After roughly finishing his meal, Cha Seohu rose from his seat.
“I’ll be right back. Please contact Hunter Yoon Jeha for me.”
“Understood.”
Hearing that Cha Seohu was going to meet Representative Seo, Kwon Taehyuk and Ryu Sunghyun stepped back without protest.
Eun Woojeong looked curious about Representative Seo, who was basically the owner of this entire area, but he didn’t seem interested enough to go out of his way to meet her. He only shrugged.
But Cha Sahyeon silently followed Cha Seohu again, just like before. That part was normal—but his expression was clearly clouded with something complicated.
“.......”
Cha Seohu glanced at Cha Sahyeon for a moment, then stepped out of the room first.
On the way to meet Representative Seo, after confirming that the hallway was empty, Cha Seohu turned to the brother trailing behind him.
“Sahyeon.”
“Yeah.”
“You always answer perfectly the moment I call.”
Arms crossed, Cha Seohu let out a sigh.
“Talk.”
“...About what?”
“Anything. What you’re thinking about, worried about, troubled by—whatever it is. Anything.”
Realizing why his brother was asking this, Cha Sahyeon pressed his lips shut and looked away.
Seeing the younger brother having absolutely no intention of speaking first, Seohu sighed again.
“Sahyeon. What did you do last night?”
“...I stayed in my room alone.”
“Doing nothing?”
“Yeah. I just... rested.”
Maybe he knew he was acting different from usual—Cha Sahyeon’s voice grew smaller.
Seohu narrowed his eyes slightly and tilted his head.
“You’ve been glued to my side every day, and suddenly last night you ‘rested alone’ in your room? Even though you knew the Circle Guild’s Vice-Guildmaster was in my room?”
“.......”
“Sahyeon. Do you think I don’t know you? We lived stuck together for over a year.”
Up until now, Seohu had intentionally overlooked Sahyeon’s emotions, trying not to drag certain complicated issues to the surface.
But there were some things he simply couldn’t ignore.
Cha Sahyeon, like someone with separation anxiety, had never wanted to leave Seohu’s side.
The only times he left were when resolving matters involving the cult, or when Seohu himself entrusted him with something important.
Considering that, it made no sense that he willingly yielded his spot last night just because Ryu Sunghyun asked.
Kwon Taehyuk was reasonable, so stepping back was expected. Eun Woojeong didn’t seem particularly invested in whatever conversation would happen between Ryu Sunghyun and Seohu.
The unnatural one was only Cha Sahyeon.
“You’ve been acting strange since yesterday. Tell me. What happened?”
“.......”
“Kid.”
When Sahyeon still refused to speak, Seohu softened his voice slightly.
“What is it? I can’t know unless you tell me. You and I... we’ve shared a lot.”
Even as he soothed his brother, Seohu considered the possibilities.
Sahyeon knew far more about the cult than Seohu.
His sync rate wasn’t high enough to have all his memories yet, but after living hundreds of repeated lives, he surely held secrets.
'For example... something related to the “Cult Leader.”'
Seohu’s eyes grew cold.
The Cult Leader he encountered during the Irregular Rift incident.
Technically, it had been a mannequin pretending to be the Cult Leader—but it was still the moment he learned the leader of that cult actually existed.
Even though quite some time had passed, Seohu still hadn’t heard a proper explanation from Sahyeon.
[My memories aren’t complete yet. Later... when more comes back to me, can I tell you then?]
Before entering the Unidentified Rift, when Seohu had asked about the Cult Leader, that was the answer Sahyeon gave him.
It had sounded like avoidance, but Sahyeon’s steady gaze made him seem sincere. He truly looked sorry for not remembering more.
Back then, they had no way to track the Cult Leader anyway, and the Unidentified Rift took priority, so Seohu let it go.
'Don’t tell me—his sync rate increased, he remembered something about the Cult Leader... and he’s hiding it from me?'
A chill dropped into Seohu’s chest. He immediately called up the status window.
[User Information: Sahyeon (Villain)]
Age: 22
Primary Skill: Living Shadow (L-rank)
Title: The Master of Shadows
Attack Power: L-rank
Attack Speed: L-rank
Movement Speed: L-rank
Agility: L-rank
Special Features ▼
└ Seed of Catastrophe (65% progress) (Sync 66% progress)
'...The Seed and the sync rate are unchanged. Good.'
