There, walking calmly amidst the chaos, were Mu Yichen, Seo MinHyun, and Park Taegun.

  Mu Yichen’s silver hair gleamed in the late afternoon light, his long coat fluttering behind him. His expression was calm, but focused. Every step he took was with purpose.

  Park Taegun, beside him, already had his shield drawn, eyes cold as steel, assessing every target.

  Seo MinHyun, however….

  “Ugh! Look at them staring like I’m some exhibition piece,” he grumbled, shielding a group of civilians with a broad spell.

  A translucent dome of silver-blue light shimmered into place around them, deflecting a descending monster with a loud crackle. “You’d think people would throw flowers or something instead of screaming!”

  A child clung to his leg.

  He glared down. “No autographs. I’m working.”

  But despite his complaints, his spells flew with precision..blasts of compressed wind magic sent monsters hurtling into walls.

  Many high-rank hunters found dungeon breaks outside of dungeons to be a nightmare.

  They couldn’t fight freely. Couldn’t swing without worrying about civilians. Couldn’t release magic without risking explosions in crowded streets.

  But not Mu Yichen and Park Taegun.

  Years of elite training made them calculating and clean. Where Seo MinHyun was flashy and loud, they were quiet and lethal.

  Still…

  There was one problem even they were struggling with:

  Too many in the air.

  The monsters were fast, coordinated, and attacking from above.

  Meanwhile, inside the hospital…

  Lee Aseok rolled onto his back with a groan. The alarms. The sounds. The floor’s vibrations. He covered his ears with the pillow.

  Still too noisy.

  “...Tsk.”

  He sat up.

  Then, lazily dragging himself to the window, he pushed aside the curtain with two fingers and looked down.

  Outside, the street was a mess.

  People were running in every direction. A few police officers and hunters were trying to guide them to the shelters. Wind spells danced in the air, and flashes of lightning and sound magic exploded between buildings.

  Flying beasts shrieked across the sky. A few slammed into windows, sending glass crashing below.

  Lee Aseok’s dull eyes watched quietly.

  In the past, Lee Aseok would have been one of them, rushing in with a weapon, fighting without rest until the threat was neutralized. But now...

  Now, his gaze held nothing but indifference.

  He watched a monster rip through a third-story window.

  He didn’t even blink.

  With the same dead expression, he turned and left the room.

  No hesitation.

  No words.

  Just quiet, deliberate movement.

  He stepped into the hallway. Empty.

  The hospital, by now, had already locked down. Staff and patients had evacuated to the shelter floors, barricading the doors behind them. The lights flickered occasionally from the strain on the emergency grid.

  Lee Aseok pressed the elevator button and waited patiently.

  A minute later, he stepped into the elevator.

  A cheerful voice announced, “Ground floor,” and the doors slid open.

  He walked out into the empty lobby and through the automatic doors without even glancing at the front desk.

  Outside, the wind howled.

  Ash and dust scattered across the street. Screams echoed from further down, but this particular street was nearly abandoned, save for the few terrified citizens fleeing in the distance.

  Lee Aseok stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the sky.

  The monsters were circling in the distance, flying low, but not close enough to notice him.

  He looked back down.

  “I’ll walk,” he muttered under his breath, voice barely louder than the wind.

  He had hoped to find a taxi. But of course, none were running today. People weren’t lining up for fares…they were lining up to survive.

  Sirens blared in the far corners of the city. The chaos was spreading.

  So, he walked.

  Slowly. Without urgency. Hands in his pockets. The wind tugged at his long hair, whipping it around his face, but he didn’t bother fixing it. His shoes stepped in puddles, dust, and shattered glass without pause.

  He walked like he was in another world.

  And people noticed.

  Even in their fear and panic, they couldn’t help but glance at the strange youth moving through the chaos as if it didn’t exist.

  There was something in his presence, something that didn’t belong. A beauty too sharp. A silence too deep. A gaze too distant.

  Some thought he looked like a ghost.

  Others whispered: “Is he a hunter?”

  But no one dared approach him.

  At that very moment, in a sealed chamber within the Government HQ, the holy sword, the very weapon chosen by fate to choose the next savior, shivered.

  Not violently.

  Not dramatically.

  But gently. A faint vibration, soft enough to go unnoticed.

  The guardian assigned to monitor it yawned, eyes drifting to the monitoring screens, unaware of the subtle glow pulsing along the blade’s hilt for a fleeting second.

  Then, it went still again.

  Outside, Lee Aseok yawned.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He stopped at an intersection, looked both ways, despite there being no traffic, and kept walking.

  Even when a monster landed two buildings behind him, even when the explosion of wind and flame tore apart a billboard above him, he didn’t flinch.

  People screamed.

  He blinked.

  Then he kept walking.

  He wasn’t being brave.

  He was just tired.

  On the cracked and debris-strewn street, chaos reigned, but Lee Aseok walked as if he belonged to another world entirely.

  His long black hair fluttered in the hot wind, a contrast to the smoke-stained sky and the flickering neon signs struggling to stay alight.

