The Funeral in One Week
Now I understand.
The person guarding the entrance to the funeral parlor was my sister.
Her face was swollen and beet-red from crying so hard she could barely see. She accepted the visitors’ condolences with mechanical nods, nothing more.
Wait a second.
I hurried out of the parlor. The monitor at the entrance displayed the current date and time.
So this is something that happens a week from now?
One week. In just one week, my brother-in-law would be dead.
How did he die? An accident? A murder? And where the hell was I during all of this?
That was when I heard it.
“Sister, go rest. I’ll watch over things here.”
“What about Grandfather? Is he all right?”
“Yeah. He’s much more at peace now. So please, go get some sleep.”
The other version of me had returned to the parlor and was gently supporting my sister. She pushed his hand away, shaking her head with stubborn determination.
“No. You’re the one who needs rest. You’ve been greeting mourners and taking care of Grandfather for days without a break.”
The mention of “days” means my brother-in-law died even earlier than this.
“I’m not saying this because I’m worried about you. Think about the baby in your belly. If you’re barely holding on, how do you expect that child to endure? Stop arguing and go home. If you don’t, I swear I won’t look at your face again.”
“…Fine. I’ll leave it to you, then.”
After finally bundling my sister into a taxi and sending her home, that same night brought an unexpected visitor to the parlor.
Director Lee Won-hyung?
“Please accept my deepest condolences, Hunter Ahn Humin. If you can spare a moment, I’d like to speak with you. It concerns the deceased.”
“About my brother-in-law?”
It was late and no other visitors were expected, so the other me led Director Lee to a quiet spot where they could talk.
“I’m not sure if the deceased ever mentioned it to you, but he was in charge of an important project.”
“No… he rarely talked about his work.”
“The project involved an investigation into the Black Snake Clan. They’re an old organization that exploits abandoned or trafficked children for illegal drug distribution, smuggling, and human trafficking. Because of their deep roots in both politics and business, every investigation has been blocked or derailed. But this time, the man who located one of their primary hideouts was none other than the late Chief Jang Gi-jun of Public Security Division 3.”
Director Lee Won-hyung took a sip of water, moistened his lips, and continued.
“Neither I nor the Bureau could let this opportunity pass. No one burned with more passion than Chief Jang. We formed a special task force centered on his Division 3, requested backup from the Bureau’s elite Team A, and launched a full-scale raid. The result was failure. An internal spy had warned the clan. The leadership slipped away by a hair’s breadth. All we captured were a few dozen low-level members.”
“W-wait. A spy?”
Without a word, Director Lee slid a single sheet of paper across the table.
I was a spy for the Black Snake Clan from the beginning. But after working with Chief Jang Gi-jun, I came to truly respect and admire him.
Yet the clan held my family hostage. If I showed even the slightest sign of betrayal, they would kill them without hesitation. So I poisoned the coffee I gave him with the lethal toxin they provided.
I cannot live with the guilt of murdering the man I respected most with my own hands. Therefore, I choose to end my life.
“What is this?”
“The suicide note of the man who murdered Chief Jang Gi-jun and leaked details of our operation to the Black Snake Clan—Deputy So Hong-min.”
“What?!”
“Please read it.”
Both the me in the vision and the me experiencing it read the note with growing horror.
So Hong-min had been a planted spy all along. Yet somewhere along the way he had genuinely come to respect Jang Gi-jun. The clan’s hold over his family left him no choice. The moment he showed any sign of turning, they would have slaughtered everyone he loved. So he poisoned the coffee. A quiet, clean method—especially when the killer was someone the victim trusted completely.
In the end, the guilt devoured him. He took his own life.
“Bribes and threats didn’t work on Chief Jang. From the clan’s perspective, he had become too dangerous. Our agents were guarding Miss Ahn Somin and your grandfather closely, so they couldn’t touch the family directly. We never imagined the traitor would be someone as close as Deputy So Hong-min. This failure is entirely on us. As representative of the Awakening Management Bureau, I offer my sincerest apologies to the bereaved family.”
Director Lee Won-hyung rose and bowed deeply. I felt nothing.
What good was an apology? Would it bring the dead back? Would it heal the wound in our family that refused to close no matter how hard we tried?
It meant nothing.
Once someone was dead, that was the end. The ones left behind had to carry the pain in their chests for the rest of their lives.
At that moment, the figures of Director Lee and the other me began to recede into the distance. It felt as if someone in the sky had seized my consciousness and was dragging it upward. The ground fell away in an instant, and I shot toward the heavens.
Bang. Bang. Bang!
My eyes snapped open to the sound of someone pounding violently on the front gate. The noise was so loud it might have been what woke me. Had I missed some crucial part of the vision?
Irritation, rage, anxiety, and resentment boiled up from the pit of my stomach in a thick, ugly sludge. I couldn’t remember ever being this angry in my life.
I crushed the burning fury beneath a layer of ice and stood up. The relentless hammering on the gate continued, grating on my nerves.
I threw on some clothes and stepped outside.
