Chapter 64

“Something to tell? Did something happen?” Sung Jarim asked Seora as she took away the half-empty fried chicken plate.

If you leave food to that greedy person, you shouldn’t take your eyes off it because only an empty plate will return, Seora thought.

“You know that Kang Sejun came around the time you guys went last time, right?”

“Come to think of it. Baek Heewon, you know him, right?”

“What? That he’s living his sixth life?”

“As expected. Can you see other people’s information? Or…”

“Similar but slightly different. Perhaps we have similar eyes in terms of specialty?” Baek Heewon tapped her eyes. “It’s a title effect that allows me to read the opponent’s energy. A person’s unique aura contains more than you think. I am better at classifying and discriminating as a shaman than others.” The flow of a person’s life, the distribution of emotions, and so on. Baek Hee-won lightly added, “It’s all special. In that respect, it goes without saying for Yoon Seora, but Sung Jarim is also quite unique. I can feel the energy of the universe beyond the sky. Did you experience some sort of dimensional shift?”

“Oh, something like that. Do you know that the dungeons are doors connected to another space dimension?”

“… Really?” Baek Heewon’s face darkened.

I guess even the spiritual shaman didn’t know that. Well, if it were, this fact would have already been known to WDO.

“Was it really a world from another dimension? …How did the scale reach the universe?” Baek Heewon stared at Sung Jarim with a confused face. “Is that why your time is twisted?”

“Yes. The dungeon closed, and I was trapped in that world without rescue.”

“Great job. I’m so glad you’re back.” Baek Heewon patted her on the shoulder without asking anything more. Sung Jarim smiled and shrugged.

“What about Kang Sejun?”

“I had a conversation with him after you guys left, and he asked me something shocking even though I didn’t know what I saw in my previous life.” Baek Heewon glanced behind Seora and cautiously continued. “He asked me if I knew about the existence of system administrators.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ugh.” Seora dropped the fried chicken she was eating.

Kang Sejun had already lived six lives, so it wouldn’t be strange if he knew about the administrator, but Seora hadn’t expected it to be true.

“Did you tell him that I am their contractor?!”

“Are you crazy?! Never! I didn’t even bring you up! Kang Sejun doesn’t doubt you at all, so you don’t have to worry about that. Never!”

Seora rubbed her chest. Oh man. The world’s most persistent regressor almost steals my secret.

“By the way, I didn’t say a word about the administrator either. I’m sure they already know… Are they angry or not?” Baek Heewon looked into the air as she asked anxiously.

[Administrator: (—‿◦ *)]

“…”

I wonder if they don’t care or if it doesn’t matter.

“Uh, I don’t think they’re angry…”

“Really?! That’s a relief. Anyway, I don’t know why Kang Sejun asked about the administrators. But apparently, it was only in the previous life that he finally got a clue about their existence.”

So, you mean he didn’t even know about the administrators’s existence until then? Seora looked at the winking emoticon. Mm, yes. I’m glad he doesn’t know. We should protect our administrator’s image. It was enough that I alone changed my opinion after seeing the emojis.

“Oh, right. Speaking of Kang Sejun, I remember something.”

“What is it?”

“There was something he asked me to do. I should see it since I recall it.”

“What did he ask you to see?”

“Cheorwon Dungeon.”

Seora’s movements as she put the fries into her mouth stiffened. “Cheorwon Dungeon…?”

“Actually, I’ve seen it a few times before, but nothing caught my eye.”

“What do you mean?” Seora’s tone became urgent. Knowing about her relationship with Cheorwon Dungeon, Jarim quietly put down the fried chicken she was eating as well.

“Is there something that even Baek Heewon can’t see?”

“I am not omnipotent either. I am only human, and the world is more susceptible to divine intervention than ever before.”

“That means…”

“There may be some huge influence over Cheorwon Dungeon that even my Entity cannot intervene.”

Seora’s face turned pale.

“Even my dream has become chaotic recently. No matter how much I look at it, I think something will happen soon.”

“What dream was it?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I don’t know because I can’t see anything. I am alive and can hear the sound of breathing around me. There’s definitely someone alive around me, but I can’t see them.”

“…”

“As if the whole world is dyed in the night. It’s very uncomfortable.”

“Now.”

“Yes?”

“Hurry up and tell me my fortune now. Right now!”

It was only then that Baek Heewon, noticing Seora’s seriously stiffened face, took out the bell and held it up. “The sun has risen on your head, so let the light shine on the road ahead. My eyes are there, and I see you.”

As the bell was shaken, a halo of light closed in Baek Heewon’s half-open eyes. It contained a hot light that was like the sun and also like fire. Seora’s nervousness was taken away because of the mysterious and dreamy sight for a moment.

Some time passed…

Baek Heewon blinked in the stillness where no sound could be heard. The light faded and returned, her dark eyes filled with astonishment.

“What’s wrong? What did you see?”

“Yoon Seora.”

“I am listening. Please tell me quickly.”

“You…” When Baek Heewon looked at Seora with a serious face, a bad feeling began circulating in Seora’s toes.

Just like the day Castle Tower Guild was attacked.

“Is the administrator not saying anything right now?”

“Yes? Uh, no.”

“Have they not said anything during your stay here or on your way here?”

“Yes.”

“That means they wouldn’t mind if I told you. Then stand up, and go to Cheorwon right away. With Jarim.” Baek Heewon continued with a heavy face. “The dungeon will pop out. The monster, significantly stronger than 12 years ago, will sweep the place. Many Hunters might die again.”

