“…Um, Mentor. If it’s hard for you to explain, you can just say no.”
“It’s really true.”
Since he wasn’t lying, Kim Sibaek answered confidently. Yang Eunho looked briefly confused but soon composed himself, his expression settling into something serious. Tae Woon’s earlier advice echoed in his mind.
“Just say whatever you want, Hyung. Even if it’s total nonsense, Eunho will clean it up and make it sound good.”
Sure enough, moments later, Yang Eunho pushed up his glasses with a finger. For a second, the lenses even seemed to glint.
“Actually, that concept works. People with rare Traits always attract attention. Tae Woon hyung, for example, gets plenty of rumors because he’s unrivaled among Hunters with similar abilities.”
“…”
“Many countries are researching ways to artificially trigger Awakenings. If word got out that you were the only one with healing powers, people would be lining up to kidnap you and dissect you for the ‘future of humanity’… Honestly, being seen as some cultist might be safer. You’re not planning to hide your powers forever, right?”
The absurd story was being polished into something oddly plausible.
“If you claim your power isn’t from Awakening but from faith, that’ll serve as a decent smokescreen, even if it’s flimsy. Religious miracles may sound ridiculous, but at least they’re not entirely baseless. And let’s be honest—there’ve been plenty of Hunters acting like cult leaders. You can ride that wave. It’s a solid concept.”
“Oh…”
[Death and Beauty is asking in surprise if there was such deep meaning behind this.]
Of course not.
If Eunho had taken the college entrance exam, he’d have gotten a perfect score.
Kim Sibaek swelled with pride at how his clever brother dressed up obvious cult nonsense into something that actually sounded reasonable. At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder how much ridiculous stuff Tae Woon had dumped on Eunho before… but he chose to pretend he didn’t know.
“Of course, your reputation’s gonna take a hit. You’re fine with that?”
“Yes. It’s God’s will.”
“Impressive commitment to the concept. We can iron out the details after the raid.”
Seo Gaeun, who had been muttering under her breath, finally snapped out of it. “So now our guild has a Mad Dog and a cultist?”
“If you’re done talking, let’s move.”
Once it was just the four of them, their pace actually sped up.
Seo Gaeun blocked the monsters charging at the front, Yang Eunho’s rifle fired explosive rounds, and Tae Woon’s expanding darkness sliced and pierced through the beasts.
Following behind his younger siblings, Kim Sibaek imagined what it would look like if Pi Minhyung and Lee Hangyeol were here too. Minhyung would be dishing out close-range damage while drawing aggro, and Hangyeol would be providing magical support from the rear.
It’s almost like the perfect team—offense and defense syncing flawlessly.
Back during the Cataclysm, these kids had only been in their early teens, yet they’d survived those brutal times by sticking together. If he hadn’t drifted off to Mak Slechth and had stayed on Earth, could he have helped them?
Staring at the backs of siblings who no longer even remembered him, Kim Sibaek felt a bitter pang of loss.
[Remaining Time: 4 hours 32 minutes]
They cleared the third floor. Then the fourth. Room after room, searching for survivors—but they found no one. Even when they reached the rooftop, it was the same.
“Nothing in the water tank either.”
Seo Gaeun jumped down with a frustrated expression. While they searched for the last survivors, the Hunter teams from the Management Center had already begun attacking Giantvine’s main body—but the core still hadn’t been found. Time was running out.
“They might be hiding somewhere like a cabinet. What do you think, Sibaek hyung?”
“…We’ve got no choice. We cleared out most of the monsters on our way up. Let’s just hope the survivors are still holding on and focus on finding that core as fast as possible.”
Seo Gaeun and Yang Eunho nodded. Just as they were about to jump from the rooftop toward the massive tangled main body of Giantvine between the two buildings, Kim Sibaek stopped them.
“Wait. You’ve been climbing non-stop. Let me help you recover.”
Before they could respond, Kim Sibaek laid his hand on each of their shoulders in turn. A faint glow seeped into their bodies, washing away the fatigue weighing down their limbs. Seo Gaeun and Yang Eunho’s eyes widened. Seo Gaeun even let out a small gasp.
“Oh? Back in the MA Department Store’s Eid Portal, I remember suddenly feeling refreshed. Were you secretly helping us then too?”
