as a low rumble started building in his chest. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A second later, he started laughing.

It wasn’t a nervous laugh, or a scared one. It was a dark, completely unhinged sound that echoed off the walls of the alleyway.

’I am not surprised that my father wants me dead,’ he thought, the unhinged laughter slowly fading from his chest. ’In fact, it took the old man far longer than I expected. But I am pissed... I am so incredibly, unfathomably pissed.’

He slowly pushed himself onto his feet, leaning his shoulder heavily against the wall while he stared at the woman.

’Why tonight?’ he thought, glaring at her through the dark. ’Of all the days to send assassins after me, why did they have to do it on the exact day I am completely exhausted?’

"I haven’t slept in days," he said, his voice completely flat. "I just want to go to bed."

The woman stopped spinning her knife, tilting her head with a confused frown.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I am asking if we can just do this another time," he said, rubbing his temple. "I am completely burned out and I am really not in the mood right now. Please."

For a second, the alley was completely quiet, then the woman threw her head back and let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

"Did you really just say please?" she laughed, wiping a fake tear from her eye. "You are cornered in an alleyway with two professional killers and you think you can just reschedule your own assassination? You really are trash. You have absolutely no power to demand anything right now."

He just stared at her for a few seconds before sighing, "I see," he said quietly before raising his hand and tapping the empty air in front of him.

A soft chime rang in his ears.

[ Stream Started ]

The screen materialized in his vision, and almost instantly, the chat began scrolling.

[ NewViewer_02 ] ’Wait, a stream right now? It is past midnight!’

[ ShadowMage44 ] ’Is everything okay? You never stream this late.’

[ CringeSlayer91 ] ’Bro looks like he just crawled out of a grave.’

[ DarkBlade ] ’What kind of dark alley is this? Are we getting a night hunt?’

[ NewViewer_02 ] ’What is going on?’

[ ShadowMage44 ] ’Wait, who are those two in the background?’

He looked away from the woman and stared directly at the system screen.

"Welcome back, everyone," he said, his voice cold and completely calm. "Sorry for the late notification, but we are doing a special late-night event."

The woman frowned, her grip tightening on the knife as she realized he wasn’t talking to her. The man at the end of the alley finally uncrossed his arms, dropping his hand toward his coat pocket.

"Tonight," he continued, his eyes slowly shifting back to the woman as the links of his chain began to materialize around his right wrist. "We are going to watch exactly what happens when you refuse to let me go sleep."