The One He Meant to Recruit
Seonwoo rode with Kang Han-na to the restaurant she had reserved in advance.
She had picked it out beforehand and told him about it earlier. Given Kang Han-na's status and fame, they had ended up choosing a place with private rooms. That said, it wasn't absurdly expensive. On the contrary, it was the kind of restaurant ordinary people frequented as well.
Wearing a hat and mask, Kang Han-na naturally walked in with Seonwoo and entered a small private room. Even so, some attention still drifted their way, because her beauty leaked through what she couldn't quite hide. But the place was what it was, and above all, without her usual distinctive aura, no one recognized her.
Hiding what made her special.
That was one of the skill-like skills Kang Han-na had mastered as someone of unusual status.
Once inside the room, Kang Han-na casually took utensils from the holder and set them in front of Seonwoo.
Considering who she was, it was the sort of thing that might make someone tilt their head. But if one remembered that both Seonwoo and Kang Han-na had come from Seoul Hunter Academy, it was perfectly natural instead.
The hunter industry was, at its core, built around party play.
Obviously, combining the strength of several people produced better results than going in alone. More than that, dungeons were places where lives were on the line. If you went in together, then even if someone made a mistake or missed something, the others could cover for it.
But alone, that one mistake, that one oversight, could lead straight to death.
Unless there was an exceptional reason, entering a dungeon by yourself was little different from laying your life down.
That was why the smallest unit in the hunter world was the party. Outside of unavoidable situations involving the very lowest-level dungeons, the concept of a solo hunter practically didn't exist.
And because people formed teams and wagered their lives together to conquer dungeons, the leader's orders were absolute.
It was similar to a military chain of command, and if anything, treated with even more gravity.
At Seoul Hunter Academy, that had become somewhat distorted, hardening into a strict hierarchy even between seniors and juniors.
Kang Han-na's polite messages and greeting, and even the fact that she had placed utensils in front of Seonwoo, were all an extension of that.
Kang Han-na was someone who followed the rules of a group well.
Still, in her case, it wasn't just about rules. Her innate personality played a major part too.
Kang Han-na was genuinely considerate. She had a good heart. She had been born kind, raised in comfort, and surrounded by love. There were no creases in her, no shadows.
Of course, that didn't mean anyone saw her as easy prey. Before her background even entered the equation, her kindness wasn't the same thing as being a pushover.
Since Seonwoo knew her personality well, he only gave a faint smile at the gesture.
"Thanks."
"...It's nothing, Seonwoo sunbae."
And as Seonwoo smiled and thanked her, Kang Han-na drank the sight of him in with quiet intensity.
She had thought it even when she saw him through the CCTV footage, but facing him in person made it much clearer.
When he looked at her.
When he said her name.
Even now, as he thanked her.
Though he was sitting across from Kang Han-na, there wasn't a trace of tension or burden in Seonwoo.
He wasn't arrogant, nor was he overestimating himself.
It was simply natural.
The Kim Seonwoo Kang Han-na remembered had never been like this.
He had always been desperate. He had never had room to breathe. And because he was always lagging behind as one of the stragglers, he had been shrunken in on himself, soaked through with defeat.
He had never once truly faced Kang Han-na as a person.
Kang Han-na remembered that time vividly, and that was why her eyes kept drifting back to him.
"You've changed a little, haven't you, sunbae?"
Rather than circling around the point, she asked directly.
It wasn't that she was being inconsiderate. She simply judged that this was the right approach now.
"Yeah. I decided to change."
There was confidence in the Seonwoo who answered with a smile.
Not groundless conceit, but healthy confidence.
The eyes with which he met Kang Han-na's gaze shone with a composure no one lacking belief in themselves could ever possess.
And that drew her interest.
When they had first met today, she'd noticed that fresh, crisp air unique to someone who had just showered. It had looked as though he'd finished training, but he had been consistent about training back in their Academy days too, so that couldn't explain it.
So again, she asked directly.
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah. It did. A lot."
"...Does it have something to do with the bad people who came to your house this time?"
"Well, it is connected. Is that why you contacted me?"
