S City.
The top floor of the Hunter Association headquarters.
Beyond the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows lay the glittering nightscape of the bustling city.
Traffic streamed endlessly, neon lights flickering.
Yet the atmosphere inside the office was utterly different from the clamor outside—unusually heavy and still.
An old man with graying hair, dressed in a crisp navy suit, sat quietly in a large black leather executive chair.
His back was straight, and his hands were folded atop the polished mahogany desk. His posture still retained the strictness of a soldier.
The years had carved deep lines into his face, but his eyes remained profound.
Only now, those eyes were filled with overwhelming gravity and worry.
His gaze was fixed levelly on a huge map spread across the desk.
The map covered the entirety of H Country and its surrounding waters. Its mountains, rivers, cities, and towns were all clearly marked, as were the energy-monitoring sites.
And less than ten kilometers from H Country's southeastern coastline,
an island had been heavily circled with a blood-red marker.
Jeju Island.
The man sitting there was, naturally, Gao Jianli.
The president of the H Country Hunter Association.
H Country's first S-Class Hunter, he was now nearing seventy.
He had once been the backbone of H Country's hunter community, a legend in the hearts of countless hunters.
Yet time was the most merciless enemy.
The hidden injuries left by years of battle, combined with his advancing age, had long since robbed his body of its peak condition.
His S-Class power remained, but he could no longer expend it at high intensity for long periods.
He was more like a banner whose symbolic significance exceeded its actual combat strength.
At that moment, his fingers unconsciously rubbed across the words "Jeju Island" on the map.
"Three years..."
Gao