The presidential suite in Kaelvi was a world away from the grit of the Hunter's Guild. The air was warm, smelling of room service and the faint, expensive perfume Nari wore. The low hum of the city was a distant lullaby, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, the war felt far away. Our recent victories—Triveria, the Sterling sisters, the flawless recruitment of the Roux sisters and Sabrina Renner—had earned us this moment of peace.
It was a rare sight, my court at rest. Nari, the empress herself, was actually relaxing, a glass of deep red wine swirling in her hand as she stared out at the snow-dusted city lights. Bella, ever the matriarch, was on her laptop, but the usual fierce tension was gone from her shoulders; she was probably just organizing our finances for the tenth time. And across from them, Sandra and Allison were lost in their own world, their quiet, happy chatter a gentle melody in the background. Seeing Allison, my quiet, loyal heart, genuinely smiling with Sandra, my perfectly imperfect masterpiece, sent a warmth through my chest that had nothing to do with the hotel's heating. This was what I was fighting for. This peace. This family.
I was about to join them, to sink into the comfortable silence and just be, when a sound cut through the quiet.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
It wasn't the polite rap of a hotel employee. It was heavy, urgent, and laced with a panic that made the fine hairs on my arms stand up. Every head in the room snapped toward the door. The celebratory mood vanished, replaced by the familiar, cold alertness of people who knew that trouble didn't always announce itself. I held up a hand, a silent signal to stay put, and walked to the door. I could feel their eyes on my back, a silent question hanging in the air. Who could possibly know we are here?
I unlocked the heavy oak door and pulled it open.
And then the world tilted on its axis.
Standing in the hallway were two women, so beautiful it was almost painful to look at, and so identical they had to be twins. They were a vision of porcelain skin, sharp jawlines, and figures that could make a statue weep. But the glamour ended there. Their condition was tragic.
The one with hair like polished jet-black marble was leaning heavily on her sister, her hand pressed against a dark, spreading stain on the right side of her abdomen. Her face was pale with pain, her light pink lips bitten raw. Her sister, whose hair was the color of pearl-platinum, was holding her up, her own face a mask of frantic desperation.
"Please," the platinum-blonde twin begged, her eyes wide and terrified as she looked at me. "Please, save us. Hide us. They'll kill us. My sister… she's injured. Please, just let us stay here. I'm begging you."
I was frozen, my mind struggling to process the impossible scene. The injured girl moaned, a soft, pained sound that cut through my confusion.
"Adam? What happened?" Nari's voice was right behind me, sharp and analytical. She moved to my side, her gaze taking in the two women. Her hand instinctively went to the small, elegant pistol I knew she kept holstered at the small of her back.
"Please, we won't be any trouble," the woman pleaded, her voice cracking as she struggled to support her sister's weight.
I didn't need to think. I just acted. "Help me get her inside," I said to her, moving to take the injured twin's other arm.
"Thank you," she sobbed, a wave of relief washing over her. "Thank you so much."
We carefully guided the wounded sister to the nearest couch. The moment she was off her feet, she seemed to faint, her head lolling to the side. Everyone was on their feet now, staring in shocked silence. The platinum-blonde twin immediately knelt beside her sister, her hands pressing down on the bloody wound.
"Do you have a first-aid box?" she asked, her voice tight with urgency.
I looked at Allison. My quiet, gentle herbalist was staring, her own face pale with shock. "Allison," I said, my voice firm but gentle, "the first-aid kit. Now." She flinched, then nodded, running to the master bathroom where I knew the hotel kept a fully stocked emergency kit. She returned in a hurry, her hands trembling as she handed it over.
The woman worked with a desperate efficiency, her fingers surprisingly steady as she cleaned and dressed her sister's wound. After a few tense moments, the bleeding slowed, then stopped. She let out a long, shuddering breath. "Finally," she whispered, mostly to herself. "She can hold on for a few more hours." She finally looked up at us, at the circle of strangers who had just saved her life. "Thank you so much for helping me. Otherwise, she would have…" She broke down then, sobbing into her hands. Allison was instantly at her side, her own fear forgotten as she wrapped a comforting arm around the woman's shoulders.
Nari and I were still trying to piece it all together. Bella, ever the pragmatist, was the first to ask the hard questions. "We still don't know who you are," she said, her tone not unkind, but direct. "What happened to your sister? And who is chasing you?"
The woman took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. Sandra brought her a glass of water. "Drink this," she said softly. The woman took it with a grateful nod. After a long sip, she finally spoke.
