* * *

Seohwa opened the system interface and set his awakening grade to be visible to everyone.

Even though the attendees were aware of the S-rank status, audible gasps of disbelief escaped when the radiant letters “S-rank” appeared.

The sheer implausibility of it left them in stunned silence.

“As you can see, I am indeed an S-rank awakener. I awakened at the age of fifteen and have spent 14 years as a hunter protecting this world. I’ve also traveled back from a world on the brink of destruction five times. In three years, a level 6 dungeon will emerge here, presenting dangers far beyond our current expectations….”

Standing at the podium, Seohwa read the script.

He deliberately avoided eye contact with the audience or cameras, keeping his head raised but his gaze lowered.

The A4-length script, meticulously written by the Awakener Safety Bureau, repeated assurances that Seohwa meant no harm and emphasized that any negative impressions were due to skill side effects.

In short, the message boiled down to, “I may look like a bad person, but I’m actually good.”

Despite following Kang Yigeon’s advice to remain serious, three people had already stormed out.

Not a single person seemed focused on the speech; most were visibly repulsed.

“Are we really supposed to cooperate with that?”

“It’s impossible… How can we work with such a repulsive being?”

“How can we trust anything it says? Are we sure it’s telling the truth?”

Murmurs filled the hall, louder and more hostile than in previous timelines.

‘This isn’t going to work,’ Seohwa thought grimly.

He carried the heavy burden of training an expedition team, but hunters were even more individualistic and skeptical than the press and officials gathered here.

If this crowd couldn’t accept him, the hunters would be even worse, and public distrust would only spread further.

Abandoning the last paragraph of the script, Seohwa raised his head to look directly at the camera.

His gaze drew pained groans from the audience.

“We were arrogant.”

Carefully steadying his voice, Seohwa began recounting the history of failures:

“In the first timeline, we cleared a level 5 dungeon in just seven days. We suppressed the monsters from a breached level 5 dungeon in five. But our complacency was shattered when a level 6 dungeon appeared. We sent in 130 people, assuming our usual tactics would suffice. For comparison, a level 5 expedition typically requires 80 members.

“After only three days, half were dead. By the seventh day, there wasn’t a single B-rank or lower hunter left alive.”

The audience fell silent.

“We expected only our own deaths—not the end of the world. But midway through the dungeon raid, a hidden mission was triggered.”

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Dungeon Raid Progress: ■■■■□□□□□□
Congratulations! You’ve reached the mid-stage of your dungeon raid!
To boost morale, a hidden mission has been activated ✦ ̮✦
Mission: Clear the dungeon.
Success Reward: Hidden item.
Failure Penalty: World annihilation •̀ㅅ•́ !
Good luck, and don’t miss out on the rewards (◕ᴗ̵◕)♡

---

“The moment I saw that mission, I decided I had to use my skill to return to the past. From then on, our goal shifted from clearing the dungeon to survival and gathering as much information as possible.”

Seohwa’s unique skill, Flight of Time, allowed both time stasis and temporal travel.

Until then, he had only used it to pause time, avoiding the consequences of timeline rejection from traveling.

However, faced with annihilation, he shared his plan with the expedition:

“I must survive as long as possible and return to the past. Protect me until the end, gather all the information we can, and die for the greater good.”

The expedition despaired.

The man, once thought to be devoid of even a single tear, pounded the ground as he wept uncontrollably.

The one who had always been considered frail held the sobbing comrade tightly, offering comfort.

And… they followed Seohwa’s requests to the letter.

They sacrificed themselves, hurling their bodies into the maw of the monster that had been about to attack Seohwa.

They leaped into a blazing trap in his stead.

They hadn’t set out to die.

‘But in this timeline, we… ‘

‘Let’s accept that this is as far as we can go.’

Seohwa will turn back time and make our sacrifices worthwhile.

“I survived and returned to the past, beginning the second round.”

Seohwa was fully aware of how his words would sound to others.

To those who already loathed him, the fact that he had survived at the cost of the expedition’s sacrifices would only paint him as more despicable.

“But as you’ve heard, the second round also failed. Now, here I stand in the sixth round. What do you think this means?”

Seohwa smiled faintly.

“It means that if I sense this timeline is headed for failure in conquering the Grade 6 dungeon, I’ll just turn back time and escape again.”

“You bastard!”