"Yes. You taught them a lesson, didn't you?"
It was a cute choice of words.
Seonwoo let out a small smile and nodded.
"Yeah. I did."
"There was even a D-grade among the people who came. How did you deal with them?"
She was skilled at adjusting her tone so it didn't sound as if she were looking down on the other person.
And at the same time, she naturally asked what she had truly been curious about.
Asking how he knew there had been a D-grade among the people who came would only drag the conversation out needlessly. Taking all that into account, it was a question that touched closely enough on the truth to make answering it a delicate matter.
And if he hesitated over a question like that, Kang Han-na had the discernment to see straight through him.
Seonwoo—
"I reawakened."
He answered at once, without even a moment's pause.
He had already anticipated this question. He had already decided on this answer. There was no need to think about it.
Because he had resolved to take the lead in changing the story as the protagonist.
So he gave the answer that fit that role.
He didn't tell her everything, though, and that too was part of acting on his own initiative.
Changseong Group and Kang Han-na were allies, so he could have told them everything. Not once had they ever used his trust badly.
But if he did that, he would become a supporting character again this time as well.
Changseong Group would take control of the story.
It would become much the same as the time he had thought it a clever move to try changing the story through Changseong Group. On the surface, it might look like he was leading events proactively, but in truth he would only be offering advice from the position of a supporting role.
So this was as far as he would go for now.
That was the whole reason he had hidden the Bracelet of the World Tree inside his body before meeting Kang Han-na in the first place.
An S-grade item, and a bracelet crystallized from the World Tree's power at that.
There was no way it was ordinary, and if he wore it openly, it would catch the eye of Kang Han-na and Changseong Group.
But one of the Bracelet of the World Tree's traits was its ability to conceal its existence thoroughly.
It dissolved into the body with utterly natural energy and hid there. Not by lurking in secret, but by becoming so natural that no one could specially perceive it.
Like how you never remember the clothes of a stranger who brushed past you.
On top of that, his face had never been caught on CCTV, and Lee Maeng-ho's phone—containing no trace of Seonwoo—had been left behind at the junkyard.
There was no physical evidence to be found on Seonwoo.
"So you reawakened... I see."
That was why Kang Han-na nodded with an expression that said she understood, yet she wasn't satisfied.
Just as Seonwoo had expected this question, Kang Han-na too had already considered the possibility of this answer. Normally, when something fell within the expected range like this, that was the whole truth.
But not this time.
For some reason, she was certain of that.
Not because of evidence.
Because of instinct.
"Then... are you taking the hunter exam this time?"
"Yeah. Since I reawakened, I should get my license properly this time."
Seonwoo grinned.
"Looks like I'll be taking the exam with your class."
Kang Han-na chose not to dig any deeper.
They finished their meal without incident and came back out in a pleasant mood.
"Thank you for the meal, sunbae."
"Yeah. Get home safe."
"Yes. Take care."
The senior had paid for the meal.
Feeling an unfamiliar but not unpleasant emotion, Kang Han-na got into the car.
"...He is someone who gives off the sense of being special."
There was an old man seated in the passenger seat now—someone who had not been there while Seonwoo was with her.
His impressive beard stood out, and though his manner was gentle and courteous, the force wrapped around his body was extraordinary. He had the peculiar impression of a predator that had learned and chosen to obey the rules of civilized society.
He was the strongest member of the A3 Security Team assigned to protect Kang Han-na.
From the mouth of a man whose emotions had dulled with age and experience came the word special.
It wasn't a word one heard easily, but Kang Han-na accepted it as only natural and nodded.
"Yes. In less than a year, he really has become someone special. Sunbae."
She wasn't talking about reawakening.
Reawakening was rare, but on the scale of the whole world, it still fell within the bounds of common sense. To the old man—and to Kang Han-na as well—it was not something that could truly be called special.
So the specialness they spoke of was not the reawakening, but Kim Seonwoo himself.
Kim Seonwoo, who had become someone capable of treating Kang Han-na with simple goodwill, normally.
