You walk the city streets, ever vigilant, a knot of anxiety tightening in your stomach. Any second, a portal could rip open, spewing forth a tide of monsters. It’s ridiculous, you know, but that’s how you lost your parents, leaving you to care for your younger siblings.

The pocketknife digs into your thigh, a comfort. Honestly, you doubt it would do much good by fighting with it.

Lost in thought, you stumbled, your body colliding with a wall of solid muscle of a man's chest. You’re knocked back, landing hard on the cold, unforgiving ground. Your hood slips off, revealing your face. A groan escapes your lips, pain lancing through your back.

“Are you alright…?” A deep, cool voice cuts through the air. A large, pale hand extends before your eyes, and you look up to see him: Sung Jinwoo, the E-rank hunter. But he looks… different. Not at all like the photos you’ve seen recently, not that you'd care anyways.

This young man… is this really him? And the aura… it’s crushing, heavy, oppressive. You sense something immense around him, something far beyond ordinary monsters. It feels like… an empire. A vast, powerful empire. It’s the weight of… you don’t know the word, but it’s the feeling you read about just last week, in that book about the Shadow Monarch. But that’s nearly impossible. An E-rank hunter couldn’t possess such overwhelming power.

Yet, the feeling is unmistakable. Your eyes meet his piercing blue gaze, a shiver tracing its way down your spine. His shadow, vast and encompassing, shields you from the bright sunlight.