* * *
“Is there no other way?”
“Are you worried about the people?”
“No, just, well…”
“It’s fine since we aren’t destroying the entire thing. Once we’re in front of the network, you create a new identity, and as soon as it’s registered, we only need to destroy your specific data.”
“……Excuse me?”
Seohwa blinked.
He missed his mark with the fork while trying to pick up a piece of neatly sliced fruit.
“A computer network… isn’t exactly built to allow the destruction of just one-person’s data, is it?”
“It’s possible. You’ll understand once you see it.”
This time, he was so startled he actually dropped the fork.
Seohwa had never even entertained the thought that individual records could be deleted from the network.
To him, that was like asking, “How do we make the Earth orbit Proxima Centauri instead of the Sun?” He considered the permanence of the network’s records to be a natural law as fundamental as gravity.
But it could be destroyed?
It could be deleted!
“There are actually several Awakened who have deleted their own records. Hunter Wolf is one of them. Though his record likely reappeared when he returned to Korea after going abroad.”
“That’s insane!”
As Seohwa sprang up like a startled fish, Kang Yigeon lightly pulled his arm to sit him back down.
“Are you that surprised?”
“Incredibly! Does it make sense that even a guy like Wolf knew something I didn’t? I’ve repeated the timeline five times—how could I lose to Wolf, a guy who cares about nothing but sex!”
After shouting his frustration, Seohwa suddenly glared at Kang Yigeon.
“Why didn’t you tell me? How can an aide keep a secret like this from his Guild Leader?”
“You never asked, so I didn’t answer.”
“Wow. Unbelievable. Acting so confident and looking me in the eye when you don’t even know if I asked or not.”
“I know. Because if you had asked, I would have answered. If you were curious, I would have revealed the Bureau’s deepest secrets without filtering a single word.”
“……Just go ahead and confess your love, why don’t you.”
“Was I allowed to? Then—”
Before Seohwa could react, Kang Yigeon spoke.
“I love you.”
Seohwa clamped his mouth shut.
He didn’t spring up this time, but his heart thundered as if an earthquake had hit.
“I can’t say a single word around you…”
Kang Yigeon gave a faint, elegant smile.
“So… what’s the security like there? I’m confident I can break into anywhere, but still.”
“I will look into it. We’ll set the date for tomorrow night. That way, I can recruit you into the new tracking team immediately.”
“Is the cult leaders’ schedule the same? Incheon Port this Sunday?”
“Yes. It seems they decided to push through with it upon hearing that our government is sending an expedition team soon.”
“Understood. I’ll contact you after we handle the network.”
The smile vanished from that sculpted face, replaced by a subtle furrow of the brow.
“I am going with you.”
“Pardon?”
“I am coming to the Sejong Hunter Bureau as well.”
Seohwa’s jaw dropped.
-Kkyuung?
Little Snake, hanging onto Kang Yigeon’s finger, flicked its tongue and opened its mouth wide as if competing.
It was only about 1.5cm wide and adorable, but Seohwa wasn’t in the state of mind to appreciate cuteness.
“Are you crazy? You’re a man whose face is world-famous—not to mention way too handsome not to stand out. What if you’re caught by security?”
“Do you doubt my abilities?”
“You should know better than anyone that the Bureau agents are no joke.”
“Even so, I must go.”
“Do you mean I’m not enough on my own?”
“I no longer wish to be apart from you for even a single minute.”
Kang Yigeon spoke rapidly, without even taking a breath.
Seohwa felt his own breath hitch.
Anyone would find it hard to breathe after being hit with such intense, consecutive flirtatious lines.
“Think of it as a date.”
“A date…? It’s just business. It is absolutely not a date.”
“I shall think of it as a date.”
Seohwa let out a huff of disbelief.
“Mr. Kang Yigeon, you have to go back to the guild to report anyway. We have-to be apart.”
“I already reported via video.”
“Guild Leader Shim Jin allowed a video report? What excuse did you use? Did you say you have a cold?”
“I told him I was traveling across Korea to find new talent for the tracking team.”
Seohwa thought Shim Jin was surprisingly gullible to believe that.
“I’m not going to run away. I feel relieved and happy to have met someone I can finally be myself with. Don’t worry.”
Kang Yigeon looked deeply into Seohwa’s eyes.
Seohwa had a gut feeling he was using [Mind Reading].
“Why did you buy the unbinding item?”
Seohwa should have stayed stoic, but he flinched visibly.
“How did you…”
“A Market NPC told me. They said Lee Yuje purchased an unbinding item before he died. Were you planning to unbind Little Snake?”
