Since Ban Eunhyeol returned to Korea after a brief absence, peaceful days had followed.
Ever since my possession, this was the first time I’d spent my days without any particular incidents or accidents.
Every time it seemed peaceful, something would happen and shatter that peace.
A silent self-study period where nobody uttered a word.
I closed my eyes quietly, listening to the scratch of mechanical pencils and the distant sounds of a PE class drifting in from outside the window.
“Not going to study?”
I flinched in surprise at the sudden whisper in my ear.
The loud noise from bumping my leg against the desk made the whole class turn to look at me.
I forced a smile and made an apologetic expression.
“You startled me.”
Then I poked Ban Eunhyeol in the side and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
Just then, I felt a menacing aura from behind.
Glancing back, I saw Yeon Hayeon glaring at us like she might tear us apart at any moment.
“Sorry.”
I quickly apologized and put some distance between myself and Ban Eunhyeol.
With the College Entrance Exam just around the corner, everyone was on edge. Yeon Hayeon and Eun Bada, in particular, were even more sensitive.
Though they no longer studied as recklessly as before, saying it was time to focus on managing their condition, their nerves seemed more frayed than ever.
‘Will I even be able to get into a college near them?’
Sighing, I worked through my workbook.
Even though I studied with Ban Eunhyeol every day, there was, of course, no miraculous leap in my grades.
Still, thanks to Ban Eunhyeol, my grades had improved a fair bit, so my goal became to attend a college near theirs.
But as the exam approached, anxiety grew about whether I could actually get in.
Time flew by in that unease, and before I knew it, the long-awaited morning of the College Entrance Exam had arrived.
Kang Yedam was lounging in bed, enjoying his leisure at an hour when he’d usually be at school.
For him, who wasn’t taking the college entrance exam, today was just a delightful holiday.
He checked the time on his phone, then leisurely got out of bed.
‘Still got some time left.’
There was about an hour until he was supposed to meet Haen Malgeum.
He headed to the bathroom to start getting ready to go out.
While he was drying his wet hair with a hairdryer after his shower—
“Ah, what the—?”
Suddenly, the power went out and the hairdryer stopped.
The bathroom light went out, and the sound of the TV in the living room fell silent.
He walked into the now quiet living room, checking around the house, but then stopped dead in his tracks.
‘Wait, this is…?’
A wave of anxiety washed over him.
It might have been just a simple blackout, but he had an ominous feeling that it was something more.
“No, it can’t be.”
He shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the scene that kept popping up in his mind.
The morning before the S-Rank Gate opened in the future—before his regression—there had also been a blackout.
And then came the sudden disappearances.
Right before the S-Rank Gate fully opened, it would briefly appear and vanish, causing many people to go missing.
It was only later that they discovered all those who had disappeared had been caught up in the briefly opened S-Rank Gate.
Because they were swept into the S-Rank Gate before high-ranking Awakened could react, most died inside.
He hurriedly pulled up the news on his phone to check.
As he scanned the breaking news, his face turned pale.
At that moment, the TV in the living room flickered back on, and a news report began to play.
He’d denied it when reading on his phone, but now, hearing it on the news, Kang Yedam’s breath grew ragged.
“No way, it can’t be… All the Gates were supposed to be gone, so why all of a sudden…?”
Unable to calm down, he paced around the living room, hurriedly gathering his thoughts.
‘The others must not know anything yet, since they’re taking the exam.’
The Four Heavenly Kings, Yeon Hayeon, and Dan Ah, who had all heard about future events from Kang Yedam, were now all sitting the entrance exam. They probably hadn’t heard the news yet.
If any of them had sensed something odd during the blackout, it would have been good, but chances were they’d just thought it was a simple power outage.
‘What should I do?’
Back then, S-Rank Gates had opened while all the Gates and Awakened remained as they were, so they could respond right away.
But now, things were too different.
The Hunter Association had been disbanded, and the guilds had changed their industries. Even if they tried, it would be hard to mount a timely response.
If Awakened had felt their powers returning, even for that brief moment when the bus vanished, that would’ve been something—but there was no sign of any such change.
In the worst case, everyone might die without any Awakened left to close the S-Rank Gate.
‘This is insane!’
