WHOFA 7

While running the Danbaek Guild, whenever he had business with the Awakened Safety Department, he would inevitably run into Gam Yigeon. He knew from back then. That Gam Yigeon held a liking for him.

Knowing this, he tempted him. To quit being a public official and come to their guild.

‘Understood. I will go to Danbaek. However, if I go, you will never… have another man again.’

He clearly remembered the strong grip and the hot hands. And the purple eyes that did not hide their anger and jealousy.

The man, who was as cool and detached as the Northern Grand Duke from a novel, loved him.

When he first found out, he was puzzled, and upon closer observation, it was a pure love like no other, so it later became burdensome.

Sometimes, he wanted to tell Gam Yigeon.

That he did not believe in love and could not return his feelings, so he should love someone else.

So that the man, who was warm-hearted despite his appearance, could enjoy a sweet daily life with someone.

But there was no need to say it. Because Gam Yigeon already knew.

‘Why does he like me, knowing he cannot be loved in return?’

‘Why does Gam Yigeon like me’ was one of the two problems Seo Hwa could never solve in his lifetime.

Every time he repeated the timeline, always… why did he have to fall into a painful love?

It was a relief that this timeline seemed to be different.

Then one of the problems that troubled Seo Hwa would disappear, so he only needed to focus on the second problem.

That second problem was, of course, this.

‘Why do we keep failing to clear the Grade 6 dungeon?’

At first, he thought it was because they were arrogant. In the first iteration, he really had not expected it. They had been clearing Grade 5 dungeons with ease until then, and with a large number of Class S hunters from all over the world participating, he naturally thought they would clear it.

Using failure as a stepping stone, he approached the second iteration with a humble attitude. Nevertheless, they continued to fail. It was not a lack of firepower, nor was it a lack of cooperation. A very small and minute gear had gone out of alignment somewhere, which was hard to pinpoint, and brought about an irreversible result.

It was a comfort that the raid progress improved with each iteration.

In the previous iteration, they had failed by narrowly exceeding the raid time limit. If they had had just a couple more hours, they would have surely succeeded.

‘This is the last time.’

He always approached it as if it were the last chance, but his resolve was particularly strong this time. As the hatred grew with each iteration, he might not be able to get people’s cooperation at all next time. This matter could not be solved by Seo Hwa becoming stronger alone. The cooperation of all hunters was necessary.

This was no time to be thinking about Gam Yigeon or love or any of that. Seo Hwa erased Gam Yigeon’s face from his mind.

His wrist was itchy. It was an injury sustained from a Grade 6 monster before this regression. The Gam Yigeon from the fifth iteration had bandaged it, but it was not sufficient treatment. Bizarrely, he always sustained a severe injury only on his left arm.

Even if he told them now, they would not treat it, so he decided to endure it somehow with his self-healing ability.

Seo Hwa kept repeating it to himself.

The dates of major dungeon appearances, the Awakened who needed to be recruited in the future and the items that needed to be secured, the weapons awaiting development, from small incidents that passed as happenings to major accidents that resulted in tens of thousands of casualties…

The next three years. In this time, which could by no means be called long, he had to complete his preparations perfectly.

So that this time, please.

He would meet the end.

---

“You worked hard today. As expected, with the Vice-Guild Master firmly holding the center, everyone stayed quiet without causing a fuss and went home.”

Danbaek Guild’s master, Shimjin, approached holding a champagne glass. Gam Yigeon clinked glasses with Shimjin. He did not touch the champagne to his lips, while Shimjin finished the little that was left in her glass.

Shimjin, who had immediately replaced her glass with a new one, squinted her eyes and looked at Gam Yigeon.

“Is something troubling you? As soon as the event ended, you lost your concentration and your mind is far away.”

“…No, it is nothing.”

“Of course it is something. I am a Class A Awakened myself and have a pretty powerful mental-type skill, you know. I can tell just by looking that you are not in your usual cool-headed state.”

Shimjin was right. As soon as the event ended, Gam Yigeon’s concentration had completely dissolved. What filled his mind was the face of the man who had smiled while asking him to say hello to the Danbaek Guild’s master.

Just thinking about it was hateful. Every nerve in his body wanted to run over right now and grab that man’s neck and twist it. He felt like he would shatter the champagne glass at this rate, so he placed it on the table.

Shimjin raised an eyebrow.

