Seung-hoo's new reincarnated life was not an exact replica of his old life.
That realization had been creeping up on him little by little since the day he woke up in this world again. At first, everything had felt familiar—the cities, the guild buildings, the early dungeon outbreaks, even the people he once fought beside. It had all lined up so perfectly that he believed the world was simply repeating itself.
But now he knew that wasn't true.
Small differences kept appearing.
A Rift that used to open two weeks later appeared earlier. A hunter who used to join a guild had instead become independent. Even the bridge incident from earlier that day—he had no memory of something like that happening in his previous life.
And now Joon-seok.
In the life Seung-hoo remembered, Joon-seok had lived in a quiet apartment complex near the river, a place he used to complain about constantly because the elevator broke every other week. Seung-hoo could still recall the exact building, the chipped paint near the entrance, and the old convenience store downstairs where Joon-seok would always buy instant noodles after late-night raids.
But the clerk had said something completely different.
Apartment 302. Unjeong.
Seung-hoo stood there for a moment in the middle of the association lobby, his chest still rising and falling from the run. The cold air inside the building hit his lungs, but it did little to calm the uneasy feeling building in his chest.
"So things really are changing…" he muttered quietly under his breath.
Behind the front desk, the clerk hesitated before speaking again. She was still watching him cautiously, clearly confused by his sudden entrance and the urgency in his voice.
"Um… are you a teammate of Hunter Joon-seok?" she asked carefully.
Seung-hoo lifted his head slightly, though the hood still cast a shadow over most of his face.
"...Something like that."
It wasn't exactly a lie, but it also wasn't something he could explain. Not to her. Not to anyone.
How could he possibly tell them that he had fought beside Joon-seok through countless raids, watched him nearly die more times than he could count, and stood shoulder to shoulder with him during battles that decided the fate of entire cities?
In this world, none of that had happened yet.
To everyone else, Joon-seok was just another hunter.
But to Seung-hoo, he was one of the people he had sworn—both in anger and in grief—to protect the second time around.
Seung-hoo turned away from the desk, already moving toward the exit again.
"Wait!" the clerk called after him. "Do you need directions to Unjeong?"
He paused for half a second.
"...No. I know where it is."
Even if the apartment had changed, the city hadn't moved.
He pushed the glass door open and stepped back outside, the late afternoon air brushing against his face as the noise of traffic and distant sirens filled the street.
Unjeong wasn't close.
Even by car it would take time to get there, and running the entire distance with his current stamina wouldn't be easy. His body still hadn't fully recovered from the penalties he'd taken after missing the Gongbaek Island quest, and the dull ache in his muscles was already reminding him of that.
But waiting wasn't an option.
Seung-hoo pulled his hood down a little further as he started moving again, weaving through the busy sidewalk as his mind replayed the moment on the bridge.
The look on Joon-seok's face.
The confusion.
The shock.
Of course he would be confused. From Joon-seok's perspective, a stranger had just walked up, patted his shoulder like an old friend, and walked away without a word.
Seung-hoo let out a quiet breath.
"Yeah… that probably looked weird."
If anything, he had almost blown his own cover.
His original plan had been simple—find his old teammates slowly, watch over them from a distance, and step in only when something truly dangerous appeared.
But the moment he saw Joon-seok standing there in the crowd…
All of that planning had disappeared.
His feet picked up speed as he crossed the street, the memory of his past life pressing heavily in his chest.
Back then, he hadn't been fast enough.
Back then, he hadn't been strong enough.
And by the time he realized how important the people around him were, it had already been too late.
His hands tightened slightly inside his jacket pockets as he ran.
"This time will be different," he murmured quietly to himself.
Ahead of him, the road stretched toward the distant district where Unjeong was located, the buildings gradually growing taller as the city thickened around him.
Somewhere in that part of the city, Joon-seok was probably just living a normal life right now—completely unaware that someone who knew his entire future was racing across the city just to reach him.
Seung-hoo pushed forward through the evening crowd, his breath steady despite the ache in his body, his mind already running through possibilities.
If Joon-seok had moved apartments, what else had changed?
Had he already joined a guild?
Was he still working alone?
Had the Rift incident that originally pushed him to become stronger already happened… or had that changed too?
The more Seung-hoo thought about it, the more uncertain everything felt.
But there was only one way to find out.
He kept running toward Unjeong, the fading sunlight stretching long shadows across the street as the city slowly transitioned into evening, his hood still hiding his face as he disappeared deeper into the crowd.
When Seung-hoo finally reached the apartment complex in Unjeong, the sky had already turned a deep shade of evening blue.
The building wasn't fancy. It was one of those older complexes with long outdoor hallways and metal railings that had faded from years of rain and sunlight. A single yellow light flickered at the far end of the corridor, humming faintly as it struggled to stay on.
Seung-hoo stood in front of the door marked 302.
For a moment, he didn't move.
He had crossed half the city just to get here, but now that he was actually standing at the door, something inside him hesitated.
His hand lifted slowly.
Then—
Knock!
Knock!
Knock!
The sound echoed down the quiet hallway, bouncing off the concrete walls and empty stairwell.
No answer.
Seung-hoo shifted his weight slightly and raised his hand again, ready to knock a fourth time—
But the doorknob twisted.
The click of the lock sounded just below his line of sight.
The door opened.
