[Twist the ‘Fate of Frustration’ assigned to her.]

[Reward – 20,000 Merit.]

‘Did the reward increase to twenty thousand because this is the second time?’

Either way, it didn’t seem like a situation I could simply ignore.

—Let’s meet and talk first.

Lee Jeonseok immediately called her out.

He headed to a café with decent reviews and waited there until Choi Eunha arrived.

Not long after, the café door opened.

Ding—.

A woman entered hesitantly.

Her hair was disheveled, but there was no doubt about it.

It was Choi Eunha.

“Please, have a seat.”

Lee Jeonseok gestured to the chair across from him.

“Ah, y-yes…”

Choi Eunha carefully sat down.

Judging by her expression, she looked quite gloomy.

Was she devastated after realizing her team members had died?

Looking at the system messages, that seemed highly likely.

“Let’s order drinks first, then talk.”

Once again, Lee Jeonseok ordered a mango latte.

Choi Eunha shook her head, so she didn’t order anything.

“Just a glass of cold water, please.”

Instead, Lee Jeonseok asked for water.

Perhaps the clerk noticed Choi Eunha’s expression.

The request was granted without hesitation.

Soon, the cold water and mango latte arrived.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t even told you my name yet.”

Only then did Lee Jeonseok realize this and speak.

“My name is Lee Jeonseok. For now, I’m working as a temporary supervisor for the Association.”

“Ah, I’m… Choi Eunha.”

Was she mistaken, thinking this was a round of introductions?

Choi Eunha stated her name.

Lee Jeonseok shrugged lightly in response.

“You’re the manager of Hwasan. I know.”

He had received her business card before.

More importantly—

“First, have some water and tell me what happened.”

“Well… that is…”

Choi Eunha hesitated as she held the glass.

Wasn’t the water cold?

She soon took small sips and spoke quietly.

“After I parted ways with you last time, Jeonseok…”

Her voice trembled as she slowly continued.

Lee Jeonseok listened carefully.

Before long, he grasped the situation, at least roughly.

The reason Choi Eunha had fallen into despair.

‘So Choi Seungcheol is the cause.’

Choi Eunha explained.

After that day, she investigated the whereabouts of her team members but couldn’t find them. Two days later, they were discovered as corpses near the Paradise of Ghouls.

It wasn’t hard to guess who was responsible.

Choi Seungcheol.

There was no one else who would do something like that so openly.

After learning the truth—

—I went to the funeral hall.

Choi Eunha visited the funerals of her team members.

There, she saw the grieving families.

—When I saw them… I just couldn’t go inside. In the end, they died because of me.

It wasn’t her fault.

But the bereaved families wouldn’t see it that way.

Same Hwasan.

Same direct lineage.

A group death in an F-rank dungeon.

They would suspect someone.

Namely, Choi Eunha herself.

And then—

—Bring him back! Bring my son back!

She heard those words from a bereaved family member she encountered outside by chance.

—I couldn’t say anything… I was just so sad, so resentful, and so sorry…

Choi Eunha bit her lip tightly.

But what truly pushed her into despair lay elsewhere.

—I went to see my older brother.

—I wanted to settle things once and for all.

—But then…

According to her, this was what Choi Seungcheol said to his sister when she suddenly came to see him.

—They’re nothing but a few bugs’ lives. Why grieve so much over that? You pity bugs and want to become one, so you’re treated like a bug yourself, little sister.

Choi Eunha felt murderous intent from him.

An endless abyss of malice.

—After hearing that… I just didn’t know what to do anymore…

Choi Seungcheol was after Choi Eunha’s life.

She knew that herself.

But within Hwasan, she had no allies.

If anyone had truly supported and protected her, she would never have been made manager of a D-rank raid team in the first place.

“So.”

Lee Jeonseok asked as he set down his empty glass.

“That’s why you came looking for me?”

“……”

Choi Eunha lowered her head, unable to answer.

From the moment she sought out Lee Jeonseok, it was clear how cornered she was within Hwasan.

“To be honest, I can help you.”

Lee Jeonseok’s words.

Choi Eunha lifted her head belatedly.

“If you want revenge by killing Choi Seungcheol, I can do that. If you want to live in hiding away from Hwasan, I can help with that too.”

