Was it because of the guaranteed reward that he entered the S-rank Dungeon?
Or because the SH Hunters who had entered it had already stopped responding?
Or simply because it was an S-rank Dungeon threatening the entire country?
None of it really mattered.
Kwon Taehan himself probably could not clearly separate the reasons either. The Status Window genuinely had imposed a duty on him, after all.
But unlike me, Kwon Taehan suffered no penalties even if he ignored the Status Window’s instructions. And yet despite that, he willingly entered Dungeons like these....
Was it because he found his own worth through saving other people?
Well, there were countless questions, but none of them could be answered right now.
Kwon Taehan walked voluntarily into the Abandoned Land.
The situation there unfolded differently from the S-rank Dungeon I had experienced.
Im Haekyung never entered, citing the possibility of other domestic Dungeons appearing.
Instead, Damyeon, the second-ranked Guild in the country, actively assisted with the clear, while SH Guild also entered in force, including Guild Master Song Hwayoung herself.
Another S-rank Hunter, Tae Hyunjin, also rushed back into the country and stepped into the Dungeon.
By the time Kwon Taehan entered, countless things had already ended.
He felt fear at the sight of the hellish battlefield littered with corpses.
And the more fear Kwon Taehan felt, the more threatening the Dungeon itself became.
Watching Kwon Taehan inside that Dungeon naturally made me wonder something.
Every fear he saw after learning about me was always Kwon Taehan killing me.
Then what was the inner fear he saw before he knew me?
The answer came quickly.
Upon confronting the Dungeon Boss, Kwon Taehan fell into the illusion it created.
And what Kwon Taehan witnessed was neither himself surviving alone among corpses, nor a ruined world, nor people dying because of his Skills.
'Unexpected.'
The illusion Kwon Taehan saw was none other than his past self.
Still powerless.
Still shut inside his house, doing nothing....
To maintain his shabby one-room apartment, he worked part-time jobs constantly.
He slept from morning until three in the afternoon. From four until eleven, he worked at a barbecue restaurant. From midnight until morning, he worked night shifts at a convenience store.
After getting off work at the same hour everyone else was heading out busily into the day, Kwon Taehan returned home and collapsed onto the floor, glancing toward a drawer.
On top of it sat a single picture frame turned toward the wall.
Probably a family photo.
He could not throw it away, yet still deliberately turned it around.
And that life ended quickly too.
While moving burning charcoal at the restaurant, one piece fell and scorched Kwon Taehan’s neck before dropping to the floor.
It was a severe burn bad enough to strip the skin away.
He went straight to the emergency room and received treatment, but the restaurant blamed him for disappearing during peak hours. After handing him the treatment fees, they pressured him not to come back.
The wound was large enough that his entire neck had to be dressed in bandages.
I expressionlessly watched the next scene while simultaneously recalling Kwon Taehan’s smooth neck in the present and the injury wrapped in gauze here.
By the time all of it was ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) roughly dealt with, dawn had already arrived.
At the convenience store, they had failed to find a replacement, so the owner had personally come in to work the shift instead.
Unlike the restaurant, he was not fired immediately from the convenience store. But after the burn, Kwon Taehan became noticeably more withdrawn, and subtle friction with the owner continued until Kwon Taehan eventually quit first himself.
'It would’ve been better if he’d just worked daytime shifts.'
Even if all he did was serving, there were countless places that probably would have hired him. It felt like things had gone wrong from the very beginning.
'Or maybe not?'
Had he deliberately chosen night work?
Come to think of it, maybe he always had some level of social anxiety from the start....
After that, he gradually withdrew deeper and deeper into himself.
At that point, I became certain.
This was only a trigger.
From the very beginning, he had been the type naturally suited to becoming a shut-in with no intention of going outside.
Whether that was his original personality, or whether it came from losing his family and surviving alone while getting battered around by life, I could not tell.
Well, it was probably both.
Still, this felt too weak to truly be Kwon Taehan’s deepest inner fear.
So what if it showed his past?
He had already lived through it once.
But Kwon Taehan’s daily life did not end there.
Afterward, things connected into events I already knew.
And then....
'Ah.'
He woke from the dream.
Meaning all of it had become something that never happened.
As though everything had merely been Kwon Taehan’s delusion. Just a dream.
For someone with such poor imagination, he was astonishingly convinced that all of it had been his own fantasy.
At this point, it was honestly almost funny.
Still, the Status Window did not leave Kwon Taehan drowning in fear and despair.
It flashed noisily before his eyes, urging him to escape the past.
Like some trauma therapy show. Ridiculously attentive.
After a long while, Kwon Taehan finally stood.
There was no clear way for him to determine whether it was truly not a dream. Judging from his still-confused eyes, he had not completely abandoned his doubts either.
But Kwon Taehan really was...... the protagonist chosen by either the Status Window or whatever god existed behind it.
Even while unable to abandon all those suspicions, he still struggled desperately to break free.
None of his actions contained certainty.
Yet at the same time, there was no hesitation in them either.
It was not for himself.
It was for the countless Hunters trapped inside this Dungeon.
Blazing Flame(C) is activating.
The flames igniting in Kwon Taehan’s hand gradually grew stronger.
As though they could swallow every illusionary version of Kwon Taehan born from fear.
FWOOOOSH!
Enormous flames swallowed Kwon Taehan whole.
As though burning away every doubt and fear.