“It must be a pretty big worry. Is it related to the Hate Phenomenon by any chance?”

The ‘feeling of hating someone’ that had suddenly occurred to everyone in the world at dawn the day before had been named the HATE Phenomenon.

People poured out condemnation without even knowing if that someone was a man or a woman, a child or an adult. Transcending race, religion, and borders, everyone hated that being with one mind. The whole world was whispering about this incomprehensible phenomenon.

The Hate Phenomenon must be a mind control skill, right?

└ It is one hundred percent a mental-type skill. Otherwise, how could 7 billion people come to hate someone they do not even know?

└ A mental ability user of this level could rule the world, what the hell did that bastard do to earn the hatred of a mental ability user?

└└ He must have done something to deserve it.

└ Yigeon, it is basically terrorism. If you hate that person, just kill that person. Why the hell do I have to be engulfed in such negative emotions?ㅠㅠ
I want to know who it is… The people around him must all know, are they hiding him?

└ There is a rumor that the Safety Department knows something.

└└ The Awakened Safety Department? The Korean Awakened Safety Department?

└└ Yeah, they suddenly convened an emergency meeting, even the Minister, last night.

└└ Could it be that an Awakened used a curse-type skill on a civilian criminal…?

└└ No, no, no, guys, the heads of the Safety Departments in other countries were also convened, it was a mess. It was not just our country.

For all the people in the world to hate one person at the same time like this… there must be a justifiable reason… we need to find and execute him…

└ I am on this side too. The cause is definitely with Hate. He must have done something incredibly wrong. We need to find him and eliminate him.

Could it be a System common mission instead of a skill..? The Spirit-Body System is on humanity’s side anyway. It is telling us to eliminate an enemy of humanity.

└ But if it is this kind of hidden mission, it is strange. Do non-Awakened get missions too? Normally non-Awakened do not even get a system window.

└└ That is true, what is this then.
At this point, I am questioning whether the one being affected by the mental-type skill is Hate or us.

└ For real, honestly, Hate can just hide well somewhere away from people. But what about us? What crime did we commit to have to suffer like this?

└ Hate did the wrong thing, so why do we have to be the ones in pain?

└ I did not realize, but having such negative feelings towards someone is so stressful…. I wish someone would do something about it quickly ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└ I think I am going to get a mental illness…..

└ It has only been a day, but my head already feels like it is going to split open.

└└ The pharmacy in our neighborhood ran out of all their headache medicine. It is the first time I have seen headache medicine sold out in my life.

└└ Only the pharmaceutical companies must be happy.
The Awakened Safety Department is not answering their phones.

└ Korean Safety Department’s work ethic ^^

└└ Taking this chance to hate on the Safety Department again, lol. All the hunter departments in other countries have their phones off the hook too, lol.

└└ For real, I hate nationalism, but I do not understand why people put down their own country.
I work at the Awakened Safety Department… They really know something… The atmosphere is not normal..

└ Could it be something that happened while they were experimenting with something on the fifth basement level?

└└ I do not know the details, but it is clear that the Safety Department knows something.

└└ Surely Hate is not a Korean, right?

└└ No way.

└└ This cannot be… Korea will become a public enemy of the world…

└└ Oh, please……

└└ Do not worry, if it is our country, they will just revoke his citizenship.
But is there no chance that Hate is an Awakened?

└ No way.

└ He must have done something bad to become Hate, lol. Awakened do not do bad things. If you do not know, memorize it.

Gam Yigeon had also grasped the public opinion. Since rumors that the Korean Awakened Safety Department knew something had even spread among the general public, the hunter organizations of other countries would already be suspicious of them.

If that being’s prophecy turned out to be false, there would be no problem. They could just hide him like this and wait for time to pass. But if it turned out to be true, they would have to reveal his existence to the world.

Currently, the country with the best pool of Awakened was, of course, the Republic of Korea, but a Grade 6 dungeon was something Korea could never handle alone. In the first place, the location of the gate he had pointed out was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. With destruction on the line, the whole world would have to join forces.

But if they were to reveal his existence to the world…

Rationally, they knew that that being was not at fault and was rather a victim of a skill’s side effect, and that they should cooperate actively, but emotionally, it would not be easy to accept. That hatred and anger could be distorted and directed at Korea.

Various cults like the New Humanity Church and Ent Terra would also interpret the side effects of his skill to their own advantage.

He was a truly troublesome being, difficult to handle either way.