Revelation of the Past
The door to Seojun’s apartment buzzed suddenly in the middle of the night, shattering the quiet.
“…….”
Kang Seojun stared at the intercom panel, his brow furrowed. A voice crackled through the speaker—Jin Serin’s, low and dry as autumn leaves.
“You… Seojun. I figured out your secret.”
“What the hell…?”
He hadn’t expected this. Not at this hour. Not from her.
“Are you going to keep standing outside like that?”
The question hung in the air, casual but laced with something heavier.
“U-um… Just… come inside. For a second.”
Her tone was polite, almost shy, yet firm. Seojun’s expression darkened. She had uncovered his secret? His identity?
There was no choice but to answer.
With a metallic click, the lock disengaged. The front door swung open, and Jin Serin stepped inside with her usual quiet grace.
She wore dolphin shorts and a simple white T-shirt, the same outfit she’d had on when she’d crashed in the guest room earlier. Her hair was slightly messy from sleep, but her eyes held a quiet intensity.
Seojun stood frozen for a moment before forcing himself to move. He sat on the sofa. She chose the seat opposite, crossing her legs neatly.
The room fell into an awkward silence.
Finally, Seojun broke it.
“You… figured out my secret?”
“Exactly like that.” She nodded once, no drama, no embellishment. “That ruined body… it only got like this after crossing over. But the core of it—the other things too—were already there.”
“……!!”
Seojun’s thirty points of willpower trembled like a candle in a gale.
“How…?”
He whispered, voice hoarse.
Jin Serin simply watched him, waiting.
“Ancient language knowledge, mana formulas, unregistered dungeons… All of it. Because you came from the future.”
“Future…?”
Seojun’s eyes narrowed.
“Where did you see that?!”
Jin Serin’s gaze remained steady.
“The question was mine first. If you won’t answer, I won’t answer either.”
She wasn’t backing down.
Seojun sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Fine. If you promise to keep this between us… I’ll tell you.”
He nodded.
Jin Serin’s eyes brightened slightly.
Seojun began to speak.
“Yes. This body was created when I crossed over. Red skin, twisted limbs, organs that were a mess even inside.”
Jin Serin’s face paled as she listened.
“So the ancient language cube knowledge, unregistered dungeons… and everything else…”
Seojun nodded again.
“Everything I knew before I crossed over.”
She hugged her own arms, eyes dropping to the floor.
Seojun studied her for a long moment.
“Then tell me. How did you learn about my background?”
“My question isn’t finished yet!”
“….”
He had sensed this conversation would drag on longer than he’d hoped.
Jin Serin gripped her arms tighter.
“Then… even after becoming like this… why did you come here?”
“I didn’t choose to come.”
“So it was forced?”
He thought for a second, then shook his head.
“No. Not that either.”
The act of pressing the start button had been his own decision.
“So what…?”
“Now, how did you learn my background?”
“Ah—! I’m listening to this no matter what!”
Her voice sharpened, eyes burning with determination.
“Why did you ask me to be your best friend…?”
She stared straight into his eyes.
“What kind of relationship did we have in the future?”
“…….”
He didn’t know where this was going.
This was completely unexpected. No event from the Grand Hunter Academy had prepared him for it.
He had to answer honestly. No half-truths.
“I didn’t just come from the future. I repeated the same time loop countless times. In those loops… we built countless different relationships.”
“……!”
Jin Serin’s lips parted, trembling.
“It’s hard to summarize. Sometimes we were distant, watching from afar. Sometimes we were the only two who understood each other completely. And….”
Seojun hesitated at the end.
Jin Serin asked quietly.
“Most precious… was there ever a time you were the most important person to me?”
He couldn’t answer.
If he said yes to this grotesque body, she would collapse.
But the uncertainty felt like relief to her.
“There really was…?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you…”
“No….”
She nodded, as if she had already suspected.
“Best friend… that was just an excuse.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“What if I hadn’t approached you first?”
“You would have approached me first after entering the academy. Only I could solve your growth stagnation.”
“Then… you…?”
Her voice trembled.
“You… became like this… just to save me… even though it was painful… even though you had to keep looping time…?”
She wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks, hiccuping.
“Eh?”
Seojun blinked, confused.
“That’s not it.”
He had only meant it as a favor.
“You idiot…! What do you think you gain by doing all of that?! By becoming such a painful sight…!!”
“Your voice is too loud!”
“What even is this?!”
Seojun didn’t know what to say.
“Because I hate the changed me… you were afraid, weren’t you…? I’m sorry… I didn’t know… again…”
Her sobs grew louder.
“But… knowing all of this alone… is too sad…!”
Seojun rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
What misunderstanding had led her to this?
He needed to find the source of the information before he could move forward.
“I’m sorry. But now answer my question. How did you learn I came from another world?”
“I saw this…”
She reached behind her back and pulled out a thin file folder.
Somehow she had hidden something so flat.
The situation was strange, but Seojun took the file anyway.
“Th-this is…!”
His eyes widened in shock.
Jin Serin had found the document three hours earlier, at midnight.
Seo Eunha had finally been given a moment to breathe after endless questioning from the Sungjin Group security team.
The questions had circled around the same two points: How had they learned Kim Hak-yong was a Main? And who had given him the relic?
Everything else had been blocked with the standard protection of the provider’s identity.
Because of that, even though she had completed her mission, she now carried a strange suspicion from the security team.
She had only escaped worse questions because both the Holy Water of the Beloved Saint and the No-Sin Knife Case were light-attribute artifacts, ruling out any claims of being a demon’s puppet.
The internal matter of Managing Director Kim Hak-yong had been handled within the company. It was reported to the association in absolute secrecy.
If word had spread that a mid-level executive of Sungjin Group had been a Main, the company’s image would have taken a massive hit.
Sooner or later, Seo Eunha had gone straight to the necklace Kang Seojun had asked her to retrieve—the one stolen from the demon’s neck right before the security team arrived.
“What the hell is this necklace…?”
She had considered going back to the research lab, but decided against it. Nothing would be revealed there.
Instead, she had descended to the underground level of Sungjin Group.
Her destination was the Level 1 Security Archives—the vault used exclusively by the closest aides of the Sungjin family.
How had they known?
That Kim Hak-yong was a Main. That he possessed the relic necklace. That even ordinary weapons could not pierce his skin.
Seojun had known all of it. He had even possessed the ability to handle it.
How…?
Seo Eunha had typed the keywords into the machine without thinking.
[Main, ancient language cube, unregistered dungeon, ruined body, possession skill, light-attribute…]
Combinations of words that had nothing to do with each other.
She clicked search anyway, expecting nothing.
Then.
“Ah…?”
A single record document printed out.
Jin Serin had opened it immediately.
[Notice! Documents that cannot be verified by electronic devices.]
Seo Eunha had gone deeper, searching through the archives until she found the record number.
The moment she stepped into the dusty corner, she realized no human foot had touched this place in years.
A concrete warehouse untouched for at least several years.
She opened the door carefully and stepped inside.
And there it was.
[The joint record of the World Hunter Federation Union and Sungjin Group.]
“This… this is…!!”
The secret of the man whose identity had puzzled her for so long had been revealed here, in the unlikeliest place.
“I have to tell Miss Jin right away…!!”
Seo Eunha sealed the confidential document in a zipper bag and rushed to the document release counter.