Seora’s face turned blue. Sung Jarim, who had been quiet, also held her breath. Baek Heewon held Seora’s arm tightly.

“Go. They will need your strength. You should be able to solve the problem there.”

“…”

“They need your help to make sure no one there dies.”

Death.

Her brother’s face passed before her eyes.

And the faces of her parents, who smiled at her as well.

Her parents turned to ashes and were buried in the cold ground.

Seora’s entire body hardened.

***

“It’s gloomy.”

It’d been a week since they stayed in Cheorwon. Kang Sejun often muttered that whenever he saw the Locked gate.

The gate was located in a deserted place. It was also somewhat far from the military base, so it was already too late to notice when it had first appeared. At that time, they didn’t even have mana meter yet, so they didn’t know anything about that dungeon.

Eventually, time passed, and Dungeon Break happened, and after that, it was a dark battle.

Cheorwon was devastated, and neighboring North Korea also suffered considerable damage. S-classes were urgently put in, but Hyun Jaehee was the only one who could get close to the boss monster. In the end, though, she too, was killed by that demonic beast.

Korea barely escaped the worst because Hyun Jaehee obtained the Lock by killing the monster escorting the boss, but Cheorwon became a huge tomb after that day.

This land, which was filled with 12 years of pain, longing, and fear, was so painful that people wanted to run away just by looking at it.

“It is a terrible place.”

“To the point where it makes you sad, isn’t it?”

At the words of Joo Eun, who approached him, Kang Sejun silently affirmed. He was gloomy, feeling terrible, and sometimes saddened by the whining of the dead.

“If we can appease the spirits of the dead, there’s nothing more we can hope for.”

“When the Cheorwon Dungeon opens.”

“Do you think it won’t open?”

“Well…” Even he, a regressor, couldn’t be sure, but to be honest, he didn’t have hope. He realized that it was meaningless to have hope after living several lives.

Hope was a prelude to greater despair in a world like this.

“We have to be prepared.”

“That said… With this kind of protection, who can access it?”

A Lock pattern was clearly stamped on the eerily dark green gate.

The raid’s auxiliary support team, including the association’s civil servants, guarded the area thoroughly, and the S-classes also took turns standing guard by two.

“The opponent is a guy who annihilated Castle Tower guild in the middle of the city and stole the Key. Let’s not get our guard down.”

“I see. If the opponent is a mature L-Class Awakened, it will be difficult for us to notice.”

“And generally, L-classes are uncooperative and do not reveal their whereabouts.” Yoon Jaehun interrupted the conversation. He walked up and laughed with a straight face. “My boss, the captain, is like that too. We sometimes shake our heads because she hides her tracks well.”

“I didn’t expect to hear this about the head of Athena, who is hard to hear even a rumor about. How is life in Athena?”

“I am delighted. To the point where I want to go back when this thing goes well.” Jaehun’s gaze turned to the gate. Joo Eun and Kang Sejun also saw that the hand holding the sword was firm. “I joined Athena to get rid of that forever.”

Knowing that he was Hyun Jaehee’s son, Joo Eun sighed.

“Ah! Of course, that doesn’t mean I want the Lock to open. Ultimately, it is good for everyone that it ends without opening.” Jaehun waved his hand, saying he had no strange intentions. Everyone nodded because they didn’t think of that. Right now, in front of Cheorwon Gate, the one who felt most complicated must be Jaehun.

“No matter how this ends, I will return to Athena, but I’d like to keep in touch with you often. Because I was obsessed with increasing my strength, I didn’t connect well with the community, but I’ll see you more often from now on.”

“There are many interesting stories in many ways. My deputy leader is playing a big part.”

“Right, that deputy leader who cries out for resignation.” When Kang Sejun added, Joo Eun smiled broadly.

“Haha. He’s a very interesting friend. He’s funny, and he’s good at making jokes.”

Joke? No matter how you look at it, the deputy leader Kang Hanseo, who was crying out for resignation, was sincere. However, Kang Sejun did not bother to point out that part. Seeing that adult-like smiling face, he didn’t think it would work very well if he said it. In fact, he’d talked about it several times in the past. But what was the point of saying? The results were all the same.

“Come to think of it, Yoo Soo-eun and Eun Injae over there also visit the community often. They are also enjoyable.”

“It seemed so. They would have been very close if they had met my younger sister. I’d like to introduce her someday.”

“Oh, you have a sister.” Joo Eun, who was completely unaware that the younger sister was Yoon Seora, the civil servant who was on good terms with Yoo Soo-eun, listened.

“Yes. I’m thinking of going to Athena with my sister when this work is over. The kind leader permitted me.”

However, despite Yoon Jaehun’s affectionate words, Kang Sejun’s face hardened. He had been keeping an eye on him because he was taking a different step from the past…

‘Is his sister really alive?’

In his previous lives, Yoon Jaehun lost his younger sister. Many times. Kang Sejun couldn’t forget his fury because he’d seen it with his eyes each time.

But this time, Yoon Jaehun was neither angry nor out of his mind, so he thought it was strange, but he could never have thought that his younger sister was still alive.

‘Come to think of it. There’s only one person who’s alive, unlike in the past.’

Yoon Seora. From the moment he first met her, she was such a unique and special person that he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Besides, Yoon Jaehun and Yoon Seora. The two were the same surname Yoon.

‘No way…?’

It happened when Kang Sejun was about to ask Yoon Jaehun something in a hurry.