Choi Eunha stared blankly at Lee Jeonseok.

“Why… would you go that far…?”

“What, were you hoping I’d coldly turn you away?”

“……”

“You asked for help, so I’m helping.”

At those words, Choi Eunha’s eyes widened.

She looked genuinely surprised.

And understandably so.

Helping her meant openly antagonizing Hwasan.

To be honest, Choi Eunha herself hadn’t expected much.

She had nowhere left to cling to.

She just wanted to reach out to someone—anyone.

That was why she contacted Lee Jeonseok.

Yet he offered help so readily that she felt both surprised and bewildered.

Perhaps because of those tangled emotions—

“……”

Choi Eunha kept her mouth tightly shut for a long while.

She looked deep in thought.

Silence settled between the two.

Lee Jeonseok waited calmly.

Rushing her wouldn’t solve anything.

After all, Choi Eunha had said she didn’t know what to do—

—but if she truly had no idea, the system would’ve called it despair, not frustration.

Frustration and despair sounded similar, but their meanings were clearly different.

How long had he waited?

“I… want to apologize to the bereaved families.”

Choi Eunha finally spoke.

A quiet statement.

Thud—.

Lee Jeonseok set down his empty glass.

“You didn’t do it.”

“If I hadn’t been there, the accident wouldn’t have happened.”

Choi Eunha replied, clenching both fists.

Strictly speaking, she wasn’t entirely wrong.

But it was a meaningless assumption.

If one argued like that, nothing in the world would be free of blame.

Even the neighbor’s son could be accused as an accomplice to murder.

An extreme example—but the guilt Choi Eunha felt was just like that.

Still, Lee Jeonseok had no intention of denying her feelings.

If he denied them—

what would change?

“But…”

Choi Eunha continued, as if she’d made up her mind.

“Even if I go and bow my head, I don’t think it would comfort them.”

That was true.

The grief of losing family—

it couldn’t be resolved with a few apologies.

Even kneeling for a lifetime wouldn’t be enough.

Even apologizing with one’s life—

‘They wouldn’t accept it.’

Lee Jeonseok knew that well.

What was lost would never return.

Never.

That was why forgiveness was impossible.

“So at the very least, I want to avenge their resentment—so it can bring some comfort to the families, and to the fallen hunters.”

Choi Eunha didn’t continue.

But the intent was clear enough.

There was only one way to avenge the dead.

The death of Choi Seungcheol.

If he died and fell into hell, the resentment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the dead might ease just a little.

“I think the greatest sincerity I can show them is to formally and properly apologize in the name of Hwasan.”

In other words, she intended to become Hwasan’s leader herself and issue a public apology.

Resolve.

Decision.

Determination.

Commitment.

The emotions reflected in Choi Eunha’s eyes.

There was no frustration or despair.

Perhaps this brief conversation had helped.

[You have twisted the ‘Fate of Frustration’ assigned to Choi Eunha.]

[You receive 20,000 Merit as a reward.]

The system seemed to confirm it.

Soon, Choi Eunha spoke again.

“Please… help me.”

Her hands were trembling.

For her, this was an enormous decision.

No—

‘She’d already made the decision.’

She’d only been frustrated because she lacked the strength to act on it.

“I know it’s shameless. But there’s no one else I can ask. In Hwasan, everyone is my enemy…”

That was why she came to Lee Jeonseok.

Someone she could seek out and ask for help.

For Choi Eunha, that person was Lee Jeonseok.

Though they’d met only recently—

he had saved her life out of goodwill.

And demanded no unnecessary compensation.

“I’ll help you.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

At Choi Eunha’s quiet question, Lee Jeonseok nodded.

“I’ll help you take revenge on Hwasan with your own hands.”

“Me, myself? But I’m…”

A non-awakened—

Before she could say the word—

Bzzzt—.

Choi Eunha’s phone vibrated.

It was a text from Lee Jeonseok.

An address was written there.

“This is…?”

“Go there right now.”

“Anyang, Gyeonggi Province?”

At her puzzled look, Lee Jeonseok explained.

“It’s an old thatched house with a gray roof. Knock on the front gate about four times, and an elderly man with a single horn like a goblin will come out. Then…”

He stopped mid-sentence and glanced around.