And the person standing there was not who Seung-hoo expected.
He blinked.
"…Zi Yue?"
Standing in the doorway was a young woman with long dark hair tied loosely behind her head. She wore an oversized sweater and soft house slippers, clearly not expecting visitors this late in the evening.
Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as she looked up at the hooded stranger standing in front of her door.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Her voice was cautious, but not hostile.
Seung-hoo reached up slowly and pulled the hood back from his head.
The hallway light caught his face.
For a split second, Zi Yue stared at him blankly.
Then her eyes widened so suddenly it looked like they might pop out.
"…Seung-hoo!?"
Her voice shot up an entire octave as she screamed his name.
The shout echoed through the long hallway like an alarm going off.
A door somewhere down the corridor creaked open slightly as a curious neighbor peeked out.
Zi Yue slapped both hands over her mouth, half in shock and half in excitement.
"My brother is a fan of you ever since you became the 20th S-rank hunter!" she blurted out, practically bouncing in place.
Seung-hoo froze.
"…What?"
His eyebrows slowly pulled together.
"Joon-seok is… a fan of me?"
The words sounded strange even to his own ears.
In his previous life, Joon-seok had never treated him like that. They had fought side by side as equals. Teammates. Friends.
Fan?
That felt… weird.
Zi Yue's jaw dropped at his response.
Her eyes grew even wider.
"Y-you know my brother's name?!" she asked, leaning forward slightly as if trying to inspect him closer.
A huge grin suddenly spread across her face.
"Oh my god—he's going to lose his mind when he sees you!"
Seung-hoo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
The reaction was far more intense than he had expected.
"I… guess so," he muttered.
Zi Yue suddenly straightened up, remembering something important.
"S-so," she said, trying to calm herself down, though the excitement was still obvious in her voice, "what are you here for?"
Seung-hoo glanced past her into the apartment for a brief moment.
The inside looked simple but warm—soft lighting, a couch pushed against the wall, a few shoes scattered near the entrance.
It looked like a normal home.
Normal life.
Then he looked back at her.
"Oh," he said casually.
"I'm here for your brother."
Zi Yue blinked.
Then blinked again.
Her brain seemed to take a moment to process that sentence.
"…Y-you came for my brother!?" she repeated slowly.
Her eyes grew wide again, this time with pure disbelief.
"And—uh—y-yes! Of course, come in!"
She immediately stepped aside, waving both hands toward the entrance like she was guiding a celebrity into a five-star hotel.
Seung-hoo stepped over the threshold and into the apartment.
The door closed behind him with a soft click.
When Seung-hoo stepped inside the apartment, the first thing he noticed was how different it felt from what he expected.
The place was far from ordinary.
The living room stretched out wide with polished wooden floors that reflected the warm ceiling lights. A large, modern couch sat in the center of the room, soft-looking and expensive. Behind it stood a tall glass window that overlooked the city skyline, the night lights of Unjeong glowing far below.
A sleek black coffee table rested on top of a thick white rug that looked too clean to even step on.
Seung-hoo paused just inside the entrance.
"…This place is fancy," he said under his breath.
In his previous life, Joon-seok had lived in a cramped apartment with peeling wallpaper and an elevator that worked only half the time.
This place?
It looked like something a wealthy executive would live in.
On the walls hung framed photographs and modern artwork. A long shelf near the kitchen held several neatly arranged trophies and plaques from Hunter competitions and training programs.
Even the kitchen looked spotless—marble counters, stainless steel appliances, and soft lighting hanging above the island counter.
Seung-hoo slowly slipped off his shoes near the entrance.
His eyes kept scanning the room, trying to process the difference.
So he really did move… he thought.
Behind him, Zi Yue shut the door and hurried ahead of him into the living room.
"Sorry about the mess!" she said automatically.
Seung-hoo looked around again.
There was no mess.
Everything looked perfectly organized.
"…If this is messy, I don't want to see clean," he muttered quietly.
Zi Yue laughed nervously, clearly too excited to sit still.
"I still can't believe you're here," she said, turning around to face him again. "My brother talks about S-rank hunters all the time. Especially you."
Seung-hoo raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yeah!" she said quickly, nodding. "He always says you're one of the most mysterious S-ranks because you appeared out of nowhere and started clearing high-level Rifts like it was nothing."
She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice like she was sharing a secret.
"He even watches videos of your raids."
Seung-hoo blinked slowly.
"…That's embarrassing."
Zi Yue laughed again.
"You should've seen him the day you got officially announced as the twentieth S-rank hunter. He nearly screamed."
Seung-hoo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
In his previous life, the idea of Joon-seok fanboying over him would have been hilarious.
Back then they had argued constantly during missions.
"You're reckless."
"You're too slow."
That kind of relationship.
But here…
Things were clearly different.
Zi Yue suddenly straightened up again.
"Oh! Right!"
She glanced toward the hallway that led deeper into the apartment.
"My brother should be back soon," she said. "He went out earlier."
At that exact moment—
Footsteps echoed from the stairwell outside the apartment door.
Both of them heard it.
Zi Yue turned toward the entrance.
"That might be him," she said.
Seung-hoo stood quietly in the middle of the living room, his eyes drifting toward the door.
For the second time that day, he was about to see Joon-seok again.
But this time…
There would be no crowd.
No chaos.
Just the two of them in the same room.