* * *
Ten days after that conversation—
“No matter how many times the world resets, I will always love you.”
Kang Yigeon made his vow on the eve of the world’s destruction.
It was a confession that bordered on an oath.
That confession was three years from now.
It was also four months ago.
It was also fifteen years in the past.
The Kang Yigeon from that moment had vanished forever.
The Kang Yigeon of this world had just discovered that healing skills didn’t work on those deemed enemies—and was genuinely delighted by the revelation.
He left Seohwa behind, hurrying to report his findings to his superiors.
“You said you’d love me.”
Seohwa murmured to no one.
How could love change?
But what right did he have to ask that?
He had never believed in love to begin with.
A sharp pain throbbed in his side.
He was hungry.
His head felt light.
The emptiness in his chest let the cold seep through.
There was no need to feel hurt. Kang Yigeon—and everyone else—was merely experiencing the aftereffects of [Flight of Time].
To be hurt by that would be an insult to them.
Seohwa reminded himself of what he had to do.
His purpose.
The reason he had sacrificed countless lives to return to the past again and again.
To save the world from destruction.
An unquenchable fire burned within him.
Despite the recent ambush, the gathering proceeded as planned.
The location had been moved from the protestors’ occupied residential area to a Rank-2 dungeon near the camp.
Protestors wouldn’t be able to follow them inside.
The hunters summoned for the first gathering ranged in age from their mid-teens to late forties, with ranks spanning from C to S.
Among them were Vice Guildmaster Kang Yigeon of Danbaek, Wolf from the Hunter Association, and five of the world’s only S-rank hunters.
There were also newcomers like Cho Wookwon, Anis, and Kim Tuyeon—fifteen in total.
The atmosphere was deadly.
Their eyes all screamed the same thing: ‘Murderer. No matter what you say or do, we will never trust you.’
Seohwa declared,
“I plan to increase the number of S-rank awakeners fivefold within three years.”
“……!”
The hunters stirred.
Even the Awakening Safety Department officials, who had already heard his plan, looked skeptical.
Only Kang Yigeon remained expressionless.
“To raise an awakening rank, experience is essential. The system doesn’t display exact experience points, but we know that fighting and defeating stronger opponents is the most effective way to accumulate them.”
Simply sparring or outnumbering an opponent wouldn’t work.
The ‘Soul System’ was ruthless. Only life-or-death, high-stakes battles counted.
Which was why—
Seohwa pulled out his wand.
“That’s the Ego Weapon…!”
“It’s the ‘Serpent Constellation Wand’, not an Ego Weapon.”
Seohwa activated his skill.
[Puppeteer is now in use.]
A dazzling array of colors—lavender, gold, silver, deep violet, and green—filled the space.
And then—
“People” emerged from the waves of light.
Hunters’ eyes widened at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces.
With a slight smirk, Seohwa spoke from behind the fully materialized figures.
“These are the versions of you from the timelines I remember.”
“Fight them. Survive. Win.”
“…Something’s here. I swear I saw something move.”
“Huh?”
“Noona, look! Isn’t something flickering over there?”
—Kkyuu!
The little snake lifted its head eagerly, flicking its tongue as the two figures turned their gazes toward it.
“…You. You’re Kobami…”
“Hunter Seohwa’s—!”
Seohwa immediately unsummoned Kobami.
But even then, he couldn’t leave the mountain.
He had no choice.
Because he had seen it.
Even if it was through Kobami’s eyes, he had still witnessed it.
The sight of that man—once an unshakable force, solid as a mountain—reduced to a frail, broken figure, wasting away in bed.
It was nothing short of shocking.
His heart pounded—it felt like it had just sunk.
Even if all his efforts to stay hidden ended up being pointless.
Even if hunters were waiting on the other side, ready to capture him.
Even if breaking the oath meant severe consequences.
Right now, he just wanted to run to the center.
He wanted to see Kang Yigeon’s face, touch his skin, and check his condition.
The [Magician’s Door] was still open.
He could cross over to the center at any moment.
Without thinking of the consequences, he was about to step through the door—
RUMBLE—
A noise came from above.
In the pitch-black night, helicopters flew over the small island, where only a few villagers lived.
Three of them.
The sound of their spinning rotors roared through the air.
Bright spotlights pierced the dark mountain forest.
Seohwa instinctively hid behind a tree.
It was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.
Maybe he was being paranoid, but he could think of only one reason why three helicopters from the Awakener Safety Bureau would be scanning a small island in the middle of the night.
‘They came to find me.’
The brief moment he had turned on the old phone and laptop registered under his name three years ago—just that short window had been enough for them to track his location and deploy helicopters.