Relief washed over him—but along with it came guilt and a creeping dread.
Since accepting Sahyeon as his “younger brother,” Seohu had never doubted him once.
He hadn’t even given the boy a chance to be doubted.
Sahyeon always answered everything he knew, always protected him, always tried to help.
But ever since avoiding the topic of the Cult Leader, a toxic unease had begun festering inside Seohu.
No—truthfully...
[You accepted the Catastrophe that killed me, killed the Guildmaster, killed all of us... as your family?]
...his stomach churned.
His arms tightened unconsciously.
Forcing down the instinctive discomfort rising inside him, Seohu spoke again.
“Kid. If you don’t want to say it... you don’t have to. I’ll wait until you feel like talking.”
He purposely made it more burdensome, and Sahyeon’s shoulders flinched. After repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, Sahyeon finally answered.
“Ryu Sunghyun—that guy... he said you wanted to talk with him. That giving you space was being considerate. That if I stuck to you, I’d just make things uncomfortable... that’s what he told me.”
The longer he explained, the more his voice trembled with hurt.
“And you really did make a promise with him, and I didn’t want to get in your way... so I waited until morning.”
“...Ha.”
Seohu, who had been waiting tensely for the answer, let out a faint laugh.
“You did well. You really did. So why were you trying to hide this?”
He didn’t want to admit aloud that he’d been persuaded by Ryu Sunghyun’s words. It felt like accepting defeat.
Still hesitating, Sahyeon lowered his gaze.
“I dunno. I just didn’t want to say it.”
“There’ll be times, like yesterday, when things need to be solved through conversation. In a place as safe as this, it’s fine to step aside.”
“...Yeah.”
Seohu gave a short laugh and gently patted his brother’s back.
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
“...Yeah.”
Blinking once at him, Seohu removed his hand.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
He led the way toward the elevator.
He pressed the button to go up and stood before the closed doors. His faint reflection in the metal looked quietly subdued.
'He’s hiding something.'
This wasn’t like when he delayed explaining the Cult Leader.
Right now, Sahyeon was clearly lying to him—hiding something from him.
The suspicions he’d barely tamped down resurfaced, coldly settling in the back of his mind.
Without showing any reaction outwardly, Seohu stepped into the elevator. With a low hum, the elevator carrying the two brothers ascended to the top floor.
Guided by the staff, they arrived at the office. As always, Representative Seo was reviewing documents, with Mook Jeongho standing beside her.
Without looking up from her paperwork, Representative Seo spoke flatly.
“You came up on your own before being summoned. Report.”
“Report my ass. You already heard everything from over there—what more reporting do you want?”
Did a ghost who died from not hearing reports cling to her or something.
She ignored Seohu’s annoyed muttering as naturally as breathing and flipped a page.
“Mook Jeongho’s report isn’t perfect.”
“Then just be satisfied with that. I’m not planning to tell you anything more.”
Representative Seo finally lifted her head at his unusually prickly tone.
“Hm.”
A hint of interest flickered in her eyes as she touched her lips.
“Why the bad mood? You borrowed Mook Jeongho just like you wanted.”
“I didn’t want that, okay?”
The damn System wanted it.
“And he was absolutely zero help.”
Grinding his teeth, Seohu recalled the quest the System had thrown at him.
At least he completed both the main and sub quests and got the rewards—that was the only consolation.
'Lee Seowon used his foresight skill to determine the number of people, and the System pointed to Mook Jeongho... all because of ‘Ryu Sunghyun,’ huh.'
Because Mook Jeongho was there, Ryu Sunghyun and “Ryu Sunghyun” were able to fight without interference. He didn’t want to accept it, but that was the truth.
If Mook Jeongho, with his impossibly rigid, bull-headed personality, hadn’t prevented any disruptions, Seohu would have charged straight into the middle of the two Sunghyuns.
Then Kwon Taehyuk and Eun Woojeong would’ve been dragged in too.
“Ryu Sunghyun” had been the boss monster of that place. Killing him was the only way to escape the Unidentified Rift.
Meaning, regardless of the specifics, he was doomed to watch “Ryu Sunghyun” die again.
'If the System went so far as to send a quest, then if Mook Jeongho hadn’t been there...'
Would he really have let “Ryu Sunghyun” die?
Imagining that future, Seohu swallowed a heavy breath.

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