Kim Songcheol subtly glanced at the Celestial Spirit Maiden.

His gaze contained the question, ‘Didn’t we agree to meet just the two of us?’

Of course, the Celestial Spirit Maiden understood his meaning. But she merely blinked her eyes.

And that blink contained the meaning of, ‘Shouldn’t we call the kid too, of course?’

Kim Songcheol narrowed his eyes again.

‘Why are you taking Setsu to a dangerous place?’

The Celestial Spirit Maiden tilted her head ever so slightly.

‘Why are you protecting him so much?’

Kim Songcheol frowned slightly.

‘I’m not protecting him; Setsu doesn’t need to go in.’

The Celestial Spirit Maiden leaned back slightly in her chair.

‘Why are you making that judgment, Sorcerer?’

While the two had a very detailed conversation through non-verbal means, Setsu arrived at the table.

“Didn’t you hear my voice?”

Setsu waved his hands a few times to get their attention.

It was a natural choice since he had clearly greeted them but received no reply.

“No, I heard you. How have you been?”

Kim Songcheol took his eyes off the Celestial Spirit Maiden and returned the greeting.

A slight smile was a bonus.

“Yes, I’ve been well. Haha.”

Setsu pulled out a chair and sat at the end of the table.

All three team members had gathered.

However, a strange atmosphere and a brief silence followed.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden was not usually talkative, and Setsu was sensing an unusual atmosphere and observing the situation.

Kim Songcheol broke the silence and spoke.

“Did you hear why we gathered?”

“Oh, no. I just came because I was told to?”

Setsu replied, subtly glancing at the Celestial Spirit Maiden. It was because she was the one who had told him to come.

True to her nature, she hadn’t explained the reason in detail.

‘So, he doesn’t know the reason yet.’

Kim Songcheol was slightly relieved and decided to create another reason.

No matter how much he thought about it, Setsu had no reason to challenge the Final Trial.

In that case, it was better for him not to know at all.

“The reason we gathered today is to adjust the hunting schedule. Since everyone has their own schedule, it’s hard to match times…”

“No, that’s a lie. We intend to challenge the Final Trial.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden interrupted Kim Songcheol.

“Ha…”

At that, Kim Songcheol couldn’t help but sigh.

He thought if he changed the subject, she would follow along to some extent, but she took the lead and revealed the truth.

“Ah, the Final Trial… Okay. It seems like perfect timing right now.”

Setsu nodded.

He had already mastered Octas’s Records. However, a special condition was required to unleash his potential according to those Records.

To meet those conditions, the ‘Final Trial’ seemed like the perfect nothingness.

“No, this isn’t it.”

But Kim Songcheol shook his head.

“You and us are different, Setsu. You don’t have a reason to go in.”

“What’s different?”

Setsu’s expression hardened. One could say he became serious. It was practically the first time the usually gentle Setsu had expressed such negative emotions.

“You’re still young, and you have a world to look after, don’t you? And even if you don’t challenge the Final Trial, there’s no problem at all.”

“…”

Setsu stared at Kim Songcheol intently before throwing out a remark.

“Why do you have to challenge the Final Trial, older brother? As far as I know, you don’t really need to. Unless you’re hiding something.”

Kim Songcheol slightly opened his mouth, then closed it again. He was speechless.

The world’s apocalypse.

He had no capital to confess about it, and by nature, he wasn’t the type to easily spin lies, so he was stopped.

“Sorcerer, I’m curious about that too.”

Even the Celestial Spirit Maiden began to pressure him.

However, it didn’t take long to come up with a suitable reason.

“I have Lucifer, don’t I? It’s getting too much to handle. If I don’t have stronger power, I’m a dead man anyway.”

It was a perfect reason.

“Is that so.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden seemed to understand immediately, but Setsu’s expression didn’t soften.

However, he didn’t dwell on it. Nor did he back down.

“I’m going with you.”