And among the countless things within that inferno, only the fire-type Hunter himself did not burn.
Naturally so.
The flames Kwon Taehan created could never burn Kwon Taehan himself.
The massive blaze continued expanding.
As though it intended to burn not merely Kwon Taehan’s fear, but this entire space itself.
—Wrong, wrongggg....
Fear resonated from the Dungeon Boss’s slow, dragging voice.
KWAANG—!!!
The next instant, the flames Kwon Taehan created engulfed the entire Dungeon in one sweep.
Every fear, resentment, and all other negative things composing the Dungeon screamed as they were swallowed instantly by the overwhelming inferno.
Blazing Flame(S) is activating.
That truly was...... an “awakening.”
It was fascinating.
A man with no certainty whatsoever, whose greatest fear was returning to his past self again—how could someone like that continue moving forward?
Willpower?
Then what was the source of that will?
Was he simply born that way?
Had Kwon Taehan come this far through talent alone?
The towering pillar of flame only subsided after burning through the entire space.
No, “subsided” was not even the right word.
There was simply nothing left to burn anymore.
Kwon Taehan burned away his past self and kept moving forward.
(Completed) Quest for Second Awakening
Visit an S-rank Dungeon in order to achieve your Second Awakening.
Reward: Second Awakening
Name: Kwon Taehan
Age: 25
Rank: S
Title: -
Main Skills: ■■ ■■(EX), Blazing Flame(S), Flame Storm(S), Physical Enhancement(S)
Growth Limit: S
Congratulations on your Second Awakening!
Even while staring at the burned-out Dungeon before him, Kwon Taehan said nothing.
There was no visible joy at becoming an S-rank Hunter either.
After everything had burned away, the first thing Kwon Taehan did was run toward the collapsed Hunters and check whether any of them were still breathing.
SHAAA—
Another S-rank Hunter, Tae Hyunjin, poured water over the still-burning Dungeon.
Watching Kwon Taehan tremble while holding a hand beneath Song Hwayoung’s nose to check for breath, Tae Hyunjin spoke.
“She’s already dead. It was an S-rank Dungeon.”
“.......”
After calmly stating the fact, Tae Hyunjin lowered their gaze toward Kwon Taehan and added, as casually as if discussing everyday matters,
“You need to have your rank reassessed.”
“.......”
“You’re probably S-rank.”
Tae Hyunjin brushed aside Kwon Taehan’s hand, still desperately trying to do something, then gently lifted Song Hwayoung into their arms.
After effortlessly picking up two more corpses, Tae Hyunjin glanced sideways at Kwon Taehan and said,
“Let’s go.”
That was the moment Kwon Taehan’s Second Awakening ended.
***
The appearance of a new S-rank rapidly dominated the media.
Because the previous Kwon Taehan had never been publicly known, the news spread not as a rank reassessment but as the emergence of a brand-new S-rank.
Kwon Taehan never corrected them.
There was no deeper reason.
A man who had personally witnessed the complete collapse of his Guild and the deaths of the people close to him could hardly be in his right mind.
After becoming S-rank, Kwon Taehan began clearing Dungeons in earnest.
He did not discriminate.
Ignoring Dungeon ranks entirely, he drifted from one Dungeon to another and threw himself into everything as though he had no concern whatsoever for the damage done to his own body.
The public called it the duty of an S-rank Hunter.
From my perspective, it was blatant self-harm.
'Did he want to die?'
I thought he had stronger mental fortitude than this.
But the body of an S-rank did not die easily.
No matter how endlessly he entered Dungeons, Kwon Taehan himself always remained unharmed.
No—only Kwon Taehan remained unharmed.
It was the day another casualty emerged from a suddenly occurring A-rank Dungeon.
After clearing the Dungeon, Kwon Taehan brushed off countless interview requests and fled the scene almost as if escaping.
It looked like he was having a mild panic attack, though he himself did not seem aware of it.
'Fucking idiot.'
Either way, it was beyond anything I could interfere with.
Kwon Taehan avoided people and headed into a deserted alley before suddenly shouting at empty air.
“What the hell am I supposed to do anymore?!”
Well, technically not empty air.
He was yelling at the Status Window.
Save the world from destruction!
“H-How am I supposed to save the world? It’s already ruined! You should’ve stopped this from happening in the first place! Dungeons? Why, why do things like that even have to exist...?”
Like it would actually answer him.
Yet Kwon Taehan kept pressing anyway.
“You forced me into this! Then at least tell me properly what I’m supposed to do...!”
'That already sounds pretty damn specific to me.'
He got handed Quests by an absurdly helpful Status Window and still whined this much.
When no answer came back, Kwon Taehan finally collapsed to the ground and muttered,
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t....”
Then, in the distance, I saw a familiar...... face.
'You’ve gotta be kidding me.'
It was me.
“Seo Jehyun” walked over expressionlessly to where Kwon Taehan sat before quietly looking down at the bastard with his face buried in his hands.
Then “I” lowered one knee to the ground and slowly leaned down.
“Why are you yelling in front of someone else’s house? Were you drinking or something?”
“.......”
When Kwon Taehan slowly lifted his head without answering, “I” confirmed his face and slightly curled the corner of my mouth upward.
“No, wait. S-rank Hunters can’t get drunk, right?”
The instant I saw this, I knew.
This was probably...... the first day I met that bastard.