“A little.”
“The power of faith really is amazing…”
With a face that looked dangerously close to wanting to join his ‘religion,’ Seo Gaeun marveled. Tae Woon frowned.
“Hyung, how do I get this ‘faith’? At this rate, someone’s gonna steal my spot as your first follower.”
“Pray sincerely. With a devout heart.”
Kim Sibaek lifted Biendeoé high over his head.
[Death and Beauty proudly spreads her wings wide.]
Staring at the fierce-looking, dignity-lacking fledgling crow, Tae Woon silently averted his gaze. Biendeoé looked a little dejected. Maybe she’d gain some dignity when she grew up.
“Your concept maintenance is great, but let’s get moving.”
Above them, Justyna’s lance, deeply embedded into the crown of Giantvine’s main body, loomed like it was urging them forward.
As the battle dragged on, helicopters from the broadcasting stations circled the area, streaming the scene live. From a distance, the Hunters climbing up Giantvine’s massive body looked like boys scaling a beanstalk that reached into the heavens—straight out of a fairy tale.
Venom poured continuously from the creature, designed to dissolve and absorb its prey. But the Hunters sprinted along the flowering stems, never ceasing their attacks. Swords tore deep into its outer skin, and magitech devices detonated inside the gaping wounds. Scorching the flying debris slowed down the Giantvine’s regeneration, but only slightly.
“Damn it! Where the hell’s the core?!”
“Watch out! There are fruit pods up above!”
Hunters equipped with Scanners pursued the demonic energy leaking from the creature’s wounds, hoping to trace it back to the core, but there was no sign of it. Frustration was mounting. This wasn’t their first Giantvine hunt—by now, after tearing the thing apart this thoroughly, they should’ve already detected the dense mana signature that marked the core’s location.
The Giantvine’s regeneration was fast, and the time limit before its fruit fully matured was closing in fast. The Hunters’ faces reflected growing exhaustion and unease as they continued their fruitless, exhausting attacks.
“AAAGH!”
Whether from fatigue or a momentary lapse, one Hunter slipped as he dashed along the vine and tumbled into a deep gash torn open by earlier assaults. Like it had been lying in wait, countless thin tendrils sprouted from the wound at terrifying speed, latching onto him and pulling him inside the gaping flesh.
The tendrils crawled swiftly up toward his face. Just as despair overtook his eyes, a flash of white light burst forth. A blade glowing with pure white radiance pierced through the air, slicing cleanly between the tendrils and slashing downward in a single, smooth strike.
“Th-thank you!”
The Hunter, barely able to breathe from the venom already coursing through his body, managed to gasp out his gratitude. The unfamiliar man steadied him briefly before immediately sprinting off in the opposite direction.
As he hastily injected himself with another dose of antidote to slow the poison’s spread, the Hunter glanced down, his back breaking out in cold sweat. He’d almost fallen straight into a living deathtrap.
But… that wound looks different.
Where the man’s blade had struck, the flesh wasn’t regenerating. It was a clear difference from before—unlike the earlier wounds that pretended to stay open but closed rapidly the moment prey approached. The torn flesh writhed unnaturally, as if silently screaming in agony. The Hunter had no way of knowing: it was the divine power clashing against demonic energy that had left a permanent wound.
My divine power’s running low.
Kim Sibaek flexed his fingers, clenching and releasing his fists several times. No matter how many tendrils he cut, it wasn’t the main body, so his divine power didn’t recover naturally.
He had tried to conserve his strength, but healing the injured earlier had drained far more energy than expected. Healing powers and his divine energy were notoriously incompatible. The only reason he could still hold out was because his divine power was pure enough to operate efficiently even with minimal amounts.
[Remaining Time: 2 hours 19 minutes]
The core was still nowhere to be found. Kim Sibaek opened his system window again, carefully reviewing it.
[Bonus Quest]
[Find the survivors inside the Manastone Exchange (28/29)]
[Completion Reward: Fragment of Longing]
There was something that had nagged at him since the quest first appeared. The system wasn’t asking him to rescue survivors—it only told him to find them. If he located the last survivor but left them to die, would the quest still count as completed?
And yet… one person still hadn’t been found.
