Chapter 22 - Bad Handshake
Bad Handshake
Bad Handshake
“Why didn’t you run away at the end?”
Anya asked with an expressionless face.
“At the end? ……Ah.”
Lee Jeonseok realized what she meant.
When Kim Youngso used self-destruction.
She was asking why he didn’t escape then.
The answer, honestly, was simple.
Because of the effect of Cheonsalseong.
To steal a trait—
He had to kill the opponent with his own hands.
He wanted Kim Youngso’s mana arrows.
He wanted to have them.
That was why he took the risk.
Well, in the end, he got self-destruction instead……
‘What should I say?’
Lee Jeonseok thought for a moment.
He couldn’t just tell her the truth about Cheonsalseong.
That he killed someone because he wanted their trait.
That would only make him sound like a psychopath and earn resentment.
In the end, he chose a vague answer.
“I just did what needed to be done.”
The same answer he gave during the interview.
Lee Jeonseok himself didn’t realize it, but whenever he was too lazy to explain, he tended to brush things off like this.
“If…”
Anya asked again.
“What would you have done if the self-destruction hadn’t stopped?”
“What would I do? You were there, weren’t you, Manager?”
“……”
Lee Jeonseok shrugged.
A completely calm expression.
As if it were no big deal.
Strictly speaking, he wasn’t wrong.
Anya had been stockpiling cold energy in case the self-destruction couldn’t be canceled.
But still—
‘Weighing one’s own life isn’t easy.’
Especially when it’s your own life on the scale.
In that sense, Lee Jeonseok was an exceptional hunter.
Not just mentally.
He had entered first without saying a word to his spotter—but even considering that, his skill and talent were truly outstanding.
The way he killed the villain made it clear that what he showed during the exam wasn’t everything.
‘He didn’t hesitate, even against an A-rank villain.’
He swung his sword without fear.
Some might call that recklessness.
But Anya didn’t see it that way.
Recklessness is a word that applies only to the weak.
If you have strength, it becomes courage.
And Lee Jeonseok had strength.
‘……His ability is already good enough to be considered A-rank.’
Someone you could trust with your back.
━ I just did what needed to be done.
Anya replayed his words.
For some reason, her head began to ache.
Her former sub-hunter, Kim Suhyeon.
He had said the exact same thing.
Was it a coincidence?
It had to be.
And yet—why did those words keep resurfacing?
‘I should take my medicine when I get back.’
Her head was spinning.
A dull throbbing, nausea rising.
The hospital had diagnosed her with panic disorder.
Severe anxiety, in particular.
Since losing her sub-hunter, Anya had been plagued by these symptoms.
And now, hearing the same words from someone else only made her confusion worse.
“…Thank you for answering.”
Anya finally said, bowing her head slightly.
Right now, she just wanted to go back and rest.
※ ※ ※
Lee Jeonseok had a habit of observing things closely.
As mentioned before, it was a habit formed in Mugan.
Whenever something interesting appeared, he would immediately analyze it and draw his own conclusions.
That habit remained even now, after returning to the past.
On the bus back to the Association,
Lee Jeonseok quietly observed Anya.
And then—
‘Panic disorder?’
Before long, he accurately assessed her condition.
Trembling hands,
Unstable eye movements,
Sweat beading at her fingertips.
His eyes caught every detail, and he concluded that Anya’s symptoms were due to panic disorder.
Likely the trauma of losing her sub-hunter.
The extreme anxiety born from that trauma was clearly visible in her.
“……”
Lee Jeonseok continued staring at the system window floating before him.
[Anya Ivanov has reached her first crossroads of fate.]
[Twist the fate of ‘self-blame’ that has been assigned to her.]
[Reward – Karma Shop Free Pass (S)]
The same system message as with Choi Eunha.
Only the type of fate was different.
Self-blame.
Blaming oneself.
‘Do I just need to fix her panic disorder?’
For now, that was the only thing he could think of.
But how?
Panic disorder.
It was far from a simple illness.
If it were easily cured, Anya wouldn’t have been operating alone for two years.
