The sight of Jung-woo collapsing with a nosebleed was vividly etched into the eyes of everyone present.

Suddenly.

That was the only way to describe it, and yet the reason was crystal clear.

[The target is mutating!!!]

Geun-ho shouted into his communicator from afar.

Everyone had seen the black thunderbolt strike down directly above the Hero’s crown.

Perhaps due to the aftermath, the Hero’s figure distorted, and soon the upper half of the mascot head began to peel away like the skin of a fruit.

It was bizarre.

The fissure stretched from the solar plexus to the collarbone, the nape of the neck, and up to half of the head, tearing the mascot mask upward.

Instead of cotton stuffing, a viscous purple liquid sloshed within the cross-section of the torn area.

And simultaneously, what was revealed along that cross-section was…

“Brother…!”

It was Cheon Jun-ho, his eyes closed as if he were merely sleeping.

His hair had turned completely white. However, his face remained exactly as Ho-jong remembered it from 15 years ago, as if preserved in amber.

The upper portion of the dangling cross-section expanded, beginning to morph into the upper body of some grotesque monster.

It looked as though a ghost were emerging from the back of Jun-ho’s head.

His heart pounded wildly.

Whatever magic had been cast, it appeared as though the human and magical beast parts of the host had been separated.

None of this bizarre phenomenon made any sense.

But one thing was certain.

[■■■■■—!]

[Kill that monster!!!]

At Tae-woon’s shout, those present resumed their halted offensive.

The parasite that needed to be killed and Jun-ho who needed to be saved were now clearly distinguished.

Though Jung-woo had collapsed, the combat prowess of his summons remained intact.

Flustered as they might be, the judgment of the S-Ranks standing at the absolute pinnacle of the Korean hunter world had not dulled.

Paaaaang—!

Teddy Bear’s second attack struck the parasite’s head with pinpoint accuracy.

Ho-jong shouted.

“Grandpa! Get Mr. Jung-woo to safety! The rest of you, maintain formation!”

The formation was swiftly reorganized.

If they were people who could do nothing without Jung-woo, they would never have been acknowledged with the title of S-Rank in the first place.

They knew each other well.

They knew their enemy.

That was enough.

Kwagwagwagwa—!

In the very heart of the raging storm disaster, they squeezed out every ounce of their strength and fought.

The revealed figure of Jun-ho stirred an intense desperation within them at this very moment.

Perhaps, maybe, since it was Jung-woo’s ability that had always wrought miracles, this time too…

If they completely stripped away that parasite, wouldn’t Jun-ho come back to life?

Even a vain hope was fine.

If it was a dreamlike wish, they would gladly endure any mockery.

Yet, being told not to even dream was futile.

Kwaaaaang—!

The thrashing grew fiercer.

The parasite morphed its body into a gruesome shape, turning its arms into blades that swung to create winds slicing through space, while twisting its fingers into a spiral to fire off a tornado.

They countered it exactly according to the tactics they had been trained in.

Kuuuuung—!

Thin ice formed over the towering trees, creating pillars of ice. As the temperature plummeted, the winds died down.

A mist of water spread over Tae-woon’s shield, altering the trajectory of the cutting winds.

Hae-seo’s spear persistently shot toward the parasite’s head. The swords she generated danced in a dazzling display, beginning to disrupt the parasite’s trajectory.

Shark was still exerting its strength to block the Extinction Cycle in the sky above.

Sea Otter was dedicating its full capacity to holding off the fodder outside.

However, the joker card remained.

Ppok!

With Jung-woo’s withdrawal from combat, the leash of the sharpest sword was loosened.

Seuk!

Teddy Bear’s figure blurred.

Closing the distance in an instant, Teddy Bear appeared right before the parasite’s nose and thrust its sword in an iaido-like motion, unleashing a long flash of light into the sky.

Paaaaang—!

[■■■!!!]

“Its durability is too high! Launch an all-out offensive!”

Even as the skin of its face was entirely torn away in that single blow, the parasite regenerated.

It attempted a counterattack against those closing in to deliver the follow-up strike.

Like a wounded beast with nowhere left to retreat, its rampaging figure exhibited an unspeakable level of ferocity.

