Start at Solo Leveling: Instant Death Touch!

Yon-Woo tapped his fingers on his desk as he sat in his dimly lit room. After the dungeon break, everything had changed for him. He was no longer just a student; he was a survivor who had gotten too much notice. He could have hid out of fear, but he saw a chance.

 He would need a cover. A different name. Something not related to school.

 He thought about it for hours before deciding on "Specter." In the world of Hunter, there is a ghost that can't be seen, heard, or touched.

 He made a fake account on the underground Hunter forums, which were used by mercenaries, bad Hunters, and groups to talk to each other in secret. His first word was easy to understand:

 "Information for sale. There were no questions. "Payment ahead of time."

 It was a safe way to see what would happen. Bigger players would notice if he showed how powerful he really was too soon. He had to be careful with his moves.

 His information was simple at first. He sold the movement patterns of small-time Hunters who were up to no good, information about minor dungeon spawns, and rumors that he made up to see how people would respond. It was important to show trustworthiness without giving away too much.

 Yon-Woo kept his head down at school and pretended to be a lost victim. The unknown caller who seemed interested in him? They stopped talking. After seeing how "weak" he looked, they clearly gave up on him.

 Wonderful.

 At the same time, Specter was making progress underground. People began talking in whispers about an unknown source whose information seemed eerily correct. Some people wrote him off as an unknown, while others thought he might have support from a bigger group. But no one could find him. As for where his intel came from? He was a transmigrator.

 It wasn't enough to just sell information, though. Yon-Woo needed a way to be sure that his skill would work against real threats.

He was going after Raze the Bloodhound, a bad Hunter who was known for being violent. Raze used to be a B-rank Hunter, but now he was a thief who specialized in finding and killing people with a price on their heads. The police had tried to catch him more than once but failed.

 That's when Yon-Woo saw a chance.

 He used his network of informants to find out where Raze was going and set a trap for him. He put on a black hoodie and mask to hide himself and blend in with the shadows of an empty building site.

 Raze showed up thinking it would be easy to kill. He found Specter instead.

 Yon-Woo didn't think twice.

 As soon as Raze lunged, Yon-Woo stepped back and touched his arm that was out in the open.

 Raze's body stopped moving. His skin turned black and his veins swollen in a horrifying way before his flesh died. The famous Bloodhound fell over dead in a matter of seconds.

 Yon-Woo felt a rush of power go through him. Raze was tougher, faster, and more dangerous than any of the monsters in the dungeon break.

 Now Yon-Woo was only half as strong.

 He disappeared again, leaving only one message on the secret forums:

 "Raze has died. "Specter is looking at you."

 People in the Hunter world would pay attention.

 Also, Yon-Woo was just beginning.

Yon-Woo closely studied the Hunter guild's world for the next few weeks. There was a lot of anxiety in the underground forums, where guilds were fighting over dungeon rights, resources, and power.

 The Iron Fang Guild and the Black Crescent Syndicate were fighting each other. The fights took place both in secret and in public. Iron Fang was a government-backed force that kept order with an iron fist. Black Crescent, on the other hand, worked in the gray areas and did things like smuggling, illegal dungeon raids, and killing jobs.

 Yon-Woo saw a chance.

 In secret texts, he sent bits of information to both sides. At first, it was small things like where the warehouse was located, a supply delay, and Hunter's schedule. Just enough to make them suspicious and think someone was leaking from inside.

 Then he got worse.

 He told Iron Fang about a Black Crescent smuggling scheme without giving his name. They didn't find anything when they raided the place because Yon-Woo had already told Black Crescent when the raid would happen.

 As a result? It was set up so that each side would blame the other.

 Lack of trust grew. Allegiances were broken. The guild war got worse.

 And Specter stayed in the dark, controlling the chaos from afar.

 Raze had been clear about killing. Too straight forward. Yon-Woo had to make sure that his killings looked like mistakes if he wanted to be able to do what he wanted.

 The next people he went after were minor players—corrupt Hunters, low-level guards, and pawns in a bigger game. He changed the world instead of touching them directly:

 A Hunter fell into a dungeon's pit when a broken harness strap broke.

 A broken relic burst, breaking up the person who was using it.

 During a Black Crescent questioning, a door to a beast enclosure suddenly opened.

 No one saw it happen either time. Nothing. There's no doubt.

 Yon-Woo got better at what he did with each win. He had perfect skills, but he had to be very careful when he used them.

But while Yon-Woo set the groups against each other, there was a new force at work in the background.

 One night, while he was watching the site, a new post showed up.

 "The Nightshade Covenant has joined the fight." "Be aware of your shadows."

 The name was strange. But the fear in the answers wasn't there.

 "They're not real. Don't share false information.

 "If Nightshade is involved, it's over."

 "They do more than kill you. They get rid of you."

 For the first time, Yon-Woo felt like he might be in danger.

 He had been playing tricks on the Hunter world's lower-level players for so long that he had forgotten an important fact: there were forces much older and darker than gang politics.

 Then one of them looked around.