* * *
In the quiet house, Seohwa absentmindedly stroked Kobami.
“Even in the next life…”
“……”
“No matter how many times the world resets, I will love you.”
One thought dominated his mind.
“I hate seeing Kang Yigeon cry.”
—Kkyu?
“I get scared when he cries, Kkobbaem.”
—Kkyuu…
Back then and even now…
It felt like he could do anything just to make Kang Yigeon smile.
Would it be okay this time?
Would the timeline… and the system allow it?
‘The Awakening Safety Department’s offer was the worst, and everyone avoided it. But someone had to take the job for the sake of the world. That’s all there was to it.’
Kang Yigeon had suffered so much.
Not just this Kang Yigeon, but every version of him.
In this timeline, he had been born with a deep, unexplainable sense of loss.
Yet, he didn’t stray from the path.
He became a righteous hero.
He lived on anti-anxiety meds.
Never developed a proper hobby.
And still, he protected the world’s peace.
That kind of person was now desperately longing to meet him again.
Seohwa’s purpose for rewinding time had already been achieved.
The world was at peace now.
Even if a level 6 dungeon appeared again, even if a level 7 dungeon emerged—
This world now had enough strength to fight back.
So… just once.
Just for the small reason of making Kang Yigeon smile.
Could he allow himself to be selfish again?
“System…”
The Soul System was always by the side of every awakened being.
It read their desires and responded accordingly.
Seohwa waited with desperate hope.
Please.
Answer me.
A long silence.
Then, with a cheerful ding, the system window updated.
‘The system is always on the side of the awakened.
The oath-bearer of the Vow is not ‘Lee Yuje’ but ‘Seohwa.’
Activities as Lee Yuje are not a violation of the oath.
The system supports you! (˶◕‿◕˶✿)
∗ ∗ ∗
“It’d be great if I could take the beginner and intermediate courses at the same time.”
“You have to complete all 56 hours of the beginner course before you can take the intermediate one. You can’t take them simultaneously.”
“So that’s 176 hours in total. That’s 20 whole days of training, eight or nine hours a day!”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Then how am I supposed to make a living in the meantime? I live day to day, and I can’t even enter a dungeon right now! At least give me some kind of financial support!”
As the middle-aged hunter shouted, the civil servant looked fed up.
“Well, you shouldn’t have broken the law.”
“All I did was eat some fruit because I was starving! How is that a crime?”
“It is. A hunter consuming toxic fruit is a criminal act under the Awakener Laws. You should be grateful we’re offering you a chance to erase your record by completing training. And yet, here you are, demanding financial aid? That’s like someone getting their license revoked for drunk driving and then complaining they’re not being paid while they wait to get it back.”
“Ugh, whatever!”
Seohwa, who had been waiting in line behind the man, silently turned around.
Might as well take the training while he gather information on Gaius Jung.
After confirming with the system, his first step toward breaking the Vow was clear—
He needed to take the basic hunter training course.
To find Gaius Jung, Lee Yuje had to continue his hunter activities.
And to do that, he had to complete 176 hours of training.
Seohwa headed to the classroom labeled “Beginner Course: Safe Dungeon Strategies.”
His fingers trembled as he reached for the door button.
Even after taking his anxiety meds, he still felt this way.
How many people would be inside?
Please, let there be only a few.
He hated being around people.
He was terrified of them.
Please, at least let the classroom be unlocked.
When he opened the door, two people were already seated inside.
One was lying face-down on the desk.
The other was playing a mobile game.
Why is he here…?
Seohwa was startled.
He didn’t just recognize the mobile gamer.
They had fought side by side before.
In the first timeline, they had even been somewhat close.
Of course, that person wouldn’t recognize him now.
Seohwa quietly took a seat at the very back.
He hoped nothing would happen until the instructor arrived.
But then—
The mobile gamer stretched and turned his head, casually scanning the room.
“Oh… you’re—”
His eyes widened in surprise before he grinned, as if he had just met an old friend.
“The King of Poison! The guy who wiped out an entire patch of toxic mushrooms—Poison King, Lee Yuje!”
Seohwa sighed internally.
Would it be possible to take down the entire Danbaek community server?