Ho-jong gritted his teeth.

“Please! Just a bit more!!!”

They were almost there.

Within the mire of solemnity and despair, a different emotion was beginning to bloom.

Just as always, just as in his dreams, he envisioned a future where he would return, saying, “Took a long time. Sorry.”

It felt as though that moment was right within their grasp.

He wasn’t the kind of guy who would just sleep soundly in a place like this.

They knew that well enough.

“Brother! You’ve slept enough!”

Ho-jong clenched his fist.

His arm wasn’t long enough to reach the parasite’s flesh, but it was enough to pummel something else.

Paaaak—!

He struck Jun-ho across the cheek.

That was the moment.

It froze!

The parasite solidified.

The storm ceased.

It was a stuttering that evoked a game glitch.

As if static interference had set in, the parasite’s figure flickered unpleasantly, and its screams grew loud enough to pierce the heavens.

Right in the midst of it all, Ho-jong looked as if he were about to cry.

[…Ow.]

With a tearful expression, he faced the miracle of the man barely drawing a breath and rising.

His eyelids opened. The pupils beneath were clear, holding that very same gleam Ho-jong remembered.

He looked groggy, as if waking from a long sleep, but his gaze slowly scanned the frozen surroundings.

The moment his gaze finally turned toward his own physical form.

[So that’s what happened. In the end…]

A bitter smile blossomed on his lips.

“Brother…”

[You’ve gotten old, Jin Ho-jong.]

“…Yes, 15 years have passed, after all.”

At those words, Jun-ho looked over the faces he knew, as if savoring the moment.

Then, he also scanned the faces that hadn’t been there in his era.

The era had changed.

It seemed like a moment to grasp that reality.

[…I see.]

Then, finally acknowledging reality, he posed a question.

It was the first question only he could ask.

[Ho-jong.]

“…Yes.”

[Are the people living safely, with smiles on their faces?]

Ho-jong felt something hot surge up from deep within his chest.

Surely, it must have been because he realized what that unwavering consistency meant.

“The gukbap place we used to go to went out of business.”

[…You’re lying.]

The hero, Cheon Jun-ho, had returned.

Jun-ho felt as though he had awakened from a long slumber.

He had clearly been dying, yet upon waking again, he found himself in this state.

He didn’t know much, but he could tell that much had changed.

Ho-jong had become a middle-aged man.

Wrinkles were visible on Tae-woon’s face.

Kwon-seung and Soon-ae had gained more wrinkles than he remembered.

If so, that beautiful woman over there must be the tomboyish Jin Hae-seo. The traces of her childhood were visible on her tear-stained face.

The fact that the child had become a hunter might feel quite ironic, but it was enough to know that that much time had passed.

Was that all?

‘The dolls are strong.’

The one who orchestrated this bizarre moment must be the master of those dolls.

He was once the strongest.

Now, he was assimilated with a magical beast.

Because of that, he could tell.

Just how much this magical beast’s flesh feared those dolls.

It was like a terror etched into its very soul.

Even at this very moment, Jun-ho found it harder than anything else to look straight at those dolls.

Putting that aside.

Had the era improved compared to before?

Were hunters still the heroes of the people?

How had his loved ones lived while he was gone?

He had so many questions, yet he acutely felt that he did not have much time left.

Jjik! Jjijik!

As if plagued by static, the figure enveloping his flesh distorted.

However, he could feel the thrashing growing stronger.

[Ho-jong.]

“Yes, brother.”

[This doesn’t seem like the time for a reunion.]

Ho-jong’s expression hardened.

The others were no different.

Jun-ho smiled awkwardly.

[There’s so much I want to ask, so much I want to say. But it seems now isn’t the time.]

This was North Korea.

Jun-ho realized he was still in Pyongyang, the last land he remembered from his life.

However, he felt immense relief above all else at the fact that he hadn’t violated Seoul in this grotesque form.

He also wanted to take it as a sign that hunters had grown strong enough to advance into the North.

“Brother…”

[Ho-jong, you have to do it.]

Jun-ho creakily adjusted his stance.

While he still had control, he wanted to bring things to an end.