There were fewer people than one might think who could treat Kang Han-na naturally, as though she were ordinary.
And to do that while showing consideration and kindness as well?
There were only a handful in the world who could manage that.
An older brother you could rely on. Gentle.
Kang Han-na had that thought when she looked at Seonwoo—and then startled herself.
After meeting him today, Kang Han-na could be certain of it.
Not because of evidence.
Because of instinct.
The mysterious person who had secured clues about the Elf Auction and sent them to Changseong Group.
Without a doubt, that person was Kim Seonwoo.
"...Hm."
The winter hunter licensing exam coming up soon would go down as one of the most legendary in history.
As the debut stage of Flame and Hero.
That meant Kang Han-na and Seo Eun-yu.
Flame and Hero were the Signature Skills of Kang Han-na and Seo Eun-yu.
A Signature Skill was a rare, defining ability so distinctive it could stand as the symbol of an individual.
And among skills, the accepted rule was that the broader and less narrowly limited the name of the skill, the more powerful it tended to be.
By that standard, Flame and Hero were unquestionably top-class Signature Skills.
In this winter hunter licensing exam, Kang Han-na and Seo Eun-yu would prove exactly that, earn B-grade licenses, and graduate from the Academy.
For the first time, Seonwoo would be taking the exam alongside them—both as a player, and as a man living in this world.
In the original story, the protagonist graduated from the Academy a year before Kang Han-na and Seo Eun-yu and took his first step into society as a hunter ahead of them.
But before he could properly take that first step, misfortune struck.
The story of Beomho Development.
At a time when his grandmother's finances were already running dry, the protagonist's family lost even the house they lived in and were driven out, forced into a miserable life.
The game pretended to keep things light with text and SD graphics, but anyone could see it for what it was: an unjust, wretched story of being crushed into poverty.
A miserable story Seonwoo had tried again and again to change somehow.
As the player progressed through that unchangeable story, the details shifted slightly depending on what they did.
If you achieved major success as a hunter, you could attend the exam Kang Han-na and Seo Eun-yu took from the position of a senior hunter and create a point of contact with them.
Among players, that was considered the best possible route available at that stage.
...It hadn't been a route Seonwoo could take.
And now, with the timing of Restart having shifted so dramatically, it still wasn't an option he could choose.
Of course, he didn't regret that.
He had decided to lead the story proactively as the protagonist.
And he had spent three hundred years mastering the power that would let him do exactly that—Cheonma Shingong.
Before Seonwoo now lay countless choices he had never been able to make before.
Which only made him want them more.
The beginning had been successful.
He had crushed Beomho Development with his own hands, and for the first time, he had received guidance from the System that he had succeeded in altering the story.
Story alteration successful.
And with a single note and a single message, he had completely removed not only Beomho Development, but even Sihyeok Group, from the current flow of the story.
From the fact that Kang Han-na had come to meet him, Seonwoo could tell that things were proceeding according to plan.
Changseong Group had not dismissed the information he sent from Kang Han-na's phone and had begun investigating it. After that, Beomho Development—who would have seen Seonwoo's warning note a little later—vanished without a trace.
Sihyeok Group hadn't shown anything outwardly, but internally, the atmosphere there was likely total devastation.
Thus, the first alteration of the story had succeeded and come to a close.
Now it was time to think about what came next.
And needless to say, that meant the hunter licensing exam.
He had already diverged from the original story from the very first button he had fastened differently, but the plan itself was clear.
He had to lead the story proactively.
To do that, the very first thing Seonwoo needed was power worthy of such a role.
Both personal strength and social power alike.
Sss—
He was carrying that out steadily even now, training in Yeon-shin-geuk-gi-gong beside the World Tree in the land of Elvenheim.
The second thing he needed was companions.
The happy ending Seonwoo desired and envisioned was not something he could achieve alone.
The people precious to him had to be there with him, and that had to be true throughout the journey as well.
He needed to build a party—eventually, even a guild.
And as the first step, there was someone he intended to recruit as a companion.
A companion who could lead all the way to another alteration of the story.
Seonwoo intended to go meet the Spiritist.