-Kkyuung?
Hearing its name, Little Snake poked its head out from between Kang Yigeon’s fingers.
It looked back and forth between the two men, then slid out to nuzzle Seohwa’s hand.
Seohwa stroked the snake as it coiled around him.
‘If I terminate the Vow Oath, Little Snake will grow to hate me.’
Because the Rejection of the Timeline would begin again.
It would be agony to remain the bound weapon of the most hated being in the world.
This affectionate snake shouldn’t have to suffer that anymore.
He wanted to give it freedom—and leave it with the safest guardian in the world.
“Are you planning to go into hiding again? This time, even leaving Little Snake behind?”
Pain seeped into Kang Yigeon’s voice.
Resentment flickered in his eyes.
Seohwa felt a pang of bitterness.
That worry and anxiety were surely genuine.
But if the Vow Oath is broken, would he then worry and be anxious because I didn’t-disappear?
“Something suddenly occurred to me.”
“I am the one asking a question right now.”
“The hidden reward was a Wish Ticket. What exactly did you wish for?”
The fact that the Rejection of the Timeline vanished was due to the Vow Oath.
So what was Kang Yigeon’s wish?
Seohwa had a suspicion.
Three years ago, right after he vanished, he checked the people’s reactions.
Once freed from the side effect of the Rejection, people understood the circumstances that forced Seohwa to become the worst hunter in history.
They accepted his innocence—that he simply wanted to save the world.
The pouring sympathy felt good.
It felt like fifteen years of pain were evaporating.
He felt he had made the right choice in signing the additional contract with Gaius Jung.
And then… he jumped into the sea.
On a dark night when the stars were hidden by clouds, he gave his body to the cold ocean, intending to join his comrades who had died long ago.
‘Even if the world repeats a thousand times, I will love you.’
To that man who died long ago.
At the moment his body was being submerged in the freezing water…
Status Abnormality (⊙ ⊙)‼
■■ ■■ ‘■■■■ ■■■’
The above effect is currently active.
You cannot die.
A cheerful system window appeared, and Seohwa’s body floated to the surface.
After that, the same thing happened every time.
He tried gripping a dagger, hanging himself, taking poison, and finally aiming a gun at his temple.
Each time, an intangible force controlled his body and blocked the suicide.
You are truly an Awakened who doesn’t know how to give up.
Status abnormalities can never be broken.
Even if you resent the system now, the day will come when you’ll be grateful ,ᴗ ̯ᴗ,
Since it’s a life that cannot die anyway, let’s try living diligently for now •᎔•
Seeing those sentences, he finally stopped the suicide attempts.
Seohwa guessed that the black boxes right under the ‘Status Abnormality’ text were related to the ‘Wish Ticket.’
Something like ‘Survival for Seohwa.’
“The wish…”
Kang Yigeon hesitated before answering.
“I used it for myself.”
“Then it has nothing to do with me?”
“Since it was for me, it inevitably involves you.”
“…….”
“The fact that the Rejection of the Timeline disappeared regarding you is likely because of my wish.”
Seohwa almost denied it.
‘No, that’s because of the Vow Oath with Gaius Jung.
‘
Noticing that thought on his face, Kang Yigeon, who was watching him closely, spoke sharply.
“Based on the information you have, it seems there’s another reason. Was there indeed something regarding the Rejection of the Timeline in your Vow Oath with Gaius Jung?”
“What exactly was your wish?”
“Are you curious?”
“Very.”
If what Kang Yigeon said was true, it meant even if the Vow Oath was terminated… he wouldn’t be hated.
Because the Wish Ticket would block the Rejection.
Then the unbinding item wouldn’t be necessary. Seohwa wanted to be certain.
“I cannot say yet.”
“Is there some kind of restriction? Are you forbidden from speaking it too?”
Seohwa asked, recalling the ‘Gather clues for ■■■’ hidden mission from the Market.
Kang Yigeon frowned.
“‘Too’?”
His purple eyes stared as if trying to pierce through everything Seohwa was hiding.
Seohwa was significantly shaken inside but spoke as if it were nothing.
“Usually, Vow Oath skills include a non-disclosure clause. I wondered if the system placed a similar restriction on your wish.”
“It’s not that there is a restriction. However, it is said that if revealed before the wish is fulfilled, the effectiveness decreases.”
“If the wish was for the Rejection to disappear, it’s already been fulfilled… ah, no, wait. There are still the children.”
While some adults were still “locked,” most children under their mid-teens still loathed Seohwa.
It was proof that the Rejection of the Timeline still lingered.
* * *