It was past two in the morning. No family would visit at this hour, and I had no friends. Who the hell was it?
I opened the gate.
A man stood there in a black raincoat pulled low despite the clear weather. Inside the deep hood, I recognized the face immediately.
“Long time no see, classmate.”
“How did you find my house?”
“What’s with the attitude? I’m Lee Dong-hoon, S-class Hunter of the White Dragon Guild. If I want to know something, I can find out. If I want to do something, I can do it. Unlike trash like you.”
“So the thing you wanted to do was show up at someone’s house before dawn and disturb the whole neighborhood? You’ll wake the entire street.”
I glanced around pointedly. Lee Dong-hoon gave a derisive snort.
“Why would I care about the vermin living in this slum? You’re still as arrogant as ever. Remember the market? Do you have any idea how badly I was humiliated in front of the seniors because of you?”
“So you dressed up like that and came all the way here at this hour just for revenge? What if I didn’t live in a place like this?”
“Don’t worry. There are plenty of ways. The fact that you live in a shithole just makes it easier.”
Swish!
Without another word, Lee Dong-hoon’s hand shot out and clamped around my throat.
The situation was nothing like the market.
He had come prepared. In front of an S-class Hunter at level 15, an E-class nobody was nothing more than an insect. He could toy with me until he got bored and then break me.
Aftermath? There was nothing to worry about. The White Dragon Guild wouldn’t abandon an S-class over one ruined E-class bug. And if they did, there were always other places to go. Transferring to a clan would be even more profitable.
But—
Crack.
“Urk…!”
What the—?!
Lee Dong-hoon’s eyes bulged. His hooked fingers had definitely seized my throat. Under normal circumstances, an E-class should have been helpless, only able to beg for mercy after the fact.
Instead, my hand had somehow caught his wrist and twisted it backward. No matter how hard he struggled, his arm might as well have been embedded in solid rock.
“This isn’t a good place to talk. Follow me. I know somewhere suitable.”
When I released him, Lee Dong-hoon snatched his hand back and cradled his wrist. It throbbed badly but wasn’t broken.
Who the hell is this guy?
I turned and started walking. He followed in silence.
There were countless chances for him to attack from behind. He didn’t take any of them.
I can’t see a single opening…
Even with my back turned and my attention seemingly elsewhere, it felt like I was staring straight at him.
We arrived at my personal training ground—the mineral spring.
“The atmosphere is certainly different at this hour. No lights at all. Doesn’t this put you at too much of a disadvantage?”
“Keep running your mouth. You were the top trainee once, so I guess you picked up a few tricks. Still, you’re no match for me. Number 122.”
“If you’re so confident, come at me first.”
“You son of a bitch…! You dare look down on me until the very end?!”
He had never intended to go easy. Now any lingering thought of mercy vanished completely.
Shing.
Lee Dong-hoon drew his sword from his inventory, tossed the scabbard aside, and kicked off the ground. His charge was sharp and flawless—the movement of a true S-class swordsman. Among the White Dragon Guild trainees, he had been considered the best in close combat aside from me.
His blade sliced toward my left shoulder without hesitation.
I shifted my body slightly. The sword cut through empty air and struck the ground.
Before he could process what had happened, my fist was already in front of his face.
Sevenfold Slash
“Sevenfold Slash!”
Abandoning pride entirely, he activated the skill. The sword blurred, sending seven lethal strikes toward me at once.
“So this is what Master meant—attacks that rely purely on skill without any understanding or proficiency. It really is more pathetic than I expected.”
I dodged every strike with minimal movement. Lee Dong-hoon’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“H-how…?”
My fist answered for me.
Crunch!
“GYAAAAH!”
The arm he had barely managed to block with earlier snapped cleanly. The broken bone tore through flesh and jutted out at a sickening angle.
Only then did terror flood his face. He finally realized something had gone horribly wrong.
“W-wait! Number 122—no, Ahn Humin! I was wrong! I must have lost my mind! There are things you should and shouldn’t do, right? I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry!”
I walked toward him slowly. He scrambled backward on the ground.
Even in the darkness, his terrified expression was crystal clear to me.
I answered in a calm, indifferent voice.
“In the past, I was afraid of myself. I could break people like you without feeling anything, and that terrified me. I thought I wasn’t human. But now I understand. I already knew the truth. I just refused to admit it. Having the shape of a person doesn’t make you the same kind of creature.”
Crack!
“GYAAAAH! My leg—my leg!”
“Sometimes you have to dirty your hands to eliminate garbage like this.”
Crunch.
“S-stop…!”
“So that the people I care about never get hurt.”
Crack!
“Please—just a second! I was wrong! I was wrong!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. That would be too easy.”
Crack. Crunch.
“GYAAAAAAAAAH!”
After thoroughly destroying all four of his limbs, I casually wiped the blood from my cheek and looked down at the trembling wreck.
“Do me a favor and stay alive until you’re shitting on the walls. That way you’ll have time to regret what happened today for at least one extra second.”