Mental illnesses, especially, were hard to cure even with medication.
And Lee Jeonseok wasn’t a doctor.
He was good at observing—nothing more.
Treating or fixing people didn’t suit him at all.
Killing, on the other hand, was a different story.
‘The key is what this “self-blame” actually means.’
It was probably related to her trauma.
Given Anya’s situation, that seemed likely.
“……”
Lee Jeonseok fell into thought.
They hadn’t even known each other for a month.
And he was supposed to resolve the trauma of someone like that.
If the system was going to give him a quest, it could at least provide some information about the self-blame—but it said nothing.
Should he call that inflexible? Or just stingy?
‘This is troublesome.’
With an inward sigh, Lee Jeonseok gazed out the window at the scenery rushing past.
At least there was no penalty for failing the quest.
If it became too much, he could simply give up.
There was no obligation to comply with the system’s request.
The reward was tempting—but not enough to justify taking on an unreasonable burden.
And while he was thinking all that—
Screech.
The bus arrived at the Association.
※ ※ ※
When he returned to the department, Kim Baekdong was still there.
“How was it?”
He asked Lee Jeonseok.
He was probably asking about the job.
“It’s only my first day, so I’m not sure yet. It’s my first time working a regular job too—it’s not easy.”
Lee Jeonseok answered with an awkward smile.
A textbook-perfect response.
This, too, was born out of laziness.
“You’ll get used to it in time.”
After saying that, Kim Baekdong suddenly stood up.
“I have a meeting with upper management.”
With that, he left the department.
The Dawn Alliance.
It was probably a meeting related to them.
That seemed highly likely.
Soon after—
Silence fell over the office once more.
Only the awkward atmosphere between Anya and Lee Jeonseok remained.
Time passed unnoticed.
Lunch ended, and soon it was 1 p.m.
Not much time left until the end of the workday.
‘Hmm……’
Lee Jeonseok glanced at his phone.
Still no reply from Yeon Seonhwa.
Was she busy with something?
‘Boring.’
He yawned for what felt like the nth time and began observing his surroundings.
The furniture and plants in the office.
The desks of his teammates and the decorations on them.
He etched them into his memory one by one.
Earlier, the dispatch order hadn’t given him time to look properly, but now it was oddly interesting.
The first thing that caught his eye was the intern’s desk.
‘Park Ilwoo… likes anime?’
The desk was filled with figurines of cute girls.
Cute-girl figures in an office.
It reflected his personality perfectly and made for an amusing observation.
As he continued observing—
‘Hmm…?’
Lee Jeonseok’s eyes narrowed.
A desk belonging to a team member whose face he hadn’t even seen yet.
More precisely, a small flowerpot on that desk.
And the flower blooming from it.
‘A leaf of Relana?’
It was unmistakably a Demonic Flower (魔華).
Demonic Flower.
As the name suggested, it wasn’t an ordinary plant.
A rare poisonous flower that appeared only in S-rank dungeons.
‘That shouldn’t appear on the market for another five years…’
And yet, here it was, in the Association.
That alone was suspicious.
There was no way someone would display it without knowing what it was.
“Manager.”
Lee Jeonseok suddenly called out to Anya.
“Whose desk is that?”
“That’s Assistant Manager Yoon… Yoon Jin’s desk.”
She answered quietly while working.
Then she glanced at Lee Jeonseok.
“Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious.”
Lee Jeonseok brushed it off and sank into thought.
Yoon Jin.
‘Yoon Jin, huh.’
He repeated the name several times.
It was a name he remembered.
There was no way he wouldn’t.
In the future, Yoon Jin became a rather famous villain.
There was no chance it was just a namesake.
Of that, he was certain.
Perhaps because of that—
The Relana leaf on his desk stood out even more.
While he was staring at it, another hour passed.
2 p.m.
The time when the morning team’s shift ended.
“Good work today.”
Anya said she had urgent business and hurried out of the office.
And then—
“It seems the manager has something urgent.”
A man said, taking over handover duties in her place.