“It’s a trial that not a single person has succeeded in. I can’t take you to a place like that.”

Kim Songcheol swallowed the rest of his words. It was probably ‘as a guardian.’

“You’re not taking me. We’re going together. We’re a team, aren’t we? I’m not weak either. And I’ll get stronger.”

“Setsu, I’m not saying you’re lacking. You know that, right?”

“Then acknowledge me as a team member. I’m really grateful for your help so far. But that wasn’t because I was a team member. It was because you thought of me as a younger sibling you had to take care of, wasn’t it?”

“I’ve never thought of you as not a team member…”

“No, older brother, you didn’t think of me as a team member. If I were a team member, there would be no reason to leave me behind. If one person is missing, it will become more dangerous, but you’re saying you’ll take a greater risk by leaving me out, aren’t you? That’s not a team.”

“Setsu.”

“There’s only one thing I want. Acknowledge me as a team member. And let’s go together. Let’s challenge it together. I will be helpful. Absolutely.”

Kim Songcheol saw Setsu’s hand, placed on the desk, clench into a fist.

And Setsu’s face.

Stubborn yet tinged with anxiety, and yet his eyes were unwavering.

Kim Songcheol saw himself during the press conference overlap with Setsu.

‘Ah… was it this feeling?’

He understood his parents’ feelings a little.

That’s why he felt even greater respect for his parents.

Kim Songcheol’s parents didn’t stop Kim Songcheol even after seeing the press conference.

If they truly cared about Kim Songcheol’s safety, they should have stopped him from being a Hunter, no matter what, even if it meant clinging to his pants.

That way, Kim Songcheol would be safe, and they wouldn’t have sleepless nights worrying about their son.

Their son was in a dangerous situation. The safety of the Republic of Korea wouldn’t have mattered.

But his parents tried to smile for Kim Songcheol and accepted their son as a Hunter.

Because that’s what their son wanted.

And Kim Songcheol gained great strength from his parents’ acceptance. If his parents hadn’t embraced that explosive reporter’s conference at the time, the Kim Songcheol of today wouldn’t exist.

“…”

Kim Songcheol couldn’t easily continue speaking.

His mind was so complicated that he couldn’t properly judge what was right.

Whether to take Setsu, or not to take her.

There were valid reasons for everything, and these reasons were fighting in his head, creating immense confusion.

“Sorcerer.”

At that moment, the Celestial Spirit Maiden leaned forward slightly.

Kim Songcheol’s wavering focus settled on her.

“Don’t be so arrogant as to think everyone’s lives are in your hands.”

Kim Songcheol felt as if he had been struck on the head.

It wasn’t because he genuinely agreed with the Celestial Spirit Maiden’s words, nor was there any profound resonance.

It was for another reason.

It was simply that the words were quite similar to what another Kim Songcheol had said when they communicated through the Stone Slab’s magical communication.

‘Don’t try to save everyone.’

The other Kim Songcheol had said that.

Those words could be interpreted in various ways depending on the context. Perhaps they could even be used with the exact same meaning as what the Celestial Spirit Maiden had said in the Capital City.

“Ha…”

Kim Songcheol let out a sigh without realizing it, then chuckled awkwardly.

“I’m sighing a lot today.”

He had already made up his mind.

There was no justification to stop Setsu. In a way, it might just be his personal desire not to see Setsu die.

If a team member dies, it is the fate of a united Hunter team to live with that sorrow.

Problems arise when one tries to abandon a team member to avoid that sorrow.

Furthermore, there was nothing wrong with Setsu’s words.

Kim Songcheol had never acknowledged Setsu as a team member. That part was clear.

Whenever there was danger, he had always protected Setsu, just as the Celestial Spirit Maiden had said.

Now was the time to acknowledge Setsu.

Setsu was no longer a child.

He was no longer the 15-year-old child with killing intent he had first met, but had already become a Hunter.

To stop a bird from leaving its nest, one must break its wings.