The “Yuje-Mushroom” meme was supposed to die down.
But somehow, it had evolved into a full-blown title—Poison King.
“…Hello. How do you know my face?”
“They said you had such a plain face. But you’ve fully recovered now. Are you here for training? It’s an honor to be in the same class as the infamous ‘Poison King.’”
“Please don’t call me that. It’s embarrassing. But Hunter Dam Yunjin… why are you in the beginner’s class?”
Dam Yunjin, an A-rank Awakener with the Pioneer trait.
With exceptional exploration and detection abilities, he played a crucial role in several dungeon sub-missions, securing an S-rank weapon item for the Epsilon Expedition.
Though not among the top 50 of Epsilon, his contributions to dungeon strategies were significant.
And the one who discovered and nurtured Dam Yunjin—was Seohwa.
When Seohwa insisted on training Dam Yunjin, the organization had little faith in her.
A non-combat trait made leveling up difficult.
But through sheer determination and Seohwa’s guidance, he became the only A-rank Pioneer trait Awakener in this timeline.
‘He was with the Protein Guild, but he went freelance recently. Heard overseas guilds were trying to recruit him… He’s definitely not someone who belongs in a beginner’s class.’
“I got caught in a trap while… borrowing a monster egg for a bit. You know how the system sometimes has typos.”
The system sometimes has typos.
A saying among Awakeners, much like “Even monkeys fall from trees.”
“Oh, right. I’m older than you, aren’t I? I’ll just talk casually.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Why are you sitting in the back? Let’s sit together. We have to take this class for the next 56 hours—might as well get along.”
“If I sit next to Hunter Dam Yunjin, I’ll stand out too much. I already want to die from embarrassment, so I’d rather not draw any more attention.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts. It’ll die down soon.”
“Enjoy what? This is torture for an introvert. I just want to quietly finish the training and disappear.”
“You’re an introvert? Ah, yeah… I don’t see any extroversion in your face.”
Dam Yunjin let Seohwa be, saying he’d respect his space, then went back to playing a mobile game.
Still into gaming, huh?
Seohwa felt a mix of emotions whenever he saw familiar faces unchanged from his memories.
Not long after, a middle-aged Hunter stormed in, huffing.
He was the one who’d made a scene earlier, demanding his subsidy from the officials.
“Damn it. I’m not someone who should be stuck in training!”
Bang! He kicked a chair, still fuming.
They say only the virtuous awaken, but every now and then, someone like this—who couldn’t control their temper—would appear.
“Wow, okay. You screwed up and ended up in training, so why take it out on an innocent chair?”
“…What the hell did you just say, you little— Dam Yunjin?”
The middle-aged Hunter flinched, then immediately stood up and set the chair back upright.
The moment he realized a high-ranking celebrity was in the room, his anger miraculously disappeared.
In Hunter society, unless it’s an exceptional case, lower-ranked Hunters always defer to higher-ranked ones.
If an F-rank with 10 years of experience and an S-rank with 1 year of experience met, the F-rank would address the S-rank with honorifics, and the S-rank would naturally take the superior role.
Raw power outweighed seniority.
The middle-aged Hunter pouted and scanned the room—then pointed a finger at Seohwa.
“That plain face… Are you by any chance Poison King Lee Yujay?”
Seohwa rubbed his forehead.
Why do people keep recognizing me?
Why do I keep getting dragged into conversations?
“…Hello. Please, drop the ‘Poison King’ part. I’m begging you.”
“The ‘plain face’ part is fine, though?”
“Well, because it’s true. By the way, you have a very distinguished mustache.”
“You’ve got a good eye.”
Pleased, the middle-aged Hunter laughed heartily and moved to sit in front of Seohwa.
“So, did you really eat an entire cluster of poisonous mushrooms? Why? Were you starving?”
“I just mistook them for regular mushrooms. I’m not an idiot who eats poison just because I’m hungry.”
“I did.”
“….”
“I had a packed meal, but I didn’t expect to burn so much energy. Got so hungry I thought I’d die, so I just grabbed some berries off a tree… Next thing I knew, I woke up in a detox center.”
…He really was living meal-to-meal, huh?
* * *