Finally, someone in the audience cursed at him.

Murderer, son of a b*tch, devil—they hurled insults, their voices rising in anger.

The grimaces of the expedition organizers grew deeper with every word Seohwa spoke, unplanned and provocative.

Seohwa found himself curious about Kang Ganeun’s reaction. However, Kang was backstage, out of sight.

“Of course, I will do everything in my power to assist this time. I will share all the information I have and help the hunters level up so they won’t face senseless deaths. All to ensure this timeline successfully conquers the Grade 6 dungeon.”

“Why? You have no reason to help,” someone in the audience interjected.

Seohwa shrugged and answered lightly, “I don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. It’s exhausting, don’t you think?”

“And you expect us to believe that?”

“…No. You won’t believe me, of course. So I’ll be honest—I want the hidden reward.”

“…”

“If you completely clear the Grade 6 dungeon, there’s a hidden reward. And I want it very badly. Imagine the prize for being the first in the world to conquer a Grade 6 dungeon—how extraordinary must it be?”

The audience’s reaction was one of predictable disdain.

‘So that’s his true, selfish motive.’

“I will do everything I can to help conquer the dungeon. But as you know, things in life don’t always go according to plan. I’m simply letting you know in advance—while you only have one shot, I have several.”

Seohwa swept his gaze across the crowd, his smile curling upward.

The audience, sensing something eerie and monstrous in his demeanor, recoiled.

Pleased with their reaction, Seohwa turned back to the camera lens.

“But I will make you one promise. Once I obtain the hidden reward, I will disappear from your sight. I won’t ever cross paths with you again. Whether I vanish from this world or live in seclusion, you’ll never see me again.”

The expressions of the crowd grew a shade brighter at this declaration.

Someone in the audience shouted, “How can we trust that? Swear an oath!”

“Ah, excellent idea. Words alone won’t suffice, so if you wish, I’ll swear an oath. For now, let’s set aside hostility and work together for a shared goal. I’ll count on you for the next three years. Let’s make it through this, humanity of the sixth timeline.”

Seohwa’s remarks played out exactly as he had anticipated, producing results that aligned with his goals.

Until now, people had believed all Awakened were inherently good.

But here was an Awakened who had survived by making others sacrificial lambs, who brazenly declared he could try again in another timeline, and who openly admitted his greed for the hidden reward.

Seohwa became both humanity’s greatest enemy and its most vital ally as the worst hunter in history.

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The Hate Phenomenon

Let’s stream that Grade 6 Dungeon documentary live!

By GeuneeGeunee | xxxx.xx.xx

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Comments

I know this story, but it hits differently seeing it again.

It’s fascinating, though I feel guilty for enjoying it…

└ Yeah, knowing how it ends makes it all the more bittersweet.
└└ Same… Is this what they call guilty pleasure? LOL.
└ Looking back, I wonder why we were so dramatic about it. The Hate Phenomenon is just a thing of the past now.
└└ It wasn’t drama—it was humanity’s collective PTSD.
I still vividly remember the first day of the Hate Phenomenon. Every detail—the temperature, the humidity, the exact second it began.
└ Me too… I’ll never forget the sensation of my head burning red.
└ It was so intense.
└ I woke up gasping like I’d run a 100-meter sprint and went to grab a kitchen knife…
└└I grabbed a baseball bat.
└└ My whole family got up, wandered the living room aimlessly, and turned on the TV. I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing my mom ready to kill someone—or the look on her face when she realized her daughter was ready to do the same.

I was asleep at the time, so I don’t remember any of it.
└ Asleep??? Wow, that’s impressive, LOL.
└ You didn’t wake up?
└└ Nope. I was five years old, and I slept a lot back then.
└└ Oh… uh…
└└ Baby…
└└ Your grammar makes sense now…

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Seohwa’s making his first official public appearance!
└ First time watching an official speech—POTUS spoke for 30 seconds and left, LOL. Why bother showing up at all?
└└ What can they even say? The President can’t really comment on this.
└└ Politics and the hunter world are like oil and water—they don’t mix.
└└ Yeah, they keep their distance from each other.
└└ Why, though? Surely politicians would love to control the massive capital of the hunter world.”
└└ Because dirty political threats don’t work on hunters. Hunters are all decent people. Politicians figured that out early and declared mutual non-interference.

* * *