Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Ran was flustered.
Just moments ago, he had felt death.
His heart had frozen in the cold embrace of his friend.
At least he had thought himself lucky that he wasn’t dying alone.
“From now on, do not call me ‘Father’ in public. You will no longer be a personal hunter… you belong to Janice now…”
But what was this?
Blinking, he looked around.
A massive room with a panoramic view of the capital of Arcadia, headquarters of the Hunter Confederation, stretching beyond the glass walls.
Display cases perfectly organized without a single unnecessary item.
A small family photo lying on the table.
This was the office of Janice’s chairman—a role Ran had been forced into.
And yet, everything was in perfect order.
“Are you listening, Ran?”
However, Ran was not the true owner of this room.
[Chairman – Taecheon]
Ran looked up at the nameplate he longed for so desperately.
A neatly groomed beard.
Black hair combed perfectly.
Golden eyes that clearly confirmed his relationship with Ran.
“Dad?”
The man before him was Ran’s father, Taecheon, the first chairman of Janice.
That was when Ran realized: Ah, this is a flashback.
“I’m sure I just told you not to call me ‘Father.’”
“…?”
That thought was brutally shattered.
He had never heard that you could have a conversation in a flashback.
Taecheon looked at Ran as if to ask what he had just heard.
“Of course, everyone already knows, but there are still things one must uphold. If you make such a slip during a meeting later—”
His deep, calm voice scolding gently, yet without anger—the exact memory of his father.
Though Taecheon’s expression was serious,
Ran suddenly, instinctively, hugged him.
It happened before he could even think.
He had wanted to shout at him if he ever saw him again.
Do you know how hard it was for me when you suddenly disappeared?
Do you know what the world became because of your absence?
Yet no words came out.
For now, he just wanted to feel the warmth of the father he hadn’t seen in years.
“Ran? What on earth are you doing?”
Taecheon’s voice was tinged with irritation.
Even if he didn’t listen, Ran had never ignored him like this. But today, his behavior was strange.
Just as he pondered whether to give a stern scolding,
“You’re really my father, right…?”
Seeing Ran trembling in his arms, Taecheon immediately grasped his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
“Ran. Look me straight in the eyes. Have you fallen victim to a mental-type gate? What was the last gate you encountered?”
It was a natural suspicion for an S-rank hunter and chairman of a gate management company.
“The last gate I encountered?”
Ran couldn’t answer easily.
The last thing he had seen was the site where countless gates collapsed and corruption spread.
He could neither explain everything nor part of it.
A conversation he had just before dying flashed through his mind.
-If you could go back in time, what would you want to do first?
He had asked this while dying, hoping to speak a little more with his friend.
But now?
His father, who had vanished five years ago, was sitting perfectly fine in the chairman’s seat.
“From now on, you’re not a personal hunter… you belong to Janice…”
And Taecheon had just said Ran belonged to Janice starting today.
Until yesterday, he wasn’t officially in Janice.
Ran had only briefly been a personal hunter in high school.
“Dad, can you tell me today’s date? Include the year.”
“…October 21, 470. Seems your memory is off.”
The year Ran had just lived in was 480. Somehow, he had traveled back ten years—to the exact day he joined Janice.
“I don’t know what gate you went through, but I’ll call the medical team immediately…”
“Wait! I’ll take all the tests later. Right now, something more important is happening.”
“What?”
Taecheon had been flustered multiple times today.
His daughter suddenly clinging to him like a child, asking the date, and now acting all serious about something important.
“Isn’t there an agent named Aren in the company? Probably a regular agent. His current assignment is…”
“What are you talking about, Ran?”
Taecheon furrowed his brows, struggling to follow her fast-moving explanation.
Just as he was about to call the medical team anyway,
“I can explain everything later… probably. But first, I need to see this agent Aren. Right now.”
Ran’s gaze was so serious that Taecheon hesitated.
Logically, he should take her to the infirmary first, but her confidence was undeniable.
“Fine. Let’s find him.”
With a deep sigh, Taecheon agreed.
Even the top S-rank hunter couldn’t overpower his only daughter.
They quickly located Aren’s assignment.
[Gate Management Team 3 – Regular Agent, Aren (E-rank Hunter)]
A man with white hair and ash-colored eyes.
A profile picture showing a worn, weary expression.
He was certainly the friend who had died with Ran.