Good thing he had tested it on the old devices instead of buying new ones.
Still, a chill ran down his spine.
‘So the Northern Duke really is faking it.’
The fact that they were going to such lengths to find him was almost cute.
At the same time, this obsession was terrifying.
While he stood there, momentarily dumbfounded, he felt the space nearby distort.
“Is this where the signal was detected?”
“Yeah. Seohwa is somewhere in this forest.”
It was Go Junyoung and Simjin.
They had arrived instantly using Go Junyoung’s teleportation skill.
Of all the people, Go Junyoung was the one Seohwa had been most wary of since going into hiding.
Teleportation users naturally had a sense for detecting locations, making them difficult to evade.
Before they could spot him, Seohwa quickly retreated to his house and shut the door.
“Kang Yigeon, seriously—”
—Kkyu?
“I almost fell for it.”
—Kkyung.
“Why the hell is he like this? An EX-rank hunter pretending to be sick just to catch one person? Does that even make sense?”
—Kkyuing.
“An EX-rank hunter, unable to let go of one person.”
—Kkyu.
“Someone he could easily live without, yet he still can’t forget them…”
The more time passed, the worse it got.
Why is he acting like this?
If he finds me, will he give me rice cakes or something?
Feed me a full meal?
Everything is over now.
Everything is peaceful.
So why is he the only one who can’t let go of this love and is suffering like this…?
Seohwa mumbled his frustrations while holding onto Kobami before eventually drifting off to sleep.
But when he woke up the next morning with a clearer mind, he started having second thoughts.
‘If an EX-rank hunter is still unconscious, that alone would cause an uproar.’
“All we need to do is wake up my brother. You can just stay by his side and sing him a lullaby or something.”
If he was faking it, Cho Wookwon and Anis wouldn’t be having conversations like that.
Maybe it wasn’t an act.
Maybe he really was sick.
And maybe the reason Simjin and Go Junyoung had come looking for him…
Was to have him play the role of Kang Yigeon’s last hope before he died.
Pale skin. Cracked lips.
The image of Kang Yigeon’s fragile state wouldn’t leave his mind.
Once again, worry crept in.
After spending the entire day deep in thought with Kobami, Seohwa came to a decision.
“I have to check for myself.”
—Kkyu!
If they made him look like a patient, of course, he would fall for it.
That’s why just seeing him wouldn’t be enough.
He had to be in the same space as Kang Yigeon, touch him, listen to his breathing—he needed to use all five senses to judge the truth for himself.
Sneaking into the center’s medical wing through the [Magician’s Door] was an option, but he discarded it. Security had definitely been tightened since that day.
Luckily, Seohwa knew of another way.
⋆⋆⋆
“Mercenary number 10. Please come in.”
His turn was coming up. Seohwa swallowed dryly.
This was the first time he was talking to someone since he went into hiding.
Even when he went grocery shopping, he had always used self-checkout.
‘It’ll be fine. Even if he has a grudge, it’s not as intense as before.’
He kept telling himself that, but his nerves wouldn’t settle.
His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of his chest.
He wanted to pull out Kobami and squeeze it for comfort, but he held back.
“Mercenary number 11, step forward.”
Seohwa clenched his fist and walked in.
The B-rank psychic Awakener acting as the interviewer glanced at his plain face before returning to the documents in front of him.
Seohwa sat in the chair provided.
“Your name is Lee Yuje?”
“Yes. Thirty-two years old, magic-user class.”
“Hmm. A ranged-damage magician, huh? Well, that’s always welcome. Let’s see… C-rank, and—oh, you’ve cleared fifth-tier dungeons? Three times? That’s impressive.”
“I got lucky.”
With a slight smile, Seohwa responded through his fake identity.
He had a skill called [Stooge].
A stooge in magic performances refers to an actor who secretly works with the magician to fool the audience.
This skill allowed him to create a new identity.
The physical appearance of the identity was always plain and forgettable—because a stooge in a magic show was supposed to blend into the crowd.
If Puppet allowed him to control a doll from behind the scenes, then Stooge made Seohwa’s own body the puppet.
It was essentially an avatar.
The skill consumed a lot of mental energy, and since it wasn’t combat-oriented, he rarely used it.
The identity Seohwa created this time was a 32-year-old man named Lee Yuje—an unremarkable, average-looking C-rank hunter.
Korea’s Awakener database was an extremely sophisticated system, so the moment Seohwa created Lee Yuje, his name was automatically registered.
As for the dungeon records and similar details—he had paid an underground hacker an exorbitant amount to fabricate them.
* * *