Then he noticed a memo pad in the corner of the café.

With the staff’s permission, he took one sheet.

He also borrowed a pen.

[It is time to repay a debt of恩, old monster. Take this child as your disciple and protect her.]

He wrote a code only he knew.

Then—

“Give this note to him.”

Lee Jeonseok carefully folded the memo and handed it to Choi Eunha.

“He’ll teach you how to fight.”

“…How to fight?”

“I can’t explain it now, but you’ll understand once you get there.”

Then Lee Jeonseok continued.

“Stay hidden there until I come find you.”

Choi Eunha stared at the folded memo.

Once again, silence fell briefly.

Then—

“Thank you.”

She spoke, holding back tears.

“I’ll repay this kindness no matter what.”

But—

“You know you still haven’t repaid me for saving you at Bukhansan, right?”

“T-That’s…”

“I’m joking.”

Lee Jeonseok laughed lightly.

“Well, if you’re really grateful, you can open Hwasan’s treasure vault for me later.”

A warehouse filled with rare treasures.

Anyone else would’ve scoffed at such a ridiculous demand.

But—

“I will.”

Choi Eunha nodded firmly.

As if it were no big deal.

Watching her, Lee Jeonseok thought—

‘She’s more earnest than I expected.’

It was true he had deliberately extended kindness to use it later.

But beyond what he’d anticipated, Choi Eunha seemed to feel an even greater debt toward him.

Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing.

“Thank you… truly.”

Choi Eunha said as she stood up.

Lee Jeonseok merely shrugged.

Soon, she hurried out of the café—

to avoid any possible tail from Hwasan.

—Go there right now.

With the address Lee Jeonseok gave her as her destination, she took a taxi toward Seoul Station.

—He’ll teach you how to fight.

To be honest, it still didn’t feel real.

How to fight?

She was unawakened, while Choi Seungcheol was an S-rank Hunter.

No amount of training should make that possible.

Yet Choi Eunha believed Lee Jeonseok.

The goodwill he showed made it impossible not to.

Above all—

‘This is all I have right now.’

Even if she didn’t believe, there were no other options.

In Hwasan, there was no one but enemies who wanted her dead.

So Choi Eunha trusted Lee Jeonseok and followed his words.

The scenery outside the window rushed past.

Staring at it, Choi Eunha thought—

‘I’ll repay this kindness.’

Even if it costs me my life.

※ ※ ※

Left alone in the café, Lee Jeonseok ordered another mango latte.

Perhaps because it was made with real fruit,

it was pleasantly sweet.

Holding the mango latte in one hand, Lee Jeonseok left the café, lost in thought.

‘…I used up one card.’

A card.

Information only he possessed.

One of the most important ones.

But he felt no regret.

There was no tool more important than Choi Eunha in bringing down Hwasan.

Not only that—

if he used her well once she became the guild master, he could manipulate Hwasan like a puppet.

Of course—

‘But right now…’

Lee Jeonseok held his breath.

A fading presence.

He turned into the alley Choi Eunha had taken after leaving.

There—

“Hm…?!”

He grabbed a masked man.

Gripping the man’s leg with his left hand as he tried to vault the wall, Lee Jeonseok slammed him into the ground.

BOOM—!

“Ghk—!”

The ground cracked faintly under the impact.

The man spat blood from the shock.

He’d even used Berserk to strike—so it was only natural.

Looking closely—

“An assassin sent by Hwasan.”

A familiar badge was pinned to his chest.

Lee Jeonseok realized the man had been tailing Choi Eunha and had just tried to follow her again.

“H-How did you…?!”

“How could I not notice when you were staring so intensely?”

Lee Jeonseok pressed his right foot down on the assassin’s neck.

“Ghk—!”

Blood seeped through the mask as the man writhed in pain, close to passing out.

In contrast, Lee Jeonseok remained utterly calm.

He even held a mango latte in one hand, savoring its taste.

To ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the assassin, it looked utterly insane.

“So.”

After finishing the mango latte, Lee Jeonseok incinerated the empty cup with a spark of flame and continued.

“Let’s hear why such honored people like you came all the way to a place only bugs would visit.”

Slowly.

Very slowly.

“Haha—.”

Lee Jeonseok let out a chilling laugh.

Next

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