He glanced at Lee Jeonseok.
“My name is Yoon Jin.”
Yoon Jin.
This guy.
The owner of the Relana leaf.
Ironically, it was also a face Lee Jeonseok recognized.
“I was overseeing the hunter exam as a safety officer. I didn’t expect you to end up in our department.”
He smiled casually and extended his hand.
Was it just his imagination, or was there a thorn in his tone?
Lee Jeonseok took his hand.
“I heard you performed well during the incident this morning. You even teamed up with the manager……”
“Ah, yes.”
Lee Jeonseok replied indifferently.
Yoon Jin’s gaze.
A faint malice lingered there.
Jealousy.
It made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
Did he really think he could hide it?
Crunch—
Then.
A strong grip tightened around his hand.
‘Hmm……’
Pain shot through his hand, as if the bones might break.
Lee Jeonseok calmly met Yoon Jin’s eyes.
‘He hasn’t changed, even in the past.’
It was the same when they first met in the future.
‘He challenged me to a contest of strength out of nowhere.’
Back then, Lee Jeonseok crushed his hand purely with grip strength.
That petty power struggle was so pathetic that he later cut off not just the hand—but the arm as well.
At the time, most of Lee Jeonseok’s consciousness had already been devoured by Cheonsalseong.
That was how brutal he had been.
But now, that wasn’t possible.
Not for moral reasons.
‘……I’m far weaker than him right now.’
That was the truth.
The gap in stats between Lee Jeonseok and Yoon Jin was enormous.
But did that mean he would just take it?
Of course not.
That wasn’t his style.
So he chose a different method.
[Using Trait Activation.]
He activated his trait.
He didn’t create flames.
He simply transferred heat to his palm.
After using activation several times, he had learned to apply it like this.
Then—
“…?!”
Yoon Jin flinched and pulled his hand away.
Judging by his expression, he was genuinely startled.
Lee Jeonseok stared at him.
“Is something wrong?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Yoon Jin replied with a dry laugh.
Pretending everything was fine to protect his pride—it was laughable.
Not worth watching any longer.
“Then I also have something to take care of.”
Lee Jeonseok followed Anya out of the office.
“……”
Left alone in the department, Yoon Jin grabbed his trembling hand.
Was it fear?
Pain?
For some reason, the shaking wouldn’t stop.
※ ※ ※
Walking down the hallway, Lee Jeonseok thought—
‘Did he like Anya?’
He reflected on Yoon Jin.
Yoon Jin.
Villain name: The Puppeteer.
He was still working as a supervisor now, but in the future, he was widely known by that alias.
‘I heard he became a villain during the conflict with the Coalition.’
That, too, was something he’d heard from Kim Baekdong.
The reason was unknown.
But Yoon Jin would eventually betray the Association.
And yet—
He liked Anya?
That wasn’t a misunderstanding.
There was no way Lee Jeonseok had read it wrong.
He was certain.
That was unmistakable jealousy.
And in that situation, there was only one possible source of that jealousy.
‘The height of pettiness.’
Feeling jealous of a rookie he’d just met—and then starting a grip contest on top of that.
Now he understood why Yoon Jin became a villain.
‘It’s not like trying to recruit him now would change the future…’
Lost in thought—
Ding.
The elevator doors closed as he pressed the button for the first floor.
As the elevator slowly descended—
‘…Should I kill him?’
The thought suddenly surfaced.
Coincidentally, Yoon Jin possessed a trait Lee Jeonseok desperately needed.
And leaving him alive would bring no benefits.
The slim chance that he could be swayed?
Lee Jeonseok wasn’t naïve enough to cling to such uncertain hope.
So he decided.
Kill him.
The thought turned into resolve.
And the resolve soon formed into a plan.
Anya Ivanov’s trauma.
The death of her former sub-hunter, Kim Suhyeon.
And the sticky emotions clinging to Yoon Jin.
No solid proof.
No clear evidence.
But—
‘If he really is the Puppeteer I know…’
Then soon—
Yoon Jin would approach Lee Jeonseok within a few days.
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