SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

I found a suitable seat through the gap between the people who played the timing game to catch the best spot.
It falls next to the observatory and is not visible to people, but it is a place with a good view because the front is open.

“Yoohyun-ssi, go over there.
I think we can see it well over there.”

“Oh, yes, I will.”

Claiming the spot is a race against time.
I grabbed Ki Yoohyun’s arm and strode to the right spot.
Then, it wasn’t long before the fireworks started.

First, a small yellow flame painted a picture in the sky.
The picture drawn by the beautiful fireworks is … huh…?

Someone’s face?

It was Oh Seoho’s face, who winked with a lively and bright smile.
The phrase that appeared at the bottom with the autograph was ‘Made by Oh Seoho‘.

“He … he’s a strong narcissist.”

“He’s not a bad person … in some way.”

“Oh, have you met him?”

“Somehow, yes.”

Ki Yoohyun answered briefly as if it’s not a topic he wanted to talk about.

Although the first one was embarrassing, the following fireworks were colorful and beautiful.
The dazzling light constantly changes shape and paints pictures in the sky.

Oh Seoho is truly an illusionist.
Although he is now more widely known as a celebrity, his abilities were enormous.
When a huge castle appeared in the sky of Seoul and then turned into butterflies and disappeared, it seemed to lead people into a fantasy world, not mere fireworks.

It was a moment when I admired the fireworks in the cool breeze.

“……?”

I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

What is it?

“Yoohyun-ssi, one moment.”

“What’s the matter?”

“So, umh, ah, I’ll get something to drink from the vending machine.”

“I will go.”

“No.
It’s right over there, okay.
Stay where you are.”

There was a beverage vending machine not far away.
I bought two warm barley teas and pretended to return to my original place, then I glanced over the bushes.

“…….”

“……Ah.”

He tried to press his hat on in a hurry, but it was already too late.

There’s no way I can’t recognize the silver hair that glitters subtly even in the dark night.

“..…Kwon Jiwoon, what are you doing there?”

Kwon Jiwoon was crouching behind the bushes, and next to him was a good-looking man, Hunter Han Yiseong.

“Haha, ha.
Rieul-ah, it’s a coincidence to meet you here.”

“……Hello, long time no see.”

“Dont tell me, oppa, you’re not following your younger sister or something like that … right?”

Right? No matter what, Kwon Jiwoon isn’t free enough to do such things, right? I stared at him with those words in my eyes.

“Ah, no, no, of course not! That’s impossible.
This is a coincidence, a coincidence.”

“But why are you two here?”

“It’s just to watch the fireworks.
It’s a long-awaited opportunity.”

All this time, who hasn’t been interested in exciting events in their lifetime? I looked at Kwon Jiwoon with suspicious eyes.

“This is behind the observatory, so you won’t be able to see it here….”

“Oh! Over there, over there! There’s just a seat over there, let’s go!”

Just as I was about to investigate further with doubt, Hunter Han Yiseong got up with Kwon Jiwoon.
Seeing them rush toward the front of the observatory to get a good seat in a hurry, they looked quite close.

A while ago, Ki Yoohyun said that the two were friends, so it was true….

How close would they be to see the fireworks together?

After watching their backs for a while, I went back to where Ki Yoohyun was.
While watching the remaining fireworks, I talked about this and that with Ki Yoohyun.
Unexpectedly, he was a pretty good talker.
I talked about the new menu I made yesterday, and Ki Yoohyun said that the main office of the Dungeon Management Office was busy dealing with the last case.

“Wow, that’s cool.”

The final highlight, fireworks with the motif of a winter forest, decorated the grand ending.
The fantastic forest, which seemed to have a refreshing smell, turned into snowflakes and disappeared one by one.

Soon after, even the last snowflake turned into darkness, and the fireworks ended.

It’s indeed a nation with ‘hurry up‘ culture.
People who filled the observatory began to leave, saying they had to go home quickly before the traffic jams.

He said he had something to say, but Ki Yoohyun didn’t talk much until the fireworks were over.

Is he going to talk about it after the number of people decreases? While drinking still warm canned barley tea, I looked at Ki Yoohyun quietly.

More than two months have already passed since I first encountered this man in the front yard of the store.
Ki Yoohyun helped me several times, and he was generally kind.
Sometimes he says strange things, but I think he’s a good person.

However, there were times when I felt a strange feeling that was hard to express from him.

How should I describe it … he has a well-shaped face that can’t be covered with long hair or glasses, but he doesn’t have a presence for that.

His presence suddenly appears here and there, but it also would disappear again and again all of sudden.

As we talked from time to time, he knew a lot of things, but he seemed not to be interested in anything.

I felt like he’s here and not here at the same time.
It seems that some part of the person named Ki Yoohyun is somewhere else, not here.

That’s still the case.
That’s why I believed Mieum’s words that he barely felt any sense of taste without any doubt.
Somehow I thought this person might be like that.

After the fireworks, darkness fell again.
The street lamp lights don’t reach here.
Those black eyes gleamed as if they contained light even in the dark.

Looking at his face, I suddenly remembered when he appeared at the shopping mall in Yongsan.
He appeared with particles of sparkling light, and it felt as if he would disappear soon.

I unintentionally stretched out my hand, but I didn’t know where and what to catch, so I took it back.

“…….”

“…….”

In complete silence, I couldn’t stand the silence and opened my mouth first.

