SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

I was surprised that my grandmother’s name, who died a few years ago, suddenly popped up.

Is it the same person? Park Heesun isn’t such a unique name.

However, Grandma smiled slightly and confirmed my presumption.

“She showed me a picture of her granddaughter only once. You’ve grown up.”

Grandma lightly tapped my shoulder with a delighted look. She then took a picture out of her arms and showed it to me.

Kim Deokyi, who looked a little younger, and my grandmother were in it. The two seemed to be very close.

“Did you know each other?”

“I’ve been helped by her before.”

There was a deep longing in her voice. Her gaze remained on me, but Grandma seemed to be looking at a very far place.

“She had already passed away when I asked about her news in order to repay her.”

“Yes, a few years ago, she was sick….”

“There must be a hand mirror among Park Heesun’s belongings. It’s something I lent her before. I want to get it back, so I hope you can find it.”

Grandma briefly explained the shape of the hand mirror.

However, I didn’t find such a hand mirror while cleaning up the junk left in the store. I didn’t throw away my grandmother’s stuff. No one else could have touched it.

But it was hard to refuse just because I had never seen such a thing.

It wasn’t just because the dark etheric item was absolutely necessary. It was because I felt a deep longing from Grandma.

For me, longing is always a strong emotion.

It seeps out of the cracks in memory and violently scrapes a person’s heart. There comes a moment when that vague yet enormous emotion is exceptionally unbearable. At such a time, I know how powerful memories are.

I answered carefully.

“I don’t know if there’s a hand mirror left. I’ve never seen my grandmother’s things when she was organizing them, but … I’ll look for it in the warehouse.”

“That’s enough. Thank you.”

Grandma smiled softly.

It was a face full of loneliness.

***

Kwon Rieul was looking around to see if the items in the workshop were interesting. Ki Yoohyun stood from a distance and looked at her figure.

There’s a big change in her facial expression. After hearing Kim Deokyi’s explanation, she nodded her head enthusiastically and looked at the next item. Kim Deokyi also continued to explain as if she found her reaction interesting.

It’s not that the suspicious part has completely disappeared. However, she did not appear to have a direct relationship with the Stellar Wisdom Order.

That’s a relief.

‘Because I don’t have to kill her.’

That thought was sincere.

At that moment, Kim Deokyi, who came closer, tapped Ki Yoohyun on the shoulder and talked to him.

“There’s too much power in your shoulders.”

“Yes?”

“It must be so powerful. Why don’t you relax a little bit?”

Ki Yoohyun opened his mouth to Kim Deokyi in a cold voice. His tone was polite, but there’s sharp edges on his words.

“What do you know?”

“I don’t know anything.”

“You’re joking too much. I know you can’t afford to pass that unique item in vain.”

“….”

“Why did you give her Cthugha’s Ring? Who the hell is that person?”

“You don’t seem to know either.”

“….”

Instead of answering, Ki Yoohyun looked at Kim Deokyi with a frozen expression. It was an expression that there was no time for puns, but the craftsman in hiding was still relaxed.

“Don’t make that face. I just heard a voice one day.”

“A voice … you say.”

“It said that my role is to complete the Cthugha’s Ring and hand it over to the right owner. I followed that voice. I don’t know anything else.”

“You’re saying that she is the right owner to own the Cthugha’s Ring.”

“That’s right.”

Ki Yoohyun frowned. At the end of the field of his vision, he could see Kwon Rieul, who was still happily sightseeing the workshop.

“Then who is that person? What power does she have….”

“Didn’t you hear a voice too?”

“…..”

Ki Yoohyun distorted his face. He knew what Kim Deokyi was talking about.

The atmosphere changed greatly depending on the man’s well-formed facial expression. When he removes the polite smile that he has barely maintained so far, what remains is the cold-hearted figure of the absolutist. The black eyes were as hot as a fire.

If Kwon Rieul had seen him right now, she would have been more suspicious of his identity, but she kept her eyes away from Ki Yoohyun.

“I think I’ve treated the craftsman master with enough courtesy.”

It was a warning that if she said the same thing one more time, he wouldn’t put up with it. Even so, Kim Deokyi was standing still.

Ki Yoohyun awakened as a Hunter at the age of 13.

However, unlike any other Hunter’s awakening, it was neither a coincidence nor a miracle, and there was no celebration or cheer.

His awakening was artificially prepared.

The Awakening Center.

It is known to the public as the predecessor of the Dungeon Management Office, which disappeared due to corruption, but the reality is even more terrifying.

First, those who named themselves the ‘Stellar Wisdom Order‘ occupied the upper floors of the Awakening Center. It was a pseudo-religious group that raved about searching for the truth of the universe.

Under the direction of the denomination, the ‘Center’ gathered young children to artificially create Awakeners.

Ki Yoohyun was one of those children. Without even knowing the purpose of the ‘Center‘, he thought that they were good people who took care of him who lost his family.

And that day, the ‘Center‘ opened the ‘Gate’. It was a gate that could summon demons from another world.

All the children who met the demon beyond the gate went crazy and eventually died.

A lot of time has passed, but Ki Yoohyun still remembers that day vividly.

The screams, cries, bloods, pains, …. and the voice.