[What is the me in front of you?]

“Brother…!”

[What has your brother become now?]

Jun-ho assumed his stance.

In response, Ho-jong gritted his teeth and answered.

“…A magical beast.”

[And who are you?]

Then, Ho-jong assumed the same stance as Jun-ho.

He answered with his actions.

Jun-ho smiled brightly.

[That’s right. A Hunter.]

He realized that amidst all the change, some things remained constant.

The truth that hunters must hunt magical beasts and protect citizens was one such constant.

And it wasn’t just Ho-jong; the other S-Ranks felt the same.

Grasping the meaning behind his words, they began to assume their stances.

Jjijik!

The static was gradually fading.

The parasite’s screams echoed in Jun-ho’s mind.

Hoping this moment would not be the end, Jun-ho summoned the storm.

A deep green current surged amidst the magical beast’s black storm.

[Show me. How much you all have evolved in the era without me.]

No one signaled the start.

But as if it had been choreographed.

The moment the static subsided.

Kwaaaaang—!

The man who was once a hero and those who grew up watching his back clashed.

Kugugugugung—!

Pyongyang began to return to nothingness.

It was a desperate struggle more fierce than any other, all in hopes that a handful of miracles might exist at the end of it all.

Jung-woo was in a pitch-black space.

The boundaries of the space were so ambiguous that assigning a direction felt meaningless.

If he had to describe what he felt, it was a sensation of constantly sinking.

It was unfamiliar, yet simultaneously familiar.

Jung-woo realized the nature of this déjà vu.

‘…It’s the day I returned.’

The day Seoul fell, the day he died with his head pierced by Se-gi.

The sensation he felt right before returning to the past was exactly like this.

Sinking endlessly into a bottomless abyss, until finally hitting the bottom and breathing his last—it had felt just like this.

How far would he fall this time?

As he absentmindedly tried to gauge that.

While his consciousness hazily unraveled, something rang in his ears.

Tiriring, tiriring.

It was a noisy clamor.

He wanted to sleep a little longer.

Just as he thought that, a sensation arose, as if someone had grabbed him by the collar.

[■■ ■■.]

The voice sounded as if it were being crushed underwater.

He couldn’t properly comprehend the language.

But why?

[■■■. ■■.]

It felt so incredibly familiar.

Immediately after, his collar was yanked.

The sensation of floating began to fade.

The senses throughout his entire body began to sharpen.

Finally,

Hwak—!

Feeling as if he had breached the surface of the water and finally met oxygen, Jung-woo opened his eyes.

What greeted his eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling.

“Heup…!”

A white plaster ceiling.

It was a space tinged with the faint scent of medicine, and Jung-woo was lying in a bed.

Outside the window was a reddish sky; it was sunset.

Feeling a weight around his waist, he looked down to find his treasure resting there.

“Kooo…”

Se-gi was curled up asleep beside him on the hospital bed.

What had just happened was a dream.

This was reality.

As he slowly grasped the situation and wondered why he was lying in a hospital bed.

The answer came from elsewhere.

Ttiring!

【You have subjugated [Entity: ■■■]!】

【The Aptitude of Perfect Caregiver (L) increases!】

【The proficiency of [All-Ages Filter (L)] increases!】

【The proficiency of [Bear Hero (S)] increases!】

【The proficiency of [Sea Otter Grand Mage (S)] increases!】

【The proficiency of [Shark Shadow Lord (S)] increases!】

It was the subjugation success notification.

However, an additional notification popped up alongside it.

Ttiring!

【The conditions for [■■■■] are fulfilled!】

【The proficiency limit of [Bear Hero (S)] is broken through!】

【[Bear Hero (S)] evolves into [Bear Hero (S+)]!】

【[■■■■]’s ▶◎!◆★…】

A notification that jolted his mind loomed before his eyes.

As the notification began to shatter even before the skill evolution, the moment Jung-woo tried to sit up…

Ttiring!

【Adjusting causality!】

【Connecting to the world!】

【※The use of [■■■■] is temporarily restricted!】

【Restriction Lift: D—30】

The name of the blind skill faded into an ash-gray color.

Jung-woo was dumbfounded.