“It’s getting cold.
I guess it’s really winter now.”

“Yes.
It’s quite cold.”

“Yoohyun-ssi, what do you want to tell me today?”

He has a clear expression of hesitation.
Ki Yoohyun took a light breath and slowly opened his mouth.

“That’s … I’m sorry.
I wasn’t ready to speak, so I kept you waiting, Rieul-ssi.
There was a disturbance.”

“It’s okay.
It was fun to watch the fireworks, and as Yoohyun-ssi said, it seems that Kwon Jiwoon and Hunter Han Yiseong are friends.”

Since they came all the way here together.

Ki Yoohyun smiled bitterly at my words.
He must have known that.

“You may be surprised, but I….”

However, the latter words did not continue straight away, and he went silent again.
In the distance where the sound of his breathing could be clearly heard, I could feel his tension.

Ah.
I can’t stand this tense atmosphere.

“Hey, what’s is it? I won’t be surprised, so tell me.”

At the same time, even I became nervous.
Unable to bear the atmosphere, I opened my mouth again.

“Are you trying to tell me some secret? For example … is it that Yoohyun-ssi is the No.1 ranker, Muwon?”

“….yes?”

Flinch.

Ki Yoohyun was visibly surprised.
His black eyes trembled greatly.

Huh, was that really it?

What am I supposed to say….

***

Ki Yoohyun decided to reveal his identity to Rieul.

He couldn’t lie to her any more.

His reason for hiding his identity from before the regression to the present is simple.

When it comes to the first ranker of the current Korean Hunter World, he’s already a kind of strategic resource that has already surpassed individuals.
It was natural for his actions to be limited as much as his strong abilities.
There was a practical reason to avoid unnecessary friction and move freely.

In the end, he did not trust others; Hunter Han Yiseong, who was always by his side, or even the party where they had the final decisive battle together.

In addition, Ki Yoohyun soon realized that there was a missing part of his memory.

In particular, the past memories before his awakening were unclear.
Information such as date of birth, age, and where he was born remained, but he doesn’t think it’s him.
He felt like he was looking into other people’s memories, as if he was reading a book.

Each cell that makes up his body felt unfamiliar.
Can he simply call the collection of recorded information himself?

‘It’s finally over.’
‘Thank you so much, Hunter-nim…!’

When the Awakening Center was destroyed, there were people cheering that the Hunter World could finally be normalized.

The person they have been waiting for is Muwon.

At that moment, Ki Yoohyun was unfamiliar with himself and could not stand it.
He felt terribly reluctant to respond to their jubilation.
It seemed as if the shadow had been erased and became a solitary existence.

The Power of White Light.
It is a skill that manipulates space using the dense web of light created by The Spider Goddess, the being who makes threads in the dark.

However, whenever Ki Yoohyun uses this power, he gets the feeling that he is flowing into ‘the other side’ through the net of light.

One day, the moment this web was completed, he felt a fear that he would disappear beyond the “Ultimate Gate” and that this place would be taken over by someone other than himself.

Who on earth can he share this feeling with?

Then, he went back to three years in the past; now.

At first, he had no intention of revealing his identity to Kwon Rieul.

Many things have already changed from the original pre-regression past.
The person at the center of all the changes is Kwon Rieul, which must not be a coincidence.

However, she’s an ordinary person by all accounts.
Far from being related to the cult or the Demons, she also got injured by the tactics aimed at Kim Deokyi’s workshop.

It would be best to maintain a loose relationship as it is.
He would help when she’s in danger, sometimes go for coffee, never reveal who he is.
A loose relationship that only shows a well-made human figure.

That’s what he thought.

“Awakening doesn’t mean you become a different being, right?”

Those words somehow stuck in his mind.

It’s not meant for him.
She must have said it out of concern for the twins who were still young.
The words may be so plain and trivial that she won’t even remember it.
Still, the more he thinks about it, the more it feels like she said that for him.

When he drank the coffee she made, he felt the empty space of his worn-out soul was filling up.
Every time he tasted that warmth, he wanted to ask.

Even now, do you still think awakening does not make you a different being?

However, the day when he was unable to keep his decision to not reveal his identity and maintain a loose relationship came.

The city is thrown into chaos as black mucus appeared.

“Oh, you were just here.
Guild leader?!”

As soon as Rieul pressed the security bell, Ki Yoohyun jumped over the space without hesitation towards her.
It took some time to figure out where it was, as the action was faster than the accident.

The net of light knocked down the monster.

She embraced the child who was made as the incarnation of the Abyss.
He saw her standing there, her face filled with determination to save such a child.

“….Yoohyun-ssi!”

The moment he heard the clear voice.

Ki Yoohyun felt the urge to let her know who he was.

[Next]

Translator’s Corner:

“Hurry up” culture ( 빨리빨리 culture): it refers to Korean’s culture where a fast-paced lifestyle is embraced since most Koreans tend to do everything very quickly.

I think I have a nasty bad luck this month … this afternoon my laptop suddenly decided to do windows update WITHOUT ASKING FOR MY OPINION and now it can’t be put to sleep or hibernate (when I did that, I was greeted by black screen and I had no choice but to forcibly turn it off).
I already tried many suggestions in internet but nothin works wtf this is why you shouldn’t update Windows.

ANYWAY, I hope you enjoy this chapter! see you on monday (I really need to start working on the new series).