  His pale, expressionless face stood out amid the panic. His posture was calm, unaffected, and slow, almost deliberately so.

  People running past couldn’t help but look at him. Even while fleeing for their lives, their eyes followed the strange youth in disbelief. Whispers spread as quickly as panic.

  “Who is that…?”

  “Is he a hunter?”

  “What’s he doing out here alone…?!”

  There was something eerie about him.

  He wasn’t just beautiful, he was wrong in a way no one could quite explain. Like a piece from another puzzle forced into this world.

  Meanwhile, in a nearby alley….

  A food live-streamer, famous for his over-the-top reactions and comedic eating challenges, had taken cover behind a garbage bin. His name tag on screen read BbangHunter.

  The camera was shaking.

  “This is insane! I just came for fried chicken, and now…LOOK!”

  Behind him, explosions lit up the sky. Wind mages flew by. Screams echoed.

  “Everyone watching…yes, I’m alive. Barely. But forget about me…LOOK OVER THERE!”

  Urged on by his chat, he panned the camera toward the street. What the viewers saw made the scrolling chat pause for a full second.

  Then…

  ?? “Who is that?”

  ?? “Why’s he walking???”

  ?? “Bro, is that a new S-rank hunter?”

  ?? “No hunter uniform. Not in the registry.”

  ?? “Why is it giving me goosebumps?”

  The viewers squinted.

  In the middle of chaos, a lone figure strolled through the broken road.

  Black hair, loose clothes, delicate face like something carved from moonlight, but most of all, an unshakable calm. No fear. No rush. Just walking.

  But then it happened.

  From above, a winged monster, twice the size of a car, dove.

  Its massive claws aimed directly at Lee Aseok.

  The live chat exploded.

  ?? “RUN!!!”

  ?? “He’s going to die!!”

  ?? “NOOOOO—”

  But Lee Aseok didn’t run.

  He didn’t even flinch.

  Blood sprayed across the broken pavement as Mu Yichen slashed through another beast midair, his blade flashing like lightning beneath the gray sky. The city was chaos, smoke, screams, sirens, but his mind was consumed by one thing:

  Lee Aseok was gone.

  The message from the surveillance team echoed again and again in his mind.

  "Target no longer in the hospital room. footage saw him exit."

  Mu Yichen’s breath caught in his throat.

  Gone? How could he be gone?

  He had made sure everything was in place. Guards. Sealed floor. Private room. No one in or out. Lee Aseok was supposed to be safe, hidden from the noise, the pain, the world that didn’t deserve him.

  But now…

  His heart twisted painfully.

  Mu Yichen’s gaze darted across the sky filled with flying beasts, his mana boiling beneath his skin.

  One of the monsters screeched above, diving toward a cluster of civilians. Another swung toward a nearby building.

  He didn’t stop.

  He didn’t look.

  He ran.

  All his life, he’d been praised for staying calm under pressure. For handling things rationally. Strategically. But now?

  Now he was terrified.

  Not of death.

  But he thought of seeing Lee Aseok’s blood on the ground.

  I tried not to scare him.

  I tried not to push him.

  I thought if I acted gently, he’d stay longer... maybe trust me.

  But he had been wrong.

  Completely, utterly wrong.

  Across the street..

  In the midst of burning cars and crumbling buildings, a lone figure walked slowly.

  Lee Aseok.

  His long black hair fluttered gently as he moved, seemingly unaffected by the chaos around him. The sounds of death, fear, and violence might as well have been echoes from another dimension.

  He saw the monster coming.

  Its massive wings beat down like thunder, its jaws wide open, its speed crushing the wind.

  But Lee Aseok simply closed his eyes.

  There was no fear in him.

  Only a hollow relief.

  Finally,

  Maybe this time, I won’t open my eyes again.

  Back at the stream

  The food livestreamer had stopped talking entirely.

  His phone trembled in his hand as the live chat exploded with horror.

  ?? “NO! MOVE!!”

  ?? “Someone HELP HIM!”

  ?? “IS HE SUICIDAL???”

  ?? “Where are the hunters!?”

  ?? “WHY IS HE JUST STANDING THERE?!

  Far away, in the heavily guarded chamber of the National Hunter HQ, the glass case containing the Holy Sword began to rattle violently.

  The weapon that had remained untouched for long…

  ...suddenly moved.

  Alarms blared. Surveillance equipment began to fail one by one.

  Then, with a sharp shringggg sound, the glass case shattered completely.

  The Holy Sword floated free.

  With a blinding pulse of light, it shot upward, breaking through reinforced ceilings and steel security walls like a spear through paper, and vanished into the sky.

  The operator on duty dropped his coffee and froze in place.

  His voice cracked as he grabbed the emergency comm line.

  “The…The Holy Sword just… just flew off on its own! I-It’s gone!”

  Meanwhile, Mu Yichen’s world was collapsing in real time.

  He didn’t hear the cries of the panicked civilians or the instructions blaring through police speakers.

  He didn’t feel the wind against his face or the small cuts from shattered glass on his hands.