"You're all right," she said, her voice still shaky. "First of all, I am Hye-jin Song, and this is my twin sister, Hye-rin Song. I am really… really grateful you helped us." She looked at her resting sister, her eyes full of a fierce, protective love. "A group of people… they call themselves 'Chimera.' They're after us. Their leader is a ruthless person. None of us have ever even seen him. He wants us to work for them."
Nari's eyes narrowed, her analytical mind already connecting the dots. "He's after both of you. That means you have something he wants."
Hye-jin shook her head. "Not have. He wants us to create something. We refused. And now… they're hunting us. Please, you have to help us."
My mind was a chaotic mess. Chimera? A secret group hunting prodigies? It was a level of conspiracy that made the Ruthless Animals look like a schoolyard gang. I needed more data. System, activate [Advanced Appraisal].
The familiar white panels shimmered into existence, and my jaw nearly hit the floor.
Status:
Name: Hye-jin Song
Strength: 85
Agility: 120
Endurance: 105
Mentality: 720
Intelligence: 750
Mana: 0
Potential: SSR
Skills: [Panacea Medica], [Cellular Regeneration Surgery], [Psychosomatic Rewiring]
Passive Skills: [Empathic Diagnosis], [Bio-Signature Reading], [Sanctuary Aura]
Superpower: [None]
Soul Ledger: [A Glimmer of Hope] & [The Unexpected Guardian]
Status:
Name: Hye-rin Song
Strength: 90
Agility: 115
Endurance: 100
Mentality: 730
Intelligence: 770
Mana: 0
Potential: SSR
Skills: [Omni-Disciplinary Engineering], [Hyper-Alloy Forging], [System Deconstruction]
Passive Skills: [Systematic Mind], [Structural Integrity Analysis], [Resource Optimization]
Superpower: [None]
Soul Ledger: [Assessment of the Anomaly] & [A Desperate Variable]
My internal thought: Is this even possible? What am I seeing? A Mentality of 720? An Intelligence of 750? These numbers… they're on a completely different scale from anyone I've ever seen. UR+ Potential... these women aren't just geniuses. They're anomalies, just like me.
Nari and Bella, however, didn't have the benefit of my System. To them, this was just a sob story.
"Why should we believe you?" Nari asked, her voice cold and suspicious. "What if this is a trap?"
Hye-jin looked devastated by the accusation. "Please," she pleaded, fresh tears welling in her eyes. "They will kill us."
I moved then, kneeling in front of her. I gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "You said you're a doctor, and your sister is an engineer, right?" She nodded, surprised. "A prodigy, even," I continued softly. She sobbed and nodded again. I looked up at Nari and gave her a single, sharp nod. They're the real deal.
Nari's expression changed instantly. The suspicion was gone, replaced by a new, more dangerous calculation. "We will help you," I said, my voice firm. "But can you tell us how you ended up here? In this hotel?"
"We were hiding here," Hye-jin explained. "We thought we were safe. We were about to leave the city, but… they attacked us. We barely got away. While she was protecting me, my sister… she was shot." She started crying again, her small body shaking with grief and terror. Allison and Sandra were instantly at her side, murmuring words of comfort.
I turned to Nari, my own mind racing. "It means they're inside the hotel," I whispered. "Check your phone. Try to connect to Anna."
Nari pulled out her phone. Her expression darkened. "Nothing. No signal. The Wi-Fi is down."
My blood ran cold. "They've locked down the whole hotel," I said, my voice a low, dangerous hum. "We're in a cage."
And as if on cue, a heavy THUD slammed against the suite door.
Hye-jin's face went completely pale. She started mumbling, a frantic, insane litany of fear. "They're here. They're here. They're going to kill us. They're going to kill us."
Then, a voice from the other side of the door, amplified and distorted, boomed through the room.
"Open the door, or we will break it down."
The room descended into a new level of panic. Allison and Bella were on their feet, their faces pale with a fear I hadn't seen since Triveria. Sandra looked terrified, but a strange, fierce resolve was setting in her eyes. Nari, however, was already moving. With a smooth, practiced motion, she pulled her pistol from its holster, the sound of her reloading the weapon a sharp, definitive click in the sudden silence.
They had us trapped. They were professionals. And they were right outside our door.
I looked around at my queens, at the two terrified, brilliant women who had just fallen into my lap. I thought of the overwhelming power of the Chimera group, a force that hunted geniuses like animals. My own power, my own plans, felt suddenly inadequate. But the fear was quickly being replaced by something else. A cold, calculating rage.
They had come into my territory. They had threatened my people. And they had cornered me.
My internal thought: This is a mistake. Their mistake. They don't know who they're dealing with. I'm not just some kid they can bully. I'm a king. And this is my court.
The thudding on the door grew louder, more insistent. I needed a plan. And I needed it now. It was time to show them what happens when you corner a king in his own castle.