Raito shook his head lightly. "Sorry, I won't be around when you leave, but don't worry. I'll send someone to come pick you up and take you wherever you're headed."

Aiko blinked in surprise, tilting her head. "What's gotten into you? You've never sounded this serious before."

Raito gave a faint smile, his tone calm but resolute. "Ohh Really."

Before Aiko could say another word, he turned toward the door. The moment he stepped through, his expression hardened into something cold and focused.

Aiko stood frozen for a few seconds, watching him. "He's… changed," she whispered softly. Then the door shut with a quiet click.

Raito slid his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He dialed Jiro's number.

"Hey, Jiro. I need you to send your butler to my apartment. Have him pick up Aiko in your limousine and take her wherever she says she wants to go."

Jiro agreed almost instantly. "Understood. I'll have him there right away."

The call ended, and Raito pocketed his phone. "Ah, well… this is actually going to be fun," he murmured with a faint grin. "Finally, time to hit a dungeon. My LP is really down, really down."

As he started walking down the street, his mind was lost in thought until he suddenly heard the screech of tires.

Across the road, a bus was speeding toward a woman and her children. One of the little girls had run out onto the street, chasing a ball.

"Come here!" the mother screamed in panic, her hands trembling.

The bus horn blared—

and then, in a blur faster than human eyes could follow, Raito moved.

When the mother blinked, her daughter was already standing safely beside her, trembling but unharmed. She looked around in confusion. What just happened?

Raito was already walking away, both hands tucked in his pockets, his expression calm as if nothing had happened.

"Kids these days… so troublesome," he muttered under his breath. "Anyway, I need a dungeon with strong monsters, something that can push my limits and raise my LP fast."

As he continued walking, a blue notification screen suddenly appeared before him.

[System Message: Final Stage Completed.]

Raito froze. "What the hell does that mean? 'Final Stage Completed'? What final stage?"

He swiped the message away, and the screen flickered out of sight.

But then, another notification appeared, this time the border around it pulsing a dark violet.

[Unknown Quest Observer — Progress 100%.]

Raito's eyes narrowed. "Observer? Wait… I've seen this before. It was 90% the last time I checked. Now it's at 100%?"

He frowned deeply, unease creeping into his gut. "What is this supposed to mean…?"

Then suddenly—

the world around him started to fade. The streets, the sound of cars, even the air itself seemed to dissolve. His vision blurred, and everything grew hazy.

"What's going on…?" Raito muttered.

Then, as abruptly as it began, everything snapped back to normal. The sounds of the city returned.

"Hey! Get off the road! You trying to get yourself killed?!" a car driver yelled out his window, glaring at Raito as he passed by.

"Sorry," Raito said quietly, stepping back onto the sidewalk.

He looked around, eyes cold. "What was that just now…?"

"Something isn't actually right."

Raito stared at the floating blue screen before him, its words glowing faintly in the air.

He had seen strange notifications before, but this one… this one was different.

[Objective: Break into the locked subway located six kilometers south.]

[Time Limit: 20 minutes.]

[Failure Consequence: System Lockdown.]

"What the hell?" Raito muttered, narrowing his eyes. "A system lockdown?"

He tried to swipe the window away, but it didn't vanish. It stayed there, flickering like a heartbeat.

"Is this… some kind of hidden quest?" Raito wondered.

He sighed, placing both hands in his pockets. "Fine. Guess I don't have a choice."

The city stretched ahead of him, and in the distance, the faint outline of an old, abandoned subway could be seen beneath the evening haze. The once-busy station had long been sealed off, now surrounded by police barricades and yellow DO NOT ENTER tape.

By the time he arrived, the place was quiet except for the muffled hum of engines. Two officers stood at the entrance, their flashlights casting pale beams across the cracked pavement.

Raito stopped behind a broken pillar, his gaze cold and focused.

So this is the place.

[Timer: 12 minutes remaining.]

"Tch. I better move fast."

With a light step, Raito vanished.

A strong gust of wind swept past the guards, a sudden, invisible pressure that sent their coats fluttering.

"Whoa, what was that?" one of them said, looking around in confusion.

"Probably just the wind. Don't freak out," the other replied.

But by then, Raito had already slipped through the barricade.

Inside the subway, silence dominated.

The air was thick with dust and the faint scent of rust.

The lights above flickered on, off, on, off, leaving the tunnels trapped in an eerie rhythm of light and shadow.

A single derailed train lay ahead, overturned and half-buried in debris.

Raito walked carefully, his boots echoing softly against the cold tiles.

"This place has been sealed for almost nine years," he muttered. "Why would the system bring me here?"

He stopped for a moment, his reflection shimmering faintly in a puddle of water beneath the flickering light.

Something's here, he thought. I can feel it.

The air trembled slightly, as if something was stirring deep within the darkness of the tunnel.

Then another notification appeared.

[Objective Confirmed: Locked Subway Breached.]

"I'm not meant to be here."

Raito muttered as he stood before the massive sealed doors. "This place has been locked for a reason. For a serious reason."

He stared at the faint symbols engraved into the cold steel gate, each one pulsing with a dim red glow.

"This place was said to have been sealed for nine years," he continued under his breath. "And the stories say that even hunters with unlimited mana, even S-rank hunters who tried to look inside, died the moment they did."

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