  All he could think was,

  I was too late.

  His eyes locked on the scene up ahead: a monster’s jaw just seconds away from tearing into a boy who stood there, motionless, almost serene.

  Mu Yichen’s SSS-rank skill activated instinctively.

  He vanished from sight.

  Buildings blurred past him. Concrete cracked beneath his feet. A sonic boom echoed behind him as he tore through the air like a human bullet.

  But it wouldn’t be enough.

  The monster was too close.

  Just as Mu Yichen was about to cross the last two meters..

  A sharp whistle split the air.

  Something flew past him like lightning.

  Slash.

  The monster’s head was severed cleanly from its body.

  It hit the ground with a wet thud.

  Blood splattered across Lee Aseok’s cheek, a sharp contrast against his pale skin.

  The boy’s eyes fluttered open.

  Floating quietly in front of him was a sword.

  Its blade shone with a strange, ancient light, neither hot nor cold, but carrying an oppressive presence that silenced everything around it.

  Lee Aseok stared at it.

  His breath caught in his throat.

  His hands trembled, only slightly.

  …Again. I can’t escape it.

  The air buzzed faintly, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

  Nearby hunters froze mid-attack.

  Even civilians who had been screaming moments before stopped to stare at the surreal scene.

  A lone boy with hair like ink… and a sword that wasn’t touching the ground.

  Inside a nearby shop, a streamer still broadcasting live covered his mouth with both hands.

  His chat exploded in real time.

  [ HOLY SWORD??! ]

  [ WHO IS THAT GUY? ]

  [ WHY IS IT FLOATING IN FRONT OF HIM?! ]

  [ THAT’S THE CHOSEN ONE! ]

  [ OMG someone zoom in..he's beautiful wtf— ]

  Mu Yichen came to a halt.

  The wind around him slowly died.

  He stared at the sword. Then at the boy.

  And for a single, breathless moment..

  He forgot how to move.

  But it wasn’t only Lee Aseok who stood motionless.

  Around them, hunters halted mid-action, their faces drained of color.

  The people who had been running for their lives stopped in stunned silence.

  Even the live broadcast audience watching the scene unfold went speechless.

  They all stared at the glowing sword hovering before the long-haired youth, unable to move or speak.

  A sudden ripple of fear spread through the crowd, not from the youth, but from the holy sword’s overwhelming aura.

  Monsters nearby trembled, their forms shrinking back instinctively.

  Some of the lesser creatures, feeling the sword’s presence like a thunderclap, scurried and fled toward the dungeon gate.

  It was a rare sight, witnessing the very weapon known as the hope of humanity in action.

  No one paid much attention to the retreating monsters.

  Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the sword, shining with a light that symbolized salvation.

  The vast majority of people across the world had seen the holy sword during the official ceremony.

  They had watched many hunters attempt to wield it, yet none succeeded, until now.

  This long-haired youth was a mystery.

  No one knew who he was, but the world now awaited the appearance of their hero.

  And standing silently beneath the sword’s light, Lee Aseok became the center of a thousand questions.

  The world held its breath.

  For months, they had awaited the hero, the one destined to wield the holy sword and bring salvation. The sword had remained silent, untouched, its presence a symbol of hope yet to be realized.

  And now, finally, the silence broke.

  A long-haired youth stood calmly beside the radiant holy sword, its aura flooding the street with light.

  The people, caught in the chaos of the dungeon break moments ago, froze in place. Whispers spread like wildfire, eyes wide with disbelief.

  “No one’s ever seen him before.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Is he really the chosen one?”

  Curiosity and awe rippled through the crowd, but no answers came.

  Mu Yichen stood near the youth, his calm exterior fracturing ever so slightly. To everyone else, this was a strange newcomer, an enigma cloaked in silence.

  But Mu Yichen knew.

  His eyes remained fixed between the holy sword’s glow and the figure standing beside it. The shock that gripped him was deeper than anyone could guess.

  Meanwhile, on the edge of the battleground, Seo MinHyun and Park Taegun fought back the retreating monsters.

  The creatures, sensing the power of the sword, began to flee back toward the gate.

  Seo MinHyun wiped sweat from his brow, his usual arrogance tinged with confusion. “Hey, Taegun, what’s going on? Why are they retreating all of a sudden?”

  Park Taegun’s gaze sharpened. “Only one way to find out. Let’s check in with Mu Yichen.”

  Calling upon their wind magic, they swept through the chaotic air and soon found the gathering crowd.

  Their eyes scanned the scene, and they stopped dead.

  The glowing holy sword stood in the middle of the street, a weapon that should never have left the safety of the government HQ.

  And next to it, the youth, silent and serene.

  Seo MinHyun blinked. “Are we... hallucinating? Is this some high-rank gate illusion?”

  Park Taegun narrowed his eyes. “If not, why is the holy sword here, right in front of Lee Aseok?”

  Seo MinHyun and Park Taegun looked at each other and back at Lee Aseok.

  Something had changed. The hero had finally appeared.

  But what did his arrival mean?

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