“Aren… yes, this is him.”
Of course, finding him raised Taecheon’s curiosity.
“Who is this agent, and why do you need him urgently?”
“Huh? Well… it’s just that…”
Ran rolled her eyes, trying to figure out how to explain.
She had first met Aren at twenty-five.
After her father vanished and she had assumed the chairman’s seat.
Now, having returned to when she was just an adult, it made no sense that she knew him.
“He’s a friend.”
She said it, knowing how impossible it sounded.
“A friend?”
“Yes… I met him when I was a personal hunter.”
Though they had only spoken casually for a few minutes before her death, this was the only explanation she could give.
“Did something strange happen after visiting a gate with this agent?”
It wasn’t entirely wrong. Ran and Aren had died together in the ruined world.
Calling it “visiting a gate” was perhaps the best way to explain it.
Ran shook her head.
“No, it’s not about him. I just want to know where Aren is right now.”
She wanted to see him.
Had he returned to the past as well?
If so, she wanted to talk about what happened.
“Regular agents don’t wear location trackers.”
“But you can at least check if he’s on duty, right?”
“Hmm…”
Taecheon tapped into Aren’s activity records, clearly displeased to see it was a man.
Ran ignored her father’s feelings entirely.
“GT-078, Grand Garden. Assigned to F-rank gate management, soon to be dispatched to the gate.”
“What?!”
GT-078.
Ran knew this gate code well.
Aren had first lost his team here. She remembered him explaining it.
‘What exactly happened? Mana Eater appearances?’
Ran’s serious expression drew Taecheon’s frown.
“Why the shock? F-rank gate management is completely safe work.”
Just as he finished speaking,
Bwoong – Woong –!
Taecheon’s phone vibrated, and an emergency alert appeared on the monitor.
It was a report of a sudden incident at GT-078.
Multiple D-rank monsters, Mana Eaters, had appeared.
“What the…?”
Taecheon froze.
Bang!
Ran immediately ran out of the chairman’s office.
“Ran! Where are you going?!”
Her father’s voice called after her, but there was no time to answer.
What if Aren hadn’t returned to the past with her?
What if he was losing his team in the gate again?
Just imagining it was horrifying.
Ran checked her body as she ran.
‘I’m twenty… back to a C-rank hunter’s body. My sword’s fine…’
Though her body had returned to her twenty-year-old self, handling an F-rank gate incident was nothing for a C-rank hunter.
Ran ran without stopping, heading to the underground containment facility to save her friend.
She arrived at the containment facility.
The guards tried to stop her, but she forced her way down.
By the time she reached the scene, the incident was over.
Aren calmly briefed the medical team.
Ran realized immediately.
The past had changed.
All members of Gate Management Team 3 were alive.
And Aren was at the center.
She could be certain of one thing.
Ah, he had returned to the past with me.
It was a relief to have someone to share the chaotic situation with.
“……”
“……”
Ironically, this made it harder to speak.
They had understood each other’s return just through eye contact.
Ran moved her lips several times before finally speaking.
“If you could go back in time…”
It was a question to confirm their shared return.
“If you could go back in time, did you achieve what you wanted?”
Aren’s answer before dying had been simple:
‘Not losing my team.’
And now, Aren’s answer was just as simple.
“For now.”
A faint smile.
Others might not notice, but Ran, who had been with him the whole time, clearly did.
“Chairman… no, Ran, what about you?”
Aren hastily corrected the honorific, aware of surrounding ears.
Ran paused at the question.
Before dying, her answers had been twofold:
Watch over her father to prevent his sudden disappearance.
And become friends with Aren a little earlier.
Not achievable just yet, but
“I’ll achieve them. Definitely.”
It was an attainable goal.
She knew the future and had returned to the past.
She was not alone, and she would cooperate with the other returnee.
Ran smiled brightly and extended her hand.
“So let’s get along from now on, Aren!”
It was the start of her second goal—becoming closer friends with Aren sooner.
…Then she realized.
“Isn’t that the chairman’s daughter?”
“Ran? Hmm… who is that agent that seems so close to her?”
It was strange for the chairman’s daughter to act so friendly toward a regular agent like Aren.
“…Ah.”
Ran muttered awkwardly.
Aren lightly exhaled.
From the very start of this return, the two of them were off to a rocky beginning.