Unable to contact Dan Ah directly, his frustration only grew.
For now, he decided to go to Gamseong High School.
In his experienced future, the S-Rank Gate had appeared at Gamseong High.
Kang Yedam dashed out of his house, shutting his eyes tight before calling Haen Malgeum.
[Oh, I just left home! I’ll be there soon.]
“You’re not ready yet, are you?”
[…N-no? I said I left.]
“Don’t lie. You think I don’t know you? I’ve got something to say, so I’m coming to your house.”
[Huh? Why?]
“Just wait.”
He hung up and thought about who else he could talk to about this.
He immediately called Do Ihyun.
Even as he made the call, he ran toward Haen Malgeum’s house.
‘Something’s not right about this.’
Lee Dan Ah looked around the quiet dungeon, frowning.
She’d definitely entered a B-rank dungeon, and she hadn’t felt anything strange while moving with her guild members.
But no matter how far she walked, no monsters appeared, and then suddenly she found herself separated from the rest of the guild.
She tried running to find her guild members or any monsters, but nothing was in sight.
Tilting her head, she scanned her surroundings, while behind her, Bishaf and Sahin exchanged glances.
They’d witnessed firsthand how Dan Ah had crossed dimensions before.
Now, this situation felt eerily similar.
“Ugh, what the hell! At least let something appear!”
Lee Dan Ah only knew she’d crossed dimensions through the S-Rank Gate, but she had no idea how the process worked, so she shouted in frustration.
Her voice echoed all around the dungeon.
“You two, go look for any monsters or our guild members!”
At her command, Sahin, Bishaf, Red, and the other wraiths nodded and quickly scattered in different directions.
Watching them go, Lee Dan Ah roughly ran a hand through her hair.
“Why is there nothing here? What a waste of time!”
She was grumbling irritably when—
“Huh…?”
Her eyes went wide at the status window that appeared before her.
[The dungeon’s rank has increased.]
[Rank: S]
She’d entered thinking it was a B-rank, but it had suddenly jumped not to A, but S-rank.
As she confirmed this, a bright smile spread across her face.
She’d obsessively closed Gates all this time, always longing for an S-Rank Gate, and now it had finally appeared.
It was a bit surprising that the rank had changed in this way, but what mattered was that the dungeon she was in was now S-rank.
Most Awakened would have been terrified by the sudden jump to S-rank.
But she didn’t spare a thought for the dangers that came with a higher-ranked dungeon.
All that mattered to her was the possibility of crossing dimensions.
“How do I cross over this time?”
With a smile tugging at her lips, she continued walking and soon spotted a fork in the path.
Seeing the ten-way split, she stopped.
‘If I pick one of these, can I cross dimensions?’
Since it was a rare opportunity that might not come again, she needed to be careful with her choice.
Lee Dan Ah stood in front of the fork, thinking for a long time.
‘The third path seems tempting. No, is it the fifth? Maybe I’ll just go in and come right back out?’
The more she thought about it, the harder it became to decide.
Just then, as she was deep in thought, the wraiths returned.
Representing them, Sahin stepped forward and reported.
[We couldn’t find any monsters. We did locate the guild members’ positions—should we head there?]
“No, I’m not going.”
At her firm reply, Sahin’s brow twitched. Seeing Lee Dan Ah focusing only on the fork, he understood and stepped back.
“Sahin, which path would you choose?”
At her question, Sahin looked indifferently at the paths.
The first time she crossed dimensions, Dan Ah had taken the first path.
If the path Dan Ah had chosen was truly the way to cross, they might finally see their true master again.
But the thought of crossing over with Lee Dan Ah gave him pause.
After a moment of consideration, he glanced at Bishaf, Red, and the other wraiths.
[If our master could regain her power…]
Then they might finally escape this troublesome new master and return to the real one.
Finally, after much deliberation, Sahin pointed to one of the paths.
[I think you should try that one.]
Following his finger, Lee Dan Ah turned her head.
It was the first path, farthest to the left.
“Oh, so you like the first one?”
She briefly considered asking the other wraiths for their opinions but changed her mind.
If she gathered too many opinions, she might just stand there agonizing even longer.
At last, she made her decision and started to walk forward.