[Completing The Demon Summon. Implements a demon at the specified coordinates.]

[……Failure. Intervention in reality is limited by Causality.]

[Great Demon: ████ looks at you from beyond The Ultimate Gate.]

【I’ve been waiting for you, child. ██lady.】

A terrifying murmur that he heard directly in his head. He couldn’t reject the voice even if he covered his ears.

The one beyond the door was smiling.

He doesn’t know how to explain it.

An overwhelming fear that transcends human cognitive abilities. The emptiness that just exists. An amorphous chaos that drives humans crazy just by looking at them.

At the same time as the creepy sensation, a translucent window appeared in front of him.

[Great One: ███ ██ wants a contract with you.]

[We’ve confirmed that you’re eligible.]

[The Eligible: The ability is granted according to Ki Yoohyun’s will.]

[Class: Awakened as a Righteous Ruler (S).]

[Skill: The Power of White Light (S) has been acquired.]

………………………………

[Causality has reached its limit. Any further intervention beyond this may cause a reality collapse.]

[Connection is forcibly terminated … 30 seconds until the connection ends]

【I am asleep at the edge of the Abyss. Find me.】

[Connection has been terminated.]

When he woke up, there was a sea of blood all around him. All the children who were with him died, and the only survivor was Ki Yoohyun.

And he awakened as the first and best S-class Hunter in Korea.

“Oh, we finally succeeded! It’s an S-class!”

“O ████, Great Demon, you finally gave us an answer!”

The Awakening Center cheered that the experiment was finally successful. Like the crazies, they didn’t seem to care about the deaths of other children.

It was disgusting.

Ki Yoohyun, who was awakened, immediately decided to destroy the Awakening Center. At that time, the only person with him was Hunter Han Yiseong.

15 years old, the end of a long fight. He succeeded in destroying the Awakening Center and driving out the Stellar Wisdom Order.

However, the denomination did not give up and moved into the shadows, and they eventually resurrected the Demon.

While climbing the dungeon to prevent the Demon’s resurrection, Ki Yoohyun thought about this.

He wants to ask the Demon who sits beyond the Ultimate Gate.

Why did that happen? Why only he survived?

…. why did the ‘voice’ call him that day?

But regardless of his will, time rewinded to the past.

Time that repeats again. This time, he is trying to save the world from the Demon.

The question of that day remains unanswered.

Some people say that the voice they hear when they awakened is the voice of God, and some gave it aa wonderful name like ‘The voice of The Star‘. Some even called it ‘The Holy See’.

It is known as a cosmic deity who speaks to very few Awakeneds and grants them special powers.

However, its essence is not only good for humans.

From that day on, Ki Yoohyun felt that a part of him had worn away. No matter how much he tried to recall, he can’t remember what he was like before his awakening. If he let his guard down even a little bit, he felt like the ‘voice‘ in him would devour the rest of him.

But Kim Deokyi mentioned a voice.

Ki Yoohyun frowned with displeasure.

“I heard a voice, too.”

“….!”

He was startled.

Did Kim Deokyi also sign a contract with the Divine God of the universe?

“It told me what to do and what my role was.”

“….”

“I’ve been waiting for that day since the moment I’ve awakened, and it’s only finally come true.”

Kim Deokyi’s face looked very comfortable while saying that. Ki Yoohyun slowly opened his lips.

“I don’t believe in fate.”

“Hm?”

“No matter who you hand over your unique item to … If I determine that she is interfering with my goal, I will remove her.”

“Hohoho….”

The retired craftsman, who put everything down, burst into laughter.

“As expected, there’s too much power in your shoulders. If you relax a little, you will see something.”

That’s what the craftsman said.

The enemy is still breathing in the shadows.

With a bitter smile, Kim Deokyi left.

“What are you doing there?”

“……Ah.”

At some point, Kwon Rieul approached him. Ki Yoohyun looked back with a soft smile as if he had set his blade aside.

“Grandma said I could take this. It’s pretty, right?”

She had a small flower-shaped hairpin in her hand. A white stone embedded in the center of the flower stood out.

“That’s….”

“What’s wrong?”

He tried to say that it’s a four-star rare item that reduces mental damage, but he stopped himself. It seems that she knows it as an ordinary hairpin, so it would be more comfortable not to know the truth.

She’s an ordinary person.

At least, on the surface.

Although she had awakened, let alone the denomination, she was an ordinary person who didn’t know much about hunters or dungeons.

Nevertheless, Ki Yoohyun felt a strange feeling every time he met her. Especially when he drank her coffee.

Not only her coffee’s ability to recover, but also a warm feeling that is difficult to define in a word seemed to fill him up.

Why does he feel this way … he still doesn’t know the answer right now.

“Give it to me.”

“Yes?”

Ki Yoohyun picked up the hairpin from Kwon Rieul’s hand. Then, he ran through her chestnut brown hair with his fingers, and pinned the hairpin.

Kwon Rieul stood still, motionless, until he let go of his hand. Looking at her wavy chestnut brown hair and red cheeks, Ki Yoohyun muttered lowly. Before he knew it, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Lucky.”

Because I don’t have to doubt you yet.

Ki Yoohyun thought so from the bottom of his heart.