Kim Songcheol decided to open the sky for Setsu, just as his parents had opened the sky for him.

Perhaps it was the final act of being an adult, bestowed upon Kim Songcheol when he took in Setsu, who had lost his parents.

“Alright. Yes. Setsu, I was short-sighted. Let’s go together. And let’s come back alive together.”

Kim Songcheol said with a truly strained smile.

“Really? Are we really going together?”

Setsu, on the other hand, smiled broadly. It was because he had finally been officially acknowledged by Kim Songcheol after several years of being on the team.

“I don’t know what’s so good about it, kid. This isn’t a picnic.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden chided him.

“That’s right. We’re going to a place from which no one has ever returned. We have no information. We’ll prepare as much as possible, but…”

“We will return no matter what.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden said curtly. It seemed she had nothing more to say, and no need to say more.

***

The depths of an A-rank Dungeon.

It was a place where Black Land stretched wide. There were no highs or lows, only vast plains. Everywhere he looked, there was only black earth.

And at the center of that land was a Giant Fissure.

Its length reached tens of kilometers, and the width of the chasm alone seemed to be two kilometers.

The massive crack arced like a demon’s unsettling laugh.

Kim Songcheol’s team arrived at the widest part of the chasm in that crack.

They could see the other side ahead, and below them was only pitch-black darkness.

Around the gigantic canyon, traces of people were visible everywhere.

They were mainly gravestones.

Those who never returned.

These were gravestones commemorating those who challenged but failed.

Their number was so great that it couldn’t be counted at a glance.

It was like seeing a huge cavern cemetery.

“It looks like someone has been here.”

Setsu approached a gravestone. There were no letters inscribed on the cross-shaped gravestone. However, a half-withered bouquet of flowers was placed in front of it.

It was a trace of someone mourning someone else.

“They’re just failures anyway.”

The Celestial Spirit Maiden said coldly.

She didn’t even glance at the gravestones. She just stared down into the pitch-black darkness.

“I’ve felt this before, but this time you’re a bit uncharacteristically cynical. Are you feeling nervous?”

Kim Songcheol observed her expression. Although the Celestial Spirit Maiden was blunt and poor at expressing emotions, she was not a cynical person.

However, before the ‘Inescapable Test’, she would occasionally show a cynical attitude.

It was closer to a defense mechanism than a sudden change in character.

“Nonsense.”

Of course, she didn’t seem to want to admit it, and she didn’t even seem to realize that she was nervous.

“Don’t worry. As you said, we’ll return unscathed.”

“Of course.”

Setsu nodded, adding emphasis to her words.

“I believe in you. As much as you believe in me.”

“Hmph.”

“Because our team is the best.”

Thus, Kim Songcheol’s team made their final declaration of intent in their own ways.

Now it was time to jump in.

“Let’s go.”

Kim Songcheol stood at the edge of the cliff, pointed downwards with his finger, and was the first to lightly leap off.

The Celestial Spirit Maiden and Setsu followed behind him.

The three began to freefall.

Gravity gradually increased their acceleration, and their hair and collars wildly fluttered in the wind.

Their speed increased, but there was no sign of reaching the bottom.

The light gradually diminished, and their vision was dyed black.

At that moment, strangely, their speed began to decrease.

The moment they realized it, a huge darkness stretched up from below and swallowed the three of them.

Kim Songcheol felt as if he was passing through a Portal.

A slight dizziness.

A feeling of being sucked in somewhere.

When he came to his senses, the black ground was approaching.

No, the ground wasn’t approaching, they were falling to the ground.

At that, Setsu used her Supernatural Ability, grabbing the two and stopping in mid-air.

Thus, the three slowly descended to the ground.

Kim Songcheol looked around.

Unidentified Castles floated in the purple sky, and the Black Land stretched out, forming a mountain range.

From now on, it’s completely unknown territory.

Kim Songcheol began to walk forward slowly, drawing up a lot of Mana.